The Wolf
Most of the briefing passed by Wolf without him really picking up on it. He knew the important parts: no tech support and he wasn't allowed to wipe out the Coven. He had placed his sword against the side of a table, still in its scabbard, and his hand kept a firm grip on the weapon.
He didn't need the briefing. He didn't need someone to tell him what not to fight and who not to kill. He needed to know the ones he could kill. That was his job.
He'd figure that out when he and the surgeon would speak to the Coven in question. First he had to get his gear checked though, a moment that Max made eager use of to hand him some extra supplies.
"I finished that projector. The Coven's probably heard what happened last time you ran into a wraith, so there's odds they keep one as a backup in case shit goes south. Now, you're unlikely to use haywires, so I took the liberty not to pack any, and made an accidental error to have them replaced with some extra mercury shots."
"Thanks. Anything non-standard?"
Max nodded.
"Gift from a friend. Said she had a favour to return, and you'd find this... well, not useful, but calming. Maybe."
Wolf looked at the wooden box Max put on the table.
"Knives? I've plenty of those."
"These are for cooking. Cost a fortune, apparently, but Aurora said she owed you a big one."
"Oh, that."
"I had a question about that though. Just curiosity really, but I couldn't help but notice Aurora was absent after you beat Whirlwind. I'm not gonna pry too much, but my guess is that was deliberate on your part: why?"
Wolf shrugged.
"Caracal was about to get in a fight."
"That's it?"
"Those two are gonna have to talk about their respective positions on killing. And preferably not in a heated argument because they have clashed over it. So... I had her leave before Caracal killed anyone."
"... You are spending way too much time thinking about this, you know?"
"Fully aware, yes."
Max sighed as Wolf put a notebook on the table.
"What is this?"
"All the intel Caracal will need for her date. We put a lot of work into this."
"We?!"
"Everyone's strangely supportive about this."
"I mean... good on you. But also what the fuck?"
"You know us."
"Stupidly thorough?"
"I was thinking overprotective and incredibly meddlesome, but sure, that works."
"Definitely. Now get your stuff and get going."
"Sure. Keep an eye on the others, alright?"
"Always."
Wolf suspected that Weiss had them set up in Phil's bar so that he could personally check the place, and probably threaten the bartender while he was at it. It mattered little. Phil wasn't dumb enough to do anything stupid, or so Wolf hoped, and Wolf would barely be at their base.
He would meet up with Iph somewhere in an abandoned building. It was a testament to the kind of place Hellpit was that the building was new, and already in disrepair, with no one looking after it. Wolf found himself looking for small rocks, throwing them at whatever bugs he sensed around him.
He wondered why no one remained in the building. Something must have happened to drive people out, after all. Probably gang violence, but it could be for a number of reasons. He looked around, waiting for Iph to show up, digging through the rubble. It was strangely quiet, now that the bugs were dead. Places weren't usually this quiet.
He asked himself why Vincent would have him meet Iph here. It could have been simply to stay out of sight, but then it was never that easy with that man. Wolf simply didn't trust him, and he had earned that.
Wolf pushed aside a piece of rubble, too big for a normal human to move, coming upon a skeleton.
"Looks dead alright. Bones half dissolved. Some acid based weapon? Or a creature. GenTech or other monsters, could be."
He looked at the bones, took in the scent.
"Enzymes? Old and dead, but..."
He picked up a fresher kill a little to his left.
'Only a day old. Still around, very quiet. Afraid?"
It had a sharp survival instinct then. He looked at the fresh corpse. A teen, who had come to the abandoned building.
"Why? Party? Challenge? Just to hang out? Still dissolving, injected with digestive fluids... ah, fuck..."
It wasn't the only fresh corpse. He smelled the other one above him. The creature that held it made no noise, and it had no scent. It could even mask its heartbeat.
But it had thoughts. Simple thoughts.
Hunger.
Fear.
Anger, at an intruder in its nest. Was it working up the courage to attack him? He'd rather it didn't.
Wolf looked up, meeting the giant spider's gaze, noticing the venom dripping from its jaws.
"Chelicerae."
He corrected his own thoughts. Pedantic, he knew, but mandibles was the wrong words, and jaws was technically also incorrect.
It had obviously thrived on whatever animals and visitors had entered its lair. Wolf estimated it at four metres in height, with sleek, carapaced legs, ending in clawed feet.
