The Watcher: Adaptability Of A Bounty Hunter

Chapter 10) The Trashed Whale

The tension was so palpable, it was suffocating. Even when the magic wielding woman lowered her arm, none of the three of them reacted. Roman could only guess that Mari and Cliff’s surprise came from the display of immense magical power which they just bore witness to. In the end it was still just speculation, based on their stunned faces. But there was nothing unfamiliar about the churning feeling inside of his stomach…

“Elisabeth… You… knew it was me?”

She grinned, “I don’t know anyone else who’d wear a cape in this heat.”

Her silky smooth, country accent soothed his worries the second her words touched his ears. The corners of his mouth reflexively lifted up, forming an awkward smile. An expression she mirrored, the satisfaction of coming face to face with an old friend was a powerful emotion indeed. Though the others weren’t moved by this sudden reunion, not by a long shot.

“I take it you two know each other,” Cliff said as he relaxed his muscles.

Elisabeth turned to Cliff, one eye raised at the shirtless man, “Why yes, we do half naked fella.”

Mari switched her sword off and returned it to her hip, “Hah, the fake monster is banging a country bumpkin? Seems fitting,”

“What are you even,” Roman sighed, “We are--”

“--So banging.”

“...come again?”

“Oh don’t act like you didn’t hear me mister,” Elizabeth smirked, running a single finger up Roman’s chest, “In fact… why don’t we go… catch up?~”

Roman, Mari, and Cliff all stood there like mannequins. Blankly staring out at one another, not positive on how to proceed. Elizabeth on the other hand, was a masterfully skilled puppet master, and she knew exactly how this act of the show was going to play out. Without a single care in the world, she looped her arms around Roman’s waist and pulled him in. Their bodies were interwoven, tangled up in one another at an uncomfortably close distance.

Roman’s cheeks flushed a gentle pink, and even if he wanted to, he couldn’t take his eyes off of Elizabeth. His heart was pounding, with the same intensity he felt during their ordeal with the blinker bot. The cold shiver of sweat slipping down the side of his face, proceeded a nervous twitch. Atop the mountain of panicked thoughts, Roman wondered why fate decided that he’d be pushed out of his comfort zone so many times in such a short time span. Give the man a pistol, and a roomful of armed targets and he’d be okay. No, he’d be better than ok, he’d be in his element, in full control of the situation. And yet, put in a situation any standard grade school student would find himself in and this bounty hunter would completely fall apart.

Her delightful blue eyes were captivating, sending him into a deep trance, which she broke with a quick wink. Now anchored back into the world of the living, Roman realized what all this intimacy was for exactly…

Elizabeth spun back around to the others, “And lemme tell ya, our banging is gonna be a lot more fun than what you two are gonna be getting up to.”

The Dulvian’s looked at each other, there were no words in Roman’s vocabulary that could capture the sum of the disgust painted on their faces. Cliff opened his mouth to speak, only for Elizabeth to talk over him.

“There’s an incinerator at the back. I need y'all to chuck those robotic corpses in there-- and of course one of you will need to scrub that nasty oil off the ground. I’m thinking little miss blondie right there.”

“Oh-- No, No, No I am not some maid!” Mari shouted, “Why don’t you get on your knees and clean your own floor!”

“Because I’m getting on my knees for a different reason~”

The blonde gagged, turning on her feet and stomping away from the bar. Whilst that was happening, Cliff laid his eyes on Roman, locking in the heated stare for at least thirteen seconds or so. And then, saluting him with a brief thumbs up. For some unknowable reason, that acknowledgement filled Roman with a strange sense of pride. He didn’t want to think about why that was the case, or why that smooth brained man felt the need to express his support. Elizabeth twirled around him and pressed her hands against his back. His vision jumped forward out of the blue, as his body was shoved through the open doorway.

“Oh and make sure you bring that Blinker inside,” he heard Elizabeth say, “Ya hear me? Don’t throw the Blinker out--”

“Why are we listening to you now!”

“We got it- go f**k or whatever you two were gonna do,” Cliff reassured.

“Thanks~” The orange haired woman spun around, closing the door behind her, “Hehe, time for some fun, right~?”

