"No names, damnit. There's gonna be a Witch here in no time, and there's no telling who or what could be listening right now. We need to get out of here before this place is swarmed," Phil said.

"How'd you find me?" Grim asked.

Phil scoffed, "I've been tracking you ever since our last encounter. The trees have eyes, you know? Now come on, up you git and let's go. I've got a car stashed out back we can use."

Grim looked at Hazel and shrugged, she got up and helped Hazel to her feet, who was struggling a bit to breathe.

"How are you feeling?" Grim said.

"I feel great! Although I think I have a couple of broken ribs," Hazel frowned as she grabbed her ribcage. "Ow, okay. Definitely broken."

"Can you move?"

"Help me?" Hazel asked, pouting. Grim narrowed her eyes, very aware of how she just walked off a bullet; in the end, she sighed and put one of her shoulders over her. Hazel was being a suck, but she'd cut her some slack for the moment; she did just save her life... again. There was also the slight matter of how unhinged she was a second ago; where that came from, she wasn’t sure. Nice and timid Hazel was a bit of a relief, like the lights had switched on.

They were in a parking garage. The lights cast a dull orange haze around everything, and the air was slightly stale. A ramp went to a second level below, and a small room led to an elevator and a staircase. There were also cars scattered across the parking spots.

Outside, there was another burst of gunshots, and then everything went quiet. They all waited in silence for a minute or two before Phil spoke up, "Not a good sign. We need to move before someone starts wandering where we went."

"How are we going to get out of here?" Grim asked as they started walking over to the staircase, they kept their voices down, trying to be quiet.

Phil's scowl deepened, "I've got my car parked around the block but they're going to have this place surrounded in no time. We might have to find a different way out."

They got to the elevator, and after a moment of hesitation, Phil opened the door to the stairway instead. He sighed as they began to climb the flight of stairs.

"Could we find a place to hide and wait them out?" Grim asked.

Phil shook his head. "Not a chance. They're gonna toss every apartment in this block, and anyone found hiding or with a boon higher than E tier will get brought in for questioning. Let's hope the Witch hasn't arrived yet."

They travelled up the rest of the staircase in silence, with only their footsteps echoing out. Grim helped Hazel, as she was still favouring one side over the other. There was no one else outside of their apartments. People in these neighbourhoods knew to take cover if shots started flying, so she wasn't too surprised by that.

They got to the main floor, which had an open lobby. It was small and utilitarian. There was a small desk for the doorman to answer questions or receive packages. Although she noted that he was nowhere to be seen, that was good for them. Chances are he'd have been paid off by Bear to relay any information he'd get.

They stepped into the open area, the lights dimly casting the room.

"Get back!" Hazel shouted as she threw herself in front of Grim. The windows shattered and threw glass everywhere as a burst of gunfire came straight for Grim. Phil managed to throw up his hands, and the whipcrack of bark cracking sounded out as his armour unfolded, forming a wall.

Grim fell backwards as Hazel fell on top of her; pain ran through her back from the hard-tiled floor. She could hear the sound of footsteps moving in and fanning out to surround them.

"Contact! Bio-Fab, " a member of the Watch said. He was encased in a hard suit of black laminate armour. Two orange stripes ran down the side of his helmet, and he carried a submachine gun. Of what type Grim didn't know, but she knew enough to understand that these were the reinforcements they were trying to avoid.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Get up! We've gotta go," Phil said as he stood in front of them with only a thin layer of the living wood covering his body. The rest was used to hold up the shield, and he was straining as he held it in front of them. Grim helped Hazel to her feet, and they ran back where they had come. Phil held up the shield and backed away until he could get through the doorway. He stabbed the tendrils of wood through the doorframe and left the wood behind to follow them.

"Where do we go?" Grim asked.

Phil scowled, "Little busy right now. Figure something out."

Phil walked backwards behind them as the roots from the door blew out in an explosion, spraying bits of plant matter everywhere. Tactical units flooded in afterward, and Phil waved his hands. Several tendrils burst through the wall to form a crisscrossing barricade. It became a battle of how fast they could cut it down versus how fast he could put it up. Unfortunately for them, he was losing.

