Editing Story:ROAD TRIP! (Warhammer High)/Part Two (section)

===Rough Encounter===

The streets below were congested with people.  The Space Wolf effortlessly navigated the crowd, glancing at street signs until she found the restaurant she had called.  Popping in and finding it packed wall-to-wall, she found a spot in line and settled in to wait.

“Can you believe it?  Another smash-and-grab,” someone in the room muttered.  Freya extended her hearing to that little corner of the room.

“I know.  Was it the same guy?”

“Yes.  They didn’t get a picture, but it was him.”

“Worthless criminal vermin,” the second voice grumbled.

“I know, right?  Fucking Terrans.  They come here expecting the lap of luxury on a Legionary homeworld and rob people when they don’t get it,” the first replied.  Freya risked a glance at the speakers through the crowd.  The first was a stocky man in the robes and hat of a whaler, the second a surveyor for the mining teams by the gear at his belt.

The second one noticed her glance and stared back, glowering.  Freya turned away.  “Something to say, Princess?” the man muttered under his breath, clearly not knowing she could hear him.

Freya clenched her fingers until her nails cut her palm.  She wondered darkly if the man knew the title he had used was actually accurate, and decided he probably didn’t.

She reached the counter at long last and smiled thankfully at the man behind it.  “Order…” she glanced at the note she had scribbled.  “8875.”

“Here you are,” the man said, reaching under the counter and passing her the hefty bag of food.

“Great, thanks,” she said, lifting it and offering up her payment, and a generous tip.  She glanced over the receipt – all accounted for – and made to leave.

“Hang on,” the man said, looking at the tattoos on her bare arms.  “You’re not-”

She turned on her heel and pressed her finger to her lips with a wink, then bounced off.  The man stared at her as she left, but the pressing crowd bade him back to work.

Safely outside, Freya looked at her cut hand to make sure the cut hadn’t bled on the bag.  It hadn’t.  The tiny slit was already healing.  She blew out a sigh of relief.  “Good.”

“Excuse me,” a voice at her shoulder asked.  She turned to see an Enforcer standing behind her.  “Have you seen this man?”  He lifted a blurry holo of a man with a gun sprinting away from the camera.

Freya blinked.  “No.  Why do you ask?”

“Because the man in question is guilty of at least two armed robberies, he’s dangerous, and he’s gone to ground hereabouts,” the Enforcer said flatly.  “Please let the nearest Enforcer know if you see anything.”

“This close to the castle?  What, is he dumb?” Freya chuckled.

“One hopes, we’ll get him faster that way.”  The Enforcer curtly nodded.  “Stay safe, ma’am.”

Freya shrugged at his retreating back and started the trip back to the castle.  As soon as the Enforcer was out of sight, however, something black snaked in front of Freya’s leg, and she stumbled.

“Shit!  Sorry about that,” a voice said.  Someone grabbed her shoulder.  She instinctively pulled free and took a step back.  “Did I trip you?”

Freya glanced over the other person.  A ragged-looking man in ill-fitting dark workers’ clothes and black steel-toed boots was standing there, looking at her funny.  “Yes.  Goodbye,” Freya said, resuming her walk to the castle.

“Sorry,” the man called after her.  Freya paid him no need, thinking.  She wasn’t sure, but that had felt deliberate to her.  He didn’t look a thing like the man in the holo.  She checked her pockets, clothing…nothing was missing.  Her money was present.  Her ID card was there.  Her vox was there.  So, he wasn’t a pickpocket?

She mentally shrugged as she put it aside.  Whatever.  It could wait.  She was hungry.

Remilia returned to the room with the others, concealing a bottle behind her back.  She sat back down at the table, listening as Venus described the Hall of Deathfire.  “The forges aren’t equidistant, we just put them wherever the lava breaches the floor, so some are really far apart.  And the GALLERIES!  If I show you nothing else in my time here, I have to show you the galleries.  There’s stuff on those walls art merchants would kill for.  Technological and aesthetic art, all of it.”

“Sounds amazing, but I don’t think we should go.  We ought to respect the Salamanders’ privacy,” Remilia said.

“I think they would be…hmm.  Well, I don’t know.  Some, I suspect, would be honored to have you, but I think most would resent it,” Venus said regretfully.

Remilia set the bottle down on the table with a discreet cough.  “Who’s thirsty?”

Alex turned to see Remilia popping the cork on the bottle of Saerbis champagne.  “Oh, hey.  I could stand a drink.  Where did you find it?”

“Brought it with me,” Remilia said.  “Enjoy.”

“Excellent.”  Venus held out her empty water cup and let her cousin pour her a cup of the bubbly amber drink.  “Happy Birthday,” she said, clinking her cup with the others’.

“Oh yeah, I’m somewhat legal now!” Jake said, taking a sip.  He immediately pulled a face and struggled to swallow.  “For what it’s worth,” he added.

“Not to your taste?” Remilia asked.

“No offense, but how do people drink this stuff?” Jake asked.

“It’s an acquired taste,” Alex admitted, sipping his.  “This is also…very fucking strong.  Whoo.”

“I see.”  Jake eyed his cup and placed it on the table.  “I’ll pass, thanks,” he said.

The door swung open.  Freya bounced in, arms laden with food.  “Hail, for it is dinner and I bear sustenance!” she declared, dropping the bag on the table.

“Indeed,” Jake said, eagerly grabbing his meal.  “Thanks, guys.  This is the best birthday I’ve had in ages.”

“No problem, brother,” Alex said, downing some more champagne.

The group set about their food, and Freya relayed the story of the strange journey to the restaurant.  “It felt deliberate.  From the way he was standing, he would have had to move his leg pretty far to trip me.  And he grabbed my shoulder.  I think he might have been checking to see if I had a wallet on me,” Freya said.

“Despicable,” Venus grumbled.  “Did the Enforcer see it?”

“Nope, he was gone.”

“It seems the drywall has begun to rot in the Drake King’s absence,” Venus muttered darkly.  “If we weren’t on vacation, I’d put paid to this little crime spree.”

“Priority one when we get back, then,” Jake said.  Venus looked up at him from her sandwich.

“You mean that?”

Jake shrugged.  “Sure.”  Venus smiled into her food, profoundly touched.

“Well…anyway, the guy at the counter recognized me,” Freya said.  “He was the only one.  So I think we’re probably good.”

“Has anyone been harassed by paparazzi since they arrived?” Venus asked.

“Nope.  But then, we’ve been with armed guards the whole time,” Jake pointed out.

“Very true.”