The following stories are in no particular order and do not occur during a set time frame. Some may have taken place during Volume 3, but all will have happened before the end of Volume 4.

----------------------------------------

“Was it really alright to charge them that much?” Alk was looking over the financials from their recent jobs, making sure that all payments had been made successfully. It hadn’t occurred yet where a client hadn’t paid their bill, and she wasn’t really sure that she ever wanted to see what'd happen if they didn’t.

“Eh? You mean the one where we got her stalker arrested? Totally!” Creti slumped up from the couch she’d been fusing with over the past few hours—her eyes red and dry from staring blankly at the TV. “It might seem like a lot on the surface, but we just insanely improved her quality of life. I guarantee you that she would have paid even more than that.”

“Plus, we had to charge an expedience fee, since if she waited for the yuppy group, who knows what would have happened to her in all that time? She certainly would have been miserable at the very least. And unlike the disgustingly rich Fiends, we actually need the money just to get by. So while it may seem expensive, it’s certainly fair money for fair work.”

“Okay, I just feel a little bad since it seemed she didn’t have that much to begin with,” Alk still wasn’t entirely convinced. “But if you say so, I won’t worry about it.” Now finished with their income, the girl swapped over to their expenses. She had become the unofficial bookkeeper for Above, mostly because she was the only one who could do it.

It had originally been Creti’s self-imposed responsibility, but the girl got frustrated too quickly and kept putting it off. And the two lunkheads were pretty much worthless for anything requiring administrative skills, or focus on something boring for more than two seconds, so Alk had taken it over.

This left Creti little to do at their hideout in the downtime between jobs, despite being the one in charge. The men of the home were too chivalrous and manly to let her do anything even remotely physical, or even lift a finger, really. On occasion, she’d try to cook a meal for the group or make a dessert. This usually just involved mixing a few ingredients together in a bowl, yet the boys acted like their long-lost mothers had come and found them one last time just to serve them a meal every time she did it.

Normally this wasn’t too much of a problem. Things weren’t usually slow since they’d been getting more requests lately. At the moment, they were stuck in an uncharacteristic lull, mostly because Lieu, out of the blue, had abducted Kalter the previous morning for a ‘Mancation’—whatever the hell that meant.

And where they lived didn’t exactly lend itself to going out for a quick trip. The point was to not be found, so they’d gone off the grid entirely. Going anywhere by car took at least an hour, and that was on a good day when they didn’t run into any roadblocks or monsters, which was on the uncommon side.

Thankfully, Kalter’s Curse made it much easier to get around. Most of their early remuneration went towards purchasing a special vehicle that only he could operate. It was essentially a small, streamlined blimp with a cabin that could carry just under a dozen people comfortably. Which really meant they could carry the four of them and Lieu’s arsenal, and maybe another person if they saved someone along the way or offered a transportation service.

The blimp had no motor or propellers, which significantly brought down the cost, but it also meant it was worthless without Kalter. With the way his Curse worked, he could target an area, even if he wasn’t in the immediate vicinity. Due to this, he could pick a landmark or building from across the world and set the blimp to target it. The blimp would fly there automatically, with just enough input from Kalter to keep it high up in the air.

Once they got to the general area they wanted to go, he would take over piloting it manually. One caveat, though, was that his Curse didn’t work for pictures. It would just target the paper or screen where the picture was displayed. But, it worked for live feeds, and in the days of modern technology, this was increasingly common and easy to find—news reports, security cameras, anyone with a smartphone live streaming their every action. So far they hadn’t had any issue getting sufficiently close to any job site.

But despite all that, Creti still had a suggestion. “I think part of what’s got you down about the money is that we haven’t really spent it on anything fun lately. So let’s go out and spend some! We’ve got enough stored up for a few months, right? And the boys are certainly blowing some right now, so we should go out too!”

