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Earl Garner

Gunshots slam into the brick wall I'm hiding behind and rattle my bones as I scramble to reach into my backpack and pull out my most recent creation. My hands are shaky as I'm unsure how long this wall will hold, but I have complete faith that this will solve the problem Primrose pulled us into. The madwoman got several groups of bounty hunters after us because she revealed herself and then left to try and get Icarus. We got away from all but one. After a few seconds of frantic searching amongst shocks to my back through the bricks, I finally grasp onto something cold and metallic. That's it!

I pull out the cylinder of steel with an internal loaded of a stick of dynamite that was put into that Adapter that Virgil gave me months ago. It still has a little bit of that electric juice left in it, and from my own testing, it works perfectly to add a bit of a kick to weapons, especially explosives.

My eyes meet Elizabeth, who is hiding on the opposite of the half-broken wall in the slums of Blackreach. I show the pipebomb I made, and she mouths to me, "HELL NO!" but what else are we gonna do? Soon those bullets will break enough of this brick that we'll get hit.

Primrose is off chasing Icarus, or more accurately, the men after Icarus, so she can't save us. The female craftsman has been extremely hard to track down and has cost us almost two months of searching, but we locked her down within this area of Blackreach called Ragmes. While here, I've seen several weapons that should, frankly, not exist, and they've blown my mind. Too bad one of them is shooting at me right now, the semi-automatic pistol similar to Primroses blasting through brick and mortar quickly.

I weigh the bomb in my hand for another second or two and make up my mind. I whisper a short thank you to Virgil as I quickly peek up and throw the bomb as hard as possible. I frantically use Reshuffle for my safety and Elizabeth's as I Marionette the bomb as far from us as my arms allow. And the second it leaves my hand, I dive for the ground behind the bricks. I don't even wait to see if my throw hits the mark as I've learned to just trust in my creations.

Then, suddenly, everything was engulfed in a deafening explosion similar to a thunderstrike as the electricity from the Adapter enhances the blast of the dynamite within the pipe, setting it all off at once without any pause. The force of the blast shears off most of the half-wall of brick and sends the debris careening toward me. This debris throws me like I imagine a punch from Wyatt would, rattling my bones and sending me rolling as I yell out in pain. My ears rang with the sound of the explosion, and for a moment, I couldn't see or hear anything. As the smoke cleared, I slowly rose to my feet, feeling the shrapnel wounds on my skin and the ringing in my ears. The ground around me was scorched and torn apart, and the air was filled with the acrid smell of explosives and burnt hair.

Despite the chaos, I felt a strange sense of satisfaction. I had achieved my goal, and the explosion had served its purpose. It was the first time I ever used it against people. But that satisfaction is quickly torn away as I stumble in my steps to stand with blood running down my face. I reach up and feel a split along my eyebrow, covering my right eye in blood. It's not dangerous because if it was, I'd be bleeding a whole lot worse, and my vision is still primarily stable.

I arrange a hand to my eye and look around for danger and Elizabeth. I see the dozen or so men who were shooting at us are now nothing but rumble and pieces of flesh. Bile rises in my throat, but I force it down. That's the way of the world; nothing I can do about it. Things get nasty sometimes.

Then, I quickly look for Elizabeth and find her under a pile of bricks, trying to dig herself out. I feel relief hit me that she's safe, but trepidation also rises for when she gets out. She's gonna yell at me so much.

Despite that, I still help her out. She's stronger than me physically, but that doesn't mean I can't help her dig her way out from the broken bricks. And after a few minutes that just barely give me enough time for my ears to stop ringing, she stands from the rubble and points her finger at me.

"You idiot! You—"

I interrupt her, putting my arms up as I try to defend myself with my backpack swinging as it hangs just from one shoulder now for easier access.

"What else were we gonna do? We were trapped!?"

Elizabeth puts her hand to her face as she deliberately doesn't look at the dead men on the other side of the street.

"Not that! I get we were screwed! But I couldn't even get a fucking countdown!?"

