Damian glanced around at his friends, all in varying states of injury. Today had gone to complete and utter shit. He had already crossed the line into anger and his temper was simmering to a rage.
His eyes passed over to his lieutenant, who was leaning back in his chair, nursing what was likely a broken wrist.
His lieutenant, Jay, was a half demon, half forest sprite with brown eyes. Usually his mouth would be quirked up in a sly smirk, but it was instead twisted down in a grimace of pain and marred by a split lip.
Damian was sure he was in even more pain than he was admitting, since he hadn’t heard him utter a word since they arrived.
They had been back to their hideout for little over a half hour and he was impatient to find out what had gone wrong. As soon as they returned, he had Lacey go out on a hunt. Luckily, Lacey had been the least injured of them all, probably attributed to her being small and quick.
The operation was a recent plan on a very need to know basis to take down some of the biggest scum tainting their city- the Rissi gang. What happened instead was almost a worst case scenario for his team. They all could have died with how outnumbered they were, which was the only way this could have been worse.
There was only one conclusion to be drawn from how badly it went from start to finish. Someone had screwed them over today.
If their information had been bad on purpose, then he would certainly make good on his reputation around the streets that had been cultivated the past few years.
All it came to was whether it was a set-up from the start, or if they had been sold out. Meaning, it came back to the little weasel of an information broker they had used. Either he had been stupid enough to work against them, or stupid enough to sell bad info.
This is why Damian preferred to gather their own intel for major operations. Unfortunately this had been one of Damians few exceptions to his cautiousness. Jay and Damian had agreed they had to capitalise on their lead, thus forcing them to move quickly.
Jay had gotten wind that there might be an opening to infiltrate the Rissi today based on a rumoured meeting between a few gangs. They had needed the details immediately to make their move in a tight time frame, so Damian had paid for the information.
That brought him to Kith.
Kith was a slimy little imp, known for good information for the right price. Now he wondered if they weren’t sold out to a higher bidder.
It had seemed like the information was good when they arrived; minimal guards at the front and a skeleton crew inside, but the Rissi had to know they were coming.
They had been caught inside in a trap with what appeared to be the whole gang and some allies. The leader of the Rissi, Donovan, was even present when he was supposed to be halfway around the city.
Donovan was a nasty piece of work. He had been the one to bring the gang to new infamy when he took over and the biggest reason the Rissi now needed to be taken down.
Well before Damian and his group had become a name to fear, the Rissi had already been deep in the drug trade. Recently they had become a much bigger problem for all of the citizens of the Prims as they started delving into the slave trade.
Vulnerable people were going missing and the Rissi had coincidentally started opening up some very exclusive clubs.
When Donovan had taken over, he had brought with him some connections to some terrible people. He used those to forge new alliances and start to spread their influence. Yesterday was supposed to be one such meeting.
Damian had never hid his disdain of the Rissi before and everyone knew that he hated slavers. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone when he cut ties to any group who would affiliate themselves with that kind of business.
Donovan hadn’t been a fan of his since then, as a few groups followed his lead. There had been a sort of cold war going on between those involved and those that backed out, but Damian had chosen to break that recently, pushing back hard as soon as the gang managed to get more disgusting than they already were.
Jay, who always had one ear to the ground, had discovered that there were some darker things happening in the Rissis clubs than they could have imagined. And some of those things involved children.
Damian, and many of his allies, agreed that was one step too far. They had been waiting on a chance to cripple the Rissis operations since, and yesterday should have been that opportunity. Damian had acted quickly on the information and only him and his personal team were involved.
This operation was kept very quiet, so being blindsided like they had been was worrying.
If it wasn’t for Ally having some high level magic up her sleeve, he was sure most of the crew would be dead and the rest would be wishing to be so. The one highlight was the look on Donovans face when he realised that they were able to teleport.
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Ally was currently sitting next to Jay, keeping an eye on the door. A gnome, but tall for her species, Ally had short cropped blonde hair currently stained brown with blood. She had discarded her robe at some point to give her access to her torso, which was sporting some impressive bruises that were already purpling.
Damian glanced down at his side, where an arrow had been lodged between two ribs only thirty minutes previously. That had almost taken him out of the fight completely. If Shadow wasn’t so good at healing, then Damian would be dead regardless of teleporting magic.
He looked over to where Shadow was binding Scarlets broken arm. If he wasn’t so mad, he may have laughed at the picture the two created.
Scarlet was a small humanoid figure with black hair, canine ears and fangs, currently snarling in both pain and rage.
In contrast, Shadow was a hulking orc with pale grey-green skin and a soothing countenance. He was around three times as large as Scarlet was, and his large shoulders were hunched down so he could access her arm.
As he worked on her wounds it appeared like he was calming a wild animal, although Damian would never be as stupid as to say so to Scarlet.
Looking at the last of his crew made his temper spike again.
Rem was a fae of unshared origins, who moved with grace and had a sly cunning. Rem loved to sow chaos and tell the most ridiculous stories, but none of that life was present now. Rem had been the most injured, having taken a massive blow to the head.
Shadow had done what he could for Rem and now it was just a matter of waiting.
He looked away from his friends fallen form as he saw the sympathetic look Ally was sending his way. Now was not the time for this. He had to focus on the immediate situation and dealing with those responsible.
Only a few more minutes of waiting later, and the door swung open. Lacey was in the lead, a tied up figure behind her.
