Knock. Knock. Knock.
Jack tapped on the apartment door slowly, finishing the pattern of 5 long, 3 short, 1 long, then 2 short they had used earlier that night, just loud enough for the occupant to hear, as the others leaned against the walls, tired but still awake enough for this.
They kept quiet as they heard movement on the other side of the door. Jack kept his eye on the peephole as they heard from the other side, “OH SHIT!”
That was everything Jack needed to hear.
The human booted the door right off its hinges before it landed on the unfortunate slicer, who practically shat himself as he stared into the eyes of the pissed-off Deathworlder standing atop him.
“S-S-SECURITY!” the slicer tried to yell to activate the droids and turrets before Jack quickly took them all out with surgically precise shots, with the rest of the group barely entering after him before all threats were neutralised.
“How much did they pay you to tell them where we would be?” Jack quietly asked as he levelled his Dominator right at the slicer’s head.
“I-I’m sorry!” the slicer cried out. “I didn’t mean to!”
Jack immediately fired, unleashing a photon blast on the ground right next to the slicer’s ear.
“That was a lie,” Alora coldly pointed out. “You definitely meant to.”
“P-please don’t kill me!” the slicer sobbed, begging for his life.
“Your rep was pretty good,” Sephy added. “Why throw that away?”
“A lot of dangerous people have been making threats! And you went to the Pallid Pit!” The slicer’s eyes bulged as he panicked. “And the drow house sent special forces, their personal assassins and they’ve made a deal with Dr Grine himself! I thought you’d be dead anyway, and if they found out I helped you, I’d be too!”
“Clearly we’re not dead,” Nika deadpanned, unimpressed.
“PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!” the slicer yelled. “I’ll give you anything you want! Money! Drugs! Information!”
“What about that?” Jack pointed at the shuttle in the back.
The rest of the group smiled wickedly at that idea…
*****
“This shuttle is almightily shit!” Nika groaned as she looked through it. It really was pretty much a skeleton, barely more than a metal frame with flimsy engines strapped to the back and underside, though it did at the very least have a panel at the front to control it. “Looks like it’s been almost completely chopped up for parts.”
“Will it fly?” Alora asked as she and Chiyo checked through the slicer’s inventory, having ‘negotiated’ a suitable recompense from them in exchange for not killing them or publicly ruining their reputation.
“Just about.” Nika sighed. “But we’ll all need to tie ourselves on.”
“We could always walk back?” Jack pointed out from where he was standing with Sephy and the terrified-looking slicer.
“Might be safer.” Nika shrugged. “Though I think most of us are spent for tonight and it should be fine for at least getting back. I can fly it, but I’ll need help to do it so we might as well all go.”
“Do what you can, Jack can help you once he’s done covering Sephy,” Alora replied with a reassuring nod.
“Sure, I can stand by with words of encouragement!” Jack retorted to chuckles from the others. “How are you doing Sephy?” he spoke a little quieter to the Skritta sat in the slicer’s chair, leaning over the tied,up and gagged owner lying on the floor.
“Oh yeah, I’ve got a bunch of shady shit here he’s not gonna want out.” She grinned. “He’s definitely not gonna try and turn on us again. Removed his markers on the ship too!”
“Excellent!” Jack grinned as he looked to the captive slicer and addressed them. “Look. On the plus side mate, we can pretend this went very well for all parties. Not only will your reputation not be harmed but you were a big reason why the Cult of the Destroyer at the Pallid Pit got decimated, possibly permanently this time!”
The slicer mumbled something through his gag, and Jack quickly tore the cloth off. “What’s that mate?”
“How in the name of unholy fuck are you people even alive!?” they asked in shock.
“Meh, we’ve dealt with worse!” Sephy grinned as she finished what she was doing on the console. “We’re done here!”
“Not yet,” Jack whispered back so only the three of them could hear. “Tell me.” He looked to the slicer, motioning Sephy to come closer. “What do the marks mean?”
“M-marks?” The slicer asked, a little confused.
“Like the one outside your door,” Jack replied patiently, as he saw sudden recognition in his eyes. “Sephy and I have found a bunch of others around the city. We know a bit, but not enough.”
The slicer looked conflicted as he looked between the two, before starting to relent.
