After an inspirational speech from Lauriel, Reinko was successfully convinced to bring Vivian with them.
Vivian followed the two elves through the streets of the slums, and they made some idle conversation as Reinko spoke sternly to Vivian about safety.
"Remember little birdy, at all times stay behind us, and watch. If something happens, caw as loud as you can and I'll come runnin'! Your only goal is to observe, not participate!"
Vivian didn't appreciate his use of bird terminology to address her, but she was now a birdkin so it made sense. She also didn't appreciate being treated like a toddler. The truth is, she's confident that in her old body she'd be able to take him on.
Vivian nodded her head and let out a hum of affirmation, but this caused Lauriel to look at her as if she was suspecting her of doing wrong.
"Vivian, what he's saying is true. If something happens to you, I can't guarantee I can heal it. I need you to stay behind us, but also close to me. This way, I can assist you if danger comes your way."
Vivian repeated the process of nodding her head and giving confirmation through hums. She honestly didn't take what the said to heart. Despite currently being weak, she still had the confidence of Eonis nobility, which truly showed.
Now that Vivian was in a proper coat, pants, and boots, she no longer shivered, and actually found that she was quite cozy. She did notice her wings felt very stiff in the cold though, and wasn't sure if she'd be able to ever attempt us g them in Eonis. Then again, normal birds fly in the snow, so why not birdkin?
As Vivian thought to herself, her eyes adjusted a bit to the environment as a large shadow cast overtop of her.
Before them all was a large building that resembled a warehouse used for automobile storage. This confused Vivian since the lower class didn't have access to such things in Eonis.
"What's this place?"
Vivian couldn't help but ask. Reinko swiftly replied though.
"It's a warehouse that was originally going to be used to store supplies for fortifying the walls. The bill was never passed though, and the guards were paid off to stop looking after it."
Vivian felt herself mentally shake at the thought of corrupt guards. If she still had the power, she'd immediately march over and relieve them all of their positions!
"So is this where they hide? What do criminals need this place for?"
Lauriel seemed to shake her head and narrow her eyes, as if she was saddened or angered by something.
"Drug smuggling. These past few days I've saved numerous lives from being taken. A strange plant with 5 leaves is infecting these street, and the effects are horrible. The people have been calling it 'Lucky Withdrawal' due to its clover like appearance."
Vivian felt the keratin of her hands rub against her palm as her fist tightened, and her teeth began to grind in anger. She couldn't help but wonder if this is caused by her death, or even worse; if this has always been an issue and she never knew.
Reinko looked at Vivian, and gently smiled while roughing up her hair.
"Don't worry kid, we'll take care of it. Lauriel knows a special technique to effectively destroy such a dangerous plant. Even nature has some things we need to purge, that way we can save more lives."
Vivian felt her hand unclench, as she felt more relaxed with Reinko's hand on her head. At that moment she realized just how reliable these two are.
As Reinko took his hand off Vivian's head, a few voices sounded out which caused his hand to snap to his belt as he gestured for them all to run to the side.
"Get down! Round the corner and cling to the wall!"
Everyone quickly moved backwards and clung to the wall of an adjacent building, while Reinko leaned out and watched.
Lauriel watched as Reinko began to breathe in multiple strands of color from the air, as if it were being drawn in from the very sky itself. Vivian couldn't sense this of course.
In Reinko's vision, he clearly saw a group of men as if he was right infront of them. Each of them were as visible as his own two hands, and he felt like he knew their exact movements. This was his "weave."
In front of the warehouse, a group of 3 men walked out of an alleyway and hovered in front of one of the shutters, speaking pretty loudly.
"So, we've given out half the quota today. We hit the southern wall, so now we just need to hit the east and western wall."
A man with a long black beard and a shiny bald head spoke.
"Yeah, the other groups probably have gotten most of the vulnerable clients, so we'll need to be very convincing."
A shorter man with horrible posture, and a pair of glasses that were cracked spoke.
"We need to be careful, someone's been diggin' into our business. Lucky Withdrawal ain't no joke, we can't have the truth be exposed."
The final man who was rather chubby with a mustache spoke.
The ears on both of the elves twitched as they silently listened. Vivian could partially hear them, but not nearly as well as the two elves.
