Chapter 311
After calling in Path agents for medical assistance for Bill, with a lot of talking from Kyle and Clyde, the group drove back to Toronto. The sun was starting to rise by the time they reached the city's edge, painting the sky in shades of orange that Gale would have liked to see if he weren't in such a bad mood.
They stopped at a 24 hour Tim Hortons near Parkdale.
"Coffee run," Kyle said as he parked the car on the side walk. "Rachel's paying."
The group exited their cars and went into the store. At this hour, there was literally only 2 other people in the store, sitting by the window tables. None of them paid attention to the mismatched six people that entered.
Gale was first in line, and the man behind the counter waved him in. "Quadruple quadruple."
The cashier looked at him for a second. "Excuse me?"
"Quadruple quadruple,"Gale repeated.
"Oh...k," the cashier behind said.
"And add 4 more sugars," Gale said.
The cashier's eyes turned up, blinked at him, then punched in the order once again. Rachel came in next, ordering a double double. Kyle and Clyde both got ice caps. Jeanne got a french vanilla while Marine ordered a black coffee.
The cashier took some time to finish Gale's order. After that, it was smooth sailing as he called out each order one by one.
Once they all got their orders, they took a seat just a couple of tables away from the washroom. Gale took a long big chug of his coffee. It was hot, but not as hot as Rachel's fire. Plus, it was sweet. That was the most important part.
As everyone finished taking a sip of their own drinks, they all looked to Gale.
"You ready?" Rachel asked.
Gale nodded. Presence Between's tendrils spread out across the whole city, passing through buildings, streets, and houses. Using the scent profile gathered from the $50 bill, he searched for that specific oily and smokey hint.
From the way those Jiuling operatives smellled like, they were completely different from the United Knights and Path agents. All of them had a soil-like-medicine-like texture to their scent. Yet somehow, the oily smokey scent of the corruption clung to the fifty dollar bill, which was Yuxuan.
And with a bit more time, the tendrils finally found the scent near Lakeshore West Heights, moving deeper into the borough. The taste and smell were now clear. It had the same miasmic texture and acidic taste as what he had smelled from the corrupted knight of Kair, just a bit more in the undertones rather than in the foreground.
Either he was hiding it or he hadn't fully awakened the insanity that came along with it yet.
However, he wasn't alone. There were men in suits near him, smelling of gunpowder and fire. They were tracking him or moving closely around Yuxuan. When he turned left, they turned left the block after. When he continued straight, they did so too. These men had a way of keeping track of their target that Gale did not know.
"Found him," he said, opening his eyes. "Yuxuan. He's near Lakeshore West Heights."
Kyle set down his coffee. "You sure it's him?"
"The scent matches the dollar bill Bill gave me."
"Then let's go," Clyde said, already standing up.
"Wait." Gale held up his hand. "There's a complication."
Everyone paused.
"There are men in business suits near the same area. At least four of them," Gale said. "They look like they're following the movement pattern of Yuxuan, but not exactly."
"You say not exactly? What does it look like?" Rachel asked.
"Following from afar, but not following exactly the same path as their target. It looks like they're random people that look like they are following the same general direction, except wearing suits."
"Chamber lord?" Kyle asked Clyde.
"Has to be, but which one?" Clyde said.
"Could only be two: Handguns or Special Ops. I'm leaning more towards the Handgun, but why?"
"Maybe Project Armament, which would mean..."
"That prototype contains data on how to recreate Ann family knuckle guards?"
"Could be. Regardless, we're kinda fucked if Handguns are involved."
Rachel snapped her fingers twice at the twins. "Hello? We're right here. What are you talking about?"
Kyle turned his head around to look at everyone else. "Chamber Lords. The guys that control the multiple divisions. Division 16 Special Investigations Unit is just one of them. If it was Special Ops, we could reason with them... If it's Handguns we're dealing with, everyone here prepared to get hurt?"
"We have to try regardless. For Lily," Gale said.
"With you on that, not sure about the other two witches though," Clyde said.
Rachel looked to either of them. Both Jeanne and Marine looked like they already recognized what a Chamber Lord was when the twins mentioned them.
"There's no way the Chamber Lord would actually enter the fight, right?" Jeanne asked. "I mean, those Path bigwigs just count their money in their office all the time, right?"
Kyle and Clyde didn't respond immediately. That was all everyone needed when even the twins didn't want to say the answer.
"Regardless, if everyone here is prepared to waste a couple of gun syringes, I don't think they'd kill us, hehe," Kyle said, shrugging.
"But just in case..." Clyde pulled up his phone, dialing a number, and then putting it on speakerphone. After two rings, it was picked up.
"Clyde. This better be important," Jonathan's voice could be heard from the other side.
"Yo, Johnny Carly. Got a quick question for you."
"Make it quick."
