The Duelist
Friday, 29th of January, 198 A.C, 16:40
“The Heister? Yeah, she can be sneaky when she wants to. Keywords there being ‘wants to.’ She is… not the kind of person to stick to plans when a situation changes. But she’s pretty good at getting out of messes too, so I guess it’s kind of a wash.” - Leaked interview with [Redacted]
The Heister felt up and down the door and wall, trying to find a keyhole of any kind. She grew more and more agitated as her search refused to bear fruit until, screaming in frustration, she grabbed her bat and started trying to bash through the door. She gave up as she was readying swing seven, instead turning and sitting down with the rest of us.
She rested her chin on her bat, then spoke up, her voice carrying easily through the alarm. “How’d you two get that folder without setting off the alarm, anyway?”
The Fool was drumming his rods against the top of his thighs. Unlike the Heister, he had to strain his voice just a little in order to be heard. “We had the Tinkerer prepare a little gadget to disable the trigger.” He pointed to a corner of the room, where a button-sized device was lying on its side, a small trail of smoke coming out of a hole where a casing plate should have been. “Unfortunately, the Tinkerer’s creations have a tendency to fall apart after use.”
The Heister nodded. “All right then, anyone have anything *working* that we could use?”
We turned out our pockets in turn. The Fool went first, producing nothing but a waterproof case with a tarot deck inside. The Magpie pulled out a seemingly endless supply of scrap, broken gadgets, and pilfered tchotchkes. When at last she had taken everything out and we confirmed that absolutely none of it would be of any use, she shoveled it all back into the folds of her cloak. Then, for good measure, she swiped the Tinkerer’s broken creation from the corner of the room and put that in her cloak too. The Heister took almost as long, loaded down as she was with the things she had pickpocketed earlier. None of it was anything we could use, though.
When at last it was my turn, I noted my rapier, yo-yo, and throwing knives, then took out the few pieces I had snagged during the pickpocketing run. The Magpie’s eyes lit up behind her Veil as she saw the weird bit of tech that was one of my scores.
“Oh wow,” she said, “You two really got into the good stuff, didn’t you?”
I turned ‘the good stuff’ around in my hand, newly interested. It was a silvery metal box, about the size of a matchbook, with a lid on the top attached by a swivel and a glass tube visible down the sides that reminded me of my rapier.
“That’s just about the most over the top lighter on the market,” the Magpie continued. “Splinter decided to take a break from weapons a few years back to run out some novelty items using isolated versions of the same tech they put in that rapier of yours. A handheld chilling device, a hyper-dense battery that can run just about as high a voltage as you could ever want, and… that beautiful little thing right there. Burns *incredibly* hot. Hot enough that it only really saw use as a curio. Forget lighting candles or cigarettes, this thing would *disintegrate* them.”
She had scooched closer as she talked, eyes locked on the lighter. I quickly put it back in my pocket, just to be safe. “How d’you know all that?” I asked.
The Magpie gestured all over herself. “Have you seen me? I like shiny things. I like looking at them, I like having them, and you’d better bet I like researching them too.”
I nodded. “Fair enough.”
I recognized the look that was developing on the Heister’s face. Something about this lighter of mine had given her an idea, and that idea was being turned into a plan. She scanned around and, finding what she was looking for, grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to a spot near the middle of the room.
She pointed to the ceiling, where a smoke detector blinked away. “Think your rapier and lighter will be enough to set that thing off?”
I nodded, recognizing the plan. “Let’s find out.” I took out my rapier and spun the cylinder nestled just below the guard until the red vial was visible. I flipped a tiny switch on the underside of the crossguard and the blade came to life, glowing red with a sudden heat. Small flames danced along its length, letting off wisps of smoke as they went.
I flipped open the lighter and, after asking the Magpie how to turn it on, added its flame to the rapier’s. The immense heat of the lighter’s burn was unfortunately not doing it any favors in the smoke-production side of things, although I supposed in almost any other instance that would be a good thing. I buckled in for a bit of a wait.
The ‘bright’ side was that despite everything, we actually weren’t that pressed for time. It had been several minutes since the alarm had gone off, so I imagined the guards had already set up outside and were trying to starve us out rather than risk a direct assault. Especially not with so many sensitive, fragile documents in here. Although, that gave me a whole other idea.
“Hey, y’all think you could get those other cabinets open and make a pile with the papers?”
