Chapter 6: I.M.P.
For the last few days I've been working on my magic. The computational jewel that we used in the empire was key to controlling our spells properly. Without it, calculating the proper amount of force, the proper direction which you wish to push something towards, even the proper amount of enhancement placed on a bullet to either boost its piercing, accuracy, or multiply the number of targets becomes a task that ranges from the difficult, to the impossible for the normal human mind. You'd have to be a natural genius to make such calculations on the fly.
Fortunately, not everything was entirely lost. The calculations required to generate a vector of force in a single one of the orthogonal directions to one's body is relatively simple. Basically, I can push myself forward, backward, leftwise, rightwise, or in a vertical direction, but only in one of those specific directions at once, even without a computational jewel. Perhaps it wouldn't help me fly, but at least, if for any reason I find myself falling from a great height, I will be able to slow down my fall somewhat, or redirect my fall in another direction, so that I may avoid harming myself to the point of death. It will also allow me to dodge an attack if I simply force myself away from a particular position, similarly to what I had done with the angel that had tried to attack me in my first day in hell.
As for mental enhancing formulas which would allow me to better my reflexes, strength, speed, or even resistance to pain, they are possible, but I cannot calculate them on the fly, and I must use a specific amount that I have calculated beforehand. If I try to use any other number, or require a different dose, or second dose, I would be risking either a lethal overdose, or an amount too little to be effective.
My experimentation in my room has allowed me to figure out these things. And for now they may suffice. However, this isn't sustainable in the long run. I need a calculation jewel. And I need it sooner rather than later, especially with what I have planned to do.
But, if the mercenary group known as I.M.P. can get into the world of the living, perhaps they can get me a computational jewel. Most likely, I won't be able to get my special F95 jewel, which allowed me to use my spells much more effectively than the standard version. And it was rather unique, since the empire managed to make just one of those jewels. Not only that, but Being X put a curse over the damned thing so that each time I used it, I needed to say a prayer in his name, just so that the damned thing wouldn't explode. However, a standard jewel would be better than no jewel at all.
So, I need to call Blitz.
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"Okay, Moxxie, do you have our weapons?"
"Yes, sir."
"Great. Millie, do you have the disguises?"
"Right here, sir."
"Awesome. And Loony, my precious little daughter, can I count on you to watch over the phone while we go unalive this old man called Lyle Lipton?"
"I'm not going anywhere today. I don't see why not. Also, stop being so corny when you speak to me. I don't like being cuddled."
"Oh, don't lie to me. You know you love me."
"YOU'RE NOT MY REAL DAD, BLITZ!!!"
"Of course I am. I may have adopted you, but you are my daughter all the same."
"Can you please just go kill that old fart? I'm tired of talking to you."
"Hehehe... Love you too, Loony. See you later!"
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*Ring Ring*
*Ring Ring*
"What?... Blitz? He's not here right now, he's on a mission... A contract? Yeah, maybe we could do that... Ahm... no, I'm not sure if that is possible... a what?... Look, you're not making much sense, and I don't get payed enough to pretend that I care, so if you really want to talk about this, maybe it would be better if you do it in person... I don't know when he'll be back! Maybe in a couple of hours, if things get messy... The address? Sure, it's on the corner of avenue X and Cicero... Yeah, well, see you later, I guess."
*hangs up*
"Children and their jokes. Getting a jewel from a different version of Earth. Yeah, sure, why not?"
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It took me a while to reach the address of the I.M.P. company. And I was received by the same white-wolf creature called Loona. She's not very friendly, polite, nor conversational. And basically I had to sit down in silence in the middle of a tiny office with a singular large table at the center, while I wait for the return of the owner from a mission. At first sight this may look bad or boring, but for me is perfect. I get the perfect opportunity to assess the effectiveness of this group of mercenaries during an actual mission. And based on their results and performance, I'll make sure of their quality, to see if they actually deserve the name 'Professionals' that they placed at the end of their acronym.
