Bones moved first.
He exploded sideways off the wall, one hand grabbing the man’s wrist while his other slammed into the base of the man's skull. Fast. Brutal. Quiet.
The man sagged before he could make a sound.
Bones caught him, lowered him to the gravel, and dragged him into the shadow of the dumpster.
My breath caught.
Then the second man rounded the corner.
This time we weren’t in position.
“Contact—rear!” AB snapped in my ear. “He’s fast. He?—”
But he was already here.
He barreled toward us down the other end of the alley, not subtle at all—charging like someone who’d gotten the order to kill anything that moved.
Legend stepped forward, broad shoulders blocking him from me. “Stay back,” he murmured.
Goblin’s body coiled, muscles taut, teeth bared.
Bones couldn’t intercept this one—he still had the unconscious man slung half-hidden behind him. And the spotter was pinned between us and the threat.
Voodoo made the split-second call.
“Lunchbox,” he said sharply. “Left side. Funnel him.”
Legend stepped left without hesitation, forcing the charging man to adjust his angle by instinct—straight into Voodoo’s attack line.
Voodoo moved.
I loved to see them fight. It was always faster than I expected, like they broke physics in half on the way to hitting someone.
This time he ducked low under the guy’s swinging arm, pivoted, and hooked the attacker’s knee with his own. The man stumbled forward—off-balance.
Voodoo struck him across the ear with something metal from his camera bag—once, twice—enough to disorient but not kill.
The man reeled.
But he didn’t go down.
He swung blind, a wild arc of muscle and panic that would’ve smashed into Voodoo’s skull if the world hadn’t slowed around me.
I moved before thinking and grabbed Voodoo’s jacket and yanked. His body jerked back, the guy’s fist slicing through the air where Voodoo’s head had been a second earlier.
My heart hammered against my ribs.
Voodoo twisted, shock flashing across his face for a fraction of a second—shock, then something hotter, deeper. But he used the opening.
He jammed his elbow into the man’s throat. The guy dropped like someone had cut the power to his spine.
Bones stepped in immediately, catching the attacker and dragging him beside the first. Legend covered the far end of the alley, shoulders filling the entire width like a barricade.
Goblin finally eased off his snarl.
“Grace,” Voodoo breathed, turning toward me, “that was?—”
