"Soooo, how're ya' enjoying the Big Apple?" Matthew heard his friend speak through his iPhone.
"Luke, I just landed. Give me a second to actually leave the airport." Matthew chuckled as he stepped from the airplane with his luggage and began walking down the aisle leading into the heart of the New York City airport. It had been a while since he'd gone anywhere outside of Texas, his home state, and where most of his 'hunting' took place. He never much considered himself anything special. He never had any hunting equipment apart from his weapon and a minor skill. Nor was he anything special to look at. He was of average height, with short black hair, and yellow eyes, and, half the time, his daily wear consisted of modest clothes.
On the other end of the call, Luke laughed. "I know I know, I'm just fuckin' with you. But anyways, ya' still got my card, right?"
Matthew nodded to himself, checking his wallet briefly for a silver credit card with an 'A' embedded on its side, as he finally made it from the corridor into the bustling airport. "Yeah, I got it. You sure I can use it for the trip?" He asked before pocketing his wallet, and the card, once again.
"'Course I am. We both know you couldn't've paid for this trip." Luke retorted.
Matthew pursed his lips and sighed inwardly. "I'm aware." He said. "So anyway, where are we meeting at?" He asked as he began walking down the winding areas of the airport.
"Carnegie Café." Luke replied.
Matthew just rolled his eyes. "Where's that?" He asked as he began to approach the security check. "One second, Luke, I'm at security," he muttered, removing the phone from his ear.
"Sir, please put your luggage and any accessories into-" the security guard was cut off as Matthew produced his Hunter's license to him.
Suddenly, the security guard straightened slightly. "Sorry about that, Mr. Adams, I wasn't aware you were a Hunter. Please, take the path on your left and head on through." They said with a slightly forced smile.
Matthew nodded to the guard before pocketing his hunter's license and moving on. Despite being an E-Rank, the lowest rank one could obtain in America, most unawakened citizens showed respect, not necessarily to him, but to his career. Then again, they seemed to be the only people who treated him like he was someone. Any other awakened just laughed him off as someone who'd drawn the short straw and awakened as someone who was only slightly stronger than your average citizen.
Once he was through he pulled the phone up to his ear again. "Where's that?" Matthew repeated.
There was a few seconds of silence from Luke before he answered. "If you're coming from the airport it's probably easier to take a shuttle to the nearest subway stop. Once there buy a ticket for the week- don't worry it's unlimited so use it as ya' want- hop on the train with the letter N and ride it till you reach a station that looks like it's seen better days. Then just head up some stairs, turn right, and walk a bit. And you're there." He described.
Matthew could almost see the several hand gestures his friend was making through the phone as he described the directions.
He just slowly nodded. "I see...." He, in fact, did not. "Well, I'll call you back once I'm near there, alright?"
Luke laughed. "Gotcha' I'll keep your chair warm." He retorted before the call ended.
Matthew sighed as the call ended and rubbed his brow with his fingers. Luke was an excellent hunter, not just due to his rank, but he had the instincts of one as well. But if there was one thing he did not excel at, it was giving directions.
Ultimately Matthew simply decided to use the map on his phone for directions.
***
"Good to see you've made it." Luke shouted with a smile as Matthew entered the diner. He had been seated at a table right next to the door. He wore a red coat that went down nearly to his knees. Beneath the coat was a breastplate of thin steel, a magical piece of armor that would protect him from most low-ranked monsters within the gates. Strapped to the back of his waist within a holster was a large revolver filled with small black canisters where bullets would be; his signature weapon. Over his bright blonde hair was a set of sunglasses that Matthew was sure he'd never seen him use.
"How long has it been? Three years?" Luke suggested.
"Just two." Matthew corrected, taking a seat next to the hunter.
In front of Luke was a slice of half-eaten cheesecake that he constantly prodded at with his fork. "Have any trouble finding your way here? I was starting to think you'd gotten yourself lost."
"I just used Google Maps to get here. All the subways just looked same-y." He explained, setting his luggage bag at the foot of the chair.
Like just waved his hand absentmindedly. "Don't worry you'll get used to it. But how're you liking the city so far?"
A smirk grew across Matthew's face. "I've been here for an hour. Can you at least wait till tonight to ask me about it?" He asked.
Luke raised up both his hands with a smile. "Oh sorry, of course, your majesty."
Matthew smirked and rolled his eyes before gesturing a hand to the food in front of Luke. "How's the cheesecake?"
Luke held up a finger. "Not cheesecake," he took a quick bite. "New York cheesecake; completely different." He said, his voice hardly audible through the food. "You should really try some." He picked up a bit of cheesecake with his fork and held it towards Matthew. "Try some." He repeated.
Matthew simply moved Luke's hand away before he finally moved it back. "I'm not one for cheesecake. That being said," he glanced over his shoulder up to a board mounted on the wall detailing the menu of the diner. "Do they serve coffee?"
"Course they do." Luke immediately raised his hand to call over a waiter. "Still stopping at a Starbucks every morning?"
Matthew suppressed a chuckle. "Might still be guilty of it."
A second later the waiter arrived.
"Just an iced espresso," Matthew muttered. "Put it on my tab." Luke chimed in.
"That wasn't really necessary. I can pay." Matthew said once the waiter had left them.
Luke just waved a hand. "Don't worry about it. I did say I'd pay for your trip here. Try not to worry about your finances for once while you're here, alright?" He said, playfully punching Matthew in the shoulder.
"Still livin' in that small apartment over in Dallas?" Luke asked, digging into his 'New York Cheesecake' once again.
