AN:
Yeo. So I kinda lied about the April thing, I was able to bump out most of this chapter back during the holidays but didn't have much time nor energy to finish it off. Fortunately my reading week was this week and I was able to finish it between assignments. Though now it's a promise that there won't be any more chapters till this semester is over because I gotta focus on my courses.
So see you all in April! (Maybe May)
Follow and Review!
04/04/2022: Made formatting consistent for all chapters to this point
Chapter 11: The Work
Six Months Later:
Dropping himself inside the rotting carriage, Eirlet scavenges through the remains of the -once upon a time- luxurious cabin.
A majority of the clothes and such are useless, long since worn down to pieces after being exposed to nature for a little over a year and a half even within their suitcases. Throwing away the rags and digging deeper into the suitcase, his eyes light up once he finds what's sitting at the bottom, a medium-sized jewellery box styled with engraved designs.
Pulling it out from its hiding place he gleefully unlatches the top and opens it up, revealing half a dozen dull pieces of jewellery set within. With a grin Eirlet nabs each of the pieces, shoving them into separate, small pockets in his knapsack.
After cleaning out the box and nabbing two pieces of silver from another suitcase, Eirlet bends his knees and jumps in the air, grabbing onto the edge of the open door above. Heaving himself up, he crouches on top of the overturned carriage and takes a scan of his surroundings with the remaining light from the sun.
Five carriages including the one he was in, two completely crushed which he didn't bother checking, another a ways ahead with half of its wheels broken off and the last in the nearby forest.
Looking over to the latter, he wonders how the tree has been able to support the carriage within it's canopy without breaking. Absently thinking about it, he drops down softly into a crouch and walks towards the tree.
As he gets closer, the carriage starts to lightly shake, leaves fluttering from its movements and he can hear some thumping sound stemming from the carriage.
Bang
The door of the carriage snaps off its rotten hinges and lands with a crash a few meters ahead of him. A moment later, a pair of legs swing down the opening, slowly lowering and revealing the rest of Isla's body until she's precariously holding onto the carriage with her hands.
With a grunt of effort she swings her legs, moving back and forth until gaining enough momentum for her to let go and latch onto the trunk of the tree in a bear hug.
"Hup," she breathes out as she lands in a crouch after scaling down the tree and notices Eirlet waiting for her.
"Hey, you got yours?" She cheerfully questions, receiving a nod in return.
"Nice, this is gonna be a good haul, I can feel it." Gleefully rubbing her hands in anticipation, she skips to the remaining carriage.
Lightly snorting in amusement, Eirlet sedately follows behind the woman, already happy with his current haul, 'The area's nearly been picked clean, we were lucky the last Scout expedition just happened and the bastards were drawn away further south.' With the Scouts aiming for a direct path to the breach from Trost, the titans were drawn down towards them leading to fewer, but still a large sum, of titans in the north, opening up some more options to head towards.
'But it's been going good so far,' he idly thinks as they approach the last carriage, 'People got a clue after the first few massacres so we've normally got less competition and we know to keep out of each other's hairs. It's just the greenhorns that screw shit up for us.' He makes a face at that thought, remembering how irked he and his fellow looters were at this trip's 'bait' and their attitude.
He dismisses the memory once the two reach the upright, albeit tilted, carriage, its faded carvings showing off its past as a decent luxury transport.
Luckily for the two of them, the door is just barely hanging on and a light shove is enough to reveal the slightly rotten and moldy interior. The two barely have to look around to find their prize, a pile of luggage shoved to the rear of the carriage, right by a skeleton on the ground with a wooden chest in place of its head.
"Poor bastard." She says without a hint of remorse, stepping over the skeleton and shoving the chest over to crack it open.
Shaking his head with some mirth he steps past the muttering girl and starts to sift through the suitcases.
The two spend a few minutes rummaging through the luggage, both gleefully netting more than their past few trips combined.
"This is what I'm talking about!" She exclaims, holding a necklace to her eyes, watching the glitter of its inlaid gem before stuffing it in her pack.
He smirks in amusement at her delight, already used to her excitement over finding any sort of haul over the past few months. Standing from his crouch, he exits the carriage and hops down to the ground whilst Isla packs the rest of her findings away.
He gives the darkening forest a semi-attentive pass as he waits for Isla, both them and other 'veterans' found that they have never encountered a titan whenever they hunkered down for the night. The reason? No one knows, but no one wants to risk themselves to find out and so it's become semi-common knowledge among those coming out the walls.
Isla lands next to him with little issue, a grin on her face as she dusts herself off, "Well, I guess we can head straight back tomorrow, not much of a point staying out any longer."
Agreeing with her, he turns to follow her footsteps just as something in the forest catches his eye. Slightly turning his head without giving anything away, he narrows his gaze onto a distant tree in the forest, his natural night vision barely catching a shadow quickly ducking behind the trunk.
Eirlet quickly shifts his alert eyes around the forest, noticing five more shadows following behind the first, 'We're being ambushed.' He grimaces slightly but his eyes harden as he keeps track of the shadows.
He brings himself beside Isla, herself opening her mouth to speak before noticing his face and frowns instead.
Moving a hand hidden from their follower's gazes, he flashes a brief series of hand signs, "Five followers."
It takes her a moment to register what he's trying to convey before her eyes widen in alarm but she smoothes her face just as fast. He sees her trying to discreetly catch a hint of their followers out of the corner of her eye as she starts to veer into the forest opposite of the shadows.
Eirlet watches as the shadows slowly near the edge of the trees, being dark enough that they cannot clearly see the two but with his eyesight, Eirlet can just make out the rough features of the closest man, enough to recognize him as a part of the new group that joined this time out.
