Lost Rain - Seeking Strays - Chapter 71 - Who Are You? + Cover Art!

The kid didn’t get far. Really, I guess that was to be expected. He did, however, leave the storm sewers behind. We found him briskly walking through a back alley while watching over his shoulder. Thanks to Seek, we cut him off before he could get to wherever he was going. 

”What’s the matter, kid? Someone after you?” I asked. My soaked tail twitched in annoyance. I wanted to drop my armor, and approach him calmly as a Canary. Vesper being right behind me kept me from that. Probably not my smartest plan, either.

Jayce flinched and shakily drew his pistol once more. “Just leave me alone! You—you can’t take me back to that man.”

“Are we really doing this again?” I raised my hands slowly. 

“You can’t take me back!” He grew increasingly agitated with each passing moment. His eyes dropped to the gun in his hand, and something in his posture shifted. I was moving before he could fully turn it on himself. “I won’t go back!”

Bang!

A jolt of pain spread through my hand as I cupped the barrel of the pistol. I ripped it out of his hand, and field stripped it in a single beat. “Someone could get hurt if you keep waving this thing around.”

“You… you—!” He stared at me in shock. The shock melted into rage. That rage abruptly shifted as the scent of my blood entered the air. “A-are you alright?“

“M’fine.” A little gunshot actually wasn’t the worst injury of the night. I checked on my hand, and dug my fingers into my palm to pluck out the bullet. Too bad the armor was just on the outside of my hand. “See? Totally good.”

His eyes widened as I held the blood-soaked bullet in the air. He already looked like he was about to come down with something, but his face paled even further somehow. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

Heh, that saying was right after all. Black Bear Apexes really were a bunch of softies. I tossed the bullet to the side of the alley. “If you’re really sorry, you could make it up to me and explain what’s going on. Why don’t you want to go back?”

“That man—“ Jayce sharply shook his head, and his eyes dropped to the filthy alley ground. “He—I can’t. He’s not—I won’t go.”

”Hey, hey.” I lightly patted his trembling shoulder. “Look at me. Take a moment and just breathe. One thing at a time. They don’t expect me back anytime soon.”

“I… right.” Jayce’s eyes closed, and he took in a shuddering breath. “W-where do I even begin?” 

“I take it you weren’t kidnapped?” I asked, and let go of his hands. My ears lowered against the inside of my helmet. By this point, I’d be an idiot to still believe the lies Hades fed me. 

“No! I ran away.” The kid shook his head roughly. His ears flapped around, and slung water in every direction. They weren’t as expressive as my Totem’s were—or maybe I just couldn’t read them as well. “M-my uncle is crazy. I’m not even Jayce! My cousin died with my aunt th-three years ago.”

Huh… somehow, I didn’t see that coming. I expected the kid to be someone completely unrelated. So Arnest was actually this kid’s uncle? I closed my eyes and thought through everything I was told. It made some sense in a twisted way. 

I was wondering how a Black Bear fit into the picture. So his aunt married Arnest, and had a son. Apexes could have children with humans with about a 50% chance of the kid being an Apex. It was one of those things where they either were or they weren’t. There wasn’t a half-Apex situation.

”Do you have any idea how it feels to stare at the mirror, and not recognize the face looking back?!” He cried out and rubbed furiously at his eyes. Tears kept spilling out onto his face, though he wiped them away like we couldn’t see them.

”More and more everyday,” I muttered softly. My tail gave a twitch, and I shook my head.

“So our good professor abducted the boy to replace his dearly deceased son. Good Pyre. That does rather complicate matters, doesn’t it?” Vesper spoke up from behind me. He casually adjusted the bright red scarf wrapped around his lower face. “What are your intentions, Barghest?”

“You testing me again?” I asked back quietly. The man just remained silent, and gave nothing away. Why? Was the paladin trying to get a gauge of my moral compass before giving me the job? It didn’t matter. It wouldn’t change my mind on this.

Hades knew me too well. Taking back nothing would reveal to them all that I did. I couldn’t afford to piss Cerberus off, too. After not being around him for so long, his attitude was bound to be volatile. There was no telling what he might do if I came back empty handed.

