Seeking Strays- Chapter 78 - Professional Standards? (Patreon)

I glared into the steam, and held my rifle high to watch for any sign of the man. He could try to run, ‘course. Seek still pointed straight forward at him through the dense steam surrounding us. The hot humidity instantly turned the air muggy, and made my hair frizz up everywhere.

“Reyna!” Quinn shouted. The blue glow of her halo appeared through the sudden steam cloud, and it lightened enough I could make out shadows through the water vapor. 

Steam was still water at the end of the day, which fell perfectly into Quinn’s domain. It was like blood, though, and her control over it was weaker than pure water. Otherwise, the steam cloud would’ve been wiped out entirely.

“Yep!” I shifted back behind her, and my rifle flicked to swirling steam off to the side. My finger feathered the trigger, though I remembered at the last second to drop my aim so I wouldn’t immediately kill the Anarch.

Rat-tat-tat!

A burst of bullets sparked off the concrete toward the shifting steam. They scattered down the alley, which made me pull my finger off the trigger instead of continuing to fire. No one had been down there originally, but I couldn’t see where the bullets were going anymore. 

Seek snapped the other way, and a red glow contested the neon light bleeding into the shadowed alleyway. A javelin made of dense water shot forward to meet it. Quinn hadn’t had time to dredge up a proper defense of weather, though.

The fireball pierced down the length of the javelin, releasing a second cloud of steam. The fireball slammed into Quinn’s shoulder with a sharp hiss, making her jerk backward with a yelp. She stumbled, and collapsed backward with the force of the fireball.

“Quinn!” I squeezed the trigger and fired away toward the source of Seek. My bullets left swirling trails in the steam where they passed. Even as I fired away, I moved forward to guard my Guardian.

”I’m good,” Quinn groaned while holding her shoulder. The surface layer of her ballistic vest smoldered for a moment before a small wave of water washed it away. “Show yourself, Ghostscale!”

My rifle clicked empty. As if that was what Conway had been waiting for, Seek tracked the man moving toward us. His voice practically dripped with Venom. “As you wish, Harbor dog.”

The steam abruptly shifted around us, and a scream echoed down the alley. My ears flattened as a pure concussive wave slammed into me. It echoed down the alley, compounding and growing even more destructive in my lupine ears. I was forced to take a step back to steady myself. All noise in the world cut out under a sharp whine in my ears. 

The concussive wave displaced the steam in the air, revealing—nothing. Like a phantom, the Reaver vanished into thin air. Or, I would’ve thought so if I didn’t feel him closing the gap at an alarming pace. Trusting my psionic ability, I took a step forward and threw a brutal haymaker at thin air instead of going for a reload.

My knuckles cracked against something hard, and an impact jolted up my arm. Ghostscale’s invisibility flickered, and the man staggered back with a surprised look in his eyes. He opened his mouth to scream once more—only for a repeat scenario. Water condensed into a gag that stuffed his mouth.

With his abilities as a Gecho Reaver blocked, he darted toward me with the claws on his fingers outstretched. I caught his wrist, and pulled him into a throw. His tail whipped up and wrapped around my throat before I could pull it off, spilling both of us down onto the trashed alley floor.

My fingers dug into his tail. Without any hesitation, I bit down onto the already bleeding spot, and ripped the side. My sharp teeth and canines dug deep into the limb, eliciting a strangled scream from his water clogged throat. Scales came loose in my mouth as his tail pulled away.

My own tail whipped up before he could get a hold of it. As a reward for his efforts, my foot slammed into his chin. He flopped to the side, rolling away from five more water javelins. I shot to my feet, and he was quick to follow a moment later with a furious glare.

I kicked off the ground, and ripped my rifle off its strap. Holding onto the burning barrel, I swung it full force toward the man. His lizard tail whipped up to take the impact. The plastic stock of my rifle shattered into tiny pieces upon contact, and a chunk was dug out of the scaled limb.

The ringing in my ears slowly started to fade as I kept up the pressure. He flickered out of view once more. His invisibility didn’t mean anything now that I knew his tricks though. I lunged forward and grabbed about where I thought his tail would be. My hands locked onto the blood-soaked limb and I ripped backward. 

“Let go—“ A shout made it through my deafened ears, quickly followed by a sick crunch as I whipped him backward. Ghostscale’s invisibility fully shattered, as did his arm when he tried to protect himself from slamming into the ground in between me and Quinn.