The pair get closer to their side of the forest, Eirlet gripping his bowstring tightly, ready to flip it into his grip as soon as they get away from sight.
Crack
A branch snaps under Isla's foot, breaking the unnerving silence of the night and setting off the signal for everyone to move.
Eirlet springs himself forward, pumping his legs hard against the ground as he slightly drags Isla into following.
Behind them, their ambushers chose that exact moment to let loose their weapons.
Bang Bang Bang
Three shots impact around the pair, Eirlet hearing the whizzing of their passing as they bore holes into the surrounding trees.
Once Isla gets her feet properly moving after the sudden start, the two start weaving between the trees with Eirlet in the lead, ducking beneath branches and over roots. He moves them a decent distance away from their initial encounter, far enough that it will be easy for the two to book it but close enough to hear the fiv- six people yell out in frustration and bumble through the forest after them.
Eirlet leaps himself over a fallen tree and slams his back into it, breathing a deep breath out as a more frantic Isla rounds the log and slides beside him, trying to calm her breathing as she unstraps her pack. Keeping an ear out to where he can hear them, Eirlet shrugs his pack off as well and places it beside hers.
Taking small, measured breaths, he unslings his bow and notches an arrow, Isla herself unsheathes a hunting knife, something she snatched during after their first ambush, and rubs mud over the metal, dulling its gleam.
'Even if they survive this they won't be alive for much longer.'
He meets Isla's determined eyes, getting a nod which is enough of a signal for him to sneak away, towards the closest voices he could hear.
"Fuck, they got away." He hears one grunt out beyond a bush. Silently crouching behind a trunk nearby, he peeks his head out and gets eyes on the speaker, a typical thug and a partner with him, both holding gleaming machetes in their hands.
'So they split off in pairs eh? Good for them.' He grins sharply, bringing up his bow to aim at the first man.
"C'mon let's head back," his partner grumbles out in annoyance, "I wanna give those three a piece of my mind, I mean who misses a shot like-"
Thump
The man questions his partner as he turns, "The hell was tha-?"
His question dies on his tongue once he notices his partner face-first on the ground, with an arrow half protruding from the back of his neck.
"Car-!"
Thump
His friend's name falls on his tongue as he feels a sharp burst of pain from his chest, looking down, his eyes widen at the arrow piercing his heart, his hands futilely reaching for his chest as he drops to his knees before ultimately falling on his side.
Staying low, Eirlet passes the dying man and to the direction of the failed ambush where he can see a faint light. Slowing down as he approaches, he peeks over the shrub he's hidden behind, seeing three men loitering around the carriage Isla and he had looted.
Two are standing around the carriage and seemingly keeping an eye out as they talk lowly with one another, with the third standing on the carriage and shining a lamp down into it, seemingly talking to someone inside.
He only has to look at the scene for a moment before a plan pops in his head, one that he readily enacts. Notching an arrow, he takes a deep breath, focusing on his distant target before releasing the string with a small -twatch-.
It cuts through the air to its target, striking the lamp held by the third man, the oil lamp.
The effect is immediate, the lamp shatters as the wick of flame catches onto the flying oil, lighting it in a quick fashion and setting the firewood of a carriage alight, along with two men.
The one inside is already a lost cause, the man's screams dying out the second they came from his mouth as most of the oil pours into the opening. The second though was fortunate, or unfortunate, to catch only some of the flaming oil and lighting only his clothes aflame.
The man screams in pain as he tries to pat himself down, stumbling backwards and off the carriage to where his friends shake off their shock and try to beat down the flames consuming their friend.
Eirlet doesn't waste the opening; three arrows fly in their gap of attention and pierce into the chest of both men, dropping them like a sack of potatoes, with the last silencing the guttural screams of the burning man.
Eirlet releases a sigh as he lowers his bow, watching the bonfire reach a crescendo, absently reminding him of a bitter memory.
With a slight frown, he turns around and quickly jogs away, knowing that titans or not there's bound to be something approaching both the carriage and bodies in curiosity or hunger, and he'd rather not confront the one after the latter.
Tracing his steps back he slows down slightly when he reaches the first pair he took down, a shadow hovering over the body of the one he had shot in the chest before he notices the auburn hair of his partner.
He approaches her as she wipes her knife on the shirt of the corpse, staining it crimson.
She greets him with a nod once she notices him, "I see that you've taken care of them?" She asks as she points to the faint glow in the distance, grinning at his wince.
"Well whatever, we'd have to move further anyways." She says as she sheathes her knife.
He nods in agreement and both move to grab their packs and bug out of the area.
In the midst of grabbing his pack, Eirlet brokenly signs to Isla, "Why stab body?"
"...You're getting better at this." She absently says, clearly trying to make out the signs from her basic knowledge.
"He was dying too slow, I thought it would be better to put the bastard out of his misery rather than leaving him to eventually bleed out." She says unbothered as she pulls the last strap across her chest.
He nods in acceptance, knowing he'd do the same for the ones he left behind if not for the potential danger of staying longer.
Quickly moving, he kneels beside the corpse and pushes it onto its side to get a better look at the man's slack face.
'I remember his face from the new group but nowhere else.' His eyes narrow at the man's hands, his fingers holding three rings with what he can feel are engravings when he runs his fingers over them.
Both of their heads snap up in alarm as a wolf cry rings through the air, "Let's go!" Isla urges as she leaps to her feet.
Eirlet quickly pulls the rings off the man's fingers, pocketing them as he catches up and passes Isla, leading them both away from the bodies and the incoming scavengers.
They travel at a decent pace, reaching the campground with no more surprises as it nears midnight, having taken advantage of Eirlet's eyesight and trekking abilities to the fullest.
