Chapter 63: 3.12

“Human form?” Clive said. “What do you mean?”

The bizarre gagging sound Trepanner made when she was irritated turned into violent gurgling then to a piercing whine. “OHMaygashyoustupidfuckerz,” Trepanner screeched, making me jerk in surprise. There was no reaction from Clive. “Youidiotshitdontlistenurkk…ugrhh…”

Clive suddenly grabbed the seagull on his head, including the creature hitching a ride on it, and squeezed hard.

“Don’t…kill…the bird!” Trepanner managed to say.

He threw the gull in the air, but it fell to the ground, its wings apparently broken. “She has a human form?” he asked. All this time he kept his eyes on me.

“Ye-yes,” Trepanner croaked. “I told you about it when I called.”

With the seagull splayed on the ground, I finally had a good view of the creature on its back. It had the form of a human fetus in its early stages, but with six tiny hands instead of just two. It was inexplicably able to cling on to the seagull’s feathery back. Its skin reflected the bright moonlight, however, it had a cloudy sheen as if it was sculpted out of white quartz. Tiny gems and gold accents adorned its body, like if someone made a fetus themed amulet jewelry—I don’t know why anyone would make such a thing. Growing out of this creature was a scorpion-like tail which pierced the back of the head of the seagull; I guessed this was supposed to be some sort of umbilical cord.

So, this was Trepanner? Or rather her CoreQuip which she was controlling remotely.

“You did?” Clive said, scratching his chin. “Then I wasn’t listening.” He checked his watch and flicked his eyes back to me and grinned. He continued talking to Trepanner. “This is the time shops close in south Clover Heights and many people pass by the convenience store to buy something to eat so I was busy.”

“Tell her to change to her human form so you can talk or whatever you wanna do.” The seagull tried to limply stand but couldn’t. It weakly flapped its broken wings.

“Why me? You tell her.”

“Because I’m using a fucking bird! I don’t have any coercive capabilities. You’re the one with the poking stick!”

“Whew, ‘coercive capabilities’, what a term.”

“You’re just picking a fight with me at this point.” The fetus creature’s tail glowed blue, pumping something into the head of the seagull. Dozens of small white wires burst from the hands of the creature and stabbed the seagull’s body. “Hmph, you didn’t need to do this to the poor bird.” The gull begun to contort for a couple of seconds…and then it was fine again, plodding about while checking its wings. The white wires receded back into the fetus and its tail stopped glowing blue.

Clive glared at the bird with unemotional eyes then back to me. “You can heal it. No need to fret.”

I held up my hand to get their attention. Then I felt for the spot where my monster snout connected to flesh somewhere beneath my chin and pulled, taking off my Blanchette face. I bowed my head, turning away to the left so they wouldn't see my real face. As I felt the power of my transformation drain from me, returning to my original body, I quickly pulled up my face mask to cover my nose and mouth. I faced them; my heart began beating faster. Surprisingly, I did feel a tinge of anxiety. This was easily the most dangerous situation I’ve been in.

Yes, my ‘normal’ body had super strength and healing abilities too, but I might as well be a weak seagull if Clive wanted to kill me. My senses told me his little 'demonstration' of crushing the bird was more for me than as a result of being annoyed at his teammate - I didn't think this guy could even get annoyed. I would’ve been more assured if I stayed with my Blanchette body, although I still wouldn’t be able to do anything against Clive’s ability. But it wasn’t only anxiety I felt; extreme excitement at the thrill of a life and death gamble soon pushed away any emotion of concern inside me.

I had to take the initiative in this situation if I was going to bullshit my way out of this, which I couldn’t do if I couldn’t speak. And I’d rather not wait for Clive to decide he was going to force me to transform back. Trepanner was really insistent on making me turn to my human form and I felt the right move was to transform on my own to show strength and confidence.