My foot shot forward to catch his arm a beat later. If it wasn’t broken before, it definitely was after my boot slammed into him. He flopped to the side with his arm bent the wrong way. His ring started to glow a glaring red once more—

“Got it!” Quinn whipped her hand forward, and a tendril of water wrapped around the wring. It was plucked off Ghostscale’s finger just as dozens of more tendrils whipped up from the alley floor to entwine his limbs.

I kicked my rifle back up into my hands, and dropped the empty mag into a dump pouch at my hip. My eyes never left him as I slapped a new one back into place. The charging handle thumped, and once more locked onto him with it. “Ryan Conway, you’re under arrest.”

He tried to scream something through the water gag choking him out. It came out as a garbled mess. Quinn flicked her hand, and the water pulled out of his mouth. “If you try to scream again, I’ll leave you gagged till we get to HQ.”

”Get off of me!” Ghostscale struggled in the watery prison. His tail, with part of it half-ripped off by my forceful repositioning of him, whipped around and bloodied the dark waters. “Fucking bitches! You can’t do this to me again!”

“Why? I thought you liked it rough.” I spat a bloody scale off to the side. Ugh, my mouth tasted terrible. I dug a finger into my left canine, and plucked out another scale. “You want to talk now?”

“Like hell I’ll talk. I’ll take the secret to my grave.” He glared up at the two of us. Quinn’s water tentacles sat him down, though continued to restrain him despite his muscles bulging in effort to rip away.

”You won’t die. I promise as Guardian—as Quinnzel Everdyne that nobody will touch you.” Quinn raised her fist to her heart in a solemn oath. For a moment, she looked incredibly noble. The blue glow on her face made her look more and more solemn as the moments passed like some kind of divine messenger. “It’s not too late, you know. The UCS has plenty of programs for Beyond rehabilitation.”

That noble look shattered as she hissed, and held her burnt shoulder. A bolt of rage filtered through me, though I held it back through sheer force of will. “Are you okay?”

”Yeah. My ballistic vest blocked most of it.” She flicked her hand, and the fireball ring dropped into her hand. “Where’d you get something like this?”

”You seriously expect me to answer—“ My foot slipped and slammed into his thigh. He cut off with a sharp yelp. I was so done playing good cop. He had his chance before he charred my Guardian’s shoulder.

”What happened?” Quinn looked up from the ring to the two of us.

”This bitch—“ Conway abruptly cut himself off as I prepared to slip again much harder this time. “N-nothing.”

“Quinn, why don’t you go get the car and pull it around?” I suggested to my Guardian. I wanted to be alone with the man. My blood was practically boiling. “Get the medkit, too. I’ll keep watch.”

”You sure, Reyna?” Quinn looked at me suspiciously. “I thought you wanted to cut him a deal.”

”That was then, this is now.” I shrugged, and looked up to meet her eyes. A window along the alley wall reflected the boiling rage barely contained within. My ears flattened and I took a breath. My ear flicked, and the Rose Window Ear Cuff appeared. “Sides, Quinnzel Everdyne herself is taking responsibility. How could I not trust that?”

“Don’t do something stupid.” Her shoulders straightened, and she pressed her hand tighter against the burn on her shoulder. 

“I wouldn't dream of it,” I lied. My eyes flicked down to the burn, and my teeth grit together even tighter.

“Good.” She hesitated for only a moment longer before nodding her head. More tendrils of water wrapped his arms, and she disappeared out the mouth of the alley. Seek shifted to track her instead.

My patience wore thin with each passing moment, and turned even thinner when I caught the scent of smoldering flesh in the air. I kicked water at him when he tried to wiggle away. “Argh! The hell’s wrong with you—”

“Fucking try me.” I glared at the man. My lips pulled into a savage grin, fully exposing my blood-stained teeth. “When my Guardian gets back, you’re going to tell us exactly what we want to know.”

”Right, and I’ll end up in a harem of hot women.” He laughed at me—though his laughter abruptly cut off when I kicked him.

Seeing his face contort in pain… my ears flattened, and I pulled back ever so slightly. I rubbed at my nose to cover up the grease stench of burning meat, and stared at the man. I knew better than this. What was I doing? I squeezed my eyes shut, and tried to reel in the boiling anger. 

”Hit me again.” He spat off to the side. “It just turns me on.”

Sicko. I roughly scratched at my hair, and flattened the silver curls. A not-so-small part of me wanted to kick him again, though I reigned it in slightly. “That wasn’t a request.”

