On The Road Again

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 6, Post Number 135

-The Sheridan Estate, Victoria's Room, 6:00 A.M.-

A day or two after the book delivery job for Miss Ashford, Victoria decided to spend some time at her newly acquired family estate to see if she could not find any more information about her parents. She had gotten here yesterday morning and had intended to search the property for information, but she had gotten sidetracked. Badly sidetracked. First came a binge of vintage sports car auctions while drinking vodka, then once the auctions went off around 4:00 P.M. she watched a marathon of the  mecha anime she had watched weeks ago while eating fettucine alfredo that Laura thoughtfully prepared for her. Once she got tired of watching the mecha anime she changed the channel and found some old black-and-white war movies around midnight... she watched those until 2:00 A.M. the next morning.

Victoria had finally gotten up from the couch to go to sleep and did not bother with niceties like a shower or brushing her teeth. She went straight to her room and undid her ponytail, then went to sleep in her white Steel Matron t-shirt and black skirt. They would probably be badly wrinkled, but that was a small price to pay for convenience. She also shamelessly took advantage of the fact that this was her house and she could do anything that she wanted... within reason and within the law, of course.

Having been awakened by her ringing iLac, Victoria was sitting on the edge of her bed and trying not to think uncharitable things about whoever was calling her this early in the morning. Her iLac had been ringing for two whole minutes without stopping. She had just gotten to sleep four hours ago after watching a marathon of old war movies made almost three decades ago and was feeling awful because of her awful choice, but in her defense she had no idea that someone was going to call her this early in the morning. Whoever it was had better have a good reason for calling her this early in the morning.

The brunette reached for her ringing iLac, took it into her right hand, and tapped the green phone icon to answer the caller. She then raised it to the right side of her head and spoke.

"Hello?" Victoria asked the caller.

"Hey Vic, it's me, Abigail!" The caller replied. Victoria smiled a little.

"Hey Abby! What's going on?" Victoria asked Abigail, dropping all the uncharitable thoughts she had about the caller now that she knew it was her old friend Abigail. The brunette's tone suddenly became a lot more cheerful and she became a lot more accommodating.

"Not a whole lot. Listen, I know it's really early in the morning, but are you able to help me with something?" Abigail asked Victoria.

"Sure. What is it?" Victoria asked Abigail.

"I'll tell you about it when I get there. Say, where are you right now?" Abigail asked the Sabertooth mage.

"My place in Capital Crocus. Do I need to come and get you on my Centaur or can you make it by yourself?" Victoria inquired.

"I can make it by myself, Vic. I'll be there in a couple of hours." Abigail informed Victoria of how long it would take her to get to the Sheridan estate.

"OK. See you then!" Victoria bade Abigail farewell. Abigail hung up without a word and Victoria hung up on her end. She casually turned towards the doorway and found Laura standing just outside looking at her with those bright blue eyes of hers. Victoria shrieked and nearly threw her iLac into the air, prompting the silver-haired maid to apologize.

"I'm sorry for startling you, Miss Sheridan. I also apologize for eavesdropping, but am I to understand that you'll be having company in the next couple of hours?" Laura asked Victoria. The startled brunette nodded.

"I'll make preparations for company then." Laura said before walking off to prepare for Abigail's arrival. Victoria sat on the edge of her bed trying to recover from the unpleasant surprised she had just received. She set her iLac down beside her and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Once she had taken a few breaths the brunette stood up and walked towards the bathroom to get a shower before Abigail got here.

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-Two-and-a-half hours later, the living room-

Dressed in a clean white Steel Matron t-shirt and khaki cargo shorts, Victoria sat in the living room sipping from a can of Strawberry Slam while waiting for Abigail to arrive. In the weeks since her last visit Laura had gone shopping and had not only procured food and non-alcoholic drinks for the kitchen but also some clothing for Victoria to keep in her room so that she did not have to carry all the clothing she owned to and from Ace Of Spades. Victoria was pleased by Laura's initiative and would have to let the silver-haired maid know that soon.

Now Victoria was sitting on the couch and watching a vintage sports car auction on the television with her iLac at her right side. She was waiting for Abigail to call to let her know that she was at the front door and to open it for her. In the meantime Victoria watched a bunch of people bid on a black convertible a lot like Francesca Corlone's but with a hard top instead of a soft top. She was just about to learn the model of the car when the front doorbell rang.

"I'll get it, Miss Sheridan." Laura announced. Deciding to let the maid do what she was hired to do, Victoria remained seated and watched the bidding for the black convertible start at 500,000 Jewels. Within seconds the bid was met and someone raised by 50,000 Jewels... that was when things started to get intense. By the time Laura walked to the front door and opened it the bid was now sitting at 700,000 Jewels and rising. Victoria marveled at how quickly the bid had risen, but then she turned her attention to the front door.

"Hello Miss Windstrider." Laura greeted Abigail. Victoria stood up and faced Abigail, who was wearing a light blue midriff-baring t-shirt, blue jean shorts, and brown boots. On her back was a brown leather backpack.

"Hey Abby!" Victoria greeted her guest with a raised hand.

"Hey Vic!" Abigail greeted Victoria in a cheerful tone. She wiped her feet off on the mat at the front door and walked in, then took off her boots and handed them to Laura. Laura took them to a mat next to the door leading to the garage in a setup similar to what the Montgomery family had in their place.

"How's it going?" Victoria asked Abigail. Abigail walked over to the brunette and waved.

"It's going OK now that I'm here." Abigail replied. Victoria was not sure what to make of that, but if she was patient enough her old friend would tell her exactly what she meant.

"I need help with a job." Abigail told Victoria the nature of her problem. The brunette smiled a little.

"I can help you with that. What do you need to do?" Victoria asked Abigail.

"I need to go to Fat Monsterland for this job. My client in Magnolia Town dropped a magic weapon there and they need my help in retrieving it. It's an heirloom weapon that they'd really like to get back." Abigail replied. Victoria looked at Abigail for a moment.

"It's completely legit, I promise. In fact I called them about hiring you to help me and when I told them that you were almost as strong as a Wizard Saint they were all for it. If you can help me pull this off they'll pay us a big reward." Abigail told Victoria. The brunette read her body language and learned that her old friend was being completely honest with her. Victoria stopped frowning and crossed her arms.

"OK. I'm in. Are we working under any sort of time constraint here?" Victoria asked her partner in case they needed to hop on the Centaur right away and head for Fat Monsterland as quickly as they could go. Abigail shook her head.

"No, Vic. I was told that since we were going to Fat Monsterland he didn't want us to hurry and make mistakes while fighting through the zombies that live there. The client wants his weapon back, but they also want us to come back alive." Abigail answered. Victoria was glad to hear that. She did not want to make any mistakes due to haste because the zombies in Fat Monsterland were not to be taken lightly. Those obese zombies were especially tough to kill without the use of a powerful spell or a powerful weapon. Victoria had both of those assets, but she needed to be careful not to hit Abigail by mistake since the blonde wielded a sword and had to get close to her opponents to use it.

