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Session 20

For Hire

Alice took a deep breath.

Something felt different now that she had exited the building known as 'Despair High'. Her mind was a complete mess, as if someone wanted to see her suffer for no particular reason.

*Ugh...* Suiko mumbled and attempted to keep her focus on whatever Alice was gazing at. *Can we please go back and just apologize to them?*

The gambler did not answer, choosing instead to focus on other things. Things such as Elena Yuliana. In her book, such an idiot was nothing more than useless dead weight in her world. Yet, this 'dead weight' had managed to become quite a thorn in anything Alice wished to accomplish in the future. Yet, somehow she had managed to slip through Alice Zwingli's defenses for what? The gale corsair didn't seem interested in things like money or power, having chosen to save the gambler after she had mutated into that... 'thing'.

*Maybe she just wants to be your friend?* Suiko suggested and got silence from Alice. She had hoped that the gambler would have to listened to her proposal, maybe even give it some thought. If nothing else, actually acknowledge it as a slim possibility. But for the moment, that would not be the case.

"Maybe a submerged complex." Alice remarked as she headed away from Despair High and towards the edge of the clearing.

"There you are, young lady!"

Alice then turned around, finding a turkey dressed in a gray pinstripe suit and a matching tiny fedora standing before her. A tommy gun hung at his side, ready to be used for the purpose of mowing down anyone their potential employer needed to be brought down a notch.

"Uh... Who even are you and what do you want with me?" Alice shouted as Astamon ran up to her in a huff. "What is it, Astamon?"

The jackal gangster took a deep breath and quietly pulled his tommy gun out, more than ready to reduce this curious fowl into nothing than mincemeat.

"Hello there." the turkey explained and gave Alice a bow. "I am a mercenary for hire and I had heard you needed help getting away from some people who might know your secret. I believe my services could be of great benefit to you, boss."

After saying that, he took a deep breath and focused his gaze on the gambler. Alice did the same, but made sure to have her pistols ready in case things went wrong. Well, she thought that she did, having gripped the scroll that she had grabbed in the previous chapter in her right hand.

*What's you name, Mr Mercenary?* Suiko inquired as she imitated her 'host'.

"Gobblemon." the turkey announced and gave another bow. "One of Bonessa's finest gunmen."

Astamon then turned his attention back to the turkey and holstered his gun. While he wasn't quite sure whether or not this turkey could be trusted, he would leave that judgement up to Alice and 'Suiko'.

"Who put you up to this?" the gambler accused and pulled her pistols out, not even realizing that she was still holding the scroll. "If you don't tell me, I will fill your face with lead."

Gobblemon laughed and pulled his tommy gun up.

"So that's how were going to decide this then?" Gobblemon answered and sighed. "I was hoping that this time would be last go around for me, but I guess that's not the case."

Spiritflare!

Alice fired off her left pistol, watching the bullet head towards it supposed target and fly right over it. Strangely, this was followed up by a shotgun blast to Gobblemon's back. While an impressive technique, it was one that would need some work.

"Miss Alice, would you care to explain what just happened?" Astamon asked and got a confused expression from his master, who was now holding a pile of paper fragments in her right hand.

*Could you have given me a warning beforehand?* Suiko added as a loud 'plosh' came out of her mouth. *Sorry about that.*

"Wonderful." Alice thought and took a deep breath afterwards. So far, all they had seemed to do was waste precious time that they didn't really have at the moment. She had to hoped to be back on the road by now, but her luck at the moment didn't want to cooperate with her. Adding to her frustrations, was the sudden introduction of a swishing sound to the normally quiet woods. "Great. Just when I thought the distractions would finally stop.

The gambler took another deep breath, only for the swishing to increase in intensity.

"Why hello there." a voice called out and was followed by a pair of scissors thrown in their general direction.

"Come out!" she shouted, only for laughter to fill the air. "We are armed and more than ready to shoot!"

"Really now? I doubt bullets would do much to me." the voice answered and a girl exited the bushes. On much closer inspection, she appeared to be a rotting body dressed in a shredded sailor fuku with a long skirt that had seen better days. A pair of empty sockets staring towards them while all its limbs looked ready to fall to the ground and be left behind. "You've already brought an entire cast of characters from the high peaks of hope to a despairing death. Do you really think that someone as engulfed in misery and despair as you can take me down?"

The four gave her a mix of confusion and shock. While they weren't quite expecting that their first 'battle' would be against a pile of decaying flesh and bone, it would work for the moment.

"Sure." Alice remarked and grabbed her right pistol, letting what remained of the scroll to fall to the ground. "You're just another obstacle in my path to get away."

Their opponent gave her a confused glance, unsure of how to really respond to that.

"You will pay for what you did!" the corpse announced and charged towards them.

Gobble Grenade!

Gobblemon flung a tin can filled with something towards their opponent. For some reason, this was an invitation for the target to act like a dog and bite down into the device.

Hellfire!

After watching the corpse attempt to swallow the explosive device for some reason, Astamon fired off a short burst from his tommy gun. Somehow, the bullets managed to connect with the grenade without actually setting it off.

Spiritflare!

As such, Alice took a shot at blowing this 'thing' up. This time, her bullet managed to whiz right pass the target. Only for the shotgun blast to actually set the explosive off. Even though it should have rendered the grenade inert somehow and allowed for their target to swallow for whatever health benefits it could possibly grant them.

"Stop this at once!"

The group turned around, watching a knife head in their general direction. For some reason, the projectile had been thrown at their feet.

Spiritflare!

Not wasting any time, Alice fired off her special once more in the general direction of the voice and watched both parts of the attack seemingly miss. Yet, the group heard at least one person possibly fall over as a bird flew away.

"I guessing I'm hired?" Gobblemon whispered and Alice gave a nod. "Pleasure doing business with you this time, Miss Alice and Suiko."

With that, they headed off. But not before looting their supposed victim of his tome...

Notes:

Not that bad of a rewrite, though the stress caused by work didn't help. Oh well.

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Next Time: A funny thing happened between two birds and a jester...