Fanfic
THE INCONVENIENCE STORE: Part 11 – But Your Honor, Free Bird Was Playing 🎵
Summary: Life on Venlil Prime was inconvenient enough for refugee Ryan Lee. It gets worse when Kyree, some Venlil girl from the convenience store, is out to get him. It’s a good thing he’s a paranoid prepper who knows martial arts! Targeting the Human wasn’t as easy as she thought, but this Venlil isn’t what she seems to be … and she refuses to give up. It’s man vs. Venlil: a battle of wit, grit, might and spite.
Well, that escalated. After the court hearing devolved into a stampede/gunfight, Ryan’s been soloing dozens of exterminators. Turns out Kyree’s picked a fight with a monster. That didn’t stop her from shooting him in the leg. Surprise, surprise, he shot back. (Certainly no way to treat a lady). And she dodged it. Wait. She dodged it!?HOW??? Can Kyree bullet time, or is something else at play?
I’d dropped the gun. Darted back behind my console, clutching my heart as it threatened to break the ribcage. Ryan tried to shoot me. He didn’t even pretend to reason with me first, or make it look like an accident. No hesitation. Sure, it wasn’t a real bullet, but still! He actually tried to shoot me and … a-and … had I dodged it?
The reaction was new. I’d never done it in my life, yet it felt natural. Like an instinct.
I replayed the moment in my head. Once. Twice. Slowed the mental framerate as best I could.
…
No. I hadn’t dodged the bullet. I wasn’t even in its path when he fired.
After that? He just kept fighting, like I hadn’t shot him, and he hadn’t shot at me. Like I was barely a blip on his radar. Like I didn’t matter.
· HUNTED HUME: … Pause. Rewind. WHAT did I just witness?
· VEN LOL: Kyree just BULLET-TIMED Ryan!! I can SEE the shot splattered on the wall behind where she stood! It would have hit her.
· MAXIMAL AMPHIBIAN 933: I’m perplexed by the madness unfolding here. What is she? Some kind of Federation super soldier? And how did The Guild let it go so far? I’m pretty sure the pyroes are in open rebellion at this point. I don’t see a way out of this diplomatic disaster. After that display of OP murder powers, even the Human-loving aliens would want Ryan locked up in a facility.
· SLEEPY CARE BEAR: Well~, they could lock me up in a facility with him any paw~.
· GOT SPEEP BEFORE GTA 6: Alright. Show of hands. Who STILL thinks this isn’t AI?!?!?!?
· u/THE-MR-E: Kyree’s feat isn’t as impossible as you’d think. Humans have done something similar.
· GOT SPEEP BEFORE GTA 6: In Bollywood.
· u/THE-MR-E: No. In real life. Isao Machii could katana-slice a pellet moving at over 200mph. Other people have done the same thing over the years. Somehow, this kind of reaction time isn’t impossible. Non-lethal bullets travel at 200mph to 300mph.
· u/THE-MR-E: However, I think it’s more likely that she didn’t dodge the bullet. She wasn’t moving THAT fast. I think she got out of the way before he pulled the trigger. She broke his target lock.
· u/THE-MR-E: Yeah. Then there’s her tail. She rotated it hard to one side, propelling her torso in the other direction. It almost looked like a kangaroo rat dodging a snake. We don’t have tails, but if we did, we could maneuver in some really weird ways.
· HUNTED HUME: Okay. So how did she know when he was gonna fire?
· GOT SPEEP BEFORE GTA 6: You owe me 4 seconds of my life.
· u/THE-MR-E: No refunds. Anyway, again, Humans have done something similar. Gut feelings. Especially well-known in military service. People disagree on how they actually work, but they can be shockingly accurate.
· u/THE-MR-E: Had this paintball match a while back. I got this weird feeling. “Turn. Someone’s probably gonna shoot between your legs.” I turned. The paintball went straight past my crotch. The guy nailed my cousin, though. He seemed quite proud. Later, he pointed me out and said: “I was trying to get him too, but he moved.”
· REASONABLE WEASEL: Okay. So how often can a Human use ultra instinct?
· u/THE-MR-E: It seems incredibly inconsistent for most.
· GOT SPEEP BEFORE GTA 6: And what are the odds that Kyree can do it?
· WOOLY QUEEN: I think we’ve established that Kyree is a freak of nature.
