Inc inc 3 -CH4- (Patreon)

Falling through the air, Sam knew he didn’t have long. Seconds, really. There was almost no time at all for him to act, let alone think about how he wanted to act.

I need to get to Carissa as quickly as I can and then-

Apparently, the cyclops didn’t need any help from him.

She had apparently assumed he would be diving after her. Even as she’d started to fall she’d already spun herself around. Then spread herself out, pushing her arms and legs out wide.

Before he could actively go after her in a full dive he practically slammed into her. The cyclops slapping into his torso and wrapping herself around him tightly.

Snapping his wings out at the same moment he materialized them, Sam felt the sudden incredible weight he was carrying. Between Irma, himself, and Carissa, he was far and away overburdened.

There was no possibility of him actually gaining any altitude like this.

Holding his wings out instead Sam did his best to arrest their descent. With no hope of flying, that left only falling with less force. Working his wings to the fullest, he did his best o extend them to their maximum surface area.

Gritting his teeth, he could feel the absolute strain being put on those wings. That felt like they were going to be forcefully removed from his back.

Hitting the ground Sam’s legs took up a great part of the impact. His ankles, knees, and hips shuddering. Slamming down he felt his rear end smash into the asphalt of the road.

Carissa sprang away from him as Irma shimmied off his shoulder at the same time. Leaving Sam on his ass even as the two women looked around in each direction.

“This way,” declared Carissa, lifting her arm and pointing to a building not far away. “There’s a door at the back that leads into an alley. We can use that to get to the next street over. The hotel is there, right?”

“Yes!” Irma exclaimed. She and Carissa were running across the street now toward the building. “I have the credit card I booked it under on me.”

Smart! Love smart those smart women!

Need to reward them all and-

Even as Sam levered himself up to a standing position he was slammed back down to the ground. It felt as if he’d been swatted by a giant and his entire body felt weak.

Belatedly, he realized the thunderous cracking noises he was hearing were gunshots. That he was being shot, in fact.

Carissa and Irma dove behind cover and kept moving. Though Irma had a hand up to her shoulder and he could see blood welling up between her fingers already.

Shit.

Rolling to one side, Sam managed to get himself up under the side of a parked car. Looking up to the rooftops far above him, he couldn’t see anyone with weapons.

Which meant whoever was shooting, was across from the room they’d been summoned into. They’d likely been watching the windows with weapons.

I ended up kicking everything off earlier than expected.

Turning his head, Sam looked across the street toward where Irma and Carissa had been. He could just see them through the windows of a car on the other side of the street.

They were clearly trying to figure out how to get to him.

“Go!” Sam shouted at the top of his lungs. They needed to get out of here now. They hadn’t put the soul-binding runes on them as of yet as they’d just barely finished testing them.

Sam wouldn’t be able to be there to grab their ethereal selves if they died. It’d be up to their own strength to survive the pull of the after-life.

And as of late, that pull was intensely strong. People died and were ripped free of their bodies before they even knew they were dead.

Irma and Carissa hesitated for a moment longer, then bolted off. Heading off toward the escape route they’d apparently worked out in advance.

I should have asked about it myself. I’m far, far, too lazy.

Berating himself, Sam felt his power waning. His body was getting heavier by the moment as well.

Looking down at himself, he saw that he’d indeed been shot.

Several times, in fact.

From the feel of it, he’d been shot with pure iron. His insides had a squirming sick like feeling. One that Sam hadn’t felt in a very long time.

Hate iron. Hate it so much.

Grimacing, Sam put his hands over his abdomen and concentrated on trying to heal the wounds. To heal the damage caused.

His Essence responded sluggishly. Almost resistant to his need.

With his plane partially locked-off and being shot with actual iron, he was having difficulties with his magic. He wasn’t lacking in power at the moment, as he could clearly draw on it.

But it just wasn’t responding to him very well.

Sam suddenly doubted if he’d be able to find his way back to his plane if he died. All of his back-up plans from being cut off from his planes were working and correctly.

Being shot with actual iron while being trapped in a plane-diminishing spell after being summoned, was outside of his expectations.

The only reason he was likely alive at all was the sheer number of precautions he’d taken to never be truly cut off from his plane again. All the plane-breaks, his bindings with Aster and Jes, and contracts with mortals, were all working as intended.

