Jaid sat patiently at the Bisomote bus stop. It seemed the easiest way to get to Hedgehind, but she’d overheard a few rumors that the times listed on the schedule weren’t the most reliable. Maybe that's why she was the only member waiting there. She’d have guessed at least one other person would consider it but was now doubting her choice.
A convertible pulled up in front of her. Jaid could already guess who it belonged to by the pink paint-job. “Hop in girl, we’re going to have fun,” Nini shouted at her. Jaid obviously accepted, finding it rude to decline. She was immediately handed a pair of oversized sunglasses and reluctantly put them on
“Is this your car?” Jaid asked once they’d started driving.
“It is now,” Niloy giggled. “I had Nathym make it for me. He’s totally scared of girls if you didn’t notice!” Jaid hadn’t noticed, and briefly considered reporting it, but deemed it too cruel even for a Fiend to have on their record. “So I threatened to tickle him, and he agreed no problem. Doesn’t have all the fancy pants stuff yet, though. Said I’d need to bug Itsy for that.”
“Okay, uhh, what did you mean we’re going to have fun? And uhh… why me?” This really had been an unexpected turn of events for Jaid’s day, but she couldn’t say it was unwelcome.
“So not cute, Jaid. You just gotta go with the flow!” Jaid stared in horror as Niloy let go of the wheel with both hands to make a fluid waving with her arms.
“Oh Cosmos, you’re really gonna make me spell it out?! Not cool, Jaid. Whatever,” Niloy gave in. “I guess you’re pretty out of the loop of what’s trending these days. Well, your clothes tell me that without me having to ask. The only other girly-girl in the group is Kada, and I haven’t shunned her long enough to have a mutually tragic moment where we become close.”
“So, while you’re not girly-girly, you’re all I got. I don’t think there’s a dressmaker in the world who’d make something Itsy could wear, and Kaizu, Phon, Ahvra, and Mallea are all at least a bit psycho. Have you noticed there really are a lot of psychos in this group? Anyways, Rez is kind of like a girl, so he’s fun to hang out with, and I like watching him squirm, but I can’t drag him everywhere with me.”
“That leaves you. You’re just boring and spineless enough that I can drag you around with me, and we can have fun, and you can give me lots of compliments.” Jaid had to admit, Nini’s brutal honesty was kind of refreshing. “So, I was thinking we’d go get some kinda fruity drink and then do some shopping. Get us some new clothes cus girl do you need it.”
Niloy gave an exaggerated glance to Jaid’s clothing which she couldn’t even refute. Jaid had almost always been in uniform since birth, so picking out clothing and understanding fashion was a new horizon for her. “Anyways, I’ll pick you out some good stuff, so you just gotta go with the flow and trust me.” After being subjected to Chorus’ fashion show, Jaid was less than excited to be someone’s dress-up doll again, but at least Nini wore stuff Jaid could understand.
The rest of the drive was mostly one-sided as Niloy rambled about her side of events ever since joining up. Their relationship dynamic was already being cemented with Niloy at the center of attention and Jaid being the hype-woman who agreed or made an exasperated noise on occasion. She didn’t mind it, though. It was stupid and superficial, but both sides knew that, so it could just be that. There didn’t need to be a hidden meaning or manipulation, and they could just have fun.
When they got to Hedgehind, Nini immediately took them to a very stylish drink shop where they ordered something way overpriced. It was good, deliciously so, but no matter how Jaid looked at it, she couldn’t justify getting it regularly at the absurd price they charged. Even with her salary from the Fiends For Hire and the stipend she got from the CP, this was still egregious. Especially with how much she consumed, it wasn’t something she could drink constantly. Oh well, it was a treat for today.
The shopping was a lot more tolerable than Jaid expected. Niloy had dragged her to an overpriced boutique. Maybe it was because they were Fiends, but the normally pushy sales clerks left them alone. Nini still made her try on a bunch of outfits, but they all suited her to a surprising degree, and she left with more outfits than she’d even brought with her when she first joined.
