“The blood tests are going fantastically, Useful One, thank you for asking.” Drim hadn’t actually asked, but he and Ahvra had been engaged in conversation for some time now. “The blood we stole from the applicants has proven to be invaluable data. The preliminary tests are almost done, and we may be able to begin actual experimentation soon. Will handle it very cautiously of course. Wouldn’t want anything bad happening to such precious samples.”
This whole experience was very bizarre to Jaid in numerous ways. First, what they were talking about was obtusely strange to begin with. Second, they’d basically admitted that them needing a blood sample during the recruitment physical was for their own nefarious purposes. And third, they were openly discussing so many things in front of her that should be expressly confidential—like she wasn’t even there. Oh, and Tize was there too.
The four were traveling together in a minivan, and in only the ten or so minutes since they’d departed the compound, she’d already received enough insane information for an uncountable number of reports. Were they already so trusting of their new members that they could openly discuss it, or was this information so unimportant to them that they didn’t care if it became widespread?
Jaid had originally been quite annoyed that she was on this trip, going so far as to give Tize the silent treatment since he’d dragged her into this. Now though, she didn’t know if she should lean over and apologize or even thank him for the opportunity. The spy was sitting next to him in the middle row while the two Fiends up front were chatting like they were the only ones there.
It really had been quite the unusual and extensive set of circumstances as to why this unlikely bunch were driving across the country together. After Jaid had returned from Tooshifont, things had been quiet for a few days. Nachi and their overseer, Rusa, had taken the second group out on their mission: capturing escaped patients from a mental institution.
This mission had taken two days, and apparently Rezin had been the standout star from what Jaid had heard—luring the patients in with fantastical visions of majestic landscapes and memories of loved ones from long ago. It seemed cruel in a way, but whatever got the job done, she supposed.
During this time, Jaid had mostly taken simple jobs in the immediate vicinity. Most of them had been outright trivial. Turns out that most work she deemed as purely ‘good’ didn’t have a lot of danger involved. If she wanted more action, things got increasingly shady, and she wasn’t sure that was a line she was ready to cross yet. The merc raid she’d just been on was morally in her ballpark, but she’d gone because she was forced. If it was of her own volition, she would have done extensive background research first.
One job she was genuinely proud of was finding a lost boy, a Bisomote citizen. Turns out, he’d been kidnapped, but the damn bastard had never left the town. It had been absurdly bold and stupid of her to not only take a child from a town teeming with Fiends, but to remain there as well. Maybe because it was a ‘Fiend’ town, she’d been under the impression it was a lawless area. Jaid had to admit that she’d had a similar notion not long ago.
On the second day, she’d actually been approached by Crucion to go on a monster-hunting job with him. Since it was a rank 5 mission, he needed someone of at least that rank to accompany him. Jaid had no idea why he’d asked her of all people since plenty of other members were at that rank or higher. Maybe there were rumors going around of her being helpful and approachable, rumors she’d want to quash as quickly as possible. Rezin would be the most likely spreader if they were real, but the idea of confronting him about it also put a knot in her stomach.
The monsters they were hunting were easy enough even for humans to kill. They were still quite dangerous if the person didn’t know how to handle them, however, which is why they had been given a higher rank than they probably deserved. A school of Tilapiranhas had been terrorizing a popular fishing river, so the local fishing club had scrounged together enough donations to put in the request.
If it was up to Jaid, she’d just fry the whole river with her railgun, but understood that could damage the ecosystem. Instead, she spent most of the day having her clones hold nets to trap the monster-fish into a small area. Since the point of Crucion coming along was for him to get some experience, he did the killing himself.
Of all the weapons he could have picked to learn, for whatever reason, he’d chosen a simple slingshot. Not an electric slingshot, or a fully-automatic slingshot, or a slingshot with tracking ammo. Just a slingshot—sticks and stretchy string. Well, it was a bit fancier than that. It was collapsible and rigged so that it could slide in and out of his sleeve at will. Apparently, Mallea and anyone under her tutelage needed to look professional at all times while still capable of fighting in a moment’s notice.