"Any Path activities near Lakeshore West Heights right now? Monitoring operations, surveillance, anything like that?"
There was a pause on the other end. Gale could hear typing in the background.
"There is," Jonathan yawned again. "Can't see what it's about. It was mentioned in the Division Management meeting last night, but it's not our Division running it."
"You sure?"
"Pretty sure. Nobody on Special Ops on any assignments near Lakeshore West right now. Must be someone else."
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Kyle and Clyde glanced at each other with a wince. "Alright, Carly Boy. Thanks."
"Don't call me this early again."
The line went dead.
Clyde pocketed his phone and turned to the group. "100% chance it's Handguns. But really, there's only one way to find out."
Kyle turned to Rachel, then to Gale. "Your call. Wanna continue?"
Gale looked to Jeanne and Marine. They were Lily's best friends. Both of them still had the fighting spirit in their eyes. What was the point of this world if it was not to fight for those he cared about?
Fighting the corruption or the tide was a duty. Ultimately, it wasn't his final goal. If he backed down now, wouldn't it be easier in the future to just give in to the apathy?
Of course it would be. And that's why the choice was already made.
"We continue," Gale said, earning a smile from everyone.
Kyle nodded. "Then let's move."
The group left their half-finished coffees on the table and exited the Tim Hortons with Gale leading the way. The neighbourhood of Parkdale was starting to wake up, early morning joggers and dog walkers beginning their routines. Good thing the target and the trailing suits were walking toward the abandoned part Lakeshore West Heights.
Moving through the streets at a brisk pace, Gale kept his tendrils watching both units in front of them. From Parkdale, they cut through the neighbourhood. Same looking houses lined both sides of the streets. Most of them were still dark while some already had lights on, with the lingering scent of bacon, eggs, or pancakes.
And when they met the familiar fenced area of the neighbourhood he once used to live in, they stopped, staring at the top of the fence and the signs all around. Gas leak zone, biohazard, radioactive, whatever dangerous sign the government could throw at it.
This was his home from before. Lakeshore West Heights.
Rachel stopped beside Gale, looking at him from the side. "Why did you take us here?"
"I was following Yuxuan as he moved. And he ended up here," Gale said. "Marine or Jeanne, could you give silence please?"
Jeanne responded immediately and created a silence sigil that made a bubble of air around them, complete silence.
Gale signed, rooftops.
Everyone nodded. Jumping over the fence, everyone followed Gale as he leapt to the nearest house. From the rooftop, he led them through the houses that he was so familiar with.
The houses here were exactly as he remembered them. Except now, they had all boarded windows, overgrown lawns, and peeling paint on doors that hadn't been opened in years, just like how he saw them when he came back. This was where his life started to turn to shit, and now it had become a shithole.
Glancing backwards, Gale moved slowly so the others could keep up without having to make much noise. Rachel still floated using the jets on her shoes, while Kyle, Clyde, Jeanne, and Marine kept up by jumping at each rooftop. They crossed three blocks before Gale held up his fist.
Everyone stopped.
Below them, on the cracked sidewalk, four men in business suits walked in formation. Their movements already showed their alertness. Even though they walked casually, their eyes darted around everywhere.
Two of them carried ARs without any stocks. One had a pistol in a two-handed grip, scanning left and right as he moved. The fourth carried what looked like a revolver.
The two with ARs were Attuned, mid-stage at best. The one with the revolver was an Early Resonant, and the last one with a pistol was also an Attuned, however, he looked to be the squad leader of this one.
Gale turned to look at Kyle and Rachel.
Kyle signed quickly. Bad idea to engage. Too risky. Follow them to payload.
Rachel nodded and signed back. Agreed. Let them lead.
Marine added her own signs. I'm adding another sigil.
In one silenced whisper, another sigil formed on them. This one didn't do anything that was seemingly out of place. But Presence Between told a different story. Their signatures had become more faint than usual.
Gale acknowledged with a single nod. The group continued following from above, moving parallel to the four suits as they walked deeper into the neighbourhood.
His tendrils stretched forward, searching for Yuxuan's scent profile. The oily, smokey signature was getting stronger with each block they crossed. But his actual signature was very faint compared to his scent. Only reason why Gale could detect him was from his scent. Without it, he'd be blind.
That must've been why he was able to get Lily in an ambush.
Then Gale noticed something else. Around where Yuxuan's scent was strongest, there were other muddied profiles. They smelled like incense, mixed with that same soil-medicine texture he had tasted and smelled from the Jiuling operatives they encountered in London.
Suddenly, a single blip revealed the information he needed.
He didn't know what that blip was, yet it was all he needed to learn of the four or five signatures moving around Yuxuan. Couldn't tell their exact stages though. This revenge idea was already turning into a mess just based on having the Path here, and it was obvious what was about to go down.