"OK, Abby. I'll go upstairs and grab my gear, then I'll meet you downstairs and we'll get going to Fat Monsterland to get that weapon." Victoria informed Abigail. The blonde gave a thumbs-up and the brunette headed upstairs to get her gear. Those obese zombies in Fat Monsterland were tough customers, but an Armor-Piercing Round from Victoria's .44 Magnum weapon should be able to punch through the layer of fat on their skulls and put them down with a single shot to the head.

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-Fat Monsterland, three hours later-

Having finally arrived in Fat Monsterland, Victoria climbed off the Centaur and Abigail followed suit. The pair had finally arrived at their destination after a long drive from Capital Crocus to Fat Monsterland. About half of that time had been spent waiting in traffic because some dimwit in a red sports car had gotten into a fender bender with a yellow convertible because they had been engaging in distracted driving by browsing at their iLac instead of keeping their eyes on the road. The traffic jam took almost two hours to clear up, but since it was so early in the morning they had plenty of daylight to burn. It also helped that they did not have a time limit that was set in stone.

The pair would not dawdle in Fat Monsterland because the area seemed to have an endless supply of zombies, but knowing that they did not have a strict time limit gave them leeway to engage the zombies as they saw fit instead of having to race against the clock to retrieve the heirloom weapon they had been sent to retrieve.

"Hey Vic, ready to fight through another horde of zombies?" Abigail asked Victoria as the former took off her backpack and pulled out the Sky Blade in its scabbard. Victoria had wondered where her partner had been keeping her signature weapon. Now she knew.

"I'm up for it as long as we don't have to deal with that creepy necromancer ever again." Victoria replied. Both mages shuddered at the memory of the necromancer they had encountered in Silent Cemetery, the one with the beady emerald eyes and the flap of flesh hanging near his mouth. The brunette had a hard time sleeping for a few days after that fight even though she knew he was dead. She had witnessed Abigail plunge the Silver Dagger into his skull when his corrosive magic had rendered Victoria unable to make the kill herself. The necromancer had been killed, but he could still make Victoria and Abigail watch their backs in dark places just by virtue of having existed.

"Yeah. I'm glad that guy's dead." Abigail replied. Victoria nodded.

"Me too. I know I'm supposed to fight them, but that was a seriously creepy guy. I hope that we killed him for good and that we didn't fall for some kind of fake death routine he pulled to make us think that we killed him." Victoria chimed in. While she would like to believe that the necromancer was dead and was not going to cheat death a second (or third) time, the pair lived in a world of magic where almost anything was possible. If there were panty bandits roaming the mall who could steal women's underwear right off of their targets, then a sufficiently powerful necromancer could find a way to come back from receiving a Silver Dagger stab to the forehead.

"Please don't say that, Vic. I like to think that he's never, ever coming back." Abigail requested. Victoria gave a thumbs-up before bringing out her .44 Magnum weapon.

"OK, Abby. I'm thinking that the worst thing we'll have to deal with today is run-of-the-mill walking corpses." Victoria said in a hopeful voice as she surveyed the area around them. They were standing in a clearing with only a few bushes dotting the area, but that was not a big deal. What was a big deal was being in Fat Monsterland during daylight. Victoria had only been here at night and traveling here during the day was jarring.

"I hope so too, Vic. I hope so too." Abigail replied before attaching the Sky Blade's scabbard to her left hip. The blonde was not sounding very hopeful about their chances of dealing with ordinary enemies and not running into a powerful necromancer bent on absorbing their souls and adding their bodies to his undead army. Victoria was about to try and say something encouraging before remembering Abigail's story about generations of her family dying at the hands of necromancers and sensibly keeping her mouth shut. No platitudes could ever ease Abigail's fear that the next necromancer the pair encountered just might be her last.

"I'm ready to go. Are you ready?" Abigail asked Victoria. The revolver-wielding brunette nodded.

"I'm ready. Let's go find that artifact." Victoria said. Moments later Abigail pointed towards the clearing in front of them. Victoria spotted a large group of twenty-five zombies shambling towards them and every one of them held an axe in their hands.

"Oh look, some of the locals are coming to say hello." Victoria snarked to try and lighten the mood a little. Abigail only frowned at her. Victoria gave up on trying to lighten the mood and faced forward again.

The Sabertooth mage remained quiet as she raised her .44 Magnum and aimed for the head of the first zombie she had picked to be on the business end of her weapon. She would not need Armor-Piercing Rounds to take these guys down. A single shot to the head with normal rounds would more than suffice to take them down.

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-Ten minutes later-

Victoria had just taken down the last of the first horde of zombies to attack her and Abigail. It was not a particularly hard fight, but it was nerve-wracking because the zombies could run as fast as a living person and that meant the two mages had to be quick when attacking or dodging. Abigail was cleaning the blood from the Sky Blade as Victoria looked around for more zombies who had heard the commotion and were coming to join the fray. The .44 Magnum was not exactly a subtle weapon: it had a report that could be easily heard by anything within earshot. However, like with so many weapons in Victoria's arsenal, it was perfectly suited to its wielder. Brute force tended to be Victoria's preferred method of problem-solving and if something was not broke, why fix it?

"That's the last of 'em. So far." Victoria commented to Abigail, looking over the scene. The zombies she had shot barely had heads anymore and the zombies Abigail had killed had neat stab wounds or neat slices through their skulls. That illustrated the difference between the two mages. Victoria was a sledgehammer and Abigail was a scalpel. The same dynamic had been present when Victoria had worked alongside Itori months ago... not that Victoria minded too much.

Everyone had their place in life. Victoria's place in life was as an instrument of brute force to be directed towards demons, demon cultists, slavers, and other unpleasant sorts who liked to kick people around for the fun of it. It might be a delusional idea for her to hold, but sometimes Victoria liked to think that she was some cosmic entity's instrument sent here to put goons who kicked around innocent people in their place... and sometimes that place was six feet underground. Not that Victoria minded killing.

"There's plenty more where they came from." Abigail calmly remarked. Victoria nodded and looked past the dead zombies. They were in a clearing now, but some distance away there were bushes that formed a corridor approximately 100 meters long. The two mages looked at each other.

"Oh look, a corridor. How awfully convenient. For them." Victoria remarked to Abigail. Abigail frowned at Victoria, but this frown was one of agreement.

"Yeah. Unless we want to go tromping through the underbrush and get seriously scratched up by thorns, we have no choice but to go down the corridor and see what happens. With that hand cannon of yours, we'll be all right." Abigail said. Victoria smiled.