Their 'campground' in reality is a small crevice in a cliff that Eirlet had found the first time they came through the area, covered with vegetation and just enough space for them both to comfortably rest in.
Eirlet brings out one of the rings he had snatched, the one with the most engravings and with actual lettering engraved into it, 'Fatiscit… the hell does that mean?' His eyebrows furrow as he tries to think if he ever heard that word and comes up blank.
'I'll ask Gavec once I get back, he'll probably know.' He shrugs as he stuffs the ring back with the others, getting ready for another night of silence.
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The Next Day:
The floor beneath them rumbles, the sight above the treetops lowering as they get closer to the ground. Eirlet sighs as he leans on the railing, 'The bastard is a slave driver, how the hell am I gonna get to Woodley in two days?' He thinks with a ticked brow.
Isla speaks up beside him, interrupting his cussing, "You know, I think I'm gonna hold off on the next trip out." She says, absently playing with one of the plain rings he got from the corpse in her fingers.
That gets him out of his head, eyebrows jumping in surprise as he signs to her, "Why?" With a cocked eyebrow.
She huffs a little as she pockets the ring, tightening her satchel as the elevator -thump- lands on the ground, "Well we did get a lot this time, enough for me at least to ditch the next one… I also don't really want to head out so soon after… you know." She ends with a slight grimace, eyeing the people around them, more missing than the norm.
He nods along with her reasoning, 'This run has me set for a couple of runs as well so I'll be good missing out on one, especially if someone's starting something.' He gives a thumbs up at her, getting a smile in return.
"Alright then, I'll see you in four weeks then, keep on working on the signs you hear? You've gotten a lot better." She compliments, saluting him as she turns north and disappears into the forest.
Eirlet gives his own wave in return before starting his own jog through the woods, planning to just blow through the wilderness for a straight path to Stohess and from there, Woodley.
'Bastard better be teaching me something good or else I'm on his ass.' He thinks with annoyance, pushing his travel-weary body to go on till sundown.
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Three Days Later:
Clang
"C'mon! Parry!" Gavec commands, swinging his left sword in an overhead strike which is -clang- met and redirected to the side by another, this one held by huffing Eirlet.
Pulling his left sword back, Eirlet pierces it forward, its tip nearing Gavec's abdomen before it's parried by Gavec's other sword, forcing Eirlet to lean further than he thought and overextending his arm.
He tries to recover by trying to roll to the side and avoid any follow-up strikes, but he wheezes as he feels Gavec's knee slam right into his abdomen, forcing the air out of his lungs and making him stumble to the ground. He hacks a cough as he flips to his back and tries to get to his feet but they get swiped out from underneath him, sending him down on his bottom.
Before he can even move his chin is forced up by the cold metal of a blade, making him meet Gavec's amused eyes, "Yield." He offers, Eirlet takes a gasping breath before he nods minutely, taking deeper breaths once he feels the blade move from his neck.
"I'll admit you're much better than last time," Gavec admits, a beads of sweat rolling down his face as he sheathes his dull blades, "but you're still too damn predictable."
Eirlet nods in agreement, knowing that one session of sword-to-sword fighting is not enough time to transfer the rest of his skill set, "The swings will fix themselves with more practice but you need to remember that you still have the rest of your limbs available to you and later on, ODM gear, everything is a weapon that you can use in a fight." He lectures, extending a hand to Eirlet.
Grabbing it, he gets pulled up and back on his feet, his clothes covered in dust and dirt with sweat flowing down his face, "Oh, can't do anything about your stamina, once you learn to be less shit with your blades you'll lose less energy with your strikes." He says with a grin, ruffling his hair as he walks to the nearby cabin.
He doesn't have the energy to dodge but enough to respond with a universal sign to the man's back. Dropping his hand, he picks up the blades hanging off his harness and sheathes the flesh cutters into his dented box sheathes.
Dusting off as much dirt as he can Eirlet follows Gavec to the side of the building to a shed where the man's stripping off his harness and gear, placing it on the sole table covered in tools. Eirlet follows his lead and shrugs himself out of the harness and sets it down as he approaches the table where Gavec's moved to the side.
Eirlet's hands fly over the box sheaths, removing each blade and meticulously cleaning them so that their dull edges gleam in the light. Next, he disassembles the sheathes and main housing, expertly removing and cleaning each piece before reassembling both, the whole process taking half an hour to complete whilst Gavec watches over his shoulder.
He steps back, letting Gavec get a look at his gear, "Hmm," he hums, holding a blade up to the fading light, "Good job." He compliments, getting a quirk of a smile from Eirlet as he places the blade down.
"Now I would tell you how to disassemble the grips, but I can't." Gavec says as he hefts the gear over to a closet, stuffing it inside along with spare blades and much rustier gear.
Gavec nonchalantly waves off Eirlet's indigent expression, "Oh cool yourself, I can't tell you because I can't disassemble the damn things."
That changes Eirlet's mood, now curious about that which Gavec picks up on, "If you ask anyone that owns one of these," he accentuates by bringing Eirlet's gear to the table, "you won't find a single one that can take these apart. The reason is cause they aren't meant to be."
Eirlet hums at that, 'Why would they not want military gear to be easily maintained?'
"These things are made out of the same metal as the blades and the wood is the same as your bow, along with being welded shut tightly it's apparently strong enough to withstand a titan stepping on it. So the best way to clean it is just shoot some water inside, that'll be enough." He explains as he moves back, letting Eirlet start the maintenance on his own training gear.
"I'm guessing that they don't want some half-wit making their own ODM and putting it in circulation, that's a mess that no one wants to experience." He ends as he sits on a seat to the side.
