M [Syndicate] Hounds and Wolves

[Jack Pine]

MEDUSA SUBSECTOR - 012028:3 (LUNAR BODY X4501-1A, TORTUGA)
THE PIT

Okamitsuki leaned against an errant pipe running upwards along the canyon wall, taking her time eating the raspberry chocolate tart in her hands. She had no idea how Elliott managed to make such good food in the middle of, well, a rotting industrial zone, but she wouldn’t question the elder’s miracles. Eating and pondering wasn’t all the wolf-girl was doing, as her eyes darted back and forth, up and down, examining the somewhat dingy two-story building in front of her.

The Raised Bar. A pompous name for a heaping pile of scrap that called itself a bar, but nevertheless, it was the place where the mine’s overseer had told her that the ‘union’ was holding its meetings at. Union, Suki’s ass. Probably more like a mutiny, based on how the entire mine was operated. But, money was money. The raspberry chocolate tart probably strained her already tight bill as it was now. Before taking the finishing bite of the pastry in hand, she gave it a guilty look, before shrugging. If all went to plan she would be fine for indulging in this one vice.

She had spent the past couple of nights lingering about, trying to appear as just a homeless nobody who was trying to grift the bar owner for some free food. Not that she was successful in that endeavor, but it helped integrate her. No one notices a beggar, especially one who doesn’t talk. And while she hadn’t exactly seen her target, she knew that tonight was a union meeting. And that meant that she could, at the very least, get a gist of what was going to happen.

…And maybe even find out who her target was. The overseer just mentioned the name William Burkes. No description, no hint of what he did, nothing. The wolfgirl’s ear twitched in annoyance, before she pushed herself off of the pipe to trot towards the Raised Bar, the sun’s rays waning behind the moon’s host planet.

Wasn’t much of a bar any more inside, then the outside had already made clear. It was all raucous thugs, and workers keeping to themselves, while also hosting the usual rabble drunks one would expect. It was a cobbled together facade of plastic, false wood, metal that hadn’t completely been freed of all rust, and the drinks… Well some of them looked murkier than the well and recycled water around here. Food was basic, grilled or left over ration components sold at higher menu prices. Most didn’t even acknowledge Okamitsuki, save for the bartender, who eyed her with a veiled glare.

A glare in which Okamitsuki pretended to cower in fear of. She wouldn’t be able to stay long, unfortunately. If there’s one thing all restaurant owners hated, was people staying on their property without paying for service. As it stood, she lingered on, largely getting a feel for the people around her, and isolating potential targets.

There we go. Short stocky man. About 1.75 meters tall. Beard, shaggy hair. Blonde. Gray streaks. Unimpressive- except for the mining clothes. Specifically, the mining clothes with her client’s insignia stamped on the shoulder. Maybe not her man. But a link to which she could identify her target. But before she could identify more, the bartender moved out from behind the counter, stick in hand. “Listen, I’ve told you before, I don’t give handouts! Now get out of here, you’re dirtying the place up!”

Asshole.

Making all the due impressions of being suitably frightened, the wolfgirl scurried off. After weaving her way between the crowd in the streets, she wound her way back to the bar, this time in the alley-way between the bar and the neighboring building- a cigarette and vaping shop of only slightly more repute than the bar it neighbored. Unfortunately, this alley also had no convenient windows for which Okamitsuki could spy on the interior. Staying near the air vents also wouldn’t help. They were busy pumping in cold air to be released above the patrons of the bar. A job which it seemed like it was struggling at.

But, it could provide a way for Suki to reach the second floor, or even the roof. Just doing it unseen was the challenge. Screwing her lips in thought, the genemod followed the vent’s path, shoulders sagging in slight relief as she saw that they extended further into the alleyway- at least, on the second floor. So, she had to reach that point first.

She shuffled inwards, away from the main street, and hopped on the trash can on the vape shop’s side. She jumped towards the wall of the bar, kicking off of it to grasp onto the smaller pipe that circled the top of the one-story shop, using that to quickly hold her and get her feet ready for another spring- this time, onto the outside venting of the bar. Scrambling on top of it, she then hitched up onto the roof of the bar, observing the occasional smoke-stack that popped out of the top.

Suki padded quietly, pausing to listen at the occasional smokestack, or an open grille on the air ventilation. When it wasn’t being disturbed by fans, sound had a tendency to carry. And the genemod had already gotten a good grasp of what the man sounded like. If they wanted to do union… things. Whatever unions did. Mutinies. Whatever. Anyways, they wanted a private room. A private room on the second floor. So now it was a question of which room.

Her answer to that question was quite simple: After stopping to listen at a couple of points, she eventually decided on one, and pried open the grille. Struggling slightly to get inside the vent, Suki managed to squeeze her way in and wiggle her way through until she made it to the second-floor vents, inside. Peering out of the first grille, she noticed that… it was eerily quiet on the second floor hallway. Frowning slightly, she decided to press on, and taking a sharp- and somewhat painful- right turn, she examined the first room.

Clothing. Suitcase. But empty. Risky, but now the genemod was spooked. She strained her neck to look around the limited cone of vision the grille provided, before reluctantly confirming that the room was indeed empty. She then scooted back, swung open the vent, and lowered herself into the guest room.

Still empty. But, even more strangely, and very concerning, was how downstairs was completely silent. Normally, there should be a buzz. Why was it quiet? Okamitsuki gently reached down and touched the knife strapped onto her shoulder for reassurance, before striding to the door, and looking out the viewing port. Just like the room she was in, empty. She hated it. She actually somewhat wished that there were people moving about in there. Giving a quiet growl of frustration, Suki took off her heavy jacket and pants, revealing a tattered, low-cut, and very revealing dress underneath. Kicking off her shoes, she easily managed to get the door to open, stuffing her tools inside the bundle of clothes she was now carrying.

Good. Anyone who met her, aside from the bar owner, would assume she was a prostitute trying to leave discreetly. Giving a slight pause to look at the dirty mirror, the wolfgirl examined herself, green and yellow eyes looking back at her.

…Was she getting fatter? Mists hide her from that. She didn’t want to cut herself off of those tasty treats… Anyways. Okamitsuki finally stopped dallying, and took her steps out into the hallway.

Splish! Was the sound her next footstep would make, something still warm and wet, yet clung to the skin was now on her foot. Looking down, there was blood, and across the length of the hall, enough for two to three people perhaps. Her foot alone could tell her it was fresh too, slight drag marks pointing further into the second floor. It was now clear something was very very wrong, and someone had gotten here first.

Okamitsuki annoyedly shook her foot, mouth thinning in response to the scene. If all went according to plan, she just had to jinx it. She sidestepped the general puddle- that was a bit difficult, given how narrow the hallway was- and then she dried her wet foot to the best of her ability with a piece of clothing- her pants. Annoying, but she didn’t want to leave footprints. With that done, she quickly padded her way to the stairwell, stopping just before reaching it to listen again. Silence. Again. Damn. Silence.

Giving another quiet growl, Okamitsuki decided to make her way down the stairway. Risky, especially considering the bartender was down there, but she needed to know what was happening. Quietly toeing down the stair, glad that it was made of concrete, she made her way to the first floor. A door blocked her way to the main lobby- something that was both a blessing and a curse- blessing, in that she wasn’t seen. Curse, as in she couldn’t see. Chewing the inside of her lip, she opened the door oh so slightly, first to test for creaking. None. So she could commit just a bit more, enough to behold the scene in front of her.

Broken furniture. A body laying on a ruined table, charred slash from chest to face. The bartender slumped against his drink dispenser, bullet to the head. A third… wreckage… of a corpse. It was cut in half, the two halves very much ripped, almost as if someone had taken a chainsaw to the man. Very.. brutal. And messy. But she recognized the face of the second man- stocky. Blonde hair and beard.

Someone else was after her target. Damn it. She turned, and dashed her way up the stairs, and upon reaching the second floor, followed the blood trail to its logical conclusion- a door at the end of the hallway. Which was open, and the low hum of voices- A voice- reached her ears. Flattening herself against the hallway wall, the genemod looked inwards to see the interior of the room, dagger unsheathed from her shoulder, at the ready.

“-has the ore you’ve been skimming, being sent? We know you’ve been sending it to various smaller parties, and some labs. What purpose does it serve, and why were you so foolish to think you wouldn’t be found out, Mr. Burke?” The voice intoned, calmly yet coldly, as they paced around the man in the chair. The trail ended right at the man’s leg, a large stab wound from a blade in his high. Said blade shined with a crimson sheen like the blood that still dripped from its edge, and hummed with a sonic resonating pitch that made teeth rattle if too close.

“This will all be over if you just tell us what we want to know. Give us a reason for your betrayal, and perhaps we’ll make it painless.”, the figure continued as they interrogated him, the blade dragged across skin to insight pain, a punishment for every second he made the figure wait for an answer.

Shit. Shit. Shit. That was HER kill. Who the hell ordered a hit on the man as well? Did her… ‘employer’... hire multiple people? Damn it all. She needed this kill. She needed that money. And it had to be interrupted by…

Was that the insignia of the Syndicate? Okamitsuki felt a fission of fear. If this mysterious man was somehow involved with the syndicate, her job- and life- could be made much harder. So much harder. Should she really interrupt..? She blinked as she then noticed the red flash on Burke’s skin. The enforcer was going to kill him!

At that point, Suki panicked. She threw the knife, performing the cardinal sin of lingering to watch to ensure she had the kill. As the dagger punched through the man’s forehead, Suki at least had the sense to start moving as soon as she realized the kill would happen, dashing away to the windowsill that sat at the end of the hallway. She forced open the window, and attempted to squeeze through.

Key word is attempt. She got stuck for the first few seconds. Maybe she HAD been eating too much at Ellie’s. After a few seconds of struggling, she popped out, and landed with a thud on the roof overhang. She scrabbled for grip for a moment on the rather slick sheet metal, before giving up and deciding to jump off before reaching the dangerously sharp edges of the metal itself. This, in turn, resulted in her landing with a roll on the ground itself as she attempted to control her inertia.

Unfortunately, she landed in a street full of people, who were probably staring at her. Damnitdamnitdamnit. She actually felt mortified. She hadn’t felt this way ever since her last mission with mistress Keliah, who had told her to distract the guards. Feeling very exposed, she took another fatal moment to glance around, seeing an errant alleyway a few buildings away- but most importantly, with both ends exposed to streets. She swerved her way to the dark shelter of said alleyway, practically sliding into it as she hid herself as much as she could behind yet another trash bin lying on the side of the building.

The wolf girl fumbled with the ball of clothing she still held gripped in her hands- though it seems as if she lost the jacket. Dropping the rest in front of her, she buried her face in her hands, gasping slightly. That… went horribly. Hopefully, just hopefully, the enforcer didn’t see her face. Or even asked the people in the street she was on what she looked like. Or didn’t try to trace the origin of the knife she threw. Or…

Oh mists. She was screwed, wasn’t she? She was already making plans to head to a different section of the town. It wouldn’t save her forever, but maybe she could lie low enough, and try hard enough, to get enough money for transport to a different planet? But she would have to find a smuggler that wasn’t in the pocket of the syndicate. And then she’d have to try and make sure that even if that was the case, there couldn’t be a trail that led to her. And then she’d probably have to change her identity. Maybe dye her hair. Wear contacts? And she was weaponless right now. Wait. Damn it. Damn it! She needed proof that the man was dead! Maybe…


Rey had been about to intone his question again, before there was curiously and suddenly a knife now embedded in his quarry’s skull. A tilt of the head registered the fact as it was inflicted, before hearing what sounded like a stray cat that had been caught in the trash scrambling down the hall. They weren’t exactly elegant or used much finesse in their panicked fleeing. He simply grabbed the deceased’s hair and severed their head along with the back of the chair in the process, as he carried the head with him. With a brisk stroll, it was not hard to bend the corner quick enough to get a vision of panties strained against a large rear.

At least almost as much as their hips through the windowsill, before tumbling out loudly onto the metal roof. Keeping the stroll, Rey followed the scared thing, which seemed to be some strange woman. Slipping out to the roof, he was looking down as she scurried into a nearby alley, instead of what a sensible person would have done and just quickly gathered distance from here. Making his way down, and around to the alley itself, she was still there rocking in panic behind a trash can. At first, the enforcer debated on whether he should question her, tease her, or do away with her. This was all while silently perched above her, yet in her fearful racing mind, hadn’t seemed to notice yet.

Perhaps against his better judgment, Rey looked at the head he still carried in hand, an audible drip of arterial fluids still emanating from the blood that was leaving the head. Much like that from the wound where her knife was still buried deep into his forehead. With no thought, or word, he simply sat the head down next to her, and waited silently.

