Mistrunner - Chapter 34 - A Lover's Quarrel (Patreon)

I have lived a long life. Far longer than I ever thought possible. Even when I learned about constitution’s affects on the aging process, I never dreamed I would make it past a century. Sometimes, I wonder if my longevity was a blessing or a curse. I’ve outlived friends. Family. Lovers. I’ve watched them grow old, feeble, and sick. And all the while, I’ve remained the same. Healthy. Hearty. Hale. And whole. There are days when I wish it were otherwise.

Jeremiah Braddock III

The knife had barely scraped my back when I reacted, reaching around and grabbing a slender wrist. I twisted, my own dagger appearing in my hand. The subtle blue energy of the nano-edge crackled in the night as I wrenched the assassin’s arm and pressed a slim body into the sand, face-first. Kneeling on the small of the would-be assassin’s back, I leaned close, my knife pressed against the pale flesh of a long neck.

I leaned close, hissing, “Who are you?”

“Lemme go!” came a feminine voice. The speaker sounded no older than a teenager. Beneath her black cap, I could see a few ringlets of strawberry blonde hair. “I’ll cut you, bitch!”

“You’re not cutting anything,” I said, wrenching her arm and making her drop the knife. Still kneeling on the small of her back, I kept pressure on her captive arm. She struggled, but my grip was like iron, especially compared to hers. If she was more than a Tier-2, I would have been surprised, and her potential wasn’t even close to fully developed. It was a good reminder of how far above the normal, everyday people I’d ascended.

But it only took one memory of Horace Lafontaine for me to remember that I was far from the top of the food chain. If some nobody from a hole-in-the-wall town like Bayou La Batre could give me so much trouble, how would I fare against the most powerful people in Nova City? Or even the Enforcers? It wouldn’t be pretty, I was sure. They’d all had a lifetime of training to bolster their attributes and abilities, and while I’d made progress, I was still only just beginning my journey. Compared to them, my potential meant nothing.

“I’m going to ask you again,” I said, my voice even. It didn’t reflect the pounding of my heart. “And remember, if you don’t answer, I’m going to have to break your arm. So – who are you?”

“F-fuck you!” she spat.

“Wrong answer,” was my calm reply. Then, I broke her arm. She screamed, but I used my leverage to push her face into the sand, muffling the sound. With the lapping of the waves and our distance from the nearest structure, I was sure that nobody would’ve heard it. After a few long seconds, her screams turned into sobs, and I grabbed the hair on the back of her head and dragged her face out of the sand. I asked her again, “Who are you?”

“M-my name…m-m-my name…is…Kacie,” she sobbed. “P-please…d-don’t hurt me…n-no more…”

I let out a sub-audible groan and rolled my eyes. She was probably just a kid, and a stupid one at that. The smart thing to do would’ve been just to kill her, tie some heavy rocks to her body, and toss it all into the ocean where it would be eaten by crabs and other seaborn scavengers. But she was just so helpless. Her attack, as much as it had surprised me, had been ill-aimed, and even if I’d let it land, it wouldn’t have done much more than cause a bit of pain. I was never in mortal danger because she clearly didn’t know what she was doing.

I focused a bit, and when I concentrated on her tier, which felt like it was somewhere in the middle of Tier-2, I felt even more like a bully. Sure, she’d tried to kill me, but it was like being bitten by a puppy. Without teeth. And with atrophied jaw muscles. She was harmless.

So, I climbed off of her and said, “Get up. Now. Or I’ll break your other arm.”

It might’ve made me feel like a bully, but she had tried to kill me. Sure, it never would have worked, but she didn’t know that. I think that entitled me to be a little harsh. Kacie scrambled to her feet, whimpering the whole time, and when she faced me, I saw that she was around my age, scrawny, and with a pale complexion. She wore a pair of denim shorts that were far too short and a tank top that she’d cut off just below her chest. The only concession she’d made to stealth was to cover her strawberry blonde hair with a black cap. Snot trickled down her upper lip, and wet tears coated her cheeks as she cradled her broken arm.

“So – why did you try to stab me, Kacie?” I asked, casually holding my own dagger. I saw her eyes flick toward her weapon, which was still in the sand. It was a pitiful thing, poorly forged from bad metal, and it looked as if it hadn’t been sharpened in years. She’d probably found it in some disused kitchen.

“’Cause you’re tryin’ to take my man!” she hissed, her voice cracking with another sob as she disturbed her broken arm. “He’s mine, bitch! I won’t let you take him!”

I narrowed my eyes. “What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, completely at a loss.

“Don’t try to lie to me,” she spat. “I seen you with him. He was in your house for, like, an hour!”

“My house?” I asked. Then, it hit me like a brick. “Oh. You’re with Hadley.”

“So you admit it, slut?!” she growled, a feral gleam to her eye. For a moment, I thought she was going to launch herself at me. She had no weapons and only one arm, but in that moment, she seemed more like a wild animal than a rational human being. Thankfully, the pain of her broken arm chose that moment to assert itself, which saved me from having to do something I was sure I would instantly regret.