Another half hour later once he's finished going through his gear, the two of them sit around a fire with Eirlet roasting some rabbits he caught that morning. Handing over one to Gavec he digs in, famished by the training he went through all day.
"You know what," he speaks up in between bites, catching Eirlet's attention, "I think I'll lower your fee down to a piece of gold."
That catches Eirlet by surprise, signing that very thought to him.
"Well, you're set with using the ODM gear, at least with as much that I can teach you, the rest will come with real practice which I'm sure you'll get sooner or later." He explains, picking his teeth with the spit stick.
"The only thing really left is the swordplay, and even then you only need to work on human combat so it'll cost less cause you won't be using any gas." He finishes, flicking the stick behind him and picking up a flask from his belt.
Gavec watches Eirlet bringing out his notebook as he takes a sip from his flask and writes out a question.
'Why so fast? Don't the military spend years training before they're ready?'
"They do," he nods in agreement, "but they're all fucking dumbasses." He finishes with a smirk.
At Eirlet's unimpressed deadpan he continues, "Well first off, half the time is them nose deep in books, learning procedures and shit." His face sours like he bit a lemon, something which Eirlet notes with some interest.
"Second, they don't got any of the experience you do, only practice on dummies, hell, most never get to see a real titan even when they get the job." He says with distaste, taking a swing from his flask.
Eirlet takes a moment to take that in, 'Their dumbasses.' He finally agrees with a sigh, getting a snort out of Gavec.
"Forget about that though," he dismisses, "I took a better look at that ring you brought and it's definitely a mark of a gang."
Eirlet listens with rapt attention as he chews on his second roast, "I sent it back to Sherbolt, since those guys probably took out other people there'll be some wanting a piece of the pie so we're making some nice change with the info and getting our dirty work done for us, two birds one stone."
He nods along with that, rather happy that the problem will be dealt with rather quickly, "We'll be heading to Aurum tomorrow as well."
At that Eirlet gives Gavec a raised eyebrow, 'Is it for a job?'
"Probably?" he shrugs, "He was pretty busy before he asked for you so if it is a job it'll be a big one."
Eirlet tries to trudge up all the rumours he'd heard the last time he was in town, not remembering anything that warranted any change, 'So if it is a big job like he says, then Sherbolt's getting ready to expand.' He frowns slightly at that, hoping to not be too involved in the bloody power plays within the city itself and instead deal with things outside.
'Well whatever, it still won't happen for a bit so it'll be fine, Sherbolt will probably give me some carrier job to start it off or something.' Forgetting about his worries for a moment, Eirlet munches down on his third rabbit.
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The Next Day:
'This is not what I was hoping for.' Eirlet glumly thinks, warily eyeing the few people still out in the streets the same way they eye the two of them.
Stepping around another puddle of blood, he keeps an eye out for anyone with a weapon… which is everyone now that he takes a good look.
'Hell, even old Jag's got his shotgun out.' He notices with some trepidation, the old one-eyed man himself seen just past his window with a lit cigarette in his mouth, the few people out steering clear of his inn, for good reason considering there's a fresh body with its chest blown open a few feet from the doors.
He stays close with Gavec as they move through the tense city, moving through familiar streets and alleys as they go around the city rather than cutting through, both agreeing of not wanting to deal with the more frequent gunshots they hear near the heart of the city.
They're still forced to dodge around some groups that look to be on a hair-trigger though, those men very clearly looking for trouble.
It's when they near their territory that he relaxes some, noticing the signs of Sherbolt's men sticking to the alleys and shops, keeping an eye out for trouble.
Looking over some of the men, he notices two that he's familiar with, ones that Gavec notices as well, "Oi! Dumbasses!" He yells out to both men.
Kores and Lok both turn their heads, both looking tired which Eirlet notices leads to a much crankier Lok, "Fuck, stop calling us that man." He grouses as they approach.
"What the hell happened?" He plows his question through, ignoring Lok who crosses his arms at that.
Kores sighs and slaps the back of his friend's head, ignoring his squawk, "Norman Panfretti's dead along with most of his inner circle." He blandly answers.
Both of them take a pause at that, Gavec's eyebrows furrowing as he takes that in, 'That explains it, Norman was the big dog with his fingers in a lot of pies. Him and most of his people dead just opened up his empire for the picking.' Eirlet grimly thinks.
Gavec stays silent for a moment before opening his mouth again, "When'd this happen?"
"We got word just last night, since then everyone's been gunning for Main Street and we couldn't get word out to you cause of it."
"You should've seen how bad it was last night, everyone was running around like the titans invaded again. Hell, with how many died it might have been as well." Lok speaks up this time with a grimace on his face.
"Sherbolt wanted to talk to you two as soon as soon as you came back." Lok says to the two of them, Gavec nodding curtly before pacing away and to their base, Eirlet following behind after his own nod of goodbye.
The two stay silent as they go through the building, passing through the barricaded front entrance with half a dozen armed men roaming around and they head to the offices above.
Unlike the other times he had been in the building, Eirlet can see how much was stored in their base as they pass by rooms filled with weapons, ammunition, food and other supplies, likely were being sent out to gangs but now with the apparent turf war, have been requisitioned by them.
They get to Sherbolt's office in no time, the two guards standing by his door letting Gavec barge through the door, Eirlet right behind him. Looking around the man he sees a disgruntled Sherbolt behind his cluttered desk along with a few other people he's met that he knows are his lieutenants.
"Nice of you to join us Gavec, Eirlet." He greets distractedly, shifting through a stack of paper with intent eyes even when he looks like he could fall over at any point.
