The Silhouette and The Forge
Chapter 8

Staring at the vibrant red hair that couldn’t possibly be natural. Splayed out across her head as it drapes her shoulders in its disheveled poofy state with strands going in any direction. 

Her skin is pale at least what little is visible under the dirt and smudge smearing her face as her emerald green eyes stare back at me behind her glasses that make her eyes look bigger than they are. 

Wearing a gardening ensemble that is coated in dirt with an apron to complete the outfit. Smiling awkwardly at me as she wrings her hands together behind the counter. “H-how can I help you sir?” She says to me with hesitation. Might not be used to dealing with people. 

Realizing that I have been staring intently at her for a bit longer than what would be considered normal I clear my throat before getting down to business. 

“Sorry about that, I was just mesmerized by how red your hair is,” I say with a partial truth considering I possibly won’t see her after this and if I do it won’t be in this form. So might as well be honest. When I was first introduced to Poison Ivy as a kid, that was the most defining trait that I noticed as a child oddly enough, and not the green skin.

Her eyes widen behind her glasses and her mouth hangs open as she gapes at me. Waving a hand at her in hopes of placating her, “Sorry if I offended you.” I quickly apologize when I see the look she is giving me.

I have never encountered a natural redhead who had hair as red as hers in my old life. I mean even my former boss' wife's hair was duller than Pamela's. Pamela’s hair may as well have fresh blood mixed in with how red it is. 

She blinked owlishly at my apology before she fully realized what I had said. “ Oh no, I don’t take any offense!” She says louder than intended, wincing when she realizes this. Quietly muttering out, “It’s not that red…” 

Raising my hands placatingly to her, “Oh good to hear. I was worried if I had touched a nerve.” I smile at her while ignoring her comment. 

Pink forms on her cheeks as she stares back at me with embarrassment. Must not get many compliments, but then again with how pop culture and media tend to depict her before her transformation she was not that ‘attractive’ until after she became Poison Ivy. 

I find her just as attractive now as she was when she changed. After all, having that working woman look yet looking just nerdy enough to pull off the Velma Dinkley look isn’t easy. 

She stays silent as she wrings her gloved hands together as she stares at me for a moment longer, “No, it’s not a touchy subject.” Pamela quickly says. 

“Sorry for causing you to get uncomfortable,” I say rubbing the back of my head when she stops looking so uncomfortable herself she brings her own hands up waving them around.

“Oh no you didn’t make me uncomfortable at all.” She says to me in a rush as she is no longer as nervous as she was. One way to break the ice and get someone to not be so nervous is to give a genuine compliment. That’s something I learned when first starting in retail with one of my old coworkers teaching me the ropes.

“It’s just I don’t get compliments often...” Her eyes drop down as she turns around acting like she is checking on something.

Pretending I didn’t fully hear her, “Sorry what was that you said?”

“N-nothing!” She squeaks out not thinking her muttering could be heard as she snaps to attention as she brings a hand to push her glasses back up as they slide off slightly. I stop from snorting as she smudges more dirt on the bridge of her nose from her glove.

She is so adorkable. “So what can I help you with sir?” She says as she gets down to business with me. She still has a nervous air about her but it's more subdued than it was before as she seems to have calmed down.

The little things do make life a lot more tolerable for us all. “I came in hoping to purchase some plants ranging from herbs to flowers across a wide variety,” I say making her eyes widen as I begin listing off all the plants I had made a mental list that I would need several of each. Perfect memory for the win!

“Though I was originally just going to go with the common plants but after seeing you have several rare species here I would like to purchase some if that is possible?” I ask as I do my best not to smile and laugh at her hanging mouth at the order I had just listed off to her. 

She finally seems to have processed that I am serious before she does a double take at my question on the endangered and rare plants here.

“I can help you with the first order but not to be rude, you might have to repeat yourself a couple of times on what you wanted.” It comes off like she is tip-toeing on eggshells at having to ask that. 

