Chapter 30 - Second Contract

A cocoon of purple light, made up by countless threads, surrounded Drake and Kniivar. He couldn't be more familiar with it, having gone through the same experience before. A Spirit Contract.

"Are you sure?"

Inside the cocoon, Drake looked at the small Ifere, and smiled slightly. Clearly, the Kniivar had taken the first person to ever treat it well as someone worth trusting. He didn't have any problems with that, since he would never hurt the Ifere unless it attacked him, but he wanted to make the Kniivar understand the consequences of creating a Spirit Contract.

However, now that they were slightly bonded, he could feel a little of the Ifere's thoughts. It was a weird sensation, but he was already used to it due to his contract with Frainer. And it was about Frainer that this whole thing was about.

Kniivar felt Frainer trusted Drake, and that was a good enough reason for it to trust him. Sensing that, he smiled fondly, and reached out through the Spirit Contract, completing it. Almost instantly, the purple cocoon disappeared, as if it had never been there.

Kniivar groaned, and Drake immediately stroke it, calming it down. Now that they were bonded, conveying his emotions to the little Ifere was much easier. He also discovered that he was a she.

Feeling his companion's soothing intentions, Kniivar closed it's eyes, tired, and went to sleep. Drake held it up, close to his body, and turned to Anna, who had her mouth opened in shock.

"Did you just... How?"

He shrugged. It certainly had been unexpected, but now that he and Kniivar had a Spirit Contract, there was nothing anyone could do about it. Unless, of course, they killed him, but then the Ifere would never make a contract with the person responsible for his partner's death. In fact, most beings, humans or Iferes, refused to make another Spirit Contract if they had lost someone before.

"It just happened. Now, should we take those two back to Park? It will be a good opportunity to see what Tom decided to do, and, while we are at that, you inform the army.".

The Null nodded, and, after tying up Black Bird and the fat man, mounted her Yscalent. Drake put the sleeping Kniivar on his saddle, and picked up the dead woman, throwing her on top of another Yscalent. He wanted to show the people of Park that they needn't be afraid of Scarred Jack, and although it might seem brutal, there was no better way to do that than showing the bodies of his gang.

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When they got to Park, about three hours later, the sun was high. They were greeted once again by an empty city, but there was something weird going on. There was tension in the air, and Drake could feel eyes staring at him through the windows.

Grabbing the rifle he had been given, Drake scanned the surroundings. He could see civilians looking at him, scared. And then, he also heard shots being fired.

Looking at Anna, who nodded, he made his Yscalent use Boost. As the name implied, the skill would greatly increase the Ifere's speed for a few minutes.

Following the noise, they saw a scene of chaos. Five or six people were surrounding the police station, and shooting at it. Only one person was responding to the fire, which led Drake to believe it was Tom, the coward sergeant.

"What do we do?"

"Do you even need to ask?"

Dismounting, Drake and Anna took cover behind the corner of a building. He also remembered to knock out their two prisoners, so they wouldn't interfere with the fight.

Taking aim at the ground right in front of one of the attackers, Drake pressed the trigger once. It was just a warning, after all, he couldn't shoot someone in the back.

"What the... More pigs! Behind us!"

The woman looked at the hole on the ground next to her dumbstruck, and then turned around and saw Drake and Anna. Screaming to warn the others, she fired at them, but, without proper cover, the agent took care of her quickly.

Meanwhile, the other outlaws also turned to face the new threat. Unfortunately for them, they were suffering from two big disadvantages. The first one was that they were caught between two fires, which soon resulted in two more of them falling dead, one by Drake's hands, and the other by Tom's.

The second disadvantage Scarred Jack's gang had was that they had no Ifere companions. Zaplin used a skill called Electronegative, which created a black and white sphere around him that caused anyone inside to suffer from severe muscle spasms and paralysis. The skill affected the neural impulses sent to the body, and scrambled them, causing wrong commands to be followed.

Electronegative, coupled with Frainer's Nightmare Clouds, was the end of the criminals. They resisted to the last men, who died when Drake's bullets found his forehead.

