Dreadwolf, Lord of Runes

As Kane’s voice trailed off, the wolfling eyed him sceptically. "A deal, huh…? Is that why you’re holding my people hostage?" she growled angrily, the tension in the room thickening. "Let them go, and maybe we can talk."

Kane simply chuckled and shook his head, “If you’re going to assume I’m stupid, we’ll be here for a long time, Miss. These two will stay with us until we’ve come to an agreement, and if we can’t, we’ll walk out of here with them until we’re free and clear.”

“This is not a good start to our relationship, boy,” the wolfling growled, a little more calmly than before. At the very least, these intruders seemed to be reasonable.

“But fine," she continued, gruffly. "I suppose you hold all the cards right now. However, before we talk about this deal, or anything else, tell me how you found us.” It wasn’t a question, but a clear demand. This one, she wouldn't budge on.

Kane’s lips twisted into an awkward grin. He knew the answer would likely not satisfy her. "I have no idea," he shrugged, his voice carrying an edge of apology.

The wolfling’s eyes narrowed, suspicion deepening and some of her new calm going out the window again. “Don’t play with me, boy,” she warned, her voice a low growl.

“I'm not,” Kane sighed. “Tell me, have you heard of Father and the Cyberkins?”

The wolfling wasn’t sure where Kane was going with this, but she had indeed heard of Father, so she nodded, her suspicion palpable. “Yeah… He’s one of the mid-level bosses in the Mecha Cartel, right? I’ve heard he’s quite the sadistic megalomaniac, but what’s that got to do with this situation?”

“You asked how I found you,” Kane shrugged innocently. “The details of why aren’t important right now, but suffice it to say that I got your location from Father. "

Then he shook his head, "I don’t know how he knew, though. And that’s all you’re getting from me right now, because I’m not ready to share my life story with you. Instead, how about we introduce each other? My name is Kane.”

The wolfling frowned as she couldn’t imagine what she might have done to catch the interest of someone like Father, but she knew it wasn’t good news.

Still, she could see she wasn’t getting anything more from Kane right now, so she scoffed and decided to move on, while crossing her arms in front of her chest again. “Fine. My name is Nova. Tell me about this mutually beneficial deal of yours.”

When Kane was about to open his mouth and speak, Nova suddenly interrupted him with a growl, “But I’m warning you. You’d better make it good.”

Immediately, Kane rolled his eyes in response. “Don’t make empty threats, Nova. We both know you won’t move a muscle while we hold your people hostage. Now, can I talk?”

A furious glint flashed in Nova’s eyes but she nodded, albeit begrudgingly.

“Good,” Kane couldn’t help but grin a little victoriously. He liked being in control of a situation, likely because Father made sure he had so little control over his life in general.

‘Now I just need to hope she’s actually interested in what I have to offer,’ he thought to himself. He was pretty sure she would be, but unfortunately, he couldn't read her mind.

Nova’s irritation flared at the sight of Kane’s grin. ‘Cocky bastard,’ she thought, but held her tongue, waiting for him to continue.

“First of all,” he began. “No matter how our interaction today ends, we both know you’ll be moving your entire operation to another spot as soon as we’re gone. You likely already have a few spots in mind, correct?”

Seeing no reason to deny that, Nova gave a terse nod. The Beastling Alliance relied heavily on their secrecy, and if one person had discovered their location, it was only a matter of time before more people showed up.

With her acknowledgment, Kane continued: “Good. Then, for your part of our deal, I need you to not only disappear, but also make it look like you all died. Blood everywhere, a few corpses, whether fake or real. It doesn’t need to fool anyone for long, just for a few days at least.”

Nova’s brows furrowed in confusion before suddenly widening her eyes in realization. “I see…! You were send to kill us, but when you realized that was impossible, you now need it to look like you did.”

“Not exactly,” Kane shook his head in denial. “But the details aren’t important right now. Can you do it, or not?”

He could explain that they didn’t go for the kill because Luna preferred not to, since they didn’t know about Nova’s existence before, but he doubted it would matter to this wolfling, assuming she even believed them.

“We can,” the wolfling nodded, not really caring about the details. “We’ve done it before, although we usually save something so extensive for emergency situations where we’re actively being hunted."

Then she frowned, "But we’d know if this was a situation like that, and it takes quite a lot of effort and resources on our part. Not to mention the attention it draws to get so many corpses. So what are you offering in exchange?”

“An introduction to legitimate representatives of the Nether Cabal,” Kane answered, gravely, making sure she knew he was serious.

Nova’s eyes opened wide and she recoiled a little in surprise. “W— What?!” she stammered. “Prove it!”

‘Got you!’ Kane thought inwardly, relieved that she was actually interested. He had expected her to be, but had no way to be sure. She and her beastling netrunners were making a decent amount of money here, but he doubted they had a way to spend it reliably.

Beastlings were in a tenuous position here in Riftshade. On one hand, they couldn’t enter legitimate stores with their ill-gotten money, even if they could disguise themselves as humans.

On the other hand, relying on criminal sources was risky. Not only could the quality not be guaranteed, but if they were discovered as beastlings, they were liable to get kidnapped and sold instead.

But the Nether Cabal was different.

They were one of the six major syndicates of Riftshade. The syndicates may be criminal organizations, but they considered themselves as having a reputation to uphold. That reputation guaranteed not only the quality of the goods they sold, but also the safety of the buyer, no matter their identity.

The only problems with going to one of the syndicates were the increased price, and that the only way to deal directly with them was to get an introduction by someone who was already their customer, or get a direct invitation from the Cabal.

In Kane and Luna's case, this had been the latter.

Kane still held his sword against the netrunner’s neck, but since Nova asked for proof, he did a grab into his jacket pocket, and pulled out a token in the form of a purple, sickle moon. The symbol of the Nether Cabal.

Having this meant that either he really was able to give her an introduction, or he had a death wish. The Cabal would never allow counterfeit tokens to circulate, and cracked down hard on anyone who tried.

Nova’s eyes shone with desire when she realized he really could do as he promised. Having a direct line to the Nether Cabal meant she could use the money they made to buy techniques and resources for her fellow beastlings, and hopefully allow more of them to reach the Core Formation stage like she did.

To her, this was the holy grail. Thus, she didn’t hesitate. “Deal!”