Stupid.. clever... whatever

Instead of answering, you enter the jewelry store, grab one of the metal poles used to manage line… “stanchions,” you think they're called… disconnect the ropes, pick it up, unscrew it from the base, test the weight and balance in your hand for a moment, and launch it like a spear at the back of the beast… then start backing away.

You watch as the pole hits the beast's back, bending and compressing the pole, and the beast turns, joining your timestream and fixing his glowing red eyes in you…

…which is your cue to run. You turn up the notches on your watch, greatful that you've been storing up ‘magic’ and not using the watch itself as the time field picks up as you hit that ten thousand times notch… and the beast matches. You run, it follows, hot on your heels. Knowing it's stupid, you don't bother hiding what you're doing, making a bee-line for your chosen destination:

The steel foundry.

A bit of trivia you remember from your childhood: Even when not making anything, a foundry is kept hot. The reason is simple: If that molten metal is ever allowed to cool in the pathways, that's it. It is cheaper to build an entire new foundry than it is to fix one that's gone cold. You're hoping that's actually true, and that there's some nice big pots of liquid steel just waiting for you.

…and that you get there before you're exhausted…

So you run. You take a turn through a quick mart on the way, remembering that your trainer said it was possible to bring objects into your time field… you focus as you run, adrenaline sharpening your focus as the demon screams at your heels, and grab one of the el-cheapo bottles of lemon-scent liquid hand wash dish soap.

Even at that it takes three tries, though, with doing circles around the quick mart so you can NOT get eaten.

Then you run, largely ignoring the cars ‘parked’ on the street, barely keeping the claws of the beast behind you off your back. When you reach the foundry, you don't pause to try and open a door: You jump and brace yourself, snapping through the chain link fence like it was nothing but cobwebs… because as far as the chain link is concerned, you're running at tens of thousands of miles an hour. You cast the flattened metal meah aside and keep going through the factory, the workers frozen in time in their tasks, and see… yes, a huge pot of steel, ready for the crane to pick up and move. Perfect… you charge it in a straight line, make sure the beast is lined up, throw the bottle of soap down on the ground behind you, and change direction at the last minute.

The beast chasing you can't understand when it doesn't get traction as it slams at full speed into the pot of molten metal, punching a hole in the side of the cauldron.

At that point, your watch runs out of power, and you feel the tension again as you slow down to just a hundred times normal speed. Exhausted, you smile as the creature doesn't come out.

Your trainer breaks your mood, though, “Good job on bringing an object into altered time. Good job killing it. That said: It's a summon. A disposable minion. It's going to be back in a few days.”

“Yeah, well…” you consider, as you pant, “...at least I can make a claim to the jewelry store, right?”

“You should be able to do that, yes,” the dragon agrees, chuckling. He grows serious shortly thereafter: “It does mean my disgraced apprentice is in town, though… I pity his host.”

As you begin the walk back to the jewelry store through the still city, you digi to that, “How so?”

“I'm symbiotic,” the dragon begins, “I give good trade value for what I take, right?”

“Oh yes,” you immediately agree, “super powers are sweet.”

“He went the parasite route. He doesn't have the ability to talk to his host directly. Somewhere, some sap is stuck with a snake wrapped around a finger that they can't remove,” he takes a breath, “and every time they fall asleep, they wake up elsewhere, having done who-knows-what, with no idea how or why, unless the evil man leaves a note or directs the summon to speak on his behalf… which he's only going to do to get his host to do things through threats.”

“That does sound horrible…” you consider, “...wait, you can apparently keep me asleep, how come he doesn't just take over entirely?”

The dragon on your hand pauses a moment, “What part of ‘apprentice’ suggests to you that he has my level of skill with the arcane arts?”

“Point,” you nod as you turn a corner, “but you could do that?”

Your symbiote is silent for a long time, “I wouldn't even need to wait for you to fall asleep,” your own voice answers before you're back in control again, and the voice continues in your head, “yes, theoretically, I could steal your life from you… or anyone else. My anchor is tiny: I could infiltrate the house of a rich man, put myself in his fingers ger as he sleeps, and simply take control and never let him wake up. Doesn't interest me. Might does not make right, and I have no desire to be a thief. Which reminds me…”

You roll your eyes, “I'll make a point of dropping five bucks off at that quick mart later today, all right?”

The ring chuckles as you head back to the jewelry store, talk to the manager, collect a check for ten grand, write down the basics of the fight (skipping exactly HOW you killed the summon, you don't really want a lawsuit from the foundry), and the rest of the patrol goes smoothly… then you head home, satisfied with a good day's work.

And yes, you drop five bucks off at the quick mart.