Lucian felt compelled to do something too but he knew the Workers’ Ring denizen would get away with his life, though somewhat bruised. No one, not even Corp Anointed could murder in broad daylight in the Workers’ Ring and get away with it. That kind of wanton violence only happened in the Broken Ring, and still, investigations were had there as well, hence why Detective Rhyner had sniffed every crack from asses to broken pavement investigating Lucian.
“Get away from him,” Amelia shouted, striding toward the two Corp Anointed.
“Mind your business, bitch,” spat one of them.
“This drone is about to be taught a lesson,” the other said then stared down at the man below his freshly shined dress shoe. “You know how much that Gatetech car cost? Huh? You made me crash years of salary into that pole.”
The Worker Ring man groaned in pain as the Corp Anointed pressed his face into the concrete.
“Hey!” Amelia growled, “He’s in the wrong but that doesn’t mean you can do what you want…” Her words trailed off as the other Corp Anointed stepped in front of her.
“Bitch, don’t get fucked over some idiot.” His eyes wandered over her thin waist and wide hips exposed through her overalls. “Maybe fucking isn’t such a bad idea. You ever been to the Heart Rings, beautiful?”
“Asshole, I’m Amelia O—” Amelia cut her words short to glance backward at Lucian still sitting where she left him, then chose to change course of what she would say. “Just, never mind. Leave him alone. Shouldn’t corporate losers like you two be stuffed up your boss’s butt or something? Isn’t that how you guys move up in the world?”
The Corp Anointed reddened. “You fucking bitch…!”
“Brown nosing corporate douchebag,” Amelia whispered. “Licking the feet of whoever’s above you and always keeping that nose as brown as you can get it—the life of a corporate stooge.” She giggled, her bright green eyes filled with mockery. “I feel bad for you.”
“That’s it!” The Corp Anointed tried to slap her but Amelia dashed away back to Lucian and Two Tap.
“…Why are you back here?” Lucian asked, eyeing Amelia warily.
“She’s Anointed like us,” muttered the Corp Anointed who tried to hit her, witnessing Amelia’s abnormal speed.
His companion eased off the Worker Drone to stare at Amelia. “Base Anointed by the feel of her,” he remarked.
“If you apologize, bitch, and talk to us nicely, we can forget about this whole thing,” said the other to Amelia, cracking his knuckles.
“Yea, and why don’t you come with us? You can do much better than that loser.” The Corp Anointed sneered at Lucian.
“Are you going to let them talk to you like that, Lush?” Amelia asked, her expression nervous.
Lucian exasperated. “Why are you dragging me into this?”
Two Tap continued to tremble like a puppy left in the rain, unsure what was happening.
The suits charged for Amelia, their bodies exuding energy, casting light on the concrete. Amelia dodged quickly, ending up on the roof of the burger place, still staring at Lucian with pleading eyes. “Do something, please!” she begged.
Lucian fell into utter confusion. “Why aren’t you doing anything?”
“I don’t fight!”
“What?”
“Help me!”
“Fine then…” Lucian grumbled and transformed, growing into the hulking [Angry Gremlin] form with spiked hair and red eyes.
The two Corp Anointed were well-trained, but Lucian’s [Angry Gremlin] form proved to be the difference-maker. Of all his abilities, he never would have guessed that the Skill derived from those short, white, furry gremlins would prove the most invaluable.
Both suits lay on the concrete with bloody noses, covered in purpling bruises from Lucian’s [Goblin Bash]. Two Tap’s habit compelled her to try and heal them, but Amelia held her back.
“Let them deal with the consequences of their actions,” Amelia said to Two Tap, who felt like a cat about to be doused in a bath in Amelia’s hands. Her vulnerability only caused Amelia to pull her in closer, prompting Two Tap to squirm uncomfortably.
The Worker Ring man had wisely hurried off, knowing that Corp Anointed from Yellowbrick Inc. spelled trouble.
Lucian’s phone rang, William’s voice coming through. “Lucian? Yea, your Mr. Oper is in the Broken Ring. Dasher Teeg’s Rooms and Stuff—half motel, half pawn shop—all shitty if you ask me.”
Lucian smiled and said, “Thanks, Bill. Send me a bill at the end of the month for any information you give me. Alright, thanks again. See you.”
William tried to say that he wasn’t going to be Lucian’s “info guy,” but Lucian didn’t give him the chance and hung up.