The four suits turned right at an intersection that Gale recognized immediately.
The park.
The second bench from the entrance of the park was his favorite spot, where the sky was uncovered by the tree canopy. Although he couldn't see the stars because of the light pollution, it was enough to comfort him in those times.
The four suits suddenly broke into a run the moment they entered the park.
The revolver suit dropped to one knee and lined up his barrel in one single motion. A silent shot shook the trees of the park as a single trail of light left the barrel, followed by multiple more shots without stopping until the 6th shot.
The other three suits opened fire with their weapons, the ARs rattling in their hands, but all their guns were completely silent.
The only sound that could be heard was the metal bullets clanging against what sounded like ringing swords.
Five figures emerged from behind the tree line. Movements were fast, almost like a blur, deflecting bullets in a shower of sparks. All five carried jian swords that shone against the rays of morning light.
In those five signatures held one specific unique scent profile. Oily and smokey, almost miasma like. It was the one with blue eyes, a scar across his right eye, and long black hair tied in a pony tail. Lean build, sharp jawline. He wore traditional Chinese martial robes over what looked like modern sneakers. His signature was Early Resonant, but it felt heavier than it should, as if it were denser than it was supposed to be.
Gale signed to Rachel. What do we do?
Rachel signed hesitantly. I don't know.
Kyle and Clyde signed together, but it looked more like they were firing finger guns. Go in. Guns blazing. Hit them while they're distracted.
Marine shook her head and signed back. Wait. Watch. See how it plays out.
Gale signed his decision. We wait.
The four Attuned swordsmen engaged the three firing suits. What looked like what was supposed to be a one sided stomp by the Jiuling martial artists were met with similar agility from the Handguns operatives.
Gunslingers, Kyle signed.
I'd whistle right now if I could, Clyde signed.
As the Jiuling operative danced around the bullets, the AR suits had kept up by jumping to the branches and backpedaling just as fast. While all that was happening, their trigger fingers never stopped squeezing.
The Early Resonant with the revolver had a different target.
He engaged Yuxuan directly. Four bullets fired from what seemed like a single trigger pull, but it was actually 4 individual triggers.
Yuxuan met them all with a single slice of his jian. What was even more amazing was that he didn't let that burst hit a single specific spot. He spread the impact evenly across the metal of his jian.
Two more shots came at him after his deflection, predicting his block. One at his head. One at his thigh.
Yuxuan moved with a completely unnatural twist of his body, spinning and throwing his jian straight at the Revolver Suit.
The jian whistled through the air.
No chance of deflecting the moving Jian in the air with a bullet, as the Revolver suit had no more bullets in the chambers. He had to sidestep.
A single thin line of ether connected Yuxuan to his jian. In one smooth motion, he pulled himself towards where his jian was in the air and immediately swung an arc at the Revolver suit beside where he arrived.
Before he could finish the arc, a couple of bullets slowed the jian just enough to allow the Revovler suit to manoeuvre himself out of Yuxuan's range.
Not waiting, Yuxuan closed the distance in that moment. A single palm to the chest sent the Revolver suit flying into the air.
But the Revolver suit had already finished chambering his rounds. Six shots to a single point towards Yuxuan below him.
Yuxuan met the shots with the point of his jian. It was Qi enveloped, and the point met each bullet directly. Six clangs rang out so loud that it felt like the jian was about to shatter, but it didn't.
Sword intent. Marine signed. Wasn't he a flunky?
That's fucked, Kyle signed.
While in mid-air, the Revolver suit reloaded at lightning speed and tried firing again. But Yuxuan was already inside his guard. The Jian came down in a diagonal slash that caught the revolver by its receiver, slicing the man's fingers along with the revolver assembly.
The suit stumbled to the ground, his hands empty and bleeding. Yuxuan raised his sword for the killing blow.
Gale took a deep breath. Materializing Erebus, One Step willed to activate. His vision distorted. One moment in the rooftops. The next, Yuxuan was in front of him. One diagonal slash, and a streak of darkness followed the arc of Erebus.
The enemy was supposed to have died from that, but a yin yang sigil appeared below Yuxuan slowly in a circle. A bubble formed around him as his body moved in a slow gentle circle around the yin yang. When he released his palms outwards, everything inside the bubble was cast away.
The force was immense, as it felt like compressed air hit him like a truck. The streak of darkness had been pushed out, and the damage was nullified due to the darkness not reaching the target's flesh.
Gale flew a couple of meters away from Yuxuan. Blood dripped from the corner of his lips.
Strong. That was all he could think about the man in front of him. Stronger than any of the Path agents or United Knights he had encountered before. The Jiuling was completely different from them.
Yuxuan stood where he had been, his sword lowered, his eyes fixed on Gale, smirking as if he found something fun. "Interesting... you are a fast one."