Oh… I didn't think about that. And she sees that. Elizabeth shakes her head as she tries to get rid of the aftereffects of the explosion. I know what it feels like to do, so I know what it looks like.

"Uh-huh. Next time you throw a bomb that can turn half a dozen men into soup, please, please, please count down so I'm ready."

I can only dumbly nod in agreeance and try to change the subject.

"Okay, okay, okay. I promise. But let's go help Primrose; she needs us, right? She's up against like a dozen bounty hunters and could use us."

Elizabeth looks me up and down from head to toe before snorting.

"What?!"

She walks past me and pulls me toward the bodies of the people we killed, finding a better place to hide than where we just were underneath the rubble. Chances are more people might show up soon. Hundreds of Hunters are after Icarus. Her bounty is simply too much to pass up, and when they see people trying to take it from them, they don't get thrilled. We're only different in one thing. We want her for her skills, not her monetary value. I feel a bit conflicted about getting a wanted person to join us, but they could very well be like Johnny or Wyatt. Good people who undeservedly got a bounty.

"First, let's get that eye fixed. Can't have you throwing bombs with a bloody eye. Second, let's check these guys for loot. There's a chance you didn't blow up that pistol one of them had. And third? Aren't you forgetting something?"

I look around, confused, as she huffs and starts to stitch up my eye after wiping it clean with alcohol, something I learned from Heath to stop infections. I get out several "Ow" s before she is done. After the third stitch and the boatload of pain, I distract myself with thoughts. Is she talking about Icarus? No, that doesn't make any sense. Maybe I dropped something? Oh shit, if it's one of the adapted pipe bombs, that could be bad. They explode at rough contact.

"Really? It's been two months of you non-stop using your Ether to your limit to get us close to Icarus, and you finally just killed people with Sigils. Still not ringing a bell? That bomb must have shaken up your brain more than I thought."

I still look at her confused as she finishes the stitch, something she's grown quite good at with how often Primrose gets cut up from her fights. She really likes to pick fights. Like really does. Even if they're pointless with Unsigiled people. The girl has some problems, but at the same time, some people are far too vulgar to a lady capable of cutting them into ten thousandths.

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Elizabeth shakes her head as she pulls back, wiping her hands with her clothes.

"Your Sigil?"

Oh! I nod in understanding as it finally hits me. I have likely gained enough Ether tolerance to advance again. Too bad I still am unsure about my Metaphor, although I have thoughts on it. The most impressive feat of sleight of hand. I'd have to say palming. The ability to have an ace up your sleeve that no one may know about is enormous. I'm not sure of that answer, though. It just doesn't feel quite right.

"Yeah, I completely forgot, but you should be similar, too, right? I still need to figure out my Metaphor; what about you?"

Elizabeth shrugs, also not having complete confidence in her answer.

"I'm not sure. It asked me what my "Flock" was, who I guide and protect from harm. I'm leaning toward whoever is willing to do the same for me, but it just doesn't feel right."

I nod back at her, understanding what she means. These things are hard. If you get the wrong answer, there is always a chance for bad things to happen, and based on my last advancement, this one needs to be perfect. But I shake the thoughts away, not that Elizabeth is done stitching my eyebrow up, and start searching for any of the weapons that might have been left.

My trusty revolver is still nice, but I'd kill, I guess I already did, for one of those Colts these Hunters had. All the guilt I might have at their death gone after they shot at us first, I do still, however, get a bit sick as I look at their torn-apart bodies. The adapted pipe bombs are terrifying, and this was the first time I ever did more than throw it into a forest to see what they did.

I spend a few minutes searching and eventually give up, as every second we waste is a second Primrose might be fighting. But just as I walk over to Elizabeth to stop her from searching as well, she pulls up a damaged Colt with a piece of shrapnel in it. She shows it to me with a smile on her face, covered in dust and flecks of my blood.

"You think you can fix this?"

I take it from her and look it over. The construction is odd, and it's only a normal gun, not a Colt, but it will likely take me a few days to even figure out how it works entirely. But it's not impossible.

