Chapter 9: 9. What Yessica Saw

Yessica Juarez stood stark still, her gun trained on the head of her target. You wouldn't have been able to tell by looking, but she was as happy as could be.

After nearly eight uneventful years of being a sleeper in the backwater town of Royse City, last night in Fate Central Park something had gone down. She couldn't say what, exactly, but what she did know was that THE Zayn Leanders, a high ranking member in her organization, and an occupant of the Middle Ring, in fact, had been involved and was now in Royse City hospital practically comatose from a beating he received supposedly trying to…

Stop a robbery at a diner…? A robber perpetrated by the man standing before her. Or at least that was the official story.

Yessica had been around long enough to know that the 'official story' and reality rarely, if ever, aligned. No doubt the information surrounding last night's events were changed or altered by her organization before the authorities even realized the events had taken place at all. But all that didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was carrying out her mission.

Early this morning she had received a cryptic message on her phone with a command from the Inner Ring themselves to kill some college dropout and the one who was supposedly responsible for last night's events.

'Did Zayn really lose to this guy?' she had thought looking at the unflattering picture of her target in his police file. It was highly doubtful no matter how she looked at it. But if so, and if Yessica could succeed where Zayn had failed, maybe this was her chance to move into the Middle Ring. She had subsequently been assigned to the group of officers tasked with bringing in her target, Zephaniah Corad.

She had intended to use her ability, '5 String Marionette', to kill the man without her having to lift a finger… as she always did. '5 String Marionette' made getting others to do her bidding as easy and effortless as writing her own name. With it, Yessica could remotely attach up to five strings to up to five people and, if her will was strong enough, control their bodies. The more strings she attached, the easier it was to override her victim's will and the longer she could control them.

Her plan was simple. She would control Zephaniah Corad the moment he showed his dumb face and force him to attack the police which would then result in his death by firing squad.

Bingo-Bango and done.

But, needless to say, it hadn't gone as planned.

Firstly, after her and her colleagues had kicked in the target's apartment door expecting to find a short, tubby, deadbeat, they were instead met with a hulk of a man who, seemingly without effort, threw a grown man tens of feet…. through a solid wall.

All at once, she was filled with excitement. But that excitement was almost instantly replaced by fear.

Excitement because she hadn't been asked to kill just any ol' chump, but a gifted individual like herself. That meant he was likely a priority target. Maybe, just maybe, she was starting to receive the recognition and respect she deserved.

The fear came the moment she tried to take control of his body. Her 'puppet strings', completely invisible to the average person but clear as day to her, simply bounced off of the targets skin when she shot them at him from her fingertips. This had never happened to her before and she nearly panicked.

That is, until she saw Officer Snead, who was standing directly in front of her, trembling like a prepubescent schoolgirl. She suddenly got another idea. 'There's more than one way to skin a cat.' her Abuela had always said.

"Stay back!" screamed one of her colleagues, Officer Gilpin, who seemed uncharacteristically terrified. But she thought nothing of it. He had just seen a fellow officer get thrown through a wall, after all.

She had no idea why the target hadn't run away yet. He was all alone, surrounded by half a dozen cops, and right next to him there was a giant hole in the wall. But if he didn't intend to run, the next worst thing would be that he'd panic after seeing all of the cops with their guns out and give himself up quickly. If that happened it would be much harder to kill him without drawing suspicion.

After using her ability unsuccessfully she had to wait about 30 seconds before she would be able use it again and enact her new plan, and only about 15 seconds or so had passed since then. She had to buy time.

"You're wanted for theft and murder!" Yessica stated. "Put your hands behind your head and get on the ground! We're taking you in for questioning!"

"Wait just a minute!" Said her target with a worried, wide-eyed expression on his face, taking the bait.

'Fool.' Yessica thought, smiling inwardly. 'In a few seconds you're gonna be swiss cheese.'

"Did you say theft and murder?! I have done nothing—uhh—I *hadn't* done anything wrong until you guys ran in here with your guns out! This has to be a mis—"

Just as the words were leaving his lips Yessica felt a familiar warmth in the pit of her stomach. A warmth that denoted her ability was ready to use. In a flash she extended her pinky finger from where it was resting on her glock and cast a puppet string at the officer directly in front of her, Officer Snead. One string would be all it took to make him pull the trigger once or twice.

