And yet another crossover with @lorichu featuring Juno and Fran, this time with Stanley coming along. I guess you could consider this a continuation of Hijacked Routine
“Hello Juno…” Fran said after having caught her breath. “I didn’t know you could look like that.” She commented, eyes wandering his mundane features. They then wandered to the brown haired more casually dressed person next to him. “How’s the maiden?”
Redness developed on Stanley’s face as Juno turned to him. “How are you doing? Besides your legs and arms I haven’t checked up on you.”
“...Maiden?” Was all he could muster. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know I still don’t know but it makes sense.” Juno said, his answer doing little if anything at all to answer the question. He turned towards her and glanced at the very dead and burnt cashier. “So why exactly did you kill that minimum wage worker?”
“Is she a criminal?” Stanley whispered to him.
“No, she’s Fran.” Juno simply said.
She observed the short interaction, prepared very much for a routine job that would put her life on the line. Not for this again. “Hesperian owns this burger chain, a chunk of their communications runs through here.”
“Cults can own a fast food chain?” Juno asked with a tilted head.
“Hesperian owns a lot more than this fast food chain.” She responded, turning around to head back inside. There was still a job to do, and it was likely that Juno and his maiden would leave. From their reactions, they didn’t know about Red Star burgers and probably stopped by for food. The two could just find somewhere else to eat.
Pulling out her phone, Fran entered the kitchen and began scrolling through the intelligence report she had gotten from an abandoned Cydonian cell. Apparently, a lot of Hesperian services and online traffic were routed through this particular rest stop. This would require equipment, equipment that certainly wouldn’t fit in a fast food kitchen. While checking for additional details, Fran bumped into someone.
She nearly drew her pistol but froze upon hearing a familiar voice. “Oop, sorry.” Juno moved aside to allow her through.
“Where’s the fridge?” Stanley called out from the other side of the kitchen.
“Wha- What are you two still doing here?” Fran asked with confusion and a sliver of annoyance.
“We didn’t get our food, you killed the guy who was going to make it.” Juno stated. “Do you know where the fridge might be?”
“You can’t just magic a burger out of thin air?” She asked.
“I could do that, but Stanley has been wanting me to do stuff the human way. So… That’s off limits.” He said with a sheepish smile. “Besides, this is fun?”
She stared at him before giving an exasperated groan and looking around before pointing at a large steel door. Juno disappeared from her sight completely, though no flinch left Fran. It wasn’t exactly anything new for her. “Found it!” A muffled voice sounded as Stanley made his way over to join him. While the space dragon and its maiden went about preparing their food, she continued on with her mission.
Fran headed to the back door to check if the equipment was stashed outside, but there was only another car and a dumpster waiting at the back. She went back in, thinking that there must’ve been a hidden entrance. Maybe a clue as to where it was kept.
She started at the rear portion of the kitchen, as the other part was currently being used. Judging by the frantic tone of Juno as the sound of pots and pans falling over echoed through the kitchen, Fran surmised it could’ve been going better.
While trying to move one of the tables, she looked up seeing Stanley approach. “Do you need help with that?” He asked, offering a cautious smile.
“I don’t think you’d want to be involved with what I do.” Fran said, managing to move the table an inch.
“Honestly, out of all the things I’ve been involved with because of Juno. This is pretty tame.” He said, moving to sit on the adjacent table.
She paused, looking up at him. This was fairly tame to her too, not only because of how long this fight against Hesperian involved her. But of recent events having come across and having to deal with a dragon. Stanley, as far as she was concerned, was a civilian. Then again, a civilian seemingly in a relationship with a cosmic entity of unknown power.
“Alright.” Fran relented. “Help me with this table.”
Stanley hopped off and crouched down on the opposite end. On a silent countdown, they both moved the steel table. Which only revealed more tiled floor. “So how did you two meet anyway?” She asked, moving on to the next table.
“That’s a fun story.” Stanley said with a small smile. “I was out camping near where I live. I had a few days off but all I really did was sit around and do some errands. I wanted to do something that day so I figured star gazing might be fun.” He moved to the opposite end of the table, gripping the underside as Fran did. “Bought a cheap telescope and just looked up. Didn’t really know what I was doing.”
He took a breath and Fran took that as the cue to start moving. Both of them lifted up, and moved the table back. This revealed yet more floor tile. “At some point, I saw a constellation that kind of looked like an eye.” She stood up, looking around to see potential hiding spots and glossing over the colored flames emanating from Juno’s side of the kitchen. “Turns out, it was his eye.”
Fran paused her thoughts, turning to Stanley. “What do you mean it was his eye?”
“It blinked, and then it was more than an eye, it was a whole face and before I knew it he was right behind me.” A soft chuckle emanated from him. “God he was so smug about it.”
While she did find the story endearing, a question took priority. “So was Juno just really close to the telescope in his… I guess space body. Or was he actually the stars?”
Stanley took a moment, with a thoughtful hum sounding from him. “I actually don’t know. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the actual constellation.”
She stared at him slightly disturbed before continuing. “I assume the rest is history then?”
“For him, a very long one.” Stanley’s statement drew a furrowed brow from her, as it wasn’t exactly what she expected as an answer. Nor was its meaning readily apparent. For now, she decided to leave it alone. “What about a hidden hatch? Like in the movies, under a carpet or something.”
That on the other hand got her looking again. The kitchen didn’t seem to have any mats or coverings that would fit Stanley’s description, though she figured that the walk-in fridge might have what they were looking for. Fran silently walked over to the steel door, with the maiden in tow.
She opened the door and looked down. There was indeed a large black non-slip mat covering most of the ground. Kicking up the edge and shoving it forward revealed the hatch that she was looking for. “These definitely aren’t standard in restaurants.” Pulling up the handle, she had eyes on the staircase leading into a dark hallway. The lights slowly flicked on, illuminating a path forward.
“That’s definitely not ominous.” Stanley said under his breath.
Fran didn’t respond, only descending the stairs. He followed behind, ignoring the shower of colorful flames and sparks emanating from the grill area.
They both slowly went down the hallway, which opened up to a small hub. The open area led to three separate rooms. “So what exactly are you looking for?” He asked.
“Servers, computer screens. Something that looks important.” She replied, taking the left side door first.
Inside was a small armory, with a variety of guns lining the walls. A crate of different types of ammunition sat in the center. The room would be important but that was for later, and she closed the door to check the center one.
A bed and other living accommodations implied it to simply be a personal quarters for whoever manned the restaurant. Less important than the armory.
The door to the right finally revealed what she was looking for. A tight closet like space with the walls composed of server machinery and a desk with a computer sitting on top. There was a pair of headphones and a filing cabinet underneath.
She got to work immediately, opening up one of the panels. This was practiced, nearly automatic. From there, Fran’s thoughts started to wander away from the mission at hand. “Hey Stanley, could I ask you about Juno?”
He had taken a seat in the office chair in front of the computer, turning his head over at her. “Uh sure. What is it?”
Fran took out a USB and plugged it into the server. “Juno is immortal, right?”
“Pretty sure he is, I mean he’s been around since the universe started.” Stanley responded, idly spinning in the chair.
She crouched, waiting for the stored malware to upload. “If that’s the case, how do you two deal with that?”
Stanley was quiet for a moment, putting a foot down to stop spinning. “What do you mean by that?” Fran nearly explained though stopped herself, realizing how personal her inquiry was. A sad smile formed on his face. “It’s just something we’ve accepted.” He quietly said. “It wasn't easy, actually it nearly ended things.”
Fran moved to sit down on the ground. “If you don’t mind me asking, how did it work out?” She asked.
“I guess we were both afraid.” Stanley murmured, with him leaning forward to rest his arms on his legs. “I had found someone who really cared about me, and I didn’t feel out of place. But moving forward would mean that in the end, it’ll hurt him. And that would be on me. And Juno of course was afraid for his own reasons. I just… I just didn’t want to be selfish. But I didn’t wanna lose him either.”
Even as the USB blinked green, she paid it no mind. “I think we both agreed that it would be worth it. And… I have something thought out for when I go.”
Having finally noticed that the USB had done its job, evident by the series of lights and alerts on the servers, Fran pulled it out. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pried.”
“It’s okay.” Stanley said with a quiet chuckle. “Something tells me you needed it. Most people I imagine would’ve asked about the adventures and what all Juno can do. But you were after something very specific.” He watched as she stood up, checking the machinery as it began to loudly hum. “I hope my answer helps in some way.”
Fran paused, letting out a sigh. “Me too.” She muttered. “You should go, these servers will melt down soon. I just need to grab something.”
He nodded and stood from the rolling chair, setting it aside before disappearing around the corner towards the hallway. She also left the room, though headed to the armory instead. The malware would not have gone unnoticed, and a silenced pistol was at its optimal when the user was unnoticed and had the element of surprise. This time she wouldn’t have such advantages.
All of the weapons save for one were ignored, the lever action rifle with its silver barrel and dark brown wooden handle. Fran grabbed it from the rack as if pulling a coat from a hanger along with several handfuls of bullets which she stuffed into her pockets. Keeping eight in her hand, she slid them into the feed located on the side, inserting them like coins into a vending machine. Fran then gripped the lever and pushed downwards, racking a round.
Now fully armed, she went back upstairs. Being sure to keep the hatch open in order to let the flames from the soon to be burning servers a chance to jump up to the store and burn it down as well.
Upon exiting the walk in fridge, she could already hear the sounds of trucks and other cars pulling in. Fran guessed they weren’t there for the burgers. And as expected, Juno was completely oblivious to the oncoming storm she was to face. Colorful flames still danced across the grill and Stanley was scolding the cosmic entity for the unorthodox cooking method.
A faint smile pulled at her lips, which quickly vanished as she looked away towards the door. Towards a job that never seemed to be finished no matter how many times she slashed a knife, fired a gun, or dropped another body.
Fran stepped past the door and took cover behind a booth. The grip on the handle and barrel tightened as the footsteps drew closer, and she steeled her breath.
The moment right before she would've popped out to fire, Fran realized that the only thing audible now was her breathing. There were no footsteps, just idling engines outside and the faint bickering still emanating from the kitchen.
With a heavy amount of hesitation, she peaked up from the booth. Fran was greeted with an empty parking lot containing her car and the one the two had ridden in. There wasn’t a single trace of Hesperian anywhere. She was stuck staring at the scene, wondering if she was even awake at the moment.
Her focus was broken when Stanley and Juno exited from the back. The human was holding two to-go bags and a cup of coffee. “Hey Fran, we’re heading out.” He greeted casually, walking past. “It was nice talking to you.” Stanley shot her a small smile. She was only able to respond with a half wave and a face unsure of what expression to display.
Stanley exited the establishment but Juno stuck around, standing next to her. “...Did you kill them?” She whispered.
“Kill them? No.” He responded with an offended scoff. “They’re just somewhere else. Sent a few to Nepal.”
“...Nepal?” She looked at him with brows contorted in exasperation.
Juno simply shrugged. “I doubt they’ll cause much trouble when dispersed into countries where English isn’t the primary language.” An amused smile tugged at his lips. “That’ll be a fun puzzle, getting back home.”
Her grip on the rifle had loosened, but she still kept it in hand. “I didn’t think you’d interfere, considering last time.”
“Well last time I didn’t know you were up against cultists bent on ending the world.” He replied. “And… You seemed tired.”
Fran switched the safety off, and though she didn’t need it, she slung the weapon over her shoulder. The weapon settled into position, like it was meant to be there. Like it was a part of her. “What do you mean by that?” She asked with a flat tone.
Juno shot her a sad smile, not directly answering. “You should join us in town. You could probably use a break.”
“My work isn’t done yet.” She simply said, moving past him towards the door. “Maybe next time when I’m not in the middle of something.”
Fran didn’t get any further responses, and took that as her cue to leave. Sure enough, while walking out to the parking lot, Stanley’s car began to drive away.
Upon getting closer, her steps slowed down and her eyes narrowed. Something was off about her car, as the body sparkled as if embedded with glitter. Stepping in front of it, Fran realized it wasn’t a trick of light or the exhaustion getting to her. The car was covered in glitter, and the above street lamp further revealed a hot pink paint job.
“No.” Fran’s operations relied on being hard to track and to not be noticed. She couldn’t do anything remotely close to a job- “No!” She yelled with a frustrated growl, knowing exactly who was responsible. The driver side door was nearly ripped off its hinges as she tossed the rifle to the passenger seat and got in.
Turning the key and stomping the gas, her car rocketed out of the lot towards the road that Juno and Stanley had taken.
And yet another crossover with @lorichu featuring Juno and Fran, this time with Stanley coming along. I guess you could consider this a continuation of Hijacked Routine
CW: Death, and whimsy
Cutting through the night within a lone road surrounded by miles of Pennsylvanian forest were the headlights of an unassuming four door sedan. The inside of which was faintly lit up courtesy of the body of stars sitting in the passenger seat. Stanley was at the wheel, enjoying ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ which was playing from the car radio. Juno was next to him, clearly enjoying it as well as he sang the lyrics and bobbed his head. The only issue was that Stanley had secretly turned down the volume, and yet the song belted out perfectly from Juno’s lips. The singer’s exact voice, down to the instruments being played.
“You’re doing it again.” He simply pointed out with an amused smile.
Juno stopped, the song abruptly taking a much lower volume. “Doing what?”
“You’re singing.”
“I thought that’s one of the things you do on a road trip?” Juno replied with a tilted head.
“Yes but you’re cheating, you’re just repeating the audio of the song.” Stanley elaborated.
The cosmic entity would need more than that. “Is that not what singing along is?”
“Juno, you sing along with your actual voice and add to the song.” The smile on Stanley’s face only grew the longer he had to explain such a simple concept.
“You wouldn’t like my real voice.” Juno said, with it now the human’s turn to get confused.
“What do you mean?” His brow furrowed as he glanced at Juno. “I like your voice.”
Juno hesitated, idly fiddling with his hands. “This voice doesn’t exactly belong to me.”
“Well then who does it belong to?” Stanley asked.
Again, he wasn’t the quickest to give an answer. “The first human I met, 4,000 BCE I think? Ancient Mesopotamia, he was a farmer. Nice guy too.”
The casual delivery would’ve shocked him in the early days of their relationship, but there was a different question rattling in Stanley’s head. “So then what do you actually sound like?”
“You wouldn’t want to hear that.” Juno quickly replied. “It doesn’t even really register as a voice.”
“Oh c’mon, it can’t be that bad.” His intrigue only grew at the look that Juno tossed him, a firm confidence that he wanted to challenge. “Please?” He offered a coy smile, a tactic that tended to yield results in his favor.
Juno looked at him for another moment and sighed. He turned towards the road, and opposite to Stanley’s expectation, his mouth didn’t move.
What emanated from the cosmic entity raised the hairs on his arm as a low vibrating pulse filled the car. The lights on the dashboard flickered throughout the duration and he kept his grip on the steering wheel tight trying to keep a casual composure. “...It sounds nice.” Stanley said, nearly phrasing it as a question.
Juno looked over with a deadpan expression, but that didn’t deter him. “It’s unique, and it’s definitely you.” That managed to get a faint smile out of the entity as he focused back on the road.
A yawn left Stanley. “I think I need a break soon.” He said with a long sigh.
“You know, I could get us to the nearest-”
“No, we're doing this properly.” Stanley said with a huff. “Take my phone and see if there’s any diners or restaurants along the way.”
Juno silently took the phone off the holder on the center console, holding it up to his face and staring at the blank screen. His eyes flickered with a spark of electricity, and the phone immediately opened up to the map.
“You can also just put in the password and tap the map icon. That’s an option.” Stanley commented.
The entity simply grinned. “And where’s the fun in that.” He zoomed out from their current route and pressed the food icon. From there, it showed that there was a burger joint not too far from them. “What about Red Star burgers? They’ll probably have coffee.” He suggested.
“Red Star burgers?” Stanley repeated. “If it’s close, we can give it a shot.” His eyes occasionally flicked to the side of the road to watch for any relevant signage. Sure enough, an exit sign with the Red Star logo veered past.
