Pocket Dungeon 4, page 12
Everything in the room was just slightly off-kilter, and none of the colors seemed right, like I was looking at everything through a desaturated film. It was also missing some of the key aspects of an equipment room, like a chest mimic and lockers.
The longer I looked at the walls, the less substantial they seemed, and I was suddenly overcome with the fear that maybe the walls weren’t even real at all.
The entire place gave me the heebie-jeebies in a way I was pretty sure grown men nearing thirty probably shouldn’t be experiencing.
I suppressed a shudder and looked down at Regis’ body. He was definitely dead, and he definitely wasn’t going anywhere.
I turned back toward the rickety ladder mounted onto the wall, and just as I did, the entire room started to shake.
While I’d never actually experienced an earthquake, I had a pretty good guess it would have felt something like this.
The torches on the walls flickered and threatened to plunge me into entire darkness as I struggled to regain my balance and make my way over to the ladder.
I threw myself forward and grabbed blindly at the rungs as the room around me continued to shake with increasing intensity and the first of the few torches went out.
Just as I reached up to press on the hatch that would lead me back into the real world and out of this nightmarish equipment room, the last of the torches snuffed out.
Good fucking riddance.
I surged through the hatch and was quickly surrounded by a far more welcome darkness as I burst out of the crystal and back into the grimy alleyway.
It felt like I’d just crested a riptide, and I sucked in a deep, gasping breath of air.
I’d managed to land on my feet, thankfully, and I pressed my hands into my knees as I tried to steady myself. By all accounts, that shouldn’t have taken as much out of me as it had, but I felt strangely drained of energy.
Hell, I’d gone through actual dungeons that hadn’t left me feeling as worn out as the minute in that equipment room had left me.
“Are you alright?” Elaene asked.
Her dark eyebrows knitted together in obvious worry as she reached out to place a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m fine,” I wheezed and waved off her concern. “That thing is weird. I don’t think we should go in there again.”
“You look like hell,” Iris said. “So I’m going to have to agree. Not that I’d want to go in there anyway.”
“Hm.” Yasha hummed and reached down to pick the crystal up from where it had fallen onto the ground. “I will hold onto it so it does not interact with our crystal until you decide what we must do with it.”
“Thanks,” I told her. “We should probably put it back in the safe once we get home, but I think you’re probably right about keeping the crystals separate. I definitely don’t want that thing anywhere near ours. Something’s just… there’s something weird about that crystal.”
“So, what do we do now?” Iris asked as she glanced at the gun in her hands.
She looked down at her outfit and clearly came to the same conclusion I’d reached earlier, that she’d have nowhere to conceal a weapon on her person.
I reached out and took the handgun from her with a wry smile before tucking it into the inner pocket of my leather jacket so it was out of sight. Then I pulled the phone we’d taken from Regis, may he rot in peace or what the fuck ever, out of my pocket and held it up.
“It’s time we set up a little playdate,” I said as I typed in the passcode and navigated back to the secret interface.
It only took a few keystrokes for me to pull up the message board where Regis had so thoughtfully told all his little buddies to kill us. I figured posting something there would be the quickest way to get my invitation out there, considering there was no way this phone was equipped with the numbers to reach out to all the power players individually.
I knew exactly what I wanted to say without having to think about it.
ATTENTION: ARCHIBALD BLACK IS DEAD AND I KILLED HIM. MEET AT WAREHOUSE FOURTEEN AT 10:00 AM TO DISCUSS NEW LEADERSHIP.
I made sure to tap the option of “notify ALL users” before I hit send on the post.
As I watched it upload to the message board, a slow smile spread across my face.
“And now,” I said. “We show these fuckers who’s in charge.”
Chapter 8
It had taken quite a bit of convincing to get my women to actually go back to the penthouse, and I’d been pretty sure I was going to have to force all three of them out of the car once we’d pulled up outside the Marquee.
“I’ll be fine,” I promised for what felt like the hundredth time over the course of the relatively short drive. “I swear. I have the gun we just took off Regis, plus my own gun, and I’m the only one going in with an actual plan.”
“It still worries me,” Iris said. She’d managed to snag the passenger seat from Yasha, and I was glad if only because it meant we were at a far lesser risk of death metal scoring this conversation than we’d have been otherwise.
“I might not be you,” I said jokingly. “But I’m a pretty decent shot myself.”
“We know you are a capable fighter,” Yasha said. “But it would be much wiser to bring us with you. I am a skilled warrior, and Elaene can spit her acid at anyone who would dare stand against you. And you could give Iris the gun so you do not have to touch the wretched thing.”
“It isn’t a wiser idea,” I said. “Bringing the three of you there, especially the two of you that aren’t human, is like waving meat under a dog’s nose. This isn’t going to be the sort of thing where these fuckers bring the women they’ve stolen to show off, not like Black’s gala, and I don’t want to put any of you at risk.”
“The idea of you alone with these monsters does not set me at ease, Wes,” Elaene murmured. “I know far better than most what they could do.”
