by Kat Mandu
“Can you keep going?” Eagle asked as Richard clutched his side slowing down giving the man his answer as he spun into a slide drawing his bow and setting out an arrow. The Arrow hit it’s mark, as Richard drew his sword, only for the man to go after Eagle Eye, Richard frowned as he looked at both of his weapons as the two grappled.
A massive roar hit the ears as l cliff dropped out of nowhere dropping onto the now screaming attacker. “Someone shut him up,” Richard complained, “This damn pistol already kills my ears as it is.”
“Bam head shot,” Kareem said hitting the man in the skull knocking him out cold.
“What the heck are you doing here?” Eagle Eye asked as he looked at Kareem.
“Laurella woke up and asked, so we told her what when down and she jumped back in her room. Said we needed to get your ass cause you’re not recovered yet so she sent me to go find you,” Kareem quickly explained.
“So I take it you used the address?” Richard asked,
“Heck no, I used her,” Kareem pointed out as the two glanced up to see the yellow stripped bat dangling from a lamp post.
“I forgot about Flutters,” Richard admitted rubbing his chin.
“I would have guessed the big cat,” Eagle Eye admitted, as Richard smacked his forehead
“That does seem a bit more plausible,” Richard admitted,
“Anyway I take it we have a confirmed place?” Kareem asked as Cliff moved around the man’s legs.
“Yes, But I am still not sure what is going on, something is bugging me and I can’t place my finger on it,” Richard said stroking his facial hair.
“Well we finished what we set out to do,” Eagle Eye pointed out, “We may want to take care of the bodies as well,” He added as he pulled out his arrow.
“Wouldn’t be a bad idea, come one give me a hand,” Richard said as he put his weapons away and grabbing a pair of legs.
“You got an idea where we are putting this at?” Kareem asked grabbing the body by the shoulders.
“Yep there is an old river not far from here perfect place to dump a body,” Richard directed.
“Interesting idea,” Eagle Eye admitted,
“Not really people tossed all kinds of things into that river all the time, heck I swore I saw some people tossing a body in back in the day.” Richard waved off as Kareem and Eagle Eye looked at each other in concern.
“Really?” Kareem asked,
“Old story I never saw it, but the ghost stories were more than enough of a reason to spread the story around.” Richard said, “Besides the funeral home is going to be closed and I am not paying for this guy to get a box, maybe if he hadn’t tried to kill me,” He admitted,
“I hope if I die I don’t get the same treatment,” Kareem laughed morbidly.
“We do our job right, they throw a parade and create a holiday for the day you die,” Richard said with a smirk.
“You know that’s a cool idea,” Kareem admitted, Richard grinned as they glanced at Eagle Eye who just frowned and shrugged his shoulders.
“This not the time,” Eagle Eye interrupted
“Yeah shouldn’t we be dealing with some more, I mean three guys, something is up,” Richard admitted.
“I take it you want to head back then?” Eagle Eye sighed while showing as stern as ever Richard picked up he was getting annoyed.
“This situation is bugging me, I just wish we had an explosives expert or someone with a passing knowledge of magic.” Richard admitted, “We need to find some rope or something, I need to get up there,”
“I am supposed to bring you back,” Kareem reminded with a frown.
“You will just not as soon as the doctor would like,” Richard said with a chuckle. “Still it looks like my options are not all that sure,” Richard frowned he wasn’t too happy while garbage was piled up around there wasn’t anything sizeable he could use to stake or climb on.
Eagle Eye tired of standing around climbed back up to the busted window. Richard frowned not bothering to pay too much mind to the man as he tried to hunt for his own way in. “Here,” Eagle Eye announced as he lowered down a rope. Richard frowned taking a deep breath. Grabbing Hand over Hand Richard pulled himself up the side of the wall, he felt his brow start to sweat. He grabbed onto the edge of the roof as he pulled himself. Kareem waited until Richard was stationed before pausing he took the rope and tied it into a harness for Cliff then quickly scaled the rope much faster than Richard did.
