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Meridian

Meridian sheathed Whisper at the same time he pulled his chrome Wesson .45.

The air crackled with tension as the six of them, three couples, all skilled and fearless, squared off and circled each other like a pack of hungry hyenas. Their body language and eyes sent a silent promise of imminent danger as the fate of Woyashi’s life hung in the balance.

“This ends now,” the big one rumbled, moving to the other side of the room from his partner.

He and Ex fought on opposite sides of their attackers. One in the front, one in the back. A distraction by one and extraction from the other—unlike the Browns, who stayed joined together like fucking conjoined twins, yet somehow, they were proficient at close-quarter combat.

Their handler, Corvo, had shown them Grace and Mirage’s mission footage.

It was astonishing how Grace manipulated Mirage without facing him, keeping him shielded within a cloak of confusion to their opponents.

No sooner than Meridian was in position, Ex moved in for the big one, a second before Mirage reconnected to Grace’s back, his hands blurring from the speed at which he threw a series of ten-inch spikes under and over his arms.

From beneath his midnight hood, Meridian leveled his eye down the barrel of his .45 before he noticed a limber figure dart into action, coming in hot on his right, contorting his body into weird angles to dodge Mirage’s spikes flying toward him.

Meridian anticipated his attacker’s objective to rid him of his firearm. He ducked and took aim, fired two shots, but the man went even lower, slithering across the floor with the speed of a black mamba and releasing a flutter of kicks that struck Meridian’s forearm and wrist.

The bastard didn’t break them, but the hits were hard enough that the pain was too excruciating for him to hold his firearm.

The strikes were nothing short of surgical.

Meridian dropped his weapon but didn’t slow or waver as he yanked his dagger back out of its secret compartment to fend off the brute coming toward him.

His partner, Ex, came in from behind, gripped the man in a chokehold, and managed to deliver two hard blows to his ribcage, but the man flexed his back muscles in a way that minimized the damage and bucked his partner off.

In that short moment, Meridian knew he was fighting two masters.