12.2
The woman froze and wrinkled her nose at Blake.
"Well, boy," she said as she reached for something behind her, "I s'pose you could trade fer one of these."
She held out an old, faded brown backpack in her shaking left hand. "Bu' I'll take the whol' thing! Not jest a piece!"
Having achieved their first transaction, the squad moved on to their other two objectives.
After a bit of searching and another round of bargaining, Blake managed to secure a tarp in exchange for their element of growth.
"It's ridiculous," he grumbled as they walked away. "Let's find a vendor who actually understands what an element is. After all, this next trade is going to be for something with actual value."
It wasn't difficult to tell exactly where ammo was being traded off, because that's where the biggest commotion was.
As the squad made their way through the crowds, they saw that two separate vendors were selling, and the two vendors were right next to each other.
"Way to complicate things," Blake murmured. "Let's go somewhere else first."
They continued to circle the lake.
Blake pointed at a lone figure up ahead. "That guy looks promising."
They approached the man, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, fully stocked clips laid out on the dirt in front of him. He had long hair, a scraggly beard, and more than a few visible scars on his weathered face and arms.
"Hello, sir," Blake greeted politely. "How much for these clips here?"
"If you're talking about money," the man growled, "then get out of here. I'll only take elements."
Blake smiled.
"Don't worry," he assured the man. "We have a few elements with us now. But I'm wondering, where do you think the best deal is? You see, I'm interested in purchasing quite a few magazines. Do you think you can do that for me?"
The grizzly man narrowed his eyes and stared up at Blake, who smirked back down at him.
"What do you have?" he asked with an aggressive nod of his head.
Blake held out the element of strength, a kind of oval-shaped, dark maroon gemstone with a lined texture. "I trust you know what this is?"
"Strength," the man grunted. "Nice. Anything else?"
"This is all I'm willing to give," Blake replied.
The man took his eyes off Blake and looked at Nikki, Eve, and Corvus in turn. "You guys all together?"
"Yes, that's right," Blake responded.
"You know what?" the man said, his furry eyebrows creasing up. "If you can trade that element with those assholes over there that won't shut up, I'll give you double whatever they do."
Blake looked puzzled. "Why would you do that? You said you want elements, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I'll take it back from 'em later if you can make the deal," the man grumbled in a low voice. "They're all weaklings. But there's one condition: you have to beat that bald guy up in the process."
"The tall, black one?" Blake asked, looking over his shoulder. "They were calling him Duane, is that right?"
"Yeah," the man grunted. "I've wanted to punch him out for a little while now, but it'd have to happen in front of the crowds for it to be satisfying. That's why I was thinking you could do it for me."
Blake nodded. "That sounds good, but please keep in mind, I won't be forgiving if you don't follow through."
"Hah," the man snorted. "I'm not a crook."
"We'll be back in a few minutes," Blake promised.
"No," the man replied, getting to his feet, "I'll come with you."
He gathered up all his clips and magazines and placed them into a large backpack, which he then zipped up and slung over his back.
"No point if I can't see it from up close."
As the five of them approached the mob, it seemed as if some form of an auction was taking place. In fact, there were more than a few people screaming at each other, and even the vendors themselves were getting involved in some altercations.
The man from earlier, Duane, appeared to be running an auction for one of the vendors, knuckles still bleeding from his recent brawl.
He was massive, arms as thick as many men's legs, and it was clear that nobody would dare to pull any tricks around him.
The vendor handed Duane a sling, which had six magazines strapped to it.
Duane thrust the sling high above his head.
"TOP QUALITY! THESE BULLETS ARE TOP QUALITY, AND WE'RE NOT JUST GIVING AWAY THE BULLETS, BUT ALSO THESE UNBREAKABLE MAGAZINES AND THIS BEAUTIFUL LEATHER SLING! THAT'S RIGHT, SIX FULL MAGAZINES AND A LEATHER SLING! AND THESE MAGAZINES ARE COMPATIBLE WITH ANY SHOTGUN"
"No, they're not," the bearded stranger grumbled under his breath.
Blake turned to the man and asked over the ruckus, "How strong is Duane?"
"Strong for a man who hasn't consumed an element," the man replied mockingly.
Blake looked at Eve. "I'll need you to finish this one."
He began shoving his way through the shouting swarm with his three companions and new acquaintance following right behind him.
People turned and yelled at his discourtesy, but he ignored them.
When they finally broke to the front line, they found Duane's massive face squarely in front of them.
He had his arms around a small, thin man's shoulders, and they could feel his spit on their faces as he interrogated them, brandishing the sling in their faces.
"Well, well! What do we have here? A new bidder? What could you possibly have to offer that's better than this man's army-quality pistol?"
He shook the guy under his arm like a corn stalk.
Blake held out the element.
"This is an element of strength. I assure you, it's far more powerful than any handgun."
