Fight (Part 2)

As Sam stepped forward with Minnea **** in his arms, Kismet came to the broken banister on the second level and showed that he had both Jeane and Kara in his grasp. Sam looked up, then looked at you. You shook your head and said.

“They’re important.”

He sighed. “Then it looks like we got an exchange, Kismet. This little lady made the mistake of admitting your family. I think two for one is a good deal, don’t you?”

The sharks and Nadine in front of them were being held at bay, unsure of the course of action. Nadine looked up at Kismet and said.

“We should probably make the trade, right?”

Kismet sighed. “Giving up our hand is taboo in a negotiation, Nadine. It’s **** mine. No deal.” He looked down at you.

“Two for two. You come with me, bring Minnea. Otherwise we’ll take you by **** and let her die. The outcome will still be in our favour.”

“What!?” Sam gritted his teeth.

“You think I won't actually kill this girl, is that it?”

“That’s gotta be it, right?” Nadine gulped. Kismet was silent, the shark glanced back and forth between them.

“Right!?” She was growing angry.

“That’s it. You kids got into this game too soon. Unlike you I actually mean business.” Sam placed a fat hand to Minnea’s slender throat. Kismet was still silent and Nadine was still shouting, but it took you to shout for something to happen.

“Dammit, dad! Stop!”

“No can do, sweetie.”

You looked up at Kismet angrily. “He’s serious, man!”

Kismet was silent for another moment, then he faltered and held his head. “N-no! Not now… weak, you’re so weak… You NEED me right now! F-fool…” He let go of Jeane and Kara. The two girls took the chance to scurry away from him and down to your side of the warehouse dock. Rather than Kismet, you saw Lad looking up with a worried expression and Teary eyes.

“Please don’t hurt her!” He begged.

Sam looks up, scanning the upper level. Kismet lost the hostages, but he judged that you were in no condition to beat back Nadine and the other Sharks, and Kismet. Though his demeanour changed, Sam did not have a way to know if he had grown more powerful. Thus with all that information he assumed it to still be a hostage negotiation, just with different terms.

“Let us get back on the street and we leave your girl on the ground. Fair?” You could tell he was going easy on them for your sake, still.

“F-Fair!” Lad shouted. Nadine nodded, relaxing her posture as you and your Step-Father and two friends left the ****-point on low ground that you were stuck on and made it out into the street where things were more open, and importantly where the water wasn’t so close. As promised, Sam let Minnea down against a nearby wall. You all cautiously made your way back towards the Arena.

“That was unexpected.”

“The guards are in that guy’s pocket, it seems. It’s unexpected. He isn’t all that good at negotiating, but I still found myself liking him.”

“Same…” You admitted, looking over as Jeane pulled on your arm.

“What is it?”

“He is possessed.” She whispered.

“What?”

“I think. He is like me, he has a Patron. One that is far stronger than anything I can muster.”

You stared past Jeane at a very tired-looking Kara. “Is she okay?”

“I suspect she was drained by simply being around my Deam.”

“Help…” Kara reached out for you with a pouty expression. You allowed her to latch on to your other arm, rubbing her face into your shoulder. Once she was close she let out a light sigh and began waking up a little.

“Hard day, huh?” You joked.

“Uuuhhhgg….” Kara mumbled.

“Up ahead.” Sam remarked, pointing. You looked and saw Heilan and Roy waving for you. You rushed forward.

“Hey! What’s up? Did you guys come to help? How’d you see we were fighting?”

“Mages detected a Deamon’s signature in this zone. You were fighting it?” Roy explained. Jeane lowered her head behind you, hiding. Kara caught up and continued to hug herself to your arm insistently like a baby latching for milk.

“Closing in on the signature.” Heilan added.

“The warehouse. Some fellow named Kismet tried to take me hostage. When my House’s Entrant here came to save me and started losing he summoned something that caused all sorts of havoc.” You felt relieved, because if your Step-Father was giving the explanations of the event there was a low chance of anything being found out. You read relief on Jeane’s face as she realised she was being covered for effortlessly by your Step-Father.

