Chương 175: B3. 17.2 - Friend or Foe

I shrugged my shoulders, hoping that the Corebrings didn't have any way to read my mind. I couldn't explain anything, so I might as well play dumb. I'd adjust based on their reaction. Would these two torture me for information? Could Seagull Controller's powers work on humans? What would Deen and I do after this? Regular Gabe probably wouldn't attract their attention. Maybe in a small radius? We had never met Corebrings before, even though they had been in the city for some time.

It was Boosted Gabe that was like a beacon to them. If Deen's artificial Core power became stronger in the future, we'd have to go into hiding. We? I was really thinking about saving Deen, huh? I could just kill her and be done with this. I shouldn't compromise my comforts because of her. Dictator witch. And I should focus on the now. No point thinking about the aftermath if I wouldn't survive the present.

"What do you mean by that shrug?" Clive asked.

"That she doesn't know," said Seagull Controller.

"Have you forgotten normal human gestures?"

"Of course, not," he replied.

"I'm well aware what a shrug signifies. But it could entail several things. Red Hood didn't sense it. She did, but didn't know what it was. Or… she knows and doesn't want to tell us."

"The problem is with your questioning rather than Red Hood's answer." Seagull Controller hopped from the spear to Clive's head.

"Then you overthink the simplest of things." The bird pecked at Clive's head with the cheese puff still in its mouth, dusting his black hair with yellow crumbs. Clive waved away Seagull Controller before dusting his head.

"You do the questioning if you think you can do better." Seagull Controller flew toward me and made a tight circle around my head. With a closer look, I noticed something lodged between its wings, hiding in its feathers. It was shiny, like white marble. My senses told me that it was 'living' even if it didn't have a beating heart or blood pumping through its veins. Its tendrils were creeping up to the back of the bird's head, the way the feathers were flattened. It didn't have its own smell.

But now that I knew it was there, I could sense that the other birds also had them attached. I still had no idea what the gravel monsters were, though. This object or creature controlled the birds. Seagull Controller also had a 'summoning power' instead of shooting fireballs out of their hands or something. How odd. Sort of reminded me of Spooky Erind's gauntlet growing on my hand.

"Good evening, Red Hood," said Seagull Controller, returning to Clive.

"I go by the name Trepanner. Nice to meet you." I questioningly tilted my head. Such a wild swing from 'Clive'.

"My name, is it? T-R-E-P-A-N-N-E-R," spelled the bird as it adjusted its footing on Clive's head, spreading its wings to maintain balance.

"Many people make a mistake in its spelling."

"I call her Pan for short," said Clive.

"Trepanner is too unwieldy a name compared to mine."

"Only Clive calls me Pan because he sucks," said Pan the Seagull Controller.

"And the name, Clive, sucks, too." Is her name connected to trepanning? It was an ancient practice of boring holes into the skull for medical or spiritual purposes, mostly the latter. It did work at times, which was why the practice existed. Humans of old were certifiably insane. As a kid, whenever I'd get bored with the Animal Channel, I'd switch to other science channels. I wasn't a good kid wanting to learn; I was looking for weird stuff like trepanning.

Pan might've chosen her Corebring name because it was related to her power. The creature on the gull's back seemed to be burrowing into its brain.

"As for you, Red Hood," said Pan.

"Don't call me Pan, or I'll be very angry with you. I may be a new Corebring, but I can fight."

"She's not lying." Clive reached up to scratch the gull like a pet.

"I've noticed you've been diligently training, Pan. Controlling various animals and studying them. I wasn't spying on you, by the way. Maharal told me. I lied about noticing your training. I'm not compensated to observe you."

"Some of us want to progress." Pan pecked at Clive's hand.

"I don't want to be like you, stuck as an Initiate since the dawn of written history."

"By my own choice," Clive clarified. Pan made gagging noises. Was it to show her frustration?

"I don't like your choice because I got assigned to your team. You're in your team, and you suck at teaching me the ropes." What were these two clowns doing? They get absorbed into their conversation, almost forgetting that I existed. They could ask me 'yes' or 'no' questions. Or they could make me write on the concrete or something. It was like they didn't even care what I had to say. Either they were incompetent, or this was a setup to test if I'd escape, proving that I did know about Deen.

