Chapter 134: Chapter One Hundred Thirty Four

Raleigh's Raiders were less....military than I expected. Given the  theme and vibe that I'd had described to me I was expecting to be  dealing with uber serious soldier of fortune types, but everyone was  actually really laid back. Red mohawk guy, whose name was Chester, was  the leader and one of their G tankers. He sat us all down and got us  drinks, and within a minute or two he was talking to Cark like an old  friend.

The other G ranker, Olivia, was a tiny blonde girl  with a tight ponytail and a severe expression. She seemed less trusting  than Chester, but not overtly hostile, and the others were mostly  friendly too. They made a point to introduce everyone one at a time so  we would feel comfortable with our hosts. First, since there were less  of them (only one) the introduced the women. The only other female  member of the team, Constance, was a tall thin woman with short black  hair and an easy grin.

They didn't mention her ability,  but she gave me a cheerful hello before moving on to introduce the  others. The other three men were Thomas, Edward, and Caleb respectively.  Thomas was a tall dark skinned man with a serious expression, Edward  was a tanned man with an east grin, and Caleb mostly avoided any  contact, keeping his pale blue eyes on the fire and his blonde hair  mostly blocking our view of him.

Cark caught up with them,  asking questions and making polite chitchat for a while, but finally  had enough of the pleasantries and decided to get down to brass tacks.  "So, Chester, we actually did come to talk like I said. Specifically to  talk about something you might be looking for. We heard on the grapevine  the you might be in the market for a Heartbeat Monarch. We happen to  have one in our possession, if you would be interested in getting your  hands on it."

Despite being a mainly combat oriented  Ascendant, I realized I'd underestimated Cark. Personally I'd probably  have asked about the mushroom first, and that would have started this  off on the wrong tone. In retrospect it was a simple but sensible idea  to bring up what they would get out of things beforehand, given our  superior forces and numbers. While my impulsive and excitable response  would have screwed this negotiation up, the bounty hunter clearly knew  how to handle people.

Obviously, once they heard their  target mentioned, they seemed interested, but Olivia also immediately  became suspicious and started to look agitated. That was a totally  understandable reaction, given that the 'grapevine' had given us  information no one but them was supposed to have. Us knowing the  contents of their list meant we either had some kind of source for the  list from the Academy, which shouldn't be possible, or we'd figured it  out since they got here, whether with an inside man or some kind of  spying or prediction ability.

We, of course, knew it was  the latter, but we couldn't tell them that without giving away secrets  we absolutely did not plan to mention to anyone else. Olivia, the  suspicious one, seemed to naturally transition into the leader role as  she questioned us. "Really? What exactly would you want for something  like that? Because it seems stupid to just give it away." Obviously she  rightly suspected we had knowledge of not just her list but what they  had on them at the moment. The main issue was that we didn't actually  have full understanding of either.

Callie  took over at this point, being the leader she was the most qualified to  negotiate. "That depends, what do you have to offer. We have a decent  idea of what you might be able to trade, but we don't know how you feel  about any of the materials we're looking for. Able and willing aren't  the same thing. Why don't you give us a rundown on whatever you don't  need for your list and we can go from there." She kept her smile bland  and cheerful, a perfect poker face.

Olivia  narrowed her eyes. She obviously knew Callie was looking for more  information, but since she ALSO knew we had something they needed she  kind of had to play along. They needed the Heartbeat Monarch and had  zero chance of taking it by force. While it was a solid reputation boost  for us to negotiate, THEY had no choice but to do so. Who knew if there  was even a second Heartbeat Monarch in the whole testing area. Honestly  I was leaning toward not. She frowned for a bit before sighing and  starting to list off a few things she would be willing to trade.

I  personally didn't have any skills at negotiation, though Benny did step  in to help with his haggling skill. While the leadership talked though,  I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Nothing solid enough  to really tip me off that something was going on, but some instinct of  mine told me I should check it out. I stood up, nodding to the others to  stay seated as I moved to the edge of the clearing their fire was in.  To my surprise Chester stood up and followed me, stepping up behind me  quietly, and making sure I knew he was there.

Once  we got a bit of distance he leaned in, lowering his voice. "What  happened? You were sitting there like nothing was wrong and then you got  all antsy." His voice was serious, and I was actually really impressed.  He not only noticed my discomfort but went out of his way to check what  was going on. The guy was a pretty solid leader from what I could see.  Even my own people hadn't bothered to check what I was doing. Granted  they also knew that I had the skills to escape from almost anything and  the power to push back whatever attacked me long enough to call for  backup.

