Chapter 20: 20. Painter’s Capture

Liliana Tamera 

The drive to the terminal was fairly quiet, Fate explained the location of cameras, and the general layout of the area to them. Aria was excited about the prospect of being able to gather evidence, but Kris seemed less enthused.

He remained silent throughout the ride. He didn't seem thrilled by the situation.

After a ride that lasted about half an hour, Kris stops in front of a cabin terminal. It's located in a high density area, it's surrounded by buildings, and there's dozens of alleyways nearby.

"Stay within sight of each other. Fate, never leave Liliana's side." Kris warns. This place could be dangerous, and he doesn't want anyone getting hurt.

"Got it." Fate replies.

There are no people near the building, and the surrounding streets are sparsely populated. They all step out of the vehicle at the same time. Looking around, Liliana sees hundreds of automated cabins.

Most of them are empty, but some had customers inside.

Liliana and Fate make their way towards the main building. They walk slowly, scanning their surroundings carefully. No one pays attention to them, or notices their presence.

Liliana watches Aria look around the corner of a building and freeze up. Kris notices her, he walks up next to her, and he freezes as well. He instantly grabs her arm, and pulls her around the corner.

"You've gotta be kidding..." Kris whispers, staring at something around the corner.

Seeing the way Kris is acting, Liliana is immediately on guard. She lightly tugs on Fate's sleeve, motioning for him to stay behind her.

"What's wrong?" Fate asks, looking concerned.

Liliana whispers in his ear, "Stay behind me, I don't know."

Together, they swiftly close the gap separating them from Kris and Aria. When they get closer, they notice that both of them look pale. Kris is trembling, and his mouth is slightly agape.

They huddle close to the duo, hugging the wall. "Did something happen?" Fate asks.

"T-take a peek around the corner." Aria suggests timidly.

"Tell me if you notice anything." Kris adds, his voice shaky.

Both Fate and Liliana nod in unison.

Liliana slowly looks around the corner. Her eyes widen when she spots an automated bus.

She recognizes it. She gasps when she realizes how similar it is to the one used by Painter. She moves to readjust her glasses, but her hand is shaking. She suddenly feels someone grab her hand.

"Eeep!" She almost jumps out of her skin, but manages to keep her voice quiet.

Looking back, she sees Fate steadying her trembling hand. "Are you okay?"

She nods nervously, "Yea... I'm fine."

Fate smiles gently, reassuring her.

She didn't realize how nervous she was until Fate grabbed her hand. Seeing how calm he is, it helps settle her nerves.

"Sorry..." He says while releasing her hand.

She gives an appreciative smile, before she takes a deep breath, steadies herself, and looks again.

Sure enough, it looks identical to the one Painter used.

Fate leans around her, and follows her gaze. He too looks shocked.

"Is that—" Fate begins, but he hesitates. He takes another glance around the corner, then turns to Liliana—waiting for her response.

"I think so too..." She mutters softly.

Aria shakes her head frantically. She's trying to convince herself that this is a coincidence, but she can't deny its existence either.

"Is it the same one?" Kris asks, nervously.

"Yes, it has to be." Aria nods. She tries to sound confident, but fails miserably.

Kris stares at the bus for several moments without moving, his mind racing.

Finally, he speaks.

"That means... Painter could be nearby."

Kris' words echo loudly in the silence that surrounds them. Liliana shivers in fear—the possibility of actually running into Painter terrifies her. Kris subtly releases the lock on his pistol holster.

Liliana's heart races, her body trembles. All of this is happening too fast.

She hasn't had time to prepare herself.

"I'll radio in for backup... Aria, Liliana, follow close, I'll take point. Fate, stay behind us no matter what happens. If I tell ya to, run." Kris says firmly, giving them instructions.

Liliana swallows hard, realizing that Kris isn't joking around. He really believes that they might encounter Painter.

"Understood." Fate says obediently.

Aria nods silently.

This is the first time Liliana's been in a situation like this. She's never pursued a criminal of Painter's level before. She's nervous, but she knows she needs to remain composed.

Looking towards Fate, you'd think he's taking a walk through the park. He's constantly scanning the surroundings, and looking for any danger, but he looks totally at ease. His hands are steady, his face relaxed—he's focused on the task at hand.

His cool demeanor helps ease Liliana's anxiety. The fact that he's keeping himself under control makes her feel better.

"Let's move out." Kris commands.

They start making their way towards the cabin. She scans the street ahead of them, occasionally glancing over her shoulder—she checks if anyone is coming after them.

Just as they approach the bus, a very large man dressed in all black, wearing a black mask suddenly walks out from an alleyway.

