Chapter 716: The Fox Appears

"You tried to shoot me!?"

There was a certain silence after Benjamin's loud voice rippled from the very center of Times Square, with the only sound whistling in the air being the petals of metal still circling around him. Soon, however, this silence disappeared...

...as another bullet hit one of the petals protecting him.

"What the fuck!?"

And this time, Benjamin turned toward one of the buildings where the bullet should have come from; the petals moving around him, now halted in the air as they all pointed to the building. Before he could do anything, however, Bella approached him from behind and held him back by the shoulders.

"Sis..."

"Don't lose focus," Bella whispered before she grabbed one of the metal petals that has a bullet lodged in it,

"...Metal bullets, seriously?" She then said as she looked at Officer Grimes.

"That's—"

But before Grimes could even say another word, Bella let go of the metal petal. And as soon as everyone thought it would just fall to the concrete, the piece of metal flew straight toward the building where the snipers should be; creating a snapping sound as it passed the wind barrier.

"!!!"

The shrapnel almost instantly destroyed the sniper's rifle, causing her eyes to turn wide as the petal stopped just inches before hitting her right on the very center of her eyebrows. The only thing she could really do was let go of her shattered rifle, raising both her hands in defeat.

And now, with her hands raised, the metal petal, as well as the pieces of her rifle all flew away straight toward the next sniper... and did the same to him.

Officer Grimes, as well as the other officers surrounding the twins could really only follow the flying shrapnels with their eyes as they flew around the buildings; growing somewhat larger with each rifle they destroyed.

And soon, the metal petal came back... now with a ball of metal in tow which Bella grabbed with her hand.

"You ain't serious, right...?" Bella once again looked at Grimes, this time carrying an obvious hint of disappointment in her voice, "You people should've used carbon fiber or something."

"...We don't have budget for that," Officer Grimes sighed. And it wasn't only him, his men also dropped their shoulders as they subtly touched the guns they had hanging on their waists, "And we're also actually not trying to kill you."

"But you government, fed," Bella raised an eyebrow.

"They're spending the budget elsewhere."

"Rough," Bella sighed and shook her head, "My employer has an almost unlimited budget."

"I know, I know. You don't need to rub it on our faces," Grimes also let out a sigh as he placed his hands on his waist, "So, what about it? Are you willing to just back away and save us underpaid and overworked people the trouble of dealing with you two?"

"Hm. Yeah, no..." Bella and Benjamin looked at each other, before just shaking their heads, "How about you back away? We out here not to hurt nobody. We scared the civvies, but that ain't a crime, Grime."

"...I think there's a crime there somewhere."

"Shut up, Nerd."

"..." Grimes could really only lower his eyebrows; not even needing to say anything for people to figure out his exhausted reply. Bella didn't care, however, as she turned her focus back to Riley.

"D—"

And before Grimes could say another word again, the clump of metal on Bella's hands instantly separated into pieces, before the shrapnels all flew straight toward Riley without any warning.

Riley, on the other hand, did not really move and just tilted his head to the side of the oncoming projectiles. All of a sudden, however, his senses heightened to their maximum as everything seemed to slow down around him—something that usually only happens when something or someone around him moves at a speed one would normally not be able to follow.

"..." Riley focused on the shrapnels moving toward him, and it wasn't them. Soon, however, he found out what—Officer Grimes.

Officer Grimes was slowly turning around toward him; his hand, very slowly moving to the back of Riley's head. He was about to grab Riley away, but before he could do so, he realized one thing...

...Riley was clearly looking at him.

"What..."

Riley then just casually leaned back, watching as Grimes's hand passed by his face. And because Grimes was not expecting anything like this, he slipped.

"!!!"

The others that were watching from the sides really only saw Grimes just spinning in place, before rolling to the ground like some sort of worm that was showered with salt.

"...The fuck you doing, Fed?"

"You were a sprinter!?" Grimes immediately got up from the ground as he looked at Riley, "The report said that you're telekinetic!"

