Airship
10,000 feet in the air
The dark gray interior of a cargo hold washed into view, hitting his scarlet eyes like waves crashing against the shore. Off to his left, just beyond the periphery were stacks of metal crates. Marked by snowflakes that glowed a piercing shade of blue.
The beating of a drum rippled through his head as everything slowly settled into place, the drumming made way for a series of snaps. Smaller but more annoying – they yanked the brunette's eyes towards the figure in front. A tall man with the body of a twig, and the fashion of an elite – a fine tweed jacket and a baker boy cap on top. A hallmark of the kingdom in the sky, exclusive to the poor lost in its shadows.
"Lock, I think he's waking up" spoke a deeply gruff voice, akin to nails going through a wood chipper. It belonged to a woman, surprisingly enough, a tall broad with more muscle than form. A broadsword of similar height strapped onto her back.
A dreadful smile crept onto Lock's face, "And so he is". The man bent down to the brunette's level, amber eyes meeting scarlet. "Did you have a good nap?"
The owner of the red eyes briefly shook his head, the haziness in his mind vanishing for the moment. "Yeah, yeah uh… It was alright. Definitely not as good as riding Air Atlas though, but still better than Air Vale".
"Ain't that the truth" the man beside the buff woman said, a bronze haired figure who was bulky and tough. But compared to his cohort, he looked more like a sturdy plank. Arms crossed over his chest, where he brandished his gauntlet blades, aligned with his arms.
"And he's a comedian too. A man of many talents I see" Lock said as he rose up to tower over him, before pulling out an all too familiar wallet to sneak a glance at.
"Tell me, Jackie Velvet, did you pick that up before or after your huntsmen license?"
The seedy twig's goons gave each other confusing looks. All while Jackie glanced down at his cuffs, assessing their depth by weight and thinking 'I can melt through these'.
"He's a huntsman?" the woman asked, her deeply gruff voice always drawing Jackie's gaze despite his best efforts to try not to.
"That's a load of bull" the bronze haired man added.
"See for yourself", Lock handed his underlings the wallet and they passed it around. Their faces swinging between shock, and disbelief.
"You're telling me this hobo is a huntsmen?" the bronze haired man asked, gesturing a hand at Jackie while the woman handed Lock back the wallet.
"Hey" Jackie replied in defiance.
"And what about his weapon?" the woman asked before gesturing to Jackie with one hand, "If he's a huntsman then where the hells is his weapon?"
"I… lost it?"
Lock and his two goons looked dubiously at Jackie.
"You lost it".
"Left it in my other pants".
The bronze haired man sighed, and looked upwards. The woman face palming while Lock rubbed the bridge of his nose. All while Jackie wore a sheepish smile.
"How the hells did this whack job get onto our ship?" Lock threw out that question into the cargo hold.
"Through sheer skill and perseverance?" Jackie offered which Lock shot down.
"It was a rhetorical question" Lock began as he pulled his fingers away from his nose and pulled out his revolver.
"Now then, time to get rid of our little stowaway" Lock said before drawing his side arm. The folded up blade beneath the barrel shining against the light of the panel lights overhead.
"Less of a stowaway, and more of a citizen's arrest gone sideways. Which by the way, would've never happened if you had like, more than 2 people on this ship".
Lock chuckled, "But we still got you".
"Yeah, after I got to one of your engine rooms. You could've got me right as I made it to the cargo hold".
"Two's all I need. Three's a crowd, like they say" Lock said before gently placing his finger on the trigger, and asking "any last words?"
'I need to keep them talking' Jackie thought as the clock in his mind began to count down with only a couple more seconds left.
"Yeah just one actually. What is up with her voice?"
Lock blinked as the bronze haired man glanced at the woman.
"What about my voice?" the woman asked.
"Everything. It sounds like you smoke 100 cigarettes every morning, and then follow that up by chugging a bottle of rum".
A palpable silence fell upon the four, the bronze haired man looking aghast with Lock unabashedly shocked. It was as if some unspoken rule had been broken, and the woman's body language was the proof.
Her gaze turned harsh, and her hands balled into fists. An aura of rage began to waft into the air as she spoke "you hitchhiking pond scum! I outta yank out your teeth, make a necklace out of them and strangle you with it!"
