Paladin's Trap Pt. 03

"It will. More than you realize."

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Panting in exertion, I look over the improvised shooting range that Hivemind and I set up after I got overexcited and destroyed the wall of the original range, shouldering the rifle that I conjured. Holding up a pair of binoculars, I grin as I spot several holes in the paper target, bigger than when I first made the attempt.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this," I comment with a smirk, my ears twitching atop my head and my tails swaying in satisfaction, "It's getting easier and easier to make holes in these suckers. Soon I'll be able to put one between Paladin's eyes."

"It is surprisingly impressive, I admit. I expected this to take you several days, with your track record," Hivemind quips with clear amusement, having sent a bot intended to oversee me this time, "It's not quite as good as a real gun yet, but you're getting close. I have a theory I was hoping to test with you, Kitsune."

"If it's anything that involves removing my clothes, fuck no," I say with a roll of my eyes, putting the rifle down and stepping back from the plywood shelf, "Let me hear it, jokes aside. Can't say I don't want a break after all this sunlight."

"I was hoping to test which is more durable; your illusions, or my bots. Interested?"

Humming in thought, I pop open the top of a water bottle, downing the beverage before placing it in the small bin we use for keeping the grounds clean, "Eh, why not? Worth seeing if I can compare at all to them. What's the terms?"

"You create as many illusions based off of the bots as you can, with standard ammunition, and I see if I can destroy said illusions," Hivemind explains with an audible grin in his voice, the bot's lens watching me closely, "It should be good fun, almost like a war game. Just with no deaths...in theory."

"Wait, what? 'In theory?'" I ask with a raised brow, clearly not liking the implications, "What, like a stray bullet might hit me? That sounds almost like a threat, man."

"Nothing like that. Simply that you may overexert yourself if we do this now. Would you like to rest before we attempt this?" he questions with mild concern, clearly not wanting me to knock myself out with all of this effort.

"Maybe...but I think we'll do that when I don't feel liable to collapse," I joke with a chuckle, grabbing another bottle of water from the cooler we packed, "It's way too fucking hot today... I wonder if Marissa is done with her errands yet, it's almost sundown."

"Call her, if you're so worried," he suggests with a chuckle, the bot waving a hand in dismissal, "You have her phone number, and I'm not stopping you. Do as you like."

Nodding my head, I dismiss the guns I created and give Hivemind a wave as I head back towards the entrance of the headquarters, smiling happily, "Then I'll see you later! Take care, and hope you have a good night!"

"When do I not?" I hear as I get further away, earning a chuckle and a shake of my head, my arm falling back to my side.

Sighing in amusement, I take my phone from my pocket, unlocking it before dialing a familiar number and calling, holding the phone to my ear. Blinking in surprise as it reaches it's third ring, my smile shrinks in concern as the call goes to voicemail, and I pocket the phone again with mild disappointment.

"Guess she's busy," I mutter as I enter the base again, heading for my room and getting lost in thought about recent events. Between Marissa's anger about yesterday, Paladin's bullshit, and the stress from everything else, I've had little time to do much, let alone relax for a weekend. Scowling softly as I habitually open the door to my room, I step inside and allow myself to fall onto my bed, eyes closing and a heavy sigh escaping me, "I hope she's okay..."

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"Do you need to get that?" the Omaha Police Department chief asks with a raised brow, seated across from me at his desk, "I can wait a moment, if need be. Hero business is important, after all."

"No...don't worry about it," I reply with a soft sigh, sad to have to ignore my girlfriend for the moment due to the current situation taking priority, "It's something personal that I can address later. For now, I would like you to take a look at something I brought with me. The news stations already have a copy, by the way."

"What the...? Alright, let's see what you have," he says with a raised brow, this going against the usual protocol of delivering evidence to police first, and dealing with the media second, "I just hope it's worth you visiting in person."

"Without a doubt. You know me, I don't waste my time with small issues," I say, referencing my history of pursuing high-level Villains to collect the bounties on their heads, sliding the USB that I copied the files on to towards him, "Skip to five minutes in. It's not easy to watch though, fair warning."

Huffing softly, the chief picks up the device before inserting it into his computer, clicking a few things, his eyes soon widening. Seeming shocked, the man stares in stunned silence for several minutes before seeming to snap out of it. Scowling in anger, he pauses the video, looking into my eyes and folding his hands together atop his desk, "You're positive that was him? That was Paladin?"