Lacey was a small halfling who was very quick on her feet and could sneak just about anywhere. She tended to be one of the most compassionate of their group, but today she had the same fire in her eyes they all had.
This was one of the few situations that could get Lacey in a temper and Damien almost wanted to pity the culprit. Almost.
The team took note of the new arrivals, and everyone shifted into an alert stance.
Lacey crossed the room, roughly dragging Kith behind her. She stopped five feet in front of Damian and hauled Kith onto his knees, removing his blindfold and gag, and stepping behind him. She made sure Kith could see that she had her dagger a few inches from his neck.
Damian watched as Kiths eyes darted around the room, flickering over his crew and their injuries as he started to violently shake his head back and forth.
Damian leaned forward over him, watching in satisfaction and Kith shrunk backwards.
For not being the tallest of men, Damian cut an imposing figure. With a deep red skin tone, long orange hair shorn off at the sides and black eyes, he had an intensity about him, especially in the heat of his anger. Looming over the smaller figure brought his curved black horns into a menasing light, the wickedly sharp points glinting as Damian moved his head..
He channelled all of the rage he had been feeling since the trap sprung and met Kiths eyes.
“You know, Kith, that was a pretty big fuck up you sent us into.”
Impressively, the imp paled even more, his yellow skin gaining a grey pallor.
“Damian, you know I would never give you bad info. I value my neck too much for that!” Kith was almost hyperventilating as he spoke.
Damian considered the weasel for a moment longer, letting him sweat. In his peripheral he saw Ally nod. Well, that certainly changed things. If Kith was innocent in this, he had a larger problem than he had thought. Best to let the imp assume they thought him guilty, see what other information he may share.
“What I know about you, is that you are in it for the money. I think you are exactly the type to want to double your pay day and hope the Rissi finished us off.” Damian took a half step closer to the terrified imp.
“No! I swear, I know better than that! If I sold out everyone who bought from me, I would lose all my clientele!” Damian could see sweat start to trickle down his neck.
“See, it is all about the money for you. How much did they give you to screw us over, hm? What exactly is your life worth?” Damian motioned to Lacey holding the dagger at his throat.
“I promise on the spirits of my Ancestors that I did not and would not sell you out, Damian! Please!” Kith looked like he was about to pass out.
“If not you, then how in the realms did the Rissi have a trap waiting for us?” The imp relaxed a fraction at his words.
“I don’t know, okay? The information was good, from a verified source. Never had any problems before, and I certainly didn’t squeal.” Once again, Ally gave a nod.
“Who was the source?” Damian demanded
“I-I can’t-” Kith stuttered.
“Before you try to lie to me about how you don’t give that up, I would remind you that my good friend has a very sharp blade quite close to that neck you value so highly. Now consider what you know about me before anything comes out of your mouth that isn’t the name of your source.” Damian interrupted.
As he spoke, Lacey brought the dagger right up under Kiths chin, making him crane his neck back to avoid being nicked.
“Yes! It was Seth. You know, the little wind sprite who hangs out at the Shaft all the time. I swear, he always gives me good information and he's too smart to work with the damned Rissi,” For a third time, Ally gave a nod in confirmation.
“I see. Pretty quick to sell out those you work for, Imp.” Damian growled at him.
He let Kith sweat a moment longer before continuing.
“Maybe I should make an example out of you, just to warn off anyone who may think messing with us is in any way a good idea. I don’t think you need all of those fingers to do your job.”
Damian pulled his own knife from his side, black and wicked sharp. This was a blade that had helped him cement the reputation he currently enjoyed.
“No! Please! I promise, I would never sell you out. I gave you what you wanted. Please just don’t remove anything!” Kith was a blubbering mess now.
“I suppose we have never had a problem with your services before,” Damian tapped his dagger against his lips, as if considering.
“I think I will let you go intact this time, since you have been so honest with me, right?” Kith nodded again rapidly, some of the warmth coming back to his face.
Damian gestured to Lacey and she relaxed the dagger. Kith swallowed hard and sighed in relief.
Lacey grabbed the blindfold and shoved it back over his head. Damian came up beside them and leaned down, whispering into Kiths ear.
“I would remind you to keep your mouth shut about the details of this conversation. I saw you eyeballing some of our injuries. This situation did not weaken us, it only made us angry. Anyone comes looking for information about us and it would behove you to get that knowledge to me. If I hear differently in the future, well, sometimes my blade here just…slips.”
He watched as Kith trembled, but gave a jerky nod of his head.
Damian stepped back and allowed Lacey to pull Kith to his feet. She spun him quickly in a few circles before leading him towards the door.
The whole team stayed tense for a few moments longer, before Scarlet began snickering.
“Damn Boss, did you see the look on his face? You never even let the little shit know you had a truth ward running. I was sure he was going to piss himself at the start there.” She winced as Shadow resumed work on her broken arm.
“Went a bit harsh there, Damy?” Ally chimed in. That was unsurprising, as she was usually the most against such play acting.
“I did what needed to be done. Everyone, finish up here and take the rest of the night. I will let you know when I need you next,” He paused, glancing at Rem again. “Come get me if there are any updates,”
The team resumed looking after their wounds, Shadow finishing up with Scarlet and moving over to Ally.
Damian grabbed his shirt he had removed earlier and began the painful trek up the stairs to his office. Halfway up, he heard footsteps behind him, a slight limp to the rhythm. He was not looking forward to the next conversation.