Azure: Gunner

Chapter 6-2

The Fourteen Families of today are not precisely the same as those of old. The Gracio Family was notoriously wiped out by Assassins over a century and a half ago. The Rodeos’ and Hickens’ failed business ventures have led to their fall to outside the top hundred wealthiest families in the city. Today, no one outside of those two families would seriously make the claim that they belong in the same category as the remaining old guard.

Families like the Gleasons and Elesons have retained their place at or near the top, while relative newcomers have arisen to replace the others. The Hammersmiths were the first to be generally recognized as having joined the Fourteen nearly a century ago. Most recently, the astonishing six-decade-long rise of the Kalmár family has placed them firmly into the ranks of the elite.

- Fodorick’s Lonely Traveler – Guide to Lost Angels, Introduction

The Knife Fighter/Assassin/fuckhead suddenly seemed to realize that Thompson still had an iron grip on him.

“Release me!” he demanded. I was sure he was trying to shout, but it came out more like a croak. Thompson laughed coldly.

“Yuri Kalmár, I am holding you on suspicion of attempted murder. I suggest you keep your mouth shut until your family’s Lawyer arrives. Until then, you will remain in custody. Am I clear?”

He spat more blood onto the floor. “You have no proof I planned to kill her! My family won’t stand for this unsubstantiated slander – “

smack!

His head rocked back from another slap.

“Attempted murder, Yuri. That is a charge even your family can’t make vanish, not when it happened under my jurisdiction. Perhaps, if you’re lucky, and very generous, we could persuade Azure here not to press charges. I strongly recommend you keep your mouth shut and consider what you have to offer. JJ – take him to a holding cell. I want a full guard posted around the clock. No visitors, no exceptions. Instructors included. Clear?”

“Yes ma’am!” JJ responded like a soldier.

Thompson retrieved her privacy ward from the desk and vanished it. Instantly the chatter of voices outside resumed. I realized belatedly that her ward stopped sound going both ways, instead of just sound leaving.

“Wait for two minutes,” she said, then stepped to the door. She paused, looked back, and suddenly there was an opaque barrier between us. It curved around the door like a shield, and I realized as she opened the door that it would prevent anyone outside from seeing us. It did nothing to block sound, however.

“SILENCE!” Thompson roared, and there was. She continued at a slightly lower volume.

“The situation is under control. I will make an announcement regarding the… incident once I am prepared to do so. Everyone is to return to their rooms immediately! You will have classes on your regular schedule tomorrow, so get going. Now!”

There was a murmuring of voices and a lot of footsteps. I could only imagine the look she was giving them right.

Raylan’s voice was concerned, but not panicked.

“Wolf, sweep the dorm and make sure they’re all in their rooms, then set up a watch in the common room. You’re to make sure no one leaves – or enters – until it’s time for class in the morning. Blur, get to the trainee’s dorm and do the same. No arguing!”

I couldn’t hear them move, but I assumed they did. A moment later, she stuck her head through the barrier – it was slightly terrifying to see her disembodied face hanging there, and I shivered.

“Let’s go, everyone. Azure, whose room will you be in, in case we need to find you?”

“Raylan and Zaire’s,” I answered immediately. I’d shared a room with them before, and they were my two best friends at the Academy. I’d feel safer with them than anyone, even though the orcs were probably more dangerous fighters.

“Good,” she responded, then leveled another glare at Yuri. “Mouth shut,” she reminded him in an ominous tone, and then JJ was hauling him through the barrier and I followed gingerly.

It didn’t feel like anything, so I assumed it was just an illusion, but I’d never actually touched one before. I thought I’d feel something, but there was nothing. Before I left the room, I channeled some mana into my armor, and stepped away from the blood that had been on my boots.

I walked the few steps down the hall to the next door, and knocked. Raylan opened it almost immediately and immediately yanked me into a big hug, which I returned. There was a faint scratch running down his face, exactly where I’d been cut.

“I am glad to see that you are well, Gunner Az,” Zaire added, and I smiled at the warmth I could hear in his tone. He too was marked with the aftereffects of G’hala’s Skill, but it didn’t appear serious.

I freed myself from Raylan’s embrace and closed the door behind me. “I hope you two don’t mind me sleeping on your floor tonight, my room is off-limits for now,” I said, pulling my pack with my bedroll out of my Inventory.

I quickly shared the Thompson-approved version of the story with the team over the Comms as I set up my bedroll. They had many questions, mostly about what was going to happen to Yuri. Thankfully, I had no idea how to answer that, so I didn’t have to lie to them about my ignorance.

H’ruk was furious.

H’ruk and G’hala took turns, each proposing a more vicious death for Yuri, while the rest of us listened in stunned silence. I wasn’t sure whether to be horrified, laugh, or cheer them on. Finally, G’hala’s last idea left us staggered and H’ruk conceded defeat.

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H’ruk’s voice was awed.

Raylan put in, breaking the tension with a laugh.

I told them.By the time I finally fell asleep, curled up in my bedroll, there were only a few hours left before my alarm. Raylan and Zaire woke me in the morning, their alarm apparently set earlier than mine. I struggled to gather my thoughts, waving them off to go ahead.

Once I was out of my bedroll, I summoned my armor, then made my way downstairs. Wolf was still there, sitting in the common room. He started to rise when I appeared, but when I pointed questioningly at the shower he nodded and sat back down.