"Yeah, I like this hand cannon. It's my second time using it and it's a big help. I don't have to use my Light Machine Gun to do all the heavy lifting now." Victoria commented on the .44 Magnum in her hand. It was every bit as noisy as the Light Machine Gun but was capable of greater precision... not that that was saying very much. Still, having a powerful weapon that could fire single shots that were not anti-armor rockets was always nice to have.

"I'm ready to go into the corridor when you are, Vic." Abigail said to Victoria. Victoria nodded.

"Sure, Abby. Let's go." Victoria said. Together the pair started towards the corridor formed by bushes and hoped to find the weapon they had been hired to retrieve. While they had not been told exactly what kind of weapon they were looking for, the brunette was pretty sure that they would know it when they saw it. Maybe.

-Inside the corridor, three minutes later-

Victoria and Abigail were now walking through the corridor and kept their weapons ready. More zombies could burst through the brush at any moment looking for a meal. There was not very much room to maneuver and since Abigail had a sword she would have to be very careful not to hit her while the blonde fought the zombies.

Victoria looked up at the sky and could not believe that she was fighting zombies in daylight. Before today she had only ever fought them at night, but here she was traveling through a zombie-infested place in broad daylight. The best word she could use to describe the situation was "surreal."

Victoria faced forward again and continued to follow Abigail through the corridor, which opened onto another clearing. Maybe they could find the weapon soon and get out of here before they had to fight another large horde of those slender ax-wielding zombies. The pair were ten meters down the corridor when an obese zombie wielding a meat cleaver in its right hand staggered out of the brush about a meter away from Victoria and faced them with milky white eyes. It pointed towards them with its free hand and bellowed something.

"MEEEEEEEAT!" It bellowed in a deep voice. Victoria quickly raised her .44 Magnum and aimed for its head, firing an Armor-Piercing Round that easily punched through its skull and brought it down. Victoria smiled. Fortunately for her, the extra layer of fat protecting their brains could not stop the Armor-Piercing Rounds the revolver could fire.

Unfortunately for her, she heard loud moaning coming from all around her. That meant that they were about to get company very soon. Abigail heard the moaning and looked at the brunette.

"We can't fight them here! There's too much risk of us hitting each other! Let's go back to the first clearing!" Abigail suggested before turning around and fleeing to the first clearing. Victoria did not object. She wordlessly turned around and hurriedly followed Abigail to an area where they could make a stand against the zombies that would soon arrive.

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-In the first clearing-

Abigail and Victoria had retreated to the first clearing in order to have more space to fight in. The two mages had wildly different fighting styles and they needed the space to minimize the risk of hitting each other. Abigail used a sword while Victoria used different kinds of firearms. While their differing fighting styles made them a good team, there was always the risk of a stray bullet hitting Abigail and that risk would have been much greater in the narrow corridor they had retreated from. The greater space afforded by the clearing allowed the two mages to get the zombies to spread out while also getting the bonus of reduced chances of friendly fire.

Once they had finished retreating to the middle of the clearing the two mages prepared to stand their ground. Victoria aimed her .44 Magnum at the head of an approaching butcher zombie and fired an Armor-Piercing Round into its forehead, taking it down with a single shot. However, the other butcher zombies did not just mindlessly shamble towards her like rotting lemmings. They actually began to fight back by throwing meat cleavers at her and Abigail.

Victoria ducked under two thrown meat cleavers and felt a third whiz by her right shoulder. Since she was not wearing armor, a single hit would give her a nasty cut and Ishgar knew what else because those meat cleavers were coated with blood from previous victims. She should have put on her Azure Armor before leaving home, but Victoria was in such a hurry to get going to Fat Monsterland that she had forgotten to bring any of her gear. All of it was sitting in Capital Crocus, where it was unable to do her any good.

Victoria popped up after dodging the meat cleavers that had been thrown at her and aimed for the head of another butcher zombie, then fired an Armor-Piercing Round that punched through its skull and took it down. She ducked under a volley of thrown meat cleavers and looked to her right, where Abigail was fighting some of the zombies who split off from the pack to chase Abigail. That was a big mistake on their part.

Abigail was fifteen meters to Victoria's right and had already dealt with two zombies of her own. With the Sky Blade glowing silver, the blonde effortlessly sliced through the skull of a third zombie and easily dodged the return fire from six of them before slashing directly downward and firing a sharp crescent wave that cut a fourth zombie down the middle. It split in half with a groan and its halves fell to the ground, leaving Abigail with a fourth kill to her credit.

Victoria heard a vomiting sound and saw a glob of green acid flying towards her. She did a half-step to the left and felt the left part of her shirttail burn away; it turned out that some of the acid had hit her shirt and a little bit had reached her stomach, but that was better than her entire stomach being coated in acid as the result of a direct hit. Victoria frowned and aimed at the offender, which was a butcher zombie about seven meters to her left. She aimed and fired an Armor-Piercing Round that burst its head like a ripe watermelon, gaining a measure of revenge for her favorite shirt.

Victoria clenched her teeth as she began to feel the acid burning her skin in the spots it hit, but she did not have time to deal with that. She had to dodge more incoming acidic vomit or she would get burned even worse. Victoria ducked under a volley coming from her far left and jumped to the right to avoid getting burned by a glob aimed at her face, then quickly aimed at the head of one of them and fired, killing it just in time to get a glob of acid that brushed her left shoulder. The Sabertooth mage was paying the price for her lack of foresight, but she would be fine once all of the zombies in the area were dead.

Victoria dodged some thrown meat cleavers and fired back at each of the fives attacker, killing them in a single shot to the head apiece. Her left side and left shoulder were burning from the acid, but she could heal that off once the fighting stopped. After Victoria fired off her shots there were only around nine zombies left and Abigail was cutting through the six on her side like a hot knife through butter. One of them fell with a diagonal cut through the skull and another soon suffered the same fate, leaving her only four to deal with.

Abigail crouched down and began to glow silver, then took three running steps forward before disappearing from sight. The zombies in front of her kept walking forward but suddenly paused in place and thin red lines appeared on their bodies. Abigail reappeared behind them and snapped the fingers of her left hand, upon which they fell into pieces with loud groans of anguish. Victoria laughed a little... Abigail could be such a show-off.

If the blonde was showing off, it had worked. Victoria was so impressed by the demonstration of Abigail's unnamed technique that she had nearly let the three zombies in front of her get the drop on her. The brunette faced forward and aimed at the head of the first zombie and fired an Armor-Piercing Round, then did the same for the next two. All three zombies fell within seconds of each other, leaving the blonde and the brunette in command of the clearing.

Victoria took a deep breath and looked at her wounds. Both wound sites were bright red like she had spent too much time in the sun, but thankfully the acid had not burned through her skin. She could treat those wounds later because both of the mages heard loud moaning. Abigail hurried to Victoria's side and spoke to her.