“I know, I know, and believe me, if I thought there was a way I could bring the three of you without getting an even bigger target slapped on my back, I would,” I said. “But if the worst-case scenario happens, and someone kills me, I do not want any of these fuckers to know about you guys at all. People saw us at the gala, sure, but right now, the only real information they have is that Yasha is with me, and that’s bad enough.”
The three women went silent for a moment as they seemed to mull over what I was saying, so I continued.
“It would be an invitation to try and kill me then and there to try and get their hands on you, and who knows what these people are going to have up their sleeves. I just can’t risk it,” I said. “Plus, I don’t want these fuckers to know the sort of badasses I have on my side. I want to keep as much up my sleeve as I can, for as long as I can.”
It was Elaene that broke first. The Atlantean woman gave a long, tired-sounding sigh, but she nodded her head.
“I fear Wes is right,” she said. “I have seen men slaughtered for things worth less, and if he is to truly pull influence over these men, it would be best if they think he’s one of them. They wouldn’t respect him or what he said if they thought he was treating us as people.”
“Well, I really do hate it when you put it like that,” I said. “But the thought did cross my mind.”
“The only one of us they would even consider tolerating would be Iris, but even then, I am not certain, as she’s still a woman,” Elaene added.
“Isn’t that just how it goes,” Iris muttered. “How many rounds are left in the magazine?”
At her question, I pulled out the handgun and passed it over to her so she could check. Her fingers looked like they were practically itching to do it herself anyway, and I figured it was something that made her feel like she was able to help in the situation.
“Well, so long as you make perfect headshots,” she said. “You can take down sixteen of these fuckers.”
I watched with rapt focus, and maybe a little bit of a hard-on, as Iris deftly handled the gun and slapped the magazine back into place. She offered it back to me with a sigh.
“Say what you will about Regis--” she began.
“He smelled vile,” Yasha said.
“I did not like his choice of clothing,” Elaene added.
“Duly noted,” Iris said. “Those flaws aside, he had damn good taste in weapons. Pretty sure that’s a Sig Sauer P365-XMacro.”
I raised an eyebrow and looked down at the handgun with a slightly more appreciation before turning my focus back onto Iris.
“I take it you’ve been talking to Juliet while you’re at Monty’s?” I grinned. “You’re sounding like an expert.”
The blonde woman’s cheeks flushed slightly, and she dipped her head down to tuck a shaggy strand of hair behind her ear.
“Far from it,” she said. “But she knows, thanks to Monty pointing it out, that I carry, and had some suggestions for what I could look into getting. It’s nothing compared to your CZ P-09, but it’s still a good gun.”
“I don’t think I’ll be using it if I can help it though, considering he’s probably filed the serial number off. But it’ll be a nice backup in case things get dicey,” I said. “But as for Juliet’s suggestions, feel free to take her up on any of them. And hey, maybe you can teach Elaene to shoot, too.”
The Atlantean woman looked up at the sound of her name and offered us a surprisingly pleasant little frown.
“No thank you,” she said. “I prefer the Opal Twins.”
“A wise decision,” Yasha agreed. “Swords are a weapon from a more civilized age.”
I snorted. “Okay, Obi-Wan, now that we’ve got that settled, it’s time for you three to vamoose. I’ve got to get to Warehouse Fourteen before anyone else shows up, and it’s probably smart if someone checks on Liva, too.”
At the mention of the blue woman’s name, all four of us craned our heads to look up at the towering apartment building just outside our Mercedes.
It didn’t look like the top floor was on fire, which was a good sign, but still. I was sure there were plenty of things she could set on fire without burning the entire building to the ground.
“A wise idea,” Elaene announced before she leaned up to press a kiss to my cheek. “And perhaps she has made some progress with Trog’thukaz’s tomes.”
“I’ll be back soon,” I promised. “And I’ll be careful. Iris, you’ve got your phone. I’ll call if anything goes wrong. You remember how to call Monty, right?”
“I wrote it down and put it on the fridge,” she said, then paused. “Well, I put it on the fridge in the apartment, but I’m sure the instructions are in one of the boxes I haven’t unpacked yet.”
“Well, that’s reassuring,” I said, but smiled nonetheless as Iris leaned over and gave me a quick peck, like that would stop my worrying.
It didn’t, but I appreciated it anyway.
“Come,” Yasha said. “Let us check on Liva, and then you can watch The Mandalorian with me. Din is very much like Wes.”
Elaene frowned but let herself be pulled out of the SUV by Yasha.
“Wes does not wear a helmet,” the Atlantean said, which was apparently the first large issue with getting compared to a Mandalorian. “And does not have a small green cat.”
You know what, I wasn’t even going to open that can of worms.
“Yes he does,” Yasha corrected her. “When we are on the motorcycle. I like it quite a lot, he’s very sexy in his helmet…”
“I love you all,” I called out loudly to be heard over the very weird conversation. “I’ll be careful.”
I was met with a chorus of “love you”s back, and only once I watched the three women disappear inside the Marquee did I pull away from the curb.