“Ok, I can tell you what I know,” he whispered, looking around to make sure nobody else was listening in. “Only reason I know a little is because someone else brought me into it, that’s how it works! He told me a few of the basic signs and where to find them and I went from there!”
“What for?” Sephy asked, eyes wide with excitement.
“Look I don’t know how deep this goes, but this is all about clandestine shit. Fences for stolen goods, information brokers, system slicing, that kind of stuff. You get in the know and you get into that shit. I get contacted by complete strangers wanting slicing services and no questions asked, and can make inquiries with others in The Circle.”
“And now we’re involved with it,” Jack pointed out. “The security of the whole thing can’t be that great…”
“But it is!” the slicer replied excitedly. “I’ve heard of others in The Circle disappearing never to be seen again after talking too much, trying to bring in the wrong people or doing something stupid - they police themselves! You two should be fine since you’ve played the game and noticed them on your own.”
“But what about what the signs mean?” Sephy asked, “What’s your circle with two parallel lines outside your door mean?”
“That’s the basic ‘affiliate’ sign,” the slicer explained. “Put it up outside your residence and in your electronic signature, and other affiliates will notice you, and people will contact you.”
“We might just do that!” Jack grinned. “Do you know any others?”
“Never bothered checking. I rarely travel outside my sanctum and I have no need to.” The slicer sighed. Jack got the impression they were deliberately trying to build up rapport with them, clearly sufficiently afraid and wanting to stay alive.
“We’ll learn more as we go then.” Sephy shrugged as she unslotted herself from the system.
“Jack? You okay to help me lift some stuff?” Nika called over.
“On my way!” Jack called back as he walked over, checking his pack.
*****
“Is everyone secure?” Nika asked the others as they all held onto their designated spots on the shuttle chassis. It really was barebones, but Jack found it surprisingly light as he lifted up the back end of the shuttle, with Dante looking slightly nervous lying down on what remained of the engine to help balance the weight of the thing.
Jack had gone around using the rope he took with him, creating as secure a rigging as he possibly could with the climbing rope, and used the rest to fix up lifelines for the rest of the group, using a few carabiners to make sure they couldn’t accidentally be jerked off. Sephy especially needed this in order to be able to keep an eye on power balancing for the engines, sitting up front with Nika, who she would help in piloting the thing.
Alora and Chiyo were on the sides, by far the most tired out of the group as their stims began to wear off but still able to cast whatever cloaking and protection spells they needed for the short but risky trip back. Jack had tied them and Dante as securely as he could just in case they couldn’t hold on
Which left barely anything to keep him attached.
While he had volunteered to be the one to move around and manually troubleshoot any issues with the thrusters, he really had no idea what the hell he was doing, and was praying he wouldn’t need to actually do any maintenance work on the fly.
Sephy instructed the slicer to open the roof hatch, which they did without complaint. Though they had betrayed them to the drow, Jack got the impression that they would remain cooperative going forward out of sheer fear if nothing else. The group hadn’t really taken anything from them apart from the shuttle, some files and a few spare parts, so the slicer wouldn’t end up resenting them either. It was perhaps a light punishment, but the group agreed that they would be a good contact to keep.
“I hope we can do business in future!” Alora smiled as she turned to the slicer, who just stared blankly at the group with the biggest ‘WTF’ expression Jack had ever seen, barely having the presence of mind to numbly nod.
“Lifting now!” Nika called out, as Jack and Dante felt the engines rumble beneath them.
“We’re alright boy!” Jack ruffled the ears of the ‘dog’ as they slowly began to ascend, Jack using his feet to gently push the craft away from the back wall. According to Chiyo, the thrusters didn’t produce heat like he expected, rather working on force alone, which in theory would let him move around them without getting hurt.
The thought of it still sucked though.
But up they still went as Nika carefully boosted the underside thrusters, slowly elevating the craft to the hatch. Jack’s ass clenched as he cautiously got up and moved around, prodding the shuttle into position as Nika carefully tried to get past the hatch, with Sephy carefully manipulating the amount of the thrust to avoid spinning out. With one final push from Jack, the craft made it past the lip of the hatch, and they were free!
