Capítulo 58: Searching for an Inside Scoop

Seamus smiled as he saw me retreat towards a nearby building and look through an open window. I didn't know why so I focused on the sight in front of me.

"Your draw" A gruff voice said after tossing a card on an aged table. The person on the opposite end didn't reply as they looked through their hand. They did eventually jot down a card of their own making a thudding sound.

Some of the kids who were watching were slightly spooked by the action but their friends or siblings playing some sort of tag game left them no room for focus.

"Ah!" Some poor kid fell atop another.

Under the ruckus, I made my way in and walked past them. I saw a stairwell that luckily led all the way up to the roof. All that stood before me and the roof was now a metal door.

I opened the door carelessly but quickly realized this was a mistake after noticing the not-so-distant back of a faint figure. I, silently, slammed it shut.

Click

But no matter how silent such an action wouldn't go unnoticed. Someone had faintly noticed my presence.

"Who's there?" They asked as was natural. If your job was to guard the roofs unless you sucked at it, you could hear and notice an opening door.

My heartbeat thumped a beat quicker each second. I was starting to become quite nervous. But this was only temporary as I glanced at the knife safely concealed on my person. I had options.

The moment the man came to open the door I could eliminate him with a surprise attack. But was there anyone dumb enough to actually approach the origin of a suspicious sound?

But… completely ignoring the sound was far more moronic, no? It seemed the man also thought it unwise to ignore the sound, I could hear approaching footsteps.

But the earlier clicking told me that I would have a bullet in me before I had a chance to stab the man as he was ready. So… Run downstairs?

The kids and adults playing wouldn't notice me but just picturing Seamus' face seeing me scamper out was enough to make me change my mind. I could still hide.

"Last chance, try anything funny I'll put a bullet in you" The man said from behind the door. His voice was not loud but it carried power, the power to raise the tension.

Light entered from the crevice made by the opening door which was ever-widening. A silhouette holding a gun with a finger on the trigger appeared. From my low vantage point, the man seemed intimidating.

"Nothing…? Must be those kids again…" But he wasn't in reality, his mutter was followed by a sudden pained grunt.

"Argh-!" My knife slashed his gun hand causing it to clang on the cement floor. But the man was no rookie, with his other hand holding the injured one he had no choice but to take a kick at my figure.

Before he could land a hit he however failed to see my fist coming.

"Damn-!" His headshot back from the impact but he managed to hold on with nothing more than a bloody nose. That was at least until the knife I held in my other hand dug into his chest.

"Wh- Urgh…" He never saw it coming. I watched as his eyes slowly lost the light of life and he fell down onto the ground. He thudded and made no movements. He had died.

"Phew…" I could finally feel relief and thank my lucky stars.

Due to the poor architecture, the stairs were steep. That meant that the dome lights which were hardly angled could not illuminate them entirely. With my thin presence, the man who I presumed was at least altered stage two, was bound to notice nothing in the darkness.

The blinding lights also ensured that his eyes wouldn't adjust quickly giving me time to identify where he held his gun and what steps to take from there.

"I got lucky..." The hand I used to punch his face twitched oddly. The black smog-like ability to conceal objects I possessed was quite handy in surprise combat. If I didn't have it the man might have been able to react more appropriately.

But my hand was now quivering as if it had grown restless.

Unfortunately, it seemed that it wasn't very good for someone who once almost mutated to use it. My other was fine since I didn't use the ability on it, but both were a source of worry as I had been using them primarily to absorb the crystals.

I scanned the roofs of the other buildings which were all clear. For some reason, they only had one man patrolling the roof. Thinking about it again, even our group had only one man guarding the front door.

"Is there a shortage of people?" I asked myself as I hopped over to the Wastes' roof. It was sturdy and unlike in the building I came from the way down was blocked by a metal hatch.

It was a pity, I had to use the windows after all. The walls were made of concrete and the windows were not made of glass or wood. It was tougher to enter than one would presume. It made me question the whole point of guarding the roof.

But I did eventually manage to find a good entry point by looking over the edge of the buildings. One of the windows had seen some wear from time and… bullets? I guess it was mostly the bullets.

With my altered stage strength, I was able to carefully hold onto the edge and land my feet on the windows' sill. Using my strength once more I pushed the window out of its place with the silent use of force and easily jumped into the room.

It was quiet. The room was small but it was filled to the brim with stone crates of some sort. They had to be quite heavy. With my curiosity piqued, I broke one of the locks and pushed aside the heavy lid of one.

There were guns, big guns. Three assault rifles I supposed with my limited knowledge. The wastes' were stocking up for something.

I closed it back and headed towards the door which was unsurprisingly locked. Since I was inside however I just unlocked it and made my way into the hall where I could faintly hear some chatter.

"-ready to make some big moves I hear" The conversation was cut off but I could infer they were talking about themselves and the gang.

The voices came from down the hall so I quietly approached and listened more intently. The mission from Kaiser was to gather intel after all.

If it was Seamus by himself he would have probably disguised himself and gone around collecting rumors from people in the area. But thanks to me, we'd be able to get an inside scoop.

"Well, who wouldn't with such a promise?" Another person pitched in and said.

"Oh! Putting that aside, did you see Baker's daughter?!" The conversation quickly shifted away from important matters and my mind was left wandering. Promise? Big moves?

This was on its good information but it wasn't enough. I didn't know what the promise was or how big the move, that couldn't do. This was on the level of what Seamus could have gathered by himself, not an inside scoop.

But… what could be done? I couldn't trick them into thinking I was one of their members now, could I?