"I can help! Let me touch him, the other boon is starting to wear off," Hazel said.

"What? Whatever you did to Arcadia, I'm not interested, lady."

"It's just a copy! We don't have time to argue, unless you can hold them off yourself," Grim argued.

A slicing burst of energy nearly took off Phil's head as it chopped through the roots, he turned to her and growled, "Fine, get it over with."

Grim helped Hazel hobble over and laid a hand on his shoulder; after only a second or two, she took it off, "Got it."

"What? It usually takes you longer than that."

Hazel smiled, her teeth covered in blood, "I levelled up."

She flexed her hands, and the gap that had formed closed. With the two of them, the tug-of-war started to swing in their favour, and they were able to gain ground and get to the stairway without getting shot. By the end of it, Grim was practically carrying Hazel as she struggled with holding off the tactical unit.

Once they got through the thick doors of the stairway, they slammed them closed, and Phil used the last of his living wood to barricade the door. He took a second and jammed a finger in the air at Hazel.

"What are you?"

"My name's Hazel." She gave her most charming smile, but the blood detracted from its charm.

"I didn't ask for your name. What are you? You're not an illusion, as Grim here tried to say you were, and you shouldn't be able to use my Boon. That's just... The system doesn't hand out boons like that. Not at your rank; I've checked your public records, but you have to be at least a C, right?"

Grim coughed into her hand, "Still E rank."

"That's not possible," Phil turned on her, a root spike coiled dangerously by his side. "Who are you working for? Who gave you the shards? Oh fuck, IWA? I was being careful with the trees, damnit!"

Hazel stepped in front of Grim. "Woah, we're not working for anybody. You're the one who left the note, remember?"

Phil scowled, and the coiled root recessed back into his sleeve, "You've got a point. If they knew about me, I'd have been in an unmarked van heading for the Crater by now. Still, explain what's going on. I'm not asking."

Grim bristled at the order. Her first response was to swear at him, but she stamped it down. She needed him to get out of here for now, but that didn't mean she had to tell him the truth.

"She can copy boons for a short amount of time, and I can teleport people I mark back to me into another dimension. She was in stasis in there until we could find a healer."

Phil looked between them, suspicious, "Useful, and you must've got lucky, but if that's all you've got, you're out of your depths."

"Thank you, that really helps," Grim said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to find a way out now."

Grim shouldered past him with Hazel in tow, she was slowing down now and required more help from Grim to climb the flight of stairs. She wasn't too worried about the tactical unit at the moment, it seemed they'd backed off once they got through and barricaded the door. She didn't know what they were waiting for, but she wasn't in the mood to find out. She'd fucked around enough this week and was tired of finding out.

"Hey, you doing alright? You're looking a little pale," Grim asked Hazel, gently shaking her.

"Mmmfine, just [Omniscient Forest] takes a lot out of me. I'll be okay," Hazel said.

"I can put you back in my shadow for a moment if you want to rest."

Hazel's half-laid eyes opened wide, they’d lost that feral edge they’d had earlier, "No, no. Not yet. We've got to get you safe first."

She shrugged off Grim’s shoulder and started walking up the stairs with a renewed sense of purpose. Grim and Phil followed close behind until they got to the third floor.

"Wait, we're going in through here," Grim said as she opened up the door to the hallway.

"We should get to the roof, see if we can't find a way down or to another building," Phil argued.

"Too visible; you two can make a bridge of some sort, right? We could make a pathway down."

"Yes, it wouldn't be hard. Fat chance we're not spotted, though."

"Better than our chances in here," Grim said as they walked down the hallway. Phil blocked off the door behind them.

She kept searching the hallways, looking for an empty apartment. She didn't want to traumatize any innocent bystander if she didn't have to, not to mention avoid witnesses.

[THE SLIGHTEST TWITCH]

They all froze as they felt a boon’s effects encompassing all of them.

The Witch had arrived.