Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 182. First batch

"CLOSE THE PORTAL, NOW!" I yelled at Henrietta while jumping back up and pulling her with me.

This time she didn’t need to be asked twice. Even without being fed blood, she quickly motioned in the air, and only when I felt the pressure in the air change did I dare to continue breathing.

Henrietta crouched down either from weakness or shock, and I finally heard more than just my rapid heartbeat again, like Chelsea’s whimpering.

"What... what..." She didn’t say more.

Kenny was right; his dream was probably a premonition. This thing was after us—after him. Given that Kenny and the giant had the same eye color, I had a suspicion I would rather not have.

Because if this thing was really Kenny’s counterpart, then he would have to personally take it down to avoid suffering side effects— I was sure a link between them had already been established. But it would also mean that there are other giants, and then this whole situation would turn even trickier.

Let’s hope the giant never manages to come to this world, or worse, to our own.

"You have to bring us back to our world. You must, Henrietta."

"I can’t."

I was so done with her games. Taking a step toward her, I grabbed her hair and pulled her up. While holding her firmly, I came closer.

"I didn’t ask if you could. I absolutely know that you are able to do it."

From a blank and annoyed look, she started to look amused, even sniggering at me.

"I can’t."

"Really? Do I have to refute each and every one of your lies before you start telling the truth?"

She again turned to a bored expression.

"Good. Be my guest. The way you found our parents, you did it with your ability."

She raised her hands nonchalantly.

"Because I had help from my counterpart."

I smiled, contemplating killing her and finding one of her counterparts to do the job in her stead. Meanwhile, I even felt ashamed of being related to her.

"Wrong. With her help, you ended up in something like a netherworld. Only your wish to find your parents brought you to them."

"Ah. Your master told you." Pressing her lips together, she soon looked expressionlessly at me.

She was damn right; Kenny had told me everything he saw when he had read her past.

"Nobody will take your parents away, what is stopping you from just bringing us back?" I tightened my grip on her, hoping to give her at least a little bit of pain.

She giggled while meeting my gaze.

"Do you think I’m dumb? If we go back, I will get locked up and experimented on. Your master won’t let me run around freely either."

Absolutely right. Kenny won’t let her stay as a free woman, and I won’t either. It’s just a pity that she chose this moment to become smart.

"Yet you want your parents inside a laboratory in this world?" I scoffed.

She shrugged again.

"Aren’t we going to free them?"

I was so furious that I couldn’t leave her fully unharmed. I wrapped the hand with which I held her hair with the shadow, and soon we smelled something similar to burned hair. The excessively long hair that she had put up was now separated from her head, and I flung it away before stepping back from her disgusting presence.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!" She screamed at me while feeling for the rest of her now partly chin-long hair.

"Bring us back. Bring back every single person who belongs to our world. Then stay here and rot. How about that? I’ll give you enough blood to do so, and this way you’ll get rid of us as well. Let’s never see each other again."

She continued to stroke her hair and looked at the ground for a moment before finally nodding.

"Good. And then, let’s really never see each other again."

I snorted and motioned for Chelsea, who had been observing us silently, to leave the forest. Henrietta followed us, and when we reached the street, I called for a taxi. It was late in the evening, probably because of the time difference, and I had a few missed calls.

"Give me blood now." Henrietta dared to demand, gasping for breath and clearly weakened.

"Wait until we reach the center." Every second she suffers is a good second.

The taxi arrived, and we all took a seat inside while I provided the driver with the address of The Commander’s home.

Upon arrival, I stepped out and got Kenny’s grandma, luckily without meeting Maxi or the kids, before asking the driver to take us four to the center.

When we arrived, I waited until the taxi was gone before slashing my arm again and feeding Henrietta somewhere beside the center where no one was present.

"What is going on here?" Mrs. Howard asked.

"We will let the people here go home first, then somehow get Kenny, and finally retrieve the rest from the laboratory before we leave," I explained to her.

"Then why am I here?" She questioned grumpily.

"Kenny says to get you out with the first batch."

"No." Holding her walking stick, she resembled an immovable mountain.

I looked at her, with my sister drinking my blood like a goddamn piranha, and felt utterly helpless.

There was no way to win against either of the two Howards.

"Then please guard the staff."

She nodded, and we didn’t waste any more time.

I went inside first and approached the woman on the front desk.

"We need to search the building; please get all the staff here." I pulled out the commander’s ID I had found in the office at home and showed it, although she should already know who I was. She didn’t even stop to look at the two girls and the old woman accompanying me, who looked nothing like an official search team.

Instead, she appeared panicky and made an announcement over the speaker in the building, saying everyone was needed in the lobby.

Eventually, twenty people gathered, along with a few from The Four Hundred who observed our actions and recognized us.

"Where is a room where the staff can wait? Bring us there." I instructed. The woman led us to the adjoining waiting room.

"Who has a phone on them?" I asked. I told them to leave their phones outside before instructing everyone to enter and then demanding the key.

When they were inside, I told them to stay there. After closing the door and locking it, I pressed my finger, wrapped in shadow, against the lock for just a moment in the hope of corroding it enough to prevent them from getting outside, even if someone else had another key. This time, the metal did not corrode; it melted. I still have no idea what this power exactly was; I would have to find out more another time.

Mrs. Howard stood in front of the door with her walking stick, like a very capable watchdog. I asked Henrietta to open the portal home before speaking to the people near us.

"We will bring you back to our world now. Get everyone!" A few hurried to the corridors to gather the others, while some stayed and watched what Henrietta was doing.

Well-fed, she soon had the portal open. I walked in first because I knew she wouldn’t close it on me.

I found myself inside another forest. Although I didn’t know exactly where it was, and although I was unable to explain why, I just knew it was our world. Maybe it was the smell of the air or the feeling of belonging; it was clear. After a few steps, I even saw skyscrapers—not as many as in this world, but signs that let me recognize our city. Perfect.

I turned around again and entered the portal back. The hall was now full of people, and the staff was still silent.

"Everyone, this is the way HOME!" I pointed at it, and this time they walked much more orderly, with smiles and cheers, and most of them thanked me.

I started to count the people crossing, and when there were over three hundred who had passed, I found about fifty who stopped and came to me. They told me about family members who had been brought to the hospital. Only after I promised to get everyone back, saying I would stay here myself to get the rest, did they cross. In the end, the four hundred had been reduced to the people left inside the laboratory, which should be around fifty to eighty.

Chelsea hesitated for a long time, but I forced her to leave, which she did in the end.

Henrietta closed the portal, and she, Mrs. Howard, and I went to leave the building.

Yet when we stepped out, we were met with the rifles of about a hundred soldiers, Mark also among them.

So, they wanted to give us a ride to the laboratory?

How about Kenny? Will I meet him there? Are my chances higher with fleeing now and breaking into the prison to get him out there or with possibly being brought to the laboratory and hoping he will come there as well and that both of our powers combined are enough to overwhelm them?

Well, in any case, I can’t leave his grandma here, and I can’t guarantee that she won’t be injured if we make a run for it.

"Mrs. Howard, just fake dementia when you get questioned."

"I am not that old..."

".....anymore." She finished, clearly offended.

The first person shot, and I recognized the gun because I had been shot down with it multiple times already. It was the one that would knock you out.

Let’s just see how we proceed after arriving.