Roman hid away in his palm, shaking his head from side to side, “Please stop joking around, those two are already immature enough.”

“You're just mad I have fun doing what I do.”

Elizabeth trotted past Roman, moving past the scattered wooden tables and antiquated barrels the patrons were forced to plant their bottoms on during service hours. The Trashed Whale, was the name of this fine establishment. And unlike the repulsive state of the neighboring buildings, this place was spotless. The opaque brownish lumber that made up the floor looked as if it had been recently swept. Elizabeth’s steps made no sound, not a peep as she moved over to the counter. Behind the smooth, polished marble were three shelves, miscellaneous alcohol bottles of various sizes and colors took up all available surface area.

“So now,” She dropped down onto one of six stools at the front of the bar, “You gonna start, or should I?”

“Actually I do have a question.”

She laughed, “The boy doesn’t visit for over four years and he has questions.”

“How did you actually know what I looked like? I don’t recall ever showing my face to you before.”

“If you're talking about those cheap face masks you wore all the time. I caught a peep at your face anytime you’d drink or eat something.”

He knew that was a lie.

“Sheesh don’t give me that look,” Elizabeth threw her arms up into the air, like this was some sort of police interrogation, “Fine, ya caught me. Just be gentle officer~”

“Elizabeth-”

“Fine, Fine, I would sneak into your room sometimes and sneak a peek at ya while you slept.”

Roman backed up a little, “You would.. What..?”

“Hey you can’t blame me! Imagine you were a teenager and out of the blue some fella who won’t show his face moves in. I was just curious okay, aside ain’t this a good thing. If I didn’t know it was you at the door, I would’ve burnt y'all to a crisp!”

He knew that was true at the very least. And pressing her on this matter didn’t seem particularly important at the moment. Well… in the grand scheme of things anyway. He couldn’t pretend that he didn’t feel a bit violated at this revelation. But he would get over it soon enough, he had already spent the majority of the day with his face uncovered…

“Anyhoo I think it’s time I start asking my questions now, dontcha think.”

“What’s there to know?”

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, “You serious? No, like seriously.”

She stood up, and marched towards Roman. He thought he had mentally prepared himself for this fateful encounter. With every step she took, he concluded that he should’ve done much more to contend with this tigress of a woman.

“Not only did you take off without a word, but you never even tried to contact us! Four straight years of nothing, you have any idea how we felt? Apparently not, cause you show up to my door, covered in trash and act like nothing happened--”

The next instant was so perplexing, Roman had to piece it together bit by bit inside of his head. Elizabeth stormed at him, her volume raised the closer she got. In response, he closed his eyes, tensed his muscles, and waited for the inevitable gut punch. But said physical retaliation never came, instead, he felt something loop around his back. Proceeded by a warmth and tenderness he was not accustomed to. It seemed that Elizabeth… hugged Roman. Not like the exaggerated, sexually charged feint when they were in front of Mari and Cliff. This was a real, genuine hug, and Roman wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel about it.

“--and that’s just like the Watcher I remember.”

“Elizabeth…”

“It’s just nice to see you is all.”

The embrace lasted less than a handful of seconds before she pulled away. But the sensation lingered on Roman’s body for a while after.

“Now then, what brings you back here?”

“... Business.”

“Ah, I shoulda known you wouldn’t come round here unless you needed something.”

“That’s not--”

Elizabeth waved him off, “Nah it’s fine, explains why you had those other folks with you. I mean, you ain’t exactly the most social creature out there.”

Roman looked down at his feet. As bad as it sounded, she was right. He didn’t plan on coming back here for a long while, if not ever. But thanks to Shadow Requiem’s aggressive hiring methods, and the mess that left behind. Coming back to the Trashed Whale was a damn near necessity. His emotions were already a train wreck thanks to his new employer, confronting the past was par for the course at this point. When he pulled his gaze back up, Elizabeth was behind the counter, hoisting herself up, elbows firmly planted on the countertop.

“Speaking of which, what’s the deal with them? A shirtless hunk, a short temperamental girl, and you unmasked? Ya must’ve gotten yourself into some serious s**t,” Elizabeth stated.

