“Wait, this public spar, it’s… a good thing?” I frowned as we hopped on to the car, the device set on speaker so that Isia could listen in as well. She could’ve just as easily set up a virtu call with Vesper directly, but had insisted on the ‘analog experience’.
“Her audience is a thousand times larger than ours.” She answered. “Just showing up on her stream and getting name-dropped will probably double our subscriber count before the stream’s over.”
“What’s the catch?” Isia pipped up.
“She wants to make a bet on who wins.” There was a momentary pause. “If she wins, 50% of Axel’s streams are under the Paw’s.”
Nodding along, I could understand Vesper’s hesitation. From her perspective, this was the equivalent of losing half, if not more, of the potential revenue I could bring to the gang. She was likely also concerned that even if I lost, from my end of things, it could very well be seen as a win. Streaming under a meguca? Who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity?
“And if I win?” I asked.
“The 50% streams is the baseline for there being a match at all.” I could practically see the grimace. “She said that if you want anything out of her, then the price for losing will go up accordingly.”
Isia hissed. “That bitch.”
“...and that if you don’t take the deal, then she’s not going to share anything.” Vesper added.
“That. Bitch.” Isia growled, tightening her grip on the steering wheel.
“Axel, you there?”
“I am, just thinking this through.” The question at hand was whether I could win or not. “What’s the handicap?” It was impossible for there not to be one in place. Bear could take me on and win against my monster form, if she went all out against me in my human one, I might as well reserve a slot at the nearest crematorium.
“She didn’t say, but I doubt she’d fight without one, otherwise this would just be suicidal.”
I was a little bit glad we agreed on that, at least. Still… “If she doesn’t use any of her powers, I think I am physically stronger.” I declared, thinking back to the handshake. Back then, she hadn’t been able to out-squeeze me. Flimsy proof, but still better than just wild guesswork.
“You’d need to get her to tie both hands behind her back if that’s all you’ve got going,” Vesper said without missing a beat.
“Wow, Vespi, what a vote of confidence.” Isia rolled her eyes.
“She’s fought monsters for half her life, and even before she became a meguca, she…” Vesper’s voice wavered, there was a slight hitch in hesitation. “Look, she knows how to fight. Brute strength never won against her before, I don’t think it’s a good idea to try now.”
But trying was all I could afford right now. Especially if she was my only lead to knowing more about Shadow. “I… can’t drop this.” The words felt like a confession, I pushed on. “Right now, Bear’s my best bet.”
A long silence.
“...fuck.” Vesper finally proclaimed. “Sent Isia the address. I’ll be there.” The line went dead with a click.
Isia shot me a glance.
“What?” I asked.
“I know you’re doing this for yourself. We all have our own messes to deal with, and when high-corpo bullshit rains down, you either clean it up or end up drowning in it.” Her gaze lingered for a moment, there was a hardness to her words that I hadn’t expected. “But Vespi needs that win too.”
I hesitated, taken slightly aback by her seriousness. “Why?”
“It’s about time she realized she’s not the only umbrella.” With a laugh and clearly no intention to elaborate, she turned back towards the road and stepped on it.
----------------------------------------
The place for the meet-up was, much to my chagrin, in the abandoned sewage treatment plant. The fact that it was the same place where I’d fought Bear just a few days ago was unnerving. The doubt on whether or not she suspected anything was unfounded, but it made the prospect no less daunting. I had to repeat to myself that this whole thing was still up in the air, there would be no fight and no bets until I agreed to it.
Vesper was already there, but she hadn’t come alone. There had to be at least thirty-odd people wearing Sewer Saint paraphernalia, many of the faces there were ones I remembered meeting at the party. All of them were armed, but the weapons remained holstered. Opposite their group were a few Paw gang-members pretending to watch over the entrance to the empty lot leading to the facility.
The tension was not of the deathly variety, but it sure wasn’t of the peaceful sort either. And though we held the numerical advantage, I had no doubt that the Paws were one ping away from calling in more reinforcements than we could handle.
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Not that it would make a difference even if they didn’t, because Bear was there, just slightly further in. “You’re early.” Her tone bordered on the accusatory, approaching me before Vesper had the chance to speak-up.
I acted quickly. “I asked Isia to rush, hope I didn’t cause too much trouble.” My words were not aimed at the meguca, but at Vesper, making a point to approach her directly.
She shot me a sly grin. “We’ll see how things pan out. Axel, this is Bear, leader of the Paws and a meguca.” She took the lead. “Bear, Axel, our latest recruit.” Behind me, Isia was snickering under her breath.
Ignoring the scowl that flashed across the meguca’s face, I reached out to offer a hand to shake. “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am, and sorry for the hassle.”
“Yes.” She didn’t take the hand, crossing her arms. “The only reason I rushed this was as a favor to the Saints. They said it was some sort of emergency, though they shared jack shit.” Her glare flickered towards Vesper, the tension clear.
“It is an emergency, for me, mostly.” I kept my smile polite. “The Shadow meguca is going to kill me in a few days, and I was hoping you might be able to help me convince her to… well, not kill me.”
