REDDITA
DEREK
Derek finished off the last dumpster dog by jumping on its back, grabbing its neck, and twisting violently. It snapped with a crack, and the creature fell limply to the ground.
Ling stared in what might have been awe. “Derek, that was...”
“Slow,” Akane interrupted. “You took too long. You're still injured.”
Derek disentangled himself from the corpse, taking care not to trip over the other dead dogs in the process. “No, I was slow on purpose. Weren't you the one who told me to take it easy?”
She sighed as she pulled her sword out of another hound. “You're right. Sorry.”
He smiled, trying to set her at ease. “C'mon, let's get them loaded up.”
They had borrowed his mom's car for this, since there were a dozen of the dumpster dogs. They couldn't lug those two miles back to their employer, and requesting she come get them would have cost them money. Thankfully, his mom was generous. She had even put a tarp down in the trunk so blood didn't get everywhere.
It was nearly noon by the time they stopped outside a tall and thin 'scraper. Akane had missed kendo, but that was no big deal. The building was one of the places with the really small shops on each floor. This one was mostly informal restaurants, with the food prepared inside the actual building, but bought and served outside, where small tables with umbrellas were bolted to the sidewalk. It was around lunch time, so the courtyard was about half full.
It had taken them almost two hours to get here. Domina traffic was bad most of the time, and late morning was one of the worst. Derek was getting a little too used to the retinue's van. Necessarian vehicles could cut through traffic much easier than civilian trucks.
Regardless, their employer met them outside the building, smiling.
“Good, good,” she said, nodding. She was an old ghoul with big claws and daygoggles hiding her eyes. “My son will be very happy now. The beasts were hounding his customers.”
Derek smiled. “That's funny, Miss Nervi.”
She cocked her head. “What is?”
Sometimes he forgot English was her second language. “Never mind. Where do you want the bodies?”
She waved towards the door of the shop. “The freezer is fine. We're just on the third floor. The boys will show you. Ragazzi!”
A couple of the nearby customers, ghouls with the same shape to their faces as Gloria Nervi, jumped up. Derek opened up the trunk, and they helped him wrap up the tarp and carry the bodies upstairs. The freezer was large and well-stocked, but they found a plastic box to put them in, so that the blood didn't get everywhere. Derek's mom would want the tarp back.
When they came back down, Nervi was on her cell. She hung up as they approached.
“I've sent the money,” she said. “As we agreed, a hundred dollars each. Twelve hundred total.”
Derek glanced at Akane. She had her phone out, and was checking texts. After a moment, she flipped it closed and nodded.
He smiled at Gloria again. “Thank you, Miss Nervi. We were happy to help.”
She grinned. “You come by more often, you hear? You never come by for lunch any more.”
He shrugged uncomfortably. “College. It's... a busy time.”
Derek didn't like lying. It was a filthy habit. Even simply not telling the truth was something he liked to avoid. But revealing their nature as the Paladins would cause problems. Not too many to deal with, he was sure, but it was better to keep it quiet for as long as possible.
But she just nodded. “I know that, for certain. You sure you don't want to stick around for some steaks?”
“Sorry,” Derek said honestly. “We have too much to do today. If traffic hadn't been so bad...”
She waved her hand. “Bah. Traffic. Don't talk to me about traffic. I had a plan for dealing with traffic. Got signatures for it and everything! Congress vetoed it.”
Before he could say anything—maybe point out why Congress had vetoed her proposal that involved too many monsters—somebody from inside the restaurant called to her, asking for help with something.
“We shouldn't keep you,” Derek said. “We'll be going now. Call if you have another job for us.”
“I will,” she said. “Take care.”
They left, but it still took another two hours to get back to the dorms. Of course, traffic got better pretty much the second they dropped off the car at his mom's. At least she wasn't home, so they didn't get stuck in some conversational sand trap.
The reason they were in such a hurry was waiting outside their rooms. Obould, with another box in his arms. He grinned when he saw them rounding the corner.
“Ah, Huntsman! I thought you weren't going to make it.”
Derek rolled his eyes. “Remind me not to deal with cars ever again.” He opened the door to his room, and everyone piled inside. Obould plopped the box on the bed again, and opened it up with quick hands.
“Since both of my creations were such failures last time, I pulled out all the stops.” Akane's armor hadn't exploded like Ling's did, but it turned out that it wasn't anywhere near as flexible as it needed to be, and had slowed her down dramatically. She had quickly decided it wasn't worth wearing and sent it back.