He took the off ramp and followed the road to the lone burger joint. The parking lot was completely empty, which bothered Stanley a bit but he didn’t dwell on it too long. He parked the car at the furthest spot, wanting out as soon as possible to stretch his legs.
With the parking brake on and the engine off, Stanley got out. Closing the door a long sigh followed by a stretch of his arms preceded. “Oh that’s better.”
“You know there wouldn’t be a need if I just teleported us there.” Juno said with a smug expression.
“Shut up, I know you’re having fun.” He walked to the front of the car and waited. The body of stars did the same, though by the time they had joined him, it was replaced with a well fitted black suit and pale skin. Stanley looked over at him with an amused exhale, it didn’t exactly complement his sweater and jeans but that was the charm of it.
Leaning against Juno and hooking an arm they headed inside. Like Stanley had guessed, the place was empty. The only occupant was a single cashier on their phone, who quickly put it away hearing them enter. The two walked up to the counter, with Stanley quickly skimming over the menu. Juno leaned down closer. “What should I order?” He whispered.
“Whatever you want.” Stanley said, quickly putting together his order mentally.
“I don’t really want food, I don’t get hungry. The only thing I really want is your tea.” Juno replied.
“That’s really sweet but should I just order for you in that case?” He asked, receiving a nod from him. Stanley directed his gaze to the cashier who was looking at them with a raised brow. “Uhh. Could we get two coffees with cream and sugar, and two cheese burgers?”
“You want fries with that?” The employee said with as much enthusiasm as a graveyard fastfood worker could muster.
“Uh… Yeah I think we’ll have fries with it.” Stanley said as the employee nodded, inputting the items and heading to the kitchen. He took out his card and tapped the wireless kiosk. With that done, both of them headed over to the booth at the window facing the parking lot.
As they did, another car pulled up. Like Stanley, it parked farther from the building. “I think our next stop is Honesdale, it’s a nice little town.” Stanley said, lounging in the booth.
“We should probably stay there for at least a day, you've been driving for quite a bit.” Juno suggested. His eyes glanced for a moment at the car and its driver who was getting out. Usually he wouldn’t pay any mind but something told him to keep his gaze on them. As they stepped into the light, he could make out dark hair which was pinned back. She wore fairly plain clothes, and a simple jacket accompanied with jeans.
For a moment they locked gazes, and it took her a moment to figure out why some random guy was staring at her. What gave it away were the gray eyes, and strange attire. Both of them thought the same thing.
Oh fuck.
She froze while Juno quickly averted his gaze back to Stanley, offering an embarrassed smile and trying to catch up on what was being said to him. “Mhm?” He simply said.
“So should be fun.” Stanley finished off.
He did his best to ignore the woman entering the restaurant who side eyed him, though kept going. “Did you find a place to stay? At the town.”
“No not yet, I should probably do that right now.” Stanley pulled out his phone, and while he was distracted, Juno looked to his left to find her heading to the counter. There had been hope that she was just getting a bite to eat. That crumbled apart when he spotted the pistol holstered on her hip, and when she disappeared into the back kitchen.
Oh shit.
“This looks nice, it’s an actual house.” Juno directed his attention back to Stanley, who was showing him a pin on the map along with a picture of the place.
“Yeah looks nice.” He said a little too quickly, with furrowed brows developing on Stanley.
“What’s wrong-”
“Nothing's wrong.” Juno delivered immediately, a wince forming as a loud crash could be heard in the kitchen.
Stanley looked in the direction of the commotion with a flinch, turning his head back to the cosmic entity. “...Juno, is there something going on?”
“No! Nothing's going on, everything's normal and fine.” He offered a weak smile which cracked as frustrated yells and the banging of kitchen ware grew louder. “Must be a difficult burger to cook.”
The human simply gave him a deadpan expression.
“Okay fine.” Juno sighed. “Do you remember that one time I disappeared for an hour seemingly with no explanation? Thank you, by the way, for not throwing yourself off a building to try and get my attention.”
Stanley scoffed at the last bit but answered nonetheless. “I remember, you got kidnapped by cultists and someone helped you get free.”
“Yes, she did.” Juno said, deliberately not going any further.
“...Juno. Did the woman that just entered the restaurant just so happen to be-” He never got to finish the sentence as a muffled explosion shook the tables. Both of their heads turned just in time to see the cashier’s body fly out the kitchen into the wall.
The aforementioned woman slowly trudged past the door to the back, her hair singed and slightly smoking. She was heavily breathing, and after a moment, turned her head towards them.
My return fire gift for @gtypewriter, a look back at how his boy Kane is adjusting to life in Nettles.
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It being winter wouldn't stop Jay from taking a short five-minute break outside. Her office in the Nettles town hall was a labyrinth of boxes, like always, but now that the long process of sorting documents was finally complete, it had come time to digitize them. And, not only were there no working scanners inside the town, but there weren't any outside it that could handle an almost city block sized sheet of paper.
That had left Jay only one option: transcribe everything herself.
Every inch of her was sore from sitting at her desk for so long. Her arms ached almost as much as her poor fingers, and she could feel the strain pounding behind her eyes. Somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind Jay recalled the joy she'd felt when they'd finally put the label on the last box. That high had carried her for a couple of days until she checked in with her superiors who clearly valued redundancy over her mental state.
Getting from her office at the back of the building all the way up to the front door took longer than she planned on staying outside, but Jay needed to move her body before it all atrophied. She needed both hands to lift the latch on the smaller "her" sized door beside the larger main entrance, and because she was so mentally drained, she walked right into the waist high snow drift that was waiting for her on the other side.
Startled awake, Jay hopped back and dusted her pants off. "I guess it didn't stop snowing this morning," she said with a soft chuckle. Grabbing the snow shovel she'd left by the door just for this occasion, Jay brandished it with only the slightest twinge of pain. "And everyone thought I was crazy for requesting this."
Once she got moving, the act of shoveling helped more than Jay'd expected. The snow itself was very light and powdery, making for a quick and easy clean of the small amount of space she required. She didn't have to stop and think about where she was throwing the snow either, since the only person she could possibly inconvenience with it was herself. To everyone else in Nettles, this light dusting of snow barely reached up the sides of their shoes.
That boost of energy didn't last very long though. Sooner than she'd have liked the exhaustion from the rest of the day caught up with her and forced Jay to stop prematurely. Even so, she had cleared enough room to reach the wall and lean up against it. Without an immediate new task Jay's tired mind began to wander. A chilly gust of wind began cutting through the built-up heat from all her physical labor. It was already pretty late in the day, later than she'd expected. Soon enough she'd call it a night and head home, back to Collin.
Movement on the wide street in front of town hall snapped Jay back to the present. She'd of course seen the larger residents of Nettles move quickly before, but even from a distance their size mixed with that kind of speed couldn't help but startle her. Shame heated her face while her heart raced. 'I should be better by now,' Jay scolded herself.
When the runner skidded to a stop Jay realized that it was Kane. After his own equally strange arrival he'd been slowly acclimating to the uniqueness that was Nettles. Everyone in town, not just Jay and the rest of the Scouts, had taken it upon themselves to lend a hand with getting him settled, and that group effort had really paid off. Kane was still quiet and mostly kept to himself, but he seemed to like his new home well enough.
His bright red eyes didn't shine as much in the last few beams of daylight, but they had their usual uncanny glow as Kane swept his gaze over the town hall's crumbly facade. A moment later his entire posture stiffened, and his more focused eyes darted lower, to stare directly at Jay. She knew he had heightened senses compared to a normal human of any size, but that almost animalistic sharpness to his expression made her jump. The tiniest shift in the set of his mouth told Jay that he acknowledged her reaction and thought nothing more of it. That could have been for any number of reasons, but none of them mattered enough to make an impact on him.
Using the same blinding speed that had brought him into the square, Kane went to Jay's side. A single, extremely precise sweep of his hand cleared the rest of the snow from in front of her door, allowing his other, dryer, palm to settle in its place.
"What's wrong?" Jay asked as she took an instinctual step closer to Kane's hand. "Are you ok?"
This time it was Kane who flinched back at her directness, but he was quick to course correct. "No, but I found something. Tracks, in the snow. Close to town." He nodded vaguely in the direction he'd come jogging from. "I don't know what made them, and I'm not allowed to go into the woods alone, so I came to get help."
Jay's smile brightened at the idea that she fit his definition of "help", especially in this scenario. "While we could just go together, I think bringing another Scout along would be in our best interest," she replied plainly. "Collin took the day off to spend time with his brother, but Trevor should be home. Let's ask him."
Even the simple action of nodding in agreement was done with a level of careful formality. "We should hurry," Kane added. "If it's a boar we need to take care of it before it hurts someone."
Phantasmal pains ached through Jay's arm. "Agreed."
Having become all but desensitized to being carried, Jay didn't waste any time stepping up onto Kane's hand. As he began to both lift her and stand up, Kane tilted his wrist. It happened so suddenly that Jay was tipped over as well, falling onto her side against his palm. Kane's clawed fingers wrapped around her in a gentle but secure hold, and he kept his arm locked against his body before he started moving again.
This wasn't anything new. Jay understood that, and should have been ready for it, but it still caught her off guard. It also wasn't that Kane didn't have experience around small people like her, just that he had specific training on how he should interact with them. Maybe once he officially graduated into a fully-fledged Scout and had his own uniform he'd be open to other methods, but for now, Jay could endure.
What Jay did know without a shadow of a doubt was that he wouldn't drop her. She might be more on edge, but she wasn't in danger.
Much like Collin had done when Jay returned to Nettles, Trevor had opened his home to Kane until they figured out something more permeant. Also, like Jay and Collin, that solution might never be necessary because the pair had settled into the arrangement quite naturally. Trevor's home, like the man himself, had a very easy going and welcoming atmosphere about it, one that anyone would find appealing were they in need of somewhere to stay.
When they arrived there was a light shining through the house's one fully intact window, meaning that they thankfully didn't have to fan out and search for Trevor. Kane cut right to the point and just opened the front door, the sound of which drew the man in question towards the front of the house.
"Oh, you're back early," Trevor commented when he met them near the kitchen. His gaze instinctually drifted down to Kane's partially raised arm. "And you brought company... Aren't you supposed to be out patrolling for another hour?"
Given his generally laid-back attitude, it was easy to forget just how seriously Trevor took his job as a Scout. Most people knew Collin as the brains of the operation, but in reality, it truly was an equal partnership. Having met them first on a mission, Kane understood that as well as Jay. "I found tracks in the snow," he reported. "They were much closer than I'd seen before, but led back into the woods, so I went for backup."
Trevor started to roll his eyes but stopped himself short. 'Nobody follows that rule, not even the youngest Scout applicants,' he muttered. 'Regulations and orders mean something completely different to him.' Easing out of his senior officer stance, Trevor loosely crossed his arms. "And you came to get some extra muscle, smart." He locked eyes with Jay and shot her a quick wink. "No offense, Ranger South. I know you're no slouch in a fight."
"Even I know better than to cross paths with a crag boar shorthanded," Jay quipped right back. "But if we're going to find this thing, we should really get going."
On that Trevor agreed. "Give me a second to suit up."
Mostly suiting up just meant Trevor put on his Scout uniform, however, in this instance, he also grabbed his longest hunting knife, a coil of rope, and an axe. They might not know what made the tracks that Kane saw, but Trevor had been on enough tracking mission to understand that you do not go unprepared for anything. Especially when "anything" usually amounted to a prolonged confrontation with an angry, territorial boar.
Rejoining them at the door, Trevor spared Jay a glance before focusing back on Kane. He held his open palm between them. "You're gonna want your hands free if things take a turn," Trevor said. "We both will."
Kane stalled for a moment, then slowly pried his arm away from his side. His fingers opened carefully, one at a time, to ensure that Jay was transferred safely. Only the smaller woman caught the understanding glimmer in the Scout's eyes, offering him her own silent thanks in return. Trevor then ferried her to his shirt pocket, dipping the tips of his fingers through the opening as well to treat the Ranger with the same level of care. The two larger men shared look, and without another word they headed out into the snow.
After retracing their steps back to town hall, Kane took point and led them towards the edge of town. Unlike the wilder wastelands further out, this section of Nettles was still in mostly working order. There were small clusters of occupied houses, the occasional shop, and a handful of public spaces like makeshift parks and community gardens. Like everything else in this shell of a town these offerings didn't compare to their counterparts on the outside, but to the residents of Nettles, they meant the world.
Just as they reached the end of road Kane had turned on to, Jay and Trevor saw what had gotten his attention. Cutting between the fresh snow banks was a set of deep, messy tracks. They did turn back around and head into the trees, but the fact that they were there at all added a touch of dread to their anxious thoughts.
"I should know what these are," Jay grumbled when Trevor had crept forward to get a better look. "Part of our training was sight identification of regional animal tracks, and we got quizzed on them constantly."
Trevor's assessment was just as lacking. "There's only so many things in this forest it even could be, and I've seen them all a hundred times." His eyes narrowed as he kept staring at the prints. "Collin would know. Even with how the snow's distorted them. He could tell us without breaking a sweat."
Silently absorbing their frustration, Kane shuffled up beside Trevor. "So what now? Should we just go get Collin?"
Determination sparked in the Scout's eyes. "Just because we don't know what it is doesn't mean we can't track it," Trevor chuckled. "Besides, with all three of us here, I know we'll be fine." Neither Jay nor Kane had the heart to interject when Trevor was all fired up, so they simply went along for the ride as the Scout started off towards the trees.
For a while the only sounds around them were Trevor and Kane's lightly crunching footsteps and the soft whooshes of snow sliding down from far off branches. The forest around Nettles was usually very quiet, but that silence was always amplified after heavy snowfalls. So little activity meant nothing had come through to disturb their trail, which they stayed glued to until the trees broke to reveal a small clearing...
And their quarry.
Two bucks ambled along the opposite side of the clearing, picking at handful of pine branches within their reach. Multiple trees in their path already had patches of their bark striped off, and it looked like the buffet hadn't closed just yet.
While Jay and Trevor both relaxed, Kane tensed up. "What are we going to do?" he whispered, his voice drifting on the in a puff of fog. "Can we take two at once?"
Breathing a cloudy chuckle, Trevor put his hand on Kane's shoulder. "Nah. Those guys are no threat."
"But the animals changed when they grew," Kane insisted.
Trevor gave Kane's shoulder a pat before letting his arm fall to his side. "And not all changes were the same," he countered. "The boars were already plenty nasty to begin with, and their bigger size made them all bit more crazy." He exhaled a sigh and crossed his arms just below Jay. "None of the littler critters survived the transition. Birds, bugs, and a lot of the smaller rodents died out almost right after the accident. Something didn't mesh right with them. As for the bigger guys like deer and wolves, well, they sorta just mellowed out. They've found a balance and are living out the rest of their days in relative peace. We only kill them if we absolutely have to."
"Because they're dying out on their own," Jay filled in. In addition to all of the town's problems, the revelation about the surrounding wildlife had hit her hard. "Their populations are stagnant and can only sustain themselves for so long. Eventually they'll all go extinct."
The unspoken parallels hung around them like the heavier cloud cover rolling in from the east. It was going to snow again tonight. "It's the fate of all of us inside the wall," Trevor said with a darker chuckle. "Our clocks are ticking down until the day we're all eventually gone." An old ache he'd never bothered to process tugged at his heart, but he let the pain just slide down his back. "That's why I'm glad I got the chance to meet and get to know you two. For the only people I've ever known from the outside, I'm pretty sure I hit the jackpot."
"I never dreamed I'd get to actually come here," Jay admitted with a hollow laugh of her own. "All I ever wanted to do when I was younger was help and protect you guys, and now I get to do that alongside you, not just from some tower at the gate."
Now that they weren't bothering to keep quiet anymore the deer across field decided it was best to move on. In more ways than one, Kane wished he could've joined them. "I'm not sure if I count as someone from the outside," he mumbled, drawing a pair of concerned gazes. "I have no idea who I was before I became this."
Having been born a "monster", Trevor had never put much thought to what it would be like to suddenly become one. He reached for Kane again, this time wrapping his arm around his stiff shoulders to pull him closer. "Well, you're here now. That means you're one of us," Trevor declared with a brighter version of his standard mischievous grin. "The ship's going down, and there's nothing any of us can do about it, but you're welcome to stay for the ride. However long that ends up being."
