Chapter 275 - Bounty Hunters

“I don’t like it, Lucy,” said a weathered-looking man with hard gray eyes, salt and pepper bristles, and a build that would have done any professional weightlifter proud, not that long ago. “You said this here’s an orange tier? Sure as shit, I can fucking taste the hot red spice of wild magic, in the air. But I haven’t seen anything worth hunting… or any sign of wildlife at all.”

The man shook his head and spat a big wad of tobacco, effortlessly carrying what Lilith was pretty sure was a TAC-50 Anti-material rifle from the occasional picture she recalled her brother once showing her. It was a weapon that sent shivers down ever her little rabbit spine. Yet despite his bulk and the cumbersome rifle in his arms, he moved with an almost catlike grace, flowing through the grasslands as easy as any dancer, or predator zeroing in on his kill. And that was with him being completely covered in what looked like top of the line tactical armor reinforced with additional steel plates painted a green so dark it was the color of the Forest in shadow, Lilly thought, identical to the steel plate-reinforced tactical armor worn by the rest of the five member team.

The athletic woman with the pixie cut and dark green eyes taking the lead snorted before taking a wad of chew from the packet the man tossed her. “And that’s a good thing, Richtor. Because were not hunting big game today, sniping from a shooter’s blind in a choice spot perfect for ambushing slow and stupid that make all the idiots in Freetown shit their pants, while we’re out here, pushing level 40. Nope. Today were hunting different. Something that could break us out of the vice you feel closing about your throat as tightly as I do.”

A tanned figure who looked a good fifteen years younger than Richtor though with a similar build and a matching weapon snorted. “She’s got you there, bro. If other players are smart and figure out how sweet it can be, popping big game from a mile off, even if we only get fractional rewards… they’d be right up our asses on the charts, and would be grabbing this contract right from under our noses. So let’s be thankful for what is a real sweet setup.”

Richtor cursed and spat another stream of tobacco. “Fucking bullshit is what this is, Carlos. This isn’t hunting. This isn’t a clean kill in one of the neighboring cities netting us a good 100,000 credits for a choice target. This is going right through the heart of an orange tier territory trying to get the drop on some Contender Snicklit has a beef with.”

“You mean our employer has a beef with,” Lucy said with a glare. “Such a fucking beef that they’re willing to pay twenty million fucking credits if we take out this kid. Now as long as we keep it cool and stick to chaw, so Kit isn’t trying to hide the stink of your fucking cigars, her cloak should keep us off the radar of the local fauna.”

“Your ciggies aren’t much better, Lucy,” Kit snapped, the tiny 5-foot tall woman with flawless skin and deep brown almond eyes who could pass for a college freshman glared at a snorting Lucy, though she didn’t resist when the taller woman abruptly grabbed her by the back of her neck and brought her in for a kiss, fierce and sweet.

“God, I love it when you’re a feisty bitch,” Lucy said with a throaty chuckle while Kit rolled her eyes.

“And I love it when you kiss me without the chaw, bitch. But you’re right, it’s a shit ton easier to cover our tracks without tobacco smoke or Carlos’s cologne alerting half the wildlife where we are.

Carlos flashed a thousand megawatt grin. “Is it my fault that the girls love a dark and handsome man of roguish charm who radiates danger and the promise of midnight adventures they’ll never forget? I do naught but live the part destiny has laid out for me.”

“Yeah, taking goblin coin taking out some kid who thought he could be a hero. We’re fucking saints,” snorted a blond-haired blue-eyed youth who moved with even more catlike grace than Richtor, probably because he was holding a blaster carbine as opposed to the oversized anti-material rifles being held by the other two men.

Lucy glared. “I didn’t see you turning down the contract, Hanz. You had a chance to object, same as everyone else.”

Hanz chuckled coldly. “Who the fuck said I’m objecting? The Silver clan is made up of a bunch of spoiled wanna-be celebrity assholes. They’ve had golden spoons stuck up their asses their whole goddamned lives. I hated the way my ex gushed over them, like everyone else. Plague on the fucking world, and I’m fucking glad for an excuse to take out one of the little shits.”

Carlos snorted. “I have no problems taking out the boy. He’s old enough to be a soldier of fortune in half the world, and if he was stupid enough to get on the bad side of the sharks that would devour us all, that’s on him. The girl on the other hand...” He sighed. “Definitely a rose I’d love to console when she needs a dark knight to lift her from the ashes of what will soon be all her shattered dreams.”

Kit paled and looked away.

Richtor cursed under his breath. “Will you assholes knock it off? You all know how Kit feels about this job.”

Hanz rolled his eyes. “Why the fuck does our mage have to be such a sensitive… look, I’m just bullshitting, alright? I’m not going to actually torture him. He’ll go to sleep, we’ll wake up richer. The end. Same as always.”