I had some leeway with the inhibitor Neriyov managed to get me. That was two weeks at most. If the Psion Society really was coming here… I couldn’t afford to be estranged with Hades. Not when they were my lifeline. “I… I can’t take back nothing.”

”Y-you don’t understand! My whole family thinks I was the one that died, and Jayce lived. It’s a tragedy what happened to my cousin, it really is, but I can’t keep pretending I’m him!” The Black Bear hysterically ripped at his own face. I grabbed his hands before he could do any real damage. “That bastard even changed my face! I-I can’t go back.”

”And I won’t take you back.” I tried to calm him back down. The mechanical tilt of the voice modulator made that difficult. He also couldn’t see my tail. That was probably for the best given its rancid condition.

“W-why?” He asked in a broken voice. He looked like he was barely holding in his tears through sheer force of will. “You’re a bounty hunter, right? W-why would you help me?”

”’Cause what’s right isn’t always what’s easy.” Cerberus would throw a fit, but there was no way I would force the kid back into that.

“You sound like a preacher.” The kid broke into joyless laughter. His head fell forward and thumbed against my chest plate. “I… thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” I had a solution, but it wasn’t a good one. Definitely not one he would thank me for. “What’s your name? Your real name?”

”I-It’s Dustin. Dustin Patrov.” His shoulders pulled back, and he lifted his chin slightly. After being a captive and forced to live under a different name for three years, speaking his own sparked something resilient inside of him. “And I won't go back.”

“They’ll be suspicious if I don’t bring anything.” I took a few steps back and tried to think up a different solution. I had one… it just wasn’t pretty. “Where were you headed?”

”I… I can’t tell you that.” The kid wisely clammed up. He slowly looked between me and Vesper. “It’s someone that can get me out of the city, though. I stole a bunch of valuable stuff from my uncle to trade.”

”I’ll have to bring back something believable.” If I just brought back his blood soaked clothes or the ring on his finger, it wouldn’t be enough. There’d always be room for doubt that he might still be alive. We needed Professor Arnest to truly think he was dead, or more mercs would be sent after him. “Give me your hand. The one with the ring on it.”

“M-my hand?” Dustin pulled away from me. His eyes dropped to the ring around his finger. “This was my mother’s. It’s all I have to remember her by.”

”Sentimentality or survival. Your choice, kid.” I drew my axe. It sounded even worse when I said it aloud. I was just too weak. Too much of a dumb mutt to come up with a better solution. 

“A-are you sure? Is this the only way?” Dustin slowly ran a finger around his ring. I understood perfectly what he was going through. I went through the same thing once.

“I’m sorry.” It wasn’t like I was permanently handicapping him, either. He could always go get a chrome hand. He’d probably need facial reconstruction at the very least so he wouldn’t look in the mirror and see his deceased cousin for the rest of his life. 

“I… do it.” His eyes dipped to the blood dripping down my armored hand. He lifted his hand toward me and looked away—

“Good Pyre, Barghest. You’re certainly effective, but your elegance could use a bit of work.” Vesper stepped between me and the kid. The tail end of his bright red scarf dropped from his coat, and swayed around like a warning sign. The Pyre pendent poked out just underneath it. “I do admire the commitment, but perhaps we should keep from mutilating the boy.”

”So what? You want me to take him back?” I snapped at the paladin. I’d be lying if I said I was disappointed he stepped in. I really didn’t want to hurt Dustin more than I had to.

“Nothing of the sort!” Vesper reached into a shadow, and pulled out a malformed hand. He casually plucked the ring off Dustin’s finger. “There we are.”

”My ring!” Dusting lunged forward, though Vesper just vanished into a shadow and appeared on the other side of him.

”You’ve already agreed to hand it over, my boy.” Vesper put the ring on the malformed hand and held it out in front of him. Then, like he wasn’t holding a grotesque abomination of a hand, he used it to tuck his scarf back into place. “Rather convincing if I do say.”

“They won’t believe that.” Water logging could explain some of the bloat. At the very least, the Professor would be able to run a DNA analysis and totally blow through the plan. Assuming the man was in a good enough state of mind to think that far.

”Ah, ah! This isn’t just any hand, naturally.” He drew a dagger and nicked Dustin’s finger before either one of us could react. “Pardon me.”