It takes a while, perhaps a bit more than what I would have liked, but in the end, a portal is opened in the middle of the office, and the three red imps walk in, as they have a disappointed look on their faces. Not a good signal.
"Loony! I'm home!" yells out Blitz quite scandalously.
"How did it go?"
"Badly. Three fucking cherubs appeared to save the life of the old man. Things got messy. The guy died by the actions of the Cherubs indirectly, and probably the old guy is now in heaven. So, mister Loopty Goopty is gonna be disappointed."
Oh, fuck! NOT a good signal!
"Ahm... Hello, mister Blitz." I speak from one of the seats at the table, and I see as the guy turns his head as he just notices me.
"Oh, Hi! Aren't you that girl from the Hotel where Octavia hid some days ago?"
"The same. Nice to see you again. I'm Tanya."
"And what brings you here? I mean, if you are staying at that hotel, I'm surprised that you'd want to come here, knowing that the princess Morningstar would probably not approve of it."
I let out a small laughter. "Indeed. She probably would feel distraught, since she would think that I want somebody dead. However, that is not quite exactly what I want. You'll see, I don't need anyone in particular to be killed. However, I need to retrieve an object from the world of the living. And as far as I know, you are the only ones with access to it that can accept to do so as a transaction."
"You mean that you don't want us to kill anyone? You just want an object?"
"Pretty much, yes."
"And it can't be found here?"
"As far as I know, no. And I did spend some time walking around several technological centers. But none of it had the specific object I need. Which leads me to believe that it may be unique to the world of the living."
"Oh! I see. And what is is?"
"It's called a computational jewel. It allows souls with magic to channel complicated spells more easily. However, the reason I suspect that it's so hard to find here, is because, somehow, the world where my jewel can be found is different from the world that you and your partners usually travel to. In other words, I need to visit an alternate version of Earth in order to find it."
"An alternate version of Earth? Are you on drugs or something? That is freaking ridiculous." says Blitz in disbelieve.
"Not so much, sir." interjects Moxxie "In one of many interpretations of quantum mechanics, there is the multiverse theory which states the existence of alternative realities that interact with each other and..."
"Shut up, Moxxie! Nobody cares about that Hollywood-misinterpretation of quantum theory! By far, the most accepted interpretation among scientists is the Copenhagen interpretation, or even the more pragmatic SUAC approach, and so far, the surviving interpretations all yield the same mathematical results!"
"SUAC?" asks Millie.
"Shut Up And Calculate!!! Which is precisely what Moxxie needs to do!!! So, shut up!"
When did I fall into the twilight zone?
"Ahem!" I clear my throat loudly. "My good friends... We're getting off topic. What matters is: can you do it? Can you help me fetch a calculation jewel from my original world?"
"Oh, well. It may take a while, but I think that with the Grimoire from Stolas, and Moxxie's tendency to be a book-nerd, then we could manage it."
"Great! When can we start?"
"What do you mean 'we'?" asks Millie to me.
"Well, I'm gonna need to see that the computational jewel is useful. If it's broken or defective, then it would be useless. And I doubt any of you would be familiar with how to check on it. So, I would be forced to come with you."
"Oh! Ahm... I don't think it would be a good idea to take a child with us." says Millie this time.
"Don't worry, I can handle myself."
"I mean, if we are not going to kill anyone, then it wouldn't be such a bad thing." says helpfully Moxxie. "However, before any of that, we still need to inform our current client about our failure."
"Oh! Don't worry. I already sent him a text, since texts don't make people angry." said Blitz.
Oh, no. NOT A GOOD SIGN!!!
The wall to the side is suddenly broken by an elevator that appears out of nowhere, and from it a strange, thin, tall and mustached man with a frown yells enraged "BLITZ!!!"
"Mister Loopty Goopty! We can explain everything!" says Blitz nervously at the thin man. "I was..." but before he finishes his sentence, a second elevator breaks the other side of the wall, and partially crushes Moxxie as it does. And from it, a mustached, short and chubby demon appear.
"Lyle Lipton?!" yell out both Millie and Blitz
"We thought you'd be going to heaven!" says Millie. "I mean, since you died on accident by those cherubs."