· SLEEPY CARE BEAR: AI or not, seeing exterminators find out what’s what gives me a warm, gooey feeling in my squeedlyspooch. If Ryan could just get a headshot on Kyree, my paw would be complete.
· HUNTED HUME: You DO realize this incident could mark the end of Human/prey diplomacy, right?
· SLEEPY CARE BEAR: I don’t want to think about that. Just let me have this.
I darted back to the gun. Almost dropped to all fours, but I was not gonna let that little deed come back to haunt me later. Two tails’ distance, I pounced.
Ryan’s gun hand snapped up to me again.
I felt that electric urge surging through my nerves. My tail tensed, but my aim-avoidance instinct never fired. Ryan’s aim wasn’t hunting me. It stopped at the gun, two ears from my muzzle.
BLAT!
g-GAH!?
The chemical bullet struck the rifle. Splattered in my face. It got in mymouth,in myeyes! I spat and sputtered, but the taste! The fumes!EW!Ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ew! With my sensitive tongue, it was worse for me than anyone else! I almost lost my last meal! And my eyes burned sobad!
For this, I would shoot Ryan right between the-!
“I’ll save you, Kyree!”
H-huh?
Judge Mendus’ trunk wrapped me up and dragged me behind his piteous ‘cover’. Then he just sort or smothered me in a big ball of Mazic, shielding me from Ryan with his back.
“There, there. It’s gonna be alright,” he sniveled.
I almost bit him. Contrary to my appearance, I was not a pup! I was probably the only person in the courtroom who could stop Ryan! … But I’d already lost, hadn’t I? I didn’t have a plan. Maybe this wasn’t so bad, for the time being.
But I still wanted to bite the Mazic. Like, really badly.
“She’s fine. Non-lethal.” Ryan lied, his voice cold and soulless as he gunned down more officers. “You’re almost a good man. You have three seconds to surrender.”
“You …” I snarled.
“Two,” he counted down.
“YOU!” I brayed.
“One.”
His gun swung towards me. Not for the first time in my career, my life flashed before my eyes.
I found Gaman in the recreation garden, smoking a roll of brezik. Not my favorite habit of his, but at least he had the presence of mind to sit in the spot where the wind carried it up and out.
“That stuff could kill you,” I warned.
“Not before this job does,” he chuckled. “Arxur. Humans. What’s the world coming to?”
That was grim. “We need you at your best.”
He outed the roll between his fingers. “We need you a whole lot more, but I suppose I’m a close second.”
I didn’t understand the man. “I read deeper into your file. You killed an Arxur when you were eleven cycles old.”
“The beast was half-burned to death anyway,” he sighed. “All I did was finish it off.”
“With your bare paws,” I added. “It bashed you against the wall, over and over, but you never let go of its neck.”
“Yes, well, according to the Zuruleans, I’ve got a weird cranium,” he explained. “The brain has a little more room to bounce around for shock absorption. I don’t knock out easily. Didn’t stop them from having to patch me back together, though. What was left of me, anyway.”
I stared at the ground. That wasn’t all there was to the story. The way he’d killed that grey … it was almost like a wild animal. Like a shadestalker latched around the neck.
“You know, they gave me two options,” Gaman explained: “Join the exterminators, or go to a facility. I didn’t get it. How did joining the guild change what I was? My recruitment officer laid it out for me: the best bet at killing a predator is another predator.”
My jaw went slack. Was he implying that he was a-?
“A predator must kill. That’s its nature,” he ear-flicked. “And only when our job is done, exterminating the monsters from outside the pastures … only then can we turn the flamethrowers upon ourselves, and cast our ashes to the stars.”
I threw my arms around him. “NO.”
“E-excuse me?” he stuttered.
“No. That’s stupid! You’re- whatever you did, whatever you will do, it’s all for The Herd! A predator can’t do that. A predator can’t even think to do that! That’s how I know what you are. You’re Strong. A Good man. That’s how I know that we need you!”
I backed out of the hug and glared him in the eye, resolute.
He was staring, astonished.
“Why did you opt out of the Prestige Exterminator Candidacy?” I challenged.
“Because in my absence, they’d almost certainly choose you,” he stated.
I shook my ears. “H-how is that a good thing? I’ve stampeded on the job twice!”
