Gun Elf

ELEVEN

The Steinadler Job, Part Four

The Canton Beach pier was deserted for all except two figures. Both were elves, though that was where their similarities ended. One of them, seated upon one of the pier’s benches, was older. He wore a tight black bodysuit, one designed to allow maximum freedom of movement. His long, shoulder-length hair was dark blonde and tangled from days without a shower. He seemed tired, almost exhausted, though also totally at peace with the world.

The other had a .44 caliber revolver aimed directly at his head. She was slowly approaching his seated form, her long flaxen hair, almost white in the light, being blown back by a stiff sea breeze. Her tailored gray suit made her look all business, which only added to the seriousness of her drawn weapon.

The first figure noticed the second approaching, yet did nothing. He merely sat back further on the bench and smiled, looking for all intents and purposes like he was pleased with the situation.

“Congratulations,” Gunther said when Edelweiss was near enough. “You’ve got me.”

The female elf raised an eyebrow. “You’re giving up?”

“Always planned to,” Gunther said, his soft, lilting voice sounding smug. “I’ve done all I set out to do. Frankly, I’m surprised you haven’t killed me yet. It’d be much easier to bring a corpse to collect a reward than a living man.”

“Well, to tell you the truth, I have thought about it,” Edelweiss said, gun still aimed at his head. “You did kill a whole bunch of people, after all. Some might say that you deserve to die.”

Gunther’s serene smile widened. “And what would you say?”

“I’d say that I’m a Freelancer and one that doesn’t take assassination jobs.”

“Ah.” The male elf nodded, as if understanding something. “I’ve heard of you, you know. The broken elf Freelancer who wields a firearm. The Gun Elf, they call you.”

“You should trademark that,” said Duke. Edelweiss mentally shushed him.

“Well, since you know my reputation, you know that I can’t let you go,” she told him. “Not that you seem like you want to get free. You said that you’d done what you set out to do. What did you mean? And where’s the Steinadler?”

Gunther laughed. “You mean that gaudy trinket that the great and honorable House Mittag so worships? Gone. Into the deepest parts of the Markady Trench. Took it on a ride in my rental Zinger where I dumped that golden piece of garbage into the deepest, darkest depths of the ocean.” The elf continued to giggle. “Even the great and honorable House Mittag, for all their wealth and resources, will never find it.”

Edelweiss was appalled. He went through all this trouble, killed all those people… only to dump the treasure that he worked so hard to get into the ocean. “Why?”

Gunther’s smile turned bitter. “Spite, mostly. I am Jurgen von Mittag. Firstborn and heir to all of that great and oh so glorious house. Yet after one simple mistake, they threw me out. Like trash. Just one stupid lapse in judgment and 200 years of faithful service didn’t mean a damn.”

“What did you do?”

“Do? Hmph.” Gunther sneered. “I was convicted of the oh-so-horrible ‘crime’ of bedding a human. Well, in this case, it was a male human. It was a mistake, mind you, a short moment of weakness for me. It was the first and only time I’ve ever done something so vulgar. The family, of course, could have covered it up, but no. My father, the great Alfonse von Mittag, couldn’t stand to have a sodomite in the family. So I was stripped of my influence, my titles, even my very name. I’m sure you understand the horror, the indignity of it. Of your own family treating you like you never existed.”

The male elf slowly smiled. “But in the end, it was me who would have the last laugh. I took their oh-so-precious symbol, the majestic golden eagle of House Mittag, and drowned it. They take my honor away, well, fine. I shall take all of theirs!”

The pier was silent, except for the cries of the gulls above. Edelweiss held her tongue, processing what she had just learned. She still held her stance, with Riflebird pointing directly at Gunther’s skull.

After a moment’s reflection, Edelweiss spoke up. “I sympathize with your grief. Part of me even understands your bitterness. But in your blind pursuit of revenge, you killed seven people. People who were just doing their jobs. Freelancers, like you and me. You talk about your family taking your honor, but that’s where you’re wrong. Your family didn’t take your honor, you threw it away.”

“Oh, come off it,” Gunther rolled his eyes. “Why are you so focused on the deaths of lower beings? They were in my way, so I got rid of them. It wasn’t anything personal.”

Edelweiss narrowed her eyes. “The fact that you can say that after living and working with these people is truly appalling.”

