The Watcher: Adaptability Of A Bounty Hunter

Chapter 12) The Drunk

Mari ran ahead of Cliff, she always had to be one step ahead of him. Even if she didn’t realize it, Cliff saw the pattern and had grown numb to it at this point. He assumed it to be one of those strange childhood habits, she never bothered to grow out of. She tried the door handle, locked. She didn’t fuss much about it, instead she looked over her shoulder as Cliff came up on the door. Her look conveyed all she needed to without even speaking a word. He sighed and brought his fist up, the red glow coming into existence around his limb.

The wooden door didn’t stand a chance. With a swift punch, the wood next to the door handle shattered into thousands of tiny splinters. That bounced off the floor like little rain droplets. Cliff’s arm was straight through the door, he bent his elbow and felt around for the doorknob. Just like he thought, the door could be locked and unlocked from inside with a manual slide lock. He twisted the knob, and pulled it back, once done Mari gave the door a push and it slowly swung open.

“Thank you, Muscle head~”

“No problem short stack.”

Mari was the first one through the doorway and as a result…

“AAAAAHHH!”

She was the lucky one to get a face full of spider webs.

“Oh boy here go…”

“Gross! Get it off, get it off!”

Mari swiped her face, arms, chest, legs, and especially her hair. Anywhere a pesky eight legged insect could have possibly clung onto when she disrupted the web. She didn’t let up, not until she was absolutely certain that there was no bug on her. Of course Cliff knew that it was a cobweb, meaning that the chances are the spider who made the web had long since abandoned it.

“Oh come on,” Cliff sighed, and flicked the back of her neck. She yipped, but halted her panicked behavior, “There you go, it’s off.”

“Really? Are you sure, check if there’s another!”

There was never one in the first place, so checking again would’ve been a waste of time, “I’m sure. The bugs are gone Mari.”

She shivered, “Ugh, I hate this place already.”

“Ditto. So let’s hurry and bag this fucker.”

“Orrrrr, we could just leave. Roman’s not here to stop us.”

“Are you forgetting that Agma ordered us here?”

Mari hesitated, “N...No.”

“Oh, you finally grow some balls girl? Gonna disobey that masked i***t now. The guy you worship day in and day out, gotta say I’m impressed.”

“Alright, Alright, I get your point. d**k head.”

“Heh, well let’s get this over with then.”

Cliff stepped forward, his boot leaving a noticeable imprint on the dusty floors. The rest of the lobby didn’t fare much better. Disregarding the chipped wood Cliff added, the ground was filthy. At first glance one might mistake the surface for planks of some kind. But that notion was thrown out the window when Cliff brushed the ground with his foot. Without the layer of muck, the muddled gray tiles were easier to make out.

He couldn’t decide what grossed him out more, the floor or the walls. Smeared with dust and grime. Cobwebs were abundant, some tucked away in the corners while the larger bundles were spread across a much larger radius. Their thin strings of silk stitched together the separated portions of the lobby. No doubt the sole cause of Mari’s heightened sense of paranoia.

Cliff wasn’t bothered much by the webs, as far as he was concerned. The sting of a bug bite wouldn’t hurt anywhere near as much as taking a bullet. So while his partner tried her best to appear calm and collected, he scouted out the area. The layout of the apartment was as follows: a central staircase formed the foundation of the complex. With adjacent hallways to both the left and the right. Which of course housed the apartments, twelve or more on each side for a total of twenty-four.

Cliff looked down the right hall, “This is gonna take awhile…”

“And this pattern gets repeated like what, four times with each level?”

“Hey,” Cliff glanced down and saw the top of her head, “Why aren’t you taking the left?”

“Spiders.”

“Oh for-- but we’ll cover more ground if we split up.”

“Say what you will. But I'm going where you go, you're gonna be my personal web bulldozer and that’s that.”

“You are so difficult.”

Mari brushed hair away from her eye, “Get used to it, bub.”

After a lengthy search of the first floor, all they uncovered was empty apartments and loads of dust bunnies. Cliff came to the conclusion that the drunkard must’ve set up camp on a higher floor. The pairing started up the flight of stairs. The old, rusted metal leached out a weary groan with every step. As Cliff hiked up the short ramp, he ran face first into yet another cobweb. He grabbed and yanked at the invisible net until the sensation of being covered stopped. Cliff came unto the flattened rectangle which connected the two joints. Mari moved up not long after, preemptively swatting at the air, hoping to trash any spider traps that may have survived.

“What the hell are you… a cat?”