Carlos cleared his throat. “You are right, of course, Richtor. We were behaving like fools, not professionals.” He flashed their downcast mage a reassuring smile. “He will feel no pain, Kit. I promise you that. And we already agreed that we would retire from this area as soon as this final bit of business is behind us, all of us wealthy and free to live the lives of wandering heroes and saints, if we so choose.”

Hanz snorted. “I wouldn’t go that far.” He cleared his throat under the glare of his companions as a stray branch cracked under his boots. “Alright, no more idealistic goofballs. We stick with assholes who need exterminating after this job. The same as we do 80% of the goddamned time, but we still need to get paid once in a while, Kit. You know that as well as any of us, with your super sweet magitech gear that put us in the hole, setting you up so you could shine.”

Kit flushed. “Yeah, I know. I owe you guys. Big time. That’s the only reason why I’m...” she angrily rubbed her eyes. “Anyway, enough with this bullshit. We got a mess to clean up, let’s just get it done and get the fuck out of here.” She then glared at Lucy. “Remember your promise. This is the last time.”

Lucy flashed a smile the equal of Carlos’s. “Scout’s honor, lover. We hire on as caravan guards taking the white-tier path straight to Texas, after this. I hear the loot drops are a fuck ton sweeter south west of here, and best of all, there are no goblins anywhere. So less worry about anyone wanting to clean up our loose ends, and a fresh start.” She smirked Carlos’s way. “And who the fuck says we can’t play at being heroes? At least until we get fucking bored of that shit. Again.”

Lucy then claimed Kit’s hand, drawing her close. “Then I’ll fuck you so silly you’ll be popping out babies, even if I’m the only bitch you ever touch.”

Kit flushed at that. “Thanks, now you sound like my mom. How dare you be a lesbian? Who will carry on the family name? As if any pretty white boy wanted his kids named Sok. Not fucking likely.”

Carlos chuckled. “So you like pretty white boys like our Hanz, do you?”

Kit smirked. “Depends on how drunk I am. When this shit is done, yeah. I’m going to do my utmost to embrace the art of the absolute blackout, like I do every other time you assholes drag me away from the path of righteousness. Who knows? I might just be popping out Hanz’s brat in nine months time. Let’s hope she’s not as much of a psycho as her father is.”

Hanz glared. “Watch it, girl.” He then winked. “It might just be a bouncing baby boy who appreciates the world for what it is, just like his pop.”

Bunbun cleared her throat from her perch before addressing the five would-be killers.

“Yeah, that might be kind a hard if you’re, like, dead. You kids sure you wanna try popping a 49th level badass? I mean there are much easier ways to commit suicide but, shit, it’s your funeral, I guess.

Lucy’s bemused smile froze on her features, eyes widening as she spun around to catch sight of a bunny of all things.

A bunny riding on the head of a creature with crocodilian jaws longer than Lucy herself was. A jaw attached to a body so vast that her mind blanked as she stumbled on her ass, unable to do anything but curse. “Jeezus, fucking...”

Carlos and Richtor spun around in eerie synchronicity, TAC-50’s held as effortlessly as Lilly had once held her father’s .22 rifle.

“What the fucking hell is that?” Carlos began cursing furiously under his breath.

Carlos crossed himself, shaking his head, his hand immediately returning to the stock. “Saint’s mercy, these fuckers look so much different up close.”

Bunbun smirked. “Damn right they do. And unlike sniping from a territory over, cheesiest way of leveling up in Exile’s Path and I totally approve, by the way, this close my little buddy can snap you up faster than you can say...’Oh look, Advanced and Adept Tier classes and a hundred in two of my stats puts me heads and shoulders over all the 30th level losers in Freetown.’”

Kit gasped. “You can see our stats?”

The rabbit with green glowing eyes shrugged. “Let’s just say my master’s pretty free with his gifts when he’s sleeping. And yes, I do see all the points you invested in Mana. Sweet move. Smart move. But I’m afraid the 200 point perk boon was already claimed months ago.”

“Elonia Silver.” Kit swallowed. “Daughter of the Queen of Winter. War Leader of the dark Sidhe that used to devour the hearts of men who refused to give tribute, a thousand years ago.”

“Bingo!” The rabbit clicked her tongue, miming shooting a pair of six shooters. “But don’t worry. Aurelia’s putting on her nice face, this time around. My master’s almost positive!”

“And who exactly is your master?” Lucy snapped with an aggressive glare, as if her hands weren’t trembling with fear.

The little creature's lips stretched in a way that no rabbit’s should. “Oh, I think you already know the answer to that, Lucy. But is that really the question you should be asking yourself?”

Lucy blinked and furrowed her brow, steeling a quick furtive glance Kit’s way, the smaller woman’s desperate head shake making Kit’s position damn clear.

In fact, the only one who didn’t seem shaken at all was Hanz, handsome features curled in a half sneer, as he shook his head with bemused contempt, not hesitating at all to point his blaster rifle Bunbun’s way. “Are you fucking kidding me? We’re being put in our place by a fucking rabbit?”

