Chapter 8: Thank You

For a moment, no one reacted.

Of course, they’d never seen a Mage before.  Not like Artemvian anyways.

But these guys weren’t just regular citizens of Nero City.  They were gang members and were used to working side-by-side with Mages, Freaks and Specials.  It was the leader who closed his mouth and gathered his wits about him first.

“What are you standing there for? The Empath just used major Telekinesis! Get him while he’s tired!”

‘Interesting.  So the Mages who specialize in Telekinesis in this world have to recharge after using their talent.’  Artemvian tucked that information away for later, then yelled out.

“Wait!”  The Mage’s eyes were wide with fear and panic, but didn’t look to the Hammerhead Gang.  He was looking behind them.  He pointed a finger at the same time while crying out, “What’s that?!”

They had just seen this man throw their mage, a powerful man in their organization, over buildings.  Naturally, they turned and looked.

There was nothing there.

“Gotcha!”  Artemvian cried out.

The distraction wasn’t just for fun.  Right now, Artemvian didn’t have a staff –an Arcane Foci to channel his spells through.  So it took him more than the normal amount of time to channel a spell, visualize it and summon it into reality.  In this case, it took him the time between saying ‘Wait’ and ‘Gotcha’.

“Separatum!”  He hissed victoriously.

And a pulse of blue mana so deep that it was nearly cerulean purple pulsed from the man in a perfect circle, washing over the surrounding gang.  The men cried out in fear, leaping to the side but some of them were too late.  The blue ring crossed over their bodies…

…and did nothing.

But that wasn’t the same for their guns and bikes.

Some of their guns fell to the ground, bisected in two.  Sometimes vertically, sometimes lopped off at the muzzle.  The effect of the spell wasn’t limited to guns.  It continued on to the dozens of motorcycles, the cars and even the phones in their pockets.

Some of the cars exploded, while others simply had their tires shoot out in four directions.  Disassembled guns fell in dozens of parts and phones simply short circuited.  The resulting cacophony of blaring car alarms and steel hitting the ground, as well as the screams of fear from those who had yet to realize they were unharmed was nothing short of a mass panic stampede.

“Come on, you two.”  Artemvian gestured to Chang and Kim.  “We gotta skedaddle.”

The two were simply staring, mouths open at the chaos around them.

“Hey! Chop chop!”  Artemvian chopped the air in his palms.

That action finally woke the two young clients out of their stupor.  Chang helped Kim up, who had fallen on her butt during the exchange.  The young man had a gun in his hands again, albeit a much smaller one than the one Artemvian had cut.  Artemvian nodded, satisfied and began to run with the two of them behind him.

“Not so fast!”  The bald man with the trench coat ran into their view.  His legs were glowing with cybernetic enhancement lights through the pants.  Taking off his gloves, he showed a metal hand which he pointed at Artemvian.

“Move it, cue ball!”  Artemvian never stopped running.  

Instead he mimed holding a billiard stick and then hitting a ball.  But instead of a cue ball, a ball made of pure mana shot out from the end of his supporting hand.  It slammed straight into the bald man’s stomach and slammed him into the nearest fire hydrant.  There was a loud clear ringing sound as the fire hydrant bent underneath the force of the impact.  Obviously, the man was hiding more cybernetic enhancements underneath the coat, evidenced by the impact and sound.

“Don’t forget to smash that like and subscribe button!”  Artemvian yelled into the mayhem.  He had the flair to edge a little mana in his words so that it carried and could be heard by everyone.

Artemvian leaped over the man, followed by Chang and Kim.  The gang members were beginning to gather their bearings but no one volunteered to give chase.  Artemvian had broken their guns, phones, cars and motorcycles.  Not only that, he had single handedly incapacitated their leaders with a single move each.  None of them had encountered a mage this powerful before and without a leader to guide them, the gang members hesitated.

Not only that, Artemvian didn’t even seem like he was taking this whole thing that seriously.

The Mage ducked into the alleys of Nero City and ran and ran.  He ran until his lungs were burning and his thighs felt wobbly and weak.  Finally, the man stopped and leaned against the wall which looked the cleanest, which wasn’t saying much.  He saw Chang and Kim doing the same, the latter bending over to empty the contents of her breakfast.

“Gak… What… the hell…. Was that….”  Chang managed between wheezing gasps.

“Me saving your asses out of the fire.”  Artemvian answered.  He regulated his body with mana, quickly recovering his breath.  He turned to Kim.  “You could have saved five hundred doilies AND the trouble of me getting you out of this mass, if you had just arrived on time.”

Kim stopped throwing up and looked up at Artemvian, machine-like eyes calculating –an entirely human gesture.  She waited until she had compsoed herself.  Standing up straight, she looked at Artemvian once more.

“No, Mister Artemvian.”  Kim said in her accent.  “I think what you did back there was worth a lot more than five hundred doilies.  In fact, I think what happened back there tells me my father did indeed get the perfect person for this job.  A bargain, if you will.”

“Bang for the buck.  In for a penny, in for a pound.  The Chicken goes cluck.”  Artemvian spouted.

The two of them frowned at the mage.

“Sorry, I’m still getting used to the… what do you call it?  Slang? Yeah, the slang in this world.”  He ignored their strange looks and opened his phone.  Immediately, he opened up the GPS once more.

The mage proceeded to twist it this way and that, his eyebrows going up.  “The docks are towards that way.”  Then he pointed in the opposite direction.  “Or that way.  One of the two.  Shall we try one and circle back?”

