It took the caravan three hours driving at full speed to arrive at the coastal area. I had my Detect Presence out to its full distance of two miles and I saw everyone around as we pulled into what looked like a shanty town. Hastily constructed shacks of all shapes and sizes were scattered randomly and there didn't seem to be any order or structure to them. My first thought was about how you would find anyone or even count them to see how many there were. My second thought was that there were no showers.
I frowned and looked at the woman-fish beside me and she was still looking at me in shock, even after all this time. “Why does no one here have the ability to wash themselves?”
She was startled out of her reverence by my question. “H-how do you know that?”
“I can see through walls.” I said and motioned to the darkened window.
“Oh. Yes.” She said, then she sighed. “It's one of the reasons I came to visit, actually. These people have yet to recover from losing their city infrastructure.”
“Why hasn't it been replaced already?” I asked and she sighed again.
“There's only so much that can be done with the resources we have.” She said. “Even with hover technology and robotic workers, it still takes time to build things.”
“Then my second question is, why didn't we just fly here?”
She sighed again. “It's for show.” She said. “Would you look kindly up at the sky as someone flew in to visit, when all you had was a single shack for your whole family to live in?”
It was my turn to sigh. “You're campaigning.”
“I'm visiting my constituents, and I'm bringing some resources and promises.”
“Why are you afraid of attack?” I asked.
“Because I have currency.” She said. “I may not be as wealthy as some of the other politicians; but, I definitely have more than the average person.” She touched her wrist and turned the plain platinum bangle there to show it had jewels encrusted on the surface. “A gift from my father on my eighteenth birthday ten years ago. He gave it to me on the promise that I would never take it off, no matter what.”
“I assume it's caused quite a stir on some occasions.” I said and she nodded as she turned it back around to hide the jewels and present the plain side again.
“Even like this, some people can tell that it's an expensive metal.”
I looked her over closely and saw that she didn't have any other jewellery of any kind. She hasn't lied so far. I thought. “How rough can I be if someone attacks?”
“E-excuse me?” She looked at my face in surprise.
“If they try to kill you, do I kill them? Break their arms? Detain them? What are my limitations?”
She stared at me like she couldn't recognize the words I was saying.
“I guess that means I'll have to decide for myself then.” I said and felt something enter my detection range, so I raised my wrist communicator and used the military man's code. “Sorry to intrude on your conversation; but, there's an armored vehicle about a mile and a half away to the northwest that's approaching at a high rate of speed towards this town. Oh, and it's on wheels, so you'll see the dust from the tires soon.”
“How do you know this?” The man asked.
“I'm Hunter.” I said and cut the connection.
“Do you have a satellite in orbit or something?” The woman-fish asked and I shook my head. “Then how can you know...”
A low alarm came from the driver's compartment and he hit the buttons to close up the armor over the windows and put a small blast door between us and him.
“Hostiles incoming.” A man's voice came over the hover car's intercom. “They are opening fire. Damage negligible. Orders?”
“Return fire and disable the vehicle.”
“Sir.” The man said and the sound of laser rifles firing filled the air. As soon as it started it was over. “Vehicle disabled. Two persons escaping.”
“Pursue on foot and apprehend.”
I smiled and used blue Presence Hands as I reached out and grabbed the two fleeing men by the ankles and snapped them. For good measure, I also snapped the ankles of the man still inside the vehicle, because he still had a laser rifle and was going to kill anyone that came near him.
“Culprits captured.” The man said and there was silence for a moment. “Sir, their ankles are broken.”
“What?”
“I can't explain it.” The man said.
I smiled and used my wrist communicator. “You're welcome.” I said and they looked over to the vehicle I was in. “By the way, there's a third man still inside the vehicle. I broke his ankles as well. He's got a laser rifle though, so be careful.”
I saw the leader make several hand gestures to tell his men to check the vehicle. They did it quickly and professionally, then they disarmed the man and dragged him out. The entire thing was over in two minutes. The people around had stayed in their shacks and didn't come out until the military men had formed a perimeter around the area and then one of the suited men opened the door for the woman-fish to get out.
I flipped my hood up to cover myself and stepped out first of course, looked around, then reached in to take the woman-fish's hand. She took it and stepped out, then several of the townspeople saw who it was and came out to greet her. I stepped back to be as unobtrusive as possible as she started to talk at length with the humans and fish people alike. They told her their grievances and she consoled them and said she would have work crews here by the end of the week to deal with some of those problems.
She warned them that not everything will be fixed, since there was still so much that needed to be done, and the people understood. They were happy to get any help that they could and were grateful for anything she could do for them. It was a sign of a real politician that they could make people grateful for not getting everything that they wanted.
I kept my thoughts to myself, though. I felt a few of the people, mainly the fish people, had animosity towards her. It was personal and not politically driven, so I knew it was because she was more human-like in her appearance instead of fish-like. I was thankful that none of them had any ill intent and I was also thankful that none of them paid me any attention. I was sure that it was because of the assault laser rifle I had slung over my shoulder and they dismissed my appearance as a hired hand.
