I meet her gaze flatly. She returns my stare for a bit before she turns away and goes back to eating. I turn to each of the others slowly, facing them down. Sia La growls, his flames flashing and intensifying but eventually, dimming. The Crossbowperson I fail at staring down, what with it lacking eyes that are easy to spot, but I get a squishy, squirmy bob. And last but not least is Cunwoz.
“Get it over with.”
So I do. Of course, after my first cast of the Shackles of Eternity on Cunwoz, she can’t help but speak up.
“You’re really him, aren’t you? The one they warned us about.”
“They had a warning?” I say, raising an eyebrow.
“A half dozen individuals, moving around to help Earth. One of them could be the Redeemer of the Dead, the Grand Paladin himself. A Heroic Class opponent.”
Cunwoz hesitates, and in the gap, Sia La interjects with his high-pitched voice. “You’re on a non-contact, inform-once-sighted list. Someone wants you found. And they’re paying a lot.”
“That’s nice,” I say, watching my Mana climb. I left enough to trigger Judgment of All if necessary. In this crowded area, I have the advantage over this ranged attack team. I’d prefer not to kill them, but you never know. “You wouldn’t be trying to contact them, would you?”
Cunwoz makes a little trilling sound that is so high-pitched, my ears hurt. “No. But you’ve got some major enemies. There’s not just a flat bounty on you Earthers. There’s a Galactic bounty on you specifically. Hush-hush, but it’s there.”
“Why not public?” I send to Ali, curious about that discrepancy.
“No idea. Maybe they don’t trust your average citizen not to try for somethingmore?”
“You wouldn’t happen to know who’s after me, would you?” At their silence, I sigh.
“But we got the contact information for the bounty. We could give it to you,” Sia La speaks up, buzzing closer to me. “For a price.”
“How about I not kill you? That work as a price?”
“You won’t be able to kill me before I get word out. And I’m pretty sure you don’t want that to happen. Because all you’ve been doing is to stay hidden, isn’t it?” Sia La says.
I consider taking him up on the offer. Ending him. He doesn’t know all that I can do, including Grand Cross. But… “What do you want?”
“Credits. You cost us a job. Figure you should pay for it.”
My lips twist into a snarl. “Fine. Escrow account. We’ll get you paid.”
“Get?”
“Don’t push it.” I let a little of the rage that I keep contained, that is part of me, leak. I don’t bother with an Aura. I just do it with body language and my eyes. The simple, clear knowledge that if he pushes me, I’ll end him, his friends, and then watch the rest of the city burn down.
“Fine… escrow,” Sai La says.
I offer him a tight smile. “Good. So, to summarize. You won’t tell me who hired you, you want me to pay you for the contact information on the bounty on my head and the failed hit, and we just need to finish chaining you all. That about right?”
The susurration of resigned acceptance makes me half-smile. It’s not the best option there is, but what is, is.
Chapter 14
Meeting up with the team and informing them of my recent altercation happened hours later. I verified I was safe before I made my way over, but it was clear, anonymity was no longer a guarantee. Relating the fight took only a few minutes, but the conversation itself required more time.
“I don’t get it,” Mikito says, shaking her head. “You could have finished them off. Why meet? And bind them all?”
“Information,” I say.
“But they didn’t tell you anything.”
“Actually, they did,” Harry corrects Mikito, rubbing his chin. “And I have to say, John, you’ve gotten quite sly.”
I sketch a bow. “Thank you.”
“What am I missing?” Mikito says.
“Subtlety, obviously,” Ali teases. When Mikito hefts Hitoshi in warning, Ali ducks away with a laugh. “We know whoever hired them suspects John is here but isn’t certain. If they knew, they’d never have used a bunch of Master Classers as a first strike. So it’s not the Council.”
“Exactly,” I say. “They probably think we’re hired guns, people that maybe I contacted.”
“And not ourselves.” Mikito shakes her head, short hair twisting in the motion. She runs a hand through her hair, eyeing the red in it, the thicker, almost dread-like nature the spells and enchantments made of it. “But why would the Council not be watching for us? Why are they not the ones acting?”
“Ah, that’d be Feh’ral and the Corrupted Librarians’ fault.” I open my hand sideways. “One of the reasons I met with him was to get his help, and theirs. They’re used to hiding—and making a mess when they need to. Having them slide lies about our location into the System is actually easy enough, with the right Skills.”
“And that’s enough to deal with the Lady?” Harry says. “Or are you counting on her lack of attention?”
“A little of both,” I say. “Feh’ral might also be making himself a little bit of a target.”
“Why?”
“Because it doesn’t cost him much,” I say. “And because I might have a chance of learning something he could use for the Quest.”
Both of my friends roll their eyes. The fact that it’s the truth, that the possibility of solving the Quest is what drives us Questors, well, that’s just what we are. Fanatics perhaps, but reliable fanatics.
It’s also how we got the rest of the Corrupted Questors on our side, risking their lives. A promise of knowledge, of an answer is enough to drive them to action. At least, in a limited fashion.
We’re still waiting for the final verdict, for the testing to be done on the knowledge I’ve passed on to them. Until that happens, they’re willing to extend some help, but not all that they can offer.
“Fine. So they have guesses on why we’ve not come to Earth’s help directly. Which is why you delayed us going in, because running straight in would leave us trapped.” Mikito ticks off on her fingers as she speaks. “You’ve got the Questors creating distractions as us. You’ve got Feh’ral being a distraction. And you snuck us in with the Lord’s help.
“But that still leaves us being attacked by people who don’t want Earth to keep its seat. And they’re still looking for us—or what they think are us. The more fights we get into, the more likelihood our cover will be blown.”
I nod. “Aye. Good news is that we’ve only got to survive a few more days.”
There are quite a few relieved nods at that, and I grin slightly.
I pause, my head snapping to the side. Something happens in the far distance, in the fifth ring, outside of the scope of my immediate awareness. I feel a connection snap, a portion of me disappear, and I blink. “Oh.”
Mikito tenses, seeing my face, then her eyes glaze over a little as she scans for trouble around us. But there’s no immediate danger, as Ali informs them.
“We just lost one of John’s doppelgangers.”
I’m silent as data streams in. I pull at the memories, System-formed and provided to me in a block. It’s kind of like the library, the way the data is parsed. Strange, since it’s not really my memories.
“What happened?” Harry says, his voice filled with concern.
“Not sure yet. I’m still trying to understand what happened. I just know he’s dead now.” I cock my head, giving Ali a look.
The Spirit rolls his eyes, but his fingers twitch as he looks into public broadcasts.
“And your other one?” Harry says.
“Doing his job,” I say. When Harry raises an eyebrow, I shrug. “He’s disposable, and we need to keep moving. He’s on-planet right now anyway.”
“That’s… not very nice,” Mikito points out.
“Mana construct.”
“You know, that sounds a lot like slavery,” Harry says. “And sacrificing what we don’t like.”