"Heaven? You don't make millions in advancements in robotics by NOT experimenting on the poor." says Lyle Lipton.
"Oh, you no good, heartless, son of a bitch!" yells out Loopty Goopty. "Thank you for reuniting me with my best friend!"
"The only question now is: what do two old genius robotic inventors do, now that we are in hell?!" says Lyle Lipton.
"Ahem!" I clear my throat again "Did I hear that right? Are both of you familiar with robotics and advanced technologies?"
"Why of course!" says Loopty Goopty. "We practically invented half of the advancements of our time!"
Well, looks like Lady Luck is on my side today.
"Great! Is there a way for me to contact you at a later time? I might need your services in the future." I say to the two old genius robotic inventors that are now in hell.
"Of course, little girl!" continues Loopty Goopty. "I already rented an apartment." He hands me a card with his address and another number. "Come on, Lyle! We're gonna be roommates again! Just like in college!"
"Sounds fun! I'll bring the beers!"
And both crazy robotic inventors leave the office.
"Well, everything ended better than expected." says Blitz. "Now, back to you, miss Tanya. What else do you need?"
"Before we start, I would like to know all the details about the mission you just made."
"Really? Why?"
"Simple. During this entire time I saw several red flags in performance issues with it. The fact that it ended well for you does not mean that you fared well in the execution. It only means that everything coincidentally fell on the right place for you. So, details..."
"How on all hell did we get to be examined by a child?" asks Moxxie after being let out from underneath the elevator by Millie. He seems to be fine, weirdly.
"Well, you know what they say: children and drunk people always tell the truth. So, I don't see why not." finished Blitz just before he would begin telling his tale...
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By all the circles of hell! What kind of incompetent bastards do I have to put my mission on?!
"Let me see if I got this straight. Your job was to kill Lyle Lipton in his mansion."
"Yeah." say the three in unison.
"And you approached the mansion in a public bus."
"Yeah."
"And as you got down from the bus, you basically announced it to the entirety of the bus."
"Yeah!"
"And when the cherubs appeared, you willingly engaged in an altercation to try to convince him to either kill himself or not kill himself."
"Yeah!"
"And when you frustrated the cherubs enough, you engaged into a literal battle with them, killing dozens of bystanders, and making the cherubs kill the old guy anyway."
"Oh, yes!" says Blitz enthusiastically. "Which means that they won't be allowed back into heaven." Blitz lets out a loud laughter "I bet they really fucking hate us for that one... Hahaha."
And now comes the part where I hit them with a dose of reality:
"You bunch of incompetent bastards!" I say out loud
"Hey! We got the job done! That's what matters!" yells Blitz defensibly.
"That doesn't matter! You did it in the most wasteful and suboptimal way possible! By publicly announcing your intentions you put in risk the entire mission. You just got lucky that nobody in the bus gave a damn! You could have just waited for the cherubs to convince the guy not to kill himself, then they would have left, and then you could have just killed the guy anyway! Every single action you took aside from that was completely wasteful! You wasted time, ammunition, and other people's lives! If somebody down here would have wanted anyone of those people dead, you basically just killed them for free! And at the same time you created three enemies that will probably have nothing left to do but to seek revenge on you, as a way to pass the rest of their miserable and eternal lives!" I stare at them while the idea settles in.
"Ahm... I... ah... I guess we didn't saw it that way." said Blitz. Of fucking course not. You fucking idiots.
"Look, I'm gonna be honest. After knowing that you lot are THAT incompetent, I wouldn't want to do this with you. But you are basically all I have. So, when can we leave? I want to end this as quickly as possible. And as a personal favor, try not to screw it up!"
"Okay, okay. And by the way, how do you expect to pay us?" adds Blitz
"Simple... I know that you feel uncomfortable in your relationship with Stolas. What I offer is that I will find a way to liberate you from it."
I see as Blitz's face is changed. His expression is difficult to read.
"Oh! Well, that is... ah..."