“Is that so?” Roy eyed him closely, then looked at you. He just shrugged and let it go.

“That sounds terrible, sir. I’m so sorry that happened to you in our city.”

Sam grinned, offering a fat hand to shake. “An apology from one such as yourself is enough to alleviate any of the wrongs committed against me.” Sam remarked, bringing about a smirk from the red-headed Squire.

“Clever man.” He commented.

“You too.” Sam remarked with a wink. He flashed you a thumbs up.

“Since you have an alibi, I doubt you’ll need to be questioned on the matter, Fin. We’ll simply use your Lord’s testimony. Return to the Arena and let us take care of this.”

“Did everyone end up leaving?”

“More or less. Even some of the instructors.”

“I see.” A thought crossed your mind. The way into the incursion was unguarded. Or, at least it was as unguarded as it was going to get. You all left with Sam still trailing you. After it was clear he caught up and asked.

“What’s the deal, here?”

“Basically I’m trying to have free reign so I can go find Fin in the Layers. I needed to be an Adventurer to do so freely, so I tried to come here and do that but things kept getting more and more complicated and now I’m here.”

Sam cackled loudly. “I see!”

“What?” You peered at him with narrowed eyes.

Sam looked at kara, then Jeane, then remembered Minnea. “You kept helping people, one after another and got side-tracked. You can’t help yourself. You’re too much of a good person, sweetie. Completely unlike your old man.”

Your face went bright red. “Sh-shut the hell up!”

“You really had to pretend to be a boy to do this? You look so much more comfortable when you’re being yourself.”

“I mean… yeah. I just didn’t wanna get harassed.”

“Why’d you think you’d get harassed?”

“Because of your stories!” You pointed at him accusingly. His eyes widened and he raised his hands.

“Me!?”

“In all of your stories, everywhere you went there was some strong girl you’d take advantage of or trick! I don’t wanna get taken advantage of or tricked.”

Sam chuckled, patting you on the shoulder. “Oh sweetie. You’re not gonna get taken advantage of because you look like a woman. You’re better than those girls.” He offered, lying through his teeth.

“I’ve always said that. You’re different, Fiona.”

“Yeah… I’m not gonna stop now. This is important, this disguise. I already got my certification with this.”

“So what’s next for you girls?” he saw you staring daggers at him.

“Oops. You girls and… Fin.”

“I need to finish this training so I can turn my trial certifications into real ones. It’s a deal I made and I have to follow through. But… I’m wondering if there’s now another path open to us.”

“Hm?” He lifted a curious brow.

“Nothing.” You waved off his inquiry.

“You don’t need to know.”

“Well that’s worrying.”

Eventually you handed Sam off to Marrien and made your way back to the Arena. Just as Roy implied it was functionally deserted, save for a sparse few trainees that were in no position to do anything.

“What are you thinking?” Jeane asked.

“I’m thinking we get some stuff together quickly and take our chance now to enter the incursion and break into the Layers. I was thinking, and I’m doing all this just so I can get permission… what if I bypass permission?”

Jeane gave you an unimpressed stare. “The worst that can happen is you have your Soul sucked from your body, which is turned into a vacant husk.”

“Charming.” You looked to Kara.

“Your thoughts?”

As you asked her, something odd happened. Her face suddenly turned at the mention of the Layers. Her eyes flickered and widened and centred on you. She smiled brightly and said.

“I think it’s a good idea!” But her tone sounded faintly… off. It was not enough to actually suspect anything other than Kara having some kind of motive.

“Then it’s up to me.”

“You are just going to do whatever you want, anyway. So curious why you even asked.” Jeane mumbled.

***

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this story and want to read more of it, more Chapters are currently available to read at https://www.patreon.com/TVWintergreen I upload new chapters every week day with extra content also being released constantly to my discord for Extra Tier Members."