The Bounty Hunter

Novemeber 30th, 2089

Kira’s POV

Working at Mr. Chino’s casino has been uneventful yet enjoyable.  There’s always a rowdy idiot or two who underestimate me and try to resist, allowing me to beat the living daylights out of them before tossing them into the street.  The regulars have learned to stay clear of me by now.  Mr. Chino claims that he’s had less security incidents than ever since he hired me.  I can’t take all of the credit for that though.  Irene’s started working here as well when I needed someone to take some of the shifts for me.  She was already rather Yakuza-like, so she adapted easily to this environment.

And if the patrons are wary of me, they are all absolutely terrified of Irene.  I think the one and only guy that tried feeling her up during her first shift on the job is still in the intensive care unit at Tokyo General.  Apart from casino security, Mr. Chino also sends us to collect on debts.  We’ve been extremely effective.  The debtors never see us coming, and the disconnect between our appearance and strength is shocking enough that they always cough up the money the first time we ask.

My shift for tonight is just about over, so I wandered over to Mr. Chino’s office.  “Do you need me to do anything before I leave?”  I asked him.  “Nah, everyone’s been kicked out and I’ve finished counting the night’s take.  You can leave.”  He said, but then something on the security monitor outside caught his eye.  “Scratch that, I’ll be paying you overtime.  It looks like we have some company.”  He immediately reached over to grab his Thinker III smart pistol.  I peeked over his shoulder at the monitor and saw three people standing outside.  Two of them were ordinary looking thugs, but the leader seemed to be a silvery-blue haired woman in her late 20s.

Mr. Chino walked out the casino, with me right behind him, to talk with the visitors.  The street was completely deserted and quiet, which was strange.  My hearing always picks up at least traffic the next street over, and there’s always traffic in Tokyo.  “Are you Ratface?”  the woman asked neutrally.  “Used to be.  Who the fuck wants to know?”  Mr. Chino challenged aggressively.  “Pandemonium is offering protection from all the unsavory characters in this neighborhood.  All it takes is a small fee.”  I did my best to avoid tensing at the mention of the name.  I quickly tried to contact Terra via the telepathy artifact, but something was interfering.  All I heard was static. 

Mr. Chino snickered rudely at the lady’s words.  “Those unsavory characters are some of my best customers.  I also already have my own security.”  The woman seemed to be getting rather irritated with Mr. Chino, her hands were clenched tightly, yet her voice was still neutral.  “To decline our offer would be unwise.”  “I ain’t declining, I just want you to know that I am well aware of your racketeering bullshit.  Jeez, I thought Pandemonium was a crack operation.”  Mr. Chino prodded her further with his response.

It is not a good idea to antagonize these people!  I swiftly leaned in to whisper “What are you doing?  These are not people you want to piss off!”  “Relax, brat.  With these types of stand-offs it’s vital to establish yourself and not be a pushover, otherwise they’ll start raising the rates.  I know how far to take it.”  Mr. Chino casually responded.  He nodded towards the woman, who was contemplating something, as if to say that he knew what he was doing.

The woman looked up at Mr. Chino and the air turned cold.  “I’ve decided.  Forget the protection offer.  I’ll just kill you instead, you worthless human filth.  You will die in frozen agony, maybe in the next life you will know better than to disrespect Pandemonium.”  A cross-shaped spear of ice appeared in her hand, which she promptly stabbed at Mr. Chino.  I reacted instantly, materializing my own swords from my storage ring to parry the strike.

The spear stabbed into a vending machine, causing it to flash freeze at the contact.  “Get inside and call the police!” I shouted at Mr. Chino, causing him to scurry back into the casino.  Hopefully the police coming here will attract Terra’s attention.  I’ll keep trying to contact him via telepathy in the meantime.  The ice lady moved to pursue him, but I diverted her attention.  She was forced to bring her spear up to block one of my swords, leaving her midsection wide open.  I stabbed with the other sword, but a pillar of ice extended downwards from the spear and blocked my attack.

“Go get the rat, I’ll deal with this Remnant.”  The woman said.  “Yes, Lady Susan!”  The thugs yelled before running into the casino after Mr. Chino.  Susan redirected her focus to me, and my intuition barely warned me in time to disengage.  I leapt backwards as Susan’s hair shimmered.  The temperature of the air within her immediate vicinity dropped sharply, causing a small amount of hail to form from the moisture in the air being frozen instantly.  My defensive artifact started glowing as it blocked the part of the spell, even though I was just on the edge of its area of effect.  Why did it have to be an ice elementalist?  I hate the cold!

I took out my throwing knives, opting for a ranged battle rather than risk getting frozen again.  They hummed menacingly as they soared through the air, gouging large chunks of ice from the shield that Susan conjured for protection against them.  She didn’t notice that the deflected projectiles gathered above her in the air.  I drew my butterfly swords out once more, and charged.  As soon as I saw Susan channeling the same flash freeze spell as before, I willed my trap to spring.