Gavec stops beside his desk, looking over the papers strewn about, Eirlet himself goes to stand by a rough map which he can recognize to be the city stuck against the wall. He sees that it's been divided into four portions, one in green is clearly their territory which encompasses most of the west of the city, to the east and south is marked with a red fang which is obviously the Fangs.
And the remaining two areas are much smaller, one blue centred around The Pit to the north and the last a gap between the two large territories, Main Street.
"You've come at the right time," Sherbolt lowers the papers with a sigh, giving the two newcomers his full attention as he dismisses the rest of his people, "you probably know what started this shitshow so I'll update you on what's happened." He nods to the map Eirlet was analyzing.
"All of the customers and merchants left during the scuffles last night, right now whoever's left in the city are those looking to take a bite of the pie Norman left with his death." He stands up, walking closer to the map.
"Loyalties are still being figured out and some gangs are being expunged but in a few days this city's going to have clear lines." He points to the territories, "We're on our way to getting most of the small stores and medium-sized gangs with us on our size give or take a few days. Many are past clients which we supplied but any that resist, they can be dealt with. On the other hand," He points to the opposing red, "The Fang's were apparently Panfretti's underlings, under one of his secret lieutenants who was killed with him, so they've got a lot more territory than us."
He drops his arm, folding his arms as Gavec comes to stand beside him, "The Pit's staying neutral in this, they've got too many big timers involved with them for anyone to do anything so we've only got to worry about the Fang's for this city."
"Finally Main Street," he nods to the gray area in the middle of the city, "It's the biggest piece in play right now. Again, there's a lot of fingers in there so we can't touch those but there's still a good amount we can take for ourselves." He points out, looking at it, Eirlet can see some of the buildings circled.
Sherbolt takes a moment to let them digest that, "The opponent is large, but they're fractured. With their leader dead they're running around without any order or cohesion so we have a good chance to take them out for good. The only problem is that they're coming together a little too quick."
He walks back to his table and picks up a paper, handing it to Gavec whose eyes light up in recognition, "Adelmo?" He asks in slight confusion.
Intrigued, Eirlet takes a look at the paper held in his hands where he sees a rough sketch of a man looking to be in his forties.
"Yes, Adelmo Curass is currently the highest favoured and most likely candidate to become the new leader but we can't let that happen."
Sherbolt leans against his table and looks them both in the eyes, "I need you two to kill him. With him gone it'll sow confusion and doubt, long enough for us to make a move that, while won't finish them, will put them on the backfoot."
Eirlet takes the silence to run through the offer, 'This is gonna be messy, it'll be hard enough to kill someone that high up but right now? When he probably has triple the guards? It'll be rough and risky.' He bites his cheek in thought.
"Eirlet," Sherbolt catches the boy's attention, "if you take this I'll give you ODM gear to use and keep, free of charge along with free gas and blades for the next year."
'Although cheaper than before the invasion, I'll be saving dozens of silver if I take this deal.' He debates in his mind for a moment before he reluctantly nods, not really wanting to take the job but at the same time, the offer's too good to refuse.
Sherbolt smiles in relief at his answer, "Good, I'd rather not have sent Gavec to do this by himself, he'd probably end up running out of town butt-naked again." He teasingly says to Gavec whose cheeks tint red in anger and embarrassment.
"Ok, first of all, there's a whole story behind that," he points his finger right at Eirlet's face who doesn't even move to grab it, too amused and curious about the story, "and second of all don't get me started on how much of that was your fault." He turns and points to an amused Sherbolt.
"Oh Eirlet~ would you like to know how your teacher ended up streaking through a district whilst chased by the Garrison?" Sherbolt sings in amusement.
"Oh yeah? Just wait till you get to the part about the pub eh? Oh how your heart was broken by a waitress and all the crying you did afterwards is something I'll never forget." Gavec pokes, relishing his friend's indigent and red face.
That part gets his attention, 'A crying Sherbolt? I never thought that would happen.' He muses as he pokes at Gavec to spill the story which he gladly does, ignoring the protests of Sherbolt.
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Three Days Later:
Bang Bang Bang Bang
A barrage of gunshots cracks through the air, many more following as Main Street quickly devolves into a field of lead as various gang members take potshots at one another with a clear divide between them.
Five men try to flank through the alleys but they are gunned down brutally from the windows above. The firefight doesn't stay on the ground, guns peek out of windows and snipers line themselves up on top of rooftops, gunning down anything that they see move.
On the other side of town, two dozen meters above street level, Eirlet watches unflinchingly as the center of town quickly shields itself in a cloud of soot, thickening with each second as smaller gunfights erupt throughout the streets.
"Let's go." Gavec says above him, his words muffled by the scarf wrapped around his mouth.
Letting out a grunt of agreement through his own, Eirlet pushes his feet against the wall and disengages the hooks connected to the wall of the cavern and falls. He feels the air against his face, closing his eyes and relishing the feeling for a moment before he snaps them open, quickly twisting his hips he launches a grapple to a part of the wall in the distance.
Thunk
With a small jerk the tether catches his body, letting him curve his trajectory so he's moving forward in a curve as he falls. He braces himself as he gets closer to the wall again, legs bending before his feet touch the surface and he pushes, giving him more momentum to orbit his grapple point.
He pumps his legs as hard as he can, adding a small puff of gas as well which gives him even more momentum as he starts to swing up, swiftly reaching the apex of his swing before he releases the tether and falls once more. Above, he can feel Gavec as he launches past him.
Shooting another tether, he keeps the pattern up, fall, hook, run, gas, jump, both he and Gavec switching the lead as they swing on the cavern wall, dodging the fighting happening in town completely.