Its eyes were staring right back at him.
Both hunters remained completely still, eyes locked, neither willing to move first, both out of fear.
But Wolf had been trained to deal with fear. Wolf was familiar with it, whereas the beast had never met anything that had induced such a feeling in it before. Wolf drew his sword, acting fully on instinct. Those instincts were all screaming at him to make sure that thing could not hurt him.
Other creatures would have fled from the great spider. Wolf attacked, jumping up towards the creature, slashing at it, cutting through the carapace and opening up a wound in its thorax. Green lifeblood gushed forth, and Wolf took care not to touch any of it.
A good thing he did, he had to note, as the thing's blood seemed to dissolve any plants or flesh it came into contact with.
Wolf dodged back as the thing struck with one of its front legs. He lost his footing, falling back down. The spider tried to take advantage, but instead found Wolf's sword flashing out. Pain coursed through it's leg, and it also lost its footing, falling with the Wolf. They landed hard, Wolf rolled back and knew he'd made a mistake.
A piercing pain in his side signified the beast's chelicerae pumping its digestive fluids into his body. It hurt like a bitch, but it was not going to kill him.
Wolf lashed out before it could pull away. Three eyes were taken in a single slash, the blood flowing behind his blade forming several small crystals, which shot out and took its other eyes. It screeched in pain, and stepped away from the Wolf. Wolf took that opportunity to steady his breathing, feeling his panic rising with the pain in his side.
"Calm yourself."
He'd whispered to himself before he'd realised it, giving away his position to the beast. He dodged its claw strikes, duck underneath an attempt to bite again and brought his sword up. A screech of pain was followed by a torrent of blood, now too close to dodge, and not enough energy to control it.
He regretted not taking a mercury shot before the fight. The blood hurt, but didn't work nearly fast enough to overpower his regenerative abilities.
He dodged out from under the beast, grabbing one of the lashing limbs, clawing it open and using the momentum of the beast's movement to jump on its back.
With all the strength that hate, fear and disgust would lend him, he threw the sword in his hand at the beast's head, piercing through it until the blade dug into the stone beneath the creature.
After another few moments of trying to kill the Warslave on its back, it fell. Wolf jumped off its back, again sensing his mistake. It bit into him, tearing a chunk of flesh out of him, devouring it as Wolf would do to his own prey.
His other sword flew from its scabbard, and Wolf moved. He shouldn't be able to twist his upper body for momentum, not with a chunk of flesh missing, but he did, driving the sword through the creature's mouth, into its brain, while his other hand grabbed hold of the weapon he'd thrown earlier and brought it up into another cut, severing the chelicerae both in one swift motion.
He sheathed both weapons, jumped back and threw a knife at the creature's mouth. As soon as it hit, it exploded, showering the surroundings in carapace, blood and what remained of the creature's brain.
Overkill, maybe, but to Wolf there was no such thing with a creature like this. He breathed shakily, not realising he'd held his breath for the entire fight.
Well... all two seconds of fighting, that was. The spider had been fast enough not to leave survivors.
But Wolf had been faster. Careless, he had to chastise himself now, fear had made him hasty, made him try to deal with this far too quickly...
He shook his head. He'd been fast enough, which was all that mattered.
Still, he kept his distance from the dead thing, eyeing it suspiciously for any movement. He wanted nothing more than to burn it, but that would cost energy.
He had to...
"Ah, fuck it."
His hand shot forward, shooting flames out to the creature, burning it. It was a successful effort, as it started screeching when the flames hit, but it was too slow to act from its fake death position.
Wolf felt a chill run down his spine as it truly died, keeping the flames going for a little longer than he could afford.
A trickle of blood streamed from his nose, hidden behind his mask. Soon it was joined by a drop from the corner of his left eye, turning into a small stream as he kept the fire going.
"What are you doing?"
Iph's voice broke his almost trance-like state. The flames died, revealing nothing but ash.
"You're bleeding."
Wolf's claw shot up to the side of his eye, finding the blood there.
"Fuck, not again."
"Again?"
"Didn't take a mercury shot, so... this happens."
"Do I need to treat that?"
"Nah, it'll regenerate. It's just..."
She sat down on a broken off staircase.
"Just what?"