The knives dropped towards Susan, interrupting her spell midway.  She reacted phenomenally, twisting out of the way to avoid getting hit in any vital areas.  My efforts were still rewarded as I saw a multitude of deep gashes along her body.  Susan didn’t have any time to recover as I engaged right after the barrage.  She barely managed to swing her spear to fend me off momentarily.  I sensed my advantage and activated the enchantment on my blades.  The rigid steel became soft and supple, elongating to become more similar to a bladed whip than a sword.  My right sword twisted around Susan, and constricted like a serpent.  But instead of crushing, my blade cut through her, leaving nothing but a pile of snow.  Wait, snow?!?  It was a decoy!

Susan appeared behind me, her ice spear morphing into an intimidating greataxe.  She swung down on my exposed back with all her might, only to be intercepted as my left blade formed a protective cocoon around me.  There was a loud ringing sound, as if she had struck a bell.  Before she could strike again, my throwing knives rose from the ground like a flock of angry birds and soared towards her.

I quickly backed away to safety as she was forced to take defensive action.  Phew, that was too close.  Terra’s intense training really is paying off.  The old me would never be able to use the full power of these heroic artifacts otherwise.  Longfangs and Farclaws, those are the names of my swords and throwing knives respectively.  The names appeared on the weapons on the day I fully unlocked their power during training.  Longfangs can change from rigid to flexible and elongate and contract at will, moving as if it were a part of me.  I have yet to discover its maximum length.  Farclaws can be thrown and manipulated with merely my mind, and it can easily pierce steel.  Furthermore, they have a helpful automatic function that allows them to operate independently of me.

A cold wind passed between us, as we stared each other down.  I could sense the unrestrained rage bubbling within her, yet her face was completely impassive.  It was if it was frozen like that.  “Annoying bitch.  I’ll kill you.”  Susan spoke in her monotone voice.  Her wounds from Farclaws were dripping bluish blood, which froze upon contact with the ground.  I contracted Longfangs back to their original length, while I controlled Farclaws to surround me in a defensive position.  The surroundings went from cold to even colder as I hoped that Mr. Chino manages to contact the police.

Ratface’s POV

I thought retirement from crime meant that I wouldn’t have to deal with this shit anymore!  My holophone is not fucking working and the wired line I have in my office is currently being blocked off by the two racketeers.  I frantically dodged as another slot machine was destroyed and yet another hole appeared in the wall behind it.  “Stop blowing holes in my place!”  I screeched as I tried firing back at the two Pandemonium stooges.  My aim is not the greatest, but thankfully I have my smart pistol.  I managed to mark the two with my scanner, allowing my pistol to adjust my shots as I pull the trigger to ensure that my aim is on target.  I stuck my pistol out of cover and blindly fired, knowing that the pistol would compensate for my shit aim as long as I pointed in the right direction.

One of the thugs roared in pain, indicating that I got him.  Ha!  It was worth overpaying that asshole of a quartermaster to sneak me this gun!  “Koyrie!  Use the new gear!  If we take any longer Susan is going to make popsicles out of us!”  New gear?  What does he mean by that?  The whirling sound of a repeating laser rifle answered my question.  “FUCK!!!”  I screamed as I hit the deck right when a searing salvo of laser fire melted through the card table I was hiding behind.  I am so fucked, worse than the hooker I saw last week.  My smart pistol, military grade weapon that it is, has no chance against goddamn lost technology!  Only the most powerful militaries in the world have managed to start recreating that tech!  What goddamn Council of Nine member do they have in their pocket?

The wall behind me collapsed, giving me a new route to my office.  I sprinted into the newly accessible back room, and opened up the trap door hidden within there.  The tunnel beneath it leads into my office, or rather, the tunnel beneath my office leads here.  It was originally an escape route for me in case police (or somebody worse) came charging into my office.

“Where is he?”  “I don’t know!  Fuck it!!!  Nemiyet, go possess him!”  “Fine!!!”  Shit, that sounds freaky.  I grabbed the hardline in my office, it seems to still be working.  Good, old tech has always been more reliable.  “Emergency Response, please state your emergency.”  “PANDEMONIUM ATTACK!!!!!”  I bellowed into the phone, likely deafening the operator in the process.  “We have your location, security forces are in bound.”  30 seconds passed before the Pandemonium members figured out where I was.  The office door was kicked in and one human walked in.  He was lugging the repeating laser rifle from earlier, but on his shoulder was a little red monstrosity with goat horns, bat wings, and a forked tail.  Fuck me, is that what I think it is?

“He’s all yours, Nemiyet.”  The man evilly said.  But before anything could happen, the man’s head turned into a pink mist, and the imp turned into a green mist.  Standing behind him was that terrifying boyfriend of Kira’s, clad in his trench coat and bandana with Kira close behind.  My eyes were quickly drawn back to the corpse, which was twitching as another hideous little imp materialized out of it.  It didn’t even have time to screech before a searing blue flame turned it into ash.  Holy fuck, what is going on?!?  “Relax, Ratface.  You won’t remember a thing.”  “Don’t overdo it, Terra!”