Chương 7: There Are Men In Suits

Ch. 7: There Are Men In Suits I stared at Spiros. He was not angry with me. Just… peeved?

"You killed me" I nodded my head.

"I had to."

"Did you?" I let out a deep breath and said, "I… have to be honest. I didn't think I'd have to explain to the guy I killed why I did it." We had so few answers on the tar pits. How did the hell dimension work? Why did it develop similar to us, but like a twisted nightmare version? Why didn't tech work inside of it? Why did the demons want to kill us? So many questions. So many things that worked against us. Except for one thing. When the dungeons closed.

"How are you?" I asked.

"Very… very dead," Spiros said. I did that flat smile you do when you walk by a stranger.

"Yeah. Been there. Been there."

"Have you?" I shook my head.

"No." Scientists thought it had something to do with the gravitational pull. Like… our bodies belonged on earth, and the Pitters… they belonged in Tartarus. We did not have the finer mechanical details but that explained why when we destroyed a dungeon core it transported you back down to your dimension. You'd be spit up right in front of the hellmouth.

"So… I'm dead too? It was fun while it lasted. Actually, it kind of sucked."

"Drake," Spiros said, "Read this."

"What?" I was taken aback that Spiros even knew my name.

"Read this, Drake. Drake."

"Read what?"

"It's your sister, drake." Spiros said, "Read this." As soon as Spiros said 'This' I woke up. I was in the hospital. My sister was staring at me in her hospital gown, sitting cross-legged on the end of my bed.

"Read this." She said, handing me a card. I tried to reach with my right hand, but it was bound by handcuffs to my hospital bed. Confused, I used my other hand. I grabbed the greeting card and read it, my eyes needing some time to focus. On it, Read 'I'm So Glad You're You.' but 'You' was crossed out and on it, it read, "Not Dead."

"Jesus," I whispered under my breath, "Why am I in handcuffs?" She shrugged and said, "I don't know but men in suits are here to see you." I took a breath and reached for water but forgot my arm was bound.

"Should we tell them about the bodies?" I quipped. She smiled and said to the men outside, "He's awake!" Then as she walked out, she turned and asked, "You didn't give up out there, did you?" I rested my head back on the pillow.

"Not for a single second, Dor." She walked out and two men in suits came in. I recognized them as part of the hunter's union. These were two higher up champs. Regularly dominating Delta and even some Echo tarpits. One was bald, with stubble and insanely pretty lips for a man. And the other had medium length black hair, and an intense gaze. The hairy one bounced his foot nervously. Mr. Pretty Lips spoke first, "I'm Gio Gabrus. This is my associate, Pedro Perez. I just want to say you're not in trouble."

"But I'm in handcuffs," I said.

"That's just protocol. There's been talk of AWOL so we just wanted to make sure you're not a flight risk."

"AWOL? I stayed until the last possible second. There was only one AWOL and it was the party leader."

"That's what we're hearing-""From Penelope right?"

"We can't disclose that."

"It's gotta be, she's one of the only three survivors."

"That's what we'd like to talk with you about."

"Is this about investigating Franz? I'll gladly rat on Franz. That bitch left with his rat tail tucked firmly between his little rat ass."

"The union will invesitage that case separately."

"I thought this was the investigation."

"Just ask him," Pedro said as he placed himself in the seat in front of my hospital bed. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Why don't you ask me?" I asked, "Why does he do all the talking?" Gio put his hands up.

"Let's take it easy. We want to talk about something very strange that might have occurred. It's about the god who accompanied you, Spiros." My blood ran cold. Did they know? How could they? It was just me in that dungeon. What is even the charge for killing a god? A saviour of humanity. Would I be charged with Super Murder?

"What about him?" Pedro leaned in, he covered his bouncing knee with his hand and said with a little shudder, "What happened to him?" My eyes shifted between the two, "What do you mean?" Gio placed his hand on his partner's shoulder and pulled him back, "Is it possible he stayed on the other side? That he got trapped in Tartarus?" Was that the route? I pretend he's still alive? It was something, but that created a giant loose end. No, that would do no good.

When you tell a lie, you mix it with as much truth as possible.

"Spiros is dead." The words were like a switch, turning off the tv, cutting off the electricity, and causing the day to go to a quiet night. You could hear a pin drop. You could even hear the person who dropped the pin mumble, "Oh, fuck, my pin," Under his breath. Gio looked at his partner. Pedro shimmied Gio's hand off his shoulder. He turned his attention and gathering some strength, said, "How do you know?"