“Now for the rare and endangered plants, I can’t sell you those since that is up to the owner to decide that. Sorry.” She says as she looks sheepishly at me.

“That’s quite alright and I’m not surprised. Figured I should ask at the very least since it wouldn’t hurt. And I have no issue with telling you my list again since I know it’s a doozy.” Leaning in over the counter to her, “You should have seen how long it took me to memorize it without needing it written down.” I whisper to her conspiratorially as a smile blossoms on her face.

“Why would you memorize it without a piece of paper?” She says with a chuckle.

“I don’t like the idea of needing something written down for something as simple as a list of items I need. I feel stupid if I do, and no one likes feeling stupid.” I say with a smile while chuckling myself. 

Surprisingly, it is the truth and something I had never liked doing, especially going to the grocery store. Lots of forgotten groceries occurred because of it, but I just learned that much faster to remember better.

“I can kind of understand not wanting a list. If only I could do that with school, then life would be so much easier.” She says that with a sigh, and isn’t that the sad truth. 

Chuckling to myself, I think about how I would have loved to have a perfect memory in my old life. Could have become a doctor…

She, after having me recite the list three more times for her, gets it all set up on the register that looks like it has seen better days. Her eyes widened at the price and I wish I could have gotten a picture of her face with the look of shock and surprise. I brought out a debit card to pay for the nearly six hundred dollars worth of plants. 

She shakes her head as she moves out from behind the counter, handing me my receipt as she starts grabbing some of the plants I had asked for. 

I move to grab some of the heavier ones much to her surprise, stopping her for a moment as she just looks at me like I am some rare breed of never-before-seen animal. 

“I have a truck with its bed facing a door on the side of the building. Figured your store uses it in cases like this?” I ask her as she turns around to face me, only to yelp as she stumbles for a moment after she knocks her foot into a blood-orange tree. Causing plants she was holding to go tumbling to the ground. 

Holding a large vase with one hand, I reach out and grab her arm with my free hand before she hits the ground. Casually lifting her back up to her feet as the plants hit the ground, scattering dirt and parts of them across the floor and into the pots of other plants.

Her face is now almost as red as her hair. “You alright?” I ask with genuine concern for her. I have done and will do bad things, doesn’t mean I take enjoyment out of people needlessly suffering and won’t lift a hand when they need help. 

Depending on things of course. Like if they are about to get a face full of cactus, eyeing what she almost fell into face first.

“Yeah.” She lowers her head as she lets out a sigh. “I’m alright, thank you for… that.” She trails off awkwardly as she eyes the plants she has dropped. 

Clearing my throat makes her look back at me and the potted plant. I gesture to the one I'm holding in one arm as she gets the message.

Her eyes widen before she gets herself together as she gets moving again, “Sorry, was just caught up in what happened. Right this way, the door is used usually for shipments and the occasional rare customer like yourself ordering some of the bigger plants.” She quickly explains, leading me to the door, reaching into numerous pockets on her person looking for what I assume is the key.

Once past most of the maze of plants and nearing the door, she is struggling to get past each plant without falling while trying to find the key. Making it past her like a pro, casually weaving through the horde of plants. 

Now waiting on her, she seems to get further embarrassed by the second before she has a eureka moment when she finds it. Taking it out and unlocking the large door and opening it for me, she wanders off out of sight. I walk through and place one of soon to be several alchemy ingredients into my truck.

I walked back and forth to the truck with armfuls of plants that I could carry without it being too much while Pamela was busy using a broom and dustpan to clean up the mess she had accidentally made.

 She tries to both do that and get pots and soil for the plants she is trying to save, but she fails. “Sorry for not helping with the rest of the plants, and especially for the horrible customer service. Please don’t tell May about this…” She says to me as I grab the last of the plants I had purchased. 

“You did fine and it was an honest mistake. You didn’t do anything wrong, accidents happen.” My response gets her to look up at me with surprise like she expected me to talk down on her or treat her like crap. 

If she was being mean for no reason, then by all means I would let her have it. Bus she hasn’t, and if anything me doing that to her would only make her worse at her job.