"Maybe. I'll need a few days, though."

She smiles and nods at me, directing us to move on.

"Okay, we're good to go then. Let's go find Primrose. She should be talking with the guys who got Icarus by now."

I laugh at her phrasing. Talking? Yeah right. She looks at me and shakes her head.

"She probably is talking with the Hazards, Earl. You just have a skewed sense of her. There is a 5th Sigil and three 4ths in that squad, not to mention the two 3rds. She can't take them all alone. She's either bargaining or trying to recruit them somehow before giving up."

Her logic makes sense, I guess. But we can't let her give up! This Icarus is a genius! Her weapons are revolutionary! I could… learn so much from her!

"But we can't let her give up, right? We have to get in there to stop her from just rolling over."

Elizabeth nods as she pulls out a map of Blackreach, each small street of the heavily populated town drawn small on the piece of paper.

"Yeah, but we need to do this carefully. No shenanigans like Wyatt. A plan is needed, and we need to execute it perfectly, got it?"

I nod, unwilling to go against her.

"Good. Start throwing out ideas, genius."

I counter her unreasonable ask; I can't come up with ideas without information.

"Start throwing out information then. Where are they? Primrose didn't feel me worthy enough to know before she left. Abilities? What condition is Icarus in?"

Elizabeth trails her finger on the map, starting from where we are on Odd Ends Street and ending on Tin Boulevard. She circles a square lot with her fingers.

"We are two blocks away because those Hunters saw us as threats on their way to the Hazards as well. Primrose said that this was the building they were hiding out in to recover and that she was just going to check in to see if, by some chance, they were willing to join Johnny's rebellion. We all know she is likely to fail, though, so we need to be quick in case they turn in Icarus. I have no idea how the Coltsmith is, though. "

She bundles up the map and starts running through the street as people peer out from windows nearby after the gunshots and explosions finally end. Blackreach is a unique place, to say the least. Buildings similar to the frontier made of wood and brick make up the city and are splattered alongside newer buildings made of stone and a reasonably new substance called concrete. This allows for some short buildings that are fragile to be put next to triple or quadruple-story buildings that are built more like Gates in a frontier town.

The people peeking out from windows and looking at us with fear is a far cry from the Timberlands, which we took almost a full month to get through. That was mostly a few towns here or there separated by swathes of trees. The volume of people here, however, is mind-boggling, and apparently, Onyx Gate is even worse.

But these details on the city get my mind moving and mouth asking questions. I am the planner, after all. If Elizabeth has to plan, then shit's already hit "Wyatt-level," and we need to run.

"Are they in an old wooden building or a newer, concrete one?"

Elizabeth pulls out a scope that Primrose "borrowed" from a Hunter on our way here and uses it to look ahead.

"Older. Made of wood and only a bit of brick."

Okay, okay. Wood building. Fire? No. that would just kill Icarus; Frozen or Bonfire isn't here to control the flames. I need more. Let's break this down, brick by brick, starting from underneath.

"Is there anything underneath? Basement? Sewer?"

Elizabeth pulls out the map again as the loud siren from a fire department starts ringing. Far behind us, I can see a red carriage moving to where our recent fight was. At least Blackreach has the personnel to take care of fires.

"Uhm… I think so. The sewer system runs along this area, and oh, wait, yes! Underneath is a branch of the sewers; there is a key that says so."

Okay. Sewers underneath. Getaway? Possibly. How though? My brain moves to the pipe bombs, but they don't have enough oomph. At least the normals don't. An adapted one might, but I only have two left. Who am I kidding? It's worth it if it works.

Then, how do we Icarus and not kill her in the explosion? Hmm… I need to get her away from the rest of the Hunters somehow so Primrose can whisk her away with her gaseous form.

"Do you think Icarus is tied up, unconscious, or injured?"

Elizabeth answers quickly, barely even needing to think.

"Probably unconscious and tied up. I doubt they'd injure her to keep her from running with the negative for killing her."

