Kara the Razorheart stared at the child in front of her.
She couldn't be older than... 12, if that. She was definitely out of place in this hive of scum and villainy Kara'd tracked her prey to, with nothing but a bloody sigil and a bare handful of rumours to go on. She wasn't one to toot her own horn, but Kara really was that good. And she never could resist a seemingly impossible challenge.
Strangely, none of the usual rough customers, a bunch of disgusting thieves and sadistic murderers, most of whom she'd seen on too many wanted posters over the years, seemed to come anywhere near the girl, who was fastidiously sipping a fruit juice using both hands from what was probably the only truly clean glass in this sleazy hole in the ground bar.
Everyone else seemed to be minding their own business. No arguments. No fights. Only silence.
It was freaking out all the finely honed bounty hunting senses that had helped build the Razorheart legend.
"You're..." Kara checked the bulletin again. "... Bloodwind The Really Horrible?"
The name had seemed very... weak and uninspired when she first read it, but it wasn't as if she hadn't heard worse during her career between the stars, and the attached litany of crimes had been long and varied. More than enough to merit being locked up in supermax on Marion Secundus, like the bounty requested. Very, very long. Too long for a name she'd never heard of before, now that she took a moment to think about it.
Doubt was not only setting in, it'd put its feet up and was wearing its most comfortable fluffy slippers by now.
The girl nodded solemnly, looking up and up and up at the tall bounty hunter. "That'sh me." she lisped around the gap left by her last baby tooth falling out only a few days ago. "Rawfr." she added when the very impressive and intimidating woman bristling with weapons didn't seem convinced, accompanying the battle roar with a thoroughly terrifying little clawed flip of her wrist. Challenge made, she stared up expectantly. Almost hopefully, but that was impossible.
"Riiiight..." Kara replied dubiously. She double-checked the sheet, requesting the original from the guild servers this time. Something she now realised she should have done before coming out here for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. One that would set her up for life if she brought in the mysterious target, she'd thought.
No more chasing after the worst people in the universe across the most remote, loneliest corners of existence, and then having to spend way too much time with only that selfsame scum for company, forced to listen to them beg, wheedle and threaten as she carted them off to this or that prison, or to those rich enough to issue the bounty on their head. She'd finally be able to settle down in one place. Live comfortably. Maybe start a family, if anyone would have an old, extremely tired battleaxe like her.
The original document also didn't have a mugshot, or any bio data, only Bloodwind's sigil, which, now that she saw it on the girl's cheek, looked more like lines of dried Jumjam paste than forever-angry scars. How the hell had this one gotten through the system, and for such a ridiculously high bounty as well? Biggest bounty she'd ever seen. That anyone had ever seen. Big enough to temporarily blind her to all its potential red flags. And now here they were.
The girl fidgeted nervously, her face slowly falling as Kara didn't seem to be in any hurry to take her back to her ship.
Kara's eyes fell on the original reward field value. She winced. Cursed, seeing it spelled out like that, before the intake processor had failed to parse it. Had glitched, and just replaced it with the highest possible numerical value, which after processing and capping for guild limits had turned into... the poisoned carrot that had brought her here. "A twintrillion is not a real number."
"Ish too." a small voice countered defiantly.
"Is not."
"Ish too! It'sh really really bihg!" An adamant retort. Tears threatened in those big brown eyes.
This was ridiculous. Someone had obviously sent Kara on a wild goose chase... or lured her into a trap. The bounty hunter became aware of movement around her. Too close. Too late. The rest of the bar had been tightening a noose around them, and she hadn't noticed, too involved in solving the mystery. Preoccupied with the unanticipated, incongruous child.
Sloppy, Kara. Real sloppy.
A woman approached, hands raised. "Peace, Razorheart." An ugly, scarred mug Kara immediately recognised: The Butcher of Calix VI, Lena Veys.
Kara fell into a defensive stance. Growled "Not another step."
Lena ignored her and went to the girl. Knelt in front of her and wiped her face. Removed the 'sigil'. Made soothing noises. "Not biting, huh?" she asked over her shoulder.
Kara's fingers itched to grab her weapons. Fight her way out of this. But even she wouldn't get out of here unscathed if combat broke out. If she got out at all. She wasn't that foolhardy, or full of herself. And besides, there was the girl to think about... "No." she sighed, nerves still taut and singing, looking for the slightest opening she could use. "So. What is this? A trap? You all going to punch my ticket for good?"
"Not trap, swear." the mass murderer replied, trying to tease a smile out of the kid. "Sprout just misses mom."
The bounty hunter frowned. This made less sense by the second. "I don't get it. What's the point of—"
Lena raised her voice, trampling over Kara's. "Mom on Ice Bitch. Misses her." she stressed. As if that explained everything. Anything.
Ice Bitch. What criminals called Marion Secundus. Coldest ball of ice in the known universe. Nothing could survive on its surface. The prison was buried deep underground, near the planet's molten core, so tightly guarded that nobody'd ever escaped in its hundreds of years of existence — and even if they did, there was nowhere for them to go.
This still didn't make any sense though. Kara looked at the girl again. At her determined little face as she stared up at her. Her tiny fists clenched so tightly as she fought further tears.
Unless...
"You can't be serious." Kara exploded. "She wants me to take her to that hellhole? A little girl? To a place full of the worst, most dangerous dregs of humanity?" She looked around at the faces watching the little scene intently. "You all want me to do this?! Have the whole lot of you lost your karking minds?!"
Lena picked up the girl and put her on her hip, holding her there easily. "Take me." she said simply. The girl pulled at her jacket. "Us." the vicious killer corrected herself, not missing a beat.
The bounty hunter couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I'm sorry, are you offering yourself as a bounty? To me? To take you to hell?" She stared at the woman, and her total lack of expression. Of fear. At the girl, who was trying to be so, so brave. "So I'd go along with this absolutely ridiculous and quite frankly monstrous plan of yours? You know Marion is no place for a child!"
"Yes." came Lena's steely reply. "Not enough?" she asked, gesturing.
Kara sputtered "That's not the problem here, and you know it! She's a child, I can't... they'll never le—"
A man came to stand at the killer's side. Faced the bounty hunter. Another face Kara knew. Gentleman George, who was anything but. Another high value target. "How about now, gorgeous?" he rumbled, giving her the same smile that had lured in so many of his targets. "Ain't bad for a light bit of work, izzit? We's promise to come quietly, too."
Kara scanned the ring of watching eyes. Noticed the resolve in a lot of them. Knew that if she said no, another would join them. And another. Until she said yes. Or... something. These people were unhinged. Who would willingly go to one of the worst places in the entire universe? Offer themselves up for it! She was starting to wish this had been an ambush, a way to finally get her for what she'd done to them. To their friends and colleagues. That, at least, she could understand. And one against a hundred would have been a nice legend to go out on.
"... Why?" she croaked. Bewildered. Disturbed, unable to believe she was somehow actually considering doing this. "What could possibly be worth it?"
Lena shrugged. "Sprout needs mom."
