Itsy really did her best on her first attempt, trying to avoid the gazes of the others as she slipped by. She barely made it a few feet in the door. It didn’t help that with each step, the world shook a little bit around her. Even if she wasn’t seen, her presence was known. “Alright, I got an idear!”
She drove her monster truck right near the store’s entrance and then brought a special remote with her. While hiding behind the wall right next to the entrance, Itsy pressed a button and the horn on the truck began to blare. It was ear-splittingly loud and would surely turn heads. Watching her on the camera, she made it through the vestibule where the carts were and well into the store, managing to hide in an aisle without anyone noticing.
Itsy repeated the same trick a few times, the customers and staff both constantly looking around for the strange honking that was audible enough to hear even inside. They became jaded over time, however, and Itsy was eventually caught about halfway through the store.
“Ight, I’ma do it like in the movies this time.” She didn’t really seem confident, but Itsy had to be awarded points for her boldness. Without even taking a running start, Itsy leapt on top of the roof of the building in a single bound. There was some clanging on the roof for about a minute, but it stopped entirely.
Nothing happened after that for quite a while. There was no sign of her on any of the security cameras. It seemed a few patrons had noticed the ruckus on the roof but had already gone back to their regular shopping. Just as the group was about to go check on her, Nachi’s phone rang.
“Hello failure,” Nachi answered immediately “By calling me, you realize that you are surrendering your last attempt, and thus are a failure, yes? If you hang up right now without saying anything, I will consider your attempt still active, since I am so forgiving and gracious.”
“Nah, I’m hella stuck.” There was a clear echo on Itsy’s end. “No way I can get outta here without breaking sumthin. I give up, so help me, please. Blood rushing tuh my head.”
“Alright, let’s go save her.” Nachi gave a sigh, but it was clear she was more amused. “Jaid, you’re probably the only one equipped to get me up there. Chop chop.” Jaid didn’t understand why they couldn’t find a service ladder or something, but knew better than to ask questions at this point.
She picked up Nachi by her legs, her torso swung over her shoulder. Unlike Itsy, Jaid had to get an extensive running start before making her leap, but still managed to make it onto the roof—just barely. “Huh, not what I was expecting.” Nachi criticized her after their less than soft landing. “Surprised you didn’t make a ladder of clones. Guess you’re still not thinking like a Fiend.”
Nachi started combing the roof while Jaid accepted her bitter, accurate words, catching up to her a moment later. When they found Itsy, or what they could see of her, even Jaid couldn’t hold back an outburst of laughter. “I can hear y'all up there! Get me out!” Itsy cried, her voice muffled and echoed.
She was stuck in the ventilation shaft leading into the building. Well, half of her was. Her legs were dangling out of it, sticking up into the air.
“Alright, pull!” Nachi gave the order to the line of Jaids, even though she wasn’t helping at all. About twenty clones all pulled back, leaning into each other, with two at the front, one grabbing onto each leg. It took way too much effort despite being a Fiend, several Fiends. Itsy was just that stuck.
They could have easily broken the shaft to get her out, but Itsy denied anything that’d do damage at all, not wanting to lean into her Wrecking Ball epithet. Every Jaid collapsed on top of each other when Itsy was finally pulled free. This stupid yet surprisingly challenging test claimed its first failure.
Since Jaid was already involved, Nachi sent her in next. Jaid used a small clone to peer inside. The first challenge had already presented itself: the greeter. At other stores, the greeter didn’t pay that much attention. But at one of these stores, they checked for proof of membership, so they were especially vigilant.
Jaid waited for the greeter to finally turn away and scooted into the vestibule, hiding behind the carts. She summoned several small clones against her better judgment. They had actually been begging her subconscious to be picked, willing to help for once since it seemed like fun. A full line of small clones wrapped around the carts, and they shook the back of them all at once causing the greeter to whirl his head and walk over in scared confusion.
Using the distraction, Jaid snuck inside. Thankfully, the person who chose that damned moment to leave with their groceries was also distracted by the noise letting Jaid slip into an aisle unnoticed. Three new clones popped up on Jaid’s neck to make sure she could see in every direction. It made her head swirl for a moment. Normally, she didn’t have her clones directly pass their vision onto her, but it was necessary in this case.
After a close call already, she made a ladder of clones to climb to the top of the aisle. Unfortunately, unlike a normal grocery store, these shelves went all the way to the ceiling, so she couldn’t hide on top. Still, there were basically just pallets of products on the upper shelves, so she was out of the eyeline of all but perhaps the most diligent employees.
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Not wanting to make a racket, she spawned and transferred to several clones at her side, scooting along the shelves that way, while using some to keep an eye on the floor below. It really was crazy how oblivious the shoppers were to her. The only time she had to be extremely careful was moving from one aisle to another, having to wait until there was no one passing by.