They get further from their starting position, passing the lit-up divide between the two territories quickly and get two-thirds of the way deep into enemy territory before they encounter their first problem.
'Push, push, gas, push, jump, fall, launc- pull!' He frantically brings back his tether as he hears the tell-tale sound of ODM gas releasing above him, a shadow of a figure swiftly approaching his wire with gleaming blades, nearly cutting it before he pulls it back.
Eirlet lets himself fall a few more meters, getting him a better view of their opponents, 'Two, the one above heading for Gavec, another on his way to me.'
Dismissing the one from before -he knows Gavec can take care of him- he focuses on the second man swinging towards him.
Shooting his other tether high up, he swings towards the other man and brandishes his swords, aiming to meet him head-on.
The two get closer with each step, bounding on the wall before they launch at one another at the same time. The man swings his swords horizontally with a snarl, aiming to bisect the boy in two.
Pressing a trigger Eirlet boosts himself higher with gas, letting him dodge the blades by a large margin and slam a foot right in the man's face, hard.
Crack
He feels the man's face give away as he presses harder, pushing the man down and letting him front flip off his face and launch his hooks above him, tethering him safely in place.
The man screams in pain as he falls head over heels closer to the ground, somehow able to launch his hooks into the wall and smacking into it roughly.
Eirlet prepares to finish the dazed man but before he can launch himself, Gavec flies past the man and swings his swords, cutting through both wires.
"AAAAHH-" The man screams fearfully as he falls before he slams into the ground with a sickening -crunch- sound.
Eirlet glances over to Gavec as he comes to a stop near him, "Keep moving, we can't waste time." He says curtly before launching again.
Eirlet spares the broken body a final glance before following behind, dodging the decapitated body hanging onto the wall, getting closer to their target. They spend a few minutes before the two stop, gazing upon the compound that contains their mark.
Eirlet looks over the compound intently, the five-story building holding their target is partially built into the wall of the cavern and walled on all three sides. Everywhere he looks he can see at least two guards patrolling through, the walls lined with a dozen men, another dozen roaming the grounds and more most likely within the building itself.
And unfortunately for them, one of the few towers spread across the city neighbours the building, allowing for two snipers to watch a wide area, both below and above, probably for ODM attackers like themselves
'How the hell will we get through all that without dying?' He thinks with a grimace, knowing that even if they kill Adelmo, getting out will be the hard part.
Bringing his gaze further up he looks over the roof of the building, his vantage point letting him see six snipers leaning over the rooftop, themselves watching the immediate ground area.
"You head for the tower," Gavec speaks above him, "stick high in the dark and the snipers won't see you till it's too late. Then give me cover and I can slip in quietly."
Eirlet narrows his eyes as he takes the distance in, 'Over a hundred meters.'
He nods readily and drops, letting gravity take him for a moment before shooting a grapple for another swing. Pushing gas out of his lower back lets him swing to a higher apex and launch himself higher than before, rapidly closing in on the ceiling.
As he reaches his apex he twists his hips around, letting him face where he needs to go and leans back. Falling once more but from a higher height, he launches both grapples to the ceiling of the cavern and tethers himself to it, now deeply hidden in the darkness high above the rest of the city.
He swings himself across, a smile unconsciously spreading across his face as he launches himself for another swing. Shooting his grapples once more, this time above the tower itself he lets his momentum die out, slowly swinging back and forth a dozen meters from the ceiling and twice that down to the tower.
'Now let's hope no one accidentally looks up.' He thinks as he grabs a screwdriver from his jacket's pocket and reaches his hand to the side of his back where one of his wire spools is .
Reeling back one of his grapples, he fiddles around the mechanism, feeling around before he finds the point he's looking for. Inserting the screwdriver he twists it slightly around in the hole before he feels some resistance and pushes.
He instantly starts to fall as his wire goes slack, wire rapidly exiting his spool and Eirlet braces himself.
"Oof!" Eirlet grunts out as the wire goes taut once he releases the screwdriver from the hole, now just a few meters from the tower proper.
Catching his breath, he's relieved when the gun barrels poking out through two windows don't move, the guards within having not heard his rapid descent. Now with much less speed, Eirlet lowers himself the rest of the way before he lightly steps onto the tiled roof of the tower.
Knowing he can't reel the wire in without alerting the guards below he looks up at the wire he descended on, the grappling point three dozen meters above, 'It's dark enough that no one would notice the wire unless they were looking for it.'
Slightly unwilling, Eirlet unlatches the ODM mechanism from his back, keeping both the harness and sheathes on himself as he lets the piece hang on its own from the ceiling. Now free to do his job, Eirlet creeps over to the far edge of the tower, away from the compound's line of sight and peers over the edge, seeing the barrel of a flintlock sniper scanning over the city.
'Can't waste any time.' Moving before he can back himself out of the oncoming mess Eirlet slips over the edge and turns his body inwards as he grabs onto the edge of the roof, letting his legs swing in.
"Wha-?" The startled man's words are cut off as Eirlet plants a foot in his face and another on his chest, kicking him away as he lets his grip go and his body flys in.
The man flies backwards and smacks right into the back of his partner and forces him to drop his gun over the ledge of the tower.
Bringing out his knife, the space too small to use his swords, Eirlet takes a hard step forward and shoots the blade in an upward motion, stabbing right up the dazed man's neck and piercing deep within.
"Ghurk!" The man gurgles on his blood, eyes wide before he goes slack and Eirlet shoves him to the side.
The dead man's partner just turned around, looking ready to fight, before his eyes locked onto the corpse of his friend which freezes him in place. Taking advantage of his shock Eirlet shoves his bloody knife into his neck, being sure to get the spine before he pulls away and the man drops like a sack of rocks.
