That one knows of the Lie.
She’s dangerous.
Be careful.
“Damnit, get off me!” Scirocco sputtered against the dirt.
“Shut up…” Gress wearily sighed, grinding more weight onto the small of Scirocco’s back. He snapped a sharp finger up to Kirche. “And you, I saw that, step back.” Gress looked at the seemingly unorganised group. No uniforms, small and hidden weapons, the further half of them seemed to barely be paying attention. It was all a stark difference from the militaristic pair beforehand. “You’re all a bit weirder than I’d expect for a bunch of suit thugs…What do you want?”
Kirche held her hands up, retracting the step she tried to sneak in while the Splinter was distracted by the bemoaning man below him.
“I’m glad you asked, though I wouldn’t call us thugs, I guess you could say we’re…Surveyors. We have a few questions for you.” She said while slowly lowering an arm to reach into a jacket pocket.
“Surveyors? So that shoulder pad of yours is a fashion statement?” Gress questioned, glaring at the bright red piece around Kirche’s shoulder.
“Yeah, goes with my hair, don’t you think?” The demon-hunter lowered her other arm to pat at the nest of tied up, scarlet hair. She used the moment to side-eye her teammates. She couldn’t hide the furrow in her brow; Antonio was slowly stepping backwards towards the vehicle, Razgrith and Soune seemed entirely absent and opted to stare over the conflict into the town through the chainlink.
“He called us weird?” Raz whispered to Soune.
“Don’t take it personally, besides, pot and kettle much.” She paused when she looked back towards the gate, yellow eyes settled onto her grey pair. A few silent moments passed, then the demon swapped its scanning over to Raz. “Creepy…” Soune added in a huff.
“That’s what I meant, he’s one to speak…what do you think he meant by Rocco’s friends anyway?” Raz rolled their shoulders, letting their arm settle a bit away from the holstered weapons.
“Dunno, but I’ll be more than happy to grill the rat about it afterwards.” Soune said, taking a bit too much pleasure in seeing Scirocco struggle in the dirt.
Several metres behind the pair, Antonio was doing his best to quickly and quietly equip his armour in the back of the vehicle. He wasn’t very successful.
“Sounds like you brought a fair bit of ‘Surveying’ equipment with you.” Gress griped, bringing Kirche’s attention back to him.
“We’re very thorough. Let’s start with a quick Q-and-A.” She produced a wrinkled, folded copy of their contract and began reading it. “I Q, you A.” Kirche dramatically cleared her throat, catching the attention of the others.
“We’ve received reports of a certain ‘disturbance’ in this quaint little town. Would you happen to know anything about that?” She started, dropping the paper to smile innocently at Gress. He tapped his cheek with sharp fingers in mock thought.
“I can think of a disturbance or five. But if the reports were from before, well there was a very annoying group calling themselves Seere sitting outside stalking us for several hours the other day.” He looked back down towards Scirocco. “Wasn’t there?” The wiry man groaned and babbled against the ground.
“Yes, we’ll circle back to Rocco’s…extracurricular activities, for now let’s move on.” Kirche paused, plotting the best way to steer the conversation. “What would you say is your opinion on the proposed developments for your town?”
Gress opened his mouth, then paused. His eyes flicked back over towards the vehicle, the bigger one stepped back out of the vehicle, plates of metal strapped to his arms and chest. The other pair stepped closer together, blocking his sight. The Shoulder’s smile was still wide and innocent when he looked back.
“...Don’t have any. Not like I could do anything about it even if I did, right?” A smirk pulled at Gress’ lips when he saw the woman's forced smile turn tight. He heard the soft shifting of boots against dirt, the other’s starting to move closer.
“Maybe, maybe not. If we were here to start on development, would you be opposed to that? On a personal level, that is.” Kirche shrugged. Scirocco had settled down, watching the group slowly convene around him, he met Kirche’s eyes for a moment, and saw the tiny nod conveyed in them.
Gress paused before answering, carefully weighing his words. “It’s nearly dark, I wouldn’t recommend it. For your own safety.” He stepped off Scirocco, keeping an eye on Kirche while turning himself slightly towards the other trio. The slightly-glossy material along his arm glinted in the dusklight.
“...It’s a shame really, I prefer them cute and dumb but, you’re sharper than you look.” Kirche had fully dropped her smile, realising she wouldn’t be able to trick the Splinter that easily.