"Sounds like we're gonna have more company real soon!" Abigail warned Victoria. The brunette nodded and switched her revolver to her left hand in order to use her right hand for a healing spell. She could patch up her left shoulder before the next wave of zombies got here, but she would need to heal it very quickly. Running down the corridor in front of them was a large gang of over thirty ax-wielding zombies heading right for them!

"There they are." Victoria commented laconically. She quickly channeled magic into her right hand and used a Medical Bag spell to heal her burned left shoulder. Once that was done she lifted her revolver with both hands and aimed at the head of the first zombie she spotted. There was no rest for the weary.

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The barrel of Victoria's revolver followed the zombie for a few moments before she squeezed the trigger. The shot took off a large part of its head and it fell to the ground as its colleagues rushed past it without sparing a glance. Victoria aimed at another one and fired at its head, killing it as well. A headshot on a third zombie produced another kill, but they moved faster than the Sabertooth mage could pick them off. Abigail saw the and motioned to Victoria.

"I'm gonna head right and draw some of them away from you, Vic." Abigail informed Victoria of her plan. Needing the help and knowing that there was no dissuading her companion, the brunette nodded.

"Be careful, Abby!" Victoria warned her partner. The brunette knew that Abigail knew what she was doing, but she still warned the blonde because while splitting up the zombies was beneficial to Victoria, it put Abigail in danger of being overwhelmed if the zombie numbers were more than she could handle. Abigail was also in danger because unlike the average walking corpse, the ones in Fat Monsterland could run at human running speed.

"I'll be fine! You just keep shooting them!" Abigail shouted back before running to the right of the clearing and drawing away some zombies who probably saw the sword-wielding blonde as an easier target than the gun-wielding brunette. With that Victoria faced forward and aimed at the closest zombie, firing and killing it with a headshot that made its head explode. They were now thirty meters away and closing fast.

Victoria aimed at the head of another zombie and fired, hitting it in the head and turning its head to mush. She stood her ground and killed another one while Abigail started making use of what long-distance techniques she had to deal with her attackers. The brunette saw them reach twenty meters and remained calm, but she was getting a little concerned. The axes the zombies carried looked really sharp and the zombies were eager to use them on both her and Abigail.

The brunette continued to aim for the head and fire, aim for the head and fire. The zombies were dropping, but they were not being killed fast enough to keep them from getting close to melee range. Her Grenade Launcher would be a good way to stop the horde in its tracks, but the grenades had a blast radius and she did not want an errant grenade to go off near herself or Abigail. It would also inflict damage on the environment and she did not want to set off a brush fire or a full-blown forest fire with a grenade launcher round going off in the wrong place.

Her next option was to bring out her Light Machine Gun for quick disposal of the incoming zombies, but she decided against it for several reasons. First, the power of her revolver was more than enough. Second, fully automatic fire was hard to control... aside from accuracy issues, if a running zombie brushed its barrel right while she was firing she could hit Abigail with stray rounds. Third, she just did not have the time to stand around and summon the weapon.

Victoria fired at the head of another zombie and brought it down, but now they were within ten meters of her. She stole a glance to the right to check on her partner and found that Abigail was holding her own and then some. Rather than back away from the undead, the blonde was actually attacking them with the Sky Blade. Abigail was fast enough to dodge the swing of the ax and hit back with either a slice through the skull or a slice that removed the head of the ax, reducing the zombies to swinging blunt ax handles instead of sharp axes. Abigail did not need Victoria's help, so the brunette would leave her partner to take care of business on the right.

Victoria focused forward again and took down another zombie, then another. If it were not for the speed of the zombies and their weapons making them a real threat, eliminating them would simply be a tedious chore. It was still somewhat tedious, but the brunette faced losing a limb or her life if she got complacent. Victoria aimed and fired again, killing another one until only a few were left.

They closed to five meters and that was when the brunette really began to worry. She took a step back before aiming and firing a killshot, then backed up and fired another killshot on a zombie with its ax raised to bring it down on her skull when it got within striking distance. Victoria aimed and fired at one that was within three meters of her, killing it on the spot. However, three of them got past it and were almost within striking distance. Victoria stood her ground and aimed and fired one last time, killing the one on the far left. After that they were upon her with their gleaming axes flashing in the sunlight.

Victoria would have to fight at an uncomfortably close range to defeat these zombies, but she could do it. She had to if she did not want to be cut to pieces where she stood.

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Victoria raised her revolver with her right hand and aimed it directly at the forehead of the zombie on the right, who was about to be toe-to-toe with the brunette. She fired and turned its head to mush with the shot, but there was no time to celebrate because the last zombie ran over to Victoria and raised its axe. Victoria shrieked and jumped back, narrowly avoiding a lethal blow. She quickly raised the revolver and pointed at its forehead, then fired. Its head exploded and its body collapsed to the ground. Victoria was finally safe.

"VICTORIA!" Abigail called out. She ran towards the brunette, whose right arm was feeling the recoil from firing such a powerful weapon with only one hand. Victoria rubbed her right arm with her left hand.

"Are you OK?" Abigail asked when she came to a stop at her partner's side. Victoria looked at her and nodded.

"Yeah, thanks. I'm good. I just have a sore right arm, a burning left side, and a burning left side from where some zombie vomit burned away the shirt. I healed my left shoulder, though." Victoria reported her post-fight condition to her partner. Abigail looked the brunette over and winced when she saw the acid burns on Victoria's left shoulder and left side.

"Those butcher zombies can vomit globs of acid. It burns." Victoria remarked as Abigail looked over the burns. Her left side was burning, but thankfully the acid did not burn through the flesh. That was good because having a hole in one's side was not something one wanted in zombie-infested territory.

"Well, I'm glad you're OK, Vic. Now let's check out what's down the corridor. I hope we can find that weapon soon and get outta here." Abigail said to Victoria before the pair began to walk back towards the corridor, carefully stepping over the bodies of the zombies they had just killed. Maybe they would get a break from fighting for awhile.

-In the second clearing, five minutes later-

"We made it through without getting into another fight, Victoria. Maybe we'll have smooth sailing from here on out." Abigail said to Victoria in a hopeful tone. Victoria fought the urge to say something sarcastic. In her experience the moment things looked easy was when things started to get really difficult. Victoria kept her negative thoughts to herself and let Abigail have some hope.

"Maybe you're right, Abby. Maybe it'll be easy from here on out." Victoria said without much confidence. Abigail gave Victoria a dirty look before turning to examine their surroundings.

"Well, we're in another clearing that opens up onto another corridor." Abigail reported to Victoria. Again the brunette fought the urge to make a sarcastic remark. She silently looked around the clearing and saw that it was bordered by brush and trees on both sides with a corridor in the middle exactly like the one they had just passed through.

