Chapter 26: Getting Back To Business

--- Aurelio Hermenez ---

He drank deep from his coffee, mourning the fact that he wasn’t going to be getting any of his usual coffee goodness given how Harper had let slip that the cafe she worked at was wrecked.

(You could always just find another shop.) Geraldine pointed out.

He shook his head. “Nah, that would be like cheating. Until I get permission I can only get my coffee goodness from Harper.”

(Suit yourself.) His hitchhiker shrugged. (If you won’t drink coffee however, I myself prefer tea myself. Perhaps I could convince you to find some green tea somewhere?)

Given how his father was a tea drinker? “Fuck no.”

(Boo.)

When he ran out of coffee he knew there was no more putting his work day off. (If I even have a job still.)

(I’m sure we can easily find you a new source of income.) Jerry assured him, his shadow shifting into hers as he walked towards the diner. (Admittedly, I will need you to look into the current economic situation.)

“Uh, probably not that good given…” He nodded towards the cracks in the sky, still glowing as bright as the day they appeared.

(Quite… Well, I’d offer access to my financial holdings but if my Bloodline has migrated back to the colonies then in all likelihood my assets are no longer available.) Geraldine sighed. (I really do need to catch up on the last hundred years both in the history of my confidants as well as the world in general.)

He couldn’t really argue that, even if part of him wanted to.

After her reaction to his ‘novel’ shower -an event he suppressed given her giggling during said shower, and the revelation his privacy was as dead as her- he’d finally thought to ask exactly how old his ghost was.

Which had in turn gotten him a joking remark about asking a woman’s age, followed by the more blatant answer that she’d died in the middle of the first world war where she’d been a ‘nurse’ at the time. A profession that allowed her to help people, gather blood, practice healing magics, and have un-murdered bodies for her resurrection research -(because only a fool would resurrect someone they killed)- all at once.

And with this reminder that he was dealing with a hundred year old dark sorceress who turned herself into a vampire, he unanimously decided it was probably best for everyone involved if he paced her integration to the twenty first century.

“Right, well… we’re here.” He told her instead of mentioning any of that as he gestured towards Hendrickson’s diner.

(Hmm… curious…)

“Uh, what is?” He frowned, looking the space over in case there was some kind of Deviant situation he wasn’t seeing.

(Mmm, nothing worth worrying about just yet. Though… would you say you’re in this ‘Hendrickson’s’ good books?) Jerry deflected.

“Sort of?” He shrugged. “I’ve worked for him for a couple months now, and he’s a pretty solid boss.” (Who also gave me my first joint, but that’s probably best unsaid.)

(First, that doesn’t help you if I’m actively focused on you. If you want to keep secrets for me you need to learn to think about them without thinking about them. Second, what is a joint?)

“Uh, a type of cigarette, just with something other than tobacco… they’re also sort of illegal depending on where you are.” He explained, wondering how he was supposed to think about something without thinking about it.

(And why would I of all people care about the legality of what you do? So long as you aren’t abusing women or harming children I quite frankly don’t care as long as you’re enjoying life for me. In fact, go forth and break a law with my blessing!)

He considered this for a minute before chuckling to himself. With a quick glance down both ways of the street filled with mostly abandoned cars, he proceeded to jaywalk the rest of the way to his job.

(What’s so funny?)

“I just broke the law.” He explained before opening the door to the diner.

(How… how is crossing the streets illegal?) Jerry asked, sounding completely dumbfounded which just made him laugh some more.

“Well, someone is happy.” Hendrickson noted from behind the counter as he sat a plate of food in front of Mick. “If you got a hit of the good stuff, company policy demands you share.”

“Nah, just… funny thing with a… friend.” He wasn’t sure if they were friends, but they were stuck together and he wasn’t stupid enough to prefer being enemies with someone like that than friends.

(...)

“Right, so I’m guessing you’re here for the same reason as Harrison?” Hendrickson sighed before looking them both over as he crossed his arms.

He glanced at his coworker.

