Seeking Strays

The man didn’t move from his position in front of the safe. The dials of the safe twisted around with the calm ease of a man perfectly in control, and not in the middle of where a battle just took place.

“Call me Vesper.” He glanced back over his shoulder, and light from the windows near the roof of the warehouse flashed down on his face. Shadows cast by his scarf and hat covered everything except for dark gray eyes. “Just a tick, old chap. Almost done here.”

I hesitated a moment. I wasn’t much of a safe cracker. If he could get in, I might as well let him. It’d make retrieving the serums a whole lot easier. Seek was burning a trail into the back of my mind straight toward that safe. Instead of dealing with the man right away, I kicked up my axe and slid it back into place.

“I’ll have to revise my assumptions about you.” The man laughed lightly to himself and shook his head. “Life really is full of little surprises, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?” I asked as I reached down to the open bullet wounds on my leg. I dug my armored fingers into the wound, and felt pain flare down my thigh. After a moment, a blood-covered bullet popped out.

”Well, all ten of them are still alive. Truly remarkable restraint for someone given your, ahem, reputation.” He whispered the last word back as if letting me in on some secret.

"You know me?” I flicked the bloody bullet to the ground, and it rattled against the concrete. Flecks of blood splattered across the ground. Not like I had to worry about being tracked back through my blood with the syndicate’s plant running the lab.

“Ah, almost there, old chap.” He went silent, and started to twist the dials of the safe once more.

A few seconds after I got the last of the bullets I could reach out, the safe clicked open. The man stood up, and kicked the door to the side. “I do so appreciate you letting me finish. Patience really is lacking these days, I’m afraid.”

”So?” I flicked the last bloodied bullet to the side. Already, I could feel my wounds slowly starting to heal. There were still a few stuck in me, but I’d have to wait till I could fish them out with a knife later. “You with them?”

The man laughed, and leaned back against the safe’s door. Light from the warehouse dipped down past a red scarf pushed up high around shoulders. The man had high cheekbones, and a rather angular face. “I wouldn’t be caught dead with this kind of crowd. Barghest, right?”

”Who’s asking?” My tail curled around my leg. I wasn’t a very well known figure outside of Hades, so anyone who knew my name set me on edge. “You with Harbor? Hades?”

“No, no… I’m a friend. Maybe.” He leaned down and pulled out the cryo case holding the Stygian Growth Serum. “Ah, I should return this, yes? As a sign of good faith between friends.”

”Return?” My ears shot upright. “You’re the thief?”

”Was the thief, old chap.” He patted the cryo case and waved a hand. Everything else in the safe was swallowed by shadows and disappeared. “Was.”

I blinked, and eyed the suddenly empty safe. Psyker? No, could be Awoken and just not revealing his halo. The chances of two Psykers showing up in one place were incredibly low. ‘Sides, Awoken could still use their powers without their halos deployed, though they would be weaker.

Could be some kind of Reaver ability, and his mutations were just hidden away, actually. The scarf did a good enough job hiding his neck and chest. “Why take it if you were just going to return it?”

”For you, Barghest.” Vesper hopped up onto the safe, and lightly stroked the cryo case with a hand. “You’re a hard man to find. Even harder to get alone without some… creative methods.”

“That’s what you call this?” I waved to the warehouse. More accurately, I waved to the men he expected me to ice. “A creative method? What about the Pikers? You planning to sacrifice them to me?”

”They were just unexpected in-flight entertainment. Smashing good show, by the way,” He adjusted his scarf ever so slightly, though his face was entirely still covered up. The man casually offered me the cryo case with one hand. “I’ve got a job proposition.”

”Not interested.” I stopped forward and snatched the cryo case. A quick look inside revealed a dozen vials still safe and sound. Just to be sure, I swapped Seek to the vials to ensure this wasn’t a fake out with similar looking fluids. Everything seemed to be in order.

”Probably want this too, don’t you?” Vesper held up his hand as if holding something. Shadows condensed on his held up hand, and pulled back to reveal a bundle of papers. “That doctor would have a heart attack if none of his research documents returned.”

