Syringe in One Hand, Gun in the Other 11 (Patreon)

Syringe in One Hand, Gun in the Other

Chapter 11

-VB-

Alan Marris

Aisha looked up to Taylor, and it was clear to us from how the former looked at the latter’s comatose form.

“She’ll be safe with us. Lisa’s already paid for it.”

Aisha glanced at us and then looked back down at Taylor for a moment before nodding.

“Alright.” Then she turned to leave but paused. “Hey, what do I have to pay then?”

“Hmm?”

“You know, for my kids.”

It took me a moment to realize what she meant.

“You want to keep your Heartbroken at my place?” we asked her.

She rolled her eyes. “Well, duh~! Taylor’s here, so it has to be safe. Lisa and Brian wouldn’t accept anything otherwise!”

We shrugged. “It was mostly Lisa. Brian looks like he’ll be leaving.”

She blinked. “No shit?” When I didn’t respond, she looked surprised. “I didn’t-.”

Before she went on with whatever assumptions she had, we spoke up to interrupt her. “Brian is uncomfortable with me. Did you not see?”

She hesitated before nodding.

“That’s because I am not one but many. You’ve seen that when you walked into my base.”

“Yeah, you had like a bunch of yourself! It was almost like the one Teeth guy from Brockton Bay!” she replied excitedly.

“... Yeah, that does sound like one of the Teeth’s capes,” we hummed. We might not have had much interaction with capes before our own Trigger, but we did hear something like that. And also remembered something like that. “I think we were too … ‘big.’ There is only so much leverage one man can give in the face of unlimited horde of immortals.”

She blinked again. “Wait, you think -?”

“It would be traumatic to shoot myself in the head just to show you that I respawn.”

It was finally at this point that she shivered a little. Even as “damaged” as she was because of her fucked up mother, she was still human just like we were. We also doubted that she ran into capes that were fatalistic or nonchalant about suicide and self-harm in the manner that we spoke to her.

“Yeah, I’m good, thanks,” she shuddered a little. “The blood would take forever to take out, especially with how hard it is to find detergent lately.”

We blinked in surprise.

“Well, how do you intend to pay then?” we asked her, crossing our arms and leaning slightly back.

She stared at me before humming. “Well, do you take money?” she asked curiously.

“It wouldn’t hurt for future trade.”

“What do you take?”

“... How about you work for me? You and your Heartbroken would be my subordinates,” we replied.

“Ehh? You want to be your minions?” she asked playfully with a smirk but we could see a slight distaste for it. “What do you even do?”

We scratched our stubbled chin. “Well, I’m into exploring new worlds right now. Found a tinkertech back during Golden Morning and we can replicate it. I want to find new worlds, make new connections, and just be something like a … broker, I guess? Everyone will have to go through me if they want something from a world they can’t access.”

She stared at me but I saw tension drain from her shoulders. Did she think that we were into some heinous shit? Lisa wouldn’t even be having sex with us if she didn’t offer it herself.

(Was that going to be something that happens often? Women throwing themselves at us? Us, who looked and dressed like some rural warlord and his warband?)

“Man, isn’t that boring?”

We froze.

“Boring?!” we blurted out. “How is that boring…?!”

“You want to me some big man sitting behind a desk?” she asked incredulously while leaning away from us.

“No, we’ll be explorers!”

“Uh huh. Admit it. You like being the big man. Is that what you’re gonna have Lisa do? Talk about how much of a big man you are?”

We nearly recoiled at that kind of foreplay. We weren’t into self-aggrandization. We think.

“Ew…”

“What? No! We don’t want that!”

“Then just exploring? Like hobos explore new cities?”

This girl…!

“Ugh, you’re a total mesugaki…”

“What’s that mean?”

“Not telling.”

-VB-

Lisa

She found one of Alan’s clones making today’s dinner and came to sit down on the island seat closest to the kitchen.

“You’re letting the Heartbroken stay here.”

“Yeah,” he replied as he tossed some fried vegetables up into the air from his wok.

“You’re not doing her, too, are you?”

He nearly stumbled.

She grinned. When he whirled around to object, he saw her grin and frowned. “We fell for it.”

“Yes, you did. I know you’re not interested in really young girls. Last I remember, your cutoff is sixteen and Aisha is like fifteen?”

He snorted. “Even if she was sixteen -”

“And she has quite the set of tits on her. Almost bigger than mine.”

“Look-”

“And she’s pretty, too.”

“Oi-”

She twirled her fingers around her temple. “And crazy ones are the ones that are good in the sack, too.”

“Lisa…”

She cackled.

He stared at her blankly.

After a moment, she felt a shiver run up her spine. “Fine~!” she pouted. “Ruin my fun, won’t you?”

He grunted before going back to cooking.

“So what made you let them stay?”

“Aside from the fact that she is still loyal to Taylor?”

“Yes.”

“She’s trying to do her best to take care of kids who don’t know better about the world. The least I could do was give her some help.”

“Well, aren’t you a bleeding heart? Why didn’t I get that from the start?”

“You offered.”

“True.” She shivered as she remembered again. Noticing him glancing at her, she smirked and slid down just enough on the edge of the kitchen island so that her tits rested on the cool metal top and her shirt loosened to show the top of her braless tits. She didn’t say anything, just staring back at him as he met her eyes without looking down.

Alan turned away after a moment.

Hah! Her victory!

And considering that there was a high chance she might tick him off enough for him to act like the barbarian that he was, it was a double victory the moment he dragged her off to the bed.

-VB-

A/N: next chapter will start the exploration side and meeting new worlds and peoples.