Chapter 20 - Waiting for Other (Useful) People

There were too many people threatening him with violence recently, he mused, ignoring the fact that it was likely a simple response to his acts of cruelty upon this poor, innocent community of universe-hoppers that was simply trying to return home.

Uari got up from the ground to dust himself off, dismissing Io as he did so. He didn't know what abilities Io had, but he either hadn't used them or wasn't able to while he was tied up. Either way, he wasn't too much of an issue as he was, tied up and all. Glasses, on the other hand, was repeatedly slamming their hefty weight on the door. There were frequent pauses between impacts, so he knew Glasses had been 'nerfed' somewhat by those migraines.

He wondered if they were short-staffed; he didn't think the show of force was great for Glasses' health. There was also the question of why Glasses couldn't just teleport in, but he surmised that it was probably some kind of technology or device preventing teleportation abilities. How paranoid—unless there were more people than expected who had related abilities.

Why place him there, though, unless he had the same abilities?

That was a good clue, and he would have to harass someone into teaching him how to operate those powers because he didn't know how to.

Glasses would make it through the door soon. So much for staying in the one room to interrogate people. He would just have to use the cell next door instead.

The door burst open with a splinter of metal and, unsurprisingly, Glasses stumbled through the hole and fell on the ground, a comical look on their face as their knees hit the hard ground.

A stack of fish fell along with them, showering the room in an oily, slimy stink. It reminded him of Wren.

Did no one learn basic physics anymore? They should have run to gain enough force to charge instead of just ramming. So much for his anti-Glasses preparation.

It made things a lot easier for Uari, though, who simply discharged another bout of sonic energy into the head that had landed right in front of him. He was going to end up unintentionally giving Glasses full-fledged brain damage at this rate.

He still wasn't trying to kill anyone, damn it all! He just wanted information! It wasn't his fault that they kept falling within the range of his fists and sonic rings.

Io slept through all the noise even as Glasses slumped down onto the floor, once again out of commission. If Uari saw Glasses one more time after this whole episode, he would consider paralysing him for good.

At any rate, Glasses was useless and he needed to go higher. Glasses wouldn't know anything Io didn't, which meant his next lead was Ghost. He didn't know if it was a random edgy name, or one related to her ability, but he'd see for himself soon. Behind Glasses, the fish continued to serve as a wall for the others. He heard a distant, muffled argument behind the fish, and resolved to wait until they reached him.

It took hours for the fish to be excavated. By then, Valen was standing in front of him, looking both amused and furious. "I fed you all that soup, and for what?"

He held his hands up to placate her. "In all fairness, he was the one who kicked me down the stairs."

"Whatever. Stand still so I can deal with you, then."

Uari pointedly did not stand still and instead discharged the trap he had set around the doorway. Valen collapsed instantly from the lustre powering through her body, and the subordinates behind her jerked back in surprise. She was spasming on the ground barely a second later.

"You guys aren't giving me the answers I want," he pouted for exactly nobody to see. "Bring someone who has answers. Heck, bring Ghost."

The two mooks sneered at him, reconvened, and began to murmur to each other. He heard them discussing the viability of disarming his trap, but was semi-certain they wouldn't be able to.

After all, he had also spent a fortune on that lustre trap just like with everything else he had bought. It didn't even require physical contact between the trap and its victim—a layer of lustre-generated electricity was deployed constantly across the poles of the trap, placed on the top and bottom of the door.

While the current being deployed was extremely low, there were a lot of points for the current to discharge from; as such, the impact came not from the current itself, but the sheer number of points at which the electricity could touch the surface.

Someone sticking a hand through might just barely feel it, but attempting to walk through would mean a much bigger surface area, and therefore many more electrical currents surging through the body, messing with the body's electrical systems. This current should just be enough to cause muscle spasms and paralysis in the extremities.

Money rules! Canned beans rules!

Of course, if they decided to slither in on their bellies to minimise the surface area, it would work, but who would want to be in such a vulnerable position when trying to capture him?

They seemed to come to the same conclusion and began arguing over what to do next. He heard ideas bandied around, from calling other mooks to creating another hole in the wall, but they seemed to finally agree with what he said at the start. One left to call someone else over, and the other two proceeded to stare at him from outside the door.

Notably, no one attempted to touch Valen, who jerked once in a while in response to a tiny current being discharged through her body.

He glanced briefly over at Io, who hadn't stirred once even amidst all the noise, and shrugged. In a short few minutes, the sound of voices began to emanate once again from the distance. He thought he recognised a voice that might be familiar: a woman, demanding to know what was going on as she chewed on things that didn't belong in human mouths. It wasn't Ghost.

"Well, well, look who we have here." Wizah tore off a chunk of her surgical implement. The grating sounds of metal against metal had the subordinates behind her wincing. "It's our big boy Uari. Welcome home."