#30

Eli could almost feel how tense Matthew was. It was obvious enough by his stance.

He looked ready to move at any second, eyes warily following Jack as he moved ever so slowly. The mercenary's eyes flickered from Matthew to Eli, a sharp sort of glimmer in them. For a moment, Eli couldn't help but feel like some sort of cornered prey. It made him want to shrink back against the metal containers.

In a flash, Jack moved, hand flicking forward. Eli wasn't even surprised when he was yanked to the side and just let his body be led to what he hoped was safety. Matthew managed to keep him from getting a knife to the face. Which was nice.

Jack didn't stop in his attack, which was not nice.

Eli just let himself be dragged around by Matthew. Anything to keep from getting stabbed, he figured. At least Matthew was doing a good job of it, even if he couldn't really fight back. Jack was making that pretty difficult as he proved to be relentless. Not that Matthew didn't do his best.

Eli was once again pulled back as the mercenary slashed at him. Matthew pivoted and somehow managed to keep them standing as he sent a kick at the enemy. Jack drew back, only for a second, but Matthew was able to push Eli away from the fighting. The redhead stumbled, but managed to keep his footing.

Which proved to be fortunate as one of Jack's men nearly crashed into him as he rounded a corner. Both Eli and the goon were taken aback, but Eli managed to compose himself faster. Without thinking—and probably out of a reflex built up after being in so many dangerous situations—Eli swung at the man. He landed a solid hit that had the guy's head snapping back and dropping his gun.

In spite of his shock at his attack not having failed, Eli threw another punch before the guy could get his bearings. The man stumbled, but didn't topple, instead shaking himself enough to block Eli's hit and throw one of his own. Eli did his best to dodge, but the guy's fist still caught him in the side.

"Get down!"

Eli didn't question it when he heard Matthew's panicked voice. He dropped down as fast as he could. The guy in front of him wasn't so quick to act. There was a pained grunt and then a gurgling sound. When Eli looked up, there was a knife sticking out of the man's upper chest.

A shocked look was on his face as his fingers grasped at the weapon embedded in him, legs stumbling back. He collapsed against a container behind him and Eli looked away from where he lay on the ground.

He looked away and, for a second, met Jack's crazed glare. Matthew had him tearing his gaze away a moment later. Wincing at the pain in his side—which would eventually blend into the pain in the rest of Eli's body—he picked himself up off the ground. It wouldn't be a good place to be if someone else showed up.

He looked back up at the fight in time to see Matthew get thrown against one of the containers. His back slammed against the metal, but he pushed through the pain and dodged to the side as Jack lunged at him with a knife in hand and a manic grin on his face. Matthew grabbed the hand with the knife, managed to slip behind Jack and shoved him away from both him and Eli, the knife now in his hand. Which didn't seem to bother the mercenary as he simply pulled yet another knife out.

For a second, Eli didn't know what to do. If he stayed, he'd just get in the way, especially with Jack actively trying to kill him. But then, he couldn't just leave Matthew. And besides, there was no way he stood a chance on his own.

That was when Matthew was thrown over Jack's shoulder—an unwelcome change from the usual. He slammed onto the ground, Jack immediately lunging towards him while Matthew rolled away from the attack. At the same time, something seemed to have dropped from one of Matthew's pockets, rolling off to the side. Eli almost cried when he recognized it as a smoke bomb.

Making sure that Jack was sufficiently occupied, he made a run for it. The sudden movement from off to the side still caught Jack's attention. He made to move towards Eli, but Matthew held him back. He got an elbow to the face for his trouble that made him release the mercenary. Jack turned, knife in hand, and Matthew did his best to deflect his attack. It still hit him in the shoulder, giving Jack enough of a break to make a move towards Eli.

Eli felt pure panic as he grasped the smoke bomb, stumbling over his feet as he turned to toss it. He felt his fingers fumbling to activate it as his eyes met Jack's. Matthew lunged at Jack, grabbing him and keeping him from getting to Eli, but clearly struggling. Heart racing, Eli finally activated the smoke bomb. Desperately, he hurled it at Jack. His surprised expression was visible for an instant before it was clouded over by the smoke along with Matthew.

