Wolfe leaned against the hotel bathroom door headfirst ang banged on it with his fist. “Kevin, I owe you like thirteen beatings. If you get the hell out of the shower and bathroom this fucking second, I won’t deliver one of them!”

Shel, dressed in last night’s clothing and still half under the blankets, giggled. Her strawberry-blonde hair was an absolute mess, pushed up on one side in a flagrant case of bed-head, but she appeared happy.

Wolfe figured it was because they had gotten Kevin, and this time he had stuck around more than sixty minutes. She had what she wanted.

And maybe, she’s happy you said you’ll look at going with her, Wolfe thought to himself.

Kevin came out of the bathroom in less than thirty seconds, dripping water, naked but for a towel around his waist. He still appeared as an absolute wreck. He had a split lip, and his whole face appeared to be a giant bruise that was still swollen in places. He was so emaciated his ribs showed and his belly was sunken in, and his teeth were slightly blacked, sure sign of a meth user.

His eyes appeared as pits of pain.

He turned sideways and slid past Wolfe like a piece of paper going under a door, muttering, “Sorry, man,” as he did.

Wolfe headed into the bathroom, which Kevin fortunately hadn’t added any negative odors to, and quickly entered the shower. He pulled his status chart up to see that he was back to fifteen health, but his cumulative damage was still high—he had a fifteen-health temporary maximum and a negative ten percent to his physical combat stats.

Still… he felt better. He had clear, unequivocal orders to get Thad Jr., an address where to do it, and clear and unequivocal orders to kill the head of the cobras. No one could step in and change his orders, or his plans.

And he could get Shel out of here, do his last good deed. And maybe, if everything went perfectly, he could follow her. He turned the shower on and stepped inside.

As he stood in the shower, however, something about the situation didn’t sit right with him. He didn’t want to leave, even if he had last night. He enjoyed the thrill of combat, the challenge of defeating his enemies. What he really was, was tired of the darkness and the sameness. Everything was crap, all the time. Nothing changed. There wasn’t a greater purpose, a reason for everything.

Wolfe chuckled to himself. Am I having a mid life crisis a few years early?

He had no idea what he would do, or how he would do it, to use his one great skill—kicking ass—and do something meaningful. The police wouldn’t take him and he was too old to start in the army.

But saving Big Man Grimm and his kid… that Wolfe could get behind. It would carry him through till he figured everything else out.

His sense of well-being and purpose renewed, Wolfe exited the shower, toweled off, and threw his clothes back on. He exited the room to find Kevin on the side of the bed, his head in his hands. Shel was beside him, murmuring something Wolfe couldn’t quite catch in a soothing voice to him and rubbing his back.

“What’s wrong with the druggie?” Wolfe asked as he exited the room.

Shel frowned at him. “I think Kevin’s going through withdrawals.”

“Couldn’t happen to a nicer person,” Wolfe quipped. Then he pointed to the back of the hotel bed. “Now lie down, Kevin.”

Kevin looked at him, eyes wide. “What?”

“Lie down, I’m going to cuff you to the bed.”

Kevin’s eyes wandered down to Wolfe’s crotch. “What the fuck?”

Wolfe laughed, and was tempted to fuck with him further, but refrained from doing so. “I’m going to cuff you so you can’t get away again till we can get you a on a fucking plane that’ll put Noimore in your rearview mirror.”

Shel laughed at Wolfe’s mixed metaphor.

Wolfe just kept talking. “Plus, you little reprobate, I’d remind you that the first time you ran from me, the Cobras threw you a beating. The second time, you got arrested. Imagine how fucked up you getting out into the world a third time will be. Trust me, it’s best for everyone if you can’t go live your best life.”

Kevin stared at him from sunken eyes that screamed their pain. “Why are you being mean to me?”

“You burned my house down.”

“Oh, right. Sorry about that, man.”

Wolfe just shook his head. Kevin was an irritating joke, but he was also to much trouble to care about one way or the other. Wolfe walked forward, and Kevin scooted back till he was up against the headboard.

