Chapter nineteen: Showdown
Somewhere in the battered city, in a wide street with no sign of life, where the groans of the marching undead were all anyone could hear, a shrill voice sounded, breaking the eerie silence.
"Do we really have to do as that little girl said?" Asked Stink Bomb with a scowl on his thin face as he followed behind Gamma Ball.
"Do you ever shut up?" Asked Gamma Ball in a deep throaty voice, frowning as he did. "You know as well as I do that we have no choice!" he added in an annoyed tone as he stopped, turning to look at the nuisance that was Stink Bomb.
"I know, I know, but that really pisses me off," Stink Bomb said while furiously scratching his head, showcasing his frustrations at the situation. "Then shut your mouth before you get us both killed," Instructed Gamma Ball with an equally frustrated tone as he turned around, resuming the march.
"We just need to find this Kaden character, kill him, and be done with it, so don't blow it!" Gamma Hog concluded, not even bothering to turn around as Stink Bomb began throwing explosives in all directions out of frustration.
"When have I ever blown it?" Stink Bomb replied, trailing off at the end of his sentence as Gamma Ball turned to give a dirty look. "You know what? Don't answer that!" he added with a shrug.
Though people knew these two as maniacal psychopaths, even calling them animals for their unpredictable, crazy, and downright cruel behavior, they weren't stupid.
And that's why they decided to obediently comply when a particular woman that looked like a little girl suddenly showed up, asking, no, ordering them to go after some nobody.
The woman in question might have had to beat the crap out of Stink Bomb and Gamma Ball before they agreed, but that was neither here nor there.
They did not know why the woman wanted them to go after said nobody and why she didn't go after him herself, and they did not dare to ask.
As far as the two of them were concerned, they only had to find this nobody as the woman instructed them and hopefully vent some of their frustration on the poor bastard in the process.
But little did they know they were being watched right now by that exact nobody.
...
"Well, shit," I murmured to myself as I hid on top of a tall building, watching the most infamous duo of maniacs ever to roam wastelands causally talking about killing me.
'Little girl? The only little girl capable of ordering around these two maniacs that I knew of was Flatliner' That made little sense, as she didn't seem particularly pissed at me when she left. 'Is this another test or something?' I'm really getting tired of these bitches acting so mysteriously.
'Just you wait. I'll give you and that creepy redhead a spanking as soon as I'm strong enough.' My lips arched a little at that thought as I began reading Stink Bomb and Gamma Ball's status screens.
Name: Max Jameson (Stink Bomb)
Age: 25
Race: Human
Bloodline: None
Parameters:
Strength: D+
Agility: D+
Endurance: D
Intelligence: B
Energy: Locked
Perks:
[Elastic flesh: Grants high resistance to blunt force and explosions]
...
Name: Jools Vernor
Age: 32
Race: Human
Bloodline: None
Parameters:
Strength: C+
Agility: D
Endurance: B
Intelligence: D-
Energy: locked
Perks:
[Radiaton affinity: The ability to absorb radiation and use it to heal wounds]
'This is going to be a tough battle. I need to make some preparations.' I frowned as I began formulating a plan to deal with these two maniacs.
...
"Tracks, fresh." Gamma Ball said as he squatted on the ground, examining a set of footsteps. "That woman said that our target would be I'm this area, so these should be left by him," he added as he got up and began tracing the footsteps.
"Fucking finally!" Stink Bomb said with a grin as he followed behind Gamma Ball, shiftily looking around the area with his beady eyes.
"That should be him," Gamma Ball remarked as he spotted a youth with glowing green eyes and long black hair, immediately dashing in the man's direction as the latter turned tail and ran.
"Hehehehe, I really like it when they run!" Stink Bomb laughed in his shrill voice as he himself began running after the young man, retrieving several bombs and holding them in his hand.
"He went inside!" Gamma Ball said while pointing towards a demolished house. "You go to the back and cut off his escape route, and I'll follow behind him," he added as he quickly went inside.
