Chương 98: Shooter

You could really tell the city took the threats from the ADU as seriously as possible, given they then disregarded them and planned on doing another tree extraction to call their bluff after a week of no real happenings. Tancred and Richmond - from the comfort of long distance communication - put me on security for this one, believing if the ADU did want to try anything, they'd be a lot less inclined to act out. I wasn't entirely certain, but I wasn't really against the idea.

Gleditsia looked terrified when Shivvy took a chunk off of him with just one stab. Which meant there I was, in costume, standing around as a lumber team got to work on trying to completely de-root the tree and a few cops handled traffic and to act as more direct security. Multiple crews of men were working on breaking up the ground under a tree that had embedded itself in an alley between two empty garages, while a crane was being equipped to yank it out entirely.

Our only protection from the sun's glare were the taller buildings at our backs. Honestly, I took it as a good distraction from another issue. Perry gave The Force of Nature's media guy, Adam Witts, my phone number so Adam could ask me for an interview. He'd sent three different texts asking about if I would be interested in trying. I knew he was a radio host guy from that Ask-a-Hench thing before. Wasn't interested in going onto any media like that.

Shivvy - who had been tentatively approved as "equipment" due to them not being able to verify if he's technically alive - sat on my head, seeming completely unbothered by the laborers and police who were staring at him. One laborer ended up asking me a question.

"So uh… what kind of breed is he?"

"I'm not really sure, I didn't even know cats had breeds besides some of them being hairless," I admitted. A second one, who was carrying a set of shovels, spoke up.

"He's kinda like someone made a metal sculpture outta my mama's Russian Blue. She's pretty silvery too. She's an old girl. Probably older than you. How old are you, actually?" I thought about that for a moment. Was I allowed to even mention my age? Wasn't really like anyone could figure it out based on just my age and my hair color. I tapped a finger to my earpiece.

"Hey, can I tell people my age?" Another voice, a younger woman's came up.

"You should be fine with saying it," she answered. Since Richmond showed up, there'd been a big reshuffle on our communications. Less direct contact with Tancred, more with a delegation of staffers whenever Tancred was busy handling other things. This one went by Betsy.

"Thanks, Betsy," I replied, before looking back to the laborer.

"Eighteen."

"Shit, eighteen? You're just a baby! My youngest is twenty-three!"

"Yeah, and what's your youngest do?"

"I'll be honest, jack shit. He sits at home playin' video games. Wish he showed some initiative like you, kid." He remarked while pointing a shovel at me, before strolling off towards wherever he planned on wasting time to get paid by the hour. Shivvy dipped down from my head and into my crossed arms. It was actually fascinating how quickly he'd taken to acting like a cat in all sorts of ways.

If it weren't for the fact about ten minutes prior I saw him eat a butterfly with a tendril, I'd almost mistake him for cute.

"People always say they wanna be cops," a police officer mentioned as he approached me, holding onto his vest. Bennett. Same guy who arrested me for the second time when I forgot my SIN.

"But this is like half the job, especially in the Spring and Summer. The other half is drunk guys saying someone slept with the other's girlfriend or something."

"And supervillains," I noted. Bennett shrugged.

"That's only been a recent problem. Charlottesville's criminal history, even with the henches, is pretty dull."

"That why you took the job? Because it's easy?" The police officer laughed.

"Honestly, I got the offer because I used to work as a security guard. The PD has a better pension. Admittedly, it's a little easier, though." As if God's sense of humor was tempted by those seven words, the laborers near the tree shouted out as something was growing on the bark. Some kind of face. Indeterminate in any details besides human. Kind of. The materials were still wood, shaped to match all the details on a person. I recalled Chris and Jairo encountering one of these before.

"You were warned so clearly," it spoke, voice raspy and withered. Shivvy slithered up around my neck, sitting on my shoulder as I approached the tree.

"You don't get a say on warnings. Who are you?" I called out, fists already clenched.

"An advisor, and… spotter. Dial up 0. 2 MOA."

"What the fuck does that me-""Wind is Right 2 MOA."

"What does that fucking mean!?"