The rocks Crucion was using were synthetic at least. They floated on the water after being shot and would return back to his ammo pouch with the push of a button using similar tech to Nachi’s polearm. It was so he wouldn’t be littering more than anything else. Having a virtually unlimited supply was definitely needed too, since he’d cycled through his full pouch several times at the very least, missing more times than he hit.
Jaid had to note at least some hint of progress by the end.
While Crucion was peppering the fish-monsters, a clone of Jaid was scooping them out of the water with a net. She then passed them along to another clone who would skin them and cut out the meat before they could degrade. Another reason why Crucion wanted this job so badly was because it could actively provide for the group. When it got down to the last few, Jaid helped out and the pair stabbed them with sharpened spears.
On her third day, the last group left for their mission: something about monster hunting. Jaid didn’t take any jobs at all and went freelance. This was something they were allowed to do—something Xard had apparently argued strongly for. In essence, it was just vigilantism; patrol around an area and see if there was work to be found or crimes to be stopped.
Hedgehind had been her target for this for very intentional reasons. It had to do with Officer Tusmon. Jaid had taken an interest in him after his failed attempt to infiltrate the Fiends For Hire, even going as far as to do a deep-dive background check like she would with any Fiend. While she obviously couldn’t assist or become friendly with him without blowing her cover, she wanted to at least meet and get acquainted with someone of a similar mindset when it came to Fiends.
First, she needed a reason to get in contact with him. It was genuinely depressing how quickly she found a mugger. One broken arm from accidentally using too much force later, Jaid was dragging the criminal into the Hedgehind police station. A few officers came and took them away, Officer Tusmon not among them.
“Guess I should get going. I heard one of the officers around here isn’t too friendly to Fiends,” Jaid mentioned as casually as she could to the receptionist.
“Oh, unfortunately Detective Tusmon is no longer with this branch,” she was regrettably informed. After a bit of loose prying, Jaid was told that the Central Peace had reached out to him shortly after his return from the Fiends For Hire compound. He was never heard from again thereafter.
It made it sound like an ominous tale, but Jaid knew the CP wouldn’t do anything to harm him, especially with his outlook. Most likely, they were now cooperating or collaborating on something, or they’d just straight up hired him. Still, it was annoying for her that she was out of the loop once more. While the Central Peace had layers and layers of secrets, of which Jaid had barely scratched the surface, this would undeniably be information she was privy to if she was still there.
After leaving the station disappointed, Jaid planned to head back to the compound or return to regular jobs. However, she ran into another mugger not even two blocks away. Another much more awkward trip to the station later, Jaid was just about to pass the city limits when she ran into a third! This was ridiculous.
Hedgehind had a real crime problem, and she wasn’t going to be the one to fix it. She’d leave that to someone like Xard or hope the actual police force got it together. Sadly, there wasn’t much her CP connections could do to help there. This was a Segrevide issue to solve. Jaid still stopped the mugger of course, unable to ignore someone in distress, but there was no way she was making a third infinitely more awkward trip to the station. Instead, she just called them and tipped them anonymously.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
To blow off the steam of that disappointment, Jaid spent the day joining a trainee monster hunting group that wanted an experienced person to oversee them. Odds are they were fishing for Drim himself, but Jaid was more than capable, too capable and annoyed in fact. The group barely got any experience—Jaid tearing through all the monsters herself.
This led to today. All members were allowed two days off a week after passing their last test. Jaid had been planning to finally use one of hers—no plans on what she was going to do with it, but still pissed that it had been robbed from her. Apparently, late last night, Nachi had sent in a call for backup, the job for the third group proving much more complicated than originally believed.
