Incline 45: Ivahstar

"You follow too much." I grumble back at Nin as the osibindah continues to trail along.

"You brought me down here. You can get me back out." Nin most likely shrugs and I shake my head. Picking a few broken quills out of my back as the peace of the chamber otherwise gets to me. Wherever the remaining mobsters went, they didn't come this way. There's no more gunfire, either. Not now, anyway.

I shouldn't let my guard down, but I'm inclined to believe a certain truth about people. They're more likely to shoot the osibindah than they are me! So I guess that's a good reason for the bug to be tailing me. Everyone can go ahead and shoot him instead, it, rather.

Coming to a halt, Nin passes by and arrives at my side. The towering figure turns and looks down. I glance high his way. The fires haven't died down massively, though they're still calmer than before. We should be perfectly fine heading off down the slipway tunnel. Get back onto the highway so we can hijack some poor sod's car or van or what have you.

A tired groan passes through my lips and I roll some of my achy body about. All this adrenaline that has gone through my system is certainly a new feeling. Haven't felt this energetic in a long time. Somehow, all the danger I've faced up until today does not compare. Not one moment since I first met Nin, actually.

It seems like an odd thought to consider, but it's also been so long since I've fought mobsters. Monsters, bugs, and witches don't quite have the same feeling. Perhaps I am nostalgic for a past long left behind. Or, maybe it is because I know full well I am harming Don Gamtambo with every corpse I've made this day?

If I feel such a rush now, I can only begin to imagine the rush his own death will make. All those years of hiding and running. All those years of resentment, betrayal, and loss. I will put an end to it all with a single bullet, spike or snap of the neck... Whatever comes to my paws first when I find him.

"The other two aren't going to blow my head open, are they?" Nin asks and I shrug, not wanting or able to make any promises.

"Drop gun." I point out, his weapon not exactly helping his chances. Though, he's not doing himself any favours by dropping it. I've certainly got him trapped, haven't I? All my eyes need to do is adjust and wink and he's on the floor. We don't need the money his body can provide anymore. 

This bug is a liability and an annoyance.

"Tch. Fine." Nin lets out, tossing the weapon far. An impressed noise lifts my spirits and the bug scurries about with his surface-touched munitions some more. He breathes it in deep, taking in the magic for what it is with a pleasurable stutter. A lengthy 'ah' departs his lungs, the trail to his air visible for all arcane reasons in All-That-Remains.

"Hm, I do not see either of them anywhere..." I click ponderously in my native tongue. I survey the car wrecks, seeing neither my human friend nor my daughter. I can't even pick up the sound of the blood wasps and their buzzing. Something bangs on a wreck nearby and I frown, knowing I certainly heard a yelp of pain.

Not a familiar one, either. I lift a hand, snapping my fingers and patting my paw with them. Nin sticks close and I keep my weapon out and at the ready. The front snaps open and I eye the one spike I have left. Of all the chambers but that one, they're empty and dry of sweet death.

Wherever the other two are, I hope they're ready to come out and support me. Luck is no doubt coming to collect on its debt with how this day has gone so far. Best get moving. Away from the divine and whatever mortals still call this place their vicinity...

"Hrurim!?" I let out, rushing to my friend as he groans on the floor, a gash in his head. My voice triggers something in him. He smashes his way up to his feet. Bouncing and wobbling with erratic blinks that have no chance of ever ending. One of his arms goes about, shaking as he forces a finger up.

"Th-That way! One of the bastards... Ah..." he groans, falling down into my arms. I snarl and pass the weight onto Nin. Hrurim panics a little, but I show no regards for him and I rush around the corner. Two people come into sight. A thrashing girl. My girl and a fool who has his hands on her.

He spots me, aiming his gun right up against Heiya's temple. She freezes up, and I struggle to keep my gun up. The fearful man backs up, dragging her up with him in the lock of his arm. My eyes shake, as does his trigger finger. My lungs swell, a furnace of hatred right under both of them.

"LET HER GO!" I roar, bellowing so loud the remaining mobsters are probably now on their way. My trigger finger locks up, rage and discipline battling for control of the digit. It trembles, unable to side with either feeling my heart races.

"S-STAY BACK YOU DAMN MONSTER! STAY BACK!" he screams, smashing the barrel's tip against my daughter as she fluctuates. She growls and sneers. Whimpers and shakes. One wrong move and she is dead.

"LET HER GO!" I roar again, repeating my point as I try to consider what options I can. One wrong move and her brains go flying.

"LOWER YOUR GUN! LOWER IT AND BACK AWAY!" the nameless mobster warns, the handgun turning to me. The black hole of factory-made death eyes me. His arm tenses up, choking my daughter and heaving her up into the air.

My eyes narrow and they loosen up as I meet her eyes. My daughter's life is in danger again... I need to save her. Her life is all that matters right now. It's all that matters.

The gun is facing me. The gun is facing me, not her. The gun is not facing her. It's facing me.

My body twitches, raising my gun. The mobster's hand roars with lead-spitting fire and my finger twitches. His head flies back, a spike lodged into it, and I cough into my fist. The warmth in my body is running away and I look down as my grip loses anything that can be called strength.

I lean ahead, not out of my own strength, and see the shot with my own eyes. I look up at my daughter, unable to stop myself from looking up. I'm on the floor. Unable to hear anything far away other than a woman's wails. My daughter's...

"POOOOOOOOOOOPS!"