“Hey, don’t get me wrong, I’m not some sort of elf supremacist or anything like that.” The male elf frowned, a look of distaste on his face. “I didn’t want to kill them, but I had to. They very well wouldn’t have given me the Steinadler if I’d have asked, would they? If it makes you feel any better, had they been elves, I still would have killed them.”

“That really doesn’t make it any better.”

Gunther shrugged. “It is what it is. I did what I did, and that’s all there is to it. Who are you to judge me?”

“You’re right,” Edelweiss said. “I’m not here to judge you. I’m just here to deliver you to the proper authorities, and then get paid.” She reached for her belt to retrieve her handcuffs, but then remembered that she had used them to cuff Huss and Zhang back at Gunther’s apartment. “Damn.” She motioned with her gun for the other elf to stand up. “Get up. You’ve got a date with the police.”

Gunther merely shrugged as he stood, hands held up high. “Doesn’t matter to me. My revenge is complete. You may do as you wish to me.”

She lead him down the pier towards the parking lot where she had parked the Fairlady. The docks were still absent of any other people, so leading Gunther around by gunpoint was far easier as there were no gawking, frightened, or concerned onlookers to deal with.

The two of them were halfway down the pier when suddenly, two hovercars flew overhead. The black, elegantly streamlined aircraft circled the sky above a few times before moving down to land in the parking lot. Edelweiss caught the symbol of House Mittag emblazoned along the sides of the cars.

She stopped Gunther from moving forwards, her narrowed eyes watching the black aircars. From the lead vehicle emerged three familiar figures: Squire Herald Lerner and his two escorts. From the other car, six heavily armed and armored mercenaries exited the vehicle. They wore thick defensive padding and carried large, military-grade arc lances. The six mercs surrounded the three elves then proceeded to escort them down the pier towards Edelweiss and her quarry.

“Ms. Edelweiss,” Lerner stated as he and his men stopped about ten feet from the two of them. He looked crisp as always, with his finely combed hair and dark suit. Edelweiss could see the resemblance between him and Gunther. “I see you have captured our little fugitive.”

“Lerner,” Gunther said with a smirk. “Still the unpleasant little toad that you’ve always been. How nice to see you again.”

The Squire ignored the jab, choosing instead to address Edelweiss herself. “Good work. We’ll be taking over from here.”

“How’d you find me?” she asked.

Lerner sneered. “You aren’t the only one with a demon.”

Edelweiss felt a cold chill run down her spine. House Mittag has a demon?

She mentally called for Duke, but he would not answer. Not good.

“Now, please handover the suspect and the Steinadler.” Lerner said. The mercenaries aimed their weapons at Edelweiss and Gunther.

“Why do I get the feeling that I’m not getting my six million?” she asked.

Gunther laughed. “Because you’re not. Little Lerner here is desperate to move up in House Mittag’s hierarchy. He thinks that by capturing me and returning the Steinadler, he’ll earn himself a few points with those up top. Oh, and I’m sure the six million bits don’t hurt, either.”

“Enough,” Lerner cut in, annoyance evident on his face. “Where is the Steinadler?”

Edelweiss gave out a sigh. “In the ocean.”

“What?”

Gunther laughed. “Like she said, Lerner. I sunk it in the ocean. Right over the Markady Trench. It’s probably two thousand miles underwater by now.”

“You disgusting simpleton,” Lerner snarled. “No matter. We can have another made to easily replace the lost original.”

Gunther stopped laughing. “What? You wouldn’t dare! That’s treasonous!”

“Only if someone finds out.” This time it was Lerner who laughed. “Did you really think House Mittag would put so high a stake in a simple trinket? Another can be made and no one will ever know about it. The House’s honor shall remain unshaken, and you, Jurgen, will be dead as you should have been long ago!”

“And I suppose I’m just going to end up as a casualty of the crossfire?” Edleweiss asked.

“Of course,” Lerner smirked. “Such is the fate of all broken when going up against any elf. Frankly, I’m surprised Gunther let you live.”

Edelweiss tried calling Duke again, but still, there was no answer.

“Captain,” Lerner said, addressing the leader of the mercs. “Dispose of this trash. We’ll take care of-”

Before he could finish, Gunther caused the space in between both groups to expand outwards, creating a vacuum in between them. The sudden in-rush of air refilling the vacuum caused an explosion that staggered both parties. Gunther was expecting the move, so he landed on his feet. Two unfortunate mercenaries were blown off the pier and into the water. Everyone else landed on their backs.