“Hello!” I said to them in a jovial tone, waving my hand in a wide arc my voice, slightly muffled by the cloth mask I wore. Talk about lucky I brought a mask along. “My name is Blanchette. Not my real name. If you don’t mind, I’d prefer not giving my real one.” I was already thinking of what to do next if they forced me to reveal my identity...which wouldn't really matter, I suppose, if their goal was to capture me. Should I tell them that I think my dad is working for the Hive? Would they even know him? I wasn't even sure if he was still alive.

Clive whistled. “You do have a human form, imagine that.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling you.” Trepanner flapped her wings, or rather controlled the seagull to fly on my head and sat on top of my hoodie.

I tried to stand as still as possible so I wouldn’t disturb her. Is this a threat?

“Imagine this!" she exclaimed. "Working with this guy? He just casually squishes me.”

“That’s not you, just a bird and your CoreQuip…which no one, not even a High Overseer, can destroy. Why fret?”

“This is why I don’t show up in our meetings.”

“Fair,” Clive said with a shrug.

I blinked. They didn’t care about me. A monster that they knew ate an Adumbrae just transformed into a human in front of them, and these two Corebrings still continued with their nonsensical banter. Was this how the protectors of humanity were? I actually like them. “Um, excuse me,” I said.

“Me, a wide-eyed newbie,” Trepanner said, “excited to learn about the world and do my part in saving it and then I got assigned to be with this guy.”

“Excuse me, uh, Trepanner?” I said. She stopped with her rant. “How did you know I could transform?” I figured that I should be relaxed with them. Just chat normally like they couldn’t kill me if they wanted to.

“I want to know as well,” Clive said. “It wasn’t in the video…I think?”

“You didn’t even watch the damn video!” Trepanner said, making that gagging sound again.

“Did you see me transform?” I asked, trying to sound my utmost friendliest.

“Okay, calm down, Trepanner.” She gargled then sighed. “Sorry, Miss Monster…er, Blanchette. I just get riled up when he’s around. I have plenty of seagulls patrolling the city. Where was that again? I think that was called the Bryce area. The part where the train crosses the elevated railway over the artificial river? That tourist spot at daytime? I had a seagull perched on top of the arch of the bridge. That’s where I saw you.”

I relaxed upon hearing her explanation. Byrce Bridge was far from my condominium; she wouldn’t know where I came from. That was assuming she wasn’t lying. “But I returned to my human body while I was inside the subway. How were you able to follow me afterwards?”

“I did lose you. When the train left Clover Station, you weren’t on top of it anymore. So, I called my gull squad and started following suspicious people.”

“Like me who used the emergency exit of the subway?”

“I didn’t see you come out of any exit. I don’t even know where that is. I just spotted you lurking suspiciously in the dark, and there were no stores or anything where you came from. I was surprised when you transformed into the woman with the red hood I saw in the video. Lucky guess. I was about to stop following you.”

So, Lady Luck fucked me up? The world just wasn’t on my side tonight. I probably used up all my good fortune when I escaped from the Eve arena in one piece. “Are you going to kill me?” I said in a casual tone, as if I was only asking what was the time.

“Why would I do that?” he asked.

A rhetorical question? Even if it was, I should answer to gain control, even if a tiny bit. How should I go about this? I wasn’t dumb enough to answer, ‘because I’m an Adumbrae.’ Got it! I swallowed before saying, “I thought you might be angry with me because I killed your target. You wanted to kill that Adumbrae, right? The one that looks like a snake at Serenade Bazaar?”

“Adumbrae? That wasn’t an Adumbrae,” Clive said.

Let’s pursue this thread. “Oh, I thought it was.” Nodding up a bit as if to look at Trepanner on my head.

And she did join in the conversation. “It wasn’t an Adumbrae, or we would’ve felt it. The Mother Core didn’t tell us, through our CoreQuips, to kill that creature. Clive shouldn’t have done anything.” She stomped on my head with the seagull’s webbed feet, showing her frustration. “He’s getting us in trouble.”

