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Halfstep glanced down at your boss, and then back at you. It was such an inhuman movement. Like he was detached from everything that he was doing. <span class="mu-b">“So you <span class="mu-i">don’t</span> care about Silvermane’s life?”</span> he asked, an inflection of curiosity coming off of his voice. Slowly, his head rotated to the side, bringing his attention to Saya. You swallowed hard.
<span class="mu-b">“And what about his daughter? No love for her, either?”</span> he said, brushing a snow white lock of hair aside with the muzzle of his pistol. It was all little Saya could do to stop from simpering in front of the villain.
Halfstep shook his head and gave you a “tut tut”. <span class="mu-b">“You’re not nearly as cold as I’ve been led to believe, Huntsman.”</span> he said, sounding mildly amused. <span class="mu-b">“Do you really expect me to believe that you would bother coming down here in the first place if you didn’t care about either of their lives? And now that you’ve come down here without Slip, you and your friends no longer have a bargaining chip. You have no leverage.”</span>
You bit your lip and searched for something else to say, but Halfstep was already turning away from you. <span class="mu-b">“We’re done negotiating, Huntsman. I refuse to waste time playing hide and seek. Instead, I’ll make this next bargain to you, Slip. Wherever you may be.”</span> he shouted, letting his unexpectedly booming voice bounce off of the walls. <span class="mu-b">“If you surrender to me now, I promise to release you as soon as I can remove the suit. It’s bonded to you on a molecular level, isn’t it?”</span> he asked.
There was no answer, but he kept talking anyway. <span class="mu-b">“The maggia would sooner kill you than waste the time necessary to remove the suit painlessly. Whatever they promised you, I can assure you that they are only looking out for themselves.”</span> he said.
Your eyes drifted to the left, ever so slightly, and you were heartened to see a line of golden sand inching towards the short man. Soundlessly, it was pooling around his feet, reaching up to encompass the hostages. Halfstep was too busy scanning his surroundings for Slip to notice. But somehow, he seemed to grasp what was going on.
Of course. Foxhole must be on overwatch, gazing down at you from some unseen vantage point. Either that, or one of his subordinates alerted him somehow.
The following events happened in the literal blink of an eye.
Halfstep leveled his gun with Saya’s head and pulled the trigger. But an amorphous limb pushed her out of the way of the bullet’s path. Before he could let out any more shots, a golden hand rose up out of the ground and wrapped itself around the muzzle, smothering the barrel completely. His other arm moved, most likely to slice Silvermane’s throat, but you were already pulling the weapon away from him via webline.
(Cont.)
