David was speechless at Billy's indiscriminate slaughter, unsure whether he felt anger or guilt.
Perhaps he blamed himself for failing to protect the people who had persecuted him?
David grabbed a length of rebar from the roadside.
He walked up behind Billy and swung it hard into his back.
The metal rod bent slightly.
Yet it failed to hurt Billy in his Beast persona.
Refusing to accept it, David picked up a shard of glass and attacked Billy again.
This time, he used the sharp point.
Crack-
There was a dull sound as the glass shattered, leaving only a white mark on Billy's back.
David: "..."
The wound on David's hand was worse than anything he had inflicted on Billy.
David backed away a few steps.
"Roar-" Billy's Beast persona wore a mocking expression, as though saying, That's it? That's all you've got?
David could barely hurt Billy.
A moment later, Billy growled, dropped onto all fours, and charged at David like a wolf, trying to tear him apart with his claws.
Clearly, David was not as fast as Billy.
David rapidly retreated, his figure blurring without disappearing. Like a chameleon, his skin shifted to match the colors of his surroundings.
Once his figure blurred, David's speed increased noticeably.
Whoosh-whoosh-
Billy's claws lashed straight at David without hesitation.
Clearly, the change in color had not thrown Billy off.
Wee-woo-
Wee-woo-
Wee-woo-
In the distance, Coulson heard the familiar sound of sirens.
As the sound drew closer to Al Psychiatric Hospital, a question came.
"Sir, aren't those FBI vehicles?"
"Yes."
Coulson found it strange.
When anomalous incidents occurred, S.H.I.E.L.D. could seal off a limited area.
He doubted the director would have neglected to cordon off this area.
But if it had been sealed off, how could another agency's vehicles enter freely?
With that thought, Coulson called Nick Fury on his communicator.
"Director, FBI vehicles have entered the psychiatric hospital."
Nick Fury's lone eye narrowed as he sensed something was wrong. "Understood."
He immediately contacted the team of agents intercepting vehicles on the perimeter.
"None? All right."
He hung up.
Nick Fury contacted Coulson and explained the situation.
Then he turned toward the agents gathered around the monitors. "Have you found the figure running across the sea?"
Silence.
Clearly, they had not.
Meanwhile, Coulson kept watching the FBI's movements, while Victor shifted to another vantage point to observe David and Billy's fight.
What they did not know was that a third superhuman, Zuer, was also there.
Zuer had been "sent" to Al Psychiatric Hospital long ago as a supposed delusional patient.
Al Psychiatric Hospital housed other patients who were genuinely mentally ill.
In its haste, S.H.I.E.L.D. naturally failed to notice anything unusual about Zuer.
Outside the building, David and Billy fought furiously.
Inside, Zuer enjoyed some peace and quiet in the records room.
The FBI vehicles stopped at the gates of Al Psychiatric Hospital.
A squad climbed out.
Armed!
They had no heavy weapons, sniper rifles, bombs, or similar equipment. Instead, they carried relatively old M4A1s, and some even held handguns commonly available on the market.
The captain at the front held a handgun and waved to the men behind him.
One by one, they entered Al Psychiatric Hospital according to their deployment.
They looked thoroughly unprofessional.
Rat-tat-tat-
Without saying a word, the squad members opened fire as soon as they spotted David and Billy in his Beast persona.
The hail of bullets forced David into a corner.
Unable to find David, they shifted targets.
The barrage did not stop. Instead, it concentrated on Billy.
Billy grew even more frenzied. His muscles actually began slowly pushing the bullets out of his body!
With no time to think, the squad commander ordered them to fire again.
Sensing the discomfort, Billy immediately dodged into cover.
Bullets hammered the ruined walls and rubble.
As the squad searched the area...
Whoosh-
One man fell.
He did not get back up.
The other squad members immediately grew tense.
"Come out, you damn beast!" the captain taunted Billy from the middle of the squad.
Whoosh-
Whoosh-
As time passed, more and more squad members died.
Sensing that something was wrong, David left his hiding place in the corner.
This...
The sight of bodies strewn everywhere shook David deeply.
Wasn't this too cruel?
But then he remembered that these people had tried to kill them both the moment they arrived.
David's anger subsided a little.
"Roar-"
While David was distracted, Billy pounced and knocked him to the ground.
His sharp claws aimed for David's skin with the precision of an embroidery needle and thrust down.
David drew a deep breath...
Just before the claws pierced his body, David clamped both hands around Billy's clawed hands.
Billy yanked his hands free and curled his claws into fists.
Thud-
Thud-
He hammered David's head.
Watching from the surveillance room, Zuer winced and grimaced.
Clearly, Zuer was in a good mood, as though everything was ready.
In the distance, Coulson and Victor fell silent at the sight.
A squad of more than twenty men, albeit not particularly well equipped, had been wiped out just like that by the beastlike man.
Thud-
The two men over there clashed again.
"Sir, this... should we still go over there?" Victor wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Coulson adjusted the microphone by his ear but heard no new instructions.
"Hold off for now. We'll move once they settle down."
Whoosh-
Something seemed to be running toward them from the distance.
"What is that?"
The question arose in the minds of those watching Al Psychiatric Hospital.
The rapidly approaching figure did not engage David and Billy as they fought. Instead, he sat down a short distance away and watched their struggle.
At S.H.I.E.L.D., things were moving.
They redirected every satellite near Coulson and hacked into the surveillance feeds, catching sight of the two men fighting.
Nick Fury leafed through the observation records Melinda had submitted.
They contained information only on David.
Nick Fury coveted both men's combat prowess.
But he was not particularly fond of the uncontrollable Billy.
Especially his merciless, indiscriminate slaughter.
Nick Fury was hardly one to show mercy himself.
Still, he preferred the members of his special team to have a little more humanity.
"Director." Nick Fury's deputy handed him a video recording.
"That mysterious figure on the sea earlier-we've located him near here through real-time surveillance."
The location the deputy indicated on the map included Al Psychiatric Hospital.
Nick Fury keenly connected the dots.
Someone who had run from the coast to Al Psychiatric Hospital so quickly was unlikely to have come for two superhumans whose abilities were nothing exceptional.
So...
Was he here for the Dragon Ball?
Was he waiting for the fight to end so he could seize the Dragon Ball?