Broker

Chapter 149

Halloway’s eyes shot open as a sharp pain rushed up his side. He coughed, wincing against the blazing heat that had begun to pool around his right side as his skin sizzled and burned. His vision swam and he forced himself to look down at the injury. A shard of wood was sticking out of his waist, the long branch stretching out another foot and a half and saturated with blood. His eyes fluttered as he reached for it, snarling against the pain. As an assassin he had specialized in the sudden attack, a quick strike with a knife thrown at the throat. He had adapted that strategy to his spatial powers, his first refinement of his ability had been the rift blade.

He hadn’t needed much more than that. Nothing could block it. No armor, no shield, even power barriers were functionally useless against it. Liberty had even deigned to allow him to test it against her impregnable body. The wound he had carved into her skin had been enough to earn his life; his efforts to bring numerous members of the night society over to her side had earned his position. It was only after he had begun working under her that he had considered other avenues for his ability. Creating a zone of stable space was one of them.

He coughed again and tried to put some force down to break the stick at a joint, at least it would be less to pull out when the time came. His abs recoiled from the effort, screaming in protest while every inch of the skin on the front half of his body practically cracked under the strain. He grunted and took a shuddering breath. Calm down, you got too riled earlier. He reprimanded himself and pointed his finger at the branch. He cut through it with a sharp release of his ability before pulling himself off and collapsing to his knees. 

With a monumental effort of will he lifted one of his hands and examined it, the skin had turned almost black and cracked in several places. The sheer pressure of whatever that boy had done to him had pulverized his flesh. He was lucky to be alive. He brought the hand gingerly down to his wound and pressed against it. It was fruitless with another hole on the other side but it was all he could do. His other mangled hand slipped down to his belt. Where is it? He wheezed, his fingers slipping through a hole in the base of the pouch. 

He grunted and whipped his head around, searching. A small glimmer on the ground a few feet away drew his eye and he let out a ragged laugh. With every muscle in his body screaming at him to stop he crawled towards it, his shaking fingers reaching out until they wrapped around what appeared to be an extremely thick metal needle with a razor sharp point. Etchings ran down one side of the object and glowed with a faint green light. He fell onto his side, his vision darkening as he pulled the implement to his chest and jabbed it in with the last fragment of strength he had left.

A low hiss followed by an explosion of torturous agony racked through his body. His flesh sizzled, his eyes burned, his bones creaked, everything twisted and warped as the object given to him by Liberty and created by that madman went to work. He screamed, convulsing on the ground as blackened and pulverized skin smoothed and cleared, knitting together. Bones set, wounds closed, and his body began to take on the general appearance of a living thing rather than the incinerated corpse he resembled moments before. It was only when the process was complete, a minute of agony that he would never forget, that he lay there on the ground, breathing hard.

He closed his eyes and focused on the space he had created around the camp. Miles upon miles of spatially neutral terrain. Anything teleporting within it would be blocked and the user of the ability ‘reprimanded’, either by pain for the weaker powers or even having their ability disabled for the more powerful teleporters. Still there. Still working. Good. Glad it didn’t drop when I lost consciousness. He thought and forced himself to sit up. He turned his head towards the prone form of the boy that had nearly killed him. He may very well be the only person on this planet I can’t hurt, he thought sourly. Bad match-up indeed.

He got to his feet and started to walk, at first gingerly before his body moved with purpose. He came to a stop over the youth, eyes shut with a smile on his face and his chest rising and falling with steady breaths. His hands were mangled terribly and his wounds were still seeping blood, but he was still very much alive. Halloway narrowed his eyes, I can’t suffer you to live, Gravitic, you are my natural enemy. He thought and conjured up another rift blade. The rippling edge pointed down.

“I was getting bored of waiting for you to get up,” A new voice said behind him. Halloway’s entire body tensed and he brought the weapon up anyway, he wasn’t about to get distracted from his task, “I wouldn’t do that. I need him alive, if you don’t mind.”

