The Outlands

After watching a couple more episodes, Tess came to the conclusion that Marley was brave to the point of foolishness. He was single-mindedly devoted to sharing the truth with people, and he did so at the risk of his own safety. In a way, she respected it, but if she ever encountered the man again, she would be sure to tell him to cut back a bit.

Towards the end of the second episode, the gods informed Tess and her wives that Aaron and his cronies would be there within twenty minutes, so they had finished the episode and then waited near the door for Aaron to arrive. And they didn’t have to wait long; roughly five minutes after they had gotten into position, Tess heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway.

She stood next to the door, then, when her tremorsense indicated that someone was about to knock on the door, she opened it. “I’m not joining your parents’ company.” She said flatly.

Aaron started at her for a moment, face growing red. “That’s rude!” He exclaimed. “Don’t just assume what my business here is!”

Tess rolled her eyes. “I’m not. I know that’s why you’re here. You individually might have other motives, but I know very well that your parents put you up to this. Don’t underestimate me.”

Aaron took a deep breath, gaze flicking towards his side, where two guards that had been hiding were now coming into view. “And yet it seems you haven’t realized that I’m not here to ask. I’m going to give you two options; you can submit to me and come willingly, becoming my woman and gaining a measure of power in the company, or we can drag you there by force and keep you as a lab rat. I think the choice should be obvious, even to you.”

“I knew.” Tess replied evenly. “Have you considered that your threats just don’t scare me?”

“They should. We have the police in this town in our pockets, and we’ve come armed to the teeth. There’s no help coming, and we’re not afraid to shoot.”

The guards drew their rifles threateningly, but Tess only gave them a disinterested glance. “If guns worked on people like me, we wouldn’t need Hunters.” She said.

“Perhaps, but can you say the same about your family?” Aaron asked.

“Do I need to?” Tess retorted. “I know you’re threatening them, but I highly doubt you’re capable of making good on those threats.”

“Of course I can!” Aaron snapped. “Even if you can protect them now, can you protect them around the clock? Can you stop them from being taken away by the police? I highly doubt it. So, last chance to come peacefully.” He stepped to the side, and his guards raised their guns and made a show of taking the safeties off.

Tess sighed. “Not gonna work, fellas.” She said. “Watch.” She lifted her shirt to expose her belly, then cast a quick spell that would pull the trigger on one of the rifles, and another to boost her defenses as much as possible in case the bullet hit her in the short time her damage reduction wasn’t active. There was a muffled bang as the rifle shot, and a moment later the bullet impacted her belly and bounced off harmlessly. Of course, she could have taken it with her shirt, which was actually her armor transformed to look like a t-shirt, but she felt like this would be a more impactful display.

She watched in satisfaction as Aaron and his guards stared at her in astonishment. “See? Not a threat. And forget about the guys in the back. You’ll find my family can take care of themselves just fine.”

“Have you not considered that we could just…move?” Tess asked. “Or that we have connections to people that could get us out of harassment by the police department of a small town like this? Honestly, I’m more surprised at the shortsightedness of your parents than anything. For all they know, I’d have the capability to collapse their company if I was threatened. Which, by the way, I would be capable of doing. I’m choosing not to because I think the people working for you mostly don’t deserve that.”

There was a surprised yell from behind the house, another muffled gunshot, then a couple of thuds. “Seems your family aren’t as capable as you thought.” Aaron taunted.

Tess held up a hand. “Give them a moment.”

And, sure enough, a few moments later Ellie and Maven came around the side of the house, each effortlessly carrying a guard. “Found these intruders!” Ellie said cheerfully. “We’ve taken care of them for you.”

“The cameras saw the whole thing.” Maven added. “We’ve got video to share online if they try and claim we assaulted them.”

Tess gave Aaron a cold look. “As you can see, they can handle themselves. And I would take the opportunity to remind you that, as magic users, we have connections in very high places. Tell your parents that, if they drop the matter here and never contact us again, we will be turn the other cheek. If they don’t, then we’ll ruin them. This is their first and only warning, understand?”

Tess paused. “That being said, you specifically are past due for a humbling.” Before the guards could react, Tess ran forward and unsheathed her claws, slicing into their guns and rendering them useless. Isabella, bring me his phone, please. Tess instructed. It’s in his front-right pocket. Oh, and be visible while you do, I want them to see.

Isabella surged out of Tess and towards Aaron, plunging her hand into his pocket and bringing out the phone within before returning to Tess.

“H-hey, give that back!” Aaron cried. “That’s theft!”

Tess took the phone from Isabella, and Isabella went back to her customary place inside Tess. “I’ll give you two options here.” She said. “You can either cooperate and tell me your phone’s password, and I’ll give it back to you when I’m done, or you can not cooperate, I’ll break in, and destroy the phone when I’m done with it. Which do you choose?”

Aaron hesitated. “It’s biometrically locked, you can’t get in with just my password.”

“Then unlock it with your fingerprint or whatever.” Tess replied calmly.

“Your parents can get you a new phone.” One of the guards said. “Don’t give in to her demands, she’s trying to trick you so she can ruin your reputation.”

“Fine.” Aaron said. “I won’t help you.”

Tess shrugged. “Your loss.”

Tess felt the indicator that her mother wanted to Descend, and she let her do so. She felt as Fortune cast some sort of spell, and then the phone unlocked.

There you go, sweetie. Fortune said. I’ll stay here in case you need me to get into his socials or something but he’s probably still signed in.

Tess turned the phone to show Aaron and his guards. “See? Now you’re just out a phone.” She turned the phone back and found the camera app, then took a couple of pictures of the scene before opening the first social media app she saw. She attached the pictures to a new post that read “Just tried to strongarm a few young women into forced labor for my parents’ company! Also tried to force one into becoming ‘my woman’, which I’m pretty sure is at least adjacent to sex trafficking. It’s going great, as you can tell!”