For a second, Eli stood there, not knowing whether to run into the smoke to try to find Matthew or wait for him to emerge. The only thing he knew was that there was no way he was leaving him there with Jack. He shouldn't have worried.

Matthew nearly gave Eli a heart attack as he suddenly emerged from the smoke, looking like a mess. He didn't pause before grabbing Eli and dragging him away. Eli wasn't sure Matthew knew where they were going. Other than far away from Jack, that was.

One of the mercenary's goons popped out from around a corner, both Eli and Matthew skidding to a halt. The guy had barely raised his gun before Matthew tore the knife in his shoulder out and threw it at him. The guy yelped as it hit his arm and Matthew lunged at him, kicking him against a metal container. He didn't hesitate to grab the guy and slam his head against the metal behind him, knocking him out. Eli wished he could do more than stare.

Unfortunately—and as had been proven several times before—he wasn't really the best in a crisis.

"Come on," Matthew said, grabbing his hand to presumably pull him along.

Before that could happen, Eli saw a man appear from atop a container behind them. He saw the glint of a gun as it lifted and took aim and felt his eyes go wide. Matthew took in his expression, turning to look as he instinctively moved to shield Eli. Every move registered as in slow motion while Eli's heart raced until it felt like it would burst.

It's too late, the thought flashed in his head and he closed his eyes.

The shot rang out loudly and he heard a heavy weight drop. There was a second of dread before he opened his eyes to find Matthew still standing in front of him. For a moment, Eli was confused. His heart was still struggling not to suddenly give up on life, but mostly, he wanted to know why he was still alive. Matthew probably felt much the same.

And then, he heard the sharp clicks against the floor and a very familiar person stepped out from atop the container.

"Adria?" Eli wished he sounded less surprised. He just hadn't expected her to be alive.

"Still alive I see," was all she said, looking like she was out for a stroll. With a gun in her hand. Eli should have expected that, really. "Even though you're shit at it, apparently," she added, because she couldn't ever appear to be a decent person. She walked to the edge and turned to look behind her.

"Give me a hand, will you?" she said. And Eli really should have known Mikey would be there. He watched, dumbfounded, as Mikey simply hopped down and then turned to catch Adria as she jumped. She dusted herself off, still keeping a hold of her weapon, and then turned her unimpressed gaze onto Eli and Matthew.

He tried not to fidget as she looked them up and down. Her brow furrowed and a corner of her mouth tilted down. The expression reminded Eli of someone who'd just stepped on something unpleasant.

"You look like shit," she said eloquently.

"How are you not dead!?" Eli asked sensibly. In response, Adria pulled her jacked open to reveal what was clearly a bulletproof vest.

"Because I'm not stupid," she said.

"What if you got shot in the head?"

"Right, like anyone's going to shoot this face," she scoffed. Eli was a bit awed at the level of narcissism on display.

"Real glad you're alive," Matthew cut in. "But maybe we can trade stories when we're not in danger of dying?" He raised a good point.

"Drama queen." Adria rolled her eyes but didn't argue further before leading the way out. Eli followed, with Matthew right behind him, and he couldn't help but feel just a little bit better about things.

They were still screwed.

# # #

I'm alive y'all! Sorry I've been gone for a ridiculously long time. There was just a lot going on, and I think everything--me being burned out, the state of the world, stress, and just my mental state not being the best at the time--all sort of converged. But I've been doing better, and I would have had this out two weeks ago when I had a particularly good weekend as far as writing. And then my parents were in a car crash (they're fine now), and it was Father's Day that weekend, and then on Monday we had a power outage the whole day (R.I.P. my ice cream).  In hindsight, that weekend was hilariously cursed, lol.

But hey, Adria's back! And she still hates Eli, lol.

Anyway, sorry this is so short, but I will hopefully have the next chapter out in two weeks. In the meantime, you can check out Vigilante: Variant! It's Vigilante through Matthew's POV and you can read it on Tapas!

And now I leave you with this Adria doodle I made a while back. I posted it in my art book, but I'll post it here in case anyone hasn't seen it and wants to. And, as always, thank you all for your patience and support. Stay safe everyone! ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈♡)

Oh, and also: