Ping Pong Sniping

Dodging the bullet, I immediately located where it came from and rushed over there, not wasting any second.

Unsurprisingly, the place was empty, just like the other day at the park. However, this time I managed to find some traces, that is wet footprints on the concrete ground.

I sensed something from behind and moved to the side, avoiding another bullet.

I glanced in the direction the second bullet came from. The spot it must have been shot from was a few blocks away.

Did the sniper move? But how?

The only possibility to move there in such a short time was to jump through the rooftops. Since it was a rainy night, the visibility was greatly reduced, but that shouldn't be enough to escape my sight. I still should have noticed at least some movement on my way here. But there was nothing.

Which meant they were either able to teleport, or turn invisible.

Both options seemed unlikely to me. I attempted to learn those skills multiple times, as they seemed very useful, but all of my efforts turned out with absolutely no results. Based on what I observed last time I was attacked, my assailant's ability to break the reality laws was nowhere as good as mine. I found it hard to believe that someone weaker than me, who couldn't even hit me when I was off-guard, would be able to accomplish what I haven't.

There was no point trying to figure it out on my own though. Regardless of how they managed to pull it off, as long as I caught them, I would get the answers to all of my questions.

Seeing another bullet coming straight at me, I jumped back onto the rooftops before it even reached my location. I swiftly made it to the second sniping spot.

However, I was too late. Even though it didn't even take me 5 seconds to get there, the sniper was already gone.

Once again, the only thing I could see was the wet footprints on the ground. The trail led from further inside to the railing, where the sniper must have shot from. There was no indication of how they left the place though.

I avoided another bullet coming at me. It was shot from exactly the same spot as the first one.

I clicked my tongue. Just what kind of game was that?

Still, I ran over there in the end. There were things I needed to confirm before I could think of a good strategy to deal with the situation.

And yet again, once I reached the other spot, the sniper has already disappeared. But it didn't matter. That's not what I was aiming for right now.

I examined the footprints on the ground. Just as with the other location, there was only a single trail leading from the inside to the edge. Nothing else, as if the person vanished into thin air. Moreover, as far as I could tell, there have been no new footprints since the last time I've been here.

Another bullet came at me from the second location.

So annoying. It's like they were playing ping pong, constantly sending me from one spot to the other, back and forth.

I was not about to be played like that. Based on what I've seen so far, I was able to figure out their method.

First of all, as unbelievable as it was, they must have been teleporting between the two locations. If they were to move around using invisibility, not only there would be more footprints on the ground, but the timing of the shots would be different as well. They would need to jump through the rooftops and set up the gun again, after all.

Second, although they were able to teleport, their ability was heavily restricted. They could only teleport between two spots. Otherwise, they would have set up a few more sniping locations. If they could randomly move between several different spots, that would make things much more difficult for me. Not knowing where they might appear next, I wouldn't even be able to retaliate. If they were smart enough to think of this ping pong strategy, it was safe to assume they'd consider such an option as well.

Of course that didn't exclude the possibility of them being invisible. Since I already knew they had an ability I don't possess, other things were not out of the question either. However, I knew their exact sniping spot from the marks on the ground. As long as they weren't invincible, I would be able to catch them, even if I could not see them.

The shots were still coming at me from the same direction. Seems they would teleport only after seeing me leave this location.

Well, I already had an idea what to do. Although I wasn't certain it would work… It was worth a try.

I waited for another bullet to come, and jumped onto the rooftop of the nearby building. I ran few steps in the direction of the second sniping spot…

And then I quickly turned around, going back to where I just was.

And it worked.

He was there, completely visible, exactly where I assumed. His eyes widened upon seeing me jump over the ledge. He hasn't expected that.

Did he take me for an idiot that would just blindly allow someone to toss him around like that?

Well, whatever. To be fair, I did enjoy the situation quite a bit. It's been a while since anyone or anything were able to pose such a challenge to me. The tiny sense of danger gave me an adrenaline rush, making me so excited.

I chuckled as I leaped onto him, grabbing him by the throat and pinning him to the ground. I snatched the riffle from his hands and threw it to the side. I didn't need it. I wanted him alive. And even if I wanted to kill him, I had plenty of other methods to do so.

"Hi there. Let's have a little chat, shall we?"