A Sinner's Eden

Chapter 159 - EVO

***Tirnanog, Thich Fortress City***

***Magnus***

“Ah! Finally found you!” Gunner pointed at me as he entered the communal dining hall. The hall was located on the lead saherna's back and, if my Caravaner friends are to be believed, supposedly a Caravaner family's social centre.

“Did you find something, Gunner?” I asked and took another sip from the swill the Caravaners had dared to declare one of their traditional beverages. A great sin as far as I was concerned. The stuff tasted like rum mixed with a copious amount of vinegar.

If the woman in charge of our food supplies hadn't threatened me not to waste the 'precious' beverage and was watching me even now while cleaning glasses, I would have tipped away the atrocious stuff already— maybe into one of the decorating plant pots outside, which would have surely resulted in the plant's early demise.

“How...?” Gunner halted at my table and looked down at himself as if his attire had to be blamed for something.

He wore the guise of one of the local message runners, parading as a gaunt guy with rather androgynous features. He hadn't worn this particular appearance so far, so maybe that was the reason for his surprise.

“I can see all your little implants with my second sight,” I pointed out, gesturing my drink at him and 'totally not' accidentally spilling some of the heinous liquid.

“I know you can, but I was assured many people have mutations which could be responsible for looking different in Second Sight,” Gunner protested. “If it is that easy to recognize me, then I have to make a much bigger circle around anyone with that particular mutation!”

I pursed my lips. “Well, you are almost right. But first, I don't know any Thich message runner who would point me out so casually. Secondly, that artificial heart which is pumping right next to your original one is rather distinctive in combination with a few other knick-knacks of which I am not sure what they do. I wouldn't worry too much about being recognized on the fly. It's just that I have already seen you often enough to tell. If I were you, I wouldn't spend too much time in the presence of someone with Second Sight and then approach them with a different identity. That would be a tad bit suspicious.”

Gunner relaxed. “Oh, if it is like that then it is fine. I already acted like a paranoid lunatic anyway in case some sensor-type can sniff me or something on that level.”

He shook himself as if the mere thought of people seeing through his disguise was offensive to him. “Forget it! I have news! Good ones and bad ones. Which do you want to hear first.”

I looked down into my bottle and sighed. “Well, after the night I had and since drinking doesn't work for me, why don't we start with the good news?”

“I found her!” Gunnar proclaimed as he took a seat across from me. “Just as I promised! And she is right here in Thich City! I already staked out the location and came up with a plan to extract her.”

I sat up a little straighter, preparing myself for the bad part. Though, the news that Eve was alive in itself was already great!

“But there is a problem?” I asked.

Gunner put on a serious expression. “Darn right, there is! She was slated for partnering a week ago. So we have to think about how to deal with that... little issue. Plus, I think it might be a trap since the information was a little too accessible for my tastes. At least once I found out where to look.”

I groaned. She was partnered, probably with some dude she didn’t like. We had hoped to prevent that from happening, but I guessed it wasn’t to be. “It sucks, but does it change anything? I go in and once I see her, I grab her and jaunt her out. It is just about knowing her location. Abduction first, mushy feelings second.”

“But what if she likes the guy?” Gunner asked. “What if she thinks of us as her enemies?”

“How much can she like someone after a week?” I returned the question. “And as much as I dislike the thought, I happen to know two of the best psychics there are.”

“How much did you like Astra after a week?” Gunner asked, spreading out his hands. “And I hope you aren't serious about having her brainwashed.”

“If there is no other choice. It is better than having her dead.” I scratched the back of my head. “And I liked Astra a lot. But that is neither here nor there. First, Astra and I joined up voluntarily,” admittedly semi-voluntarily, but voluntarily nonetheless, “and secondly, the both of us are thankfully very mercenary about our relationship.”

“Well, if Evanne is anything like Iv, then she either likes the guy or hates his guts,” Gunner explained. “Though, I admit I have no clue how this partnering business works for the Thich. From the documents I read it sounded more like an assignment than anything else.”

I pressed my lips into a thin line, imagining what to do with a second Hector whose loyalties likely lay with the enemy.

“Let's just slit his throat and be done with it!”

“Is that what your parents taught you!?” Gunner gasped and then frowned. “Wait, why am I trying to be the voice of reasoning here?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Don't ask me.” I got up from my seat. “Let's inform the others that our mission is about to end and then we go and get her!”

“Shouldn't we at least try to talk with her first?” Gunner asked.

“Hey, you forgot your drink!” the woman who had given me the drink protested from the other side of the room.

“Make a salad with that swill!” I shot back and quickly ran out of the dining hall, figuring I wouldn't need any brownie points with her since the mission would end soon. One way or the other.

It was a trivial matter to inform the others of our next move, so the Caravaners began organising our departure with the local authorities. All according to regulations.

The only thing left to do was wait for the night and visit a certain apartment in the inner city which supposedly had been assigned to the new couple as a celebration gift for their partnership.

Gunner used the time to walk me through every detail of the plan he cooked up.

As we walked down the street later that night, careful to avoid any undue attention, I could already see why Gunner suspected it to be a trap. Just walking up to an apartment door to extract my sister sounded too easy.