“Aren’t you big on saving people?” he said.

“Which is odd that you’re the one who acted. I didn’t even know what was happening because I was on the beach capturing more seagulls at that time.”

Before they could fight again and derail the conversation, I stepped in. “Wait. So, you weren’t supposed to attack that creature? It was fine then that I stepped in and finished it off?” I was twisting the narrative here a bit. I didn’t exactly step in to help; I destroyed the news camera so he couldn’t finish my snake mutant buddy. But Clive seemed to be absentminded with everything that he might not notice it. “I wanted to help save the people too.” I insisted.

“Yes, you helped,” Clive said. He snapped his fingers and pointed at me. “And that’s why I wanted to talk to you. To thank you.”

“That’s all?” Trepanner said. “I thought it was something important.”

“It is important, my dear Pan. Not only to thank her for killing the creature and stopping the number of casualties from rising. Admirable, of course. But I’m also thanking her for helping in our mission. If I continued attacking that snake-like creature through the TV, our target would have noticed our presence in the city, or at least realize that the attention of the Hive is turned here.”

“I see,” replied Trepanner. “You’re thanking her because she saved your butt from getting kicked by Boss Delirium for endangering our mission?”

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“Precisely!” He dug into his pocket, pulled out a few strips of paper, and offered them to me. “Here, Blanchette.”

I hesitantly accepted them. “Thanks…what are these?”

“Discount coupons from QualityMart. That’s all we have left at the store.”

“That’s your way of thanking her?” Trepanner said, her voice rising in pitch, dangerously close to shrieking again.

“There might be a couple of free upgrades on a fried chicken meal there. Those are the coupons with the most value.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I still couldn’t wrap my head around the behavior of these two, but I went with the flow.

“Why did you spear her if you just wanted to thank her?” Trepanner said.

“That is an entirely different matter. You see, she smashed the TV camera that was broadcasting a live feed of the snake creature, stopping me from killing it,” Clive explained. He looked straight into my eyes. The muscles of my lower body tensed, as if ready to run even if that was the last thing I was going to attempt. “I confirmed that it was no accident, that she actually knew what she was doing…intentionally stopping my powers.”

“Sorry,” I said. What should I say here? Disclaim knowledge? Tell a lie that I thought he was also a dangerous Adumbrae? “To be honest, I did that so you wouldn’t attack me too when I went after the snake creature.”

“You wanted to be the one to kill it? To eat it?”

Fuck me. He wasn’t as absentminded as I thought. If I said yes, would he kill me? The BID was intent on destroying Adumbrae eating brains like the Cocoon in the arena, and also me when they discovered I was eating the heads inside the snake mutant. I assumed the Corebrings from the Hive also shared the same disposition. “Yes, I wanted to kill and eat it,” I said. Trepanner saw the video; she would alert Clive if I was telling a lie. I didn’t offer any other explanation for my actions.

“Okay then. That’s the other matter I wanted to clear up.” He bowed in the same way he did earlier, with a leg swept back and an arm stretched to the side. “Once again, I, Corebring Initiate Clive, extend my humblest gratitude to Miss Blanchette.” He straightened and looked me in the eye. “I am deeply appreciative of people who unknowingly help me.”

“Thank you…wait…welcome, I guess,” I said. I looked at the coupons. “Yes, you’re welcome. Glad to be of help. And thanks for the coupons.”

“Don’t be afraid to use those. I’m not going to trace you with them. I’m a man of my word," he said. "And I guarantee the fried chicken of QualityMart are to die for,” he added with a wink.

“Just imagine I made the appropriate rebuttal here,” Trepanner said, “I don’t want to ruin this wonderful moment with hostility.”

“One more thing.” Clive took out his cellphone then showed me a picture on it. It was a photo of a man looking straight at the camera with hazel eyes. “Have you seen this man?” He had a well-kept full beard with strands of grey mixed in with the deep brown hair, a nasty scar across his left cheek, and deep crow’s feet at the sides of his eyes.