“Well accidents like this can cost you a job that you need desperately, and I especially don’t want to lose this one. May, my boss is incredible with plants and as you have seen with the rare ones she has here knows a lot that I have learned from just being around her.” 

Turning her gaze from me to the remnants of the plants that she is trying to save she continues, “Much like her I love plants, they do so much and help us all and yet they are treated so horribly by people.” She says as sadness creeps into her voice.

At this I stopped and put down the plants and went to help her to her shock, picking the plants that I remembered where they had fallen that she hadn’t noticed when she was falling herself. 

“I can understand that. When I was little, when I first learned how worms helped recycle the soil and gave back nutrients to it which helped plants, I went out of my way whenever I saw them when it was raining and tried to bring them back to areas where they could get into the dirt easier.” I say with a fond nostalgia for better days fills me. 

I hold back a laugh at my foolishness back then thinking I was helping them when in reality I was getting them killed since I wouldn’t always put them in shaded areas but in direct light. 

To be fair at the time I didn’t know, and when I learned this a few years later hoped those worms that died because of me didn’t hold it against me. Shaking my head at the innocence and naiveness I had all those years ago.

This gets a warm laugh out of her at my honest confession before I continue, “Same thing with animals when someone abuses and mistreats them. They are pure and honest, and nature can be cold and cruel at times, but it is ultimately honest. I don’t like seeing animals get abused especially when they help us in their own way, especially when they are supposed to be family.” At this, Pamela seems to look at me in a new light. 

“So I understand, albeit in a limited capacity, why you care so much for plants,” I say back to her and get a bright smile from her as she gazes up at me as I continue to help her save the plants or at least the ones that could be saved as she gets new pots and soil ready for them while cleaning up the mess.

“T-thank you. Besides May, no one else has until now shown sympathy or even some understanding of why I care so much for them. I mean it’s not all why I care for them, but you get the idea.” She says to me with excitement while we get the last of the plants picked up. Nothing quite like finding someone who gets you.

“Don’t worry about me telling your boss about this, as I said it was an accident. They happen and I doubt the plants would hold it against you either.” I say as I gesture around the shop at all the well-taken care of plants in the room.

She lets out a sigh as she looks up at me in gratitude despite what I have done here isn’t that big of a deal, “I appreciate it. This place is a form of income and helps me learn more about plants. It also helps me calm down when I am not having a good day. It brings back mostly fond memories. A job that I rather not lose. Especially when as you can probably tell I’m not a people person with how awkward I am…” She gestures to herself with one hand as if how she looks alone would sum it all up.

“That’s why you practice to open up a bit.” At this she gives me a ‘Are you serious’ look before I realize why, “Well that is if you weren’t in Gotham of all places.” Which gets her to smirk at me.

“Another reason why I like it here, May understands that about me, and since we don’t get too many customers in the morning or afternoon to warrant me being there, and with school she lets me work here in the evening since we never get customers by that point. And on some days, she shows me tricks and tips she has picked up with all the years she has run this store.” 

“Well, sounds like she is one hell of a mentor. And I hope the best for your schooling to go well.” I say giving her a bright smile and holding out a hand to her.

Looking down at it and then back up at me as my smile starts getting strained. “Oh sorry, it was a pleasure… I never got your name. Oh, I never gave you mine! It’s Pamela. Pamela Isley. And yours?” She says as she takes my hand and gives it a gentle shake getting some dirt on my hand but I couldn't care less. 

“Clint Eastwood, and it’s been nice Pamela. But it looks like my business here is done and I need to get going.” I say to her, causing her expression to turn dour as her smile loses some of its brightness.

“Mr. Eastwood, will you be coming back sometime in the future?” She asks me as her face takes on a hopeful expression. Looking at her and how she seems sad at me leaving.

“Maybe,” I say to her as her expression loses the hope of seeing me again. Chill out girl, going to rip my heart out at how sad you look at this rate. 

