Meanwhile, back with the Crimson Rangers at their headquarters, the commander was walking to his office to get some coffee. On his way he stumbled upon Aiden who was doing something out of his usual routine.


    He was sitting on a bench near the dining area using a laptop he had bought recently with his savings.


    “What are you doing, lieutenant? Didn’t know you were tech savvy.” – He said.


    “Me? No, it’s not that. Computers are very easy to use if you get around to understand them, at least on a basic level.” – Said Aiden. – “I got this laptop because I wanted to try something new.”


    “Something new?”


    “Yeah, take a look!” – The commander leaned over his shoulder. – “It’s a game I’ve been intending to play for a while, and now that we don’t have much work to do, I thought it’d be a good moment to try it out.”


    “A game?”


    In the game, Aiden was controlling a soldier wielding what the commander assumed was a Spas-12, even if in the game it wasn’t called like that, facing a squad of armored combatants who seemed to be part of another military group, judging by their uniforms, gear and discipline.


    “They are smart I tell you.” – Said Aiden. – “They use tactics the same way a real-life squad would use them.”


    “I’m really getting old.” – Said Floyd. – “This stuff is beyond me. How can this be?”


    “But that’s not the best of it all, check this out.”- Then, Aiden did something that if he were to do it in real life he would wind out dead. He charged against the enemies hiding behind cover, and with the push of a button, it seemed like the world around them slowed down, allowing Aiden to gun down his opponents with ease and clear the area while the enemies couldn’t put up much resistance.


    “What the hell was that!?” – Asked Floyd. – “What did you do!?”


    “It’s called Reflex mode!” – Said Aiden. – “Apparently this character I’m playing as, referred to as Point Man, he has such advanced reflexes, it’s like the world around him slows down, like in the Matrix.” – He laughed. – “Wouldn’t it be mighty useful if one of us could do this? I mean, whoever could do it would be shredding through talibans, African guerrillas or whatever else our job throws at us like nobody’s business.”


    “…Yeah, mighty useful.” – He said, watching as Aiden’s character walked through corridors, demolishing this unknown military faction, using that reflex mode from time to time in order to get the upper hand on them, at one point he even dodged a missile from an armored bipedal machine out of a sci-fi movie. – “…useful.”


    He crossed his arms and replaced those white and virtually sterile corridors with derelict and humid alleyways and streets, then he filled them up with armed insurgents rushing through them, pursuing their prey with feverish zealotry.


    Then, he imagined his favorite weapon, Alicia, running towards them and engaging them in a firefight, disposing of multiple of them at once with great speed and precision, something that shouldn’t be possible for someone her age, but somehow, she could do it, because there was no one else like her in this world.


    “(This is probably how she sees the world when she’s fighting.)” – He thought, watching Aiden making good use of the reflex mode. – “(Her reflexes are so fast, the world goes slow, and she has time to process everything going on around her…but then, this also means she becomes faster than her opponents, so fast they have problems getting their sights on her.)”


    He scratched his beard, feeling fascinated by finally being able to get an idea of how Alicia sees the world whenever she’s fighting.


    “(It must be incredible to perceive time different than everyone else.)” – He thought. – “(But also very dangerous.)”


    The commander walked away. – “You can keep playing Aiden, I’ve gotta make a call.”


    “You gonna check up on Colin?”


    “Yeah, I want to get a status report.” – He said. – “(Let’s see if Eyler needs a hand.)”


    “Attention, all units.” – Said the chief of police through the radio. – “Following the reports we’ve received, we can reach the conclusion that we are dealing with a highly armed and dangerous individual, a spree killer. All units must collaborate with the SWAT teams and form a search perimeter around downtown, the industrial area and protect the neighborhoods. We must stop this murderer at all cost before his kill count grows bigger.”


    The police and SWAT did as they were told. Every single unit, every single agent was summoned to perform their role in the task at hand. They had to stop this killer at all cost, be it dead or alive.


    However, not even under these circumstances Alicia seemed to be bothered.