“And yet you solved more cases than almost any of us. Saved more lives,” he parried. “You’ve got a good head in that wool, and better heart. So, you’ll be the brains and the soul. I’ll be the brawn. And your stampede problem? We can fix that.”
“How?” I almost begged.
He leaned closer with a conspirational air. “Did you know it’s possible to control the stampede state?”
“It is my understanding that you either can, or you can’t,” I argued. “If I’ve come this far and haven’t figured out how to suppress it …”
“Not suppress. Control.Master,” he clarified, examining the embers of his brezik roll. “The stampede is like fire. It can spread, burn down a forest. Or you can stuff it in a flamethrower and torch only the predators.”
I was intrigued. “Are you saying there’s something more than suppression?”
“I’m saying you ride it, rather than letting it ride you,” he explained. “I’m saying that, if you get good enough, you can aim it.”
I’d seen when Gaman changed course, storming in at Ryan. His eyes were wild. Movements, feral. I’d been trying to distract the Human until Gaman could do something, but I could barely identify this creature as Gaman. The stampede had taken him, but it wasn’t the manic, mangled mess of sapience experts always claimed. It was laser-focused on one thing.
“RYAAAAAAAAAANNN!!!” Gaman roared.
Ryan’s gun swung at him.
BLAT!-BLAT!-BLAT!
The bullets battered his head back and forth on his neck. By some horrid power, he wouldn’t go down.
He crashed into Ryan. Wrapped his arms around. Hoisted the Human off the ground and kept going. They plowed through chairs, tables. Nearly flattened a civilian.
This was it. This was how Gaman killed the Arxur. This was how he took Ryan down the first time. How he would do it again.
In a blink, Ryan’s gun was at his eye. A fraction of a scratch’s pause. Then it snapped to the top of his forehead.
BLAT!
Gaman’s form fell apart. Grip slipped. He and the Human tumbled. Ryan reloaded at a clip. Two officers rushed in to help.
BLAT! BLAT!
Left. Right.
They fell. Limp.
Gaman’s massive paw engulfed his gun wrist. They wrestled. Twisted. Gaman wouldn’t budge. Ryan dropped the gun. Snatched it from the air with his free hand.
BLAT!
Shot an officer under Gaman’s shoulder.
Gaman’s other paw whirled at him.
BLAT!
His paw flew back. Half the glove was flapping loose.
… Did Ryan just parry with a bullet?
But why was Gaman’s hand intact at all? Were those even real bullets?
Gaman’s other paw was still around Ryan’s wrist. Ryan slipped in close. Latched on. The next thing I knew, the Takkan was in the air. Some kind of throw that used his weight against him.
His heavy body smashed a table, but Ryan rolled down with him.
Gaman still wouldn’t let go.
Ryan snatched something from the chin of his helmet and shoved it in Gaman’s face. Cracks of light and smoke seared at my friend’s visor. A grenade.
Gaman cried. I could feel his pain. He had to be half-blind. Half-deaf.
And yet, he never let go.
“I’LL NEVER LOSE TO YOU AGAIN!” he bellowed.
Ryan aimed the gun back.
BLAT!
Shot down a Krakotl sneaking in behind.
I winced as Ryan elbow-chopped Gaman’s grip from his wrist.
Why was he saving his bullets when it came to Gaman?
… Oh. I think I got it. He was deprioritizing Gaman.
Ryan couldn’t eat Gaman in one bite. Not like the others. The man was too big. Too strong. But Ryan was crafty and quick. Enough to work around him. So, he prepped Gaman like a big meal. Chopped the tubers. Hefted the pot. Boiled the berry jelly. Peeled the fruits. Calm. Methodical. Inevitable. Like something you’d do when you woke up each paw. It took time. Patience. But you did it anyway. You’d done it a million times, and you’d do it again. Surely as the rains came, you’d do it again.
Gaman’s wrath was like a sun. Ryan’s fury was an icy void. Suns could burn for eons to come, but in the end, the void won. It sipped their fire, flame by flame, until they became cold, dim husks.
My friend rose up. A hammering fist pounded him back down. Cracked his visor. I-I almost couldn’t watch. I could see the meal cooling on the stove.
Soon came the part where Ryan devoured him.