With no objects to collide with the shuttle quickly stabilised in mid-air, and suddenly the worries of the group subsided. It reminded Jack of a hot air balloon, a ride on which he had gone on once when he was very young, although the basket he was in back then at least had a floor and a safety railing! The cool night breeze gently tickled his face as he looked down at the empty streets, the glow of lights shining on the various districts below, painting a unique canvass of abstract displays that clashed and crashed into each other, the diversity of the districts contrasting, yet somehow looking….natural in its own way.
Stolen story; please report.
It was beautiful.
“Keep it as low down as you can and don’t go too fast!” Alora called to Nika as she clung tightly to her bare metal pole, the Kizun acknowledging with a simple nod. “How are you holding up, Chiyo?”
No traffic coming anywhere near us, though I’ve had to direct some flocks of birds away. Chiyo replied. Can we really not go faster? It’s cold!
“Better cold than shorting the engines!” Alora cheekily replied. “How are they looking, Jack?”
“Uh…” Jack began, not knowing what to even look for. “They look the same and we haven’t dropped out of the sky so I assume we’re good for now!”
“Yeah we’re all good!” Sephy grinned. “Systems are old and not the most efficient but they’ll get us home, unless you think Jack should go underneath and check the bottom?”
Jack took a half second recoiling in shock before realising that Sephy was just joking.
“Pan to the right a little if you can!” Alora called out to Nika. “We’re heading in the right direction but we keep drifting and we don’t have a lot of fuel!”
“Up, down and forwards works, but we don’t have the best means to turn!” Nika called back.
“What if we redistribute the weight?” Jack asked, thinking of how blimps and boats sometimes worked, then cursed at himself as he realised this would likely be more risky work for him, as the others were tied securely to their places.
“That’ll work!” Alora called back. “Sorry, Jack, Could you be our rudder?”
“Why did I have to open my mouth?” Jack grumbled, with only Dante hearing and looking concerned as the human made some mental calculations in his head, before moving towards the right-hand side of the shuttle and leaning out, forcing that side down and turning the shuttle to the right, though Jack had to quickly scramble to the other side to help stabilise it and stop it from tipping over.
“That’ll do it for now, we should be on course.” Alora checked her device. “Might need some more adjustments when we get closer and come to land.”
“As long as we get home I’m settling down wherever,” Nika replied. “We could probably carry this thing once we’re on the ground.”
“Screw doing that tonight!” Sephy replied, and the group nodded in agreement.
“It won’t be doing any harm wherever we leave it as long as you don’t destroy the house or my garden!” Alora called back over the ever-increasing wind. “In the long term we can cover it with a tarp or maybe take it to one of the abandoned properties!”
Let’s worry about that when we have a chance to relax! Chiyo replied as she hugged the metal frame as tightly as she could.
“You okay, Chiyo?” Jack asked, concerned. “Are you able to use your powers to float alongside us?”
Levitation isn’t like flight, it gets more difficult the further away I am from solid ground, though not impossible. I can sort of influence and reduce the external forces on the craft as a bubble around myself, but levitation is a bit more complex!
“We’ve got time, how does it work?”
Chiyo smiled. You’re just trying to distract me from thinking about how high up we are, aren’t you?
“Yup!” Jack grinned. “Though I need the distraction too! How’s the leg?”
Feels numb and cold more than painful now. I’m a little woozy, but I don’t think I’ll fall unconscious. Alora’s healed me enough that I’m not actively bleeding
“Ideally you should keep your leg elevated above heart level, but at least you haven’t been walking much on it,” Jack replied, trying to remember what he knew about first aid. “When we get back you should lie down and rest it on a pillow.”
Not before I eat something, I'm starving! The Ilithii replied with a smile, and Jack realised he was too as he nodded in agreement. Though they had eaten their dinner several hours previously, they had gone through a lot since then. Alora had deliberately cooked leftovers for them to eat once they got back, but he would be lying if he didn’t want to order takeaway or raid whatever snacks were lying around.
“Hey guys?” Jack called. “Injury check!”
“Sore and stiff!” Alora called back. “Quite tired too. I’ll need to rest and replenish my magic soon.”
“Itchy as hell, will need to replace bandages when we get back,” Nika replied. “Stims are probably wearing off for those that took them.”
