The Watcher: Adaptability Of A Bounty Hunter

Chapter 8) Repercussions

The morning sun warmed Roman’s skin. Nothing at all like the cold he was made to endure within the Shadows Requiem facility. The outside world greeted him like an old friend, strange because he was only held prisoner for the last hours of the night and morning. Still, there was no denying the warmth that washed over his weary body. The massive, lumbering walls that shrouded the mega cities were noticeable more grimy around the western district. Lending even more credence to Governor Wolf’s blatant disregard of the Dulvian population. Though Roman was certain the two Shadow’s Requiem members with him understood this better than he did.

Like any well respected terrorist cell, S.R allocated plenty of resources into keeping their base of operations well hidden. And in Roman’s mind, the very end of the slums, the furthest you could possibly get from the watchful eyes of the A.C.G, was the obvious choice. Fewer androids wondering the streets, virtually no police officers, and a large population of sympathizers. Perfect for armed extremists, not so ideal for a bounty hunter with no means of efficient means of transportation.

“Uggghhh,” the blonde groaned, “Why are we, WALKING!”

Cliff replied, “You heard the ‘miracle worker,’ this is another test for this guy.”

“Okay, sure, yeah, whatever. But that still doesn’t explain why WE’RE joining him on this trek!”

“Beats me, why don’t you ask your scrawny messiah next time we see him?”

“You are such a sore loser, you know that!”

“And you give Agma too much credit. Kid obviously just got lucky…”

“He wiped the floor with you like, oh I don’t know, a hundred times. At that point it’s skill you ape.”

Cliff sighed and faced forward, “Quit exaggerating.”

“If I’m exaggerating, why can’t you face me huh~?”

“Well maybe,” A different man’s voice barged into the conversation, “It’s because I’m standing between you both.”

“Oh Roman, hi there,” she exclaimed in feigned surprise, “Sorry, you are just sooo short I didn’t even notice you.”

Unbothered, Roman kept his eyes front while the group moved through the slums, coming up on the industrial district. Things were moving along relatively smoothly since Roman officially entered Shadow’s Requiem’s employment. Sure, if Agma really wanted this mission over and done with perhaps he could have given him the proper resources. But walking a few blocks, and dealing with a few tedious hoops was the least of his concerns…

“Mari… you do realize he’s way taller than you right?”

“What the-- Cliff! Who’s side are you on!”

“Not his that’s for damn sure. But the faster we get this done, the sooner I can off this guy with no repercussions.”

… Instead it was the fact that his two fellow ‘operatives’ were immature mages that harbored a deep resentment for himself. But whether Mari and Cliff enjoyed it, or not if Shadow’s Requiem wanted this job done. They would need to follow his order exclusively, and without question. At least, that’s what he’d like them to do. When Roman broke away from his thoughts, he had already passed the last remaining segment of worn down housing and entered the bleak, industrial zone. Tired, overworked men and women shambled down the sidewalks. And more than a few of them were taking notice of the loud conversation Cliff and Mari were engaged in.

Not much he could do about that. Roman sighed and tried his hardest to block out their insistent yapping. They rounded at the nearest street corner and came to a stop in front of what appeared to be a small book store. Roman could spot the two twin high-rises in the distance. Close, but still quite the ways away from where they were. But something was off, Roman could roughly make out a crowd gathered around the smaller building boxed in between the two skyscrapers. And his gut told him it had to do with his fight the night before.

Cliff smacked Roman’s back, “Hey what’s the hold up?”

“...”

“Yo,” Mari started, “Earth to jackass.”

“Wait here,” Roman said moments before breaking into a full sprint towards the commotion.

“Hey-” Cliff and Mari exclaimed simultaneously, soon falling into the backdrop as Roman ran off. He didn’t need mana surging through his bloodstream in order to maintain his body. Thanks to the constant exercise, Roman was able to cut the twenty minute walk into ten. Once he reached the back of the crowd, the man tried to work his way deeper into the grouping of people. But was blocked off by a particular bitter Dulvian who shoved him back.

“Tsk… need to get to higher ground.”

Roman scanned the area in front of him. The gap in between the smaller building, and the leftmost skyscraper was blocked off thanks to the swarm of people. Both buildings were obviously out of his reach when it came to scaling them in a timely manner. He turned around, a few more drowsy workers were drawn towards the fuss. That aside, none of the other shops would give him the viewpoint he required. And the only structures that were viable, belonged to private corporations that had fenced off the premises.