“I’ll try to ignore most of what you said there. But yes, not the first or last to realise that.” He crouched down again, keeping Scirocco between him and the trio. Claw-like nails brushed against Scirocco’s neck. “If that’s all your questions, maybe you lot should start packing up for the night. It’s getting dark quickly.” Gress’ eyes turned back towards the town, quick as a flash, but Kirche caught it.
“...got a curfew?” She poked, subtly signalling the other three to stop their advance.
“No, but I don’t want anyone getting concerned.” Gress’ words were tight, unsure of what the Shoulder was playing at.
“Why would they be concerned? You’re just a regular citizen, right?” She prodded, risking a step forward. It was rewarded with sharp points digging into Scirocco’s neck, causing the man to wince.
“...Yep, just your average townsfolk. Perfect study for a survey, you’ve got your opinions. Leave.”
“Don’t be silly!” Kirche leaned forward, arms out in a dramatic gesture. “What kind of survey stops at one subject? And besides, we still have this disturbance to investigate, since it’s clearly not you.”
Gress stiffened, chiding himself with a clicked tongue, too easily he’d lost control of the conversation.
“Guess we’ll have to go and ask around, on a timer too. Don’t want this nasty disturbance getting away. You got wire snips, Silver?” Kirche looked back at the gate.
“Um, yeah, in the vehicle. Sure.” Soune answered, hand tense and ready to reach for her weapons. Raz and Antonio beside her were equally tense, all eyes locked onto the Splinter.
“Well, we won’t take long then, Mr. Splinter, just a quick romp around town, a few knocked or opened doors here and there. Nothing special.” Kirche turned away from Gress, headed towards the gate. “That lady in the gatehouse was a bit shifty, maybe we’ll start with her.”
“...Leave them alone.” Gress hissed, slow and low. Sharp fangs flickered at the edge of his twitching lips.
“Oh? And why would we do that?”
Gress didn’t answer at first, realising how surrounded he was, gauging the four. He leaned his good arm down and wrapped his good fingers around a decently sized rock.
None of them moved forward, waiting for him to cross the line into a fight. The distant wind battering the wastes was the only sound around the tense group. He could run easily enough, getting through the gate was easy enough for him, but then they’d follow and get others involved. He didn’t want that, he couldn’t do that, couldn’t raise trouble for his town. He was trapped, well and truly, he breathed a whistling sigh before stepping over that unclear line.
“Because, I’m your disturbance. And if you try to get into my town, I’ll show you why.”
“That almost sounds like a threat, don’t you guys think?” Kirche turned her nose upwards in smug success.
The three others gave tight, positive responses.
“...A threat, that’s what you want, right? An excuse to start something.” Gress stood upright, hand still clasped around the stone, and turned straight against Kirche, the redhead looking over her shoulder at him with a smirk. “Here it is then. I’m not going to attack you, but if you try to get in there. I’m going to stop you, and I’m going to win.”
“...and if it’s not us? If someone else comes along, maybe more of Rocco’s Seere friends?”
Gress sighed, rolling his neck in preparation. The trap went further than just this few. No other way out than to break it.
“Same story. I’m sick of them, and sick of you. I don’t get why Ingram is so important to you, I don’t really care how important this development is. Everyone keeps saying it’s out of my control but, like hell I’m not going to try and stop you and your Suit’s from getting what you want.”
A long pause, a long, painfully quiet pause.
“...Ah well.” Kirche broke the silence, turning back towards Gress. Her hand clasped around the ornate hilt at her thigh.
Something heavy built in the air, a massive malaise pressing down on them all.
“...Kirche, maybe we should fall back for now.” Antonio spoke low and flat, shifting his weight between his feet.
“Yeah… I don’t like this.” Raz agreed.
“Think about this, Kirche. We have what we came for…” Soune finished.
“Disturbance identified, .” Kirche let the contract fall out of her hands, wicked away in the soft breeze. All eyes were on her. “With good reason to believe it poses a threat to the interested parties, and the contractors.”
“...Don’t do this. You’re going to get yourself hurt.” Was Gress’ last warning.
The demon hunter huffed a laugh, then winked at the grounded man below him.