"Send." BANG I watched the metal frame of the garage next to me pop open like invisible hands tore it. That was a gunshot. I didn't even need to think any quick math to figure out how that was aimed. They were going for my neck. I could've withstood the worst of that chaos if the laborers all didn't start screaming as the police officers called out the presence of a sniper.

"Miss right. Correct 5. 3 MOA Left." the voice wheezed out. Wasn't going to just stand there and take that. The good news was, I wasn't completely on my own. My hand sprung up towards Shivvy, grabbing him by the fistful as his feline form broke apart into his more conventionally blobby appearance. Was time to try a new trick I taught him.

"Send."

"Wide!" Ducking down at that exact moment, Shivvy expanded in front of me in a rectangular form, about my height, at the same time a BANG rung out. I saw in real time as the bullet bulged into Shivvy's widened expanse, only for it to shrink down as he just up and ate the bullet. Had all of his favorite minerals in it, I guessed.

"Relocate, Mother Socratea. Flank," spoke the face in the tree. At the same moment, silhouette made clear by the glare of the sun, a wide array of roots and vines sprung out across from one rooftop to another. There she was. Right as I began to tense my legs up to just hurl myself at her current location, a chorus of gunfire erupted from my left, prompting even more chaos from the cowering laborers and the at-this-point justifiably pissed off cops.

As I felt a stray shot shoot past my hair, I yanked Shivvy up to absorb the hailstorm of bullets that came after. It was fascinating, seeing Shivvy bubble as he basically ate every shot he took. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The police officers took to taking cover behind their cars, struggling to use their pistols against, from what I could tell, were roughly eight men with rifles, arriving in a pair of trucks. Four fired while the others loaded up.

They had it down to a science. One truck was sitting still and the other was rocketing towards the cars. The tree wasn't talking. That meant I had time. Seconds, maybe, but seconds were plenty. One cop was behind a patrol car, rambling off details into his radio. If they got called, we just had to wait for back-up. I needed to hit my earpiece too, but if I did it now, there'd be no time to act. Time was starting to catch up. Needed to act. Fuck it.

"Long!" I yelled, Shivvy straightening out into a long metal rod. With a wide, aggressive hurl he went flying towards the speeding truck. It didn't stand a chance against the alien technology as it got impaled by Shivvy, forcing it to tip forward and send a couple of the armed men sprawling onto the pavement. The two others slammed into the truck itself. No knockouts, it looked like. Fuck.

"4. 8 MOA Left." Needed to move-!

"Se-" KRAK My fist slammed into the tree, causing it to heavily splinter and wail out in agony. Still Wyrdwood, unfortunately, and it was already starting to mend in its cracks. But that gave me- BANG Nothing. For a second. Then heat. Lots of it. Around my neck and shoulder, radiating out like cracks in ice. Feeling at the area, I looked at my fingers afterwards. Bright crimson. I was hit. Didn't seem to lose focus yet, but my palm immediately planted itself over the affected area. Wasn't risking it.

There was a basic rundown on the topic I got when I accidentally slapped open a portion of Casney's neck. If the carotid artery wasn't torn open fully, just a grazing tear, the average person had fifteen minutes if they could keep about twelve pounds of pressure on the wound. I could do twelve pounds. I could do harder, if I really needed. My ears were thundering to the point I couldn't focus on what was being said on the radio. I'm certain they were trying to give me a timeline.

I didn't imagine it could be long, but this meant the window before this ADU freak was going to try to escape. I had, realistically, maybe five minutes to catch her." Shivvy!" I yelled, feeling red warmth against my palm as I exerted my neck. Loyal little shit, at least, as he strung out back to me immediately, in a blob-like form. Had to improvise, there was no precedent for a verbal command, all I could do was hope he understood what I was talking about usually.

Letting bits of him slide under my hand and pressing his liquid form over my neck, I wheezed out a "Hold" in hopes he'd hold steady for me. I loosened pressure just a little, and saw he didn't compromise in shape. Okay. I could use my hands. Rushing off behind one of the patrol cars, I tapped my earpiece.

"Sniper at the tree extraction! And like ten ADU! Got a neck graze!" I yelled, feeling my own blood pooling against my neck.

"Oh-" Betsy started.

"-Okay, okay. Where's the sniper?"

"Building roof! Gonna go intercept!"

"What about the ADU?"