"Congrats, boss!" says Moxxie "You'll finally be left away from that weird owl, which is what you want, right?"
"Ahm... yeah! Sure! No more Stolas... Right." I still can't interpret the look on his face.
"Very well, then. Let's go." I say onto them. And after a strange ritual that Moxxie found in the Grimoire, I find myself going back into my own previous world. Hello, empire at war, my old friend...
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The three imps and me have been moving through a battlefield with dozens of corpses laying around, but none of them have any working jewel, which leads me to believe that their jewels were either destroyed in the fight that killed them, or their bodies have already been looted off from them.
Which only leaves us all into a single course of action.
"Listen, partners!" I yell at the imps "You lot are used to killing people, am I right?"
"Yeah!" yells out Millie.
"Then you wouldn't mind killing somebody for its computational jewel, right?"
"Ahm... I thought you said you didn't want us to kill nobody." says Moxxie.
"I think you misunderstood me. I said that I had nobody SPECIFIC to kill. But if I have to get my hands dirty to get what I want, I have no problem with it."
"Well, now that's something I can respect!" said Millie.
"Hey, so long as we get what I came looking for, I don't mind all that much."
"I thought you were a good child." adds Moxxie.
"I think it's worth mentioning: I was a child soldier. I know how to kill and I have done so before. I can do it again if the need arises. I'd prefer not to, but sometimes life just doesn't let you be nice!" For some reason my comment makes me smile. A wide smile filled with malice. And my stare of malicious happiness must have caught the trio of imps by surprise, since they all flinched a little as soon as they saw my teethed smile. I have to tone it down a little. "Well, then. Come on. Let's go find a sucker to kill and loot!"
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As we walk through the battlefield of this war-torn land, we notice several explosions at the distance. And with it, we know where an actual battle is taking place. And from the skies, we see several figures flying and circling each other, like flies with no discernible intention. However, that is exactly what I am looking for: mages with working computational jewels. Oh, this will be fun!
I instruct the imps to let me select the target. I have no more love for the empire that forced me to be part of a war than what I would have for any other country that would have allowed me to live in peace. However, I am petty. And if I can damage the army that caused my death, then I'd prefer that. Nevertheless, I won't be as stupid as to delay myself just for that. If I manage to get a computational jewel without having to fight, then I'd prefer that. So, let's see what I can do.
As we approach the center of the battle between the flying mages, I ask for a gun to one of the imps.
"What? You think you can bring any of them down? Even if they were standing still, it would be hard to hit any of them. and they are moving with quite a lot of speed." comments Blitz.
"I intend to make a volumetric attack: an explosion. It should be good enough."
"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" asks Millie.
"I have my ways. Just trust me on this one." I don't have the time to explain it all. Not now. I just want this mission to be over as soon as possible.
"Very well, you are the one that hired us. You want to give it a shot yourself? Be our guest." says Blitz as he passes me one of the guns.
Wasting no time, I aim the gun towards the group of mages, and make a mental estimate of the amount of power I need. It's just an estimate, since the exact calculation is nearly impossible, and I will have to set the explosion with another estimate of time delay. This is so freaking hard without a calculation jewel. Oh, well... since I cannot really afford to lose my chance...
I set my magic energy upon the gun, and I let out not one shoot, but the whole magazine, one bullet after the other, with different time delays for each bullet. I cannot allow that the explosion be neither overshot nor undershot and give the mage group time to move around too much. So, my best chance is to simply surround them all with a series of explosions that will have a greater chance to catch at least a few of them, and make them fall to the ground.
Ah... fireworks in the sky. So pretty.
"TAMAYA!!!" I scream with enthusiasm.
"What's that?" asks Millie.
"Isn't that a japanese expression to celebrate fireworks?" says Moxxie. Well done, nerd.
"Ahm... yeah! I heard about it... somewhere. I don't remember where I picked it up." Strictly speaking that is true, since I heard it from the time I was little in my first life, and nobody actually remembers where they picked up lots of expressions from their natural language, beyond saying 'everybody used it around me'. "Anyhow, I think I saw some of the mages falling down in that direction. Let's go."