They freeze for a moment, surprised.

"Police! Show your hands!" Kris shouts.

The man instantly darts back into the alley.

"Shit! Follow him!" Kris yells angrily, rushing forward.

Liliana sprints behind him, trying to catch up. She looks to the side and sees Aria sprinting alongside her.

Kris reaches the alley first, Liliana and the rest trail slightly behind him.  As soon as they reach the alley, they continue chasing the man down it. Before they can reach him, he quickly takes a sharp right, darting down a side alley.

"Stop him!" Kris orders.

Liliana catches up to Kris, and the four of them wind up running while maintaining a diamond formation, with Fate at the back. They chase the man down the narrow alleyway. Their legs are pumping, their bodies burning with fatigue, but they persist.

Liliana feels the adrenaline coursing through her, and she hears the blood pumping in her ears. Her breathing becomes ragged, her muscles ache, but she keeps going. She pushes herself harder than ever before, ignoring the pain.

She's all but certain that the man she's currently chasing is Painter, the psychopath she's dedicated the last six months of her life to catching. As much as she hates to admit it, she's terrified of seeing him.

Her thoughts race faster than she can process them. She's overwhelmed by emotion, and her body is numb. The prospect of ending his reign of terror causes her to feel heated excitement. She has full tunnel vision, and everything else falls away from her consciousness.

As far as Liliana is concerned, nothing exists except the pursuit. She closes her eyes, focusing solely on the goal of capturing Painter alive.

They finally reach the alley that Painter dashed into. The group quickly turns right.

Rounding the corner, she sees him. There he stands. Dressed in all black, his massive figure towers over Kris' height.

Her heart is pounding heavily, but suddenly, she freezes. It's like the world is suddenly in slow motion. She sees him whip something out from underneath his jacket.

She watches Kris draw his gun, and attempt to bring it towards the man. She does the same, trying to draw her weapon as quickly as she can. But before either of them can, she's suddenly overwhelmed by terror.

She sees the man pull out some kind of improvised explosive device, and before she can react, it's already hurdling through the air towards them.

"Nooooo!!" Liliana screams in horror.

"Get back!" Upon realization, Kris desperately yells, and attempts to throw his body in front of his partners.

But it's too late. A second later, an explosion goes off just inches from where they're standing. 

Everything seems to stop for a moment. Everything comes to a standstill—time itself slows to a crawl.

BANG!

Suddenly, the entire world is drowned out by an overwhelming white light, and a massive shockwave assaults her ears.

The disorientation, and constant ringing in her ears indicates she's still alive.

It wasn't an actual bomb. If it were, they'd all surely be dead. She quickly realizes that he threw some kind of home-made flash grenade. Its purpose was to temporarily blind and deafen everyone present, allowing him to escape unnoticed.

Her heart freezes up again. He's still in front of them, at the end of the alley. She tries slapping herself, hoping that she'll snap out of it, but she only succeeds in hurting herself more.

Fear grips her soul. She can't believe what happened.

She tries to feel her way towards her gun, but the disorientation prevents her from finding it. She desperately fumbles with her holster, trying to unlock it. She can barely see out of the corner of her eye. She sees Kris lying on the ground, and Aria kneeling down, trying to regain her senses.

She watches as they both try to force their bodies to move. Neither seem capable of doing anything. They constantly stumble, it's as if their bodies won't follow their minds anymore.

Painstakingly, Liliana tries to force her body to obey her commands.

She struggles against the urge to give up.

She barely manages to lift her head, but what she sees causes her heart to clench up. Fear floods her system. Painter's also affected by his bomb, but he's still standing. He already has a knife in his hand, and she sees him fumble around his waist, most likely reaching for a firearm.

He's clearly not in control of his faculties yet either.

With each passing moment, she feels weaker and less able to fight.

The world continues to spin around her, and she finds herself unable to focus her eyes properly.

She feels her eyes starting to water.

She wants to scream, but she doesn't have the energy to. He's going to draw a weapon, kill her comrades, and her body won't respond to her pleas.

What should she do? What can she possibly do?!

She thinks about the best course of action possible, and realizes there aren't any good options left available to her.

She can't win. Not against him anyway.

She wishes she could somehow get her body to cooperate with her. But it refuses to listen. Her body remains paralyzed, frozen stiff. She can't move her arms or legs. Nothing works. There's no way she can defend herself against him.

When she starts losing hope, she suddenly sees a figure go darting by her.

She's barely able to make out the figure.

It's Fate!