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I  couldn't actually tell him. I didn't know myself. But I'd  seen...something. I just shrugged in frustration. "I don't know  honestly. I caught some movement or something out of the corner of my  eye. I don't see anything actually over here but I could swear something  moved, so I figured I'd check it out. Probably just a rabbit or  something, no need to follow me, I'll be back after I do a quick sweep  out in the trees." I was a bit restless anyway, negotiating wasn't my  strong point. I was better at punching problems than talking through  them.

Which  made me wonder exactly when that became the case. Because before I got  my abilities I hadn't been a particularly violent person. Sure having  super strength now made it easy to just kick ass, but it was almost  always my first choice now. Granted I was Ascending, becoming more than I  was, but in some ways I was also becoming less. The more I threw myself  into this, the further I got from the person I'd been before.

The  issue was that I didn't know how much of the old me I even WANTED to  keep. I hadn't exactly been anything special before. Changing and  growing was a good thing, as long as I didn't lose myself. I felt like  taking the time to focus more on the present and enjoying what I could  do was a good step toward a happy medium. I had my friends to help too.  If I ever forgot who I was I could always ask Benny. He'd known me  longer than anyone and would be happy to expound at length about my  flaws before I became an Ascendant.

I  shook off those thoughts as I focused on Chester again, who seemed to  be giving me time to have my introspection before saying anything, which  I appreciated. Once I cleared my throat in embarrassment he just  chuckled. "It's fine, I'll come with you just in case. Never a good idea  to travel alone at night. The forest can be a pretty terrible place." I  could tell from his tone that he wasn't sure I'd seen a rabbit either.  This wasn't entirely for my benefit, he was worried there might be  something out there too.

That  more than anything convinced me to let him come with me. "Sounds good.  But lets try to move quietly. Don't want to  tip off any animals that  might be out there. If we don't need to start a fight we should avoid  it." He gave me a solemn nod and the two of us headed out towards where I  heard the noise. I was focused on stealth, so my footsteps didn't make  much sound, but to my surprise Chester was pretty damn quiet too. I  wasn't sure if he had the stealth Skill or if he was just well trained  but it was nice to know he wouldn't be dragging me down if we got into  trouble.

When  we got out into the woods I slowed and started searching around. I  could use Seek Hidden, but I didn't even know what I was looking for.  Just 'any traces of any entity or object that might be moving' wouldn't  work. I needed SOMETHING to cut down the possibilities. Like down in the  tunnels when I was looking for traces of the people responsible for the  rat king, I'd focused on the idea of an organization, and honestly  partially my guess that it was the heartrippers.

I  searched the general area where I'd seen the movement for any signs of  what had been here. Person, animal, inanimate object. Something had  moved, and while it might not be anything important there should be a  trace of it even if it was just a bunny or something. I leaned down,  studying the ground thoroughly. I really wished I had the tracking Skill  like Callie, but I had to work with what was available, so I just  leveraged my Perception and paid attention to what was around in the  spot I was focused on.

I  saw...forest. Leaves, dirt, grass. I didn't really know what the hell I  was supposed to be looking for. In the movies the main character would  spot a broken stick and deduce that the enemy had stepped on it exactly  five minutes ago, and judging by the severity of the break they were  exactly six feet and one hundred eighty pounds and one of their legs was  longer than the other. Despite my heightened Perception I didn't have  any sort of actual basis in reading signs like this.

I  didn't want to admit that and look like an idiot, but it was looking I  was going to have to, when I spotted another movement out of the corner  of my eye off to one side. I stood up, making sure to stay in stealth,  and headed in the direction I'd seen the flash, pretending I'd found  something that showed me where to go. We made out way over slowly,  taking our time and trying to be as silent as possible. When we got to  where I'd seen the movement I leaned down to move some bushes.

The  bright gold eyes on the other side did not seem friendly as they glared  at me. Huge razor sharp teeth dripped saliva from a mouth that smelled  like rotting meat and blood as I stared up into the face of the biggest  fucking wolf I had ever seen. Granted I grew up in a city so the list  wasn't long, but still, this was a big fucking wolf. I did NOT stumble  wildly back scrambling to get away from the massive animal, because I am  a hero and wolves don't scare me. My perfectly calm and collected  retreat put me out of the treeline, and exposed enough of it that I  could see the shapes of several other wolves emerging. Wolves with thin  green humanoids on their backs. Goblins. G ranked goblins. A bunch of them. Fuck.

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