Chapter Sixteen: Difference’s in Childhoods

SIXTEEN

“Who dies first?” Roan’s words were met with blinking eyes. Nash might be a slimebag, maybe even a killer, but those independents with him? Roan could see right through them, he didn’t need Darren’s ability. Rough bastards, tough and maybe willing to break some kneecaps, but to kill and die other humans? Roan could see the hesitation in their faces.

“You all missed my little speech earlier. But I can condense it. Come for me or mine and you die. Simple as that.” Roan met Nash’s eyes and smiled at him. He dredged every ounce of ice and venom he could from the pit of his soul to decorate his face.Nash’s smirk flickered, faded, and was replaced by indecision.

“Amateur. Just a school yard bully.” Taoya straightened up next to him and lifted his hands up. There was no burning light around him, his energy spent. Still had a seven foot tall giant staring down at the poorly trained independents.

“You can’t fight us all,” Nash finally said.

“Probably not. But which three of you want to die first? That’s how many I’ll take. Taoya might take a few more, but I will get at least three of you. And Nash, I’ll be coming for you first.”

“You’re full of shit.” Nash didn’t sound convinced.

“You’re all locals right? Or at least a few of you are. I can see the tans. I trained under old Bao. You know what that means.” More than a few faces paled at that. They backed up and the first fissures formed in their coalition of taxmen.

“Who the fuck is old Bao?” Nash asked. Roan finally placed the accent. East coast. New York or something like that.

“Oh shit, what are we doing?” One of the guys said as he backed out of the encirclement. Two more went right after him and with that they broke and ran. Not all of them, but the threat of being completely overwhelmed disappeared in a moment. Nash was the last to leave, but even he tucked his tail and ran at the end.

“We’re going to have to kill him,” Roan said. Taoya grunted and looked over to Moira and her group of people who had hopped to their feet as the taxmen ran away.

“Why didn’t you do it then?” Taoya asked.

“I’d probably end up dead doing it. Enough of them would have fought back that it would have been impossible with how I currently am. We’re going to need to secure this exit though. Or push to the next safe room.”

“You’re a cold bastard, you know that?” Taoya asked. His voice was calm even if his words were harsh.

“Comes with the territory. You live in the Deadlands, you have to be practical.” Roan shrugged his shoulders and put it out of his mind. He’d been called worse by better people.

“Moira, how much did they get from you?” Taoya said as he turned to look at the designated healer. She scowled and glared at her escort.

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“Everyone’s weapons and half the elixirs.” Roan winced at the thought of all the money it would take to buy those back. He had a nice windfall from the fight, but he wouldn’t want to pay that back.

“I’ll start selling the gear. Give me a few minutes,” Taoya said, taking the slings full of daggers and sitting down.

“Trust but verify. He’s not as soft as he plays up to be.” Roan reached into the piles and pulled out the jewelry he’d found. There was something about them that continued to nag at his brain, a hint that he was missing something.

The market opened up with its sea of tabs. Even with his time going through everything he had barely scratched the surface of what was available for sale. The search functions were useful as Roan looked for what he needed. He was too ignorant at the moment to make informed decisions. He needed a way to figure stuff out and he smiled as he found a list of results that could work.

IDENTIFY

TIER 1 SKILL

10,000 CREDITS

IDENTIFY OBJECTS

POTENTIAL GRADE: TIER 6

LEARNING MANUAL: N/A

ANALYZE

TIER 1 SKILL