He debated whether or not he should even tell, but in the end she'd have to work with him, at least for the foreseeable future. Besides, she had saved his life, caution was one thing, but he didn't want to treat her like an enemy.
"If we don't take our shot, we can't access our magic energy. To compensate for the lack of energy, we consume our own bodies to use our powers. Hurts like a bitch."
"And you just... do that?"
"It's that or dying. I pick a bit of pain."
She shook her head.
"Lets just... need a hand cleaning up?"
"It's just blood."
"And we're about to go into a negotiation, you can't show up all covered from head to toe in blood. That's considered rude."
Wolf blinked, surprised that was even a consideration.
"Who cares? The Coven has seen and done worse."
"I forgot, you are rude."
Wolf let his mask flow back and let his hood down.
"I prefer honest."
The metal plates of his wargear restored quickly as spare materials flowed from his amulet, while the leather-like components at the joints took a little longer. It annoyed him that was the case, but it wasn't fully unexpected. When everything else was done, the cloth finally recovered. By the time that was done, Wolf had recovered enough to safely be able to remove the blood from his gear.
"Happy?"
"Impressive little trick. Could think of a few times where that could have saved me a lot of money. Or that time I accidentally ruined my favourite shirt-"
"I can't just do that to any article of clothing... The amulet only works with gear that is attuned to it."
"I know how magic works."
It hit him a second too late.
"Sorry. Forgot you were a mage and a surgeon. Must be quite clever to pull that off."
"Flattering your way out of it?"
"Genuine curiosity. Usually, I get an estimate of how clever everyone is through telepathy."
She smiled. The expression had something unfamiliar to him. He'd seen many people smile, from his own kin to their many enemies. But there was always a hint of malice in it, or a sense of pity, even when Ashley smiled. It was never just friendly.
"Well, I'd be considered a genius by human standards, above average by the standards of my own people. Not sure how my mind compares to your kind."
"Probably quite well. We do certain things well, others do other things. We have a tech crew for a reason."
She leaned closer and whispered, almost as if plotting something.
"But if you tried, you could learn, right?"
"Depends."
"On what?"
"Basics, sure. Some advanced stuff, probably. Getting on, say, Max' level? Probably not. He's valuable for a reason."
"And here I thought you liked him because he was your friend."
Wolf sat down on a fallen bit of ceiling across from her.
"He is, but GenTech wouldn't let him close if that was all. In fact, the very idea of him hanging around us doesn't sit well with them, but they do because he's that good."
"That's... you're not allowed to keep anyone around just because you like them?"
"Well... the slave part in Warslave is poor marketing, especially if it isn't literal. Poor marketing anyways. Too many connotations."
She shook her head.
"I don't think anyone wants to think about it. Easier to just ignore and accept it. Besides, I don't think the important people want you to qualify for human rights."
Wolf got up again, stretching his metal limbs while he did.
"Not what we're here for. We have a matter to resolve with the Coven, don't we?"
Iph got up too, though she remained quiet for a second.
"You know, if you ever need a friend who's just a friend, you can always talk to me, alright?"
Something was off about that to him. It wasn't right. Wasn't normal. It put him on guard, which he tried to mask with a smirk.
"Even when you're asleep?"
"You can just accept the offer of friendship, okay? No need to deflect."
Perhaps he was reading too much into it. She wasn't the enemy, after all. She'd helped him, saved his life. That was worth something.
"Yeah... thanks. Now let's get going. I wanna be done with this before next year."
"This way then."
He was less than impressed with the sub-par trickery the Coven used to hide their headquarters. For all his dealings with the mages, witches and other casters of the Coven, he'd never been there before.
Everyone always spoke of the magical wonders employed to hide it, but three layers of illusions made for nothing but a major disappointment. Especially with how loudly the guard breathed. He hadn't even taken the effort to hide it,
Rank amateurism was something he hated, almost as much as spiders.
"Are you sure this is the right place?"
Behind all the illusions, it was only a small house. In fact, if not for the illusions, he probably wouldn't have given it a second look.
Iph was almost insulted when he asked. She... well, he couldn't quite make sense of the expression. Half amused?
"Yes, now stand there and be pretty, I'll do the talking."
"..."
He was many things. Pretty was not one of those. She also had eyes, she should-... She was joking. It had been a joke.
He was wound up tighter than he should be. He usually had more control over it, at least over this distance, but then it had already been a mentally taxing day. Perhaps he just didn't have the patience to deal with the Coven's antics. Or rather their leader's antics.