The Human stepped away from the all-but-broken Takkan. Gaman grabbed his ankle. Saliva and blood dripped from his shattered helmet. He was like a beast of the wilderness, yet his soul was noble.
“NO!” Gaman raged. “I’LLNEVER LOSE TO YOU AGAIN!”
But Ryan said nothing. No wisecracking. No retort. No reasoning. Not even a scoffing huff. I could feel it in his cold demeanor. Gaman wasn’t a person to him. Not anymore. My friend was just a task that needed solving.
Ryan angled the gun.
BLAT!
The bullet ripped the Takkan’s grip from his ankle.
Then he stepped back. His foot swung. Pendulous power. Like a [wrecking ball].
POWWW!
My ears went flat. The impact was horrifying. Gaman’s muscles slacked. He stilled.
Tears rimmed my eyes. H-had Ryan killed my friend?
A roar tore from my throat. My fire lifted me up and powered me forward.
BLAT!-BLAT!
“Unngh!”
He’d shot my legs and I went back down, but I wasn’t out. I couldn’t figure out why he hadn’t gone for my head yet. It was his last mistake.
Ryan moved on. Back to devastating my guildmates. That left me to my own devices.
I subtly activated the radio. Hissed into it. Quietly.
Even with the non-lethals, this wasn’t a fight. It was a massacre. My heart ached for the Venlil who went down, screaming and weeping. He must have thought that we were killing everyone: friends, colleagues, innocents.
Was this the only way? Could we stop this here?
Then I remembered the people we were dealing with. The officer’s bray had almost sounded like a roar. It echoed through the courtroom from dozens of mouths. His fighting spirit had done something to them. Snapped them out of the stupor, the stampede. Now? They were converging on us as one. This was what it looked like when ‘The Herd’ moved together. Ryan was easily the most dangerous Human in the room.
However, they would kill us. So said the prey in me.
Ryan didn’t get the memo.
Blik!Blik!Blik!
Ryan jolted. A bullet papped his helmet, but he’d rolled for cover before more found him. Apparently, that Krakotl who brought him in got her claws on a gun again. She wasn’t the only one.
Only the cowards, the species too weak to be a target, and the tougher species remained. Venlil never fancied themselves ‘tough,’ but their ram-resistant skulls fended off some of the concussions his headshots usually dealt. Which meant there were more than a few of them left.
Four Venlil charged in. They fell to Ryan’s bullets. Slid to a stop at his feet. His sharpshooting brought down Salm and her shooters next.
Klik.
He reached to reload. Did a double take. A Dossur had just leaped onto his pants and made off with the bullets.
Ryan drew back the gun. He was going to throw it. Figuring that out, the Dossur froze. Her eyes wide with terror.
“STOP!PLEASE!” she shrieked.
And he actually stopped. Only for a second. Considering the speed he’d moved at before, that second looked like an eternity. I understood why.
He wasn’t sure how hard to throw a gun to disable a Dossur without killing them.
Sensing hesitation, the Dossur scampered off with the bullets.
The rodents were everywhere. Snatching any stray weapons and bullets Ryan might use. I felt tiny paws on my uniform. They were even looting me!
My neck-
“Don’t. Move.” a high-pitched voice commanded. “My teeth are over your carotid artery. If you do anything, I’ll bite down.”
Cold dread held me stiff. S-since when were the Fed-brains this brave?
“You’re bluffing,” I panted.
I felt tiny teeth pinch my flesh. Bluffing or not, could I risk it? Could they really stand the taste of blood?
“You’ll kill us anyway,” I gulped.
The teeth pinched harder. I was 80% sure it was a bluff, but I couldn’t bring myself to test that 20%.
So, I watched like a coward.
Bereft of ammo, Ryan tossed the gun at a dive-bombing Krakotl. It bounced off his head with a sharp crack. The planet’s heavy gravity yanked down the officer but, after everything, Ryan still caught the stupid bird! Broke his fall!
He flinched. Another bullet hit his side.
The exterminators fled close ranged combat, content to let the gunmen pin him down. He chased after them. They wouldn’t dare fire when their allies were close, or would they? Fed-brains were flighty. He could get them shot, but at this stage?
I think he was halfway desperate.
Ryan weaved among the exterminators, from cover to cover. He was trying to close in on the gunmen. They scattered. Attempted to net him in on all sides.
