’Where are they?’ with that thought, I slowly opened my eyes and peeked around the corner of a wall I propped my body against.
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From top to bottom, side to side, my eyes acted like radar as I scanned the street up and down, looking at every shop I had a line of sight on.
Since my method of locating particles wasn’t accurate 100% of the time when tracking at a distance, I only had a rough idea to go off of.
From the feedback sensations, akin to a slight direction itch in the back of my mind, I knew there was one returner already inside the café with Jennifer.
The other two were outside but posted up on either side of my current location. One is on the second floor, looking down at the café from my side of the street, and the other is on the opposite side on the rooftop.
With my experience using my technique, I knew full well I only had about a quarter of a mile radius where I could sense particles, so they were close by.
Based on them not making a move while my ass was standing on the sidewalk, I was willing to bet either they didn’t bother checking for other returners or they didn’t have a viable technique to do so.
’The question is, are they working together as a team or separately?’ Ducking back into the alley, I pressed my back against the wall and glanced up at the roof of the building across from me, less than eight feet away.
The alley was by no means large—hell, you probably couldn’t even fit a car through it, as it was too narrow—but for someone with my…vertically challenged stature, I was easily hidden in the shadows thanks to the overcast and rainy weather.
’Three stories, that’s light work,’ Examining the smooth stone surface of the three-story-tall building, I burst forward and hopped a little, exerting some strength in my legs to easily scale the wall without the use of particles.
My stats had reached a point where I could pull this off without much difficulty, and soon enough, I found myself crouched behind the lip of the roof, scanning the other buildings to the right of the café, on both sides of the street.
’Based on the ping, he should be on the same side as Mammoth Café….but where are you…’ due to the shitty weather and the way I was hiding, even with my increased vision, thanks to having my view obstructed by the lip of the building’s roof, I could barely get a clear look at anything.
With a click of my tongue, I sat flat on my ass with my head hidden under the miniature wall I was propped up against and fell into thought.
’The way I see it, I have a few different options right now. The only question is, which one checks all the boxes to get me to the goal?’ Closing my eyes and feeling the soft pitter-patter of rain hitting my hoodie, I ran through just about every scenario I could conceive in a short amount of time before sighing heavily and deciding on a less-than-optimal approach.
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POV 3rd Person
Almost 200 feet away from Taylor’s location, on the opposite side of the street and four buildings down to the right of the Mammoth café, was a young man lying prone on the rooftop gazing down at the sidewalk, which acted as a spillway for the café. Based on the multitude of food wrappers, empty water bottles, and soda cans, it was evident that he had been posted up on the rooftop for several days, if not weeks.
Much like Taylor, this young man had the brilliant idea of taking over the Henry Potter franchise and thought it would be a simple task, but unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one who came up with the idea.
In fact, over the last year or so, there have been many people showing up from time to time in positions like him, watching and waiting for the perfect time to strike the unsuspecting author.
In the shadows of Edinburgh, multiple battles had transpired between Returners, all wishing for a piece of the pie, and in the end, only three remained.
It wasn’t that any one of them was stronger than the other; no, in fact, all of them had reached the Alpha-Rank and were essentially equal in power thanks to Earth’s Particle Suppression.
Eventually, after having been at each other’s throats for months, the three remaining Returners, who hadn’t been run off due to being too weak to continue fighting, struck a deal between themselves.
Mind you, as all of them had similar goals, the battles between Returners never ended in deaths, and at worst, they mostly limped away to take care of injuries before never coming back, seemingly having given up on the idea of taking over the franchise.
Not everyone was quick to commit murder…like Taylor.
The deal between those who remained was simple: the three of them would work together to monitor Jennifer’s every move, practically stalking her day and night from home to the café and back until they got an opportunity to eliminate her and take over the franchise.
Once the book deal was securely in their grimy hands, they would split the profits three ways, with each of them getting a roughly equal share.
"Overwatch High, checking in. No sign of anyone on the rooftops; the area is still clear." Lazily propped up on his elbows and carelessly looking through a pair of binoculars, the young man spoke into a walkie-talkie as he had done every 30 minutes for the last several weeks.
As soon as he was done with his report, two different responses came from his walkie-talkie; the first being a voice, coarse and deep as if he had been smoking for years, using the code name Overwatch Mid, stating the same thing as the young man on the rooftop.