Unwanted House Guests

Charon continued to pour over the paperwork in to the late hours of the night. He had sent Mute home, confident that he wasn't going to be attacked tonight. Charon just needed to focus on this paperwork. It wasn't easy starting a legitimate business when that business had so much to do with heavily armed men. It was going to take a lot of work, but what men Charon could get in to this business would be a huge help for all of them. They needed to recover from this latest money slump or else they were absolutely doomed before they even began.

Charon had just made himself some coffee, casually sipping on the drink as he filled out paper after paper. This was going to take all night to do, but the rewards would be well worth it. He just had to be diligent. Unfortunately, someone wasn't going to allow Charon to work in peace.

I seek. I find. I observe. I report. I seek. I find. I observe. I report. Galileo, the Map Maker thought to himself. The creature, little more than a jawless skull with two dozen eyes scattered on all sides and eight spider-like legs jutting out of the bottom formed from ribs, scuttled through the vents. It could smell life, and life was meant to be observed. Especially life that was isolated, but not isolated in a vulnerable manner, but isolated in a protective fashion. Galileo managed to pry open the entryway to one of the vents, overlooking a large bed. He made his way down the wall, his legs lightly clattering as he did. The doorway was open, so he hurried across the carpeted flooring into the main opening, where he saw a single, lone figure with bright white hair huddled over a desk. Better view. Observe. Better view. Galileo bustled across the opening quickly, the carpeting helping his advance be silent. He ducked into the kitchen area, not that he knew what a kitchen area was. All he knew is that the floor was hard and tiled, causing his hard legs to make several loud clacking sounds as he moved. Sound. Detection. Bad. Bad.
Galileo froze, concealed behind the counter. He waited to see if his mistake in terrain had alerted the specimen he was to observe. His twenty-four eyes widened and rotated in their fashioned sockets; if the specimen was going to approach, it wouldn't be sneaking up on him. With any luck, he'd hear which way it was coming from, rotate around the opposite way, and dash beneath something for cover until it returned to its work.

A clacking sound was made, causing Charon to turn his head over to the kitchen. Nothing was there though, nothing he could see at least. The man narrowed his eye for a moment before silently removing his firearm and setting it on the table. He started to write absently, still glancing at the kitchen. If something was there, he was hoping that the sounds of him working might draw out whatever it was. Charon still wasn't positive anything was there, but you stayed alive in this industry by at least being a little paranoid. If nothing was there, Charon could just go back to work in a few minutes.

There was a moment of silence, followed by the sounds of the specimen returning to work. Galileo was still undetected, and the specimen was returning to work. But to observe, he had to abandon the hard terrain so as not to make as much noise. He carefully made his way to the end of the kitchen area, making as little sound as possible, which, unfortunately, was still enough to be heard in the silence of the large room. Once at the edge, he tentatively leaned just far enough that a few of his eyes would peek around the side. The specimen was looking in the direction of the kitchen area, but thankfully the wrong side of the counter. Back on carpeting, Galileo skittered across the floor, dashing across some open yet darkened space before coming to an abrupt halt beneath the coffee table, now the couch between him and the specimen. Behind Galileo, he saw a large, black rectangle mounted to the wall; a large, flatscreen television, not that he could identify it. Once the specimen returned to work again, he would climb the wall, perch behind the rectangle, and use the eyes on the top of his head to observe the specimen. But first, he had to wait. Even with the softer terrain, his legs still made a distinct noise as he scuttled across the floor, and there was more than enough open space that the specimen had a high chance of seeing a flurry of motion. It was unlikely he caught much of an outline in the darkness, but the specimen was surely now aware of Galileo's presence.

Charon's eye caught a small flurry of movement in the darkness. He couldn't see much, but it was too big to be a spider or anything explainable. Something was here, something was after him. "Shame," Charon began saying to himself, "I had just finished decorating this whole place" he said before suddenly snatching up his pistol from the spot he set it down. Without waiting he fired several shots at his TV where he had last seen this thing moving towards. If he didn't hit this thing directly, he'd at least scare it out of hiding.

There was a series of loud noises and bright flashes emerging from the other side of the couch, and the large black rectangle shuddered and splintered above Galileo. He knew little of what the sounds were, but he did know that they could cause substantial damage to him. The specimen was aware of his presence and hostile, so Galileo needed to evacuate. His options were retreat back the way he came, which would put him in the open for a significant period of time, or attempt to dash from cover to cover to the entrance that led into the corridor of the building. Galileo skittered back and forth, let out a loud sound that sounded a bit like a hiccup, and dashed back to the counter as fast as his legs could carry him, which was approximately the same as a human's brisk walk. For something as small as him, it would hopefully be difficult to aim at in that shadowed part of the room.

Charon saw the thing moving, though he couldn't quite make out what it was. Charon quickly started firing again, working on making his way towards destroying this thing. "Leave me alone whatever you are! You bastards are dead when I find you!" Charon shouted as bullet after bullet was sent flying. Charon wasn't the best shot, but his billets were rather large and Galileo was a decent target. He needed to move fast if he was to survive.

One of the eyes in Galileo's head took a direct hit as he dashed, exploding like a bloody zit all over the carpet. He screamed out, a horrifying garbled sound, despite the lack of pain. He hid behind the counter again, shuffling back and forth, the clattering sound echoing in the empty apartment. The door was the next stop, but it was a significant distance and well lit. Galileo stood in the middle of the kitchen area as it scuttled back and forth, his legs clattering against the hard tiles, eyes frantically looking to see which side the specimen's shadow was approaching from so it could loop around the opposite direction.

Charon kept moving after the thing, seeing it dart behind the kitchen counter. Instead of moving around though Charon ran forward and hopped over the counter, aiming his weapon down to shoot Galileo. This thing was creepy, it must have been from the same group of monsters that were attacking his gang. Charon started firing at the creatures legs, hoping to disable the creature from escaping.

Galileo saw the shadow approaching the middle of the counter, but was expecting it to choose a side and walk around, so was caught completely off guard when the specimen vaulted the counter and continued firing. He jumped in place and began running for the door; his legs were fairly small targets thankfully, fashioned from the ends of ribs, so the majority of bullets ended up simply hitting the ground. Two of them landed firmly on the back of his head, popping two more eyes. As he reached the door, which was thankfully cracked open slightly, the firing stopped. Galileo was unsure why, but he had to evacuate. That was his tenant, now, and he had to abide. He pushed the door open slightly, and began racing into the hallway, climbing and skittering along the walls.

Charon aimed and started to take aim. "Got you" Charon said quietly as he pulled the trigger. Click. Charons eyes widened as he saw that he was out of bullets. No no no no! Charon quickly ran forward and opened the door and saw the creature darting away. "Come back again and I'll crush you under my boot! You hear me!?" Charon shouted before turning and heading back into his apartment.

The specimen shouted out at Galileo in the Master's tongue. It was not the Master, however, nor was it one of the Master's friends, so Galileo completely disregarded the words. It seemed to have lost interest, thankfully, so Galileo climbed up, prying another vent off, letting it collapse to the stairwell with a loud clang. He climbed in and made his way out the building. He had to return to the Master, report his findings, get repaired... This was his directive now.