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It didn't take as long as I would have suspected to reach the fallen soldiers, but, when we finally did... Oh! Just my luck...
I see the body of a stunned former partner getting up from the ground.
"Visha?!" I say out loud looking at the bloodied face of my former subordinate.
"WHAT THE...?!" I hear the familiar voice of the girl screaming in confusion as she turns her head in my direction. "TANYA?!!!"
I don't know why, but, seeing a familiar face, made me smile. I get an emotional impulse, and I run towards my former subordinate.
But as soon as I approach, I see her terrified face as she trips back and falls down on her butt.
"AH!!! Get away from me, demon!!!" she screams at me. Oh! For a moment I forgot that I do have the classical appearance of a demon.
"Visha! Visha! It's me! It's me! Tanya! You know me!" I scream at her. "This... is just a disguise!" I lie blatantly.
"No! It can't be! She was dead! You can't be Tanya! We found her body! We buried it with the highest honors that we could afford!!!"
Oh! So they did appreciate me. I'm touched.
"Ahm... I... Ah..."
"Can we kill her already and steal her jewel?" asks Moxxie idiotically.
"Wrong timing, Mox!!!" I yell at him "Read the room! She's an old friend! I'm not just gonna shoot her!"
"Yeah, Mox. Don't you see that they know each other?" says Blitz. Somehow, I'm surprised of his restraint. Perhaps I have misjudged him a little.
"Wait. You-You do look a lot like... Major?" asks Visha once she actually takes a closer look at my facial features.
I let out a smile to try to calm her down "Hello, Visha."
"Ahm... Am I dead?" asks my former subordinate.
"Oh no, nothing of the sort."
"Then how the hell are you alive?"
"Well, technically, I'm not."
"What?"
"Look, it's a long story, and I doubt you'd believe me. So, let's just keep it to the practicality. I need a working computational jewel. Could I have yours?"
"Ahm... well, no. I need it too." Expected, really. A mage without a computational jewel is almost useless and an easy target. She was not just going to give it up so easily. "But, maybe I could lend it to you. My magic reservoirs are low, and we've been having a hard time trying to bring down a particularly powerful bitch fighting for the Unified States. She's a rampaging superpower."
"Rampaging? Wait, isn't she the one that chased me down? Brown hair, skinny..."
"Ahm... yeah. I think it is..."
"Mary Sue." I say with a tinge of rage filtering trough my voice. "Is she here?"
"Ahm... yeah. We were just fighting her. I think she got caught up with the random explosions that came out of nowhere. The explosions caught me too. I just hope the rest of the squad are okay."
"Oh! Interesting." says my gleeful smile filled with malice "Could I borrow your flying gear, then? I have a score to settle."
"Ahm... I mean... I'd be left totally vulnerable."
"Nonsense. I have a group of friends here that will gladly protect you in the meantime. I don't plan to keep it, and I'll gladly return it soon."
"Ahm... I think it would be a good idea if I come along with you." says Blitz.
"Can any of you fly?" I ask him directly.
"Ahm... well, no."
"Then you'd just be delaying me. Just keep an eye on my friend here, and make sure no harm comes to her. You do that, and I'll gladly pay my side of the deal."
"Ahm... yeah. The payment..." Somehow Blitz doesn't sound too enthusiastic about it. Hmm... I gotta make a mental note about that. But for now...
"Okay, Visha. If you lend me your gear and you jewel, I promise to get that rampaging bitch out of your backs."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Well, okay."
It takes me some minutes to accommodate Visha's gear to my body. And now, I feel complete again!
"Awesome!!!" I say with happiness invading me. "I won't forget this, Visha."
"Just get that bitch out of our backs and we'll call it even." says her tired tone of voice.
"Will do. But before I leave, I have a last question. Was my jewel retrieved from my body?"
"Ahm... no. Not really. Whoever killed you, did a number on your body and unloaded several magazines of bullets on it. One of the bullets hit the F95. It was completely destroyed afterwards. So, now we just have standard jewels."
