Mirror
1723 Words
“Bulldog, what’s the status?”
“Hoahm.... sleepy, a bit drowsy.”
“Not you, moron. The hired gun, how is it?”
“A replica of me, with resting eyes.”
“Roger. how’s your station, blowfish?”
“They haven’t move from the firepit at all, but it seems like they wanna go sleepy mode already.”
“Copy that, blowfish. Stay vigilant, you all. We’ll have 2 hours break whenever we have intel, okay? Stay awake!”
Under the shine of a starry night, Reginald and the two of his new partners were following the movement of two suspicious group. It’s been up to 6 hours in a row for them, but nothing in peculiar happened under the radar. As the scout report have suggested, they found 2 camp sites scurrying around a kindled fireplace, without a sign of their affiliation to read upon.
“Any clue of their specific characteristics, bulldog, blowfish?”
“I’ll look for it when they are asleep, Rock.”
“For me, I’ll search for the hints.....”
“Bulldog, BULLDOG? Report!! Hey, do you copy?”
“....”
Rock smashing the sinless ground in front of him as a sign of anger.
“I’ll kick some consciousness to his head next time. Cover my six, blowfish, I’ll go for their parcel. Shot anything that move, except for me, you copy?”
“My scope is on you, or in other words, confirmed.”
The captain is creeping up towards the tent on full guard and sneaking up to the target.
“Approaching vantage point. Any belligerents nearby, blowfish?”
“Nope, safe and sound. Good luck, Rock.”
He unrolled the flap little by little, opening the course to the snoring club. They were unattentive of their surroundings, rubbing their back in serenity. While there’s no obstruction nearby, the intruder swiftly seize his desired merchandise in no trouble.
“Got the parcel, Blowfish. Turn down your weapon, I’m going out.”
Rock is waving his hands to show the signal of his position, replied by a single flick of flashlight from the distance.
“Planting the tracker inside the tent.”
He murmured in a near-silent voice, then going out to the open field.
“looking under the table...full of ruckus... gotcha.”
He is lifting up a folded paper that he received from the inside of the bag.
“Hmm, smells reek of a traitor..... dang it, this is a printed map of our city. They might be the off-duty human officer. Seems like we have to throw the bulldog a snack. Go ahead, Blowfish.”
“Roger, moving to Bulldog’s location.”
He returned the bag in its prior location and got out from the tent in a single step. At the same time, Reginald packed up his rifle and going rendezvous to Bulldog’s scouting spot in tip-toe maneuver.
“Hey, private. What the hell are you doing?”
“Dismiss myself in silence, Rock.”
“Crawl, Blowfish, crawl on the dirt!!! You could trip yourself in that state.”
Reginald, in a face full of dissent, didn’t notice a stump of chopped trees, made him stumbling down successfully.
“Oww...”
“I told you so, private. It’s a luck for us to not having them aware by your falling simulation, bastard. Crawl, I said, and it’s an order.”
“Copy that, Rock.”
Bulldog, one of Reginald’s new companion, resting his head on the close-by boulders. His rifle acted as the pillow, hugging back the ogre with no objection.
“This is the one? Wakey-wakey, Bulldog...”
Reginald whispered the chant in vain.
“He is not budging at all, Rock. What should we do?”
“This rock-headed limbs of him really irritate me, somehow.”
“So this is his power to blend with the scenery, huh.”
“You betcha, boy. This man, in this situation principally, wouldn’t even move an inch. It’s a casual norm for us to left him bare like this in a mission.”
Reginald rubbing the petrified Bulldog, tickling it with no solutive succession.
“He can’t be distinguished with this stone... really identical in a distance.”
“Come on, leave him be. We have to investigate the camp.”
The belligerents is a few hundred meters of their recent location. Reginald and Rock is leaning down under, creeping up in sluggish speed to avoid detection and defusing the laid down traps within their radius.
“Urgh, they are well-prepared for a small-time campers. The traps is troublesome to dodge.”
“Yeah, I concur. How about you, Rock? What’s in your inventory?”
“Huh? You mean my ability?....To think of it, I might giving you a pass for now, since you are alone and all.”
Rock is growling in silence. Reginald put his gaze on Rock to reap knowledge over the man. As Reginald being keen of him, Rock’s body shrinking rapidly, shaping his entire figure to be smaller than a single coin.
“it’s not over, young man.”
“What? Are you mumbling something, boss? I can’t hear you at all.”
His figure undergo a second phase of transformation. The end-result turned identical with a small ant inside the wall of Titania. His newly embodied antennas twitching rapidly, retrieving every aspect of airborne trace left underneath.
“Ta-da!! This is my new form. Surprised?”
“Give me your status, captain...”
“Damn it!! I forgot to give him the special radio reception....”
“He might be departing already, considering how expert he is in this kind of job. If you listen to this, Rock, have a safe trip. I’ll be waiting behind the boulder.”
“Copy that, Blowfish.”
The mischievous critter probing the soil, treading up-side down the terrain along his way to enter the tent. On the other hand, the target itself were placed down a hundred meters more from their location, brought the whole trip as tedious and time-consuming.