I showered quickly, thankful that my now-shorter hair was easy to get reasonably dry, and dressed in my usual t-shirt and jeans before switching to my armor. For a moment, I considered cancelling the camouflage – there was another, smaller mana channel provided by the mod that would return it to its original color – but I decided to stick with the monochrome look. I wasn’t feeling purple today.

Wolf kept pace with me easily as I walked towards the administration building. He gave me a long, searching look, but didn’t say anything. Wilson was at his desk, despite the early hour, and immediately waved me into Thompson’s office.

The Head Instructor waved me to a seat, where I found a glass of water already waiting, and started talking. It took quite a while. I definitely didn’t shout at her at any point, and she definitely didn’t glare me into submission either.

Finally, the door opened, and a pair of guards entered, escorting a manacled Yuri. He was marched forward, shoved none-too-gently into the chair next to me, and then the guards saluted and left. The chairs Yuri and I were sitting in were about three feet apart, and angled slightly towards each other so that they faced directly at Thompson. I could see both of them out of the corner of my eyes at the same time if I gazed at exactly the right spot.

Her cold eyes were fixed on Yuri, who didn’t flinch.

“Well, Trainee Kalmár, have you considered what I told you last night?”

“I have,” he replied venomously.

“That’s, ‘I have, Head Instructor Thompson’,” she replied coolly, and he sneered, but amended his statement.

“And what have you concluded?” she asked, and I sat forward. This, according to her explanation, was the first key moment.

Yuri’s face was flushed with anger, but he kept his voice tightly controlled as he responded.

“I am sure we can find a way to resolve the situation… amicably.”

“What’s your offer?” I asked bluntly, turning slightly to face him.

“A thousand eagles, and you agree not to pursue any charges against me,” he replied.

I laughed in his face. Thankfully, Thompson had prepared me for this, or I might have been compelled to at least think about it. But she had explained just how rich the Kalmárs were, which meant that I understood just how insulting Yuri’s offer really was.

“Do you think I’m an idiot?” I asked him scornfully. “A thousand eagles is nothing to your family. Make me a real offer.”

He snarled at me before composing himself. “Ten thousand eagles, then,” he tried.

“No.” I turned him down flat, and he started to rise in anger.

“SIT!” Thompson barked. “Trainee Kalmár, perhaps you’re not taking this situation seriously. Recruit Azure, it’s your turn to make a counter-offer.”

“He tried to kill me. I’m not going to just forget that for something small. One. Million. Eagles!”

Yuri started choking in outrage.

“Azure, I understand your position, but let’s be reasonable here. A million eagles is more than a stretch, even for someone in Trainee Yuri’s position,” Thompson interjected.

I knew that, because she’d told me that the Kalmár’s family fortune was estimated to be around a dozen times that much. It was a number that I could hardly even conceptualize – so big that I needed to use a fancy word like conceptualize just to describe it. I’d asked for a stupidly huge number just to piss Yuri off, and it had worked.

I crossed my arms and stared at the Head Instructor in stubborn silence. She sighed.

“Allow me to make a suggestion, then. There are some things which are very difficult to buy, regardless of how much money one has. They don’t cost a million eagles, certainly, but you would find them impossible to obtain, simply because you don’t have the right connections.”

“Oh, and what are those?” I challenged her.

She turned to Yuri. “I expect you can guess what I’m talking about. You are carrying some with you right now, aren’t you?”

“You expect me to give up Skill gems to this – “ Yuri spat, but Thompson cut him off before he could finish.

“Do you want to see the inside of a courtroom, Yuri? We found you inside Recruit Azure’s room, with her bleeding from a cut to the face, the door locked, and traces of paralytic in her system. You’re looking at twenty years of hard time. Maybe if you’re lucky, they’ll put you in ASP.”

“Twenty years?” Yuri’s laugh was cold, harsh.

“You’re deluding yourself, Head Instructor Thompson. Even an actual murder would barely rate that. At best, you might be able to prove assault!”

“What was the tarp on the floor for, Yuri?” she asked coldly, dropping the ‘Trainee’.

He shut up abruptly.

“If you’d killed Azure and she’d been found and revived, you might get away with ten years, perhaps even less with sufficient bribery. But the tarp, Yuri, the tarp is interesting. It suggests that you were planning to clean up after yourself. That you possibly intended to dispose of the evidence.

“Were you planning to prevent revivification? That would make it a first-degree attempted murder charge, which would get you twenty years, and you know it. Or perhaps you were after something else? Attempted rape still carries a minimum ten-year sentence, as far as I know.”

“She killed me!” he hissed. “My family will – “ he cut off abruptly.

“Self-defense, asshole,” I chimed in with a smirk.

“Enough, both of you. Yuri, one more chance to make a compelling offer. Of course, you can choose not to, and I’ll send a messenger to HQ right away. I’m sure the Guildmaster will take a personal interest in the proceedings.”

He paled slightly at that. Waste it, they really are scared of him!

“I… have a Skill gem in my Inventory,” he started.

“Lie.” Thompson cut him off, and my eyes widened. Does he…?

“Fine. I have… several Skill gems in my Inventory,” he admitted through clenched teeth.

“Show me,” I said with my best vicious grin.