“Kill them!” Lerner shouted as he tried to stand. “Kill them all!”

Edelweiss got to her feet first and aimed her gun at him. A loud retort followed her pulling the trigger. Luckily for Lerner, one of his bodyguards was fast enough to push him out of the way. The bodyguard himself wasn’t so lucky, as the bullet meant for Lerner tore into his neck, almost ripping his head off. His body collapsed onto his employer who then began to shriek in fright.

All chaos broke loose as the remaining mercenaries on the pier found their footing and began shooting their arc lances. Edelweiss had to take cover behind a large rubbish bin as bolts of plasma and ice shot overhead. Gunther, meanwhile, stood where he was, using his control of the air to cause any projectile coming at him to veer away. He began a slow but steady pace forwards, heading towards Lerner, as the mercenaries continued to pepper him with arc lance fire to no effect.

“I’ll handle him,” said the remaining bodyguard as he helped Lerner up. “You take care of the Freelancer!” Once the squire was standing, he bolted in the other direction, more than happy to let his subordinates handle the fight.

The mercenaries changed their target, switching their fire towards Edelweiss. She huddled tightly behind the trash bin as the shots began to widdle and melt away at her metal and concrete cover.

Gunther and the bodyguard met in the middle of the battlefield, each exchanging bolts of fire and ice. It seemed that Gunther’s opponent was well versed in solid spell casting, as he was freezing the air around him every time Gunther started to throw fire, easily blocking the flames. The fugitive then attempted to trap the bodyguard inside a vacuum, but the elf proved too quick, moving too swiftly for him to trap.

Edelweiss attempted to peek out from the bin to spot a target, but the four mercs would not relent in their shooting. They gave her no opportunity to shoot back. Each of them was good enough to time their fire, so that if one arc lance overheated at least two others could cover for them.

One mercenary had gotten close enough to her hiding spot to use a second arc lance. This one spouted fire like a dragon’s breath, which quickly enveloped the air in front of him. Edelweiss screamed as the fire singed her, but before the flames could fully engulf her body a gigantic burst of air rushed out from the side and hit the mercenary directly in the chest. The force was strong enough to douse the flames of the arc lance and send the merc sailing backwards. He landed several hundred feet out in the waters of the bay.

Edelweiss looked around. “Duke? Was that you?”

“Sorry I took so long. Had a tussle with House Mittag’s pet demon.”

“You okay?”

“O’course. That young punk was no match for me.”

“Good to know.” There was a lul in the arc lance shots so she emerged from cover and shot twice. One of the bullets hit a mercenary in the chest, penetrating the thin mithril padding to pierce the flesh beneath. The merc collapsed to the ground dead, leaving two left on the dock for her to deal with.

Duke continued to cast spells through Edelweiss’ grimoire. The remaining two mercs were standing next to each other, sharing the same cover. Above their heads, ice began to form. Like a time-lapse video, the crystals expanded until it formed a thick, block of ice. When the ice crystals formed a perfect cube, gravity finally caught on and it dropped. The ice managed to hit one of the mercenaries in the back, causing him to cry out and drop to his knees. The other merc slid out of the way of the crashing chunk of ice, almost tripping over his heels.

Edelweiss took advantage of their plight by sending a bullet each into their helmets. The two mercs dropped like flies.

Gunther was finishing up his fight as well. The bodyguard was cut up and bleeding from various scratches carved in by tiny swipes of air, each of which was formed to be as tight as a solid blade. Gunther was lashing out furiously with each air blade, not giving his opponent any chance to attack back. Eventually, the other elf collapsed onto his knees in exhaustion, whereupon the fugitive reached out with one hand and flooded him in flames. The elf screamed in agony and tried to run to the edge of the pier to dive off into the water, but he only managed to get halfway before the flames engulfing him burned him into a crisp.

Gunther looked around the scene, spotting Edelweiss and seeing that she had taken out the remaining mercenaries. “Lerner! Where is he?”

As if to answer his question, one of the House MIttag aircars zoomed swiftly overhead before flying with due haste towards the city.

“Damn it, he got away!” Gunther shouted.

“Does it matter?” asked Edelweiss. “We’re both still alive, his plan failed.”

“Of course it matters!” Gunther said while still staring at the escaping aircar. “He’ll create a fake Steinadler if I don’t catch him now! I refuse to have my plans derailed like this!”

