“They’re not cheering for you, you damn drunk.” Yurik spun Bhandi around by the shoulders and nudged her toward the end of the tunnel.
“Hey, I’m gonna do me. Those losers can cheer for any losers!” Her arm swung back behind her to point at the crowd. “Fuck ‘em.”
Rolling his eyes, Yurik grabbed a fistful of the back of her black leather jacket right below the collar and half-carried, half-dragged the inebriated troll woman with him toward the elevator. Tate, Cheyenne, and Ember were waiting for them.
“Hey.” Bhandi reeled away from Ember and pointed at her. “You’re a damn fae.”
“And you’re trashed.”
“Nah.” The troll woman blew a raspberry and staggered past all of them the second the elevator doors opened. “I’m Bhandi.” Her fists slammed into the steel wall before her face had a chance to do the same.
Yurik glanced at Tate and raised his hand. “Not me.”
“Me neither. If she can’t walk when we get back to base, I’m pullin’ her outta the car and leavin’ her ass in the parking lot.”
The rest of their group entered the elevator. Ember’s wheels flashed purple as she glided over the bumpy metal strip, then the doors closed. When the elevator shuddered and lurched into its ascent, Bhandi’s eyes bulged in her head. She leaned forward and puffed out her cheeks.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Tate growled. “Not here.”
A garbled moan escaped the troll woman, then she let out another belch with a few green fellwine bubbles. They floated around her face, popping quickly, and she watched them until she went cross-eyed. “This was the shittiest night we’ve ever had down here. I’m just sayin’ right now while I can still…” Her eyelids and head drooped at the same time, then she jerked her head back up with a gasp. “Nothing happened.”
“What?” Yurik laughed sharply. “Where were you the whole time that metal spider was tearing apart the market?”
“Spider? I didn’t see a spuckin’ fider.”
Tate bowed his head and covered his eyes with one hand.
Cheyenne chuckled. “She didn’t drink that much, either. I mean, for her. What the hell was in that fellwine?”
“Huh.” Yurik stared at the opposite wall of the elevator and leaned back. He chuckled, and it grew into a full-blown belly laugh. Tate looked up from his palm and shot Cheyenne a confused glance. When the huge goblin finally settled enough to talk again, he smashed a fist into his other hand. “Shit. Ogsa knew this fae wasn’t gonna touch that cup. I bet my entire Polaroid collection the orc spiked it for fun.”
Tate’s scarlet eyes flashed when the realization hit him, and he grinned. “Oh, shit. She slipped Bhandi a magical roofie.”
“’Cause who the hell else would drink fellwine with two full pitchers of grog lying around?” Yurik punched Tate’s shoulder. “We’re both smart enough to leave that shit alone.”
“Ha! And it was free!” The troll man nodded at Bhandi, who’d sagged against the elevator wall and now stared at her raised fists, squinting one eye and then the other over and over.
“Damn. No wonder that tavern’s been down there since the very beginning. Ogsa knows how to play.”
“I’ll show you,” Bhandi muttered, then brought one fist cracking against the other with full force. It knocked her elbow into the corner of the elevator with a loud bang, and the rest of her followed until her forehead smashed into the steel wall. “Fuck.”
The guys cracked up again. Cheyenne pressed her lips together and tried not to laugh at the troll woman struggling to get her footing. Bhandi smacked her forehead, glanced down at her palm, and chuckled.
“She’s gone, man.”
“Might be some rope in the back of the SUV.” Yurik shrugged. “We could tie her up and lead her into the building. Get her in her bunk, at least, and lock the door from the outside so she can’t get out.”
“Yeah, you do that.” Tate shook his head. “And good luck not getting your throat slit when you’re the one who has to let her out in the morning.”
“Okay, fine. Maybe the parking lot’s better.”
Ember sat up from leaning over her lap and opened her eyes. “It wasn’t a spider.”
Yurik chuckled. “Oh, yeah.”
“I mean, besides it being a machine.” The fae shrugged. “It only had six legs.”
“Five, now.” Cheyenne lifted the broken metal leg, which looked a lot like a crowbar covered in black paint.
“Huh.” Tate shook his head and stared at the glistening machine part. “It’s creepy that you took that. You know that, right?”
The halfling turned the black rod this way and that, watching it catch the elevator’s bright overhead lights. “That whole thing was creepy.”
“But that’s your whole deal, isn’t it?” Yurik gestured at her. “Goth drow and everything. No wonder you knew how to smash that thing to pieces.”
“Me being Goth doesn’t mean I know what this is.”
“So why’d you take it?” Tate folded his arms. When Bhandi’s fist smashed into the wall inches from his head, he leaned out of the way and didn’t break the halfling’s gaze.
“I don’t know. I’m good at figuring out how things work.” Cheyenne lowered the leg to her side again and wiggled her eyebrows. “And I guess I just wanted a souvenir.”
“You would.” The troll man shook his head with a smirk. “And when you find out how that thing works, I’m guessing you’re not gonna tell any of us about it.”
“Probably not. I mean, not unless this thing turns out to be some kinda FRoE tracker hunting off-duty agents, then sure. Maybe I’ll let you in on it.”
“Yeah, thanks for lookin’ out, halfling. You’re a real part of the team.” Yurik snorted and stared at the piece of metal dangling beside her thigh. “If that thing’s supposed to hunt FRoE, it was broken. Didn’t even notice us until we started flinging magic.”
“It didn’t seem to have a target, did it?” Which doesn’t make any sense. Neither does it waking up to fight back when I was in drow