Eirlet glances at both bodies in the room, both haven fallen without putting up any fight. Tearing his gaze away he approaches the window the second man was peering out of and he looks over the building Gavec is supposedly infiltrating.
Just with a glance over the roof he can see Gavec took action as soon as he dropped into the tower given that he could see a shadowy figure waving their hand at him behind a crate.
Giving a wave in return he reaches back and unclips his bow from his new quiver along with one of the eight arrows it holds, one designed to grip his arrows so he wouldn't lose them whilst flying in the sky. Looking around Gavec, he sees two men he hadn't seen before guarding on either side of the entrance to the stairs leading to the lower floors.
Eirlet moves into his stance, planting his feet firmly as he notches his arrow and locks his gaze on the further guard from Gavec. Lifting his arms in a smooth motion he aims at his target, taking a steady breath before he pulls his arm back.
Twatch
The arrow silently cuts through the air, dropping from the height difference rapidly before piercing the man's head.
Gavec's already moving once the arrow kills the man, moving behind his partner and cleanly slitting his throat with his sword. Holding the dying man in one arm he grabs the other body before it hits the ground, silently lowering both to the ground and dragging them with him into the staircase.
Exhaling, Eirlet lowers his bow as Gavec disappears from sight, 'It'll only be a couple of minutes before all hell breaks loose, better get my gear before Gavec fucks this u-.'
Bang Bang
His eyebrow twitches, one more for every gunshot he hears from the building which the guards around it seem to have heard as well, given that half the people outside start clambering to get inside. His face drops into a scowl once he hears a bell being rung, loud enough to alert the whole neighbourhood, where many of their enemies reside.
Notching another arrow, he gets a look at Gavec's progress when a man is thrown out a window 'He's on the fourth floor already?' He winces once the man slams into the ground feet first, '...He'll live.'
As two minutes drag by with the remaining guards on the walls ready and fortified in their position he hears a sound that he was hoping he wouldn't hear yet.
Turning to the window facing the city he sees three ODM users flying above the buildings, slowly but surely closing in on the compound and looking to the northern wall, the opposite side they approached from, he sees another two swinging across the wall like they had.
'Seems they had some ready at every front.' He despondently thinks as he aims his bow at the pair approaching from the wall, them being much easier to hit than the other three who could duck behind cover.
He tracks the one in the back with his eyes, taking a moment to find his pattern before he shifts his aim ahead.
Twatch
His arrow sails through the air, looking as though it's been shot wide and would miss its target but the target in question just swung himself up, reaching the apex of his leap and letting him meet the arrow head-on.
The arrow pierces in between the man's ribs, not immediately killing him but with a pierced lung he wouldn't live long even if he does survive the fall. The man slams into the wall with his side and tumbles down to the ground, disappearing from Eirlet's sight as he focuses on the second user.
Unfortunately he noticed when his partner had fallen along with the arrow stuck in his side. Pushing off the wall the man leaps as far as he can, aiming to reach the edge of the city in order to use the buildings as cover.
But Eirlet already released his arrow by then, getting the man on his shoulder and making him flip over in midair.
Eirlet clicks his tongue when he sees the man recover from his fall and swing behind some buildings, not out of the fight but his abilities definitely crippled.
Swinging his gaze back to the trio, they had already reached the buildings and were now flying themselves up the building. Guards had already started to pour onto the roof, watching both the ground and the skies for any attackers.
Bringing his bow up he aims for the closest ODM user walking on the roof, hoping to get rid of a dangerous opponent early but he loses his opportunity as Gavec smashes himself through a window from the front of the building, right where dozens of people were looking.
A quick reacting guard turns his aim to the escaping man's back, the distance short enough for him to land his shot no matter what but an arrow to the knee makes the deadly shot waver. Instead of a fatal shot, it cleanly pierces through his side causing Gavec to grunt out in pain but otherwise not affecting him given that he launches his grapples to escape the hot zone.
Eirlet's forced to duck slightly as bullets whiz past the tower, some lucky shots striking near his window. Finding that he won't be riddled with holes, Eirlet notches another arrow and peeks over the edge before his eyes widen as one of the ODM users latches onto the middle of the tower.
Leaning over, he aims at the oncoming guard and releases his arrow, one which the man just barely dodges by twisting his body around the projectile.
He curses in his mind as he pulls back and clips his bow on his back, the weapon being useless at this range. Mind racing as the sound of gas releasing gets closer, his eyes land on the musket of the first guard of the tower.
Leaping for it, he nabs it as he rolls over to the other side of the tower until his back smacks into the wall. He barely has time to aim when the guard flies into view.
Both freeze, the guard somehow floating in midair as he notices the gun in Eirlet's hands, one aimed right at him. A grin spreads on Eirlets face which the guard registers for a moment before the gun bucks and the lead ball pierces his chest.
Eirlet throws the used gun aside once the man falls from view and stands up as he rolls his shoulder, not expecting that much recoil from a gun.
Recovered, he turns and plants his feet on the edge of the window and reaches upwards and grabs onto the protruding parts of the tower and pulls himself out of the room and onto the roof.
Quickly moving to his still hanging gear, he swiftly equips himself, not wanting to stay any longer, especially with people shooting at him, no matter how inaccurate they are. Strapping the final strap he's just about to reel himself away when he hears a scream.
"Die you bastard!" A man screams as he flies into view, one he recognizes as the guard he shot in the shoulder where part of the arrow is still stuck in him. The man swings his one-able arm holding a blade, aiming to decapitate Eirlet.
But Eirlet suddenly shoots gas from gear, spewing a cloud that partially covers the roof. The blade cuts through the gas, hitting nothing but air as its wielder coughs a fit.