”Hey!” Dustin jolted back while clutching at his hand.

A single drop of blood dripped down from Vesper’s knife and landed on the malformed limb. A tremble went through the detached limb like it was coming back to life. “This is Mimic flesh.”

Mimic… CE-133. If it was that… yeah, that could work. I watched the grotesque limb with interest as it started to twitch and shift. The blood and flesh swam around like it was still alive and slowly changed shapes. In mere moments, a replica of Dustin’s hand appeared complete with the ring and all. The stump of it was still bleeding.

“A pity that the Reaprat found the boy first. You bravely fought it off, old chap, but it was already too late. Poor Jayce had been devoured.” Vesper tossed the knife into the shadows, and pulled out a bottle of acid. The hand dropped to the alley floor, where it was promptly crushed underfoot and covered in acid. “It’s tragic, heroic, and impossible to verify. The perfect crime, I rather think.”

“It’s a pretty story… they won’t believe it. Not without a Calamity Core.” If I claimed to kill the Calamity, Cerberus wouldn’t believe me if I only brought back the hand.

“Ah, but you have one, don’t you?” He coughed dryly.

”For a Reaprat. They won’t believe I took down a Tier 4 Reaprat by myself.” If anyone knew what I was capable of, it was the Hades Syndicate. They were the ones that made me, after all.

“Why must you be so difficult?” The shadows covering his face twisted as if pained. “You’re an exhausting man to deceive people with, Barghest.”

”So I’ve been told.” I picked up the Mimic’s hand. Them not believing it was only half the truth. I was greedily betting on something else. He kept reaching into his shadow like it was an Endless treasure trove. Treasures that would be nice to have. Just how many things did he have stored in that shadow of his? 

”I’ve made a rather substantial investment in you tonight.” He slowly pulled out a Calamity Core from his shadow storage, and held it out to me. “I do so hope you prove worth the expense.”

”I’ll do what I can.” I owed him, at the very least. Quite heavily at that. “What Calamity did it come from?”

If—no, when they checked it, I needed to know its source. Thankfully, Vesper seemed to know. “Should be a Yggdren I felled some time ago. Ah, I remember it like it was yesterday. Tier 2.”

Yggdren, huh? That was a good matchup in my favor. I stuffed the new Calamity Core into my pocket, and nodded to the man. “What do you need?”

”A tracker. And seeing as you’ve passed all my examinations with flying colors, I do believe we may be of use to each other.” He pulled out a card, and flicked it to me. “If you’re so inclined to assist the cathedral, come meet me. Perhaps dressed as a, erm, normal personage?”

”The armor stays on.” If I was wrong, and he wasn’t with the cathedral like I thought… Well, it was best to be safe than sorry.

“Where’s the trust? Where’s the camaraderie?” Vesper pressed his hands to his chest like he was hurt. Upon my lack of a reaction, mostly ‘cause I was trying to blink away the world swimming around me, he slumped. “Fine.”

“I’ll see you there.” I sharply nodded to the man.

“Good. Good! Now come along, my boy. Let’s get you to your contact.” Vesper patted Dustin on the back. I watched the two of them until they turned the corner of the alley. Just to be safe, I changed Seek to lock onto the kid’s clothes to ensure there wasn’t a double cross. Vesper… something about him just wasn’t trustworthy.

After a few minutes, I ducked back into the storm sewer. The moment I was out of sight, I staggered and leaned heavily on the wall. My breathing came rough and labored. It was a good thing Vesper took the kid, ‘cause I definitely wouldn’t have made it. 

I pulled my helmet off, and coughed up some more junk. Not like I could stay here and wallow, unfortunately. Cerberus still expected me. I weakly made my way through the storm sewers of Silverport. It was only once I was far enough away that I took off my armor, summoned out Redline, and slowly started to work my way back to the Ghostfire Club.

— — —

AN: Did I write a whole new chapter purely ‘cause I wanted to show off my second attempt at a cover? Maybe… The second one is the actual one. I just thought the first was kinda funny. If you stare into the void, the void puppy might just stare back

This was my first time ever doing a full body! I usually cut stuff off at the waist so that’s something. Her face doesn’t look quite right, but I love the new style I gave her hair!

What do you guys think?