“Tough,” Hallway snarled and brought the rift blade down only for a hand to grab his wrist. He glanced at it just in time for his eyes to bulge as he was pulled away from Gravitic and thrown several feet. His rift blade flying off to one side and digging a five foot divot in the ground before it exploded and left a crater in its wake. He hit the ground and hopped back to his feet, creating another weapon as he stared down his new adversary, “I don’t have time for chil-”

He paused as he met those glowing blue eyes. They weren’t the eyes of a child. Not a bright eyed aspirant. He felt his stomach churn a little as a cold smile curled on the boyish face of the youthful pretty-boy. A killer. One who does it for pleasure. Pure psychopath. He kept his guard up but lowered his hands, “Who are you?” He asked, “A villain?”

The boy blew out an obnoxious sound between his lips and burst into laughter, “Me? No way, I’m the hero of this story,” He said and put a hand on his hip and rested a glowing golden sword on his shoulder. He tilted his head up and looked down his nose at Halloway. Arrogant. “And you work for that piece of work Liberty, right?”

“I’d refrain from insulting her if I were you,” Halloway snarled.

“Or what? You’ll kill me? That would be a neat trick,” The boy said and took a step before appearing in Hallway’s face. 

Halloway froze, He teleported? No. He just- what? What just happened? 

The boy looked him up and down, “You got potential man, I like you, but you’re pretty hung up on that self aggrandizing bitch still, shame, once she’s dead I’ll pick you up if you like,” He said with a grin, “What do you say?”

Hallway snarled and whipped his hand out, edging his fingers with a rift and digging it into the young man’s side. He felt flesh give way and blood dribbled down the young man’s mouth. The boy blinked once and looked down at Halloways hand as if confused before looking up at him and grinning a bloody grin. “Nice! Real nice! Got through my skin! That’s impressive. You know,” He said as if he hadn’t just been stabbed, “I’ve been starting to think a lot more about how valuable some of you things are. Maybe some of you are actually people, with brains and shit. You know? Neat powers too,” He said with a sagely nod as if he had the entire world figured out now. “People can be useful. A good lesson. Miss Chernovna is so smart. That’s why I want to sign up with her.”

He’s insane! Halloway thought as he pulled back, his fingers dripping with blood. He took a few steps away and watched with mute horror as the wound just started to close on its own, the young man not even blinking or even reacting.

“You haven’t answered me yet, man, Halloway right? Cool name. I like nicknames better though, you got one of those?” He said and lowered his weapon from his shoulder, waving it up and down with clear intention to use it.

“What are you? A mythic?” Halloway demanded.

The youth blinked at him and tilted his head, “Obviously,” He said with a snort, “Please don’t tell me you’re slow, that would be disappointing,” That last word, the way he said it, the inflection… it sent a chill down Halloway’s spine. It felt, for just a moment, like the very specter of death was looming in front of him. 

“R-Rift, I go by Rift,” Halloway said quickly.

“On the nose! Good stuff,” The youth said with a nod, “You may call me Otis, consider it an honor to know my name,” He said and the waving of his weapon eased a little. He searched Halloways face and pouted, “You’re not gonna even consider joining up till she’s dead, are you?” He let out a heavy sigh and shrugged, “Alright fine. I’ll make it happen if that’s what it takes.”

Halloway squared his shoulder, “You may be powerful but-”

“Blah blah blah, dialogue,” Otis waved his hand dismissively, “Go on with your little scheme or whatever you have planned here, I couldn’t care less, it’s going to fail anyway,” He said with a shrug and slipped his hand into his pocket, he pulled out what looked like a thumb drive and tossed it to Halloway who caught it on instinct. “That’s for your boss. Maybe with it she can actually accomplish something meaningful instead of flailing around like an idiot. It’s really annoying watching her,” He said with a sigh.

Halloway had just about enough of this arrogant little-

“I used my ability to divine a course of action she could take that would really hurt her enemies and get what she wants. If she follows it, she might do well enough that I’ll reconsider what I have planned for her,” Otis continued, before looking Halloway dead in the eyes, “My sword can cut through anything, Rift, and I like taking my time with things that annoy me.”

