There still wasn’t really any form of security besides a camera we saw hovering above the office we barged into last time.

Good thing we had put on masks.

As we made our way to the door, the doctor peeked out, confusion evident on his face. Looking at us he quickly slammed the door behind him.

We calmly walked up to it and I tried the knob. Locked.

Liz went to step forward but I held my hand out. He didn’t have the time to reinforce this one and frankly, it had been a minute since I had a chance to kick a door down: it was like a perverse challenge.

I took a step back and slammed my foot above the door handle. I heard the door begin to crack and felt it flex under my leg. This was a pretty common weak point and I was pretty sure this door was shoddily constructed. Just one more good kick…

I slammed my foot into it again and the door gave, giving Liz and me free access to the room.

The moment I stepped into the room, the growingly familiar feeling of my inscription screaming at me assailed my mind. I almost let my entirety slip into the panic, but wrestled control back and poured mana into it which it devoured readily.

I could hear a story on the other end of the door. A tiny object laced with pain and killing intent. It would rip into me, rip through me, and send me sprawling to the ground. The stories moved forward, ever so slightly as I tried to confirm my suspicion willing my inscription to burn through to the bottom of my mana supply for a moment of clairvoyance. Two shots ripped through me, one hitting my chest and another boring a hole in my neck.

He had a gun ready at the door.

I snapped back to reality, already instinctively stepping back as two shots ripped through the wall and the door, where I was a moment ago.

I felt my heart thrum in my chest as I had to lean against the wall to gather myself.

Unlike the usual panic my inscriptions passive activation caused, the tightness in my chest grew harsher and more restrictive— like I couldn’t breathe. He tried to shoot me.

The thought processed as I forced out a shuttered breath. I hadn’t been shot at in years, I fought the echoes of my own death rattle ripple waves in the calm of my mind.

I struggled to understand what caused the difference. There was a sense of presence in that activation that none of my previous ones had. It was no longer a story promising a painful payoff, but I felt phantom sensations assail my mind for the briefest moment. Nothing compared to their totality, I had been shot once before and this had paled in comparison to that. But I still struggled to regain my bearings.

I don’t know how long I leaned against that wall disoriented, but I finally came to when I heard a raspy anguished shout of pain. I knew Immediately it wasn’t Liz, the voice was too deep.

I staggered my way in to see Liz hunched over the doctor whose arm was now mangled.

Unless my memory was seriously messed up right now, arms didn’t come with three joints. The doctor was crying out in a strained whimper. Liz grabbed him by his collar using both of her arms and dragged him to his knees.

That was going to be a problem.

I ignored his cries and screams as I walked up to Liz.

“Isn’t this a bit much? We’re not going to get anything out of him like this,” I told her, keeping my voice low.

“He deserves it.”

“Maybe, but not from you. Your face has been getting paler by the second. You don’t have the stomach for this.”

She glared at me and I just stared into her eyes. Liz was strong, but what she was doing didn’t require strength.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

I took a breath, steadying myself. I felt my mind clear before I resumed talking to Liz, “Did you get what devices the information was on?”

She nodded, “His phone on the desk.” So this was just her venting her rage at the doctor.

I felt something similar simmering inside me; a heat in my belly that wanted to brutalize the man in front of me.

I couldn’t though, not any more than he has already been. The police tended to be useless, but the authority was far from so. An investigation from them would cause a lot of problems. It was the same reason Martha sent us to intimidate the doctor that was restricting us now.

I threw myself into his chair and slid across the floor to

“Hey. we need your phone’s PIN,” I said as I lounged in his chair. I forced myself to ignore the desperate pained whimpers he kept choking out. I gave him a moment as I inched my chair over to where he balled himself up in pain.

I took a deep breath and looked over again at Liz watching as she trembled in anger. I thought back to how things were not even a couple of months ago. All it took was a couple of days for everything to devolve back to this. Now I was back here. I was doing this type of thing with a different role.

I took a breath. No, it was different. Everything else was for Martha, this was for us. It wasn’t something we were cornered into. I felt the cracks forming but the knowledge of why shielded my mind from any sense of horror. This thing in front of me sold kids for god knows what.

“Hey,” I said my heart feeling an icy sense of tranquility, “Give me your damned PIN,” I told him as I kicked him.

He sobbed out some numbers finally giving me access to his phone. I wasn’t going to go through everything here and now, so after making sure it worked I slid it back into my pocket for now and would mess with it later.

I gave his office a once over before looking over at Liz, “You wanna get a few more in on him?” She shook her head no.

“Well then, let's smash his computer for now and call it a day,” I said while I got on my knees to unplug it and then dragged it to the middle of the floor. It might be useful to keep the hard drive incase there was any information on there but I doubted the info about the kids would be anywhere on it. People used their phones for everything. Their computers? Not nearly as much. Speaking of which, I turned away from the doctor as I pulled out my phone and typed the PIN in because I would be damned before I tried to keep it memorized all evening.

Right as I heard Liz release a bolt of mana into the computer. I pulled the doctor’s phone back out and started going through his messaging apps. I knew this model, it was pretty common. What was just as common was knowledge of where the hidden folder was.

I tried the pin I was given and it worked.

Right as I got into it, Liz pushed past me and headed out of the small room.

I took that as our sign to leave.

I rushed out after Liz who had cleared the broken back door already and was walking fast.

I caught up to her a bit into the alley outside the office as she was about to head back onto the street.

“Hey, might wanna turn around and exit the alley a bit further down so we can talk.”

She sighed, and pivoted back around facing me.

“How do you do it?” she asked, sounding exhausted.

“What do you mean?” I responded, wondering where this was going. I gestured for her to walk after me while I started leading us through some alleys, hopefully, to dip out of them somewhere a bit further away.

“I dunno… its just you’re exposed to that type a lot right? How do you deal with not being able to do anything about it? He got off with a broken arm, smashed computer, and stolen phone because we both know if we cause too loud of a ruckus the hammer comes down on us. It will cause problems for Martha who I’m sure will cause problems for us. It feels rotten. I didn’t want to just let him off like that. Leaves a fucking pit in my stomach”

“Well,” I started as I stepped over a smashed beer bottle, “You grow a stomach for it. It sucks at first—every time actually. Each time it’s not as bad. Besides, in this case, we’re just getting started with him. I just don’t want the bastard he was in contact with to have a chance to get spooked and go scorched earth on either the evidence or kids-” I saw Liz frown right as I realized the last bit probably could’ve been left unsaid.

“Anyway, don’t worry we’ll double back around here some other time. Expect that door to be gone though,” I laughed.

Liz just looked at me.

“Trey, do you like doing this sort of stuff?”

I paused.

“Well… no. Not really.” I told her.

“I dunno, the way you carried yourself made me wonder. Like, ‘is this what he truly loves to do?’”

“I don’t enjoy acting cruel, we’ll in some abstract sense maybe. I enjoy feeling like I’m righting a wrong or getting my get back. But I don’t ever enjoy the cruelty. It’s a tactic.”

That seemed to strike a chord in her, “Ah, like keeping up the pressure while fighting. Don’t want to show any cracks.”

“Exactly.”

We walked a bit longer, taking our masks off before stepping outside of the alleyway near us.

I checked the time, it was a bit before 10.

“Hey,” I said to Liz, knowing what might help her mood, “Wanna go by Raul’s? It’s been a bit.”

She rolled her eyes, “Sure, I’m down for that.”