Then to finish the job pulling the big cat up as well. Richard was surprised he expected Cliff to be like most cats when moved destructive piles of claws and fur. With everyone, steady Eagle lead the way into the building. The place was Dark bits of dust and old equipment littered the area as the group found themselves on a guard rail. “Hmm Textiles,” Richard said recognizing some of the equipment.
“Textiles?” Eagle eye asked,
“Cloth and fabric stuff, mostly a job woman do, my mom was in the field for a while,” Richard admitted as he found the rope. He untied it and quickly wound it up, and with a slight tie to keep track of the ends threw it over his head letting it across his chest.
“Now the main entrance,” Eagle Eye said as he headed down the path to find some stairs guided by the moonlight shining through the windows.
“This city seems to have a lot of empty factories not being used,” Kareem pointed out, why is that?”
“They outsourced the labor, to the colonies still have slavery so a lot of factories got set up there to make use of that detail, so labor is so cheap they ran a lot of factories out of business,” Richard admitted,
“That’s not good on a lot of fronts,” Kareem admitted, as they finally found the stairs, heading down they noticed a pile up on the wall not too far from them, as well as a slight light peaking through some cracks
“If not there someplace else would have, sadly owning people seems to be all over the place nothing worse than not having control of your own destiny,” Richard said,
Eagle Eye moved around the objects to get a look at the light “Barrels you don’t think?” Kareem pointed out as he opened one up, “Cannon powder,” he confirmed,
“And a Candle,” Eagle Eye confirmed, “The front door is booby trapped this place is set to explode,”
“I knew something didn’t seem right, about this place,” Richard said his suspicions confirmed.
“Okay then let’s disarm it,” Kareem advised as he moved forward moving over a few barrels to his way to the door he licked his fingers and put the candle out. Drawing one of his Daggers on the belt over his chest he started to cut up the rope sabotaging the mechanism. “There,” he sighed in relief as he glanced at his handy work.
“Now to head home, we should fill everyone in on what is up, I have to admit, this has been and interesting night,” Richard chuckled as he felt his muscles relax a bit. “I could go for a good night’s sleep.
“Do you think we should do something with the barrels?” Kareem asked concerned.
“Not tonight, besides we got the threat taken care of, and we will know what to watch out for next time. I don’t doubt when they find out we were here, they would jest set it back up so be careful okay?”
“Right,” Kareem nodded in confirmation as Eagle Eye nodded as well but didn’t put it into words.
“So why go through all this trouble?” Kareem wondered out loud.
“Not sure, he seemed to gain power through the blood of some kind but he seemed to need a lot of it, his journals didn’t give much on how all this works this could be him being petty.
“Such a waste,” Eagle Eye commented.
“Who knows, but another thought for another day, but this shows he is not going to go quietly into the night,” Richard concluded as the three and the cat headed back onto the streets. Eagle Eye glanced up and caught a shadow on a roof not too far away.
“We are being watched,” he informed as he pointed at the roof the other two glanced as well as Richard just shook his head.
“Looks like you were right, we better keep an eye on the windows next time we come to this place,” Kareem advised,
“I hate being right,” Richard grumbled as they head back to the Golden Eagle
Chapter 49 More Senseless Violence
Richard frowned as he took out his spyglass even in the warmth of a new day. Richard had set up a well sized parameter around the building. While he was sure this was the only one they had access to he had a good third of the crew slowly going over the buildings in the area, starting with the one he was standing on.
Tray and James had kindly worked on some wood fences to blockade the area and Goliam had peeled off all the manholes making up the area, outside of flight or teleportation, which the later he was now pretty sure was no longer an option, would mean nobody could make it in. Richard had set up a small base camp.
They had set up some water and food on a small table under a tent. With Sam running between major groups alongside Jill to keep everyone hydrated and attentive. Richard held in a Yawn as Boss stood next to him.
