CH. 24 - Facility Battle Climax!

Back inside the facility, the members are running around but dropping in numbers greatly. Watchdog is making his way through their group with relative ease. Few groups remain, but one small group of three members finally come across a large pair of metal doors with heavy security. 

“This has got to be where they’re keeping it.”

“Big and green, let’s go.”

He nods at the third member, who nods back. She pulls out a small device roughly the size of a phone and a dongle comes out of the top. It then ports into the user computer at the door and a security breakdown prompt appears. She begins trying to unlock the door when they hear a noise behind them. They quickly turn to see a shadowy figure in the dark slowly make its way towards them. The two members guarding the third ready themselves, one with a small automatic pistol and the other with two large Bowie knives. As the figure comes closer into the little light they have, they notice it’s another member who is bloodied up and struggling to stay upright, lumbering towards them with a scared look on his face. 

“He’s… here…” He chokes out, then collapses as Watchdog stands behind him. The others freak out as he charges them but before they could respond or he can attack, a large fist punches his head into the cement wall. Watchdog is stunned for a moment by the heavy surprise attack. The members look up to see one of the Hexed from before, panting and slightly bloodied.

“Get in there and get the serum. I’ll deal with him.” He cracks his neck as Watchdog, who is on one knee, holds his head for a moment. He turns and looks up at the Hexed.

“Ah, glad to see you’re doing okay.”

The Hexed puts a finger up to his ear and cocks his head to the side over so slightly.

“Come to my position and protect members three, six, and thirteen. We found it.” He says, not removing his gaze from Watchdog.

“Oh, the other one’s good, too? Great.” Watchdog says before quickly lifting his arm with his palm pointed towards the hacking member. He extends his arm in an attempt to stop them but before he can extend his arm any longer, he is stomped in the face back into the wall by the Hexed. As Watchdog reels from the attack, the Hexed grabs his head with his large hand and throws him back down the hall.

“Hurry up.” The Hexed commands.

“R-right!” She gets back to what she was doing as the Hexed walks towards Watchdog, who is picking himself up. He turns to look at the Hexed.

“I gotta admit, compared to the Keeper or whatever, you guys don’t hit nearly as hard.”

“He is a Pillar of the Devil’s Syndicate. His strength is well beyond that of your own.”

“Sorry, but I missed my lesson on Devil’s Syndicate lore. I have no idea what a Pillar is. You can have my foot though.”

Confused by the statement, he stops, only to feel a slight rumbling from beneath him. He looks down at his feet only to be met with a leg coming out from under the ground and kicking him hard in the face up into the air. Watchdog had extended his leg to go into the ground. He pulls it back and follows up on the now unconscious Hexed in the air. He jumps above him and flips to deliver a falling axe kick onto his face and back into the ground.

Watchdog lands and as soon as he does, out of the dust cloud, the Hexed dashes forward and grabs onto his ankle, now with a burning heat fist. Watchdog winces at the pain as he is lifted off the ground and held upside down. As soon as he stands up, the second Hexed comes from down the hall. They both look down on him with evil smiles as a loud click happens by the door.

“Got it!” The hacker says with a quick breath as the large door begins to open, revealing what is on the other side. Watchdog looks forward as his eyes grow wide.

“Oh… that’s a lot.”

Behind the doors, at the center of the large room, lies an incredibly large container holding the same green substance Watchdog had encountered earlier. 

“Here, take ours as well. Make sure to get as much as you can, then leave.”

The two Hexed toss their canisters from their hips at the other members, who take them and rush into the room. Watchdog begins to sweat and looks up at the Hexed.

“Hey, I know we’re basically besties, but I’m really gonna need you to let me go!” As he finishes his sentence, he kicks as hard as he can into the chin of the first Hexed. This causes him to let go and stumble back. Watchdog catches himself on his hands and throws himself at the second, landing a double kick to his face. Both Hexed stumble back for a moment as Watchdog is in the air. He lands and bolts towards the other members.

“Stop right there!” He shouts. They turn and look in fear as they keep doing what they’re doing. Before Watchdog could get very far, a large shadow appears above him. He looks up with an intense look, then stops and jumps back as the first Hexed smashes down right in front of him. As he is in the air jumping back, the second Hexed appears next to him and lands a heavy blow to his side.

Watchdog blocks the best he can but is sent flying. He hits the ground once before smacking into the wall. Before he could even catch his breath, he is bombarded with a barrage of heat punches. He has his guard up, but each punch is quite powerful. As he is being assaulted, he looks over to see the members already beginning to fill the canisters. The process is slow but making progress. 