    A couple of police cars drove around the streets, informing people through a speaker to return to their homes and close all doors and windows, they were in a state of emergency but order would be restored soon. Of course, there were some that didn’t listen to these warnings, some because they couldn’t hear it, others because they were too stubborn to stop whatever they were doing and go back home. This played in Alicia’s favor once again, and even then, they coming back home wouldn’t make a difference at all.


    It didn’t cut it in the desert, it didn’t cut it for thousands of them, it wouldn’t cut it now.


    Charlie tried to catch up to Alicia, coming back out through the roof before the SWAT came in to see the aftermath of her work, but by the time Charlie had gone up, Alicia was nowhere to be seen.


    “She disappeared!” – Said Charlie.


    “What do you mean she disappeared!?”


    “She’s fast, too fast. She must be looking for her next batch of targets!”


    “Well, find her again, I’ll go look around the streets too.” – Said Kirsten, putting on his jacket and fastening his holster around his hip and rushing out of the room.


    Luis’ crew had a similar idea. It would be hard to zero in on Butcher if they acted as a group, she could be in one place in a second and then be in another in the next minute, so they decided to split up to cover more terrain, and once one of them spotted her, they would rendezvous at the spotter’s location and attack her as a unit.


    Carl went up a radio tower overviewing the area around the Elementary school located near the 26^th avenue, Igor took a stroll around downtown, making sure to be discreet enough to not be approached by the cops. Kalina went to the industrial area, and Luis would remain close to the university campus.


    Now there were three different groups looking for her, but the only one that had Alicia’s wellbeing in mind was Kirsten and Charlie. The night was still young.


    For the next couple of hours, the police would go around following every report they received of a violent incident, and they were coming every fifteen to thirty minutes, but whenever they arrived on the area of the incident, it was already too late, Alicia was already gone, leaving a corpse or a bunch of them behind.


    At one point the news spread among the officers. They weren’t just dealing with an armed mass murderer, they were dealing with a vigilante mass murderer, judging by the nature of the people she had been killing up until that point.


    Gangsters, drug dealers, child abusers… the gangs were a problem from time to time, but it was harder to catch child predators. Some of them were glad that someone was kind enough to take out the trash for them.


    The officers that had remained at the brothel found a group of children there that had been tortured in heinous ways and recorded on camera. All the evidence was there. Some of them had to walk up to the parking lot and puke due to how sickening it all was, the kids were mangled and mutilated, but for some reason those monsters had kept them alive, they weren’t done with them it seemed.


    It was not a surprise many of them were filled with the same hatred she felt while killing them, and they refused to participate in the manhunt, choosing instead to stay close to the paramedics to escort the children to safety at the hospital.


    But no matter what a doctor could do for them, some scars would never heal. However, those children could smile again, knowing that there was a being out there, willing and capable of killing all evil.


    “Everyone, status report.” – Said Luis, hidden in the darkness of an alleyway.


    “Nothing to report yet, over.” – Said Igor.


    “The bitch’s nowhere to be found, over.” – Said Kalina, increasingly restless in her spot overlooking another warehouse which she was sure was the humble abode of another gang. If there was a place Butcher was sure to strike, it would be that one.


    “Nothing here either, over.” – Said Carl. – “The cops keep coming and going, and some gunshot noises here and there, but she hasn’t come close of here.”


    “Yeah, here neither.” – Replied Luis. – “But let’s not get impatient, if she’s doing what I think she’s doing, she’s gonna want to kill every single cunt she can spot in this town. How she knows where they are and if they do deserve it or not is anyone’s guess, but the point still stands, she’s gonna stumble by any of us at some point.”


    “Much earlier than you might expect actually!” – Said Kalina. – “I spotted her, she’s here at the warehouses, she just stormed into a gang hideout and is killing everyone inside.”


    “Alright, wait for us Kalina, Igor and I will be with you shortly.”


    “Fuck that, I’ve got a score to settle with that bitch! You are welcome to join the party, but it might be over by the time you arrive.”


    “Kalina, wait!” – Kalina shut down her intercom much to Luis’ chagrin. – “Igor, we have to go before she gets herself killed!”This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    “Alright.”