Jay had never felt more out of place in Nettles. She'd chosen to be here, but she could also leave whenever she wanted. There was nothing stopping her from going back to the gate and just walking through. The only thing trapping her was her desire to stay. Even if she was helping make their lives better, what right did she have to live among them? They'd never truly be equals, not in all the ways that really mattered.
"That counts for you too, Jay." Trevor's sudden acknowledgement yanked Jay out of her head. When she looked up, she was faced with the brunt force of two very sharp stares. Despite the brighter glow of Kane's eyes in the twilit dimness, the one she found harder to meet was Trevor's darker gaze. The Scout's brow furrowed deeper when she'd lifted her head, almost as if he knew where her thoughts had wandered off to. "I doubt they'd ever let you just walk free out there after all this. Especially not since Kane." Keeping his one arm around Kane's shoulders, Trevor brought his other hand up to lay over his pocket. "It'd be a different sort of cage, but a cage all the same."
Why? Why did Trevor always seem to know exactly what Jay needed to hear? 'He might prefer deflecting to make Collin be the more likable one,' Jay thought through the subtle sting of tears, 'but he's just as observant and sensitive. He's got such a big heart.'
She held on to the moment for a couple seconds longer before gracing them both with a smile. "Well, if they let me choose my cage, then I think I'm good to stay right here," she replied with a hint of a laugh. "If they want me somewhere else, they'll have to come in and get me."
The heartier chuckle that rumbled in Trevor's chest spread out to warm both Jay and Kane. "And we're not just gonna let them take you," Trevor quipped. He pulled Kane in closer into a deliberate half hug. "Either one of you. They'll have to burn this whole place to the ground first."
As Trevor began to guide the strange little huddle back towards town, Kane and Jay had a chance to share a passing glance. They were the only two true outsiders in all of Nettles, but now that didn't seem to carry the same weighty stigma. If the only people who hadn't accepted them were themselves, what were they so worried about?
The conclusion to @lorichu gift writing featuring more of a certain someone
TW: Uhhh more pg-13 esq gun stuff
The chamber had gone dead quiet, both with confusion and a slow building dread among the still alive Hesperian members. Their leader stared up with a furrowed brow at the blatant refusal. “Perhaps my instructions weren’t as straightforward.” He cleared his throat though never got the chance to speak.
“No, I heard you.” The entity said with a slight nod. “You wanted me to kill the person on the catwalk and I’m kinda not in the killing business.” Fran managed to snap herself from continuing to stare from the metal panel and move to a more advantageous position. For now, the biggest threat in the room was still the armed guards. “Nor the interfering with human affairs business either-”
“Silence!” The leader yelled with an exasperated tone. “You are under our control!”
Gray eyes a hundred and twenty feet above the ground stared down at the comparatively diminutive figure attempting to exert authority. “Not really.” It said, its gaze wandering around the room. “You didn’t bring Stanley here did you?”
Their leader’s eyes lit up. “Ah of course! Your maiden! Is that why you refuse our orders?”
What would be considered the entity’s cheeks turned from a star filled void to the colorful dust of nebulae, emulating a blush. “...I uh.” It idly tapped its finger against the mug of tea. “Well I- I suppose? That’s a little straight forward, I wouldn’t use that particular word.”
“Then please, stay. We’ll find your maiden and settle-”
That particular set of words completely changed the air around them, with the temperature dropping and static serving as a warning to those still standing. “Okay, that’s enough of this.” A small burst of wind washed over the cavern as the entity completely disappeared, leaving a jaw dropped Hesperian leader and their other members.
“Who was in charge of the containment runes!” He yelled, looking at the summoners.
“Sir we used every single one and multiple of each.” One of them replied.
“Well clearly it wasn’t enough-” A burst of red erupted from their leader’s skull as he was dropped dead to the floor. The rest of the guards formed up and started firing wildly at the catwalks while the summoners ran for the hallways.
Fran had gotten to the ground level during the entire exchange, and while the guards still thought she was somewhere else, she lined up a shot at a group of targets.
As the trigger was pulled, the towering mass of stars and space appeared yet again. The three bullets that she managed to fire off before stopping didn’t impact the entity at all. Instead, they passed through and slowed down to a crawl. As if they had entered water, the metal projectiles simply floated within the entity’s body.
“That’s odd…” A murmur echoed above them before the entity disappeared again.
The guards aimed their rifles at Fran, only to find an empty space from where she originally was. Two of them were cut down by precise tap fires from a crate to their left flank, with Fran having repositioned during the confusion.
Only one more remained. Fran grabbed the empty magazine out from the rifle and felt her holster. She grimaced as her hand only felt a single magazine. With a terse sigh, she inserted it and pulled the bolt to chamber the first round.
The sound of boots against the rough ground preceded a storm of rounds slamming against the metallic crate providing her cover. A frustrated groan left her as she tried to look for an opening to either return fire or reposition. However she was given very little options as bullets struck the ground on both sides.
“Okay if I wanted to go to Paris, I would’ve gone to Paris.” A frustrated voice filled the air again, and coincidentally, her cover was no longer being bombarded. Peaking past the crate, the entity was indeed there again, it’s sheer size blocking the guard.
The opportunity was there, but she decided to take it a step further. Fran stepped past the crate and kept low, attempting to avoid its attention while approaching its foot.
“Alright let’s try this again.” She took that line as a sign to aim her weapon forward, in roughly the direction of where she believed the guard was.
Having braced herself for the entity to just disappear, the effect was less jarring. The same could not be said for the guard was on the ground staring with wide eyes at where it last was. They barely had time to react as Fran fired twice into their chest.
The final shots rang around the chamber before settling into an ear ringing silence as everything abruptly came to a halt.
Fran had the rifle aimed at the guard for a few more moments before letting out a deep breath, letting her arms relax and ease to a non-combative stance.
She was allowed to catch her breath for about a minute until the humanoid mold of space blinked back into existence directly in front of her.
With a breath caught in Fran’s throat she brought up the rifle to aim upwards, starting to backpedal. It was clear the entity had noticed her, its gray eyes focusing on her for a moment before looking around the room. What sounded like an annoyed scoff emanated from its mouth. Now that her full focus was on the entity and at its face rather than the lower parts of its body, she noticed how… Human it was. In the most literal sense, whatever this thing was it simply looked like a regular person. If their skin was made of the very fabric of the universe, which still was not very comforting.
“Did you kill all of them?” The tone was akin to a parent scolding a child for breaking something very expensive, and its eyes were cast back down at her.
Fran tightly gripped the trigger and barrel guard of the rifle. She knew that the weapon realistically wouldn’t harm the entity, but nonetheless she wasn’t comfortable just being unarmed either. “I did.” She kept it simple, unsure if she’d maintain composure having to say another word.
Having expected more annoyance, and something a bit more aggressive, Fran was ever so slightly disarmed at the casual grumble. Even more so when the entity took a sip of the cup of tea that was still in its hand. “Well I kind of needed them alive to explain how they managed to sort of keep me confined here.” His eyes focused on her weapon. “You really don’t need to point that at me.”
Despite the behavior being the complete opposite of what could be expected from a dragon, raw power was still nothing to be complacent about. She kept her stiff stance, even as the entity crouched down. And as a semi-truck sized arm moved towards her.
Fran instinctively held down the trigger even as each bullet harmlessly entered the approaching hand, leading to the barrel being pinched by the pad of the thumb and index finger.
A slight tug and her weapon was gone. She stared as much like the bullets fired, the gun went into the body of space and stars, floating aimlessly.
Again, instinct was still in control. She felt for her combat knife, only to remember that it was dropped during a prior engagement. A lack of combative options left a gut twisting option. Fran for the moment visited prior memories for a frame of reference to chart a course of action.
“Look.” She sighed, struggling to make eye contact. “You’re not interested in a fire breathing apocalypse right?”
The entity almost looked offended, which was replaced with recognition and a silent ‘oh’. “That explains the robes…” It said in reference to the now dead summoners. “No, I don’t want to ‘end the world’.” As its hands raised and did the air quotes, the gray eyes were once again directed to her. “I used that correctly, right?”
Fran stared at the humanoid form of space with a raised brow. “...Did what correctly?” She hesitantly asked. The entity again did the air quote motion, only serving to confuse her further. “I think you did.”
“Good, it’s always changing.” The entity said with a huff. Their eyes met for a moment and upon getting a better look at her stiff posture, they softened. It offered a thin lipped smile. “Whatever terrible thing you think I am, there's a pretty good chance I’m not it.”
“Then what are you?” Fran asked the question of the hour. She didn’t even think Hesperian truly understood what they had brought into the chamber.
Whatever it was, it opened its mouth to speak. Though paused for a second. “You know that’s a great question, I wish I knew the answer.”
Fran stared at him with a blank expression, tilted her head slightly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean it in the most literal sense, I do not know what I am.” A sheepish smile formed on the entity’s face. “The best I can offer you is that you may call me Juno.”
At this point, Fran’s guard was starting to lower. And she appreciated that this time, it wasn’t being forcefully blasted apart by an aggressive display. It was difficult to keep herself on the defensive when her supposed adversary was politely introducing their name and still holding a car sized mug of tea for which she still had no idea where it had been acquired.
“This is the part where people usually offer their name.” His voice pulled her out back into focus, she even adjusted her footing to stand normally.
“...Fran.” Her voice was still hesitant, only through the sheer amount of unknown that lay with the entity known as Juno. “Just wanna double check, not interested in shaping the world to Hesperian’s image?”
“All I want is to go back to Stanley, that’s all I want and for some reason I can’t.” Juno said in a softer tone.
That was what Fran needed to relax a bit more, and made clear his true motive. He wanted to go back to his normal life, what that even entailed for someone like him she had no clue. But she was familiar with that desire, it helped to paint him as not some terrible force to be used by Hesperian but another victim atop the countless.
“So if I help you to return to your maidan, all will be well?” She asked, raising a brow as the colorful dust appeared on his cheeks again.
“...Why do you keep calling him that?” Juno averted her gaze. “Surely there’s a better word?”
“Well then what is he to you?” Fran’s question ultimately silenced him as he mulled over an answer. Juno was unable to, and so she simply followed up. “Do you have a unique connection to Stanley?” She received a nod. “Are you able to sense him to the point of knowing where he is at all times?” The intense detail to the question only served to spread the nebulae on his face. “I don't know what to say, that fits the criteria of a maiden.”
Juno took a moment to clear his face before looking back down at her. “Okay fine, I’d like to return to my maiden. How do I do that?”
Fran finally moved from the single point she had been standing in for the past minute, walking around the chamber and analyzing the still glowing summoning circle. “I’m going to guess that somehow, you’re able to teleport? Is that the correct term?”
“Yes, I can do that. I’d teleport back to Stanley but it just takes me somewhere random on earth.” Juno said, closely watching her as she knelt down on a group of strange symbols.
“Their leader mentioned containment runes. I think that’s what’s keeping you here.” She stood up. “I don’t know enough about Hesperian rituals, but I do know they must have it on the archive here.” Fran started walking to one of the hallways. “Sit tight, I’ll be right back.”
Despite having deduced that Juno was no longer a threat, or at least that it wasn’t very likely, she did breathe a sigh of relief entering the hallway. As nice as he was, a looming presence was still intimidating. Especially from a complete stranger.
With the lack of threats, Fran was able to pull out her phone to check the map of the facility. It didn’t take very long for her to find where the archive servers were, though there was a different place that had also taken her interest. The chamber next to the actual built in rooms housing the servers was the office for their leader. She figured there must’ve been either useful information, or information that needed to be wiped.
The door was unlocked, and she entered the mobile office. On the folding table which acted as the deceased leader’s desk was a tablet.
Fran walked over and picked it up, surprised that it was still unlocked and available for her to use. She skimmed over the apps and selected the file program. There was one marked ‘mil_eng_unknown’. Below the title showed that it had been opened recently, and she selected it to see what it was all about.
The file was a video, and immediately her stomach churned at the still image. It appeared to be drone footage of a towering figure opposing several battalions of soldiers and tanks. The figure was clearly Juno but not the one she knew just minutes ago. The stars on his body had been replaced with the churning mass of a singular orange sun, and the gray almost lazy eyes were alight with a rage she was all too familiar with.
Fran was almost afraid to even play the video, as if Juno was somehow watching through the screen itself. Instead, she simply deleted the file. A quick skim through the rest of the contents revealed that it was information already in the possession of someone she knew. With that in mind, she deleted the rest of the files. For good measure, several stomps of her boot rendered the device in a webwork of inoperable wires and casing.
This left the server archives, which was a short walk to get to. When she entered, a grumble left Fran. They weren’t hooked up to any network at all, not even a central computer. That meant she’d have to plug in to every section to access the data.
“What’s all of this-” Juno’s abrupt voice elicited an indignified yelp as she whipped around to see the entity standing to her side. She nearly stumbled while trying to regain her footing, and took a minute to process that Juno was there, at a human size.
“You can do that?!” Fran exclaimed, looking him up and down. “How did you do that? What else can you do?”
A chuckle left the entity as he went to find a chair, coming across an office chair with wheels. “It would be easier to list the things I can’t do.”
An exasperated pair of eyes stared at him before a sigh sounded. “Alright, just don’t wander off anywhere. I’m not sure how long it’ll take to find what I’m looking for.” She took out her phone and went over to the first server node. Plugging it in, Fran began scrolling through the mountain of data.
There was a variety of files stored within, though it was fairly simple to sift through. Some categories could be just wiped entirely, while others required a more in-depth read to determine if it was worth forwarding to a separate interested party.
Fran was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of rolling wheels on rough cement as Juno blitzed past her. Looking at where the entity had literally rolled by, Fran kept reading. Eventually, she disconnected the phone and plugged into a separate node.
Again, as she was reading, the rough scraping of wheels blitzed by. “Juno, may I ask something potentially offensive?”
It was a slower scrape as he slowly pushed himself over to the server aisle she was in. “Hm?”
“Are you capable of sitting still?” Fran asked, looking at Juno with tired exasperation.
“...Sorry.” He said with a sheepish grin, slowly wheeling out of sight.
She watched him, thinking “This is the same Juno in that drone footage?”
Fran decided to just keep going, switching from server node to server node. To her surprise, Juno did in fact keep still. Or at least keep quiet, she had no idea what he was up to. At some point she did come across information that might’ve been useful, not to Juno, but to someone else.
Fran pulled out her phone to call them, only to remember that she was several hundred feet underground in a mine. Checking the signal bar confirmed that her phone was getting nothing.
“Need some help with that?” The flinch that shook her nearly dropped the phone, and she adjusted the grip to keep it secure. Fran turned around, however Juno was nowhere to be found. “Up here.”
Looking up revealed that the entity was standing on the ceiling, staring down at her with a cheeky grin. “...Do I even ask?” Fran sighed.
“For help regarding no signal? Sure.” Juno’s form simply blinked and he was standing directly in front of her. The half second warning made the coming flinch less harsh, but was no less jarring to have someone just appear.
“So how exactly can you help?” She asked, slightly uneasy at the smug grin forming on his face. The stars on Juno’s body began to blur and so did the background of space. Hues of blue and white became more prominent on the left side of his body as a familiar planet came into view. Fran stared, jaw coming down a bit as a satellite was also now visible on the right side.
She looked up at him with her head slightly turned, unsure if what she was thinking was correct. Juno almost seemed to read her mind, and nodded.
Taking out the phone again, Fran checked the signal. Full bars.
She dialed the number and leaned back against the server behind her. While it rang, Fran took the time to compose herself. This was a routine end of mission with absolutely nothing going wrong.
“Hello?” A voice greeted.
“Hey Kate.” Fran greeted back. “I’m going to have to make this one quick, I’ve got another Hesperian archive liberated. Most of the information seems to be duplicates from the one on your end. But I have a set of files that maybe you and Austin haven’t gone over yet.”
“Okay, let me get to the computer.” While waiting, she directed her gaze to Juno in front of her.
He was seemingly not paying attention, staring off in a random direction. At some point, he pulled out one of the stars in the background of his body. She watched with wide eyes as the entity casually tossed it up and down.