‘I have to stop them!’ He thinks with a stressful tone. The assault continues for a moment as Watchdog focuses back on the Hexed in front of him. He holds strong for a moment before his eyes sharpen and a fist comes out from under and strikes the Hexed in the chin, ending the barrage. Watchdog pulls his arm back, the extra one he grew on his right side. He exhales sharply and takes a step forward, but before he can go very far, the other Hexed does a strike towards his face. It collides, but on instinct, Watchdog doesn’t tense up.

The force pushes him over a bit and as it does, he whips his arm around and strikes back the Hexed’s face. Blood spurts out of his nose and mouth as blood rolls down the side of Watchdog’s face. The Hexed falls to a knee, struggling to maintain consciousness from the strike while Watchdog stares, obviously much less affected by the strike. Watchdog looks at his hands for a moment with an almost confused look.

‘What was that?.. I didn’t...’ He looks around for a moment and sees both Hexed injured and staggered. ‘Whatever. I gotta take this chance!’

He slams his foot down and pulls back his fist, charging for a heavy punch. Aiming for the second Hexed, he leans back with his whole body and strikes his fist into the Hexed’s abdomen. He pushes deep into his chest until the Hexed coughs out blood, the clear sounds of bones crushing from the impact.

Watchdog shouts and blasts the Hexed out and through the wall past the large container. Watchdog’s arm is a bit longer and larger than it normally is. He pants as his arm shrinks back to normal. He looks over and past the other Hexed and sees that the other members are making progress on filling all the canisters. His eyes grow wide as he bolts to capture them, but before he can go, he trips and hits the floor. He looks back down at his ankle to see the Hexed holding it. His fist begins to glow from heat again and burns Watchdog. 

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“You’re really starting to piss me off!” He shouts as he kicks the Hexed in the face again, but instead of letting go like before, he grips harder. He then swings his arm around and throws Watchdog into the roof. After slamming into the cement and metal beams, he falls back down. The Hexed swings a heavy heat fist and smashes Watchdog in the face and into the wall.

Before Watchdog could completely fall from the impact, the Hexed grabs his ankle again and slams him into the floor behind him. The Hexed lets him go as Watchdog reels from the attack, propping himself up on his arms as his vision blurs a bit. He struggles to breathe in deep as blood drips from his mouth and face onto the floor. The Hexed steps towards him.

“I’m sure Commander Spark will be very pleased with me for getting you out of our way. And after that, maybe he’ll even make me a Pillar once I kill that bitch Fullsky too.” As he says this, Watchdog’s eyes, or at least the one not covered in blood, opens wide.

‘Fullsky! I forgot, she's out there fighting, I need to help her!’

“Now die.” He winds up his fist, and it glows heavier with the most heat he can exert. As he strikes down, Watchdog flips forward, dodging the strike. The Hexed’s fist smashes into the ground, surprising him, but he can’t even fully react before Watchdog slams his head into the ground entirely, stomping on him. After pushing down hard for a moment, Watchdog jumps up high into the air as the Hexed begins to lift himself, struggling and bleeding. 

“It’s time for you to get out of my way!” He begins flipping forward incredibly fast, building up more speed with every flip he does. He comes down fast, and the Hexed only stares in shock, helplessly. The bottom of his foot them collides with the Hexed’s face and smashes him into the ground hard enough to completely destroy the cement floor. The impact sends a shockwave through the room, stunning even the other members who watch in horror. His foot steams as he slowly lifts it off of the Hexed, only to see him completely unconscious and beaten. He pants for a moment, trying to catch his breath from the powerful attack.

“Got it! The last one!”

One of the members shout. Watchdog then looks over at the members filling the final canister they have. He focuses up and begins running towards them. On the way, he grabs a rock and throws it hard enough to completely shatter the canister the member was holding. They look at him charging them.

“You! Stop where you are!” He commands. They freak out and grab the four canisters they have and run deeper into the room, looking for a way out, but can’t seem to find one. Cornered, they stay against the far wall with looks of fear. As Watchdog gets closer to the members, there is a booming crash as the wall behind the members is demolished. Suddenly, a large fist is punching Watchdog in the face and smashing him against some metal piping on the other side of the room. The members look back to see the other Hexed Watchdog had blasted off before standing behind them. He is bleeding and panting but holding strong. 

“Fall back to the retreat spot, now.” The members run away as fast as they can as the Hexed looks back at Watchdog. As he falls from hitting the pipes, he catches himself and stands slightly slumped forward. He kind of rocks to the side a bit before taking a step forward. His arm snaps up, aimed directly for the Hexed before extending to punch the Hexed in the face.

