When the group split, Raya went further away from Silver and Mindplay, away from the water. It was a good chance for her to re-evaluate her situation.
This wasn’t the first time she had received aid from a monster, but she had forgotten their face. What happened to them anyway? Didn’t matter.
Silver was young as far as being a monster was concerned. He didn’t hide anything or do anything that Raya would have thought of being suspicious. He was ultimately a good kid, and deep down, she could trust his word that he was trying to protect his family. He reminded her of her mentor and his views on monsters, but Raya disregarded the memory, chalking it up to Silver being too young to be a threat.
Mindplay was all kinds of suspicious. Like Raya, he hid things in a way that allowed him to tell half-truths to answer any question. He was too good at that. Superheroes weren’t something Raya had much knowledge of. She knew that anyone with the superhero title had access to resources no one else could obtain. However, something about how Mindplay obtained certain things stood out to Raya as odd, but she couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
Around this time, Raya got a call from Mindplay and was off immediately. Mindplay did his best to describe where they were going but admitted that he would lag behind. By the time Raya had reached the general location of where Silver was, she had found that the monster was surrounded by women, all aiming weapons toward him.
Raya stealthily climbed the highest building getting behind some of the women she had suspected were Amazons. She drew her blades, gaining the attention of a few, but Raya was already taking them down. She was always close to one opponent to deter anyone from attacking from range. She kept to her stealthy style of fighting to further decrease the chances of her getting hit.
The Amazons soon became frantic. A new enemy had emerged, cutting through their forces. Someone tried taking a shot at Raya with an arrow, but Raya used another Amazon to take the hit. Her shriek abstained anyone else from attacking the beast that now moved to the other building once she was done with the first.
Raya continued to change styles in her fighting, further confusing everyone around her. By instinct, Raya pulled a handgun from an Amazon’s holster and pointed at someone doing the same to her. They both stood in position, motionless and mirrored.
The woman in question looked older than anyone else compared to the other Amazons. Raya’s best guess was that she was around 50 years old. Her hair was cut really short, and she was the most armored. Though she looked like she was wearing everyday clothes, underneath was hide armor made only by these Amazons. Around her neck slithered a snake with bull horns jutting from its head. Its eyes glowed like firelight.
While the women stared Raya down, she said, “The Immortal Huntress. After all this time, you’ve come back to us.”
“Don’t call me by that name,” said Raya. Though her stance didn’t change, it was clear that the title did not please her.
“And of all the times I thought you would return, this was far from what I imagined.”
“Did one of those scenarios involve me looking for help?”
“In a way,” the older woman put her gun safely and back into her holster. “What were you looking for?”
Raya also put the gun she held on safe and continued the conversation. “I’m looking for-” Unfortunately, she couldn’t finish.
“Raya!” I yelled from the alley. “It sounds like the fighting is over. Are you good?”
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Echoing from above, she replied, “Get up here.”
I took BD and held her close while she was tightly gripping the briefcase. The rest of the Amazons started to put their weapons away, giving me the ok to move. I used my claws to scale the building, as I didn’t want BD to exert herself. As I climbed, BD did her best to take out the arrows.
Once I was on the roof, the older women began to speak. BD did her best to translate. “Why are you bringing him into this conversation?” she asked Raya. I did not like this person.
“Because whether I like it or not, I need him just as much as he needs me,” Raya calmly defended herself.
“Why do you continue to tie yourself down to men like him? You would have been better off with us.”
“We need to talk,” Raya grew irritated as she tried to get to the point. The woman went quiet, allowing Raya to continue. “There is a vampire by the name of Shadow Fang stationed here. We need information on where he could be and maybe what he’s been doing here.”
The lady crossed her arms and said, “And why should I tell you anything?” I tried to respond, but she snapped, “Who said you could speak?!”
The hatred in her voice made me take a step back, and my mouth hung open. More of the Amazons managed to get on the roof, including the ones I and BD were fighting. Even though none of them had weapons up, I felt an unwanted gaze stare at me from all sides. It made me slow to speak.
Despite that, I stood my ground, knowing Shadow Fang was close and Raya mostly had my back. I continued to speak with BD translating now with all of the arrows out of her. “Telling us what we need to know will get us out of this city faster and eliminate Shadow Fang's operation. One less person in your territory, right?”
The lady didn’t seem impressed with my confidence but seemed more willing to hear us out. “And if this Shadow Fang is here, what makes you think he is a problem for us?”
Raya replies, “We don’t assume you can’t deal with him if that is what you want, but wouldn’t it still be better for someone else to deal with a potential problem than to waste resources? All we need is information.”
The woman took a moment to think. She would still look at me with disgust as she weighed her options. Returning to Raya, she says, “Find us at our meeting point. You best mean what you say.” After that, she left with the other Amazons.
I let out a sigh as soon as they were gone. When I checked up on BD, her wounds were layered over by new scales. She had yet to heal from the attacks but was ultimately fine.
Raya turned to me and said, “You certainly held your ground. Good job.”
“Didn’t expect a compliment from you,” I replied.
“Don’t think too hard about it.”
“Where’s Mindplay?”
“Lagging behind,” Raya said as she sheathed her blades. “He did say that we should move on without him if need be.”
“Shouldn’t we go back for him or at least let him know what’s going on?”
“If it makes you feel better, we could. But Mindplay is the kind of guy that makes himself useful with what he has. We’re better off letting him do his own thing while we focus on our task.”
“How are you so sure of that?”
“I’ve known many people working this job, so I can identify a mastermind when I see one.”
I wondered what she meant by “mastermind.” Raya questioned Mindplay a lot, so maybe she thinks the investigator had malicious intentions. Whatever her reason was, I could only hope she wasn’t right. Either way, there was one more thing I needed to do before going to the Amazons. I retrieved the briefcase from BD.
“I need to return this to its owner,” I told Raya.
Raya looks down at the case and asks, “What’s in it?”