Chapter 650 (2/2)

Senator Firefly had fucked them by melting the elevator wall so it would collapse and smother them when they crashed to the ground. But Naffur could save them.

Not that the Senator was wrong. The elevator indicator ticked past 8 to 7. The lower 10 floors of the Manhattan building had the elevators descend through a glass tube in full view of the lobby. If the wall of the elevator could be broken, it would be easy to leap out and not end up like old vegetables smooshed in a tin can.

The indicator ticked to 6. Naffur shoved Senator Firefly to the side and stepped up to the wall. He clenched his fist, even without a thumb. His knuckles were knobby and deformed: Naffur knew that when the missing thumb pain faded, he likely had some damaged bones in his hand. But he couldn’t stop now, could he?

Intrepid Hammer.

‘Was this how the Ghosthound felt?’ Naffur wondered as he smashed his fist harder than he had ever dared before against the wall of the elevator. ‘You start down a path… and by the end, you don’t know why you are here, but you simply cannot stop.’

The wall of the elevator erupted outwards, smashed back the glass casing of the elevator shaft in a glittering explosion. Inwardly, Naffur belatedly remembered there would be normal people below who might be affected by the raining glass. He smiled ruefully as he stepped forward towards the opening. It was definitely just his imagination, then. The Ghosthound would never do something as selfish as this.

The Ghosthound especially wouldn’t leave-

Blinded and coughing, the Senator stumbled back into Naffur as he took a step forward. Once more in a heap of limbs, the two of them tripped together and tumbled out of the elevator. Naffur was on the bottom, so his back was ravaged as the elevator continued to descend and his body was forcefully used to shatter the glass shaft.

But the pain once more focused Naffur. He roared as they tumbled through the air, and he gripped the Senator by the lapels. To his surprise, the other man’s weight was easily maneuvered by his current crazed state. He would have perhaps begun to throttle the man, but then they hit the floor, feet first.

This time, the Senator was on the bottom, and with a cry, he fell to the ground. The ground floor was a bank lobby, and there were about 20 people standing around frozen as Naffur and the Senator crashed into the ground. Naffur swayed and stumbled, but managed to stay upright. There were four guards visible by the doors, and another ten waiting in various locations around the ground floor. The memory surfaced like a bad smell, causing Naffur to wince.

Then the elevator crashed to the ground behind him, and Naffur was once more almost knocked off his feet. There was a wave of force and billowing clouds of shattered plaster that spread throughout the whole room.

“You…” Naffur said angrily, feeling his pulse pounding in his ears. It felt like his suit had been completely ripped up the back and his flesh had been shredded by the glass. With a roar, Naffur grabbed the Senator and threw him bodily, almost like one would see on a professional wrestling show.

As if on cue, the shattered glass arrived, raining down on the area that the Senator had just vacated. The small bits embedded themselves in Naffur’s back, and he grit his teeth to keep from crying. The tinkling sound of falling glass slowly stilled as Naffur breathed heavily to try and catch up with all of the wild emotions that were pulling him in different directions.

Pain, fear, exhaustion, surprise, regret…

Crack.

BOOOM.

With a crash, Dank, in full battle regalia, slammed into the nearby ground. Without even turning fully, the power armor pivoted and backhanded Naffur. Helplessly, he tumbled sideways until he cracked into the hard marble counter of the bank tellers stations and everything went dark.