Alex is feeling lazy today.

After her mandatory classes were finished, she found that she just wanted to lounge around the common area flipping through shows.

“Samuel, we were brothers, connected through a pact of blood, how could you do this?”

“You’ve always been a fool ‘brother’, I simply know which way-”

Boring, next.

“Hey! I was watching that.”

“And I’ve got the remote, unless you think you can take it from me?”

The boy grumbles but makes no moves for the remote.

Ah, the joys of being strong.

“Breaking news” says the anchor “After multiple skirmishes La Casa de Los Vivos, Solomon's Kingdom, and the Bastions of Truth are officially at war”

That gets Alex’s attention.

“The assault on the docks, with the use of multiple explosives, is expected to get a proportional response from La Casa de Los Vivos. If you don’t have a reason to travel through their respective territories, it’s advised to steer clear until the conflict comes to an end.”

Alex tunes out the rest.

Well she thinks it’s finally happened. Took long enough, I hope Vicktors ok.

“Don’t the Kingdom and the Bastion take turns shitting in each other's cereal?” the same kid from before asks.

“Yeah” Alex idly responds.

“Who wants to bet this spills over and the Wolves and us have to get involved?”

“You’re on chink! Fifty down”

Fucking chrome for brains.

-

With her day thoroughly ruined, she’s decided to make herself useful and do something she’d been planning for tomorrow. The bell jingles as she enters the store.

“Welcome!” says the clerk “what can Kimi’s electronics get for you today?”

“I’m looking for a phone”

“Splendid! We have a wide collection over on aisle three ready for your perusal.”

Alex nods, “thanks” she says, and heads over to the aforementioned aisle. Kimi’s is a humble little store on the edges of the crossroads, it sells mostly used products at a discount, taking advantage of the neutrality to maintain a relatively peaceful workspace. They don’t even have to pay protection money, since the area technically doesn’t belong to any of the gangs (in practice it belongs to all of them).

It’s one of the few peaceful places in Arthas, and no one’s willing to break that.

So it is to the surprise of everyone when two idiot’s walk in and hold the clerk at gunpoint.

“Empty the account little lady” say’s idiot#1 handing her a cred chip.

“And don’t try to short us, we got a runner looking through your account as we speak” idiot#2 adds

“Okay, okay. Let's just calm down, yeah? No need to get violent.”

The clerk is quite calm considering the circumstances.

Ah. They expect her to deal with this, guess the big fuck-off revolver left an impression. And the colors, can’t ever forget the colors. Hmmm, maybe she should get some tats? Nah, they’ll stretch out and look all funky while she’s still growing.

Alex is fully aware she’s delaying the inevitable, but can you blame her?

She only has one gun, and a Katana isn’t great for a stick up.

She’s going to have to kill one of them.

She sighs, well better get it over with.

She shut’s off her mind as she slowly approaches the front. Already deciding which idiot’s life she’ll end, she stops behind them as they continue to make demands of the clerk, none the wiser to the teenage killer pointing their gun to idiot#2’s head.

She hesitates.

She aims at his elbow and almost blows off his arm instead.

The recoil is an absolute bitch, but it does its job.

He screams as he drops his gun. “The fuck-” idiot#1 stops as he notices the tengu pointed at his head.

“Drop the gun and leave chink” She say’s

“Fuck you kid, I’ll fucking kill you!” he says but doesn’t aim his gun at her.

“Sure you will chink. Now drop the gun, i won’t-”

Something screams inside her head and she whips her gun back to idiot#2 and makes a tunnel through his head before she can think better of it.

He’s cradling his pistol with his left hand.

Fuck, why didn’t I think of that.

It all took less than a second.

She brings her gun back up at idiot#1, and finds that he’s taken the opportunity to do the same. He’s looking at her with a mix of fear and anger “you killed Lucas”.

“He shouldn’t have gone for his gun”

“Fuck you” he says. Then he shoots her in the chest.

