Monsters and Men

One Step Ahead

What happened to the man I knew / It's a little late for an interview / Feeling a lot of deja vu again

~~~

The voice echoed through the hall, although there were no true acoustics in the place. James and Squid exchange glances of relief and turn to the voice that might just be their saviour.

Over by the staircase stands Justin, fully healed up, hands clenched in fists. It's almost cliché how he's stanced, up on the second step of the staircase. He ignores the other two looking at him, instead focusing a piercing stare right at Dan.

Dan slowly turns and begins clapping slowly, glaring.

"There you are. We were wondering when you were going to join your little friends." He says, in a condescending tone. "Or were you learning your little new powers?"

"...I see you know." Justin squints, looking at James and Squid. James shrugs and shakes his head, and so he turns back to Dan. "Leave them alone, vex. And leave Dan alone, too." He walks down the steps, hand on hip.

The vex gives an inhuman smirk and points his axe towards Justin.

"Fine then. Go on then, Think."

And so, yet another fight begins.

Breathe in, breath out. This is the final fight, he can't mess this up. If he does, he might screw up everything, and they might not get Dan back. He tried his best to learn as quickly as possible. Whether the spells would work or not he was unsure of, but he hoped and begged that it would. He grabs his sword out of his hotbar and holds it tight in his grip.

Bracing himself, he lunges over to Dan and begins swinging. His sword slices through the air, and he already feels stronger. Dan blocks the hit with the axe, and the two scrape against each other's weapons. Justin makes eye contact and registers just how piercing the sky blue eyes of the vex are. He grimaces before swiping hard to his right, pushing Dan to his right side. Dan slides across the floor, still smiling wide and gripping tight to his axe.

A burst of light comes out Dan's back again, allowing the wings to return. Justin makes sure to quickly wipe his eyes, knowing full well he can't afford to get distracted. Right, the vex have wings, of course they can fly. Dan propels off the floor, flying into the roof and then swooping down. He kicks into Justin's stomach, causing him to recoil and wince. Multiple slices of the axe only lead to Justin slowly backing away each time. Even if his shirt gets sliced, he still manages to avoid taking damage. He wonders if now would be a good time to bring out the powers, but decides against it.

Dan pauses for a second, catching Think off guard. Then he slices across his waist. Before he knows it, Justin's rolled over on the floor, narrowly missing the blade of the axe. Before he can react and catch his breath back, Dan shoves his boot into his chest and his axe is back up at his forehead. It's as similar to the first fight as a paper is to a card, and this fight would be the card. This time, Justin's strong. He thinks.

Dan raises the axe up, not saying a word but simply giving a psychotic smile. But then an arrow comes between the two, cleanly slicing the end off his tie. The bit of fabric that's left falls into Justin's chest. Dan looks offended, before whipping around to the direction the arrow came from.

Oh, and his friends are there too.

Squid and James are standing up now, and James is still poised with an empty bow pointing at Dan. He reaches for another arrow, only to realise he has none left in his inventory, and he mentions as much.

"I'm out of arrows..." He sounds terrified, realising there's nothing else he can do to aid in this fight.

Justin rolls over onto his front and pushes himself up, turning to James and responds. "Get out of here then! You too, Squid!"