“Hello, Drim.” Jaid was certainly nervous to see her ex-boss again, but she wasn’t going to let herself show it. At the very least, she was going to force herself to speak to him on the same level. “I can’t exactly say that these are the exact circumstances I wanted to return to Bisomote, but I suppose it was inevitable. We are enemies after all.”
“Are we? Well if you insist.” The boy in front of her didn’t seem entirely convinced and remained unphased by the prospect. That just annoyed her even more. “So are you fine just talking for a bit? I can’t say I’m exactly in the mood for a fight since I was just rudely awoken by an invasion after all.”
Jaid tightened her grip on her sword even more. It seemed his sleeping habits had never been fixed. Should she be honored that he was possibly still losing sleep over her, or annoyed that she wasn’t enough of a thorn in her side that he’d be relieved when she was gone?
“And what’s there left to say?” Jaid decided to go with insulted. “You know I’m not here for a casual visit, so why don’t we get the ugly business out of the way. Then we can chat all you want.”
“Well, I could help you regain some of your memories if you’d like,” Drim continued to stall anyways. “If you have any gaps you’d like to fill, I’d be happy to clear anything up for you—assuming it’s not confidential intel. That, we’d like to stay forgotten.”
“No, I don- Well, there is one thing, actually,” a certain trivial piece of trivia sprung to the forefront of Jaid’s mind. It even caused her to lower her sword and lean against it for the moment. This was all stall tactics, or Drim was trying to de-escalate. She wouldn’t let him but now her curiosity was burning, and she couldn’t go in if getting the answer was possible.
“What was the name of Kada’s robot that she got from the cheese guy? You weren’t there, but—”
“Sir Cleaningsworth?”
“Yes! Thank youuuuuuuu!” Jaid was genuinely relieved. “I’ve been calling him Mr. Dustington in my head for months.” The moment she got her answer, though, she picked up her sword again. Of course, she still needed clarification on the whole kissing situation, but that could wait until after she beat him bloody a bit.
◆Rank 10◆
Jaid charged at him without further courtesy and swung her blade. Drim of course responded in turn, blocking it with his twin blades and then taking a step back.
“Do you mind if I ask a few questions then?” he inquired during the pause.
“Sure. If you. Want.” Jaid grunted permission, saying a few words between each clash of metal that followed. She then took a step back herself to resituate and offered, “If you can ask while fighting, ask all you want. If you let me get a few hits in, I might even answer some.” She then began another relentless assault of blows
“What’s your living conditions like?” Drim asked as he swiped at her side, Jaid quickly having to move her sword to block in response. It wasn’t the question she was expecting, so she saw no reason not to humor him.
“Decent.” She still had to keep the wording short between exchanges. “Not as good as here. But no complaints.”
“What’s your salary?” Drim could somehow still make a query while Jaid was beating him down from overhead with her sword—him only holding her back by a few inches with his blades.
“None of your business,” she insisted, starting to get annoyed at how relaxed he was. “But it’s livable.”
“Do you get enough time off?” He asked just before Jaid managed to stomp on one of his blades when he was going for a low swing, and blocked his other blade with her sword. She was hoping she had him pinned, but he did a full flip with his body, using the trapped blade as leverage, and kicked her square in the jaw.
“How about your work hours? Getting enough sleep at night?” He skirted a few steps away and then followed up before she could answer the first.
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“What the hell is this about?” Jaid took another moment to pause and rub her chin. “You looking for a career change or something?”
“Well, that’s why you're here, isn’t it?” Drim so boldly claimed. “You’re not here to kill us. If the CP wanted that, they wouldn’t have sent you or an army. They would have destroyed the barrier and then rained down hell from above. Even we couldn’t evacuate everyone in time for that.”
“So, you’re here to capture us, or some of us at least. If I had to guess, your top priorities are Ahvra, Nathym, and myself. Our Curses make us the obvious choices. Phon could be an asset as well, given that she can know basically everything about anyone after her awakening.”
