The Wolf's Howl
The two of them were worried sick.
“Please… get a grip…”
A faint voice reached me. Someone was shaking me, even though I couldn’t move a single finger.
“Jung-woo-ssi…!”
My eyes fluttered open. With every blink, the person’s shape grew clearer.
“Ah, agh, ughhh, you’re alive…!”
“Alive…?”
Where was I—oh. Still in the factory… wait a second.
“Stahlleder… cough, what about Stahlleder—”
“He must have passed out. While he’s down, let’s hurry—hurry and get out of here, the two of us.”
Catena wasn’t just supporting me; she was trying to hoist me onto her back entirely. But the pain that surged through me made me stop her.
“GAAAAAH!!!”
“D-does it hurt? Where, where does it—”
“My right arm… just this one… a little…”
It was fortunate that the blow had been strong enough to knock Stahlleder out, but my left arm had taken the hit because I couldn’t dodge in time. As for my right arm…
—Thud.
A heavy chunk of metal slammed into the floor with a vicious clang. Using it twice… must have been because it was a rush job. Looking at how crushed and twisted it was, it probably wouldn’t be usable anymore.
“Are you okay now? Can you walk?”
“Help me up… please. My legs seem fine.”
“No, get on my back. How far do you think you can walk in that condition?”
“I don’t need to—ughk—”
“I said get on!”
“There’s still… something I have to do.”
“Shut up. If you keep being stubborn, I’ll drag you out by force if I have to.”
This was troublesome. The whole reason I had turned this place into such a mess was for her sake. I had done it to build up enough achievements to act as a shield against the police and media still targeting her. If I backed off now while Bianca was on her way, all that would remain were meaningless injuries.
“I can’t. It’ll only take a moment.”
“Why won’t you listen—”
“It’s because of you! Ugh, cough, cough…!”
I must have inhaled too much dust; I couldn’t stop coughing. My injured left arm could still move a little, so I used it to barely prop up my right one.
“…Because of me?”
“I heard Angel’s been tormenting you. You need a shield.”
I left her standing there in a daze and quickly scanned the surroundings. No matter how severely addicted to drugs he was, there had to be a reason he’d built a production facility this large. For example, pressure from his suppliers. And if there were suppliers, that meant…
“What are you looking for in that state?”
“The ledger… the transaction records.”
Blood was dripping from me, but that didn’t matter. I yanked open drawers, hurled their contents to the floor, and rummaged through notebooks, computers, anything of the sort—
“Here. This is it, right?”
Suddenly, several laptops were set down in front of me. She was breathing hard.
“I found them in what looked like an office on the second floor.”
“What about the other… computers? The main units—”
“There weren’t any. This is everything.”
When I opened one, sure enough, it was password-protected. Still, this would be enough to put out the immediate fire.
“I’ll take them. I’ll decrypt them and pick out the files to leak to the press.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to hand them over to the police—”
“Why? So you can watch them abandon a powerless person like you and steal all the credit?”
“Look at yourself! What more do you think you can do in that condition?!”
Catena carefully cradled my bleeding left arm with both hands. The tears mixed with dust turned steadily black.
“I know you’re worried about me, but if you keep doing this… I won’t be able to continue.”
“Why? Do I look like I’m going to die from something like this?”
“You almost did!! You charged at that wolf without fear, attached some weird device to your arm, and turned yourself into a bloody mess!”
I suppose I should say I was glad I didn’t die. Honestly, even the provocation had been a gamble, so I had nothing to say in my defense—
“The worst thing would be you failing to become a hero.”
“…Ah.”
Just as Bianca had staked everything on becoming the leader, I had decided to stake everything on Catena reaching a high position as a hero. Not some half-baked wannabe like Justice, but a hero who steadily built up her story… This tale was definitely going to become far more interesting.
“Why… why are you going this far for me?”
“…Let’s go. Before more of his gang shows up. Before the police start harassing you. Hurry.”
I closed the open windows one by one and was about to grab a nearby bag when—
…I was embraced. Tightly.
“Just try to die. After saying something that cool, if you disappear, I’ll be furious.”
“I’m not going to die. You think I’d die from wounds like these?”
It hurt so much my head was ringing, but I could still grit my teeth and force myself to act tough. I really wasn’t completely powerless after all.
“…We have to meet again. The two of us.”
“Yes.”
With the faint jingle of chains, Catena dashed outside in an instant. She paused to look back at me… and waved vigorously. Since I couldn’t wave back, I nodded instead. Only then did she finally disappear.
“Ugh…!”
The pain I had barely been holding back finally slammed into me. So hard I couldn’t even stand properly.
“Khhk… agh, ha, haa, hngh…!”
