Case #4-Zach Reaper vs the Supernatural Investigators

"Alright, so what's our case of the day, intern?" I ask Evelyn, who sits across from me in our usual spot in El Coffee Cafe, tapping away at her laptop.

I gave Evelyn admin access to Reaper's Paranormal website, which allows her to accept, decline, and manage our job requests, as well as the Supernatural Encyclopedia, a giant encyclopedia wielded by Reapers in order to discern supernatural creatures. Though of course, I just scanned the encyclopedia and uploaded it into my laptop so I don't have to carry such a giant ass book around. I don't carry around my textbooks, so why would I carry around that?

"So, the earliest uploaded job is a spider infestation that they want us to investigate," Evelyn announces, causing me to tremble. "Should we take that one?"

"O-of c-course not!" I stammer. I'm, uh…not exactly a big fan of bugs, but I can't quite tell Evelyn that, it'll ruin my macho image. I'll have to come up with an excuse. "That's a job for an exterminator, not us! I mean…who do they think we are, pest control?!"

"But what if the spiders are from, uh…" Evelyn's voice trails off as she turns back to her laptop and begins typing away. It's nice not having to lug my own laptop around, Evelyn's gotten pretty used to her job as my receptionist after our elf fiasco a few days ago. "-An 'Arachne'," Evelyn continues, reading off of the Supernatural Encyclopedia. "A creature who can spawn limitless spiders that tangle up their target in unbreakable threads so that they can carry them over to the Aranche for consumption…" Evelyn shudders. "Scary…"

"Oh, okay, fine!" I snap. "We'll take it."

"Great, then I'll approve the case right now!" Evelyn giddily replies as she turns back to her laptop.

"Someone's excited," I comment as I rest my cheek on my hands and take a sip of my coffee. Usually, I don't buy anything since I'm never in this cafe for more than a few minutes, but with someone to talk to, I find myself sitting in the cafe for longer. Also, Evelyn always pesters me to get something, so hey, may as well drink up.

"This job is fun!" Evelyn exclaims.

***

"Hurry up, Zach!" Evelyn calls to me from the end of my usual back alley way.

"Yeah, yeah, let me get changed in peace!" I snap as I finish zipping up my jacket. And after I put on my plastic skull face mask, I'm ready to go!

But then, when I stand back up and peer towards Evelyn, I see two people standing behind her, blocking the exit (and entrance) to the back alley way.

Shit.

It's the Supernatural Investigators.

The first investigator is a tall man with a black eye patch covering his left eye. He has a dark brown buzzcut, light scruffy facial hair, and despite the tired wrinkles around his visible black eye, is only in his late twenties. He wears a long black jacket similar to my own, on top of camo BDU pants and black combat boots with golden spurs. Around his waist is a leather cowboy belt with a revolver tucked away in a holster on either side

The second investigator is a pretty young girl in her early twenties quite a bit shorter than the man, but tall, as well. She has blue hair tied in a ponytail and eager purple eyes. She wears a gray tank top on top, and camo BDUs and military boots matching the man. She has a leather strap going across her right shoulder and underneath both armpits. Hanging off of the back, is a hot pink hilt with a pink hand guard that wraps around and attaches back to the hilt like a sword, and a matching pink rod sticking out of it, like a police baton.

"Evelyn…" I call to the girl, my voice trembling.

"Yeah, Zach, what is it?" Evelyn calls back.

"Walk towards me, slowly," I order. "And no matter what…don't turn around!"

"Z-Zach, what's the matter…?" Evelyn nervously stammers.

"Just do as I say!" I shout, causing Evelyn to begin hustling towards me.

"You…girl…" the man ominously growls as his hands hover over his dual revolvers.

"M-me…?" Evelyn stammers as she slowly turns around. And when she does, her eyes widen. "Z-Zach…?" Evelyn meekly asks. "Who are they…?"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW THE REAPER?!" The man roars as he swiftly draws both of his revolvers and fires them off, sending two glowing blue bullets flying through the air towards Evelyn.

Evelyn lets out a scream, but before the bullets can pierce her body, I swiftly duck in front of Evelyn and draw my sickle-sword, using its hooked blade to block the bullets.