The woman forced Lock aside with her brutish figure, and grabbed Jackie by the throat before lifting him up.
"By all means, go ahead and get your jollies out. But once his aura's drained, I'm putting a bullet between his eyes".
She looked to Lock and smiled, "Thank you". Before turning to face Jackie when her smile turned menacing.
'3… 2…' Jackie thought as the woman pulled back a hand, and primed a punch.
"Hey Lock, about that last words request?"
The woman put a pause on her punch for a second as Lock looked at him, and said "you already said your peace".
"I'd like a do over".
"There are no do overs you git".
"Well I'm the exception, and my new last words are BOOM!"
The entire cargo hold shook with a vengeance, the dust crates being the only thing that didn't get thrown for a loop since they were magnetized.
The bronze man slammed back against the wall as Lock face planted, the woman and Jackie tumbling back because of the former. And on the way down, Jackie harnessed the momentum to kick Lock's goon off of him. Sending her flying overhead and slamming into a dust crate.
"What the hells going on?!" Lock exclaimed as he scrambled onto his feet.
WARNING – EXPLOSION IN ENGINE ROOM FOUR
"The double hells?!" Lock shouted as he got up right as Jackie freed himself from his binds.
Tapping into his semblance, and summoning spectral flames that superheated the aura around his hands. The heat quickly spread through the cuffs like an orange virus, liquefying the steel enough for Jackie to tear through them like tissue paper.
"Ha-ha!" Jackie shouted triumphantly as he got up right as the bronze haired man went on the offensive. His arm blades spinning forward to face Jackie as he charged with a flurry of slashes.
Jackie bobbed and weaved past each blow while stepping back, before stepping to the side and tripping the man up.
One foot last second was all it took, and the man fell over.
But before he could hit the ground, Jackie grabbed him by the wrist and socked him right in the face. Igniting his fist just before to send an infernal wave of pain across the thug's face.
He screamed as he went down, clutching his face and reeling in pain. There was an amber flash right before impact – the telltale sign of one's Aura having been unlocked. And while Aura could protect you from a lot of things, it did very little to block out pain.
Jackie watched the bronze haired man writhe in anguish before grinning, "Hells yeah. Now get ready for some ass whoo—"
Out of the blue the whole world slanted, and Jackie was pulled back by the strong arm of gravity. He watched as a couple of fire dust bullets, courtesy of Lock, missed him before slamming hard against a wall.
Reeling from the impact, and narrowly avoiding getting pancaked by the bronze haired goon. A man who had the misfortune of adding a severe concussion to his list of ailments.
WARNING – LOSING ALTITUDE. CRASH IMMINENT.
"How the f—", Lock didn't get the chance to finish as he slammed face first onto the wall.
"What the hells?!" Jackie exclaimed as his eyes met Lock's. The latter pushing up against gravity, and the wall.
"What did you do?" Lock spat out, less of a question and more of a demand.
"I put an explosive in one of your engine rooms as a backup plan in case things went south".
Lock's eyes widened as terror pried open his pupils, "You did what?!"
"It was just supposed to jostle the ship a little. Give me a leg up if I got caught, not bring this whole thing down!"
"Why the hells would you think it wouldn't?"
"Cause this thing's got four engines! I figured it only needed like three or less".
"It needs all four you moron! Why else would it have four?!"
"For redundancies".
"That… is actually a really good idea, but that's not the case here so we're screwed!"
Jackie sighed as he faced forward and rubbed his temples, "Gods what a shit show this is turning out to be".
But Jackie didn't have time to dwell on that, because in came the gruff woman swinging her broadsword down with a steel trembling roar.
"Shit" Jackie muttered before stepping to the side right a broadsword came down. Slicing into the wall behind him, and upon which Jackie saw his mortified reflection.
"I'm gonna mess you up ya damn bootlicker!" the woman shouted before swinging her broadsword to the side, and slamming Jackie with its flat end to send him flying.
Jackie smashed into another wall, the steel warping slightly as his aura held. The pain shooting through his body like a bolt of lightning.