Iph had already walked up to the door.
"You know why we're here."
"Yes, but the attack dog stays outside."
Wolf had almost growled at the man, except for the fact that he realised that wouldn't exactly help his case. He couldn't stop himself from speaking though.
"Is she scared? An Arch-Mage?"
"Scared and stupid are different things."
Iph quickly tried to take control of the situation.
"He's coming. I don't think either of us can stop him if he really wants to."
"Fine."
As the door opened, they entered the building. It was larger when they went inside, lavishly decorated as if someone had tried to emulate a mediaeval castle. Or rather, the popularised version of what people thought a castle looked like.
Wolf couldn't quite help himself as he entered, and growled at the guard, who jumped up to quickly get out of the way. Wolf rolled his eyes as the exact effect of his little joke made itself apparent. The man had soiled himself in fear. Whatever he had been told about Warslaves, it must have been pretty wild, and probably accurate.
"Had your fun?"
Iph was on edge, he could easily see that, even if her reactions weren't entirely the same as those of a human. She was calmer outward, but her eyes were searching for something, anything, so long as it didn't entirely belong. It was a lot like his own kind, if he was honest.
"Just making sure he knows why he's so scared."
"Will you please take this a little seriously?"
"I'll try."
Two figures were waiting for them, and Wolf had to once again roll his eyes.
"What is with you people and trenchcoats?"
One of the figures actually replied.
"Because trenchcoats look cool."
"... You know what, fair."
"Now if you would follow us."
Iph just gestured to Wolf, simply to ask if he would please shut up. He shrugged, inviting exactly no confidence.
They were led to a simple room, where they were left alone for a while. Iph sighed first, trying to uplift herself.
"Think they're listening?"
"Probably. Don't matter much, already figured out several ways to kill everyone in this place. And yes, you can know that, the fuck would you do about it?"
Those last words were aimed towards a door that Iph had somehow completely missed at first. It proved two things: it was both a casual show of power on part of the Coven, and proof of how sharp her companion's senses were.
The door opened, and two robed figures entered, both stopping as soon as they entered the room and moving to flank the door, rather than sit down, as if they were guarding the room. The woman that entered after them wore a smirk that seemed awfully familiar.
"Come now, is that any way to talk to your mother?"
Iph had no time to be surprised by her words, as Wolf had already spoken the next few words to cause her a migraine.
"Right, words aren't necessary. I'll just throw a table at you next time."
"There's your father's temper."
Iph put a hand on his arm as she saw him tense up. Wolf's mind was already racing to figure out how to take out as many of the Coven's mages as he could. The Mistress of the Coven had that effect on him.
Whereas he simply didn't care for his biological father, his biological mother was another matter entirely. After all, she was the reason why he was the way he was, more so than Weiss even. But where he had been taught to fear the CEO of GenTech, the woman before him enjoyed no such safety. There was no fear, just Bloodlust and hate.
But...
They weren't there for him. He nodded at Iph, hoping the gesture showed more self control than he felt. Even if it didn't work, which he couldn't quite determine, she seemed to draw a little confidence from it. She breathed in deeply, before speaking.
"You know why we're here, right?"
The woman before them... well, neither of them knew her name. They both just had a title: the Raven of the Coven... she simply nodded.
"I have been informed, and it does so happen that we have a matter that you and your... 'friend' could help with. Quite a simple matter, really. Quite a lot easier than wiping out the Coven. I know you're thinking about it."
Wolf was biting down on his own teeth, whispering from between his clenched jaws.
"Always."
The woman ignored him.
"Lovely. Now, as an Initiate, you must have heard of the Guild."
Iph nodded.
"And?"
"They're trying to gain a foothold in Hellpit. Kill them, or kick them off the island. So long as they understand they're no longer welcome here, it's fine. Do that, and we'll let you go."
Wolf shook his head. It was too easy, too little worth to pay for a talented mage. Too-
"We'll do it."
Iph had replied before he could organise his thoughts. But the woman's smirk didn't escape him. He knew what that meant, had seen it mirrored back at him in the eyes of his victims.
This was a trap, and they were walking right into it. That much was obvious to Wolf. As for how to deal with it... at this point, that was a simple matter.
They would spring it, and he would crush it.