Bear stared at me for a very long second. “Bullshit.” She finally declared. “If THE Shadow is going after you, you’d already be dead a hundred times over.”
“I agree with that assessment.” I nodded. “But apparently there’s a time-limit. I don’t know how, or why, just that there is one.”
“Bullshit.” She reiterated, scowl deepening. “Your claim makes no sense.”
Meeting her gaze directly, I tightened my fists. “You think I’d come here to fight someone that could turn me into paste on a whim if it wasn’t the truth?”
Bear held my gaze, unmoved for the barest second, before flickering towards Vesper, then back at me. “Let’s say I believed you,” she said, humorlessly. “Even then, there’d be nothing I could do about this. If Shadow took a contract, she’s going to see it through, and if that contract says you die… then you’re going to die.”
“She’s… a hired killer.” I frowned, putting aside the wrongness of the idea of a meguca selling her powers to assassinate humans. “Then if I paid-”
“As I said, if she took the contract, then it means you’re going to die. She can’t be bought off.” Bear snorted, rolling her eyes. “Not that you’d be able to afford it.” Turning away from me, she faced Vesper. “This was a waste of both of our times. I thought you-”
“I’ll fight you.” I butted in.
“That’s the problem.” The meguca snapped back. “If you’re telling the truth, which I’m inclined to believe for some reason, I have nothing to gain from winning. You’d be dead by the end of the week.”
It stung a bit to be told my death was a surefire thing. Still, I pressed on. “I…” There had to be something she’d want out of this that I could offer, surely? “I know the location of the shush monster’s lair.”
My escape had been a serious blow to their rep, so finding the “shush monster” was definitely at the very top of their priority list. The fact that, technically, I wasn’t lying was just a cherry on top.
The crowd had been quiet before, but now it felt as if it were sucking sound out of the air, I could hear the hitch in Bear’s breathing and the subtle creak of grinding teeth. “Fuck you.” Though she said this, she did not move an inch, her eyes flickering with the tell-tale signs of some neuralink communication of some sort before talking again. “Do you have any proof?”
“You have a dying man’s word.”
She looked like she really wanted to punch my face in right about now. “I’m verifying this.” Bear snarled, taking a step back, eyes unfocussing as she glanced off into the distance.
Not entirely sure what she was doing, I waited.
“Fuck.” She finally declared, letting out a sigh. “Fine, whatever. I’ll take that as the price for winning.”
“That’s… it?” I asked. “Who did you talk to?”
“Shadow.”
My eyes widened. She had a direct line to that meguca!? What had she told Bear? I opened my mouth then snapped it close. Would it be possible to ask the assassin directly why she was targeting me? Or maybe some deal to call it quits? The questions threatened to pile up and explode straight out of my skull before I quickly put my priorities in order.
“So this is an acceptable price?”
Bear nodded. “It is. What do you want if you win?”
The fact that she agreed could only mean Shadow had not told her the whole truth. Why? No, that didn’t matter right now. “If I win, I want the opportunity to talk to Shadow.” I made a gesture with my head towards Vesper. “And you’d owe the Sewer Saints a favor.”
“You’re asking for a lot.”
“I’m fighting a meguca, and I might be dead in a few days.”
Bear chuckled, shoulders relaxing, the sound deflating the tension in the crowd. “Fair enough.” Turning around, she headed back into the compound. “You have an hour to get ready.”
There was a collective sigh once she’d crossed the threshold of the busted-up fence and into the dilapidated sewage treatment plant. No sooner had she left line of sight that Isia punched me in the shoulder, hard enough to make me stumble.
“FUCK!” She swore, holding her hand. “What the hell are you made of? Rocks!?”
“Uh…”
“You knew where the shush-monster was and you didn’t say a thing!?” Her accusations were supported by the nodding of the others. “What the fuck, Axel, that’s an eight-figure cred bounty!”
“And a lot of dead people, us included.” I hurried to reply. “Look, there’s a lot about the shush-monster you guys don’t know. If-”
“Save that for later.” Vesper cut me off, her gaze hard and menacing as she glared at everyone else from the gang. “Just focus on winning this. After you win, we can talk about why, exactly, you haven’t reported anything about this monster.”
My lips drew thin, but I nodded, still wondering what exactly Bear had heard through her call. Was Shadow nearby? I somehow had a hard time imagining the shadow meguca wouldn’t be trailing my every step to ensure I couldn’t get away. With Vesper’s words, Isia backed off, and the other gang members looked appeased, though I couldn’t help but flinch with a little guilt at the stares.
I didn’t like rushing this, but I was grasping at straws right now.
“Let’s get you into costume.” Vesper ordered, breaking my train of thought. “We’ll prep the script.”
“What?” I blinked. “Costume? Script?”
“Two streamers are about to publicly duke it out. You didn’t think there wouldn’t be theatrics?” Isia’s voice was full of cheer and an eerie, vengeful twinkle in her eyes. She wasn’t the only one.