“Let’s go before these two wake up and try to sue us,” Lucian advised and left for his car.
“Serves you right,” Amelia said in parting, sticking her tongue out at the unconscious Corp Anointed and dragged Two Tap along.
They drove off toward the Broken Ring. Lucian’s only hope was that the Corp Anointed wouldn’t be able to identify them. Messing with a major corporation could lead to being dragged into an endless litigious battle where their funds were limitless. Some corporations were rumored to be more aligned with Sammy “Bountiful” and his boss in the way they conducted business of payback.
Through the winding roads of the Workers’ Ring they rode, under the shadows of the looming gray block shaped buildings, until the ride became bumpy and the road became ridden with pot holes, indicating their arrival in the Broken Ring. The skyline of the Broken Ring was near similar to what was found outside in the Wasteland.
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“Is that car following us?” Lucian asked, watching in his side mirror a black SUV creeping around a bend, an SUV he’d seen since leaving the bank with Amelia and Two Tap. It was there at the burger place too, now it appeared yet again. It couldn’t be related to the Yellowbrick Anointed, their response couldn’t have been this quick.
“What car?” Amelia responded, her expression stiff. She didn’t even bother to turn around and look.
“And also, why didn’t you fight back there?” Lucian probed, his suspicions of Amelia only ever growing. Lucian began to scrutinize her, making Amelia change the subject quickly.
“What’s with the hat?” she pointed at the cowboy hat sitting on the dashboard.
Her distraction had worked, sending Lucian down memory lane. “Huh,” he said, smiling, “it’s a Mexican cowboy hat. My friend loved wearing it.” Lucian carried on about Gabriel until they reached the half pawn shop, half motel, his mood having elevated with talk of the Mexican Cowboy.
Getting out, they approached a doorframe missing the door, replaced with scraps of wood nailed together. Cigarette smell coupled with the scent of urine burned their sense of smell as soon as they walked into the building. The floor was stained too many colors to know how the carpet used to look like.
“I’ll wait with Two Tap outside,” Amelia suggested, wincing at the smell and pulling Two Tap back out with her. Two Tap wanted to go with Lucian, the familiar presence of a male around Dougy’s age more comforting, but she kept silent. She was lost in what seemed to be a dream and still hadn’t made sense of what was happening around her.
Meanwhile, Lucian climbed a flight of stairs to arrive in front of a moldy door.
A knock caused Greg Oper to open the door to his room to see a familiar face. He sputtered, “Lucian? Lucian Corven?” Greg then hurriedly tried to shut the door before Lucian wedged his foot into the doorframe, stopping him.
Lucian implored, “Whoa, Greg. What’s the deal? I just want to talk.”
“Do you work for them—for the talking monsters?!”
“Huh?”
Lucian was able to calm Greg enough to let him come in and talk. Greg had always been a conspiracy minded person, never trusting anything or any institution, always thinking something nefarious was afoot. His fears and paranoia had only elevated when he was met with talking monsters.
“It was clear,” Greg whispered intensely, bagged eyes trembling, his face pale from lack of sun, “The Monster Gate was clear! The Wardens made sure of it. They already killed all the monsters, that’s right…” He was telling Lucian the tale of the fall of the Worker Ant Company. “That was when a second Monster Gate opened up, this one right smack dab in the middle of the Monster Gate we were already in! That thing killed everyone.” He quieted. “It was like that Wild Gate we foolishly went into. Everyone…dead.”
Lucian felt his blood run cold, his hand feeling his chest at the ghost pain he’d once felt, from the blue bird monster that had appeared through the Monster Gate within the Monster Gate.
“It spoke to me!” Greg suddenly hissed, his face too close to Lucian’s, “That thing called me ‘desecrator!’ We desecrated their Sacred Fruit, it said.” His hands gripped Lucian’s clothes.
Lucian felt Greg's grabbing hands continually tighten, each finger digging into the fabric with a ferocity that mirrored the desperation in Greg's eyes. The once bagged eyes were now wide, pupils dilated with fear, as he leaned in, his voice a frenzied sputtering. “They’re the Clan Bearers, protectors of the Sacred Fruit! Why did you and Gabriel have to go and eat that fruit, hmm?! You’ve doomed us! The Clan Bearers coming for us and it’s all your fault!”
“I’m sorry,” Lucian apologized, “I didn’t know.” He himself was reeling, unable to grapple with the truth, not able to believe by eating that fruit they had become targets. Yet, both he and Greg had been confronted by the same thing—a talking monster.
