Geo was shocked, confused and scared.
After seeing the fight take a murderous turn, Geo had decided to stop it by shouting loudly in hopes of scaring the drug dealers. After all, if one of those drug dealers had died, Geo would surely be found by him, as there would be no more noise to mask his presence. Leaving the scene would also alert the murderer since the sludge left clear footprints behind. He might try to find and eliminate the last witness. So the last option he thought was to fake a shout for help and run while they were panicked.
The plan went flawlessly but there was a small problem. After he shouted, he had turned around to run away but was blinded by a series of torchlights. He covered his eyes with his arm and heard a lot a footsteps running towards him.
Geo was shocked! He thought,
'Were there a group of policemen nearby?! Fuck! I gotta explain the situation to them now!'
The lights faded after sometime and Geo was finally able to see, but what he saw terrified him! There was no one there! Not a single person or a torchlight!
Geo had immediately jumped back, out of fright, and had fallen on the filthy ground. His clothes were covered in sludge but that didn't bother him. He quickly stood up due to the fight or flight response from his body and looked around for any threats.
'Was I hallucinating? It can't be, right?! The sound of footsteps might have been a hallucination but I was clearly blinded by some light. Ghosts? Magic? Did someone cast magic here? Voodoo? Witchcraft? Mungachunga? Is it finally my time??'
Geo's mind raced as he tried to understand what had just happened. He stayed in place for a long time before relaxing his body and calming his mind. Finally, he sighed and walked back to the road.
'Sigh.....I've been stressing too much on finding magic. Maybe I should stop searching for a while and calm down a bit. This magic search is making me crazy.'
He had just started walking towards his house when he suddenly realized,
'Oh wait....I can't calm down right now! It's gonna be 6 soon! Helen's gonna kill me if I don't reach home in time! And my clothes are all dirty! Fuck! Fucking drug dealers!'
With that thought, he started sprinting and ran all the way towards his house.
--- South Cinter --- Fallaway ---
A fat and a masked woman swiftly ran through the dark alleys between various houses that were clumped together. The rotting buildings were placed unevenly and formed a catacomb of alleys. The duo jumped over piles of junk and kept glancing behind them with fearful eyes as they ran through this maze of buildings.
"FUCK! IF YOU HAD JUST GIVEN ME THE FUCKING OLIP SALT THIS WOULD'NT HAVE HAPPENED!"
"Shut the fuck up fatty! Your addiction fucked us over! These agents are professionals! Now you better cooperate or we both FUCKING DIE!"
Arnold was still furious. His addiction for olip salts had made him lose control back in the alley and he had also dropped his special dagger while being chased! But...his instinct told him that Tris was right. These pursuers were definitely stronger than them.
"Then what do we fucking do?"
"I've got a plan but we need to fight them."
"That's suicide bitch! If you think you can fight them, go on! I'll miss the salts, but at least I can ditch your stupid ass to save myself!"
"You think i'm mentally diseased like you? I have a weapon that can probably kill them. At least it will injure them and give us time."
"Fuck no! You just want to fry me with them!"
"LISTEN! I'd have killed you with it in the alley anyway. So you either play along with me or die by their hands. Maybe their mission is to kill a fat fucking pig so you'll help them too!"
"Bitch!"
Arnold was in a turmoil, Tris may be lying just to ditch him later but their chances of escaping without any help was very low. He did have a 'special' ring that he had brought from a broker, but he wasn't strong enough to use it.
The pursuers had already closed up to them and he did not have much time to think.
"FUCK! Move to a larger area then! We fight there!"
After shouting these words he thought,
'If worse comes to the worst, I'll use the ring even if I lose a finger or two.'
The duo quickly turned around the corner and made their way towards a large area. They were both very familiar with the area and knew where the other was planning to go.
They could hear the sounds of growling and trash cans being thrown around behind them. The enemy was definitely a battle class agent!
After a few twists and turns, the duo finally arrived at a huge dilapidated compound. The place was covered with mountains of rubbish and metal. Rats scurried around through the junk while being chased by rabid cats and dogs. The concrete floor had mostly corroded and the stench here was nauseating. It was hard to imagine anyone living near this area. Disease and plague would surely announce their impending death.
The only thing that was unusual about this place was the small playground at the centre. It had a pair of swings and a slide but they much cleaner and maintained unlike the rusting metal and junk around it. The moon shone brightly as the duo made their way towards it.
They stopped before the playground and turned around to face their pursuers.
From the dark alleyway, two wolf-like creatures with dark red fur rushed out and pounced at the duo at incredible speeds.
Tris quickly snapped her fingers while murmuring under her breath. The wolf who had lunged at her slowed down mid-air for a split second, but it was enough time for her to take out a small gun from her belt and shoot at one of the wolves. Fire erupted out from the gun, like a volcano, and swallowed the wolf in flames.
It was already at point blank range and could only manage to turn a little before getting blown away by the flames. The wolf howled in pain as it was launched away. It landed next to the alley and stayed still.
However, this was not it's end.
