Broker

Side Story – Vigilantes I

The tunnel continued on for over an hour, gradually sloping downwards into the Parisian depths. Martin kept his eyes on the path, his ability granting him clarity despite the growing darkness. Despite the cool atmosphere and relative quiet, the experience was anything but pleasant. The further he moved along, more and more signs of something terrible happening in the bowls of Paris became evident. He stopped at another half-dried puddle of blood and crouched down next to it, the clarity in his vision swapping out for more detail. The images were confused and muddled, fragmented, but he knew enough. It belonged to a tourist, a backpacker just starting out on their journey across Europe.

He let out a heavy sigh and scratched his chin. He knew the young mans name, where he’d come from, everything up until he had made the foolish decision to seek ‘satisfaction’ in a back alley. From there, everything became a blur of violence and unconsciousness marred by an overlaying current of mana that made getting the full truth difficult. There wasn’t enough here to draw from. He needed to find a body, from that, he could see everything. He got to his feet and turned from the puddle of blood in time to see a pair of glowing green eyes looking back at him.

“Still following me?” He grunted, turning away after holding the woman’s gaze for a few moments.

“I’m just going the same way you are,” Addison said while not actually moving an inch until he started walking himself.

“You could have gone ahead,” He pointed out.

“You can see where to step without falling over,” She countered, “Why wouldn’t I stand behind the bloodhound?”

He huffed and shook his head, “Do what you want,” He said irritably as his vision switched back over to seeing the world clearly. The path lay before him in colored relief, no shadows interfering with his line of sight. He resumed his solitary march, pretending that the nosy woman wasn’t following him as he went over what little information he had in his mind. For someone with Mimir’s Eyes I seem to be lacking a great deal of knowledge. He thought grumpily, I know why he does what he does, or at least what Ishtar believes he does. Her experiences are subjective, though, I won’t know for sure until I lay eyes on him myself. Why is he doing this? How does his ability work? Something with demons but-

He glanced back at the blood splotch on the ground, Human Sacrifice? I haven’t heard of an ability that necessitated that. He frowned, Abilities have drawbacks and downsides sometimes, costs, very rarely in mythics though. He scratched at his neck before pausing and squinting down the path. He frowned and drew the gun from his pocket before throwing his hand out to the left. Addison bumped into him and was about to bark out a question when he held his hand up over her mouth, “Shh,” He hissed.

He glanced down at the gun and checked the ammunition, it was cheaply made, but it was tipped with monster bone. Enough to do some damage. He scoffed, he almost missed ASTA Quality equipment in that moment. He turned his attention up to what he’d seen lurking in the shadows, watching them. It was the size of a chimpanzee but terribly thin, with too-long forearms and a squat, flat faced head. It had no nose, rather just a hole like on a skull. It had long serrated teeth designed for grasping and ripping. Those teeth were revealed by the knowing sneer of a creature that believed itself invisible.

If I switch to truth, I’ll lose sight of it, He thought, I’ll have to trust my instincts. He pivoted and aimed a little to the right of the creature and fired. The single gunshot rang out, causing Addison to step back warily. The noise was enough to startle the creature as well and it quickly dislodged itself from where it had been hiding, darting to its right. Right into the line of fire. A hole formed in the side of its misshapen head and it dropped to the ground with a thud. Silenced forever. He waited for it to dissolve like a manifested creature he’d seen from another light-touched ability.

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Nothing. It remained.

It’s real. Like a true monster. He clicked his tongue. 

“The fuck Martin?” Addison demanded.

“Demon,” He grunted and moved ahead, stopping next to the corpse. He crouched and switched his vision over, opening himself up to the truth about the beast. He immediately recoiled and staggered back, falling ass-first onto the ground before pushing away from it. He felt nausea run up his throat before he coughed and forced it down, slamming his fist onto the ground. “Damn it!” She was right to goad me to come here. Damn that woman! He snarled as he caught his breath.

Addison wasn’t far behind. She stopped next to him and glanced down at the corpse. Her glowing green eyes narrowed before she looked back at him, “How bad?” She asked.

“You should go home, Major,” He said and coughed. He scowled, wiping his mouth with his sleeve, “You’re out of your league.”

“Bullshit,” She said, “I’m here till I’m done, now what did you see?”

He glared at her for a moment before letting out a sigh, “They’re eating people,” He said, “Slowly. Hacking off bits at a time and keeping them alive,” He added, his glowing eyes dimming a bit as he looked down the path again. “It isn’t pretty.”

She stiffened then squared her shoulders, “Why?” She demanded.

He got to his feet and brushed himself off, “Anguish influences the meat somehow for them,” He said, “They subsist on it and mana, they’re born from it,” He continued as he started marching his way down the passage again, his gun at the ready. There were going to be more, he knew it. He glanced back at her as she moved to catch up, “And no, before you ask, there wasn’t a dungeon break down here.”

“Then how? The only monsters that form without a dungeon present are-”

“Hounds and Lurkers, I know,” He interrupted her, “They aren’t your ordinary monsters. They’re the end result of a mythic-tier ability. One that makes permanent entities that need to be fed,” He paused and let out a sigh, “If you’re going to keep following me, I need to know, can you handle yourself in a fight?”

She fell into step next to him and scowled in his direction, “I was a Major in TAG, you tell me.”

He returned her scowl with a thousand-yard stare, “So?” He grunted, “I’m talking abilities and monsters, not people,” He spat. “I can’t fight worth shit but if you’re gonna follow me around you might as well make yourself useful,” She glanced back over her shoulder at the demon he killed. He scoffed, “Lucky shot.”

“Didn’t you learn everything about me with those eyes of yours?” She asked after a long pause.

“I was trying to be polite,” He grumbled, “Only looked into your personal history. Apparently it’s rude to ask someone the name of their ability,” He added with a shrug, “So are you worth anything in a fight or not?”

She returned his stare for a moment before letting out a sigh and reaching into her shirt, she pulled on a thin chain that he hadn’t noticed before and revealed a ring hanging around her neck. It was a simple silver band with a large emerald gleaming on it. The emerald released a faint pulse as she rubbed her thumb over it. The next moment she held up her hand and a flickering green spark appeared over her palm.

“I can do a lot of things, but I’m best at doing damage,” She said harshly before tapping her temple, “Got spells in my head that I can cast, it’s a bit of a pain to cast anything other than the offensive ones though.”

“Bluestar has an ability like yours, the Guildmaster of the ASTA Guild,” He said, “She’s talented with defensive magic, apparently.”

She huffed and clenched her fist, the spark vanishing, “Tell her I’m green with envy,” She quipped before looking past him, “Satisfied?”

“It’ll do,” He said with a shrug and started walking again. He paused for a moment before letting out a breath, Dammit. “Sorry about the whole looking into your past thing,” He said, “That was-”

“I get it,” She waved it off, “I’m more interested in what you’re even doing here. Chasing after disappeared people and stumbling into some kind of demon-related conspiracy or whatever,” She said, checking her belt absently and running her hand over the handle of her gun, “Shouldn’t someone with your power be out there sussing out big villains? Couldn’t you find Ishtar?”

He froze mid step, his shoulders tensing. He opened his mouth but it had gone dry. His throat clenched and he felt every cell in his body force him into immobility. He closed his eyes and took a thin breath before turning to stare at her, hard. He tried again to speak but nothing came. She returned his stare and a number of emotions washed over her face. Confusion, thoughtfulness, realization, and then horror.

“You already did!”