No Need To Prove Innocence

Hank looked upwards and exhaled, "Seems our guest slipped off."

Terwin frowned, "It's all too convenient. Is he really with them?"

"I don't think so.", Corolla answered the question.

Turning her phone around she showed a message on the screen. It was from Akiol stating just two words: Server Room.

It seems the representative Akiol was contacted with was Corolla. Despite her restrictions, she had insisted on being the one to keep contact with Akiol. Terwin was unsure why this was the case, but relented and allowed her under the guise that Akiol wasn't aware of it. This message made Terwin a bit suspicious, but he understood what it meant.

Hank was quicker to act however. Dragging the unconscious people to the other side of the door he rapidly tapped on a keypad, "Stay here for now. I'll see with my own eyes what he's up to."

Corolla called out, "Stay safe!"

"Of course."

The large door sealed shut as Hank activated a security feature. Only the people inside would be capable of opening this door. Double checking that this feature was working he then turned and sprinted down the hall. Many questions spun through his head, but he silenced them with extreme efficiency. Times like these require his utmost focus.

A group of armored men were marching down the hall, as if patrolling. Hank remained hidden behind a corner as they walked past. His presence thinned to an almost nonexistent level. A skill highly trained from his past. As the armored men marched past him he acted with swiftness. Choking the closest one with an arm, he used his other to disarm the stun baton and slammed its electricity into the left armored man.

The others immediately noticed a commotion and turned to deal with it, however Hank acted quicker. Throwing the choked man to the side to free his arm he rapidly took down the remaining armored men. In just a few moments he was surrounded by unconscious people. Inspecting the stun baton in his hand he came to a few conclusions on what this all was about, but didn't ponder on it for too long.

Sprinting down the hall he turned a corner and found the entrance to the server room broken and ajar. Peeking through it he noticed Akiol on his knees with hands raised. A frown appeared on his face, this was too risky to enter. After Akiol's presence slipped by the broken entrance now had several people watching it. If he tried to enter now he would be put at an extreme disadvantage.

It was at this moment one of Akiol's hands turned into a thumbs up. Pointing to the side with his thumb he then returned his hands to their original position. Hank looked in the direction Akiol pointed too, and a group of armored men were turning the corner.

Much too risky! The server room had two entrances, but only one was broken. Since it was a security lockdown he couldn't simply open the door. Additionally by the time it was fully open the men inside would have noticed his appearance. Now with another squad moving towards his location, running away wasn't an option either.

If he took on the newly appeared squad, he was confident in winning that battle. But the noise would undoubtedly alert those in the server room. Thus he had to gamble, and that was on the variable that was Akiol. If he wasn't in a rush he would've taken his time dealing with a scenario like this, and this accident wouldn't have happened. Time waits for no one however, and he had to work quickly.

Slipping through the broken door immediately a few armored men shouted, "On the ground!"

Two marched up, but Akiol moved quicker. Tackling the leg of one he knocked them to the ground with ease. Hank dealt with the other with similar swiftness, and the two disarmed their opponents. Retrieving the stun baton they began to wield it to deal with the other armored men.

Akiol spoke, "You're a bit late."

"You really shouldn't have run off. My suspicions of you only increased."

"I was curious."

"We'll chat about this in a moment."

The two split apart to deal with the armored men. Electricity arced from the batons as they swung it. If someone were to watch the two fights, the thought of how much differently the two fought might appear. For Hank, he moved with extreme efficiency, countering any movements his target made and swiftly dealing with them. Akiol on the other hand seemed foreign. Like his movements were inhuman. The way he swung the baton seemed more like something was mimicking how a human would swing.

A thought that would only appear if the one who was watching was untrained. Hank himself caught glances on Akiol's movement, and a sprinkle of fear entered his heart. It seemed like no matter how hard he tried he couldn't quite follow Akiol's moves. As if each swing eluded his sight, designed to have him ignore it.

This was {Way of the Galaxy: Photon Cutting Slash}! Granted a lesser form of it. Without Aura, or even a sword, Akiol was incapable of making the weapon itself invisible. However the foundation of the technique remained, and even despite his lack of strength and proper weapon he was still able to perform this well.

Unable to properly see Akiol's moves, the armored men rapidly fell. Their defense might as well be nonexistent with how they seemingly allowed Akiol's swings to hit. As the final one after Akiol fell he twirled the stun baton in his hands, "A weapon fine tuned to be non-lethal. Just exactly who are these people?"

"Harrell's men. A competitor in Master Terwin's line of work. Lethal weapons are too expensive to make untraceable in a raid like this. Since it was likely that Terwin would know who was responsible, it's better to take the non-lethal route to avoid a war."

"Makes me wonder what exactly Terwin does."

"I'll have to ask you don't look into that."

Akiol rose an eyebrow and instead changed the topic, "Do I get to know what they were after?"

"Valuable data by the looks of it. Seems they just broke through the encryption. It's a good-"

"More coming through the door."

Hank frowned, he didn't hear anything so what gave Akiol the confidence? Suddenly remembering how Akiol warned him of the incoming guards he thought it was worth checking. Sure enough a group were squeezing through the door. Taking advantage of this moment Hank rapidly took them down.

It was at this point Hank realized he no longer had suspicions about Akiol. A terrifying thing to think. Assessing why this was the case, Hank only took a few moments to come to a conclusion. Akiol's confidence gave you a sense of comfort. An idea that this guy could be trusted and relied on. Could such a feeling really be instilled after a quick fight?

Hank's suspicions of Akiol grew deeper. Still, he couldn't deny that Akiol had some serious skill. Just what kind of background did he have?