Perfecto brought his finger closer to the trigger to tranquilize Lucifer. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.
Before he could even touch the trigger, something changed.
His eyes opened wide in disbelief as he gazed upon Lucifer, who had unexpectedly increased his speed to the thresholds that were humanly feasible.
Lucifer not only used his Super Strength to dash, but he also utilized his wind to stimulate his speed even further.
Even though it wasn't flawless, it was still enough to make him close in the distance between him and Perfecto within a blink of an eye.
Perfecto's finger had just brushed against the trigger, but before he could pull it, he found Lucifer's fist in front of his eyes.
It all happened so abruptly that no one had an opportunity to comprehend what precisely happened when the fist landed on Perfecto's chests, making him fly back like a broken doll.
As Perfecto was tossed back helplessly, he crossed the house entrance, which was left open, and slammed outside as he coughed out a mouthful of blood.
He could sense that his chest was broken. That's what it felt like, at least to him.
"Stop!"
Zoom was the first one to react in this situation as he saw what had transpired.
Without waiting for any commands, he ran towards Lucifer at his faster than humanly possible speed.
He appeared before Lucifer within the blink of an eye as he kicked towards his neck. He didn't care that Lucifer was a child. For him, they were attacked, and they needed to respond in force, even if that meant hurting the kid.
****
"You mean you send those four to take care of the kid?"
In a helicopter that was flying in the direction of Legion City, the leading members of the Delta Squad were sitting.
Flourance looked at Xander in disbelief as he heard that Xander had an idea about Lucifer's whereabouts, and he had sent Zach and his team.
"Yeah? Is there something wrong with it?" Xander asked, frowning.
"They are kids! They recently joined our squad. They don't have any real-world experience against real enemies!" Flourance informed Xander.
"Don't worry. I know they are new and among our weakest members, but they happened to be the only ones in that city. Time is of the essence. I had to act, and I sent them," Xander responded.
"In any case, they're a part of our squad. They should be able to handle Lucifer. They at least went through our training even if they don't have experience. The enemy they'll face is someone who neither had any experience of fighting against the Variants nor training," he added.
The other Delta Squad members also started chiming in, supporting the decision.
"That's right. Don't worry. They can take care of a kid."
" We're the Deltas. If we can't take care of a kid when there are four of us, then won't we be too useless?"
"There's no need to worry."
Flourance heard their response and shook his head slightly.
"Even if the kid doesn't have experience or training, he is a Warlock that has S-Rank abilities. The ones that are sent might be Deltas, but they're kids with B-Rank abilities," Flourance replied.
"They wouldn't even be able to join our Delta Squad if last year the higher-ups hadn't changed the policy to allow recruiting of the Variants with B-Rank abilities," he further added as he gazed at the people who were trying to educate him.
"None of us have abilities that weak. You can't compare them to us," he added.
"It's not a right or wrong situation. You can't say the kid has S-Rank ability, so he'll win against people with B-Rank abilities. Even if he has S-Rank, he only recently awakened. He won't be able to use even a fraction of those abilities," a dark-haired Delta Squad member alluded to Flourance.
Flourance gazed towards the window as he grumbled, "That's true, but still, I don't know why, but I feel a little uneasy. As if we're underestimating our enemy."
"Don't you think so?" he raised a question to Xander.
"No. I am a leader. And as a leader, it's my duty to have faith in my team and our training. You should have faith too," Xander replied right away without much emotion.
He seemed to be as calm as a person could possibly be, as if he had no doubt that Zach and his team could take care of Lucifer.
*****
Zoom's kick advanced towards Lucifer's neck, who also reacted fast by raising his hand to shield his neck.
The kick landed on Lucifer's forearm, making him lose balance. He couldn't help but take two steps back before he gained the balance again.
"Ouch, is it his arm or a hammer? My legs hurt from just that," Zoom muttered as he stretched his legs a bit.
"No, Zoom! Keep your distance. Move back, his-" Zach warned Zoom as he understood that closing in on Lucifer was an awful choice because of his abilities.
"You worry too much. I know all about the Decay of Clarisse! It's in the hands. As long as he can't touch, he is useless. As for my speed, let alone touching me, he can't even get close," Zoom laughed out as he ignored the commands and once again ran towards Lucifer.
"No, stop. You crazy idiot!" Zach thundered, but he was too late.
Zoom has already closed in on Lucifer and kicked once again, but this time his aim was Lucifer's face.
He tried to be even faster than before to not give any time to Lucifer for thinking.
As his legs closed in towards Lucifer's face, Lucifer seemed like he didn't care to save his face this time; instead, he packed his fist and aimed at the man's chest as he punched out.
A leg and a hand moved in the opposite direction, targeting different parts of the bodies of two different people, and both of them happened to land at the same time.
*****
"I guess you're right. Even if they're new, they should still be able to take care. Zach is with them. Even though he's a B-Rank Sorcerer, his abilities aren't much weaker than A-Rank when he overdrive," Flourance nodded his head in return to Xander.
"Also, they won't mess up basic teamwork. A proper team of four B-rank Variants is no less than an A-Rank Variants," he added. "I might be worrying needlessly. As a Vice-leader, I should also have trust in the team."
..... To be continued.