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More gunshots rang out--much closer this time--and they didn’t stop, either. David heard the hail of bullets whizzing through the air, and he ducked without thinking.

Then Vito was suddenly behind him, standing tall, and David instead heard the sound of bullets ricocheting off of metal. But only briefly. Because Vito returned fire and began shoving both David and Victor toward the open doorway on their right.

They reached the room and found another group of people already there, all looking terrified as they huddled behind a line of desks by the far wall.

The gunfire didn’t stop, and Vito didn’t stop pushing them until they were deeper into the room and behind a thick desk of their own.

When a strange man charged through the doorway after them, Vito met him head on.

Everything happened so fast that David’s eyes struggled to process it. The stranger was already firing as Vito closed in and grabbed the gun, blocking the barrel with his hand as if the bullets exploding out of it were no more deadly than foam darts.

The stranger swung on him. Vito dodged and countered with a right hook that sent him back through the door he’d just entered, taking part of the frame and wall with him.

Another figure appeared to take the previous challenger’s place. This one seemed to be a woman, but Vito showed no hesitation, grappling her in an instant and twisting her head off like a plucked watermelon. Her body dropped to the floor, and when another man arrived, Vito brained him with her severed head.

David merely watched with wide eyes, unable to look away.

Vito didn’t leave the doorway, even as another hail of gunfire visibly pelted the walls around it. Thankfully, only a few of the bullets seemed to be breaking through, but Vito spared a glance back in their direction, probably to make sure they were staying low like he’d said.

Did he have metal skin? David could still hear the pinging of ricochets, and there was definitely a shimmer there that the Prince hadn’t noticed before.

Vito returned fire again, but he soon ran out of bullets and had to reload. He didn’t seek cover, though, and when still another man sprinted over to interrupt him, Vito pistol whipped the guy, swept his feet, and then caved his skull in with the heel of his boot.