With that, Otis seemed to decide the conversation was over. He turned away to walk over to Gravitic and knelt next to him, holding his hand over his chest. Halloway wasn’t done, though. If he could just get one quick blow in at the neck he could separate-

“My head will reattach,” Otis said as he tilted his neck forward, “Or grow a new body, not sure, but it will,” He said, “You’re starting to annoy me, Rift. Run.”

“I could just tell her about you, about what you look like. She could tell the world what kind of monster you really are,” Halloway pointed out as he backed up, glancing around for the perfect route away from this place.

“No you won’t,” Otis said and glanced back to smile at him, “Once you leave, you’ll barely remember me. I’ve decreed it so.”

Fucking lunatic! Halloway thought and darted away, racing towards the trees before leaping into the foliage. He stopped there, watching from afar as Otis did something to Gravitic that caused his hated enemy to twitch and writhe before picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder. He walked over to the portal into the dungeon and without looking back, walked on through. Halloway watched the disappearing form of Otis and frowned. Like I’d forget someone like you. He thought and hopped down to the ground, approaching the portal and holding his hand out.

You’re going to die in there, just like the rest. Now that I’ve opened more pathways for mana to get into the dungeon, it’ll overload any time now and this entire region will be a wasteland. He thought before focusing on the portal itself, wrapping a wreath of crackling red lightning around it to seal his enemies inside. 

He turned away and glanced down at his shaking fingers. Gravitic had done a number on him. A worthy adversary. A nemesis even. A small part of him was sad that he had to die so ignobly inside of a breaking dungeon, but that was the way of things. He would rather be rid of such a dangerous opponent than let him live out his life. He marched towards the edge of the trees. I need to get back to the main camp and gather up the others, the damage has been done. It would be best if we weren’t present when the dungeon went critical, He thought with a wry smile and stepped into the trees.

He slipped his hands into his pockets and let out a sigh before blinking as his fingers wrapped around something metallic. He pulled it out and examined the thumb drive that had appeared there in confusion. Huh? What’s this? He thought for a moment. Odd. I don’t remember. He blinked again. I’m supposed to give it to Liberty, it will be useful to her, right, right. He reassured himself as he tried to remember where he’d gotten it from. His stomach churned and he scratched at his neck, “Who was it again?”

–

Otis stepped through the portal and dropped Greg on the ground. He didn’t need to carry him anymore. He glanced over his shoulder and watched as the portal was wreathed with red lightning, blocking his return. He could cut through it but there was no reason to do so. This is where he needed to be, after all. He glanced down at the healed aspirant and nudged him once with his foot. Not waking. Whatever he did burned through a lot of his internal energy. I can see it. He’ll recover quickly in here though, no worries, he’ll see me as his savior, that’ll be good enough.

Otis scanned his surroundings. The forest was thick ahead of him with a single path leading out of the clearing. The space had an odd headiness to it, as if a powerful presence had been here at one point but he couldn’t put his finger on it. The guide told him nothing either. How strange, he thought with mild amusement before tilting his head to listen. Something exploded and shook the distant trees. Ah, there we go. He snickered and turned back to Greg, nudging him again as the sounds of distant fighting filled the air.

The young hero-in-training groaned and his eyes fluttered open, squinting before locking on Otis.

“Marc? Where-”

“Got you away from that psycho out there, he was about to kill you,” Otis said and held out a hand for him to take. He pulled Greg to his feet, “You’re lucky I got there when I did but you sure did a number on him. He was half-dead before he used some odd metal thing to heal himself.”

Greg blinked, “I-I did? You did? I-” He blinked and looked down at his hands, “My hands.”

“I fixed you up, new trick of mine,” Otis said with a shrug, “Got a whole bag of ‘em.”

Greg let out a sigh of relief, “Thank you, Marc. You’re alright.”

“Thank me when we save the others, we’re stuck in here,” Otis said, keeping up the act and nodded towards the portal before turning to the trees. “Ready to go save the day?”

Greg grinned at him, “I was born ready.”

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