Arcane: World Two - AU (Non-binary reader)

XI - Your Prey's High Value

Powder steps through the door, scanning the area. There are just as many people as at the Last Drop, yet there's so much less life here. The taps are for work instead of social events, and the tables are almost completely empty, with the patrons in the booths. 

She steps up to the bar, waiting for the bartender to come to her just as Vander would. It's not long before she feels the need to flag him down: "Hello?"

The bartender steps towards her. Before Powder can ask for anything, he speaks low and boldly: "A little young, aren't you?" As though repeating the events seconds later, her words are cut off: "This place ain't good for little girls"

Powder is eager to defend herself but knows not to in the pursuit of information: "I'm looking for someone"

He doesn't look at her while speaking, but he knows who she is, only looking down at the glass he's scrubbing: "You a client? You certainly ain't a merc"

Powder, confused, disregards his question: "No, I'm just looking for someone" She lifts an old photo of you, before your injuries.

The Bartender, finally looking up from the glass in his hand, shakes his head: "Never seen 'em" He knows perfectly well who that is, who you are. 

Powder doesn't want to back down, but she's pleased to hear another voice from further down the bar: "I have..." Powder turns to face them, it's someone's client. He hadn't truly recognised you in the photograph, but information has a price in the Pardido: "Yep, seen that one come to and from many a time"

Overjoyed by the confirmation you're alive, despite coming from untrustworthy sources, she intruiges the stranger further: "Do you have any idea where they might be?"

The stranger takes a sip from his glass before responding, leaving Powder on edge: "Maybe, I'd need to jog my memory with something though"

Powder scrounges through her pockets, hoping to find enough money to persuade the man. She manages to pull out enough coins to eat for weeks, though stolen, and throws them on the counter: "Here, that's enough"

The man looks over the coins for barely a second: "Nope, need a little more. Your prey's high value I'm afraid" He still pockets the coins though: "You come back with half of this again, I'll spill" 

Powder, frustrated but naive, plans to agree to this offer: "Fine, I'll-"

Another, larger, scarier figure sits next to him. Sevika took his drink before speaking: "What do you know about them?"

He'd happily steal from a 16-year-old girl, but Sevika looks like she chews tar for a thrill: "I- I don't know, they come through every so often an-"

Sevika doesn't look at the man: "You don't know" His breaths become heavy, aware he's been caught. He pulls a switchblade from his waist in the hopes she won't see. She does.

As he swings the knife, she leaps back off her seat before pulling her poncho off her metal arm. Terror shoots through his eyes as Sevika lifts him off his feet by the neck, but as she does, another voice bellows out: "Hey! Hands off my client!" She feels a blunt rod slam into her back, forcing her to drop the man. She turns to face the mercenary, his torso covered by a tank top, his legs covered in baggy clothing and a rod in his hand.

Before long, hell lets loose. There's a rule in the Pardido: one fight means all fight. This rule is rarely used with the bar being more work than leisure, but Sevika kicked the wasp's nest. Powder hides under the counter as fighting breaks loose across the bar, glass is thrown, bullets fly and blood splatters.

The merc jumps off a table, ready to slam into Sevika's face, but she raises her metal arm. The rod crashes into steel as her fist flies around to strike him in the jaw, sending him to the ground for a moment. He gets back up, picks his weapon of choice back up to follow, wipes the blood from under his nose and holds his rod forward like a spear.

Sevika suddenly feels as the client grabs her from behind and holds her back; she struggles to defend herself as the rod smashes into her knee. He's about to repeat his actions when Powder does what she'd never hoped to. She pulls the gun from her waist and aims it at the client: "This one's for trying to scam me!" In a moment of blind rage, she shoots the client. Much to her shock, it's a perfect shot; the client falls, and Powder takes a life.

Terror reigns free in the mercenary's eye as his only support - and paycheck - dies. Sevika winds her arm back and smashes his skull in one blow. She's about to get Powder out of the bar when she takes another swing from someone new.

***

You wait in the stands, your target is a stage actor in Topside. You're going to wait for her to reach the part where she plays dead to kill her. 

The play is about someone being indoctrinated with orders to fill the void in their life, under the belief they gain something from doing the dirty work. You watch as it plays out, the lights shining on your target. You've read the script and know her time is coming. As she falls to her knees, her final monologue echoes: "Oh, eternal moon, for what purpose must you bestow me such a man who won't follow my asks..." He'd listened too well; he had died doing so "...and now, you embrace me into death's cold maw" The arrow prop lodged into her side is copied by your blowdart as it pins her neck. She falls to the ground in an overdramatic sense, pretending to die before blood seeps over her lips.

You stand up and walk away to the sound of the crowd's applause. You make the long walk back to the Pardido, where Sevika and Powder fight on dozens. Upon entering the dusty streets of the Undercity, however, you're stopped by a scout of yours: "y/n, I've been searching everywhere for you" You don't respond; he has no more use to you than the information he keeps: "You're family, they fought. The blue-haired one is determined to prove you're alive"

You sigh: "How'd they find out?"

He speaks quickly: "A girl came in to tell them your brother's debt has been nullified"

"Fuck" Is all you say, aware of what you have to do now.

***

"Please... don't-" The man gurgles out before his brains are turned to mush by metal. She stands up, the walls now covered in blood. The Pardido, once an unwelcoming spot for Mercenaries to meet their clients, is now only a memory. The musk of rot is more prevalent than ever as the dozen-or-so bodies 

Sevika takes Powder, still shaking, by the arm as she gets them out. As they walk back home, Powder finally speaks: "I had to kill him, didn't I?"

Much to her dismay, Sevika is the only one who can answer: "Yes, yes Powder. You saved me"

Powder gulps, unable to stop thinking about the man as his head was smashed in two by her bullet: "I had to."