“Wondering if I still have a job.” The blonde explained.

He ran a hand over the back of his neck before admitting that, “Yeah, I know the last few days have been pretty crazy across the city, but… I kind of need this job.”

“Uh, same…” Micki winced as she swallowed down her food. The blonde paused for a moment, seeming to think about something before letting out a sigh. “Especially since my living situation isn’t in a good way after… everything.”

He couldn’t help but grimace at that, knowing how rough that could be, (especially since she doesn’t have a stolen deposit to use.) “Well… I’d offer my couch but I’m in a studio apartment so…” He shrugged helplessly.

(Ah, so you’re interested in blondes!) Jerry noted as if this was some magnificent revelation. (I’ll remember this~)

“I appreciate it but, uh… we haven’t known each other long enough for that.” Micki confessed uncomfortably, almost as if she could hear the lech in his head.

Hendrickson let out a snort of amusement at that. “Hermenez is harmless.” The old man tilted his head, and Aurelio got an odd feeling in the back of his head. “For the most part.”

(Don’t annoy him.) Jerry needlessly warned him.

(I’m not stupid.) He shot back, not about to irritate his boss when figuring out if he still had a job. Though he did tell Micki, “It’s fine I get it. Offer was completely platonic though.”

(Sure it was~) Jerry laughed as if he was lying.

(Which… I’m not…)

(Sure you aren’t~ You can’t see me but I’m winking right now.)

“I’ll… keep it in mind if I get desperate, but I can float myself for a bit.” Micki assured him before giving Hendrickson a look. “At least if I still have a job to help pay for things…”

“Yeah, alright.” Hendrickson sighed as he scratched at his beard. “Don’t get your knickers in a bunch, I’m not firing either of you. Though I am going to warn you that business was not good during the last riot. So if the sky doesn’t mend itself we’re all going to be in hot water in a month or two, but as long as people are willing to come through I’ll keep ya on.”

“Well, I have too many problems today to worry about tomorrow’s mess!” He admitted with far more cheer than he actually felt.

“Same.” Micki agreed from beside him.

“Eh, personally, I’ll probably be dead tomorrow so why worry? Speaking of…” Hendrickson shrugged before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a joint. “Either of you want a hit while we wait for someone to actually show up?”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

--- Harper Everette ---

“So, uh, any idea what’s going to happen now?” She asked, looking around the torn up coffee shop.

“Well, I guess we can cover the windows in trash bags and duct tape until we can get them replaced.” Frankie noted as she swept up the broken glass on the ground. “Don’t think we can do anything for the kitchen door though.”

“Yeah…” She grimaced looking at the metal door that had been torn off its hinges. “By the way, any idea what happened to the bodies of those Creeps?”

“Why?” Frankie gave her an amused look. “Wanted to mount its head over your fireplace?”

“No…” (No matter how badass it would be.) “I don’t have a fireplace.”

Frankie shook her head with a grin before explaining that she, “Called Sanctuary. Guess they picked it up while we were waiting for things to calm down. Speaking of, surprised you didn’t want to stay home a little longer. Could’ve gotten away with it after everything.”

“I know, but I can handle myself.” She shrugged, not mentioning that some reckless part of her was kind of hoping to see another one now that she had a kitchen knife on her instead of an old mop. “What about you?”

“I can handle myself.” Frankie repeated with her own shrug.

Given how she’d taken boxing lessons in high school and Frankie still had more muscle than her, she didn’t doubt it. “How about Harold? Heard anything from him?”

Frankie let out a snort. “Yeah, I called him on the landline when I got here. Apparently, he’s calling in sick. Thinks he caught that swine flu thing and he’ll be out for the week.”

“But he still expects us to come in and work.” She guessed, upon hearing that mess.

“Yep.” Her best friend nodded.

“Fuuunnn…” She drawled out, her back against the cafe counter as her eyes drifted towards the empty street. “Think anyone will actually come here today?”

