The Sixth | Ekko

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Ekko's back slid down the brick wall, the Runt's hold that had been pinning his shoulders vanishing after the cry of a fired gun cut through the alleyway.

The runt groaned and grumbled, blood and shimmer beginning to spew from the newly formed hole in his shoulder.

Ekko looked to the side to see Caitlyn standing at the end of the alleyway, holding her gun up to her one good eye, keeping it aimed at the runt while creeping forward. Her dark hair was neatly collected into a low bun, a white hat lined in gold on her head. "Don't. Move."

The runt ran off, taking the same route as the one that had taken the masked woman—a breakaway between two buildings.

Caitlyn dropped the gun from her face. "Shit—" She took off, running after him.

Ekko exhaled, his eyes closing as he collected himself. Then he was back on his feet, picking up his glider from the ground. He was about to take off when a voice caused him to still.

"Ekko?"

He looked down the alley once more, this time finding Vi standing in the same place Caitlyn was moments earlier, her badge and the outlines of her gauntlets catching pink light from a shop's window along the beginning of the alleyway.

Her gauntlets hissed as their mechanical fists unclenched. She eyed him worriedly. "What happened?"

"No time to explain," he said, hopping onto his glider and soaring off. He flew in the direction the runts had run off in, trying to spot the one that had taken the woman. Instead, he found Caitlyn with a fist around her neck, her feet leaving the ground as the runt from before lifted her into the air while choking her.

He hurriedly shifted his flight path and dived downwards while prying his sword bat from his back. Once close enough, he swung, hitting the runt over the head and subsequently causing his hold on Caitlyn's neck to give way.

Caitlyn crumbled to the ground, coughing and holding her throat.

Ekko dismounted his glider and stood between her and the runt, his fingers uncurling around the handle of his bat, only to close around it once again in a securer grasp.

The runt stumbled towards a stack of wooden crates, where he reached out with one hand to hold himself steady. His other rose to his face to splay across his forehead, pinkie and thumb pressing into opposite temples.

Using his board to give him a boost, Ekko sprung into the air and slammed his bat into the runt's head for a second time, effectively knocking him out.

The heap of muscle tumbled over, his heavy body hitting the stone ground hard.

"You good?" Ekko asked, looking over his shoulder to where Caitlyn was still collecting herself on the ground.

Caitlyn staggered to her feet, her half-gloved hand dropping from her neck. "I have to cuff him," she said, her voice scratchy. She pulled a set of cuffs from her uniform's pocket.

Ekko glanced at the cuffs and his eyebrows creased in confusion. "You sure those'll fit him?"

She stepped forward wordlessly. She extracted something from the right side of her rifle's stock—a peculiarly shaped key—and pushed it into a hole in the centre that attached the cuffs to one another. The rings of the cuff broke open and extended, allowing her to slip them onto the runt's wrists before they clamped down, rejoining into the perfect fit.

Ekko watched, impressed. He stepped forward to grab his board from the ground. "What are you guys doing here?"

A group of armoured Enforcers arrived, grouping around Caitlyn like wolves to an alpha.