Marvin stares down his opponents. His mind racing.

  *I really should stop listening to that guy. What am I going to do?*

  *Minutes Earlier. Before Marvin came up the elevator.*

  Mikael pulls Marvin aside. "How's your training with your Soul Tool coming along?"

  "Good enough, I guess." He says.

  "Great. You're going to help me test out a theory." Mikael says.

  "Theory? I don't like where this is-"

  "Relax, it'll be fine." Mikael says. "All you have to do is take the elevator and return to ground level. Once you're there, find the intruders. Try not to give away your position, and if you can, return here via the elevator. If you can't, then, you'll have to keep the people there occupied for about two minutes."

  "That's the plan? What if the people there are skilled fighters?"

  "Of course they are. They likely came here trying to capture me." Mikael says. "Run along now. I'll be right with you."

  *The Present.*

  One of the masked assailants steps forward. "Almost eviscerated you back there." The voice comes off as feminine, and their physical appearance seems somewhat androgynous. "I apologize for that..." They continue.

  "That was you?" Marvin asks, trying to stall for time.

  Another one steps forward. "What are you doing?" A deep, brash voice comes out. The person's body, well-built and toned, obviously belongs to a man.

  "I'm trying to be polite here." The first one replies. "We're capturing him, not scaring him."

  "Don't be so naive. You think he's not going to put up a fight?" The man retorts.

  "Um..." Marvin interjects. "What are you talking about? Who are you?"

  "Oh? You don't know who we are?" The first person feigns surprise. "Surprised your *partner* didn't tell you how we all dress..." They push the other man away and walk forward, coming closer to Marvin. "We are Winnowers."

  "Ah..." Marvin says. "Winnowers? My partner?" He asks.

  "Don't try to play dumb. Mikael Chen." The person says.

  "Stop this pointless chatter, Otto." Another one of the four says. "We came here to get you. You are needed by the **Sibet** family of Winnowers, under the Council of Winnowers." He says to Marvin.

  "I don't know what any of that means, but I'm not going anywhere." Marvin replies.

  "That's what I like to hear!" the final person says and leaps from their position, flying ahead of the first person, and landing in right in front of Marvin, who quickly steps back. They have long flowing hair and a nice feminine body.

  "You're coming with us, and that's not your choice." She says, and pivots her right foot into the ground, before turning to strike him with a hip kick. Marvin is thrown back several feet, and in a flash, she appears behind him to strike him with an elbow, planting him firmly in the concrete.

  Marvin coughs up some spit, followed by blood. He crawls to his feet and picks up his staff.

  "You can't be that stupid." The woman says. "You actually plan on fighting?"

  "Might as well *try*, even if it doesn't amount to much." Marvin says, and flips his staff, readying himself in a fighting stance.

  The woman sighs. "Otto, Bismarck..." She calls out to the androgyne and the big, burly man. "I'm going to be sparring with him, I hope you don't mind?"

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "Fucking hell, Elena." The man says, as the androgyne shrugs.

  She readies her stance, and throws a kick at Marvin's head. He blocks it and immediately drops to the ground.

  *The weight of the kick is **THAT** much?* He thinks to himself and immediately gets out of the way as she stomps the floor where his head should've been.

  Marvin spins around and swings his staff at her, which she parries easily. Marvin goes on the offensive, moving into different attack styles and techniques with the staff.

  "He's quite good at this..." Otto says.

  "Skilled." Bismarck corrects. "He's skilled with the staff, but he doesn't stand a chance otherwise."

  Marvin continues to skillfully use his staff to attack, as the woman keeps parrying and dodging his strikes. Suddenly, she stomps her foot into the ground and kicks Marvin in the side of the face, which he manages to block with his staff by a stroke of luck. She quickly transitions into an uppercut and lands a hit squarely on his jaw, knocking him out cold.

  Bismarck walks over and picks up Marvin's unconscious body as his soul tool dissipates. The woman, Elena, turns to him whilst holding her fist. "That took long enough. Let's get out of here already."

  The four of them join up at the entrance to the building and walk forward into the junkyard. Before they can progress further, a slimy substance drops right in front of them, burning through the sand. The four of them look up to see the source, and right above them are Mikael and Matty.

  "Going somewhere with my friend, Otto?" Mikael says in a taunting tone.

  "You're not going to rile me up, Mikey. Not today." Otto responds.

  "How nice, we've got two ex-communicated people on the roof together." Elena says.

  "At least I've got a reason to keep living outside of the society..." Matty retorts. "But you wouldn't know that, slaving away for the best paying Preter family has always been a skill of yours."

  "You-" Elena is upset by the response.

  "Anyway, can I have my friend back? It's a 2v4, it hardly seems fair." Mikael says.

  "You think we're just going to hand him over-" Bismarck says, but is cut off as Mikael's hand suddenly appears in front of his face. Mikael pins him into the ground with one arm, leaving the other members in shock.

  "I know you won't, so I'll fight you anyway." Mikael says, and manifests his black dagger.

  The other man manifests a katana and rushes him. Mikael dodges his plunge, kicking the sword into the ground and stabs him in the back, taking care not to bury the dagger too deep in his body. Elena makes to attack Mikael from behind, but her path is cut off by a blood red jellyfish suddenly appearing behind him.

  "Never thought I'd see this thing again. You sure know how to bring up bad memories, Matty."

  "Still haven't gotten over that whole thing with *Dawn*?" Matty teases. "You sure know how to keep a grudge."

  "I think it's pretty weird that you refer to your tool as a person." She says and draws out her own Soul Tool, a bright green whip.

  Bismarck gets up again and stares down Mikael.

  "Otto..." He says. "Take the kid and go on ahead. We'll handle these guys."

  Otto laughs at Bismarck. "I think that was a bit too cocky, but sure. I'll give you a head start." He picks up Marvin by the arm and leaps into the air. "We aren't through, Chen." Otto says to Mikael as he takes another leap.

  Mikael focuses his gaze on Bismarck. "So...how do you want to do this?"