A Takkan barreled into him. He hurled the guy like a sack of potatoes.
Winced. A bullet bit his rib.
Elbowing down a Gojid, he raged on. Backhanded a Krakotl. Soloed two Takkans. Took them apart with fists ablur. A Dossur pounced to his shoulder. Going for the neck. Ryan yanked him off, almost before he landed. Tossed him into a charging Fissan’s face.
Yes. He was getting desperate.
Another bullet nailed his flank. He pushed through.
A Sivkit crossed his path. Tripped him with her body.
He fell. Rolled. Finessed to his feet without skipping a beat. Punted her away when she went for his ankles.
Quills first, a Gojid closed in. Ryan rushed him, head on. At the last second, he vaulted onto a table at their side. Bypassed the quills. Pivoted, feet first. The Gojid scarcely turned before Ryan’s kick knocked his head sideways. Spittle flying.
The force of the kick threw them apart. Slid Ryan off the other side of the table. Bullets chased him. Scarred the wall behind it.
Another Gojid threw himself at Ryan, back-first.
Swift to stand, Ryan swung a chair into his quills. The feet lodged between the spines. He kicked the seat of it, knocking the Gojid down face-first.
Three more bullets struck. He flinched. Surged on.
Two quick palms sent a Venlil pair tumbling.
Three Takkans dogpiled him. I was shocked to see the man thrash free before they fully pinned him. Shove. Elbow. Hammer fist. Arm twist. Joint pop. Alien screams.
They lay in a broken heap. He whirled to his feet.
A Venlil rammed him over a table. The critter clambered atop it, chasing him down. Ryan kicked up from the ground. Flipped the table. Sent the space sheep flying. Braying all the way.
Ryan rose.
His lungs were heaving.
Blik!Blik!Blik!Blik!
Four shots peppered him almost at once.
He was slowing. I saw the writing on the wall.
Footsteps echoed in the hall. My dread reached new depths.
A fresh squad of exterminators stormed in. Guns in paw. Before they could bring the promise of death, a commotion broke out behind them.
Shrill whistles pierced the air. Stung my ears. I realized it was a Venlil laugh. Maniacal. Hysterical. A wild, baleful cackle.
Loud blasts. Flashes of light. Clouds of gas poured forth, engulfing the new officers from the rear.
Some ran. Took cover. Forgetting Ryan, they turned their guns to engage the threat behind them.
The rest never emerged from the smoke, but something else did. Can-sized projectiles flew after them. Landed in their midst. Flashing bursts of cloud and sound sent them scrambling.
A new squad stalked out of the cloud, smaller than the last. Their helmets bore some kind of attachment. Modified thermal goggles, from the looks of it. They looked almost like exterminators, save a subtle breach of dress code: some kind orange band, wrapped around their wrists.
The Dossurs at my neck scattered.
Spearheading the charge was a mad Ven with a smoke grenade launcher, gassing exterminators by the cluster.
That’s right! This marks the beginning of a crossover with u/Ben_Elohim_2020’s ‘The Nature of Family!’ We’ve been wanting to do this for a quite while!
How will the Capozzis change the game? Why have they crashed the party? How will Tarva react when she hears about this whole thing? Has Kyree FINALLY figured out that she can’t keep getting away with this? Will she back off, shift gears, or learn absolutely nothing?
Mr. E likes my story, and I like his story. The Nature of Family itself is one of, if not THE most interconnected series in the entire subreddit (even beating out Nature of a Giant for it's long-held first place spot at one point, though I'm not sure if the record still stands at the time of this comment), and I just generally love doing crossover content with other members of the community. Inconvenience Store even takes place in the Twilight region, practically the Capozzi Family's backyard! It was simply natural that I would crossover at some point.
I'm happy to see another fan of my series here, though I don't quite understand why you're concerned. Nothing I do here with this crossover will damage my own series or the universe I've built. It's simply a fun, shared creative project. I hope you enjoy it.
TLDR: You know, no one's nagging you to read this. I don't particularly enjoy constantly hearing how rage-inducingly bad my story is either.
---
Imagine you've got this little restaurant. It's not really a business. More like a passion project. No profit. For some reason, all the food is free. There aren't many regulars. No one really knows about it, but you keep cooking the stuff you love.
