11:15 PM
Syd and Jody were carrying Betty's unconscious body through a swarm of dancers, bodies gyrating wildly on the packed nightclub floor. Up front, Toshi, in disguise as a security guard, was clearing a path for them through the crowd.
Their objective: get out of the club.
"…I thought you were gonna kill her, Syd. Seriously, you freaked me out charging in like that."
"Preemptive strikes win fights."
What stunned Jody the most, though, was how in sync Syd Barrett and Toshi Ishii were. Every move they made flowed perfectly—quick, fluid, and instinctive—like they shared one mind. When Syd acted, Toshi followed without hesitation. It was frightening how natural it seemed.
If that had been directed at her, Jody doubted she'd even have the chance to react.
"Dude, that was way too easy," Syd said.
"For real," Toshi replied. "But you know what freaks me out the most?"
"What?"
"This kind of thing. When everything's going too smoothly. That's when things always go to hell—like, some wild, unexpected shit just pops outta nowhere. Happens in anime all the time."
"…"
"…"
Toshi's monologue was met with dead silence.
"…Huh?"
He turned back—and his eyes went wide.
Syd and Jody were gone.
"Syd?! …Jody?! HEY! Where the hell'd you go?!"
Toshi started grabbing at random clubgoers mid-dance.
"HEY! You! My friends—did you see where they went?! Guy in a red shirt, girl with blonde hair in a blue top! Did you see them?!"
"Wha—? I—I don't know, man!"
The terrified guy stammered, likely because Toshi still wore his bodyguard disguise. Nobody dared challenge him.
"Goddamn it!"
Toshi shoved the man aside and pressed deeper into the crowd. He knew it now.
They'd been ambushed.
But if someone were watching the ground, they'd see…
Syd Barrett and Jody Johansson were still there.
They hadn't moved. They hadn't vanished.
They'd been shrunken.
Now they were no taller than half a broken matchstick.
Around them loomed the enormous feet and stomping heels of dancing teens. The bass thumped through their tiny bodies like it would tear them apart.
Even shouting into their comms was nearly impossible.
"HEY!!! TOSHI!!! I'M DOWN HERE, YOU IDIOT!!!"
Syd screamed into his earpiece—his throat nearly giving out—but got nothing in response.
"Syd! We've been miniaturized!"
"Shit! TOSHI!!! TOSHI!!! HEEEEEY!!!"
He shouted again, but still no reply.
"Syd!" Jody grabbed his shoulder. "He can't hear us! We're too small! Even our vocal cords shrank! He can't hear a thing!"
And with the music blasting, they were completely drowned out.
A living hell.
"What about that bitch?!"
They spun around—
Betty was back on her feet, clutching her bruised face, panting heavily, and glaring at them with burning hatred.
"Huff… huff… YOU… you little shits! YOU'RE DEAD!!!"
"She can shrink things!" Jody shouted.
A muted yellow glow pulsed from Betty's body, with a symbol of concentric circles radiating on her skin.
She jumped away immediately.
Though now tiny like them, she moved perfectly fine. She bounded from shoulder to shoulder of clubgoers, vaulting further away from them.
"Looks like our bodies only shrank in size—everything else is normal!" Jody observed.
Without hesitation, they chased after her.
Syd weaved through massive high heels stomping all around, his eyes locked on Betty, unwilling to let her slip away.
One wrong move, and they'd end up squished flat.
"SID! BEHIND YOU!"
Jody's warning came just in time—he flipped to avoid a towering heel and landed beside her.
"Where'd she go?!"
"There!" Jody pointed to the waistband of a guy's pants.
Betty was clambering up the edge, ready to leap again.
Betty, meanwhile, kept glancing back.
Crap! These two… they're Thrak agents, aren't they?!
She wasn't sure, but one thing was clear—they were dangerous.
Gotta get away!
I can't take both of them now. I need to regroup. I need to warn "him"—ASAP.
As she plotted her next move, Jody aimed her fingers at Betty and fired five air bullets.
The blasts streaked toward Betty—but she sensed them in time and dodged.
Even so, one air bullet tore through the guy's pants Betty had been climbing.
"AAAAAAAGHHHHHHH!?! WHAT THE HELL?!"
The man screamed in pain, collapsing to the floor.
The projectiles might've been small, but the damage remained real. It felt like someone stabbed right through his thigh.
Betty used the moment to jump to his head and keep running.
But the scream… it reached someone's ears.
Toshi.
"Huh? What the hell happened to that guy?"
Back in the crowd, he rushed toward the fallen man.
The chase raged on.
Betty now understood how devastating Jody's powers could be, even at miniature size. She broke into a cold sweat.
"…What the hell were those things?! Those little… air blasts…"
She swallowed hard.
If I got hit by one of those at this size…
She'd be reduced to meat paste.
"Why isn't she growing back?!" Jody yelled as she jumped between dancing bodies.
"She's afraid of Toshi!" Syd replied. "She knows she can't handle all three of us! If she goes full-size again, Toshi'll take her down! She's playing the odds!"
Thwap! Thwap! Thwap! Thwap!
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
Jody kept firing air blasts—but the distance made her aim erratic. Innocent bystanders were hit instead, letting out yelps and screams.
One by one, people dropped like flies.
Syd glanced at Jody—and saw something chilling.
Her face.
It was blank. Cold. No remorse.
Her eyes were locked on Betty, not caring who else got hurt in the process.
Jody fired through anyone in her path. One by one, they fell like autumn leaves.
Until even Syd had to shout:
"JODY!!! STOP FIRING WILDLY! WE'RE UNDERCOVER, REMEMBER?!"
Jody snapped out of it. She halted her attack.
Now ahead of them was Betty—approaching the bar.
Elsewhere, Toshi was checking on the man who had collapsed earlier.
"Hey! Are you okay?!"
"I—I don't know!!! I was just dancing and then—AGH!"
He gritted his teeth.
Blood was soaking into his pants.
Toshi saw the wound—and recognized it immediately.
That's Jody's air bullet wound…!
A fight had broken out nearby.
And his teammates were in trouble.
But where were they?