"Leave her out of this, she's a civilian!" I shout. "You two are only after me, right?!"

"Anyone who knows you, Reaper, deserves to die…" the man growls as he keeps his dual revolvers trained on me.

"Zach…who are these two…?" Evelyn trembles.

"They're the Supernatural Investigators," I explain. "You see, I'm not the only one in town who hunts down supernatural creatures. The investigators are regular ol' humans who use their powerful Plasma Weapons to kill supernatural creatures. Different creatures have different bounties on their head marking how strong they are. For example, elves have relatively low bounties, while werewolves are one of the highest. Supernatural Investigators work in pairs to kill these creatures then bring them back to HQ to collect their reward for their bounty. But…there's one creature with a bounty higher than them all…"

"AND THAT'D BE YOU, REAPER!" The man roars as he fries another round of bullets my way, but I slash through them with my sickle-sword.

"Y-you have the highest bounty, Zach…?" Evelyn nervously asks she takes a step away from me.

"Reapers "kill" humans more than any other creature, so they have the highest bounty. Though of course, Reapers don't really kill people, they just reap expired souls. And as Nestant Town's Reaper, well, I guess that'll be me," I explain.

"I'm not after your bounty, Reaper, and you know that…" the man growls. "YOU KILLED MY PARTNER!"

The man fires another round of bullets my way, which I slash through again with ease. "I told you, I didn't kill him!" I explain. "I reaped his soul because it was about to expire, he would have turned into a monster if I didn't! Besides, I didn't even want to reap his soul, my dad made me do it!"

"Likely story…" the man growls.

"So…you're not the bad guy here, right, Zach…?" Evelyn nervously asks.

"Of course not!" I snap. "I've never killed a human, and I haven't even reaped a human soul! That dude over there -Agent Colt Sniper- with his fancy plasma bullet shooting revolvers thinks I killed his partner! And that girl-"

"This is my new partner," Agent Sniper explains, cutting me off. "Agent Brandish Kardos, who will be helping me to defeat you once and for all! Many investigators are after your head, Reaper…but we'll be the ones to take you out for good!"

"Agent Kardos, go!" Sniper orders.

"Right!" Kardos replies with an excited grin before charging towards me.

"Holy crap, she's quick!" I recoil.

As she runs, Kardos reaches behind her back and draws that pink baton of hers, but upon pressing a button located on the hilt of the baton, a small mechanical whirrr rings through the air as the baton sparks to life, and a light blue curved broadsword blade extends out of the purple rod, transforming it into a plasma sword.

Once in front of me, Kardos brings her plasma sword high into the air above her head. "Your head is mine, Reaper!" Kardos cackles as she swings her plasma sword downwards with all of her might. Swiftly, I bring my sickle-sword up horizontally to block, and our two blades clash against one another.

"Zach!" Evelyn cries as she takes a step towards me.

"You stay out of this, girl!" Sniper shouts as she shoots the ground by Evelyn's feet, causing her to shriek and leap backwards.

"Shit…she's pushing me back…" I grunt through grit teeth as I struggle against Kardos' plasma sword.

"I'm pretty strong, right?" Kardos grins. "You're looking at the gal who had the highest scores in every physical test at the Investigator Academy!"

"The gal, huh?" I ask as I smirk at Kardos from behind my blade. "I take it all the guys passed you up?"

Kardos' grin instantly melts into a scowl. "Don't you dare…GENDER STEREOTYPE MEEE!!!" Kardos roars as she snap-kicks me in the chest, sending me flying backwards and causing my back to slam into the dumpster behind me.

"Kardos, what are you doing, you had him?!" Sniper snaps.

"Tch. The kid pissed me off," Kardos spits.

"Hey, Evelyn, remember what I said when I hired you…?" I grunt as I struggle to push myself up to my feet.

"Um…yeah…" Evelyn nervously answers.

"Do as I say, and run!"

Evelyn wipes the tears forming at the edges of her eyes and nods. "Right, Zach, I'll see you later!"

And then, Evelyn begins running. The investigators let her pass by as Evelyn dashes out of the back alleyway for good.

"You're not going to go after her?" I ask with a small smirk.

"Why bother? She's just a human," Sniper answers as he aims his dual revolvers back at me. "Our target is a Reaper."

