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Neen dropped down lightly onto the landing board at the front of Fade, Clix's night club. Sliver landed warily next to her, his repeating shotgun firmly in both hands and ready for action. The neon signs at the front of the club were off and the usual sound of dance music was ominously absent.
Neen pushed gently on the front doors, but they were locked. Undeterred she grabbed one of the pouches attached to her belt, the one containing the purple dust, her own special formula. She took out just a pinch, put it onto the palm of her hand and gently blew it into the lock. The mechanism glowed purple for a second then the door clicked open.
"Assassins first," she insisted teasingly as she clipped the pouch back into place then drew her pistols.
Sliver edged his way through the door first. The lights were off and it was dark as pitch inside. Even with their heightened fairy night vision they could barely make out where they were going. They had not moved far inside when Sliver bumped loudly against a chair, knocking it clattering to the floor.
"Seriously!" whispered Neen in disbelief. "I thought assassins were supposed to be stealthy?"
"Getting a clean kill is about surprise, you need to be in the place they least expect you at exactly the right moment. It's not about sneaking around in the dark!" argued Sliver.
Suddenly there was movement at the rear of the club and the lights came on. Neen cursed vehemently under her breath and rolled her eyes at Sliver. Sliver pointed a stern finger at her and was about to say something when a group of fairies came warily out of a back room.
Neen counted nine of them and they looked rough, like a street gang. The last to emerge was a huge fairy wearing black leather pants and a black leather waistcoat. He was bare-chested under the waistcoat and was bristling with muscles. His arms chest and face were covered in silver tattoos, the type that would change colour under UV light. The big fairy gestured for the others to fan out.
"The club is closed," said the leader sternly.
"I know these guys," whispered Sliver. "They are a bunch of amateur thugs who normally stand over small business owners for protection money."
"Do you think they are working for Clix or just working him over?" asked Neen as she pivoted left to cover that flank while Sliver did the same to the right.
The gang members were all armed, but with a mismatched variety of poorly concealed weapons. While they looked like they had been dragged from the nearest ghetto they were smart enough to know that Sliver and Neen had the drop on them with their weapons already drawn. That slim advantage was going to be their best chance at survival if things went bad.
"We are here to see Clix, we have some business to attend to," said Sliver meeting the icy gaze of the leader.
"An assassin with his gun already drawn only has one type of business on his mind. You gotta go through us first."
"If you know who I am, you know what I am capable of. You sure you want to die?" demanded Sliver his voice cold and sinister.
The leader just laughed derisively.
"Worth the risk for the bounty that is about to go onto your head."
Neen figured that the guy had to be either stupid or insane. Whichever it was they did not have time for an alpha male contest.
"Clix! We are only here to talk so can you get out here before Sliver kills everyone?!" she shouted.
At that moment Clix reluctantly emerged from the back room with his hulking granite golem right behind him. He looked at them both then around the club expectantly.
"If you are here to complete our business transaction then where is my dex?" he demanded while at the same time moving slightly behind the golem.
"These guys work for you then?" asked Sliver.
"Yes they do."
"Well there goes any chance of talking our way out of here," murmured Sliver.
"Where is my dex?" repeated Clix impatiently.
"There were some complications..." began Neen, but Clix cut her off.
"I know all about your complications! Have you seen the news reports? Half the city has either been evacuated or overrun," he snapped angrily. "If I had known what your employer was really after I'd never have agreed to the loan of the dex in the first place. However, business is business and needs are as the devil drives. Right now I need to secure my interests before things spread this far. If you don't have my dex then where is my compensation?"
Sliver very slowly freed one hand from the repeating shotgun and reached into his pocket to pull out a handful of gems he had grabbed from the burial chamber before the undead orcs rose from their graves to ruin his week. He carefully put them onto a nearby table. Clix gestured to one of his fairy gangers to grab them and bring them to him. He took one look and sneered.