“I didn’t do anything with him,” I said. “We made a deal about…some things I need to do my job. That’s all there was to it.”

“And what’s your job?” she demanded.

I let out a long-suffering sigh, then rolled my eyes. “How old are you, anyway? Hadley’s what? At least twenty. You look like you’re no older than fifteen.”

“I’m eighteen!” she screeched. “Just ‘cause I’m little doesn’t mean I’m –”

“Fine, fine!” I said. “You’re a big girl. Now, can you shut up? I don’t want to have to kill you if I can help it.”

That definitely closed her mouth. Until then, I think she had considered it something of a game, if a dangerous one. Given her actions, she clearly wasn’t a stranger to fighting other girls. Probably winning, too, considering how she’d come after me. But even after I’d broken her arm, she obviously had not thought of herself as being in mortal danger.

“Look,” I said, trying to regulate my tone. “I really, really don’t want to cut your throat, okay? But I will. Don’t think I won’t. So, here’s the deal – you’re coming with me, and we’re going to get this whole thing sorted out. Once that’s done, I’m going to leave you to Hadley. But if I think you’re a liability…”

I left the threat hanging in the air because I knew it would be far more effective than if I’d said what I was thinking. Kacie didn’t seem too thrilled about the prospect, but after only a few seconds, she gave her consent. It was a little earlier than I’d intended to find Hadley, but with my new baggage, I didn’t want to sit around and wait any longer. So, with my hand wrapped around the other girl’s slender bicep, we set off back into the village, intending to find him.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long before I saw him loitering in a dark alley. Even more fortunately, Bayou La Batre had anything but a thriving nightlife. Like was common in many small towns – from what I’d been told – life ground to a halt once the sun went down. There were still some stragglers out and about, but they were either drunk or too engrossed in their own thoughts to pay much attention to a pair of harmless-looking girls. If they only knew how much devastation I could cause, they would’ve reacted far differently.

In any case, as soon as I saw Hadley fidgeting nervously in the alley, we crossed the muddy street and stepped into the cover of darkness provided by the narrow space. When he saw that there were two of us, his eyes widened in alarm that soon turned to confusion when he recognized my unwilling companion.

“Kacie? What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“Don’t you take that tone with me!” she said, proving that she really only had one mode of communication that boiled down to various volumes of screeching. “I seen you go in her house, Had. She says it ain’t what I thought, but I want to hear it from you. You cheatin’ on me?”

“Uh…no,” he said. “But you really shouldn’t be here.”

As he said it, he glanced at me, panic plain on his face. Doubtless, he was worried about how I was going to react.

“Why not?” the girl demanded, jutting her jaw out and cradling her broken arm. I knew it must’ve been agonizing, but she kept it well-hidden. Maybe there was a bit more steel in her than I’d first thought.

“Because I’m leaving, Kacie,” he said. “Soon. I’m not…I can’t…I wish you could come with me, but –”

“Okay.”

“What?” he asked, obviously surprised by her interruption. I wasn’t. I saw it coming a mile away.

“I want to come with you,” she said.

He glanced at me, asking, “Uh…is that…okay?”

It really wasn’t, but on the other hand, I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Sure, I could just kill them both as soon as we left town, but that didn’t really appeal to me. I’d kill if I had to, but I refused to let it be my first option.

“Fine,” I said. “So long as you’ve got what I asked you to get.”

He nodded, then handed over the chip. I inspected it, and when I saw that nothing was out of the ordinary, slotted the thing. A smile spread across my face as I saw a detailed schematic of the building, complete with security terminals, access points, and camera locations. But there was one major problem.

“Your mother controls the drones?” I asked.

“It’s…it’s one of her skills,” Hadley said, running his hand through his wild hair. “Something called [Drone Pilot]. She can control up to fifteen at a time.”

“Crap,” I said, glancing back out into the road.

That news really put a kink in my plans. Unless I could deal with those drones, I wasn’t getting into that building undetected. Unless…no. It couldn’t be that simple, could it? But last time I’d gone there, I’d just walked right in. Nobody had stopped me. Most barely even noticed me. If I could replicate that, then slip off to one of the security terminals, I wouldn’t have to worry about the drones at all.

“Hadley, you go to that building all the time, don’t you?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yeah. Why?” he said.

“Well, we’re going down there right now,” I said. “When we get inside, I’m going to hit the first security terminal I can find, download the information I need, then we’re out of here.”

“Uh…that’s not going to work,” he said. “You didn’t read the whole file, did you? There’s nothing on most of those terminals. Just basic, low-level stuff. Anything worth taking is going to be on the one in momma’s office.”

“Which I’m guessing she doesn’t leave all that often.”

“She doesn’t,” he said. “But…well, if I…I mean…I could probably get her out of there. I just need to give her a reason.”

“And? What are you thinking?”

He didn’t answer me. Instead, he glanced at Kacie, who had remained silent during our conversation. The adrenaline of the situation had started to wear off, and her arm was probably on fire. She bore it well, but there was only so much she could do without a skill to help her out. Not for the first time, I found myself thankful for [Combat Utility]and all the useful abilities that had come with it.