Sniper fires off another volley of plasma bullets towards me, and this time, in order to counter, I stick my hand straight into my messenger bag. I lift the soul above my head then tilt my face upwards. I open my mouth up wide like a snake and drop the soul down into my mouth, which slithers down my throat and into my gullet. Upon letting out a small burp, a bright green flash of energy bursts from my body as I feel my power surging.

"ELF SOUL!" I shout as my nose ears begin to grow longer and pointier. "It would be gross to let Evelyn see me consume a soul, but with her gone, I can fight however I want!"

"No matter what soul you eat, it won't save your head, Reaper!" Sniper spits as his bullets begin flying towards me. But by using the elf's powers of being able to transform into toys, I transform into a model plane and soar over the bullets, which blast into the dumpster that I was previously standing in front of.

"Alright, this is pretty fun!" I laugh as I shift back into my usual form.

"So you think you can fight us, Zach Reaper? Let's see what you've got!" Sniper shouts as he fires volley upon volley of bullets my way, but by transforming back into a toy plane, I'm able to weave through all of them. "Dammit…out of ammo…" Sniper grunts as he clutches his eye patch in distress. "Agent Kardos, take care of things while I reload!"

"Right!" Kardos answers as she swings her plasma sword towards me again.

"Weee!" I laugh as I fly through the air around Kardos, who fails around in a frantic attempt to slash me with her plasma sword, but all of her attempts are futile.

Meanwhile, Sniper rolls out the cylinders of his revolvers, rapidly sliding in six plasma bullets into each cylinder, before snapping them shut and aiming them back towards me and firing off another volley my way.

"Shit!" I grunt as one of Sniper's bullets pierces my plane wings, forcing me to revert back into my usual form as I crash to the ground, clutching the bleeding hole in my arm. "He can reload faster than I thought…"

"So can I!" Kardos shouts as she swings her plasma sword towards me again. I attempt to bring up my sickle-sword to block, but unfortunately for me, my dominant right arm is the one that had been shot, leaving me unable to defend with my sickle-sword. So instead, Kardos slashes me across my chest with her plasma blade, causing me to howl in pain.

Sniper fires another volley of bullets my way, but I'm able to swiftly jump back on my feet and hope out of the way to dodge, leaving a trail of blood in my wake. I quickly stuff one hand back into my messenger bag, but when I attempt to pull out a soul, Sniper shoots my hand, causing me to grunt in pain as I drop the soul, which rolls across the ground towards Sniper, who stops it with his foot.

"What's this, the soul of my slain brethren?" Sniper growls.

"Nah," I answer with a weak smirk. "Swamp monster soul, they have excellent healing powers."

"Oh, in that case-" Sniper begins to say as he brings the foot that he used to stop the soul from rolling into the air. And then, without another warning, Sniper stomps onto the soul with all of his might, reducing it to a pale blue goo with a single step.

"Hey, that blood's on your hands, not mine," I chuckle.

My comment must have ticked Sniper off, because he then raises his dual revolvers at me and fires off another volley of bullets. I attempt to dash to the side to dodge, but I feel an aching pain shoot across the entire right side of my body. Sniper's plasma bullets then blast into me, causing me to vomit up a glob of blood.

Kardos then charges me as well, and once she's in front of me, Kardos swings her plasma sword down towards me. I weakly raise my sickle-sword to block, but in my weakened state, Kardos easily overpowers me, and knocks the sickle-sword out of my hands, which clangs to the ground a couple of feet away.

"Why don't you fight us with your full strength, Reaper?" Sniper spits as be begins walking towards me.

"I don't like harming humans, you know that," I grunt in response with a weak smirk.

Once in front of me, Sniper kicks me in the gut one last time, causing me to roll over onto my back with a gasp. "You don't like harming humans, yet you kill my partner? What a load of bull!" Sniper growls as he grabs a hold of my hood and hoists me to my feet with one hand, and using his other hand to place the barrel of his revolver to the plastic skull mask covering my forehead and face.

"I'll see you in hell, Reaper," Sniper growls as he pulls back the hammer of his revolver, causing the cylinder of the revolver to click as another plasma bullet loads into the chamber.

And then…Sniper pulls the trigger.