Kada carefully climbed out of the driver-side window of The Tourist. What she was doing was undeniably stupid. But with no one else around to tell her it was a bad idea, she was finally going to try something she’d always wanted to experience.
The wind rushed past her head, causing her hair to flail about wildly. The speed and pressure had taken some getting used to, but once she was confident enough, Kada hoisted herself onto the roof. She starfished at first, laying flat with her limbs sprawled. As she got more comfortable, she pulled herself up until she was sitting with her legs dangling over the windshield.
“Wooooooooooooooooooo!” Kada belted her cheer that no one would hear. She was high in the sky, flying about half a lage in the air. It wasn’t high enough for the air pressure or lack of oxygen to kill a human, though it’d possibly still affect them. Jury was still out on what those would do to a Fiend, but Kada wasn’t having any problems.
The Tourist was flying on autopilot, so Kada could hang out up there until her destination if she wanted. She probably wouldn’t stay there too much longer, though, since odds are she’d get bored soon despite the stunning view. If she took out her phone, there’s a good chance it’d whip out of her hand if she wasn’t careful. The wind-blasted girl had nearly lost her vest a few times already.
Maybe she’d take a nap if she could ever get the adrenaline to die down. That was certainly the most dangerous idea of all, but she’d be fine, surely. If Kada did plummet to what would be another's doom, she could just melt the ground, and it’d be like diving into the ocean from a really really high height. That would still probably kill some people, but for her, it’d just hurt a ton.
There was the issue of The Tourist too in that situation. In theory, the autopilot should keep going and leave her stranded. But no, it was a good car that would never abandon its master, or so Kada told herself. Whether or not it actually had any features like that, she was entirely unsure.
Whatever, the point was that she was having fun. It was something that had been in short supply lately. First, the stuff with Jaid had been a real bummer. In the end, everyone was left with a bad taste in their mouth.
Boon Day had been fun, Kada got and gave tons of presents, but then there had been surprise drama on Near Years. The drama was that there was no drama. Apparently, there had been oodles of speculation that the Fiends For Hire would enact some sort of new spectacle on New Years as Drim and Phon had done the previous year.
The turnout in Prosper had increased by magnitudes. That, along with the added security, apparently made it a very frustrating and lackluster experience, but the participants stuck it out on the chance that they’d get to see something crazy.
When the event ended as planned, some tried to flame the group for not living up to their expectations. It didn’t get much traction and died out after a few days, especially with Chorus running the PR side of things, but it was still annoying while it persisted. Then, the baby thing happened. Kada didn’t remember too much of it, but the stuff she did recall sure did make her squirm.
The mission she was heading to now was likely to be very depressing as well, so she was stocking up on enjoyment while she could. Still, it was nice to be out on her own again. It had been a while since she’d just gotten to enjoy some peace and quiet.
While she wouldn’t mind the company of others, this job wasn’t for the faint of heart. It wasn’t something difficult per se, and they hadn’t actually put any rank limitations on it. But the urgency and nature of the work, coupled with there being almost no one around, caused Kada to head out as soon as she heard about it.
Overnight, there’d been one of the worst natural disasters in recent history. A sudden landslide had caused a dam to collapse, flooding the nearby town in a swath of muddy mess and water that could drown even their tallest buildings. The request was from the Central Peace itself. Due to the remote location, it was hard for them to mobilize a full rescue team so quickly.
So, they’d put out a request to all mercenary groups. If they were nearby or had means to get to the location, they were asking for assistance in looking for survivors. But, Kada had Nathym scout the area with their satellite first. From what she saw, if there were any survivors, it’d be a miracle. Still, it didn’t mean she wouldn’t try, but she knew what this mission really would be: retrieving corpses.
The CP had a sign-up on their request. It asked for the names, group, and banking information of each participant so that payment could be processed for services rendered. Kada fully expected to be outright rejected, but planned to go anyways even if she wasn’t being paid. To her surprise, she was granted approval a few minutes later. The expedited response and willingness to work with them at all really spoke to the direness of the situation.
While not a direct request, this would be their first instance of doing work for the Central Peace. The groups had collaborated before like with the Common Cards, but the CP’s hand had been forced. This was an acceptance of their assistance and value. While minor at best, breaking down small walls often led to the larger ones crumbling shortly after.
A slightly unnerving thought fluttered through Kada’s mind for a moment. She wondered if Jaid would be there. Boy, that would be awkward. Given what they knew about her position in the CP, this is exactly the kind of mission she’d be sent on. Hopefully, she’d been allowed some time to process the events and memory manipulation before they threw her back in the fray.