“Ling, let's start with you.” Obould pulled out what at first glance just looked like a black wetsuit, but on closer inspection didn't bend nearly enough.
“You didn't ask me for help making it,” Ling said. “Did you find something that was shaped right?”
“Well,” he said, frowning, “I think the slate will work, but we'll have to see. I actually plated it in titanium, so hopefully it will be strong enough.” He held up the suit, and Derek could indeed see rectangular plates, sewn under the fabric, at all the vital areas. It pretty much looked the same as any other military tactical armor, except the plating was covered in fabric.
“It's a one-piece?” Ling asked. “How do I put it on?”
He turned it around to reveal a long zipper at the back. “You should be able to do it yourself, but if not, I'm sure Akane can help you.” He put it down on the bed. “Derek and I will leave, let us know when we can come back.”
It only took about five minutes before they were called back in. Derek opened the door to find Ling looking very smug and covered head-to-toe in black. As she moved, he noticed that there were a few slits in the cloth at strategic locations, probably to help the armor breathe better.
“I like it,” she said, doing a few stretches. “Feels great.”
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“How's your range of movement?” Obould asked. He looked over her with the critical eye of an old armorer. “I had your measurements, of course, but there's only so much I could do without you actually wearing it.”
“It's not perfect,” she admitted. “But good. I'm not the agile one, anyway. I just need to be able to hit things hard.”
“Speaking of which,” Derek said, “did you test your power on it?”
She flinched a little. “No... not yet. I mean, I'm sure it will work. I can feel the plates, even under the metal. I'm just afraid something will go wrong again.” She shrugged. “Like maybe they'll break if I push them too hard.”
“I'll be ready to shield everyone if the suit explodes again,” Derek said. “And you can always get new plates.”
She took a deep breath and nodded. “You're right. Okay, give me a second.” She fell into horse stance, her legs bent, her breathing shallow. Akane and Obould stepped behind Derek. He was sure they were both confident in Obould's armor, but better safe than sorry, and one of those plates moving at high speed could actually kill someone.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Ling's arms began to move.
She moved them like in swimming class, bringing them into her chest, then out, then in again and out again. From Derek's perspective, it just looked like she was moving her arms slowly, but he could see the strain on her face.
“Okay, perfect,” Obould said from behind him. “Now fall back and catch yourself, like last time.”
She nodded, and slowly leaned back on her heels. She fell back normally at first, but slowly lowered to an impossible angle, then back up, then back down.
Derek grinned. “Perfect. You're doing great. How's your reservoir?”
She brought herself to a normal angle and opened her eyes. “Pretty much empty. I can't keep that kind of thing up for long.”
“Let's take a look at Akane's while you rest,” Obould said, scrambling past me for the box. “Now, I thought we could put some reactive armor weave in here, which should be able to enhance her movements even at super speed.”
Akane perked up at that. “Really?”
“Yes.” He paused briefly. “Well, that was the idea, but we've had some trouble finding anything that isn't too bulky.”
Akane's face fell.
“However,” he said quickly, “we did find a temporary substitute.” He pulled out what at first glance looked like another wetsuit, but was too flexible. It was still black, though. Derek was pretty sure Obould didn't trust his eyesight enough to put colors in something. “It's fitted to your size down to the millimeter. It should feel better than your own skin.”
She touched it gingerly. “Soft.”
He nodded. “It was sewn by a Minerva, using her own silk. It's not bulletproof—there's too much give for that—but it is cut and stab proof, and should be mostly fireproof as well.”
“We'll leave,” Derek said, as she took the outfit from him.
She grinned devilishly. “No need.” She started taking off her top.
Obould quickly looked away. Derek started getting a migraine again, and sighed. But before he closed his eyes, right before Akane got her shirt off, she... blurred.
She was suddenly a rush of motion. It lasted barely a second, but when it was done, she was dressed in the Minerva weave, adjusting her sword around her waist.
Derek blinked. “You...”
She grinned again. “Been practicing in the mornings.” She shrugged. “Getting faster.”
“You should've seen her the first couple times,” Ling said, smiling a little. “She pretty much just ended up throwing her pajamas everywhere.”
Derek's migraine came back again, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. “That's... great.” He shook his head to clear out the mental cobwebs. “Anyway, how does it feel?”
Akane flexed her fingers a little. The material there was thinner and tighter than the rest of the suit, probably to make sure it didn't get in the way of gripping things. The rest of the armor wasn't quite skin-tight, but it was very well-fitted, with slack in just the right places to give her full range of movement.