The woman was about to pounce when Lock stopped her, "Forget the rat. We gotta bounce, this thing's about to crash".
The woman glanced back with her grip on her weapon's hilt unwavering, "But it's got four engines! How can it crash when it's got redundancies?"
"Well it doesn't, but hey if we survive I'll be sure to drop the suggestion into Atlas's suggestion box. Now come on" Lock waved as he managed to stand up right as the bronze haired thug managed to get back up. The pain having subsided enough for him to be cognizant.
The woman gritted her teeth as she turned around, and went to regroup with her comrades – until Jackie entered the fray. Crashing into her like a meteorite.
The two fell back before slamming to the side, Jackie managing to pin the woman down while she managed to block a punch with her broadsword's flat side.
The strike was imbued with a red hot fire, leaving scorch marks against the steel of the blade. "I still owe you the promise of knocking out your teeth!" the woman roared as she brought up her hilt, and smashed it into Jackie's head.
Expanding the dizziness that had all but vanished, and bringing it back in force. Serving to keep Jackie still as the woman relentlessly bashed his head with the hilt of her blade and the hand wrapped around it.
After the 5th strike, Jackie snapped to his fleeting senses before grabbing the woman's hand and lighting it on fire.
A yelp accompanied the loss of her blade, and right as Lock drew his pistol and fired. Jackie grabbed the woman by the neck, and pulled her into the bullet's path.
Instead of harmlessly bouncing off causing more pain than harm, it hit her with the force of a speeding truck.
Sending her flying, limbs flailing chaotically before she smashed into a wall and crumpled onto the ground.
"What the hells!" the bronze haired thug exclaimed as Jackie hugged the wall to avoid joining the woman.
Nevertheless, Jackie's eyes lingered on the woman's lifeless form. Trying to comprehend what just happened.
'There was no aura break… so how did she…' Jackie thought before snapping to Lock with a mix of confusion and fear.
"Now you're catching on" Lock shouted as he fired off a volley of blasts, each one leaving dotting the gray landscape with small craters.
Jackie managed to avoid most of it, but one of those blasts came a little too close for comfort. Brushing past his shoulder, and ripping off a bit of his duster and some skin as it passed on by.
It hurt like hell, but Jackie powered through it.
He zipped over to the bronze haired guy, sidestepping a slash and searing his face with a fiery palm. In less than a second, Jackie grabbed the guy by the collar of his shirt and moved him into the path of Lock's bullet.
The round shattering his skull. Sending bits of blood, and bone into the air.
Lock got off a couple more shots, but Jackie managed to avoid them all by using the lifeless body of the bronze haired thug as a meat shield.
Once Jackie got close, he threw the lifeless corpse at Lock who sidestepped the thrown body. His revolver transforming at the push of a button into a short sword with a purple hilt, and a barrel running up the top of the blade.
"Damn you!" Lock exclaimed, his veins throbbing across his forehead as he slashed and fired wildly. Rage behind each swing.
Jackie bobbed, ducked, and weaved past the assault. Getting close enough to reach for his face, only to be intercepted and nearly get shot in the stomach.
A fate Jackie narrowly avoided, before turning around and pushing Lock against a wall. Slamming him against the cold hard steel enough to loosen Lock's grip on his hand, and punching him in the face.
Giving Lock a taste of the back of his hand that lit up like a tiny bonfire. Jackie could hear Lock's muffled agonizing screams as he let go of his short sword, which Jackie caught before stumbling forward.
Flipping the sword around, Jackie spun on his heel and smashed its pommel into Lock's head enough times to disorient him. Right as the ship shook, sending Jackie stumbling back.
WARNING – CRASH IMMINENT. BRACE FOR IMPACT.
'Shit. Shit. Shit' Jackie thought as he stumbled his way towards the end of the cargo hold, fumbling with the short sword while trying to figure out how get it transformed.
By a stroke of luck Jackie figured out the button to get the thing to revert back into a revolver.
After making sure it was loaded with gravity dust rounds, Jackie opened the cargo hold.
Sucking everything outside, which included Jackie, Lock, and his two dead thugs.
They were pebbles cast out into the inky black, the airship sinking below them.