    They had acquired vehicles in the case they had to operate separately, Luis had a motorcycle and Igor had a car big enough for him to fit inside comfortably. They drove through the streets as fast as they could while the police were too busy with their single-minded search, some would command them to return to their homes since they appeared to be civilians, but evidently they would disregard these warnings.


    Kalina rushed to the warehouse, this one was bigger than the last one she hit, it even had a loading bay, that meant that they would have enough room to duke it out between each other.


    Now that she knew what to expect, Kalina was excited to cut Butcher in half with her favorite weapon.


    It was a slaughter inside the warehouse, the gangsters tried to oppose resistance, but their skill wasn’t enough in the face of a disciplined and superhuman soldier.


    The leader of the gang, Miguel, crawled towards a table to pick up a Spas-12 as his last stand against this mysterious assailant that just had destroyed his gang in a matter of a couple of minutes. Men he knew ever since he was a kid, Ramon, John, Sanchez, and a dozen of the others…they were all now lying on the ground in a puddle of their own blood.


    As he crawled towards the table, unfortunately, his arms gave up on him, he had lost too much blood from the big gaping wound in his abdomen spilling his innards on the ground.


    “…Fuck…you…monster…what did we do to you?” – He said, feeling as the air escaped his lungs along with his life. – “What…did we do…?”


    Alicia placed the barrel of the shotgun over his head and pulled the trigger, bringing his misery to an end.


    A messy job, she had spilled a lot of blood over her clothes, now it would be harder to move around, if someone saw her they’d know she is the one the authorities are looking for.


    She looked up to the table and saw the semi-auto shotgun waiting for a new master to use it, alongside two big boxes of twenty-four slugs to feed it with. Yeah, it was time for an upgrade, she reckoned.


    She unloaded the remaining shells inside the one she had and dropped it. But as she was reaching for the new shotgun, she was forced to take a step backwards as a blade descended on her, aiming to chop her arms off.


    There she landed Kalina, determined to get back at the one who humiliated her back there at the diner.


    “So the stories were true, huh?” – Said Kalina. –“You almost had me fooled for a second, you are actually the Butcher.”


    Alicia still had the guns in her bag and the pistols in her hips, but the question was if she was fast enough to prevent her from taking them out and using them.


    “That was a pretty fucking weird reaction, you know?” – Said Kalina. – “We try to murder you at the diner, you kick our asses, Igor punches the air out of you, you run away…most would’ve skipped town, or at least tried to…but you didn’t, instead you went on a fucking rampage and getting everyone riled up, throwing the town into chaos. No psychopath I’ve ever met would do that.”


    Kalina held up her sword just so Alicia could see it. She had never seen anything like that, the blade vibrated with energy, it was a piece of cutting-edge technology. Unlike regular swords, she could be capable of slashing anything in that place to pieces, even if it’s metal or concrete.


    “I read your file, Butcher.” – She said. – “I thought those stories they included about the people you killed were exaggerated, who the fuck derails a train and kills four dozens of armed mercenaries to get to a single man? Well…I guess you did. Do you get off knowing your reputation? Do you like to hear people talk about the shit you’ve done to the Muslims, to the Serbs, the Afghans…?”


    Alicia took a deep breath, absorbing her scent and determining if killing her was worth her while or not.


    After catching her scent, she was surprised, because Kalina smelled like nothing at all. There was the essence of blood, but what was within wouldn’t offer anything to her.


    This could only mean one thing: the girl with a sword standing before her was a human being of a better quality than the scum that she had been butchering the entire night, a surprise for sure, but a welcomed one.


    Alicia felt a migraine coming up so she put her hand over her forehead and brushed her hair backwards, staring at Kalina with her tired eyes filled with fire and barbarism.


    “[You are not like them. Stop.]”


    “Like who? Who the fuck are you talking about?”


    She pointed at one of the corpses at their feet, to the one with eyes turned backwards and a big gaping hole in his chest.


    “You mean like these fucktards? You are damn right I’m not!”


    “[…Not interested in fighting you. Get lost.]”


    “No no no no…you don’t get to decide that you fucking bitch. You gave me a good smack back there; it’s only right I return the favor.” – She pointed the sword at her. – “There’s a lot of money on your head…and I guara-damn-tee you I’m gonna get it.”