We moved along the town on foot, because the disabled vehicle was blocking the road. A few of the military guys were jacking it up and wrapping chains around it to attach to one of the armored personnel carriers. While they worked, the delegate met with more people and shook their hands, made halfhearted promises, and visited a couple of the larger buildings. One was a meeting hall and she discussed what she wanted to do and gave platitudes to the people gathered there.
After half an hour, she needed to leave so she could reach the next town. She shook hands, greeted some of the fish people in their proper greeting with wiggled fingers on their web membranes between their fingers, and pet children's heads. She led me back down the street and one of the men in suits opened the door of the hover car for her. We both climbed inside and she took several deep breaths as she calmed down from the exertion.
“Do we need to stop at the ocean for a few minutes before we move on?” I asked her and she turned her head to stare at me. “I'm sure the water would be refreshing.”
She opened her mouth to say that she would be fine, then she sighed. “Am I so easy to read?”
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“I can see through walls.” I gave her a crooked smile and she couldn't help herself and laughed. I lifted my wrist communicator and used the military man's code. “Slight change of plans. The delegate needs a brief detour at the first ocean access road. Plan for half an hour even thought she only needs maybe ten minutes.”
I saw the military man glare at his own watch communicator and then he shrugged. He passed on the orders and they all mounted up. We drove off for a few minutes and then turned off the main road to go down a poorly maintained dirt road. At the end of it was one of the more spectacular beaches I had seen in a while.
“I shouldn't do this.” The woman-fish said, barely above a whisper.
“It's all right.” I said and took her hand and pulled her out of the vehicle. “You need the break.”
“But...” She looked around at the people in the caravan that were guarding her.
“Do you need a bathing suit?” I asked and she raised her eyes at me.
“So, you don't know everything about us.” She kicked off her sensible shoes and started to slip her dress off of her shoulders.
I quickly surrounded her with a solid blue Presence Barrier to stop everyone from seeing her naked.
“That wasn't necessary. You can look.” She said.
I looked through the barrier to see that she wore something like scaled armor that covered her breasts from just above the mid-point to the underside, like a strapless bikini top. She bent over and stepped out of her dress and I saw that she had on similar bottoms that also looked like scaled armor. She smiled at me and held out the dress for me to take.
I absorbed the solid Presence Barrier and took the dress and slipped it into my bag of holding with her shoes. “Okay, that's interesting.” I said. “You wear that all the time?”
She chuckled and her breasts jiggled... and so did the armor. My eyes widened and she used her fingers to poke the armor and it bent and stretched.
“Reactive armor?” I asked and she nodded.
“It can absorb a lot more kinetic energy.”
“How does that work?” I asked. “It barely covers you.”
“Only because I made it this way for swimming.” She said and waved at the ocean. “Care to join me?”
“I'm working.” I said.
“How can you protect me as a bodyguard if you won't come with me?” She asked, coyly.
I held in my sigh and nodded as I stored my assault laser rifle. She stood there and waited for me to change and I motioned to the water. She gave me an odd look, then walked towards the shore. I covered myself in a thin layer of invisible Presence as I followed her and she kept looking back at me to see if I was going to change. We reached the water and she started to wade into it up to her waist and looked back at me again, only to be surprised that I was right there behind her... still wearing my full armored outfit and my large green cloak.
She shook her head in disbelief and dove into the water and I dove in right behind her. She swam fairly quickly out to a hundred feet from the shore and when she turned around, she let out a little gurgled gasp because I was still right behind her. It took her a few moments to recover, then she squinted her eyes at me. I heard the challenge in her thoughts to keep up with her full speed, so I nodded and waved at the water. She let out a huff of air to clear her lungs and sucked in sea water, then she turned around and swam for all she was worth both down and out from the shore.
I felt kind of bad about teasing her by staying right behind her; but, at least I wasn't racing her and making her look bad. Of course, by staying behind her, I could also enjoy the view. Her armor looked substantial at first and I was surprised that it was so flexible. Now I could see that it was very snug and not very big from this angle. Each time she kicked her webbed feet to propel herself forward, that thin slip of armor between her legs shifted from side to side and almost showed her completely.
I had absolutely no feelings towards this woman; and yet, I also couldn't deny that the sight was enticing. My body reacted to it and then I realized I was suffering from the same thing that I had felt the first time I saw her. I chuckled mentally and concentrated on her flow of Presence and saw that it was almost twice as strong as it had been on the land.
That's sneaky. I thought. I wonder what technique she uses to block others from feeling her using Presence?
She mentally decided that she had raced away from me enough as she grew tired, so she came to a stop and turned around in the water. She gasped as she saw me right behind her and I heard her almost shout mentally as she wondered how I had kept up with her. I motioned up to the surface and she seriously thought about saying no, then she nodded and we swam up to the surface of the water that was a few hundred feet away.
When we broke the surface of the water, she did the opposite of what she did in the water and spit out water from her gills and mouth to empty her lungs of sea water, then she took in a breath of air.
“How did you do that?” She asked me as she started to tread water.
“I'll tell you that if you tell me how you used Presence without alerting me to it.” I said and didn't bother treading water and just let the Presence in the water hold me steady.
