Chameleon's Game [2]: Adam vs Chameleon

I calmly stepped into the warehouse to catch myself a lizard. I took note of the sensor and pinpointed his location with my curse.

He seemed to be waiting for an opening. He wanted me to trigger a trap, then use the opening that provides to attack me— And I did exactly that.

I stepped into a tripwire which triggered barrels to fall from above then skillfully jumped out of the way. Lizard boy charged in from the other side with his knife but I parried it and countered with a roundhouse to his face.

"W-Why.....are you here?"

"Isn't it obvious lizard boy? I'm here to kick your ass"

He assumed a fighting stance with his blade and came at me. I kept using my mind reading to anticipate his moves and counter systematically while dodging the traps that were going off one by one—Arrows, logs, pitfalls, even bear traps. I had to dodge them all while also fighting the guy.

Maybe it's because he was injured in his fight with the old man but I'm sure.... I can take him. Not just that, I can win!

"Your killing spree ends here, lizard boy"

I said while wearing him down and slowly overpowering him. Things were going better than I hoped— well, at least until karma came back to bite me.

All of a sudden, my stomach started to turn.... Most likely as a result of crappy police coffee I drank a couple of hours back.

Seriously?! Is it because I said you tasted like shit with engine oil mixed in or insulted the makers of the coffee beans that you decided to bite when my life was on the line.

Damn you hard-boiled coffee. If I die today, it's on you!

Due to my stomach upset, my movements started to slow down and I wasn't able to dodge all the attacks I anticipated. It started with me parrying all but one strike, then two, then three and then a couple more. The traps also made things more difficult as I started getting caught in a few of them.

The tables turned as quickly as my first kick.... I was now at a disadvantage with a couple cuts on my face and bruises all over. Even so, I kept fighting, kept parrying, kept countering. However—

Lizard boy landed a solid stab in my abdomen....well, my stab proof vest courtesy of Liz. I didn't miss that opportunity landed a strike on his neck... but he didn't budge. I'd lost a lot of power behind my strikes due to these injuries and he was in the zone, determined to kill the pain in the ass that battered him to such extent.

He charged forward with the knife still stuck inside me, using his momentum to penetrate the stab proof vest. I kept hitting him on the neck with my hands repeatedly but he didn't let go.

Eventually, the knife went through the vest and straight into my abdomen, then I fell into a pitfall filled with metal pipes and nails. A couple of ribs were cracked and nails penetrating my skin.

He came over to look inside the pitfall and I didn't miss my opportunity. I kicked my feet of the wall, propelling myself up to land a direct hit under his chin, then followed it up with a dropkick to his face. He was pushed back and I fell in front of the pitfall.

"Y-You bastard!"

He growled with a face full of rage. I was well aware I couldn't capture him in my condition.

On to plan B

"I suggest.... *pant pant— we end it here"

"Huh?!"

"Before I walked in, I mailed for backup. They'll be here any minute now and you'll have nowhere to run"

"*Scoff— You don't value the hostages? If a group walks in here, it's over for the—"

"—NO, THAT'S WRONG"

Lizard boy was shocked by my response. I continued with my reasoning.

"The rules say only one person can inspect. However, it didn't say anything about groups not being allowed once inspections are done"

"Eek"

"The sensor deactivates when one person enters but detonates when 2 or more do. If I had to guess how it works, there's probably a delay timer of about 5-7 minutes. Once the first person enters, the timer starts. Then, if no one else enters within the time period, it goes off, but if someone does, it detonates. Am I wrong?"

"You...."

"We've been fighting for almost 15 minutes now so the sensor is definitely off and backup can enter safely. You can try to kill me but we both know I won't go down without a fight. By the time I'm dead, you'll be surrounded with nowhere left to run"

" Y-You're bluffing! Do you expect me to believe you came here with every intention of betting your lif—"

"—OFCOURSE I'M BETTING MY LIFE! Because of you, Liz is in so much pain. If my life is what it takes to stop you, I'll gladly give it! That said, I did promise her that I won't die so I'm giving you this choice"

"...."

"Kill me and get caught or walk away right now, the choice is yours"

"*Sigh— You crazy bastard. This isn't over!"

He said as he turned round to leave, his silhouete slowly getting out of sight.

Well, I'm glad my bluff worked cause I lied about one thing. If he attacked me, I would've dropped right then and there. I used up all my energy for those last two strikes to give him the illusion that I could still go on for a while. Truth is, it's taking all I have just to stand

My vision.....is getting blurry. The world is spinning. I guess this is it for me

*Plop

I collapsed on the floor right there.

***********

***************

My eyes opened and I saw something.... different from the warehouse I just was.

"Am I in hell?"

"Ofcourse not! You're at the precinct."

I turned to see Mr Enthusiasm sitting beside me. I sat up to assess my situation. I was on a couch at the precinct and my wounds had been treated.

"You treated my wounds, Enthusiasm?"

"Huh? The name's Chris.... And no, the boss lady did"

So Liz was the one who treated me. Going off of enthusiasm's thoughts, they found me collapsed at the warehouse and rushed me here. Liz performed first aid on the way then treated me properly at the precinct. It was the first time the other officers saw emotion on her face.

"By the way, why were you at the warehouse? Wasn't that the boss lady's spot"

"Haha— Well the thing is, she refused to go and chose the factory instead. Apparently, she didn't want to go where a 'perv' like me suggested, can you believe the rudeness of that girl?! Still though.... I'm glad I was the one who ended up going to the warehouse. Thanks to that, Liz wasn't hurt"

Chris nodded in agreement.