“In this pace, It could take hours to the camp. Sorry for the foolishness, Blowfish.”
(An hour later)
“Rock, you copy?”
“ My journey is halfway done, private. Be calm and stay alerted.”
(An extra hour later)
“zzzzz.......zzzz.....”
Reginald is incapable to keep his heads up and stay vigilant. He placed his head on top of Bulldog’s petrified body and snoring in comfort. Conversely, Rock’s struggle to reach the tent has finally shown its result, as he sets foot ahead of the scene a few hours behind schedule.
“If you get my signal, I’m going in.”
The ant-in-mission, crawling upside-down the landscape in caution. His antenna is constantly squirming, searching for specified objects that lying within.
“They are stationary. No provocative countermeasure of the targets.”
Rock is climbing up over one of the idle occupants of the tent, stand firm on his hand to gain elevation. All of sudden, numerous drop of liquid enveloped the skin and made his movement a little bit clumsy.
“What the heck is this substance?Ah, it stings!!! I have to get off.”
He slipped off the sweaty arms in haste.
“Urgh, I can’t feel my legs!”
All of sudden, his grip gotten inept. His strength is waning, dropped him forcefully to the ground.
“this could be insect repellent... they caught me off-guard”
---
“zzzzzz......zzz... huh? Oh, I’m fallen asleep.”
Hmm, this is absurd. No sign of captain at all. By the amount of time passed, he is gone missing for more than an hour. Is Rock gone transparent, somehow? If he does, our communication wouldn’t be the case to maintain.
(Bzzt.....Bzzt)
“You know the taste of a bug spray? I’m shocked.”
Something coming up to the receiver.... Is this his voice? No, Rock’s tone is more grumpy and deep. He must be inside the tent by now.
“I have to do it, Rizo. It’s part of my training. What is it, George? Have something to ask?”
And there’s two subjects occupied the tent. Did he mentioned of the third?
“Nah, forget it. Let’s poach the perpetrators real quick.”
Yup. They are on a three-pair group. Perpetrator? Did captain being caught and detained? I have to rescue him right away.
“Rock, I don’t know if you get this, but I’ll shot anyone that coming out of the tent.”
---
The continuous blast of rifles and pistols echoing off the forest. Reginald, even with his rifle and automated aim from Merry, couldn’t hit the jackpot and stop the trade-off in style. Unfortunately, his enemies couldn’t bear the similar result, saving his life in undoubted luck and skill.
“Who are you? Explain yourself! This dogfights would show us no bounds.”
“If you wanna know much, be my guest and do it firsthand.”
“Haha, Are you sure? Let’s do melee, then.”
Under the shade of night, one of the unknown party leaping forward his cover, rushing out to the enemy’s side in speed.
“Melee combat, huh? Please forgive me, but the fittest one is on my side.”
Reginald is running in a straight line towards the bravado of his unknown enemy. The inescapable clash occurs in an instant.
“Your power is the escalated strength, best for a close brawl like this.”
The enemy’s bare skin growing an endless set of sharp quills in a split second after Reginald’s first punch. As he landed his second jab, the edged exterior piercing his skin, creating an immense cut all over his knuckle.
“Haha, sorry for the counter, but you can’t hit me bare-handed.”
“Urgh, it totally burns. Are you a shapeshifter? Who’s your name?”
“Nuh-uh. You told me to settle with raw power, remember? Give me a punch to kill for, Bozo.”
His hand moving up and down several times, as if he is inviting him to take the contest.
“You would be ashamed.”
“Come on, punch me in the head with all the might you have.”
Without further ado, Reginald fling his left knuckles directly to his face. Similar to the torso, the dermis layer of his face produced thousands of artificial quills to counter the fist.
“Argh!! It’s sticking out of your face, too... How convenient.”
Reginald’s left hand gushing out of blood by the durability of his enemy’s facial features.
“Well, you are the weirdo for keeping your guts. Rizo, is there anyone else?”
“ Nothing in particular, Fritz. Proceed with your test of faith, then.”
“Test of faith?”
He is tossing his paw to Reginald’s forehead and knocking him out immediately.
“Ah, he is a sinner, indeed. How about the idle bystander on that side? He seemed like squashed up beside our tent. And.... Ah, the other left behind your target.”
“Bless those two, Fritz. He deserved your grace.”
“Nah, let him be, George. We don’t know his affiliation, yet. We better retreat for now. Reginald also need to be treated, so let’s hope those silly rock would wake up sooner or later.”
“Do we need to pack up, Fritz?”
“Not at all. I have a little surmise that they’ve pinned us by some detection system on our tent or bags. Let's just abandon our belongings for now.”
---
“Oh, I’m passed out again this time. Hmm? Is that Blowfish? Rock? Why’s everyone gathering ‘round me?”
Bulldog gone astonished by the scenery around him. Reginald, bathe in the puddle of his own blood, laying down side-by-side with Rock’s battered physique.
“Is that... blood? I messed up again, huh.. Damn me.”
- Writer
