Chapter 34

It was a rough plan, the kind that’s bound to go sideways, still; it could’ve worked if this had been any other ‘normal’ sort of situation.

We walked along the side of the road, bags over shoulder, ropes and zip ties and tape in the bags (why this particular car had all those things I still wonder about). The house had nothing in it that I could detect, so it was either empty or anyone in there was a Norm. I glanced at where Robbie was (approximately) and nodded towards the front porch. “Empty.” came the disembodied voice back at me from a little further back than I’d assumed he’d be. Robbie had mentioned that he couldn’t move fast when using Fade, and I slowed my approach further to allow him and I to arrive at the huge shed in the backyard at the same time.

“Still just the eight, all Weapons.” He whispered, I couldn’t see him but I could hear the tension in his voice. I turned the knob on the blank steel door, the first two of those Weapons inside just popping onto my Skills range at about the same time.

From the look of their inventory, they’d be level one’s, possibly two’s. This fit with what Robbie had told me a few minutes ago. Step in, pull weapons from anyone in the room, Robbie approaches the girl while I distract everyone and...

The plan went right off the rails right fucking there.

They were making Porn, cameras set up and running (as we would find out later), lights on, and ‘talent’ in place. The male ‘talent’ was very talented indeed, like 10 inches kind of talent. The female ‘talent’ was the one with the collar on. A chain ran from the floor and around her neck (presumably through the collar) and back into a ring bolted to the floor then into the hand of the male, who was holding it, her hair, and her hips as he rode her doggystyle from behind, one of his cloven feet up on a convenient chair to allow for a good angle for filming.

I stood still, momentarily shocked at what I was seeing. From the vantage point we had, nobody but the miserable looking girl had seen us yet but we could see everything.

By now most people interested in Weapons and Portals (or violence, or porn) have seen this particular recording. It is perhaps one of the most famous (amateur) recordings of a ‘Weapon fight’ that exists, and definitely the only one that has one of the fighters naked; one with the head and legs of a goat. Fortunately Rob had his back to the camera when he was ‘in frame’ and avoided using his Skill and disappearing during the battle.

Robbie roared something incomprehensible and ran past me, shedding invisibility as he did so and drawing his short sword while throwing his knife with his off-hand. Goat-man looked up and batted the knife away with the back of his hands, avoiding a knife to the chest, but taking a small cut on his forearm.