"Let's keep going, Abby. Maybe we'll find that weapon at the end of the next corridor." Victoria said with a slightly more hopeful tone than she had used earlier. Abigail agreed.

"Right, let's keep going." Abigail replied. Together the pair strolled through the clearing while looking around them for more zombies or anything else that called Fat Monsterland home. Maybe they would get lucky enough to find the weapon without having to do any more fighting. Victoria's right arm was hurting from firing the .44 Magnum one-handed like an action movie hero and she did not want to do that any more today if she could help it.

-In the third clearing, five minutes later-

The pair had traveled through the second corridor and came across another clearing surrounded by trees and an open path that led deeper into the woods. The clearing had some holes in the ground where tent pegs were supposed to go: judging from the neat rectangular placement and how many of them there were, this place was once a campsite, but there were no traces of the tents or anything to suggest that it was once inhabited. They looked around the clearing and did not see anything else of interest. Their eyes were drawn towards the path and after a few moments they looked at each other.

"Just how far did this client go into Fat Monsterland when they lost their weapon?" Abigail asked Victoria. Victoria shrugged.

"I don't know, dude." Victoria replied. She honestly had no idea, but she figured that if they had been hired the client must have ventured pretty far into Fat Monsterland. Abigail sighed and pointed towards the path.

"Well, we can't leave here until we find that missing weapon, so we're just gonna have to go down that path." Abigail said to Victoria. The Sabertooth mage nodded.

"You're right, Abby. Now let's get going while we still have daylight." Victoria said to her partner. Together they walked through the clearing and towards the path that led deeper into Fat Monsterland. Maybe they would luck out and find the missing weapon before they got into another fight with a horde of zombies.

[Post Word Count: 850]
[Total Word Count: 6,254/11,000]

-200 meters down the forest path, ten minutes later-

Victoria and Abigail had been walking for what seemed like hours, but in reality it was only a matter of minutes. They were keeping their eyes and ears peeled for zombies lurking in the woods and as a result they were walking a bit slower than they normally would. They were also a bit tired from two consecutive fights, so they were not exactly moving at a breakneck pace. However, they could run for it if they had to.

"Man, we've been walking on this path for the last ten minutes! When are we gonna reach the end?" Abigail complained to Victoria.

"Dude, I don't even know. We'll probably have to follow it to the end before we find what we're looking for." Victoria answered. Abigail sighed.

"Yeah, it looks that way, Vic. Maybe we shoulda gotten on the Centaur and let you drive us through here." Abigail said before suggesting that they should have gotten onto the Centaur and zipped through the area instead of trudging through it on foot. Victoria knew that her partner had a point, but it was too late to turn back for the vehicle now. It would take as much time and effort to go back for the Centaur as it would to just follow the path on foot.

"Yeah, that woulda been handy, but we're already this deep in the woods. If we went back now we'd just be wasting daylight. Sure, we'd more than make that time up by zipping through here on the Centaur, but I'd rather get the weapon now and make only one trip back instead of going back, getting the Centaur, then driving back to here." Victoria gave her take on it. Abigail sighed.

"You're right, but a girl can dream, can't she?" Abigail asked Victoria rhetorically. It was obvious that the blonde was hoping that they would go back and ride through the forest on Victoria's hovercycle, but today it would not happen. The pair walked another three meters and spotted something gleaming in the sunlight about 100 meters away. They stopped in place and looked again to make sure that their eyes were not playing tricks on them.

"Hey Vic, do you see that?" Abigail asked, pointing towards the gleaming object.

"Yeah Abby, I see it." Victoria replied in the affirmative. Sensing that perhaps the end of their journey was near, they unconsciously quickened their pace and moved towards the object at a brisk walk. They hoped that they would find the weapon and get to leave this place soon.

-100 meters later-

The pair reached the object and found that it was a sword that had been jammed in the head of one of those fast ax-wielding zombies. Ten more lay sprawled on the ground with their heads cut in two. The client had clearly fought off a zombie ambush until their weapon had gotten jammed into a zombie's skull, when they sensibly fled rather than stay and risk getting chopped to pieces by surviving zombies to retrieve it.

"It's not exactly the Sword In The Stone, but it's presumably what we're looking for." Abigail commented on the unusual pedestal that the sword was lodged in. The sword in question was a longsword with a blue leather handgrip and a silver blade with a silver crossguard.

"What's the Sword In The Stone?" Victoria asked Abigail. The blonde turned to Victoria and blinked incredulously.

"You've never heard any of the Arthurian legends?" Abigail asked Victoria. The brunette shook her head.

"No, Abby, I haven't. And I'm not trying to be funny. I don't know very many legends or folklore. I didn't go to school when I was a child and I was home-schooled by my uncle, but he wasn't a teacher by trade." Victoria replied in all seriousness. Victoria was not very well-educated... her uncle Lawrence had taught her the bare necessities to avoid being totally illiterate and innumerate, but he was not a teacher by profession, so the basics was all Victoria had learned from him. Abigail's facial expression softened.

"I'll have to tell them to you some time, Victoria. I also have books that I could loan you if you want to learn about them that way." Abigail said to her with a smile. Victoria was glad that Abigail did not take this chance to make fun of Victoria for not knowing anything about Arthurian legends... whatever those were. Abigail had not explained what they were, so the brunette had no clue. Abigail turned from Victoria to the gleaming sword stuck in the zombie's head.

"Now let's pull that sword out of the zombie's head and get outta here so that we can take it to the client and get paid." Abigail suggested to Victoria. The brunette gave a thumbs-up. Now Abigail was talking about something the brunette understood.

"Let me try to pull it first!" Abigail said playfully. Victoria shrugged her shoulders and gave another thumbs-up. Having received Victoria's permission to proceed, the blonde walked over to the zombie, planted her right foot on its skull, and pulled up on the sword's grip with all her might while Victoria stood back and watched.

[Post Word Count: 870]
[Total Word Count: 7,124/11,000]

Holding Abigail's Sky Blade in her left hand and her revolver in her right hand, Victoria watched as Abigail tried to pull the sword from the zombie's head. Abigail had tried twice to remove it but was forced to take a break after failing each time. The blonde had backed off from the weapon and was taking a break while Victoria watched the area for zombies who happened to be passing through, but so far the coast was clear. Victoria turned to her partner, who then looked at her.

"I've almost got the sword where I can pull it out, Vic. I just need to give it one more good effort." Abigail told Victoria. Victoria smiled a little.

"Third time's the charm, huh?" Victoria asked casually.

"I hope so, Vic. I really want to get out of here before we have to fight more zombies." Abigail said. She cut her break short and walked back over to the sword, then bellied up to it and grabbed the grip with both hands. The blonde pulled up on the grip with all her might and the blade began to slide upwards out of the zombie skull it had been lodged in. Victoria watched the spectacle as Abigail continued pulling upwards with all of her might until the blade came out.