Scirocco rose up with a roar, wrapping wiry arms around Gress’ waist. The cloaked man was taken off guard, too focused on the others to anticipate the sudden show of action from Scirocco.
“Idiot!” Gress barked through sharp teeth, the word split between himself and Scirocco.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Do it now, Kuvie!” Scirocco shouted, quieted by an elbow slamming into his face.
“Second Choir, repentia!” Kirche barked, pulling up the sleeve of her jacket, exposing a warbled mess of scar tissue. Her blade slashed along her arm, its edge glowing hot where her blood splashed against it. “Raz, Silver!” She cried out, striding towards Gress.
Soune’s hand wrapped around the small pistol in her coat, Raz was a step ahead of her with their own weapon, already lining up the thrashing Splinter in its sights. Soune followed, aiming for centre mass. Gress struggled and bucked against Scirocco’s grip, surprisingly solid considering the man's stature. His eyes caught the pair aiming at him, then went wide. Soune’s finger pressed against the light trigger. Kirche stepped in, rearing the blade backwards for a slash at his neck.
“Don’t!” He screamed.
The desperation in his voice gave Soune pause, but not Raz.
Two loud cracks came from beside her.
A ringing pause in the group.
The world around them slowed.
Kirche was frozen mid step.
Gress was unharmed.
Tonio was roaring.
Raz had fallen to their knees beside Soune. Her friend held a hand over their collarbone.
“H-how?” They whined. Blood seeping through their fingers.
----------------------------------------
Four.
Gress bit down hard, he tried to stop them. No, he shouldn’t have had to. He tightened his grip on the stone, glaring down to the shocked man still grappling around his stomach.
“You could’ve warned them!” He screamed, clubbing Scirocco over the head with the stone. He fell with a low, guttural sound, landing hard against the ground.
Three.
“Demon…” the word was spat out beside him, he spun to face Kirche who was glaring at the bullet hole in her bicep. With great effort, she gritted through the pain and attempted another wild swing. It was slow and desperate, Gress backstepped it once, then twice on the return swing. Kirche roared, swapping the blade to her good hand before attempting a lunging strike. Gress tried to backstep again, finding himself backed against the fence.
He hissed in shock, raising his corrupted arm to block the blade, something painful shot through him in disapproval even before the weapon dug into the glossy material. The edge stopped against bone. Fresh pain, burning, cleansing pain, deeper than it should’ve been, crawled up his arm. He barked out at the feeling, anathemic pain, unlike anything else. The blade pulled back, readying for another swing before it was interrupted by the large, armoured man shoving Kirche to the side.
“What are you doing idiot?!” She barked, feral rage blocked the words from reaching Antonio.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?” He bellowed, a heavy hook swung towards Gress, slow and clumsy. The Splinter ducked low, his damaged arm trembling as it warped around the wound. The blow bounced harmlessly into the chain link. Antonio looked down to see Gress slipping under his arm, heading towards the vehicle. Soune ready to intercept with bayonet and pistol in hand.
She dashed in front of Gress, stabbing her slender blade at his chest. The demonic arm flickered up and grabbed the blade tight. The bizarre flesh bubbled and hissed where Kirche had cut in, but was firm and unyielding under the edge of Soune’s blade. She pressed the barrel of the pistol against the man’s stomach, but she paused. Whatever hit Raz came after they fired, Soune wasn’t taking the risk of the unknown.
“Good call…how bad is your friend?” Gress spat out, keeping the blade still.
“What?” Soune barked, shocked by the question. She noticed the odd, chipping sound again, faint and barely.
“The one that shot, how bad are they hurt-Ksh!” He slipped behind Soune, dodging the next heavy blow from Antonio. The large man shoved her to the side, continuing his assault. Backstepping from the shove, Soune noticed Gress dropping the bloody stone from his hand. It seemed to simply disappear in the air.
She pushed the odd sight down for now and moved from the push to check on Raz. They were kneeled over, still holding their punctured collar. Heavy, uneven breaths heaved their chest, dusty hair hung over their face. Soune pulled back their sweaty fringe to look at Raz’ glassy eyes. It wasn’t a good sight.
Behind her, Antonio rushed past them with a roar towards the vehicle. Kirche lagging behind him clutching her arm.
“Slow down moron!” The demon hunter called out to the raging man. It fell on deaf ears as Antonio continued his rampage, wild swings thrashed through the air in front of Gress.