"I am," Riley slightly raised his hand, making the shrapnels that were flying toward him halt in the air... before just crumbling into dust, "You are going to know a lot of things about me, Officer Grimes. But only things that I want you to kno—pft."

"...What?" Grimes could not help but lower his eyebrows as a chuckle suddenly escaped Riley's lips. Why... why was he always the one dealing with the crazies?

"I apologize," Riley then breathed out, "That was a line from Italian Mafia Reborn—I have been trying to imitate the character of the main character, you see. But I realized I have to be clinically blind for it to happen, but we are similar in a sense that he gets to relive a certain part of his life again and again at the start of the story."

"Italian Mafia Reborn?"

"Oh, it's about a blind young man who belongs to the mafia who escaped a time..."

"Huh?"

"...It's very intricate but simple, they still haven't revealed how long he has actually been stuck in... but the monsters appear in..."

And as Grimes and all of his men were confused with what Riley was saying, Bella was starting to sweat.

She and Benjamin accepted this job because quite literally, they don't have a choice. As Grimes has mentioned before, they work for the Reuben family—they were sort of their mercenaries, but publicly known. And because of this, he and his brother have actually been living quite a lavish life, and they were also able to provide their parents with an even more luxurious life.

She and his brother have actually not done anything that could be considered close to murder.

They were a public menace, yes—but they haven't quite crossed the threshold of being true villains just yet. In fact, if they weren't on call, they even served as heroes.

They were heroes for rent, in a way. They've done some somewhat questionable things for their job, but there was a reason why Officer Grimes and the police didn't pursue them further—they weren't criminals.

And even now, the individual they were supposed to capture is a criminal. After all, he abducted Jonas Reuben right in front of everyone and even almost blinded him.

But they made a mistake in accepting this job.

"We... should go," Bella then slightly backed away, grabbing Benjamin by the arms as her eyes did not leave Riley for even a single second.

"What... why? But our target's already there."

"You fuckin' blind?" Bella took in a small gulp, "We're the prey here."

And as Bella did not let Riley escape her sight... Riley actually did the same. Right at the very start of his telling the story with the ridiculous plot... his eyes had also not left Bella and her brother.

Bella wasn't a fool—this ridiculously white guy just took control of the metal she was controlling, before instantly turning them to dust.

He was stronger than her and his brother combined, but most importantly... his eyes. Bella has seen those eyes many times before—they were eyes that didn't care.

Eyes that didn't care about anyone else. Eyes that won't even bat even if he killed each and every one of them here.

"Anyway," Riley was finally done with his story, and with that... he suddenly took off his coat, folding it and giving it to Grimes as he slowly approached Bella.

"And so?" Riley started folding up his sleeves, before doing some sort of stance as he looked Bella in the eyes,

"Shall we dance?"

"..." Bella tried to contain her breath, before pushing his brother away and also doing a stance; the pair of metal arms behind her back, imitating every movement of her hands. Benjamin was also about to ready himself, but Bella pushed him away once again.

"Leave," Bella whispered, "I'll buy you some time, so get away from here as much as possib—!!!"

And before Bella could finish her words, she watched as a hand suddenly appeared right in front of Benjamin's face... a hand which slammed him straight on the ground.

"Ben!" Bella, however, was able to cushion Benjamin's drop as she quickly controlled the petals flying around Benjamin, letting them serve as a sort of spring to absorb the impact. As for Riley, he didn't really care as he let go of Benjamin's head and allowed him to bounce away, before using the same hand to grab Bella by the neck.

"Kh..." The metal arms behind Bella quickly rushed toward Riley, but as soon as they were halfway from hitting his face, they shattered out of nowhere.

"Your other version is more fun to be with, Black Bell."

"!!!"

Bella's eyes widened as Riley tightened his grip on her neck. She could feel it... she could feel her flesh and bones starting to be crushed. She couldn't breathe, and no blood was flowing to her head already.

She was going to die h—

"Are you... Riley?"

And before Bella could lose her consciousness, a flat green light suddenly appeared on the ground behind Riley, and from it, a woman wearing a golden fox mask emerged.

"Do we...

...know each other?"