The call had been to Drim. Since he was touted as the world’s greatest monster hunter, it was an obvious choice. However, Tize had been nearby and overheard, volunteering to join as well. Jaid, who had been sound asleep by this point, was awoken by a grinning Tize informing her that he’d volunteered her himself.
Still half-asleep, she’d been unable to process her anger in the moment, but planned to lay into him in the morning. When said confrontation came to pass, Tize justified it as being for her benefit. Since this mission involved several dangerous monsters, there was a good chance they’d find a 2nd-tier monster that Jaid needed to hunt for Rank 9.
Accompanying them on this mission really was in her best interests. She was just annoyed that she hadn’t been consulted first. It was hard to stay mad at him, though, since this trip had already provided invaluable information. While Jaid was now onboard, she still had a list of burning questions she wanted to ask.
Unfortunately, Drim and Ahvra had been chatting away the entire time, leaving little room for interruption. Perhaps she’d have her chance soon, though, since they were exiting the highway. Had they already arrived at their destination? It felt too soon. Maybe that’s why they’d been driving instead of flying.
A more simple answer awaited when Ahvra steered the minivan into a drive-thru. “Why are we stopping here?” Jaid muttered unconsciously.
“Breakfast, have you heard of it?” Ahvra jested, acknowledging Jaid for the first time that day.
“Uhh, I mean, why here?” She refined her question. “We could have just eaten before we left. Food probably would have been better too.”
“Sometimes you have to indulge in the crudeness of humanity if you hope to understand them,” Ahvra sounded almost philosophical. “Did that sound deep? Figured I’d try it out. I just want to eat garbage. Simple answer. Do you know how long it has been since I have eaten garbage? Restaurants do not deliver to a secret lab atop a mountain.”
“Well, not entirely true. Out of pure curiosity, I took advantage of several delivery promises of restaurants holding promotions. It was intended to entice people out of their normal delivery zone, but the fools did not set limits. All of them canceled on me, giving me a refund or bonus store credit. All but one.”
“There was one insane Draz who brought the food all the way to the front door. Had to hike several miles since their car couldn’t make it. The food was unfortunately frozen and inedible. But I was so moved. Restored the fingers he was going to lose from frostbite and made sure he made it back safe.”
“Even gave the restaurant the best review possible. Yet sadly, the real tragedy is I have still never tried the food and have forgotten the name of the restaurant. Perhaps someday I will eat their garbage too. That is not this restaurant. Never been to this one either, but have heard good things. Their garbage is slightly less garbage. Piqued my interest. Heard bad things about the service so we may be here a while. Get comfortable.”
Ahvra’s warning hadn’t been for show. The line hadn’t moved in several minutes, and there were so many cars in front of them that it wrapped around the building and out of sight. Thankfully, Jaid had been wise enough to grab a snack before departing, but it’d be lunch time at this rate before they made it through.
The lingering dread of the long wait had killed the conversation between Drim and Ahvra, though, both now off in their own worlds—Drim on his tablet while Ahvra seemed to be humming scientific theorems to herself. Perhaps Jaid could use this time to strike up a conversation to sate her curiosity. Just directly asking questions out of the blue felt wrong, though, so she needed to start elsewhere.
“I didn’t know you could drive, Ahvra,” was what Jaid started with for whatever reason, immediately rethinking her choice.
“I can not,” Ahvra gave an initially confusing answer. “The car is driving itself. If we can make them fly, why do you think we wouldn’t just have them do all the work? Or do you think my little legs can reach the pedals?” Ahvra giggled lifelessly to herself, repeatedly kicking her legs like a child to show off how they didn’t even come close to touching the car’s floor.
Her abrupt and condescending answer had killed the conversation from the get-go, so Jaid had to think of a new tactic and wait for this awkwardness to die down. However, Ahvra threw her a bone as she looked into the rear-view mirror. “I can see you back there with that look on your face. Curiosity burning in your eyes. Go on then, ask your questions.”