It's burning fur suddenly started growing backwards and it's body shrunk in mass, turning into a naked woman who had severe burn marks on her body and face. She was incapacitated at the moment but her wounds were healing at an extremely fast rate.
Tris already knew of this and immediately planned her next action. She had already used half of her energy on the gun and could not afford to waste any time. The gun amplified her pre-intermediate tier skills by double but it consumed too much energy.
She needed a scapegoat.
With a risky plan in mind, she turned towards the other wolf that had pinned Arnold down and fired another shot. This time an invisible vortex of winds erupted out from the gun and shot towards the wolf.
Arnold who had been struggling to keep the wolf's jaws off his neck, suddenly felt a cool wind blowing on his face. The wolf seemed to realize this too, as it looked towards the source. It tried to jump away at the last second but the air around it suddenly pushed it back.
Before it could register what had happened, a heavy force slammed on it's body. It flew across the playground and crashed onto a pile of junk.
Arnold was furious and shouted,
"You nearly killed me!"
He looked around for Tris but that sly devil had already left the area.
'Damn it! That bitch!'
Arnold was about to run after her when he suddenly heard a woman's scream from behind a pile of metal.
"AHHHHHH---"
The scream died as soon as it came and a sudden chill fell into the atmosphere.
Arnold was confused and terrified.
'That scream was definitely Tris'. What was going on? Was there someone else here? Did we fall into a trap?'
He suddenly heard a howl from behind him.
The wolf hadn't been injured severely and had healed itself a long time ago. It was about to pounce on Arnold when it noticed that it's pack member was missing! There was only a pool of blood where it had fainted. The wolf howled, signalling the pack member to assist him, but there was no response.
It seemed as confused as Arnold.
Arnold's rage slowly turned into panic. He had become an agent just recently and could not control his powers properly.
The wolf was already enough for him! How could he handle two enemies now?!
'Fuck! I'm gonna die if I don't do something! Shit! SHIT!'
He desperately searched for an opening so that he could escape this place. The alley that he had come from was the only way without any danger. He was about to run towards it when he heard a scruffy voice behind him.
"You will die if you go that way, prey."
He turned around and saw the wolf calmly staring at him.
"What do you mean?"
Arnold did not trust the wolf but he did feel that something was off. The wolf had also ceased it's attacks and seemed to be suggesting something. It snorted and replied,
"My pack member has disappeared."
"So? She could just have run away."
"Do you think we are like you? Our pride does not allow us to run with our tails between our legs. Even if it costs us our life......Besides that, I can smell the scent of blood from that alley."
"Blood...."
Arnold was terrified and inched away further from the alley. He gulped and asked the wolf,
"What do want to do then?"
"Heh...There are definitely some agents hiding around. You help me kill them and I'll let you live."
"And 'you' think you can kill them? You were literally struggling with me alone!"
"Grrrrrr.....filthy mouth.....I can cast a pre-advanced tier AOE skill, but you need to distract them for a while."
A sneer appeared on the wolf's face.
Arnold was sure that the wolf was plotting something, but what could he do? He couldn't fight those unknown people by himself. At least he might have a chance running away, while the wolf fought. He reluctantly nodded and shouted,
"Oi! Care to come out from the shadows?! Show yourself! Fucking pussy!!"
There was no response. Just slience.
'Fuck! These people don't get provoked so easily. I gotta try a different method.'
Arnold turned towards the wolf and laughed. He then spoke loudly in a mocking tone,
"Hahaha....we'll just wait here until daybreak then. Since the cowards can only ambush us. Some 'residents' are sure to come here then. Better to get some rest instead!"
After saying this, he walked towards the swing set and sat on it. The swing stretched wide, making the whole scene look very comical.
What Arnold was trying to imply with this stunt, was the fact that he did not respect these professionals at all.
Being in the field of business for more than 12 years had developed an innate ability in him, to use words and acting to his advantage. He knew that most people who ignored straight provocation could not stand disrespect at their skills.
The professionals would act like they didn't care but would start getting annoyed much faster than before the insult. The seed was sown and this was now a game of patience.
He was actually very terrified in his head but he was hoping that the wolf's skill was enough, to at least buy time for him.
The fat man then swung on the swing lightly and hummed a happy tune. The wolf was shocked at what the fat man was doing but after it figured out his plan, it was quite impressed by this act. It too yawned and assumed a sleeping position while it prepared to activate it's skill.
5 minute passed.
30 minutes passed.
1 hour passed.
Arnold was getting impatient by the second but he still maintained his act. He joked and annoyed the wolf from time to time and laughed loudly.
After nearly 2 hours, a hooded man appeared from round the corner. He had stolen Tris' mask and was hiding his face behind it. At the same time, a shirtless bald man with tattoos all over his body walked out from the alleyway. The hooded man removed the mask, revealing a heavily scarred face. He gave a sinister smile and said,
"My, my, my.....Quite the annoying pi aren't ya. I also wasn't expecting two dogs to show up while hunting you two, but it seems like you are famous!"
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