She replies likewise, the caliber of her tengu being significantly higher than whatever pistol he’s sporting, and punches a hole the size of her fist through his chest. The man collapses onto the floor, she has to lean on a shelf to stop herself from doing the same. The clerk peeked up from under her desk. Seeing the carnage, she sighs in relief before standing back up.

“You need a hand?” they ask

Alex gives them an incredulous look

“Yes,” she says followed by a cough.

Mmmh, blood, that’s not good.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Fuck today

-

A major puncture to a lung is generally not survivable, unless you’ve got enough credits to afford a surgery. Lucky for her then that it doesn’t seem to be all that bad, she just coughs out some blood every now and then. Honestly it’s her ribs that suck the most cheeks right now, and the coughing does not help. Kendo and gym are going to be a bitch.

She left Kimi’s electronics with some bandages and a new phone.

The bitch didn’t even give her a discount.

That’s fine, the idiots had a surprising amount of creds on their person, two thousand to be exact, why the fuck would they rob a store if they were doing well enough to casually carry that much dough?

She’s also got two new pistols, so there’s that, she looks kind of comical with three holsters strapped around her waist.

But none of the passersby’s are willing to comment considering her tengu’s still drawn. Her arms are a little sore from shooting the thing three times. Half her ammunition and three hundred credits, wasted on some idiot nobodies.

“Hey kid, long time no see” a familiar voice breaks her out of her reverie, she turns to see two Scars sizing her up. An asian woman who’s wearing the top of a swimsuit of all things and a pair of mini shorts, if it weren’t for the pendant she’d think she’d think she was a hooker. Next to her is a man of modest size, a pair of gigantic chrome arms framing his figure

“Adam?” she asks

The other Scar scowls “Thats Mr.Knoll to you brat” she says

Adam ignores her “we heard shooting”

Alex nods slowly “there was-” a cough “-sorry. there were some idiots trying to stick up a store”

“Kimi’s electronics” he says “we saw the corpses”

“It was sloppy” the other Scar adds

“Yeah” Alex mumbles “I know”

“Well come on then” she gives him a questioning look “you owe me a drink”

She just wants to go home and sleep, but to deny a Scar is the height of folly.

“And holster that gun”

-

There are a lot of places Alex expects a Scar to spend their leisure time between training and jobs, casino’s, ritzy restaurants, and exclusive night clubs. Turns out her guess was right on the money as a bouncer lets them into a five story building without so much as a glance. They didn’t even have to wait in line.

As they walk into the nightclub Alex’s ears are assaulted by the sound of techno-synth blasting through the speakers. She almost covers her ears before thinking better of it. No need to embarrass herself. On the stage surrounded by decently-well off looking folk is a stripper doing some insane maneuvers on the pole.

No way joints are supposed to bend that far, has to be bionics.

Then she catches herself.

She can’t possibly afford to modify every joint.

Maybe she’s a contortionist on the side.

“Like what you see?” says the female scar with a slight smirk.

Alex doesn’t even blush “I’m not into girls.”

She raises a disbelieving eyebrow “then why are you staring?”

“Just wondering how those moves are even possible”

“You’ve never been to a stripclub before, have you?”

“Never had a reason to” she replies.

“Your loss brat”

“My name is Alex”

“I don’t care”

Adam looks back at the two with a bemused expression on his face before interrupting his partners fun “Stop squabbling and let’s go”

Alex’s mouth clamps shut and the female Scar lets out a chuckle.

They head off to the side where the elevators are located and Adam presses the button to head…Down?

It opens instantly, guess it was just sitting on this floor, they head inside and Adam presses B1. The doors close and they head down to the literal underground stripclub.

“You know, I don’t think I can afford any of the drinks here.”

“That’s not why we’re here” He replies.

Wait what?

“Why are we here then?” she says slowly

“We’re gonna harvest your organs!” the female Scar replies cheerfully

Alex lets out a few awkward chuckles at them before going silent as Adam hasn’t rebuffed that statement. “Wait, seriously?” she asks. They do not reply. Alex starts sweating bullets, but calms down when the elevator door opens revealing a restaurant with red flooring and booths with black leather couches shaped like a U. A few booths are occupied, all of them by Scars.