“-Fran… Fran?” Kate’s voice pulled her back to focus. “Are you in the middle of something again?”
“No, just spaced out.” She quickly said.
“Alright, well I have the archive up.” Kate responded.
Fran pulled the phone away from her ear and checked the file name. “Dragon post transformation observations.” She repeated, putting the phone back up. A few clicks and key taps sounded on the other line.
“Doesn’t seem to be in the archive, so it might be useful.” Kate said.
“Then I’ll keep a copy.” Fran replied. “I have to get going, send my regards to Austin.” After a quick goodbye, she hung up.
The rest was a tedious process, going to each server node and reviewing the files inside. At the very least, Juno had kept distractions to a minimum. Keyword, minimum. Sometimes the entity just… Floated past her.
But once Fran had it down to a rhythm and the file types sorted in her head, the remaining databases quickly fell through. The final one, to both her and Juno’s relief, had what they were looking for. A file detailing unorthodox summoning procedures.
“Oh, that’s simple.” She said, reading through and reciting one of the lines. “To maintain the effects of the ritual, ensure the summoning circle is created on stable ground. Should the structural integrity of the surface fail, the effects will be nullified and the ritual effectively canceled.”
“It really is that simple.” He commented. Juno seemed ready to teleport, but watch with a curious gaze as she left the room. Fran then returned with a fire axe, chopping the nearest server and producing a shower of sparks. “What are you doing?”
She swung the blade into another databank. “I have to make sure the files are completely destroyed.” Fran said with a tired huff.
“Isn’t that a little inefficient?” Juno said with a tilted head.
Fran split another piece of machinery into scrap metal. “Well I wish I had several tons of plastic explosives to level the place, but you make do with what you have.” She said, preparing to take another swing. A red glow emanating from behind her stopped the swing, and she slowly turned around to its source.
Juno was standing in the server aisle with a red glowing star in hand, which seemed to pulse violently every few seconds. He placed it on the ground and appeared next to her.
“...Juno, what is that?” Fran said in a calm tone.
“Oh that’s a red giant about to super nova. Or I guess just red? It’s not very giant from our perspective.” He casually said.
“Super nova as in a massive explosion?” She took a step back.
“Mhm- oh right.” Juno raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
Thus far, seeing the abilities of the entity was jarring. Especially for it just appearing and disappearing at a whim. That was taken to the next level when in one moment, Fran was staring at a tiny star ready to explode. The next she was on a hilltop which had a view of the mountain where the mine sat under.
Fran blinked a few times before looking around in complete disbelief. “You can- you know what.” She said, pausing herself. “Of course you can. I’m starting to wonder how Hesperian even thought they could keep you under their control.” She wasn’t able to catch the prideful smirk that flashed across Juno’s face, though did see when he offered her a thick pair of sunglasses.
She slowly moved her hand to take the glasses, not bothering to question where they even came from. “You might wanna put those on.” Juno suggested.
That wasn’t questioned either, and Fran put them on as instructed. It was already dark outside, but with the glasses on, she may as well have closed her eyes.
A small pinprick of light at the center of the mountain was followed by an eruption of purple and blue arcs of lightning and flame. Chunks of rocks the size of houses were flung upwards and dragged down into the colorful explosion as the facility and ground above it collapsed into itself.
Then came the shockwave and boom as it washed over them. Fran nearly stumbled backwards and adjusted her footing to properly brace against the force. In the end, only a sunken depression of rock remained of the Hesperian facility.
Fran stared at the ruins, and then at Juno with a heavy amount of concern. Especially at the casual smile and thumbs up. “Mission success?”
It took her a moment to register that the entity which had essentially erased a mountain was talking to her. She shot him a thumbs up, and shaky smile. “Mission success.”
“Wonderful! Well I best be going, it was lovely meeting you Fran.” Juno said, turning towards her. “If we meet again, I hope it’s under better circumstances and no killing is involved. And maybe you can meet Stanley.”
As abruptly as the entity had appeared in her mission, Juno was gone. Leaving her in stunned silence. After that, she silently cursed.
The car she came in with was left in the tunnel leading into the facility.
The lad, Juno, is officially here! He's always going to be one of my favorites of your characters, and I loved all his playfulness while interacting with my poor girl, Fran. Thank you so much!
A gift writing for @lorichu in spirit of the upcoming holidays
TW: I dunno man like pg-13 gun violence? And stabbing. There's some stabbing.
Within a mineshaft situated in Pennsylvanian forest, two Hesperian guards sat leaning against the catwalk over a staging area which served more or less as a garage and lobby for the facility. They both had mugs of coffee to help them through their graveyard shift, even though the mining area was heavily restricted to hikers. The people who drove through the tunnel had only been fellow Hesperians, at least during their time so far. Both were highly doubtful that dangerous intruders would ever find their way there. Even as a pair of headlights could be seen in the distance, they took their time standing up. Grabbing their rifles from the ground and standing to attention.
The guard standing on the right furrowed his brow as the car was well over the usual speed other members drove. He’d be worried but he recognized the make and model, it was definitely one of theirs. “I guess he really wanted to come back.” He commented.
Their casual stance stiffened as the car came to a screeching halt inside the chamber. Most of the glass was shattered, with some remaining fragments stained red. Bullet holes riddled the doors and the bumpers were bent. “What the fuck?” The other guard murmured as the driver stumbled out. He pulled out a walkie. “Hey boss, you might wanna drop whatever you’re doing.”
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The driver had first been taken to the infirmary, and once it was determined that the man was uninjured, he was sent to the office. Not office as in a part of the mine that had actually been dug out for real rooms. Those parts were reserved for the servers, he was taken to the mobile office trailer in one of the larger caverns.
Their leader was waiting for them, seated behind a folding table meant to be his desk. He would’ve preferred an oak on but they weren’t able to properly fit it.
Before he could even ask, the driver answered for him. “It was a trap, we got ambushed.” He said with narrowed eyes.
“That’s impossible. The order came from the council itself, the communication was encrypted.” Their leader said. “And where are the others that came with you?” He demanded.
“They’re dead.” The driver simply said. “We did exactly as you asked, we went to the location provided for the exchange of information. There were no other Hesperians to make the exchange, just us. When we all got out of the car someone started shooting at us.”
The leader was silent, looking at him in disbelief. “Did you see the shooter?” He asked.
“No.” The driver said in a frustrated tone, leaning back in the seat. “Whoever it was, they knew we’d be there. They were posted up on a ridge, the perfect position. Even knew there would be too many of us to fight fairly.”
The man behind the desk sighed, staying quiet as his mind mulled over the possibilities that could’ve resulted in such a disastrous encounter. None of them brought any comfort. “The message I received was from the council directly, that cannot be forged or replicated. We have to assume they’ve been compromised somehow.” He gave it some more thought. “Bring the facility on high alert, and start searching through the archives.”
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The heavily restricted area wasn’t as well guarded, despite what the documents that Fran had procured would suggest. She had pulled up to the gate which was lined with a variety of warning signs ranging from ‘restricted area’ to ‘nuclear hazard’. Fran highly doubted the latter.
Getting out, she picked up a pair of bolt cutters and clipped the gate lock. With the path clear, she went back inside the car and drove through the dirt road leading into an area containing the Hesperian facility. It was only a mile until the headlights revealed the outline of a mountain cliff face, where several mineshafts lead into the earth. All of them were blocked off, except for one.
It was big enough to comfortably fit a semi-truck, and there were fresh vehicle tracks. She turned the car off and checked her equipment.
Taking out the silenced pistol from her hip holster, she rested the grip on her palm and ejected the magazine. Through the holes punched in the side, she confirmed it was fully loaded and re-inserted the magazine. Fran felt for the combat knife and small glass containers filled with lighter fluid.
The tools of her trade were in place, and she got out of her car to head into the abyss of the mineshaft.
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The base was usually fairly quiet, but under the circumstance of the total collapse of Hesperian high command, everyone had a job to do. That job was mostly combing through the terabytes of files stored in the servers along with the physical files that still needed to be scanned into the system.
Their leader was walking around with a tablet, scrolling through the information they had snagged from the servers. He was pacing among his subordinates who had laptops plugged into the servers
“Anything yet?” He asked a member in passing.
“Maiden log, completely useless.” They said with a frustrated sigh, unplugging their laptop and switching to a different port.
The information that the leader was skimming through wasn’t anymore useful, mostly historical accounts. “There must be something.” He muttered. “There must be a contingency that we missed.”
“A contingency for this kind of nightmare scenario?” Another member rhetorically asked. While it was a reasonable question, he didn’t bother to entertain it.
“Do we still have that government contact?” The leader asked in a raised voice to anyone who’d answer. “We need to broaden our search, maybe they’ve got something we can use.” He exited the server room to go to the office, though stopped seeing one of the guards casually walking away from the break room with two cups of coffee. “What do you think you’re doing?” He asked with narrowed eyes.
“Oh just refilling.” The guard replied.
“Just refilling?!” He roared. “I ordered this place to high alert, leaving only one guard to the entrance is not high alert.” The guard opened his mouth to talk but never got the chance. “Get back to your post and stay there until otherwise instructed!”
A grumbled “Yes sir.” left the guard as he quickly moved past his boss back to the tunnel entrance. Once out of sight, he slowed down to a walk down the hallway. It wasn’t long before he was on the catwalk where his post was.
Looking to the side, he was surprised to not see the other guard. “Phil?” The guard called out, leaning over the rail to see if the other had moved the wrecked car that had driven in.
It was still there, leaving him confused as to where he was. “Phil, where are you? Anton’s being a real stickler about this high alert thing.” He said, heading to the end of the catwalk where a flight of metal stairs led to the ground.
As the guard descended them, a figure moved out from under the stairs. His eyes widened as a woman stepped in front of him and aimed a silenced pistol to his head. Before he could even drop the mugs to grab the rifle on his back, everything went dark.
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Fran stepped to the side as the guard’s body fell down the stairs, coming to a crashing stop in front of her. Normally she’d be worried about the sound of shattering ceramic from the mugs. However, the sound didn’t carry out far enough to alert anyone. For the moment, no one knew she was there.
In addition to the weapons she brought in, the other guard’s assault rifle was slung over her shoulder. Crouching down, Fran removed the magazine from the second dead one and stashed it on her hip holster. There was no such thing as too much ammo when taking on an entire Hesperian facility single handed.
With the entrance now secure, she headed up the catwalk and began infiltrating the deeper parts of the facility. First up was the hallway the second guard had entered. She had her silenced pistol drawn while slowly advancing forward. Distant voices brought her to a crawl speed, and she stuck close to the wall.
There was a supply room coming up just before the intersection in the hall, and she slipped inside. Fran made sure to leave the door slightly ajar to listen in.
“-It’s promising. Direct from the government contact and verified by other reports.” One voice said.
There was another, and she recognized authority in its tone. “Then prepare a summoning ritual immediately. I want protection and submission runes, as much as you can. We have no idea what we're dealing with.”
“Yes sir, we’ll start immediately.” The other voice said. Their footsteps became de-synced as they went their separate ways.
Fran inwardly cursed. After the decimation of Hesperian high command, along with the recovery of a dragon and their maiden, the odds seemed to be stacked in their favor. If this Hesperian cell somehow got a substitute for a dragon, it would be a major setback.
Pulling out her phone, she accessed a file containing a map of the mine. They would have to do the ritual in the largest chamber, to which she plotted a mental route with a quick scan of the schematics. Preferably to a vantage point to minimize the biggest disadvantage she currently held.
Fran pocketed the phone and exited the supply closet. She took a left and started navigating the series of tunnels and hallways. Occasionally she needed to duck into a room to avoid the alarms being sounded too early. Farther out, Fran was able to get away with not killing anyone. Typically that wouldn’t be the case, however priorities had changed. And she needed to stay undetected until reaching the ritual room.
At the halfway point though, she was running into more guards. And these weren’t isolated nor were they moving to refill any coffee.
Fran was currently posted at the corner of a hallway intersection, and to her left was a guard a few feet down. Getting past without being noticed wasn’t possible, and while a silent kill was, it would only be a matter of time before the body was discovered. Moving the body wouldn’t help either, blood stains didn’t exactly scream ‘all clear’.
Peaking past the corner she braced her pistol against the wall and fired at his head. Before the man could stumble to the floor, she was already walking past.
As Fran passed a door, it opened abruptly and she bumped face first into it.
“Oh sorry.” The Hesperian member said, moving past and closing the door. “Are you okay-” He was sent straight to the floor with a hole in his head.
Another member rounded the corner, and another bullet to send them crumpled to the ground. Fran’s expression started to sour as the body count started to tick up, and she froze as two guards rounded the corner. Since they both had functioning eyes, they very clearly saw the bodies of their fellow cultists along with what they assumed to be a Cydonian knight.
Fran shoulder charged a door to her right as they opened fire down the hall, diving to the ground for cover. “Sound the alarm!
God damn it. She thought as a dull blare echoed throughout the facility, paired with the gunshots from the two guards that had spotted her.
When they stopped, either to reload or advance to her current position, Fran slowly inched her way to the door. She took out a glass ball and peaked past the hall, throwing the projectile at the guards.
The container shattered on one of their stomach’s, the glass harmlessly shattering and spraying them in the clear liquid stored inside. The effect for the guard on the left was confusion, and he simply raised his rifle to aim at Fran. The one on the right however smelled the fumes. “Wait don’t-”
She took cover as a few shots rang out, which was followed up with an orange light emanating from the guard’s position. A set of screams confirmed that they were otherwise preoccupied.
Fran stepped out and simply ran past the flailing and flaming guards on the ground. The route she originally mapped out was thrown to the side as she opted to simply head in the vague direction of the summoning room and hope for the best.
There was a sign pointing to a set of stairs to her right, and given that Fran was looking for a high ground advantage, she took the opportunity.
Going up the steps, she took it at a slower pace and had her pistol aimed up. As Fran had predicted, several Hesperian members were heading down. Presumably to intercept her.
As one of them rounded the corner, she simply pulled the trigger and shot their leg. Even though they were armed with an assault rifle, it didn’t really come into play when they lost balance and started tumbling down the stairs. She simply moved the side and kept going.
Another would turn the corner, though all the pistol returned was an empty click and the slide being locked in a rear position. As the Hesperian began to aim their weapon, she pulled back her arm and threw the empty pistol at his head.
The gun rotated several times before slamming into his nose, causing the guard to pause for a second and blood began to run down their face. In that time, Fran drew the combat knife and surged forward. Her arm jammed the blade into his thigh, and much like the previous guard, sending them crashing down the stairs.
With her pistol out of commission, Fran grabbed the rifle slung on her back and kept going up. There weren’t any guards, which was concerning. She knew that there were more, and that they knew the general area she was in. Getting to the top of the stairs, she paused as voices seeped through the walls.
Te invocamus, potentia ignota.
“Fuck.” She muttered to herself while sprinting for a door in the direction of where the voices were coming from.
Veni ad nos undecumque habitas.
Barging through the door led her to a cavernous chamber, its roof seeming to expand infinitely past the darkness. The only source of light was a faint crimson glow from the ground. There wasn’t much time to take in the sight before gunshots rang out against the catwalk she was standing on. Fran took cover behind one of the metal panels that lined the railings.
“You’re too late, knight.” A voice rang out on the overhead intercoms. “We may no longer have our leadership but we can always start again.”
Fidalitatem iusto Hesperia iurare.
With a frustrated growl, she kept low and sprinted to another panel to get a different angle. Once there, she stood up and braced the rifle onto the railing. As she thought, a summoning circle had been drawn. Its outline glowed red and at several points were Hesperian members in robes continuing the chant. Stopping the ritual would’ve been as simple as spraying them down, had it not been for the rest of the guards laying cover fire against her. There were even some in riot gear, utilizing shields. Fran tried it anyway, picking one of the groups and letting out several controlled bursts.
Those taking part in the chant were unharmed thanks to the guards with riot shields moving to protect them. Though the chant did falter ever so slightly.
“Focus on my voice.” Their leader said through the intercom.
Hanc potestatem ignotam hic vocamus ut sub voluntate nostra vinctetur.