She notices the sight of him bolting past her, and immediately understands why. She curses herself for being such a fool.

Why didn't she remember him sooner!?

He must've been less affected by the explosion. He was behind them.

She thought that he was rushing to help Kris, but he runs straight past him.

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Fate rushes towards Painter.

Horror floods Liliana's mind.

No! No, please don't let it happen!!

She screams internally, begging Fate to run away.

"Fate!" She uses all of her strength to yell out to Fate.

She begs him to turn back, to leave, but Fate ignores her, and keeps charging towards Painter.

She feels tears welling up inside of her, but she forces them back. She refuses to cry.

Not now.

She has to keep fighting. She continues her attempts to regain her senses, but every effort proves futile.

All she can hear is a ringing in her ears. The world around her is completely obscured.

Kris somehow hears Liliana's cry, and watches as Fate sprints by him. The sheer horror of the scene makes his blood boil.

She watches as he tries to force himself to his knees. But before he can raise his gun, his body refuses to listen, and he slams his chin against the pavement. "Fate don't!!" Kris releases a desperate yell, but he's ignored.

Painter pulls a handgun out from under his coat, aiming directly at Fate's forehead.

"NO!" Kris yells.

But Fate closes the gap in time. Painter missed his first shot. In the blink of an eye, Fate rises up and grabs the barrel of the gun, twisting it sideways, causing Painter to lose his grip on the pistol. The gun goes tumbling away from them.

Painter immediately darts forward with his knife. He stabs towards Fate, but Fate throws himself backwards, narrowly dodging. The huge man then lunges forward with another thrust, attempting to impale him through the throat.

"NOOO!!" Liliana cries out, but she can't move. Her feet remain rooted in place.

She can't save Fate.

Painter swings his arm downwards, intending to crush Fate in his grasp, but Fate dodges again, using the momentum of his own movement to launch himself forwards.

He jumps onto Painter's stomach, driving his knee into the man's groin. His weight knocks the attacker off balance, sending him tumbling back. But as he falls, he latches onto Fate's shirt, dragging him down with.

"GET OFF ME!" Fate bellows, struggling to free himself from the brute.

But the bigger man is far stronger than the young teen, and easily holds on to him.

Painter charges forward once more, this time swinging his fist down towards Fate's head.

"DIE!" He roars, bringing his knuckles down hard upon Fate's face.

But Fate blocks the blow with his forearm.

The impact slams into Fate, but he's not incapacitated.

His eyes widen in surprise when he realizes how strong the man actually is.

"Let me go you monster!" Fate shouts.

Painter laughs maniacally. He brings his knife up, and aims a thrust at Fate's gut.

Fate twists his body sideways, narrowly missing the blade.

Liliana finally makes her way to her feet, and she even draws her gun. But she knows that she can't help. She's never been a good shot, and she isn't sure whether she could hit someone moving so fast. All she can do is watch in horror as the two continue exchanging attacks.

Fate's not even half the grown man's size, and he has to use all of his strength to avoid the path of Painter's blade. In doing so—he's left wide open to the strikes with his other hand.

"Fate...!" Liliana lets out a helpless cry.

She watches as Fate takes several hits to the ribs and chest, and she fears that he might soon fall unconscious. All she can think of is how helpless she is. A child is fighting with everything he has to protect them, but she's struggling to even stand.

What was the point of becoming an investigator if she's the one being protected!?

Liliana resolves herself. She's determined to throw herself in between the two of them. She can barely walk, but she'll at least buy time for Fate to get away. If she's lucky, maybe she can shoot the man if she's close enough.

Before she can move, she sees a blonde blur go running by her. It's Aria.

Aria quickly passes her partners, and dives directly onto Painter.

"GET OFF HIM!!" She screams.

She wraps her arms around his neck in an attempt to pull him off of Fate.

Painter doesn't struggle, instead letting out a laugh.

Aria reaches for her gun, but before she can pull it out, a sharp pain shoots through her arm.

Painter grabs hold of her wrist, preventing her from drawing her weapon.

"I'm not done yet."

In response, Aria pushes harder, trying to break free. But the large man merely tightens his grip on her arm, refusing to let her go.

"LET...GO!"

Finally, she gets frustrated, and lashes out with her other hand. She punches him in the face, but he simply shrugs it off like it's nothing. He suddenly turns the focus of his knife away from Fate. He aims his blade right towards Aria.

"STOP IT!" She screams, knowing that she can't defeat him alone.

Painter chuckles again.

Aria grits her teeth together, waiting for the inevitable. But just as she prepares herself to accept the blade, Fate slightly frees himself from the man's overbearing weight. Without a shred of hesitation, Fate uses his arm to alter the blade's trajectory.