Across the street from the superstructure, laid a clothing manufacturing plant. From the outside looking in, it looked like a standard warehouse. A box shaped design that covered a fairly large chunk of land. With a completely flat rooftop, and it seemed to extend just the right amount into the air. Roman had found his candidate, now he needed a way to get up there. Roman nonchalantly moved away from the gathering and headed for the factory.

He recalled the recent event that pushed this facility over the edge, and forced them to close down. One of the workers went postal, and beat his supervisor to death. The incident was highly publicized and resulted in the complete disbandment of the company who operated the place. Because of the unfortunate circumstances surrounding this place, he knew there’d be no security to distract him. There was a system of fences separating the building from the general public. First Roman tried the door, no good, it was locked. When that attempt proved fruitless. He noticed that the fence lacked barbed wire, so Roman climbed it with little hassle, kicking up dust as his feet touched the ground.

Without the suit, he couldn’t simply fire a grappling hook and climb the side of the building. Not that he would use it even if it was available, when deployed his gauntlet sounds off like a firearm. Which would no doubt draw the ire of the Dulvian’s crowded together. Perhaps it was for the best that Roman needed to find a more discrete way to clamber up the building.

Roman scouted out the fenced area. The further he scoped out, the more distant the sound of the people grew. He rounded the corner and stuck to the wall as he wandered. Nothing of note, unless you count the piles of trash that seemed more frequent the closer he got towards the rear end of the building. And if there was trash, there was sure to be a dumpster. With any luck, there’d also be some kind of fire escape he could latch onto and use to ascend. When he made it to the opposite side of the fence, Roman could confirm that half of his predictions were true.

Pressed up against the wire framed fence, rested a large industrial sized trash container, otherwise known as a dumpster. A disgusting amount of garbage bags spilled out the top and were spread out across the general area. Flies were buzzing all around, Roman was constantly batting them away as he moved in for a closer look. Unfortunately enough, there were no rusty steps attached to the structure, although when Roman glanced up. The distinct caged looped architecture of a service ladder caught his attention.

It was rusted over, and either it was stuck in its holdings. Or the portion of the ladder that used to extend down to the ground level had been defective. No matter, Roman had an idea on how to get around this small hurdle. Carefully, he planted both feet down on the ground, hands gripping the top of the dumpster. With a small bit of exertion, the man was able to lift himself onto the trash container. The lid pushed down on the bags that haphazardly hung out of the overfilled dumpster, popping a few like rubbish filled piñatas.

And though it filled the alley with noxious fumes and all other sorts of disgusting innards found inside those trash bags. It did help transform the dumpster into a far more stable platform to stand on. Once he determined the surface, suitable for his needs, Roman took in a deep breath and then let it all out in one long, drawn out sigh. And then, with a quick bend of the knees, he jumped ahead!

The service ladder was mounted on the midsection of the wall, closest to the rightmost side and supposedly too high up for the man’s reach. But thanks to the added height the dumpster afforded him, Roman’s jump was buffed just enough. When he bounced up, extended his dominant hand forward, in this case, the right and caught the rusty pipes that circled around the service ladder. Awkward for sure, but his grip was firm, so with a bit of uncomfortable flitting, Roman was able to climb the exterior of the ladder, and by extension, finally hoist himself onto the barren rooftop.

The second the soles of his black, combat boots touched the ground he was off. Dashing towards the opposite end of the roof, hoping to fulfill the entire purpose of this little detour, information gathering. He skidded to a halt at the edge of the building, a few miscellaneous pebbles being kicked out of place. The tail of his gray cloak, flowing with the wind as it picked up in speed. Seeing only the backs of people's heads wouldn’t be an issue any longer. Roman was above all of them, the perfect placement to get a drop on the ongoing situation.

Two sleek featureless police vehicles were parked diagonally. Their rear tires pushed up on either side of the walkways. Effectively clogging up the flow of traffic, granted not many people around these parts owned personal transportation. A pair of S.C.S androids could be seen at the lip of the masses. Waving the lengthy, black metal sleeves they called arms around. Pre Programmed, synthesized voice boxes spouted out cold and unfeeling responses to the citizens questions.

Further down the road, red and blue flashes blink in and out, painting the gray morning atmosphere with its bright colors. Roman perched himself on the edge and strained his eyes trying to observe the status of the police presence farther away. Still, nothing more could be gained, at least not with the man’s natural eyesight.

