"So"
Felicity said, as she weaved her raven hair into a braid with one clawed finger, "we need to take on another mission." I sipped something green and probably alcoholic from a glowing horn-shaped glass. "I'm game when you are." She gestured broadly at my tail, "Now that you can fry people with your ass, the coming challenges should be a little-less hands on, I should think."
We sat in a side alley café-slash-mod shed where everything was bolted down and the bartender had gills. The Beast Bounty Board was dry—just cleanup jobs and one mission that literally read:
REMOVE INFESTED MOD-PIGEONS FROM CHIMNEY SYSTEM. REWARD: 50 DIGI COINS + TETANUS SHOT.
We needed side hustle money. Felicity whipped out her smart phone, "I'm subscribed to a Beast Vein Gig service, call Vein Gig" she said purring. They update every cycle."
''Vein Gig?'' I repeated. I raised one eyebrow, "You mean like… Craigslist but for cryptid freaks?"
"Exactly" Felicity said smiling. She laid her phone flat on the table and tapped three ads:
1. LIVE TESTER NEEDED — TRY UNSTABLE POTION FOR SKIN REGEN. SIDE EFFECTS: UNKNOWN. REWARD: 1 TAIL MARK OR EXFOLIATED GLOW.
2. SECURITY ESCORT: SPERM RAKOI MIGRATION — BEAST CITY AQUA LINE. WARNING: AGGRESSIVE CRAWFISH GANG ACTIVITY. REWARD: TIP-BASED PLUS FREE SNACKS.
3. IMPROV FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY FOR CHILDREN'S THEATER — "TALES OF THE SPINE KING." MUST DO OWN TAIL STUNTS. REWARD: 40 PULSE + CAKE.
I clicked on the second mission, " Might as well start with the most exciting gig first" I said. We headed down to the aqueducts and meet with the poster of the gig. We were issued glow-staffs, floatation vests, and bubble helmets. The Sperm Rakoi turned out to be eighteen feet long Poly-wags that were made of semi-Transparent skin and cartilage.
They were very polite.
The problem was the crawfish gang. They rolled up on jet-powered carapaces and tried to "negotiate a toll" using electric batons. Felicity hit one with a barrel-roll kick and he folded like wet origami. I fried another mid-air Skipping a plasma arc off the water. "Whew!" Felicity shouted. "This is so not OSHA approved!" The job ended with us soaking wet, covered in Sperm mucous, and given... crab crackers and a fish-scale punch card.
No pulse credits, no tips.
Just snacks.
We changed out and headed to our next gig. The alchemist and the poster of the gig, looked like a dehydrated coconut with eyes. He held up a vial that shimmered like a jewel and its contents stirred around inside like it was alive. "I need one of you to drink it as I record the epidermal response." "Herja volunteers," Felicity said immediately.
I glared at her. "Fine" I said, waltzing up and snatching the potion. I downed it. Nothing happened for ten seconds. Then my skin began to glow. Then pulse. Then my top layer of skin sloughed off in a layer of glittery molting flakes! "Is this... glitter eczema?" I asked, voice vibrating.
The alchemist nodded as he shook his head up and down frantically. "Success! Take this gift." He handed me a single Tail Mark.
Not bad, it could be traded to earn a favor, a chop of respect. Felicity took selfies with me in the background as I molted onto the floor. We headed to our third gig; A beast child's birthday play. Felicity was the Feral Queen. And I was "Tail Knight #2." My lines were mostly grunts and tail slaps, choreographed for slapstick.
The kids loved us. One of them yelled, "Do the plasma blast!!" I looked at Felicity. "Should I?" Felicity blushed, "Just... don't vaporize the mascot." I channeled the tail, dialed it down, and fired a light arc into the paper throne. The crowd roared. We got paid in cake and one of the parents offered us part-time work in "birthday security."
By night fall we were back on a roof overlooking the Beast Market, eating lukewarm squid-noodles and drinking bargain bin beer. I still had my measly 500 Digi Coins from the Fusion beast mission and 1 tail Mark to my name. "But you're legendary in the Poly-wag community," Felicity replied, leaning into my shoulder wrapping her arms around my waist. We clinked beer cans and drank.