“Currently I got most of what I need to set up a simple garden and do some home remedies. But I may come back in the future.” I say making her expression soften up.

“Alright, sorry but it’s not often someone like you comes in here.” 

“It’s alright, I understand and it was a pleasure. Well, you have a good night Pamela, and stay safe.” I say to her as I begin walking out the doors I had used to take the plants out. 

“You have a good night and stay safe as well Mr. Eastwood.” She says waving at me while flinging dirt from her glove all across the store. Not leaving her hanging, I wave back before turning around and getting into my truck as she closes the doors. 

Clingy much. Well, I shouldn’t judge her on that considering who knows what kind of life she has lived in this city. And with how people are on the streets and how they treat each other, it’s a miracle she is as sweet as she is now. 

Taking the key and starting up the ignition as the car purrs for me like a dream. Unfortunately, that will change as this place tends to do that to everyone. Not even Batman or his parents were safe from this place's influence. 

Sure he fights it off, quite effectively at that. That big ‘no-killing rule’ has saved his sanity from his madness and that of his enemies' insanity, time and again. 

Even with that handicap, he still accomplished a lot and was even winning. For a time. Maybe sometimes he managed to fully win and cleanse the city, other times he may have gotten too old to keep doing it. 

Now that would have been interesting to see in Young Justice. A Batman Beyond tie-in. Heh, that would have been quite the sight to see. Taking the truck out of park and driving off to the mechanic's shop. 

I Make sure to go a longer route around just in case. Some of the people out on the street eye me as I pass before going back to surviving another day in this horrid place.

I come up to the shop with the garage door opening up as I pull in and park the truck quickly getting to work. I opened the doorway to the workshop after checking over the security systems to ensure I didn’t have any uninvited guests. 

Just as the door cracked open, I turned my head to the side hearing more gunshots make themselves known, before a tentacle flew through the doorway like a bolt of lightning, tapping my nose.

Clenching my teeth at having Light get a cheap shot off, its smug face with some tentacles crossed over each other, looking at me with a smug look. 

“That doesn’t count,” I say causing Light's eyes to widen, taking on an indignant look at me denying him his victory. Paying him no mind casually brushing him off as I go back to the truck. 

Just as his eyes narrow and he raises a tentacle to point at me accusingly he gets a face full of shrub in a pot flying at him, fumbling around trying to catch it.

After several close calls, he finally grasps making me chuckle. Just as his head snakes its way around the pot, he boops his nose against my outstretched finger making his eyes widen at what I just did. 

“Try all the surprise attacks and dirty tricks you want! It will never outdo a good move that has class, and style~.” I say in a sing-song voice as the great evil narrows its eyes at my insult and outplaying of him. Get on my level scrub. Fighting dirty? Please. We grade things on style in this household thank you very much.

Before Light gets a chance to rebuke me, I cut him off, “Alright, chop chop Light. These plants and seeds are not going to plant themselves now, so time to start putting them away.” Light waves a balled-up tentacle at me as if I will rue this day. Ha! Please, what are you going to do about it?

With Light helping, it makes the already quick unloading of plants that much faster. We make quick work of it since I rather not risk taking any longer than I have to. 

Once the last of the plants had been taken into the shop, I followed Light in for Heli to work her oh so wonderful magic at making me look like I was when I first got into this place. 

While that is happening, Light and the Sigma’s are getting down to business with me on how well the factories are doing autonomously with production being up and running. Defenses are in place along with no problems so far. 

The mini factories churn out their product with the robots in place stocking and securing them in a safe place for pickup. No one so far has discovered any of them, and hopefully, that won’t happen for some time. 

Despite the gang war surprisingly calming down of all things, the amount that Lorenzo and the others are purchasing seems to contradict this oddly enough. 

The sales for my product have gone crazy. Once it was proven that the drugs did as advertised, it was like Cookie Monster discovering the cookie for the first time. They just couldn’t have enough. 

The money as a result has come flowing into the different accounts the Sigma’s established for me as they are funneled into them through various laundering networks. 