"Is this a joke Sliver? It's not even a tenth of what that dex was worth to me!"
"It's not meant to cover your loss. It's for a twenty four hour extension on the loan and for some information. If you give us the information and the time we need then we can pay you ten times what that dex was ever worth. I'll even kill the back stabbing little toad for free to make sure nobody else has him."
Clix tapped his index finger against his lips thoughtfully as he contemplated the offer.
"I have never liked you Sliver, but the services you offer are valuable in such a competitive business environment. Business is business though and I don't have time to make pipe dream deals while there is an undead horde spreading across the city. Especially after the price the elves just put on your head. It’s time to claim your bounty boys!"
At that moment Clix darted behind the golem while at the same time his henchmen went for their weapons. As soon as Sliver saw Clix move he was already firing at him with the shotgun. The rounds smashed into the wall behind and then onto the golem itself. Rock splinters went everywhere, but otherwise had no effect. Sliver then leapt into the air himself and flew as hard and fast as possible directly to the right and into one of the anterooms off the main bar, firing his shotgun in a wide arch at the gangers as he went.
In the same instant Neen also launched into the air, but instead of going right she went straight up, back flipped and came back down to land behind several rows of tables for cover. She also fired wildly as she flew, in the hope to have their opponents more concerned about keeping their heads down than firing back. Between the pair of them they managed to create enough chaos to avoid being gunned down immediately.
Clix's henchmen recovered quickly, each moving in different directions to avoid the hail of fire. Their leader was the only one who did not panic. Calmly he dropped to one knee and drew his own nasty looking silver plated machine pistol and sprayed a trail of bullets after Sliver as he hurtled through the air.
As soon as Neen had landed behind the tables she kicked a couple over to form a barricade. Then she took a crucial second to single out one of the gangers, who had not yet reached any cover, and shot him in the chest with both pistols. She did not wait to see him fall and was back in the air again spiralling erratically towards the opposite wall to gain another firing position. Bullets chewed up the tables she had previously been behind and continued to follow her around the room. Their fire was accurate and it was everything she could do to avoid being hit.
Sliver had also recovered and from his hard cover in the anteroom he picked off another foe, but was quickly forced back in a storm of debris as the leader and two others turned their guns on him.
Neen had just bounced off one of the walls to avoid more bullets when one of the gangers came charging at her through the air with a serrated edged blade in each hand. He slashed them hard towards her as he approached. Neen was able to easily dodge the larger fairy and his flashing blades. As he flew narrowly past her she pivoted and shot him in the back as he went by. He dropped hard onto the floor smashing into furniture as he dropped from the air dead even before he hit the ground.
More bullets careened into the walls and ceiling next to Neen and she spun to avoid them, but this time was not so lucky with one
of them putting a neat hole through her left wing. The nerve endings in a fairies wing were as sensitive as human genitalia and she let out a sharp cry. The shock sent her tumbling hard back to the floor in amongst several tables.
Hearing Neen cry out Sliver instinctively started firing his shotgun on automatic, ripping chunks out of everything in sight with the explosive dark elixir rounds. He managed to take down another opponent and made the remaining gangers retreat to the cover of the bar.
Having forced the enemy’s heads down he tried to see if Neen was alright, but he could not see her behind tables. Sliver had only glanced away from the bar for a brief moment, when he heard the words of a spell being cast. He looked back towards the bar just in time to see the fireball racing towards him. With just moments to react he dived back into the anteroom and onto the floor as quickly as he could just as the doorway exploded into flame.
Neen lay on the floor, hidden from the gangers behind the bar by the tables around her. She inspected the hole in her wing gingerly. It hurt like hell and at first she wanted to cry, her perfect wing would now be blemished forever. As she stared at her wound a rage took over with an intensity she had never experienced before. Someone was going to pay dearly for that! With fury in her eyes she holstered her pistols and gingerly unstrapped the assault rifle from her back. She kicked over a nearby table and stood up behind it. At that moment the fireball cast by the lead ganger destroyed the doorway that Sliver he had been using as cover.