Jackie was a human drill, spinning to the whims of the wind with one hand gripped firmly around Lock's pistol.
North became south, and up became down. Direction lost all meaning, until Jackie spotted Lock. The spindly figure drifting through the sky.
Clutching the revolver with both hands, Jackie aimed straight ahead. Trying to angle his back to Lock before firing off a round.
A burst of gravity defying energy that flung Jackie backwards, propelling him through the air and slamming right into Lock.
"Son of a biscuit!" Lock exclaimed as he and Jackie became a tangle of arms. Lock putting Jackie into a headlock, and punching him a couple of times.
"Would you stop that?" Jackie exclaimed before a punch hit him square on the nose.
Jackie reeled back, managing to dodge one of Lock's punches in the process.
Slipping an arm around Lock's head, Jackie hooked himself to Lock by the neck and slapped him right on the face.
Burying his face in his palm, and lighting it up. Summoning a blanket of orange worms wriggling frantically across the surface of his hand, each one exuding an aura of intense warmth.
Lock flailed about, his muffled screams adding fuel to the fire until finally the pain overtook him.
The two hurled towards the ground, the Atlantean Sea shimmering in the darkness.
Quickly, Jackie aimed Lock's revolver at the ground and fired. Unleashing a series of timed blasts which slowed their descent, enough to make crashing into the sea from their height survivable.
Before long they crashed into the sea, breaching the surface before bobbing back up to the top.
Jackie gasped for air, the cold sensation of the barely frigid sea stinging him in ways never thought possible. His lungs wanted to seize, but his mind shackled the organ into submission.
Above him was the shattered moon, and in front was the airship. Sinking slowly into the murky depths.
The Black Tower
Mistral
Arrows of light tore through the blinds overlooking a modest office, the epitome of fancy nestled in a den of booze and dust powder.
In front of a red wood desk, fashioned from one of the scarlet trees of the deadly Forever Fall Forest. Jackie stared down the man in the pin-stripe suit, his mane of red hair running darker than blood.
Scarlet eyes overflowing with rage met the two black holes that lived in the suit's orbits.
"You've got to be shitting me! They can't just withdraw the bounty, I caught the guy like it said!"
A moment of silence passed as the man, the head of the Black Tower, Scratch, took a lengthy puff of his cigar and exhaled. Pushing out a dark cloud that vanished into thin air.
"I know" Scratch finally spoke, his voice coming out with the smoothness of polished tile. "Believe me, I would have loved to have the client follow through…"
Scratch paused, his eyes narrowing and his mouth shriveling up. For a second he closed his eyes as though he'd swallowed a rock.
"However… the client was very convincing in getting the reward money withdrawn".
"That's a load of bull. I mean, who has that kind of power? Not even the Mistral council could do something like that".
"Try the Atlas military".
Jackie blinked, "Seriously?"
Scratch simply glared at the hunter, his beard, and crimson mane flaring up like a crackling forest fire.
"Damn. Didn't think they put out jobs for freelancers".
Scratch uttered a dry laugh, "There are somethings even Atlas wouldn't want their names attached to. That's where we come in".
"Discretion and snow. The two things Atlas is known for" Jackie remarked as he threw his head back and ran his fingers through his hair.
"Can I at least know why they withdrew it?"
Scratch sighed, "You're not going to like the answer".
"I'd still like an answer".
Scratch shrugged, "Fair enough. It's because the airship wasn't intact".
"What".
"The client was hoping that James Lock, alongside the airship would be both recovered. But since the airship is now at the bottom of the Atlantean Sea, they changed their minds about holding up their end of the bargain".
"Okay, that's actually bullshit. There was no mention of the ship being intact as a condition for the reward".
Scratch let out a deeper sigh than before, "Probably so they didn't have to increase the reward. Recovering a stolen airship would've elevated the bounty to a higher reward category".
Jackie blinked, his eyes fluttering with amazement. "So wait a minute… you're saying the Richie riches who found a way to build a literal kingdom in the sky, spends billions of lien each year on bleeding edge tech… can't cough up a few chips to pay for the recovery of one of their airships?"
Scratch shrugged half-heartedly as Jackie let out an exasperated sigh.