“You didn’t know?!” Greg’s hands suddenly ripped Lucian’s shirt, baring his teeth, slobber rolling down his chin. “You didn’t know?!”
“Calm down, Greg. It’ll be alright. We can work through this.”
Lucian attempted to reason with Greg, but the man had begun to lose rationality. Greg’s once pallid face now flushed with a mix of hysteria and anger. The intensity in his eyes suggested a descent into madness, and the room seemed to close in as his body tensed.
That’s when he suddenly pounced on Lucian, Greg’s Anointed strength crashing through the table they sat at. He soon hiccupped as Lucian started to transform, becoming sharp toothed, red-eyed and muscular beyond human capability.
[Angry Gremlin]
“Y-you’re one of them!” Greg had lost his grip on reality. “You work for the monsters! I knew it!” He soon fell unconscious as Lucian hit him on the top of his head like a hammer onto a nail.
“Sorry, Greg. I had to.” Lucian shrank back into his normal form. “Shit. What am I going to do?” He walked out of the smelly Dasher Teeg’s Rooms and Stuff, stopping in the shattered parking lot to think, coming to a realization. If that talking monster could infiltrate any Monster Gate—that meant Lucian had to stop being an Anointed, unless he wanted to be killed by it.
“But my dream…” he muttered, feeling distraught. He thought of Camelia and the last words he spoke to her was about becoming a Warden. Elina had become one, yet he still lingered on the fringes of society as a Scav that couldn’t even attack Wild Gates anymore for fear of these “Clan Bearers.”
***
Lucian’s chevy impala was parked outside near inoperable vending machines and an ice machine filled with garbage. Amelia and Two Tap sat in the car, waiting on Lucian.
“Why won’t you talk to me?” Amelia asked, sitting next to Two Tap in the back of the car, petting the straw-like strands of blonde hair sticking out from the Wastelander’s scalp.
Two Tap remained silent. What she wanted was to escape the overly soft embrace. Amelia was too nurturing and kind, something too alien for Two Tap to feel comfortable around.
Amelia’s phone rang, a pop song as its ring tone singing about dumping a no-good, undeserving boyfriend.
Amelia answered, “Elina? Yeah, I can talk,” she responded, pausing to listen to Elina's problems coming through the other end of the call. Shouldering the phone, she then grasped onto Two Tap and began to braid her hair. Two Tap wanted to wriggle free but couldn't muster the courage.
The Wastelander had to cuddle with Amelia for half an hour.
“Oh, by the way,” Amelia said into the phone while finishing braiding half of Two Tap's hair, “You know how you said you liked guys that helped out the poor and stuff, right?” She received an affirmative response. At that moment, a handsome young man who happened to be taking care of a poor Wastelander girl approached the car. “Oh, I’m just asking. Hey, Elina, I got to go. Alright, bye.”
Lucian hopped into the driver seat, his thoughts in a whirl. He leaned back in his seat while rubbing his eyes. Disbelief rang through his mind thinking how this Clan Bearer was waiting for him in any Monster Gate he would enter. If he had to avoid Monster Gates, Lucian couldn’t make a living and couldn’t evolve as an Anointed.
“What’s up, Lush?” Amelia asked, Two Tap in her arms like a stuffed toy. “Wait, what happened to your shirt?”
“I think I just lost access to all Monster Gates,” he answered with a despondent look.
“What? How is that possible?”
“It’s…” Luican began but paused seeing Two Tap’s uncomfortable expression. “Hey, Melly. You know Two Tap is a Wastelander, right? They don’t exactly do that kind of friendly, lovey-dovey thing you’re doing.”
Amelia, arms wrapped around Two Tap, pouted, “What do you mean? I’m just letting her know that she doesn’t have to be afraid…”
Two Tap looked at Lucian with a hopeful expression, silently wishing that he would intervene and prevent Amelia from treating her like a comfort object. Their eyes met briefly, and she thought for a moment that he could discern her thoughts. However, he abruptly turned away.
“That's it!” Lucian exclaimed with excitement, a sudden revelation dawning on him at the sight of Two Tap. He realized that he might not have to risk confronting the Clan Bearer in a Monster Gate after all. Instead, he could focus on hunting monsters that had already escaped from their gates!
He put his car in drive. “Alright, you two. Buckle up. We're going monster hunting!”