The added power of the intercom system reigned in their voices and kept the ritual going, even with the gun shots echoing through the chamber.
Fran ducked back into cover as the guards pin pointed her position and kept the cover fire going. She leaned against the metal plate, trying to come up with a new plan. Looking down at her holster, it held two more magazines for her rifle and the rest of the slots held the glass balls of lighter fluid.
From the guard’s perspective, Fran had either disappeared or refused to return fire. For the moment, they simply aimed their weapons to the last place she’d been in order to conserve ammo.
Each ancient word chanted felt like an hour as they tried to anticipate her next move. Their concentration wasn’t helped by the ritual ramping up. The glowing lines outlining the runes to summon the unknown entity were nearly blinding, and from them, tendrils of colorful electricity began to spark.
Even though they were supposed to focus on taking out the Cydonian knight, the guards couldn’t resist a glance at the void black circle forming around the center of the summoning circle. It was nearly impossible to resist when pillars of that same void slowly began to snake up into the air.
At this point, even the summoners looked up as the darkness above them started to resemble the night sky from the countryside. Dozens of stars dotted the new roof slash sky, with the dust of nebulae as their background.
The display of this foreign summon was so alluring, that no one had noticed Fran re-entering the chamber from a lower catwalk. With her holster in hand, she flung the remaining glass balls of lighter fluid out into the open.
The fragile projectiles shattered both on the ground and onto the guards. This finally broke them out of their trance, though not in time to react to Fran firing her rifle in a wide arc.
A sweeping line of fire erupted along the ground which lit several guards and chanting members ablaze. From the chaos, the summoning circle and the night sky flickered. The ancient words were said with less confidence and even outright silent as they lost cohesion.
A single large crack formed in the sky, along with a warped shriek.
No one was able to react as it blew apart in a shockwave which threw everyone to the ground. In its place, smoke covered most of the room along with dust of all colors mixed together.
Fran let out a pained groan, having been thrown back against the railing. A pulsing pain emanated from her side from where she was hit.
Stumbling back up to her feet, she looked around for where her weapon was. Or she would’ve. As the smoke dissipated, her and every Hesperian member’s gaze were drawn to the… Thing in the center of the chamber.
At first, it was confused to be a portal into space. But portals didn’t have legs, or arms, and they most certainly did not hold a cup of tea in their hand.
Fran practically froze in place as the entity moved, and she was able to get a look at its face.
Complete and utter confusion from its gray eyes, equal to everyone else. Everyone except the leader who walked into the room with a triumphant laugh. “Finally! A dragon of our own, I didn’t believe I’d see the day.” His voice kicked some sense back into Fran, who ducked to the ground. Finding her weapon, she slowly moved towards it.
“Uhm…” The entity’s voice was soft, as if it was in a library. Though it still easily outmatched the leader’s.
“I would start asking for mercy, knight.” They said in an arrogant tone. “Not that we would even listen.”
Fran grabbed the rifle and peaked past the metal cover. Her brow furrowed seeing the entity blow on the cup of tea, they even took a sip afterwards. Was that part of the summon?
“There’s a pest on the second level catwalk, kill them.” The leader said. She tightly gripped the assault rifle, knuckles turning white.
Always love to see more of this completely unknown space entity, and am even more honored that he's gracing one of my favorite stories with his presence!
The final part of the 'four but really actually we both needed a fifth prompt whoops' with @lorichu
A continuation of A Dollar More and No Quarter
Previous: Shell
CW: JOB INTERVIEW
Carter had his head turned away and right arm blocking his vision to shield himself. The gunshot crackled through the air and echoed throughout the desert. When it was silent, he slowly looked down on himself. His clothes didn’t have any holes, and he didn’t feel any sort of pain.
Turning forward, he was met with a black outstretched wall of fabric. It moved upwards, the light revealing black gloved fingers connected to a hand, connected to the towering figure which cast a sharp glare upon his would be killer. The same hand that had pinned him, suffocated him, and dislocated his shoulder. And now, the same one to save his life.
“S-Sorry Nyx.” The gunman said with a sheepish grin. “I didn’t know he was with you.”
The giant didn’t respond and simply directed their attention to Carter, who was still dumbstruck at what just happened. She exhaled and reached down, offering the knuckle of her index finger and thumb. It took him a moment to process that she wanted to give him a hand, or more accurately just two fingers.
He grabbed her knuckle and she gently pressed down with her thumb. Nyx only needed to tilt her wrist upward to pull him back up, to which Carter dusted himself off.
The lead of the group urged his horse toward the two. “You got a mount? I have a feeling the boss is gonna want a word with you.”
“Yeah I have one.” Carter said, using a two finger whistle to call for his horse.
After about a minute and no indication of approaching hooves, he tried again. “Just give it a minute.” Carter said, trying again.
“This the guy who freed you?” The lead said to Nyx with a raised brow, with her letting out a scoff and looking away.
It would be a few moments until his horse finally showed up, casually trotting over with no sense of urgency. “See? Got it.” Carter climbed on, and followed the group out into the desert.
Within the center of the encampment below the massive canyon was a building that served a vital role in coordinating the company’s operations. At the top floor was the office of the man controlling all of it, who was seated at a maple wood desk.
He’d been informed about a visitor, a matter usually left with his lower lieutenants. Given the unique nature of what they did however, he figured that a personal meeting would be best.
The doors opened, and he looked up from the stack of papers he was working on. Of all the kinds of people to walk in, Carter did not fit the description of what he expected.
“So you’re the reason why I get to keep my most valuable asset.” He said, standing up. “Beckett Whithers, I run the arms supply in this region.”
“Uh, Carter Dutton. Bounty hunter.” Walking further into the office, he looked around, unsure if he was permitted to sit. Beckett simply motioned at the two chairs in front of his desk, and Carter sat down. “I actually worked accounting for the company that you wiped out a week ago.”
An amused expression formed on his face. “I hope you didn’t take it personal, I prefer no competition.” Beckett said. “I’ll cut straight to the chase, I’m sure you’re a busy man. You are owed, and I am very grateful for what you’ve done. Nyx… Shit I don’t where this company would be without her.” He sighed. “What is it you want?”
Carter straightened up, this kind of talk was home for him. “I’d like to work for you.”
“That so?” Beckett leaned back a bit into his chair. “I suppose our current accountant wouldn’t mind having the work split.”
“Not that sir, I don’t want to push paper.” He said, leaning forward and resting his arms on his knees.
A small grin lit Beckett’s face as his head tilted slightly. “How many bounties have you brought in?”
“None sir.” The confidence in Carter’s tone confused him, but he was still intrigued.
“Alright… Then why should I have you out there?” He asked.
Carter took a moment to respond. “When I worked accounting for my old job, it wasn’t just numbers. It was making the numbers work, and solving problems.” He said, looking to Beckett to see if he understood what he was getting at. The man motioned for him to continue. “That’s what I’m good at. I can’t shoot for shit, and I’ve never killed anyone before. But you put me in front of a problem and I will make it disappear. Instead of sending an army towards a problem and getting back less munitions and men, you send me.”
He silently looked at him, gears turning behind his eyes. “That camp had a giant in it, if you sent your gun men they would’ve been wiped out. I went in alone and you got her back. That’s gotta mean something.” Carter stopped, trying to gauge a reaction from the man in front of him.
Beckett stared at him for a while before standing up, offering his hand to shake. He took that as him getting the job, though as he grabbed the hand, Carter was yanked towards his new boss. “Don’t disappoint me, problem solver.” Beckett whispered into his ear before letting go and sitting back down. “I’d hate for you to immediately get shot to bits your first week, so you’ll be riding with Nyx. She’ll make sure you don’t get yourself killed, and that you actually are useful.” He said with a grin, opening up his arms as a welcome. “Welcome to Jack Manufacturing.”
The plan was fairly simple, at least in Carter’s head. Frank still called him a fool but he was used to it at this point. He even had a backup if things didn’t go exactly as planned.
The bounty hunter had again gone to one of the bigger towns to pick up another bounty, and of course to get to Nyx he selected the highest possible one. For one hundred and twelve thousand dollars. It was an eye watering amount especially since he’d have to essentially willingly give it up to the giant in order to get favor. And that was hinging on him having to actually catch the guy first. If he couldn’t, he’d simply have to follow her around until an opportunity presented itself.
Carter put it out of his mind as the more he thought about it, the more holes formed in the plan and its backup. Instead, he focused on the abandoned town that had started to come into view over the horizon, just as the sun was setting down. According to local sources, the bounty was last seen heading in this cardinal direction. No one explicitly said they were taking shelter in the abandoned town, but he figured it was a good place to start.
Upon getting closer, he lightly tapped his boot against the horses’ side. Nearly half the town was wrecked, and not in the way that a lack of maintenance would do it. Some houses were just a pile of wood, the ground had numerous craters, and some plots were just erased. It was random, and most certainly not caused by humans or natural decay.
“Damn.” He muttered, lightly flicking the reins to have the horse go into town. Nyx had already been there, and it seemed the bounty put up some serious struggle before inevitably being caught. Carter followed the trail of destruction up until the other side of town. From there he stopped, brow furrowed in confusion.
Outstretching from the town were dozens of different tracks from horses all the way to a larger one that he couldn’t quite identify. “Must’ve brought the calvary for this one.” He said to himself, looking back. The other way was to the closest town that accepted bounty captures and paid for them. He figured the giant must’ve been taking them to wherever they were holed up. Even if he couldn’t get the bounty now, some information about Nyx could be acquired which still was useful to him.
He urged the horse forward, riding into the upcoming night.
The darkness didn’t help his tracking, but based on the last half hour of sunlight he had, Nyx’s group was traveling in a straight line. He just prayed that would be the case and that he wasn’t gonna end up in a part of the desert that would be too far from any town.
That was answered by faint lights in the distance, and Carter gave a relieved sigh. Getting closer revealed that there were tall almost mountainous dunes surrounding the town. He decided to go up in order to get a better feel for the place, much to the displeasure of his horse.
Once at the top, he dismounted and took out a pair of binoculars from his satchel. It only took a single look for a curse to leave his mouth. “You gotta fuckin kiddin me.”
In the center of town, was a bound up and gagged Nyx. Hovering over her was another giant, armed with an axe.
He put the binoculars away, staring silently before letting out a disbelieving laugh. “Oh, that’s just great. I guess I outta be thankful!” He said to himself, pacing around in circles. “There’s the favor Carter, literally saving her life! All you gotta do is take out a few dozen armed guys who most certainly can shoot straighter than you and a fuckin giant!” Carter kicked a bunch of sand in frustration.
It would take him a few moments to calm down at his astronomically terrible luck. He took in some breaths and let out a groan. Carter checked his revolver, fully loaded. He then looked over to his horse. “What do you think?” The bounty hunter asked.
The horse simply stared at him, letting out a snort. “Yeah, probably shouldn’t even bother.” Carter holstered the revolver and took in another deep breath. Walking over to the edge of the dune, he put the binoculars up to his eyes again. He didn’t bother to observe the center of town where Nyx was bound, but rather the surroundings.
First, the outside. Like his former company’s town it was walled, however there was one key difference. One side had an opening for train tracks, likely for cargo and supplies. It was of course still well guarded but much easier than scaling a wall.
His binoculars then went over to the rooftops. “Huh… Fancy.” Some of the buildings had cannons stationed on top, and he recognized those particular models. An overseas import that was highly sought after. Instead of using cannon balls, it used shells. No gunpowder to pack and no stuffing the ball. Just load and shoot.
That in particular caught his attention, bullets technically can harm giants. But it was only with concentrated fire or thousands of rounds expended to actually fatally wound them. He didn’t have such luxuries, but a single explosive shot was a different story. There was the problem of the two guards at the cannon but that was a problem for the Carter that actually made it inside.
A distant low roar of a whistle drew his attention outside of the town, where a train was slowly approaching the entrance. “Shit.” He ran and hopped onto his horse, frantically flicking the reins and guiding it down the dunes.
“C’mon.” Carter urged the horse as it charged towards the train. He kept a hand on his hat as the horse made a sharp turn next to the train, matching its speed.
Once they had gotten to the gap between the cars he jumped off, wincing as his side caught a side railing. With a groan he stood back up and pressed himself against the flat edge of the car. The train had slowed down, slowly entering through the gap in the walls. The guards paid no mind, the supply runs were so routine that they didn’t bother to check for stowaways.
The train car shuddered as it came to a complete stop, and Carter began to panic as workers rushed over to unload the cargo. Looking down, he realized the gap between the two cars was just barely wide enough for him to slip under. Before the workers could realize there was an intruder on board, he was down on his stomach on the tracks.
As they unloaded supplies, Carter looked around for any openings. On the other side of the train, he realized that there weren’t as many people. Given how big the town was, there had to be at least a hundred working there. He crawled to a part of the train that had enough space for him to slip out. Dusting himself off he simply walked away as if he was just another guard. The other workers hardly paid him a glance, the dim lighting around the buildings helped keep his cover as well.
With Carter now inside, he needed to figure out how to get rid of the gunner and guard next to the cannon. Disregarding the fact that firing a gun would alert anyone, he wasn’t confident in his shooting, even within ass kissing range.
The building which had the artillery cannon was coming just up ahead, and it seemed to be an ordinary tavern. He headed to the alleyway behind and accessed the back door. Inside was the store room, offering various tools and other alternative means of dealing with people. Carter spent a good bit looking around to see what he could use, though nothing was really coming to mind.
Until he found bottles of bourbon and some matches.
His head turned to the bottle of bourdon, then to the crate of matches. It then occurred to him that maybe he didn’t need to fight them, or at least one of them.
Carter grabbed the bottle and wrapped some fabric around it. He then went outside into the alley and spotted a bit of dry weeds creeping out the edge of the building. Lighting the fabric on fire, he threw the bottle at it. Upon shattering, drops of aflamed liquid ignited the bush into a small fire.
With that done, he headed inside and started rushing up the stairs. Above several floors, an annoyed voice could be heard descending. Carter ducked into a nearby hallway on his floor, just in time to avoid the guard rapidly heading down the stairs to investigate the fire. That left only the gunner.
Once on the roof, he saw the gunner leaning over the edge above the alleyway. The set up was perfect and Carter was shocked that a plan that he personally put together was actually going smoothly. He quietly and very slowly made his way to the gunner. The man was none the wiser when something pushed his back and he fell down. The guard attempting to beat at the fire with a broom barely looked up as the gunner fell right on top of him, instantly knocking him out.
Carter didn’t waste time rushing over to the artillery cannon, though didn’t immediately do anything. Staring at it, he realized that he was missing one crucial detail. “...How the hell does this thing work.” There was a small crate next to him, and atop it was a notebook which read ‘Field Manual’. “Oh.”
He took the notebook and skimmed through it, eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. It talked about trajectories, angles, and many numbers were present. “Oh now we're talking.” With a giddy grin Carter began to set up the cannon. First he picked up the lifting handle at the back and aimed the cannon at the giant standing over Nyx.
Next was the height of the barrel, which he adjusted according to the distance and other factors listed by the manual. He checked the sliding breach and confirmed a shell was loaded. All that was left was to actually fire, to which he paused.
At the current moment, the cannon was aimed at the giant’s head. A direct hit would kill it, he was confident in that. If it hit in the first place. That possibility nagged him as the giant wasn’t standing completely still, the head moved occasionally.
Looking down, the torso was also an option. It was the easiest target, it was broad and even if it moved, the shell moved fast enough to guarantee a direct hit. The only problem was it would only hurt.
Carter was stuck between either a guaranteed hit or a guaranteed kill, with no option containing both. He looked at Nyx, still bound to rope. It was there he realized that the actual choice lay in who he trusted to take down the giant. Himself, or Nyx.
He made his decision by angling the barrel lower, and yanking the lanyard attached to the trigger.
As the blast from the muzzle blew back the hat on his head, the shell rocketed out the smoking barrel. The shot wasn’t perfect, Carter was aiming center mass for his chest. But the deviation in path still worked out as the shell slammed into the giant’s shoulder and erupted into a ball of flame.