Abigail had put too much strength into pulling the sword because the moment the sword was pulled free from the skull she shrieked and fell backwards, landing squarely on her backside. However she had claimed the sword that they had come for. Abigail laughed and got to her feet while holding the weapon.

"If only I had a Round Table with some knights sitting at it, this would be perfect." Abigail said, holding the sword above her head with her right hand in an action pose. Victoria laughed again.

"C'mon, Abby. Let's get to Magnolia Town and return the weapon to its owner so that we can get paid. Once we get paid I'll buy you a round table. You'll have to find your own knights, though." Victoria offered. Abigail lowered the sword and walked over to Victoria. The brunette handed Abigail her Sky Blade back and the blonde put it in the scabbard on her left hip.

"Man, this is a beautiful sword." Abigail mused to no one in particular as she looked at the sword. Victoria took a glance at it and noticed how it gleamed in the sun. She also liked the blue leather handgrip, but she was not a swordswoman. The brunette was a gunslinger through and through.

"You can admire it on the way to Magnolia Town, Abby. Now let's get going before trouble finds us." Victoria insisted. Abigail nodded.

"I'm with you, Vic. Let's get going." Abigail said. She continued to casually wave the sword about to admire it under the sunlight for a minute before Victoria gave up and set out for the Centaur on her own. Abigail looked up and saw the brunette walking away, a sight which finally prompted her to move.

"HEY VIC, WAIT FOR ME! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!" Abigail shouted.

-In Magnolia Town, two-and-a-half hours later, outside 1215 Knight's Lane-

"Well, here we are. 1215 Knight's Lane. This is where our client lives." Abigail said to Victoria while holding the sword. The pair were standing outside a small but sturdy brick house that had a thick brown wooden door reminiscent of those used in old castles. Just to the right of the door was a glowing doorbell button. Victoria and Abigail looked at each other and tried to figure out who would go to the door.

"I'll go to the door." Victoria offered. Abigail nodded. The brunette walked up to the door and pressed the doorbell. There was no answer.

Victoria waited a minute and pressed the doorbell again. This time the door was unlocked from the inside and out strode the owner. The owner was a bald, burly man who was a little over seven feet tall wearing a steel plate cuirass with numerous scratches and gouges with brown pants with brown boots. He looked at Victoria and Abigail with icy blue eyes.

"Oh, you two must be the mages I hired to go to Fat Monsterland." He said to them in a deep voice. Victoria and Abigail nodded. The guy looked like he could break them over his knee if he really wanted to. His eyes then went to the sword in Abigail's hands.

"And you found my sword! I went too deep into Fat Monsterland and had to fight my way out of a zombie ambush. When I jammed my sword into that zombie's skull I thought I had lost it forever!" He exclaimed happily. Victoria did a quick scan of his body language just to be sure that they were not about to hand over the sword to a phony looking to score a free weapon. Victoria learned that the man was telling the truth when he claimed to be the owner of the sword in Abigail's hands.

"It took some doing, but we got it for you." Victoria said to the man. The tall man was smiling widely at the sight of his weapon.

"That sword has been passed down in my family for the past two centuries. None of us had magic, so we had to make do with a magic sword. It's worked for us this long and now that you two found the sword it'll work a while longer." He told them the importance of the sword. Victoria now knew why he had wanted it back so much. In addition to being a family heirloom, it also had magic power that allowed him to compensate for not being a mage.

[Post Word Count: 958]
[Total Word Count: 8,082/11,000]

Seeing that there was no point in hanging on to it any longer, Abigail presented the sword to the man. The burly man eagerly took the sword and examined it as it gleamed in the sunlight brighter than it had when Abigail pulled it out of the zombie skull back in Fat Monsterland. It was like the sword was responding to being back in the hands of its rightful owner, but Victoria could be reading too much into the situation. Maybe it was just a diligently maintained sword that had been polished to a shine, but if Abigail's Sky Blade had abilities that only a member of the Windstrider family could use, it stood to reason that the man's sword had abilities that only members of his family could use. Maybe he had deliberately kept quiet about its powers so that the two mages were not tempted to export more money from him in exchange for getting it back.

"Thank you both. This means a lot to me." He thanked them for their trouble. He went back inside and shut the door behind him. Victoria hoped that they were not going to get cheated out of their pay, but the brunette kept her mouth shut and waited for the man's return.

Her patience was rewarded when the man opened the door again and handed them both large bags filled with Jewels. Victoria and Abigail smiled when they got their payment.

"I can't thank you two enough for retrieving my sword. Now I can pass it on to my son one day. He's just a small child now, but one day it'll be his. When my adventuring days are over, it'll be his and he can make his way in the world with the family sword." The man said to them. Victoria analyzed his body language and learned that the man was not just feeding them a story to garner sympathy. He actually intended to pass the weapon down whenever he retired from the adventuring lifestyle.

"It's no problem, Mister." Abigail said to him.

"Same here." Victoria seconded the blonde's opinion. The man smiled at them.

"I appreciate all the trouble you went to. Have a good day!" He bade them before shutting the door. Victoria and Abigail faced each other. Now that their job was complete they were at loose ends for the rest of the day.

"Well, Abby, it's time for me to go back to Capital Crocus. Do you wanna come with me to my place or do you want me to take you back to Oak Town?" Victoria asked Abigail.

"I'd like to go back with you to your place, Vic." Abigail replied. Victoria smiled.

"OK then, we'll go back to my place." Victoria said. With their bags of Jewels the two mages walked towards Victoria's Centaur, which was parked only a short distance away from the house. If they did not get caught in a traffic jam or run into any trouble they would be back at Victoria's house in a couple of hours.

-The Sheridan Estate, two hours later-

Victoria parked the Centaur on the driveway and let Abigail climb off the Centaur before climbing off of it herself. She was so glad that her parents had the foresight to place their home 25 miles on the outskirts of Capital Crocus because that way she did not have to deal with traffic jams.

Victoria and Abigail had only taken four steps towards the front door when they heard the loud mechanical hum of the garage door opening. Laura must have seen them approach and opened the garage door for them. Laura herself walked from under the opening garage door to greet them.

"Hello Miss Sheridan. Hello Miss Windstrider. Welcome back!" Laura greeted them. Victoria and Abigail waved at her.

"Hey Laura. Abby wants to stay with us for awhile." Victoria informed Laura of Abigail's plan to stay at the Sheridan Estate for awhile. Laura nodded.

"Don't worry, Miss Sheridan. I've prepared for company." Laura assured her. With that Victoria returned to the Centaur and climbed back onto it.

"I'm going to park the Centaur in the garage." Victoria said. Laura guided Abigail into the garage and Victoria slowly and gently maneuvered the Centaur into the garage. Once it was safely in Laura shut the garage door behind Victoria.

