Chapter 12 – Society Without Trust

Velum A Nightclub in Herons Shore - 3:11 pm, Date 123, 516 P.A.

Very little is actually illegal in Herons Shore if your willing to find it, The Bureau of White Market Affairs makes sure those who want a safe shopping experience can have their fill, but for those with no care for health and decency they only need to look for a door with the words “Buyer Beware”.

With those words painted in black on its door, Club Velum is always busy with people socializing, drinking, and committing all kinds of publicly acceptable debauchery, the music is calm and the atmosphere can be best described as very green and very blue, the building consists of two stories with cushioned seating and doors everywhere leading off to surly more heinous acts, and in a far corner of the second floor Jack And Spinned sit at the VIP bar waiting for their drinks.

“Here you are.” An offensively cyan fractal says handing the two a pair of green glowing drinks .”And I regret to inform you it will be a quite bit before Barrion can see you hes currently with a client.”

“We can stand to wait a bit, but let him know this a real emergency.” Spinned reply's putting a couple LCDs on the counter.

“Get yourselves in trouble?” the cyan barman teases. "He's not gonna bail you out again."

“In a way, its bigger then us tho.” Jack says downing his drink in a single swig “Please get me something stronger then this piss.”

“Cmon, the humans love it at-least” the barman grabs a unlabeled bottle of something clear off the shelf “I take it whatever you did, didn’t put you in a day drinking mood then.”

Jack steals Spinned’s drink downing it too “Its not what we did, would've been fine with that going sour.”

Spinned gives Jack a hurt look and a pat on the back

“Okay stop being koi and tell me what happened, may get you in faster.” he slams a glass of the clear liquid with a small layer of shimmering Ichor on-top.

Jack takes a deep sigh, downs the drink, makes a sound like a cough, and says “The Promise has been broken… Kisla is dead… and I have no fucking idea where Maka and Stran are…” he rests his head in his arms on the bar “what in.. di.id you put in that.”

“you asked for strong and I don’t actually know i got it as a gift, as for this about the promise… your certain?”

Jack just groans

“We where attacked by the TerrorCore, with the help from some butchers and even an enforcer we somehow survived.” Spinned explains while the bartender makes him a new drink “We only made it here by trekking through that god forsaken swamp.”

“You lie, there's no fucking way you two made it through the swamp” he says handing Spinned another green drink which he quickly takes.

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“Cmon you don’t get this kind of battle damage robbing Ichor farms, now can you please get us a meeting with Barrion.”

“Fine I will see what I can do, just wait a minute.” The bartender leaves Spinned to sip on his drink down a stairway behind the bar, while Jacks form distorts slightly.

“Are you Spinned the Crow?” A heavy voice comes from behind the Fractal, who turns to see the barrel of a gun.

Spinned doesn’t wait to find out why hes being held up, and the figure doesn’t wait to find out if its really Spinned who promptly kicks his own stool out from under him dropping beneath a hail of bullets that shatters a row of expensive looking drinks.

“Jack sober up we have trouble.” Spinned yells as he tackles the legs of the assailant

Jack groans and falls out off his stool

“Goddamit” Spinned manages to pull the assailants legs from under them causing them to fall on their back with a loud crash giving him enough room to grab his rifle next to where his seat once was and unload.

Gunfights arent rare in Club Velum, if one looked closely at any wall they would find at-least a couple bullet holes, however never does one of its bouncers take the first shot, and upon looking at the bullet ridden corpse of such a Bouncer Spinned realized where he stood, he was not safe.

He throws Jack over the bar and follows suit taking cover as the club erupts into chaos, out of ammunition he grabs a double barrel that the barman keeps under the counter.

“Jack what the fuck did you drink?!?”

“I don knoooo, givvve ichcc” he mumbles lazily reaching for a glowing bottle.

“One sec” Spinned peaks over the bar making momentary eye contact with another of the augmented security before a hail of gunfire forces him beneath counter “YOU WONT HAVE US TODAY!” he yells throwing a bottle of something red over the counter before jumping up shogun bared and firing a slug perfectly into the skull of another augmented Bouncer right as the bottle blocks its vision exploding into a shimmering display of blood and wine.

Ducking beneath the counter once more he grabs the bottle of ichor pouring it into Jacks mouth silver liquid rolls down his face as he quickly regains control, Jack grabs the bottle from Spinned finishing it himself.

“Its the club security, you think we where betrayed?” Spinned says peering over the bar looking at the now desolate area in-front of it

Jack draws his guns “If we where your drink would've been just as bad, didn’t that Officer say something about people being compromised?

“Maybe bu..” Spinned is cut off by a worried bar man running up the stairs

“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED I WAS GONE FOR LESS THEN A MINUTE??!?!?” he yells looking more annoyed then angry

“YOU NEED TO VET YOUR SECURITY BETTER, I WAS ALMOST DUST.” Spinned yells back “...now where do you keep the extra slugs, Im borrowing you shotty.”

“Those two where supposed to be watching the door…” The barman ponders to himself before abruptly jumping behind the bar with the others and pushing a hidden button next to the register, with a loud thunk a wall of robust looking metal surrounds the bar and small selection of high end firearms is revealed from a hidden panel in the bar “Please take your pick but that shotgun is mine.”

“Now we are talking.” Spinned mutters as he hands the barman his shotgun without a glance, taking a bullpup sub-machine gun and a couple extra magazines.

“Got any extra 55. magnum?” Jack asks standing up and brushing himself off.

“Sorry I don’t carry your clown bullets Jack.” the barman teases motioning them to follow him down the stairs behind the bar.

Sitting in more of a bunker then an office, A dark green fractal nervously fiddles with a revolving shotgun at a desk in the center of a otherwise barren concrete room surrounded with monitors on all sides but his front.

“Jack I told you to retire, I told you not to leave Haldwake, I told you if you ever caused me trouble again id kill you without mercy.” The green fractal points his shotgun at Jack who stares blankly at Barrion the Feeling. “Yet despite my warnings you go and rob some fucking shitty farm, die, and then show up saying you bested the swamp and the TerrorCore has betrayed our people… sit down” he lowers his weapon and pushes a button causing two blocks of concrete to raise from the ground in-front of his desk making two uncomfortable looking stools

“Enough posturing what the fuck is going on and why are my bouncers trying to kill you.”