Todays Side hustle was a mild success.
Tomorrow?
Back to bloodsport.
The laughter still echoed off the pulse glass walls as we crossed through the Old Scar District—one of Beast City's quieter veins. Wide causeways carved through collapsed mod towers, now home to vending shrines and graffiti-tagged clan murals. I was feeling good. My Tail was humming low, skin still faintly glittery from the molting potion. Felicity was mid-rant about the "underrated spiritual merit of Poly-wag migrations" when she stopped short. Her nose twitched. "Do you smell that?" she asked.
I inhaled.
Burnt ichor. Sulfur. Old pheromone trail. Herja stirred inside me, "Predator-scent," Herja muttered. "Old. But recent enough to matter." We rounded a bend—and found it. Another Beast Bounty Board, half-buried in a collapsed corridor, but still functional. This one was older—less trafficked. The frame was cracked. The glyph-core dim. But one listing pulsed with aggressive red.
[Tier 5 – Reissued]
SLAY ZERASK, THE FERAL BROODMOTHER
Threat Level: High
Zone: Hollow Gutter Nest, Level 4 Subsection B
Last Attempt: Failed
Hunter Tag: [REVOKED – DECEASED]
REWARD: 5000 Digi Coins + 1 Territory Claim Key
Status: Unclaimed. Active.
Felicity leaned closer, her voice hushed now. "Someone tried it and they didn't come back."
"Is she a chimera type?" I asked. Felicity shook her head. "No, that's a Brood Mother. That means she's not alone. Shes a swarm-based foe. And smart enough to nest into hollow vein-structure and tap the bio grid."
Herja stirred behind my eyes. The bounty flared as my palm got close. The glyphs responded to me like they were thinking about latching on.
"Don't touch it!" Felicity warned, "Not yet. These Tier 5s are psychic-linked. Once you accept it, the Vein marks you. She'll know we're coming, and not in the good way."
I pulled my hand back momentarily. "But it's 5000 Digi Coins!" I said, thinking about all of the upgrades 5000 Digi Coins could buy, "Plus a territory claim key, whatever that is."
Zerask's listing pulsed once more. Like a heartbeat. "She's not just a mission," Felicity said, eyes narrowing. "She's a trial." Felicity's hand caught my wrist—firm.
"Ash, don't." Herja surged in my spine, coiling like smoke laced with steel, "Let her feel us coming, I'll deal with the bitch." I didn't hesitate. I pressed my palm to the listing. The glyphs screamed. The board lit up like a flare. Red-orange script boiled across the surface, then sank into my hand like a burn less brand.
MISSION ACCEPTED
HUNTER: TEAM VEINBORN
STATUS: HUNT LOCKED
SUBJECT: ZERASK – BROODMOTHER CLASS
Felicity stepped back, breath sharp. "You just tagged us with a Tier 5 mission."
"Good," I said, "Let her prepare. Team Vein born is coming." Miles beneath us, something twitched. A mass of tangled cords and flesh-chambers lit up in the dark. Hive-nodes blinked open like infected eyes. Vein walls flexed. At the center, sprawled across a throne made of her own spawn's carapaces—Was Zerask. She lifted her massive head. Antennae shivered. Her Inner jaws clicked like metal teeth syncing gears. Her brood froze. Then scattered.
A wave of instinct.
She felt Herja's killer intent.
And she smiled. Back at the Board, Felicity stared at me like I'd just punted a hornet god. "You do realize you just told the biggest bug-bitch in the Vein exactly where we are, and that we are coming for her."
"Something like this was bound to happen sooner or later," I said, cracking my neck. Behind me, my plasma canon tail hissed. Segmented chambers clicked into heat-cycle—slow, pulsing buildup. Felicity folded her arms, half-exasperated, half-turned on.
"You're lucky that tail's basically an anti-hive cannon now."
"Then let's use it to make her regret evolving inside a flammable nest." I said smiling.