For a moment silence settled across the room. Not because nothing was happening, but because a silent war of nerves erupted. From every laundry machine in the room, water slowly leaked past the seals and steadily flowed into the ground.
“What are you talking about?” He looked genuinely confused, and pulled his hands out of his pockets. I should’ve noticed right away, but his vi-rifle was gone. It’d disappeared at some point.
“Are you sure, Reyna?” Quinn likewise looked confused. It was an act, ‘course. She started moving water the instant I said something.
“The other two already dead?” I lifted my rifle and pointed it squarely at the thing wearing the sergeant's body. I didn’t fire immediately, and instead kept buying time to let Tidebreak gather as much water as she could.
The ‘sergeant’ frowned. ”I really don’t know what you’re—“
FWSH!
A pressurized jet of water blasted from the side of the room, and totally caught the Skullker off guard. It slammed back into the wall of the laundry room, and collapsed to the ground. Its head, which took the full blast, remained intact and outright confirmed my theory.
The face of the Sergeant rippled, and slowly faded. A black skull, looking like it’d been charred heavily, was revealed just under the illusion. The back of the cranium was elongated sharply, and it was about two times the size of a normal human.
My vi-rifle snapped to it, and a burst of radiant golden bolts of light erupted out of the barrel with a sharp whine from the receiver. The bolts of light slammed into the black skull, causing it to twitch and completely drop its playing dead act. “SKREEE!”
A dozen more pressurized jets of water launched from water balls scattered all around the room. Just before any of them could hit, the Skullker detached entirely from the human puppet it’d been using. Black bones poured out of the sergeant’s desecrated corpse, and acted like the calamity's limbs to block our blows.
It stood like an octopus, only instead of tentacles, it had blackened spines likely stolen from its previous hosts. The vertebrae flexed and swayed with tiny black strands like the strings of a puppet.
”Back!” A bubble of water shot forward, and completely trapped the thing's head. The spine-limbs thrashed at the water, but it just reformed like nothing happened.
“Yep!” I darted back with the gap she provided, and barely avoided a whip of black bones. Mid-dodge, golden bolts erupted across the limb and it lost its cohesion. The bones tumbled through the air for a split second. “It doesn’t need to breathe!”
The bubble instantly dissipated, and instead micro jets of water erupted all over the place and targeted the creature. The pressure she could put out was no joke. A few jets missed, and ploughed right through the cement like it wasn’t there. Even still, the Skullker only staggered with the attacks and wasn’t injured beyond a few chips.
“Don’t hurt me! I’m just scared.” It cried out in the voice of one of its victims. A wall of blackened vertebrae blocked the majority of the hits, and it retaliated with a jet of its own. A tendril of black bones lanced forward in a deadly skewer toward Quinn. I dropped to a knee to better stabilize, and lit up the attacking tendril’s joint.
Pressurized water flowed around Tidebreak like armor, and she lifted an aqua-clad hand to catch the weakened tendril. Her halo glowed even brighter than usual, casting a blue glow across the entire area. With a sharp heave, she ripped the tendril back over her shoulder. Jets fired off from her back and added to the force of the motion.
”SKREEEE!” The spine snapped off its connection point with the Skullker. The moment the black strands disconnected from the skull, the bones shot out like a shotgun blast and scattered across the basement.
I shifted angles, and unloaded divine fury upon the creature’s skull to keep it from continuing the assault on Quinn. My rifle, a Ichor-11 pulse-pattern vi-rifle, spewed bolts. They didn’t fracture or chip at the skull itself, but radiance had a suppressing effect on calamities and other unholy abominations. Even if it didn’t visually appear like anything was happening, the weakening effect was already starting to amp up.
The Skullker glared at me, and dropped down to just four limbs. Its other five vertebrae tendrils shot out in every direction. The walls of the basement were cleaved, and laundry machines sent flying as they were hit with a massive force. Its voice shifted to a young woman. “If you let me go, I’ll be good!”
I slid forward on my hand underneath one close enough that I could feel the air vibrate through my helmet. My tail whipped backward as a counter balance, and allowed me to spin back toward the monster just in time to see a spine shoot at me like a spear.
The whistling in the air already gave the attack away, and I was prepared. For the first time since we started the fight, I forwent my rifle and ripped a dagger off my thigh. The golden blade gleamed with an internal light. Wasn’t as good as my—as Barghest’s tomahawk, but it still did work.
My knee caught the ground, and my slide was sharply interrupted. I slammed down with my other foot, and popped up into the air just over the top of the spine. I slashed forward with my knife—
Bang!
The tendril defied physics and abruptly wrenched upward. The blow caught me squarely in the chest. The plate, rated for rifle rounds, snapped. Even with that taking most of the blow, I felt something in my torso crack and was sent flying across the room. I hit the opposing wall hard, and the air was knocked out of me all at once in a sharp rasp. I dropped to the ground, and another bolt of pain erupted as I landed on my tail.
