Sylus had almost immediately raised the bars to his cell after Alex left, but the door to the ritual room was still locked. A sense of foreboding settled heavily in his stomach as he resisted the urge to bang on the door or call out to Alex.
Sylus had much done better than he expected at selling Raymond’s betrayal and Matt's escape, but when Markov sealed the ritual room instead of coming out to investigate, Matt thought that it might have worked a little too well.
Gods dammit!
Sylus shouldn’t have said that he escaped from the cell. If Markov thought that Matt was still locked up, he might have opened the door to see what was going on. However, with Matt on the loose, Markov would never risk running into him – collared or not.
“Is there a way to override the lock from out here?” Matt whispered urgently to Sylus as soon as Markov slammed the cover on the speculatorium.
Sylus looked between Matt and the massive control panels and held up his hands helplessly.
“I have no idea! I can probably figure it out, but Markov only wanted me to know enough to-achh!”
Matt shoved Sylus out of the way and ran towards the control panels, but the restraints around his wrists and neck kept him from interacting with any of the magic. A growl of frustration escaped his lips, and he slammed the panel with a fist.
“Hey, are you crazy? You're going to break something!” Sylus snapped angrily and pushed him aside to get to the control panel. His fingers darting around and tweaking the various crystals, switches, and panels with such practiced ease that he was able to glare at Matt while he worked. A surprising flash of steel hardened his features for the first time that Matt could remember, and he could barely recognize the timid, fearful man he had come to see him as.
“If you’re going to throw a tantrum like a child, you might as well get out of my way and go stand by the door. Markov may have tried to keep me in the dark, but I specialize in this kind of formation magic. I just need a few minutes to tweak the parameters of the locking mechanism. These arrays are way too close together and is causing bleed through. If I take this... and activate it alongside.... I should be able to use that to inverse the...”
Sylus trailed off into incoherent babble as he continued to work and Matt shifted back and forth awkwardly for a minute before shuffling away to lean against the wall next to the locked door.
He could hear muffled bangs and sounds coming from the ritual room that Matt recognized as fighting, but the magic on the door kept him from hearing anything specific.
Come on kid, you got this.
Alex had shown some real backbone when he accepted this plan, and even more so by following through with it, despite clearly knowing that it would most likely get him killed. Markov’s need for him was the only reason he was still alive, but that advantage would continue to shrink the longer it took for Sylus to open the damn door. Growing restless, Matt moved away from the wall and paced a short circuit in front of the door.
If we get through this, Matt vowed. I will do everything I can to help him adjust to this world.
Minutes ticked by as Matt continued to pace back and forth.
Finally, he heard the locks in the door disengage and he bolted inside.
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
The air whooshed out of Alex as he was slammed to the floor. Again.
Markov hoisted Alex up off the ground until he was back on his knees and attempted to put the collar around his neck, but Alex quickly punched Markov twice in the thigh with his left hand and his right uppercut connected with the forearm of the arm Markov had around his throat. The attacks were pathetically weak, but the secondary shockwaves from the escalating resonating-force damage each strike was enough to make Markov drop him and stumble as the muscle in his leg locked up. Alex grinned despite the pain he was in and attacked again. His foot caught him solidly between the legs and Markov folded like a lawn chair in a heavy wind due to Alex enhancing the attack with additional stamina.
Markov had toyed with Alex at the beginning. He had let the outworlder come to him, relying on nothing but his bronze rank attributes to throw the idiot around like a ragdoll whenever he attacked, but as the fight progressed and Alex started landing more and more hits, he realized that Alex had manipulated him into making three mistakes.
At first, it seemed like Alex was taking the fight even less seriously than he was. He would attack almost lackadaisically, a wide fool’s grin on his face while he made nonsensical jokes about being his stepchild every time Markov knocked him to the ground. The outworlder continually taunted him, saying that he should at least get a few free hits to make it even. That was Markov’s first mistake. As soon as he obliged, Alex had quickly drained a potion to replenish his stamina.
“You really think that’s going to make a difference?” Markov jeered.
Alex’s attacks were more focused now, but he was still slow, and his special attacks hardly did any damage. Markov even let most of the attacks land to prove how weak Alex was in comparison, taunting him every time he shrugged off a blow; and that was his second mistake.
Alex’s special attack was getting stronger each time he used it. Not only that, but Alex was aiming for the same spots repeatedly, the prolonged exposure to the void energy infused into the attacks were actually starting to eat away at his body despite the rank disparity between them.
