I walked to the source of the noise, my pace picking up. I grinned in anticipation as I broke into the alley. There weren't any real words, just a garbled cry, a scream as I walked in. A trio of humanoid aliens were apparently trying to kidnap a reddish skinned humanoid. I found it bothersome to look for more telling details, choosing to empower my ability of not recognizing people that don't matter.
They notice me as I step into the alley, my boots smashing a likely glass bottle. One of them steps forward, barely my height.
"You should move along monkey." I blink at that. Taking my silence for stupidity one of the other goons speaks up.
"Never seen a hairless simian before, probably a freak."
"Clearly she's a retard."
Just that. Just for that. I point at the guy who called me a retard and insulted all retards and mentally challenged folk! They see my pointed finger and laugh, the girl looks at me, her eyes wide as she tries to shake her head. Oh? Well, too bad.
"Bang." A bullet of energy blasts out, hitting the idiot square in the head blowing his brains out, explosively. They go silent, eyes wide as I bring my finger gun to my lips and blow on it.
"YOU BITCH!" The one near me yells and bolts towards me and now that I get a closer look, he does look muscular. Not that it matters as I break his leg with a whip from my tail and grip his head with my hand. He swears, trying to pry my fingers off as they dig into his skull. Then I begin my, uh, well might as well call it as it is, I'm totally mind raping this guy.
His body shudders once I delve in before he gives an almost shrill girlish scream. The third guy is still holding down the girl, frozen in shocks eyes widen and he swears.
"I ain't getting paid to deal with this shit!" He cries out and flees. I sadly didn't have the spare attention to finish him as I liberally stripped this guy's mind. Jor'leh? Huh… My fingers dig in deeper as I dig deeper and deeper until his struggling stops, his skull caving as I get what I need.
Sighing at my bloody hands, not sure where to wipe them at first, I look around at the two dead, now brainless fellows. Suddenly it clicks, right, wipe it on their clothes. I take the time to rifle through his pockets, a frustrating and annoying process. I decided on the second body to just leverage my abysmal telekinetic abilities to try and grab the chits off them.
The currency was chits of precious metals. This was also a cash-centric society. Checking the amount in my hand, it was just enough for a meal and a drink at the local pub. Prepared to go along and get me some grub, I stopped as I felt a hand tug on my jacket. I turn around to see the woman I had helped clinging to me.
"Ah!" She yelps seeing my glance and let's go and follows up with a frenzied series of bows. "Thank you for saving me!" I stared at her for a moment, deciding what to do…
"Fine, whatever." Is what I decided on and walked towards the nearest pub. I walk… Walk… I WALK!
"Are you going to keep following me?" I about face, nearly slamming into her as she stutters to a stop.
"I just, uh… wanted to thank you for helping me?" She clearly wasn't lying… I also knew she didn't have much money. "Fine, buy me a beer or something at the pub." Better to accept the free drink than fight her on something so stupid.
"I'd be happy to!" I nearly sigh and just continue on my way to the pub. Outwardly the pub itself doesn't look different from the rest of the walls. The entrance hidden in a corner of the alley, nearly invisible unless you know it's there. The only signage was some graffiti that looked no different from the rest of the graffiti lining the alleys.
The door was metal and took some oomph to unlatch it and force my way in. My entrance gained attention as eyes appraised me before going back to their drinks or food. Jazzy music was playing in the background, the whole atmosphere of the place surprisingly cozy. I let the girl following me shut the door as I found a seat in the corner of the bar.
I gazed over the denizens of the pub. A classy bartender standing behind a bar cleaning glasses. An almost idol like alien girl acting as the waitress. I looked at the board behind the bar detailing the various foods and drinks on tap. The girl I saved sat across from me, she looked nervous, unsure. I ignored that as the waitress made her way to us.
"Hello! I'm Devi!" She flashed a small, spaded tail. My own tail swishing on instinct. "And I'm your waitress for tonight!" She takes a cutesy pose… Eh… "What would you like to get started with tonight?"
The names of the items were suspect… I didn't want to think too much either. I also bet I could stomach just about anything. Probably…
"Give me the house tap and the house special."
I hand over the relevant chits and the waitress looks over to the girl I saved.
"Ah, I'm good thank you." The waitress gives us a winning smile after that, "Your food will be ready in a spiffy!" Spiffy? I question as she leaves and comes back with my beer.