“Only a few bumps and scrapes for me,” Sephy called back. “Just a little tired.”
“How are you doing boy?” Jack asked Dante, who softly panted from his spot on the engine. He still had several cuts from the fight with the Skinsaw Slashers, and he had taken several shots too, which the battleskin had fortunately absorbed.
Jack himself was able to keep it together. He had taken heavy cuts and gunfire during the run, but he was content to tough out his wounds until Alora was able to recharge her healing spells. He would gladly fall asleep at the first opportunity he got, but would not do so until the others were safe.
It was about half an hour later before Alora’s directions to both him and Nika got more frequent as they approached their home district. The criss-cross of walls, settlements and unexplored zones meshed together in a blur, and it was only when Chiyo had ‘pinged’ the wards that Jack finally began to see the familiar sight of home.
“Taking it down as gently as I can!” Nika warned. “We’ll be in our district, but I have no counter thrusters to hard brake!”
“Try not to make it a crash landing!” Sephy retorted. “After all the effort we put into getting it here!”
“Trying!” Nika called back. “Any ideas?”
“Take it as close to the ground as you can!” Jack replied, thinking quickly and holding the end of the rope tied to the ship. “If I can dig in and pull back, that should throw off some of the momentum!”
“Wall coming up!” Alora warned, as Jack quickly leapt off and dug in his heels as best he could, still being dragged along by the shuttle as it came down to land, getting yanked off the top of the wall for his troubles.
Using all of his strength to hang onto the rope he barely noticed thumping into the roof of their home, but he had the presence of mind to dig in again and pull back. The shuttle was moving much slower now and was better controlled as Jack was pulled off the roof to dangle over the ground once more, before finding his feet for one last time as he yanked on the rope, finally pulling the shuttle to a stop just outside one of the abandoned buildings. Sephy efficiently reduced thrust on the underside, slowly and safely lowering the shuttle so everybody could hop off, before Nika killed the power, letting the ship drop half a metre onto the grass once everyone else was clear with an undignified thump.
“Everyone alright?” Nika asked, groaning as she got up and stressed her numb limbs. “Sephy’s better at driving than I am, but I hope it wasn’t too bumpy!”
I never want to do that again. Chiyo replied with a shudder as she floated in the air. Next time we’re flying the shuttle’s got to at least have a floor!
“And brakes!” Jack added, clutching his hands in pain from the ropeburn. “Or at least an anchor!”
Dante barked in agreement, walking around on the ground as if testing how solid it was.
“Well at least we got it here.” Alora sighed. “Despite its condition, it’s an excellent asset to have!”
“It’ll need a lot of work, but it’ll be great once I weld some panels on.” Nika grinned, positively salivating over the prospect.
“But right now we need to recover,” Alora interjected, waving everyone to the house. “I for one need to rest, as I’m sure the rest of you do!”
“And we need to go through the loot!” Sephy excitedly added, eyes wide with excitement.
“R&R first.” Jack sighed as they all trundled over to the house. “Everyone sit down and I’ll heat up the leftover soup.”
I think this calls for celebratory snacks and wine too? Chiyo proposed to the group.
“I think it does!” Alora gave a weak smile in agreement.
*****
“Here you go!” Jack began passing the bowls of leftover soup over to the girls who were all mostly sitting or lying down on the sofa. He had wasted no time in making sure various injured body parts were elevated and bandages were fixed properly. Anywhere that was sprained or bruised had some cold bags of food from the freezer applied to reduce the swelling, at least until Alora was able to look at it once she was rested up. Jack really hoped he remembered his basic first aid correctly, but by the way the girls were looking comfortable and the wounds not as terrible looking, he figured they were in the clear for tonight.
“There’s a special blend of tea in the cupboard that’ll help!” Alora groaned as she moved to get up, but was gently pushed back by Jack as he handed her bowl of soup to her.
“I’ll get it.” Jack smiled. “Just tell me where it is.”
“That cupboard, blue pot.” Alora pointed vaguely in the right direction. “No, up one…that’s it!”
“Can Dante have some?” Jack asked as he poured the instant boiling water into his prepared teapot.