"Yeah, it was. I already confirmed it with the owner of the business, he stopped to brag about 'saving the day' once the Villain shown here escaped," I clarify, intentionally hiding my and Amaranth's relationship together for the moment, if only to avoid suspicion, "Whatever this Villain did, this is not justified. I trust you see why I brought this to your attention?"

"Absolutely. Cases of rape are taken seriously here, and this footage is evidence enough to make an arrest. I just hope he doesn't cause too many problems while we try to arrest him," the chief says with an annoyed grimace, removing the USB and putting it into a plastic bag, "For evidence. That bastard isn't getting away with this in my city. I'll personally make sure he goes down in flames."

"Thank you, chief...that means a lot to me," I say, smiling in relief and offering him a hand to shake, grateful that every step of my plan has gone off without a hitch, "If you make the arrest before ten, please contact the news agencies and inform them. They already know about his crimes. And remember, this was an anonymous tip."

"Of course. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Bastet," he says with respect, giving me a firm handshake before heading to the door of his office and opening it for me, "Have a good night, and take care."

"You too, and drive safely," I joke with a chuckle, patting him on the shoulder and giving him a thumbs up as I pass him. Thanking the receptionist on my way out, I take a seat in my car and think over everything that happened today.

The talks with the news stations took a lot longer than planned, since they wanted their staff to go over the footage with a fine-toothed comb, intent on proving it's validity. Once they realized that the footage was not doctored in any way, they took the story, intent on exposing him as a fraud. They seemed especially upset that they in particular had him on their station numerous times, since he's a local Hero.

Chatting with the police went swimmingly, and the chief himself is on the case. With the evidence I brought forwards, the arrest should be happening in less than an hour. Hopefully it's enough to indict him and earn him a lengthy sentence. There isn't any way he could get out of this...aside from possibly bribing the judge. Good luck on that front, though.

As for Amaranth...my sweet, everlasting flower. I hope she's alright after everything that happened. She's always been good at keeping up a cheerful front, and I can't imagine that she's really gotten over it after a single night. It hurts me to see her in so much pain, and she was so tense while we made love. It's almost like she just wanted to fuck so she could forget about it. Not healthy...but I can't really complain. It's better than turning to drugs.

"Oh! Amaranth, that's right!" I say in shame, unable to believe that I could have forgotten to call her back in all my musings. Hurriedly taking my phone from my pocket, I redial the most recent caller, the phone ringing twice before a groggy voice answers.

"Y-yeah, what's up...?" she says, yawning and smacking her lips together, "Sorry babe, I fell asleep for a few minutes there. Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine on my end," I reply honestly, excited to see the ending of this entire ordeal, "I'm going to come by again tonight, if that's alright. I have a surprise for my, cute little vixen."

"W-what? A surprise? I swear, hon...if it's a horse dildo from Naughty Drake, you're the one who's going to be taking it," she threatens, making me raise a brow in surprise, a blush growing on my cheeks, "The fox one was nice though, I admit...wait, why am I saying this first thing in the morning...?"

"Love, it's almost eight in the afternoon. The sun went down an hour ago," I inform her, internally shocked that my thoughts ate up so much time, "And it's not a dildo or a sex toy. You'll see, and I just know you'll enjoy it. See you soon?"

"Fuck yeah. I called earlier to invite you over, actually. Guess great minds think alike," she says with a chuckle, a happy hum heard from the speaker as Amaranth likely stretches on her bed, the sound a familiar one to me, "Can we order pizza again? Like last month?"

"Definitely. Love you, and I'll see you soon," I say, blowing Amaranth a kiss and smiling lovingly at the screen of my phone, a picture of the two of us laying on the bed together set at my background.

"Love you too! I'm gonna cuddle the shit out of you when you get here," she threatens with clear amusement, making me chuckle softly, my laughter cut off as I hear a beep in my ear.

"What the-? She hung up? Oh my god, that woman is just..." I trail off as I begin to snicker softly, which soon evolves into full-blown laughter, "I'm s-so glad she's mine! Who would have guessed a book signing event and a one-night stand would turn into this...?"

I purr adoringly, gazing into the eyes of my lover on the screen, imagining all of the affectionate things I can do to her to cheer her up, intent on making sure my little fox is as safe as I can ensure. It sucks that she keeps doing that dangerous job, but she still owes a lot of money. I've slowly been making my own payments under the table to Hivemind, the debt remaining much lower than what Amaranth has been told.

Sighing as I realize that I still need to drive for a while, I put my phone to the side and turn on my car again, beginning to make my way back towards where my love lives. Nothing is going to stop me from putting a smile on her face today.