Charlotte
Another day, another inn on the frontier, another table just off the bar topped with drinks, chips, and cards, surrounded the impassive faces and hard eyes. Last time around, there wasn't a frontier by the time technology had gotten this far, but the progress of the remaining radiation and free mana fading had delayed expansion a fair bit, a little detail that the erstwhile bounty hunter was thankful for. Of course, that wasn't to say that people weren't willing to take their chances out in the hot zones, but not enough for much in the way of permanent settlements, so Charlotte found herself here, at least until the next round of bounties came in.
"Alright," Charlotte said after a moment and a second glance at her cards, "I'll raise you fif-"
The moment she tossed her chip in, reality seemed to shatter around her, and before she could draw Harbinger to shoot whatever phenoma it was, she found herself deposited in what looked like the front room of a bank, only it was surprisingly devoid of people at first glance. The reason for that, however, was abundantly clear, namely a whole mess of guys with masks and guns, and a few more tossing fireballs out of barricaded windows outlined with runes. On top of that, the air was thick with energy, not just mana either. Curious.
Huh, didn't think I'd end up in a stick up.
A quick glance back made it certain that the robbers did in fact have hostages, watched over by someone with their thumb on some sort of remote control. Likely a deadman switch of some sort, if the smell of freshly-soldered wiring and the soft beeping were anything to go by, topped with the stench of fear coming off the hostages. Of course, by now, one of them finally noticed the newcomer in a bar chair and a cowboy outfit. Outside, someone on a loudspeaker was going on about surrendering peacefully while they still could while a few hushed whispers coming off the robbers and hostages alike mentioned something about 'Elites'.
Finally, the guy with the gun had it leveled at her, shouting about keeping her hands up and not making any funny moves, to which the gunslinger non-chalantly raised her hands, not really feeling like blasting her way out of this when she had no idea of where here was. Especially considering that people were already on the way. A couple more joined the first guy, automatic rifles trained on her
"Well howdy there," she said, trying to keep the tension down, "Look, I ain't looking for trouble, and t'be honest I'm not sure where here is. Mind helping me out there?"
That got a few laughs out of them, and a surprising lack of rifle butts to the face for being uppity, but little else. Seemed like this was a common thing around here, but they weren't really talking as far as where here was exactly.
"So what sort of folk are y'all, anywho?" the gunslinger asked, " 'Sides bank robbers, 'course."
That got another round of laughter, followed by a list of some pretty boring jobs they pulled, right up until one of them mentioned a sizable bounty on their heads.
"Now just hold on there," the gunslinger said, cutting off another story, "How much did you say that price was?"
"Two grand," the masked man said, almost smugly, "Each."
"Well, ain't that nice," Charlotte mused, a smile splitting her face.
The smile didn't last long.
Oh sure, turning in the whole crew alive had been all well and good, and the surprise on the faces of those lawmen when she dragged the whole crew out hog-tied made it worth the boring stories she'd sat through. The check was cashed, most of it sitting in a new account. However, to her disappointment, it seemed prices were up around here. By a lot. Couldn't even get a decent cup of coffee for less than four bucks, let alone some booze.
Well, wherever I am, inflation's a lot higher than it was back home.
Local ads seemed to say something about a Nexus of sorts, but proper printed newspapers seemed to have fallen out of fashion around here. Seemed that whatever it was had either landed her at some point in the future or in a completely different world. Munching on an apple absentmindedly, the bounty hunter made her way through the streets, figuring she might as well look for something interesting before bothering to look into this place more.