“Hanz, don’t be any more of a fool than you already are!” Carlos hissed. “That’s no ordinary rabbit!”

Bunbun buffed her paws. “Dark and handsome has that right, at least.” She turned her glowing green eyes Lucy’s way once more. “You figure out the question yet?”

Lucy swallowed, slowly shaking her head. “No,” she whispered. “What’s the question?”

The tiny rabbit clapped. “Oh, it’s a good one, believe you me! Here it is! Why the fuck would goblins be offering you 20 million credits on a bounty when you loudmouth’s made it clear that they weren’t offering more than 100k a pop with any other sucker in their sights? That’s, what, a 20,000% increase over standard rates, right? So, the only question you all should be asking yourselves is… what’s the fucking catch?”

“Lucy, let’s go, okay?” Kin squeezed her lover’s hand. “The rabbit made us. The fucking talking, forbidden skill using rabbit riding a fifty foot long dinosaur totally made us. This shit is over our head. Way, way over our head. Let’s get the fuck out of here while we can, okay love? Please?”

Lucy glared past her young lover’s imploring gaze. “Alright, smartass rabbit, what’s the catch?”

Bunbun stared at the mercenary band for long moments, shaking her head. “The catch is a lot more than a solitary fifty foot long Spinosaurus. You get what I’m saying, sister?”

As if on cue, the air rang with the barking roar of a full dozen Shadow Panthers, stalking the mercs from behind.

“Shit!” Carlos said with a hiss, spinning around as fast as 75 Quickness would allow. “Guys, we got a major fucking problem!”

Richtor snarled, hard grey eyes widening when he spotted one hunter after another loping through the waist-high grass.

“Yup, problems galore! And however much of a sweet endearing goofball my master likes to think he is….” Bunbun slowly shook her head. “Well, let me put it this way. What do you think happened to all the 4-man Bloodtear hit squads the Snicklit Fucks sent after my master?”

Lucy paled, stumbling back. “Shit.”

Bunbun’s smile widened. “I thought, just for fun, I’d show you.”

She turned around, barking a short, sharp command “Sarissophoroi, present arms!”

The tension in the clearing tightened to the breaking point when a full half dozen revenants covered in bronze armor and wielding spears quite a bit shorter than their fellows presented themselves with a heavy stomp and salute, fists to chests.

Carlos paled. “No fucking way. You’re not going to tell me… no fucking way!”

Bunbun positively beamed. “That’s right! Take off your helmets, boys! Let’s show our new friends exactly who they are fucking with!”

Lucy shook her head in horrified disbelief. “You… your master...” She swallowed. “He does know Bloodtear Syndicate will do all it can to take him out, right?”

The bunny cackled with mirth, toppling over on her Allosaur. “Are you fucking kidding? He declared Vendetta on the slimy fucks! They can try to take him out all they like! But I’ll give you ten to one odds my master tears out the throat of every last fucking goblin in North America before he falls to their bullshit, no matter how many corrupt administrators they think they have under their belt! You get what I’m saying, girl?”

The Bunny’s glare turned cold as ice. So cold that the five of them began to shiver as the grass turned white with frost at their feet.

“Eric Silver and the Goblin Consortiums are at war. Anyone caught in the crossfire will be ground to fucking paste. Now, since my master needs his beauty sleep, and I don’t really think he wants to have to purge every fucking idiot who’s a member of his race, or half his race, just because the goblins are playing us for fools, I thought I’d give you all a chance to reevaluate your life decisions and maybe make the smart play while you still can.” She then sighed and turned Hanz’s way, the only one with a gun pointed squarely at her, glaring at her with something beyond hate.

“Or you can be like this asshole, shoot me dead, and see what happens next.”

“Put the fucking gun down, Hanz!” Richtor snapped, gravelly voice tight with near-panic.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Carlos hissed. “Put the fucking—”

“Back off!” Hanz snarled, glaring at his companions before sneering at the rabbit. "You aren’t stupid. Don’t you get it? This stupid ass bunny already gave it away. Her master is asleep! She’s trying to negotiate because she knows damn well that once we get in range, it’s all over for her pathetic excuse for a master.” He glared at the shadow pumas nearby. “Pathetic. You don’t think your Tac-50 can handle a real firefight when you’re not sniping, boys? That’s fucking fine. You two take dino boy, and me and Lucy will clean up all the shit you can’t.”

Richtor’s eyes widened with alarm. “Hanz, don’t be stupid!”

Hanz flashed a baleful smile at the rabbit, who looked genuinely surprised by the man’s response.

“Are you fucking serious? Am I that bad at persuasion? I’m trying to save your silly lives! It you think shooting me’s going to do anything but secure your—“

YOUR FAMILIAR HAS TAKEN CRITICAL DAMAGE!

YOUR FAMILIAR IS SUFFERING FROM MULTIPLE LIFE-THREATENING WOUNDS!

YOUR FAMILIAR HAS PERISHED!

Chapter 276 - Retribution