Suki’s head snapped up upon hearing a thud next to her. She looked over, and saw William’s head next to her, knife still embedded in it. Blinking, she picked up the head by the hair, and pulled out the knife with the other hand. Where did this come from? Suki idly wiped a side of the blade on the edge of her short dress, plotting how to quickly head back to the mining overseer and get funds to work with, already standing up to take advantage of this fortuitous turn of events, before another thought entered her head. Where DID this come from? Turning around to look upwards, she was met with… the enforcer.

Completely started, the wolfgirl skittered backwards, glancing behind her for yet another escape route. Would that even work? The Enforcer was obviously going to stick to her like glue. So maybe… maybe her best bet was to try and actually get rid of him. It wouldn’t save her forever, as the Syndicate would start asking questions. But.. if she pulled this off, it would buy her time to get her payment and get out of her. Suki’s hand gripped the hair tightly- her next few days quite literally depended on the money, now.

She still took a few steps backwards, trying to get space, and time, to analyze the area in front of her; meanwhile, her left hand held her knife, which she twirled around as she debated on a forward, or a reverse grip. He’s got the longer weapon. But she doubted she could beat him in a grapple. But that was her best option, especially in this tight space. But first, she needed to get past his sword. Finesse it was. ..Though, how long did he spend just looking at her and getting a handle on her? Suki paused with that thought, ceasing to bounce on her heels. Why did he decide to drop William’s head next to her? Surely he wasn’t…?

Still holding the knife warily out in front of her, Suki presented the head in front of her to this enforcer, and shook it at him. She then gave a curious sound, as she opened her mouth out came a quiet, hoarse “Muunh?” She then shook William’s head again.

“Oh that, well you seem like the assassin type. You killed him, so I figured you wanted that. I personally don’t care, he was a dead man anyways, you just saved me the time. Nice panties by the way, sure the people on the street enjoyed them too.” Rey gave a small smirk, more to test her nerves, and prod her personality a bit further. He was still perched there, weapon sheaved at his side, being as unhostile as possible.

But he was curious indeed, especially since he made it a habit to track known assassins, or hitmen in general. She wasn’t one of theirs, or on their payroll for as far as he was aware. So freelance, but not notable in any way, or even known on any level. A beginner maybe, or just extremely small time?

Okamitsuki gave a nonplussed look at his casual remark. She seemed like the assassin type? No shit, Shemlock. She only just killed the man he was interrogating. She shifted from foot to foot again, lips twitching as she stared at him. Why did he care about her wanting to get the kill? Suki grimaced, finally coming to a decision. She sheathed the knife, though she still clutched the head as if her life depended on it.

She strode up to Rey, legs trembling all the way until she was standing in front of him, having to look up, and pointed to him with her now-free hand, before pointing back at the head. She repeated the motion again, the same questioning sound coming from her mouth as she mimed stabbing by poking her fingers, though she got too energetic at one point and accidentally poked the eye.

Even as a small chuckle was given at the wet squish of the eye, Rey formulated the question she was trying to convey. “He’s been doing deals behind our backs to undermine us, and had a hand in interfering with the well-being of someone in my charge. Therefore, Syndicate rules dictates he had to die. It wasn’t business, but a chore that he decided to become for me… Though perhaps I will admit it was slightly personal in all honesty.”, the enforcer answered still casually, seeing no reason for him to hide anything.

“So we simply had a shared goal of seeing him dead, even for different reasons and outcomes. I’m satisfied as long as his dying was met, and it was. So, what will you do now, or is there some business you'd like to discuss? I originally was just interested in who was quiet enough to yoink my kill, even if the exit was…. Risque and attention grabbing. I wasn’t expecting such a pretty thing like yourself.”, he added after a moment to actually explain why he was spooking on her.

Omatsuki looked at the enforcer, trying to decide if he was trying to test her or something. Slowly, the gnawing feeling in her gut grew more and more, and her ears and tail drooped slowly, until, at last, the wolf genemod started rummaging through her pockets, before eventually pulling out a poorly written note- a guarantee of her payment. On it, was her payment for hopefully the month- 8000 marks. She practically shoved it in the enforcer’s face, before dropping the head, and making a ripping gesture in the middle of the paper. She repeated it, pointing at the text indicating the money afterwards.

Curse her and her damn honor. If she didn’t share, she’d be solid for about two months, and maybe even have a chance to start building up emergency funds. But no, she wanted to share it because she couldn’t bring herself to allow herself to take all the money for a kill she didn’t fully do by herself.

Rey thought he understood the message, the communication being a little hard though, for obvious reasons. “I don’t want your money, and I don’t have the authority to pay you either. I don’t think you’re asking for the latter, but covering the bases. If the former, and you really feel like you need to for some reason I don’t understand…” He seemed to nonchalantly shrug after a second, thinking on it, “I don’t know, I guess buy me lunch if you really feel like it?”

Suki blinked at him. Was he serious? She pulled out what little marks she had left- 69, to be precise, and waved it around, her face one in disbelief. She couldn’t pay him lunch now. Maybe… maybe after she got the bounty? The shinobi…wannabe looked around for a moment, before looking at the head and the paper in her hands, and strode a bit past the enforcer, turned the paper on its blank side, and then yanked out a bundle of hair from the head, wrapping some to create a brush. She then dipped it in the now-sticky area of the neck, and wrote down a word in an attempt at very fancy Onikari calligraphy, ruined by the roughness of the impromptu brush: Name(?)

Omatsuki then turned around, and shoved the paper towards the enforcer. She really wanted this over with- she was starting to get hungry again, and she was starting to get worried about payment to Jorn. The sooner she got the money, the better.

If it were not for the mask on his face, he might have seen him passively squint as he did his best to read what she had written. He knew enough from what his father had pounded into him at a young age, enough to get the gist. “Call me Reynard, and again, up to you if you want to. I can wait if you need to cash in first, just either you can do it and meet me back here, or give me some indication of where to go,” Rey replied.

Suki looked at this Reynard warily. He didn’t want a share of the money? Her hand twitched. She should go. But then again, he did request that he eat with her- in her experience, that was typically a demand. She shifted back and forth once more; finally, she grabbed the head and wrapped her discarded clothes around it; the wolf genemod then proceeded to walk away from the strange enforcer, never taking her eyes off of him- at least, until she made it to the street. Upon reaching it, only then did Suki turn and scamper away.

~-~-~-~-~

Omatsuki sat in the stiff chair, eyes closed as the man in front of her asked question after question, seemingly getting angrier by the question. Who was the masked man who entered the tavern? What connection did he have with her? What was the man after? Why did he cause such a ruckus in the tavern? Why did the genemod run out like a frightened chicken? Why did the neck of the head look like it was held to a fire?

Suki had dashed back to her humble abode, taking great pains not to be noticed as she entered the area- she didn’t want Jorn to notice her, not without money. But, she needed to be presentable to her client, and get the head in a different bag than rolled up clothes. A quick change later, and Suki was moving her way back to the overseer’s office building, where she was escorted to the employer’s office proper, and then forced to sit there while he started bombarding her with questions.

Suki’s eyes snapped open when the man snapped his fingers in front of her. “Are you even listening?” An answer, to which Suki’s response was only a deadpan stare. Her employer rapped his fist against the desktop. “Could you stop it with this fucking silent act? An assassin actually relays information to their client, you know.” Suki’s response… was to hold out her hand, and curl her fingers a couple of times.

“I paid you to assassinate someone. As in, quietly kill them. Not fucking murder the entire store!” At THAT, Suki made a raspy scoffing noise. The overseer raised his eyebrow. “So you CAN make noise, at the very least. Well then, since you seem to find the concept entertaining, please enlighten me as to what actually happened at the store?”

Silence. Omatsuki’s hand remained out.

“Hells, fine! You’re only getting 4000 marks- I wanted the job done quietly! And don’t you even think about pulling that knife on me- I could get those two outside on you before you could even get on me. Take your damn money, and get out!” Upon saying that, the overseer rapped again- this time, on the plastic block on the corner of his desk; as a response, the door opened, and one of the overseer’s guards entered the room, keeping the door open.

Suki knew she could probably kill the blithering idiot. But then she wouldn’t have a weapon, and the rhino mod looked like a hassle- it was the elk-mod standing outside that scared her more. Silently fuming inside, Suki took her marks, and stiffly marched to the exit, only releasing her demeanor when she made it around the corner. Only then did her shoulders sag, and she released her breath. 4000 marks. Half the hells-blasted price. And that wasn’t even considering how much she would have to spend paying back that infernal enforcer.

…Should she even get him lunch? Suki’s face screwed in concentration. He probably wouldn’t be there- the genemod assumed he would have probably went on his merry way after causing a scene in the area. But still, to satisfy honor’s sake, she’d go check- discreetly- and if he was still there, she’d get him something from Elliot’s place.

Elliot’s place. She’d have to skip out of eating there for a couple of weeks, wouldn’t she? Suki’s ears folded in a mournful expression, before she forced them back up, and told herself to focus on the next task ahead. Who knows? Maybe, just maybe, the overseer wouldn’t badmouth her to other potential employers. And Suki was not a petty, common thief. If she stole, it was because her job dictated it.

Plan in mind, Suki trotted off back to the tavern, goal in mind.

~-~-~-~-~

“Alright, what I want you to do is tail this girl.” The Overseer was leaning over his desk, staring at a much smaller, almost mousey looking pair- one that quite literally described the girl. The other one, with large, somewhat floppy ears, was more figurative, as he wrung his hands nervously, and spoke to his boss: “Uh, yeah, sure thing Mr. Raleigh. But, uh, what are we supposed to watch out for?”

The response was Mr. Raleigh sliding a picture to show the pair, which caused them to coil back in fear, and the mouse-girl almost literally squeaked: “We’re no-”

She was cut off by Raleigh, who held his hands up in a placating gesture. “I’m not asking you to try and rob him or anything. Just, let me know if the wolf-mod meets with him; if she does, split, and one of you keep an eye on them, and the other report back to me. If she doesn’t by the end of the day, come back to me, and I’ll work out a long term deal with you for the week. Fair?”

The duo looked at each other, before the hare-mod nodded, though there was some trepidation in it. “A-alright. 1000 marks for today. We can work out the rest if it happens later.” As Raleigh opened his mouth, presumably to complain, the hare-mod rushed on: “L-listen, we’re tailing an ENFORCER. For the SYNDICATE. I-I know we’re not doing anything, but you know the story about how Racks cut off the fingers of a beggar who looked at him funny.”

Raleigh closed his mouth at that, sighing, before saying in a resigned tone: “Fine. 1000 marks- 500 now, 500 later?” A nod. “Good. Here’s your first half. Now hurry- she’s probably still within the block.” As Raleigh’s new informants rushed off, the man sat back in his chair and massaged his temples. If this wolf genemod and enforcer were working together, he would have to warn the rest of the crew. …He didn’t want to spook them unnecessarily and throw off their gig- he would refrain from making calls today. If he received any warning signs, he would spread the word, but for now? Watch and wait. And maybe deal with loose ends.

~-~-~-~-~

Rey had bid his time, waiting in the same alley way, only having left to grab a chair and a drink. A small book was propped open for reading with a gentle thumb between the pages in one hand, a can of something to drink in the other. The enforcer had gotten an office chair from the tavern and now sat in it with his feet propped on the dumpster lazily. It was thankfully quiet, which left him largely unbothered, or undisturbed, which was how he preferred things in all honesty.

Though it would be as the girl from before, entered the alley, that Reynard would seem to perk up. “Ah, I was almost wondering if you weren’t coming back. Hopefully there were no complications with your client?”, he asked in what seemed like casual small talk. As he had greeted her with a faint grin, spun in the chair somewhat haphazardly, as if to make a show of his appraising of her return.

Omatsuki, upon first seeing Reynard, did a double take. Surely… Was that an office chair!? She grimaced, before shaking herself slightly. It was obvious that this enforcer was one of the more… unique ones. Hopefully, she wouldn’t get on his bad side. The strange ones always were the more vicious ones. Hands twitching, Suki stepped out from around the corner, and made her way to Reynard, where she stopped a couple of feet away from him, and bowed slightly. A bow which hopefully concealed her somewhat pointed glare as he held a book in his hand. He was sitting in an office chair, reading a book in the middle of a dark alleyway.

Either this enforcer was supremely confident in his combat abilities, or he was an arrogant bastard who relied too heavily on his status. Regardless, in any case, he was being far too… friendly? Something that had Suki both relieved and also tense at the same time, paradoxical as that seemed. She skittered forward after rising from her bow, taking a makeshift scroll from her tattered knapsack, unrolling it to show a fairly detailed charcoal drawing of a small mobile stall sitting in the corner of a square. Suki pointed at the stall, then pointed down the street, making a walking motion with two of her fingers rounding a corner to the left.