”Reyna!” A wall of pressurized water surged up to protect me. Quinn glanced back toward me, and flung her hand back toward the Skullker a cube of murky water popped up around it, obstructing its vision and mobility.
I struggled to breathe for a moment, and forced myself to my feet. Sitting still was suicide. ”Good!”
She frowned, but refocused back on the Skullker. “Just a few more seconds!”
I blinked the stars out of my eyes, and pulled my rifle up once more. The wall dropped just as the Skullker managed to break free from the cube. It was instantly met with a torrent of needle thin streams of high-pressure water. Only, these streams had particles of metal from totaled washing machines. They acted like an abrasive slurry, further enhancing the cutting power.
The jets slammed into the creature, and true damage appeared for the first time since the fight started. Quinn targeted the spots I’d already weakened with pulses from my vi-rifle. Fractures spiderwebbed across the creature, and a hole opened up on the side of its elongated cranium.
I fired away into the creature and tried to hit the same place she was. Where our shots intersected, the seriously hot vi-bolts instantly evaporated her water. The Skullker used its vertebrae defensively, and tucked into a ball like an armadillo.
“It’s here!” Quinn shouted. A moment later, a brilliant ball of light descended down the stairs and lit up the devastated basement. Her artificial moon shifted, and all the radiant light was abruptly redirected and focused onto the calamity.
The black bones erupted into trembles, and its motions abruptly slowed. A young child’s voice called out. “How could you do this to me? Pwease stop! It’s scawy!”
”Bastard!” Quinn’s jets turned even more deadly. She used her water to pick up one of its own blackened vertebrae, and used it like a hydro powered missile to devastating effect.
Our efforts continued to devastate the creature. My shots inflicted more and more damage with each passing moment. In no time, the black bones it used as limbs clattered limply to the ground, and it dropped. Still, we continued to pound the skull until we were totally sure it was dead. Skullkers were best at ambushes, so it very well could’ve been acting.
After a few minutes, the water walls and streams flowed back into the torn open piping scattered across the place. The only reason water wasn’t flying everywhere from shattered water lines was Quinn. She expertly kept everything in flow. Soon, the basement returned to a much dryer state.
”You alright?” Quinn asked. She still stood with her guard up, and the moon beaming down on the calamity.
”Peachy.” I dropped backward onto my rear, and pressed a hand against my side. Pain flared, and I instantly masked it. Yep, definitely a broken rib. “The plate took all the impact. Just a little shaken.”
My side throbbed fiercely, but ignoring and pretending injuries didn’t exist was an old hat of mine. My healing-factor would kick in and hopefully sort me out before too long. Until then, I tried to breathe slowly and keep my focus off of it.
My eyes darted to the Skullker’s corpse. Cerberus ordered me to grab what I could… I couldn’t this time, though. There were too many eyes on this, and it wasn’t like I could slip something away while Quinn watched. Next time, maybe.
”Good.” She nodded toward the stairs. While I was busy scheming against her like an absolute monster, she was genuinely worried about me. “Go check up top and call in. I’ll keep a watch down here.”
“Sure.” I staggered to my feet, and moved toward the stairs. Just as I was about to climb up—
“Hold still, Reyna. You look like hell.” A torrent of water washed over me from behind. Dust, cleaning chemicals, blood—all of it was smoothly washed away. My plate carrier was still a mess, but I was undoubtedly clean.
I brushed a hand back to my tail. Not for the first time, a pang of envy erupted. Being able to just stay clean at all times was sooo nice. It took me forever to wash out my tail. “Thanks.”
”Yeah.” She waved her hand, and my knife flew across the room in a bubble of water. “Don’t forget this.”
I climbed back up into the dark apartment building. My vision rapidly adjusted to a scene of carnage. Color faded from my world into a dichromatic mess of muted blues and faded yellows. Usually I could see color just fine, but without light that was impossible. Still, it was better than no vision.
The halls were slicked with blood, and a pair of legs stuck out from an open door just next to Tommy’s apartment. A sick feeling welled up in my gut, and I moved forward to check it out.
The inside of the apartment was trashed, and both Peacekeepers were definitely dead. Hard to keep living without a head… Another headless corpse, this one a man with a massive beer belly, lay not far from them. His spine was ripped out. Must’ve been doing laundry when the second slaughter happened, and was unfortunate enough to be picked as the new host.
Domestic violence… maybe the Skullker was telling the truth, and it’d been beating the girl while wearing her father’s skin. When the PK came in to do their job, it ambushed and slaughtered all three. All three of their heads were placed on the dinner table like the Skullker planned on coming back. Their eyes behind shattered riot helmets were full of terror and surprise.
I checked their rifles—yep, not a single shot fired. I found Sergeant Helms vi-rifle tossed to the side like trash not far away. It must’ve been over in one brutal move for me to not hear it down in the basement.
Well, that was all the dead accounted for. My ears perked up alertly, and I looked around the apartment. Where was—
A soft sniffle from a closed door. I stood up and stalked forward with my rifle half raised. It’d be right up this demented calamities alley to leave some kind of trap. Why let the girl live in the first place?