"What did Franz tell you?" I asked. Gio stepped in, "He won't answer our calls. He's not at his house. But we can presume that he, like every other champion touched by Spiros… has lost his powers."

"Yes," I mutter, pumping my fist but forgetting it was in handcuffs. They both had harrowed looks at me before I said, "No, I mean, it's sad that it happened to everyone. I just really fucking hate Franz. Glad it happened to him."

"You think this is funny?" Pedro asked. I actually did let out a little chuckle there, forgetting to keep myself composed. I thought about my answer carefully.

"I.. I think every Spiros champ is having the worst week of their lives and the thing they're going through is just my average continued existence." There was a silence in the room. Before I addressed the elephant that had snuck in.

"Spiros knew that wasn't an alpha right? Or a bravo? He knew something. Did the Champion's union know that?"

"What are you accusing us of?" Pedro asked.

"Nothing. I guess." I said, moving on.

"Look," Gio said, "We've read your file. It reads like a middle school bully's report card. Absences, absences, absences. Doesn't play well. One note just said, 'Claims his pastries are fresh when they're a day old.'" I mumble, "They should just be happy I'm bringing free food."

"We're surprised… given your history, that you're the one who made it out alive. Could you please elucidate us on what happened." God, the lie. This was always the fun part. The less fun part was coming up with all the other lies in the attempt to continue this one. I would have to think of something good. Something to get the champ who's in love with Spiros out of my way.

"A demon… captain, leader, whatever. He had a knife with him. Spiros and him fought and the demon guy got the upper hand."

"What did he look like?" Pedro asked.

"Like… a big goat. Like baphomet, but with a more human face. Way more jacked too. He had nothing but a loin cloth on. It was awful. I could see his ballsack occasionally. They were all waiting for a specific eclipse to complete some ritual." Gio and Pedro exchanged glances.

"What do you have on this guy?" Gio cleared his throat, "We've sighted him at different pits. Never as the core, thank god. Never engaging. But… It's clear he's making moves. And that weapon? That sounds pretty bad."

"So…" Pedro said, "You're accusing Spiros, the Kirin god, of working with these demons? That's the accusation you want to make?"

"Not at all," I shook my head, "I think he wanted to protect us. He kept the demon lord at bay while the two survivors made it out. I had used my return stone on Penelope, so I was trapped." Pedro asked, "Then why did you survive? And why didn't Spiros just defeat the core?" I sighed, this was going to be the hardest part, "Once Franz got out and Nelo escaped… they turned their attention toward me. The demon lord went after me and Spiros came in to protect me." I thought about the knife in Spiros' abdomen.

I thought about twisting the knife. I thought about the power that exited his body and entered mine.

"The Kirin God Spiros saved my life. I would be dead without him. And I will not stop until this demon is hunted and slaughtered. What did you say this guy's last known location was?" I needed that knife. The two champions looked like they needed that bit of levity, Pedro said, "We appreciate the spirit. But an NPC like you would get absolutely obliterated going against this guy. Stay safe, and the union's got this bill." They both got up, and I smiled and said, "Oh, that reminds me, Pedro. Welcome to the club."

Pedro went to punch me but Gio stopped him. I used my free hand as cover and screamed, "I'm infirmed!" Pedro lifted his hands up and Gio let him go. Gio said, "You're not infirmed. You were completely healed when we found you. Spiros must have fixed you up before he died. Our readers detected Champ energy all over you." They both turned and walked.

"Hey! What about my handcuffs??" I yelled. Pedro and Gio gave shitty little laughs as Pedro took the key and placed it on the edge of the table. I tried to reach over but I couldn't make the distance.

"I can't reach that," I said, "Could you bring it closer, please?"

"You have fun with that," They both walked out of the hospital room.

"Hey! Hey, come on! I can't… I gotta be able to get the key! It's just out of reach!" Once they were out of sight and I was alone, I pulled hard enough to rip the handcuff chain in half. I then took my finger and got it under the handcuff, pulling on that too. It bent enough to slip my hand throught. I was covered in champ energy like they said. Any brain dead champ would probably put together what had happened if I showed off my power. I would need to keep them under wraps.

I dropped the broken handcuffs and walked through the hospital to the long term patients' wing. I knocked on my sister's room.

"Hey, I'm out of here," I said, "you need anything?"

"Yeah, how's Boba?" she asked. Boba was her dog.

"I don't.. Have any clue. I was in the hospital."

"Feed boba! He's probably skin and bones since you last saw him."

"Yeah, Okay. Anything else?"

"How about… be safe?"

"No. Okay, I'm out of here."

"Where are you going?" I turned around and smiled at her.

"I'm going to take my god complex out for a spin."