The male elf suddenly flung out his hand and Edelweiss felt a fierce gust of wind pull her gun right out of her grip. Riflebird flew through the air before landing on the wooden floor of the pier, about twenty feet away.

“Duke!” she shouted for assistance while stepping back, away from Gunther.

“Sorry, kid. Your grimoire’s outta juice.”

“Damn it.” Edelweiss eyed Gunther, then glanced towards her gun. She wondered if she could reach it in time before the other elf had a chance to cast a spell. She very much doubted it.

“I’m sorry, my dear. I really don’t want to kill you,” said Gunther. “But I sincerely doubt you’d just let me walk away from here, would you?”

“No, I wouldn’t,” Edelweiss said honestly.

She bit the inside of her cheek as she began to think of any way out of this. Would she have to use it? The consequences of doing so could be immense.

“Then that means you’re in my way,” Gunther said. “And as you know, I won’t let anything get in the way of my revenge.”

Edelweiss knew she had no choice. She concentrated. Her mind tapped into the Aethernet, something she hadn’t done in numerous decades. A warmth began coursing through her body, a familiar heat that was as vital to her as the blood flowing through her veins.

“Goodbye, Gun Elf,” Gunther stated as he raised his arm. Flames began to coalesce in his palm.

The heat began to intensify inside Edelweiss’ body. She focused all of it into her right hand, and soon small sparks began to appear.

Gunther saw the sparks and paled. “Impossible! You’re supposed to be broken!”

He lashed out with his arm, the flames erupting in his palm when suddenly there were flashes of bright green from behind. Gunther gasped as he felt searing pain from his back as his lungs and other internals were vaporized. The flames in his hand died out, and soon he collapsed to the floor, dead.

The heat vanished from Edelweiss’ body as she saw the fugitive fall. The sparks fizzled out and her heartbeat steadied. She looked behind Gunther and spotted the familiar forms of Huss and Zhang standing over the dead fugitive’s form. The Freelancers held a smoking arc wand in each of their hands.

Edelweiss let out a relieved breath. “I never thought I’d actually be happy to see you two idiots.”

“That’s right, bitch!” shouted a grinning Huss. “We saved your sorry ass!”

Zhang merely rolled his eyes, then put his arc wand back into its holster.

“Let me guess, you put a tracker on my car?” Edelweiss asked.

Zhang shrugged. “Like I said, we are professionals.”

“And now that six mil is ours!” Huss said. He then narrowed his eyes at Edelweiss. “Unless you got something to say about it.”

“Nope,” she shook her head. “As you said, you saved my life. Besides, I don’t take assassination jobs. Money’s all yours.” She walked over to Riflebird and picked the weapon up.

“Good, and we ain’t sharing!” Huss stated.

It was then that the three heard sirens in the distance. It seemed that all the commotion on the pier had stirred up the attention of local law enforcement.

“Better late than never,” Edelweiss mumbled in annoyance as she spotted one police aircar flying through the air towards them. “This is going to be a lot of paperwork.”

*******

In the end, nothing was really solved. Zhang and Huss only received half of the reward since they failed to bring in the Steinadler. The second half of the reward went to Lerner von Mittag, who miraculously managed to bring back the golden eagle in once piece. Strangely enough, no one except House Mittag personnel was allowed to examine the recovered Steinadler, and everyone just had to take House Mittag’s word that it was indeed the original missing symbol.

Zhang and Huss decided to share the majority of their three million bits with the families of those slain in the theft. This generosity got both Freelancers promoted back to Silver rank in the Guild.

Gunther was officially the one held responsible for the murders and theft of the Steinadler. There was no mention of him being Jurgen Von Mittag, the former heir of the House. In the official documents, he was just a houseless, broken elf who wanted to hold the Steinadler for ransom but was killed by two Freelancers before he could get run his heinous deed to completion. His vengeance was foiled completely.

Meanwhile, Edelweiss went home and ordered a pizza. If the fact that six million credit bits had just slipped through her fingers bothered her, then she didn’t bother to show it. What good would focusing on what-ifs be, anyway? She was alive, she was free, and she managed in her own small way to bring justice to seven slain souls. That was all she cared about.

But, if she were being honest with herself, having several million bits in the bank wouldn’t have hurt, either.

Maybe next time.