The punch was shot fast, creating a small shockwave from the speed before hitting the Hexed in the face directly. He bleeds from his nose quite a bit as he staggers back. Watchdog pulls his arm back, head still hanging low, then leans far forward and charges him. The Hexed regains his focus and heats up both of his fists. 

‘He’s faster!’ He observes as Watchdog is up close within an instant and delivers a heavy punch that collides with the fist of the Hexed. They hold for a moment before pushing back and delivering a flurry of punches, each colliding with the other. The Hexed grunts and struggles to keep up while Watchdog stares with a blank expression, his eyes only focused on him. The Hexed gets a shocked look. ‘His eyes, they’re glowing.’

Right as he thinks this, he is suddenly heading straight for the floor with a shocked look. Two other arms had come out of Watchdog’s shoulders and punched the back of his head into the ground. The Hexed quickly looks up to see Watchdog holding his leg above his head, getting ready to stomp him out. The Hexed’s eyes widen as he realizes there is a spike made of bone coming out from the bottom of his foot.

He barely rolls out of the way as Watchdog stomps down hard. Quickly following up, the Hexed smacks the back of Watchdog’s legs with his big arm and takes them out from under him. Before Watchdog could hit the ground, the Hexed grabs his face with a heat hand and swings him around. He then pushes hard and does a heat force push, causing Watchdog to go slamming into the wall once again. As he falls off the wall and catches himself on his feet again, he holds his face with a strained look, almost falling over.

“What..?” He whispers. The Hexed is shocked but takes the opportunity.

‘I have to escape!’ He quickly turns and runs away with the strength he has left. Watchdog notices and steps for the chase.

“Wait, stop!-” Before he could get moving, his right leg buckles from beneath him causing him to fall to one knee. “Ah, my leg. It’s.. broken.”

He looks ahead to no longer be able to see the Hexed or the members that got away. The look on his face expressing disappointment in himself and worry. He then hears footsteps behind him. He turns sharply and stands to see a figure approaching him. Watchdog relaxes a bit when he realizes it’s the Chief alongside a couple other officers. 

“Watchdog! You aright?”

“Yeah, I’m alright.”

“You sure? Cause you look like shit.”

Watchdog laughs in response as he nods. Chief looks around for a moment, trying to process the destruction around him.

“What happened here?”

“The Syndicate was after.. Whatever this is.” He turns and motions towards the now half empty large container of green serum. 

“I don’t suppose it was already half empty when we got here.” Chief asks with a worried look. Watchdog shakes his head. The Chief lets out a slightly frustrated sigh. “Well, they’re seemingly all gone now, the ones we didn’t arrest at least. Let’s just focus on cleanup. C’mon.”

He throws Watchdog’s arm around himself to help him keep steady. As they exit the facility, Watchdog sees many members now conscious and restrained being taken out of the building. Outside, there are many more officers and medical on scene. They are still helping people out of the now destroyed facility and treating any wounded. Fullsky is now awake and sitting on the hood of the Chief’s car. She looks up to see the two of them coming out and heading to her. She stands up with a look of concern.

“Watchdog, you’re hurt!”

“Thanks for noticing.” He gives her a slight laugh as she glares at him for the sarcastic comment.

“Why aren’t you healing?”

“I’m not sure.. My body, it feels off for some reason. I’m sure I’ll be alright by tomorrow.” He gives her a reassuring smile while she stares, still with concern. 

“I’m sure you both are tired, but I’m gonna need some answers. This doesn’t seem like the normal weapons run or bank robbery. What is the Devil’s Syndicate up to?” Chief demands with a soft yet firm tone, letting them know they aren’t walking away from this yet. They look at each other for a moment before Fullsky speaks.

“I wish I could tell you, Chief. You know you’re the first to know if we learn anything, but I have no idea. All we know is they were after this serum the facility was making. What it does or what they’re planning to do with it is beyond me.”

Watchdog nods in agreement. Chief sighs and puts his hands on his hips. 

“They’re always a step ahead of us. Cleaning up the loose ends, never leaving so much as a crumb to follow.” He pauses for a moment, thinking. “Alright, you guys stick around if you want. I’m gonna ask around some of these scientists, see if they can at least explain to me what that serum stuff is.”

“That won’t be necessary.” An unfamiliar voice says. They get a look of surprise when they turn around to see a man in a suit, glasses and black, slicked hair behind them. “This facility and its inner workings are all private matters. There will be no need for you to dig any deeper, as you will not get any answers.”

“What are you talking about? I am the chief of Peace Enforcement here in this city. The people are being terrorized by a crime syndicate that your facility is now a part of, you can’t just-” Chief tries to combat his words but is swiftly interrupted.

