The Gardener

Through the foliage I can see a guy carrying what looks and smells like a pizza. He's wearing an obnoxious red hat with the Domino's logo on it, and looks very pissed off. He gazes around the area, searching for, presumably, someone who can pay him. But because of the lush greenery, it's difficult to see anything or anyone at all. I'm here, of course, and so is the gardener lady, but we are hidden by the leaves of the plants near us. He could probably see us on close inspection, but I don't think he gives enough of a shit to do that, really. He puts the pizza down on the ground and leaves, the shining silver doors closing just in time for me to see my own reflection and the lady of whom I now refer to as 'The Gardener'. Both of us look like we were recently hit in the head with the shovel she carries over her shoulder, but the more pressing issue is the orangutan I can see dropping from a tree, down towards the pair of us. Holy fuck is all I have time to think, before being shoved out of the way of the falling mammal by The Gardener. Both of us are sent quite painfully into a scratchy plant of some description, which has like, actual spikes along the edges of its leaves. But it certainly hurts less than being hit by an ape. Now, I don't know a lot about orangutans but this one seems a lot more pissed off than an orangutan should be. Are they territorial? Maybe we're in its territory, and it's defending something. Solution: leave its territory. Problem with solution: only one leg works as it should. Solution to problem to solution: ????

And then it happens. The white tiger and the snake seem to be attacking the orangutan? I can't tell what the heck is going on here, but I can certainly tell you it is badass. This is some action movie shit going down in front of me. Half expecting The Rock to appear from behind a tree and try to stop the animals from fighting or whatever. This is like, unreal. Am I dreaming? I pinch myself, hard, and all that happens is my arm hurts. So maybe I'm not dreaming. While the animals are distracted, The Gardener looks at me and narrows her eyes, raising the shovel in a rather intimidating fashion. Given I'm feeling a little overwhelmed from current circumstances, you can forgive my next action, which is to scream as loud as I can. Unsurprisingly, this gets the attention of everything on this floor, which are all seeming a little tetchy right now and shouldn't be messed with. I can hear bushes and leaves slapping against skin, so I'm going to hope like hell that my tenuous friends are headed to save me. But now that does mean that the animals and The Gardener are all focused directly on me. Me with the broken leg and no weapons. Me that is unarmed and limping. That's me. So. I believe this is not going to go so great. Thankfully, luck is on my side, sort of. And by luck, I mean apes. The orangutan quite rightly decides that The Gardener is a bigger threat than I am, and goes for her first. Luck is not on my side in that The Gardener is absolutely terrifying, and backflips over the clumsy punch swung at her by the great beast. After that, with no pause between the two movements, she swings her shovel towards its head, whacking it quite hard. I'm no doctor, but if it's not dead it's definitely at least unconscious after a blow like that, and I'm proven right by the swaying and toppling of the creature. While my jaw is busy dropping at what I just watched, the tiger and the snake both attack The Gardener. She shoves the handle of her shovel into the tiger's maw, replacing what would have been her arm if she were any slower, and with the other hand she draws a gardening fork from her belt and shoves it across the snake's head, effectively pinning it to the ground without hurting it. This woman is quite possibly the most badass person I have met in my entire life, and I'm a vigilante. That's sure saying something. She dusts her hands off, and again narrows her eyes at me. No need to raise the shovel this time though, I'm definitely very intimidated by her even without it. I'm not sure what she wants from me, or what she's doing here, or how she could deal with three very angry wild animals without so much as a scratch, but for once I choose to wisely keep my mouth shut. She kneels down to the ground and begins planting some seeds withdrawn from a very aesthetic small leather pouch tied to her belt. I know I shouldn't ask, but I very badly want to ask what she's planting and where she got the bag the seeds are in. However I do think that I've pushed my luck a lot farther than I should have, and that this lady definitely would not hesitate to find a way to throw me off this building if I got annoying. Personally, I like myself not in the form of a human pancake, so I will continue to keep my mouth shut and just watch interestedly as she plants whatever she's planting, wearing gardening gloves as expected, but also a mask of some kind? It looks like it's woven from harakeke, the Te reo word for flax. Growing up in NZ, you kinda just have a couple of things that only ever have Te Reo words, despite my only speaking English and flax is one of them. It just feels wrong to say it in English, for some reason. Eventually, the crashing through plant life ceases and the Amours, plus Kara, who seems to be becoming something of a sidekick for them; appear through the greenery with weapons brandished. But they aren't the only people that appear- there's also a very familiar silhouette advancing upon them from behind.