”Is that a threat?” My tail curled low. I had the vials, so it wouldn’t be a total loss if I bailed now. I really didn’t want to fight this guy. Not when he had some weird shadow power I didn’t know the limits of yet.

“Nothing of the sort.” He set the files down on top of the safe. “We’re friends here, Barghest. Mutual interests and all that.”

”You an Anarch?” I eyed his clothing. He didn’t seem the type, but there was no telling… My eyes caught on a pendant tucked under his scarf. It was the familiar burning sigil of the Pyre. Someone from the church, maybe? Or someone trying to make it look like he was from the church. Anyone could get a hold of one of those.

”No.” As if I’d believe that. A Beyonder traveling around stealing stuff could only be an Anarch. Vesper tapped the files with a finger, and eyed the downed Pikers. “I need help finding a few things. I hear you’re the one to call, old chap?”

I… I looked down at my armored body and the glowing runes spread across me. Although I may look like this, I didn’t want to help an Anarch. I was still a law-abiding citizen of the UCS. Heh, right. Law-abiding. ”I don’t do outside work.”

”Just give it some thought? I’ll make it worth your while.” He hopped off the safe, and left the files behind. He took a few steps away, and shadows darkened around him. The man slowly started to sink into the floor. “I’ll be in touch.”

Vesper vanished into the shadows, leaving me alone with the stolen research. I retrieved them, and held them up into the light. Mission accomplished… So why did my heart beat so painfully?

I gave one last look around the downed Pikers. Once I got back to the car, I could call in a squad of PK using that radio I got from the checkpoint. None of these guys had fatal injuries, but they were injured all the same. They’d need medical treatment at some point.

My eyes dropped to the man with the pike stabbed through his shoulder. He was still groaning and twitching around, though the enchantment had long worn out. Maybe I should start carrying a medkit with me on these things. It wouldn’t be much, but I could at least give an emergency stitch for the worse off.

I forced myself to move, and walked back toward the entrance to the storm sewer. The sooner I got back, the better. For more than one reason. There was just one issue left… what was I going to do with the serum?

The thought haunted me the entire way back through the storm sewer. The rushing tide of water didn’t help anything… nor did the corpses flowing in it. I’d have to call in an anonymous tip that a calamity got into the storm sewers in this area, too.

It was only once I was just below where I parked my SUV that I forced myself to stop and think things through. Frigid water rushed past my legs as I leaned against the wall of the storm sewers just next to my ladder out, and looked down at the crate.

Okay… okay, okay, okay. How did I want to do this? If I just outright destroyed it, there was no telling what Hades would do. If they learned about this—shit, they might’ve already learned of my duplicity. “Vigil, does this armor have any recording features?”

”There is no outbound signals, Operator.” His eyes blinked, and a red light traced along my body. “This unit is not optimized for the creations of Arcanists.”

I lifted a hand up to the brim of my helmet, and brushed water off the lens right over my eyes. “If there's a magical recording, could you detect that?”

“This unit is 89.99% confident there is no such function,” Vigil said.

A soft sigh escaped me, and I relaxed slightly. That was one less thing to worry about. Maybe… yeah, that could work. I hesitated a moment longer before pulling out a single vial. I couldn’t afford to fail completely. If I did, Doctor Mysoph would pin the blame all on me.

I lifted the box, and stared at the blinking lights. Was I really going to do this? Months ago, I would’ve brought it straight back as the ever loyal retriever dog. There would’ve been zero hesitation. Somewhere not that deep inside of me, I still wanted to return it safe and sound. That side was smothered under bone-deep terror over what they’d do if they had this kind of thing.

I tucked the vial into my pocket, and slammed my axed down into the cryo case. The lights across the expensive case flickered and abruptly went out. The sound of glass shattering was drowned out by the flowing water as I ripped my axe back out of the case. The serum spilled across the floor.

