Choose Your Battle Wisely

"Take off the gasmask," The Major requests and continues to threaten me with her piece, and I believe that is probably a good thing. She resorts to her handgun instead of her flame power since she is likely does not want to injure me… much.

The same cannot be said in reverse, as no one threatens me for whatever reason. Not with the lifetime of shit that I have been through. Of course, I might be lenience with her, as she is very stressed. Then again, everyone is, so that is not really an excuse.

"I refuse your request," I response calmly and flatly.

"It is not a request, Merchant. I will not ask you again," the Major corrects and shots the ground right next to my feet, and she probably expects me to be startled as a result. Unfortunately for her, it is not that easy to startle me. Surprises me, maybe. But to startle me, well, she has to do better.

I notice that none of the men comes running after the gunshot, so I can only assume she has prepared this in advance. If that is the case, I believe some of them are ready to take me down at her command.

That is so like her, but again, she will have to do better to actually take me down. Or get anything good out of me.

"Are you sure, Lynda?" I question, using her real name instead of her rank. I rarely call her by her name in another timeline, as she had always preferred to be known by her rank even after she left the army behind. Of course, I had called her by her name at the moment of her death, and she regretted quite a lot then.

"Think about it very carefully," I warn her in an ominous tone of voice. "I don't take threats to me and my person lightly, especially from someone like you, who I have an ongoing agreement with. While it is unwise to kill you, as that will makes me some powerful enemies, but if my principle is at stake, then there will be no debate."

The Major hesitates a little, but her resolves the same. She cannot have me around if she cannot trust me, and if she cannot trust me, then she must have something over me. "Who do you think I am?"

"A little girl who cannot outlive the shadow of her brother no matter how hard she tries," I reveal, and it shaken her to her core. "Didn't you father ever taught you never fight a battle that you cannot hope to win?"

In an instant, the ground beneath us disappears and we immediately descend several meters. Since I am ready for it, I manage to recover faster than the Major. I jump forwards, reaching out my hands to touch the ground beneath her.

She hastily pointed the gun at me, but the ground beneath her feet vanishes, sending her deeper into the earth. Much deeper than previously when I sent a chunk of the ground into my Inventory. Unlike the vault door with complex internal parts, tracing out a solid block of concrete and earth is very easy.

For the first time since meeting her again, I heard her scream. She must have broken something after the fall. Since her men are rushing towards her to render aid, I quickly block the opening.

Without any tools, they will have a hard time reaching me and the Major.

Since I now have the Trade Network available, I can escape easily through the network. For the Major, however, it is not as easy. "Since it is just two of us now, let's have a talk like you wanted."