Chapter Sixty-Six - Deal Making

Chapter Sixty-Six - Deal Making "Huh... guess you were right," Becky--I refused to call her Pikachu--said. There were some two-dozen goblins slowly making their way through the antechamber, moving with slow, careful steps and scanning the area ahead of them. They were led, from the rear, by a larger goblin in armour, one carrying a rusty warhammer who was almost as tall as my shoulder. I squinted at the bunch, trying to gauge which goblins were a bigger threat. A few had knives, some spears, and three had bows. One had a crossbow, near the back, and there was a shaman-looking one as well. "That's not even a quarter of them," I warned. "And some of the bigger, stronger ones are missing." Becky hummed, then stood up and stretched, twisting her upper body left and right to loosen herself up. "Okay. So... we take them on, time girl?" "Deadline," I corrected. "And yes. We see how many we can take on from this batch. I think this is enough proof that there's a breach?" "Prolly. I don't know much about portals and stuff, but I think when the monsters start moving out that it's a bad sign. Man, first no five-stars, then this shit." "I'm sorry for your suffering," I replied dryly. Becky snorted. "Yeah! So, if we kill this bunch, what do I get?" "What do you mean?" "I mean, what do I get? C'mon, I don't work for free, not unless you trick me into it." "I'll give you a thousand dollars," I said. "In the last timeline?" she asked. "No, in this one." She crossed her arms. "Then I don't want it." She looked away. "And I won't help you neither." "You know that if you just stand there, you'll die." "Yeah, and? If you die too, you'll reloop, right? So it ain't matter any." "Are you using my own time magic against me?" I asked. "Yeah." The goblins were still approaching. They'd obviously noticed us already and were gearing up for a fight. "Okay. Let's say that I'm honourable enough that I would keep my word, what would you want... no, what could I offer the you from another loop to help me fight through this entire portal?" Becky thought about it. Actually thought about it, she was pinching her chin and squinting at nothing. "Okay... so like, cash isn't bad. But it's sooo lame. Did you ever get cash for a birthday?" "Sure," I replied. "Exactly! I mean, it's nice, especially if there's a lot. You can always use more, but it's so impersonal. Who wants a heap of bills when you can get something special, you know?" I was starting to develop a headache. "You're insufferable," I said. "Nu-uh," she said. "Anyway, yeah, I want a cool gift. If you bring me something cool, I'd probably say yeah to helping you." "Even if it would mean your gang losing out on the portal?" "Hey, I was all reasonable and listen-y," she said. "I'm good at that... in like, short doses. So yeah, next time you're visiting Palm Springs, you can bring me a gift, tell me that you desperately need my help. Maybe tell me that my eyes are pretty and that you like my taste in punk rock, and then gimme a gift." "You're asking for more and more," I said before glancing over to the monsters who were starting to get close. "And what's a Palm Springs?" "Oh em gee, you need to watch some movie! Infinite time and you haven't watched any of the time-looping classics? No Edge of Tomorrows? No Agartha Loops? Come on, that one has cute magical girls kissing in it." "Sorry," I said. She shook her head. "Aight, let's clear this bunch, then you and me, we'll strike a deal." "A Deal?" "Handshakes and everything, maybe a contract. You corpo types like those, right?" I wanted to argue, really, but... yeah I'd have to think on it some more, but maybe Becky wasn't entirely in the wrong. I was using her here, and proper pay had barely ever crossed my mind. It wasn't like the final version of her would need it, but... yeah, the version of her here and now knew, and she wanted to be treated fairly, and I kind of got it. Weird that it was a gangster punk with an anarchy pin stuck to her pants that called me out on it, though. The goblins running over kind of put a damper on any sort of introspection. I pulled my sword out of its sheath, spun it once to feel the weight of it, then adjusted my grip and prepared myself. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. "Gonna start us with a zap!" Becky shouted. I didn't have time to wonder what she meant before all the hairs on my body started to stand on end, then there was a crack-zap as a beam of actinic light flickered from one goblin to the next. That was some impressive spellwork. Actually, both spark mages I knew seemed pretty damned flexible with their magic. The goblins were all struck, one after the other in the space of a half second. A few tumbled, falling over themselves, but most just howled and screamed in pain. I met the one in the lead with a blade to the neck, then I shifted to the side, freed my sword, and swung it across the body of the next. The goblins split, more or less moving around me and bunching themselves up. I ducked as the three in the back with bows fired, but all three missed by yards. It looked like goblin archers were more of a distraction than anything, or maybe they'd be a lot more dangerous if there were a dozen or more, or they had more targets to shoot in the general direction of. I met the haft of a spear with the side of my blade, twisted it aside, then chopped at the hand holding it. The goblin screeched as two fingers flew off, then I used that moment of distraction to cut them on the head. Hmm... yeah, I needed more practice. The blade was more of a cutting tool, but it could chop as well, it just needed more strength put into it, and for me to leverage its length. More goblins came at me, and I tried to fight them quickly and efficiently. A glance over at Becky showed doing something different. She had goblin blood up to her elbows, and a pair of spiked brass knuckles over her fists. She was grinning, savage and mean. The biggest of the goblins rushed over, and I backed away, making space. "Careful," I shouted out. "Yeah, yeah!" Becky replied. She smacked her hands together, creating a cat's cradle of electrical arc, and when she swept her arms ahead of her, the arcs flickered out, stabbing into a few goblins and sending them crashing down as if they'd been tased, which probably wasn't far from what actually happened there. I stepped closer, stabbing one that was rolling on the ground while still keeping space between myself and the big guy. He roared, then rushed over with his warhammer. I was pretty sure I didn't have the skill or the strength to deflect that, so I moved back, letting it swing through the air with a whoosh before I cut in and stabbed. The tip of my blade met a meta plate, but it skid past and into flesh. And then something grabbed both of my legs and yoinked. I gasped as I was sent to the ground and landed hard on an elbow. Not broken, I judged, but that'd leave a mark. There was water, seeping into my shoes, and I realized that the water was kind of keeping shape as a blob. "The shaman!" I shouted. Then I had to roll as the bigger goblin's hammer came down where I was. I freed my legs from the water with a tug, then rolled again, making space so that I could get back onto my feet. When the big guy came again, I reached out and lunged at him. He smacked the blade aside. So I did it again, only for the same result. He was pretty fast. So I tried a third time, but this time my free hand reached down to my hip. When he smacked the blade to the side, he wasn't expecting me to step in, and he wasn't expecting the combat knife to the side of the head either. The thicker blade didn't bite too deep, not with the angle I had, but it was enough to throw him off me. I swept his legs, then while he was down, stabbed him in the chest, below the ribs, pulling my blade out at an angle so that the cut was wide and deep. Probably enough to kill, I figured as I stepped back. Becky was punching the face of the shaman in, and the rest of the goblins were strewn about. Most were dead, some were bleeding, and a few were trembling on the ground, still working off the effects of her magic. I took a deep breath, collecting myself. Damn, I was sweating as if I'd spent an hour in the gym, and some new muscles were sore. I wasn't even sure if this was good practice or not, but it was experience. "So, about that deal," Becky said as she turned to me with bloody hands and a grin. ***