“If they see us in here? Maybe.” Frankie frowned in thought as she leaned on her broom. “I mean, I don’t think we’ll see a lot of people after all the crazy that went down the last couple days but people still got to go out and live and junk. Just don’t expect anyone to linger anywhere, or anyone that needs to walk here.”

“Gah, don’t mention walking.” She groaned, thinking about how the bus hadn’t shown up this morning forcing her to walk to work. (And I totally forgot how far this place is from my house.) “Any idea what’s up with the buses?”

“Better get used to walking.” Frankie told her “I checked the city news online this morning. Apparently a decent number of the buses got caught in everything so they’re not sending them around until they can ‘ensure the safety of the buses and their passengers’.”

“So I’m stuck walking everywhere…” She sighed.

“Yep.” Frankie nodded as she started sweeping again.

“Ugh, I need to get a car or a bike or… something.” She whined.

“Who knows maybe you can ride the next Creep you find.” Frankie joked.

“Oh, that would be so badass!” She smiled, feeling a bit manic. “Ooh, think any of them can fly?”

Frankie paused what she was doing and gave her a wary look. “Uh, I know you’re tougher than you look, but… please don’t actually try riding one.”

“I’m just joking, I wouldn’t do that.” She lied.

--- Jessica ---

Her boots landed on the roof ledge as she looked down on the city streets beneath them looking for their current target.

Next to her Vanessa pulled herself over the ledge having easily scaled the seven story building. “We sure this is the right place?”

(“Determined nod. Affirmative.”) Cyn’s voice rang throughout all three of their minds even as she sat two blocks away in a nondescript van with security provided by the company.

“It’s just we’ve had bait boy walking around for almost an hour now.” Vanessa pointed out, her eyes on Nicholas far below them as he wandered around waiting for their target to find him.

“Patience and timing are key to maximizing profits.” She reminded the other woman, quoting one of the books she’d found laying in the company’s offices.

Vanessa merely rolled her eyes before switching from crouching on the roof edge to sitting on it, clearly expecting this to take longer. (Which I can’t even blame her for given how long we’ve been at this.)

Given how much of the Company’s equipment was still currently down thanks to the cracks in the sky, they’d been forced to use older methods of tracking down their target while Doctor Holiday continued to figure out a supplementary device for Cyn to use.

The only reason they even knew there was a target for them in the area was due to siphoning a report that the overwhelmed police had sent to the clearly inferior Sanctuary. (Though thankfully the Company managed to correct that error in their judgment before any harm could be done.)

According to the report there had been a rash of homicides each night since the sky cracked, which given the events and civil unrest weren’t too unusual by themselves. What was unusual however was the fact that of the few bodies they’d managed to find, each one looked like it had been torn apart by half a dozen different animals.

The fact that there was clearly a pack of creatures not only working together but somehow avoiding detection instead of going berserk like so many creeps, had them originally believing that the perpetrators were the city’s other group of more wolven shapeshifters. With the working theory being that the cracks in the sky causing some kind of psychotic break similar to those occasionally witnessed during a full moon.

Director Greene, once more proving her intelligence and right to authority, quickly dismissed this theory. Noting how that should the wolves have one of their breaks the still sane ones would usually deal with them in the hopes of minimizing the spread of infection.

A detail that would’ve had them seeing at least some activity from the uninfected wolves in the area as they tended to police their own if to avoid violating what pieces of the Masquerade still stood. But even knowing that they had yet to find any further evidence for or against the creature in question, (not even after four nights of searching…)

With a sigh she mentally reached out to the connection that Cyn had established between all of them. An orange eye she was always vaguely aware of in the back of her head gave her slightly more attention before a limb made of shadows seemed to reach out to her.

Mentally she accepted the hand and spoke, something only she and Nicholas needed to do to use this connection. “Nicholas, do you notice anything of suspicion?”

(“No, just this cute little kitty cat.”) Nicholas answered inside of her head, a faint static sound to his voice.

(“A ‘cute’ kitty?”) Vanessa asked warily, her body silent save for a pained grimace knowing as well as Jessica Nicholas’s idea of ‘cute’.

