Lyle and Marco both sat on the couch, leaning back as they both stared forward. Neither of them spoke a word, the two of them had faces as though they had seen a ghost. Marco tugged on his moustache while Lyle spun the cube in his hand.
"What now?" asked Marco. Lyle slowly turned with a grimaced expression, "what do you mean what now? I HAVE to tell Arthur." Marco rubbed his forehead and huffed, furrowing his brow as he thought.
What consequences would come of this? He had been asking himself that question often. He was sure that he would eat the blame to get his crew off the hook, but seeing as Lyle had some awareness of Tyson's connections with the others, that may not work out so well. He was working with almost all of them for at least a decade, no way in hell he would throw them under the bus.
"They'll capture Tyson before he's able to step out the front door." Said Lyle as he got up from the couch, turning to the balcony. Marco reached behind him, Lyle turning swiveling his head and looking over his shoulder, "don't do it." His eyes were wide with intensity. Marco stood up and jumped back, pressing a button on his transmitter as Lyle dashed towards him.
Lyle reached forward, his hand extended out as to grab Marco by the throat. In response, he quickly lifted his arm, being grabbed by the wrist. Lyle quickly spun him around, bringing Marco to his knees and holding his arm at his back. "Tyson, don't go through the front, they're gonna get-" Lyle swung his fist down and struck him on the cheek, silencing him. He took the transmitted from Marco's waistband and crushed it with his hand.
"You shouldn't have done that." said Lyle as he reached into his pocket for some cuffs. Marco kicked his foot backwards, hitting Lyle in the shin and throwing him off balance. He turned around and attempted to strike back, Lyle blocking the strike to his face and grabbing onto his fist. Lyle's fingers glowed a soft red, slowly rising in intensity as he clenched his fingers, digging his fingers into Marco's knuckles and shaking his head. "Assault on a security officer?" He whistled, "bad mistake after bad mistake."
Marco groaned as he felt his hand being crushed, he attempted to pull back but was unable to. Lyle, despite his much smaller stature, was far stronger than he was. He felt a warmth on the left side of his chest, like the lingering pain of a burn right under his clavicle. He clenched his teeth as the sensation grew, a thousand blades slicing and dicing from his shoulder to his left hand.
Lyle grinned as he looked down at him, his eyes with a tinge of disappointment. He twisted his arm, bringing Marco to his knees in front of him. Lyle tapped his temple twice and looked towards the door. In that same moment, Marco screamed loudly, Lyle felt a great pressure against his finger and a sharp stinging pain.
He jumped back, holding his right hand on his left, blood spilled out between his fingers as he opened to check. His ring finger was severed off, it was a clean cut, he could even see the connection to his arbiter inside his hand. He looked up to Marco, who was now on his feet, his left hand shaking as he held it in a fist. A look of horror in his eyes as a smooth black blade protruded from his middle knuckle. It was painful, he could feel it down to the middle of his hand which he flipped over.
A purple vortex formed on the back of his hand, it almost looked like a flower the way it waved up and down. He was about to feel it with his thumb before he looked up to see Lyle approaching him rapidly. He ducked his head down as Lyle's fist flew over him, running forward and grabbing onto his waist and pushing back. Lyle broke out of his grasp effortlessly, and as he was about to punch his back, Marco sliced through the air nearly cutting into his hand.
"I'd be damned. What's this about?" Asked Lyle, Marco had no answer so he didn't respond. Marco raised his hands, his dominant hand with his arbiter under his left which the blade came from. Lyle scoffed "I know you're my friend and all, but-" he summoned his gun from his arbiter, white outlined by a deep crimson. It had a soft glow to it. "-I'm not here to play these games."
They stood about 15 feet from each other in Marco's apartment, the only piece of furniture being the couch and the piece of art behind Lyle. Marco's back was to the door, they both stood poised to fight.
His head was slightly ducked while swayed lightly, feeling energized. His heart pumped rapidly, much quicker than usual. Even under stressful circumstances, he could keep a steady heartrate; but not this time. He could feel every drop of blood flowing through his veins, the way the fabric fell on his skin, how cold the air felt in each limb. His pupils dilated as he looked ahead at Lyle, taking in the sight of his new opponent.
Lyle began to raise his gun, before even managing to get it over his waist, Marco was already in front of him. Dashing forward with his left forearm forward, he struck Lyle the same way he began his fight against Tyson. He added some swing to it trying to cut into him, but Lyle caught his arm. Usually, one was much faster than the other, but now they seemed to be evenly matched in speed.
Lyle looked up, smiling, he was still able to slightly overpower Marco, shoving the hand to his right as his weapon faded in in the next instant. He aimed up, Marco's gun appeared and as it did, Tyson's aim snapped and fired, blowing a hole through the middle of his arbiter.
All of this in under a second. Marco's gun was blasted to bits and so was his right hand. He kicked his leg forward with all his might, shoving Lyle towards the balcony, dashing forward and shoulder bashing him off. There was a of silence, no audible thud from Lyle striking the floor, it would be too easy to get rid of him like that. He stepped back into his apartment and into his room, it was not even a minute before a loud alarm blared. The same alarm that was used to signify a void surge.