Chapter 19

Freyja woke shortly after the sun began to rise. She rolled over on the air mattress, her eyes bleary as she took in the view of a lean man in his late twenties standing a few feet from the door to the Armory. He stayed still watching her with golden amber eyes.

Naked.

"That one of the people you ate?" She asked flatly.

"Not exactly, no."

"Good. Folks will start asking questions if you go walking around as a dead guy. Wouldn't want to upset their families."

"I need-"

"Pants," she cut him off. "First of all, you need pants, Odin."

He huffed and rolled his eyes. "Yes, I need clothing. But, I also need your keys."

Freyja sat up and clicked her tongue. "You could have just taken them while I was asleep."

"I could have, but we are allies. I did not want to take your car without permission."

"You know how to drive it?"

"...Yes."

"You don't sound very confident," she said as she got out of the bed and re-established the Link between them.

It was clear from his emotions that he hadn't meant to startle her. She could tell from his body language that he had been tense, but now it was obvious he was a little more scared of her given the fact that she had reacted so nonchalantly to his appearing as a strange naked man she'd never seen before. He feared she was angry with him and, as a result, was beating himself up for having shifted before she woke up. He was, however, very thankful she hadn't skewered him with anything.

Freyja sighed then quickly pitched Odin all the information she had on cars and how to drive while going through the stack of unused clothing she had bought to wear while cleaning the house. She didn't have any underwear that would fit him, but assumed he wasn't opposed to going commando. It wasn't like cat wore boxers. She paused after picking out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt she thought would fit him. He was barefoot and the only spare shoes she had were some cheap sneakers too small for his feet. She grabbed them anyway.

Maybe he could shrink his feet down to fit?

"Thank you," Odin said.

Freyja stopped what she was doing and turned toward him. She hadn't expected him to thank her for the information. Much less send her back a packet of thoughts and memories detailing why he wanted to use the car in the first place. His plan didn't seem like the best idea in the world, but it was better than nothing, and would give them some information at best. It would get Odin killed at worst. At least he'd be away from the Armory when it happened. She sent him her phone number. Sure, he didn't have a phone but he could easily get his hands on one if needed...now that he had hands.

"I'll give you some cash for your supplies," she said.

Freyja grabbed a couple hundred dollars from her wallet then wedged the wad of cash in one of the shoes. Hopefully, it would be enough to cover what he needed without him resorting to stealing.

"That would be appreciated."

She handed him the clothing with the shoes resting on top. "They're a little small for you..."

"I will modify my feet to fit them," he replied as he took the clothes with a little bow.

"You're leaving?" Sprinkles asked from near one of the safes.

"Will you be alright with him here?" Odin asked Freyja.

She smirked. "I can handle the squirt. He can help me crack these safes."

"Crack them? Will we be breaking them open?" Sprinkles asked as he walked around Freyja's ankles, wrapping his faintly orange striped tail around her legs as he weaved back and forth.

Odin silently bowed again before walking into the back of the Armory to get dressed. Something had changed in the last twenty four hours. She could feel it through the Link. Sure, he was still scared of her, but he wasn't depressed anymore. Instead, he was determined. She did her best not to poke around his head too much and instead squatted down to scratch Sprinkles behind his ears.

"I don't have combinations for any of these safes. Don't want to risk something exploding if they're booby trapped. So, I'll be unlocking them one at a time by working their tumblers."

"Would it not be easier to cut into them?" Sprinkles asked with a purr.

"Again, they could have booby traps. Bombs, razors, who knows, maybe both. Not to mention the guns and ammo themselves. I don't want to risk breaking something or knocking anything around in there. It'll be easier to unlock them the hard way. Then we can still secure them using the safes."

"Mmmmmmff," Sprinkles purred back.

"How do I look?" Odin asked.

Freyja glanced up, then stood to look him over a little better. He passed for human if you missed how long his canine teeth were. They gave him the appearance of a disheveled tan skinned vampire.

"The only problem will be if you get pulled over without a license, but you know the traffic laws now. So, just, don't fuck this up by speeding," she said.

"I won't fuck it up," Odin replied.

He waited a moment, his brilliantly colored eyes darting to where her keys sat, but he didn't make a move to take them. She let out a sigh, grabbed the keys, and handed them over to the skittish alien.

"Don't stay out too late, Mister," Freyja teased.

"I will return as quickly as I can, but it will take me time to make the device once I have the supplies," Odin said.

"It was a joke. Just, try not to wreck my car."

He nodded awkwardly then left the Armory.

***

The first four safes were easy to open. They had simple three number combination locks. Razor blades were glued to the inside lip of the door of two of them, right where one's fingers would touch if you didn't know they were previously owned by a raging asshole. Freyja took her time to be extra cautious so she wasn't injured, not that being cut would bother her much given her new powers. Removing the razor blades was easier thanks to those same powers. She wedged each one into a piece of cardboard before dumping them into the trash can under the work bench.

For the most part, the contents of the safes were everything she had expected: handguns, rifles, and ammo for each gun. However, none of them had been filled completely. What surprised her was when she unlocked the fifth one and found it completely empty. Dust inside outlined where the butts of guns had rested. The sixth safe was also empty with similar signs of formerly being full.

"Shit," Freyja said.

"What is it?" Sprinkles asked with a yawn.

"I think he was selling shit off."

"What? Humans sell their scat?"

She rolled her eyes. "The guns. The Old Man was getting rid of his guns. I don't know for sure but, two empty safes doesn't bode well for our Armory."

"At least we have the suit," he said as he wrapped around her ankle, purring.

Freyja let out a sigh.

They did have the mechanized suit but she wasn't sure if it worked or if she could fix it. Given what Odin had sent her, she wanted to believe he might be able to repair the thing if needed, but, overall she didn't have a lot of confidence in either of the aliens. Not just because they had been left for dead. That certainly didn't help. They just both acted so much like cats, she couldn't help but doubt they'd refuse to cooperate when it was needed most.

I may be a little prejudiced there, she thought to herself.

About the Old Man selling things? Sprinkles asked.

She had forgotten she left the Link open between them because Sprinkles felt so small compared to Odin. Could that be because she was Odin's Spark and not directly connected to the new worm?

A loud thud and scream outside cut her thoughts short.

"An enemy!" Sprinkles shouted as he bounded toward the Armory door.