With that taken care of, I headed up the ladder. The moment I was out, my armor melted away back to Canary—ah, no. I was currently Hostage Negotiator Reyna now, wasn’t I?

I got back in the SUV and drove toward the edge of the blocked off districts. There wasn’t any reception with all the power turned off. Once I got close enough, I called Mysoph. The doctor answered after the first ring. “What is it?”

”I’ve found them, sir.” I sent a map ping to him, and looked out toward the bright lights of the city. Once this was over… Sylvie was probably home by now.

“Good! Good!” He shouted and clapped his hands together. The sharp sound made my ears twitch. “Still in one piece? And my research documents? Are they safe?”

”Negative.” I held up his research documents, and casually lit the bottom on fire. As the fire danced up the paper and turned ashen, I tossed it out the window into a storm gutter. “The Anarch destroyed it all when I caught up with them.”

“Fuck! And what of the serum?” The doctor’s voice took on an frantic note. “Oh please, Pyre, let the serum be safe.”

I held up the vial that he was praying for, and looked through the black oil-like substance. “I rescued one.”

Agonized screaming cut across the phone. It was only after he managed to get ahold of himself that he came back to the phone breatheless. “The one—is it in safe condition?”

”I think so.” I dropped the vial into the cup holder, and leaned back to watch the rain splatter across the windshield. “The rest of them were destroyed along with the case.”

”It must stay cold! See if you can find a refrigerator or something!” He screeched like a suffocating bird. “You must protect that with your life!”

”One problem, sir. The power’s out.” I kicked my feet up onto the dash and pushed my chair back. “It’ll take at least an hour for me to cross back through to somewhere with power.”

“Fuck! What were those boneheads in the mayor’s office thinking?!” He went silent for a moment. When his voice came back, it transformed into something eerily calm that made my tail straighten up out of instinct. “How long has it been out of the case already?”

I ran my hand along the spiked up fur of my tail and tried to calm myself down. ”Thirty minutes? Give or take some.”

“Inject yourself, Barghest.”

“Sir?” My eyes widened as I heard the order. I’d considered a lot when thinking up this scheme, but him giving the order to use it on myself hadn’t even crossed my mind.

”It can survive inside of a body.” The calm started to fade once more into the doctor’s reverent obsession. “Yes, yes! Once you get back, I’ll extract it and save my research! It’s not over yet!”

“Sir, I can’t—“

“That’s an order, Barghest.” He cut me off with a venomous voice. “Otherwise, I’ll drag you in front of the higher-ups as the reason my research failed.”

“I…” I pulled the vial back out and stared down on it. I was originally planning on it degrading by the time I got it back to the lab.

”Operator, do not worry. This unit suggests you follow his order.” Vigil spoke in favor of Hades, and gave me total whiplash. “My scanners indicate there is a 98.34% chance he will not be able to recover the serum thanks to your unique biology.”

I lowered the phone, and rolled the vial between my fingers. “Won’t he see the nanites if he drew my blood?”

”There is zero chance he will. The primitive technologies here won’t see them.” He went silent for a moment, and then backed up his claim. “The hospital didn’t notice them either, and that was before your injection of the Immuno Mask strain.”

He had a point. It was a horrid point, but a good one… and maybe this would work out in my favor anyway? If I followed orders like this, he couldn’t blame me if he couldn’t recover the serum from my body. It’d be his own fault.

I lifted my phone back up to catch the tail end of the doctor’s rant. The more unwilling I looked to inject it, the less likely he’d be to link the serum’s destruction to me. “I’ll inject it, doctor. You will be able to extract it at the lab? I don’t want this thing in my body.”

”Of course! I just need to draw your blood before it acclimates, and you’ll be totally clear.” His voice instantly dipped away from enraged rant to cheerful doctor. “Hades won’t forget your contribution!”

”Heh, right.” I lifted the vial up one last time. Despite my second thoughts, I carefully injected the Stygian Growth Serum. Cold spread through my veins as I put the SUV back in drive and headed for the nearest PK checkpoint.