Side Quest

The heat was suffocating. Sweat poured down Lizard's bald head and dripped down her neck and face. Her body dampened her clothes, forming thick rings under her pits and titts. The ruthless sun and lack of breeze was accosting her. The little bits of shade the sparse trees gave did nothing but tease her. She measured her steps by counting the cracks in the clay beneath her feet; anything to keep her mind off the unforgiving sun.

"I have a side job for you, since you're passing by the area," said Nadine from Lizard's canteen, interrupting Lizard's thoughts.

"You mean, since you made me have to walk all the way out here?" Lizard retorted sharply.

"You could've stayed at the inn and traveled the rest of your journey on foot, but that's beside the point. You're approaching the target. If you really want this vehicle you'll complete this mission."

Lizard sighed. Nothing was ever simple with Nadine.

"Stop, you'll pass your target!" Nadine barked, causing Lizard to stand rigid out of sheer shock and amusement. Had she ever heard Nadine raise her voice? As long as she could remember, Nadine was stern, but calm, with a soprano that most would associate with sweetness.

"What do you want - I don't see anyone, even with my heat frames," Lizard answered, ignoring those unnecessary thoughts as she glanced around her.

"Look down."

There was nothing but white beneath her.

"The clay is too hot, I can't see past it."

"No, that's a glitch in the programming," said Nadine, "I know, it's unheard of, but glitches in the programming happen all the time. Our mods work hard keeping this ancient program up and running, fixing problems as soon as they arrive and yet, here it is. The problem is this: we can control the world, both Green Hunt and Red Eden, but we can't control the people in it. Unfortunately, when people become glitches, because of our ancient and admittedly flawed program, there's not much we can do but wait for them to die and hope they don't effect the people and the world around them. But, for some odd reason, these human glitches have decided to live together in an underground community. You wanna guess what happens to the program when there are several glitches in one small space?"

"Not particularly."

"It creates problems in the programing which might even be irreversible."

"So my job is to convince them to leave."

"We've tried that. Your job is to eradicate them. For the sake of the players of Green Hunt and the future of White Arc."

"Brutal," said Lizard wiping the sweat off her face with the front of her shirt.

"Necessary," said Nadine, sounding even more intense than usual, "Also, no bike until after you've completed the mission. You can try going to get it first but it won't be there."

Lizard groaned her disappointment.

"About how many bugs?"

"Eighty to a hundred."

Lizard sighed again. She'd long since realized that it was pointless to argue with Nadine. She fell into quiet obedience and began to pace, looking for an entrance. And if she found an entrance? She wasn't sure how she'd pull it off. But she'd come too far to turn around and go back.

She walked forwards a few yards to the tallest of the skimpy trees and rested at it's base, watching and waiting for a sign of life. Under the shade, the orange clay was cool beneath her. Lizard gripped it, squeezing it, enjoying the sensation between her fingers. If this was really the hideouts location, someone was going to come this way eventually.

The cool breeze carried the scent of garlic and ginger being chopped together, the smell of home, and before long she found herself quite lethargic. Just as she was about to drift into a deep sleep, she realized something: the scent was coming from somewhere. And what were the chances that she would she would catch a wiff of her favorite smell in the outskirts of the wildlands? Even if she was near some kind of radical camping grounds? No, someone was trying to weaken her with one of those cheap perfume balls, and as her legs went weak and her sight became blurry, she came to realize that it was working.

Lizard dumped and scattered all of her physical possession onto the floor ahead of her, searching manically for her gas mask. The perfume seemed to be getting stronger. Her body quaked with pleasure. Her knees buckled, forsaking her for the effects of the perfume balls, and leaving her to rest her rump in the clay. A dreadful, calming sensation like expanding frost spread her lungs open and left Lizard panting. Her entire body began to quake violently.

She plunged a trembling arm into her mirror; one final, desperate attempt to find her gas mask. Her fingers touched- an involuntary yelp of excitement escaped Lizard's throat as she snatched the gas mask out of the mirror. She hurriedly fastened it, but as she did she noticed the shadow of a human next to her. She turned and saw nothing, but the shadow remained. Someone was wearing full camouflaged.

Without taking a moment to regain her strength, Lizard snatched a trench knife from it's spot in the clay and struck where she believed a gut should be, knocking the wind out of a very unfortunate glitch and twisting them into a headlock. With the blade pressed against their neck Lizard asked calmly:

"Where are your buggy friends?"

....................................................................

Nadine was obviously not a bike person. Lizard had never seen such a pathetic pressure vehicle in her life: double wide with an ugly dingy color, and gumball shape. It didn't have much speed, and relied on one rotating wheel that incased it entirely. This technically made it a pressure powered unipod, but whatever, beggars can't be choosers right? It would do the job, regardless. And it also had very cushy seats.

Speaking of beggars, Nadine had her cut one just outside of downtown, or at least half of one. Lizard collected the bounty as she watched his upper body dissipate and the stair step he was fused to turn back to normal, the final kill of the day. She was exhausted.

But there were still a few stops to be made. She'd decided to make them in the morning. She desperately needed a bath. The civilians might be concerned if they saw her walking around covered in blood.