Eirlet himself is high above the man and gaining height, having reeled himself up with the help of the gas. Releasing his hook he continues to fly higher before his momentum fades and gravity takes hold once more.
Falling rapidly, Eirlet passes the guard on the tower, getting closer to the ground before he twists his body and launches his hooks, grappling to a building within the city, one whose street has a squad of reinforcements heading to the compound.
Eirlet pushes more gas out of his tank, knowing he only has half left from the generous usage he just did on the roof, as he tries to get past the armed guards quickly.
Fortunately for him, he does pass over the guards before they could react, but they do shoot at him as he flings himself out of the street and to the roofs above, getting grazed once or twice.
Gritting his teeth, he ignores the pain and flies in the general direction where the two planned to meet up.
Dodging the alert thugs in the streets below he looks around the rooftops, the city being decently level enough for him to see a lot of the area, 'This is where we said we would meet.'
Looking around slightly worried at seeing no sight of Gavec he slows down his pace as he gets further from the meet point, running more instead of using his wires as he now approaches the border between the two territories.
That's when he hears the release of gas behind him. Looking over his shoulder his eyes find Gavec's dark figure flying close over the rooftops, distinctly limping whenever he sets a leg down to leap off. Behind him he can see the remaining two guards from before, both having no injuries but do look worn down from the chase.
He lets himself get in step with Gavec before joining him in escaping their two chasers, dodging and weaving between one another and over roofs as they use a mix of their ODM gear and parkour skills.
"Split."
That's all Gavec needs to say before Eirlet drops from a run to a slide and slips over the edge of a roof and into the street below.
As the two escapees separate, so do their chasers, one following a slowing Gavec on the roofs above and the other following Eirlet down into the street, though staying higher than his adversary.
Eirlet doesn't bother trying to dodge and weave, instead, he flies straight through the street, taking the most direct route to the intersection at the end.
The two push their gear, gaining more and more speed as they get closer to the end and his chaser closing the gap between the two. As soon as he hears the man push an immense amount of gas from his tanks to gain a burst of speed, Eirlet does the same, dodging the double slash aimed at his back by a hair's breadth.
Now going at an insane speed and rapidly approaching the wall of a building, Eirlet launches both hooks in front of him and latches them on either side of a window. Pulling the trigger, he reels himself towards the window as he crosses his arms over his chest and leads his flight with his feet just in time for them to smash through the window.
Gritting his teeth as he feels his knees buckle slightly from the impact and splinters of wood bouncing off his face, his body barely loses any of its momentum as he flies through someone's living room and straight through another window and back outside again.
Straightening his body and shaking off some of the disorientation, he lets himself fly down the much shorter street and bleed off some momentum, enough so that he can leap over the edge of the building at the end.
He doesn't hear any of the distinct sounds of ODM being used beyond his own, 'Should give me a few seconds.' He thinks as he twists his body midair and launches a hook in the direction he was headed before, letting his body swing with his momentum and down into another street before shooting off.
He gets only a block away before he hears the sound of gas being released once more, glancing back he could see the sight of his pursuer a ways behind.
Bringing his gaze back, he turns another corner, this time coming across the remains of what looks to be a decently sized shootout with carts, crates and other barriers in the street. Looking around, he could see that not many of the Fangs were left, just two still standing from the near dozen bodies slumped over cover or on the ground, even those two too wounded to do much other than watch him zoom by.
Pressing on his trigger, only a puff of gas exits from his back, just barely enough for him to clear the edge of the last building and roughly roll on the building to a stop.
Eirlet scrambles to his feet, jerkily pulling his gear back on that had gotten loose as intended to not hurt him in the fall.
The man seeing his opponent out of gas greedily takes his chance and readily launches himself at the intruder that had escaped him for so long.
Too focused on his downed opponent, he doesn't notice when a little more than a dozen barrels stick out from the windows on either side of the building, not until they light up in chorus.
Bang Bang Bang
Lead rips through the man, blood-red mist exploding from the exit wounds as his body is peppered with holes. The corpse continues with its momentum and with a meaty -smack-, tumbles across the rooftop Eirlet is on, leaving bloody smears in its wake until it rests at a stop at his feet.
Letting his fake panicky face drop back to normal, Eirlet calmly steps over the pooling blood at his feet and approaches the edge as he waves at the people sticking their heads out the windows.
"The bastard dead?" Lok yells out to him, letting his smoking musket rest on the windowsill.
At his thumbs up Lok yells at the rest of the men, "Alright we're done here! Let's go finish off the checkpoint!"
The order given, he pulls his head back along with the rest of his men as they presumably head to the remainder of the checkpoint down the street.
Lowering his hand, Eirlet walks back to his now-dead pursuer and crouches down to start patting him down. Digging through the man's clothes, unfortunately, gives him nothing of note, only a few copper and a silver.
With a grunt, Eirlet straightens to his feet, sighing as he stretches his legs and walks to the edge of the building and leaps away. Rationing the pitiful amount of gas left that he had, his earlier bluff not entirely false, he swings away from the line of conflict and away from danger, heading back to their HQ.
'This was such a pain in the ass compared to fighting in the wild.' Irked at his rather average performance in an urban environment, he notes to get some more tips from Gavec later.
'Let's hope this is the last job I'll have to take in a city for now.' He lets out a small sigh as he lands inside an empty carriage, startling the supply runner up front who brought up his musket up to point at him until he realized who it was, calming down and carrying on with his path back.
'I won't have much to do inside anymore, not many people are worth risking this again so I'll probably head out in a bit.' He winces at the spasm in his thigh which he massages down, 'Three days sounds good enough.'