“How is Project Oculus coming along?” I question them as Heli greets me in the procedure section of the workshop she has made for herself trilling happily at all the plants. 

I got several happy trills in response from speakers that were added onto the mobile units for the Sigmas with text showing on my contacts. It’s slowly growing as the drones scatter out across the city, gathering information for me. 

Far too slowly for my liking but we can only cover so much of Gotham with them. Not helped by all the other things we needed to do and get set up, not enough hands to handle it all either. Even with me going out myself like I did earlier with Jade.

As capable as the Engineers and the Sigmas are, they can’t be everywhere at once, and making more of them and sending them out to do so even with some stealth technology will run the risk of them getting spotted. That or something going wrong which further goes up the more of them there are. 

And making larger drones to do it is no different. Of course that didn’t stop me from having them make some things like that but for different purposes. So for now, slow and steady wins the race. Don’t need the desire to rush to the end to get eyes on us at the last second when we don’t need that attention.

I will admit, that I am struggling to fight off the war going on in me at not having enough eyes and ears, while the other side of me does not want to draw unwanted attention and tip the powers that be in Gotham off at another player entering Gotham.

Not necessarily out of fear of them finding me. And if they did I am quite certain I could fend for myself as I am now against most threats and come out on top. But obviously, people are not completely stupid when they are outgunned, they tend to find ways around things of that nature.

No, what will be a massive pain is if they manage to start targeting my supplies to the dealers purchasing them from me. Or the factories. Sure they are hidden and have defenses, but nothing stays hidden forever especially when the world's greatest detective calls this city home.

And there is no such thing as a perfect defense. Everything has a weak point or a gap that can be exploited. Also, people like Batman will become far more interested in something that he can't get close to without getting attacked. This is why instead of shoring up the defenses with numerous traps and weapons, I went for quantity instead, with little to no evidence of who or what made the place. With a couple of failsafes to destroy what little evidence there is. 

I give some orders on what to do with the spy drones and priorities such as keywords or phrases people say around them to follow those individuals to see if anything of use comes up. And to start infiltration of notable individuals' places of business and areas they frequent.

As the Sigmas start scrambling on that order, Light does his thing with one last glance at me with him setting up defenses around the entryway. Heli has me once more on the table discussing what modifications the plants need and how many to modify, so she knows what to do before she works her magic on me.

The next moment I am back up looking at a mirror seeing my teenage body that I had when I got here. Sighing at having to stay like this for a time, which isn’t too bad. After all, most people would be happy to have a chance to have their younger body back.

I got up and saw Heli floating around the plants after giving me the all-clear with her checkup. She has the plants all arranged and mostly set up as Light goes through his last touches.

UV lights were established around the area with Light setting some machines arranged around the different plants as he communicates with Heli while doing his thing with the machine humming to life.

Moving over to the alchemy table and walking past some tropical plants, I notice how much more humid it is walking by some tropical plants or drier next to some cactuses. Not even faltering in my steps, because by this point I am not even surprised.

Making a mental note to get that technology patented, I start prepping the ingredients that have refreshed, downing an intelligence-fortifying potion just like all the other times. 

After all, this will be another form of revenue. And more business is always good I think with a smile gracing my face.

…

“Alright, I’m here. What is today's training?” I ask, entering the nondescript former apartment complex that I had made my way to after getting a text from Daniel for further training. Of course, he doesn't tell me what type of training, which he has done before when it’s not sparring, which is my personal favorite. 

Not helped by that being the one thing I have had the fastest rate of improvement when Daniel gave me that shake that he would drink, saying it would help. And it seemed to do so, considering I did nothing differently from what I did when learning to fight with Crocker and Mom. After he got his assessment of my skills, he started me on some martial arts katas having me go through the motions.

Took some time since Mom and Crocker never fully showed me or Mouse any proper martial art forms. Just the bare minimum and the rest was self-taught, making our styles from it over time.