    “[Suit yourself then…]” – She had some time to spare, she wanted to move some more, despite her demeanor, Alicia was on a rush.


    She dropped the bag to the ground along with her pistols. Alicia cracked her knuckles and loosened up. – “[You are gonna regret this.]”


    “So you taking me on like a fighter huh!? I like that! That gives you some points in my book. Let’s waltz then!”


    Kalina pounced on her, aiming to decapitate her in a single swing, but Alicia bent backwards then supported herself on the ground with her hands while swinging her legs upwards to kick Kalina in the chin.


    Alicia then jumped back to her feet and tried to tackle Kalina, but she recovered quickly and drove her knee into her face, then she used that chance to perform the killing slash, but Alicia grabbed her by the sleeve and smashed her into the ground.


    She was about to break Kalina’s wrist, but she overcame the pain and used her free hand to pull out a taser and shock Alicia in the ribs.


    Alicia groaned and jumped back but Kalina followed her swinging the sword, all she needed was a single slash and Butcher would be history, she was sure of it.


    Alicia kept jumping back while dodging the vibrating edge of that sword. She would try to get close to obstacles like boxes or shelves, but the sword would cut through them like mere butter. It would have no issues cutting through a living body, obviously.


    Kalina thrusted the sword towards her chest but she stepped back, and the sword plunged itself into a wall of concrete, melting the concrete around it, and she was capable of pulling it out with ease, but that brief moment was the window Alicia was expecting to fight back.


    She grabbed Kalina’s arm and used it as a support to kick her in the stomach, she hit her hard enough to bash her back and into the ground, but she still refused to let go of that sword.


    Alicia rushed at her and aimed to dropkick her in the face, but Kalina placed her arms in the way just in time, but Alicia hit like a freight train, bashing her away a couple of more meters.


    Kalina’s blood boiled, she rolled on her back and stood back up.


    She plunged the sword aiming at her chest once again, but this was a feint. Kalina instead corrected course, rolled on the ground and snared Alicia’s right leg in her own to bring her down to the ground.


    “I got you!” – She raised the sword and brought it down to stab Alicia’s heart. In that position, Alicia had no other choice but to bite the bullet and do whatever was necessary to survive.


    Alicia caught the edge of the sword in between her palms and used her strength to not let it advance any further, but she felt the might of a thousands upon thousands of volts cruising through her body.


    Kalina kept pushing, but Alicia was stronger, she was driving the sword back slowly, but enduring the massive pain of electricity was agonizing, it was like being bombarded by a hundred lightnings.


    Her skin burned, her clothes were tearing up, but she would be damned if she allowed Kalina to kill her.


    She pushed up, gaining territory on Kalina until she was in a position to push her away from her and let go of the blade.


    Lines of smoke came up from Alicia’s body, she had been fried from the inside, but at least she managed to let go before it was too late.


    She was too far from relenting yet, she stood back up, albeit with difficulty.


    “You are tough pussycat, I get it…” – Said Kalina, wheezing having lost her breath. – “You are the toughest bitch I’ve ever had to kill. Most that put up a good fight are men, so I’m surprised, truly…!”  - She wheezed. – “…Those…those scars on your face…that’s some freaky shit. Why are they glowing? You some kind of demon or something? Are you possessed? Wouldn’t be surprised.”


    Alicia stretched and corrected her posture, she took a look around and spotted what she could use as a weapon, then she readied up once again. – “[No talking.]”


    “Right…you are an all-business kind of chick I see.”


    Alicia jumped and dashed to her left, running deeper into the warehouse. She ran past a gate and pressed the button to bring the metal door down, but Kalina cut through it with ease. But when she cut through the other side, she got surprised by a steel tube flying towards her face, she barely evaded it, but that was enough of a distraction for Alicia to shorten the distance between each other and bash her in the head with another steel tube twice.


    Kalina’s world was spinning, she swung the sword around recklessly to try and get Alicia off of her to no avail, Alicia smacked her in the stomach with the steel tube and then swooped her legs, making her trip to the ground. She tried to counter once more with the taser, aiming at Alicia’s ankles, but Alicia evaded it and stepped on her hand, making her drop the taser and kicked it away for safe measure.


