Fiends For Hire [Anti-Hero Action/Slice of Life]

V2: Chapter 7 - The Daily Lives of Wanted Murderers | Phon

◆Phon◆

Phon woke up early at the stifling hour of [200] before the sun had even risen. It had been two days since the madness of their economic scheme had ended, and she was trying to get back into a regular routine. She no longer needed to get up this early, since there was no longer a threat of having bombs rained down on them. However, she had come to like the early morning. It was quiet and peaceful, time just to herself to let her mind roam free.

She stretched after getting out of bed, loosening up her muscles. This was more a habit that she'd gotten used to in life that wasn't a huge necessity anymore. Her new bed was one of the crazily cozy ones made by Mallea. The thing practically absorbed fatigue, meaning she couldn't sleep more even if she wanted to. It also kept her muscles from getting stiff in the night, as if they were massaged constantly throughout. Phon was shocked that she had actually received a proper bed like everyone else, expecting it to be filled with rocks or something else painful.

After slipping into her sportswear, Phon stepped out into the hallway and headed over to the elevator. Since it was so early, no one would see her dressed like this. The others had all seen her in it by now, but she was still mildly self conscious about it. Unlike Drim, Phon thrived as the center of attention, but the concept of attractiveness was lost on her. She always prided herself on her ability to analyze people. Her years of bounty hunting had made her an expert on human behavior, similar to how Drim was for monsters.

It had become quite easy for her to predict how most people would react in certain situations, especially when they thought their life was at risk. However, she couldn't read or understand people's thoughts and actions when it came to feelings of attractiveness or romanticism. It simply made her uncomfortable when she thought other people would look at her with those intentions. Thoughts like these had been more prevalent recently, ever since the incident with Whill. Pictures and video of her in just her underwear had spread rapidly since that incident, and it seemed to have lit a fire in some online communities.

Phon spent a lot of time overseeing their PR. She would scan the internet for recent news and mentions of them. Ever since that incident, when she searched their names individually, only topics she couldn't follow were the top results. Most talked about her beauty, and how they were scaredly attracted to her. She had been placed in a top ranking of several peoples lists of 'People I want to step on me' and 'People I want to look at me in disgust'. There was even a manhunt to 'Find the lucky bastard who got sandwiched between those thighs'.

It was completely beyond her comprehension. All she knew was that those people had issues, and were generally looked down upon by society, except for those in their same group. She had also received several requests for modeling gigs since the incident. At first she thought they were a joke, since they received several fake and joke requests, but then more arrived. After researching the requesters, they did indeed seem genuine. She ignored them of course, thinking it'd be a waste of her time, and also didn't understand how being scared of someone would lead to a boost in sales.

Phon stepped out of the elevator and into the basement, then wandered over to their personal gym. It was fully equipped for every regiment, and even had a few personalized machines for the individual Fiends. Phon started off with the treadmill, as she had each day since they'd returned. Her goal was to steadily improve her speed, but at a pace she could maintain for a long period of time.

Unlike most treadmills, where the highest tier ones capped out around 25 lages-per-hour, this one maxed out at 100 lph. Drim was able to reach speeds of around 50 or 60, but that was solely from life experience. If he trained properly towards enhancing it, he could likely reach insane speeds. For now, Phon was starting out at a more reasonable 30 lph. Her goal was to try and maintain it for 20 minutes, then when she achieved that, she'd increase it by 1. This would continue indefinitely.