After he gave me the address, I managed to look this place up. Got shut down after Scarecrow went on one of his infamous fear gas sprees. After several people died, the place tried to stay open but it was for nothing like most buildings the crazies target. 

With that incident, the people fled and stayed away from the place due to fear of Scarecrow coming back again. Owners couldn’t find anyone willing to live here and the rest is history.

Walking further in, I feel like I’m being watched. I turned my head ever so slightly each way, trying to spot any sign of Daniel. So it’s going to be like that. Stopping, I think once more like so many other times on just walking away.

It’s not the first time I thought about just cutting and running on Daniel. I’ve done this before. Sure, it hasn’t done me any good now after I burnt what few bridges I did have. But Daniel has been teaching me things. Things that I need and want. And getting me the equipment he had promised.

And so far he has been mostly honest with me, at least in teaching me. Of course, I don’t fully trust him, especially the idea of being his protégé or bodyguard in the future considering people say lots of things. Just because he has kept his word so far, doesn’t mean he will continue to do so. 

Between that and not knowing who he works for or whatever his abilities are. Is it the Shadows, or some other group? Regardless, he has helped me improve and proved that he has something to bring to the table. Quite a lot to the table if I am going to be honest. And so long as he continues to do so, I will stick around and give him aid when he calls for it. So long as it is within reason.

I will admit to having learned how to engage and fight opponents better than I had with what little Crocker had deemed to teach me. What I knew back then seemed to be the bare minimum, whereas with Daniel he hasn’t held back so much as he feels that I am not ready for some of it. Which is another reason for the drinks he shares with me.

Not because of him looking down on me. No, more out of me not being at the level I need to be at which he is working with me after our first sparring session. I would love to forget that particular memory considering how he easily humbled me without even trying. 

Couldn’t even land a single hit on him, where he just landed any hit he wanted which was just pushes and palm thrusts. Embarrassment is only beginning to describe the feelings in me. But if he can teach me to one day reach that level or something close to it, then this will have all been worth it. Even if the other lessons he has taught me I thought were pointless at the time were far from it when I thought about them in hindsight.

Such as our time in the Diamond district. Ignoring the rising flush coming to my face at some of the guys that were around my age as we had walked about. I hadn’t failed to notice them checking me out.  I at the time kept my composure and kept up the act of my disguise. Then my thoughts turned to Daniel’s appearance.

He… sighing, I let out a breath when just picturing him in that suit despite how he may act around me, he was something to behold. How he was able to make that suit look so good is beyond me. And how the men out of jealousy would attempt to subtly copy his suit.

Wanting to think about something else and drop that line of thought with how uncomfortable it is, I looked one last time at the entrance before I made my final decision and decided to my still-growing surprise to stick it out with Daniel for a while longer.

Walking further down the hallway my steps echoed out across the dirty interior of the building despite my current effort to try and stay silent. Holes in walls with rusted pipes on display. Holes across the ceiling show parts of the floor above.

I strained my ears to see if I could hear anything. A faint crunch behind me. Immediately whirling around, I see nothing. Eyes narrowing, I subtly pull out a black hand-sized bar in my hand, keeping it from view in my black jacket sleeve.

I walked back down the hall near the entrance keeping my head on a swivel just as I was taught to do, staying on one side of the hall against the wall. Keeping my back to it to prevent a blind spot and opening for Daniel. Not like it will help, but it’s not good to form bad habits.

Walking ever closer I hear a thud above me sending dust scattering across the ceiling and raining down on me as the ceiling groans in protest. Annoyed at having my new clothes already covered in dust and debris. Letting it go since these were cheap and easily disposable.

Another thud further down the hallway above me as I start moving further along. Moving further along I come across stairs leading further up into the building. Cautiously moving away from the stairs, I began to look for a window in one of the rooms on the ground floor. Daniel isn’t inexperienced enough to make that much noise.

Either it’s not him which is a possibility, albeit a very unlikely one. He is good enough to handle me easily and that’s holding back. How much I don’t know, but if I hazard a guess it’s a lot. So someone taking him down is unlikely.

