If there was one thing Deoti hated in life, it was stealing. And that was why it continued to irk her that she’d had to steal this car.
You’re a fucking S-rank Delver, she thought with scorn as she turned the steering wheel and headed down a new road. You shouldn’t be having to steal anything.
Unfortunately, she had to.
Her position and rank made her rich. Not as rich as any of the Oaths, but definitely rich enough that she could buy a car on the fly. And she had really wanted to buy a car on the fly.
But she couldn’t.
Right now, the last thing they needed was any kind of paper trail.
Deoti took another turn, frowning as she did. If Fendor saw the frown currently on her lips he would probably crack some joke about turning frowns upside down. He was always one for treating her like a kid.
Deoti could never figure out why, considering that she was the only one he treated that way. In the end, it was going to remain one of those mysteries she could never figure out.
Madness thought he liked her in some kind of way, though. But he never confirmed if it was completely romantic. All he’d said was that Fendor might like her and had never said anything else on the matter.
He could’ve at least told me what kind of like, specifically.
That was the thing with Madness. He didn’t insinuate. Every word that came out of his mouth tended to mean, most times than not, exactly what it meant. If he said the devil was alive, then there was a nigh perfect chance that there was a devil and it was alive.
People in the world did not know how lucky they were that Madness had never made such a statement. As a catholic, despite his devotion, his head was always on straight.
Just for kicks and giggles, the team had once sat Madness down and asked him questions. There were speculations that his responses had something to do with him as an Oath because the responses they’d gotten from him weren’t what they expected from someone with as strong a devotion to their religion as him.
Was God real? He believed so. The funny part was that he actually said the words. God didn’t exist as far as his words were concerned, but he believed the Christian supernatural being existed. It was the same for Lucifer.
When it came to angels and demons, the answers were obvious. Did angels exist? Yes. Did demons exist? Yes.
There were portals only Oaths were allowed into, portals that were too dangerous for even S-ranks.
The entire team always wondered if Madness’ certainty of the existence of demons and angels had something to do with one of those portals.
Such things terrified Deoti sometimes, even though she was an S-ranker. If there was a Portal she was not allowed to enter because it was too difficult.
Ever since she’d found out about the angels and demons, Deoti had always had the sinking feeling that there were portals out there that led to hell and or heaven.
And if that was the case, what was the possibility that God wasn’t just faith based? Deoti was a Christian and the possibility of that revelation was something that had messed with her faith a lot.
But she never showed it. She continued going to church whenever she could and did her best to remain a devout Christian.
She would be lying if she said it wasn’t taking a toll on her faith.
God being more than just knowledge by faith. Deoti didn’t know what it said about her that she couldn’t process the idea with complete and total happiness.
Wasn’t it supposed to be every Christian’s dream to confirm the existence of God beyond faith?
Deoti let out another sigh as she pulled the car into an alleyway and got out.
It was kind of difficult to be happy about the possible existence of God being discovered behind a portal.
Especially when you consider that everything beyond a portal has been an enemy so far.
Deoti shook her head, looked around, then made a casual stroll out of the alley way after locking the car. It had been a few hours since she had been teleported off a government ship and into the middle of nowhere. The day was dark.
With her guilty conscience jiggling around in her pocket alongside the car key, she strolled into another building. It was abandoned.
She went up its stairs. Each step she took would’ve creaked and announced her arrival if not for the outfit she was wearing. When you were Delver of any significant repute, weaver’s silk was a compulsory part of your outfit. The sound of the stairs traveled up from her boots and spread all the way around her outfit, absorbing the sound.
At the top of the first flight of stairs, she made a turn to the left.
The building was quiet, almost eerie in the silence now that it was night. Even as an S-rank and a Delver who had been through far too many things in far too many portals for almost enough years, Deoti still possessed an inherent fear of being outside, alone, and in the dark.
The government therapist that they spoke to after every delve, which the government pointed out was mandatory, had told her it was a completely normal thing to have faced real monsters in a portal but still harbored an inherent fear of the dark.
According to Alna, the therapist, the fear of the dark was an inherent trait in the average human, the fear of not knowing, not being able to see what stood just beyond the next bend or even what was in front of you.
When Deoti had pointed out that she’d been in the dark with monsters before in portals so why was she supposed to be scared of the normal dark on earth, Alna’s response had been simple.
“In the portals, you at least know that the monsters are there,” she’d said. “In this world, you do not.”
That had stayed with Deoti longer than she would’ve liked. And Alna had been generous enough to also add that before Deoti was an S-rank Delver, she had once been a little girl who had been scared of monsters in the closet.
Deoti shook her head as she arrived at the door she sought. She hated therapy so much. To her, therapists weren’t there to make you better, they were there to shape you into the kind of person whoever was in charge wanted you to be.
That’s why I always lie to them.