Mari, after determining the area was spider free said, “I. Do. Not. Like. Spiders.”

“Oh really? I had no idea.”

“Bite me, smart ass.”

The two climbed up the last flight of stairs, taking the first step onto the rickety second floor. Another twenty four desolate flats to comb through. This entire process was even more tedious than Cliff had anticipated. And accepting the situation for what it was, only served to push him further into madness. A brawler, and swordsmen class mage should be used for situations befitting of their status. Infiltrating highly patrolled facilities, delivering weapon caches between the supplier, and Shadow’s Requiem. But, this? Extorting funds from some drunk bastard because he skipped out on a tab? Any common thug could play loan shark, this was a waste. Were Cliff in charge, he’d have put the guy with no magical talent on this job. While he and Mari paid this, Travis Talon a visit. He liked the odds two mages stood against another magic user. Throw a barely armed, average joe at him though, that’s when Cliff started to have doubts.

Granted, Roman wasn’t exactly what he’d call a normal guy. He did in fact have some combat experience. Obviously, how else would he have bested Mari and Cliff on two separate occasions. Someone with absolutely no fighting know-how couldn’t have fought, let alone beat them. Still, both times Cliff scrapped with Roman, he was wearing a set of high tech armor. With an abundance of tricks cramped inside a metal shell. Without that crutch to fall back on, Cliff hesitated to give the man victory against a swordsman.

Mari’s voice pulled him away from his thoughts,

“Hey Cliff, what do you think of Roman?”

“You talking about the tinman?”

“Oh my god-- would you drop that nickname. It’s seriously getting on my nerves.”

“Okay Mar Mar,” Cliff replied with a sneer.

Mari gagged, “Gross. But come on, I know you’ve got some kind of an opinion on the guy.”

“He’s a prick.”

“I know right! The absolute nerve of that guy--”

“A prick I can respect,” Cliff added, “And that’s about it.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa hold the goddamn phone. You actually respect that sack of crap?”

Cliff put all his weight onto his right leg, and gave the door a boot. The rotten wood splintered away like it always had. Unlike the other times, this door gave out altogether, flying off the hinges and slamming loudly into the far wall, “Don’t get it twisted, I don’t like the guy. He’s got plenty of negative traits, I despise. But there’s one, small thing I respect about him.”

“Please share,” Mari accompanied Cliff into the bare residence, “Because I can’t find one redeeming quality about the guy.”

Cliff left her waiting initially, it was only after he had passed through the living room and into the tiny bathroom, did he speak, “His willpower.”

“Willpower?”

“Yeah, inner strength and all that stuff.”

“What’s so good about that? I mean, what can he do that we can’t?!”

He turned back to face his partner, “If some Alexandrian bumped into you, what would you do?”

“What’s that got to do with anything,” Mari complained.

“Just roll with it,” she clearly wasn’t happy with this detour, but decided to drop the topic for the time being. Cliff grinned softly, “And be honest.”

“Well, I’d tell him off. First of all he should’ve been more aware of his surroundings, and second, he didn’t even apologize!”

Cliff took a seat on the unkempt edge of the nearby bathtub, “Alright, now what if this guy was apologetic at first. But then once he caught a glimpse at those amber eyes… he spit on you. Said that trash should stay inside it’s can. How would you react?

Mari’s facial expression took a drastic turn. Cliff’s words had struck her with the brunt force of a speeding truck, and it showed. Her eye twitched uncontrollably, the fingers on both hands curled up into balled fists, and her somewhat neutral face flipped on itself, becoming a cesspool of festering rage.

“I’d take my sword out,” Mari grit her teeth, grinding them together in an act that made the much larger man cringe, “And then flay out that racist mother fucker.”

The most appropriate response. The two of them shared the same instinct when it came to situations like these, “And that’s exactly why I respect Roman.”

Mari was about to object, but Cliff beat her to the punch, “We’d both teach that guy a lesson right then and there. It’s a fact I never try to hide, if you mess with me you’ll pay the price. But Roman doesn't work like that, he’d hold his tongue and move on with his day.”

“So?” Mari dismissed.

“Self restraint,” Cliff said, “It’ll save you time and energy in most situations. You think the man hasn’t thought of taking a swing at one of us after we poke his buttons all the damn time? Course not, but he doesn’t let it taint his view of the bigger picture. So he takes it in strides, and moves on with his next objective.”

“Wow, did you have to stretch for a reach that size?”

“Be upset if you want, I don’t really care. The guy’s got something I don’t, and I respect that.”