Suddenly, the wolf genemod held her hand up in a stopping motion. She pointed at Rey’s jacket, and then shook her head empathetically in a ‘no’ fashion. She then pointed to his sword and mask, and repeated her motion. She then stopped, looked at him, and screwed her mouth thoughtfully, before sagging her shoulders, and reached into the collar of her sweatshirt, pulling out a karambit, and presenting it to him, repeating her empathetic ‘no’ motion while pointing at his katana with her free hand.

“Yeah no, the mask is staying, but if you hate my style that much.. Well, I’ll stow the blade and jacket at least. I don’t let anyone see my face I don’t trust, or consider by some miracle, close.”, Rey explained before slipping the large jacket off and wrapping the sword in it. He’d take it to the car to store, which brought up a thought, “I need to drop this off at the car. But I can drive us there if that would be easier?”

Suki gave a blank look at Reynard, before raising a finger up, before putting it down. She tilted her head as she stared at him, one ear twitching. Finally, she shrugged, nodding her head up and down tentatively. The genemod then put her karambit back into her designated sheathe, before clapping her hands in front of her, and waiting for the enforcer to actually show her where his car was.

Assuming she was accepting, Reynard gestured politely for her to follow him, before walking them only a couple of streets over. There among the old vehicles that counted as private transportation in the slums, was one that was only slightly cleaner, but still managed to stand out just enough for that very reason. This one was obvious however, an air car on closer approach, where most others this low were rovers. The enforcer stepped around and popped open one of the switchblade style doors, the part popping out and rotating to swing the door up and out of the way.

Climbing in, Rey simply dropped his jacket and sword in the back, leaving it on the floor out of sight of passersby. “Yeah I know, it’s a piece of shit, but A it’s my piece of shit. It also… relatively blends in.”, he seemed to comment, as if actually justifying the vehicle’s existence. However, that was short lived as he flipped the radio on, and began to have the drive start up. Looking at her map again, found the square on the built-in GPS, and set the course.

The trip was rather quiet for obvious reasons, and relatively short, as they glided over the dingy and dirty streets to their destination. Landing on a side street, Reynard gave a ta-da gesture before triggering the doors to open, and stepped out onto the street.

~-~-~-~-~-~

As the pair boarded the vehicle, a small man elbowed the girl next to him. “She’s riding with the enforcer! I bet they’re going to get some syndicate thugs to try and shut down Mr. Raleigh! Keep an eye on them- I’m gonna go warn him!” Before the hare-mod could leap away, the mouse girl grabbed him, and exclaimed in an indignant voice: “Now, hold on! You just don’t want to be around the enforcer! I should be the one going to the overseer, I can get through the streets much faster than you!”

“Nuh uh!”

“Uh huh!”

As the pair glowered at each other, the boy moved his hand towards the pocket, causing the girl to skitter away. That seemed to be part of the other’s plan, as he took advantage of her created distance to run off, promptly being chased by the girl.

A while later, and the hare mod was grumpily sitting on a pipe section overlooking a relatively mundane bakery cart, the enforcer’s car parked next to it, and his ‘charges’ moving towards, presumably to order something. He sniffled, and scratched at the newly wrapped bandage around his head, muttering darkly to himself: “I’m totally getting Lady Nicolai to give her coal for Stellar Solstice …”

~-~-~-~-~-~

Suki landed on the road as she heaved herself off of Reynard’s seat, before rounding around the front of the car to witness Rey stepping out of his own seat. She automatically bowed to the enforcer upon first seeing him again, and then quickly waved towards the food stall, Elliot looking quite bemused at the genemod who would visit weekly now showing up with a man driving her around.

“Well now, moving up in life, are we? Well, I’m not one to judge, you gotta do what you gotta do. At least pick your men well, alright hun?”

Suki blinked upon hearing that, before her face exploded and resembled a red dwarf, causing her to rapidly shake her head and give a raspy “NNNNNNN NNN!” noise, even to the point where she was empathetically waving her hands around.

“Can’t say anyone has ever been kind enough to call me boyfriend material, most tend to not want to even talk to guys like me,” Reynard said, chuckling, amused by the interaction. So, she seemed to be a regular here, with how the stand owner seemed to know her fairly well. “Ironically enough, she’s the one buying me a meal today, but who knows, maybe next time it will be me taking her out,” he added mostly in jest, but actually thinking of it as a preface to possibly hiring her in the future. “After all, she got a sizable score today.”

Suki opened her mouth in protest, before closing it, turning to face Reynard, and poking him on the rib. It occurred to her, however, that she was poking an enforcer, and she pulled back quickly, and almost reared back, before she realized who she was with. As the girl’s eyes darted to Elliott and back to Reynard, she resumed with a second finger poke, although it was a bit more tentative than before. After an awkward moment, Suki crossed her arms under her chest and huffed, uncrossing it to point at the menu insistently.

After seeing the genemod point at her menu for the third time, Elliott held back a smile as she started moving back to her makeshift oven. “Tsun, I’m guessing you want the Bougatsa, with extra cinnamon?”

Suki’s head snapped to face Elliott, her flustered face turning red again as she hoarsely and quietly squeaked out what could only be a protest, before her shoulders slumped and she hung her head, eventually nodding acceptance, before she pointed at Reynard; something that caused Elliott to chuckle, and wheel around to face the masked man. “Since your date-” Angry and frustrated noises came from the ‘date’- “is so insistent on you also getting something to eat, go on, order.” She did give a bit of a look at the mask, raising an eyebrow at Reynard, but she kept herself professional.

~-~-~-~-~-~

“Are you certain?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t have come back to tell you this if I wasn’t. Yes, the girl decided to go with the enforcer, and they drove off… somewhere.” At Raleigh’s withering glare, the girl cowered for a bit, before she recovered, saying: “W-we’re not done watching him anyways- there’s a reason only I came back, and not both of us!” That seemed to mollify Raleigh enough for him to uncross his arms, and he asked the ratgirl: “And you can find your friend again? I’m assuming he followed where they were going.”

She blinked in panic for a second, but she managed a glib: “Yeah, we always know where the other is. That’s why we’re so good at trailing others- and why you hired us.” Raleigh gave the young girl a deadpan stare, before breaking into a small smirk, and saying: “Very well then. I suppose you also won’t have trouble bringing along these two, will you?” Upon saying that, Raleigh made a motion with his hands, and a stocky, tall, bear of a man lumbered from next to Raleigh to in front of the ratgirl, causing her to skitter back a bit.

She skittered back even more when she saw the other one she was supposed to escort: another tall man, this one lithe, and he had two branching horns coming out of his head- she counted 11 points total on each. The girl had basically backed herself against the door, and as she turned her head to face Raleigh, he gave a thin smile, and said: “Part of the deal, of course.” The girl could only give a, “Y-yeah, p-part of the deal!” Raleigh nodded, keeping that smile on his face, as he waved his hands in a shooing motion, prompting the ratmod to scuttle out of the room, the two men hot on her tail- almost literally.

~-~-~-~-~-~

“Well as a first timer to your establishment here, what would you recommend? I’m not normally one to have the time to buy sweets often, so excuse me if I seem indecisive,” Reynard replied politely to this Elliott person running the stall. He earnestly wasn’t lying either, with work it was usually quick meals, unless business, then it was expensive dinners with higher ups and high level clients for the Syndicate. “Perhaps something easy on the pallet- and not too rich, comfort food if you will, if you have something that seems fitting?”, he added to help clarify possible preference, and hopefully not be handed something more expensive on the menu. After all, he had to be polite and considerate to his dear date this evening, especially with the cute flustered mess was buying.

Appreciatively, leaving the coat and blade seemed to lower, or at least slow recognition of who he was and did. Most only gave him a passing sideways glance, unless they stopped to scrutinize him more, which tended to shift to a quickening of their pace in passing by. It was a bit odd, but surprisingly calm, a little change of pace as it were. Perhaps it was this and the antics of the present company that made the enforcer relax even a little, something he’d be sure to thank her for later, and possibly make a point to revisit this place again in the future.

Elliott screwed up her face. “Hm. You probably want one of my cookies, then. Most of my other pastries tend to have a bit of a heavy filling or topping. As Ms. Tsun here knows very well.” Smirking at Suki, Elliott turned around to face the man again. “So. Snickerdoodles, PB cookies, or Carrot Cookies are the first that I can think of.” Elliott’s finger tapped her stand. “Of course, I have other options, but by default, I tend to load on the toppings on those cookies. These three cookies are just the ones that I remember that don’t get you on too much of a sugar high.”

An indignant noise from Suki upon the cart-tender saying sugar high caused Elliott to face the wolf-mod, and say to her: “You get some of the most sugar-laden stuff I have- of COURSE you get it for the sugar high!” Suki’s protesting noise caused Elliott to just roll her eyes at the younger girl, before she turned to face the masked man again. “Anyways, your choice. Regardless, if you’ll excuse me, gotta get the dough going. Don’t worry, I’ll be able to hear you!” Upon saying that, Elliott began busying herself underneath the cart countertop, rummaging and pulling things out.

~-~-~-~-~-~

“Where is he…?” The ratmod was getting nervous. Did she scare off her brother? Did he run off because he was found out? …She hoped not- her skin was now on the line… just as much as his. She looked nervously back to the guests she had along with her. And they did not look too pleased. She turned her head back, and with a slightly shaking finger, motioned them to follow her through the alley, to which the hulking bear-mod gave a rumbling: “Is he really this way?”

The girl gave a shrill: “Y-yeah! We’re just staying hidden in case, y-y’know, the enforcer could see us!” She didn’t even look back at the thugs, but she could feel his stare. She was starting to panic. Where is he? Where is… “Hey, Ratatouille!” The ratmod almost sobbed in relief, but she turned to face the haremod, almost hugging her savior. The sooner they were out of this, the better.

The haremod in question, originally trotting to greet the other, was in the middle of speaking: “We never discussed where we…” He stopped short upon seeing her almost panicked hand motions, as well as the much taller men behind her. “Who are these two people?”

The stag-mod questioned: “I thought you could read each other’s minds? Shouldn’t he know of us already?” The girl gave a nervous assurance: “I-I kept it from him- he might have panicked! Y-yeah, he’s really jumpy, and y-you guys ARE kinda intimidating- n-not that that’s a bad thing!” As the hare mod opened his mouth to argue against that claim, he clamped it shut when he saw the rat-mod give him a panicked glare, giving a shaky sigh as the rat-mod continued: “So, ready to show them where the mangos are at?”

“Mangos? Wha- Did the enforcer steal a shipment of fruit from Mr. Raleigh?”

The thugs gave blank stares as the childish duo started bickering back and forth, before the bearmod gave a growl, silencing the two. “OK. Can you two idiots just show us where the enforcer is at?”

“O-of course! Lead the way, Liebre!”

~-~-~-~-~-~

"I'll take one of each three, to sample the most for my first time. Out of curiosity though, do you set up in this spot everyday? Just asking to understand if I can just come back here another day in the future, or I'd have to learn the rounds going forward." Reynard asked this, wanting to learn more, already thinking of the stall as somewhere maybe he could bring Azure at some point. At this point, he'd dropped his half of the teasing to the mute assassin, seeking to give the poor girl a break.

His current companion seemed a bit on the immature side, albeit endearing in that sort of way. He has no desire to see her as some sort of sibling, the man has no desire for any such familial bonds- his father had soured such prospects long ago. A friend wouldn't be appropriate with his line of work, or habitual trust issues. If she proved useful enough, well, an associate would feel lacking. Partner perhaps then, at least if it was possible she would accept such an invitation?

"Miss Tsun, was it? How are you on steady work if I may ask, any problems with clients? Hopefully you have connections to suffice?" he asked now. More to gauge how well connected the girl was. But also to see how frequently she even got to see a payday. For someone so quiet, she was a ball of what seemed like energetic stress, which didn't scream successfully or pleasantly busy to him. "Perhaps I can provide it if not?"

Elliott popped back up and nodded her head at the man’s request, before briefly dipping back down to get the rest of her supplies, responding as she busied herself: “Well, typically on weekends- Friday through Sunday- I tend to be around here. Wednesdays and Thursdays I tend to hang around the general store a couple of blocks down that way-” Elliott made a vague motion with her hand roughly in the westerly direction, before continuing: “-And, well, I used to hang out near the industrial district Mondays and Tuesdays, but recent events kinda forced me to drop that for now. Maybe I’ll start hanging around the spaceport proper on those days, but as of right now, just consider Monday an extension of being around here, and Tuesdays an extension of the commercial area.”