Both of them looked pretty tired, but Boss looked like he was ready to head back to sleep at any second. “I have to admit I am surprised,” David admitted with a hint of pleasantness. “Your actions always seemed to be that of a playboy but you can be professional.”
“I am doing everything I can to minimize risks,” Richard admitted with a shrug, “Hopefully Morgan will be showing up soon. Shouldn’t we meet the Captain of the guard as well, this seems like something he should be involved in.” Richard replied looking at David.
“So long as I am not covered in mud this time,” Madison muttered under her breath, but before anyone could speak on the comment a bark interrupted. Richard glanced over as Sam rushed forward with Jill pausing to wait for him to catch up. He shakily and slowly moved through a few hand signs.
Richard returned the greeting before he took a note Sam had handed to him. “Speak of the Devil, Nathan we have some guests to greet seems as though Tin is giving our Lordship a hard time,” Richard said with a chuckle.
“Sounds good to me,” Nathan said, “Don’t you think Madison and David should come with us?” he advised,
“Not a bad idea,” Madison said, “Not that you were leaving without me anyway,”
“Agreed, besides everything is well in hand your doctor and your first mate is more than qualified,” David complemented as he glanced over to see Laurella sitting off to the side reading a novel.
“Flattery,” Laurella waved off as she turned a page in her book.
Well,” Richard started as he moved for the fire exit when Richard felt a tug on his sleeve. He glanced down to see Sam as he pointed over at the tent, as Richard nodded. Sam and Jill took off to the shade both enjoying the water on supply.
Richard frowned the sun was near its apex and the day was on the hotter end of the spectrum. So he kept his pace not wanting to move too quickly. Nathan moved down his coat thrown over his shoulder
It didn’t take long for them to drop down to the streets as he walked over to the checkpoint Tin was at. It wasn’t hard there was already some shouting as Richard glanced down to See Tin standing in the middle of the roadblock as Morgan barked at him.
“Tin having trouble with another group of workers?” Richard shouted as Tin turned to look at him.
“I told him to wait, but for you but he doesn’t seem to get that we got everything under control,” Tin called back as Richard shook his head.
“No doubt Morgan’s looking for an easy way to up his reputation,” Madison muttered,
“What is the meaning of this dog?” Morgan shouted.
“That’s Sir Zane, Lord Morgan show some respect,” Madison informed as the four approached.
“You are in the way of official guard business,” Morgan declared loudly
“Yeah, I am working on orders of Lord Stronglance himself, to hunt down the man behind the recent string of murders,” Richard listed off in a board tone.
“We are working together,” Morgan said, “So let me pass.”
“Look we got it all take care off you can follow the space around to reinforce the blockade and you can join us at the home base we are just getting ready to infiltrate the main building, just as soon as the other factories are checked for traps,” Richard explained trying to be reasonable despite the fact he was sure as soon as the dust settled he would be Dealing with Morgan next.
“Not going to happen you’re taking too much time I am dealing with this now!” Morgan said getting in Richard’s face.
“We have reason to believe the building is booby trapped,” Richard insisted not letting the man so much as getting an annoyed expression.
“How so?” Morgan tried to pry,
“We dealt with one for the main door last night,” Richard admitted when he suddenly realized he may have given too much information.
“And I take it you dealt with this?” Morgan asked with a grin,
“Of cou-,” Madison started only for Morgan to take out his own long sword and slash it down splitting the wood fence in half.
“Then you are holding up the law. Move forward!” Morgan ordered as he elbow checked Richard pushing to the side as the armored guard forced their way past Richard. The group all but scattered making way for the guard as Richard frowned his anger growing not a Madison but more on himself.
“Glory hound!” Tin shouted at the backs of the guard.
“I counted about half the normal size of the guard just marched about 100, total,” Madison mused. As Richard glanced,
“So where is the rest at?” David asked, I mean he did hire in all the extra man power why not make sure this is dealt with?”