Neen wanted to gun down the lead ganger with return fire, but found herself facing a charging golem instead. She unloaded the entire clip from the assault rifle into the golem's chest with no effect. As it reached the tables it ploughed through them like a wrecking ball sending splintered wood everywhere. As it reached her she flung the assault rifle away, gritted her teeth against the pain and leapt into the air, narrowly avoiding the golem's wild charge. The inertia of the heavy granite golem took it slamming into the far wall of the club before it had a chance to stop and turn around.
Neen had no idea how she was supposed to stop the golem and each flap of her wings bought her a fresh wave of intense, sickening pain. She needed to finish off the gangers and get to Sliver before she passed out. Assuming he was still even alive, together they might stand a chance against the golem.
With Sliver, either dead or incapacitated the remaining gangers behind the bar were now firing in her direction to keep her pinned as they cautiously manoeuvred towards her in an attempt to outflank her. She dropped quickly back down onto the floor in amongst the splintered remains and debris that had resulted from golem's charge. She stayed as low as she could to avoid being hit. If she did not think of something fast it would all be over yet she had no chance at taking all four remaining gangers out without herself being killed. As splinters of wood, chunks of plaster and glass fell around her from the gunfire she suddenly saw her chance.
Neen closed her eyes and momentarily shut out everything going on around her. She quickly whispered the words of a summon spell using the ancient tongue and conjured a small demon spirit and infused it into the debris around her. The possessed splinters of wood, shards of glass and chunks of plaster gathered into a small gremlin shaped creature with a torn beer coaster as a head. It stood no higher than her knees and the demon inside was not happy about that and started immediately abusing her in the most indecent use of the ancient tongue she had ever heard.
She raised her pistols above table height for a moment and fired blindly back at her attackers to keep them from rushing her. Then she crouched down so she was face to coaster with the demon.
"I need your help before I release you back to the abyss," she said urgently.
The demon shook its coaster head and folded its debris arms.
"It involves mayhem and destruction," she coaxed as she unclipped a hand grenade from her envirocoat.
The demon’s demeanour changed instantly and it snatched the grenade from her eagerly.
"A gift for the fairy with the silver tattoos."
The demon put the grenade down for a second and threw itself into an over exaggerated military salute then picked it up again and went scurrying off. Neen slowly raised herself up to try and locate her opponents without getting her head blown off in the process. The four remaining fairies had split up, with two moving cautiously towards Sliver’s position. Another was coming at Neen from the left and directly in front of her still behind the cover of the bar was their leader.
The fairy coming from her left was almost in a firing position that would leave her exposed so she stood briefly and fired rounds in his direction and had him diving back for cover. She dropped back down behind the tables as quickly as she had risen and was about to repeat the move when she heard the words of the fireball spell once again coming from the direction of the bar. At the same moment she heard the golem crashing its way through more furniture from behind.
"Useless little demon!" she thought angrily as she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and launched into the air again as the fireball raced towards her. She escaped the blast narrowly and used the momentum of the shockwave to arch upwards and over the charging golem to hover behind it as it skidded to a halt again. This time she used the golem itself as cover and fired upon the fairy to her left, taking him down as he fired back.
At that moment to her right the other two fairies had reached the anteroom and rushed inside. There were two shots and a few moments later Sliver emerged, much to Neen's relief, with his shotgun smoking and a satisfied look on his face. Sliver now turned his attention to the tattooed leader, but it was not needed because the little demon had finally emerged from under the bar and jumped onto his back.
The huge fairy tried frantically to grab at the demon, but it was too fast and able to stay out of his reach. It tormented him for a moment by pinching and punching him as it scampered about. Then quickly tiring of the game and the mortal world it moved around and launched onto his head. It wrapped its legs and free arm around his neck pulled the pin on the grenade with the other. Then it just hung on for the ride provided by the now panicking fairy and awaited the trip back to the abyss.
