The Clan of Outcasts [Season 3]

Part 11: "Trouble On The Move"

The Harbor (West)

Markus slouched in Denahlia's desk chair, basking in the way it cradled his body. His cybernetics had connected with her tech easily, as if it was on the same frequency. All he had to do was wait, right? Surely the Harbormaster who all but had him arrested when he first showed up with Hadrian would be able to handle things.

Right?

Beep-Beep

"Madam Watch!"

Beeeep-Beeeep

"Madam Denahlia? Respond, please!"

Markus groaned and sat up to respond to the screaming alarm. He tapped the red triangle, and immediately, the screen filled with red flags around the dockside area.

Markus opened the audio channel. "Denahlia's not here," he said. "This is her cousin Markus."

"What?" Hayden's voice came back, accompanied by shouting in the background. Now Markus could see his marker as well, a bright spot of yellow in a sea of furious red. "Well, Markus, has she left you in charge? Or was she planning on coming back?"

Markus grinned, thinking of the lanky, pipe-smoking know-it-all throwing up alerts at the slightest provocation simply because he didn't know how to handle angry people. "Looks like you're left with me," he said. "But fair warning, the only people I like to be in charge of are myself and people I care about—and right now, the one other person I care about is up at the White Castle."

The alarms spread further, but didn't go away.

"Well then," came Hayden's reply, "I suggest you start thinking about the people here as your family also, because like it or not, you're the only one who can stop this murderous crew!"

"Murderous?" Markus snapped to attention. "What's going on down there?"

"See for yourself!" Hayden shot back, and Markus tapped on a triangle.

Immediately, a screen popped up, showing real-time footage of the wharf. The scene of chaos ruled the streets, as members of the Brigadier's Ransom's crew picked fights with the Realmish citizens who lived there.

At least, from what Markus could tell, they were picking fights. There was a scrawny red-headed girl who seemed to go out of her way to swing her rapier at someone just minding their own business. She had an empty ale mug in the other hand, and she tended to whack people over the head with it when they got in her way.

He watched a young man with deeply-tanned skin and hair shaved almost all the way off except for a long rat-tail hanging down from the back of his head. This young man was far more subtle in his movements, using the distraction of his loud friends to sneak into places and come out with bulging pockets, or break away to lift something off a street-vendor's cart without paying.

The rest of the pirates seemed content with just keeping the people at bay, frightening them off or engaging the ones that tried to fight.

Markus gave a noisy, theatrical yawn. "What do you expect me to do about it?" he asked.

"Do what she would have done!" Hayden exploded. "Deploy the Harbor Patrol!"

Markus glanced toward the spot on the map with the white dot labeled "ADMIN." That was him, and he saw a group of green dots gathered in one area, while a few more stood scattered throughout the region, unmoved by the chaos of the docks. He flicked open the menu, and selected the "DEPLOY" option. He could choose whether to "DEPLOY ALL" or "DEPLOY ACTIVE", and shrugged.

"Why not just get this problem sorted as soon as possible?" he said to himself, pressing the "DEPLOY ALL" command.

The green dots immediately swept through the map. He could hear the clashing of their armor as they left the garrison below him. He watched the security footage as the soldiers entered the fray, pushing the pirates back and giving the innocent citizens the chance to escape.