At some point Jaid was going to have to sit down and work on not showing any tells, but she wasn’t going to pass up such an open invitation. “I guess I’m just curious as to why you’re along for this trip. I get why Drim’s here—monsters and all—but I don’t think I’ve seen you since… well… whatever you did to me. Didn’t take you for the type to go out often… or ever.”
“You are correct there. I normally do not leave,” Ahvra admitted. “I prefer the safe, reliable, confined walls of my lab. Normally, there is very little reason to leave those walls, but this mission has big potential for new research. Controlling monsters. Intriguing.” Jaid knew very little about the actual mission specifics, but she had to admit that if monsters were being controlled, it intrigued her as well.
“Something about blood earlier. You’re doing experiments on our blood?” Jaid wanted to circle back to get more information.
“Sorry, not much I am authorized to tell you there,” Ahvra refused to answer. The way she worded it, though, meant there was something worth hiding. “Not much to be shared yet anyways. While we have discovered some things, nothing Rathe breaking. Yet. If you offer more blood or your body for experimentation, I may be able to convince Useful One here to tell you more. All I can say now is: Fiend blood is weird. Anything you’d like to add, Useful One?”
“Fiend blood is weird,” Drim parroted, clearly with no intention of diving any further.
“Anything else?” Ahvra seemed oddly interested in answering questions. Maybe her lack of a social life meant she didn’t get to ramble her thoughts to others often, and here she had an eager and willing participant
“Okay, uhh,” Jaid had to think for a moment. Most questions on her mental list had to be scratched off. The blood question had just been to test the waters, to see how much possibly-confidential information they’d been open to sharing. It was annoyingly shallow compared to what she’d hoped. For now, she’d just have to hope that more things slipped while she faded into the background.
“Okay, driving for food, but why are we driving at all?” Jaid asked for clarification. “The mission is in Segrevide, right? Couldn’t Phon have easily teleported us there, especially if the mission is so dangerous that it needs this much backup. On that note, shouldn’t we be rushing to begin with?”
“Phon left earlier than we did this morning,” Drim answered directly this time. “She has other business to take care of elsewhere.” He stopped there for a moment, pondering whether it was alright to continue. “She’s headed to Drome Coli. There’s rumors—well not actually rumors. There’s a lot of coverage of a rogue Fiend forcing his way into sports matches.”
“He apparently runs in and tries to score as many points as possible for whatever the event is before security can stop him. Not that security could stop him… It seems he enjoys them chasing him as part of his game before he beats them up and leaves. He’s been dubbed The Anger-Issues Athlete.”
“To make things worse-” Another pause. “-Creti has been seen there.”
“Creti? She was one of the applicants, right?”
“Yes…?” It was clear by the tone of his voice that Drim was suspicious of Jaid knowing her name at all, so she needed to reel it back before she revealed too much. “Unfortunately, there’s not much we can tell you about her. Something about her power made our memories fuzzy. While we don’t know what she’s done, or what she’s capable of per se, let’s just say I have—we’ll call it a gut instinct—that she is very dangerous. If she’s seeking to recruit Fiends, that is very worrying.”
“Anyways, we’re not rushing because there’s no need to. The group that’s already there isn’t planning on taking any action until the evening, and will be spending most of the day scouting.”
The conversation died again there for a while, and Jaid now stared a hole into the car in front of her, praying that it’d move soon to help relieve this awkwardness. Maybe Cosmos had heard her, because the line shifted forward at that very moment. “Hurray, progress,” she whispered quietly.
Tize still heard her, since he finally spoke for the first time since they’d left. “No, not really,” he corrected her. “One of the cars is just abandoning the line.” There was a loud thump as a car a few ahead of them in line did indeed drive over the cement that trapped them in the drive-thru lane. That loud clang both looked and sounded expensive, but it may be a small price to pay for that person’s sanity. The line did actually move forward soon after that, giving the smallest glimmer of hope.