“Go…I’m okay…” Raz whimpered out the lie. Soune clicked her tongue in annoyance, she tried to move Raz’ hand away from the wound but they stopped her. “Help him…please.” They whined, Soune paused, patting them on the good shoulder before standing.
“Don’t die…not you, Raz.” Her teammate - more than that, Soune realised. Her tutor, her friend, huffed in response.
----------------------------------------
“Get out of my way idiot!” Kirche barked, trying to barge past Antonio to strike at Gress, they had him pinned against the side of their vehicle
“He’s mine, back up!” Tonio tore his focus from the Splinter to swing a wide arm towards Kirche. Her eyes went wide in shock, seeing her subordinate strike back, albeit slow and not a full blow. The tread-plate armour still slammed into her injured shoulder, knocking Kirche back and down, clutching the wound.
“Fucking moron…” She hissed up at Tonio. Soune paused at her side, knowing better than to get near Tonio at the moment. “And where have you been?” Kirche barked up at her.
“Busy…” Soune dismissed, strafing to the side to watch the fight and be ready to dash in.
“What did you do!” Antonio bellowed again, he punched a deep dent into the hull of the vehicle, Gress narrowly dodged the blow, wincing at the impact, not wanting to imagine if it had connected with his head.
“They shot at me! I can’t stop it!” He tried to bark at the raging man, the words clearly meant nothing as Tonio gave up on striking the Splinter with his arms and rushed a headbutt forward.
Gress coughed and barked as it connected, his head pincered between the vehicle hull and Antonio’s forehead. His vision went blurry, his body phased into unsteady liquid, pinpricks of light in the town seared his eyes. Instincts more than thought slipped the next blow. The ringing in his ears was joined by the thrumming of air wrapping around something fast.
Ready.
The commanding voice steadied his pain with the word, numbing Gress from the arm up. His opponent was breathing heavily, gassed from his relentless assault. He raised both arms up, ready to slam down on Gress’ head. He had left his chest open, the Splinter pointed towards it.
Two.
The heavy sound of something slamming against metal echoed through all their chests. The stone fell to the ground between them, and Antonio fell backwards, gasping hard and deep. Kirche and Soune both saw the dent in his chest armour, the weeps of blood leaking onto sheared metal.
Something new; something sharp, cold, and ancient was spreading into their opponent. The added glow to his gold eyes, the flickering of the dark lines across his skin. There was a fist-sized gap in the air in front of his pointed claw. It was slowly repairing itself, crackling shut with the snapping pops of reality repairing itself. A soft, gasping laugh leaked from the side of his mouth, snaking around the lines.
An old feeling, a forgotten feeling snaked around Kirche’s spine.
Fear.
She scrambled to her feet, holding the blade point unsteadily at Gress.
Gress looked over and down to Kirche, the lines spreading from his mouth gleaming a dark, savage smirk. He looked over at Soune, who wouldn’t take her eyes off the stone and Antonio.
“Cut it out, your friends are hurt. I can get help.” Gress pleaded through shaky breaths, tamping down the sick feeling rising in his gut. He didn’t want to fight, he didn’t want to hurt then, an internal mantra keeping him focused. His arm tightened and ached at the looping thought.
“And whose fault is that?” Kirche grunted out, starting to walk towards the Splinter. Soune noticed something else slipping from Gress’ hand, a sharp line of silver vanishing into nothing.
“I didn’t want to start a fight, but we can end it here. You can’t win.” Gress tried to muster as much authority as he could while stepping away from the hunter. There it was, that noise again, the whistling, crackling noise. Soune had a cold suspicion, confirmed by looking down at her bayonet blade. Her eyes went wide in panic at the sight, three quarters of it was missing, cut with sharp fractures not far away from the hilt, the point where his hand had grabbed it.
“Like hell we can’t!” Kirche started in a run, but was halted by Soune rushing forward to grab her by the injured arm. Kirche tried to shrug off her grip, but Soune remained steadfast, clasping hard into Kirche’s injury. “What the hell are you doing, Silver?” She groaned, spittle flying between gritted teeth.
“Shut up! Listen.” She ordered.
“Let go! This is what we’re here for!” Kirche struggled against her grip, snarling and spitting the words. Her shoulder pad glimmered in response.
