Point of Documentation: Cadence, Crew of HMW Betty

Cadence raised her rifle up and shouldered it, aiming it to the man just past the gate. “You can leave, you know. You can wander off, peacefully, and we can act like you weren’t about to jump me.” The tone in her voice was flat and uninterested. She didn’t want him to go away, but giving him the option was just courteous.

The man spit on the ground just past the fence. It was as if he was making the proclamation of ‘within spitting distance’ a literal thing. He opened his mouth, stopped, then tried again more hesitantly this time. “It’s no wonder Petrov told us to watch out for Sinclair and her ideas. That they’d run away with her. You lot seem a bit more than you look. And I don’t like that. You’re dangerous. That alone is enough for me to snuff you out before you cause Petrov a headache as well.” The man tapped his knuckles together and, in the small distortion caused between his knuckles, two knuckle dusters appeared on his fingers. They seemed malformed and…

“Oh fucking hell, you’re nothing but a sadist, aren’t you?” The words escaped Martinez’s lips as they seemed taken aback by the look of the weapons. They were twisted metal of some black variety. It looked as if the things were more made for tearing them punching, as the tops of them were jagged and nearly looked like the teeth of a chainsaw wrapped around the metal finger-rings of brass knuckles.

The man just smiled, taking a step into the gated yard. At just under a hundred feet away, Cadence’s rifle was so accurate that she’d be able to hit a flea off a dog. Though the round would probably shred the head of the dog in the process as it passed over. Yet, as she pulled the trigger and felt the pressure of it going down, her vision began to swim. She felt the rifle go off, but the aim seemed to drift to the side of the man. The round shot past him, slamming into the skiff’s hole it left in the building across the street. The round caused wind to kick up and blow dirt around, and that seemed to be enough to confuse her as she watched the man cross the distance between them rapidly.

Her vision cleared slightly as Martinez acted, the sound of their odd, electric weapons sounding like a stuttered rending of air. The sound hit a staccato as the attack seemed to hit the man and he yelped in pain. Cadence hadn’t been affected overly long, and her vision seemed to clear up that much faster because of it. She could see that Martinez had gotten their weapon to wrap around the man’s arm and shocked him. “Again? Fine. I’m getting tired of this dance anyways.” spoke the man. As Martinez held him by the arm with the whip-like metal weapon, the man seemed to overcome the shock and ripped his arm inwards. The force of the movement was enough to send Martinez flying forwards and within punching distance. Which the man was all too happy to take advantage of.

With a single punch, Martinez was sent flying across the lot a couple dozen feet. Blood fountained out of their side as the weapons ripped and tore into their flesh with an ease that was unnatural. Of course Void-powered weapons themselves were unnatural, but it seemed as if the weapons were meant to tear through flesh like this.

Cadence once again leveled her gun to the man, now easily a dozen feet from her, and fired. Her shot hit true, the large caliber rifle slamming into the man’s shoulder. What she expected to see was the shoulder turning into mush and vaporizing what didn’t. What she actually saw was the bullet impacting the shoulder, burying itself halfway, and ripping the man to the side from the force of it. Cadence let out a curse and snapped back the bolt of the receiver to load another round.

The man closed the distance between them rapidly. He used his foot as leverage to kick off the ground and propel himself towards her with such strength and speed that it nearly caught her off guard that someone could move that fast on their own. His power had to be strength based… and yet he also had some kind of jarring, confusion power. The thought rocketed through her mind as the man in question did that same towards her. Her hands were just fast enough to slide another round into the chamber, and held down the trigger as the rigged-up slam fire function she had in the gun set the round to flight.

The bullet did not strike true, instead flying past the man as his fist connected with her chest. She felt all the air leave her as she was flung back into the wall of the warehouse. Her back immediately screamed out in pain and caused her limbs to feel numb. Her head throbbed as the man slowly walked towards her. Cadence’s vision was not swimming this time, and she noticed how his gait was slightly uneven. His right leg, the leg that he tilted towards the skidd’s hull as it impacted him, was limping.

A smile passed across her face as she looked at the man. “I’ll at least leave you with something to remember me by for a while.” She coughed, the air in her lungs a syrup she had to force in and out. It didn’t feel like her lungs were filling up but instead felt like they were being squeezed and she had to force them to open. The wound letting blood run down her chest wasn’t helping.

The man gave a malevolent grin in response. “It’ll last a while, but you’re just a passing tramp. Don’t take too much pride as you die.” His steps carried him closer, almost within reach, as his face fell. He stopped and started to turn his head in a motion over his shoulder as a slight scraping noise behind him caused all attention to leave the man.