The two men continued to bounce around the room as though they were merely roughhousing until, the right side of Markov’s face, his left thigh, and both of his biceps began to feel like they were being slowly flayed. Despite that moronic grin plastered on the outworlders face, his attacks were slowly becoming quicker and more aggressive. Markov didn’t even realize what was happening until he felt his leg start to quiver with pain and from the effort to keep himself balanced.
The third and final thing was more of a realization more than an outright mistake, but it angered Markov more than anything else the outworlder had done so far: The outworlder was a better fighter. It was obvious he was holding back at the beginning, but that wasn’t what bothered him. Markov had two ranks and at least a decade of experience over this boy that made the gap between their power insurmountable. He was purposefully not using any of his abilities so that he wouldn’t accidentally kill the boy, and that simple fact hasn’t changed. What bothered him was that the outworlder was a better fighter than him.
The moment Markov realized what the attacks were doing to his body, a change came over the outworlder as though he was waiting for that very moment. The humorous grin that had been there the whole fight finally fell away, leaving only a blank, emotionless mask in its place. The outworlder unleashed an onslaught of quick attacks, as he gracefully avoided every attempt he made to grab him. Markov knew then that the difference he had in raw power, this damned boy had in pure fighting talent.
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Markov let out a roar of frustration, and he saw that emotionless mask flicker for the briefest moment. It was enough. He grabbed Alex by the arm and slammed him into the ground. He was about to snap the suppression collar around his neck when two quick blows turned the muscles in his left leg to jelly. The hand around the outworlder’s throat was flung away from another blow. A mischievous smirk returned to the outworlders face as they briefly locked eyes right before Markov’s vision went white and then black as the outworlder’s foot made contact with his groin.
Alex immediately rolled away from Markov and snatched up the suppression collar he had dropped.
Markov was on his hands and knees, loudly retching. Alex bolted towards him with the collar but was knocked backwards when a silver spike flew through the air and buried itself high on his chest, just underneath his collarbone. The magic in the air began to slowly fade away and he heard Vi’s voice briefly calling to him as though she was far away before that too was gone.
Alex fell to his knees as the strength was sapped from his body, all his powers completely suppressed.
Markov muttered something and his body began to glow in the same white light that appeared when he healed his nose earlier. After a few moments Markov got back to his feet and stared triumphantly at Alex. He said something as he approached, but Alex couldn’t understand him. His whole body felt glitchy and overcharged. It was like his body was trapped in an old television with bad reception while being electrocuted at the same time.
Markov spoke again as he walked towards him, but Alex just stared at him in confusion. It wasn’t until he saw Markov pause and laugh that he knew what was wrong. He thought his hearing was being scrambled because of whatever the spike was doing to him, but it wasn’t affecting his hearing, it was affecting his understanding.
Markov bent to take the collar that was still in his hand when the door to the chamber burst open.
Matt came sprinting in, but Markov turned into a blur. The next thing Alex knew, he was on his feet and Markov was standing behind him, one hand around his throat, and the other on the spike protruding from his chest.
Matt came to a halt, his hands raised and talking in a language that Alex did not understand. Markov yelled something back and put pressure on the spike. Alex yelled, and tried to claw at the spike, but Markov barely seemed to notice.
Matt said something repeatedly and took a step back before looking at Alex and asking him a question. “I can’t-” Alex started but Markov pushed the protruding end of the spike up in a silent but clear warning that he should keep his mouth shut.
Instead, Alex flicked a finger towards his mouth and then his ear before minutely shaking his head. He knew Matt saw the gesture, but he gave no indication if he understood and he turned his attention to Markov.
The two continued to converse in a language that vaguely reminded him of Russian and the time Alex spent in Croatia, but also completely different. Alex realized that his mind was actually wandering with the thought when he noticed that Markov had been slowly dragging Alex towards the back of the chamber. Although Matt was being careful not to look like he was advancing, he was stepping forward to maintain the same distance every time Markov shuffled backwards. Frustration was plain on Matt’s face, and it was clear he thought Markov was going to kill Alex unless Matt allowed him escape with Alex as his hostage.
A brilliantly stupid idea came to Alex when Markov wrenched up on the spike when Matt started getting to close and he tried to surreptitiously get his attention. Alex still had the suppression collar in the hand down by his side, and he shook it like a tambourine before lightly tapping the spike with his other finger. He repeated the signals twice more before Matt’s eyes briefly flicked to him while he was speaking and he shook his head. A knowing smirk slowly lit up Alex’s face as Matt’s darkened with acceptance.
