The shooting range smelled like expensive oil and stale gunpowder. Damon stood there holding EVE.
"Ten days of my life," Damon muttered.
That was nothing. At his old job, he lost ten days of his life every time his boss yelled at him.
If this thing could fire a bullet that could kill a training beast, the price was a steal.
'Fine. Do it. Eat my time,' Damon thought, focusing.
He raised the gun. Aimed at the target. Clenched his teeth and pulled the trigger.
CLICK.
No bang.
Not even a system window.
Just the sad sound of a firing pin hitting empty air.
Damon focused on his debts. On Viper's face. On Ophelia Valen.
CLICK.
"You gotta be kidding me?" Damon shook the gun.
"I offered you my life, you damn piece of junk. Now you wanna get picky?"
"You're doing it wrong," Aiwass said, walking slowly toward him.
"You're trying to make it a business deal. 'Take ten days, give me a bullet.' Boring human."
"It's the price the system asks for!"
"The system asks for a price. The weapon asks for emotion." Aiwass smiled. "This thing's got a Judge's soul. It doesn't fire on logic. It fires when you're cornered."
"I am cornered. If I fail, I die."
"No. You're stressed. That's different." Aiwass bared her fangs.
"Stress is worrying about the future. Fear of dying is knowing there is no future and right now, your heart is beating at a pathetically steady pace."
Then Aiwass lifted her hand.
"You want help?" she whispered. "I can rip off a leg. That should pull the trigger."
Damon swallowed, but he stayed firm. He knew if he showed weakness now, she'd eat him.
"Go ahead. Do it. But if I bleed out here, good luck finding someone else who lets you live in a penthouse for free and orders you pizza at 3 a.m."
Aiwass clicked her tongue and killed the magic, rolling her eyes.
"Tch. Don't flatter yourself, pet. It'd just be annoying to train another monkey from zero."
She walked away, bored.
"The problem is you feel safe. As long as you think you've got an exit, or that I'm gonna save your ass, that gun is just a paperweight."
"You're not scared," Aiwass said with a yawn. "That thing doesn't run on coins, Damon. It runs on desperation. Right now you're not about to die. You're just… annoyed."
Damon lowered the gun, letting out a breath.
Great. A cursed weapon that only works when you're scared shitless.
"I'm keeping it anyway," Damon said, sliding it into his shoulder holster. "It's heavy, it's cold, and it's scary. If it won't shoot, I can still use it to scare people."
***
That night, the city glowed below.
Jude was leaning way too far over the glass railing, staring into the neon abyss. Damon sat on the floor with his back to the wall, as far from the edge as possible.
"Hey, the view is insane from up here," Jude said, spitting a noodle into the void.
"Looks just as good from down here, thanks. If I get closer, I'm gonna puke."
They had two steaming cups of instant ramen in their hands.
"Slurp!" Jude slurped loud. "You know… we always dreamed about this in the orphanage. 'One day we'll live so high up we won't smell the trash.'"
Damon stirred his noodles.
"Yeah. And now that we're here…" He sniffed. "…it smells like fear."
Jude laughed, but his gaze drifted into the glass reflection.
"Hey, Damon. So what's up with the original?" Jude asked out of nowhere.
"The original what?"
"Zero. The real one."
Damon blew on the steam.
"Vaporized. You saw the news. You saw the crater. That blast wiped everything in a three-hundred-foot radius. If I survived, it was a miracle or a curse. But him? Nothing left."
"Yeah… that's what everyone says." Jude chewed, thinking. "But what about the crazy cat?"
Jude jerked his chin toward the inside of the apartment, where Aiwass was probably breaking something or eating fruit.
"She doesn't look like the kind of monster who does charity, Damon. She's training you. She's protecting you. Why? Just because you opened a door for her?"
"I owe her my soul, Jude. There's a contract."
"Yeah, yeah, the contract. But think past that." Jude lowered his voice, like it was a secret. "She's a demon. They live hundreds of years. What if she knows something we don't? What if Zero isn't dead, he's just… lost?"
Damon frowned.
"Where are you going with this?"
"I'm saying maybe she's not helping you." Jude leaned closer. "Maybe she's using you like a compass. Because maybe she thinks that since you've got his eyes or his aura or whatever the hell you've got, you can lead her to him."
Damon got chills. For a second, doubt bit into his brain, but he shook his head hard.
"Don't say stupid shit, Jude. It's me. Damon. The same idiot who used to lend you money for comics. Zero's dead, and Aiwass is just a bored psycho."
"If you say so…" Jude shrugged.
Damon stared at the horizon.
Tomorrow was the test.
The recertification.
The Inquisitors.
Ophelia Valen and her lie detector.
"I'm scared, Jude," Damon admitted finally, switching topics to kill those dark thoughts.
"Not scared like 'ugh, I'm nervous.' Real scared. Like if I fail tomorrow, I'm not coming back, and they'll cut me open or lock me up. Because I'm not Zero. I'm just a fraud with a gun that won't shoot and a demon cat who, whatever she wants, it's definitely not my happiness."
Jude stopped eating. He set his ramen on the railing and looked at Damon. His street-rat face dropped for a second.
"So what?"
"What do you mean, 'so what'? I'm gonna die."
"Damon, listen." Jude punched his shoulder lightly.
"Those people… the Inquisitors, the nobles, the S-ranks… they were born with power. They trained in air-conditioned gyms. They've never been hungry. Never had to steal dinner."
Jude pointed down, toward the dark part of the poor city.
"You survived the orphanage, loan sharks, and a damn explosion, bro. Those bastards only fight for honor or points. You fight for your life. That's your fucking advantage."
Jude was right. Fear wasn't weakness. It kept him awake.
"Don't try to beat them at their game, Damon," Jude finished, going back to his ramen. "Play dirty. Lie to their faces. Cheat. Those rich assholes don't know what it's like to fight for food."
"Eat them alive."