Modern Age Online

Kaleb snapped awake in the street. No one touched him and he hadn't been under attack. But, all the same, he sat bolt upright in the street like he'd been electrocuted. He blearily looked around. Sound and fury still surrounded him. He could hear arguments and fistfights breaking out everywhere. But the surrounding people were acting unworried about the tumult. It took a large amount of blinking and rolling his tongue inside his mouth before he managed to get a handle on what was going on.

The hum of drones was in the air, along with artificially enhanced voices. People were fighting, screaming, and trying to push their way to the edges of the street. But other people in blue uniforms were stopping them. Soon Kaleb recognized the blue uniform people as cops and his annoyance level sky-rocketed. Cops meant questions. They meant reports to fill out, affidavits to sign, and testimonies to corroborate. His lizard brain wanted him to run. Just wander away and go home. That's when the bunny woman spotted him.

Farrah saw he was awake and fast-walked over to his side. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she studied his face for a few seconds before saying something. Her voices sounded dull in Kaleb's ear and he recognized the game simulating his alien race's slow-to-wake brain. He needed coffee. Kaleb wasn't sure he'd been asleep long, but the dark street told him it was at least a few hours. His eyes scanned everything, looking for something to wake him up. He spun on the spot as Farrah kept trying to talk to him. Finally, he managed to spot an elevated tent set up near some cops. Sitting within that tent was his target. An automated coffee machine, complete with a side table holding a variety of creamers and other things.

Kaleb lumbered in that direction even as Farrah's voice was still muted in his ears. She tried to keep in front of him, but when she saw where he was headed, her voice stopped. She shook her head and her rabbit ears drooped slightly. Raising a small hand, she placed it on his damaged chest armor and stopped his trudged toward the coffee. Kaleb's brain barely registered the small obstruction until he realized he couldn't move. Glancing up at the rabbit woman, Kaleb bared his teeth and let out what was supposed to be a growl. But it came out more plaintive than he intended.

Farrah rolled her eyes and raised a slim finger. She shook it several times at Kaleb's face until his eyes practically locked in on it. Her mouth formed a word Kaleb's brain idly recognized as 'wait'. With a burst of air and a snapping of electricity, Farrah vanished. She was gone for less than three seconds before she reappeared before him, holding a steaming cup of coffee. Kaleb reached for the small brown paper cup. Farrah moved it out of his reach, and Kaleb followed the scent of his nirvana.

Farrah lead him out of the middle of the street and toward the sidewalk. Keeping the coffee ahead of him at all times. Kaleb tried to gather enough indignation to be annoyed, but he just couldn't. He wanted coffee and his body would follow Farrah into a volcano for it. Thankfully, the woman stopped at the sidewalk and finally handed over the precious liquid.

Kaleb fought the urge to toss the hot liquid down his throat with gusto and instead sipped at it. It wasn't anywhere near as good as his blend at the hangar. But the caffeine shot through his body like a rocket and soon his brain started to process the sounds in the street better. His body was coming back to a fully functioning status when he heard a familiar voice.

"Did you just lead him here with coffee?"

"Yes! It was the only damn way to get him to acknowledge me! He was like a damn zombie."

"You know what he's like in the morning, Farrah. You should've had a cup ready."

"Ms. Nightmare, I was coordinating with the Police department to quell this mob you two brought back with you. What's your excuse?"

"I was guarding his arm. Already, four criminals and a few cops have come to 'secure' it. The criminals say it's theirs by right while the cops are claiming its evidence. Pfft! Like I'm letting any of them get it."

Kaleb heard the shuffle of Farrah's footsteps as she looked around.

"And there are no bodies? How restrained of you, Ms. Nightmare."

"Volk made the criminals see sense, and the cops backed off when it became clear they weren't touching the Prof's stuff."

"How loyal you are," Farrah quipped.

"Shut it, NPC."

"Thanks, Abs." Kaleb growled around another sip of coffee.

He was still looking into the street, not at the two women. Both of whom rushed around his sides to get a look at him. Kaleb was trying to parse the sights and sounds his body was feeding him as it slowly came back online. It wasn't a full on fight in the streets, even though he could smell blood and hear fighting. It was more like a well-contained riot.

He tried to speak again and ask some questions. But all that came out was "Guh?"

He accompanied the noise with a general wave in the riot's direction. Both women watched the movement before Abby picked up on his question.

"The cowboys and toys from Tore's dimension were created from civilians. Like you suspected, Doc. Some of those civilians, though, were gangsters from different gangs. When the realm collapsed and spit us all out here, they started fighting amongst themselves. Farrah was here with a team, waiting though, and the cops got things under control fast."

A blast of blue flames exploded from the crowd of people. Under-cutting the short woman's words. Kaleb simply raised an eyebrow at her over the rim of his coffee. But it was Farrah that answered.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"A few of the more rambunctious elements are proving difficult. But the police have it handled, with the help of the others, of course."

"Hmm?" Kaleb grumbled at the rabbit-woman.

"Jar-lock, Claire, Two-Gun, and Vivienne are out here quelling the populace. When Karick Tore's realm collapsed, people were dumped out all over the Imperial Valley."

"Jar says it's because the dude's realm was weak in places. He made multiple exit points to his realm and used them to hop around and kidnap people. Which made him hard to track, and now means we have to hunt down all the criminals we just released back onto the street. Thankfully, most of them have been scooped up. Being a cartoon character for so long has… effected a few of them."

"Hmph!" Kaleb grunted and slowly nodded his head.

The action brought attention to his screaming headache that suddenly decided to present itself. Kaleb winced and stopped, nodding as Farrah and Abby continued explaining what was going on. The local PD was out in force, containing all the pockets of criminals. Somehow, their exit point was the most crowded. Vivienne suspected it was their work on the portal that made this location one of the largest. Something about their magic attracting Karick's magic. Abby wasn't completely sure about that.

