Click. Click. Click.

Gabriel could scarcely believe what he saw. Separated by a hundred feet, on the concrete and asphalt battlefield where they had met and crossed swords many a time, Gabriel watched as Bill approached. The blond haired man's sword drug against the pavement, sparks jumping away intermittently.

"Are you wearing fucking cowboy boots?"

Bill stopped and looked down. Indeed, he was wearing cowboy boots.

Gabe couldn't even draw Last Prayer, he was too shocked to react.

"Fucking cowboy boots, man?"

Bill pounded his sword against the ground.

"What's wrong with cowboy boots?!"

It took several false starts for Gabe to respond.

"How the fuck are you supposed to fight in cowboy boots?"

Bill was turned red.

"I CAN FIGHT JUST FINE IN COWBOY BOOTS, THANK YOU."

Gabe half chuckled, and then furrowed his brow again.

"Cowboy boots? You? Why the hell?"

"Cowboy boots are very fashionable, you purple haired idiot. I don't need you to tell me what to wear."

"Did you watch a western or some shit yesterday?"

Bill ran up and Gabe was forced to draw his weapon. Their swords smashed together with Bill still in mid air, diving at the taller man.

"I can make decisions for myself, Gabe."

They both spun, Gabe clockwise and Bill counter, and their blades impacted again.

"You're a goddamn cyborg, and you chose cowboy boots."

Bill's blade twisted in his hand and he brought it up behind him, stabbing upward into the air. Gabe blocked the slashing movement and moved his head to the side, dodging out of the way of the sword that slide through the air where his face had been a second ago.

"YOU'RE a goddamn cyborg and you chose to wear platform shoes. What the fuck is wrong with YOU?"

From the ground up through the air where Bill had just been standing, Gabe tore his sword through the sky.

"I don't wear mine to a fight, you shit. These are fucking sneakers I have on right now."

The flesh on bill's left arm bubbled and then liquified, draining into his prosthetic which whipped out, anchored at his shoulder, and then flew at Gabe. Gabe arched his back backwards and ducked under the swing. Hands touching the ground he kicked his right foot up, which caught Bill under the jaw. Gabe used the rest of the momentum to flip all the way over and back onto his feet.

Soon, they were both grappling. Insults were flung between one another with alarming speed and increasing viciousness.

"You just wear them so you're taller, don't you!"

"I wear them so I can do this!"

Bill kicked and hit Gabe's shin with the pointed toe.

"Ow, you fucker!"

"Hahaha!"

"You're just a toss away project that Apex didn't even want!"

"I saw Ambrosia naked before you did!"

"Engelmacht was copping feels on me before you were even in your body, you fucking virgin!"

"I was the one that started you computer on fire."

"WHAT THE FUCK?! You took the time to track me down and sneak into my house, and you set my computer on fire?!"

"..."

"Jesus."

"Yeah, well, I'm gonna fuck your sister!"

"My sister would fuck me before she fucked you, black eyes"

It was at that moment that the sister in question appeared on the scene. Sara, increasingly frustrated by the childish banter, simply walked up while they were busy with one another.

"You're both idiots."

They stopped in their tracks. Bill's sword stood frozen in a downward arc at Gabe, while gabe's sword was frozen in an upward arc at Bill.

"Uhhh..."

"Ummmm..."

The two sequentially numbered BioSuits sheathed their swords.

"I'll... see you later Bill."

"Yeah... uh, later Gabe."

They walked in opposite directions, while Sara tried not to cry out at their combined stupidity.