It tastes… meh…
"H-here…" She says handing me some chits, just about enough for the beer. I take them without a fuss, and just drink my beer. Looking around at the various monitors and terminals above the bar. Most of them were frazzled or dead, but one was playing something. I wasn't sure, but it looked like a drama of sorts.
I watched the show, drinking my beer as the girl fidgeted in her seat. I just ignored her, and she stayed quiet until the food arrived with a cheerful smile… I think when I get the money I'll need to come more. The waitress's mood was infectious. The special was… a massive oven cooked rat. I was, oddly fine with this. I dug in with gusto, even crunching the bones within. I compared the costs and went ahead and ordered another beer and meal.
The girl stared in awe as I ate. Even the waitress stopped and stared as she saw me eating the bones and all. I finished, even polishing off the plates feeling, fuller only for the waitress to bring what looked like a kind of pie, one for me and the other for the girl across from me.
"I don't have the money for that." I stated, just to be sure.
"On the house!" She said with her characteristic smile, even giving me a free refill of beer. Definitely going to be a repeat customer. Well, unless I end up blowing the planet up or something. We both eat in more silence, at least until the girl across from me takes the opportunity to talk.
"Thank you again for saving me." I give a noncommittal, Mm…
"I don't even know what would have happened if you hadn't shown up…" She continued.
"I know bad things happen in the city all the time, but to have that happen feels, surreal, you know?"
"Yup…" I reply not even bothering to pay attention.
"Like, I don't know if I can even leave my house anymore. You get me?"
"Definitely." This pie was good…
"But, I have too!" She banged the table… ugh…
"Why…" I said exasperatedly, wondering if killing her now would be fine or not.
"I have a younger brother and our sick mom to take care of…"
"Oh…" I didn't actually care, but my previous lives years of working in the service industry were popping up. Squidizens were easy to be racist to, er, I mean ignore. Humanoids were, well it felt odd even if I knew how easily I could kill them. It felt beneath me to even breathe the same air as them to an extent. Even getting mad or annoyed at them felt like a waste of time.
Frankly, I was only following the rules right now because it was more fun than just blitzing everything. I mean, I was essentially a max level character to these people. What was the point of wrecking them all? Saiyan supremacy? The hell does that matter? I'm me, and I do what I want, not what other people expect me to do!
"What do you think?" I stop, staring at my empty plate. I look at her confused.
"About?" I wasn't paying attention.
"Do you think it'll get better?" The girl hadn't touched her pie… I yoink it, take a bite under her astonished gaze.
"You're the sole breadwinner, the model child, yes?" She nods.
"You also spend all your time and effort, even giving up better opportunities to help them, yes?" She nods.
"Have you considered, I don't know, ditching them?"
"I could never!" She slams the table, then apologizes as she realized what she did.
"Then I doubt it'll ever get better. Only worse and worse."
"And how do you know that?" I sensed some bark behind that reply.
"I had a friend once. Like you she did everything to take care of her family, bent over backwards for them. Well, turns out her family didn't care. Took advantage of it."
Well, not that I knew it until it was too late.
"Years later we met back up and she got married to a seemingly decent guy. Seemingly being the core word here. The guy had a job, but he was a wife-beater. She always appeared with more and more bruisers."
I took a moment to finish my beer and eat a slice of her pie.
"And what happened?"
"We staged an intervention, me and a few of us still in contact, she went batshit on us, told us we couldn't say anything because we weren't married or some shit like her. That we couldn't know what she was going through and cut contact…"
I shake my empty beer, annoyed. The girl was watching me her gaze unwavering.
"Did it end up getting better?" I sighed. Annoyed, pissed really.
"It was on the news. A footnote really. The bitch killed him, their kid and herself. Should have just listened to us…" But it was more than that… She was always so bright, a model student, someone we had looked up to. And when we learned the dark truth behind it all, when we learned the perfect girl in high school was in an abusive relationship? We banded together to help her, only for her to yell and scream at us, to demean us…
It was only after that event we learned the truth. The girl got off pretending like she was better than us. The constant comments on how she took care of her family, how she had jobs to work. Even later when she boasted near constantly about her 'great' husband in our unmarried group.
I wonder though, had we not pointed it out… would she still be alive? Was she somehow surviving off boasting to us? Either way…
I look at the girl, her eyes dimming. Her hands clenched. I ignored her, deciding to leave. I hear her get up behind me, just a few steps behind.