"Cops can handle them! One already radioed in!"

"Okay. We're going to send Teiú in as well. You stay in cover." Cover? I was fucking bleeding out. Cover wouldn't do me anything. If I bled out behind cover, then there was zero help for these cops or the construction crew. If I was dying- Was I dying? Shut up. Focus. If I was dying, I had to make sure my dying moves were going to be the heaviest blow I could do against anyone in the ADU. So beating up one of their named lackeys was the move.

"No time! Gonna get sniper!"

"You took a neck hit, Hercules, you need to sit down." I ignored her by this point. As the thundering in my ears had died down, I glanced towards Bennett, who was reloading his pistol.

"I'm gonna throw this car." He looked at me like I insulted his mother.

"…Where am I gonna take cover?"

"Run to the other car. Garage wall. Don't care. Go!" There didn't seem to be any protests after that, what with him immediately sprinting over to the other car. Working my body like this was gonna make me bleed out more. But it was this or making the police deal with a bunch of armed men by themselves when all they had were handguns. Had to make that trade, there were more of them than there was of me.

Gripping the bumper, I swung the car along the road to the two trucks and the dopes who were just about ready to blast me to Hell. The front truck took most of the impact, which kept the two out of the truck alive when they were struck with enough force to send them sprawling again. BANG Felt nothing. Fucker missed. Good. Glancing back up, I could see the slightest glint from what I thought might be a scope. That was my target. Enough strength in my legs could send me anywhere.

Even if my heart was beating like crazy, making every pulse a tick against the clock. In this case, that strength was for sending me hurtling feet first into the corner of the building's roof. The impact kicked up loose brick and concrete. From there, I could see her. She was gaunt. The only reason I couldn't mistake her for a corpse was the fact she was upright. Her lanky body was wearing scraps of clothes and a leafy robe like Gleditsia's. Her head was shaved bald. She held a rifle in her hands.

Long and almost triangular-looking. Long barrel. And of course, several parts of it had wood. The most stand-out feature, however, was how her midsection had numerous brambles and roots sticking out, all around her stomach. Some extended out from her body, towards the ground, letting them function as a set of legs.

"Gonna kill you-" I hissed out, knowing all of that work probably took five minutes off my timer alone. I could feel the tension in my legs loosening. I had maybe one good pounce in me left. If I had to move any further after that, I probably would bleed out. Once I did it, I'd need to stay on my feet to use the rest of my strength. Needed a way to make sure she couldn't move. In that same moment, I kicked over one of the loose pieces of debris I broke off when I landed right at her.

In a flash of movement, the roots shot out of her body, yanking her about ten feet off to the left, still dangling in the air.

"The Walking Palm never sits still," she warbled out, her voice unsteady. Like she couldn't even exhale the words properly. The brambles must've obstructed her diaphragm. Well, I didn't need to sit still either. I was willing to give up more time. Lunging towards her made her launch back just as fast, roots stretching off towards another building. But one was still holding onto this building for stability, I saw. All I needed. Grabbing that root, I simply yanked her back to where I was, fist reared back.

There was enough force left in me that I could've turned her into a memory. Probably would put me on death's door. But just a bit of strength was enough. As much as I wanted to kill her, if we could get her alive, we could get information. WHAM She couldn't handle the force of a direct punch, sending her crumpling to the floor, curled up in wheezing pain. I could feel the warmth building up against my neck. But I didn't feel dizzy or tired. Maybe it wasn't as bad a hit as it looked.

When Chris got shot in the face, there was a lot of blood too, but it wasn't lethal. Pressing a finger to my ear, I spoke.

"Sniper got. Also, can neck grazes not kill?" Betsy was quick to respond.

"You're lucky I was an EMT once. Is the bleeding pulsing or constant?"

"Constant."

"External jugular graze. You got pressure on it?"

"Yeah."

"Keep it up and you'll be fine. No uncovering it or you'll get an embolism. We'll have ambulances coming." Looking back down towards the garages, I could see the police officers had the ADU terrorists lined up against the garage wall. Somehow, I managed to win. Even if it reminded me that I could die. I slipped my phone out from my suit, looking at those texts from Adam. I tapped away at the letters. Two words.

"Let's meet."