Bring The Heat

46. Sunset Falling (GOJS ARC 17)

"That evil bastard... he must've killed so many people to make those beasts. I understand that the first kill's always the hardest, but you chose a good one." Ben said bluntly, with a spit of disgust in his voice when he thought about how many innocent people were sacrificed for such a purely evil power.

But being reminded that she had just killed someone didn't seem to much console Robin, even if it was out of necessity. Mint gave Ben a silent, scathing glare that let him know to keep his mouth shut.

The poor girl was in shambles, her hands and face still stained with their attacker's blood. But she was seeming less pale, and had stopped shaking, so the group decided they needed to keep moving the second they were patched up.

"That damn knight is gonna be somewhere around here, waiting for night... I don't think we can make it out of Jewel before then anymore, can we?" Mint inquired, concerned.

"No," Ben responded, "but we'll be safe with vehicles. I had an in with the Wolves, they should have some scrapjobs in a garage nearby. That's our best shot."

-(10 MINUTES LATER)-

The trio had cautiously, yet swiftly, slipped down alleys and streets until they reached the Wolves' garage. The whole time they watched their backs in complete silence, knowing that the knight could pounce from any shadow... but nothing. As the sun sunk towards the horizon, the dancing shadows only loomed larger and larger.

"Guys! I don't know how to drive!" Robin exclaimed.

She seemed to see this as a loss, but the other two ignored her concerns as they got to work examining the vehicles. Upon finding that only two had keys in the stash, Ben hopped in one, and Mint grabbed Robin by the arm. She pulled her over to the back of the car and sat her in it, buckling her into her seat.

"You're gonna go alone?" Robin asked sorrowfully.

"I'll be fine," Mint returned with an affectionate smile, "see you on the other side!"

After giving her a quick kiss on the forehead, Mint went around to the driver's seat, leaning over Ben.

"Seatbelt." she stated, plugging it in for him. He began to sigh, but then she whispered in his
ear;

"If I go down, get the both of you out of here. Don't come back for me."

Ben looked up at her and nodded solemnly, before Mint returned to her optimistic facade for Robin.

"Good luck! If shit goes south, we'll recollect back here." she said, tapping the back of the car affectionately before getting into her own. But as the others pulled out of the garage, she noticed a glint from the wall.

She quickly hopped out of her car to grab it, before admiring it closely. A sawn-off shotgun... and in pretty damn good condition! Unable to resist a nice gun, Mint rifled through the set of drawers until she found multiple handfuls of shotgun shells, pocketing them and gingerly pulling out of the garage in pursuit of her friends.

By the time the group had returned to the main road, Jewel Street had already become submerged in inky blackness. All the group had was a sense of direction and whatever the cars' headlights were showing them.

As powerful as Twig was, nobody ruled Jewel Street. But this deep darkness, this overpowering night... they were in the knight's domain now.

The trio kept their wits about them, each painstakingly aware at every moment that they could be attacked from almost any angle. Robin stared nervously into the cold, lonely darkness flying by out of her window...

Ben checked his wing mirror repeatedly, a paranoid catch in his breath each time. Reflected in them were Mint's headlights, letting him know she was still following safely.

She was a decent ways behind, and had chosen to go alone because she knew the knight had a personal vendetta against her. She couldn't risk endangering Ben and Robin. In her lap rested the sawn off shotgun, fully loaded, and within perfect reach of the hand which had some of the fastest draws on Jewel Street. She was ready for anything.

Suddenly, her confident focus was broken by an ear piercing scrape coming from behind her. Looking back, she saw a long metal blade slicing through the roof of the car, before a huge gauntlet shot through the slit and peeled back the metal aggressively.

Mint stared up into the darkness, and it stared back. For the first time, the knight spoke.

"Round 3." it seethed, speaking in a gruff, intimidating woman's voice.

Mint couldn't help but grin in respect for it's relentless, spiteful hatred, before whipping out her sawn-off before the knight could react, and blasting it nearly point blank. Sparks bounced away as the shells slammed powerfully into the knight's armour, sending it staggering backward with a purple flare fizzling away in it's chest before it was quickly reabsorbed into the murky night.

Grinning madly with adrenaline, Mint turned her attention back to the road ahead. Three fights now... seemed like she had a rival of sorts!

Purple light danced across the side of her vision. Mint barely had time to turn and look before the knight's fist smashed through the window, and dragged her out of the car violently by her hair, and onto the road. Wow, it seemed pretty pissed off!

As she yelled out in furious pain, Mint left off a ghost shell into the knight's chest, causing it to drop her and stumble back as Mint gingerly rolled to her feet. Before it could react, she spun around and loosed a second shell into the knight. The speedy shot glanced heavily off of the knight's armour, but still the purple flare fizzled before it could disappear. At least it would help with seeing that bastard coming...

Mint began to run away in the opposite direction the group was headed, giving them a safe escape. She ducked into an alley and slammed into a fire door of a building, rushing inside.

As she dashed through the building, Mint dragged her hand across the wall until she felt a light switch, and flicked it on. Quickly, she noted her surroundings.

She was in a small storage building, and had run herself down a dead end, blocked on one side by a thick concrete wall, and on the other by a towering shelf of boxes and metal frames.

She spun around to face the door she had entered from, reloading and cocking her shotgun as she stood firm. Furious, the knight stomped in, stopping when it saw Mint. It's grip tightened on it's sword's hilt, and Mint emphatically jolted her shotgun. The two were in a standoff.

-(WITH ROBIN AND BEN)-

Ben glanced once more at his wing mirror, then took a dreading double take.

"Shit..." he muttered under his breath, before remembering what Mint had said, and sealing his lips.

"What?" Robin asked, horrified at the idea that something had gone wrong. Her head spun around to look at what had caused Ben's reaction.

The headlights of Mint's car sunk into the distance as it fell back into darkness.

Robin gasped, and Ben tried to ignore her, hoping she hadn't seen anything. But her body was moving before she could even think about it - and Ben could do nothing to stop her as she shot a vine out the car window to drag her out of the speeding vehicle, disappearing into the night.