She's right. Doesn't make sense any other way. One last thing.

"Did Primrose know the leader? Anything she said about him while I was gone testing stuff?"

Elizabeth thinks for a moment before answering right as we reach the block with the wooden building at the edge of our sight.

"She said something about the Hazards' leader being a tough guy. The Soldier or Freak type, but she's unsure if that's all."

Hmm… Okay. That… that is good. I think I have a plan, then. I just hope that the lady with the pink scarf will listen.

I relay it to Elizabeth as we stand outside the building at a distance.

"Okay. So, you need to somehow get Primrose to act like she doesn't know me and to approach Icarus. Then—"

She stops me, confused already.

"Wait, what?"

I back up a bit and try again. I'm thinking too far ahead and talking too fast, skipping over important parts. This time, I purposely speak a bit slowly.

"Okay, I'm going to walk in there with explosives, obviously as a distraction. You will come in first, however, and try to get Primrose to act like she doesn't know me. She will get close to Icarus in the panic and use her cloud skill to move her and Icarus to safety. You will also want to hide—"

She stops me again, figuring out where I'm going with it.

"You are going to blow up the building with your bombs?"

I nod even as I see panic rise in her eyes.

"It'll be fine, I promise. Who else knows better than how my explosives work? I can get to safety, and even not, Reshuffle and Marionette should protect me from any shrapnel if I use them ahead of time."

She looks at me like I'm crazy for a few moments before shaking her head.

"Yup. That does it. You are all insane. Is this woman really that important?"

I shake my head yes vehemently.

"Yes. We need a weapons maker badly, and one of Icarus' caliber could change everything. Imagine if we all had weapons as those Hunters did? Imagine if each of us had hundreds of bullets and didn't have to worry about running out of ammo. Imagine if Johnny had a Colt that matched his Sigil? The man could do some real damage."

She shakes her head and sighs.

"Fine. You really believe in this, huh?"

I nod once more, and she finally relents.

"Alright. If you believe, then I will too. I'll go in first and act like a part of Primrose's group. I'll try to make it sound like I want her to leave while I whisper to her the opposite. Count to two hundred before coming in, okay?"

"Okay."

She takes my affirmation before walking toward the old wooden building. People are walking in the street as this is pretty far from our fight earlier, but they are sticking close to the buildings as the atmosphere here has been a bit crazy lately. Can't blame them, either. If I had no Sigil, then I'd be just as careful, if not more.

Elizabeth slips into the front door after checking for any apparent traps and disappears from my sight. From there, I begin counting. One. Two. Three. Four. On and on until two hundred, and while I do so, I move behind the building, careful not to get too close. Once I get behind the building, I put down one of my pipe bombs along with my revolver. Then, I take out a pipe I had in my bag, put it through the piece of steel that holds the trigger, and dig it into the dirt just enough that it won't fall over. Now, the pipe is held up just enough in the soil to not fall. I should be able to Reshuffle it even from a distance to fall over, pulling the trigger that would then detonate the pipebomb.

Then, I quickly move back and lie down several more sticks of dynamite. I've spent so much money in the black markets that Primrose knew of on explosives. Way too much. But she can't deny it; I make every single penny worth it. After that, I move back toward the front.

And when the number hits the one chosen, two hundred, I start toward the building, going in the same way she did as I pull out my last bundle of dynamite. The previous pipe bomb will be hidden within the center of the pile so that I can pull them out quickly with Reshuffle without the Hazards knowing. Before I step through the door, I take a deep breath to calm myself.

"You got this, Earl. You got this. You got this. You got this. Phew... C'mon. Calm down your heart. Count to ten."

I count to ten slowly before opening my eyes. It didn't help at all. My heart is thunderous and almost as loud as the voices on the other side of the door. Now or never. I move forward with shaky steps that turn stable before I step through the door. As I step into a wide room with furniture tossed everywhere and two groups of people standing opposite with weapons drawn, I scream as loud as I can.

"I am covered in dynamite! Give me the girl, or we all die!"