After saying that, Elliott became silent as she focused on the food, leaving Suki to attempt to answer Reynard’s questions. She rubbed the back of her neck upon his attempt at her name, before she glanced in Elliott’s direction, and stepped away from there, closer to the street, as she attempted to at least prevent the baker from getting the gist of what Suki did. Though, she was also internally freaking out, as she was being offered a job! Even if it was from a crazy enforcer. She couldn’t help it, but the tip of her tail was slowly wagging side to side, though a thought put a damper on that: how to frame it in such a way so that she wasn’t essentially being rejected at almost every potential contract, but also not seeming like she wasn’t available?

~-~-~-~-~

“That seriously the enforcer?”

“Yes! He has the mask and everything!”

The bear-mod pursed his lips, before grunting. “And they’re with that little rat-” He pointedly ignored the ratgirls “Hmph!” as he continued: “So maybe, we can send a message from boss real good to everyone else.” The deer-mod tilted his head, and responded: “Don’t fuck with Raleigh?” The bear-mod’s response was a grunt and a nod. The deer-mod replied back: “Killing two birds with one stone. I like it. Let’s start with the runner, make the enforcer think we’re just petty racketeers. Easy to scare off. I’ve no doubt he’ll step in to demand we stop, seeing as that was never.. Sanctioned. And then we work our magic.”

The bear-mod grunted, and began ambling towards the cart, with the deer-mod following in his wake, the girl and boy watching with wide eyes from the alleyway.

~-~-~-~-~

Suki’s pondering was cut short as a rough voice called out to seemingly the cart. “OITHERE. You, Hensway!” Elliott’s head snapped up as she heard the voice, and while her face became a little whiter, she still mustered a casual, “Oh, these fuckers.”

The bearmod striding towards the cart practically barreled his way through the crowd, and towards Elliott, as he growled out his words: “You didn’t pay the fee for working on Raleigh’s land. He doesn’t appreciate you taking his employee’s hard earned money on stuff like… that slop, nor does he like you pulling them away from their work.”

Suki’s mouth opened in protest, before she shut it silently, watching the bearmod closely. Meanwhile, Elliott had puffed herself up as she protested against the bear-mod’s accusations: “I was selling my pastries on public property, and Raleigh’s employees can buy- or not buy- whatever they want during their lunch break!” Meanwhile, during the tirade, Suki’s brow furrowed, as she recognized the face. However, didn’t Raleigh’s men always work in pairs? Where was the other one…? Suki began looking around the area. Elliott continued her rant against the bearmod, trying to finish with: “I told you, I’m not paying him one ce-” She yelped and jumped back as the bearmod slammed his fists onto her cart, growling, “You are, in fact, reimbursing him for revenue lost.”

Rey didn’t like this, something about it bugged him, and it clearly felt like he was being baited. He, even with just the mask, was almost still clearly an enforcer, even if his hair should have made it obvious. “Do you normally racket alone? Seems like an idiotic practice to do it solo, so you must have a pretty small time in this area then, I take it,” came Reynards more than snide, insinuating remark. He needed to bait them into revealing something, some sort of hint of what was actually going on here. “I’d appreciate it if you waited in line until my business was done here.”

The bearmod turned to face the other man, face set in an aggressive snarl, before doing a double take, seemingly straightening up, and making an attempt at being polite. “Enforcer! I didn’t…” Suki didn’t hear the rest, as she was too busy facepalming herself, too afraid to look at Elliott as the absolutely idiotic bearmod decided to terrify the shopkeeper more than his attempts to intimidate her ever did. Now Suki was certain she could never visit the place again, because Elliott would always associate her with the enforcer. And always be terrified.

Suki looked back up after that moment of despair to see the bearmod continue talking: “-but you must understand, her dues have to be paid. No exceptions- we don’t want others getting the wrong impression, do we?” As the bearmod stood there, waiting for the enforcer’s response, a blur rushed past Suki as the deermod did what elk were good at, and charged at Rey, antlers pointed down, clearly intending to shove him to the wall.

Rey heard the clatter of the rapidly approaching hooves before he could hope to even see their source, not that he would have had the time to anyways. Better to act fast then get rundown by a pair of murder antlers. Well at the very least, he wasn’t defenseless, but it was going to be rough for certain on his body. Using his kinetic casting, used a strong outburst of it in an upward-sweeping motion to practically swing his body up into the air, before swiping his palms across one another to ignite his pyro casting. As the deermod went charging under him, he was suddenly bellowed in a burst of strong flame from right above.

Even as he turned the deer into a human molotov, that wasn’t going to bring something like them down alone, so here came the rough part of this. One he knew he was going to be more than feeling in the morning. With another strong burst of kinetic casting, sought to slam the already tilted deermod from behind and up, straight into the pavement. Followed by doing the same to himself, Rey slammed himself into their back from above after his body had almost finished its rotation. It was dizzying, and left the enforcer sore as he pummeled the genemod into the pavement with all his weight and magically induced force.

A loud grunt escaped him, before overcharging the flames, engulfing them both now in the overexcited fire. Drawing his pistol while he had the advantage, glad he hadn’t left it at the very least, put the 10mm to the back of the mod’s head, before dumping a few rounds in rapid succession to the back of their head before staggering up from within the flames. “And here I was hoping earlier was all I had to do today, but here you go extending my work day while on a date with a lovely lady. Consider me pissed off, and you better piss off too, before I bbq you like your friend under my boots right now”, Reynard growled in unrestrained anger, as the bruising was already probably forming along his side, and his shoulder began to swell slightly around the strained joints.

Suki practically jumped when the deermod decided to charge Reynard, before she snapped into action, moving in an attempt to intercept the deermod. But it seemed as if the bearmod had the same thought- and then events transpired- enough to change Suki’s mind, at least. The bearmod was surging towards Rey, and although he had staggered back on the onset of the fierce fire, he resumed doggedly. Suki guessed he would’ve actually barrelled into Reynard, and if Suki was him, restrained his hands so that he would have some trouble using magic.

As it was, the bearmod wouldn’t have the chance to actually do it, as Suki pulled out her kerambit out of her jacket, and sliced at his thigh. The bearmod roared, and attempted to bat her away- something Suki let him do. Or, at least, attempt to do so. As his arm flung towards her, she ducked, and grabbed onto the meaty thing. For a heartstopping moment, she thought she wouldn’t be able to hold on- she decided to twirl her kerambit around her finger, and lodge it into his bicep, her finger providing the hopefully extra hold she needed to finish her move.

Which was, while she was being carried by the arm, to twist her legs around, and when the bearmod’s arm was in the best position, wrap them around his neck. As she managed to perform her chokehold, she cruelly ripped out the curved knife out from his bicep, intent on ripping out as much flesh as possible, before twirling the knife around again in the position to stab his eye- right one, specifically. Again, she could’ve guessed what his instinctive response would be, as she ripped out the knife.

As the brute of a thug loped to a stop and used his other hand to try and grab Suki, the girl again allowed the boosted momentum to roll over his head, using her free knife to stab just behind the jugular, and allowing her fall to drag the blade through it properly. And again, using the ripping motion she was so fond of for the kerambit, she ripped off yet another chunk as she kicked herself off of the bearmod, though she did have a moment of panic when her finger started to slip off the ring. Her arm reached forward a bit to grab it firmly with her entire hand, and she kicked off harder, narrowly avoiding one last swipe as she propelled herself to the ground, rolling to a ready kneeling position, wincing as she rolled her left wrist around.

She smiled in satisfaction as the bearmod lost interest in trying to chase her down, instead focusing on the rather big hole in the front of his throat with his left arm- his right was dangling uselessly, after all; cutting the nerve- Mistress Aurolia told her that that nerve was called the musculocutaneous nerve- tended to do that the arm. Not to mention he now had a ruined eye. Suki simply shrugged her shoulders, turning around to leave the man to lose his blood, setting her eyes on Reynard to ensure he was alright, before looking around for Elliott. Not seeing her at first, she sighed, internally lamenting the loss of such a good baker, before another thought caused her face to become stricken with mortification.

Immediately, she ran towards Reynard, sheathing her somewhat battered knife, and got her knees in front of him, bowing multiple times as she made almost whimpering noises. He probably wouldn’t even be in this mess had Suki insisted he remove his jacket and katana! Meaning that therefore, his condition was her fault, Suki rationalized.

Reynard gave a deep sigh before straightening out his rumpled hair from the acrobatics he had to pull off. “Looks like Aspirin is what’s on the menu for lunch instead. As much as I was enjoying the date, I need to get my side looked after, though I would suggest you not stay around here in case there’s more than those two”, the enforcer said with a deep sense of disappointment. He’d got his rage out on the deer mod still steaming on the pavement, even as the bearmod was starting to slump with ever quieting gurgling. Turning to walk back to the car, a slight hitch in his step, Rey merely threw “If you wanna come along, up to you,” over his shoulder to her.

Suki raised herself from her prostate position, still on knees, slightly confused as Reynard walked past her, before suddenly shaking herself, jumping up, and following him, looking around warily as she began moving to the car. Though, a moment’s thought, and she dashed over to Elliot’s cart- still standing, but definitely skewed from it earlier position- and stuffed 2000 marks into the dough compartment; after that, she quickly dashed back to the car, and scrambled into the passenger’s seat, looking at Reynard expectantly, if admittedly somewhat worriedly.

“Do you know the person the mod mentioned? Raleigh?” The question was brisk, but a bit direct, having remembered the name having been used to declare who they were there on behalf of. Something that wasn’t exactly smart on their part in hindsight. “I’ll be having the network dig up whatever they have on him, but considering they showed up after that last job. I’m going to take a wild guess, and say they were who hired you for the hit,” Reynard followed up, giving his reasoning after they got to the aircar.

Sliding in and thumbing the engine to spin up, it was a better place to get into the meat of his questions. He reached over before she slid in herself and grabbed a pad and pen from the glove compartment for her. “I don’t care if you have history with them, you defended me in that fight, so at least know you’re not against me.”

Suki nodded at Reynard, a slight sense of relief washing through her, though she was still tense. She did nod emphatically in response to his question, and grabbed and started drawing, though she gave a disgruntled sound of disgust at a small bump, and turned over to a new page and started drawing frantically again. She finished with two pictures: One, a comic-style sketch of stick-person her walking up to Raleigh with two big henchmen, the next showing her walking away with a square in her hand- presumably the bounty he had given her. The third one showcased her at the bar, with a fancy western saloon door showcasing a bunch of tiny stick figures with what looked like picket boards, and then the fourth showed stick-Suki at what could only be a dumpster, with what could only be Rey standing on top of it, though his mask looked a little too much like a ski mask.

The second-to-last slide on the page showed Suki walking back into Raleigh’s office, a speech bubble over the man’s face, with four circles, and two crossed out. And also a black squiggly mark above Suki’s head. And finally, the last one showed her walking out of the mine-like building.

The next page showcased a rough, rough map- it was just lines, really. It gave the basic layout of the roads around the route, and arrows showing which path to follow, before a building was put on the end and circled, with the stick figure she used for Raleigh over it.

Despite being the one driving, he couldn’t help but let a bit of the dumbfoundedness he felt at the drawings slip into his expression. They weren’t really great to be honest, but looking them over thoroughly as he could, thankful for minimal obstacles at a higher altitude as he piece this vague puzzle together. “So he hired you for the hit, and you know where to find him. Alright then, I guess treatment can wait, I think it’s time to get some answers from him,” Reynard stated with a few slow nods of the head, before turning the vehicle on a flight path towards the mines.

Suki gave an incredulous look at Reynard as he flew above the squat buildings in the center of the crags, and deftly flew between the balconies of the higher buildings built on the sides of the cliffs that made up the shanty-town. Shaking her head, she leaned back as the aircraft buzzed past buildings Suki thought only belonged in her past.

The wolfgirl frowned as she observed the underside of a catwalk, mouth thinning and ears twitching as she imagined the noises of feet treading on it- something she should’ve kept in mind a year ago. Her hand rose up to her throat and lightly brushed across it, and she restrained a cough, before setting it back down and scooting over to the window side to insistently focus on the ground below. She got a headache anytime she tried figuring out what she did wrong that night.

Omatsuki blinked as she noticed they were reaching near the end of the canyon- and where the majority of the mines were located. She gave a start, and turned to face Rey, giving an insistent noise while pointing down. It was impossible to show Reynard which specific mine Raleigh was located at from the sky. It would be better to do it on foot.

