Chapter 32: 32: Rin

We sat and nursed our drinks for a while, and in that time I learned a lot about the dynamics of the clans both through BB and through Fal.

According to them the three clans had been operating in Perspian City for as long as anyone could remember.

At first the clans had operated in relative harmony. Each one set up shop in a different one of the three mega megabuildings in the city, and considering each one of the vertical structures was basically a city in its own right they were content with the reach that they had.

But capitalism is like a drug. It works its way into your very soul and scoops out whatever sense you have like an ice cream man at a fairground. Before long the clans were at one another's throats.

Clan Pren, The Beasts and The Nulls. Three clans. Three buildings. Each one was as bad as the others.

They murdered, they sold people as slaves, they dealt drugs and they probably did worse things than all three of those thrown together.

In fact, we already knew they did, because if the Null Space Invaders were allowed free access past the tidal defences they would have single-handedly kick-started an apocalypse.

Eventually, our mark entered the bar, Fal pointed her out immediately.

I was surprised to find that the girl was another of Fal's species, a Lyrin. For some reason I had thought that considering they had a mental bonding system, their species would be gender-neutral. From her build and face shape I could tell that Fal was a girl too.

The girl caught sight of Fal as she entered the bar and her eyes went wide. She was like a deer caught in the headlights, didn't know whether she should stand still or turn tail and make a break for it.

[Emergency Quest activated!]

[Ensure The One Lead survives through to the conclusion of the mission]

The pop up startled me and I instinctively jumped down from my bar stool. If an emergency quest like that had activated it could only mean one thing, the lead was in imminent physical danger and if I didn't do something to save her then she would surely die.

I pushed BB down into our Synchro mode and moved as fast as I could.

I applied my anti-gravity field to my entire body and propelled myself as hard as I could. I barged through the other patrons in the bar and full-body tackled the lyrin just as my enhanced cognition picked up the unmistakable crack of a sniper rifle. The shot struck the ground exactly where the Lyrin would have been.

We skidded to a stop a few meters away and I used the last few seconds of my sped up cognition to catch the glint of light flickering off of the scope of the rifle as the user repositioned it for another shot. There was no way I was letting that happen.

I blasted off with my propulsion, soaring through the air so hard that a sonic boom echoed throughout the cavernous entryway of the megabuilding. I hit my propulsion hard to slow down, so much so that the would-be assassin was blown down onto their butt.

I vaulted over the lip of the balcony that they had been aiming from and lashed out with a right hook, hard.

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The attack was caught with a magical barrier of some kind, the alien on the ground had raised a six-fingered hand which had a small orb of glowing light in the centre to use the ability. Unfortunately for them, my strength stats had gone up significantly since I had first arrived in this universe, and while my attack was slowed significantly, it wasn't enough to stop my hand from ploughing straight into their feathered face.

The fight was over before it really had a chance to begin, the aliens head snapped back and smacked into the ground with a hard thud. Hopefully I hadn't killed him because this guy had some serious questions to answer.

I hoisted the bird-like alien over my shoulder with little effort and jumped back down from the balcony. I activated my anti-gravity fields at half strength and used propulsion to push myself forward at a slow speed, gently gliding back down to the street level.

Aliens from a wide variety of species were all staring and muttering to themselves. I distinctly heard the word "human" pass between a couple of them as I walked back over to the Lyrin girl, who had just about managed to pull herself up from the ground where I had left her.

"Did you get hurt?" I asked, "Sorry, I had to move quickly there."

"No… I'm fine… Who are you?" She asked.

"Jacob Lyre, I'm a member of the Guard. I think you know my associate, Fal," I replied.

She nodded at that.

"Good. In that case, follow me back over to the bar. I'd hate for you to get hurt."

She followed close by my side. When I got to the bar I found that Yr'Arl and Fal had already cleared it out, meaning it had become the perfect place to talk to our new Lyrin friend and to interrogate the alien I had just knocked unconscious.

"Your quick thinking has served us well, Jacob Lyre," Yr'Arl praised as I rested the alien on the ground.

I conjured a small piece of manna rope and wound it around the aliens ankles and wrists. They wouldn't be getting away any time soon, but I'd have to keep BB down in synchro until we'd extracted the information that we needed.

"I saw the glint of this guy's sniper rifle up on the balcony, realised what it was from… history lessons back on Earth. I had to react as quick as I could to get our lead out of the way," I explained.

"Your… lead?" The Lyrin girl squeaked.

"Rin, it's Pax… My mate... Clan Pren has him.. And you might be our only chance to get him back," Fal explained, trying and only just barely succeeding to keep herself together.

Rin's expression hardened, her lizard-like face becoming serious and deadly. It made sense that she'd understand the importance of this mission, she was a Lyrin herself.

Our lead seemed as if she was going to help us.

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