Chapter Forty-Four

The inside of the compound was large. Wood and metal buildings of various sizes dotted the sides, and a pathway of rough cobblestone wound its way through the area, leading to another gate on the other side. A small market was near the west side of the fence, where people sold trinkets, food, and other odds and ends.

Ambrose spotted a glowing red neon sign in feminine lettering that read “Annie’s Bar-Grill.” Music could be heard from within, and Ambrose saw a few people coming in and out. The music intensified every time the door opened and closed.

Ambrose strode in, finding himself in a familiar bar setting. A long bar took up most of the space, with tables, including a pool table at the very end. A man with flowing brown hair, a jean jacket, and sunglasses he didn’t need to wear in here played guitar far from where Ambrose had entered. Every so often, he would sing into the microphone.

People looked up from their drinks, blinking at him. Ambrose wasn’t sure what the issue was, but he guessed that a one-eyed person in dark molten gold plate armor had not yet become a common sight. He ignored the stares and took the empty seat in the middle of the row of seats along the bar’s length.

Ambrose expected a young, vibrant woman to tend the bar, but his expectations were short-lived. Instead, he found a matronly woman with black hair going to silver, pulled up into a tight bun. She wore faded blue overalls over a green and red flannel shirt and blue jeans. Her sun-kissed bronze face was hard lines, and her eyes were steel blue with an even harder edge.

She regarded Ambrose as if she was unimpressed with what she saw. That suited him fine; he didn’t mind being underestimated.

“Help ya?” She said, She had a thick southern accent Ambrose wasn’t used to hearing in Florida.

“I was wondering if you could give me some information. I’ve been…away for a while.”

She crossed her arms.

“Money.”

Not a question.

Ambrose shrugged,

“I’m assuming you don’t take credit cards anymore.”

No response. I thought I was a stoic person. Ambrose almost twitched his mouth in wry amusement but crushed the urge. Wouldn’t do for her to believe he was mocking her. Instead, he sighed,

“Look, I don’t have these system credits everyone is talking about. I see the area for them on my profile screen, but it’s got a big old empty spot right by it. Is there any other arrangement we can come to? I’m strong, and I’m not afraid of hard work.”

Her lips and face morphed into a sour scowl.

“Don’t need work done.”

Ambrose forced himself to smile cordially.

“Surely there’s something.”

She was about to retort sharply when he saw her pause. Her eyes took on a considering light, and she pursed her lips together hard. She sighed, uncrossing her arms as she did.

“There’s one thing ya could do. Down at the beach near here, there’s a cave. Monster nest in there, they’ve been a plague on the town. Clear it out, and maybe we can talk.”

Ambrose stared at her. She didn’t break eye contact. Finally, he stood up. A go there, kill that mission, eh? Guess it could be worse. Except, I don’t think it’s that simple. Ambrose had gotten very good at sifting out liars in his past work. He had taken many jobs requiring him to sniff the truth from the lies.

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She was keeping solid eye contact with him, but there was a glint of a challenge in her steely eyes. She wanted him to call her bluff so she could throw him out. Ambrose did allow his lips to slide upward in a knowing little smile. The best way to foil a trap you know is there is to step right in it, boy. Ambrose had thought his father was crazy for suggesting such a thing then, but it was often an excellent way of ferreting out the information you needed.

He stood up, giving her a firm head nod.

“I’ll go take care of it. Be back soon.”

She shrugged at him, but he could feel her hard eyes on his back as he walked out.

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The man with the guitar set his instrument down on the holder at the back wall near the microphone. He watched the stranger in molten gold armor walk out. He slid to the bar, accepting the drink Annie passed into his hands.

“He’s dangerous. That armor looks valuable, though.”

Annie watched the door, steel blue eyes narrowed.

“He suspects something, Troy.”

Troy shrugged,

“So what if he does? There’s ten men down there, some with semi-automatics. It’s not going to mean anything. We’ll take his armor and sell him off like the others. The town will have more SC for my shop. Win-win.”

Annie said nothing. She couldn’t shake the feeling that they were trying to trap a tiger, and they had better not miss.

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Ambrose stared into the cave entrance, even more certain this was a trap. There were signs all over. The woman had told him that monsters nested in the cave and plagued the town. If that were true, people certainly wouldn’t be coming down here, not in the numbers that the tracks of footprints in the sand suggested. Perhaps ten men, maybe more, were coming and going from here. Ambrose hadn’t taken to tracking as much as Raylen had wanted.

Even he could tell that there was no non-human track in the sand. There was no scat, no scrapes on the stone, nothing to suggest any kind of predator or monster nearby. His eye patch lit up, the runes emblazoned into it, swirling with light as he ran his gaze over the large entrance, searching for any skills that might be hiding anything.

Nothing.

Ready to activate Aegis in an instant, Ambrose stepped into the cave. Off to one side, a small stream dripped into the ocean. Rocky, wet stone made up most of the cave, with outcroppings on either side that went a little high, maybe just above his head. A large ledge led upward into a tunnel beyond.

Noelle sent him a warning pulse just as his ears picked out the sound of weapons being drawn and made ready to fire. Three men on either side of him, in the ledges above, for six. Four came from the tunnel beyond, each holding rifles, muzzles pointed directly at him.

A man in a cowboy hat with grizzled features and an even more grizzled beard.

“Steady, mister. No sudden moves now, or our fingers might slip. Wouldn’t want that, now would we? Take off that armor now, nice and slow, and get on the ground, hand behind your head.”

Ambrose had no intention of doing that. He respected the weapons in the men’s hands, but he suspected they were little more than annoyances. His shield could hold off a practical ocean of lava. He was positive that bullets would be no problem.

The guards at the entrance of the little compound had no idea about the bag of holding on his belt. They hadn’t questioned that he might have a weapon in the bag, which meant they didn’t know about spatial inventories.

He may as well be dealing with primitives.

Ambrose Severen found no mercy in his heart. The men were already dead, all that remained was deciding upon the manner of their deaths. Noelle hadn’t gotten much excersize since Mordred. Deciding the arcane white tiger needed a bit of recreation, he manifested her.

A flash of white and black light as the cloak shimmered and morphed, and a moment later Noelle was flashing towards the upper ledges and the men on them in a burst of light blue lightning that arched along her length.

“What the actual fuck is that?!” One of the men said, opening fire.

The rifle was semi-automatic and it was loud, a thunder crack in the cavern. It didn’t bother Ambrose, he had been used to the sound of gun fire since he was eight years old. He tapped [Infernal Aegis] and was shocked when nothing happened.

He frowned. In his confusion, the bullets slammed into him…and did nothing.

They pinged off of his armor like pellets against metal. Harmless. One even hit him in the head, and other than slight pressure, he felt not a thing. His chin came up as Ambrose pushed his bottom lip upward, blinking.

“Would you look at that. Gun are useless.”

He called to Noelle,

“All but one, Noelle. I have questions.”

A flicker of acknowledgment from the tiger as her claws ripped into the men, their screams of fear filling the cavern.

It was a sound Ambrose knew well and he felt a pang of guilt in his heart as he realized that a part of him had missed it.