Poison City

 

Marcus did not stop with this opponent being thrown back on the ground, injured and almost incapacitated. He rushed towards the direction of Sitch, as he was under attack from two of the perps that ambushed them, and Sitch did not seem like one that could fight.

 

Another man in a gray hoodie and a pair of torn up jeans emerged from the side with a dagger in hand and charged at Marcus. The dagger’s blade seemed to be made of a matte alloy with a line of text engraved along one side. For some reason, Marcus sensed grave danger from the mere presence of this dagger, and he had no choice but to face it with great caution and full focus.

 

The man wielding this dagger seemed to have some experience and martial arts training, just like the previous one. But his forms were still quite messy, his stance was weak, and his rhythm of attack was all over the place. After a few jabs, this man’s main arm with the dagger was grabbed by Marcus. And with a quick twist, the man’s fingers loosened from the pain and the dagger dropped on the ground. Then Marcus stomped the ground with his left foot as he pulled this disarmed opponent in and threw him over the shoulder.

 

One metal bolt shot from above at Marcus once again, and Marcus had but a moment to dodge it - the bolt went through his jacket and left a tear on his pants. But luckily it did not leave him with any wound.

 

“Thud! Stomp!” The two men ganging up on Sitch did not pull any punches, even though he was twitching and vomiting blood on the ground. When Marcus rushed to their side and knocked them on the ground, Sitch was barely conscious.

 

“Fuck!” Marcus cursed as he tested Sitch’s breathing - it was very weak, on top of that he could hear this poor guy wheezing as he breathed, it appeared that unless he was sent to a hospital right away, he would have no chance surviving it.

 

Yet another metal bolt came for Marcus’ back from above - this time Marcus had to take it with his back - because if he was not in the way, the bolt would have landed on Sitch. The bolt tore a long slash along his jacket and slid off the left side of his back. The momentum and the bladed head of the bolt left a long cut on his skin, and blood started pouring out. Marcus pulled Sitch up and tried to run from the spot, but the man with a snake head tattooed on his left face jumped into the air, and with a loud grunt, he swung his chained hand-scythe downward at the both of them.

 

Marcus pushed the ground with his feet once again to propel him and Sitch sideways. This brought them right over the edge of the platform, falling toward a wooden shack under it.

 

The crumbled shack barely broke their fall, and Marcus had to change his position to land on his back so that Sitch would not sustain more injury from the fall. The cloaked figures on the buildings aiming their crude crossbows at them opened fire once again, and all of the bolts missed their marks due to the wood panels on the shack ceiling.

 

“Hang in there!” Marcus tried to infuse a little bit of his Qi into Sitch’s body, it should provide some help for him to recover or at least not get worse, but Sitch’s breathing was still weak and wheezing, and there seemed nto be o sign that he would wake up anytime soon.

 

Before the shack broke down and collapsed completely, Marcus rushed out from the front door and started running the other way. But more armed mobs appeared around the roads and in a surrounding formation, some of whom even had similar snake head tattoos on their arms and necks.

 

“Back off.” Marcus ordered with a stern tone, while trying to reach for his phone in his back pocket.

 

None of the mobs budged or responded, and almost at the same time, all of them started lunging at Marcus with their arms raised, showing all kinds of weapons: metal pipes, bike chains, crude hand axes and even long knives.

 

Marcus chose a direction with the least amount of people and rushed towards it with full force. The two men in his way tried to stop him by blocking his way, but with his Qi fully activated, they were met with a kick on the chest and a shoulder bump, which sent them tumbling on the ground like a couple of rag dolls.

 

But there was more ambush - another man with a snake head tattooed on his face wielding a long, coarse and curved sword broke through a dirty and corrupted wood panel wall and swung his sword at Marcus and Sitch. Marcus had to quickstep to the side and barely evaded this attack. But the next moment, this man flailed his left hand in the air, and a handful of metal spikes shot at Marcus and Sitch like pellets from a shotgun.

 

“Fuck!” Marcus cursed and jumped backwards to a corner. Some of the metal spikes poked through his clothes and skin, leaving him with tingling feelings on his chest and leg. But he was more worried about Sitch at the moment. Warm blood gushed out from Sitch and poured onto Marcus’ arms and shoulders, coating half of his body in red.

 

The metal shards, while not causing Marcus almost any harm or pain, had penetrated Sitch’s left arm, his neck and his abdomen, even when Marcus was protecting most of his body. The man who unleashed these shards lunged at Marcus once again with his curved sword raised, and without even a hint of hesitation, he swung the sword down with his full might. His light blue Qi glowed on the blade, and left a trail of light in the air as the sword traveled. If Marcus was just any regular person, he would have been cleanly slashed in half.

 

But Marcus was no ordinary person or detective, after realizing that Sitch was probably beyond saving, he stomped the ground and ejected himself away from the scene, where he could place Sitch gently down on the ground, temporarily away from the mob. The attack with a curved sword missed and struck the ground, causing pieces of cement to fly in all directions.