Kada eventually did slide back inside The Tourist, not wanting to distress anyone further by seeing someone riding atop a flying car. She grimaced when she reached the area since it was worse than she could have imagined.
The entire town, and well beyond, was encircled by a giant wall of mud. There were countless emergency vehicles trying to breach through it but weren’t making much headway. Kada was tempted to go and try to melt it away, but it seemed pointless when she saw those that had made it through. They were swallowed up by mud and practically crawling. Her Curse could make it more liquidy and possibly move it, but there was nothing she could do about making mud more solid.
She certainly had the advantage of arriving from the air. There were a few helicopters buzzing around that she could see in the distance, but it was a large area and they wouldn’t be enough. Kada headed in the opposite direction of them, wanting to search through the less focused areas.
The buildings she found were almost all completely underwater or swallowed whole by mud. She’d still check them, but there was little hope there to begin with. Eventually, she came across what looked like a church up on a hill. There was clear water damage on the exterior, but the building still stood. It likely had been awash with water at one point, but had all drained away now. If there were survivors seeking shelter, it’d be a good place to start.
Kada touched down The Tourist a few feet away from the front door. She was glad she left it hovering, since she immediately sunk into the mud down to her knees the moment she stepped out. After melting the goop around her down into pure liquid, she could trudge easier, but it still wasn’t ideal. Kada made her way over to the church’s front entrance and skirted inside.
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Everything in the building was completely water-logged. The pews were still soaked, stinking of mildew. Anything that was made of wood would be rotting soon if it wasn’t already. The holy texts had their ink completely washed away and their pages warped.
Kada only got more and more depressed as she looked around. There were no signs of life in this watery grave of a building. Or so she thought until she noticed a hand poking out by the pulpit. Kada rushed past all the pews, the floor beneath her sounding like it could break at any moment. She vaulted over the altar, but her heart dropped after she climbed those few stairs.
She found a young boy, but he was already dead—long dead by the looks of it. Kada touched his neck and it was still wet, their body somewhat bloated. I think I see what happened, she deduced after seeing the boy's leg.
He’d climbed to the pulpit since it was the highest point to try and escape the rushing water. As the water raised, however, he couldn’t escape it, since his foot had gotten caught in an audio cord. This boy had drowned to death, horrifically and alone.
It was a depressing way for Kada to start her day, but she wasn’t just going to leave him be. She picked up the corpse and lugged it outside. There had been a playground next to the church that looked to be on raised asphalt or something. It was probably the only solid ground anywhere within lages. Anyone flying overhead should be able to see it, so any bodies she left there should be discovered.
Kada gently set the boy down next to a jungle gym. She then knelt down next to him and said a prayer. While there would be many more bodies, and she probably wouldn’t do this for all of them, it just felt right given the circumstances.
Huh, Drim? Just as she was about to get up to leave, Kada noticed a dark blur in the corner of her eyes. Had he come out to help too? He’d been out on a mission, but maybe he’d rushed back when he heard the news.
Kada turned to face them, but it wasn’t Drim. She found a young woman dressed in all black, so Kada could at least forgive herself for confusing the two. While it wasn’t who she’d expected, the girl’s midnight blue hair pulled back into a spiked ponytail and dark teal eyes could almost pass her off as his body-double. Nevertheless, she was a Fiend that Kada never met or heard of before.
It didn’t help that her face was covered. She was wearing a facemask, similar to those that doctors wore, but it was pitch black like the rest of her clothing. Her tunic had some light leather padding sewn into it, so at least she had some protection. However, her sleeves were slit away and draping behind her shoulders. Instead, her arms were covered in sleeves made of netting.
The disparity of form and function continued with her black short shorts over ripped black tights. The rugged boots she was wearing had only a very small coat of mud on the bottom. Somehow, she’d manage to get around without sinking as Kada had. Her entire ensemble really did look stolen straight out of Drim’s closet, or as if she was headed to a punk-rock concert. And what was attached to her hips? Syringes?
How she dressed didn’t really matter, but it had still taken Kada aback, and now she realized she’d just been rude and staring. “Umm, hello!” Kada finally greeted her. “Guessing you’re here for the rescue mission too?”
“Oh right! Sorry, there’s something I’m supposed to do whenever I run across a new Fiend.” Kada pulled out her phone, opened a special app and took a picture of the mystery girl. “Huh, looks like you’ve already been tagged by the CP at some point.”