Wolfe awkwardly hand-cuffed Kevin to the headboard. He really didn’t handcuff people often, and doing it in a bedroom felt… off. But it was needful, and Wolfe got it done as soon as possible before stepping back.

He turned to Shel. “You ready?”

Shel nodded.

“Wait, Shelly gets to go somewhere?” Kevin asked. “That’s not fair!”

“Shelly?” Wolfe asked, turning to Shel.

She blushed but nodded. “That’s what my family calls me.”

“Huh.”

“You’re not even answering me!” Kevin called out.

“Another thing that’s better for everyone,” Wolfe quipped. He adjusted himself, took his gun from inside the nightstand and pushed it into his pants, then walked to the door. “Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone, Kevin. Which in your case probably means don’t do a fucking thing.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

***

“So, this is the place, huh?” Wolfe asked, staring at the large garden in front of him. It was a riot of plants and colors, and bees and birds hummed around it. A few water fountains and a pond all acted as water features, and a nearly Japanese style wooden footpath and multiple random torii gates adorned it. As he stared at it, he got a sense that it was a card, of all things. He focused for a moment.

Modern City Gardens (Rare, no tier)

0 power

This non-unique building card is a garden that adds to the power of life, even within a city, and makes the lives of its mortal residents better. This is an eastern day version of the card.

Special: Building Special Card

Sepcial: Adds +50% to the stats of Life and Nature creatures while inside the building, +25% to the stats of Mortal cards, and the happiness and disease resistance of the residents of the city (maximum five miles distance) are both increased .1%

“How did I not know about this place?” Wolfe asked as he stared around the park.

Shel also glanced around, to the huge mansions around them, each trying to out-do the other in the ‘ostentatious’ category. Everything was clean and well-maintained, and every property had gates.

“I can see how this place might not have entered your radar,” Shel said.

Wolfe followed her eyes and then laughed. “Yeah, never mind. I’m not surprised I didn’t know about it at all now that you mention it.”

Wolfe strolled up to the gate, feeling like a fucking sword in the silverware drawer, something he’d heard his dad say once that had always stuck with him. The gate itself was cute, a wrought iron fence with flowering vines twined throughout it.

At the gate was a girl of about ten with flowers woven into her hair and a long, flowing dress that touched the ground. Wolfe’s eyes flickered over her as well.

Gardener (uncommon, no tier)

0 power

A talented gardener that can also handle basic functions of meeting, greeting, and taking money.

Mortal, Nature

Minion Card

Attack

0

Magical Attack

0

Defense

3

Magical Defense

3

Health

8

Special: This card can act at basic competency in maintaining a garden, or acting as a garden guide.

Special: +1 to Defense of all cards in any associated Garden building

Damn, whoever runs this place has a decent set-up, even if this is a very common minion card.

The card held its hand out. “Two dollars, please.”

Wolfe fished in his pocket, and pulled forth the cash, passing it to the card.

“Thank you!” she said in an overly cheerful voice.

Wolfe nodded, creeped out by the minion. Although I’m sure that if I ever start taking these orphan minions they’re gonna be far creepier. Still… it’s odd as hell.

Wolfe walked past her into the incredibly beautiful gardens. They did have a distinctly “eastern” feel—Wolfe still thought probably Japanese but he wasn’t an expert on other cultures in the slightest, and only even knew about the Torii gate from a rash of tattoos his friends and some of the working girls had been getting.

He walked through the garden however, mostly ignoring its beauty. His target was at the end—the Hibiscus Commune, the most hippie thing he thought he had ever heard. Maybe the name worked great on the hoity-toity rich folk around him, he wasn’t sure. He just couldn’t believe there was a person with so little shame they named their commune after a tea.

“It’s beautiful,” Shel said, staring around at the plants that flowered all around them, despite the season. “A little touch of magic in the world, the gods gift to us.”

She ran her fingers across a wooden railing that had a flowering vine wrapped around it as they walked.

“Uh-huh,” Wolfe said, ignoring the plant life around him. “Don’t forget I have an Infernal deck. The gods are a bunch of rat bastards, you ask me.”