“I don’t think so,” I said. Who was this? Their target? Was this one of the 2Ms? I didn't know what they looked like.

“Fair enough,” he said. “If ever you see him, do keep in mind to stay away.”

“I’ll remember that. Thanks for the heads up.”

“Goodbye then.” Clive jumped off the building before I could utter a response and was gone.

Huh…

That’s it? I was still alive?

I couldn’t believe that I almost blurted out, ‘you weren’t going to kill me?’, but I kept my mouth shut because Trepanner was still on my head. After several seconds, she was still there, unmoving. Would she be the one to finish me off? That fetus thing might climb down and stab me with its tail.

Should I grab her? And then…uh…throw her away or something?

“You handled that well, Blanchette,” Trepanner said. She was still talking with that silly voice, but her tone changed into a flat and serious one.

“I’m alive, so I think I did,” giving her a straight answer rather than playing dumb.

“You may be wondering why you are still alive.”

“Kind of, yes.”

“I don’t truly know. The Mother Core is not telling us to kill you. You’re also not a target for execution by the Hive.”

“Like the man in the picture that Clive showed me?”

“Yup.” She paused, as if expecting me to ask who that man was. But I kept my mouth shut. The less I knew about the business of these people, the better. “Those are basically the two groups that we’re allowed to kill,” Trepanner continued. “And to some extent, killing for self-defense, but that’s a different thing.”

“Good thing I’m not in those groups.”

“You’re not,” she agreed. “But that’s only when it comes to our team. I’ve been with other teams as support personnel for a few years before I was selected by the Mother Core, and the others will probably have a different perspective on what to do with you.”

“Avoid other Corebrings in the future. Got it.” Why was she still not going away if she already said she didn’t want to kill me? I held the coupons up to her. “These discount coupons… they were not really meant for me, am I right?”

“Correct. Clive likes to keep those.”

“And there’s a chance he would’ve killed me if you weren’t here.”

“Yes, that’s why I was annoying him.”

“Thank you,” I said, with as much sincerity as I could gather, while I hoped this Corebring didn’t have mind reading powers. You bitch! If you didn’t tell him where I was, I wouldn’t be in danger!

“No need to thank me, because I have to apologize for Clive’s behavior. He’s pretty inconsiderate sometimes.”

I was seething. You led him to me! But all I said out loud was, “It’s fine.” What else could I say? The tone of her apology was unsettling, as if she was saying sorry in behalf of someone who just spilled tea on me or something.

“Following Clive's example, I also want to thank you for entertaining me. I was nearly going crazy with practicing my power on these birds. You’re probably thinking mind control? It’s not.” I felt the weight on my head disappear as she took off. “I also have something good to tease Clive with. He practically admitted he wanted to save people. This is going to be fun.” She cackled mischievously as she flapped her wings and rose higher and higher in the air. “In sum, we’re even. Have a good night, Blanchette. I doubt we’ll meet each other again.”

“Goodnight,” I said, waving goodbye. She became smaller and smaller as she flew further away. Other birds joined her, probably ones she also controlled, and they eventually disappeared as specks in the sky. I continued waving at her, then slowly balled my open hand into a fist.

That bitch!

What was that about being even? She didn’t even want anything from me. She was just bored and wanted to dick around. Yet, she had the gall to expect me to be appreciative that she saved me from Clive. I wouldn’t have minded it if she wanted to kill me because she was a Corebring and I was an Adumbrae.

And what was that about the Mother Core telling them which ones to kill? Why not me?

Even though I was irritated by those two asshole superheroes, especially Trepanner, I could see myself doing the same thing she did to me if I was in her position and was bored as fuck.

Perhaps, like me, the Corebrings weren’t right in the head either...

What a weird night.

 

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