Alk looked at the time. “If you wanted to do that, you should have suggested it right after breakfast. Even if we just go to the nearest city and hang out for an hour or two, it’ll be dark as zjik by the time we get back. The monsters will be out in full swing.”

“Well, we’ll just take Lieu’s truck. It’ll keep us safe! C’mon, just us girls. We haven’t hung out properly in so long. Don’t make me do the thing!” Creti prepared herself to look cute and adorable.

“Fine,” Alk conceded, knowing better than to argue with Creti about it. While the girl tried to use her Curse on them as little as possible, she’d still resort to it if she was feeling cheeky and spoiled. At least she never used it to win any serious arguments, that they could tell, at least. “Go get the truck ready, and I’ll finish up things here and top off the generators.”

Creti scampered off with excitement, as fast as her weak legs would take her. Alk hung around at the desk for a minute longer, double checking that they did actually have enough money to appease her boss’ whims. Thankfully, they were sitting pretty, a lot of it due to their financial frugalness.

They tried to limit their spending on food and other frivolous necessities. Most of their income went to Lieu’s arsenal, and he’d been getting better about overspending and not being so reckless with ammo. The only bills they paid were for TV and internet—rigged through a dummy house with long buried cables out to their actual home. It was something the former owner had actually set up, and they just modified a bit for their needs.

One of the biggest ironies of Above was that they lived below, deep underground in a bunker that they guessed had been built as a fallout shelter during the Drazah war. It was certainly one of, if not the most lavish one in the world.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Maybe not quite on par with a mansion, but it could comfortably fit a large family. It had several bedrooms, a full kitchen, and even a hot tub that hadn’t worked upon their arrival—one of the first things Lieu had fixed after getting the plumbing working again.

The water quality in general was rather questionable, so they only used it for bathing and cleaning since it wouldn’t hurt their skin. None of them dared drink it, even though being Fiends would probably keep them from any harm. Instead, they had a lot of bottled water, purifiers, and alcohol for sanitation.

For power, the entire bunker ran on a large generator, which had a second as a backup. It could hold enough fuel to last a few weeks, but they always made sure to top it off even when they were going to leave for a while. Ultimately, it was probably a waste of money, but the feeling of returning to a warm, welcoming home couldn’t be beaten.

After filling up the generator, Alk ascended the steps towards the surface. As she climbed, she couldn’t help but remember the state the bunker was in when they first found it. Not too much was different from now, practically hermetically sealed in time, but they’d found the corpses of the previous inhabitants strewn about. The group’s best guess was that they’d starved to death since there were some clear signs of cannibalism.

That had been a gloomy day, though a new friend of theirs had enjoyed the treat. Once things had been cleaned up, and everything was working again, it felt like a proper home—safe and comfortable. And it was one where they really felt they belonged—perfectly suited to their needs, as if it had been purposefully left for them to find.

Before stepping outside, The Plague Doctor made sure to put back on her signature black mask. She’d been getting better at not wearing it at home, her friends not making her feel self conscious. But she still hadn’t reached the level where she was comfortable going without it in the open for more than a few minutes. Maybe someday she could show a certain someone her smile.

Alk then spun the hatch open to the outdoors and saw a scene she probably wasn’t meant to see. Creti was down in the dirt, looking like she was wrestling the monster in her grasp. “Who’s a good girl?! Who's a good Bunchy?!” The girl was giving their monster friend some vigorous belly rubs.

Bunch, or Bunchy, short for Bone Muncher, was a Buzzhound—Buzzard Bloodhound—and the former guardian monster of this territory. When the Fiends had first arrived, the monster hadn’t wanted to accept her new neighbors with open wings, but they came to an unspoken agreement after a few scuffles.

They would feed Bone Muncher some bones from any monsters they killed, and the Buzzhound would keep the other monsters in line that called the area their home. But that was a while ago, and now Bunchy had basically become a part of the group—often insistent for pets and brushes anytime one of the Fiends came outside.