Shel frowned again but didn’t respond directly. “So, do you think it’ll be easy to get Big Man Grimm’s son out?”

Wolfe snorted as he pushed past a large frond that partially blocked the path. “Probably… I mean, how much trouble can these hippies give us? I’ve killed like… fourteen thugs with guns and two deckbearers in three days? These guys will be chumps.”

Shel glanced around, frowning, but no one was near them. “You shouldn’t say stuff like that.”

Wolfe glanced around as well. The vegetation they were in was so thick now that he couldn’t see much else, but he knew a ton of people were about. He nodded to her.

Shel continued. “Well… I hope you’re right. I already feel terrible about how things went with Kevin, and I really don’t want a second situation to develop here…”

“I’m not going to pretend he wasn’t the biggest pain in my ass, but fuck it. We’ll get him a plane flight and get him out of here soon.”

“He can’t leave the city, remember?” Shel said. “He’s out on bond.”

“Ah, fuck,” Wolfe replied as they walked. After a moment, he continued. “Look, we need to find a place to put him, and he needs to stay. I can’t keep handcuffing him to a bed. It’s creepy. And at some point he’s gonna pee or shit himself, since he’s coming down from drugs.”

“Does Meth withdrawal do that?” Shel asked.

“Heroin does, and I’d bet money he’s got that in him as well,” Wolfe responded.

“Probably…” Shel said. “I can ask my family.”

“Your abusive dad?” Wolfe asked as they pushed through the last of the vegetation and reached the mansion at the end of the garden.

“I’ll ask my mom… maybe she’ll listen this time.”

“Alright… but Shel, I want you to promise that if he runs again you’re not going to ask me to rescue him. It’s getting past the point of sanity, now. I did it twice… three times, counting bailing him out. So far it’s cost me getting shot and my car busted and impounded. He’s got to grow up enough to stay put.”

Shel nodded. “Alright, I swear.”

Wolfe walked up to the ornate mansion, which was covered in vines, and glanced around.

A smaller, non-card garden was out in front of the dwelling, continuing around the sides of the mansion. Numerous people worked in the fields. He glanced around the place, hoping to spot Thad, but didn’t see the Big Man’s kid. Maybe he’s around the back.

He gave a knock to the huge front door, and it almost immediately opened. A huge, older, shirtless man, about six-and-a-half feet tall, probably three hundred pounds of near total muscle, and covered in so much hair a bear would get a stiffy, looked out at Wolfe.

“Yes?” he asked, his voice a deep rumble.

Wolfe raised an eyebrow. “I was hoping to talk to speak to Thaddeus Grimm.”

“Are you from his father?” the huge man asked.

Wolfe was tempted to lie, but he wasn’t sure what he would say anyway, so he just nodded. “Yeah.”

“I’m sorry, he has left instructions to not be bothered by his father, or his father’s minions.” The huge man’s tone was deep and vaguely threatening, but his words were polite.

Wolfe bristled at the implied insult but tried to stick to business. “His father needs to talk to him. He’s in danger.”

“Not here,” the man replied. He touched his chest, and pulled forth a deck, and Wolfe irritably told the notification to go away. Five cards sprang into existence in front of the man, telling Wolfe he was probably higher level. As if to confirm it, the man tossed a card to the ground, and a huge monster sprang into existence, a towering mass of vegetation nearly twenty feet tall, like the swamp thing had taken all the steroids.

Wolfe noted the twenty attack rating and that it was called a ‘Defender of Paradise’ and needed seven power, and quit reading. The guy had made his point.

Although he wasn’t wearing a mantle, and Wolfe was briefly tempted. But he didn’t give in—he was trying to not be evil, after all. He hadn’t yet murdered an actual innocent, and didn’t want to start.

“Like I said,” the man offered with a relaxed smile. “Thaddeus doesn’t wish to speak to you. I bid you good day, sir.”

The door gently closed in Wolfe’s face.

Shel laid her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry… I think it’s going to be a whole deck of cards to deal with this. Or as you say, a ‘whole thing.’”