After Niloy picked out some stuff for herself, she made them go get manicures since they still had time to kill. Jaid felt so bad for the manicurist, since it appeared that Fiend nails had increased resistance like everything else and were much harder to file. This was an aspect Jaid had never realized, since she’d always had her enhanced strength when cutting them.
They didn’t even make it halfway through the manicure before they got a text from Nachi. She told them to meet them in front of a big-box retail store of all places.
◆Rank 7◆
“Thanks, Tize, for volunteering to be Kaizu’s handler for today. Welcome to Bulk Boutique, everyone!” Nachi greeted them when she and Itsy arrived. “We were going to go to a regular grocery store, but we have to give the giantess here a chance. Not that I really think it’ll help that much. Sorry, Itsy, but you’re doomed to fail. Feel free to prove me wrong.’’
“I do like this location better, though. Since it’s a members only store, they’re paying more attention to who comes and goes. Stealth is what we’re testing here, and it’s a pretty simple test at that. For those of you who are still pure… Congratulations! You’ll be committing your first crime.”
“All you have to do for this test is steal a bottle of booze from the back of the store. Even a kid could get away with a bit of pilfering, so it won’t be as easy as just nabbing the thing. You have to do it while remaining entirely unseen. From the moment you enter, to the moment you leave, you can’t be spotted. Now, everyone put these on.” Each testee was handed a hairband with a device that slightly resembled a lightbulb on top.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Nachi couldn’t help but snicker as they reluctantly put them on. “Wow, you all look ridiculous, but it shouldn’t matter. If no one’s seeing you, no one will see how stupid you look. Consider it more incentive. The device is tracking the line of vision of everyone around you, obviously not yet because nothing is happening.”
“If someone stares at you for more than a few seconds, it’ll start tapping on your head. Originally, it was supposed to light up and make noise, but too much commotion could hamper any further attempts for everyone here. You all get three chances, well four because of the bonus test. Except Itsy here, again, not that it’d help her anyways. Kind of a shame Rez didn’t make it this far. This would have been an instant-win for him.”
“Since Roque cheated by bribing me, he was allowed to study the layout of the store. So he can go first. We’ve tapped into the security cameras so you all can watch on your phones if you want. Won’t give you as much insight as Roque has, but may help you a bit. I just want to watch this zjikshow.”
“I’m afraid you’ll be quite disappointed with the results,” Roque smirked at her, beaming with confidence. He took one step towards the store before Nachi stopped him.
“Oh wait! Right, supposed to give you all these,” Nachi pulled a box out of Itsy’s monster truck. “Can’t have you all doing crimes as part of the Fiends For Hire without Crime Cards. You’re all in luck and get your packs first.” She chucked the packs of cards around to each person.
Jaid caught her pack and grimaced at ‘The Warrior’ art. It depicted a green-haired woman walking away with a giant sword, so they at least got that part right. The woman, however, looked closer to a savage from fiction wearing furred armor. There was also quite a lot of blood dripping from the bottom of the sword. Jaid didn’t like her actual moniker either, but at least it didn’t make people picture her as a barbarian.
“Ohmygosh! I’m the cutest zombie!” Nini couldn’t contain her excitement as she took turns shoving her card in everyone’s face. The card was a fully zombified Niloy with the greenish rotting skin and everything. Yet, it still had makeup and her stylish hair while doing a classic pose every young girl did for their pictures.
This led to everyone going around the group showing off theirs, Jaid doing it next to get it over with. There were some unified nods in agreement that her card was a good fit. She didn’t know whether she should feel offended or not.
Tize’s card was clever and cute, but kind of boring. It was a makeshift fort, almost like a kid’s pillow-fort, but made up entirely of shields. Itsy’s was an image of herself curled up into a ball with a chain attached to her back, swinging through the air. Jaid found both of theirs very fitting.