Before Vivian could properly sort her thoughts and think of a strike plan, Reinko rounded the corner and walked out with his hands holding the buckle of his belt.
Vivian then remembered that she's not the leader here, and could only watch.
The golden tree symbol on Reinko's belt buckle shined with the light reflecting off the snow below his feet, and he boldly called out to the men:
"Lucky Withdrawal? Well I've got quite the Lucky draw myself. Why don't we discuss this more over a game of cards?"
Vivian felt herself shudder at the cringe one-liner, and she looked at Lauriel who looked even more appalled.
The men quickly got on guard, and faced Reinko, beginning to menacingly walk towards him.
"Hey bub! You don't know where you are, do you? Why don't you come here and have a taste of our product. It's free, something you don't see around these parts. It's better than anything the garbage can offer…"
Despite how nice Reinko is dressed, they spoke to him with enticing offers as if he didn't have enough in life.
Reinko smirked as the men got closer, and in his vision he spotted a few surfaces that stuck out. He formed a mental line between the surfaces, and felt as though he could see everything and how it'd play out.
"Oh, it seems I really did get a lucky draw!"
Reinko shouted out and his hand whipped to his right side and drew the revolver.
He quickly slammed the trigger of the double action revolver and three loud bangs rang out!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
A copper blur flew into the corner of a building and chipped the stone bricks before being sent flying into the bad postured man's neck!
Another copper blur swiftly flew into an old rusty pipe and precisely hit one of the bolts, reflecting off it and into the back of the head of the bald man!
The final copper blur traveled in a straight line and landed inbetween the eyes of the chubby man.
Though all the bullets were fired at separate times, they hit their targets at the exact same time, taking out all of them at once.
Reinko spun his revolver around and dumped out 3 empty casings while taking 3 fresh ones off his belt and reloading quickly.
Vivian felt her ears ringing, as she felt surprisingly startled with an increased heart rate. She was no longer able to control her heart rate, so such responses were natural.
Lauriel smiled at Vivian and patted her on the shoulders.
"Stay here Vivian, I need to help Reinko deal with the bad guys."
Vivian nodded her head, trying to seem more confident to hopefully get rid of the childish treatment.
Lauriel sprung from around the corner, and landed behind Reinko. She the rose her hand up and placed it on his back, injecting him with a vast amount of energy that was green in color.
Reinko felt the muscles in his body tighten, and his eyes sharpen as the world seemed to slow down.
This ability fused Reinko with natural energy, causing his body to be greatly enhanced.
As if on cue, the shutters to the warehouse flew open, and a few men stepped out, screaming in anger.
"Look what they did to our boys! Quick, get them!"
One of the men angrily drew an old rusty revolver, but Reinko saw the world in slow motion, which made it look as though the man was slowly drawing it.
Reinko breathed in energy from the air, meanwhile energy expelled from his eyes and hand. He then swiftly looked around the area before pulling the trigger once.
BANG!
The man attempting to draw the rusty revolver had a hole appear in his chest, killing him in an instant as his heart was punctured.
BANG!
Reinko pulled the trigger again causing a bullet to pierce through the eye of a man, killing him instantly.
BANG BANG BANG!
Three more shots rang out, striking the men cleanly, and removing their lives.
Reinko took a breath of energy out from the sky, and his eyes seemed to haze over. Suddenly he could see high up from the clouds, scouting the area.
Vivian watched this all from around the corner, very impressed by his marksmanship. She felt her heart beat in excitement, a feeling she had grown used to suppressing.
As she watched, her ringing ears caused her to not hear, but the sound of crunching snow was behind her.
Vivian suddenly felt a tug from behind, as a man with a knife grabbed onto her and went to bring it down onto her wings!
BANG!
The last bullet from Reinko's revolver flew through the air and struck the man in the head, blasting him back and onto the ground.
Startled, Vivian felt her body shaking in fear as she turned to look at Reinko.
Reinko was blankly staring towards the warehouse with his gun aimed in Vivian's direction.
Suddenly Reinko seemed to come back to his senses as he turned to face Vivian while dumping the empty cartridges on the snow below.
"Close call little bird, let's not get those wings clipped?"
Lauriel ran over to Vivian and grabbed onto her, hugging her tightly.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't think anyone would come from behind- are you okay?! He didn't hurt you did he?! I can't believe he tried to take your wings, what a selfish maniac!"
Vivian felt her heart beating like crazy, and it was hard to breathe. In the embrace of Lauriel her heart rate seemed to slow though, and breathing became easier. This wasn't because of natural energy, it was just relief.
"I'm okay… he didn't cut me thanks to Reinko… why did he try to cut my wings instead of my throat or anything dangerous?"
She asked in a muffled tone while being strangled by Lauriel, but Reinko quickly answered with a harsh and angered tone.
"Birdkin wings sell for a lot on the black market. There's a practice called 'Chimera Creation' which makes statues of taxidermied or mutilated creatures fused together. Birdkin wings are the best source of wings, because they're large and easy to acquire. Not everyone can kill a monster."
Vivian looked at the dead body behind her in horror, but Lauriel quickly grabbed her head and forced her to face her instead.
"Focus on me, not him. You're okay now, we will never let someone do such a thing to you, okay?"
Vivian forced a smile on her face and nodded, as if she was okay, but she was not.
She felt completely helpless. She couldn't battle because her body was too frail, and even if she had a revolver like Reinko the recoil alone would break her wrists or fingers.
She was scared of what might happen. If she died again, would that be it? She really didn't want to find out…
Lauriel patted her on the back, and then gestured for her to walk forwards.
Vivian nodded her head and began to walk forwards, while Lauriel covered Vivian's eyes to prevent her from seeing the corpses
Vivian felt awkward, because despite being such a strong political figure before, the corpses actually did bother her, and she felt more comfortable like this than anything else. She began to feel like she had grown younger with her revival…
The group walked through the opened warehouse, and quickly began to search around.
Lauriel stuck close to Vivian, and showed her a pot with a vine filled with clovers growing out of it.
"You see these? These are what they call 'Lucky Withdrawal,' or Lucky for short. This seemingly harmless 5 leafed clover becomes very harmful with ingested. It causes euphoric feeling to the mind, while the body begins to seize. It is horrible, and can very easily lead to death. Even the first dose could kill, but survivors get addicted to the euphoria."
Vivian nodded her head and backed up into Lauriel, as if to get farther away from the plant.
She felt Lauriel grip her shoulders with a warm comforting feeling, and the two quickly began to walk away from it to wait at the shutter doors for Reinko.
Vivian avoided facing the corpses, but she could smell the blood mixed with the snow.
Reinko returned with his revolver holstered, and took off his hat and began to scratch at his head in frustration.
"This was a bust. This is a supply lab, but there's no clues to where their headquarters is. This is basically a waterfall that doesn't lead anywhere. There's no river or stream for us to follow."
Lauriel frowned, and let out a sigh. She knew that this problem would only get worse, and that destroying this warehouse would only remove the problem for a short duration.
"We can't stay in Eonis forever, but I refuse to leave with such a problem running rampant. Stay with Vivian for a moment, Reinko."
Reinko nodded and leaned on the wall next to Vivian, while Lauriel walked into the warehouse.
"So, Little Bird, how was that? Was it too intense for you?"
Vivian looked at Reinko, then looked at the ground, nodding her head.
"I didn't know that everything was so bad… I live here, but it's still so bad."
Reinko couldn't help but sigh, crossing his arms with his trapper hat in his hand.
"Well kid, you didn't exactly have it easy yourself. It's not hard to tell someone beat you half to death. Even if you don't remember it, you're a victims of the harshness of this nation. Despite standing as an impenetrable bastion, corruption runs deep here. I honestly wish I never came, then I could've stayed oblivious."
Such a sentence hurt Vivian's heart, because she thought as a politician she was fighting against the corruption. The truth was, in the end the own source of her death was the corruption. The corruption runs so deep that people at high levels don't even know the full extent of it. She thought it was just discrimination and abuse, but it was far more than that.
Vivian looked at the ground while frowning, but she quickly heard a soothing voice and foot steps as Lauriel returned.
"Let's head back to the tavern. Vivian is still recovering and needs rest. This was a good lesson for her, but also a major burden. I'm sorry if this seemed cruel of us Vivian, but the slums are much crueler than we could ever be."
Vivian understood her meaning. This lesson was intentionally harsh to prepare her for what more she would see in the future. They were insinuating she should leave with them when the time comes. Could she abandon her people though?