-Inside the house-

Once Laura had unlocked the door Victoria and Abigail entered the house and took off their shoes before setting their footwear on a mat. The two walked into the living room and took a deep breath. They had made it home and completed the job with minimal trouble. Except for Victoria's shirt, everyone had made it through intact.

"We made it, Vic. What do you want to do now?" Abigail asked Victoria. The brunette shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know, Abby. I'm just glad to be out of Fat Monsterland." Victoria replied to the question. Victoria did not say how creepy the experience of going into Fat Monsterland in broad daylight was. She appreciated the daylight allowing her to see and shoot zombies well before they could get within striking range, but fighting zombies in broad daylight was somehow creepier than fighting them at night. At least the ordeal was over now and she and Abigail could relax.

[Post Word Count: 884]
[Total Word Count: 8,966/11,000]

-In the living room, one hour later-

Victoria and Abigail had returned from their job one hour ago and now they were at a loss as to what they wanted to do next. They had plenty of daylight, but they had no idea what they wanted to do to pass the time. In the meantime they were sitting in front of the television, which was showing an old movie about four people trapped in a mall filled with zombies. The people had flown to the mall by helicopter and had landed on a helipad on the roof. Now they were securing a precarious foothold on the top floor after killing a zombie who had almost attacked the woman in the four-person group before she was rescued by the return of the men, who had gone on a scouting mission and learned that the mall was crawling with zombies.

It was a slow-paced horror movie that had started in a television station where the station staff was clearly upset about news of the recently deceased coming back to life and wanted answers as much as the viewers. Sometimes the slow burn approach was better than shoving hordes of walking corpses at the viewer because the viewer could see society beginning to collapse thanks to how society reacted to dead people being alive again, but Victoria still did not like it. She was only watching the zombie movie because Abigail might be interested in it. Besides, the brunette was tired of old westerns and talent shows.

"Would you change the channel, please?" Abigail asked Victoria, who was holding the remote in her right hand. That request was all the reason Victoria needed to change the channel.

"Sure thing, Abby." Victoria replied, changing the channel from the zombie movie to something else. One press of the button later and the television was now on a home shopping network where an attractive fortysomething was advertising a new smart television. Victoria could not help but to be amused at how strange that was.

"A home shopping network advertising a smart television. What are the chances?" Abigail asked rhetorically. Victoria laughed a little and changed the channel. She happened to land on a channel showing a cooking show with overly dramatic music that made it sound like the contestants were going to engage each other in hand-to-hand combat with kitchen knives with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, not just pitting their cooking skills against one another for a substantial cash prize and a prestigious job at a fancy restaurant. Those prizes were very good reasons to be competitive, but that did not meant that overly dramatic music had to be employed... the drama of people competing for those prizes was riveting enough without music having to tell people what to feel at any given time.

Victoria watched a head chef working at the prestigious restaurant the contestants were competing to get a job at tear into a contestant because the beef wellington that was the dish to be prepared for that round was overcooked. She heard angry-sounding electric guitar music play throughout the verbal beatdown plus the sound of a knife or ax being sharpened like someone was about to be executed. Victoria thought that was a bit much for a cooking contest. She looked at Abigail to see if she wanted to change the channel.

"Change it, please." Abigail requested. Victoria nodded and flipped the channel without a second thought. On the next channel was some kind of mecha anime show where a spiky-haired protagonist in a shiny white mecha suit was wiping out a force of green enemy mecha suits while going on and on about how violence was not an acceptable means of solving problems. Victoria rolled her eyes so hard that Abigail could hear it.

That mecha anime protagonist was painfully naive. Victoria had been a small, starving and almost helpless street kid who was an easy target for other street people because she was about as much threat to them as a newborn puppy. She had done nothing to those people but cross their path and they decided to go after her because she was an easy target. That stopped the moment Lawrence Sheridan taught Victoria magic so that she could defend herself.

When those same people who enjoyed beating up Victoria when she was helpless were suddenly confronted with a Victoria who could fight back, they tended to stop picking fights with her after the first ass-kicking she gave them. That anime protagonist was an idiot of the highest degree when he insisted that violence was not an acceptable means of problem-solving. Violence solved a lot of problems for Victoria when she was a street kid and violence solved a lot of problems for Victoria when she started her career as a mage. Violence was still working for her because a demon cult was not going to stop kidnapping young women and trying to resurrect their demonic patron because someone asked them nicely to stop doing those things. Zupazu's Executioners only stopped their nefarious activities because Victoria was there to stop them with lethal force.

"I'm going to go change my shirt, Abby." Victoria announced to Abigail before handing the blonde the remote.

"OK, Vic." Abigail said to her before the brunette got off the couch and went upstairs to change from her tattered shirt to something that did not look like it had been hit with acid. Victoria carefully walked up the stairs and went to her room to find a better shirt to wear... or at least put on her white Steel Matron t-shirt. That shirt was Victoria's go-to shirt because it went with almost any skirt or pair of shorts she had. She also liked how comfortable it was.

[Post Word Count: 966]
[Total Word Count: 9,932/11,000]

-The second floor, Victoria's room-

Victoria walked into her room on the second floor and walked over to the bed, where she took off her tattered white Steel Matron shirt and threw it on the floor for the time being. She began looking around for a replacement when she spotted a blue Steel Matron t-shirt with the band's logo in gunmetal gray lying on the bed. It was obviously new with no signs of wear... it had been recently washed and neatly placed on the bed by Laura. The choice of what shirt to wear was a no-brainer.

Victoria finally healed her left side from where the acid had burned it but then decided that she might need to take a shower. Being hit with acidic vomit was nasty in more ways than one: there was no telling what kind of germs were lingering on her skin and she would need to rinse them off before putting on a new t-shirt. With that in mind Victoria left the room and went to get a bathcloth and towel to take a bath.

-Forty minutes later, Victoria's room-

Victoria took a long shower before finally getting out of the shower. She entered her room with a towel wrapped around her and shut the door. She found and put her khaki cargo shorts on, then grabbed the new Steel Matron t-shirt and slipped it on. It fit perfectly just like the white shirt it had temporarily replaced. Speaking of the white shirt, Victoria picked it up and frowned when she saw the damage that had been done to her favorite t-shirt.

The left sleeve was all but missing and a good deal of the left side was gone. Unless someone had Cloth Make Magic or an uncanny ability to repair damaged garments this shirt was as good as gone. She would hate to part with it because Victoria had worn that shirt on many jobs and it was her favorite shirt.

The brunette held onto it and began to go look for Laura to get advice on what to do. The moment she opened the door Laura appeared in the doorway, causing Victoria to jump. Laura was awfully quiet... it was almost like she was a ninja maid or something.

"I see that your shirt has been damaged, Miss Sheridan." Laura said to Victoria. Victoria nodded.

"Yeah. It got hit with acidic vomit a couple of times during the job I went on with Abigail." Victoria told Laura the source of the damage.