Now she’s sweating for a different reason.

There’s what Alex can only describe as a butler waiting by a small podium in front of the elevator.

“Ah, Master Adam, Master Sakurako, what a pleasure it is to see you. Please, pick whichever seating is to your liking and a waiter will attend to you post-haste” He says with an odd cadence that Alex can’t place.

‘Master’?

Holy shit, he is a butler!

Adam just nods and leads them to the nearest booth available.

“Okay, can you tell me why I'm actually here now?” she asks as she sits on the very plush and comfy couch.

“Patience” he replies

Sakurako chuckles “Always so mysterious Adam, can’t even give them any hints?”

“That’ll just lead to questions, and besides, I want to eat first”

A waiter appears in front of their booth as though the mention of food were a summons.

Adam barely acknowledges him “Three bowls of spicy ramen, extra beef. A margarita for me and straight vodka for her, oh and a fruit punch for the kid.”

Alex scowls “I can drink” she protests.

“Not with my creds”

“You brought me to a strip club and your line in the sand’s alcohol?”

“Yes”

The waiter has a slightly shocked expression at the idiot child in front of him.

“Well?” Sakurako says “go do your job boy”

He pales a bit before scurrying off to the kitchen.

“How old are you anyway?” Sakurako asks

Alex goes to answer before clutching her chest and going into a coughing fit, getting droplets of blood on the table.

“Gross” Sakurako says “If you get any blood in my food, i’ll kill you”

“Sorry” Alex says

Adam grunts with a grimace and hands her a tissue.

She gets to cleaning her mess.

“I’m fifteen as of a month ago, why?” Alex asks

Sakurako looks stunned “Damn girl, what are they feeding you? You’ve got to be at least six feet tall!”

“Six four”

“Goddamn”

-

The ramen was easily the best food she’s ever had, yet somehow it managed to disappoint. That’s mostly Alex’s fault, her expectations were through the roof. She guesses that at a certain point, adding to a dish just becomes a waste of time.

“So, why am I here?” Alex asks

Adam fucking dabs his mouth with a napkin like some sort of princess before answering her. A princess with gorilla arms.

“You’ve caught the interest of the Third Finger” He states simply

“Ellie?” He nods

“Ok, so what? Did you bring me here just to tell me something I already knew?”

Sakurako scowls, and Alex pales, realizing a bit too late that she may be acting a bit too casual with the two Scars.

Adam waves her off.

“You don’t realize the significance of this” He says

“I mean, isn’t she known for taking in kids on a hunch” She says “I don’t see how this is anything different”

“She employs children at times, if they seem useful. She does not take particular interest in them though, simply seeing them as an investment for the future for the whole gang.” He says “She has already claimed you as hers, and that is something she is not known to do. Such an act costs political capital. I do not know what you did to earn her attention, but you have, and that puts expectations on your shoulders. Expectations you cannot fulfil.” He finishes bluntly.

“Ellie’s claimed me? She can do that?” Alex asks

“The only person above her is the Dragon, there’s very little she can’t do”

“Ok? That still doesn’t explain why I’m here”

Sakurako lets out a heavy sigh “He’s trying to warn you kid, bleeding heart that he is, a lot of dragons don’t work directly for a Finger. You’ve got a target on your back.”

Adam nods at that statement.

Alex is just perplexed.

“The other dragons are gonna target me?”

Sakurako chuckles “Not overtly, but yes, they’ll be targeting you. You got a taste of it earlier today.”

Alex stares at the woman “The two idiots?”

“Bingo!”

Alex takes a moment to contemplate that, some jealous gangers are gonna start sending goons to deal with her? That seems…wrong.

“How would they know I wouldn't've just hid?”

“Hide, and you’re a coward, and they’ll use that against you. Fight, and you risk death.” Adam says “Invest in some protection, if those lowlives had higher caliber weapons, we wouldn’t be having this conversation”

Alex just might do that, there’s just one question.

“How do you know they were bribed?”

“A group of dragons came into the store and searched the bodies right after you left”