“Trust me,” Roman said, taking a stool for himself, “You don’t know the half of it.”

“Well come on then, spit it out.”

Roman nodded, “I’m working for Shadow’s Requiem now.”

“What! Hold on, the Dulvian support group? Why in the hell are you doing jobs for them?!”

“It’s not like I wanted to,” He turned to the right, making a note of a poster at the far end, “They tracked me down, and forced me to comply.”

“I don’t care how much they’re offering! You can’t work for them Watcher, I’ve heard enough bar chatter from the regulars to know that they’re some bad people. We’re talking extortion, arms dealing, heck I’ve even heard a few mention something about using kids as spies.”

Crackpot theories some with more credibility than others. Yet they all paint the same, large picture: Shadow’s Requiem isn’t a ‘clean’ organization. And anyone getting involved with them should be willing to stain their hands. Well, Roman certainly didn’t need to worry about that.

“I know,” he replied.

“Then why do it? They got you tagged or something? Marked for execution or anything like that?”

Roman glanced back at Elizabeth, “Exactly that actually.”

Elizabeth cursed, “Why do you always gotta go messing with the big boys.”

“It gets worse.”

“Oh lord, of course it does.”

“The Nishi Twins stole something important that the Dulvian’s wanted. And to make a long story short, they want me to mediate the situation for them. They claim that if things go bad, I don’t need to get involved any further. But I doubt that with every fiber of my being.”

“You're smart enough to realize that, but ya still let yourself get wrapped up in this whole mess?”

He chose to ignore that jab, “Sorry to rush things but I don’t have a lot of time here. I need to see the Toymaker.”

“Well ain’t that ironic,” she smiled, “You’ve been talking to her this whole time~”

“The old man made you his successor?”

“Oh yeah! Plus he ain’t round here at the moment, so I’m all you are gonna get mister.”

Not that he didn’t expect this turn of events. It was still surprising that the old man would pass the torch this early. Roman was convinced the eccentric inventor was gonna hold onto his title for at least another decade. He guessed the original Toymaker couldn’t keep Elizabeth occupied with bar management for very long.

“Well… Toymaker--”

"If ya don’t call me Elizabeth I will smack you.”

“--Elizabeth, I need a favor.”

“Mhm… Favors aren’t cheap you know.”

“That’s fine,” Roman folded his hands, “I’ll be honest though, this is a pretty big ask.”

Elizabeth c****d her head a bit, “Big ones especially ain’t cheap.”

“The two Dulvian’s with me? Guy is named Cliff, girl’s named Mari, and both of them were caught on security cameras fighting me on top of the water purification site.”

“So you guys were the reason for that tower spill huh? Carrying those twins with ya is like stapling a sign on your back and trying to pass through the lockdown.”

First confirmation of there actually being a lockdown in effect. Nice to know the decent deduction skills he had built from the ground up as the Watcher hadn't dulled at all. Stress and discomfort can destroy most things fairly effortlessly, it felt satisfying to know he had been able to dodge the side effects thus far.

“That’s my problem, we need to get out of the city and I can’t make that happen if I’m being chased down by the police.”

“What, are you tryna ask me to hack into the A.P.D’s system and wipe out any mention of uh… whaddya call em, Mari and Cliff?”

Roman felt his heart dip, “Is it impossible?”

“Extremely, not only do they have high class Artificial intelligence guarding the place. But apparently even mages can interface with technology now, the crazy world we live in, huh? So yeah, with a firewall like that, all we’d be doing is sending our location to the pigs.”

Another dead end, damn it! He thought to himself, Agma had to have known about the lockdown. Why else would he have set him loose in the city to find a way out. There wouldn’t be a test without any obstacle to overcome, and quite honestly Roman was starting to believe that he was incapable of producing a way out of this one that didn’t involve begging for Shadow’s Requiem’s support.

Apparently Roman wasn’t particularly good at hiding his feelings without the help of a mask, as Elizabeth was quick to react, “Hey come on now, don’t be getting all sad on me!”

She exhaled, “Look- I can’t ‘hack’ into the A.P.D’s databases. Even for someone with my talents that’s way outta my reach. But, I can still get you out of the city.”

“REALLY!?