"Damn Atlesians…" Jackie muttered, rubbing the side of his neck which had tensed up the moment he spoke with Scratch.
"Best I can do is offer you compensation of the initial bounty deposit".
"1,000 lien is hardly compensation Scratch".
"Take it or leave it Jackie. It's all I have" Scratch replied, his figure rigid and his jaw clenched.
Jackie sighed, "Fine. I'll take it. Not like I have any other choice".
Scratch nodded as Jackie pulled out his scroll, a small white rounded rectangle with a golden diamond in the middle. One when pressed, split the two rectangular halves to become a phone with a luminous rectangle in the middle.
Scratch tapped the surface of his desk, a hard light screen washing over it and bringing up a computer interface. He logged in, and tapped some stuff before gesturing for Jackie to tap his scroll upon the desk.
Once he did, Jackie's scroll beeped with the sound of payment confirmed for services rendered. For what little payment there was.
Jackie's scroll folding up into a white rectangle, Jackie slipped into his duster as he got up and headed out.
Scratch watched Jackie leave, uttering one last sigh as he buried his fingers in his hair.
Outside, Jackie walked down a wooden hallway, past a reception desk to his left where the magenta haired receptionist sat. Garbed in a fur collared dark trench coat, the glasses of her rounded spectacles reflecting a blinding white.
Up ahead, Jackie stopped at the mouth that separated Scratch's inner sanctum with the rest of the Black Tower. A bounty office where tables scattered about for mercenaries to dally about, with the main attraction, the almighty bounty board, off to the left. Always surrounded by a flock of eager beavers.
Nowhere else to go, and nothing left to do. Jackie made his way over to where it all began, the divine hard light board that displayed all the jobs the tower had to offer.
Jackie shoved past a couple guys, and gals. Faces he'd seen a handful of times, but never bothered to commit to memory. Too many people came, and went to justify saving mental space for who they were.
Outside of a select few that Jackie always bumped into, even when the odds were against him – like the dirty blonde in the green overcoat who caught wind of Jackie's duster and looked over.
"Hey, Jackie" Nate said as he shoved two people aside, and walked up to Jackie.
"Hi Nate".
"So, I take it you got back from that Lock gig eh?" Nate asked.
Jackie slowly nodded, "Yeah".
Nate blinked, "Then why so down? You should be making a beeline to the Luck of the Mountains with that 40,000 lien!"
Nate went to grab Jackie's hand to try, and drag him off but Jackie denied the opportunity.
"The bounty got withdrawn Nate. I only got the initial deposit as compensation", Jackie nodded his head sideways as shock crashed into Nate's face.
"What?!"
For a single second, everyone in the bounty office turned to look at Nate.
"Dude, you mind? Wanna let everyone in all of Mistral know about my problems?"
"Right, sorry" Nate apologized while rubbing his left arm before adding, "But seriously, how the hells could your client do that? Scratch would've eaten them alive!"
"He would've, if it wasn't for the fact that the client was the Atlas military".
Nate's mouth flat lined, "Aaand now it makes more sense".
"Yeah, even with his connections. I doubt he could strong arm the Atlas freaking military".
Nate sighed before putting a firm hand on Jackie's shoulder, "That's rough buddy".
"Yeah…" Jackie replied before sucking in a harsh breath. "Oh, speaking of. How'd you Grimm hunt go?"
Nate's lips curled upwards into a grin, "Dude you are not going to believe it. I…"
"Hello boys" spoke an oddly familiar voice that pulled Jackie away from Nate, and over to a woman in dark blue jeans with a magenta jacket tied up around her waist. Draping over her legs like the silhouette of a gown.
"Oh hey Mauve" Nate greeted.
Mauve, the fair skinned woman with long purple hair, smiled cheerfully with her hands on her hips. Hands that were covered by pristine white gloves.
"Morning Nate. Jackie, Miss Malachite wants to have a word" Mauve said as she snapped her cold blue eyes over to Jackie.
All while a long, and tired sigh escaped Jackie's lips.
"Uh, Jackie. I thought you said you had a week before you had to pay up" Nate whispered.
"I did… a week ago".
"Ouch".
"Yeah".