 

[Jack Pine]

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Raleigh scowled as he paced back and forth. “Where the hell are they?” Silence. His bodyguards were trained well- too well, sometimes. Regardless, the man pushed aside his irritation at the lack of information, and began nervously shaking his head. Maybe he should warn the others, in case his people failed their job. Then again, it would cause their work to be slowed down, and that may as well be just as fatal…

The aspiring mob boss finally had had enough. At the very least, he would get the information himself. Raleigh went over to his desk, and grabbed his plasma pistol. It was bulky, but it always served him well. He wasn’t anticipating getting into a fight, but he also fancied himself as a man who took advantage of opportunities when they arose.

As the man turned around and began heading to the door, it opened in front of him, showcasing one of his workers. One which Raleigh scowled at, because he had almost jumped at the sudden arrival. However, before the overseer could express his displeasure, the miner began to speak: “Holy shit, boss, Barabos and Kenai are dead!”

Raleigh stopped in his tracks, dread rushing through him. Making a slightly distressed face to keep up appearances, he asked the miner: “Dead? How?”

“They got into a fight with an enforcer- they must’ve had a death wish! Barbados is just a fucking charred husk, and Kenai, I shit you not, had literal chunks taken out of him before having his throat ripped out!”

The overseer’s mouth thinned. “Enforcer? Are you sure?”

“Yeah- people say they overheard Kenai calling the masked guy an enforcer, not to mention that he had the syndicate symbol on his shirt.”

“Mask?”

“Yeah, the enforcer wears a peculiar mask- looks like he belongs in a fucking Tumnisian secret party or something.”

That response was something that caused Raleigh to curse under his breath, before he looked back at the miner. “Idiots. They should’ve known better, then. An enforcer wouldn’t have killed them, unless he had a good reason to..” The overseer gave a dramatic sigh, before continuing: “Head into the mine and tell the others that I’m going in. Between this and the union, we’re going to be shorthanded.”

The miner blinked, groaned, and left the office room, which prompted Raleigh to turn around and face his two bodyguards. “You, stay here. I have no doubt the enforcer is on his way here.” Raleigh saw the fear flash through the man’s eyes. “No, I don’t want you to commit suicide. Just lure him in here and make sure the door is locked and barred.” The man frowned in confusion, face shifting in enlightenment as headed into the safe and came back out with mines- five, to be precise. After setting them down, Raleigh turned around and handed the rhino-mod a trigger. “Once he’s trapped, blow the place. Now, you two, help me rig the place.”

A short time later, and the mines had been set. Raleigh turned to the second man- “You, follow me into the mines after a moment. Grab a shotgun- if Reynard wants to use fire, I want him to try and burn away slug shot.” Raleigh then grabbed a hard hat and a coat, heading into the mines. If even the mine trap failed, he would still have to try and get through the maze that was the mines.

~-~-~-~-~-~

At the girl's frantic insistence, Reynard had set the aircar outside the large network of mines. Once the vehicle had settled, got out with Suki, before donning his coat and blade. "So, how much you want to bet things are going to get complicated? '', the enforcer asked, before digging a hypo from a jacket pocket. It was a strong cocktail for suppressing pain, which he simply chucked the disposable item casually once injected. "Lead the way, as I'm assuming you know the layout?"

Suki nodded in response to Reynard’s question, though she looked at Reynard’s injection with some mild form of disgust. Shaking her head, she crooked her finger and made a follow motion, before quietly setting off towards Raleigh’s mine specifically.

After crossing a few intersections, warily keeping an eye on her surroundings, Suki finally led Rey in front of an open hole in the wall, with a fair amount of infrastructure around it. To its immediate right, a pair of conveyor belts dropped onto another one- this one seemed to follow along the wall’s edge, picking up results from three other mines, before it went to what Suki only guessed was processing. To the left stood the building that the pair should be more interested in- built into the side of the rockface, it was the brain of this specific mine. It held the break rooms, the maintenance area, storage, and importantly, administration. Including Raleigh’s office.

The wolfgirl turned to face Reynard, and pointed up on the second floor- specifically at where two windows were, exterior bar cages covering them. Worryingly enough, the blinds AND shades were pulled shut, something that told Suki that Raleigh was certainly prepared for any sort of retaliation. She attempted to convey her worries to Reynard by emphatically pointing at the windows again and making some noise, and then stopped and scratched her nose as she noticed a pair of drones struggling to keep up with sorting the main conveyor belt.

She tilted her head, and pointed out the two drones, before lifting up two fingers and shaking her head in a no. The wolfmod pointed back at the robots, frowning, and raised all five fingers, lowering it to rub the side of her lip in pensiveness. Her head snapped back to the building however, as she noticed a yellow light beam out from the otherwise drab curtain. Unfortunately, it looked like whoever wanted to look out decided to stop after a second, hurriedly shoving the curtain back in place.

The wolfmod frowned again, as she turned back to face Reynard, pointing again at the robots, lifting three fingers, and making a dragging motion to the office with said three fingers, hand closing to form a point at the office at the end of the motion. After doing that, she tilted her head inquisitively at Reynard, and waited expectantly.

"I can't tell if you're suggesting we sneak in, or drag those drones along. Just use the notepad down or write it down. Hell, I'll give you my number if texting is easier for you," Rey exasperated. This her being mute was making things harder while they wasted precious time.

Not waiting for some reply, the man pulled out a business card of sorts. Drawing out a small pen from the jacket as well, struck through the number listed, before adding a different one instead. As the enforcer passed her the card, he said "This is my direct line, meaning it doesn't switch off after hours, in case you need me in the future."

Suki tilted her head, and gave a sigh, before grabbing the pen and notepad, and scribbling it down, before showing it back to Reynard- it was very, very sloppy, and rushed, writing in Onikari:

Five droids originally. Now two. Other three inside office? Maintenance? Suspect our arrival?

Suki then began tapping the pen on her chin thoughtfully, though she stopped and whipped her head to glance at the office building from time to time, keeping a suspicious eye on any activity going on in the office, before turning her head back to face the notepad, and writing something else:

Raleigh, the man who hired me, seems to always want to keep track of what employees do; look at the union. He had to know what those two were doing. And as such, he has to be keeping an eye on either us, or for their return.

“Chances are he knows they’re dead then if that’s the case, and is expecting us. I can’t see him not having an observer to keep watch on them while they dealt with us.” Thinking of the odd movements from the window, the office building was giving him worrying vibes. He couldn’t really dismiss it as paranoia either, given how one of the lackeys was definitely trying to kill him straight out. “What ya thinking, we skip the office, and go in deeper?” Rey asked as he mulled the gut feeling and what she pointed out over some more.

Suki tilted her head to the side, ear flopping as she stared at Rey for a moment, before nodding, though she did screw her lips up, flipped a page over, and began scribbling on it. Once she was done, she turned the pad around to show to Rey: Do we want to leave potential enemies on our backs?

The wolfmod then began looking around, before noticing a large barrel- the words on it, however, were what made the wolfgirl excited. Sulfuric Acid. Suki was practically jumping with glee, as she pointed to that, then the door, before fumbling around with her pad and scribbling, before turning it around to present a comic to Rey. It was two slides- one presented a door, with a line- presumably a tripwire- across the bottom, and a bucket above the door. The second showcased someone in the doorway, the line broken into two squiggly lines, and the bucket turned over and water splashing over the stick figure.

“Note to self, never trust you with pranking anyone, but I’m for it. As for leaving enemies at our back, it would be admittedly few if just bait for a trap, but I still agree regardless.” Rey turned to look at the door in question, as a thought about this plan crossed his mind, “So uh… How are we going to mount a whole barrel to the door? Like the trip wire, easy, but… don’t we need like a whole hinge, and like mechanism to open the barrel on them too?”

Suki blinked at his questions, before shaking her head, deep in thought. She looked around, noticing a pickaxe lying against a conveyer belt. The wolfmod pointed at that, and made a beeline to it, grabbing it, and returning to Reynard. She held the pickaxe with one hand, miming a cutting motion with her other, one in the middle of the shaft, and another right below the head itself, a gleam in her eyes, though, upon looking for some sort of mechanism to act as a hinge, she saw…

Nothing. Suki’s ears drooped in disappointment, before her eyes alighted upon Rey himself, and more importantly, upon his gloves. She dropped the pickaxe, leaving it clattering on the ground, and pointed at his hands, before turning to point at the barrel, and then making a motion reminiscent of throwing a javelin, eventually ending up pointing at the window that led to the office.

The enforcer turned around to spot the window that had been peaked out of, and giggled a little to himself. Oh yeah, they were going to get along well if she kept coming up with plans like these. Walking back to stand besides its flight path, as he waved for her to get clear of it as well. Reynard rubbed his hands together in anticipation before imagining what he intended. With the script needed clear, and the variables keyed in through his Geist, locked onto the point of impact, before beginning the motions to trigger the casting.

Breathing in, ready to expend the amount of energy that would be needed, snapped his fingers to launch the barrel up a short distance. Then with a brisk and sharp throwing motion, released the next explosion of kinetic energy on the barrel. The act launched it at what must have seemed like high velocity towards the window in question, before it struck the glass and barred grate. The sound that followed was the shearing of metal, the shattering of glass, and a hissing torrent of unleashed liquid from inside the barrel.

Suki practically cackled as iron and glass imploded, and the barrel practically cracked open as it splattered into the room. A moment of hissing silence, before a sudden boom shook the area, and a flash emanated from the windows. Suki had taken a step back from the building in surprise as the force of the explosion hit her, blinking the dust and debris out of her eyes. After a moment of clearing her vision, it revealed a wall dotted with holes, and another partially collapsed, revealing a pile of debris- most likely from the roof. But… was that a red splatter amidst it all?

The wolfmod turned to face Reynard, and tilted her head, pointing at the rubble pile, and in the general direction of the stain. She made a questioning noise, before she pulled the pad, flipped over to the original drawing with her and Raleigh, and pointed at the Raleigh stick figure with one finger, making questioning noises as she continued pointing to the blood stain.

Shouts and screams could also be heard everywhere, as everyone was running around, understandably distressed, since an explosion went off. Though echoey shouting was also heard from the mine- the local miners also probably caught wind of the explosion.

Rey took a gander at the destruction, a small grin at the arterial stain. Whoever it had been, was surely dead now for certain. "Doubt it, that was an explosive blast. From the holes, I'd say anti-personnel fragmentation", he said with a scratch of the head. "So if he was, he's a fucking idiot who wanted to go out with a bang, but from what I've heard so far doesn't seem like him honestly."

Suki stared at the mess on the second floor, before shaking her head, turning to face Reynard, pointing to the tunnel in some concern as a trio of miners ran out to observe what the ruckus was all about. The miner in the lead skidded to a halt, causing the other two to slide into him, and the miner stared wide eyed at the destroyed office. Once the other two extricated themselves from the mess, one of them exclaimed: “Holy shit. Yarric, tell Raleigh what happened! Kai, get to the office- we might need maintenance here! I’ll try to see if anyone’s in there!”

As the trio jumped into action, a crowd began to form around the area as more onlookers began streaming in to try and observe the area. Suki turned her head to look at Reynard, and inclined her head towards the miner running back into the mines, making a disappointed noise and screwing her lips in a small pout. It was never so easy… That seemed to be the case whenever this enforcer was involved, it seemed. Oh well. At least she was competent enough to deal with the challenge!

Waving for his companion to follow, Rey began to quickly skirt around the growing crowd as they gawked at the damage wrought. Doing his best, he tried to make sure they kept pace with the man, but to remain a minimum distance from them as well. He didn’t want to spook them by being seen, or close enough that he would hear their steps behind, so the duo tailed from a decent clip back from their prey. The enforcer made sure to tuck his weapons under the coat before they had started, hoping to minimize them catching notice, or their battle rattle drawing notice.

At least luckily for them the natural dimness of the mine, even under the scrutiny of hung electric lamps, made the edges of its tunnels relatively dark. As the crowd had gathered, and the miners exclaimed the situation, Rey had also taken the precaution to pat several hands of the dusty soil on the ground across his apparel. The material clung to that of his coat and clothes, breaking up and adding more natural color to that of the deep black of his uniform. Maybe father would have been begrudgingly proud he remembered, but probably not, not that the man was even alive to witness it.

As the pair made their way down the slope, Suki couldn’t help but give a double take at Reynard caking himself with dust. After staring at him, she sighed, and did the same, nose wrinkling as she did so, grimacing as her hoodie became even more stained than it already was.

The wolfmod was diligent, however, and followed Reynard’s lead, padding softly on her wrapped feet. She again reached inside her collar, and pulled out her knife- no, there was no shine. She never bothered polishing her blades. A shiny weapon meant a dead shinobi. The conveyor belt that followed along the side of the shaft had stopped its operation sometime during their descent, most likely because of the miner having reached his compatriots.