On the other hand, how else was this supposed to be handled? If the Thich wanted those they welcomed into their society to stay loyal, there had to be some benefits at some point down the road. How likely was it for them to expect someone would be brazen enough to abduct one of theirs from their capital city?

And even if this was a trap, I highly doubted the Thich knew anything about my ability to jaunt. If this was a game, nobody would have scoffed at the main character's ability to take a 'town portal'. In reality, jaunting was broken as fuck.

The only problem was getting back to rescue Gunner, but we already had a plan for that.

Gunner stopped in a side street and gestured at a downtrodden door with an unmistakable sign above it, a public outhouse close to our target. Together, we checked each of the cubicles before Gunner went to stand watch at the entrance.

It took me half a minute to set up the jaunt point. Normally, I would have done it with Astra's help, but in the meantime, we had trained to do this on our own. It didn't require a lot of power, but skill at warping the local space.

A minute later, I joined Gunner outside and we went on to the apartment where Evanne was supposed to be.

There was an awkward moment once we reached the apartment and looked around for any watchers.

Since we found nothing obvious, Gunner gestured at me and I knocked on the heavy, wooden door.

We decided I would take the lead. Gunner wasn't certain he would be able to match a partnered human when it came to violence. My uncle was as heavily modified as anyone could expect from Earth, but his enhancements focused on infiltration and recognisance. Physical combat was a distant secondary consideration for him.

When the door opened, I was greeted by a large, but thin man in a bathrobe – and the fact I had to look up at him irked me. For some reason, the sub-personality who was in charge of combat reared its ugly head, instilling in me the urge to kick this guy.

“Hello?” he asked while looking down at me.

“I need to speak to Evanne,” I stated, not breaking eye contact.

“Who are you?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Her brother,” I replied matter of factly, watching his face very carefully. If he did so much as-

And he did.

His face showed first surprise, then turned to a sneer as he tried to close the door on me.

Of course, he was much too slow, so I kicked him.

Between the legs – while aiming for his chin.

He folded with a strange, whimpering sound and I pushed him back into the apartment with Gunner entering right behind us, closing the door very carefully.

“Didn't we agree we would try to talk?” my uncle asked.

I gestured at the guy who was now folded over on the floor, groaning with a strangely withdrawn expression. “He tried to close the door on me. And I swear he was drawing breath to scream. I could see his muscles flex!”

Gunner knelt in front of the large man, waving a hand in front of his face. “I think he is somewhere else. No way we can talk this out now. Didn't you hold back at all?”

“Nope. I aimed for his chin, just like the self-defence classes taught me.” It may be counterintuitive, but if you wanted a guy to shut up all you had to do was to give him a good kick to the nut-sack. If done right, the pain was so excruciating that the whole body simply locked up. There was no screaming for at least a minute after that.

Gunner shook his head. “You could have electrocuted him to take him out.”

I shrugged. “Probably, but this was less obvious to any possible bystanders on the street than a lightshow!”

And way more satisfying for me.

“Lukas?” the voice of a young woman interrupted us and a violet-skinned woman in a bathrobe stepped into the apartment's entrance hall. “What?”

She looked at us. Then at Lukas who was winding himself in agony down on the floor. Then back at us.

I sighed as she drew breath to scream.

Flash-stepping forward, I embraced her before she could do anything and jaunted.

The world rippled and swam, and then we stood in a secure room at the wormgate facility in Mount Aerie.

“Aaaah!” The woman screeched like a maniac and shoved me away, but I couldn't care less as I turned to Ivonne and Thalia who sprung up from where they had been idling on chairs, waiting for exactly this to happen. Hector was also there, leaning against the wall.

“Did I get the right one?” I asked Ivonne and pointed at the woman who was stepping away from us to huddle up against the wall.

Ivonne smiled and rushed over. “Evanne!”

“I will take that as a, yes,” I jaunted again, appearing back at the public outhouse. Then I tried my best not to run as I made my way back to the apartment with measured steps.

The street outside still seemed calm, but I didn’t dare to waste time in case there had been some kind of silent alarm.

Once I returned, I found Gunnar in the process of gagging Lukas to the best of his abilities.

Taking a deep breath, I gave Gunnar a nod and steeled myself before I grabbed Lukas.

My uncle was already out the door as I jaunted again, dropping the guy on the floor in front of a surprised Evanne who was being hugged by Iv. However this was supposed to turn out, I felt perfectly happy at that moment with laying the entire Evanne/Lukas debacle at Ivonne's feet.

Then I jaunted again, feeling slightly dizzy by now, so I had to lean against the closest wall once I returned, taking a few deep breaths. Taking so many jaunts in a row wasn't exactly exhausting. It was more like a power workout where you tried to do as many repeats as possible in the shortest amount of time.

The noise of running water drew my attention to a guy who was washing his hands at the washbasin and staring at me with an open mouth.

I sighed and flash-stepped forward, placing my palm on the back of his head. Then I introduced his face first to the wall and then to the washbasin – which broke out of the wall and resulted in spraying water making a big mess.

The guy slipped to the floor right as the door opened and Gunnar stepped inside.

My uncle only took a single glance at the body and then at me. “There is something wrong with you. You don't just incapacitate people at the first sign of them opening their mouths or moving a muscle.”

I rolled my eyes and spread my arms for a hug. “Let's just get out of here.”

“I still think this ability of yours is weird as fuck!”