"Well, are you gonna come quietly or do I have to drag you out?"
"That won't be necessary" Jackie said before turning to Nate, and adding "I'll catch you at Ataraxia, kay?"
"If you survive".
Jackie snorted, "If I survive".
Nate waved as Jackie buried his hands in his duster and followed Mauve out.
The Luck of the Mountains
Mistral
Overlooking a park where the crimson leaves of a redwood stood, adding color to the dreariness of Mistral below.
The muffled sounds of singing, and laughter echoed through the walls of the only place that gave the rich a reason to brave Mistral's corrupt underbelly.
Jackie moved past crowds of hapless fools, their pockets lined with cash and their minds lost in the music. Ears so blissfully enamored by the beautifully haunting voice of the club's star attraction – Honey Wine.
A golden blonde in a violet dress who sang her heart out.
Jackie made it a point to plug his ears with his fingers the second he stepped inside, Mauve having come prepared with ear plugs at the ready.
They passed by a bar where the chatter of drunk influents filled the air, and a door that led to the basement. Guarded by one of Miss Malachite's thugs.
Some poor sap came stumbling out, effectively thrown to the ground. Disheveled yet well dressed, he scrambled onto his feet and stumbled about. Looking back at the door like a sad duck, until the music filled his ears and his worries faded away.
Beyond a magenta door, Mauve directed Jackie into an opulent soundproof space. A statue in the right hand corner of a dragon intricately carved out of white bone. A crystalline chandelier hanging overhead. Lavishness oozed off every inch of the lavender walls and black cobweb patterns that scattered across.
Leading right back to the woman of the club, a heavy set figure with ivory skin and a white-purple gown. Lilac frills adorning her arm, one of which hugged the spider web tattoo on her right shoulder.
"Mornin' Jackie" Miss Malachite greeted, before gesturing for Jackie to take a seat using her folded fan.
"I'll be outside if you need me" Mauve said before stepping out with Malachite's blessing.
"Miss Malachite…" Jackie began as he sat down. "About the money, I just need a smidge more time and—"
Miss Malachite smacked her folded fan against her desk, forcing Jackie to flinch from the sharp snap that rippled throughout the room.
"I gave you plenty of time, hon. now where's my money" Malachite demanded as she pointed her fan at Jackie, while tapping the surface of her desk. Activating its hard light surface, and on the verge of calling up some additional muscle.
"Whoa, whoa, wait. Wait a minute!" Jackie exclaimed as he brought his hands, and Malachite held her finger mere inches from the 'CALL' button.
"Yes?"
Jackie pursed his lips and said, "How about I pay off half of it now, and pay off the rest later?"
Malachite glanced up in thought for a moment, the dead silence slowing time and granting Jackie the clarity to hear his own heartbeat.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
It pounded, and pounded consuming Jackie's mind until the agonizing disquietude ended when Miss Malachite finally spoke. "Deal. You pay me half of what's owed, and I'll give you a week to pay off the rest".
Jackie scoffed in disbelief, "A week? No way, I need more time than that".
Miss Malachite smiled cheerfully, a demeanor that sparked a hint of fear coming from the bob cut blonde.
"I'll give you a week to pay off the rest" Malachite reiterated in a jovial tone.
"A week. You got it", Jackie smiled wearily and Miss Malachite gestured for him to pay up the first half. Which he did begrudgingly by tapping his scroll against the surface of the desk, and parting ways with 40,000 lien. Draining his bank account to only the meager 1,000 that he got from Scratch.
Jackie caught Miss Malachite's borderline ignorant smile right before he left, an expression that was blissfully terrifying.
Leaving the spacious yet asphyxiating confines of Miss Malachite's office, Jackie plugged his ears as he made his way out. Walking past Mauve, who leaned her back against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. Keeping watch for anything that was suspect.
She glanced at Jackie, and gave him a slight wave. Flashing the brunette a playful smile which Jackie responded to with a stretched out forceful grin.
Past the doors leading into the Luck of the Mountains, Jackie pulled his fingers out of his ears and sighed. Letting out the exhale that he held all this time.
The one single thought, ringing in every corner of his mind being 'what am I going to do?'