Chapter 39: The Explosive Encounter in the Heart of Healdsburg
The Saturday afternoon sun, was beginning to lose its strength, but heat still emanated from the asphalt and the shop walls in Healdsburg's bustling, though somewhat calmer on Saturdays, shopping district. Roberto, Joey's father, strode angrily towards the craft shop owned by his wife, Clara.
The building manager's call about an "armored woman scaring shopkeepers" was just one more item on the growing list of bizarre occurrences plaguing his city and disturbing his peace.
"Just what I needed," he grumbled to himself, his forehead creased into its customary frown.
As he approached the small gallery where Clara's shop was located, Roberto noticed an unusual crowd of onlookers at the entrance to one of the corridors.
Some shopkeepers gestured nervously, and the sound of a female voice, loud and imperious, speaking in an unknown language, cut through the hubbub. And then he saw her.
Erza Scarlet, imposing in her Heart Kreuz armor that glinted metallically even in the corridor's more diffuse light, stood before a visibly terrified electronics salesman.
Her posture was rigid, her hand resting on her sword hilt, and her brown eyes flashed with a mixture of impatience and frustration. "I repeat," Erza said, her voice laden with an authority that brooked no argument, "has anyone seen a woman with red hair? Or another with long white hair? Perhaps a young woman with elfin features?"
Her impatience... was palpable.
The salesman merely babbled excuses in English, shrinking with her every word.
Roberto felt his blood boil. This woman, whoever she was, was causing a disturbance and, worse, seemed to be threatening people. His short fuse, already at its limit from the morning's events at the substation, finally snapped.
"What's all this nonsense here?" he boomed, pushing his way through the onlookers and stopping directly in front of Erza, his face red with indignation.
Erza turned abruptly, surprised by the intervention. She faced Roberto, a middle-aged man with an angry expression, clearly a local.
"Sir," she began, trying to maintain a shred of formality, despite her "social awkwardness." "I am merely seeking information. I do not wish to cause trouble, but I need to find..."
"Information?" Roberto interrupted her, his voice laden with sarcasm. "Terrorizing people is your way of asking for information? Who do you think you are, walking around dressed like that, as if it's carnival out of season?"
He looked at her armor with disdain. "This is a family town, not a stage for your... your weirdness!"
The mention of "weirdness" and Roberto's disdainful tone struck a nerve in Erza. Her expression hardened.
"My attire is appropriate for a mage of Fairy Tail," she declared, wounded pride in her voice. "And my search is urgent and concerns the safety of my comrades!"
"Fairy... what? Mage?" Roberto laughed scornfully. "Oh, give me a break! Another lunatic! As if what fell from the sky and the substation vandals weren't enough, now we have a drum majorette with delusions of grandeur!"
The word "lunatic" and the way he disparaged her guild were the last straw for Erza. Her eyes glinted dangerously.
"You have no right to insult Fairy Tail," she said, her voice low and threatening. "And if you cannot help me, then get out of my way."
"Get out of your way?" Roberto stepped forward, his chest puffed out, completely oblivious to the danger his attitude posed.
"This is my city! You're the one causing trouble! Either you start speaking our language and explain yourself properly, or I'll call the police myself to deal with you!"
The standoff was total. A stubborn, irritable local man confronting an equally stubborn warrior from another world with an inflamed sense of justice.
The crowd of onlookers retreated a little further, sensing the tension in the air.
Meanwhile, in the tranquility of Himeko's probe, the conversation about the "displaced" continued. Joey, feeling a bit safer in the controlled environment, had shared more details about the fear Kael had inspired.
"He... he didn't say anything," Joey explained, his voice still trembling as he remembered the encounter in the alley. "But the way he looked... it felt like he could see right through me. And Lyra felt it too."
Lyra, who understood the name "Kael" and the emotion in Joey's voice, shivered and nodded, confirming her fear.
"A silent and intimidating observer," Himeko pondered, logging the data on her tablet. "That fits the profile of certain interdimensional agents tasked with monitoring or containing anomalies. We need to locate him and understand his affiliations."
Mirajane placed a gentle hand on Lyra's shoulder. "Don't worry, dear. We'll do our best to ensure everyone is safe."
Her eyes, however, carried a seriousness that showed she understood the potential danger Kael represented. She, who had faced demons and existential threats, knew that true strength often hid beneath a discreet appearance.
Back in the shopping center, the situation between Roberto and Erza was about to explode. Roberto, in his fury, took another step forward and tried to grab Erza's arm, perhaps intending to "take her to the police station by force."
It was a grave mistake.
Erza's warrior instinct, honed by countless battles, reacted before she could think. With a fluid, swift movement, she dodged Roberto's grab and, using the side of her hand, delivered a precise blow to a pressure point on his shoulder.
It wasn't a full-force attack – she didn't want to seriously injure him, only neutralize what she perceived as an assault.
Roberto let out a grunt of pain and surprise, stumbling backward, his arm numb.
He looked at Erza with a new expression: disdain had been replaced by genuine shock and a twinge of fear. This woman wasn't just an eccentric; she was dangerous.
"I warned you not to interfere," Erza said, her voice as cold as steel, her eyes fixed on Roberto.
Her "rigidity and discipline" and her "common reaction style of imposing order" were on full display. The crowd held its breath.
Kael, who had shifted one of his microsensors to monitor the commotion in the shopping center after detecting Erza's energy signature there, registered the confrontation.
"Interesting," he murmured to himself, under his hood. "The scarlet warrior has little tolerance for local bureaucracy.
And the human... relative of young Joey, if my facial recognition readings are correct. This complicates matters."
Pip, from her hideout in the industrial zone, watched the sky darken. Night was approaching, and with it, her chance to reach the dimensional nexus.
She felt the energy fluctuations in the city, including the sharp spike caused by Erza's brief confrontation, and knew she needed to be even more careful.
In the probe, Himeko, Mirajane, Joey, and Lyra were oblivious to the drama unfolding miles away. But the universe, or whatever was behind these strange arrivals in Healdsburg, seemed to be weaving the threads of their destinies in an increasingly intricate and dangerous manner.
Joey's dream of a world without evil seemed more distant than ever, but the small, fragile light of hope he had found in his connection with Lyra and in the presence of these two women from other worlds still flickered in the growing darkness.
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