"I can repair it for you. I have some knowledge of Cloth Make Magic. If I cannot repair it, I know someone who can." Laura offered. Victoria blinked. She used her ability to sense magic and learned that Laura had a signature equal to that of an S-rank mage.

Victoria blinked again.

How had she missed that detail the first time they had met? Could Laura suppress her magic signature at will? Or was Victoria just that oblivious? Either explanation was plausible.

"Um, sure. Sure thing, Laura." Victoria said to the silver-haired maid. She handed over the tattered t-shirt without an argument. Laura took it and examined it with a neutral expression on her face.

"I can repair this, Miss Sheridan. It may take some time, but I can repair this." Laura assured Victoria. Victoria gave a thumbs-up.

"No problem, Laura. Take your time. I'm not in any hurry to get it back." Victoria replied. The brunette was in no hurry because she had other shirts to replace the one that got damaged. She was also digging the blue Steel Matron t-shirt she was currently wearing. It would be a more than adequate replacement until her favorite shirt was repaired.

"I'll try and repair it as soon as possible, Miss Sheridan." Laura said before disappearing as quickly as she had arrived. Victoria blinked again. How could Laura move so fast?

Victoria simply shrugged her shoulders. Now that she had changed her shirt she should go downstairs again and see how Abigail was doing. Maybe the blonde had found something good on television.

-In the living room, two minutes later-

"Hey Abby, have you found anything good on television?" Victoria casually asked the blonde. Abigail shook her head without looking at Victoria.

"Nah, Vic. There's nothing good on TV. Not unless you really like old westerns, pop music videos, paint-by-numbers police procedurals, or talent shows." Abigail replied. She turned her head sideways and saw Victoria's new shirt.

"Hey, you finally found a Steel Matron t-shirt to wear that's not white!" Abigail joked with Victoria. Victoria smiled a little.

"Laura's amazing, Abby. She found this shirt for me and made sure that it was washed and didn't shrink. It's comfortable and fits perfectly." Victoria praised Laura for her skill in making sure Victoria had properly fitting clothing. Laura also did an excellent job in keeping the Sheridan Estate up and running smoothly. The refrigerator was full, the bills were paid on time, and the house was spotlessly clean. It was no exaggeration to say that without Laura the Sheridan Estate would be a total mess.

"What do you want to do about lunch, Vic?" Abigail asked Victoria out of the blue.

"I don't know, Abby." Victoria answered truthfully. She had not had much time to think about food. That was a good question, though. She was not sure whether to ask Laura to make them something or to go somewhere and eat.

[Post Word Count: 910]
[Total Word Count: 10,842/11,000]

-In the dining room, forty minutes later-

Victoria and Abigail were seated at the dining room table eating fettucine alfredo and drinking cans of Cherry Charge soda. Since Abigail did not feel like going out to eat Victoria suggested that Laura make them some fettucine alfredo. Abigail eagerly embraced the idea and Victoria asked that Laura prepare that for them. Laura was happy to oblige and forty minutes later the two mages were seated at the table and eating.

"This is really good, Vic." Abigail commented on the food.

"Laura is a really good cook. I can't cook to save my life, so if I tried it I'd need a fire extinguisher nearby." Victoria praised Laura for her abilities a second time and commented on her own nonexistent cooking skills. Abigail laughed.

"I'm not a very good cook either, Vic. I can cook basic things, but don't expect me to prepare a four-course meal. Expect something along the line of grilled cheese sandwiches or frozen meals." Abigail commiserated with Victoria on how she could not cook either. It was Victoria's turn to laugh.

"Back in Ace Of Spades I almost always eat at a restaurant. I can make a peanut butter sandwich and heat something in the microwave, but that's about the extent of my cooking skills. My uncle taught me a lot of things, but cooking wasn't one of them." Victoria added. Lawrence Sheridan had taught her magic and had gotten her started on bartending, but he had not taught her how to cook. He admitted that he was used to eating Meals, Ready to Eat or any small animal or insect he could catch and roast over an open fire, so he was not able to teach her cooking skills that would make her a Cordon Bleu chef. Instead he had taught Victoria skills that she could use to make money so that she could hire someone to cook for her.

It might be a waste of money to hire someone when she could learn to cook for herself, but until the brunette could find the free time and energy to take cooking lessons, she would happily pay someone like Laura to cook for her. Victoria was many things, but a cook was not one of them. She did not mind paying someone to help her do something that she could not do for herself. Not everyone had the free time to learn a new skill. Besides, it was not like demon cults or slavers would put their plans on hold until Victoria learned how to make the perfect lasagna or make the perfect omelette.

"Have you ever thought about taking cooking lessons, Vic?" Abigail asked Victoria, who was drinking from her soda. Victoria set the can down and laughed a little.

"Once or twice, but I haven't really had the time for it. From what little I understand, cooking's something that you've gotta put a lot of time and energy into to really learn how to do it right. I don't have that kind of time right now." Victoria replied truthfully. Abigail nodded.

"Yeah, me neither. I've been kinda busy myself, so I don't have time to prepare something elaborate. I either do a microwavable meal or just eat out." Abigail admitted. Victoria laughed again.

"Me too, Abby. Me too." Victoria replied. The brunette stayed on the road a lot and did not have time to whip up fancy meals even if she could. She often did not eat until hours after she completed a job. On rare occasions she did not even eat at all.

"Hey Vic, what do you want to do after we finish eating?" Abigail asked Victoria before eating more of her fettucine alfredo.

"I don't know. What do you want to do?" Victoria turned the question back on Abigail. The blonde shrugged her shoulders.

"Do you wanna go see a movie or something?" Abigail asked. Victoria thought about it a moment and decided that that was a good idea.

"Eh, sure. What do you have in mind?" Victoria agreed to the idea and asked what movie her companion wanted to see.

"I don't have anything in mind, really. Just as long as it's not a romantic comedy." Abigail set the ground rules for what they were going to see. Victoria did not mind that restriction at all.

"You won't get a complaint from me, Abby." Victoria replied. She ate a little more of her food before Abigail replied.

"All right then. We'll go see a movie after we eat." Abigail finalized the plan. Victoria gave a thumbs-up with her left hand.

"Works for me." Victoria replied laconically. Once the pair was finished eating they would go see a movie... just as long as it was not a romantic comedy. Neither one of them could stand sappy movies like that. It had been awhile since Victoria had seen a movie and she was kind of wanting to go to one again. Abigail's request was the perfect excuse to go see a movie.

After they finished eating, of course. Victoria did not waste food and she especially did not want to waste anything that Laura had cooked for her. Abigail must have felt the same way because she was in no real hurry to finish eating. If Abigail was in no hurry, neither was Victoria.

[Post Word Count: 891]
[Total Word Count: 11,733/11,000]