Neen, momentarily distracted by the explosive demise of the gang's leader, did not notice that the golem had already turned back on her. It swiped hard at her and she caught the swinging arm in her peripheral just in time to try an evade it. She was successful in avoiding most of the force of the blow, but was not able to completely get out of the way and was flung across the room. She landed hard and was dazed and disoriented.
The golem did not hesitate and moved towards her to finish the job. It came more slowly and methodically this time. Neen tried frantically to get to her feet, but she could not. The golem was almost on her when Sliver landed in front of her, his ancient sword drawn.
"If you take one step further I'll send you back to the quarry."
"You have come to harm my master. I must protect my master," rumbled the golem as it raised its arms and brought both of its granite fists down at once to crush Sliver. The golem was fast, but Sliver was faster and dodged the blow. As the golem's hands smashed a deep crater into the floor Sliver leapt into the air and swung his sword down hard, yelling the words of an ancient fairy battle cry as he did. The ancient sword glowed red and then quickly white hot as though it had just come from the forge as it arched through the air. It hit the golem's arms and sliced through them with ease.
The golem fell backwards bellowing in pain. Without hesitation Sliver dropped down on top of it and finished it off swiftly by driving the blade hard into its chest until it was buried to its hilt. The golem gave out one last short sharp gravelly groan then fell silent. Sliver pulled the sword from its chest and the blade rapidly cooled, back to red hot at first before fading completely back to its normal cold steel appearance.
Neen's dizziness and disorientation from the hard knock had passed and she was able to regain her feet, albeit still a little shakily. Sliver jumped down from the golem's chest and hovered ov
er to her shaking his head. He offered her no assistance.
"That's the second time in as many days I've had to save your ass. I warned you about pissing me off like that," he said angrily.
"Well if you didn't spend half the fight hiding over there maybe I wouldn't have a hole in my wing!" she snapped back.
"One day you will push your luck with me too far Neen," said Sliver through clenched teeth as he sheathed his sword again. Neen frowned back at him.
"Likewise Sliver," she replied as she pushed past him. "It would be nice if you at least pretended you gave a shit about the girl you are trying to seduce into bed."
Sliver did not respond and the two walked in silence to the back room where Clix had fled at the start of the fight. The pair cautiously entered the back room with guns at the ready. The room was empty and they slowly crept to the only other exit which they knew lead to Clix's private office. They positioned quietly either side of the door.
"Clix..." started Sliver, but he was immediately cut short by a shotgun round that blasted a fist sized hole in the door. It was followed shortly by two more shots. Sliver was about to say something when Neen cut him off.
"Clix we just want to do business," she shouted.
"Bullshit! Sliver is going to kill me and you know it!"
"You are no use to us dead. We need information."
"As soon as you get what you want he's still going to kill me."
Neen rolled her eyes at Sliver.
"Nothing is ever simple when you are around is it!" she whispered. Then she shouted again to Clix. "Maybe we can make a deal? You wipe out our debt to you and give us the information we need and we forget this whole little incident."
"I also want the club," chimed in Sliver unexpectedly.
"What!" exclaimed Neen and Clix simultaneously.
"You wipe our debt, sign the club over to me and you leave the city for good. If you do that I swear on the Battle of Tarva that we won't harm you."
"I don't believe you!"
"Well you better believe this. You have about ten seconds to take the deal or not. Otherwise we throw a bunch of grenades in there with you and go on our merry way."
There was silence for a moment, followed by cursing, then the sound of a gun clattering to the floor.
"I'm coming out, don't shoot," yelled Clix and he slowly opened the door then came out with both hands raised. He was sweating profusely and looked terrified. Sliver patted him down checking for any hidden weapons while Neen covered him.
"Right let's get down to business," said Sliver.
"Um, Sliver..." began Neen as the pain in her wing, combined with the blow she had taken during the fight got the better of her and she feinted.
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