Isseria asked too many questions about the 22nd floor and the shopkeeper released the giant carnivorous plant which poisoned her and swallowed her whole.
----
Isaac looked at the chomper. It was back in the cage, larger than normal, but to an untrained eye, the chomper appeared to be restful. It fact, it would spend the next twenty-four hours swallowing its prey. The neuro-poison had knocked out that woman cold.
4SS didn't hire receptionists, and they certainly didn't have a lot of business. They had one customer, and only one. Isaac was well acquainted with the security guards on the 22nd floor. He had gone up there a couple times, and even though they were friendly, the guards there were never at ease. She was after the Staff of Oblivion, but she was in way over her head, having shown no signs of any fighting ability. She was in way over her head if she wished to take on the staff.
Isaac had no desire to see a heist occurring in the skyscraper. That would draw way too much media eyes and attention down upon the place, and surely someone else would think something was out of place in his shop. Protection money can only protect you when you live in the shadows. The gangsters that demanded his money every month would not help out if the media was onto the place.
He would call the guards later, inform them that the heat was on. The lady was just a scout, friendly, talkative, and good at getting information out of people, most likely. He picked up the Venus fly trap and placed it back on the shelf.
"So predictable", he said. He was always recommending the more unorthodox varieties of predator plants, but few ever took him up on the offer. Just the more refined customers, the ones who really allowed him to keep up rent in such a prime location. Hiding in plain sight.
When questioned about the giant chomper, he told authorities that it was animatronic, and just for fun and ambience for the shop. Protection money meant that story was official, but still there was an occasional customer who got scared by the chomper and went to city hall. Luckily, Chicago Police were owned by the gangs, and so they stayed away from the place, and never asked to see the back room.
The door chime rang. Isaac looked at this new customer uneasily. Would they send another so soon. He would be wary. He approached the customer. “Hello, welcome to Plants from Venus.”
The customer was about six foot two and wearing a Bears sweatshirt. “Hi, I ordered two dozen sundew last week, but you were out and promised to order them? Are they in?”
“Of course,” Isaac said. He had set aside the order, and went in to the backroom. A second chomper was growing back there, in a glass isolation chamber, with grow lights. There was a counter with a variety of other plants. The order was also on the counter. He picked up the crate of plants and walked out into the main store area, placing them on the counter.
Ringing up the order, he said, “84.65”. The man gave him a Visa. Isaac preferred cash, but he made no complaint and processed the order.
“These are some of the best plants around, and they can keep an area free of the smaller bugs and insects as well.”
“That's what I was hoping--” the man started to say.
The muffled sound of three gun shots rang out. It sounded like they were coming from a half block away.
“Quick, in the back room,” Isaac shouted to the customer. The customer complied, and Isaac opened the backroom door for him and then closed it. Shootings in this part of town were rare, and usually a sign of horrifying gang battles. He jogged towards the door, looking outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of the shooter.
Then he heard another gun shot. This one was louder, and it terrified him. The gun shots were coming from INSIDE the chomper. That was impossible neurologically. Chomper neuro-poison was guaranteed to knock out any human—unless they had magic. Someone sent for the Oblivion Staff was likely to have magic. But he had sensed no sign of any magical talent in her.
Another shot rang out, and the chomper opened its mouth involuntarily. The attacker was doused with dissolving acids and slime, but the two pistols she was now wielding were completely clean. She dove out of the plant and landed in a roll, then shot Isaac twice, before he could even react.
The shots thudded against his vine armor. It was his personal bulletproof vest, made from a thick threaded patchwork of vines. He summoned it by habit every morning, as he never knew what would happen. He raised up his hands, and the stranger went flying backwards by the force of an enormous wind spell. She slammed into the glass on the far wall, but the glass was strengthened, and withstood the impact. Shaking it off, she aimed her pistols at him again.
But Isaac was ready. He summoned tough vines to constrict her movement. Poisons from the vines knocked her out once again. He walked over, and took the lady's pistols away from her. The vines wrapped around her pistols offered no resistance to him.
He was out several hundred bucks because of the dead chomper. He would get his pound of flesh and find out for sure if she was working for Lucius.
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