Roman lunged forward, evidently startling Elizabeth who jumped back into the rack of booze. Thankfully, none of the expensive looking bottles fell, “Gah-- Alright fella, that sure got you going huh? Aha..ha...ha.”

She cleared her throat, “Anyway, this ain’t charity. I got a job for you.”

“A job,” Roman questioned.

“Mhm,” She pointed towards the entrance, “Ya buddies sliced and diced two of my reprogrammed police bots. And not only were they hella expensive, they were leaving to perform a job right when you bunch showed up.”

“Aside from the Blinker chasing us, they called us out. I didn’t exactly have much time to consider that possibility.”

“Wow, making excuses now? My, my, what did the outside do to you Watcher.”

“I’m sorry, if need be I can cover the damages--”

“Money and apologies don’t mean much to the Toymaker sweetie. What speaks volumes to me, is action.”

Roman caved, “What’s the job?”

“Thata boy, now then--”

“We’re DONE!” The front door was kicked open, clearing the way for one, very fed up Mari to rush in. Followed shortly thereafter by Cliff, who was still quite noticeably lacking a shirt. The blonde’s eyes darted around the place, seemingly smitten with the décor, “Oh and we didn’t clean the oil.”

Cliff raised his right arm, cupped in his hand was the deactivated Blinker drone, “Didn’t forget the Blinker though.”

They came to a stop at the bar, Roman swung around to meet them. Somewhere deep down, he wished they would’ve taken just a few minutes longer. Anytime spent away from them was cherished by the man. The time spent with Elizabeth wasn’t quiet, but at least it wasn’t full of fruitless banter and cobbled together insults. Cliff quickly proved his point, the man twisted the machine around in his hands, and started to chuckle.

“Hahaha,” Cliff shoved the cubed robot in Roman’s face, the iris of it’s camera lens filling his vision, “Look tinman, it’s just like that crappy helmet you used to wear!”

Roman wasn’t impressed, “Ugh.”

“P...Pfft…” Elizabeth seemed okay with it, if her soft snickering could be taken as a sign, “Y'all are one lively bunch, huh?”

Cliff grinned, “We try and make up for the tinman’s lack of life.”

Elizabeth and Cliff shared a laugh, Mari and Cliff rolled their eyes at the sight, “Can we please get a move on,” Roman pleaded.

“Alright-- killjoy,” Elizabeth said, she dug in her pockets and came out with a small, circular disk shaped holo-pic, “Guess what you two? Ya guys are working for me now~”

She dropped the holo-pic, as soon as it made contact with the hardened surface, the projector kicked in and out came three projections. Each one seemed to be a photo of three men snapped in secret, without their knowledge. Roman and Cliff carefully observed the images, Roman thought he might have heard Mari screech out something along the lines of ‘I can’t believe we work for her’ but he'd gotten pretty good at tuning her out at this point.

Elizabeth pointed at the picture at the center, “This bald fella here is ‘Max Yelena’ thirty one years old, and a chronic alcoholic. Quite honestly he’s racked up a massive tab here at the bar and the guy refuses to pay it.”

“Over here we got Leon Ashworth,” Her finger shifted to the left, “Owner of one of the only successful restaurants in the slums, Plucked Chicken. On the outside, everything might look legitimate but don’t be fooled. Leon’s success is built on blackmail, blackmail we helped fuel. He commissioned us for several reprogrammed Blinker drones, but when it came time to pay up the guy skipped out on us. Even threatening to turn us into the police if we bother him about it anymore.”

She redirected her spectator’s gaze once more, to the right, “Don’t let his long hair, and fair skin trick you guys. He isn’t just some pretty boy getting mixed up with a bad crowd. His name is Travis Talon, and the man’s a mage, swordsman class. About a week ago we built him a fantastic mana catalyst and guess what he did? Yep, y’all are smart, he didn’t pay up when it was time for the bill.”

“Now tell me,” She said, softly tracing over her lips with her tongue, “What do these three young men have in common?”

Roman was the first to speak, “They all owe the Toymaker money.”

“Toymaker?” Cliff asked, but no one addressed him.

“That’s right Watcher,” she started, “Y’all are gonna be my little debt collectors~”