Warehouse Fourteen, here I come.
I tried to ignore the buzzing of my nerves as I drove the vaguely familiar path to the Warehouse District. I’d only been once before, but in preparation for that first visit, I’d spent a lot of time studying the Google Maps layout of the area, to make sure I was ready for anything that might have happened.
I had a feeling things were going to be far different than they’d been last time I was there, however.
The warehouse was only one of many places the black market met up, and it served many different purposes according to Elaene, but when we’d been there, it had been transformed into a swanky-looking hall for a gala.
It was one of the many things Archibald Black had apparently done to flaunt the wealth and power of the black market he’d created, but he’d also used it to make connections with the other power players in the area.
Now that I’d seen the post Regis had made, presumably at Black’s behest on the forums, I was even more intrigued as to why Black hadn’t tried to kill me then and there.
After all, he’d clearly known who I was, and it wasn’t as if he wasn’t suspicious.
Maybe it had been because it would have made a scene, or maybe it was because he’d wanted someone else to do his dirty work. One thing was for sure though, I’d never really get an answer, because Black was dead.
Good fucking riddance.
When I pulled into the small lot to the side of the designated warehouse, relief washed through me.
There weren’t any other cars around, so it definitely seemed like I was the first one to arrive on the scene. It wasn’t a huge surprise, given the fact I hadn’t set the meeting time for another fifty or so minutes, officially, but still.
I had no real confirmation on how any of these assholes would operate. For all I knew, they could all be the type of people who wanted to show up somewhere as early as possible, or maybe they were all chronically late.
But I’d take any sort of win where I could find it.
I quickly made my way from the SUV and into the warehouse to scope out the scene at hand, ready to make sure there weren’t any sort of surprises waiting for me to throw a wrench into my plans.
It wasn’t really a surprise that all the glitz and glamor that had decked out the warehouse the last time I was here were gone, but I was momentarily taken aback by just how empty the warehouse was without it all.
I was almost impressed really, with how completely Black’s cronies had managed to convert the space into something that looked expensive and exclusive, as opposed to what it really was: a big-ass, empty warehouse.
It took me a moment to find the light switch along the wall near the side door, and once I flipped it on, row after row of fluorescent lights hanging high above shuddered on.
They cast the entire warehouse in a sickly glow, but to my relief, there weren’t any nasty surprises that had been hiding in the dark. That was yet another point in my favor.
I had no idea how often this warehouse was used for meetings, or if it ever was at all, but I wasn’t about to try and bring all these assholes to a place I’d never been to before.
I was already going into this situation with one hand tied behind my back, considering I only barely knew how all this shit worked. The last thing I needed to do was also go in blind. I just hoped that everyone was so desperate for both answers and a new source of leadership after Black’s death that they didn’t question anything too heavily.
Based on what Regis said, I doubted they would. It certainly sounded like all of these fuckers really wanted a chance to declare themselves the new kingpin of the black market, and I’d provided them with the perfect chance to do just that.
My nerves jittered with anticipation as I leaned up against one of the far walls in the warehouse. I chose an area that was ever so slightly bathed in shadows with the hope I wouldn’t be immediately noticed when people began showing up.
Then I waited.
I wasn’t sure how long I stood there watching the door with bated breath, but it didn’t feel like long before the door to Warehouse Fourteen opened again.
And then I was no longer alone.
Once the first of the black market men had shown up, all of the others seemed to crawl out of the woodwork behind him. Apparently, these assholes were incredibly punctual, because it looked like everyone had all shown up at exactly the time I’d dictated on the message board.
Well, okay then, that was good to know.
It also told me something about all of these guys right out of the gate. None of them thought they needed to scope out a scene to make sure it was safe before just waltzing right in with their security, which meant they didn’t think they had any reason to be threatened or afraid.
But I knew based off of every other interaction I’d had with one of these fucks that they weren’t the ones getting their hands dirty in the dungeons.
They thought their security teams, their wealth, and their influence could protect them from anything and everything, and they were about to find out just how wrong they were.
It wasn’t until about a dozen or so men had entered the building, along with maybe another thirty that were clearly part of various security teams, that I drifted from where I’d situated myself along the back wall and over toward the quickly converging group.
I seamlessly slipped into the crowd without anyone noticing I’d been there the whole time, and I tucked my head down as I both tried to blend in to the chaos I’d created, as well as get a read on the situation.
The one flaw with my plan that was entirely unavoidable was the fact I had no real idea how many men were going to show up, or how many were part of the black market at all.
I’d been as vague as I could get away with in the post on the message board, while simultaneously trying to make sure it caught everyone’s attention. I hadn’t given my name, or any name other than Black’s, because I wanted the allure of a mystery to get more people here.
If Regis’ information had been right, and there were numerous other side factions splitting off to try and form their own markets under new leadership, I needed to nip that in the bud while I still had the chance. And what was a better way to get all the alleged new leaders in one place at the same time than to announce that, actually, I was in charge.