Upon reaching the relative ‘bottom’ of the mineshaft, the pair was greeted with a large hallway- the conveyor belt stopped just at the edge of the incline, and left room for approximately three tunnel boring machines to rumble back and forth the length of the tunnel, approximately… Suki actually couldn’t tell. Definitely more than 400 meters. There were plenty of circular sideshafts, and one such intersection, close to the entrance, was where the miners were huddled around, makeshift tables holding devices such as coffee machines, toasters, microwaves, and the like. A generator sat nearby- obviously, between the various objects, the miners liked to have breaks separate from the main break room in the office building.

There was definite uproar when Yarric began explaining to the others what happened, though he got shrugs whenever he asked where Raleigh was, with one muttering to check around the back, since that’s where ‘Raleigh’s goonie kept on messing with the Molerat.’

"I don't think we're getting through such a large space without going unnoticed. At least not without a distraction, or some ridiculously stupid luck." The options didn't really seem great, but their prey was at least giving them a general direction for now still. "I've got kinetic, pyro, a blade, and a suppressed pistol. Sounds like a lot, but it unfortunately means little without a solution right now."

Suki glanced at Reynard, lips turned into a thoughtful frown, before an earlier comment caused her face to undergo a rapid change of emotions: First, excitement, then embarrassment, before finally dejected acceptance. The wolfgirl then took off her hoodie, revealing a ratty t-shirt below. She then pulled out her knife again, and took a look at it, grimacing, before starting her work. She began cutting around the collar of her shirt, exposing a great deal more cleavage than before. Pointedly avoiding looking at her new employer, blushing furiously, after she finished that work, she began working on the jeans, cutting holes in places, focusing on the thighs.

Once she was done, she sheathed her knife. She was still blushing and refusing to look at Reynard, making a flapping motion with her hand, and trying to shoo the enforcer to get him moving, before moving towards the miners, making one last dust throw and changing her pace to a jogging run, as she rushed up to the miners and started whimpering at them.

“Hey, is that… the girl who’s been seeing Raleigh?”

“Is it just Raleigh, or him and his stalkers?”

“Wait, you’re saying she takes at least three- she looks ratty, but hey, she’s-”

The miners’ leering stares were interrupted by Yarric, as he furiously interrupted them: “Idiots! If Raleigh finds out you’ve been trying to steal-”

“I’d hardly call it stealing if he shares her freely!”

A glare from Yarric: “She’s probably been around the area of explosion and wants to make sure bossman is okay.”

“Aw, c’mon! Raleigh treats her better than us?”

“More like she wants to keep the money he gives her!”

“Really didn’t know Raleigh was into that kinda stuff, to be honest.”

“Hey, lady, you free for anyone else?”

“CAN Raleigh give her money now, if the office exploded?”

“Gods, I hope so, because I also want to be paid as well.”

Amidst their rowdy and almost heedless chattering, Suki, blushing furiously, began pointing around furiously, before fumbling around and taking out a pad and pen, and wrote down Raleigh.

“Aw, she’s mute? She don’t scream?”

“Raleigh must like’em docile. Shit. Didn’t know he was into that kinda stuff!”

“Damn it, Jeir. She’s almost as old as my daughter. No one deserves that!”

“She’s gotta be kinky, being able to do that kind of stuff!”

Yarric shoved the men aside, and glared at them, before turning to face Suki. “Sorry girlie, we don’t know where he is. We DO know he’s down that’a’way. Would escort you, but y’know, explosion. We’ll let bossman play- try and put him in a good mood before we have to break the news to him, aye? ..HEY, you lot! Let’s start going up- who knows what’s left there!” Yarric left the wolfgirl in a slightly flabbergasted state as the older man began organizing the others to head upwards.

Rey ducked into a parked ore cart, having not wanted to go until she had their attention, but he hadn’t expected them to organize so quickly. Tucking into the wheeled container, he waited until he heard their dusty thudding steps fade some distance, then peaked up to see the coast was clear. “Really, working men have no class anymore”, he commented idly before rejoining the wolfgirl. “You know, not bad, pretty hot in a cute sort of way. Now come on, they’ve at least pointed us in a general direction.”

Reynard started to jog off towards the tunnel the guy from before had pointed to, waving her to follow after handing her hoodie back.

Spluttering and squeaking in flustered outrage, Suki calmed down to grumbling noises as she followed Reynard down the mineshaft, their walk revealing over time a large machine. The machine that Suki gathered was the Molerat. The circular machine was sitting at an angle from a side passage- obviously, the miners had been in the process of pulling the machine out, probably to be serviced and refilled.

And observing the machine was one of Raleigh’s hulking bodyguards, a droid laying deactivated on the side, the man himself cursing as wires and motherboards lay strewn about him.

Suki turned to glance at Reynard, drawing her finger across her neck with one hand and mimicking shooting a pistol with the other. In most cases, she would try to kill him herself, but based on how twitchy he was, and how he looked around from time to time, even if it was admittedly in a distracted manner, Suki garnered that he was probably fairly jumpy as of right now.

She would kill the other man though. She didn’t like how he called her a runt.

With a nodding of understanding, Rey slowly withdrew his sidearm to avoid unnecessary noise as he drew it. He gestured for Tsuki to hold her hands up before he withdrew the magazine, and racked the chambered round out into her awaiting hands. The capsule that was the slug, seemed to hum with vibration, the transparent material holding some silvery colored milky liquid. Taking the round back and reslotting it into the remove mag, swapped it for another in a separate magazine pouch. Sliding it into the magwell, and home with a click, discreetly racked the slide to chamber a fresh round.

The rounds that were in this new magazine, for the brief moment Tsuki had been able to see them, would have had a faint blue glow. Moving forward a bit ahead, but keeping low, took a knee before drawing his aim onto the man that was to be his target. Leveling the sight at torso level, Reynard squeezed two whispered shots off in quick succession, before a third as the recoil was allowed to bring the barrel up. Letting it bring his aim to head level of his target, squeezed off the third and final shot.

Suki gave a blank stare as the bullet went into her hands, and blinked as Reynard took the bullet back from her. Once that was done, the wolf genemod began slowly inching her way towards the thug, but out of Rey’s line of sight. She didn’t dare get too close, in case she startled the man, but she wanted to be in a position to at least see if there was anyone in the side passage. She did move forward again once Reynard fired his first, then second, then final, shot.

She paused for a moment after moving forward during the shooting, waiting a second to see if the enforcer would continue. When no further pulses were heard, she darted in and began dragging the body away from the side tunnel- from what she gathered, Raleigh may have more people around him, and this last side tunnel may be where he decided to hole himself up in.

Suki scrambled a bit as she tried to get the massive man’s body weight moving, but she managed to pull it away from the opening. Once that was finished, she tilted her head, looking at the pile of dirt at the end of the main passage, and the smaller conveyer belt that showed signs of having been pulled out of the side tunnel. Yep, definitely maintenance.

But the dirt did provide a convenient hiding place. She just had to cross the side tunnel, and…

Wait, was that even necessary? The wolfgirl turned to face Reynard, and made a questioning sound, before pointing at the body, pulling out the pad again- the poor thing had to be crumpled by now- and writing: “Hide the body?”

Rey, making sure their target hadn’t noticed the incident, just aggressively nodded at her from his position. The man figured that would be obvious as if unnoticed, would lull him either into thinking that path was safe when they sprung the attack, or at the least not suspect the second much closer threat that Tsuki posed. In either case, they had the element of surprise, and seemingly had the man cornered for all the duo knew. He wanted to keep it that way.

Scooping up his brass, Reynard would grip it in his fist, as he remained low and moved up slowly. Now was the time to close the engagement range, but stuck to the opposite side, to hopefully avoid them turning towards spotting Tsuki if they turned around. The dimness was still their ally right now, but he so wished they could cut them all together, giving them an edge.

Suki nodded, before moving around to shove the body at the base of the muck pile, and grabbing an errant shovel, began pushing the peak of the pile off so that it would fall onto the body. A few minutes later, and Suki deemed the job done well enough- there was still a foot and a hand, but the wolf-mod trusted in the dimness, the ensuing chaos outside, and their current approach against Raleigh to distract long enough to not notice the body.

Once that was finished, Suki padded over back to the side branch’s entrance, and nodded to Reynard as she took out her knife, and began stalking forward, scowling as they passed by several indentations to the otherwise almost perfectly spherical tunnel- no doubt miners trying to scrape as much metal off the walls as they could. It was dark- obviously, since the tunnel was new and still being dug out; there was no space to put lights. Still, Suki noticed a pair of darker blobs against the unlit view, and froze, stepping back a couple of steps to stop Reynard, holding out a hand to stop him. Though.. How was she going to show the enforcer the figures?

As she stopped him, he wondered what got her attention, before flicking something on his mask. There was a very faint hum, as he turned on the mask’s optical functions, the face covering having an alternative function as NVGs. Peering further in now, he saw the two other figures, “What’s the game plan? I see two more of someone, or something further in.” Rey was sure to keep his voice low, as he shared this information, trying to adjust some settings to see if he could make them out more clearly.

Suki kept her eyes trained on the pair, as she thought it through. Suddenly, a light shone through, facing the other direction, as a man turned on a flashlight, and his voice began echoing through the chamber as he growled at the other figure.

“Damn droids. Dunno what Raleigh was thinking- they’re configured to sort, not mine, much less mine organics.” A moment of silence, before the cone of light began to turn. Suki’s, who had already flattened herself against the wall at first, before inching out slightly, widened her eyes, and practically shoved Reynard and herself into one of the divots, pressing against the rough surface as the rhino-mod shone his light back down the hallway.

“Geralt, you managed to fix that one yet?”

Silence.

“Geralt?”

“Don’t tell me he fucking quit…” Grumbling to himself, the rhino-mod began heading towards the entrance, but then stopped as the robot began following him, and turned to face it. “Damn- Unit Delta-38, stay in your current position.” The droid did so. “Alright, let’s see here… Unit Delta-38, initiate watchman protocol, set an exception to… ugh, what was it?”

“Please set a valid target.”

“I GET IT, FUZZ-FOR-BRAINS.”

“Please se-”

“ARRRGH!”

During the commotion, Suki pulled out her pad, and roughly wrote against the wall. There were a couple of holes by the end of it, but Suki had managed a messy: “Shoot robot with stun. I get guard.” She maintained her position, but was bouncing on the heels of her feet, and after a moment of showing the paper to Rey, had let it fall, before drawing her knife with one hand and setting the other against the wall, ready to propel herself.

He was going to ignore the fact she had body squished him briefly, something that not even her tits could outshine the fresh ache it left. The meds were starting to dull a little, damn, but that was fine as long as this didn’t prolong for too much longer. The distraction of swapping loads once again, was a decent take away to get his focus off the slowly returning pain, as he hand checked the chamber to drop out the chambered round. Sliding the new one in home, Reynard gently let it click closed under his fingers, before adjusting his grip to hold the gun for use again.

Leaning around the corner, his back against the opposite ridge of the divot for stability, lined up his shot. There was no use in Mozambique for this, so it was three quick shots to the center mass of the chassis, as each squeeze gave a quiet sneeze of release for each round.

Meanwhile, while Rey was setting up his shot, Suki ducked under his view, and began softly walking towards the pair, making sure to move parallel to her hopeful employer’s line of sight, and not in the way. She heard the first whizz, and she began running. Two. She was almost at the pair, and the droid itself was a sparking light show. The third shot went off, and Suki, while guessing that was the final one, based off of the previous encounter, still waited a moment before veering across his line of sight to leap onto the man.

That moment of hesitation almost got her killed, as the guard recovered from the third shot quicker than expected, and had begun to bellow at her as he pulled out a beefy pistol. Thankfully, both shout and threat ended quickly, as Suki grabbed onto his left arm, and used her jumping momentum to force him to stagger back, while also using it to swing around; this, in turn, allowed her to bury her knife into his neck- with a new hold on him, she released her grip from his painfully locked arm, and covered his mouth from his now free hand.

She couldn’t stop her momentum, but with both arms grasped against his head, it was relatively simple to force him onto the ground, tear out the knife, and stomp on his throat. She did it twice for good measure. A third time because she was vindictive. Unfortunately, her wraps were now soaked in blood. Fortunately, the rhino-mod was dead. The wolfmod quickly pushed herself off of the corpse, and back into the side passage proper, away from the crevice that made up the vein that the miners had, well, mined.