“Do you really expect me to reveal family secrets?” She asked, incredulous.
“Like using mental techniques to seduce people into liking you?” I asked.
She stiffened in surprise and dropped in the water a little for a moment, then she recovered and tread a little faster. “I don't know what you're...”
“Don't start lying now.” I cautioned her as the Presence wavered. “You've been honest so far today. Do you want people to think your promises aren't genuine?”
“Are... are you threatening me?” She asked in disbelief.
“Ha!” I barked a laugh. “No, I'm saying my opinion of you will drop even further if you lie.”
“Excuse me?” She squinted her eyes at me in anger.
“You tried... twice... to make me fall for you.” I said and saw her face lose its anger. “I assume the first time was so that I would protect you more diligently. That was quite pointless, since if it had worked, I would have been too enamoured of you to do my job.” I said and her face flushed red. “The second time, you just wanted to distract me and played with my emotions.”
She clamped her mouth closed and decided not to respond. Her blush didn't fade, however.
“It means you don't rely on your own charms to get people to follow you and that's not something I approve of.” I said and felt her anger. “Before you get upset, I honestly don't care what you do, except when it affects me. Using your abilities on me is against our contract and is subject to penalties and early termination.”
“Wh-what?” She looked startled.
“You intentionally tried to cause me to have a diminished capacity, which would have affected my job performance. How would it look if those men had shown up without my warning and managed to kill your men and taken you captive... or worse.” I said and her face lost its previously flushed color. “By rights I should have warned you after the first time; but, I thought it was something you did automatically to gain favor and let it slide. When you did it again, that proved it was a conscious decision on your part and you were trying to influence me on purpose.”
She wasn't sure how to respond to that. I could hear her thinking about all the times she had done it and it didn't cross her mind to consider the consequences if she had been discovered. She looked at me with her slightly larger eyes and she couldn't decide if she wanted to have me silenced by ruining my reputation, probably by saying I took advantage of her, or to bribe me to keep quiet.
“Thank you for making my decision for me.” I said and rose up out of the water. “I hereby terminate our contract and your account will be charged double the fee for trying to coerce me.”
“You can't do this!” She exclaimed. “I'm out in the middle of nowhere!”
“You can swim back, can't you? You're part fish-person.”
“I'm exhausted!”
I looked at her and sighed. “Fine.” I covered her in Presence and picked her up out of the water to hover her next to me. “As a courtesy to you, I'll drop you back off with the caravan. However, I won't be travelling back with you.”
I used levitation to carry us the half a mile back to the shore. She stared at me the entire time and I could hear the gears in her mind try to figure out what to do. I came to a stop right beside the government car and put her down.
“Major!” The woman-fish exclaimed and I covered her mouth with Presence. The military man came right over to us, as did a few other men, and they held their laser rifles at the ready.
“Yes, miss?” The major looked at her trying to take something off of her mouth.
“I suggest you and your men take this... woman... back to base. Also, if you have someone that can break mental coercion techniques, I'd suggest getting yourself and your men checked out.”
“Why would we do that?” He asked, confused.
I reached out and tapped his forehead and pushed the woman's Presence out of his head. The major staggered for a second and the other men raised their rifles to shoot me.
“H-hold.” The major said and shook his head for several moments, then he looked at me. “What was that?”
“A horribly inefficient way to remove someone else's influence from your brain.” I said. “I'm sorry that I didn't have the time to be subtle about it.”
The major looked at the woman-fish and squinted his eyes at her. She wilted a little under his glare, then she remembered who she was and stood tall and used her ability to its fullest and projected her Presence out to all of us. I smiled and used my Absorb Presence ability and sucked it all in, then did the same for what she still had in her head. I stopped before I took it all, because I didn't want to kill her, not with so many witnesses around.
“I believe someone isn't going to be running in the next election when this attack on the military gets out.” I said and dropped her dress and shoes on the sand in front of her. “Major? Can you give her a ride back? I'm not sure what kind of charges she'll face, if any, for what she did... especially if she knows or has met people in the court system... which is likely, since she's a delegate up for election.”
The major sighed and nodded, then waved at two of his men. “Can you clear their heads, too?”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “How's your headache?”
“Splitting.” He said and smiled. “They can take it.”
“Okay.” I said and did the same thing to them as I did to the major and forced the woman-fish's Presence out of their heads. Both men staggered for a moment, then their faces turned feral. I caught thoughts of a girlfriend and a ruined relationship and some about wasting his time waiting to get married.
“Guard her until we get back to base.” The major said and both men took her into the government hover car and the men in suits weren't sure what to make of the situation. “Everyone mount up! RTB! Return to base!”
“I'll get there faster on my own.” I said and he gave me a disbelieving look. “Don't be surprised when my shuttle is gone when you get back.”
The major opened his mouth to say something and I activated Presence Run and took off. “Son of a bitch.” He said and then laughed.
I guess Luxea was right. I thought as I ran back to the shuttle. It really did cause trouble when I came back here. I chuckled and used my wrist communicator to call the ship and told them what happened and to get the credits from the defaulted contract. At least we got a nice influx of credits.