Chang walked over to Kim.  “Young Miss.  If Fornello and Cray was there, the chances are that our routes are no longer viable.  We should look for a different mode of transportation.”

“I considered that.”  Kim chewed on her fingernails, the lights on the left side of her face flashing a queasy orange and purple.  “Mr. Moneti, there might have been an information leak from our side.”

“Ya think?”  He replied easily, not even taking his eye off of the phone.

“There’s no need for you to look for the docks.  Our transportation is compromised.”  Chang said with frustration.

“Oh, I turned that off.  I’m playing Tetris now.”  Artemvian quickly flicked a finger across the screen.  “Hey can you look at this?  If you squint your eyes, you’re supposed to be able to see something…”

Chang opened his mouth, half a snarl beginning to form in his words.  Then he stopped, thinking better of it.

Artemvian was smirking at him knowingly.

Kim sighed.  “Mr. Moneti.  I’d like to request a change in plans and a redrawing of our contract.  Our transportation has been compromised, which means that dock are no longer an option.  If I find another route, would you be willing to take us there?”

“Sure.”  Artemvian made the universal gesture for money with his thumb and index finger.  “But it’ll cost you, Kimberly.”

“...I will speak to my father.  Would you like to take a moment to talk to your Broker?”  

“Will do.”  

Artemvian walked a few paces away, giving Kim and Chang their privacy.  He dialed Riley on his phone.

‘What’s going on, Delacreau?’

“Riley,”  Artemvain drawled.  “They want to renegotiate.”

‘Something happen?’

“Information leak on their side.  They were attacked by a bald man and a wanna-be mage.”

There was silence.

“Riley?”

‘They sent out a Mage?!  Who?  Or which one?  A Spatial?  An Elementalist?!’  Riley’s voice was panicked.

“No, an Empath.  He was riling up the gang members while planting fear and panic in everyone else.”

There was another pause.  ‘You went up against Hammerhead Fornello?  Are you ok?!’

“I’m… fine.”  Artemvian muttered, confused.  Had that guy been famous?

‘So you got away.  Good.’  Riley whispered furiously into the phone.  ‘Listen, Artemvian.  We expected trouble, but not this much resistance.  Fornello is one of the gang’s heavy hitters, a bona-fide mage who graduated from an actual magic college.  He’s a pretty well-known Empath in the gang scene.’

“Oh… uh… Good to know.  Thanks.”

‘Just watch out for him.  He’s not the type to let someone get away that easily.  I know you’re a powerful elementalist but if an Empath gets into your head… it’s not pretty.’

“I’ll be careful, Mom.”  

‘I’m being serious, Delacreau.’  Riley said.  ‘Listen, if they want to renegotiate, it means they want to keep you on.  But judging by the situation, they know you want to call for more money.  That’s why they gave you this time, to call me, so that I can negotiate on your behalf.’

“Uh huh.”  Artemvian balanced the phone on his shoulder and took out the plastic baggie of potato chips.  He carefully bit into one.

‘If you’re ok, I can-’  Riley stopped, the continued, ‘Are you eating chips right? While we’re discussing your contract compensation after being attacked by a Mage?’

“No.”  Artemvian crunched audibly into the phone.

There was a loud sigh from the other end.  ‘Delacreau, if you want, I can negotiate on your behalf.  Only if you are confident that I can get you the best price.  If not, I advise pulling out.  That’s what renegotiation means.  We might not get the full amount, but we’ll get a good chunk of it.  Still, if you think the danger is too much-’

“How much extra do you think I can ask for?”  The danger wasn’t even a factor in Artemvian’s mind right now.

‘That depends on their plan.  Which is why I said, you’ll have to let me negotiate.  If you feel uncomfortable, I completely understand.  But if you can give me a minimum amount-’

“I trust you, Riley.”  Artemvian muttered into the phone.

Another moment of silence.

‘Then I won’t let you down, Artemvian.’  Riley whispered.

“Hey, one last question.”  Artemvian asked, before Riley could hang up.  “It’s about Fornello.”

‘What is it?  I don’t have access to the police database, but I might be able to dig up something real quick.’

“If you had to rate him as a Meowtuber, how many subscriber do you think he had?  Like on a scale of one to-”

Riley hung up.

Artemvian took the phone away from his ear, frowning at it.  “It’s a valid question.”  He muttered, walking back to Chang and Kim.

The two had evidently finished their call because Kim no longer had that dead-fish eyes that people got when they were speaking through ONN.  She saw Artemvian approach and looked away from the mage.  “Did you contact your Broker, Mr. Moneti?”

“I’m staying on.  The negotiation will be handled by my Broker.”  Artemvian answered.

Chang and Kim relaxed.

“To be honest, I thought you wouldn’t stay on.”  Kim bowed at the waist towards the Mage.  “Thank you.”

“We have a new escape route and mode of transportation.  But the deadline is sunset.  We have to start moving.”  Then without ado, the two stood up and walked away from him.

Artemvian hesitated.

“...You’re welcome.”  Artemvian finally spoke but said it too quietly.

Artemvian looked at his hands, stained with the blood of innocents and guilty alike.  Always on the road, hunting down Daemons that were a threat to the people, executing criminals and training new agents of the crown that would do the same as him.

…Had he ever been thanked by someone before?

“Mr. Moneti? Are you coming?”

Finding that he was smiling for some reason, Artemvian followed them, deeper into the heart of Nero City.