Raleigh, that last droid, or maybe even another bodyguard could be there. …Or, well, at least they could be heading there now, after hearing a short shout. …Then again, the rhino-mod was venting his frustrations. Still, no chances. Suki really didn’t like how bullets felt- she’d much rather not have another one shot into her, thank you very much.

Reynard peaked his head around the edge, having ducked back in after his shots as to not be spotted if their little engagement had garnered attention. With his NVGs, peered down the tunnel to spot if they had, but wasn’t immediately sure. Hmmmm, should I swap magazines again, or keep the current load. There’s 9 rounds in the mag remaining, with one of those loaded, which should be enough for three targets if I don’t miss. He at the least, opted to hold the partial mag he had been using with the CPRs, loosely holding it by the bottom in his off hand with the top facing him to not let the faint glow be visible, and still somewhat supporting his aim with the free fingers of that hand.

The wolfmod skidded back to Reynard, having grabbed the pistol and flashlight from the bodyguard, though it was clear she was lugging the beast of a pistol. Upon reaching him, she quickly kneeled onto the ground, and pulled out the pad. Suki was honestly thinking that the thing was made of some sort of super-titanium or something like that.

Suki got to scribbling, using the flashlight to help her see, and when she was finished, she showed Rey: Two droids down. One more. Unknown number of guards. Raleigh himself.

Suki then looked at the crevice, chewing her lip thoughtfully, before she wrote something else down: Split up?

A grumbling shout could be heard, echoing from the mined vein: “God damn it, Garret! I didn’t pay you to mess around with robots, I’m paying you to fucking protect me! Stop trying to get the droid to do your job for you!” …Suki gathered that between the rhino-mod’s shouting, it was enough to provide reasonable doubt that an actual confrontation happened. Though… surely even Raleigh wasn’t that stupid, right?

Wait, did they seriously somehow succeed in not drawing suspicion? Seeing as their cover wasn’t blown yet, and they had seemed to at least removed most of the obstacles thus far. Well now did seem like as good of a time as any to press the advantage they had. Reynard looked to Tsuki as she showed her suggestion, and nodded his head in agreement. “How should we focus our divided attention? You go for Rayleigh, take him down for capture, and I snuff the rest of his guard?” It seemed like a simple enough plan, and it would mean they were dealing with targets about the same time.

Basically she closed the gap, and incapacitated the main target in hand to hand, and Rey picked off the other lackeys. It wouldn’t be hard to pull off, and they had the element of surprise still. They’d just have to decide what to do with Rayleigh afterwards, based on what he told them, though.. The enforcer doubted the man was walking out in either scenario at the very least, without very good reason to keep his knees intact at the very least.

Suki looked at Reynard, and nodded. After setting a foot down, she grimaced, reached down, and peeled off her bloody wrap. Once finished, she nodded, and set off at a trot down the crack, stopping from time to time to ensure Reynard was keeping up, or to look at the ground. She skipped two splits in the path- she knew how to track. Reynold and his guard had definitely disturbed the crushed rock beneath them, and even though miners passing through meant that the tracks were busy, their prey’s tracks were most obvious.

Soon, Suki pulled to a stop, and held up a hand. A light around the corner. Some muttering, as a voice- Raleigh- idly spoke to the robot: “Where are they? I know those idiots won’t stop them, but all I need is time and a warning..”

Suki’s mouth pulled up into an almost cruel smile. Well. Looks like Raleigh wasn’t going to get his warning. As Suki began moving forward, knife pulled out- and slightly bent, she idly noticed- whirring noises greeted her, and a drone pulled out from around the corner.

Greetings, visitors. Please leave the premises, it is unsafe to enter without a hard hat. Please go to your nearest equipment bay and equip a hard hat.

“Shit!” Suki heard Raleigh’s curse, and immediately sprang to action as she bolted past the robot, ducking underneath an outstretched drill, chasing after the sound of footsteps running.

The robot was instantly pegged with three rounds fired rapidly as Tsuki ducked its swing, before Reynard followed her in the pursuit. It was enough to have slowed him down in joining the chase immediately, so now the enforcer was lagged in their running after Raleigh. That left maybe two more targets only beside their target himself, which he was only expecting the organic of those two to potentially be a problem. Though that was a secondary concern as he wasn’t as nearly as fast as how fast the wolf girl seemed to move, but that should have been unsurprising given she was a genemod.

They were always faster, stronger, and quicker. Always had been, and it was why they were the source of nightmares during the war, not that Rey had been alive for that. But his old man had always drilled their risk into his ahead for having to encounter them. As a human, he would always be at a disadvantage, which had been one of the reasons to learn casting as he had.

Suki barrelled around the corner, and chased after the man. It wasn’t a particularly tough chase- Raleigh obviously wasn’t that used to the mines; then again, neither was Suki, but she recovered from slips and trips faster than him. The man seemed to realize he wasn’t going to escape, and turned around to draw a handgun and aim it at Suki’s head. The wolfmod didn’t jump at Raleigh, but rather dived at his feet. Which, based on the way Raleigh jerked his weapon and fired prematurely, was not what he was expecting.

Granted, the move was risky still, as showcased by the pair collapsing to the floor- this, by virtue of Suki sweeping his feet from underneath him. However, as the pair fell, the gun went off again- but Suki made sure that he wouldn’t pull the trigger, slotting her knife between the two wrist bones to pin his arm to the floor. Gun falling out of his hand, Suki took advantage of that to kick his pistol away from him; her intent to jerk it out was interrupted by his own knife, which she caught on her peripheral.

Letting go of her knife, she used the other, unused hand, to try and stop his wrist’s frantic momentum- as her own buckled inwards upon them meeting, she thrust her palm out to ram it up his nose, causing a geyser of blood to spurt from the ruined nose as man howled in pain. He still held onto the knife. Admirable.

Suki’s free hand moved back to Raleigh’s knife hand, and she grabbed his thumb, focusing on the joint. A pop could be heard, as she dislocated his thumb. That was enough to cause him to drop his knife, point clattering dangerously close to his face as he screamed.

Suki couldn’t care less, as she shifted from laying on him to kneeling on him, as she prevented him from using his legs, and a hand on the wrist with the dislocated thumb. She wasn’t worried about the other arm. Rather, that hand was wrapped around his neck, cutting off his scream and causing him to choke out desperately.

Reynard was catching up, though the scuffle led him to cutting the distance pretty quickly, though he had to narrowly duck the pair of stray shots. The ricochet of the second just barely scraped past the arm of his coat. As he caught up though, he was now standing over them both from above as he walked around to be on the other side. “Good job catching him, now, where to start? Ah right, so why did you want me dead? Your lackeys were sloppy in trying, but they made it clear you wanted me gone for some reason. Something to do with the man at the bar perhaps”, Reynard began to question as he took a kneeling position next to the man’s head.

The barrel of his Wraith pistol was gently placed against Raleigh’s temple, before jamming it down hard enough to pin his head to the rocky floor. “Answer, and sell out anyone else I need to know about, and you can walk. I don’t give a shit at this point, and I’m really wanting to go home, so make it quick. Give me something juicy, and your freedom is proved worth it, and if not… well, I’ll gauge on what I get.” The enforcer gestured to let him breathe to speak. If he tried to scream for help, well he’d just expend one more shock round, and they’d drag him somewhere else. Preferably where Syndicate probes and inquisitors could pry what they needed, but maybe he was smart enough to make this at least easier on them both, and actually cooperate.

Raleigh was visibly sweating as the wolfmod withdrew her hands from his neck, causing him to gasp out desperately for air, even despite the pistol barrel jamming against his head. After a moment’s silence of just him sucking in air, he managed to gasp out: “W-woah! I was just doing what m’boss told me to do! He told me to stop the enforcer snooping around.” A cough, then the man licked his lips. “I was wondering why- you were stopping the union cutting into our profits, after all. Same thing I had hired Ms. Assassin here to do as well.”

Another cough. “But, y’see, the boss was particularly explicit that only a third party kill the man. I dunno why, I don’t ask questions- I do what I’m told, yeah?” He stayed quiet, then suddenly spoke again, seeming as if something suddenly sparked in his head. “Boss was real content to let the union stay going- right up until they broke into his office. Then things got ugly. I’d thought originally he’d just didn’t want the Syndicate to think that he was incompetent, but mebbe… but maybe he was hiding something?”

“He wanted to keep it hush, so he tried to kill an enforcer… in the middle of a public square…” Reynard couldn’t really hide the snort that came from nose in stifled chuckle at that story. The guy was being dodgy, and he didn’t like the sudden expression of eureka the guy gave a little too obviously. “I dunno about you, but my bullshit meter is blaring. What do you think? His story has some obvious holes, and he’s been a bit spacey like a comedian who thought he just came up with the best gag ever on the spot”, the enforcer said as he conferred with Tsuki. In all honesty, he was very tempted to just pull the trigger and drag the guy off to a… more persuasive syndicate representative.

Suki stared at Reynard for a moment, before choosing her response- lightly kicking the dagger embedded in Raleigh’s arm. She took a little bit of satisfaction in his scream. Once he quieted down, the wolf mod cocked her head for a moment, crouched back down and righted the dagger, before pulling it slightly, just to get it out of the dirt, twisting it, and yanking the rest of it out of his arm.

Amidst the rest of his screaming, the wolfmod sheathed her karambit, grabbed Raleigh’s pistol, but holstered it roughly, and pulled out the behemoth pistol, stalking forward back around the corner. A moment later, and a deafening bang echoed out of the hallway. A second later, four more bangs echoed out, this one less impactful. A moment later, Suki appeared around the corner, dragging a sparking droid behind her, though she was nursing her right hand at the same time. She was making small disgruntled noises, but she threw the robot in the ground in front of her, and crossed her arms underneath her chest, glaring at Raleigh.

Meanwhile, Raleigh himself had stayed quiet throughout the entire exchange, face turning white as Suki came back with the tin corpse. Finally, he blurted out: “OK, OK. Group of people heard about the discovery of Ytterbium Boride on Leviathan XIX. They wanted to have rights to it, but competition knows it struck gold and is chomping on the bit, and got the Syndicate to support their claim on it.”

A gulp, and a sideways glance at the masked enforcer. “You’re gonna keep your promise and let me go, right?”

Rey made the face of mulling it over, before just pulling the trigger as he did, and feeling satisfied with the subsequent audible zap that followed the meaty thump against the forehead. “Ah I wasn’t going to either way, well, okay, technically I will but that’s going to be getting him to someone who’ll pry out anything additional. He did give me a decent taste of that info though, so I at least have something to make a report around.” Standing up, the enforcer took a moment to swap magazine loads again, as this time he went with a normal load of hollow points.

Holstering the weapon, he began to pick up Rayleigh into a fireman's carry across his back, “So, how many do you think he was in cahoots with? I doubt it was just him at the table, or this one mine. Not big enough for the kind of rare deposit he was talking about.” He also doubted this was the end of it either, but for tonight, getting one top hat of the table would be enough. They could deal with the others, or further the extent of the scheme once the table decided on how to proceed.

Suki frowned at his question. As they walked past the now-mostly empty nooks and crannies of the shaft, the wolfmod raised her hands, and lifted all fingers, growled, and nodded her head no. She repeated, this time with nine. And again, at eight, seven, and six. When she got to the single hand, she nodded her head in a so-so manner, repeating it with four fingers.

Once they had reached the exit proper, there were the closest equivalent the slums had to firefighters putting out the fires, with bystanders loitering around- a fair few of them were the miners from below- there were definitely a couple that looked dejected now. One had noticed the pair, with Rey lugging Raleigh, and approached them, a concerned look on his face. “What the fuck happened down there?” His loud voice as he called the pair attracted a couple other miners, who started drifting their way to the enforcer and wolfmod.

Suki grimaced, and put a hand in her pocket- she had decided to stop stowing the bent, bloody knife in her sternum. Though, the miner’s advance slowed down, and one even stopped, as they recognized the enforcer. One miner was braver than the rest, and decided to approach Rey, looking fairly nervous as he began his question: “So, uh, why is Raleigh on the Syndicate’s hitl- er, I mean, what did Raleigh do?”

“Well your boss decided to make a play under the table, and he tried to kill me in a fit of panic that I would find out”, Reynard replied earnestly, before gesturing to the remains of the front office. “That was the trap he set for when we arrived… I can't say I was expecting the office to go boom though when I launched that barrel through the window. Guess he had a few volatile surprises originally meant for us. Now dear Rayleigh here, has a nice evening waiting for him with an inquisitor, so please do excuse us as they much prefer punctuality.”