    “You…whore!” – Kalina, as a self-respecting assassin, still had some tricks up her sleeve. She opened her jacket, removing the pin of a flashbang concealed inside.


    The flashbang exploded, taking Alicia’s vision and hearing away for a few seconds. She knew that if she tried to fight in that state Kalina would get the upper hand and liquidate her, so she jumped aimlessly forward, then to the left, then to the right, like some pinball bouncing around. She crashed with some shelves, knocking them down with everything in them, then through a window and into another part of the warehouse; at that point, she was regretting not keeping her pistols, regretting her own sense of honor to try and fight this girl fair and square. Foolish, why – after fighting dirty with the scum of the earth for years – did she begin to want to have a fair fight with someone?


    Kalina recomposed herself and went after her.


    “I’m fucking done with this you psychotic sack of shit!” – She said. – “I’m gonna chop you into a hundred pieces.”


    On her way there was a door, that was until she sliced it and the pieces fell to her feet. That part of the warehouse was pitch black and smelled like humidity and stale air. No one had been there in a long time it seemed, the gang that had settled there didn’t care to clean it up and repurpose it at least like they had done with a few more rooms, she was certainly hiding in there, but with the sword’s lightning, she’d have enough light to look around.


    But then, she remembered something very important, the sword’s battery, she wasn’t meant to use it for that long, she had forgotten to charge it up before coming to the town.


    She looked at her sword and watched in despair as the edge lost its light and energy, becoming just a sword like any other. She was now standing in a spot of pure darkness.


    “Fuck!” – Kalina rushed back to the door, towards the light, but halfway through towards salvation she heard another couple of footsteps running right behind her.


    Just as she stepped into the light, a couple of arms surrounded her torso and she felt a weight over her back that made her stumble and fall to the ground, rolling out of the dark and into the light; Alicia had caught her and she was ready to keep fighting.


    Being on her back, Alicia put her on a choke hold, strangling the life out of her, but Kalina resisted and used the force in her legs to get back up and jump to fall on her back with the hope of hurting her. The impact at least loosened the grip she had over her neck.


    She escaped Alicia’s grip and placed herself on top of her and proceeded to release a flurry of punches on her. Alicia did her best to block them with her arms, waiting for an opening.


    When Kalina pulled the left fist back Alicia reached for her collar, pulled her in and then hit her in the chin with a right hook.


    Stunned once again, Alicia took that chance to kick her off and stand back. Kalina stood up, but she was wobbly and disoriented, Alicia’s punch was like that of one of those legendary boxers.


    To put an end to this fight once and for all, Alicia took a deep breath and hit Kalina on a side of her head with a succession of four roundhouse kicks. Kalina’s brain bounced from one side of her skull to the other, the mother of all concussions. By the second kick, Kalina was already blacking out, she lost sensitivity in her limbs, and before she realized it, she was already on the ground, the light faded away, and so did she.


    Kalina woke up five minutes later, tied up and trapped inside a container abandoned in the loading bay, right outside the warehouse. There was nothing in there except a pile of boxes from which the gangsters used to take a couple whenever they needed to stash something inside. Alicia was standing at the entrance, holding the doors.


    “[It’s your job to kill me, but I cannot let you. Work to do.]”


    “…My crew will get you, asshole. You aren’t leaving this town alive…” – Kalina coughed up blood. – “You should’ve left when you had the chance.”


    “[Could say the same to you.]” – She tilted her head to the left. – “[You are a good one. Keep it up, then I won’t have to kill you down the road.]”


    “Wait, you…!” – Without uttering another word, Alicia closed the doors and locked them from the outside. – “You can’t leave me here you fuck! Let me out of here, I’ll fucking get you, you hear me!? I’ll fucking gut you, you animal!”


    Kalina kept blaspheming against her, but she stopped hearing her when she was far away enough.


    Alicia had already gathered her belongings, including that shotgun she had fought tooth and nail for and that weird sword Kalina had, though it wouldn’t help her much since it was out of power, not like it mattered anyway.


    The sirens were approaching, including Kalina’s pals. It was time to keep moving, there was another delicious scent close by.