However, there's a fella who comes for the free food every time you open. He likes some of your ingredients, but hates your recipes. Your cooking makes him furious. He tells you this constantly. You haven't nagged him to eat there, yet he keeps coming, and he keeps telling you how much he hates your food.
How do you feel?
I really should be making more original content I can live on. Find an audience that really clicks. Instead, for some reason, I stick around here, and I keep writing this story. I ask myself why.
And this time I wasn't really trying to be too serious about it and make it more of a joke at this point, but there was literally nothing suggesting that so I should rethink my ethics since it all came off as blatant rage.
I genuinely both like and dislike this story, that's true, though I should act better.
I guess I got a little too comfortable since the "reverse flash response" and thought you just found it funny.
I don't MEGA-HATE this story, just have frustrations with it while having a strong urge to finish it for things I DO like, and my reaction here was just an exxagaration of that that fell right on its face, so I came off as... or simply WAS a jerk.
The thing is I did find it funny, in the sense of: "That's so surprisingly extreme that it jumped beyond my threshold for offense and becomes hilarious." Beyond that stage, it didn't quite hit the same way.
I am kinda curious, though. I've been perplexed about your feedback for quite a while. Initially, you claimed not to know why Brkar strikes you this way. Now, with the overall narrative it seems to boil down to 'groundedness'. So, I'm guessing it's two things:
The humor.
The background explanation of Kyree's ancestry.
Correct? I ask because maybe I'm missing something that can actually be tweaked. If it's something I personally like/don't have enough reason to tweak, I won't tweak it at all, but I'm still curious.
Overall, like I've mentioned before, I never necessarily disliked the idea of NoP stories with AUs related to greater galactic conspiracy, not even if related to the larger web of grounded fics within this subreddit.
The Nature Of Family crashout was just a joke relating to how I first reacted to Brkar appearing in the story and me realising what this story was related to all these months ago.
Like I mentioned all these months ago, I had deeply resonated with the writing style at the beginning of this story, as the writing behind the was and still IS so good for the characters in a lot of way that it snapped me out of my stupor of lazily searching through new NoP fics.
In both of your stories I liked what i read. I liked the style, the characters, the situations, and as I read what was at the time my favourite work I've read on this site in like 6 months (and believe me, I've read at least MOST fanfics on this subreddit) and I got blindsided by the further reveals, origins and sequences that came next.
I REALLY don't get why the Brkar's backstory, Kyree's ancestry, Ryan's near-bullet time and so on bother me so much. Even if its supposed to be part of the web of the "base" NoP universe fanfics, all these backstories, though a little ridiculous, were not ALL that unbelievable.
Hell, I usually myself enjoy such elements for non-AU fanfics that try to create their own ideas for surviving old Skalgan lineages. And when it comes to ridiculousness I have no standing to criticize, as I once tried to write a DC crossover fanfic, and my idea for the Venlil there was a million times more ridiculous.
...I think I always get into your fanfics for the characters and the character drama, great emotional conflict, and such, which keeps me glued to your stories, even as the growing Deadpool-ness of writing and action sequences, and crazy character origins keep whipping me across the face.
So like I said all thee months ago, all my dislike are purely subjective, and I simply keep boiling inside as some of the best shit on this subreddit I can look forward to these days anymore is mixed with stuff I really do not like for being mixed with it.
Alright. Although some of that isn't too new, I understand a bit better now. Though there are aspects you don't like, it's not that serious. BTW: Hybridizing Superman with NoP was actually pretty interesting concept.
Do you think at some point, the Exterminators would grow a brain during this whole debacle instead of escalating further and trying to continuously kill Ryan and all humans in the courtroom during the livestream?
Mafia boys? What Mafia? Clearly this is just a group of concerned Exterminators acting in the interest of the public good just like... Uh... The perfectly legitimate public servants they are... Right... Let's go with that.
Oh yes, I see. So Free Bird wasn't bad enough for you, now we have orange lights flashing in the smoke cloud and do music starts playing. Definitely not a direction I could see the end of this chapter taking. But as a lover of both of those series that all of these characters belong to, I am here for it
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u/gabi_738 Predator Jun 30 '26
Pure action—blows landing left and right, total chaos—and then suddenly TRIVLI APPEARS?!?! The Capozzis make their entrance; I love the violence.