A hand suddenly found itself around the man’s head. It was gloved, white, and seemed to vibrate with purplish energy. The arm it belonged to was wearing an equally white uniform that fit perfectly to the man’s arm. It was spotless and seemed to almost shine in the light of the sun. The man it was attached to also seemed to be spotless and clean. Almost unnaturally so. There seemed to be a calmness as the well-dressed man pushed on the thug’s head and forced him to the ground. A calmness that did not match anything else as the force of forcing the thug’s head towards the ground caused the ground to almost ripple and cracks to form dozens of feet around where the man’s head collided.

The newly arrived man leaned back up, seemed to brush off dust from his gloved hand, and straightened his uniform. After doing this, he looked down at Cadence and offered out a hand. “Do you require a hand up, miss?”

Cadence’s eyes were like dinner plates as she stared at the man. This was one of the three captains of the town, Captain Albatross. She swallowed a nervous scream and lifted her hand up. “I– Yes, yes I do.” She took his hand in her’s.

The man pulled her up with nearly no effort on his part. She felt like a piece of paper being lifted from a table and held up. Then he let go as she was standing and looked towards Martinez. Cadences followed his gaze and saw Martinez was being helped by an equally stark-white clad dwarven woman with a backpack nearly as large as her.

The sound of a vehicle approaching alerted Cadence to the arrival of the Guard, the Garrison as some called them. Her adrenaline was still pumping, but a part of her vision was starting to blur as the exhaustion of trying to fight a Void-touched human was finally catching up to her. When was the last time she had a good sleep? When was the last time she rested? She felt so... cold. She stumbled forwards and felt hands wrap around her shoulders as sleep overtook her.

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Cadence awoke with a start in a room that smelled so strongly of spices that it nearly made her gag. She covered her nose and looked around at her surroundings. It was some kind of bedroom that had all manners of knick-knacks and figurines on shelves, assorted hobbies and instruments all along one wall, and a bench with some machine-working equipment against another. Barely enough room for a dresser and mirror, the room was stuffed. The door sat directly across from the foot of the bed and had a small chair next to it. In it seemed to be a sleeping Martinez.

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Cadence looked at Martinez and seemed to take in what they looked like. A wrap had been put around their head with some blood still on it, some kind of bandaging also wrapped from the left shoulder down into the baggy shirt they wore. They looked tired and bruised, but from the sound of their breathing, they didn’t seem to have much respiratory damage.

A feeling of guilt rushed over her as she looked at her old friend. When she came here as a younger girl, she had known Martinez as the local braggart. They’d come to her in the market and try to sell themselves as the strongest girl in the market and challenged her to arm wrestling and rock throwing. That was how they met, and it only came out later that Martinez had no idea how to introduce themselves to people normally. Having a family that did all that for you stunted you at a young age.

Feeling a kin-ship in that regard, Cadence had really warmed up to the girl and they became fast friends. She even brought home mementos from places she visited on the scrapping-skidd to show and give to Martinez when they passed through or traded here. If it wasn’t for what happened to her family, Cadence wouldn’t doubt that they’d still be as thick as thieves. Sometimes in a literal sense.

This, however, was not the same person Cadence remembered. They had changed their body, their outfits, their face into something new. It still looked like Martinez, but… not. She wasn’t certain how to approach that, nor even if she should. Maybe just easing into it?

Cadence coughed, trying to wake up Martinez. When that didn’t work she tried yawning loudly. The absolute brick of a person just sat there, sleeping away in the wooden chair. She opened her mouth and started to say their name when the door swung open with force and bashed them in the face. It woke them up with a yell and nearly knocked them out of the seat as a woman came bursting into the room.

The string of words were so hard to following that Cadence just stared at the woman for a moment. Martinez’s mother scowled at her and repeated the question slower. “Are you alright? Hungry? Hurting? Have you drank your water yet?” Cadence’s gaze slowly shifted to the water glass she hadn’t noticed on the stand next to her. Martinez’s mother seemed to follow her gaze knowingly and huffed. “You need to eat and drink, or you’ll end up too skinny and sickly.” She even punctuated this with a wagging finger.

A voice behind the door from Martinez floated out. “Mom, let her rest!” They pushed the door closed slightly and looked past it. “She’s probably just–”

The door slammed again and actually knocked Martinez off their chair with the force. A man stepped in, around the same age as Martinez was, and beamed. “Cadie decided to wake up? I’ll go tell pa.” And like a whirlwind the man turned and left again.