The Heister’s grin hearing those words almost matched the one on the Fool’s Veil. The others had similar reactions, and got to work at once.
While he was busting open a drawer, the Fool broached the topic that had sparked the mess we were in. “Listen, I don’t want things to come to blows once we’re out of here, and I’m sure you don’t either.”
The Heister dropped a stack the size of her torso, letting it land with a thump. “I wouldn’t mind that too much, actually.”
Somewhat deflated, the Fool continued. “Alright, well, three out of four then. Point is, we only need those schematics for our own personal use. Meaning…”
I nodded. “Meaning we’re not competing for a client?”
The Fool snapped his fingers. “Exactly. *And* we don’t need the original. I propose we skip Central, make a copy, and bam. Everyone wins. Tinkerer gets to pour over things, you get your money, nobody’s the wiser.” He chuckled. “Well, Shell’s the wiser, but fuck ‘em, right?”
“Why am I getting deja vu right now?” asked the Heister, not waiting for a response. “Oh, that’s right. You pulled this exact schtick after you were done beating us up. What’s your *real* play here?”
“Hey,” said the Fool, putting his hands up, “some of us aren’t in this for the Bits.”
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The Heister and I turned to the Magpie, who was using her portals to shunt entire stacks over to the pile.
She looked at us blankly. “What? I don’t care about the money. I just want the sparkly stuff.”
I turned back to the Fool. He had hit a bit of a nerve with his last comment. “Now, I’m not sure I like your tone, Fool. You talk like it’s a bad thing to treat a job like a job. You got a problem with how the Heister and I operate? Or are you so free from money troubles that you never stopped to consider that some of us aren’t so lucky?”
The Fool bowed slightly at hearing that. “No, I. I grew up wealthy, but. I know about the poverty in this city all too well, believe me.” There was a newfound sobriety in his voice. He recovered quickly, but the momentary slip in his facade stuck in my head.
“I’m sorry,” he continued, “That was dumb of me. My point is that, contrary to what our past fights might indicate, Impulse and Springtrap’s goals are not in conflict. Fighting is just going to make things harder for all of us.”
Just then, the fire alarm went off. It was quicker and more shrill than the burglar alarm, making the cacophony in the room that much more unbearable. The sprinkler system activated a second later, my rapier hissing as droplets landed on its blade and boiled off. The detector also tripped a third mechanism – the one we had been banking on. Both the inner and outer doors slid open, part of a failsafe in order to keep the highly flammable secrets inside safe. The Heister lept to the right of the door, while the Magpie took the left. The Fool stood his ground just in front of me.
As I had suspected, a contingent of guards were waiting outside, guns drawn in a tight formation. They were much more heavily armored than the ones we had encountered before, looking like discount Watchmen who had mixed their whites with their darks in the laundry.
Before anyone could act, I brought my rapier low, just above the pile of paper, and shouted out, “Shoot and the docs get torched!”
Nobody was firing yet, which was good. A guard in the back, probably the squad’s leader, looked down slightly. They were looking at their Chipper, probably for instructions from their employer. My paper hostage plan wouldn’t get us out of this on its own, but it had given us the initiative. We just needed to capitalize on it.
The Fool and the Magpie were way ahead of me. The Fool snapped his fingers and activated his Veil, staring down the guards. In the same moment, the Magpie disappeared into a portal. I took the opportunity to flip my lighter closed and stick out a finger at the guard’s leader. My Aura flared up and the world shifted as my quarry and I were brought inside the world of my Veil.
The first thing I did was switch off my rapier and bound to the left. The guards were quick to react to our move, firing off a salvo into the room. Most of the bullets would be completely harmless to me, as my Veil considered firearms and their bullets to be within the purview of an outside actor, rather than the environment. The leader’s gun could very much still hurt me though, so getting to safety was still a priority.
The smudge corresponding to the Fool stumbled to the left as well, avoiding getting hit through sheer… whatever you would call what it was that his Veil did. Two guns jammed, the barrel of a third exploded, and the rest simply missed.
My quarry looked around, finally noticing the trouble he was in. He shouted an order at one of his subordinates, got no response, then tried getting their attention physically. His hand went straight through the smudge to his right.
The other figures were stirring now, their outlines shifting as they realized that their leader was missing. Another smudge appeared suddenly next to them and began to harry them in some manner before disappearing and popping back up on their opposite flank.