I slid down, leaning against a table, and collapsed completely. I had to move somehow before that damn bastard woke up—
“Grrrr…”
Ah, damn it. He was already awake? What terrible timing.
“Hoo, hoo, hnnng…!”
The moment I forced myself up while holding my breath, a violet-black shape charged at me silently. This time it didn’t bite; it swung its front paw. Ha. This time I really was going to di—
—Shuk.
A black-and-white figure appeared as if slicing through the wind. It kicked the knight-helmet-like hardened head with both feet, and the resulting shockwave was like a bomb going off, kicking up a storm of dust.
“…K-ugh!?”
My trembling legs couldn’t withstand it. I toppled backward. While shielding my bloodied arms from the continuous gusts—
“Fuck, I wondered where the hell you crawled off to. Now that you’re out of drugs, you don’t even have the balls to fight me fair, huh?”
“Krrrk, kek, krrgh…!”
A torrent of curses so foul it was like the wolf had a rag stuffed in its mouth and then ripped it apart with its teeth. The violet-black steel wolf cowered, trembling in terror so intense it was coughing up blood. And standing boldly before that wolf, claws faintly gleaming, was the only one who could make it react that way.
“Bianca…!”
“Hey, don’t you have any fear? Showing your back to a piece of shit like this…”
She turned her head toward me. Then froze. Had she seen the state I was in?
“…You.”
“Hey, behind you!”
Stahlleder wasn’t one to miss that opening. He stretched out his front paw to strike her dazed face as she stared at me.
“Bianca!”
She didn’t dodge. She took the hit head-on. A tremendous sound and vibration shook the air, enough to make me—who was standing—tremble. But.
“…”
Bianca was completely fine. Not a single scratch. She stood exactly where she had been, still wrapped in that white aura. Her posture hadn’t even faltered.
“Krek!?”
“Ah, you fucking bastard.”
She immediately spun around and drove her fist straight into the dazed wolf’s forehead.
—BOOM.
A force that made the File Bunker look like a toy. Another shockwave like an exploding bomb. My frail body rolled across the floor once more.
“You pathetic piece of shit. Fuck. You really thought this fucker could be your opponent, so you let him do that to you?”
A grinding sound echoed through the room as her teeth clenched. With a sharp shing, the claws on her hands extended to their full length.
“If you were going to run away like a coward, you should’ve tucked your tail and stayed mine. Fuck, you touched what’s mine? Again?”
And then the slaughter began. A brutal, savage dismemberment accompanied by screams and spraying blood.
“…Staff Officer!”
The armor that hadn’t even been pierced by the File Bunker was being torn apart. The body that hadn’t suffered a single scratch was now covered in cracks and wounds.
“Staff Officer, get up! I’ll get you out of here!”
Every time her fist landed, the wolf crumpled. Every time her claws slashed, the wolf howled. I knew Bianca was strong, but I hadn’t realized she was this strong…
“Grab everything! The cops are almost here!”
“Should we take the blood-stained computers too?”
“Take it all! Grab that weapon over there too! Spray some bleach on the bloodstains!”
I felt my body being hurriedly dragged away. With the last of my strength, I lifted my head slightly. To see Bianca.
—Squelch.
The frivolous image I had seen before was gone. There was no big-sister act of showing off her strength in front of her subordinates or laughing heartily while tossing around money.
—Riiip.
“Gack, k-hek…!”
Five claws tore through his stomach. Blood poured out, forming a crimson pool. Stahlleder was thrown to the floor like that. The price of being overwhelmingly and miserably defeated by Bianca.
“…”
Even as I was dragged away, our eyes met. Even from that distance. Even though we were far enough apart that I could barely make out her face, I knew our eyes had locked. And just as I expected, she started running toward me. At full speed.
“Ha, haa. Haa.”
“Alpha, we were already taking him to the doctor!”
“Put him in my car. I’ll take him myself.”
Covered in sweat and blood, she stood before me, breathing heavily. She carefully reached out with her left hand and examined my arm from every angle. The way her face twisted… it was almost a shame for her features. She was going to get wrinkles between her brows at this rate.
“We can take him—”
“I said put him in.”
After that, I was roughly transferred onto a stretcher and loaded into the back seat of a car. Sirens were approaching from afar… but soon they faded away.
“Stay conscious. If you close your eyes, I’ll kill you.”
“You think… I’d die from this…?”
“You’re not an idiot, fuck. I thought you were smart—why the hell did you charge in and do something that stupid…!”
What would happen if I told her the reason? It would probably turn into a complete mess… so I decided to keep my mouth shut.
“Just wait until you’re fully healed.”
The driving was especially rough today. My head kept slamming into the seat. As the feeling in my arm grew duller and duller, I stared blankly at the ceiling.
Changing the plot is damn hard.