“Uh…Kacie? Do you want to get married?” he asked.

“W-what?” she blurted, her eyes widening. “Did you just propose?”

“I didn’t want you to get involved, but now that you are…”

“Are you just askin’ me to marry you ‘cause you need me to do somethin’?” she demanded. I could practically hear the shriek building in the back of her throat. If Hadley said the wrong thing…well, it didn’t bear thinking about until it actually happened. I hoped he was smarter than that.

“No!” he insisted, holding up his hands. “I just…I didn’t want you to get hurt is all. And…and…but I’ve always loved you. Ever since we were little. You know that. Now, I want to get married. And…I guess if the announcement gets momma out of that building for the night, it’ll help…uh…Mirabelle out, too. And us! Us, too! The sooner she gets what she needs, the sooner we can get out of town and start our new life in the big city.”

Big city was kind of subjective, I supposed. Mobile was barely more than a village, but compared to Bayou La Batre, I guess the categorization was appropriate enough.

“Oh, Had!” she said, throwing her arm around him. She grunted when he touched the shoulder of her injured arm, but she didn’t pull away. Perhaps they really did care about one another. After all, she’d tried to kill me just for talking to “her man”. That took love, didn’t it? Or something like it, at least.

Or maybe it was just desperation. After all, in a small town like Bayou La Batre, there probably weren’t a lot of choices. Perhaps Hadley was the most eligible bachelor in town, if for no other reason than a current lack of options. Either way, Kacie didn’t seem to care.

After the pair of them settled down, we developed a plan. Hadley would first take Kacie to the doctor, where she would get her arm patched up and splinted. Once that was finished, they would head over to tell Savanna about their engagement. If everything went the way it was supposed to, the trio would sit down for a meal at the village’s lone restaurant, which doubled as a saloon. Hadley seemed to think that it was a given that that was where they would end up, but I was a bit skeptical.

Whatever the case, the plan was set, and they went on their way. As they did so, I headed across the village to plant myself in the back alley where I’d spent most of a night observing the building. It was much the same as I remembered it, with various boats coming and going into the night, stopping only to have crates unloaded, which were soon replaced by huge baskets of shrimp. It was a well-practiced system, and I was actually a little impressed with their efficiency.

An hour-and-a-half later, Hadley strode into the building, Kacie on his arm. I tensed up. If they were going to betray me, now would be the time. In only a few minutes, I could be facing down a dozen drones and even more angry fighters. I definitely didn’t want that. Not only was it counter to my mission – I was gathering information, not assaulting the enemy position – but, in my mind, the people of Bayou La Batre had been humanized. They weren’t just some faceless enemy. They were just people struggling to get by as best they could. Even Savanna, who I’d been prepared to hate, was just doing what was right by her people.

Sure, she’d sent her sons to murder innocent people, and I wouldn’t forget that, but I could at least understand her motivations well enough not to hate her for what she had done. Maybe that was naïve of me. I don’t know, and I was in no position to examine those feelings. Instead, I watched, waiting for Hadley to escort Kacie and his mother out of the building. And sure enough, only twenty minutes later, they did just that, all three of them looking to be in good spirits. That only served to humanize them even more, and I found myself hoping against hope that I wouldn’t have to kill them.

I waited for about twenty more minutes before I made my move. Avoiding the three drones I could see, I quickly crossed the muddy street to the front of the building. Without pausing, I passed through the door like I was meant to be there. My heart was pounding out of my chest as I nodded at one of the workers, giving him a tight smile. When he returned it, I almost let out a whoop of excitement, but I managed to contain myself. Barely.

The interior of the building was much as I remembered, with the first floor taking the form common to most warehouses. Workers swarmed here and there, but they were all busy enough that most of them didn’t even notice me as I made my way to the stairs at the back of the building. Even when I mounted them, the busy men and women kept their minds – and more importantly, their eyes – on their tasks.

Boldly, I walked toward Savanna’s office. I had just begun to think I was going to make it without any difficulties when I heard a familiar voice behind me say, “Stop. What are you doin’ here, girl?”

I stopped in my tracks, then turned to see Burton the hulking butcher standing on the catwalk behind me. How he’d approached me without the sound betraying his presence was a mystery. Briefly, I thought about making some excuse; perhaps I could reason with him. But when he smiled, his gold teeth glittering in the building’s florescent light, I knew that wasn’t an option.

“You really want to do this here?” I asked.

He reached behind him, his massive arm far more flexible than I expected, and yanked a cleaver out of a sheath on his back. It was still bloody.

“Yeah,” he said. “I kinda do.”

I sighed, mourning the death of my plan. “Fine,” I said. Then, I pulled my Kicker out of my Arsenal Implant and fired two rounds. The first went wide, crashing into one of the windows that lined the top of the outer wall. The other found his head.

It exploded, and I dismissed the weapon back from whence it had come. It all happened in the space of a second, and by the time Burton tumbled off the catwalk, I was already channeling my inner Kacie with an ear-splitting shriek. “Assassin! Somebody shot Mr. Burton!” I screamed. “Help!”