Volk led the two of them into the building. The place hadn’t changed much since she’d last seen it. The only difference was there were none of the other goons she had seen last time.

"Where's the rest of your guys?" Grim asked.

Volk gave her a look, "Downsized, just Maribelle and me now. Come, she’s waiting inside."

She nodded and followed Volk as they walked inside what used to be Mr. Cede’s office. The door that Volk had knocked down had been replaced with what was definitely the cheapest option they could find, while inside, the paintings had been removed.

Good. Gave the room less of a serial-killer vibe.

Maribelle was sitting in an office chair with her feet up on the desk, "Well, look who made it, and you brought your friend too. You'll have to tell us about that."

"Hi, I'm Hazel,” She said with a little wave.

"Well, aren't you a cute little thing."

"Enough, what do I have to do? Let’s get this over with." Grim interjected, stepping in between them.

Maribelle's lips pursed and then switched into a smile, "I'm glad to see you're eager, but it's not going to be that simple. You see, since your little altercation, things haven't been going the best for us, and we've lost clout. People either don't believe we can do what we used to or think we're in line with the stripes."

"What am I supposed to do about that?"

"We've got a buyer lined up, good money. Money we need right now, or we're all in trouble. Only thing is, he's a small but powerful player in the underworld here and he doesn't trust us enough to come alone. Especially after we fucked up getting his target last time."

"Only now they know Cede is dead, so they think you're just bullshitting now," Grim said.

She looked furious for a second but then nodded, "Smart girl. Our memory wiper was in the room with us when you... he died. You probably don't remember. So that's no longer an option for us."

Grim thought back through her memories of that night; there had been more people there, but she couldn't think of anyone notable besides Volk and Maribelle.

She didn’t like that.

If she ever found him, she’d probably take his power just so he didn’t have it. She couldn’t see herself ever using it, even though it seemed very useful. There were some lines she wouldn’t cross, and fucking with someone’s memory was one of them.

"I don’t remember seeing anybody use a power like that," Hazel whispered to her. “That type of stuff wouldn’t work on me.”

So there wasn’t someone with a Boon like that? So, did that mean they were lying about erasing her memory? She wouldn’t put it past them, they were criminals, but after Volk’s sob story in the car, she thought they were supposed to be doing this for a purpose? She'd have to confirm with Hazel later, once they found somewhere private to talk.

Grim turned on Hazel, "You're just telling me this now?"

"To be fair I got bashed into a wall like a second later," Hazel smiled and tilted her head.

That was... fair enough.

Maribelle perked up, she’d heard the end of Hazel’s sentence. “You’re immune to it then? What is she anyways?”

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“Yep. It’s probably because I’m made of 95% shadow. No brain to mess around in.”

“Like she said, she’s my shadow,” Grim said, then turned to Hazel. “What’s the other 5%?”

“Love.”

Grim rolled her eyes.

“Don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody with a Boon like her before. If Mr. Cede got that…” Maribelle trailed off. “Anyways, the man with the memory Boon was named Graham. At some point, while we were dealing with you, he grabbed Cede’s shards and took off. Little Hazel there might be exactly who we need to deal with him.”

“That’s not our problem,” Grim said.

“No, maybe not. Either way, that will have to come after the job tonight.”

“What’s the plan?”

***

It was always an alleyway. Why was it always an alleyway? Did gangsters have a fetish with the smell of trash? The place was in the third layer, with high-density housing throughout the ring. The alleyway Grim was in led to an underground parking lot, which meant it was a dead end and only left a little room for maneuvering if they had to. The concrete walls of residential buildings boxed them in. Some gates led to them so the janitorial staff could take out the trash, but they were locked up tight with expensive-looking gates.

Maribelle walked in the lead, with Grim and Volk following beside her. They each wore gold masks. The cheap plastic itched and made it uncomfortable to breathe. Grim pulled on it to try and get some airflow into it, but it didn’t help the condensation that had formed inside.

Besides the masks, they dressed Hazel and her in white cloaks. No idea where she got those from but they did give them a bit of a striking look.

All powerful twin Witches, here to steal your Boon.

At least, that’s what they were going for; fear of the unknown was going to do a lot of the heavy lifting.

They reached the end of the alley, which spread out into a larger square. There was the parking garage in front, and more trash cans were piled up, along with an old beater of a vehicle. The space was big enough so a garbage truck could turn around. It was empty of people except the Ferals, the other gang they were meeting. There were about seven of them, and Volk had told her they were mostly E ranks, with their leader Bear being a C rank and his right-hand man, Cub, being a D rank. They were small, but Bear was strong enough to keep control of this block from some of the bigger gangs.

At least up until now, Mari had explained that a new drug-running gang that got its supply out of a Gate World had moved in—the stuff they were selling suffused enough system energy to temporarily move someone up a tier. It sounded great, but the comedown was horrible. Going from being able to run around the block to heaving going up the stairs wasn’t easy.

There was also the small matter of it fucking up your ability to advance afterwards, but she’d started zoning out around that part.

They were making a killing and growing rapidly, trying to spread out into Bear’s territory. This was where they were going to come in. The Boon he was going to take was supposed to do something pretty similar. It would let him mimic a B or even A-tier as long as his mindset was right.

She didn’t think he was going to have a problem with that.

They were about ten feet apart when they stopped walking. According to their plan, they didn't say anything and waited for Bear to speak first.

He did, "Just three of you? Must be brave."

He was shirtless and in his thirties. His face was all angles, adorned with a long beard, and he wore a bear pelt as a cloak. The rest of his gang was dressed similarly, but not to the level he was. It took everything she had not to laugh; they looked ridiculous.

From how Hazel was silently vibrating, she guessed she agreed.

"The money," Mari said without moving.

Bear was eyeing them up, trying to decide if he could pull something, but they'd been expecting that. That was the purpose of their current act, and it seemed to be working. He nodded toward Cub, who stepped forward and threw a duffel bag full of cash at Mari's feet.

She didn't react as she continued to look at Bear. "All of it."

He looked like he would swing on them, but he laughed instead and slapped Cub on the shoulder, "Good eyes, I'd like to have them." He stopped laughing, dug a wad of cash from a pocket in his cloak and tossed it into the duffel bag.

Mari nodded, and Volk bent down and grabbed it before returning to his position.

"You've got my money; now I want what I paid for," Bear said.

He gestured at one of the Ferals, and a shorter guy walked over to the car and opened the trunk. He reached inside and ripped a man from the inside, he had a bag on his head and only had his underwear on. Old scars covered his body, and ropes stopped him from moving. The short man walked him forward and kicked him into the space between them.

The tied up man fell hard on his knee’s, his skin dragging on the pavement.

"What do you want from me?" He said.

His voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't put a finger on why.

"I want your Boons, you fucking pig," Bear said as he walked forward and ripped the hood off him.

Grim recoiled as she recognized him. He didn't look the same without his armour or the spear, but now that she saw his face, distinct scars and all, she knew.

It was Arcadia.