The man's head snapped back and his teeth cracked together.
Before the sound even registered, Kaede hooked a hand behind his neck and slammed his face into the wall. Bone met concrete. The guard's nose collapsed inward with a wet crunch, and his knees buckled.
The second guard stumbled backward, reaching for his gun.
Kaede didn't give him the chance as he planted one foot on the wall—pushed off it— and launched himself sideways, catching the guard's head between both hands mid-air. The momentum carried them both into the opposite wall, and Kaede used the impact to twist.
Hard.
The crack was sharp.
Final.
The guard's body went limp before they hit the ground.
Kaede landed in a crouch on top of him. He rolled off.
The first guard was still alive—barely. Crawling on the floor with a shattered face, blood pouring from his mouth, one hand still weakly reaching for the radio on his belt.
Kaede stood, walked over, put his boot on the back of the man's neck, and pressed down slow.
The guard twitched once, twice, and then nothing.
Two bodies.
No gunshots.
No sound louder than the bass still thumping through the walls.
Hiro looked at the other Claws. "Kaede’s in the lead for the sword.”
Toma spat on the ground.
A third guard appeared at the far end of the hallway.
Fox brand.
Gun already rising.
Daisuke's arm moved in a blur. His knife left his hand and spun once—a single clean rotation through the red light—and buried itself in the man's throat up to the hilt.
The guard's gun hand dropped. His mouth opened, but the only thing that came out was blood. He staggered sideways into the wall, fingers clawing at the handle in his neck, and then his legs gave out.
He slid down the wall, leaving a dark smear behind him.
“I’m at least in second place for that sword.” Daisuke walked to the body, crouched, and pulled the knife free with a short, sharp tug. He wiped the blade on the dead man's shirt, flipped it once, and slid it back into his belt.
I jerked my chin at the Scales. “Hide them.”
They rushed over, grabbed the three bodies by their collars, dragged them into a dark alcove between two curtained rooms,and shoved the bodies deep into the shadows, stacking them against each other like discarded furniture.
One Scale pulled a heavy curtain across the alcove's entrance. They weren’t invisible, but good enough for now.
"Move." I headed off.
We went left at the junction, just as Hiroko had directed, then straight.
Then, the hallway opened up and the space that unfolded in front of us was massive.