But as an Adumbrae, I should escape from Corebrings, shouldn't I? Maybe not. Maybe I was becoming strong enough to fight them. I had controlled the urge to eat Clive, tempered by my wariness of the danger. My whole being could tell that this was a super dangerous situation, perhaps the most dangerous I'd ever been in. My predator brain wasn't dumb and all gung-ho like Myra. But as these two weirdos continued to banter, my growth continued.

"I made it clear that our team is very independent," Clive said to Pan.

"No hand-holding or spoon-feeding or other idioms. Explore the real world."

"Like what you're doing?" Pan raised her voice, almost shrieking in an inhuman pitch.

"Hanging out at Quality Mart? Don't tell me it's your cover. You didn't need to apply for a part-time job."

"I'm going to be candid, the fried chicken there is awesome. I wanted easy access to it." Clive felt the top of his head and touched Pan's feet.

"What a peculiar pair of feet you have. Not meaty like chickens do."

"Are you thinking of frying gulls like chicken? Jeez!"

"Seagulls don't have clawed feet like other birds?"

"Gulls have webbed feet but still have small claws. Never mind all that! It's time we get going."

"True. The manager might be wondering where I am. I didn't time out at all. The store might be being robbed this—""Wrap up our talk with Red Hood first!" Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"But she won't respond," said Clive.

"I doubt she'd talk to you if she didn't with me. I'd rather not resort to harming her more than necessary." Meaning that he was fine with harming me a bit. Examining his words, did it also mean that killing me was off the table? They'd leave me if I gave up Deen? Should I… tell them about Deen? Nah, I didn't want anyone to have her out of pettiness. I wanted to punish her for being a controlling bitch—this wouldn't be possible if the Corebrings got her. She was my pawn. The Corebrings had to fight me for her.

Going up against Corebrings didn't seem to be as hopeless a thought as I became stronger. So, what if Clive could spear my head? I could survive with part of my brain gone; I'd seen some cases on TV of it. If the spear is lodged in my skull, then it couldn't hit me anywhere else.

"Obviously, Red Hood can't talk in that form," Trepanner said.

"What do you mean?" From his tone, Clive wasn't kidding with that question.

"That's not a mask on her face!" Pan's seagull voice was becoming hoarse.

"Those are real teeth. That's her actual mouth!" A moment of silence. Clive tilted her head up. Pan spread her wings again for balance, making those gaggling noises as she pecked at Clive's head.

"Did you seriously think she could speak English? She'd been growling at us!"

"Telling the truth, I actually did think so. If that's her mouth, then I can see why she can't." The bizarre gagging sound Pan made when annoyed turned into violent gurgling, then to a piercing whine.

"Ohmaygadyoustupidfucker," she screeched without warning, making me jerk in surprise. There was no reaction from Clive.

"Youidiotshit—urk!" Clive had grabbed the seagull, including the creature hitching a ride on it, and squeezed hard. I heard some bones crack. What the hell was going on? How many times had I asked that question so far? The Corebrings should add some psychological testing when accepting Initiates. I slowly realized that I might be the only normal person in the city.

"Don't… kill… the bird," Pan managed to say. Clive released the gull into the air. But it fell to the ground, its wings broken. He didn't seem so nice anymore. He speared me the moment he saw me; that was the real him. Things were getting dangerous. More dangerous. As Pan's seagull splayed on the ground, I had a good view of the creature on its back. It had the form of a human fetus, but with six tiny hands instead of two.

It clung to the seagull's feathery back with its tiny hands and tendrils growing out of its belly. Its skin glittered under the moonlight and Clive's glowing spear. But it had a cloudy sheen, as if it were sculpted out of white quartz. Tiny gems adorned its body, as if someone made a fetus-themed amulet jewelry— I don't know why anyone would make such a thing. Growing out of this creature was a scorpion-like tail that pierced the back of the seagull's head.

"How can we talk to Red Hood?" Clive asked, as if I wasn't in front of them.

"Can you attach to her brain?" Such a drastic suggestion. My time to leave is coming, I thought, staying calm. I had grown a foot taller, my muscles bigger and stronger. Still not sure how Clive's power worked, but hiding from his sight might do it. He couldn't spear what he couldn't see, right?

"I… don't think… she'll agree," croaked Pan. The seagull tried to limply stand but couldn't. It weakly flapped its broken wings.

"But there's… a way."

"Fix yourself," said Clive.

"It's grating hearing you talk like this."