“Should be safe for him, just add it to a bowl of water to dilute and cool down,” Alora replied. “It’s a special blend of mine that should help a lot with sleep and recovery. We have a busy night tomorrow and there’s some things we’ll need to do.”
“Yup. I’ve already sent a preliminary notice to all involved parties regarding the Skinsaw Slasher,” Nika replied. “This is big, so they’ll probably get some representatives together and get in contact with us, which’ll save us the trouble.”
“The information on the Cult of the Destroyer will be useful too,” Sephy added. “Especially since now we know why they kept resurging around the Pallid Pit.”
“I’m just glad that my bounty is down.” Jack sighed as he prepared a bowl for Dante and brought the steaming pot of tea to the table. “Though the drow will still be after me, at least that’s the devil we know.”
After their brazen attempt failed, they may wish to obfuscate their failure and unofficially call it off. Chiyo reasoned. After all, if news broke out that the kill team they sent after you were all killed, other drow houses would turn their gaze on them. It is better to officially ‘forget’ about you than continue to openly appear weak.
“Wouldn’t that be nice!” Jack grinned before his face got serious. “But tonight was absolutely brutal, same with last weekend. Although we made it out both times with stories and riches…”
“You don’t want to make that a regular occurrence, or even better not do that again.” Alora nodded sagely. “Well we shouldn’t need to, right? We know who’s been messing with you, and for now at least they’re no longer a local threat, and we probably have funds to last us weeks if not months or longer!.”
Jack gave a non-committal hum at that. Though they had been on a successful run tonight, and he was no longer in immediate danger from bounties, he wasn’t convinced that this was over…
“I have no idea why you’re so good at making teas Jack, but I’m not complaining!” Sephy grinned as she heartily gulped down her brew.
Jack was taken out of his thoughts by that. “I’m still a true Brit!” He grinned. “We pretty much learn to brew tea before we can talk!”
“Quite effective too!” Alora yawned. “I feel like I’m too tired to even get up to go to bed!”
“Then don’t!” Jack replied with a small smile. “I know where the blankets are, and I’m up for just dropping on the sofa.”
Sounds…..good to me. Chiyo replied drowsily. Got to keep the leg elevated and iced anyway.
The group didn’t spend too much time chatting after that, exhausted as they were. Alora and Chiyo had expended much of their power and so had quickly fallen asleep, propped up by many pillows and cushions. None of them had bothered shedding all of their gear, being too exhausted and just dumping their bags and easily discarded outer clothing on the ground, though Jack had helped Dante out of his custom-fitted battleskin to make sure he was comfortable since the ‘dog’ couldn’t remove it himself.
Both Jack and Nika had taken many nasty hits during the course of the run from Skinsaw Slashers, Cultist Leaders and Drow Assassins alike, though neither of them were fully willing to admit how bad they were since they weren’t life threatening. They knew Alora would probably nag them once she woke up and went over them with her healing magic, but as long as everyone else had been seen to, they were fine with it.
For now, both were lying back on the sofa, feet on the table with Jack occasionally scratching the Kizun behind the ears, which she very much enjoyed! Sephy was cuddled up to him on the other side, and Dante was sprawled across all three of them, enjoying frequent scritches and pets from them, careful to avoid the wounds of the poor animal. Jack had considered making a makeshift dog cone for him, but Dante seemed to be smart enough not to scratch his own injuries. He had gotten priority for what little magical healing Alora had left at the end of the night, but he was obviously still hurt.
“Good boy.” Jack smiled as Dante looked at him with bright eyes.
“Do we actually know what gender he is?” Nika asked with a contented sigh.
“No, but I don’t feel like checking,” Sephy whispered back. “We can add it to our list of problems.”
“Well at least that list isn’t as bad as it was this morning,” Jack reasoned as he relaxed.
“Yeah, Malakiel of all things.” Nika sighed. “At least they only considered you and Devil’s Daughter ‘Secondary Threats’.”
Jack sat there in silence for a moment as a nagging feeling began to fester. Malakiel hadn’t been responsible for all of the strangeness the group had suffered, after all. If Jack was a secondary threat that Malakiel tried so desperately hard to kill…
Who or what was Malakiel’s Primary Threat?