"On it!" Stink Bomb replied with another shrill laugh as he threw a bomb on the ground, standing on top of it with its trigger in his hand. He grinned as he activated the bomb, and it exploded, sending him flying over the house and landing on the other side without a scratch.
...
I smiled in satisfaction as I watched Gamma Ball chase behind my aura double ganger into the house, leaving the explosion living freak outside for me to handle first.
Why do I suddenly have an aura double ganger, you might ask? It was an ability I used the last of my EXP to upgrade my intelligence parameter, solely for the purpose of using it on this occasion.
The principle of this technique was similar to my fiery elemental aura; I only had to manifest a significant amount of my energy and change its properties to match my own.
And it required a great deal of mental capacity to shape and control, hence the intelligence upgrade, but that was beside the point.
I watched as the explosion-loving freak sent himself flying to the other side of the house and immediately made my way there, despite things not going exactly as I planned.
I had hoped that the two of them would follow behind my clone into the confined space of the house, so I could get them both by exploding said clone, but oh well.
It also seems that I've underestimated Stink Bomb's senses as he quickly spotted me while I was trying to sneak up on him, immediately tossing an explosive ball in my direction.
I materialized Bloodsport in my hand, hitting the bomb and sending it back to its owner, who received it with a smile as it exploded in front of his face, doing no damage.
"It looks like you're not just a nobody!" Stink Bomb said with a maniacal grin. "No matter! That only means you will be more fun to kill!" he added as he began tossing bomb after bomb in my direction.
I grinned back as I began dodging the bombs flying in my direction as the clone in the house finally exploded, demolishing the house. But I didn't get any notification, meaning that the fat bastard either didn't take enough damage to die, or he had an extra badge with him.
'Whatever the case was, it should give me enough time to deal with the freak in front of me.'
I swung my baseball bat that was already covered in black flames at Stink Bomb as soon as I closed the distance between us, but he quickly threw a bomb between us, immediately setting it off with a trigger and creating some distance between us.
He went flying backward with a shrill laugh, throwing even more bombs at me as he did while I stood my ground, activating my aura armor to protect myself from the first bomb.
I endured the first explosion, which caused my aura armor to ripple through gritted teeth, quickly dodging the rest of the attacks and materializing several small aura knives to throw at the maniac as I did.
Stink Bomb threw another triggered bomb, setting it off near the knives, destroying them in the process, but he didn't account for the other set of aura knives I threw while he was occupied with the first batch.
Stink Bomb didn't panic as he began twisting and turning mid-air, dodging four of the aura knives, but the fifth and last managed to plunge itself in his stomach, causing him to crash into the ground while holding his bleeding abdomen.
I immediately charged towards him, intending to deliver the final blow with an icy look on my face. But Stink Bomb didn't seem bothered as he retrieved another trigger with a maniacal expression on his face.
"Why so serious, mate? Hahahahaha!" He asked with another shrill laugh, activating the trigger and setting off all the bombs on his person and creating an explosion that made the previous ones pale in comparison.
My aura armor immediately broke, causing me to grunt in pain as I quickly made another one, only for it to break again as swiftly as I made it.
I had to go through three more shields, almost running out of energy until the explosions died down, revealing Stink Bomb's battered figure and my own.
"It looks like I really stepped into it this time, hahahaha," Stink Bomb said with a demented laugh, immediately retrieving a badge and crushing it, causing him to disappear from my sight.
"Shit!" I cursed as I sat on the ground, wincing in pain as I materialized a green aura in my hand, which I floated on top of my burn wounds, causing them to heal.
It was also at this moment that obliterated debris of the house where I ambushed Gamm ball with my clone began to fly in all directions as the overweight lunatic emerged from beneath it.
"I know I'm just repeating myself right now, but... shit!" I remarked with twitching eyes as I watched the hulking brute take a hit from his inhaler and causing whatever wounds he sustained from the clone's explosion to heal.