“Let’s see here, Alkahest Khemmy, preferred name ‘Alk’. A Fiend known asThe Pestilent Plague Doctor. Woah, Farian’s been talking about you a lot! Never would have guessed you were so young, and a girl at that! The way he talks about you, I thought you were like some older guy with a big beard and two eye patches. Don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Dr. Farian Graf, but he’s really obsessed with you.”
The girl just continued to stare at her, so Kada moved on. “Okay, let’s see, uhh Curse is—”
“Did you kill that boy?” Alk finally said something. Kada wasn’t expecting it to be something so accusatory.
“Huh? What? No, why would you think that?!” she was honestly baffled about this misjudgment of her character.
“You’re The Mermaid, right?” Alk asked rhetorically. “The one with the power to melt away anything she touches. This melted mess would be child’s play to you. Could have even been by accident. Someone as disheveled and inappropriately dressed as you are likely doesn’t have great control over their power.”
“Okay, wow…” Kada had just been attacked on so many fronts—not just attacking her abilities but how she was dressed too. “Gah,” Kada yelped as she instinctively swatted at the projectile suddenly flung at her. It had been one of Alk’s syringes, and Kada had also melted it out of habit.
“What the hell?!” The syringe itself had melted away but the contents remained. It was a thick syrupy blue substance that had coated Kada’s hand. The liquid didn’t hurt at all, but her hand started to feel numb and tingly. She shoved her arm into the mud, converting it to liquid, and then swished her hand around until the goo was gone.
“Tch,” Alk clicked her unseen tongue. “I should have brought more truth serum, but it’s fine, I have the ingredients I need to make more. I’ll just have to brew it in your body!” Alk grabbed another empty syringe and pulled out a few vials of liquid from a pouch behind her back.
Kada did her best to prepare herself for such an insane threat. The idea of someone injecting concoctions into her body and treating her like a test tube made her shiver. If she just melted everything before her skin was broken, she’d be fine, right?
Most of the tension was severed the next second, when instead of attacking, Alk suddenly went into a fit of coughing. Not just a few light wheezes either. She was doubled over, practically hacking up a lung for about a minute. Kada thought she was going to keel over and die, but the girl did recover eventually.
Another sick Fiend? Now that didn’t make sense. Though, she was called The Plague Doctor. While she didn’t exactly scream health-care professional, she could have quite the background in meddling with diseases and medicine like Farian.
But, that still didn’t seem quite right. If she had made herself sick, why would she be out here trying to help others instead of curing herself? Certainly, there wasn’t a remedy to be found in this dead place, so her intentions must have been more altruistic.
A certain nagging in the back of Kada’s head brought forth a memory from a conversation with Ahvra; about how Jaid had a lasting injury that carried over when she became a Fiend. The former spy had received that injury just before her transformation, and couldn’t process the idea that it should be healed, so it never was.
Alk’s coughing was likely a similar case, something she had before becoming a Fiend—a lifetime illness perhaps. “Uhh, are you alright?” Kada couldn’t help but offer assistance to her self-proclaimed enemy. “Do you need a cough drop? Maybe some water? I’ve got some in my car. Maybe we can sit and chat about whatever you’re going through.”
“Shut up! You wouldn’t know anything about it, so don’t act like you care,” Alk’s hostility grew even more. “My ailments are mine to bear, but maybe you’d like to share yours. Are you feeling okay? A little woozy, light headed, maybe nauseous from seeing the person you killed?”
“Uhh, nope, fine, thanks?” Kada was confused as ever. The sudden interest in her wellbeing was only compounding that fact.
“Oh, come now. There must be something.” Even with her face covered, Kada couldn’t help but feel like there was an insidious grin beneath Alk’s mask. She had to swat away an empty syringe a moment later, but Alk continued as if she hadn’t thrown it.
“Maybe your skin is irritated from the mud,” Alk took a step towards Kada and threw another syringe that had to be melted. “Or maybe your legs are sore from trekking through them,” Another step, another throw. “Did you eat something that’s upsetting your stomach?” Step. Throw. Just how many of these damn things did she have?
“Do you have heartburn, or are you dehydrated? Is your vision blurry, or do you have a toothache?” With each new question, Alk quickly closed the distance between them and threw another syringe. “They call me a doctor, so let me help. Tell me what ails you. Tell me your weakness!”