It was becoming more and more difficult to pay attention to the happenings outside. I set my sights on my target, who was starting to get over his initial panic. I ducked to the left of the doorway before he could figure out that I was the cause of his trouble.
I considered my options. My throwing knives wouldn’t cut through most of his armor, but I could still use them as a distraction. I lined up the purple vial on my rapier’s cylinder, then took a knife out of the band on my forearm and tossed it in a wide arc around the door. I waited for it to plunk onto the ground, then went in.
To my target’s credit, he was quick. The knife had caught his attention for only a moment, and even with my enhanced speed he managed to place a shot with his handgun. I couldn’t rely on the Fool’s Veil to get me out of this one, but I wasn’t out of tricks just yet.
The bullet flattened against the hardened aura on the back of my hand and fell harmlessly to the ground. Shooting to kill, then. Or at least maim.
I blocked two more shots with my left hand while I retrieved another knife and flung it towards the guard, aiming for his hand. Had I been outside, there would have been no shot I made this kind of throw, especially not with a rapier meddling with my throwing hand. But here the knife found its mark, burying itself in the less-protected inside of his glove.
The man stifled a scream, but managed to keep his gun in his remaining hand. He move to take another shot, but I had bought all the time I needed to get in and deflect his arm with my free hand. My ears rang as the gun went off to my left. I used the opening to flip the switch on my rapier and flick my wrist, scraping the blade up along his side. lighting crackled off the blade, running harmlessly along the plates of his armor… until finding a soft spot in his armpit and digging in.
My quarry fell to the ground, convulsing. I snatched up his gun and slid it into a jacket pocket, then, after one more electric jab for good measure, I declared victory and stepped outside.
I was behind the enemy line now, or what was left of it. Many figures lay on the ground, accompanied by many more firearms.
Behind me, someone called out. “D–l-st, wa–h -ut!”
I tried to blink the fuzziness out of my eyes. “What? I’m sorry, I can’t-”
“B-HIND -OU!”
I spun around just in time to get clocked on the side of my head. I reeled from the hit, tripping over something and falling to the ground. The form of the Magpie came into focus a few meters away, grappling with someone… a guard, probably. Despite her situation, she was looking my way, shouting at me to move.
I looked lethargically up toward my assailant. Another guard, by the looks of it. She had really sent me sprawling, far enough that she had to pick her way over one of her fallen buddies to get to me. I tried to put my hands up to block, but my Veil was… stretching me out. Begging me to go back inside.
Hmm. I should coin that as a phrase. We called *using* your Veil to this point Veil-dragging, but we needed a term for the state you ended up in after a drag. Veil-stretched. I liked the sound of that.
In any event, I couldn’t do much more than flop my hands across my face right now. The guard was going in for a second blow now. I was surprisingly laid-back about the prospect, surely another product of my Veil. The Magpie couldn’t help me, but maybe the Heister or the Fool were free? I couldn’t see them, so who knew?
As it happened, my savior got the guard from behind. They must have smacked her somewhere good, because she slumped right over on top of me, out cold in one.
I recognized the jacket of whoever it was that had taken the guard out. It was the same base design as what they had worn in the fall, but with added padding along the inside for comfort during the winter months. It was black, with a green line running down each arm. I traced my vision up along that line until I was looking at their head. It was the Runner, gaiter-Veil covering the bottom of his face.
He shook out his hand. “*Wow* that hurt. Remind me to use my Veil next time I’ve got to punch out someone wearing armor.”
Ahead, the Magpie had broken free and was making a mockery of her opponent with help from her portals. Behind, the Heister and the Fool were mopping up the last of the guards.
The Heister looked up, dropping the limp body she had been beating. “Ah, Runner! Glad you could make it! I would have left some more of the fun for you, but we were a bit pressed.”
Although his Veil covered his mouth, I knew that the Runner was smirking. He helped me to my feet, letting me lean on him for support. “Easy there,” he said. “You drag easily, huh?”
After making sure I wasn’t going to fall once he let go, the Runner turned to the Heister and said, “Bet you’re feeling pretty good about keeping that promise, huh?”
The Heister nodded matter-of-factly. “It has its perks, for sure. I do enjoy being able to summon you at my whim.” She gestured to all of us. “Now, what say we skedaddle?”