Chapter 59: Chapter Fifty Nine

The dark haired guy, to his credit, did not try to hide or back down when Riley came out with his gun. I assumed the gun was at least G rank, or the bullets were, because otherwise what would be the point. I could vaguely feel a sense of threat from the thing. I wasn't sure how effective guns were at higher levels of Might and Perception, since even high level weapons probably wouldn't fire bullets that were actually faster, but G rank was still within the limits of what a bullet could handle, at least based on my own physical ability.

Dark haired guy's too obviously, because he didn't move, even if he did seem cool and collected. He never looked away from the big green furred man. "Back off old man. This one is involved in some seriously shady business. I just want to ask him a few questions." His voice was steady and his gaze piercing as he glared down at the larger man, completely ready to get shot if he needed to do so to continue what he was doing.

Riley stared coldly, but he didn't raise or lower the gun. Just kept it up in front of him across his chest. "Speak then. What did he do?" Despite being an obvious hard ass, Riley seemed like an ok dude, and clearly this guy's willingness to die over this was at least enough of a curiosity to allow him to explain himself. I had to admit I was curious myself, what exactly made him this angry at the bigger man. Despite what you see in movies, being willing to die to call someone on their shit is not normal.

The man hocked like he was about to spit, but then he looked over at the gun and then at the ground and swallowed. "He knows something about a place I'm looking for. My sister disappeared a few weeks ago. I asked around and found out that this happens sometimes, kids get grabbed and then some of them pop up a few years later. Some of them don't. One of the places people have reported seeing the ones that do is called the Bleakest Depths. It's a kind of underground fight club. This asshole knows where it is, and he WILL tell me."

He stepped forward angrily, fists clenching in rage, but Riley adjusted his grip deliberately to remind him of where he was. The dark haired guy gave the little bartender a pleading look. "Please. I won't hurt him too bad, I just want to ask him a few questions and then I'll be on my way. I'll pay for the table and for the inconvenience, just PLEASE don't make me throw away the only lead I've had in weeks. I'm begging." His expression was desperate, and I was pretty sure he would keep trying to question the green furred man until Riley shot him.

The little bartender gave him a hard stare before finally sighing. "Rules say no bringing fights in from outside, but it sounds to me like he brought it not you. I'll let you be the one to decide his punishment. Take it as a courtesy." With a deep nod Riley turned and walked back over behind the bar, hanging up the gun and picking up a glass to begin cleaning. It was like nothing had ever happened.

The dark haired guy turned to us. "I'm Cark. You all going to stand in my way? Because I'll tell you the same thing. I'm getting my answers, if the path to those are through you then I'll walk it or die trying." As with Riley his eyes never left the green man, completely focused on his goal even as he promised to die accomplishing it. The effect was more than a bit intimidating. But it wasn't necessary. We weren't going to stop him.

He nodded, stepping forward, and as he did, fire sprung to his hands, illuminating his face in eerie flickering shadow and showing his potential victim's terror in sharp relief. He glared down at the man like an angry god. "I'll ask you this once. Where are the Bleakest Depths? And how do I get in?" The huge green furred man was shaking, looking like he was about to wet himself, and Cark was getting closer.

Finally the man flinched back with a scream as Cark made a sudden jerking movement and the dam seemed to break. The tension that had been building melted away and the man wailed out an answer. "FINE! The Depths are here! Under the old scan ring service station on the east end of the district. Getting in is easy, you just show up, no one is supposed to know about them unless they belong there so the security isn't high. What kind of moron tries to attack an underground fighting pit?"

Cark looked at him harshly, before nodding grudgingly and then kicking him in the face. The big man was so focused on the fire he didn't even register the blow before it hit, knocking him out cold. Cark banished the flame, then picked the green furred man up, carried him down the hall to the door, and hurled him bodily up the steps from the bottom, letting him thud onto the ground outside with a loud noise. Then he closed the door, turned back to us, and smiled.

He held out a hand. "Anyway. Thanks for not getting in my way. Sorry about that, like I said. My name's Cark, why don't I buy you folks a drink as a way to celebrate the good news." His face soured. "It's going to be a bit before I can use that information, might as well have something refreshing while I plan my next move."