“Oh, and while I am thinking about it, and from what he’s said already. Has he met with anyone recently, like other foramen, or even some other sorts who might be a little unusual to see around here?” He figured he might as well ask, as people did seem more inclined if politely done so. “And before you worry about your jobs or something, I’ll make sure it gets sorted with the company, or even the table to make sure things keep rolling. I’m not here to get anything shut down, so apologies for the damages and inconveniences gentlemen”, the enforcer added to make sure he bore no ill will, and would make sure things were handled to not cause problems.

“Uhm, no, not really? He only really ever called us up to the office to either tell us off for messing with Moleman, or, well, that we were fired. He never really hosted anyone fancy there- always had to go to the big office for meetings.” At that, the miner jerked a finger towards the main industrial office. “And he keep- er, kept-” At that, the miner broke off and gave a nervous, and almost sympathetic glance, at Rayleigh. “-kept to himself a lot. Never really hung around with us down in the mines, except to make sure we were all running smoothly.”

Another miner had been inching forward, and he piped in: “He always left work late, always stayed in his office and the safe in there. No idea why he had the safe in the first place- guess most other mining offices have them? Guess too much of a hassle to request cash from HR, so they delegate some to each mine?”

“Rayleigh, spend money on the mine? That man was a pennypincher if I ever saw one.”

“At least he let Harold do his magic on Moleman.”

“Fair- but then again, who says no to a little mechanical magic?”

The man then realized who he was talking in front of. “So, uh, anyways…” He was interrupted again by the other man:

“I did catch him twice moving past the Guns and Gears pawn shop. Seemed jumpy, but from how he walked, he moved past that place a lot.”

“Huh. He’s that much of a crab?”

“He seemed kinda surprised to see me- but y’know I live a block down from there.”

A few more chattering between the two, and the miner offering the information gave a somewhat strained smile: “Can’t say really where he was going, only that he always headed down to the shops from Guns and Gears.”

Suki, meanwhile, had moved away, and started staring intently at the building. It was mostly destroyed- the parts embedded in the rock face proper had fared slightly better, but not much. Frowning, she realized nothing of value would probably be gained from the office itself- any valuables Rayleigh had stored in there were probably gone, reduced to ashes. She returned back to Reynard as the miners cautiously thanked him for the insurance, and moved off to discuss the events with the other miners.

Pulling out the pad, she wrote down Guns and Gears. Only lead. She showed that to Rey, then frowned, before pointing at Rayleigh himself, before scribbling on the pad again: And what Rayleigh confesses to.

“According to those workers, there should have been a safe in his office, so I’m going to see if some of the responders can dig it out while we get someone to swing by for sleeping beauty here. Once we get that and pry it open, we can head down to the shop.” It was better to at least try he supposed, after all, they didn’t have much else. There was also the matter of making a few calls anyways. “Guess so much for being the end of our night, huh?” he asked with a dry chuckle.

Suki just gave a pained look; she broke out of that, though, to point at Reynard. Specifically, his ribs. Then at his shoulder. Then at him. Finally, she sighed, and wrote down on her pad: Also you need medical attention. …She blinked, before she also wrote down something else: How do I stay in contact with you? She pulled out his now crumpled number, before sheepishly pointing to the back of her neck: her Geist. She then picked up her pad, and wrote down: I can not call with the Geist. She then blinked. And then wrote down something else- this was very rushed: Yes. I would like to accept your job proposal. Explain how it works, please?

Did he want her to just hang around the slums and keep an eye out on potential trouble? Stay as an on-call assassin? Report on goings on? Either way, Suki was very hopeful about the pay- she could pay rent for a proper apartment, maybe!

Oh yeah, I did offer that earlier. It was hours ago, so I kinda almost forgot about it to be honest, he thought to himself. She wasn’t wrong, the pain was starting to creep back in again, which would be a pain in the ass, almost literally for anything further tonight. It was rather late as well, more evident by the lowered number of lights on across the Pit now as a whole as they got outside. “Okay, change of plans then. We check about that safe, get him picked up. Then how about we call it early for the day, and pick things up tomorrow properly, sound good?”

He waved down a few distant first responders, before answering her inquiry on the job proposal from before, “10k a month as a salary, and a commission pay for each job assigned and completed. You can live in my spare room at my condo for now. For comms, I’ll give you this burner phone to keep in touch, as I keep a few in case the implant isn’t reliable or needs an extra layer of negative trace.” Reynard pulled one such device out, which was just a standard smartphone, which he quickly booted before adding his own contact to.

“I should have a charge for it at home”, he added before those he waved down came over. To whom he quickly described that he needed a safe that should have been in the office, before sending them off to look for it. After the duo ran off to retrieve it, the enforcer promptly put in a call for a pickup for Rayleigh while he waited for his companion to mull over the offered terms.

Suki dropped the pad. And stared at Reynard. Her mouth opened and closed for a moment, before she gave a squeak in her raspy voice. She then started scrambling on the ground to pick up the pad, before realizing that Reynard was offering her the burner phone. She quickly stood up, fumbled around with the phone that she inadvertently snatched instead of merely taking, before pocketing it, and picking up her pad: You are serious?

After getting off the call, the enforcer would finally answer her, “Hmm? Serious about what? Is that pay rate too low?” He wasn’t entirely sure what part she was asking about, as for all he knew, he was offering too little. It wasn’t often he considered anyone worthy to work with, or possibly trustworthy enough, but he also never had to hire them per say either. This was a first for a few of those, as most of the former were just former friends of his late father.

Suki just blinked, speechless, at Reynard. Well. More speechless than usual. Finally, she managed to scribble down: That’s a good price. I accept. I have to get my things from my housing. To call it housing would be stretching it, but if she could get her stuff out of there before the Pits cornered her, she could be out of that place for good. However, as it stood, first, the safe. Something Suki really believed was destroyed- or at the very least, the stuff inside was gone- but her new employer thought otherwise.

Shaking her head in disbelief, she padded to the edge of the building, and started scrambling upwards, ignoring the firefighters in the vicinity, and slipping from time to time as she slipped on a loose bit of rubble. When she finally made it to the safe, she frowned at the closed door. It was still intact, yes, but surely Raleigh took everything out of there if he was going to blow up the place, right? She turned back to look at Reynard, and shrugged as she tapped the safe.

The responders from before followed her up before simply shoving the thing down the slope of debris. Reynard stepped up to the rather beaten safe, surprised it had indeed survived. Time to expend more energy as it were, casting kinetic on the body of the safe, before also casting it in the opposite direction on the door of the safe. Stepping a few paces back to be safe, he greatly increased the force of the kinetic energy applied in both directions until the metal groaned in abuse. After more energy was applied, something that was starting to make him sweat heavily with the effort, the safe finally popped violently.

The door flew up so hard that it sheared into the stone above, showering dust and bits of rock. Sure that the door wasn’t coming back down anytime soon, even as some of those around gawked at the spectacle, stepped closer to peek inside as he took deep breaths. Producing a small compact flashlight, shone the high lumen device on the interior of the safe.

Suki had slid down to follow the responders. She had also decided to back away slightly when Reynard began using his caster device thingy. And she was glad she did so when the safe door basically exploded. Giving a somewhat bemused look at Reynard at the result of his work, she peeked inside the safe as well.

Guns. Lots of fucking guns. Pistols. Rifles. Revolvers. Bolt Action. Submachine guns. Was that an actual, mounted machine gun? Why the hell did Raleigh NOT use any of these against them? There were explosives, grenades, mines, and the like also neatly packed up underneath the gun benches. Ammo everywhere. And there was a chest in the back, with a computer monitor with a hanging keyboard sitting above it.

…Basically, a cliche spy movie gun safe.

Suki gave a sigh as her opinion of Raleigh plummeted. Did the man seriously decide to put in a full-blown action movie skit in his office? And he wanted to bomb it? Moving inside the safe, ahead of Reynard, she kept a close watch around. Based on how paranoid the man was, the place could be trapped. Slowly she inched forward, until she finally made it to the back area. She frowned at the chest- it didn’t look like there was a code lock anywhere. There were two latches near the center, though. If Suki was a betting person, she would bet the chest was opened by the computer.

Moving forward, she poked at the mouse, showing a standard passcode screen in front of her. She turned to look back at Reynard, and shrugged again.

The man gave a groan, “This man has more budget than sense, what is he, a Thanes Rond wannabe!?” This was getting out of hand as the enforcer stepped in, seeing the arsenal before them, and just ushering the wolf girl out for a second. Grumbling to himself, he withdrew his blade, before lining the end of the blade with the crease of the lid, before jerking the blade through then sheathing. Yanking the lid off, Reynard began yanking out the stacks of papers inside, and putting them in Tsuki’s hands.

As he stepped back out, a second call was made to arrange some renovations in the next couple days, and pickup of the vault itself. Might as well take the damn thing home and everything in it, for all the trouble it had been worth. After the call he stepped in to double check the contents, seeing if there was anything but weapons inside.

There was a fair deal of marks stashed underneath the various papers and USB ports, and credit sticks placed here and there between the various firearms. Meanwhile, while Rey was searching for the loot, Suki was shuffling the papers back and forth, rifling through them and making the occasional face from time to time.

The sticks seemed dodgy in how they were hidden, so his immediate assumption was embezzled funds he was squirreling away. Collecting them into a pouch, he’d have the treasury division give them a once over and decide from there. The amount of cash itself was impressive too, though perhaps more likely from dealings, so that he had no qualms holding onto. Rey stepped back out as he counted the bills, rejoined Tsuki, “So, any good dirt on our boi in there?” he asked as he handed her a decent part of the stack of marks.

Suki turned her head and tilted it at him, staring at him judgmentally, before sighing and ruffling some papers, and pulling out a couple, and showing them to him- One of the papers detailed a map, with various markers, circles, and paths of the Cylinder. Another one had a list of what Suki could only presumably guess were names, though one or two names were crossed out. What was concerning with this one, however, was that it had Reynard’s name on it. And finally, the last one showcased a long sheet of numbers and letters, where numbers were in sets of eight, and had three letters and a dash before them- something Suki could only guess were various codes.

Finally, some printed photos- most notable, a mine set up, though based on the lack of infrastructure aside from a local port and the background of Leviathan, Suki could guess that it was that fancy crystal mine that Raleigh was talking about. The rest, Suki honestly felt bored looking at, as most of the papers were just spreadsheets full of numbers. Based on the decimal point, money, but aside from that, Suki honestly didn’t want to read all of that.

“Oh look, I’m popular. Though I guess we can charge him with some of the recent murders of a few enforcers. Entire list is nothing but enforcers…”, Reynard commented a tad bitterly at looking over the list of names in particular. Everything else was far more fascinating however, especially with how telling it was. “My my, he and whoever he’s been working with have been making some bold moves, and some very traitorous research.”

The enforcer traded the wolf girl for the stack of papers, with the decent sized stack of marks he had been still trying to hand her. “Here, I’ll secure these for when the team comes by to pick him up, as the Table will want to see these immediately.” Placing the bills in her hands, he grinned, “And that… Is your first payment, consider the extra a sign on bonus, and the commission fee for a job well done.”

Suki just blinked again, mouth agape, as she just stared at Reynard for a moment, before looking down and making a show of stuffing the bills in her pocket, though the other one was raised to her face. A quick breather later, and the wolf-mod looked back up again, and although her eyes were slightly puffy, she grinned at him- it was probably one of the first times she actually smiled at him. She then looked down, and began writing on her pad, before showing it to Reynard: I need to get my things. Where should I head? Should I meet you somewhere?

There was a new cuteness to her he hadn’t seen yet, and it was quite endearing to see her finally smile for once. “The plaza where we got ambushed, should be safe for a while since I had someone go take care of the bodies we left. Hopefully your friend is back so you can give them my apologies, but I’ll have a cab pick you up before driving you to my condo in the Cylinder proper.” Looking at the time on an old watch he had on his wrist under the sleeve, Reynard finally added, “Will give me time to go see the doc before they head off for the night. She hates it when called after hours, even though she’s on call for emergency visits 26/7.”

There was a slight pause however, as something clicked as he suggested that. “Oh hold on missy, you never told me your name. I kinda need that for payroll records, and telling that cab who they’re picking up”, Rey stated before giving her a somewhat expectant tilt of the head as he waited for her to write it down for him.

Suki blinked, and looked at Reynard, tilting her own head back at him, before it finally hit her. She never told him her name. Oh. Right.

She got the pad, and frowned for a moment as she realized she was almost out of pages. Regardless, she pulled out the pen and shook it a couple of times, before writing down her name: Omatsuki. She then tore the page from the pad, and handed the sheet to Reynard.

Once that task was finished, the wolf-mod bowed deeply towards Reynard, and then turned around to begin running back to her domicile, to gather her things and prepare for service- and a new life- under her new master.