Creti had always acted indifferent towards the creature, but now their actual relationship had come to light. As soon as she saw Alk, the girl immediately leapt to her feet and backed away, but let go of her shame once she knew she’d been caught, and asked, “Do you think she’ll let us ride her one day?”

“Well, you’re welcome to try,” Alk made sure to intonate that she wanted no part of it. “But not right now, unless you’re really wanting to make sure we don’t go on this trip.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Creti repeated and then trotted over to the truck. “And if it gets too late, we’ll just spend the night somewhere or sleep in the truck. You worry too much, Alkahest.”

“Well, someone has to worry about you,” she stood behind Creti as she was about to get in the truck to provide a boost if needed.

“I can do it myself, geez!” the leader pouted while she clearly struggled to get into the passenger’s side of the truck. They called it a truck, but it was actually a monstrously sized military humvee, and it required a bit more than a basic hop to get into.

Alk clambered into the driver side and then activated the resonance scanner. She knew the route pretty well at this point, and Lieu’s truck was designed to take a hit or hundreds, but one bad slipup could still prove to be fatal.

Besides Bunchy patrolling the area to keep them safe, Lieu had set up an obsessive, overkill level of defenses. For at least a lage in any direction from the bunker there were automatic turrets, mines, claymores, tripwires, and so many different types of traps that there were too many to list. The man made sure to live up to his epithet as The Guerilla.

Most of it was meant for monsters. Even with the Buzzhound guardian, some were still stupid or bold enough to try and scavenge in the area or expand their own territory. It made it easy to provide snacks for Bunchy and keep her sated. But the traps were also there in case the Fiends For Hire or anyone else ever came after them. They were on the human level, so they’d only be so effective, but still better than nothing

Each trap had a specific signature emitting from it though that was picked up by the truck’s scanner, so it clearly dotted the safe route for them to drive. Even though the truck was properly kitted out, Lieu hadn’t been able to figure out autopilot functionality yet, meaning the course of death still had to be navigated manually.

The girls had to be thankful in cases like this for Lieu’s obsession with being overprepared, because the truck felt like a mobile fortress that kept them completely safe in these monster infested lands. He’d never admit it, but he had been envious of Kada’s vehicle, The Tourist, and it inspired him to turn his truck into a rolling death machine.

There was a full cannon-turret on top that a passenger could climb into, as well as two autogun-turrets that could be controlled from a computer inside. On the front was a deployable plow and rail of buzzsaws that could cut through just about anything. Spikes could jut out from the sides if any monsters decided to latch on. And there were many nasty things that could be deployed from the backside if anything or anyone decided to chase them.

On top of all that, it was rather roomy, but that was mostly to accommodate Lieu’s large figure. The girls wouldn’t complain, though, since it meant the seats were big and comfy, and they could easily lay out in them for naps or to relax. It certainly made the long drive to any form of civilization that much more bearable.

Alk and Creti chatted for a bit during the drive, but it wasn’t long before the bored leader was playing with the radio. She flipped through a few stations, not finding any music to her liking, and only got more and more annoyed with each news station talking about the Fiends For Hire. She had a brief grin when Above was mentioned, but that was the only bit of focus they got. Soon, it was back to frustration, and she eventually gave up and left it on some light pop-rock.

Now well into the afternoon, they finally made it to an actual road. It was still a bit longer towards the city proper, but they stopped and parked when they were about a lage away since the truck would simply draw too much attention, and certainly wouldn’t fit in a crowded parking lot.

Instead, Alk pulled a 2-person scooter out of the back that they’d specifically bought for Creti. The Plague Doctor wouldn’t have minded the walk herself, but their leader simply wouldn’t survive such a perilous journey. And while the girl would sometimes let Lieu carry her out in the wilderness, she would not suffer such humiliation in public.

Creti hopped onto the back seat and wrapped her arms around Alk. The two girls then scooted towards the hopefully fun day ahead.