The giant stumbled slightly and panicked shouts could be heard as Nyx looked around, equally confused. It only lasted a second before she kicked her bound feet at the giant’s shins, knocking him down to the ground.
Carter trusted she’d get the job done and focused on getting himself out of harm’s way. This would prove to be a challenge as the other artillery guns stationed on rooftops noticed where the shot had come from. “Uh oh.”
He ran and dove to the ground as an artillery shell turned his cannon into a twisted wreck. The force of the explosion tossed it off the rooftop and lodged it halfway above the alley. Carter scrambled back to his feet and quickly ran to the stairwell to head down the stairs.
Distant shockwaves and the earth violently shaking told him that Nyx had freed herself. Which was good. What irked him in the back of his mind was that at any point, the fight could move to where he was, and he’d be flattened without even seeing it coming.
Carter placed that pleasant thought out of his mind and kept going down the stairs. To his surprise, no one else was rushing to the building he was in. Instead, horses and other townspeople ran like hell in the opposite direction. He decided to also follow that line of thinking and burst out the door as if he were just one of them.
The sound of buildings being blown apart and the intensified voice of the giant fighting Nyx pushed him to run faster. Given that he left his horse near the train tracks, Carter ran to where the train was stationed. As he was about to run to the opening, he turned towards the other end of the tracks which led to the opposite side of town.
The giant had pinned Nyx down atop the tracks, hands on her neck as he attempted to strangle her. She was attempting to pry him off but nothing was working, and Carter stood staring with wide eyes. He didn’t have a cannon anymore, and his revolver would just annoy it. Looking to his left at the steam locomotive and back at the two, an idea formed in his head. A really stupid one, and that was coming from Carter.
He ran over to the steam engine and entered the engineer’s compartment, where he was greeted with a number of dials, switches, and levers. Carter had no idea how steam engines worked, only that they could explode if mishandled. Given that his knowledge about the machine in front of him was that it moved forward if fed coal, he was perfect for the job.
Carter grabbed a shovel and opened the furnace door. From there, he started shoving as much coal as he could. However, the train still didn’t move. “Uhhhh…” The bounty hunter started pulling random levers, some of which resulted in the dials going in the red zone. The train did start moving and he peeked out the window to check on Nyx who was now barely putting up a fight.
Various pipes within the cab began to burst, with steam flaring out. He took this as a sign to dive out and winced as he landed on the shoulder which Nyx dislocated days ago.
Carter looked up in time to see the steam engine ram into the giant’s hand, lightly scratching it.
He thought it would do more damage… And he was right.
The front of the steam engine simply ceased to exist. One moment, it was a circular metallic cylinder containing a network of piping hot steam and smoke. The next, it was a mangled mess of twisted pipes with burning steam razing the immediate area of the explosion.
The giant’s hands bore the majority of the explosion, the skin reddening and blistering as they instinctively let go of her throat. Mostly unharmed, Nyx’s head flew upward and delivered a hard blow to his nose. She then kicked his stomach and sent him flying back into the town’s walls, reducing them to splinters.
She stood up, and Carter could’ve sworn her eyes were glowing with how the light from nearby fires were reflected in her pupils. Nyx looked down at the train, and then to him momentarily. His body went into shock and froze. Her hand reached down, but not for him.
The sound of her picking the blown apart engine was like listening to bacon being cooked as her gloves were burned off and the skin made contact with the hot metal.
Carter watched wide eyes as she slowly stalked towards the downed giant, seemingly uncaring that her hands were burning. Before he could get up, Nyx knelt down and shoved the mess of pipes into his throat, piercing it in several places. The giant couldn’t even scream as he both burned and suffocated to death.
He flinched as the steam engine was tossed aside, demolishing another section of walls. Everyone else had the sense to leave, with only Carter and the giant in front of him. She turned and looked in his direction. He didn’t bother moving as she slowly approached and knelt down in front of him. Carter knew it would be pointless, but nonetheless the urge remained under her relentless glare.
Horse hooves stole their attention from each other as a dozen or so riders came into the settlement. “Hey Nyx.” One of them casually greeted, eyes flitting to Carter. “Oh, you left a straggler.” He raised his rifle and fired at Carter’s head.
Final prompt on mine and @gtypewriter's list, that being Tactic. While it might be the last prompt, there's also a little epilogue coming next week. Thanks for reading!
Carter’s pained scream echoed off of the four buildings in Oatman as the bartender set his shoulder back into its place. “Oh quit yer bellyaching and be happy it was only dislocated.” He huffed. As the bounty hunter leaned against the counter in his seat, the bartender went back to his place behind it. “Do I bother asking how it went-”
“Shit.” Carter grumbled. “It went shit.”
The bartender nodded, grabbing a damp towel from a bucket beneath the bar. “Clean yourself up.” He said, handing over the towel. Carter gave a confused look. “In the back, I think there’s some spare clothes that’ll fit ya.” The look remained. “Go on. I’ll have a drink waiting and no it ain’t going on your tab. No point adding to it if you don’t have the paper to pay.”
“Frank you don’t have to-”
“Just go, I hate having corpses in my bar and you’re pretty damn close to one at this point.” The bartender said.
Carter gave an amused scoff, standing up with a wince. “Thanks…” He muttered, hopping off the seat and heading to the backroom.
It wouldn’t take long for him to freshen up. A new shirt and pants was already an improvement but the water trough at the back really elevated his look. To the point where he no longer had the appearance of someone who had dragged themselves through the desert for days on end. Besides the physical, the cleanse also refreshed his mind. A relieved breath left him as he wiped the hair out of his face with a piece of cloth. After the failure that was his first bounty, or rather lack there of, he didn’t realize how much he needed this.
Stepping out of the backroom and back to the bar, he sat at the counter. Frank’s eyes lit up slightly. “Hey, you actually look alive.” The bartender slid him a glass of whiskey.
“Feel like it too.” Carter replied. He took the glass and had a sip
Frank nodded, leaning his side on the counter. “Y’know I was expecting either you to come in with a gunshot, black eye, or just dead on my doorstep. A dislocated shoulder is an odd one. How'd you even manage that?”
Carter didn’t bother to answer the question yet. Instead, he opted to down the entire glass first. “That god damn giant, Next.”
“Nyx.”
“Whatever her god damn name is, she was there!” He snapped. “I almost had the sunnuva bitch too, he was cornered no where to go. She just had to come in and snatch him.” Carter replied, looking at Frank who was giving him a suspicious side eye. “What?”
“You had him?” He asked with a raised brow.
Carter remained quiet for a moment before hesitantly responding. “...Yeah.”
“How?” Frank didn’t waste any time in responding, having a feeling the story he was being given was a bit different from the truth.
“Well…” He paused again, idly swirling his glass even though there wasn’t any whiskey inside. “I found him in an alley and held him at gun point.”
The bartender nodded. “And…?”
He finally failed to keep up the fantasy that was a perfect bounty capture foiled by the giant. “And I shot him six times and missed every single one.” Carter admitted with a grumble.
From the continued silence, Frank figured that he wouldn’t get more out of Carter. Though he didn’t have to, putting the rest of the pieces together all on his own. “You’re getting your feathers ruffled about her when she technically saved your life? I mean she could’ve just turned you into a sheet of red wet cloth right then and there for trying to steal her bounty.”
“I didn’t know it was her bounty!” Carter bit back.
“How much was that bounty?” Frank quickly responded.
He gave a confused scoff. “It was a hundred grand, why’s that matter?”
“Boy you don’t think the deadliest bounty hunter roaming these deserts would waste their time on small fish?” Frank pointed out. “With her size and skill, why in all hells would she go for a bounty less than ten grand. And why in the hell did you go for the biggest one? You’re new at this!”
Carter listened with the attitude of a child being scolded for a wrong doing that they almost certainly committed. “I thought I had the gear for it.” He mumbled under his breath.
“And you don’t got no skills to use em.” Frank said, setting down the glass which had been already clean for god knows how long. “It’s like putting me when I first started bar tending in a city bar. It don’t matter I got them fancy glasses and mixers. I’d still be shit. What got me started was my old man, taught me every little thing about being behind this counter. From tending to drinks, to tending to people.”
He looked at Frank with a tired expression and simply tapped the counter next to his glass. Preferring more whiskey than monologues. The bartender scoffed and grabbed the bottle. As he poured the drink, Carter’s eyes lit up abruptly, the same way they did when he got the bright idea to become a bounty hunter with no prior experience in any kind of capacity for that particular career.
And like last time, it didn’t take Frank that long to deduce his plan. “No.”
“Oh c’mon what do you mean no? I haven’t said anything yet.” Carter said.
“It’s an even worse idea than you taking up bounty hunting in the first place, why in the hell would she even bother helping you?” Frank said. “For one, she did a mighty big favor leaving you alive, she didn’t have to do that. Two, in her eyes, you tried to take her bounty. And she even let you leave without anything broken.”
“But my shoulder-”
“Stop whinin, it was only dislocated.” Frank interrupted with narrowed eyes. “Way I see it, you’re the one owing to her. So you can pay her back by staying out of her business.”
A frustrated sigh left Carter. “C’mon Frank I gotta give this one more shot. And after that… Yeah I’ll call it quits.” He bitterly muttered, taking a sip of his refilled drink.
The bartender seemed satisfied with that deal. “Alright.” He slipped the bottle back under the counter. “What do ya need to know?”
Carter took a moment to think, idly swirling the drink in his glass. “The organization that Nyx works for, how’d they even get her to work for them in the first place?” He asked. “I mean, they don’t use money, at least I don’t think. I mean maybe by force but like you said, most just went away when it got too crowded in this region.”
The bartender nodded. “You’d be correct on both. Most of the time, giants are employed willingly but they’re very particular.” He grabbed a glass. “Giants are honorbound, we pass favors like they’re nothing but it’s different from them.”
Carter tilted his head slightly. “How so?”
“Well, giants are an independent people. You’ll never find more than one giant in an area unless they don’t know about each other. Lone wolves, some people call em. Very prideful about it too, they live alone because that’s just how they like it.” Frank explained. “So when they get in a spot of trouble that they can’t help themselves out, and someone comes along and helps them, that action needs to be repaid in full.”
“This Nyx giant from what you’ve told me before has been working for them for a while though.” Carter pointed out.
“Then with whatever trouble she found herself in, she deemed it necessary for an honorbound contract to last this long. I’d figure it was life threatening.” Frank shrugged.
The bounty hunter sat in his seat leaned against the counter for a while, looking down and eyeing the wood colored liquid as it sloshed around in the glass. “So if I want her help, she’s gotta owe me?” He casually said.
Frank scoffed. “Yeah, good luck with that. Sharp shooter.”
Unlike Oatman, the town of Tombstone was very much on most maps and well known. Both for its name and the kind of crowd it attracted. Not many honest people decided to settle in a town named after the thing that marked one’s grave.
So it didn’t surprise Carter in the slightest that his bounty had last been sighted there, and for the most part it didn’t worry him. He worked with that kind of crowd before, being formerly employed by the now defunct weapons distribution company. In fact, his raggedy appearance played perfectly for him. Had he wore his preferred semi-formal dress of a button shirt and vest, most locals would’ve seen a sign above his head reading ‘please rob and kill me’.
He arrived on horseback at the edge of town, just as the sun got to its midpoint. The former accountant, now bounty hunter, had spent the prior day salvaging whatever was left from the ruined town that his company used to call its headquarters. Much to his surprise, there were rich pickings. Plenty of weapons, ammo, and even a few horses. From that, he was able to deduce two things. One, the giant had only been dispatched to put them out of operation and only for that purpose. Whoever employed them wasn’t interested in the exotic weapons they had managed to accrue, which left the second observation. The giant’s employers were already well fitted, and potentially a big player in the desert. And yet Carter had never heard of them.
But for now, he chalked it up as possibly the worst stroke of luck and moved on. His primary concern was with navigating a town full of gunmen, scoundrels, and the kinds of people you really wouldn’t want to encounter at night.
His horse trotted down the main street towards the tavern and he decided to start there. Carter dismounted the horse at a stable a few buildings down and tied it up. A short walk and he was inside the crowded saloon. The patrons there were familiar, more or less the same he’d find at the saloon he’d frequent at the company town. The only difference was that he wasn’t just there to drink a corner and go unnoticed. Carter needed information.
He took an empty spot on the counter. “Gin.” Carter muttered, with the bartender nodding. So far so good, and upon receiving his drink, decided to start. He reached into his satchel and pulled out a bounty poster, laying it onto the counter.
After the bartender had finished serving another customer, they came over and looked down at the poster with a blank look. Carter was about to ask about the pictured man but was stopped as the bartender held up an index finger. He then nodded to the people sitting next to him, to which Carter followed.
The customers sitting to his left and right had casually placed their revolvers on the table, side-eying him with a not so friendly look.
“...Noted.” Carter simply said, rolling up the poster and stashing it into his satchel. He moved his hand to the glass to finish his drink. Though before he could even take a sip, the two customers shifted in their seats to fully face him. Their hands were now planted on their guns. Not fully drawn but enough for Carter to understand the message. He promptly sat up and left the saloon.
Once Carter was outside, he mentally kicked himself. Why did he think in a town of criminals, any one of them would be a snitch? It was one of the core foundations of that line of work.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, he started aimlessly going about town, wondering how he’d get the information he needed without talking to anyone. Or forcing someone to talk. Carter wasn’t exactly an intimidating person, and the gun didn’t exactly elevate that either. Just about everybody and their mother had a gun in this town.
Carter nearly threw the towel in, having been practically down every street. He was headed to the stable and paused seeing a familiar figure straight ahead a few buildings down. Snatching the poster from his satchel, he looked at the man then back at the picture. It was him.
Turning his head back to the bounty, he saw that they ducked into an alleyway. Carter shoved the poster into the satchel and took off after him. He also took out the revolver from his hip holster, there was no doubt that his bounty would be armed.
Carter turned into the alley, with his target being about halfway across. He sprinted down to close some distance before stopping and aiming his gun at the bounty. “Stop right there!” To his surprise the man actually stopped. “I want you step back towards me, you do anything other than that-”
His bounty turned around and reached for their holster.
“God damn it.” Carter repeatedly pulled the trigger and fired off six shots. The bounty flinched and in the following silence stood completely still. He looked down and didn’t see any holes in his clothes nor any splotches of blood. He felt his chest and didn’t feel any sharp pain. His gaze then turned to Carter, who was staring with wide eyes and with an empty weapon.
The bounty didn’t waste time drawing his own revolver and Carter didn’t waste any ducking behind a barrel as two shots flew overhead. “You fuckin dumbass, you actually had me worried there for a second!” He loudly laughed, slowly stepping towards him.
Carter silently cursed while pulling out more bullets from his satchel to reload. His trembling fingers didn’t exactly help the process as the rounds struggled to align with the cylinders. However, he completely froze feeling the slightest tremor. Then another.
“You should run while you still can.” Carter called out, trying to move out of cover. He was met with two shots coming dangerously close to his head, forcing him back behind the barrel again.
“Yeah that would be advantageous for you, now wouldn’t it?” The bounty said with a smug tone, getting closer to the barrel. “I bet you’re regretting coming here, ain’t ya?”
The tremors were now too frequent and intense to ignore, and the bounty paused as well. “Yeah…” Carter grumbled, sitting against the barrel and hitting his head against it.
The man finally put two and two together, realizing that someone much worse and competent was after him. Holstering his weapon, he began running down to the other alleyway entrance.
Carter was too paralyzed to make any sort of move, knowing how mobile the giant could be. For the moment, he decided it was pointless to run and so he simply watched. Peaking past the barrel, he watched as his bounty continued to sprint down it. Maybe the guy would make it.
That hope came crashing down, quite literally, in the form of a horse carriage falling onto the alley exit. The twisted wooden wreck blocked one of two ways out, and before he could even try the other, a shadow darkened his part of the alley.
All Carter could see was a black blur shoot into the alley and snatch what was going to be his payday from the very ground. His distant scream and the subsequent silence that followed compelled him to run. Now that the giant was busy, this was probably the only opportunity for him to leave.