“Is this supposed to be me stealing candy from a baby to sell to another baby?” Roque almost sounded offended by the proposition, but Nachi nodded in confirmation. “Well… I can’t say it’s a thing I haven’t done… but it’s such an inefficient business model. I’d like to think my talents could be showcased better. Though, I must admit it ties well into the name.”
Noticeably, everyone had received a pack of cards but Kaizu, but Nachi still had one pack left in her hands. “Man, I really shouldn’t have to be the one to explain all this. The brat boy’s in charge, he should be doing it. A lot has happened the past few days, Kaizu. We haven’t purposefully been keeping it from you, but wanted things to be more concrete before telling you.”
“Now hear me out before you get worked up. Somehow, the police caught wind of your… activities… before coming here and have been working tirelessly over the past few days to connect you to as many missing persons as possible. They haven’t even come close to linking them all, but it was enough.” Jaid gulped. She’d reported to the CP that Kaizu was a serial killer, but hadn’t given them any specifics, not that she knew any herself.
“We all know the compound is being monitored. I imagine the CP and various governments have been looking deeply into everyone we recruited, so it was really just a matter of time. It’s now become a whole legal issue with your country wanting you extradited. Actually, a few police officers and CP military even showed up at the compound this morning, wanting us to hand you over, but Drim refused.”
“So… we’re working on it. Nothing in your life should change, but it seems this is far from over. Thankfully, Chorus had the foresight to get ahead of this and paint the story in the best light possible. Thanks to their efforts, you gained quite a backing before the media even got a whiff. They also managed to keep your name from being reported, giving them your new moniker to spread.”
“Chorus practically wiped your old identity off the face of Rathe, and managed to sever every connection between you and your parents too. We’ve checked on them and will continue to monitor. No one’s bugged them and it seems it will stay that way. You should really thank Chorus for their efforts. For your parents sake, it’s best for you to lean into this new persona, or at least I was told to tell you that.”
“Well, anyways now you’ve got quite a lot of fan outcry praising you as a savior or even a karmic deity. You’ve seem to have really hit with the young adult and middle-aged female demographic too. Don’t let it go to your head. But, they’ve dubbed you The Stained Street Sweeper.”
Nachi handed over the last pack to Kaizu. It was a very homely woman sweeping the street, a large pile of bloody bodies behind her. While the woman’s front was still clean, stains of blood could be seen peeking over from her backside onto her shoulder and neck, and the tip of the broom was drenched in it.
“Thank you,” was all that Kaizu said, but her face showed a lot more inner turmoil.
“Well, you’re certainly looking down now, madam,” Roque’s voice became lively. “Nothing a bottle of booze won’t fix. So, I’ll be back in a jiffy and you can drink to your heart’s content. That’s a Personson promise.” Nachi seemed a bit annoyed at the prospect of losing the booze she was certainly going to claim, but couldn’t argue.
Roque did just as he said, barely giving anyone time to pull up the security camera feeds. He walked right into the store, headed straight to the back down the main aisle, grabbed a bottle of booze, and strolled right out without anyone giving him a second glance. “As promised. Feel free to drink away your troubles.”
“Alright, gotta ask, how’d you do it? Pay everyone off in there to ignore you or something?” Nachi inquired. “I won’t fail you regardless of what you say, I swear.”
“Nachi, my friend, I am positively insulted by the accusation,” Roque feigned a pained face. “I’m an honest businessman so there’s no way I would cheat—more than I already have. You see, I exude an aura that makes people uncomfortable. When I act bold and confident, they want to look away from me as quickly as possible, afraid of what I’ll do if we make eye contact. The salesman special for being left alone.”
“Well, I suppose people wanting to pretend you don’t exist counts as stealth in a way,” Nachi acquiesced. “Alright, that soured my mood, so I need to know that this isn’t a flawed test. Itsy, get in there.”