“It’s too much praise for a nobody like him…”

Cliff caught the slight hint of sadness hidden away behind her sentence. Mari was never like this, even during the obscenely awful scenarios they’ve been forced to play a role in because of their allegiance to Shadow’s Requiem, nothing got underneath her skin, until she met Roman on the rooftops.

Cliff leaned in, “Hey, are you alright?”

“Perfectly.”

“Mari,” Cliff pressed, “It’s just us, talk to me.”

She waited awhile, the lingering ambience of creaks and empty groans seemed to have more to say than Mari had. They shared the stunning silence together, not once did Cliff try and coax a response outta her. There was no point, he’d known his partner from the second his internal clock started to tick. You can’t spend your entire life with one other person and not pick up on, at minimum, a handful of their quirks. Despite her small stature, Mari was fierce, an uncontrollable storm that acted upon its own whims alone. With the stubbornness of a mule to boot, she’d only talk when the time was right for her. A factor he knew wouldn’t change, not now, not ever.

“It’s just…” Cliff had to strain himself to hear what she was saying. Her voice was only just enough to be heard over the aging building, “Before we met Roman, when we were gathering info about the Watcher. You remember how the locals spoke about him right?”

“I member a whole lot of fear ridden reverence.”

Mari glanced down, “They made him out to be a monster. The terror of Tafabid, the Cyclops, the Watcher...”

“And? You don’t think he lives up to the legends?”

“No that’s not it,” she shook her head, “...I thought he was like us.”

Cliff 's eyes lit up, “Us?”

She dipped her head, “Real monsters.”

Her words seemed to hover in the wind. Like a heavy smog, that couldn't be removed.

“Mari, that’s---”

A deep throated male’s voice sounded off, “Who the f**k is in there!”

Cliff and Mari dropped the conversation, they turned on their heels and bolted out of the narrow bathroom. Cliff was the first one out, and it didn’t take him long to cut across the cleared out living area. He drifted into a full stop at the doorway, right in front of the one who called out. Cliff recognized him from the briefing, this was Max Yelena, the drunk. The image on the holo-pic didn’t do him justice, the man was well over two hundred pounds, ten of which were shaved off by the photo. His skin looked to be covered in grease, same goes for the rest of his body, oily and covered in dirt. He wore a white tank top, a massive unidentifiable stain was plastered over it’s center. The yellowish coloration could have been any number of things, none of which were pleasant.

His thick fingers were wrapped around the handle of a MV heavy pistol. Which he had aimed right for Cliff’s head. Mari rounded the corner and as soon as she came into view, Max whipped the weapon around to her.

“The hell are you two? What’re you doing in my goddamn building!? And what’s with all the mother f*****g-- ...huh?” He stopped, seemingly for no reason. His tan eyes looked the two intruders' up and down. As if he had some sort of gut feeling he couldn’t shake, his gaze shifted upward to meet Cliff’s. And Max figured out what was bothering him, “Dulvians!”

He clenched his firearm with both hands, Cliff sneered, “What’d you expect baldy, you’re inside the ghetto-”

“Not another word, you piece of trash.”

Mari pushed past Cliff, and shouted, “We’re trash!? I’m not gonna take that from some guy who can’t even afford booze!”

“And who’s f*****g fault is that, Dulvian? It’s because of people like you I lost my job. Now what, you here to gloat? Spit on me while I’m down, you sick b***h!”

The man’s raised voice didn’t phase Mari, “Down? Listen chubby, you’re already living in some old, dingy building. Don’t think you can get much worse than this.”

“Say that again brat, see what happens.”

“Which part, the crappy life you live or those folds on your neck.”

The overweight man cracked and reached for the gun’s trigger, but Mari was too fast. Max’s finger didn’t so much as graze the mini lever before her purple blade swung upward, cleanly separating the hand from the arm. The gun and still twitching hand hit the disgusting floor. The slob reared back, clenching the stump that used to be his hand, he cried out in anguish but a crimson fist smashed into his face, ending the ear piercing cries. The force of impact propelled the man backwards, busting through the adjacent apartment door. The sonic boom that exploded into reality from the leading strike, was followed up by the snap of wood, and the rumbling of caved in drywall.

The red haze around Cliff’s fist was gone with a shake of his hand, “God that was satisfying!”

“We haven’t even gotten to the best past,” Mari muttered underneath her breath, her lips pursed, pushing out a jovial whistle as she strolled into the newly opened flat.