*Schlook* said the puppet string as it connected to the back of Snead's right shoulder and *BANG-BANG!* cried Snead's handgun as two bullets hit the target square in the stomach.

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'Done.' Yessica thought triumphantly. But she had to stay in character and divert everyone's attention. So she turned to Snead and snarled, "Officer Snead! What the h*ll did you do that for!"

It was a wonderful performance. Everyone instantly turned toward Snead with eyes ablaze with worry, anxiety, fear and anger, as he made futile attempts to explain what had just happened.

Zeff fell to the floor holding his stomach with a pained look on his face. 'Pathetic…' thought Yessica with disgust. 'But don't worry. Your death will catapult me to new heights.'

She suddenly felt the urge to smile. To taunt the man as he lay there dying. She knew she shouldn't do it for the sake of staying in character, but why should she hold back? What could this loser do to her now, anyway? With all his muscles and strength he had been no match for her and her gift.

For only a moment, the smallest fraction of a second, she let a smirk touch her lips as Corad stared at her.

But to her astonishment a pained yet furtive smile slowly formed on his face. A wild and crazy kind of smile that seemed to say, 'I totally saw this coming.'.

This was very alarming for several reasons. In Yessica's experience, when a man smiled before he died it usually meant one of two things. Either he had a gift that would save him or he had a gift that would take you with him. Neither one of these were good for her as the man now knew that she was likely the one responsible for the bullets in his stomach.

"You…" Zeff called groggily "…You with the face. In the back."

Yessica inhaled sharply as she realized he was addressing her.

Zeff slowly stood to his feet like some kind zombie and said, low and foreboding, "I see you…"

*Ping-plick* said two bullets as they fell to the ground. Yessica's jaw nearly hit the floor as she realized that Zeff was virtually unaffected after being shot from nearly 12 feet away, and two times at that. And the only thing there was to show for it was two small holes in his shirt.

Perhaps she had highly underestimated Zeff.

Several things happened in the next moments.

Yessica, who was already using one puppet string on Snead, instantly shot out her remaining four strings, attaching them to the four other officers, and willing frantically that they turn their guns on Zeff and shoot him dead.

As each officer involuntarily began to turn, Zeff, fast as a tiger and twice as ferocious, sprang into action before anyone could even react.

He grabbed Officer Gilpin by his belt and tossed him into the air like he was a Persian throw pillow, sending him through the roof of his living room into the upstairs apartment where he remained, motionless. In a flash, he struck the next officer with a savage punch to the gut that sent him flying across the room into Officer Snead leaving them both unconscious. Then, in the next second, he rushed between two more and as he passed them he pushed them with all his might to his right and left. As if hit by hurricane-force winds, the men were lifted off of their feet and sent flying in opposite directions. One sailed straight through the window facing the park while the other was sent flying into the refrigerator in the kitchen…. literally. His upper body, from his head to the middle of his torso, was embedded in the refrigerator door so that the fridge looked like it was growing legs.

The last cop that remained was the only female cop, Officer Yessica Juarez, and she was now trembling despite her best efforts to remain calm. Throughout the target's entire rampage, she had kept her gun fixed on him, ready to shoot the moment he stopped moving. But now, as Zeff stood towering over her small 5'3" frame, her gun extended so that it was almost touching his chest, she couldn't pull the trigger. She tried and she strained but, inexplicably, all of her strength was gone. In fact, it took her great effort just to hold the gun in place.

'What the h*ll is wrong with me?!' she thought as she struggled frantically with the trigger. 'Work, D*mn it!' she commanded her fingers.

"Tell me officer—" came Zeff's cold voice, interrupting her frenzied thoughts. Then, as he began winding up what could only be a punch to end all punches, he inquired, "What do you think of a man who hits a woman?"

At that, something clicked in Yessica's head. She blinked hard and gasped in horror.

What was standing before her at once seemed not to be a man, but a monster. A savage beast that wanted nothing more than to rip her limb from limb. His piercing yellow eyes were ablaze with rage. His teeth seemed to be as sharp as dagger. A feral aura surrounded him so that Yessica could feel his bloodlust like thousands of tiny needles on her skin. From deep within his chest, as though miles away, Yessica could have sworn she heard the sound of a fearsome beast roaring.

'Somebody… Help…' Yessica thought as terror like nothing she had ever experienced in her life assailed her.

Sudden dizziness hit her hard. Her head began to swim, her knees wobbled and then buckled underneath her. Then, the world went black.

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