She uploaded it, then did the same on every other social media app she found. Alright, Mom, thanks for your help, I’ve got this from here.

Anytime! Fortune replied. Love you!

Love you too!

Fortune stopped the Descent, and Tess held the phone out on a palm before slicing it to small pieces with her claws and turning Phoenix Fire as hot as it could go, watching as parts of the phone began to warp and melt. She added some of the acid and base her claws could secrete for good measure, then after a few moments proffered the remains to Aaron. “There you go, you can have it back if you want. It’s really hot, though, and there’s probably still some acid on it, but if you have really heavy-duty gloves you can probably handle it safely.”

Aaron and the guards stared at the remains of the phone dumbfoundedly, right up until Ellie dropped the guard she was carrying and the thud brought them back to reality. “Please do remember that that phone could just as easily have been you.” Ellie said cheerfully. “We’re not doing that because we think killing for stuff like this is wrong, but know that if you keep pushing us, you’re doing so at your own risk, and we may have to get rougher. Yes, that is a threat, and yes, we are capable of following through. Don’t test us.”

“And who’s this?” Aaron asked warily, glaring at Maven. “I’d assume she’s a hired goon, but she doesn’t look the type.”

“Not everyone needs to ‘hire goons’.” Ellie replied. “This is Maven, she’s married to Tess and I.”

Aaron looked between Tess, Ellie, and Maven, a look of bewildered anger on his face. “Is there any line you won’t cross?” He hissed. “You’re dead socially if this gets out!”

Maven dropped the guard she was carrying. “Do we look like we care?” She asked. “We’ve got bigger concerns than the threats of some small-time villains like yourself and your family. And even if it does get out, so what? It’s not illegal, so it’s not like we can get in trouble. Your comfortable life is sustained by the work people like us do in secret, so you should think really hard about how much you want to antagonize us.”

“My family and I work –”

“I’m not talking about your monetary well-being.” Maven said, cutting him off. “And even if I was, that doesn’t change my point. I’ve seen more than my share of people who don’t appreciate the labor their subordinates do…I was one of them, even. No, I’m talking about real, actual monsters that people like us are out fighting every day.”

“I can accept magic, perhaps, you’ve done it right in front of me, but monsters?” Aaron scoffed. “There’s just not room in the world for them; what would they eat? Where would they live? The environment doesn’t have enough food or space for the kinds of monsters you’re implying exist. If they did, then surely we’d have found them by now, no?”

Maven stared at him in astonishment. “I take it back. You are that stupid. You want proof monsters exist? Fine.” She said, placing a hand on the ring that kept her human disguise up. “I know monsters exist because I’ve seen them. And, more importantly, because I myself am something that’s not supposed to exist according to your understanding of the world.”

She slid off her ring and took a step forward. “So, please, go tell your parents that they are in way over their heads, and that if they wish to ruin their lives, we will be more than happy to accommodate them. We’ve dealt with people with more political power than them, and we’ll do it again. Do you really think the secret society of magic users is weak enough that their members need to worry about threats from people like you?”

Aaron took a step backwards. “I don’t…I…”

One of the guards, the one who had yet to speak, stepped in front of him. “We’re sorry to take your time.” He said, bowing slightly. “I’ll do my best to ensure you’re not bothered again.”

“Terry?!” Aaron exclaimed. “You’re not allowed–”

“Shut up, kid.” Terry growled. “Let it go, this is clearly out of our league. You’ve always been the big man on campus, but if you’re going to last in this business, you’re going to need to learn to cut your losses. I’m no business expert, but I’m an expert at keeping people safe, and I’m telling you that if you keep trying to mess with these people, it’s gonna end real bad for us.”

“You’re just scared–

“Of course I’m scared! The real question is why you’re not! The blonde one is apparently bulletproof, can use magic, and is clearly capable of killing us on the spot! And the other two were able to take out trained soldiers, they’re clearly not normal either. So shut up and get back in the car if you know what’s good for you!”

The other guard held up his hands and began moving towards Ellie, Maven, and the unconscious guards they had been carrying. “I’m just going to start getting these two back into the car, is that alright?”

“Take ‘em.” Ellie replied. “We don’t want anything more to do with them.”

The guard leaned down and picked up one the unconscious ones, letting out a grunt of exertion as he did. “You girls are a lot stronger than you look.” He muttered.

Maven picked up the other with no visible effort. “I’ll help bring this one to the car. I would like this to be over with quickly.”

“Thank you for your consideration.” Terry said, pulling Aaron back towards the car.

Tess watched carefully as Aaron and his cronies loaded back up into the car, making sure to keep her claws out so they knew she was ready to deal with it if they tried anything funny. Fortunately, the guards were able to keep Aaron from doing anything stupid, so it went without further incident.

And, once their “visitors” had driven away, Tess and her wives went back inside. “So…what happened with you?” Tess asked. “I heard a gunshot.”

“It went wide. One of them panicked when I knocked out the other.” Ellie explained. “I was too fast for them.”

“It hit the house, though.” Maven added. “I did some damage control with a spell but we should probably let Gramps know.”

“Well, that solves that…we should probably stick around for the rest of the day in case something else comes up.” Ellie said. “Perhaps we could go back to watching TV?”

“Sure.” Tess replied. “More of what we were watching or…?”

“I’d like to watch more.” Maven said. “I’m interested in what it reveals about Mael’s culture.”

And so, the three settled down for what would, hopefully, be an uneventful rest of the day. It may not have been dangerous, but Tess had had more than enough excitement for one day.