 

There was a wooden bar he could not wrap his fingers around where he landed, so he picked it up with both his hands. The man wielding a curved sword leapt towards Marcus once again, and this time there was even more Qi infused on the sword. Marcus charged right at the man as well, with the wooden bar raised high.

 

“Boom!” Marcus swung the wooden bar downward at the ground before he could even collide with his opponent. Hi Qi was continuously pouring into the bar, so much so that the entire bar showed signs of crumbling before this attack. 

 

The tip at the far end of the bar exploded on impact. Splinters infused with Marcus’ Qi splashed at the man at point blank range, a payback of bigger scale.

 

The man yelled in pain from the splinters peppered all over the front of his body. His feet missed a few steps and fell down on his face due to his momentum. Marcus, taking advantage of this opportunity, immediately rushed forward. Before the opponent could come back from the pain, his right hand delivered a devastating palm strike onto this man’s chest. His opponent was instantly sent flying backwards and crashed through the brittle wall of a wooden two-storey warehouse. The other members of the mob, who were chasing after Marcus flailing their weapons in the air earlier, were immediately shocked and deterred. Some of them slipped on the ground, others just started standing at a distance and staring at Marcus in silence.

 

The tingling sensations from the metal shards seemed to have minds of their own - they crawled from their original position and expanded to the surrounding area, and even into Marcus’ muscles. It was clear to him now, that these metal shards were laced with some kind of toxin. He did not know what this toxin was, but the main effect of it seemed to be muscle and sense numbing.

 

“How do you feel now, copper?” Just this moment, a hoarse voice came from somewhere behind the mobs. It was the first man with a tattoo on his face, who wielded the chained hand scythe and short spear. Now, with marks of blood on the corners of his mouth and below his nostrils, he walked slowly with a limp towards Marcus spinning his hand scythe: “How does it feel? Enjoying our concoction yet?”

 

“Not good enough, not even gonna give me a hangover.” Marcus scoffed and stood up straight, pushing his Qi to flow through the meridians in an attempt to push the toxins out of his body.

 

“Oh, really?” The man smiled, then raised his right hand, pointing Marcus’ gun at him: “How about now?”

 

Before this man could pull the trigger, Marcus roared and threw what was left of his wooden bar at the man and charged forward right after. The sound of gunshot echoed in the night, the bullet bounced on the wooden bar, destroyed a big chunk of it and grazed Marcus’ shoulder. That was all the damage it did, as Marcus managed to knock the man down with his elbow.

 

This man tumbled on the ground, then he immediately jumped back up. The gun flew to some place neither he nor Marcus could see, and he just put his left hand behind his back while wielding his chain weapon with his right. 

 

The fatigue and soreness from Marcus’ arms and legs started pulling him down. With the shards completely removed from his body and his Qi following inside him, the effects of the toxins were wearing off - but not fast enough.

 

The hopped left and right as he gradually approached Marcus. His snake head tattoo looked extra ferocious and venomous. It was clear he was taking the time to wait for the toxins to weaken Marcus. 

 

Marcus, however, could not afford to wait any longer. His Qi seeped through the surface of his body and blew his now slightly ragged clothes like night breezes, sweat started coming out of his pores, and his muscles tightened, ready for a strike.

 

“Boom!” A small dent was left on the ground as Marcus launched himself at the man, pebbles and debris flew from the dent made by his feet in the opposite direction. The man with a snake head tattoo swung his left arm and tossed the short spear at Marcus with full force in an attempt to deter his opponent. But this was what Marcus was waiting for - his left arm reached in front of him and grabbed the short spear by the shaft. With the friction decelerating the spear, his right hand managed to grab onto the chain. The short spear still had half an arm’s length of distance before it could hit Marcus before its momentum was fully consumed. Then with a forceful pull, the feet of Marcus’ opponent were lifted off the ground as he flew toward Marcus involuntarily.

 

The man with a snake head tattoo collided with Marcus’ shoulder and was sent flying once more with blood spewing from his mouth and nostrils. But this was not before he pulled something from his back and stabbed Marcus in the lower waist. Even with the protection of his Qi, the thing still penetrated Marcus’ defenses and sunk into his flesh.

 

It was a dagger, the same dagger with a matte metal blade and a line of text engraved along one side of it. A sudden coldness radiated from the wound on his waist and swept through the entirety of Marcsus’ body, weakening him once more. 

 

For a brief moment, he felt that he needed to actually fight to keep his eyes open and his legs from noodling onto the ground. The grim sky turned red, and the chillness of the night wind became the objects of his focus - he must not fall down, or fall asleep for that matter.

 

“Blood Rainbow!” Someone’s horrified scream jolted Marcus’ muscles along with the hairs on the back of his neck and his eyelids: “Blood Rainbow! Hide!”