Chapter Twenty-Five - Beggars and Choosers

"This really doesn't sound like something we should get involved in," I said.

Sharp reached up and casually scritched me under the chin. She couldn't exactly talk to me when we were out in public but I felt like she was trying to tell me to calm down. Jenny was quite distraught still. Now that I was looking for it, it was easy to tell that she was anxious. Her hair was a mess and her coat was covered in stains as if she'd been rolling in the dirt for a while.

"Alright," Sharp said. "When did this happen?"

"Just... like, a few hours ago. I didn't come here first," Jenny said. She ran her hand through her hair, as though trying to straighten it out; it didn't help any.

"I went to our base. We have friends there, but they're all a bunch of filthy cowards. They didn't lift a finger when I told them, just told me to wait, that the police would be taking care of that cult of fuckfaces. Or the gangs. It doesn't matter, it all comes down to them saying they won't fucking help. No one will."

Sharp moved closer and was soon rubbing circles on Jenny's back. "Hey, it's okay," she said.

"She sounds like she's a step away from losing it," I said. "And not to belittle the point, but her... friends were probably right. Mounting a rescue into a well-guarded compound is a terrible idea."

"Okay," Sharp said calmly. "I need more information though. We can't just run in there and expect them to hand Alyssa over without any fuss."

Jenny scoffed. "So you're the same as all the rest? Dammit, I should have figured."

"Hey now," Sharp said. She continued to massage Jenny's back. "It'll be okay? I do want to help, but I can't if you don't tell me more. Which building was she taken to? Why were you around there in the first place? Do you, ah, have a plan to save her?"

Jenny tugged at her hair, grit her teeth, then kicked the stool she'd just jumped off of. It rattled from side to side, and Paris gave her the stink-eye from behind the bar.

"No, I... fuck. Okay, so, there was a contract out for information. That's what we sent you out for. But we didn't think you'd get anything too spicy, just like, rumours and a general vibe-check on how the Mutes think about the cult."

"Okay, I'm with you so far," Sharp said. She carefully pulled Jenny back to the bar, but further in. The end where the lighting wasn't as strong and where no one was sitting at the moment, then she encouraged Jenny to sit. "So, what did you and Alyssa do?"

Jenny worked her jaw. "We scouted around the area. Took the bus, then drove around too. Got some pics of some locals, some cult guards. I sent those to a friend that's good at info-gathering, and they drew up a profile of them. It gave us something to work with, but not much."

"And that's when they grabbed Alyssa?" Sharp asked.

Jenny winced. "No. No, she had an idea. A ritual, using her moth shit. We set up in one of the smaller buildings across the street. Aly covered the floor in magic crap and burned through a bunch of incense and chanted some crap. Then she started screaming."

"Ask her what the ritual was supposed to do, exactly," I said.

"That ritual," Sharp began. "What was it supposed to do?" She reached over and laid a hand on Jenny's.

The girl frowned. "I didn't get all the details. Magic's not my thing. I'm a lead and fists kind of girl. But uh, it was meant to let Aly insert herself into the building, somehow? Like, some sort of astral projection shit though a moth avatar thing. I saw it moving around at the start of the ritual, then it flew out, right through a window and towards the cult fucks."

"And then Aly started screaming?" Sharp asked softly.

"Yeah. Then she started screaming. I pulled her out, smacked her face a few times and tried to snap her out of it, but nothing worked. Usually it's pretty easy to pull her out of a trance or whatever, but this time it just didn't work. I was about to start making calls when the doors smashed in and some cult freaks showed up."

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"They took her?"

"Not before I shot a few of them up. It was weird. There were just more of them. They grabbed her, shoved me off, then ran. I ran out of bullets before they ran out of glassy-eye freaks."

"Oh," Sharp said. She shifted on her stool. "Okay, that is bad. Do you know where they brought her?"

"Yeah, more or less," Jenny said. She wiped at her face with a sleeve then took a deep breath through her nose. "Aly's got a tracker on her. So that I know where she is. She gets lost a lot. Don't let her know it, but... yeah. I can pinpoint the floor she's on, at least."

"That's something," Sharp said. "Actually, that's really good. I don't know how we'll be able to save her even knowing that, though."

"I just need someone to grab a second gun and fuck them up with me," Jenny said. "I'll... I'll find enough ammo somewhere, I swear."

"You're going to attack the entire building?" Sharp asked. "That's... a lot of cultists.

"Yeah? So what? You think I can't take them on? I'll show then LMG-chan and they'll regret ever laying a finger on Alyssa," Jenny said. Her voice was getting a little elevated, though not so much that it carried far over the music filling the bar and its surroundings.

Sharp leaned back some, her hand slipping off of Jenny's. I took the opportunity to hop over to sit on the bar itself, my tail wagging slightly behind me. "She's being emotional, which is a great way to turn a bad situation into an outright disaster. How attached are you to Jenny and the mage? Because any help we render will cost us a lot."

Sharp swallowed. "A... little?"

"A little, hmm. Were it a lot, I'd say that we could spend that money you have on mercenaries. There's a good number of them in this bar alone that would love to jump in for a quick hour or two long battle. A few thousand each and they'll gladly gun down the cultists they can reach. But given that we mostly want to help a little..."

"I can do more than take them on just a little," Jenny said. "They're just a bunch of grunts. I'll mow the fuckers down, I swear."

"A little help..." I walked a small circle before them while I thought. A small amount of help was... acceptable. If it didn't put Sharp in any great amount of risk, then it would mostly be fine. We didn't owe either of these girls anything, so life-risking efforts were too much. Still, helping them now would secure a favour, at the very least. And Sharp seemed to be seeing them as friends, as misguided as that might be. "Offer to help Jenny scout the location. I think I can walk into the location without arousing too much suspicion and without being seen. If we can buy just a bit of equipment to help, then we'll be able to keep in touch as well."

"That's... okay," Sharp said. "Jenny, I'll help."

Jenny sat up straighter. "You will? I mean, yeah, good! You know how to use a rifle?"

"Not that way," Sharp said. "And no, I don't know how to use a gun. Well, besides point and pull on the trigger."

Jenny and I both winced at the vague 'pew-pew' gestures Sharp was making. "So, how can you help, then? Wanna drive the getaway car?"

"I was thinking more... spying?" Sharp asked. "Uh, I'm going to need to buy a few things real quick, but if you just give me a few hours, I can get Queen Violence von Kittybutt right next to Alyssa. She can bring her something small, maybe? And let us know what's going on."

"Your cat," Jenny said. She turned to look at me with a critical eye. "That mangy-ass thing." She reached a hand out to poke at me. "This thing couldn't fight its way out of a paper ba—ouch!" She snapped her hand back and into her mouth. Her finger had accidentally found its way into my claws.

Sharp swallowed, then locked eyes with Jenny. "You're just... going to have to trust me. Trust us. We can definitely help, I'm sure of it."

"Fuck," Jenny said. "This is some real beggars and choosers shit, you know? But fine, I'll take whatever help I can."

***