After confirming there was no one else, he and Anna stepped out of cover, and looked at the police station. The battle had been short but fierce, and there were six new bodies to be sent to Park's cemetery. Even scum deserved a grave.

"Hey, Tom! Are you there?"

"Yeah! Thanks for the help! But you should call the doc, someone here says he is your friend, and he is injured!"

The sergeant appeared in the doorway, waving his rifle around excitedly. He had thought he was dead this time.

"A friend of ours? Alex!"

It took a few seconds for them to realize about who the cop was talking. It now made sense why he hadn't appeared during the entire battle, even though he should have arrived at Park earlier than them. He probably tried to help Tom, but got shot. Fortunately, he must have managed to hide inside the building.

While Anna entered the police station worriedly, Drake ran towards the doctor's office they had seen at the entrance of the city. Soon, he returned with a middle-aged man, who looked at the battlefield terrified.

"By all the Mystic Iferes! T-That... That's a massacre!"

"Don't worry, doc. They were the bad guys. However, there is someone inside who is still alive and needs help."

Pushing the man forward, Drake woke up Black Bird and the fatty, who were as shocked as the medic to see the bodies of their fellow gang members, and brought them inside the police station.

Alex was laying on the ground, holding his stomach. There was blood escaping through his fingers, and his face was pale. Sweat trickled down his forehead and his breathing was slow and erratic. Anna was next to him, trying to stop the blood flow.

"Let me see. Uhmm... The bullet is still inside. If I can take it out quickly, he won't be in danger. We need to bring him to my office. Arton, use Epsilon to block the pain."

The small demonic angel chirped loudly, and created a symbol made of light with it's hands. Then, it sent the drawing inside Alex, who instantly calmed down. Even his frown eased, such was the powerful analgesic force behind the skill.

Alex was carried away by the medic and Anna, while Drake stayed behind. The agent was a nice guy, but he didn't know him that well. Both Zaplin and him would do better with only Anna by his side.

He stood at the doorway of the police station, after having locked Black Bird and the other person in a jail cell. Tom was by his side, looking at the six bodies on the street. Civilians were already staring at it from a certain distance away.

"You really don't play, do you?"

"Haha... Would you have preferred if I let them redecorate your station with bullet holes?"

"I didn't say that. I really appreciate the help, and the... Wake-up call. I've been behaving like a coward."

Drake looked at the old officer, who had a sad smile on his face. He patted his shoulder reassuringly.

"You did well. With those six, plus the one I brought, and the four in prison, Scarred Jack is down to about fifteen outlaws. We know where they are hiding. A canyon south of the city."

"I know where it is. If you want, I can go there with you."

"I would appreciate that. We need to keep them there for about two days, so the army can get here."

"I might have an idea..."

Tom had a devious expression on his face. Whatever he had in mind, it certainly wasn't good. Since the target where the criminals, Drake was more than happy to help.

"Oh, and before I forget, why did they attack you?"

"They wanted me to set free the two you and the ranger brought in. I refused, and you saw what happened."

Although he tried to sound nonchalant about the whole deal, Drake knew it must have taken a lot of courage to stand up against the people who had been controlling him for the last years. He was surprised just a few of his words had made Tom change his mind, but he was glad it happened.

...

That night, Drake was in his hotel room, holding his phone in his hands. Until now, he had refrained from talking too much to his grandfather, only saying he was okay. He had changed a lot in just a week or so. Still, seeing Alex wounded had impacted him. He realized that could be him, and he didn't want it to happen without his grandfather at least knowing what he was doing.

"Hello? Are you there, Drake?"

The phone rang a few times before it was picked up. After a few seconds silent, Drake took a deep breath, and tried to sound cheerful.

"Yep, gramps. How are you?"

"I'm doing great! I just have a grandson that barely talks to me."

"Sounds like you have to teach him a lesson."

"Hahaha! Are you doing fine, Drake? Tired of the adventurous life already?"

"No. I wanted to talk to you about that, actually. But first the good news! I made a new contract, with a Kniivar."

"A Kniivar? Where the hell did you find one of those, and how did you manage to convince it to make a Spirit Contract with you?"

"That's a long story. Care to listen?"

"Fire away, kiddo."