Chapter 290 - A Truce?
The reporter Kate Dar was continuing to film the events of what was unfolding. In order to get in a safe spot, her and her cameraman quickly moved to one of the shops that were on the side. There were many held up watching what was going on.
However, they didn't go in the shops off to the side, instead they just continued to film from this position hoping to catch everything, and that they did.
‘The White Rose agents being here will be a huge scoop.’ Kate thought. ‘This might be one of the biggest events to happen this year. Who would have thought this small town to have an Altered Hunter as well.’
It was a question on a lot of people's minds, what was going on right now with Slough? Ever since the brutal death of some gangsters on the construction site around a month ago, this Tier-3 town had managed to make the news rather frequently.
Altered killings even managed to reach a nation wide broadcast level, and it was the same with Billy. His face was plastered all over the country. Yet this story right in front of them now, would be something that would be broadcasted for months.
The camera zoomed in on one of the crazed beasts. It looked like an Altered, but it was too small to be an adult. What’s more, when had anyone ever seen so many of them in one place? A group of vicious crazed Altred was sure to get the Anti Altered movement going. A group that seemed to be growing by the day as more cases like this popped up.
“Is a corporation secretly using Slough as a testing base?” Kate whispered as she continued to report, not wanting to catch the attention of any of the Altered.
It was then that the battle had started between the Altered Hunter and the White Rose agents. The people that had held them up in the shops were clearly frustrated at what White Rose were doing. As many of them saw them on the same side as the police force. Then finally, a new individual had entered the fray, using her whip.
It was a strange stand-off, as there were two White Rose agents, and now seemingly another.
“Is it another Altered Hunter? No, that makes no sense, she’s not bothering to cover up her face.” Kate spoke her mind for the sake of the viewers… “Just who is this stunning person?”
———
Sadie was looking at her now bleeding forearm. A whip was a fast weapon, but as an Altered she should have been able to avoid it. This whip was far faster than a regular one, and the pain in her arm was also greater than it should have been.
‘That weapon… I don't think it's an ordinary whip. Is it a Anti-Altered weapon?’ Sadie thought.
The Anti-Altered weapons or Anti weapons for short were something that had been discovered rather recently. Buried deep in mountains, under the sea, caves and more not only had there been fossils of ancient creatures found, which were used for the Alterification process, but every so often humanity would uncover some special weapons. Hardly having deteriorated.
They seemed to have been made from the ancient beasts themselves, which was why they were so special in the first place. It was something that the public wasn’t privy to, mostly because they were a rarity. Sometimes rich folk would buy them to use as a status symbol, believing that they were nothing but relics of the past, unaware of how much power they actually held.
However, there was another group of people besides the Altered hunters that seemed to be using more of these weapons of late, and that was powerful gangs. It was an alternative to increasing one's strength, which was quite a bit cheaper than becoming an Altered.
Because of this information, Sadie had an idea about what type of person this woman in front of her was.
‘I don't know who this woman is, but as long as she's not trying to fight me and is keeping that crazy woman off my back, I should be good.’ Blake thought, wondering if he should make a run for it. However, if he did, who would take care of the crazed Altered? ‘She might keep up with one White Rose agent, but she will have no chance if I don’t engage the guy. They're strong… perhaps too strong even for me to handle.’
Being the decision maker in tough situations like this was something that Blake wasn’t used to, having relied on his father.
It was then that one of the little Altered creatures leapt towards Olivia. Quickly moving out of the way and spinning her body, she wrapped the whip around its arms, tying it up, and then lifted it in the air, slamming it into the ground.
Her reflexes and actions were fast, at the same time her strength was greater than before. Even Olivia herself was quite surprised at how well her body was reacting.
‘That kid… has given me quite a gift.’ Olivia smiled to herself.
“My Boss has given me permission to go all out. It was meant to be against the Grey Elephants, but I’m sure he won’t mind if I include you in that list as well.” Olivia spoke, as she swung her whip again, striking the ground, just a little away from another crazed Altered coming towards her.
The whip crashed into the ground and caused some of the stone flooring to break. It became clear that either the weapon she was using was quite the good one, or that she had abnormal strength. While Sadie was staring down the Lady Boss, she was wondering what to do.
Frank had leapt back with his wings coming in between the two groups. He had hit another of the Altered creatures, his arm bloody and his wings scratched up with a few puncture wounds in them. He had been dealing with most of the crazed Altered while his partner was having a field day.
“Ahh, I can't take it any more!” Frank shouted. “That's it, I'm calling a truce, I don't care what you say, Sadie. Hey, you, Altered Hunter guy, Whip Lady, how about it? You won’t attack us, we won’t attack you. Let's just get rid of these crazed Altered.”
Seeing how much trouble her partner was in, and how difficult these two people in front of her would be, the female White Rose agent had to bite her tongue and take it in.
“Fine.”
Immediately, turning towards the others, Sadie threw out one of her feathers, hitting one of the crazed Altered in the forehead, knocking its head back. It was bleeding, but the projectile hadn’t quite managed to pierce through to kill it yet.
‘Damn it, either these little guys are tough or I’m still having problems.’ Saide thought as the back of her leg throbbed.
The fighting continued, and the people's hopes had now risen, seeing that all four of them had started to fight off the group of crazed Altered together.
Blake was more than happy to agree to this truce, as he could finally focus on taking on these creatures. Meanwhile, Olivia was testing the limits of her new body against some worthy foes. The Lady Boss felt as if she could also draw more power from the weapon now than when she had been a human.
In the first place, there were a little more than ten of those creatures, yet after a short while of ‘cooperating’ they managed to beat them all. Sadie had simply destroyed the arms and legs of the last one, rather than outright killing. She was sure White Rose would be interested in having a live sample to find out what exactly these guys were.
Perhaps it was because they had turned Altered into children or weak beings, but none of them were as strong as real Altered, even if the person turned had been inexperienced.
The people inside the shops waited for a while, unsure if everything was over. Nobody would risk going out, in case there might be more of those creatures around. However, while they didn't see or hear the sound of creatures, there was the sound of several footsteps heard.
When they saw who they were and what they looked like, they decided to remain indoors, because carrying weapons on them, and walking down the street, were a menacing group, or groups of people.
Around fifteen had come from each side of the street and had surrounded them.
“These aren't Altered.” Blake stated he could tell straight away from the energy readings. Their temperatures were all normal.
“Nope, they’re not.” Olivia smiled. “They’re gangsters, but they are scum nonetheless.”