Need to remind myself to kiss that pretty Deccy of mine. Her little saying of it’s only paranoia, if it’s unreasonable, most certainly came true.

Getting his thoughts in order, Sam realized he couldn’t just lay here. He needed to get up and get moving. Because there was no reason the ones who’d shot at him couldn’t move.

They’d just shift location and start shooting again.

Or send someone down to street level to take care of him.

Because they clearly don’t give a damn about anyone else.

Turning his his gaze up toward the building they’d come out of, he could hear explosions, as well as the sound of what could only be fire. The whole thing was going up faster and faster.

Add to that the gunmen and that meant they really didn’t care at all about who was watching. Or who might show up.

Rolling over onto his stomach, Sam looked out ahead of himself. He could see a number of cars he could get behind, but that would still be temporary. He needed to get across the street and underneath the shooters.

Deciding on a course of action, Sam tucked his wings in tight, then rolled underneath the car he was hiding next to. Even as everything was happening, people were still driving through the street. Some were going much faster than they should, but traffic hadn’t stopped.

No one was getting out to look at what was going on.

Rolling out the other side of the car and into the street, Sam sprang to his feet. Or at least tried to.

It felt more like a stumble than a spring, but he did manage to get moving. Moving forward at a lurching run he played frogger with his life on the line. Dodging between passing cars, weaving in and out of them as they zipped by.

Getting to the center divider Sam took a moment to glance upward. There were a number of places that the shooters likely could be, but he didn’t see any of them. They were likely in the middle of displacing themselves now that they’d taken their shots.

Looking back to the cars flying past him he went forward once again. Through the first lane and into the second, where he was promptly hit by the side view mirror of someone. The whole assembly of it snapping off against his hip and clattering to the ground.

Wincing in pain Sam stumbled out of the street and onto the sidewalk. Whoever hit him didn’t stop or stick around. Racing ahead and not even looking back.

A sudden and massive wave of Essence was coming down on Sam from behind. So large that it couldn’t be mistaken as anything other than an attack.

Throwing up a shield, Sam spun around to face his attacker.

Standing on the other side of the street was a Fire Elemental. Or so Sam guessed from the fact that they were a giant bonfire.

Golden and red flames that shot up thirty-feet into the air were burning in place on the sidewalk. Though there was nothing to fuel the fire it looked as if it were consuming a large quantity of fuel.

What was heading for him was a fireball the likes of which Sam had never seen before. It was filled to the brim with power and his impending doom.

Sam had time to blink, before he was forced to throw up a flat plane of Essence in front of himself. A shield of sorts.

It was slanted, the bottom part of it angling away from himself. Straight toward the building behind him and away from his personal space.

The fireball hit the plane of Essence a second later.

As soon as it struck the Essence required to hold the shield rocketed upward. Draining Sam of a good fifth of the Essence he was holding onto at the moment.

The ball of fire slid along that plane and eventually shot upward and away from Sam. Leaving behind a great deal of heat. Enough to give Sam the feeling of having been out in the sun for a bit too long.

Or as if he’d opened up an oven and was blasted by the heat inside.

With a boom the Fireball struck the building. It detonated explosively, sending glass, insulation, wood framing, carpet, and office equipment into the street.

Holy fuck! I’m out of my league at the moment.

Normally Sam would feel confident about dealing with an Elemental of this power. Even if he took on someone like Aster at the height of her elemental power, before he’d exchanged brands with her, he would feel relatively confident.

Right now, suffering from iron poisoning, he wasn’t certain of anything. Truth be told, he was feeling decidedly nervous about his odds.

Before he could contemplate a response to the Fire Elemental, he felt someone approaching him from the side.

Looking over, Sam found what was heading straight toward him was a group of Imps. Male and female both.

Dressed out in office clothes, they were wielding Essence made spells. Forming them up in front of themselves.

Well.

Shit.

Unfolding his wings, Sam leapt off from the ground. Pumping them twice he started to gain altitude. He knew what was about to be heading his way, so he angled his flight path, instead of continuing to climb.

Using what little height he’d gained, Sam dove back to the street and then pulled up. He was rapidly moving away from the scene and the problem now.

Then a series of gunshots followed by extreme pain in his wings cut that plan short. Feeling like a bird shot out of the sky, Sam felt one of his wings fold up and collapse. A second later and he slammed into the back of a car, bounced over the top of it, and hit the road.