“Thanks for the intel,” Jaid huffed. “We actually knew the least about her changes out of the four of you—can’t exactly see what goes on in her mind. We know Xard is no longer restricted by his energy input anymore, but that’s about it. We know Kada’s destructive reach is much higher, but that’s about it. But you, we know assumedly everything about your power of life since you’ve been flaunting it all over the place, even the living plant you let fly around. What was her name, Mini Drim?”
“Flaunting?” Drim was perturbed by the accusation. “I guess if you count going around to hospitals and helping the sick and needy, then sure, I’ve been flaunting.”
“You make it sound so noble, God Drazah.” Jaid couldn’t hold back a smirk when he flinched at the title. “It seems you’re aware of the newest nickname for you making the rounds.”
“Please never call me that again,” Drim’s eyes were deadly serious for a moment but then went back to being aloof. “Back on topic. I regret to inform you, but Nathym isn’t here. He’s on a business trip in Drome Coli—not that you’d find him there either even if you sent a team now. I can guarantee you he’s somewhere that no one would ever look.”
“For Ahvra, she’s in the lab. I doubt you’d ever be able to get to her, even with that monk’s ability. And if you did, I pity anyone who gets close. They won’t return unscathed, if at all.”
“That makes me your best option. Obviously, they want you to capture me and take me prisoner. But what if I offered to go willingly with full cooperation? So go on. Sell me. Convince me to join the Central Peace.”
“Tch, and we both know damn well they’d welcome you with open arms at this point too,” Jaid clicked her tongue. “But I can tell you’re zjikking me. You’d never abandon this group, even if it was all a ruse. So what’s your real reason for asking?”
“Maybe I’m hoping you’ll slip up and give me some info,” Drim responded quickly. “Or maybe I just want to check up on you—make sure they’re treating you well.”
“Don’t act like we have any sort of relationship anymore!” Jaid roared at him like he was a clingy ex who couldn’t take the hint. “Now shut up and fight for real!”
Jaid activated the railgun on her sword and charged in again. She wasn’t planning to fire it immediately, but wanted it ready for when the moment presented itself. Their blades clashed as electricity swirled in front of their faces, making their hairs stand on end.
They exchanged a few more blows, and Jaid finally got the advantage, knocking both blades back and sending his arms reeling in the air. Before Drim could bring them back down to defend, she leveled her sword horizontally and fired at his chest from just a few feet away.
Drim dropped to the floor on his back, clear shock on his face as the bolt of lightning whizzed past the tip of his nose. Jaid tried to capitalize by slicing down at him, but he hooked his own feet around hers and spun behind her. Before Jaid could react, Drim had already grappled her from behind, placing his blade against her neck.
Of course the coward won’t actually try to kill me either. I’ll make him pay for holding back. Jaid slammed the tip of her sword into the ground and fired another shot of electricity. Sparks flooded the room—an attack she’d repeated hundreds of times by now since it was so damned effective at dealing with groups.
Jaid didn’t even have to dodge out of the way anymore since her boots had been well insulated despite being metal. Drim on the other hand would feel at least some stinging—reduced because he was a Fiend, but it’d still hurt like heck.
He didn’t stick around to wade through it. The bastard clambered onto Jaid’s back, pressing his dirty boots into her tunic and using her like a springboard to launch himself towards the wall. That pissed her off even more, and she urgently lined up the next shot to fire at him while he dangled with his blade stuck in the rock.
“Why aren’t you using your Curse?” Jaid finally asked while she chased Drim around the room with a sequence of shots.
“Why aren’t you?” Drim asked in return as he dexterously dodged them.
“Because I only like to use my Curse when someone gives me a reason,” Jaid had found herself holding to that standard lately. It made her feel less like a monster if she initially showed restraint. “And you still haven’t given me a reason because you’re not taking me seriously!”
“Well, maybe I’m not taking you seriously because you’re still holding back yourself,” Drim flatly suggested. “I will if you will. Ladies first.”