Chapter 2: 22:00. (2)
"How do you know that name? Who are you?!" Theo asked, his voice hinting at him being surprised and slightly annoyed at having been called by that name.
"My name isn't important… and as to how I know your real name? Well, you'll find that out soon enough."
Theo's mind was now in overdrive as he tried to think of a way out of this situation. If these people knew who he was, then surely they weren't regular burglars or home invaders. He was definitely at a disadvantage, and he had to act quickly.
"Who hired you? Who's your target? Are you here for me alone?"
Just as Theo asked thee questions, a few more men in the vein of those he had just fought emerged from deeper within the house, and Theo's thoughts immediately went back to his wife and his children. The expression on his face changed to one of concern, and then of anger as he looked the group. As if something switched inside him, Theo suddenly adopted a far more threatening stance.
"Where are my wife and kids?" He asked, his voice quiet, but also threatening.
There was no answer from anybody in the room, and this caused Theo to leap off from where he was standing, displaying more speed and agility than he had in the prior exchanges. He closed the distance between him and the group quickly; however the goons who had emerged from deeper within his house were the ones to retaliate – all of them leaping at him at the same time. Theo was seemingly not in the mood to play around, or had thrown caution to the wind as he raised his right hand and palmed one of the men in the face, the sound of contact between hand and face was surprisingly cloud, as was the groan that could heard coming from the goon's face, and the force with which he flew backwards and crashed into the wall behind him. As he slumped to the floor, Theo was already attacking another of the men who had tried going low. He raised his knee and crashed it right into the guy's face, causing said guy to actually flip over and complete a revolution before landing face down on the floor. Theo then avoided a few punches aimed at his face, before reaching out and grabbing the guy who was attacking with his left hand and pulling him violently towards time, before extending his right arm and forcing his bicep into the guy's throat – giving him a sort of wrestling clothesline and making him spin and twist before crashing into a glass table that shattered as he went through it. Theo then turned to face the stronger looking group, which had been standing perfectly still and observing this second round of sorts. He was just about to charge them when he noticed that the female of the group was missing.
'Where the fuck did she go?' Theo asked himself as he looked around with his eyes.
"You know… I really do admire you, Othello." The leader of the group said.
"What was that?" Theo said as he looked at the yet to be named leader.
"I said I admire you. Coming from the family you do, which has strong links to a powerful clan from the Netherworld, yet you are this strong after having been denied the opportunity of signing a Contract."
"…how do you know all that? Who the fuck are y—"
Theo couldn't finish his question as the female of the group returned, with Theo's family in tow. They were bound at the wrists, had gags in their mouths, and appeared to have signs of light abuse on their tear stricken faces. The woman looked at Theo and smirked at him.
"JESS!"
The sight of his family shackled up like that seemed to set something off inside of him – something of volcanic proportions. The group leader noticed this, and quickly reached behind his back and pulled out a massive rifle, before handing it to the tall bald man. He then removed a fairly savage looking bladed weapon from his waist and handed it to the other man.
"I'll take care of Othello."
"Understood, Boss." The tall one said.
"Othello!" The leader boomed. "Face me. If you win, you and your family will be left alone. To make things fair, my guys won't interfere, and I will not use any of my weapons."
Theo – or Othello – was absolutely fuming by this point. His fists were clenched and shaking pretty violently, and he looked as though he was about to explode.
"I'll kill you… I'LL KILL YOU!!"
Theo suddenly dashed towards the leader, closing the distance almost instantly and without standing on ceremony, unleashed a series of punches. They were fast, sharp and hard, yet they were all missing the target. Whether by ducking, swiveling or parrying, the mask wearing leader was avoiding all of the punches with ease, without even raising his fists to maintain some sort of a guard. To his credit, Theo not only kept swinging, but increased the speed of his strikes, varying the types of punches he threw, and even tried to get a few kicks in. Despite increasing the speed and ferocity of his attacks, Theo wasn't having any luck whatsoever, and before he even knew what happened, he felt what could be described as a small wrecking ball crashing into his stomach and knocking all the wind out of him, and that was followed by a particularly hard punch to the face that launched Theo off of his feet and crashing into a wall. He actually recovered from this fairly quickly as he landed on his feet and looked up to see his opponent right in front of him once more. His instincts screamed at him to duck as quickly as possible, despite no evidence of a punch or a kick incoming. Theo was always one to listen to his instincts though, and he ducked and moved to his right as quickly as he could, which turned out to be a smart move as a lightning quick two punch combination not only ripped through the air, but the wall as well, leaving a cross-shaped gash in it.
'Holy shit! Don't tell me this guy…'
Theo barely had enough time to formulate coherent sentences in his mind as he was on the move again, dashing away from the masked leader before quickly charging him once more, trying to get him from behind. He threw a one-two combo which was easily slipped, before bending his arm and throwing his elbow back. His elbow strike was blocked, and his exposed side was hit with a flurry of blows so rapid, he couldn't even count how many punches were in the barrage. He heard a voice cry out in pain, and it took a few moments to realise that it was actually his voice. What he did know instantly however, was that his side hurt immensely, and that at least one rib had been broken. He lowered his elbow and attempted to throw a left hook, but it was easily evaded, and he then felt a fist connect with the left side of his chin, buckling his legs somewhat before a short uppercut connected flush with his chin, and dropped Theo to his knees. There was a slight ringing in his ears as blood poured from his mouth and his breathing was ragged.
"Wow, I'm impressed, Othello. You really are gifted. You're strong, fast, and pretty skilled… but at the end of the day, you're just a gifted human… "
The leader said all this as his goggles glowed bright red, and Theo looked up to see what looked like a pair of slanted red eyes glowing above the leader's head.
"Your gifts may be enough for you to take out low level Contracted like the boys here… but for those like myself… taking care of you is child's play."
'Just as I thought… this fucker has signed a Contract with an Entity…'
Just then, Theo felt immense pain for an instant, before everything faded to black, and he was knocked unconscious.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone