On The Nose

Fate ambled out of 'The Flaming Crow,' the unmarked bar used to hide the organization of the same name. He thought it was on the nose, but they assured him that the multiverse was wide enough for others to chalk it up as a coincidence.

He had just finished providing proof to them, to let them know that Gregovich was dead. Gerald had thrown up at the sight of the head, still bloody from the throat wound, nosebleed, and missing teeth, while Robna had appeared queasy but otherwise fine.

Margaret had given him a generous five thousand Dangans in thanks, which now clinked around in a pouch tucked in his pocket. He was now fully clothed, having had to wrestle his garments out of the hands of a stubborn maid insistent on cleaning up. She was fine, though, if a little spooked. All he did was send a pulse of Divine Energy out.

Margaret had promised him that if he ever needed their services, he simply needed to ask. He doubted he would, but it was nice to have some Embodiment friends besides the members of what used to be Styx, which he considered more like family than anything.

Now he was on his way to his ship to head over to Avatar Renli's palace and receive the payment she promised. Gregovich's head bounced against Fate's back in the bloody makeshift sack it was in, Fate having decided to jog to the Shadow Jumper. When he was a few feet away from the city's gates, he was forced to a stop.

A guard held his hand out, palm facing forward, telling the passersby to stop. In his offhand he held a pike, blade pointed straight up at the sky and haft firmly against the ground. His face was devoid of expression, staring ahead at nothing. He had admirable discipline if anything.

Fate looked over the guard's shoulder, finding a large crater with over a dozen broken and bleeding bodies within. Moving within the crater were more guards, lacking pikes but with cutlasses strapped to their hips.

They bent down at what seemed to be random points and proceeded to study whatever they found, before pushing themselves up and moving to a new spot, their eyes roaming the ground the whole while.

Fate returned his focus to the guard that had his hand held out. He suddenly noticed that the guard's armor was green, as was the armor of the cutlass-wielding men in the crater, a stark difference from the gray armor on many of the broken bodies within the crater. "What happened here?"

"Official takeover of Tangronga by the Rangers of Avatar Renli."

"Where are your hoods?" Fate asked.

The guard stopped his staring at nothing, looking at Fate like he had asked why cows didn't make soda instead of milk. "Hoods and ranger garb is strictly for Embodiments."

Fate did another once-over of the guards in the crater. Sure enough, they were all mortals.

"That doesn't answer my original question. What happened here? Why is there a crater? Someone pull a bomb or something?"

"That's classified. This gate is closed until further notice. Please return to your home."

"Now, hold on, Private Genna," came a voice from the crater. A woman sidled out, in more armor than her peers and yet still lacking a hood. Her eyes were a deep forest green that matched her armor, and her hair was a deep black. She appeared to be in her late twenties.

She fixed her gaze on Fate. "This man may have the answer to our mystery. What was that word you said, suspicious masked man?"

Fate's eyes twinkled mischievously. "Which one? 'Crater?' 'Pull?' Or 'question?'"

The man who had originally stopped him, Private Genna, whipped the shaft of his pike forward with both hands, aiming to smack Fate across the face. Fate stopped it with little effort, the weapon freezing in the air a few inches from his head.

The armored woman scowled and smacked Genna across the back of the head. "Put down your weapon."

Genna tugged, Fate letting go at the right moment to send the man stumbling backward from the momentum. To Fate's disappointment, he righted himself quickly, stabbing the haft of his pike against the ground and standing at attention. The woman looked at him in disappointment.

"For attacking an Embodiment, you are hereby stripped of your rank and the privilege of attempting to rejoin the Rangers for five years. Go to temporary barracks and turn in your badge."

The man simply nodded marching away, as if he wasn't just fired in front of a crowd of people.

Fate watched him go, then turned to the woman when he disappeared behind some buildings. "Impressive discipline, there. Any way to give him his rank back? His talent would be wasted otherwise."

"I'm afraid not, Sir Embodiment." Mortals couldn't tell what Level an Embodiment was. "Besides, if he had broken his discipline, the punishment would have been ten lashes. I dislike it perhaps more than you, but Lady Renli has made her stance clear on these matters.

"If you wish for him to keep his rank, you will have to discuss it with Lady Renli. Now, please. Tell us about this 'bomb' you were talking about. I am sure I can have my superiors give you adequate compensation for your help, or maybe even a token of favor from Lady Renli."

"Well, I'm not exactly an expert on bombs or anything. Did you see what exactly the explosion stemmed from?"

"Yes, I did." The woman nodded, turning to look at the crumpled, gray-armored body in the center of the crater. "That man there took a round metal object out of his pocket, pressing a button on the side when we demanded he and his men surrender. The explosion that ensued killed three of our men, and eleven of their own."

Fate checked her story with the bodies in the crater, the armor on the corpses confirming what he was told. "Sounds like a grenade or something similar. Avatar Gregovich was a scientist with many diagrams and schematics from worlds other than this. He probably made it."

The woman blinked. "I plead for your forgiveness, Sir Embodiment. What do you mean, he 'was' a scientist?"

Fate swung the sack off his back and reached in, pulling out Gregovich's head, the eyes staring up at the armored woman. The woman met the head's gaze, her face turning slightly green. She swallowed. "I see. Are you 'Null,' the man hired by Lady Renli to kill him?"

"I am. I was actually on my way back. Feel free to check what's left of his library. It's in the cabinet in his bedroom, through a portal."

She swallowed again, her face returning to its normal shade. "I see. Lady Renli sent us here to take the city, as she was certain you had stopped your efforts. I will be sure to send word that that wasn't the case. You may leave the city if you wish."

Fate stuffed the head back in the sack and slung it back over his shoulder, humming as he walked around the edge of the crater, taking no notice of the stares the men and women in the pit gave him.