Cadence just stared at all this, seeing for herself that this family hadn’t changed a day. They were still the same chaotic mess they were when she met them all those years ago. “Wait, what happened? Where did that man go? And what happened to–”

Martinez’s mother held up a finger and shushed her from where she stood. “Food first. Martinez said you needed help. We help after.” Her words were still as staggered as they’ve always been. She hadn’t spoken the ‘universal’ English when Cadence had met her at first, but she slowly learned it. And by the sounds of it, she had gotten nearly as good as a native speaker.

Martinez had to dislodge themselves from the corner they were flung into, but their mother helped them up and they, in turn, helped Cadence downstairs. The house was a flurry of activity as it usually was when company was over. She hadn’t remembered the armed men that stood near each entrance the last time she was here though. Even looking at them made Cadence a little nervous.

Dinner was large and boisterous as it had always been. Martinez’s mother and father were there, as well as three uncles and an aunt, several cousins from Cadence’s age to toddlers, Martinez’s four siblings including the man that had come up earlier, and some associates that had stopped over. Cadence was frankly overwhelmed at all the presences and fast movements of life in this house after being on the road for so long with two people that barely got out of bed in ten minutes time.

With the help of these people… maybe she could also solve the issue of actually getting enough muscle to help with her side of the plan. As dinner was wrapping up, she turned to Martinez and asked “Hey, Martinez, I have a request or two… and I was hoping you could help me with something.”

Martinez, who for their part was trying to contain a child that was being far too energetic after eating, looked up. Their face took on a more serious note. “If it has to do with the brutes earlier, I’m not the only one that seems to have a chip on their shoulder for them. The White-Coat said to meet him at his office in the Center.”

This caused Cadence’s eyebrows to rise slightly. “Uh… Well that’s not good. Ok, I guess I’ll–”

Martinez waved a hand. “‘We’. We’ll go see him. I haven’t seen you in years, and you end up in trouble on my doorstep? Those brutes are lucky dad wasn’t the one walking around and it was just me. We defend our family, even non-blood ones.”

Cadence’s eyes drifted to the man still sitting at the table, watching his bloodline running around the table and cleaning up from dinner. The man was… cold. He was the exact opposite of what the family was and showed to those close to them in many ways. While the Durans were welcoming to their guests, the father of the family was the one who did most of the heavy-handed business behind closed doors. He was a Void-Touched, a survivor of the Void-Scourge that ravages people who get poisoned from too much exposure. The process that Marshall was going through right now. He was one of the few that came out with powers at the end and not just death or mutations. His power was never spoken of much from when she was a kid, but the fact that the man’s right eye was covered and small veins of black came from it spoke to it taking a large toll on the man. Whatever his power was, Cadence didn’t want to see what it was.

Mr. Duran looked up to Cadence staring at him for that brief moment and gave her a smile that seemed too warm for his face. He nodded and looked back to his grand-nieces playing with one of the chairs.

“...Ok, so we’ll talk as we walk then.” Cadence said as she stood, a pain shooting through her ribs. She winced and held a hand to her abdomen.

Martinez must have seen, as they swept an arm under her shoulder. “Right, ‘walk’. I’ll walk, and you hobble like a sore loser.” A note of humor colored their voice.

Cadence grimaced. “Not all of us get brought back by a healer of the White-Coats. Odd that I’m still hurting, though. What did they say about me?”

As they opened the door, Martinez gave a smile that never reached their eyes. “The dwarf said you died, Cadence. Internal bleeding. She had to restart your heart, and that took nearly half an hour of trying. Took you two days to come to.”

Cadence moved to the porch with Martinez’s help. She leaned against the wall on the porch and looked out to the well maintained yard of the three-story house. She died. The difference between Powered and normal people was vast even at low grades like that. The question must have been on her face as Martinez responded to her. “The man said he was a 3rd-Grade.” A bitter smile on their face as they spoke. “We didn’t have much of a chance in that one, sadly. Luckily Dad is a 4th-Grade, so he could’ve dealt with him if they crossed paths. Instead, that white dressed man showed up and took care of it.”

At this point, Cadence just nodded. She was surprised, but not by that much. They barely did shit to him, and that would have explained a lot if he was a higher grade like that. Martinez is right, they never stood a chance. But the fact that they held out that long against someone like him was enough to be proud about.

“Come on, let’s get going. Apparently we have a meeting with a pretty powerful man.” Cadence said, looping her arm around Martinez again.