Eventually, the booze aisle at the back of the store was in sight. However, there was a major problem. An employee was restocking and taking inventory of it. Even with their eyes glazed over and their mind long drifted away, there’s no way they wouldn’t notice her. I’m so sorry, but this is for the good of the world, Jaid justified the horrendous act she was about to commit.
She dug into one of the pallets next to her, pulling out a bottle of overpriced luxury perfume. At least she wouldn’t feel bad about destroying this. Jaid lined up the shot and then chucked the perfume with all her might. It crashed into an intricately stacked pyramid of cans. At first, nothing happened, so Jaid was worried she’d created commotion for nothing. But then, one can slipped. Then another. Then another. Then a dozen. It all came crashing down and cans rolled every which way.
The employee turned around, his eyes bulging, mouth agape, spirit destroyed. Jaid felt terrible, but there was no time to dwell on it. She lowered herself with a chain of clones and grabbed the first bottle of alcohol she could reach. The clone stuffed a crime card at the very back of the shelf, hoping it wouldn’t be found for some time, if ever.
Her clamber back to the front of the store was fairly uneventful. Just about every available employee had swarmed to help clean the mess, and what looked like at least half the customers had come to watch the frenzy.
“What the hell is this?” Every inch of Nachi’s face scrunched up in anger in disgust. “This is non-alcoholic sparkling water! May as well be drinking the piss of a badgerine.” She popped the cork and started pouring it out but then looked at Niloy.
“Can already guess whatcha want,” Niloy sighed and dipped her pinky into the liquid. “You totally got a drinking problem.
Nachi ignored the criticism and took a swig of the now-alcoholic beverage. Contentment washed over her face as she shrugged. “You didn’t complete the objective, but I can’t fault you on your stealth, Jaid. So I’m passing you, mostly because I want more strong people to fight against. Won’t be going easy on you in the next test.”
Happy that she wasn’t failed on a technicality, Jaid let herself relax for once as she pried the device off her head. More than anything, she was just glad she didn’t have to go back into that store to try again. She’d never be able to shop at a Bulk Boutique for the rest of her life without feeling the guilt of this day—not that she’d ever actually shopped at one before.
Niloy went next, failing all four of her attempts in record pace, not even making it as far as Itsy had on her best attempt. “I can’t help that I’m just too cute and pretty! People can’t take their eyes off me!” She then went to blame it on her outfit, saying she’d have to come back and try again in boring people clothes and a wig.
Surprisingly, Tize failed his first two attempts. He’d initially tied to army crawl on the floor, rolling under shelves when anyone came his way. This was thwarted by an old woman stabbing him in the butt with her cane, only then noticing him. His second failure came by a completely separate old woman believing he was the ghost of her son who had died in the Drazah War.
While the military had certainly trained Tize in the art of covert-ops, Jaid guessed they never used such a confined bustling place like this as a training ground. Even professionals in stealth had limited options here. It was a better proving ground than she wanted to admit. Tize stayed far away from any old women in the third attempt and passed without issue.
This left Kaizu for last, and she was the surprise star. Before even making it into the store, she stalked behind the employee rounding up the carts, sliding into the bottom of one. Now in the vestibule, she waited for the perfect moment that the greeter was distracted and slipped behind him so fluidly it was like she didn’t even exist in the same space.
For the rest of her trip, Kaizu didn’t hide. No, she’d find someone taller then her and merely walk in their shadow, sliding her body as needed to shield herself from the gaze of others, all while managing to stay out of the peripheral vision of her unwilling guide. When one stopped for too long or started heading in the wrong direction, she’d find another.
How Kaizu had managed to remain uncaught in her serial-killing life was obvious now. She wasn’t an amateur with bloodlust for evildoers. No, she was an assassin, top of her class that could rival any professional—all self taught and natural talent. Nachi was too stunned to drink her presented booze for a minute, but eventually gulped it down like all the rest.
“Congratulations to those of you who passed. Rest up well, the real fun begins tomorrow. Fun for me, certainly not for you, unless you like fighting as much as me. Dismissed.”
Jaid ended up driving Niloy’s car back with Nachi and Kaizu in tow. Kaizu was originally going to head back with Tize, but Nachi insisted it was her duty to take her off his hands, despite being noticeably a little tipsy after downing several stolen bottles of alcohol. Niloy and Itsy went off somewhere in her truck, likely to do something to cope with the stress of their failures and get their minds off of it.
That night, Jaid spent most of her time before bed looking into Nachi, trying to get a read on her fighting style. She came across some security footage of Nachi fighting another Fiend in Shindig, but it was too garbled to be useful. More importantly, she found the footage of Drim and Nachi’s fight in Constead.
She’d never seen the fight so clearly before, only having caught glimpses of it on the news. Even when she was just a human, Nachi’s agility and unshakable will were staggering. However, what Jaid couldn’t get out of her mind for the rest of the night was Drim—How he looked in that form—How powerful he was—How terrifying.
[Rank 7 Results]
Passed: Tize, Kaizu, Roque, Jaid
Failed: Niloy, Itsy