I accepted the hand shake with a smile of my own. "Sounded like he deserved it, I get you. As for the rest...yeah waiting sucks, we'd be happy to have a drink with you, especially if you're paying, though no alcohol for me." I didn't drink. One of the things my father managed to instill in me on one of his relatively few visits in my youth was that compromising your mental faculties was stupid and pointless. A bit of fun wasn't worth turning into an idiot for potentially hours.

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Granted at this point my Vitality would probably have fixed the issue much quicker than that, and I honestly wasn't sure in retrospect that he could actually even get drunk at his rank, or at least not easily, but old habits died hard if they died at all. We sat down at the bar and Cark ordered us some drinks. I got a milkshake, Callie got some fruity monstrosity, Jessie got straight rum, which really surprised me, and Benny got soda, following my lead. Once we had our drinks Benny turned to Cark and questioned flatly. "Ok I have to ask, how the hell did you get to G rank with no costume or anything? Or did you just not wear it?"

Cark shook his head. "Nah. I didn't decide to go into the Unity. Not everyone with abilities is a hero or villain. I did my intake, turned down membership, and became a bounty hunter. I have a decent rep around my neighborhood and I've been doing this for about a decade now. Got my ability at sixteen and I'm twenty five now." He held up a hand, conjuring an orb of flame. "Helps that I have such a flashy power, I admit, but I also do good work, and word gets around."

I nodded with interest. That made sense. Rajak was so stupidly big even being a local celebrity or household name would be an insane amount of renown. Given how many people were packed into, say, one of the megaplexes, getting to G with just hard work over the span of ten years would be more than doable, and all his renown would come from such a niche area that most people never even would have heard of him.

It made me wonder how many others there were in Rajak like that. People who had the renown or the experience but were lost in the sea of noise that a city this big would inevitably become. I was betting more than a few people at the Academy were double dealing as local celebs, it would explain some the insane stats and test results. I grinned internally. That was good, it just meant that I'd draw even less attention with my quick rise.

With all the people in Rajak me being strong or rising quick despite no one having heard of me wouldn't be weird. Even if point one percent of the population knew who I was, which would be a hundred million people, that meant ninety nine point nine percent had no idea. The same went for innumerable others. A person being strong and mostly unknown at my level wasn't weird, just meant I got lost in the shuffle.

I took a sip of the milkshake when I got it. Once again my awesome mask could open a mouth if I intended it, which was just so cool, and in general I loved being able to eat in public now. It had been annoying to have to take my mask off to put food in my mouth. Cark raised an eyebrow at the odd sight but didn't comment, and after I took my sip I turned back to Riley. "So. The reason we're here. I need to find some people." I reached into my pocket and took out the card the Heartrippers had left on me. "You ever seen this symbol?"

The tiny fae took the card from me, eyes grazing over it. "Nope. Not a symbol I'm familiar with. I'd remember too. That's dramatic as hell." I slumped. Damn. That made sense, I had a whole list of places to check. This was the most promising, but it would still be a bit too convenient if I got my answers the first place I looked. I had no clue which of my possible sources to try next either.

I sighed heavily. "Well, any advice on who I should ask next? My source gave me a few places, any of the people in the district you can think of spring to mind as a potential source for something like that? Symbol experts, lorekeepers, really gossipy old people?" I was hoping I could get some kind of lead on where to go next, literally any kind of lead, because I would absolutely have to just wander around to the places on my list if he couldn't give me...something. To my surprise though, Riley wasn't the one who answered.

Cark finished his beer with a refreshed sound and slammed the mug down. "I know a place." We all looked at him in confusion. He rolled his eyes. "I told you I've been looking for my sister for weeks. I've been chasing down every back alley info broker and secret dealer in the district, and that was AFTER I got the lead that this was where the kids who turn up were usually spotted. I learned a LOT about secrets and where to find them."

He pointed to the card. "I don't know what that is or where to find it, but I can promise you if anyone does its old Abner the librarian down on 14th. That old man knows everything, though he rarely talks to anyone about it." He grinned at Riley,I'm guessing you would have mentioned him if I hadn't." The fae gave a slight smile and a shrug that made me kind of doubt it, but regardless, we now had a lead. Cark gave us a smile and smacked the bar. "Anyway, glad I could be of some help, I'm off now. See you all around. Good luck on your search." And with that, the bounty hunter was up and headed out of the bar, leaving us all to think about everything that had happened.

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