”Neither was mine.” He lifted his chin ever so slightly in defiance

  ”You like being manhandled, don’t you?” I threw his words back into his face, and crouched low so we were face to face. I needed just a bit more pressure. I wouldn’t touch him again, but he didn’t know that. “If you don’t want to cooperate, I’ll take you to Beacon Tower. There’s 133 sets of stairs for you to trip down.”

”Fucking wolf in sheep’s clothing.” He glared up at me. “This is a gross abuse of power. Your superiors—“

”Are so much worse than me.” I cut him off, and patted his cheek like an old friend trying to give him some life-saving advice. “Unless you’d rather hang yourself?”

“You…” Ghostscale just shook his head in disgust. “Go back to hitting me.”

“You’re scared of Harbor. I get that, Conway. I really do. Quinn’s the only one that’ll offer you a way through this.” The Rose Window Ear Cuff burned at my ear. My words shifted thanks to the anomaly, sounding all the more convincing even to my own ears. I couldn’t necessarily trust myself not to do something stupid, but I could trust Quinn. “Don’t be an idiot and think this through. You’re already Harbor’s prisoner. Who do you want standing in your corner?”

“I…” Some of the resistance faded, and his eyes narrowed on me. “Your Guardian know what you’re really like?”

“What do you think?” My tail twitched in annoyance. I didn’t need the reminder about how far I’d fallen. I was supposed to be Reyna Vargriev, and here I was acting like Barghest. The line was growing muddier and muddier as the days passed… not that it mattered. They were both still me at the end of the day.

I patted him down. Naturally, it was only a matter of time till I found an amulet tucked into his shirt. He strained against me, and jerked his head away. “I like being fondled as much as the next guy, but it's really not appropriate at the moment.”

”Would it kill you to keep quiet?” I pulled the amulet out. It was a broken amulet on a black chain. It looked totally worthless at first glance. That was only until the Blackwater Biosystems kicked in.

| Hungry Ghost’s Amulet

Type: Equipment - Netherworld

Anomalous Property: Invisible Invader

Effect: Pass like a ghost through the material world, unheard and unseen. | 

“An anomaly?” I blurted out in surprise. I thought he just had another enchanted item like the wring, but… no, right. The underworld probably had all sorts of people dealing in this kind of thing.

He froze, and his eyes darted up to me. The amulet abruptly vanished into the void similar to how most of my anomalies worked. So he cleared an Overlap, huh? This guy wasn’t as useless as he looked. “How’d you recognize it?”

”How could I not?” I stared down at the man with renewed focus. The Hungry Ghost Amulet seemed so much more useful than my stuff. “Hand it over.”

”I would actually rather die.” He said dead serious. He lifted his chin, fully exposing his neck. “Go ahead. Take a bite, wolf.”

”I don’t want it that bad.“ I pulled back in disgust. I had more than enough of his blood in my mouth than I ever wanted in a lifetime.

“You—you’ve been in an Overlap too, haven’t you?” His eyes narrowed on me, and some level of confidence returned to him. “That makes us comrades.”

”In some twisted way. Where are you going with this?” I sat back on my heels.

“I’ll be obedient. I’ll even keep it a secret about all of this.” He nodded his head to his mangled tail, and flopped his broken arm. “Don’t say anything about the amulet.”

”Now why would I accept that deal? You’re already going to do all of that.” My eyes narrowed on him. The amulet… I couldn’t take it by force. If it was anything like my stuff, he could freely retrieve it. 

”I’ll owe you.” His eyes locked onto mine. “I have my faults, but I always honor my word. A professional has standards.”

My ears perked upright, and I pulled back ever so slightly. ”I’ll think about it.” 

Following the sounds of tires crunching down the wet pavement, headlights flashed down the alley. Quinn’s voice called out. “Reyna?”

I patted Ghostscale’s leg as a reminder of what I said. As for the Hungry Ghost’s Amulet… I wasn’t quite sure what I’d do about it for now. “Just checking his injuries! He’s safe to move.”

”That’s a relief.” Quinn kicked the door shut behind her, and flicked her hand up. The tendrils of water forced Conway to stand up alongside us. “I called it in. Harbor’s sending an escort to the hospital. All of them were personally vetted by Harkness.”

“So she doesn’t know?” Conway whispered softly to me. He smirked, and his eyes darted between me and Quinn. My ears slowly lowered. “I’ll cooperate fully.”

“Good, we can talk in the car.” Quinn slapped a pair of handcuffs designed for Beyonders onto his wrists, and escorted him to the back of the SUV.