I knocked on the door, and the sniffle broke into a terrified whimper. It sounded way too young. My voice naturally softened. “Hello? Anyone in there?”
Absolute silence radiated through the door. Even the sniffles broke off. My nose twitched, and caught the scent of blood. It was notably different from the PKs and the fathers.
“I’m Canary Reyna. I’m here to help.” I tried the door handle, but it was locked. “Can you unlock the door?”
The kid didn’t say anything, but the terrified whimpering came back in full force. I couldn’t just leave her here, though. There was no telling what the calamity did to her already, and a room full of corpses was no place for a child. The heads on the table were creeping even me out.
“I’m coming in, okay?” I pulled the knife from my pocket, and wedged it into the door. With a sharp jerk, I snapped the lock and slowly opened the door. Just like the rest of the apartment, it was nearly pitch black. At the very least, I didn’t have to worry about her seeing anything.
“M-m-monster!” A girl cowered in a trembling ball in the back corner of the room. Her knees were pulled tightly to her chest, and she was pressed into the corner as if to take as little space as possible. Dark bruises covered her face, and tears poured freely from her eyes.
“I’m not a—“ A flash of red caught my attention, and I looked up to the mirror. A faintly glowing set of blood-red eyes glared back at me. My rifle shot up—only for the glow to light up my face slightly and illuminate the reflection. Heh… fuck.
I dug around my equipment, and pulled out a flashlight. I kicked the door closed behind me, and it clicked on to light up the dark room. My eyes instantly started to burn from the sudden change, and my vision blanked out for a moment.
”I’m not a monster.” I moved a bit closer, but stopped when her trembling intensified. Instead, I dropped down onto my knees in front of her. My rib flared a complaint at the motion. “You’re safe. I’m here to help.”
She just continued to look up at me through the gaps between her knees while whimpering like a new-born pup. Her eyes—one of them was already starting to blacken with bruises. I wasn’t quite sure when I stepped in, but she was maybe nine? Ten?
A stifled feeling welled up in my chest. She was just a bit younger than Sylvie… I slowly took off my rifle, and put it down to the side. I kept my movements slow and patient. Even then, she flinched at every motion like I might start beating her.
“It’s okay to be scared.” I tried to smile. Then, rememberIng what happened with Tommy, I drew my tail around in front of me. Thank you, Quinn, for cleaning me off. This would’ve been so much harder if I was covered in filth. “I’m the Canary of Guardian Tidebreak.”
“G-Guardian?” She asked in a small voice. Unfortunately, my tail didn’t seem to do anything. Still, I let it stay in front of me to soften my look.
“That’s right. The big bad monster was already slain.” I slowly stretched a hand toward her. “Do you want me to take a look at your injuries?”
She shook her head weakly, and hugged her knees tighter. “W-where’s my dad? That—that wasn’t him, was it?”
My heart throbbed. Who said kids weren’t observant? I really, really wanted to pummel the guy who wrote that in the Canary guidebook. She was far, far too young for this. I met her eyes, and my hand slowly dropped. “No. No it wasn’t.”
”H-he wouldn’t hit me. Dad loves me.” The tears started back up, and she broke into a soft sob. “Daddy…”
I shuffled forward a bit more. She didn’t react, which emboldened me. I started with my tail, and gently dropped it onto her legs. “What’s your name?”
She sniffled, and rubbed at her eyes. The action made her wince as she touched the bruises across her face. “Ruth.”
It felt like a dagger stabbed into my heart. Or maybe that was just my rib finally getting in on the action. I forced myself to remain calm. “Okay, Ruth. Do you want to get out of here?”
“…” She was too busy sobbing to get a coherent word out, but her chin dipped softly.
I pulled my tail away and replaced it with my hand. Slowly, ensuring that I didn’t startle her, I pulled her out of the corner and into my arms. Wails of agony laced up my side as I picked her up in a princess carry.
I soothingly rubbed at the small of her back and moved for the door. “Ruth… Ruth, I need you to close your eyes. Can you do that for me?”
”Y-yeah.” She obediently closed her eyes. Just in case, my tail curled up and blocked her vision like a blindfold.
I carried her out of the apartment just as Quinn came up the stairs. Her eyes snapped to the kid in my arms, and her expression soured even further than it already was. She didn’t say anything, but a tacit understanding flowed between us. I wouldn’t leave Ruth again.
With a flick of her hand, my radio equipment detached and was carried in a bubble of water toward her. She nodded to me, and moved out to contact Harbor.
“Do you know Tommy, Ruth?” I asked gently. My tail was still curled up around her protectively.
“I-I do.” She shivered in my arms, and her small hand reached up to grab at my tail. “W-we played sometimes together.”
”Good, good.” I moved to the next door over and knocked lightly. Leaving her alone didn’t feel right. It looked like Tommy was actually going to be my deputy for a bit.