He got up and sprinted down the alley. It was still quiet and he figured there was a good chance for him to get out of town without being spotted. Carter preferred to avoid another encounter, especially since he told the giant that he’d never hurt anybody before or held a gun. Granted, even if he did have a gun now, it wasn’t as if he used it to great effect.
Upon exiting the alley, a sigh of relief escaped him. Followed by a full body impact as he was thrown to the side several feet.
The hit took the air right out of his lungs, and he gasped while trying to reorient himself. As he pushed himself up on his arms, the area around him was cast in darkness.
“Oh shit.” The same black blur that had made his bounty disappear crashed onto him, pinning the bounty hunter against the ground. He noted the pressure seemed to only be for the intent of restraint as he could somewhat breathe. Still, having a gloved hand the size of a mattress did not bring him any comfort.
His eyes squinted as he looked up, unable to discern a face. That was until her head moved in closer and blocked it out.
That night, when the giant had attacked, he didn’t really get a good look at her. All he saw was this massive moving black shadow that left death and destruction in its wake, and nearly included him in her list of casualties.
In his mind it was hard to just call her a giant now or some other analogous term. She wore a black stetson, a staple of any desert traveler. Along with the mask covering the bottom half of her face, long almost silk like black hair covered a bit of her eyes. Ignoring the hand atop him, the scene almost looked ordinary.
‘God she’s pretty…’ Carter thought, which quickly disappeared as the eyes narrowed into a sharp and very much annoyed glare. ‘Uh oh’
He looked as the hand lifted slightly, with her thumb being planted on his left shoulder. A scream left him as an abrupt pressure was applied, accompanied by a distinct ‘pop’ sound. The pain spread down into his left arm, and even though the hand had lifted, he struggled to get up. Carter was completely focused on how he could barely move his left arm and when he did, it felt like it was on fire.
His gaze had shifted to the shoulder, which definitely looked misaligned. “Oh god.” He groaned, reaching over with his still good arm.
Carter flinched as the hand returned, though this time it didn’t pin him down. He froze as the pad of her index finger rested on his cheek, ever so slightly pushing against his head to turn it towards her. It then moved lower, cupping his chin and directing his gaze upwards.
Their eyes were forced to meet, wide fearful ones against a narrowed pair. He began to panic as his other shoulder was pinched by another set of fingers. They squeezed. It was uncomfortable, but nothing broke.
The giant moved her hands away and stood, with Carter having to crane his neck as he looked up. With one final glare, she turned away and walked off.
The town of Oatman remained more or less stuck in time, and when Carter had left, nothing had happened. In the most literal sense. No visitors, no noteworthy news, not even town gossip. The general supply store and saloon remained fairly empty, apart from their owners and merchandise.
The bartender was again polishing glass that was already clean when a bloodied man with a dislocated shoulder stumbled inside.
This is a continuation of A Dollar More and No Quarter
Oatman was the kind of place that served as a rest stop for those lost between towns. Having only a general supply store, tavern, and a few beaten up houses for those who manned those buildings. It was hardly big enough to be marked on most maps, and yet it was a life saver for the ones lost in the desert. Such as the bloodied and exhausted man who stumbled into the tavern desperate for a drink.
The bartender was leaning against the counter cleaning glasses. The glasses were clean, spotless actually. But with how many people frequented the town, there left very little to do. “What can I do ya for-” The bartender looked at the figure, eyes lighting up with recognition and concern. “God almighty Carter you’re a corpse!” He set the glass down and dipped the rag in a bucket of water. As Carter sat down at the stool, the bartender wiped his forehead of the grime and red splotches.
“Strongest please.” The accountant asked. “Might have to start a tab, I’m not employed anymore.”
“Oh hell what did you to piss them off? Ya had a good thing going.” He huffed, wiping off a few more spots before going behind the bar to start on his drink.
Carter sighed, resting his arms on the counter. “It’s more like who my boss pissed off. The whole operation got wiped off the god damn map. There’s nothing left.”
The bartender set aside the rag and grabbed a bottle of whiskey. “Everything’s gone? How’d that happen? Didn’t y'all have all those guns and fancy weapons?”
“Did absolutely nothing to a giant.” He scoffed. “God damn thing showed up out of nowhere and before I knew it everyone was dead including the sunnuva bitch that pays me.” Carter said as the bartender slid him a glass of whiskey. He graciously took the glass and took a swig. “Didn’t even think they were real.”
“Oh they’re real alright.” The bartender said, keeping the bottle on the counter. He had a feeling Carter would need more. “Real pieces of work too, but I’d be too if I was being pushed away from home.”
The accountant looked at him with a confused expression. “What do you mean?”
“All this land used to belong to giants, till we came along.” The bartender explained. “Started setting shop everywhere, building towns. This desert used to be a big place but with all us around it became a lot smaller and we started seeing em more often. And more often than not, people wanted them gone, and to a certain extent people made it happen.”
“How? I mean the one I saw killed all of us and don’t seem like it broke much of a sweat.” Carter said, moving his glass next to the bottle.
“If a rat ran up to ya and tried to kill ya, what would you ya do?” The bartender asked, leaning against the counter.
Carter looked at him with a raised brow, pausing to see if it was a serious question. The next moment of silence indicated it was, and so he responded. “I’d just kick it, stomp it if I was wearing a boot I didn’t care about.”
“How about if a hundred came to do the job?” This time, he was left speechless. “A thousand?”
“Alright alright I get it.” Carter replied, taking another sip of his drink. “You seem to know a lot about them, do you know any particular giants?” He asked.
The bartender didn’t have an immediate answer and while thinking about it, he took a glass to absentmindedly clean. Even though it didn’t have a single spot on it. “Not many, again, they’re pretty rare. I heard stories, rumors that some work for certain companies and rogue organizations such as the one you used to be employed by.” He paused. “Gimme a description, maybe I know em.”
Carter nodded and he shuddered slightly, thinking back to that night. The scene of his boss's head being snapped backwards by the sheer power of a single finger replaying over and over again until he blinked back into reality. “They didn’t say a single word.” He muttered with a furrowed brow. “My boss asked them what they wanted but they didn’t say anything.”
“Well shit, you might just be the luckiest sunnuva bitch this way to the west coast.” The bartender whistled. “Not many survive being in the Night’s crosshare.”
Carter tilted his head up at the bartender with a confused look. “Come again?”
“The giant that wiped out the company you worked at, her name is Nyx. Old word for ‘Night’.” The bartender said. “Works for some shadow group out in the desert doing god knows what. Does their dirty work, and rakes in money by being the only bounty hunter out here with a spotless capture record. I’m pretty sure the state and other buyers have paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to her.”
At the mention of the amount of money, Carter’s attention sharpened. “That much?”
“Oh yeah, bounty hunting makes a lot.” The bartender replied. “They usually start in the hundreds of dollars and I’ve seen plenty go past a thousand. Of course, ya gotta get the bounties warm, not cold. You only get a quarter for a dead bounty.”
He was quiet for a bit, clearly thinking about something. That something worried the bar tender. “No.” He simply said.
“No? What do you mean no.” Carter said, sitting up straighter. “I haven’t even said anything.”
“I know what you’re thinking and I think it’s a terrible idea. Ya ain’t built for bounty hunting, yer built for numbers and pushing paper. Same way I’d be a terrible bounty hunter, I’m built for polishing glass and pouring drinks.” The bartender explained. “Where are you gonna get the gear for bounty hunting? Can’t even afford a drink here.”
“See you don’t know what I’m thinking.” Carter said with a smug grin. “This Nyx giant did destroy our town but I reckon there’s still some equipment there I can use. There’s probably guns and ammo left over from the dead guards. Probably some extra money too. I didn’t bother to stick around to get them because I was too terrified she’d be back to finish me off.”
“See that’s a wise decision, I can not say the same about the decision you’re about to make.” The bartender said with a sigh. “Take the loss, and just find work elsewhere.” From the sparkle in Carter’s eyes and the grin that hadn’t subsided, he figured that his advice would fall on deaf ears.
Here's a little something a wrote for @gtypewriter, featuring the characters Kane, Dr. Eliza Houghton, and Commander Cade from his Gatekeeper series in my story, Over the Wall. Enjoy!
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Living in Nettles had desensitized Jay to most of the sounds that went bump in the night, but the distantly rhythmic thump-thump on the front door couldn't be ignored for a second time. She wiggled her way out of Collin's sleep loosened grasp and crawled over to the center of his chest. Must like her, he'd grown accustomed to her tiny movements and adjustments, so she needed to put all of her strength into pushing against him with both of her hands.
"Collin!" Jay called out. "Someone's at the door!"
His still closed eyes pinched together, and a low, rolling groan rumbled beneath Jay as Collin woke up. Even half asleep, he knew better than to thoughtlessly move about and slowly brought one hand to his face to rub his eyes while the other went for Jay. Groggy fingers gently looped around her midsection and half carried, half nudged her into his shirt's chest pocket. Once she was inside, Collin carefully sat up and opened his eyes with the same haste as he swung his legs over the side of the bed to stand.
Collin made good use of the short walk through his house and paused for only a few seconds when he reached the door to put the last few scattered pieces of consciousness back in their proper places before engaging whoever was on the other side. The list of probable visitors at this hour was so short that he wasn't at all surprised when he found Chief Victor waiting for him.
"Evening, or maybe morning, Chief," Collin mumbled, his brain and body still struggling against their mismatched levels of functionality.
Victor chuckled. "Probably morning." He gave the younger Scout a quick once over and nodded to himself. "Is Ranger South with you?"
Taking his hand off the doorknob, Collin rested a few fingers over his pocket. "Is something wrong?"
Uncertainty was not an emotion the Chief wore lightly, and as he shook his head, he stepped backwards off Collin's short porch to gesture towards Trevor a few paces back. "Not entirely sure, but we're going to find out."
Vague and ominous as it was, Collin didn't need a further explanation to follow the Chief. He knelt down to fully tie his boots, then stepped out into the chilled, way too early morning air and shut the door behind him. Jay huddled against him when the wind picked up, but didn't raise any complaints about having her sleep cut short.
Their dedication to Nettles and its people came first.
In an interesting twist, Victor began walking away from the center of town instead of going towards it. Not missing a beat Collin followed, but his thoughts lingered on the decision. 'If not HQ, then where?' he mused, feeling Jay poke her head out of his pocket while not glancing down to engage with her. 'There's nothing but ruins and unsalvageable trash in that direction.' Still, he didn't argue or bother to raise a question. The Chief always had a reason for his choices and would wait for the right time to share them.
After they'd been walking in silence for a couple of minutes, Victor slowed his pace to allow the younger Scouts to fall into step beside him. His steeled gaze stayed locked ahead of him, though it was tilted slightly up at the night sky. "I received an anonymous tip about a half hour ago," Chief Victor began softly, "from a restricted internal line."
"Internal?" Trevor repeated, skipping ahead a step to avoid a jutting chunk of concrete. "Like, from inside Nettles?"
Victor shook his head. "Internal as in a different government department."
Having just caught his balance after tripping over a stick he didn't see in time, Collin lowered his hand from his pocket. "How do you know that? And aren't the towers and the Colonel the only ones with clearance to contact us?"
"All I can say for certain is that the code masking the number matched up with my records, and the woman I spoke with already knew who I was." Chief Victor's eyes grew distant, and he sighed quietly through his nose. "She called to tell me there was going to be, in her words, an unrequested and very much off the books delivery being made within the town borders. She also claimed it wasn't inherently dangerous or a threat to any of us, but that if we didn't get out ahead of the confusion, the situation could change very quickly."
Jay braced herself against the side of the pocket and folded her arms over the lip. 'Sounds like someone's trying to cover up a problem they don't want to deal with by dumping it on us.' Normally she had no problem chiming in with her two cents, but like this her words would just get lost if she didn't scream her throat raw. 'Whoever it is must've made their fair share of enemies if someone is willing to break protocol by contacting the Chief to subvert them.'
A quick cough got them back to attention, and Victor broadened his shoulders as he slowed to a more definite stop. They'd just crossed over the line of what was usually considered the town's "boarder", leaving them right on the edge of a wasteland of crumbled brick walls, rusted out shells of cars, and more grass than pavement. "The only other tidbit she gave me was that it would be an airdrop," Victor said with a huff. "Since this is meant probably to be a covert mission, they'll likely be armed to the teeth with stealth tech and sensors, meaning we should lie low until they're well out of range."
"Wait, so we're just gonna let them do it?!" Trevor blurted out. "Why the hell would-!"
Victor raised a hand, and the rant cut off. "Even if they have information about us, it is still our duty to keep ourselves hidden and protect Nettles. That much is our responsibility. Always has been." Years spread out like ripples around the Chief's eyes, and he gave a tired sigh. "Just because they're willing to abuse our secret doesn't mean I am."
Sound as the logic was, Trevor still wasn't satisfied. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth, only to be silenced once again by Collin lifting a hand into the air. This, however, was more of an alert than a deliberate hush, because Collin had raised a single finger. "Do you hear that?" he whispered.
Jay had. "Sounds like engines," she offered, straining to project her voice despite the obvious need for extra caution. "And not like a car, but turbines, on planes."
Nodding sternly, the Chief took a step backwards and pivoted in the same motion. "We need cover. Fan out but stay close."
Posting up behind the crumbling remains of a long-collapsed building's wall, Collin peered through a hole in the bricks as the sound got louder. A light tap on his chest shifted his gaze back down to Jay, who then directed him up at the sky. Large dark shapes blocked out the stars on this cloudless night. Together they followed the fleet of aircraft, and the cargo suspended beneath them, as they maneuvered over to the tree line. The squad made a sharp, helicopter like descent straight down, then released their cables to cut themselves free from the large wooden crate the four of them had been carrying. Free of the weight, they zipped off into the night without so much as a glance backwards. Mission accomplished.
Cloaked in darkness themselves, the Scouts and Chief silently crept out of hiding and formed a loose semicircle as they advanced. The crate itself hadn't moved, but they'd all seen subtle movement inside through the open top, which had caught their eye after the bold, blocky number "13" plastered on the side of the surprisingly thick walls. Despite all being completely unprepared to deal with any sort of major threat, they kept pace and didn't break stride. Whatever was in there, they'd handle it.
Two red pinpricks appeared in the shadows, their glow cutting through the dimness like a pair of spotlights. Their quick movements and the way they narrowed ever so slightly were warning enough, preparing the Scouts, Chief, and Ranger for when a humanoid form began lifting itself up. Clawed fingertips dug into the wood, leaving deep gauges in their wake as the being crawled out of the crate and dropped into a low, almost animalistic crouch.
Collin's guard lowered as his brain worked through what he was seeing. This was someone their size, from the outside. How was that possible? Why would anyone, much less the government, make more giants when they could barely begrudge themselves to take care of the ones they'd created by accident? What did this mean? What was going on?
Driven purely by his curiosity he kept walking forward, only to be forced to abruptly stop dead in his tracks when the new giant growled. This showed a mouth of sharp pointed fangs, mirroring their clearly powerful clawed hands and feet. They hunched lower, widening their stance in preparation to attack.
"You're scaring him." Jay's quiet statement punched through the tension thinned air, startling all of the giants.
Too many conflicting emotions had blended together to give Collin's snorted chuckle any sort of discernable flavor. "How exactly? We're unarmed and basically the same size?"
"Right," Jay replied shortly. "And how many people his size do you think he's seen?"
Trevor and Chief Victor muttered their agreements amongst themselves, but Collin wasn't biting. "Ok, so what're we supposed to do about that?"
"Put me down so I can talk to him."
Something somewhere inside Collin's brain snapped. "Absolutely not!" he barked. The new giant hunched lower to the ground and let out another cautionary growl. "Just look at him, Jay! He's a-"
"A what, Collin?" Jay'd flinched involuntarily at his volume, but it hadn't broken her resolve. "A monster? Like you?"
Collin's jaw clenched, transforming his voice into a rasping hiss. "Jacklyn..."
Doubling down, Jay puffed up her chest. "I don't need your permission, you know. I'm your colleague, not your subordinate."
She practically vaulted over the lip of the pocket and had already made it about halfway down Collin's shirt before his hands caught up with her. "Jesus, Jay. You're allowed to be stubborn, not stupid." It took no effort to break her grip as he gathered her up with a single hand, but instead of returning her to his pocket like he wanted, Collin lowered Jay to the ground and completely pulled back.
