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

===A Night On the Town===


The group reconvened at suppertime, having selected a small restaurant a serf at the castle had recommended.  The place was clearly a local fixture: there wasn’t a single foreign dish on the menu, and prices were quite reasonable.  Naturally, Venus had been recognized on her way in the door, and spent a few terse minutes staring at people until they looked away.  With that finished, the group dug in, recounting the afternoon’s activities, though Alex and Remilia kept their discussion to themselves.

Jake was animated, describing the breathtaking view of the plains, which Freya and Venus echoed.  “I mean, the ocean had its beauty, sure, but this…I’ll remember that view forever,” Jake eagerly reported.

“I know.  It’s magnificent.  We should go out there in an ornithopter and check it out.”  Venus swigged her water and glanced around the table.  “So what were you two up to?” she asked.

“Being mallrats,” Remilia reported.  “I got some cool earrings for Alpharia and a bracelet for Omegan.”

“I bought this awesome belt,” Alex said, tapping his waist.

“Cool.  Freya and I just sort of vegetated up on the highest terrace,” Venus said.  “It’s surprising how cool it is up there.  It’s even cooler on the ocean side.”

“Yeah, I was boiling on the street,” Jake said, ruefully showing where he had burned even through the lotion.

As the group finished their dessert, they headed out for the bar they had spotted earlier.  Venus carefully adjusted her glasses over her eyes and moved in the center of the group as they entered.

The place was dark, smoky, and loud.  The five teens made their way up to the bar and ordered, though Jake as always abstained.  As they found stools at the end of the table, Jake glanced around the bar.  “Huh.  Looks pretty popular.”

“We try,” the bartender said, sliding a beer down to Alex.  The man was stocky, well-built, with dark hair and intense eyes.  The tattoos on his wrists said ‘ex-PDF’ to the three Royal daughters.  “You kids new in town?”

“Tourists,” Alex answered for all five.

“In this place?  Ballsy,” the bartender said.  “People around here don’t take too kindly to foreigners with all the shootings going on.”

“Shootings?” Venus asked.

“Every damn month now.  Violent crime is up nine hundred percent from ten years ago,” the bartender said darkly.  “All of it off-world smugglers in their damnable turf wars.”

“Well, that sucks.  But we’re just here to see the city before we head out,” Venus assured him.

The bartender looked her over.  “You’re a tourist too?”

“Yep.”

“You look Nocturnean.”

“I was born here.  Lived for the last fifteen years on Terra with my father,” Venus explained.  It happened to be true.  “These two are my cousins,” she said, gesturing at Freya and Remilia on either side of her.

“Ah.  Well, enjoy your stay, just don’t get too close to the tunnels,” the bartender said.  “Half the shootings happen down here.”

“We’ll be careful,” Jake said.

The bartender nodded.  “Sure.  Let’s see some ID, by the by,” he said.  All five dutifully presented their cards.  The bartender stopped dead when he saw the names.  “Oh…”

Venus winked at him over her sunglasses.  “Hush.  It’s just a night out.”

“I see.  Well…I’m honored, your Highness,” he said quietly.  “What else can I get you?”

“Just a lager, thanks.  I’m stuffed,” she said.  He grabbed one and slid it down to her.

“Where’s the head?” Jake asked, glancing side to side.

“Over behind the pool tables,” the barkeep said, gesturing.

“Thanks.”  Jake stood up and made his way over as the others started on their drinks.

“So, what brings you home, Princess?” the barkeep respectfully inquired.

“It was time to see it first-hand.  I’m hardly staying,” Venus said with a shrug.  “I have college commitments on Terra.”

“I understand.”  The bartender swept their caps into the trash and took a respectful step back.  “How do you find Nocturne so far?”

“Hard.  Gratifyingly so,” Venus said, sipping her uninspired beer.


Several things happened at once.

Jake opened the door to the bathroom and started to make his way across the room to his seat.

A green object soared through the air.

''clunk''

''thud''

“OW!”

The bartender gasped and shouted.  “None of that!”

Jake collapsed on the floor of the bar.

The room went silent, then loud.

The plainclothes shot to their feet, needle guns in hand.

Alex flew off his stool and sprinted over to where his friend lay crumpled.

Freya’s bottle shattered against the bar.

Several patrons stood, some wavering, some not.

Jake lay on his back on the floor, cradling the spot where the missile had struck him.  The back of his head was a mess of broken glass, hair, and blood.  Alex knelt by his side, tilting his head up.  “Ow…” Jake whimpered.

“Quiet, man, someone hit you with a bottle,” Alex whispered.

“I can’t hear you,” Jake managed.

“Shhh, man, shhh,” Alex whispered, putting his hand to his lips.

“More than you deserve, shit-heel,” one of the standing patrons said darkly.

“You stupid son of a bitch, you sit the fuck down until the Enforcers get here!” the barkeep roared.

“Cram it.”  The patron took another step forward.

“Kneel,” Venus snarled, rising to her feet.

“Fuck off,” the man rumbled, drawing a knife from his pocket.  A few people around him tried to grab him, but he slid free.  “This is payback.”