"It won't turn out like that." she said with a gleam in her eyes as we exited. She stared at me with conviction. I looked at her, and for an instant, or perhaps because of the numerous mind attacks I suffered. She looked too much like that friend, that friend I only barely remembered.
No, she did, to an eerie degree.
"You think so?"
"Definitely!" She declared. Uncaring of who heard. It didn't make me feel better as I found myself laughing, laughing at the hilarity, the stupidity. I felt scales in my mind weighing, weighing between the truth, and a lie. Though, as one man once said, the truth shall set them free.
"And what if I told you, those men weren't just trying to kidnap you for no reason. That they were actually there because of your brother? That your kindhearted brother sold you to traffickers?"
Her face of determination turned into a fierce glare. "He'd never!"
I could tell, she'd never believe it. Not until she came home. I tapped my foot in annoyance. No, perhaps this was a chance to do what I always wanted to with my friend of back then? Oh… that would be nice.
"Well, regardless… if you want, I don't mind giving you a bit of help."
"Really?" She shoved the truth under the rug… of course she would.
"Sure, but first I need to make a stop somewhere, mind following a bit?"
Naturally, she follows. I make a few good turns, making my way to my next destination. I stop about halfway there at an empty alley, nobody nearby.
"Right, here should do…"
"Here?" Her voice unwary, innocent, if you bought that."
"Mm…" I turn to face her. How do I do this? How do I want to do this?
She looked at me confused, her eyes searching around us for something. She really does look like her… minus the skin color, and some other features, but… meh… I step forward, her eyes looking at me as I point my finger gun at her forehead.
Her eyes widen slightly, mouth slightly agape. "Your joking, right?" A crooked, frightened smile on her lips.
"Am I?" Jokingly… "To be honest, I always hated that friend. She always did have a holier than thou attitude. Always putting us down with her minor comments and actions, like we were never good enough. Like we weren't trying. Like it was our fault we couldn't find a decent guy, or that it was our fault we couldn't get good jobs like her."
I couldn't stop, the vitriol in my heart spilling forth as I got up in her face.
"She never could accept we were right, that the man she set on a pedestal was a good for nothing piece of shit. Instead of admitting we were right she goes and offs herself and her whole family like some psycho!"
The girls face froze as I ranted and only when I slowed did something change, the mask cracking as she snarls.
"You think I'm a crazy bitch like her!? I- "I didn't let her finish, my finger gun pulled back, instead settling for a simple good old backhand slap. It's not enough to kill her, I was careful. She fell flat on her back as I stepped on her chest, putting my weight down on her. Every time she tried to argue, yell, scream I pressed down, ribs creaking, threatening to break.
This continues and I settle for simply kicking her when she doesn't stop. When I finally do stop, she just lays there, still alive, but definitely beat half to death. Just pasting her wouldn't be satisfying. Instead, I just kept beating her, controlling my strength as well as I could, literally trying to beat some fucking sense into her. I only stop as I feel that anymore may actually kill her.
I stand heaving more out of frustration than exhaustion, waiting for her to say something, anything. She breathes, a rattling breath. And after what feels like an hour, she stares at me.
My look was all she needed, a choked sob escaping her as her body went limp. I give her a final kick, more of a light tap than anything else. Honestly, I wasn't entirely sure she got it, but based on the way she was whimpering, well, I wasn't entirely sure if I had a point now that I think about it… I just felt like beating her shit in for being a moron and I had places to be.
I left her laying in the street, feeling a little lighter, but still… not near light enough. I should probably beat her again or something in the near future. Just the thought put a little pep into my step. Ah, that does sound like fun. Well, if she survives the coming week I'll see if I can track her down.
But… I have to wonder, is that the right decision? I didn't want to get involved in their family drama, but… was beating her the right decision? My head throbs. Probably shouldn't do that mind thing again. My whole brain feels weird. Regardless…
Her brother sold her off to pay off gambling debts he had secretly accrued, somehow. Their mother? She was essentially dead already. The expensive medication was a scam to leech money off them. The whole family was well beyond fucked. The moment she comes home, well… I wasn't sure but based on that guy's memories that kids going to need to bring her himself or face the consequences.
The specifics were, iffy, but the sheer number of possible outcomes were enough to dissuade people from even considering reneging on the deal.
All things considered; Side quest cleared! For now…