It cuts deep into Fate's forearm.

Painter yelps in surprise, and Fate uses the opportunity to grab hold of his arm wielding the knife.

Fate grunts in agony, but he doesn't loosen his grip on Painter's arm.

He doesn't want to risk falling victim to a second attack.

Painter growls in anger, and tries to pry his arm loose.

But Fate fights back, using all of the strength within him to prevent the larger man from escaping. Pain seeps through the skin of his injured arm, but he doesn't relent.

Aria looks on in disbelief. She couldn't believe that Fate would put himself in harm's way. She had always seen him as the kindest person amongst them. Now, he's putting himself in danger without even thinking twice about it.

"Stop it! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!" Aria demands.

Painter stares back at her. He seems amused, almost as though he's enjoying himself. And he shows absolutely zero signs of stopping.

Liliana clenches her fists tightly. She knows she needs to stop him. But she doesn't know how. How does anyone deal with something like this?

Now that she's only a few feet from them, she fires her gun near Painter. She misses, and he continues without stopping. His mask has slid up during the fight, and she sees the lower half of his face. He smiles at her, as if mocking her.

She curses herself silently.

Her finger twitches, wanting to pull the trigger again, but she stops herself.

She can't fire blindly anymore. She has to aim properly.

If she were to miss, then she'd be responsible for killing a friend.

That thought sends shivers down her spine.

She shakes her head.

He continues punching Fate, but Liliana sees that Kris seems to have gained a second wind from the sight of Fate's blood spilling across the ground.

Although he stumbles, he manages to position himself behind Painter. He lightly pushes Aria's head out of the way, and pistol whips the back of Painter's head with all his might.

Painter falls flat on his back, unconscious. Aria jumps out of the way of his falling body.

Kris is breathing heavily, and collapses in front of Fate. He quickly hand cuffs the large man.

With the man secured, everyone rushes to Fate. Liliana is the first at his side. She sees him weakly lying on his back, clutching his arm. Blood flows steadily from the wound on his forearm. Tears fill her eyes.

"Fate..." She whispers. She places her hands on his wounded arm. Her fingers are shaking.

"Don't worry," he replies quietly, "it's okay." He winces in pain. "I'm fine... I promise..."

Aria helps Fate sit upright. She has a few bruises, and she's panting heavily, but she doesn't look badly injured. Liliana let's out a sigh of relief seeing her best friend mostly uninjured. The fact that she managed to escape unscathed made her feel better about their situation. Even so, she still felt guilty watching Fate suffer.

"You're bleeding pretty bad here," Aria says, kneeling beside him. She points to the cut on his arm. "We need to bandage it up."

Fate nods his agreement, and Aria begins applying pressure to his wound with some gauze.

As they work, Kris moves closer, and puts a reassuring hand on Fate's shoulder.

"Thanks for saving us," Fate tells him.

Kris gives him a small smile in return. "No problem. You're the one that saved us lad." He has a complicated look on his face.

Liliana notices the tears rolling down Aria's cheeks. She kneels next to the woman. "Are you alright?"

Aria wipes her eyes dry with the sleeve of her jacket. "Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit shaken up, that's all."

They both turn towards Kris who's sitting nearby. His expression remains stoic. He glances at each member of the team in succession, then lowers his gaze to Fate's injury.

After a moment of silence, he speaks softly.

"I called this in. Medical, and officers should arrive shortly. Think you can hold on a bit longer kid?" Kris says. The concern in his voice is incredibly apparent to Liliana. This man is clearly worried sick about his friends. And she finds it comforting.

"Yeah." Fate replies calmly.

"Good lad."

Liliana takes the moment to look at Fate's wound. She frowns at what she sees. It's quite serious. There's no telling how long it will take for the bleeding to stop completely.

She wonders whether there is any chance that it won't scar. It's already bled through Aria's gauze, and she places more onto the cut itself.

Watching Fate continue to wince in pain, her chest hurts. She feels so helpless. She wishes she could do something to make it easier for him.

They're a group of special investigators, yet they needed to be saved by a fourteen year old kid.

She's grateful for his selflessness. But...

It's painful.

And she hates it.

She doesn't want to be put in a situation like this again. She doesn't want to need others to protect her.

"Thank you for what you did... and the sacrifice you made... But please never scare me like that again." She says softly. Aria leans up against Fate, whispering her thanks as well.

Fate nods in response, but he can't hide his grimace of pain. The four of them huddle closely together, and remain silent until backup arrives.

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