Markov was shorter than Alex, so he had to make sure stand up straight in order to get the correct angle. Alex took a deep breath to ready himself and Matt started raising his voice, making sure he had Markov’s attention. As soon as Markov started to reply, Alex wrenched the end of the spike up as he threw the collar to Matt along with the dimensional bag Markov kept at his waist. As he hoped, Markov began to stab the spike deeper, and Alex grasped the spike with both hands. However, instead of trying to resist Markov, Alex helped him. With a guttural bellow, Alex stood on tiptoe and fully impaled himself, the tip of the spike exploding out of Alex’s back and sinking into the side of Markov’s neck right above his own collarbone.
Alex kept pushing the spike deeper until Matt collided with them both and they all crashed to the ground in a head of tangled limbs. Curses and blows flew, and Alex must have blacked out for a second because he was suddenly sitting on the ground, propped up against the back wall. There were open manacles on the ground next to him as well as an empty potion bottle. He brought a hand up to his chest, and although it was still tender, the wound had completely closed.
Drunkenly, he got to his feet and staggered over to where Matt and Markov were fighting. Matt had been able to remove the manacles, but currently both men had collars around their neck and were covered in fresh wounds. Alex took his out the last stamina potion and drained it, jumping as Vi’s voice filled his head.
Alex sighed with relief as energy flooded his body along with the comforting sense of Vi.
Markov had tripped Matt with the cart of tools and was raising what looked like a pair of bolt cutters to bring down on his head while he was stunned, but Alex ran up behind Markov and hit him in the kidneys with an enhanced Black Nova. Markov snarled more in annoyance than pain, but Matt followed it up with a kick to the stomach. While he was hunched over, Alex landed two more regular Black Novas on his ribs and then ducked when Markov swung the bolt cutters in retaliation. Markov’s missed attack made him off balance and Alex grabbed his extended arm and leaned forward, tossing Markov unceremoniously over his shoulder where he landed flat on his back away from them.
Alex helped Matt to his feet and gave him a reproachful look.
“I thought you said you could kick his ass even with that collar on? He would have brained you if I didn’t step in to help.”
Matt stared thoughtfully at Markov, who was struggling to get to his feet.
“Maybe I’m losing my touch.” Matt admitted. “You want to help me finish taking out the trash?”
Alex gave him a wolfish smile and turned to face Markov who was backing up.
“I’d love to.”
The two men pounced on Markov, and he swung the bolt cutters in a backhand at Alex’s head with blinding speed. Alex leaned back, but he was too slow. Matt darted in and grabbed Alex by the neck, pulling him back just enough that the metal barely grazed the tip of his nose.
“Be careful!” Matt warned, but Alex immediately pressed forward, black energy swirling in his eyes as a Black Nova hit Markov in his unprotected face. Matt kicked the side of Markov's knee and as he fell forward Alex jumped, his own knee once again catching Markov in the face. The shockwave of the additional resonating-force damage sent him reeling backwards but Matt grabbed him by the robes and pulled him forward as he swung his fist. Markov’s nose broke with a crunch and Alex rained quick and light body shots to rack up more stacks on his Black Nova as he circled around behind him.
Markov was starting to get fist sized holes in his robes from being dismantled by the void energy and Alex focused his attention on those spots. Every time Markov was about to retaliate against Alex, Matt would jump and land his own attacks. Cracks started to appear on Markov’s face as though he was turning into dirt, and pretty soon Alex didn’t even need Matt’s help to dodge his counter attacks.
Alex hit Markov once more in his already ruined nose with an enhanced Black Nova to reset the scaling stamina cost and the bones in his face visibly shifted. A dim thought of disgust at what he was doing flickered across Alex’s mind, but was forgotten when Markov unexpectedly lunged at Alex, knocking them both to the ground. Markov tried to choke Alex and in response, black void energy enveloped both of Alex’s hands as he grabbed Markov’s face and tried to push him off.
Alex’s vision started to dim, but the black cracks spreading across Markov’s skin were faster. Markov screamed in pain and Alex shoved hard, rolling on top of Markov. Using most of the stamina he had left, he brought both fists down in an enhanced Black Nova so hard that Markov's head burst like a rotten fruit dropped from the top of a building.