"You… caused this." The tail of the marble fetus glowed blue, pumping light into the skull of the seagull. Dozens of small white wires burst from the hands of the creature and stabbed the bird's body. Clive glared at the bird with unemotional eyes.

"You can heal it. No need to fret. Uncalled for, framing me as a bad guy."

"Sometimes I think you are." The bird contorted for a few seconds. Then, it was fine again, plodding about while checking its wings. The wires receded into the fetus, and its tail stopped glowing blue. That was some insane healing power! Pan was just an Initiate? Would she get stronger abilities upon becoming a full-fledged Corebring? And I really want that fetus as jewelry, but I also knew I shouldn't try to steal it.

"Tell her to change to her human form so you can talk," said Pan, continuing their shtick of ignoring me.

"It'll be much easier and fluid. There's no need to go with nods or shaking heads." Shit, she knew that. Kind of expected, to be fair. The gangsters blabbed to the police, and the Corebrings had insiders in the force. Or maybe the Corebrings interrogated the gangsters themselves. Though jacking a spike into someone's skull to read their mind was way past simple interrogation.

"A human form?" Clive repeated.

"You didn't read the report, did you?" Pan flew up and perched on my head." My report that I spent like three hours on?" By this point, my hood had already partially become hair. Pan should notice it. I tried to stand as still as possible so that I wouldn't disturb her. Just pretend to be docile, though I wasn't fooling anyone. I wanted to delay the fighting as long as possible to grow even stronger. I kept my senses on alert in case Pan would suddenly try to pierce my brain.

"Imagine this! Working with this guy?" Pan asked me, pattering her feet on my head.

"He casually squishes me. Nice fur, by the way."

"That's not you," retorted Clive, pointing at the seagull.

"A bird you picked from the beach and your CoreQuip. The bird is inconsequential. Your CoreQuip is safe. Not even a High Overseer can destroy it. Stop being overdramatic." CoreQuip? The fetus thingy? Was the spear a CoreQuip, too? They must be tools given by the Mother Core if they were indestructible. I also couldn't shake the feeling that these two didn't view me as a threat, talking about this stuff in front of me. More like a second-class citizen whose existence didn't quite register with them. Or an animal.

Yeah, they probably considered me a baser creature because I was an Adumbrae. They didn't know that my human mind was in control.

"Great! Accusing me of being overdramatic because I'm a woman?" Pan started to shriek again.

"This is why I don't show up in our meetings."

"Spare me the sexism accusations. Tell Red Hood to shed this form."

"Why me? I'm using a fucking bird! I don't have any coercive capabilities. You're just bullying me at this point." Coercive capabilities? I internally smirked. I'd use that term in the future. This also told me a few things. Trepanner wasn't nearby, and her controlled animals weren't a concern. The Corebring controlling the gravel monsters seemed to be a different person, but also wasn't around. They were also severely underestimating me. Clive sighed.

"Red Hood… Can you turn into something that can talk?" And be powerless to fight? Previously, I was confident with my yapping abilities charming the Corebrings. That wouldn't work because they didn't think highly of my existence. They were just bored workers messing around while looking for Deen. I shook my head.

"She's saying no," said Pan from atop my head.

"Thank you for that," Clive replied with dripping sarcasm.

"Red Hood, let's not beat around the bush. We know that you're connected with whatever that was. It's simply too much coincidence that we found you after the energy disappeared. The world taught that there's no such thing as too much coincidence."

"The world taught me," Pan repeated in a mocking tone.

"By now, you should've realized that there is no escape for you," continued Clive, nodding at me. So, they really were trying to sweat me.

"The Mother Core wants us to find the source of that energy. Will you protect it at the cost of your life? We are not tasked with killing you. Tell us where it is, and you're free to go."

"Ghhroaa?" My tone made my response clear.

"If you won't," said Clive, looking up at me with disinterested eyes, "then we'll incapacitate you and restrain you until you cooperate." He thumped the butt of his spear on the ground, holding it in front of him.

"We're not going to torture her?" Pan asked. Clive snorted.

"I was handling the situation with finesse. I wouldn't immediately threaten her with that. But it's on the table. Red Hood is well aware." Pan shifted her footing on my head.

"She continues to grow. She wants to fight. We should cut of her limbs now and—" The bird stopped talking as I enclosed it in my massive hand. I plopped it into my mouth, along with whatever the hell a Corequip was.