Her silent thanks were given in the form of a softer look, but once she turned her back to Collin, Jay was all business. Right away she noticed a change in their visitor. He looked calmer, but not in an at ease sort of way. This was confidence, pure and simple. The Scouts were an unknown he couldn't fully account for, but someone like Jay was clearly familiar territory, for better or worse. He knew he could handle anything she threw at him.
Stricken with a fresh dose of fear, Jay struggled to swallow it down and put on her simplest smile. "Hey, it's ok. A lot's happened, and you're confused. So are we, but we're not here to hurt you. No one has to get hurt for us to understand what's going on." It felt almost insane attempting to be a comforting presence to someone so much bigger, but Jay powered through. "I'm Jacklyn, or Jay for short. That's Collin," she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "and back there's Trevor and Victor." The air felt clearer, and it was easier to breathe in this simpler space. "Can I ask what your name is?"
By pulling his limbs in closer, the giant made a consorted effort to appear smaller. Perhaps even for Jay's benefit. "Kane," he murmured in a deep voice laced with a surprising amount of gentleness. "Where are we?"
The fact that he was willing to engage eased Jay's frantic heart. "It's nice to meet you, Kane, and we're on the outskirts of a town called Nettles."
Red eyes snapped open wide. "Nettles?" Kane repeated. "You mean it's a place?"
Chief Victor shuffled closer but made a specific point not to move past Collin. "So, you have heard of us." Lifting a hand to his face, Victor rubbed his stubbled chin. "I guess I'm at least a little relieved that there's a connection."
"Connection to what, Chief?" Trevor asked, following his superior's example to a T. "What're you talking about?"
Sparing the Scout a momentary glance, Victor returned his focus to their guest. "Kane, how do you know about Nettles?"
The Chief's stern but unaccusing tone loosened the sharp set of Kane's shoulders. "It was something that always got listed whenever they were running tests," he explained. "No one ever told me what any of that stuff meant, so I always just assumed it was a codename or something for whatever they did to me."
"You're probably right," Victor went on. "I think in the very broadest of terms it's safe to say the tragedy that befell our town was not the end of that research. However, without deeper insight, I can't say for sure how closely connected the two are."
When Kane started to sit up, he was acutely aware that everyone had started staring at him again, but he didn't linger on it. He'd gotten used to people watching his every move. Who he chose to focus on was Jay, still standing tall just a few paces away from him. She'd hardly batted an eye at his movements, even as he started to reach into the shallow pocket of his body suit. "I might know how to get you that," he said quietly. Between his fingers was a battered, hardcover book that he set down a short distance in front of Jay. "Dr. Houghton gave me this before they took me away. I couldn't see what she was writing in it though."
Jay heard all the unvoiced arguments buzzing behind her as she went to retrieve the book. It was an encyclopedia, volume "G", that was clearly a part of a well-traveled set. There was one dogeared page, so Jay wasted no time and flipped right to it. Hastily scribbled over the entries in ballpoint pen was a message. "Dr. Eliza Houghton, Sect. 13, R&D". Below that was a phone number with an area code Jay didn't recognize.
"Looks like I've got a call to make," she chuckled, turning around to face the others while brandishing the book. "Maybe she was even the one who tipped us off about-"
Branches snapped and leaves rustled.
The force bulldozing behind the destruction hadn't levied a single thought to the obvious noise its charge was making, which meant it could only be the work of one stubbornly single-minded creature: a crag boar. Geralt might have been the nastiest among them, but that didn't mean the rest of them were serene, herbivoric pacifists. If anything, Geralt's death had broken down the doors of their worst impulses and had made the remaining population even wilder and more vicious as a result. This was why deliveries were always made well within Nettles' official, well-guarded borders.
Curved ivory white tusks poked through the underbrush first, followed by a scar-nicked snout and a pair of black, beady eyes. That dark glare quickly took the scene in, passing right over Kane to lock squarely on Jay, the clearly much easier target.
Fear lodged itself in Collin's throat as he ran through calculations at the same breakneck pace. She was too far away. He'd never reach her in time. Before the boar's hoof had even lifted off the ground, his voice tore into the frozen air. "Jacklyn!!"
Kane became a blur, moving in the nanoseconds between heartbeats to position himself in a tense ready stance above Jay. His left hand was rooted firmly in the ground next to her, claws digging deep gouges in the dirt to balance himself while his right hand was splayed and pointed directly at the boar. Like with most other challengers, the beast did not care. It let out a bellowing squeal and resumed its charge with fully tunneled focus.
What it didn't realize is that the moment it was within arm reach it was already far too late.
In a flash claws were at its throat, tearing right through its thick, bristly hide with ease to draw out a vaporous shower of crimson. Blood gurgled in its wail, drowning its once powerful voice. With a flick of Kane's wrist, he pulled away and sent the beast teetering off balance to crash into the leaf and rubble strewn ground. Muscle spasms jerked its stubby legs through the steps of an ever-slowing death waltz. One final, burbling squeal graced the night sky before silence fell once again.
Each heavy breath from Kane thumped like a beating drum in the stillness that followed. It was only once he finally broke out of his defensive stance that anyone else remembered how to move, and while he was aware that the Scouts were hurrying towards him, Kane's focus was on the woman almost cowering in his shadow.
"Are you ok?" he asked bluntly as he shifted away from her to take a seat.
The shell of Jay's fear cracked like spring thinned ice, snapping her out of her memories. A quick tremor passed through her entire body, and she had no trouble meeting the now softer gaze of those intensely red eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks to you."
Collin and Trevor both dropped down to crouch beside them. Having already heard the answer they needed, they simply basked in the relief that came with certainty. Chief Victor joined the little huddle in a much calmer fashion, though he remained standing. "I know I speak for us all when I say you have our deepest thanks, Kane," Victor said once he felt the moment had been sufficiently appreciated. "If you found yourself looking for a position as a Scout or even just part of the town patrol, any of us would be happy to have you."
Wide red eyes rapidly blinked a few times. "I can stay?"
Victor raised an eyebrow as he huffed a chuckle. "Of course. We were never going to turn you away. Origins aside, you're here now. You're one of us."
That affirmation broke down the last few lingering barriers, but it wasn't something they could afford to wallow in for long. Dawn was coming, and they suddenly had a lot of work to do. In order to accomplish everything in a timely matter, it was best to divide and conquer. Victor and Collin trekked back to the main offices at town hall, drafting their reports on the way so they could inform the Colonel and the wall what had happened. Jay, Trevor, and Kane splintered off at Collin's house, both to clean Kane up and get him something to eat, and to contact this mysterious Dr. Houghton.
Accepting the role of "host", Trevor got to work on fixing them all some breakfast while Jay and Kane sat at the table, staring anxiously at her phone. The Ranger's mind was buzzing in a million different directions at once while it rang. She was terrified of what might happen if this lead went cold, but for now, all they could do was wait.
Even though it had felt like an eternity, in reality, the phone was only left to ring four times before the call was picked up. "Dr. Eliza Houghton speaking," a kind but extremely tired sounding voice answered promptly.
Jay snapped out of her daze and reflexively sat up straighter. "Good morning, Dr. Houghton. I'm sorry for bothering you so early, but I really appreciate you making the time." Sending a quick glance up to Kane, she smiled. "My name's Jacklyn South, and I'm the current Ranger in Residence stationed in Nettles. I'm calling to both thank you for your assistance and to confirm that we received the... um, package."
Dr. Houghton's relief crashed down like a tidal wave. "While I appreciate your discretion, Jacklyn, this is a private line. You can speak freely." She laughed and let out a quiet oomf as she collapsed into a seat. "How is he?"
"I'm fine," Kane answered for himself. "Still confused, but fine."
They could hear her smile grow. "It's so good to hear your voice, Kane."
"Yours too." Kane's grin was small, but sweet.
Now it just felt like Jay was intruding on something very personal, but she still had a job to do so that discomfort could wait to be unpacked. "I was actually hoping, Dr. Houghton, that you could tell us more about all this?" Everyone was counting on her to stay focused on the task at hand. "As it stands, we don't actually know the how or why any of this even happened."
"Right, right, of course." Dr. Houghton cleared her throat and sharpened back to the intensity she'd answered the phone with. "And please, call me Eliza. It's simpler."
Things were moving again, maybe a little fast, but it was a good start. "Jay works fine for me."
Another softer, knowing smile touched Eliza's voice. "Alright, Jay. I hope you're ready for this because it's a lot to stomach. Though," she chuckled, "given your current employment, I'm sure you're well versed in handling the strange and abnormal."
Having just joined them at the table, Trevor made a quiet sound of protest. Quickly covering her reaction, Jay let go of the tension between her shoulders. "Don't worry about me. I'm pretty light on my feet."
While Jay hadn't actually been prepared for the steep drop off into the deep end, she didn't get swept under. Eliza started way back at the beginning to touch on Sector 13's founding, which had in fact been tied to the Nettles disaster. Not only had the research that caused the accident proved fruitful, but now that there was a town and surrounding forest filled with giants, preventative measures needed to be taken. Initially that had really just been it, counter measures.
"However," Eliza went on after pouring herself a fresh cup of coffee, "none of that ended up being necessary. When it became clear that Nettles was open to peaceful cooperation and, to an extent, coexistence, the top brass had to pivot. Over time that led to the program that produced Kane, and that only happened over the past ten years or so."
Jay was so glad she had Trevor here too in case she forgot something. "But if this program's been around for so long, why did this happen now? What changed?"
The length of Eliza's next pause was rather telling on its own, as was her drawn out sigh. "Terrible as it is to say, funding." She took another long drink from her mug. It was already half empty. "After Kane, all progress and forward momentum ground to a halt. Why would we bother with any iteration when there's no practical use for what we're doing? Enough time passed, people got impatient for new results, and eventually someone had to answer for where all the money went."
Eliza huffed and sunk deeper into her chair. "That was a meeting I know I'll never forget. The Commander called us all together in the middle of the day to break the news, and some young, hotshot nobody stepped way outta line and brought up a long defunct mech program the Sector used to work on. They had no idea the breadth of the minefield they'd marched into, and after getting a thorough verbal lashing, they slunk out of the meeting room with a face redder than Kane's eyes. Doubt we'll ever hear from them again."
Glancing up, Jay and Trevor shared a quick look. "Um, Doctor...?"
"Sorry, unrelated side tangent," Eliza muttered. "As I was saying, that meeting ended with the only acceptable solution anyone could think of: removing our most expensive asset, Kane, from the books, and washing our hands of the project for good. It was a tough choice that no one wanted to make, but if we didn't do something, a decision would be made for us. The Commander eventually made the call to take advantage of your town's... unique situation in the hopes it would mitigate the potential harm."
Kane growled, but continued silently eating the meager meal Trevor had thrown together for him. The other two portions remained untouched. "Having a singular common "enemy" will make things a lot easier," the tired Scout mumbled as he wiped his face. "Gives us something specific to aim at."
Eliza's mug landed on the table with a heavy thunk. "Enemy?" she balked, her voice rising. "Did you listen to anything I just said? Has Nettles been biding its time all these years for a chance to strike? Was your promise of peace truly that thin?"
"No one's going to attack!" Jay interjected. All the hairs on the back of her neck were on end, and an unshakable antsy-ness danced along her skin. "At least, no one from Nettles anyway. What I believe Trevor is trying to say is that Chief Victor isn't going to just let this slide. Nettles isn't a dumping ground, and he's going to make sure that your people are, let's say encouraged to do their part helping Kane adjust to life here."
The doctor's guard hadn't lowered an inch. "How?"
Jay's mouth had opened before her brain had time to realize it was blank. "I, um, I don't know just yet, but he and Collin are on the case."
A stranger's baseless claims weren't enough to reassure or change Eliza's mind, but they had to end the call on that low note because the rest of the world hadn't been put on hold until they figured this out.
Uncertainty hung like a cold fog over the house when Collin finally returned. Trevor was "dismissed" to go home and clean up so he could meet back up with them at town hall once Collin had done the same. Soon enough they were outside in the pale light of a procrastinating sunrise. They traveled in silence, keeping whatever information they'd just learned to themselves until it was time to compare notes as a group. Worry gnawed on Collin's heart, but he kept his mouth tightly shut.
'Trevor was there the whole time,' he reminded himself again, 'and Jay wouldn't hide something going wrong. Nothing bad happened to either of them.'
He hated that he couldn't get those thoughts out of his head, but Collin had nothing else to focus on. It was still too dark out for the rest of Nettles to be up and running, and in this quagmire of a waiting period, Collin's only focal points were what had already happened, or what might have happened, and the long winding road ahead of them.
The calm, neutralizing interior of the town hall closed the lid on Collin's roving thoughts for the time being, and he marched on with renewed purpose as he led the party into one of the inner offices. Chief Victor hadn't moved from the chair Collin had left him in, his hands steepled together in front of his mouth while he propped his elbows on the remaining pieces of the armrests. The clouded contemplation in his eyes broke when they entered the room.
When Trevor joined them moments later, they wasted no time consolidating their information. A thin, rather malnourished plan rolled out before them like a red carpet made of a single piece of thread, but it was the only path they could take. If Chief Victor had any doubts, he didn't show them as he turned his chair to their only means of contacting the world beyond the wall and began dialing a number.
In a surprise twist, the call connected almost instantly. "Who is this, and how did you get this number?" the man who answered demanded. There was a faint hint of morning grogginess around his sharp eyes, but wherever he was it wasn't so obscenely early for him to be dressed in uniform and in his office. "Your superiors will be hearing about this!"
"That's great, Commander Cade, because I am calling on behalf of my superiors," Victor replied smoothly, settling comfortably in his chair.
The Commander's expression had been perfectly carved out of a block of granite, but his left eye gave the slightest twitch. "How do you...?"
"My name is Victor," the Chief went on, seemingly ignoring the question, "and I am the current serving representative of the little outpost here in Nettles. Perhaps you've heard of it?" Cade flinched. Not dramatically enough to move him out of frame, but enough to know that the call now had his full attention. Victor's smile grew, and he reached over to grab a plank of wood from further down the desk. "I wanted to tell you personally that we received your package this morning."
Back in control, the Commander frowned. "Package?" he scoffed. "I have no idea what you are talking about."
With only the slightest amount of flourish, Victor presented his evidence. It was a piece of the crate emblazed with a large "13". A chill washed down Cade's spine. Less than twenty-four hours ago he'd stood next to and been dwarfed by that very number. Because of how the Chief had shifted, he could now also see Kane standing beside two other young men. Side by side, like equals.
Setting the plank down, Chief Victor clasped his hands together on the desk. "Our request is a simple one. Get in touch with Colonel Samuel Hastings, and he will show you how your department can sponsor our newest resident. Discretely, of course."
"You've already told someone?" Cade snapped.
Darkness pooled around Victor's eyes as they narrowed. "We here in Nettles are not allowed the luxury of misrepresenting facts. If I do not report even a single birth or death, hell will rain down on our town because of it. My superiors are not so strictly bound, so if you need to threaten someone, point your weapon at them."
There was a long, stagnant pause. "I'll see what I can do." Then Cade hung up.
A heavy sigh rocked Victor's shoulders as he powered down the machine. Leaning back in the chair, he lifted a hand to drape it over his eyes. While the others stood at silent attention, Kane dared to inch forward. "Why do I need his money?" he asked bluntly. "What good would that do me?"
Victor turned the chair around slowly and dropped his hand back into his lap. "You wouldn't get the money directly, but you'd reap its benefits. All financial support means is food on our tables and clothes on our backs. Getting anything more than the barest minimum is an uphill battle we lose far more often than we win."
"So, what makes this time different?" Kane pressed. "How can that Colonel do anything more than he normally does?"
A small twist of a smile perked up the corner of the tired Chief's mouth. "Well, to put it plainly, we've got dirt and a paper trail. If Sector 13, or more likely, their superiors, don't want word of what they've done, either in their labs or with this little stunt, getting out, then they'll have no choice but to take Colonel Hastings' offer. Otherwise... well, I'm sure budget troubles will be the least of their problems."
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