As I watched her run, I noticed the small package on her back. Huh, that looks suspiciously like a spike.
Wait, Holy shit! That's a fucking spike!
Real life does not have a countdown till round starts.
Almost on instinct, I gave chase. I did not notice that I had no weapon on me to actually fight her, even if I did catch her. But I knew this; I may not have the big picture yet. But an exploding spike was bad for the world. That was more or less a given.
She ducked to avoid a vendor and vaulted over an incoming car while crossing the street. I was losing her in speed. And I did give her an accidental head start.
She rounded another bend, and I gambled.
Instead of chasing her, I decided to run towards the place I thought she was running to.
Coincidentally, I had to run through the Cafe street.
On the way, I spotted Clove drawing an eye-patch on Pebble. Huh, Pirate.
"Oh, Hey! Mirror!"
"Incursion!"
I was more or less certain she would understand what I meant. She froze, and her eyes widened for a split second before she began chasing after me.
"How do you know about'em?"
"Does it matter?"
"Point."
I turned, and she followed.
"By the way, I bought Pebble a pirate hat!"
Was now really the time to be discussing pets?
"Shouldn't we be more worried about the Viper with a spike!"
"Oh shit, we should call the big man."
I rounded another bend and spotted Viper looking around. So I scrambled back into cover.
Clove caught up behind me.
I looked to her for guidance.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"That Viper's just around the bend."
"Okay. So let's go catch her!"
"We are unarmed! And why aren't you calling Brim?"
"I didn't bring ma phone."
She took out a sheriff and a stinger from the back of her shirt and tossed me the Revolver.
"You just carry that around?"
I hadn't even noticed them on her before.
"All VPs do. Big man's orders"
Dammit!
Then I remembered I knew Chamber's phone number.
I snatched the phone of a man who was walking down the street talking about some stocks.
"Hey! What the - No worries, man. Nobody needs to get hurt."
The Sheriff was an extremely good motivator.
I dialed the number just as Clove peeked around the corner and remarked.
"Uh, mirror. You should hurry up mate. Now there are two of them."
What? Dammit!
I peeked around to find the Viper with a Phoenix who also looked like he was carrying a spike.
"Bon Jour, I thought you would never call."
"Enemy incursion. Two spotted Radiant hostiles. I think I saw two possible spikes. Clove and I are on site. Call Brimstone!"
I used the reporting style they taught us back at base.
And for the first time since I began talking to him, Chamber dropped the amused billionaire rhetoric.
"Understood."
I actually checked if I had accidentally dialed someone else.
"Keep this phone on."
I nodded.
"Understood."
I intended to return it after the call, but I guess I'll just have to add phone snatching atop my many crimes.
"They'll come towards us."
Clove handed me the spare bullets she had on her.
"Why?"
"They can't just plant spikes willy-nilly. They're gonna need to plant it at the Trough sites. Both of the nearest ones are behind us."
"What the fuck is a trough?"
"It's a low."
"What?"
"Never mind the pish-posh. Just don't let them get through. They'll have only one spike. Rest are just Decoys or radiant shards to confuse the scanners."
Oh cool. As if a single spike wasn't enough.
"Since you spotted her, they'll rendezvous and push together instead, unless there's someone already near the sites."
I breathed heavily and tried to lock in like I did when I used to play Valorant as a game.
No worries. It's just 3D and in real life, like VR.
Seeing me panicking, Clove smiled, "Relax, mate, you've trained for this. You've got this."
Yeah. That's right. I've trained for this kind of a fight.
"And even if you don't, you can just come back and try again."
"That's not really comforting."
"Isn't it?"
She was genuinely perplexed. But we could not continue the conversation because I spotted Chamber in the crowd from the left.
And since I just talked with him, this one was definitely another fucking hostile.
Unfortunately, He spotted me too.
We both froze. He in surprise, and me in shock.
He suddenly manifested a Headhunter and aimed.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I instinctively ducked, only to realize that it was Clove who shot Chamber.
Chamber dived and rolled behind a car as panic ensued and the general public began running.
"For someone who doesn't like dying. You're awfully bad at not dying!"
Well, excuse me for being a normal fucking human.
I aimed with the Sheriff. And fired a shot. In my nervousness, I hit the car. The radiant shot tore through the car and made a hole clean through.
What the fuck?
The problem was we were pincered with the Chamber on one side and Phoenix and Viper on the other, who Clove was engaging.
Dammit, we need to take him out, or we'll be killed here. Suddenly, a brightly colored cloud descended around the car Chamber was hiding behind.
"We need to take that one down fast!"
Yeah.
I used Shrouded Step to appear on the building behind the bubble. I saw Chamber emerge and set up a Teleporter. He aimed at Clove; I aimed at him. But I shot first. The First bullet sparked off his shield, and I basically unloaded.
3 missed. But one more hit home before he scrambled behind another cover. I think I injured him. I used Shrouded Step to reposition again. Coincidentally, I appeared right behind him.
I smiled, raised my sheriff and -
click.
Oh shit! I was out of Ammo!
Chamber spun around and fired. Sharp pains rose in my chest as blood spurted, and I fell to the ground.
With my fading senses, I heard a faint "Got one."