Namely that it counted a lot of things that it probably shouldn’t.

(“Jealous pout. I want to pet the cute kitty.”) Cyn whined through their connection.

Her eyes immediately jumped down to Nicholas and found that he had somehow disappeared, something that was all too common an occurrence with the man.

She glanced at Vanessa who nodded before using the ledge as a springboard and leaping to another building in search of the most easily distracted member of their group.

Not willing to put all of the work on the rest of her team she entered a crouch of her own, the muscles in her back flexing the bones attached to them. Within these bones power began to build until they gave off a faint bluish glow, at which point she kicked off the ground and leapt several stories into the air.

With the moonlight behind her, the bones in her back spread out into a facsimile of wings, allowing her to hover in the air as they slowly let loose the energy she’d built up, giving off a faint blue mist as she was kept afloat in the air.

Her eyes quickly roamed the area in search of Nicholas, until Vanessa slowly cursed, (“Fuuuck…”) across their connection.

(“Language there’s a child present!”) Nicholas scolded.

“Vanessa, how bad is it?” She frowned, moving in the direction of the other woman. “It’s just a… cute kitty, yes?” If the thing had yet to attack Nicholas, then it was likely stalking him due to his overly calm nature and the beast’s own instincts not to scare its prey.

(“It’s uh… It’s not a kitty… It’s a kitten, and it’s mama doesn’t look happy.”) Vanessa warned her, immediately understanding her reasoning.

(“Excited smile. There are more kitties?”) Cyn asked, childishly focusing on the wrong thing.

“Lovely.” She grimaced, before spotting Nicholas with a massive feline like Creep clinging to the wall above him as well as Vanessa stared down on them from further above, her tail lashing anxiously at the air.

“V, Pin and Execute.” She ordered through their connection as she focused what energy was still in her wings.

Not waiting for a response she launched herself at the Creep, spinning just before impact so that she’d land boots first, her excess force grinding the beast’s face against the brickwork as she angled their descent towards the ground.

For moment the world was still after they hit the ground before in a flurry of motion the Creep lashed out, swinging its massive arm back in a blow that would shatter the bones of a normal human unable to dodge.

She quickly leapt back her wings allowing her to hover as she built up the bones in her arms, several spikes growing where her wrists met the underside of her forearms, ready to shatter and pelt whatever she threw them at.

At the same time Vanessa slammed into the half turned Creep from above, the extra force from gravity allowing one of her hidden stingers to pierce through the beast’s throat. Her other claw hand shot forward and dug into the wound before using the leverage from her blade to completely rip the Creep’s throat out.

Even with such a fatal wound to the creature she held off on dropping her guard, more than once having been surprised by the beasts during her younger years after first being recruited to the company.

Still after a full minute of stillness she and Vanessa both lowered their guards as much as either was willing while in the field, which was to simply retract their biological weaponry into themselves.

“Ah, poor kitty…” Nicholas pouted after a moment, once more proving he was far too soft hearted for much more than bait.

“Kitty was about to eat you.” Vanessa scoffed, before her eyes honed in on something. “Or is… I guess…”

“Oh, it’s just a love bite.” Nicholas assured her as he held up a blue six eyed feline creature that was currently gnawing at his hand with such a feverish intensity that the only reason Nicholas had a hand was because he was healing faster than it could hurt him. “Can we keep her, pleeeeease!”

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Nicholas, we cannot bring the demonic hell cat home with us.”

“Pretty please, with cherries on top…” Nicholas tried again, his eyes going big and sad on her.

(“Abusing puppy dog eyes. Please, greatest boss Jessica, can we keep the kitty?”) Cyn chimed in from where she was psionically eavesdropping on them.

She could feel her will caving, but for the sake of the company she held strong.

“Well, I mean we technically we’re supposed to bring as many of these back as we can, living or dead.” Vanessa pointed out by kicking the dead mother Creep. “Actually now that I think about it, weren't there supposed to be like a dozen of these things?”