“I am missing a vital piece of information,” David and Richard said at the same time. David looked at Richard in surprise but Richard didn’t return it.
“For now we are on standby everyone spread the word expect anything,” Richard said as everyone nodded heading off in different directions. Tin sighed as he looked at the broken barracked. He frowned at as Richard shook his head. “I need a vacation, first chance I get, where to go?” he frowned as he tried to think of some place he could go to relax.
BADA-BOOM
Richard covered his ears as the sudden explosion, as a massive cloud of smoke erupted into the sky all but blocking out the sun. A massive gust of wind hit half way through the eruption. His hair kicked back as he glanced at Tin. Not even needing to speak the two knew full well what to do.
Richard felt his speed lagging but Tin was no sprinter himself, the pair quickly rushed forward as they bother covered up their mouths as dust seemed to hold in the air just enough to agitate the mouth.
Tin pulled out a red cloth and folding it in half tied it over his mouth a noise. Jill started barking as people seemed to start moving but Richard couldn’t tell who was who, not to mention the explosion had his ears ringing so hard he could be screamed at and not know who was addressing him.
Tin nodded keeping close to Richard as moth of them went back to back. Richard coughed as he drew his cutlass. Tin glanced his shoulder at Richard as he glanced around picking up a three foot partially destroyed two by four.
“We really do need to work on getting everyone some gear and equipment,” Richard thought to himself as a figure staggered forward. The figure waved as Richard used his elbow to get Tin’s attention.
Something dropped from his head as lee spotted a helmet of the guard and Richard rushed forward. He swooped in putting the man’s arm over his shoulder. He was ready to move as Tin took the other side, the man’s face was covered in dirt and he couldn’t really getting anything other than he looked about Richard’s age maybe a bit younger. The two struggled a bit trying to find a direction as Richard guided the pair up to the base they had set up. Richard finally got his hearing back, as He and Tin got to the spot as Laurella scurried about in a panic.
“We got injured,” Richard called as the doctor finally stopped panicking enough to take the
injured guardsmen.
“This is bad communications down,” Madison said laying the man down on the ground.
“You didn’t send Richard out in this did you?” Richard jumped to a conclusion as Madison shot him a glare then nodded to the tent to see Jill was hiding under the bed with Sam trying to coax her out.
“I need to have some kind of ear protection or I am going to go deaf,” Richard grumbled, “Well Tin Let’s go we need to get this place back under control,”
“You got it, boss,” Tin said with a smirk, “Sam you keep this place safe we are counting on you,” he encouraged as Sam turned and snapped off a quick salute.
Richard bolted almost jumping down steps as Richard followed. “I think something inside of that building we missed maybe something on the floor we didn’t set off,” Richard surmised, “We should head there first but be careful we have no idea what to expect,” Richard explained.
“You can count on me,” He said they both hit street level and booked it for the center. They dashed through the dust finally starting to settle giving Richard and Tin a bit more vision as Richard heard some flapping.
“Captain,” Morsina greeted as she dropped down, “We have a small group set up with Arken and Goliam he was easy to group too, most people left their post but we still have some semblance of a perimeter, Spark is still keeping an eye out for the old one,” She explained, Richard glanced up seeings light glint that wasn’t the sun.
“Good to hear, we need to start closing in I want all Survivors brought to base camp and Tell Goliam to head there post haste I need him to beef up security for the doctor and the wounded,” Richard ordered and with a nod, she was back in the air.
“Man she creeps me out,” Tin admitted as he looked at Richard.
“We all have preferences, but now is not the time,” Richard said as a sudden low rumble seemed to rise up. Suddenly a group of shouting screaming men with nothing on suddenly jumped them.
“What the fuck?” Tin cried out as Richard drew his sword. The men all armed with what could have been fishing spears. Tin threw the chunk of wood knocking into the spears as Richard charged in. his blade ran true, as he dropped the full group. He quickly cleaned the blade as he looked down at the bodies in confusion.