"I see. That is disappointing. But, it should be no big of a problem. And now, my dear imps, take good care of my friend Visha here. I'll be back in... I don't know, give me fifteen minutes."
I pick up a set of guns from the arsenal we brought, and take to the skies.
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If I am right, and I'm pretty sure that I am, after killing me, Mary Sue didn't have her thirst for revenge quenched. She kept being as enraged, and deranged as she was when she was chasing me. But this time, she didn't have a particular person to direct her rage to. So, she directed it to the closest thing to an enemy she had: the empire at large. That is why she is still rampaging: she blames the entirety of the empire for her father's death. Well, I did kill him because he was trying to kill me, but, for Mary, it's all the same. She knows she killed me. But I wonder how she will react when she realizes that my dead was not quite as permanent as she imagined.
Now, Mary, just be your same reckless self, and show yourself.
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It took a while, but not as long as I would have expected, until I see another random explosion falling on a building. Ha! Classic Mary.
I fly at full speed towards the place where I saw the explosion, and floating not far from there, I recognize the brown hair of the bitch.
I waste no time. I charge my magic with the computational jewel. Ah! I feel so grateful of finally having a working jewel. It's gonna make this so much easier.
I pull out my aiming spells, charge the explosive bullet, aim, and pull the trigger.
I see as Mary Sue is caught slightly by surprise by the attack, but she did manage to dodge the most damaging part of it just in time, but she got caught partially by the pressure, stunning her briefly.
I waste no time, and fly closer, as I keep on aiming and shoot again.
She starts flying around in random circles. I notice as her flight becomes frantic. Did she recognize me? No, that's unlikely. She is probably just scared of looking at what seems like an actual demon chasing her. Good. I want you to be scared, Mary. You deserve to suffer, for what you did to me. Hmm... wow... I really am petty.
I see as Mary prepares her own rifle to retaliate, but I have a little advantage. I may not have my F95 jewel anymore, but this world was technologically backwards in comparison to modern standards of weaponry. And the IMP group had access to modern weapons. So...
Mary shoots her shot, and I quickly move away. And that will be the only chance you'll get, dear Mary, which now you wasted.
I charge my attack again... into a standard UZI machine gun, and open fire over the flying mage in front of me.
A rain of enhanced bullets surround her. I made sure that they wouldn't be explosive this time, since I need to get her jewel unharmed. and immediately, I see as her body falls down. I cannot allow her body to crash against the ground, the impact could damage the jewel. So, I fly towards her, grab her body, and gently land alongside her.
I see that she is still conscious, but her body is so filled with bullets that she will bleed out soon enough.
I force her head to look back at me. I want you to see my face.
"Y-You?!" manages to whisper her barely functioning lungs.
"Yes. it's me, Mary. I've come to take you downstairs. And trust me, it's not pretty. But don't worry. I'll go find you. I have great plans for you." I let out a wide malicious smile directed at her face. And my gleeful, and almost sadistic smile is the last image she will see in this world.
Mary dies in my arms. A fitting ending for her: to die in the arms of the one she killed. And afterwards, it doesn't take me too long to loot her body and steal her jewel and gear. I switch it with Visha's, and use Mary's equipment to fly back. It works perfectly!
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I land again near Visha and the imps.
"Mission accomplished." I say to the lot of them "I got what I needed."
"Really? It's not been ten minutes yet." says Millie surprised.
"Well, I'm THAT good!" I say with a tinge of pride on me. "Time to go back."
"Go back?" asks Visha's concerned face.
"Yes, Visha. Back to... the afterlife."
"Oh! So, there really is..."
"Yeah. But please, keep it a secret. You don't want anybody to think that you've gone crazy by saying that you met your dead former Major, and you lent her your flying gear. However, I do have a little something for you. Take this." I pass her the UZI gun that I used on Mary. Alongside her flying gear and jewel. "If anybody asks, say you stole it from a Unified States soldier. Don't use it until it has reached the empire's HQ to be analyzed and replicated. And take the credit for discovering it. It should give you a chance for a promotion. With some luck, perhaps you will be able to leave the front lines afterwards."