“Listen! Damn you, LISTEN!” Soune roared into her face, buying some silence. They both looked at Gress, and heard the whistling, high pitched ringing. They saw it too, the flashing orange glint of bright steel in dusklight. It was parallel to his side, a floating line stuck in a glimmering loop beside Gress.
“...Listen to me, Kirche. Raz and Tonio need help, you’re hurt too. Go to the gatehouse, get help.” Soune pleaded, trying to break through the woman’s fear and battle lust.
“No!” Gress cut in. “Give up, put your weapons down. I’ll go get your help.I can’t trust you people.” His eyes were nearly wet with desperate tears. “You don’t have to die here, let me help you.”
“Like hell you’ll go, you’re staying right here with me…I still have to figure something out.” Soune glanced back at Kirche, who limpened in her grip while looking towards the gatehouse. Soune risked releasing her, hoping she’d gotten through to her. She made the mistake of stepping away from Kirche, given away by the woman’s quick and mirthless chuckle.
“Coward…” She whispered back to Soune, the word freezing the woman in place. Kirche plunged the point of her long blade into her hand, several inches deep. “Second Choir…” She retracted it, the point glowing white hot, and started a stabbing motion towards Gress. “Lanc-!” She was interrupted by the instant, tearing pain.
One.
An echoing, shrill crack of space, closing after launching the sliver of metal. The blade of Soune’s bayonet ripped through the back of Kirche’s hand, shearing through leather and flesh, shooting through her arm and burying itself into the side of her chest. She gasped and whimpered at the sight, dropping the golden blade from a shaking hand, its white-hot tip fizzled out.
Both Gress and Soune looked at her, disappointed at her actions.
The demon hunter didn’t move, staring at the wound. This was what she had trained for, given up years of her life to learn to fight these monsters, and she’d been completely outclassed. Even worse, brought low by her own team's weapons. She didn’t notice the strong grip around her arm.
“...You’ve lost, Kirche.” Soune cut in, shaking the woman back to reality. She spoke loudly and clearly to her face. “Go. Get. Help. You’re going to die. That’s in your lung.”
“Just stay there. I’ll go.” Gress tried to cut in again, already moving towards the gate. Soune released Kirche, dashing forward to throw a quick blow at Gress. It clipped his chin like a blade, a sharp cutting pain resonated through his jaw. He hopped backwards and rubbed the hit, staring at the woman with bared teeth.
“She’s going. Now.” Soune demanded, Kirche starting to move behind her, low and defeated.
Gress watched the demon hunter shamble away, further from her weapon.
“...The woman at the gate, her name is Ellie, tell her to go find Doctor Bedan!” He called out to Kirche, but if she heard him she didn’t respond. Gress stepped back away from Soune, who was busy shrugging her coat off, bundling her scarf within it.. The heavy pile of fabric fell to the dirt with a thud. She tucked the remains of her bayonet into her belt
“It’s over, we don’t have to fight anymore.” Gress tried to plead.
“Probably not, but you’ve still got me curious. One moment you’re threatening us, the next you’re asking how badly we’re hurt. Smiling about the fight one second, nearly in tears the next. Something’s really weird with you.” The woman was bouncing her weight between her feet, using the movement to focus.
“You’re telling me...Sorry about this entire…mess, by the way.” Soune paused and furrowed her brow, this half-demon that had so casually blasted through her team was standing before her sheepishly apologising. Gold eyes looked back up at her, firm determination forced into them.
“But all your friends failed, what can you do?” Gress tried to return some threat to his soft tone, he shrugged his cloak back, fully exposing the corrupted arm. The black material had completely overtaken it up to his elbow, there it spread out into circuit-like lines that disappeared under a low sleeve.
Soune made a show of dropping the pistol to the ground, kicking it away and raising her fists into a tight stance.
“Don’t know yet, that’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
Gress’ eyes followed the weapon, swallowing a pang of dread. He stepped back again, raising his arms in an untrained, rough stance. He looked back at the woman. Her sharp, confident smirk sent a chill down his spine.
“The bullets, the rock, It’s some kind of hole, isn’t it? Holes you can move things through.”
Gress stiffened, any confidence he was faking had completely vanished.
Soune smirked further, seeing his demeanour shift.