The other possibility is he is getting my attention and drawing me upstairs. I have an idea of what kind of training session this is and if it’s what I think it is, then I am not taking the stairs. If it’s an obvious approach, don't take it. He may have done something to it or is ready and waiting for me to come up that way.

After several moments of searching while constantly looking over my shoulder, I found what I was looking for. Slowly walking into the room, trying to avoid making as much noise as possible. Walking up to the window, struggling to lift it ever so slowly to make as little noise as possible. Not slacking on always keeping one eye on the doorway. Nothing at all. No further noise above to get my attention.

A sigh escapes after finally lifting the window just enough to get through it. My thoughts turn to knowing full well he is going to win no matter what. At least the difference between Daniel and Crocker is that Daniel is pleasant to be around. Well at least ignoring him trying to get under my skin, but it’s better than the alternative.

Window wide open I don’t hesitate in getting through it, clambering out and landing on my alternate route. Despite the metal having seen better days, it stays stable and makes no noise to my surprise. Slowly making my way up the fire escape, I tried to come up with a plan on how to find him. With Daniel, it’s hard to say.

Going up the stairs to the second floor looking through a window to make sure the coast is clear. I check and see that the window is unlocked. My eyes narrow at that. He knew I would do this or planned for it. Even with this place being abandoned, any native Gothamite never leaves their windows unlocked.

The problem is any method of getting up to that floor he will have already thought of. I wouldn’t even doubt him thinking of me crawling in between the walls themselves. After all, it had crossed my mind, but I didn't want to ruin these clothes completely and who knows what was in the walls. 

Shuddering at that, I decided to go through with it. Getting into the hallway I look around and try to hear anything. Besides the occasional groan from this old building, there's nothing- *tap* *tap* *tap*.

Focusing on it, sounds like it’s coming from three rooms down. The door is cracked open letting in some light into the dim dusty hallway. Is it bait or is he really in there? 

I Moved silently with surprisingly no debris along the floor despite it looking worn down and surprisingly not as decayed as the base floor. Still has the occasional hole but is far cleaner.

Not thinking further about it, I begin moving forward to peer into the crack of the door after checking the rest of the hallway. Looking in at an angle so I don’t disturb the door, I see nothing.

Dread building in my stomach as the hair on my neck stands on end. I back away looking both ways down the hallway, backing against a wall. I tried to come up with a plan for my next step as I looked down towards the window I had come from as a way to get back down.

A muffled noise behind me makes me turn around, narrowly dodging something as it hits the wall with a wet splat. A shadow at the corner of the hallway slinks back around the corner with me not far behind in pursuit.

Peeking an eye around the corner I see nothing but a dead end with three rooms with no doors on the door frames. Stepping around each doorway looking in and seeing nothing but some holes in the rooms. How is he avoiding me?

Cautiously stepping around, feeling a smile form on my face with my racing heart. This is fun. A noise in the room makes me dive back into the hallway. A wet splat hit the wall where I was standing.

Leaning back out again I look and see his shadow move into a hole in the wall. I see the ‘bullet’ he used has left a green residue on the wall, it slowly slides down the wall. 

I picked up small pieces of plaster off the ground slowly walking down the hallway, noting how many holes I had seen so far. Quite a few. I will have to remember that when I’m hunting someone. Looks like a fun trick.

With a plan formed, I remember a few of the holes along the hallway. Walking up to them and stopping, I toss a piece of plaster as it softly hits the floor with nearly no sound.

Repeating it with each piece as they go further and further along the hallway. As I stand in anticipation I see movement from one of the holes. I moved into place, just as Daniel shot out another paintball where the plaster had hit the floor.

A grin spreads across my face as I bring the last piece of plaster up with a flourish, chucking it at him. He pauses for a brief second, realizing what happened. Just as he is about to duck back down it hits him right in the face.

“Well played Jade.” 

Music to my ears, hearing that acknowledgment. Now if only the feeling of it being handed to me would go away. I had him, and I know it.