Matthew just nodded. "Can't get much profit from gates due to my rank. Half the time I'm just getting demoted to the guy that carries everyone's crap." He let out a sigh just as the waiter returned with his drink.
Matthew took a sip of the coffee and immediately made an odd face before glancing down at his coffee as if checking it was right.
Luke hardly suppressed a laugh. "Yeah, New York coffee's a bit different."
"Well anyways," Matthew set his coffee down slightly further from him than where the waiter had placed it. "Where's that hotel you said you'd got me?" He asked, setting his elbows on the table.
Luke swallowed the bit of cheesecake on his fork. "Oh, you'll love it-" he took another bite. "It's called the WestHouse Hotel. Think you passed it on the way here." He took yet another bite of his cheesecake. "It's a really nice place; stayed there the first couple weeks when I first moved here."
"Gotten any fancy new gear? Noticed you got a coat? Or is it just cold out?" Luke asked, reaching over to ruffle the material of the black coat Matthew wore over his shoulders.
"It's technically hunting gear. Couldn't afford a breastplate so I just settled for this." He lifted the edge of his coat to reveal the inside. "Got a bit of mana-weave in it. Doubt it's enough to really protect me from much though.
For a brief moment, both were silent as Matthew took another sip of his coffee (and promptly set it even further away).
Suddenly, Luke slammed a hand on the table, making both the table and Matthew's coffee shake. "Alright, enough talking about the boring stuff," he glared at Matthew with a wide smile across his face. "Ya ever nearly die in a dungeon?"
Matthew simply tilted his head slightly at the question.
"Oh c'mon, you've never wondered? Just tell me your near-death story. Or would you like me to start?" Luke asked, his smile spreading.
Matthew waved his hand. "I can start. I probably have more stories than you anyway." He said with a half-joking smile.
Luke sat in silence for a moment, smiling like a child about to be told their favorite bedtime story.
"Think it was about two years ago. A gate, D-rank I think, had opened in the courtyard of some school- don't remember the name- me and the rest of my squad arrived for it. Counting me, I think there were two fighters," he began counting on his fingers. "A tanker, two mages, an assassin, and a healer." He took another sip of coffee- briefly followed by Luke saying 'You don't have to keep drinking that'- before continuing. "The dungeon was full of lizardmen and a variety of small dinosaurs. Anyways, someway-somehow, me and the assassin managed to get separated from the group. I think it was like... two days until we were found again-"
"Red-gate or standard?" Luke asked almost immediately.
"Standard; I wouldn't survive a week in a red-gate; but it was about two days until we were found again. During that time we'd been attacked by all sorts of raptors and lizardmen and whatever else you could think of. By the time the rest of the squad found me bleeding and half-conscious on the ground, they had already killed the boss." Matthew took another sip of his coffee and waved his hand. "Then they got me out of there and patched me up and all that. That's about it really."
With his story concluded Matthew glanced at his friend who had finally finished his dessert.
Luke nodded several times as he began to jokingly clap. "Bravo. Excellent storytelling. Alright, my turn." He quickly leaned forward. "Alright so it was about three months ago, an A-Rank gate opened up near the Brooklyn Bridge- you should definitely visit there soon, trust me, it's great- and it was blocking traffic throughout the entire bridge. So me and about 20 others- maybe more, it was a lot- along with an S-Ranked Hunter," Luke's smile grew as he noticed Matthew's brow rise. "When we went in, all I remember seeing is just tons of magma and obsidian spewing everywhere." He made bursting motions with his hands to emphasize his point. "And there was this big castle in the middle of the chasm we were in- we were in a chasm," he added. "But," he slammed his hand down, making the table shake again. "It turned into a red gate."
Matthew's brow rose higher. "An A-ranked red gate?" Luke simply nodded and continued.
"And so there we were, fighting through tons of these, like, obsidian monsters. We lost about 4 people until we finally reached the gates. D'you know what we saw in there?"
Matthew simply nodded.
"A dragon," Luke said with a grin.
"What?!" Matthew shouted, rising from his seat. He glanced around to see several of the diner's patrons had stopped and were staring in his direction. Matthew felt his face grow hot, so with a clearing of his throat, he sat back down.
"It sure as hell was a dragon. It was about the size of this whole building. It was made nearly entirely out of magma and rock. It hit me once and I was down, but not out." He made a show of swiping his hand and slamming the table. "I was sure I was about to die but I raised my gun," he held up a shaking hand in the form of a gun. "And I shot the fucker square in the eye with my strongest attack, giving just enough time for the S-Ranker to deal the finishing blow." He said with a wide smile.
Despite his attempts to not burst into laughter, Matthew couldn't keep a few snickers from creeping from his lips.
"Wait, do you not believe me?" Luke asked, hardly suppressing his laughter himself. "It's true, I'm serious. I'll take you to the person who killed the thing if you-" Suddenly the smile on his face faltered slightly as he reached into his pocket to produce a small phone that vibrated in his hands.
Stifling a final few laughs he answered the phone. "Hey, we were just talking about-" he began, but paused as the voice spoke back.
Matthew watched as Luke's smile faded completely and his expression turned serious. "No no, I'm listening." Luke said as he stared at Matthew and spun his finger on a 'we gotta go' gesture. "Where is it?" He quickly rose from his chair.
Matthew quickly grabbed his luggage bag he'd been rolling around and hoisted it over his shoulder.
"Alright, we're headed that way. Tell you after-" Immediately Luke hung up the phone and both hunters rushed from the door. "A gate appeared in Saint Patrick's Cathedral, hunters sent in haven't come back yet. Let's go."