"So, how long have the two of you been dating?"

"Huh? Are you making fun of me? You calling me a pedophile, is that it?"

He noticed the intense fury on my face and quickly apologized

"No-No-No... I just meant... With the way you too are so close and..."

"I'm simply her assistant and nothing more. Also, she doesn't see me that way either. Speaking of, where is that bratty Holmes?"

"Oh, she said there was something she had to investigate and went on by herself"

"What?!"

She couldn't be trying to fight him alone, could she? I got up and grabbed my phone.

"I'm going to call her"

"Uhm, while you're at it.... could you ask her about this."

He held up a black envelope

"We found it at the warehouse, however, the boss lady took off without even opening it"

I took a look at it then told him I'll ask her during my call. I rushed to dial her number but there was no answer.

I tried checking the tracking app—Liz should still have two tracers with her so I might be able to pinpoint her location..... However, I wasn't that lucky, only the tracers she gave me were connected to my app.

I tried calling again...beep, beep, beep for a couple seconds which felt like an eternity, then an answer

"DON'T DO ANYTHING RECKLESS, YOU HEAR ME?! I'M STILL ALIVE!"

"The first thing you do after waking up is scream? What a perv"

"Where are you?!"

"Just checking out a minor lead, although I'm not sure how much it'll help us. Relax, I'm not going to challenge the chameleon by myself. I promised you I'll be logical, didn't I?"

"I guess you did. I'm sorry for jumping the gun"

"Treat me to a jumbo sized mint chocolate sunday and we're square. By the way, I left four MacRonald's beefburgers for you. Did you see them?"

"Huh?"

"You've been buying stuff for me all day but you've not actually eaten anything yourself"

Now that she mentions it..... I skipped breakfast to stakeout her house early and I've been with her all day. The only thing that entered my body was that coffee from hell.

"Thanks for that. I'll be sure to eat my fill"

We spent five minutes on pointless chatter

"Well, I'll see you later perv—"

"Oh, one more thing."

I said my piece before hanging up. I then fiddled around with my phone a bit before rejoining the crew.

"So, what'd she say?"

Detective River asked as I walked into the room. All our other officers were here as well, except—

"Where's Sean?"

"He seemed to have noticed something so he went on to investigate"

"I see.... Well, we're moving out. The next location is Happy Place, a karaoke joint downtown."

Everyone heard loud and clear and were gearing up to leave.

"One more thing.... We're taking William Munroe's brother with us"

"Huh?"

Chris looked confused. Det. River stepped in to explain.

"Last time we had the culprit's guarantee he wouldn't go after our suspect but there's no such promise this time. Remember, he is notorious for being a master of disguise. He could sneak into the station and kill our suspect while we're out"

"Can't we just assign guards to him"

"There are a myriad of things that could go wrong and we won't be here to supervise. Besides, five years ago, one of the victims was killed while in police custody"

He sure knows his stuff. I expect nothing less from the leader of the task force dedicated to catching lizard boy five years ago.

I ate my burgers before heading to the scene.

We got to the karaoke joint and inspected the rooms. We soon arrived at one with a sight similar to one we've seen earlier—A man in his late thirties nailed to the wall and a single stab wound on the throat turned counterclockwise.

"Aahhhh.... I-Is that..... What's going to happen to me?! I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die"

"Quit whining. How can you say that after killing your own brother?"

Detective River was also shocked but for another reason

"T-This is..."

"You know him, detective?"

"Yes, his name is Edward Greene. He was also a member of the task force five years ago. Has been on sick leave for about 2 weeks now, though"

"I see...."

I took a photo of the scene and sent it to Liz. Her response was unexpectedly short.

I see...

After inspecting the scene, we realized there was no black envelope this time. We left another set of people in charge of working the crime scene and headed back to the precinct to re-strategize.

At least, that was the plan. Something rather.... peculiar happened after we left the karaoke joint.

Hundreds of people all dressed in weird cloaks spawned from all directions. We were instantly overrun by the crowd gathering at that spot.

"W-What's going on?! There's no parade scheduled for today"

Chris tried making sense of the situation while struggling to get through the crowd. River caught on to what was going on far quicker.

"Could this.... Have been planned by the chameleon?! Where's the suspect?!"

We all turned to look for the suspect but quickly realized that he was nowhere to be seen. Our guy had been captured by lizard boy.

The officers apprehended a decent number of cloak wearers for questioning.

"Turns out 'someone' arranged the gathering among the people here. They paid them all cash in advance and promised they'll get the rest after the job..... Damn it, he got us!"

Detective River slammed his fist on the ground in frustration. Chris then asked a question that was bothering him about the situation.

"But... How did he get enough money to bribe this many people. Even if they each receive pittances, there's still a lot of them"

"Don't forget our first victim today. She was a scam artist and discovered without any of her belongings. He probably used her money to fund this"

"So what do we do now?"

"We have no choice but to search around. They couldn't have gone far yet so we should be able to catch him if we're lucky"

At that moment, I raised my objection.

"No, don't"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm saying we should let him escape"

"HUH?!"

The officers around me all exclaimed in unison, each one wondering if I'd given up on the case or I've lost my mind.

"Relax, I'm not giving up. If there's one thing I can say with certainty, it's that lizard boy will be behind bars before the day is over"

I couldn't help but let out a little smirk considering just how well things are unfolding.

"It's all going according to plan"