Skidding across the blacktop for several seconds Sam eventually came to a stop. Laying there in a heap, he didn’t move or twitch.

For the moment, he honestly couldn’t.

At some point in the fall he’d knocked his head into something and right now the world was swimming past him. Nothing felt quite solid.

A second later and he no longer had anything to worry about. It was all over.

Standing above him were a handful of men and women in very tasteful suits.

“Federal agents! Put your hands up! Now!” shouted one of those in suits. Which was promptly followed by everyone else with them opening fire.

Apparently they weren’t playing around and considered whatever the Imps did, or the Elemental, in response as aggressive. They emptied the magazines on their pistols.

Collectively, they ejected the spent ones and reloaded, all the while taking cover in the street around Sam. Quite a few of them coming back up to start firing again.

I’m… saved by the Fed. But is being saved by them going to get me jail time? We’ve kept ourselves as far from them as possible. Most of our work is all offshore when it comes to the PMC.

But security and the job finding stuff for contracts? That’s all state-side.

Damn. I don’t know if that’s better or worse.

Pretty sure I have all my paperwork in order. I just don’t have it on me.

Letting out a slow sigh, Sam watched as the Fed agents continued to battle with the Imps and the Elemental. Spells were flung from one side while the Feds returned gunfire, spells, and even Para-Abilities.

A moment later a young woman got down on one knee right above Sam. She had soft-blue eyes, short blonde hair, and a rather pretty face.

A cool hand brushed against his throat as several fingers pressed down against his skin. It felt like she was trying to take his pulse.

Then she stared into his eyes and gave him an odd smile.

“Well, you’re a bit of a bang of broken bits, aren’t you,” she muttered a second before healing magic flooded into him. Magic granted to a priestess and given the power to heal someone. Though Sam wasn’t familiar with the deity behind it. It felt new and unknown to him. “Nothing I can’t handle though.”

Unable to do much anything else than lay there, Sam let it happen. There was nothing he could anyways and fighting against this would just cause him problems.

After all, the Fed were just doing their job. They showed up to the scene of a building blowing up, followed by gunfire, than Para abilities.

Instead, Sam closed his eyes, and focused on assisting the priestess heal himself.

“Iron poisoning,” he said after a second, realizing that she likely may not know what he is.

“Oh? Alright. Thanks for letting me know,” said the woman, her eyes scanning the area around them. The battle had died down and was little more than people shouting now.

In the next instant, Sam felt the healing power shift dynamically into something else. Instantly, he felt better. The iron poisoning was pulled out of him as if he’d been little better than a toilet and had just been flushed.

“Ahhh, there we are. Just as you said, iron poisoning,” said the priestess and looked back to him. She gave him a wide smile again. “Normally I’d ask you what type of Fae you are at this point, but you haven’t been properly read your rights.”

Ah, yes. A very good point.

I really shouldn’t say much until they read me my rights. Then It’s a question of how much do I tell them, or do I just ask for a lawyer.

I’m not sure they have much on me, and I can claim self defense.

Then again… how do I explain the bomb in the building and diving out the window? Irma runs everything above board.

Nothing we do is actually illegal.

Well, outside of me using some glamors and making people do what I want. That’s most certainly illegal.

PMCs, security, and finding people work though? That’s all fine and dandy.

Well… we’ll just have to see how it plays out.

Sam could only smile back at the priestess as he finalized his thoughts. He decided to at least be honest about what he was.

They’d find out quickly enough anyways.

“Incubus. Readily volunteered information,” said Sam smoothly. Then he decided to lean into what people thought of an Incubus as well. “And might I say, priestess, you’re an awfully attractive woman.

“Could I take you to dinner, tonight? I’d love to get to know you better. Unless your deity demands celibacy. At which point I’d see if I couldn’t get you to break your vows anyways.”

The priestess’ smile grew even wider at his words. Her pupils slowly expanding as she stared down at him.

“My deity? Oh… well, they won’t be a problem. Don’t you worry about that,” she said in a husky murmur. “Before we get too wound up, or caught up, let’s focus on first things first, Mr. Incubus. You stay right where you are till we can formally begin asking you questions.

“Because honestly, there’s no way we’re not going to hold you for questioning regardless of anything else. So… I would doubt very much you’ll have any dinner plans this evening at all. If not for the next several days, in fact.”