Cliff understood that look, and what it meant. He also knew that they couldn’t do what Mari wanted, not yet at least, “Don’t get ahead of yourself, we need that money first.”

“Right, right, so fatass where’s you keeping your cash?” This place was even more vacant than the others rooms if that was even possible. Without exception, everywhere else they searched, the first thing you’d see after opening the door was the living room. The central hub, from which the other amenities branched off. Tiny kitchens, bedrooms, restrooms, all separate compartments accessible from the common room. Fundamental stuff really, found anywhere in the world, so how was it that this particular apartment held none of those necessities. Aside from the chunky man, partially stuck inside the wall at the farthest end, the place was stripped bare. There wasn’t even so much as flooring installed, let alone a bathroom, the area was only a flat, dusty rectangle.

Max Yelena coughed up a splash of blood, further diluting the original white T-shirt. The stump left behind after Mari hacked the man’s hand off was cauterized, a result of the mana blade’s super heated nature. When he opened his mouth to fill his beaten lungs with oxygen, one of his two front teeth was missing. Making an already unsightly mug into one even a mother couldn’t love. He barely had the strength to crane his neck when Mari stopped in front of him.

“Cash,” he mumbled, “What… is this a robbery?”

Cliff arrived at his partner’s side, “In a way.”

“That’s just like you Dulvians… You take what you want, trampling over anyone who stands in your way. Monsters, the lot of you. First the war, and now this,” Max spat a tooth onto the ground, “You all… shoulda been killed off. Culled from the herd, don’t know what the government was thinking when they gave you people the chance to repopulate…”

“I’m not interested in hearing your views on politics,” Mari said.

“Hey, old man. You owe the Trashed Whale a lot of money, time to pay up,” Cliff added.

“That bar run by that traitorous skank? Ha! Even if I had the money, I’d rather die than give that Dulvian sympathizer a single cen-- AURGH!”

Mari turned her sword upside down, and ran the man’s thigh through with the bladed weapon. The burning heat melted away flesh, and even bone on its way out the opposite end, “Don’t tempt me, because believe me I’ll f*****g do it!”

“... You think… You think your magic scares me Dulvian? When my boys get here, we’ll see just how much that fancy sword helps ya. And I’ve got a few ideas to do when you're beat, and on the floor girly,” Max slid his tongue across his cracked lips, obviously implicating the most vile, disgusting act imaginable. And Mari wasn’t having any of it. She crudely extracted the violet glowing blade, making sure to cut up the innards all the way, not stopping until the tip slipped out. Mari raised the sword high above her head, clasping the hilt firmly with both hands. But when she went in for the killing blow, Cliff kicked the man square in the face.

“Is that so? Cause I’ve got you on the floor right now!”

There was a faint mumble underneath his boot, too bad for Max, Cliff didn’t care what he had to say. That one kick alone was enough to shatter the man’s nose. Blood streamed out the nostrils, the crux of Max's face was bent to the right at an awkward angle. The area surrounding the nose was puffed up, and beet red. The bloodied male managed a few guttural noises, one too many for Cliff’s liking. He pulled his leg back, channeled his mana, directing all of his energy into his two hands. The crimson shine cast a thin veil of light onto the man’s face, and it’d be the last thing his filthy eyes ever saw.

“Come on old man, what happened to all that energy huh!?” Cliff started with a right hook, Max’s blood splattered across the clear drywall, “Where’s your boys at, tell me exactly what you fuckers would do to me!”

One punch brought about the c***k of bone, and a spray of red liquid. Just a single strike from Cliff carried with it the force of a metal baseball bat. And he was alternating which hand he hit Max within seconds of a prior blow ending. This brutal beating carried on like this for the next four minutes. When all was said and done, Max’s face was unrecognizable. Any distinguishing features he had were drowned out in a sea of crimson water. Massive lumps popped up, at seemingly random spots on his cheeks. The left eye couldn’t even open, Cliff vaguely recalled jabbing it with a finger amidst the thrashing. And the right one wasn’t much better off, swollen to hell like it was. The alcoholic bastard’s blood coated his arms, and a single splash made it onto his cheek.

“Is he dead?” Mari commented.

“Nah, you can have a go now.”

“About time,” Mari switched her Mana blade on, cutting through the air with a show offish twirl. She towered above the corpse like man, and left Max with a sadistic grin, “What about the money he owes?”

“We’ll take it from his friends when they get here.”

“M...M...Monsters….” Max croaked.

“You called, and treated us like beasts,” Cliff smirked, “It was only a matter of time until we turned into monsters.”