Kaleb nodded along as he watched everyone work. Inside, he was dreading the first cop walking up to them and asking questions. He knew it wasn't far off now. Soon he'd be buried in an avalanche of paperwork that would annoy him for the next couple of days, probably. Nibbling on the edge of his coffee cup in annoyance, Kaleb felt Milly's emotions start to mirror his own. Slowly, he spun on the spot, trying to find the little creature.

He found her stirring within his arm. The large cybernetic was lying on the sidewalk next to Abby's foot. Milly was quickly stirred awake by his emotions. She'd been resting in the arm, tired out from the fighting and probably not wanting to deal with the locals. Kaleb reached out with his good arm and waited for Milly to fully awaken. Once she did, her body phased out of the arm and she leapt toward him behind Abby's back. The furry creature smacked in Kaleb's shoulder with a meaty whop and he almost spilled what remained of his coffee. The alien creature chittered happily at his ear as several cops, as well as Farrah, watched the byplay with interest. Kaleb ignored them as he let Milly settle on his arm.

"Wondered where she got to." Abby said.

Kaleb raised an eyebrow at that, but Abby simply shrugged at him. "How was I supposed to know she was still in there? Even when I tapped on the arm, she wouldn't come out. So I almost feared we lost her somehow."

"She was asleep." Kaleb grunted slowly.

"Oh, are you using words now?" Farrah asked smugly.

Kaleb looked down at his dwindling coffee and grimaced. "More?"

Farrah sighed as Abby chuckled. The rabbit woman snatched his cup from his hand and vanished. She reappeared seconds later with another steaming cup. Kaleb gratefully received the hot cup as Farrah looked around to see if she had been seen. Her actions rose Kaleb's hackles, and he started mentally cataloging escape routes.

"Stop freaking out, girl-scout. No one's looking. You're making the Professor nervous." Abby said, still chuckling.

Farrah stopped whipping her head around and instead merely scanned around with her eyes. "These cops take their coffee just as serious as the Professor does, Ms. Nightmare. I'd rather not upset them. They're already going to throw a fit about all this late night work."

"Lord forbid they do their job." Kaleb rumbled around another mouthful of coffee.

Both Abby and Farrah turned on him at his words. Farrah even smacked him on the arm. A blow that legitimately took HP from his health bar. He quirked an eyebrow at the two women, but both were watching the crowd of cops and civvies again.

"Shut up, dumbass. We don't want the cops pissed at us right now."

"Getting them out here was already a chore, Professor. I had to threaten to call the Alderman and even then it was only when they realized the full scope of the problem that they moved."

Farrah's words almost made Kaleb crush his coffee cup. The cops were still playing fucking games. Still unwilling to do their own job and giving their Guild a raw deal at every occasion. Milly hissed on his shoulder, clearly sensing his feelings. He tried to calm himself as Abby and Farrah glanced at the blue marmot.

Abby cautiously reached out and scratched Milly's side, calming the creature. "She's annoyed too, huh? I get it. Wait. Is she bigger?"

Kaleb turned to look when a stern voice called out across the street.

"Miss Farrah, we're ready for you!"

All three of them snapped around toward the voice to find a young fresh-faced cop watching them. He flinched when all their eyes landed on him, but then quickly straightened up. Beside him, Kaleb heard Farrah sigh before she stepped off the sidewalk. Kaleb moved to join her, but the rabbit-woman quickly spun on him.

"Nope. Your orders are to stand down. We're going to have a full debrief at the hangar followed by a full morning of fucking paperwork. So get some food, find some more coffee, and limber up your fingers."

"Limber up his fingers?" Abby asked, grinning.

"For filling out paperwork, Abby!" Farrah shouted.

Shaking her head, the rabbit-woman joined the young cop and the two of them rushed off toward a nearby tent. Kaleb watched them go with a growing unease in the pit of his stomach. Farrah was annoyed about something and it wasn't him for a change. There was clearly something going on with the cops.

Abby leaned around him and looked up at him. Studying his face for a few seconds, the dark-haired woman shook her head.

"There's nothing big going on there, Doc. Farrah just has to go calm down the local constabulary and get our pound of flesh."

Kaleb worried he was so easy to read, but there were more pressing issues. "Pound of flesh?"

"Karick Tore had a bounty. His body was transferred to the nearest Super-Max, and we got credit for his capture. Which means that our Super-Guild gets the reward. The local PD wasn't excited about it, but their hands were tied."

"Then what is Farrah worried about?"

"Them trying to claim the bounty for themselves, I guess. But I don't think they'd go that far. They're assholes, not straight-up super villains."

"Hmm…"

Kaleb fell further into thought as he watched the flap of the tent where Farrah disappeared. Was that really all it was? She could handle herself, he was sure of that. But Farrah's nervousness seemed to go deeper than that. A solid smack on his back made Kaleb turn to Abby. Milly whistled in indignation as Kaleb was almost rocked off the curb.

"Stop worrying about your cyber-girlfriend and find our damn car. She was right. We need to get home and handle this fucking paperwork. Not to mention you need to re-attach your damn arm."

Kaleb scanned his health bar and groaned as Abby thrust his cybernetic arm into his grasp. "Y'all need to stop hitting me. Seriously, one of these days, those little love taps are going to kill me."

Abby spun on her heel and walked up the sidewalk. "Love taps? You wish, Professor. Now hurry up, you're driving."

Kaleb took one last look at the tumult of people shouting and shoving each other before he followed the shorter woman. She was right. They didn't need to be here, and he had something more important to do at home. Make coffee.