“Perfect,” she practically purred. “Much better.” Derek blinked, and suddenly she was gone, only a slight breeze noting her departure.
“Wow, that's something,” Obould said seriously.
Derek was a bit more impressed. He had thought he was the only one practicing his powers with any regularity. Sure, using them for mundane tasks might not be perfect, but it was something. He was glad she was finally taking this seriously. Before, she had been... hesitant to use her powers outside of combat.
She sped back in suddenly. She was little more than a blur of motion. So she still wasn't fast enough to be effectively invisible. Well, maybe he was setting the bar too high.
“Perfect,” she said again, grinning. She blurred again, and it took him a second to realize she was going through a couple quick sword moves. She stopped, sheathing her sword, with a look on her face like... well, like a soldier given a new set of armor. Satisfied. “Perfect.”
Ling picked at Akane's arm. “You're right, it is soft. What's mine made out of, anyway?”
“A high-quality variant of spandex, mostly,” Obould said. “It needed to be flexible and breathable. But there's still a good amount of kevlar woven in there, especially around the plates. It will hold, I can guarantee that.”
She looked at her own arms in admiration. “It feels nice. Though I'm sure the silk is better.” She twisted, apparently trying to get a look at her own rear end. “How much is this going to cost?”
Obould named a number.
Ling tripped and fell to the ground.
Derek raised an eyebrow. “You okay there?”
From the floor, she stared at him in shock, then at Obould and Akane. “Uh... I don't have that much money. I'm in AU on a soccer scholarship.”
Derek bit back a laugh. “Is that what you're worried about?” He smiled and reached out a hand to help her up. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet. “Don't even think about it. I'll be handling the cost.”
She stared up at him again, though it was a bit more disconcerting when she was standing three inches away. “How much money do you guys make from monster slaying, anyway?”
Derek frowned, trying to think. “Well, that's a bit tricky...”
Akane named a number.
Ling tripped and fell to the ground.
“That's after expenses,” Akane said, unconcerned. She shrugged. “We can get better, if it's something unique that we can sell for a high price.”
“There have been more gargants recently,” Derek said. “Which is great for business, but not a good sign.”
Obould snorted. “The Autumn courts are the most inventive of the fey, but not the most prolific. Which means we'll be seeing fewer of the smaller monsters, and more of the unique ones—like gargants.” He shrugged. “Not much we can do, except kill them when we see them.”
Ling shook her head. “This is depressing,” She grinned and pressed herself against Derek, which might have actually felt nice if she weren't wearing armor. “There's always at least one way to boost spirits.”
Before he could come up with a decent reply, Akane rushed forward at superspeed, ripped Ling away from him, and tackled her out into the hall. Ling yelped and tried to fight back, but Akane had much more experience. She stayed on top without any difficulty, pinning her to the floor.
Ling apparently realized she wouldn't win by fighting fair. She suddenly rose into the air quickly, if a little wobbly, intent on dashing Akane against the ceiling.
Even without factoring in her power, Akane was fast, and backflipped off Ling's chest before she was in any danger. Ling, in turn, flipped her feet back down, landing in what at first looked like a fighter's crouch, but which Derek realized was actually a goalie stance.
He closed the door just as they rushed towards each other.
Women. It seemed like all they did was screw with him. Seriously. He didn't understand why teasing someone was so much fun. It gave him a headache just thinking about it.
“Well,” Obould said slowly. “At least they're putting the armor through the wringer.” He paused, thinking. “And their powers, too.”
Derek nodded. “That's true. Akane's been getting more comfortable using her speed, and hopefully this will do the same for Ling.” He shook his head. “I'm not quite sure why Akane was so hesitant, though. Usually she's good about practicing.”
“Oh, that,” Obould said with a chuckle. “She said something to my wife about it. She was afraid using it would age her faster.”
Derek blinked. “And... what did your wife say?”
He shrugged. “That there was no way of knowing if it was true, but she needed to practice regardless. Could save her life.”
Derek turned to the door, beyond which he could still hear the two fighting—hopefully without bringing the entire 'scraper down.
“Huntsman?” Obould asked. “You worried about the girls?”
He snapped out of his fugue. “No, they'll be fine. I'm sure they won't do anything impossible in sight of anyone, or destroy anything valuable.” He gestured to the box Obould had brought the armor in, which also contained a small pad for calculations and transferring money. “Let's work out exactly how much I owe you.”