“By the name of the Drake King, I command you to '''KNEEL'''!” Venus suddenly screamed.
The would-be killer spun, rage in his eyes.

The room turned bright red.  It went silent.  The plainclothes started slamming the butts of their guns into the backs of the people still standing, forcing them down.

Venus had ripped her glasses off and kicked her stool away.  The rage in her was incandescent.  The heat from her skin drew vapor from the drops of beer from Freya’s broken bottle.  The light from her eyes was so bright that even Remilia couldn’t look at them.  It was so bright, that if anyone present had been able to meet her gaze, they would have SEEN the swirls and movement of light within the depthless orbs.

Every single person in the room save the bartender and Venus was on their knees in an instant.  Remilia sank into a crouch.  Freya was nowhere to be seen.

“Barman, call the Enforcers, a medicae truck, and a coroner,” Venus whispered in a voice from the grave.

“As you wish, your Highness Venus,” he managed, his dark skin turning deathly grey.

Venus took a single step forward.  The brilliant light from her eyes surged over to where Alex was still trying to keep Jake conscious.  The vaguest flicker of red in the darkest corner of the room indicated that Freya was on the move, impromptu weapon in hand.  In an instant, she was gone.

“I return to my home and hear of smugglers.  I hear of petty crime and off-world criminals,” Venus hissed.  “And now…revenge killings…against a Terran who arrived in the city TODAY?!”

“My...your Highness,” the man with the knife managed, “I beg your mercy, I sought only retribution for the death of my son-”

“BY CAVING IN THE HEAD OF MY BOYFRIEND?” Venus roared.  She switched to Old Nocturnean, quite unconsciously.  “YOU POLLUTE MY WORLD!”

“I didn’t know who he was!” the man wailed.

“No,” Venus grated out in Gothic.  “You DIDN’T!  BUT YOU STILL MADE TO SLAY HIM!”  Her eyes actually managed to brighten.  The tears of regret and sudden horror on the man’s face glimmered in the light.  “'''MURDERER!'''” she thundered.

“Forgive me,” he sobbed.

Venus bared her teeth, and clenched her fists so hard a drop of blood oozed from both palms.  “No.”

“Venus?” Jake managed from the floor.  “I can’t hear you.”

Her inhuman gaze flicked to him.  He blinked and shied away from her brilliance.

One of the plainclothesmen struggled to his feet and leveled his needle pistol at the man with the knife.  The room was so quiet that the sounds of the approaching medicae truck sounded as loud as an orchestra.

“…Throw him into the darkest pits in the Castle.  Then forget you put him there,” Venus hissed.

“As you wish, your Royal Highness,” the serf said, holstering his pistol and dragging the weeping man out.

Her eyes swept the prostrate crowd.  “Should any man henceforth spill Jacob Seager’s blood…the transgressor shall be taken to Prometheus to be turned into a combat servitor, while fully conscious,” Venus whispered.

“Ave Imperator,” a serf said, holstering their weapon and shoving people near the door out of the medicae’s path.

Freya flickered out of the shadows cast by Venus’ eyes, bulldozing a path straight to Jake for the medic.

The medic brushed Alex aside, checking Jake’s pulse.

“I can’t hear,” Jake groaned.

“Massive concussion, at least,” the medic murmured.  “Let’s get you out of here, your Lordship,” he said, gingerly lifting Jake into a waiting gurney.

What little presence of mind Jake had left kept him silent until the gurney was out of the building.  Freya vanished back into the shadows as Alex slowly wiped the blood from his hands.  Remilia rose from her crouch, stomach roiling in fear.

“No mercy for the indiscriminate,” Venus whispered in Old Nocturnean.

Venus swept out of the building, climbing into the back of the ambulance.  The Enforcers outside paused to allow Alex and Remilia into the car they had called as Freya somehow materialized at the door.

“Venus…what happened?” Jake managed.  A medic dug a blood donor card out of Jake’s wallet and paged through the IV bags on the interior of the truck.

“One of my people tried to slay their rightful Prince,” Venus snarled.  She locked Jake’s hand in a death grip.  “Don’t fall asleep, Jake.”

“What?” Jake whispered.

“The concussion has given him severe tinnitus, your Royal Highness,” the medic nervously asserted.  “He will recover if we can get that wound stitched and he gets about a day of sleep.”

“What?” Jake asked louder, clearly on the verge of panic.

Venus glanced down at him, her wrath instantly gone.  She leaned down and held his cheek with her free hand, speaking slowly, her eyes closed to protect his.  “You.  Are.  Hurt.  Be.  Still,” she said.

“Okay,” Jake managed.  “What happened?”

“Someone.  Tried.  To.  Ki…hurt.  You,” Venus said.  As she said it, she felt her arms turn to water.  The air in the rattling truck seemed to shrink and cool as the pure, molten rage in her vanished, and her eyes and skin reverted to normal.

“It worked,” Jake whimpered, clearly having missed the word Venus couldn’t bring herself to say.

Venus suddenly shook, fear and loathing and sorrow twisting her stomach into knots.  She made a valiant effort not to be sick on her boyfriend’s body.  “No,” she whispered.  She buried her face in his chest and sobbed.