"An element, huh? I ain't seen many of those today, but I'll hear you out! So, little boy, why do you think that rock is more powerful than a gun?"
Hollers of laughter came from the crowd in response, and Duane flashed his supporters a wide grin.
Blake replied calmly.
"To put it simply, if anyone here consumed this element, they would be able to beat you in a fight." He gave Eve's arm a pull.
"HUH? YOU TAKE ME FOR A JOKE?"
Duane threw the man he'd been holding by the shoulders to the ground and thrust a thick arm towards Blake's face, which wore a gentle smile.
To Duane's shock, his strike was deflected at the last second, and his hand found nothing but thin air.
He jerked his head around to see who was responsible, and when he saw the young girl standing next to him, his mouth twitched before screaming, "STAY OUT OF THIS, BITCH."
He grabbed her by the shoulder, intending to casually shove her aside, but his face locked up and his veins bulged when she flipped his arm off just as casually.
The crowd murmured in surprise, and a few voices of disbelief could be heard among the commotion.
"How'd she do that?"
"He was being gentle, but still…"
Duane heard them, and something inside him snapped. He threw his full weight at Eve.
She slipped beneath his groping arms, and, in one swift motion, simultaneously swung a kick at his weight-bearing leg while grabbing his collar from behind.
Duane spun like a pinwheel, slamming hard onto his back.
He gasped for air and tried to roll over, but Eve drove her heel straight down into his solar plexus so hard that it looked as if she intended to pierce through his entire torso.
The enormous man choked on nothing and curled up in the dirt
After a few seconds of jerking his head around awkwardly, he fertilized the soil with vomit.
"So you see, everyone," Blake announced to the crowd. "This is the power of an element of strength."
Blake tossed the element to the dusty earth in front of Duane and picked up the sling.
"It looks like you'll be needing that strength after all," he said to the helpless heap of a man.
The crowd, which had been stunned silent up to that point, erupted into a hissing mass.
"No way."
"But no one can beat Duane…"
"The elements can do that?"
Of course, although Blake had made it seem that way, Eve had never consumed an element of strength. There were no tricks–she'd simply thrown a man to the ground.
The rebels parted in fright, forming a narrow path through the crowd as Blake led his squad away with their prize. Every eye in the area followed the five of them while they made their way towards the forest.
"There are six magazines here, and each one holds 20 rounds," Blake said to their bearded acquaintance. "That makes 120 in total. It looks like your clips hold 16 rounds, sir, and since we'll be giving you this sling and the magazines on it in addition to the bullets, I think it'd be fair to ask you for 320 rounds in exchange."
"320 instead of 240, huh?" the man remarked, mulling it over. "Fine, since you did such a good job."
"Great, thank you."
They quickly made their trade, and he loaded all 20 clips into their new, beat-up backpack. He waved farewell to the man, who thanked them with a satisfied grin before turning back towards the lake.
With a sigh of relief, Blake said, "That turned out pretty well. I'm glad we didn't stir anything up."
"Actually," Nikki said softly, "I think we did."
"..."
The sounds of countless running footsteps could be heard behind them.
"It's too late to run," Blake decided. "Let's try to work this out."
Several dozen rebels came into view, and each and every one of them had a gun pointed at the squad.
Blake turned around slowly.
"I guess the 'no guns' rule only extends so far," he muttered to himself.
One of the rebels stepped forward and yelled, "Don't think you can just walk away! That wasn't a fair negotiation–you disrespected Duane!"
"Are you sure you want to oppose us?" Blake asked ominously. "You know, the element of strength is just the beginning. If you fire a gun against us, it's no exaggeration to say that we could kill you instantly."
The crowd murmured uneasily. Someone yelled, "He's lying! That's impossible!"
Blake wasn't entirely lying, but his back was indeed against a wall. If this many people fired at once, it would be difficult to keep all four of them alive.
"It isn't a lie," Blake assured them. "You were amazed to see a little girl take down your hero, weren't you? But that was nothing. Do you know there's an element that can reflect a bullet back at the person who shot it?"
Sure enough, the murmurs started again, and the rebels' faces were riddled with fear.
Blake smiled at their reactions.
"Don't worry, I don't blame you for being angry at us, but I think we can all agree that the negotiation was fair. Didn't Duane say that he would consider the deal if we were able to prove the power of the element? Was what you saw not sufficient proof? I'm sure Duane would now agree that the element is far more valuable than the sling."
The rebels looked around at each other uneasily, trying to process what this strange man was saying.
As the squad turned, retreating into the trees, a few rebels raised their weapons, but Blake's words echoed inside their minds.
"Do you know there's an element that can reflect a bullet back at the person who shot it?"
Those who'd aimed their guns took a faltering step backwards.
It wasn't worth it.
None of them were going to take that risk, and they all agreed: the element was more valuable than the sling.
In the end, the bewildered collection of rebels did nothing but watch as the backs of those four mysterious people faded away into the forest.