"Major..." I see the shadow of gratefulness be drawn on her face.
"No, I'm not a Major anymore. I'm just Tanya, now."
I see as a slightly saddened smile is drawn on Visha's face.
"Thank you, Tanya."
"No. Thank you, Visha." I stand straight, and give my former soldier a formal salute.
But instead of answering in kind... I suddenly feel Visha's arms surrounding me.
"I'll see you in heaven then."
"Ahm... A nice thought, but, there is somebody upstairs that doesn't like me. I didn't end up in heaven."
"Oh! So, you went the other way?"
"Yeah! It's pretty bad. But not as bad as you'd imagine. Even down there, I think I could thrive. Eventually."
"You were always so resourceful, Tanya. Well, wherever you go: I wish you good luck."
"Thanks, Visha." I pat on her back to try to bring her some comfort. "But it's time for me to go."
We separate again, and I give a smile at Visha. Then I ask Moxxie to open a portal back to hell.
I see as Visha remains behind. She looks saddened, but, I've done what I could for her. Perhaps she will have a long and happy life. If not, at least I hope she doesn't suffer too much.
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As soon as we are back inside Blitz's office, I turn my attention to Blitz.
"Well, a deal is a deal. I promised that I will help you get Stolas off from your back. And I deliver. I think I have a plan to..."
"Let me stop you right there." says Blitz. "I think I'll let you have this one for free."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"For free. You don't have to pay anything. You don't have to do anything. Just take your jewel and move on."
"Huh? But I thought that." Oh... that's the problem... OH! THAT'S WHY...!!!
"Everybody, get out. Except for Blitz." says my furrowing face. "I have something to tell him. But it's private."
"No, no... there is no need for them to..." continues Blitz with a nervous look on his face. But my enraged face and stare is enough for him to understand that he's not gonna get off that easily.
"Blitz, we can do this in front of everyone, and make them see your colors. Or we can do this in private, where only you and I will know the details."
"I... ah..." Blitz lowers down his head, and adds "Leave us."
Once they are gone, I once more have no desire to waste time.
"Your hands. Show them to me." I tell him.
"W-Why do you need to see my hands?"
"To confirm something."
"I... ah... I don't think that it's necessary to..."
"NOW, BLITZ!"
Reluctantly, the imp opens up his hands. And just what I suspected: they are bleeding slightly with cuts on the inside. I extend my hand into his, and from one of the cuts I retrieve a small piece that looks like glass, or crystal.
"That's why we couldn't find a working jewel in the corpses of the mages! You were crushing them with your hands! You wanted the mission to fail, so that you could use that as an excuse to deny my payment! You don't want me to stop the relation you have with Stolas! But you also don't want your partners to know that either!"
"I... ah... Well, it's not exactly like that."
"Oh, but it is, Blitzo!" this time I pronounce the 'o' at the end. I know he dislikes it, but right now I want to make him uncomfortable. "If you would have been upfront about it, I would have found some other method to repay your services, but instead you decided to try to sabotage me!"
"Look, miss. I'm sorry, but I really can't afford a rift between me and Stolas. His Grimoire is the only thing that allows us travel into the world of the living. Without it, I would have no business."
Oh? Did you just told me your weakness, Blitz?
"Well, then... I guess I could let this attempted sabotage slide away. On a condition."
"Ahm... What do you mean?"
"I could just ensure that your business ends very quickly, by turning Stolas against you. Or, you help me locate Mary Sue, the woman I killed and stole the jewel and flying gear from, and you help me get her soul. You do that, and I'll forget that you tried to sabotage me."
"I... ah..."
"Come on, Blitz. It's not so bad. You have Loona, who is, according to Stolas, one of the best trackers. And I so happen to have her flying gear, with her smell. So, it shouldn't be all that hard. You take me to her, and I do the rest."
I see as Blitz lets out a resigned sigh.
"Okay. I'll do it."
My facial features soften somewhat.
"Very well. It shall be done."