“I will stop you right there. There is nothing we can’t do. That includes hushing all the personnel working here tonight. Come sunrise, everything here will be taken away and you will never see any of these faces again. Goodnight.”

He looks at Fullsky for a single moment before turning sharply and walking away. As the suit walks away, they notice multiple vans pull up and loads of people in containment suits and enforcer outfits come out. They rush into the building and the scientists who aren’t heavily injured all step into the vans hastily. Chief has a look of disbelief for a moment before he shakes his head. 

“You two head home, or wherever you go. I gotta deal with this. I am not letting this go.” He quickly follows the suit, calling out to him to try to combat this. As he does this, Watchdog and Fullsky look at each other.

“Can you move?” She asks.

“Not very fast, heh..”

She smiles at him as her wings come out from her back. He rolls his eyes as she hugs him from behind.

“Ready?” He nods as they lift off, Fullsky carrying him out. They fly through the night sky for a little while, silent as they’re both quite tired from the events of the night. After a while of a somehow peaceful flight through the warm summer night air, Fullsky speaks.

“Where should I drop you off?”

“We can go to our normal spot.” He responds softly. She nods and so they do. They come into a small clearing in the forest. A small wooden stage with long benches around its front. She sets him down, then lands, her wings going away as she does. 

“How are you feeling?” She asks.

“Better. I think my leg is back to normal. More or less haha.” He lifts his leg then puts it back down as Fullsky giggles back to him. “What about you? Chief said you passed out immediately after your fight.” He says with a look of concern.

“Well, the Chief is being a drama king. I didn’t pass out, I simply took a little power nap. Frontier had gotten a lot stronger since the last time we fought. They had this glowing symbol on their forehead and could-”

“Produce heat from their hands?” He interrupts, but in a reasonable way. She looks surprised for a moment, but nods. She decides to sit down on one of the benches while she speaks, so Watchdog takes a seat next to her. “Yeah, there were two more like that. They were much stronger than any other members before.” He adds.

“Called themselves the ‘Hexed’. Haha, what does that even mean?” She laughs, attempting to put down the ‘Hexed’ idea.

“I have no idea. They talked about these ‘Pillars’ too. They really are a cult.” He says while also laughing. They laugh together a bit, making fun of the Devil’s Syndicate. They slowly stop laughing and sit in silence for a moment before Fullsky speaks up.

“Watchdog.. We’ve known each other for almost a year now. We’ve fought side by side and became a great team but… lately we haven’t been able to stop them. That’s the third time they’ve gotten away with their plans. What if we can’t do it? What if we can’t stop them? Are we… just causing more problems?..”

Watchdog stares at her as she gazes off into the night sky, overlooking the city and forest. He doesn’t answer right away.

“We may not be perfect, but we are doing the right thing. We're trying to stop criminals from hurting people, but that doesn’t mean we’ll always succeed.” He gently puts his hand on hers. “As long as we stick together and keep doing the right thing, we’ll be okay.” He gives her a reassuring look as her eye shines a bit before she nods. They stare at each other for a moment before she shifts her gaze to his mask covering his mouth and nose.

“I’ve never seen you without your mask.” She says softly.

“Yeah.. Maybe one day you will.”

She smiles a bit and pauses. She blushes a little before closing her eyes and leaning a bit closer. Watchdog, realizing what she wants, hesitates. He thinks about it for a moment before sliding his mask down under his chin. He closes his eyes too and leans forward. They slowly and gently kiss each other.

They kiss for a moment, feeling their cut, dry lips and old blood pressed between them before leaning back. Once Fullsky opens her eyes, Watchdog has his mask back on, blushing and looking away. Fullsky blushes heavily too. She then stands up and adjusts herself.

“W-well, at least tonight wasn’t a total failure.” She says with an awkward smile. “Get home safely, Watchdog, and rest well. Y-you never know when the Syndicate might strike next!’ She says, embarrassed about the kiss as her wings shakily come out of her back. 

“Y-yeah.. You too, Fullsky.” He says back. She nods and smiles again before lifting off. He watches her fly away for a moment before looking down and steaming a bit about the kiss. Fullsky flies through the air with an embarrassed smile on her face. She covers her face with her hands and spazzes around a bit as she floats, blushing hard and squealing about it. Still holding her face, she spreads her fingers so her eyes peek through.

‘My first kiss!..’ She thinks happily. Watchdog stands up and adjusts himself as well. Still blushing, he wiggles his leg a bit, double checking his injury, before jumping over the cliff and hopping away. Right after he leaves, a small light from an electric lantern comes up from the trail leading to the spot. Chizuru pops her head up, holding a little basket and a lantern.

“Hm? I thought I heard something. … Oh well!” She smiles and continues up onto the stage.