A thud came from the right, followed by the flutter of cloth. Roman glanced at the source of the sound, Mari and her exact duplicate cloak which she wore with the hood down. He had a feeling they’d disobey his command sooner or later, although he found it strange that only half the package broke rank.

“Thought I told you to stay put,” Roman mumbled.

“Come on, this can’t be a surprise. I was working pretty hard on making it obvious I don’t like you.”

“Right…”

“I don’t by the way.”

“Yeah…”

“Like at all,” Mari squatted down next to Roman, “I really don’t like you.”

“Where’s the mountain?”

“Mountain? Pfft-- Ahahaha do you mean Cliff?”

Roman groaned and after her laugh died down Mari carried on, “Well ‘mountain’ actually thought we should listen to you.”

“Really?”

“I know, crazy right!? Guy brought a book from that shop and sat down on the corner. Now since reading sounds absolutely dreadful, I thought I’d see what you were doing.”

“Lucky me…” Roman sighed.

“So what’s the deal?”

“You see those buildings,” Roman directed Mari with a point of the finger, “Anything familiar about them?”

“Ahhh... those two towers have giant TV screens attached to them? Ya know, the ones that announce curfew?”

“That’s right and what about that smaller structure in between them?”

Mari tapped her glossy lips, “Hmm… what did…. Ah! That’s the place we fought last night!”

“Mhm, the place is a water purification facility. And if you can recall, we destroyed the exterior water tower. The one responsible for storing most of the already clean liquid.”

“Right… so that’s why you think the cops are swarming the place. Cause you busted up one of their towers?”

“That would be my guess. All that water must have wreaked the streets. Not to mention all the gunfire and explosions that went off that night... “

Mari stood up and dusted off her skirt, “Well let’s just take the long way round. We can avoid this huge cluster and pass through the checkpoint. We’ll be inside the eastern district before they know what hit em”

“No,” Roman said, still scanning the area down below, “That wouldn’t work.”

Painful memories all came rushing back to him. The sting of Mari’s sword slicing up the flesh of his arms. Having the wind knocked out of him by a single one of Cliff’s deadly right hooks. And the rush of adrenaline that surged through his veins after baiting his opponents into vandalizing the water tower’s support beams. That momentary influx of excitement almost took away the ungodly pain of having a limb nearly blown off. But there was one element of these images that changed with a smidge of foresight…

“There were security cameras all over that rooftop. We’d be ID’d the second we tried to pass through. And that is assuming they haven’t already locked the district down.”

“So,” Mari tilted her head, “Cliff and I aren’t in the system and I’m pretty sure you were wearing your helmet the whole time.”

“True, but it wouldn't matter. You two not being registered citizens just means they can’t pay your house a visit. But trust me, they’ll be on the lookout for the pair of Dulvians involved in the shootout and the destruction of thousands of dollars worth of public property.”

“Damn!” Mari cursed loudly, moving both hands to her hips while she prepared to chastise Roman, “Thanks a lot genius! Because you blew that tower we’re stuck here!”

Roman, slightly peeved snapped back, “If I’m remembering correctly, you attacked me first. If anything this whole ordeal is your fault!”

“Hmpth,” she crossed her arms and turned away, “Whatever you gotta tell yourself, big guy.”

“Such a child…”

But to a certain degree she was correct. It was Roman’s actions that brought down the tower. And maybe if it wasn’t for the destruction that ensued, the police wouldn’t have been made to react with such drastic measures. No, there was no use in thinking about hypotheticals. What he needed now was a new plan of action. Roman’s suit was undergoing some last minute adjustments, Agma insisted. So anything revolving heavy combat was out of the picture.

“Hey, what if we just fought all the police?” Mari said.

“No, already put that one out of the picture.”

“Huh?”

Question is, if fighting was out of their reach. How else could they make it to the eastern district. The harder Roman thought, the more humbled he felt. As it turns out, playing yourself up as some kind of unknowable monster leads to not many people wanting to associate with you. Perfectly adequate scenario for a lone bounty hunter, stalking in the darkness. But not helpful in the slightest when the spotlight was right on top of you and the rest of your group. Roman ran his fingers through his head of hair, and that’s when it hit him.

Roman jumped to his feet and started back towards the ladder with a confident stride, “Let’s go.”

“Eh? And where exactly are we going?”

“Someone happens to owe me a favor..."