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CR - Chapter Two - Home Sweet Home
🕑 Added 2024-12-20 19:31:58 +0000 UTCMaria and I snuck through the local checkpoints, and out of the area, before anyone even could report our presence. Thankfully, the checkpoints were meant to keep people out of an active Bleed, not keep people in.
The truck was a couple minutes walk away, and I spent most of that time looking over my shoulder, checking for a tail. It was probably unnecessary, but I’d always rather be safe than sorry. When we arrived I chucked my bag into the back before climbing into the passenger’s seat.
“Straight back home?” Maria asked as she climbed into the driver’s seat.
“I’m tired, and since we left Tessa by herself she probably hasn’t bothered to feed herself today… We can go out for supplies later.” I replied as I fastened my seatbelt.
She grunted, but didn’t reply. Instead, she just started the truck and started driving. I rolled down the window a little and started running my hand through my hair, trying to restore it to the proper magenta color.
“I can’t believe you still use that ring every time you go out. I made it to practice my imbuing, I never expected you to take a shine to it… I could make you something better you know.”
Once I managed to get my hair back to the right color I shot her a dirty look. “Don’t you dare. You need most of that Essence for tribute, and the rest can be used to create artifacts we can auction off. I don’t need something fancy.”
She huffed. “You COULD be a little more greedy, considering how much grief you go through every time we go out.”
“I didn’t get into this because of the money, or perks, you know that.” I fluffed my hair, finally getting it back into the shape I wanted. “If we have some essence left over after covering all our maintenance costs, we can discuss it then.”
Maria just glanced my way, but didn’t say anything more. We both knew she REALLY needed that essence, and there was practically no chance of there being anything leftover.
We were approaching home now, so Maria turned the massive truck onto an unpaved back road. Most of the industrial district was high density construction, but not all of it. Right on the edge of the district there was a defunct granite cutting business, which was separated from the other buildings by a little bit of scrubland. The building was a squat concrete structure surrounded by piles of scrap stone and broken down vehicles. Unless someone really looked close they’d think it was just an abandoned building. It really was a perfect place to hide.
As soon as we pulled up I jumped out, opened the door of the exterior garage building, and let Maria drive in. We probably could get it hooked up with electricity, and get an automated door opener if we wanted too, but since we wanted to lay low the less people that showed up out here the better. After Maria finished parking the truck I grabbed my bag out of the back, and followed Maria to the entrance. The main doors were boarded up, but opened smoothly. Behind them was an antechamber that only contained a single camera, and a heavily reinforced door with no visible handle. I pulled an access card out of my pocket, waved it before what appeared to be a blank part of the wall, and waited for the door to click. When it did, I held it open for Maria to enter.
Despite what it looked like on the outside, the interior was homely. I wasn’t a professional builder by any means, but I knew enough to take down and put up walls. Slowly we managed to turn the wrecked office area, and rear work area, into a comfy living space. There was Maria’s workshop, a moderate kitchen, several bathrooms, a den, several bedrooms, a panic room, and even a makeshift forge for the third member of our band. One I was certain hadn’t moved since we left.
“It’s my turn to cook, what do you want?” Maria asked, as I unceremoniously dumped my gear in the entry hallway.
I thought for a moment. “I’m fine with anything… soup maybe?”
“Sure. While I’m cooking you can check on Tessa.” She replied, heading into the kitchen.
I nodded, then headed the opposite way, back towards the former loading area. We moved a bunch of heavy metal working machines into that area, even the beginnings of a forge, then bricked up the former garage doors with cinder blocks. It made a perfect place for Tessa to work on her projects in relative safety.
As soon as I stepped into the back room I spotted her, soot splattered blond hair held back by a worn red bandana, goggles down over her eyes. She’d maneuvered her wheelchair over to the welding area, and was diligently working away on something. I sighed, then grabbed the spare apron and welding shield off the hook by the door, and put them on before I went to check on her.
I couldn’t make heads or tails of what she was working on, it looked similar to one of my clips, but with a lot of extra parts, so I just shook my head and ignored it. Tessa loved to create, and had dozens of projects going at once, it was hard to keep track of them all. I stepped up behind her, and waited for a break in the welding.
“You did remember to have breakfast after we left, right Tessa?” I said, while standing a few steps away to avoid sparks. Tessa quickly turned off her welding torch, then turned to look at me, with a smile on her face. “Keira, when did you get back? Didn’t you just leave?”
I sighed, “That was hours ago Tess. We’ve been to the bleed, stole essence from one of the contractors, and came back. You were supposed to watch the time and have a proper breakfast. Did you?”
“What, it's only eight… “ She paused, looking at the clock for the first time today. “Past two. Ok, I lost track of time again.”
“Yeah, I figured that. Come on, Maria is making lunch. Do you want me to push you to wash up, or just wait for you to finish cleaning up here?” I asked
“You don’t have to wait for me.“ She replied, blushing slightly.
I just crossed my arms. “You promised to watch the time, so I have to make sure you don’t get distracted again. Come on, clean up, it’ll feel good to get some food into your stomach, I promise.”
Tessa started grumbling, but did what she was told. After she was satisfied with the area, she turned my direction. “I’m ready to go. Would you give me a hand please?”
I just smiled, gently grabbed the back of her chair and moved towards the entrance. There was a lot of space between the equipment, so it was easy to get around the space and back to the entrance. We stopped for a moment, to take off the protective gear and hang it up, before I took her to the closest bathroom to clean up.
Once she was settled I headed back to the kitchen. Maria was busy over the stove, so I took it upon myself to set the table. “Did we do the right thing?” Maria asked, without turning away from the stove.
I sighed, this was an old discussion. “You need that essence to help pay off your monthly contract payments. That crone we took it from not only tried to shunt people to her overlords in order to gain more power, but also tried to convince another contractor to start doing it too.” I finished setting the table, then turned towards Maria. “I honestly would have killed her, if I thought I could have gotten away with it without bringing the rest of the Fae down on our heads. She deserved what she got.”
Maria nodded, but still didn’t turn around. I wished I could do this all on my own, and didn’t need her to participate in raids, unfortunately I didn’t have any way to pull essence myself. I’m sure half the contractors in the city regretted signing up to be magicals, once they realized the full terms, just like Maria. At least they had a faction to fall back on. Limbo contractors like Maria, on the other hand, were seen as free essence. Bleeds were like the wild west, the laws no longer applied while they were active, so contractors were just as likely to be injured by a rival faction than the invading figments.
People were injured, died and disappeared with alarming frequency, yet the faction PR sections were so good that most of that information was swept under the rug. They just trotted their Idols out in front of the public, and made it sound like everything was fine.
I turned as Tessa wheeled herself into the kitchen, a wide smile on her face. “Smells good, can’t wait to taste it.”
Maria turned at her voice, her eyes were slightly moist, but there was a small smile on her face. “That’s good, I hope you enjoy it.”
We all knew what was going on, but no one said a word. Just another day in our little safehouse.