She turned the door knob and pushed the door open without knocking. As her feet pulled her into the room, four pair of eyes settled on her calmly.
At the center of the room was a single lit candle. It was all the light that they had.
“Two hours, D?” Fendor said in faux disappointment. “It shouldn’t take anyone that long to get a car.”
At least she hoped it was faux.
“To steal a car,” she corrected him, tossing the key to the side.
Saxi snatched the key out of the air. With his clothes laced with weaver’s silk, the action was entirely without sound. The only reason she knew he’d gotten the key was because she knew he would since he was seated in the direction she’d thrown it.
“So it took you two hours to talk your conscience out of stopping you?” Fendor teased. “Must have been tough.”
Deoti let out a tired sigh. “Axe, can I have my gun so I can shoot him.”
“Not allowed,” David said getting up from his chair and finally focusing his eyes on her.
The room was simple with a single brown carpet at the center and four single sofas surrounding it.
David walked up to her, stopped in front of her and held his hand out.
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“Cell phone,” he said.
He’d been quiet since they’d left the ship. Normally, he was a quiet man, but he had been too quiet this time.
Deoti reached into her pocket and brought out an old phone. This one she hadn’t stolen. She’d taken it off some teenager who she believed wasn’t supposed to be out so late after transferring funds capable of purchasing the phone twice from her account to his as payment.
David took it calmly, a sharp contrast to his Oath of Madness. Most of the people that met him wouldn’t believe that madness was his purview as an Oath until they saw him fight at full strength. Deoti had seen him fight at full strength once.
Everyone in this room had seen him fight at full strength once.
David turned on the display of the phone, moved to its dial pad, and dialed in a number. It rang three times on loud speaker, testing everyone’s patience before someone picked.
“Madness,” David said in a calm deep baritone.
“It’s like two in the morning, big guy,” a voice answered.
Everyone recognized it as the voice that had left David the messages back on the ship.
David paused, turned his head to look at Lisa.
“It’s midnight, Boss,” she answered, somehow knowing what he wanted.
“It’s twelve, Nori,” he said simply.
“Nori?”
There was an underlying tone of anger beneath the word, that surprised all of them. It was almost threatening. What was more surprising was David’s response.
“I apologize,” David said sincerely. “Sometimes it is difficult to keep track.”
“There are only three names, Madness,” the voice shot back, still displeased. “Two are actual names and one is a title. I know you have difficulties but all you have to do is forget one name and one title. Can’t be a difficult request even for you, right? Even the system did it.”
Deoti looked around the room and found equal surprise and confusion on everyone’s face. All their expressions asked the same question.
Were they just witnessing David being scolded by someone who wasn’t War? More importantly, was he actually being taking it?
“Again, I apologize, Dorthna,” David continued, voice calm, face expressionless.
“Good,” the man called Dorthna said. “I take it you are currently not on good terms with the government if you’re calling me with a random number.”
“I am not.”
Dorthna sighed. “You got the message and took matters into your own hands. How many times have I told you not to do that? Take a moment to think and breathe before you act.”
“I am not War,” David replied.
“That means nothing. The better you are at holding your trait in check, the stronger it will work for you once you learn to release it. Like I told you before, it’s not that deep.”
Deoti had had enough. She didn’t know who this friend was, but to insinuate that the safety of Melmarc wasn’t important was more than insulting as a friend.
She stepped forward so that she could be heard loud and clear when she spoke.
“His kid is trapped in a portal, asshole. It doesn’t get deeper than that.”
Her words were followed by a moment of silence during which David gave her a single empty look before turning his attention back to the phone.
They waited, maybe three seconds more, before Dorthna spoke again. It felt like he was wasting time just to prove a point. It was a point Deoti knew: no matter what was going on, he was the one with the power here.
When he spoke, his words were simple.
“Madness,” he said calmly. “Deoti is thirty-eight and single.”
He was telling not asking.
“She is,” David confirmed.
“Good.” Dorthna’s voice had taken an equal emptiness to David’s. “Now tell Deoti that for the duration of this call, she will not speak loud enough for me to hear again. If she does, regardless of my current state, she will die at forty-two, on the day before her forty-third birth day.”
Deoti’s jaw fell. Had she just been threatened?
“Understood,” David answered.
Deoti looked from one teammate to the other, confused. Had David just accepted the threat as if it was a fact?
She fought herself to keep her silence. Who the fuck was Dorthna? And how did he know about her when she knew nothing about him? She didn’t even know anyone in David’s life called Nori either.
In mere moments, she found herself bristling in anger.
David looked up at her, his eyes uncaring, and said, “For the duration of this call, you are not allowed to say a word. If you understand this, nod once.”
It took all the self control and respect for David she had to nod once.
“She will not speak again,” David said into the phone.
“Good. Now, before we continue, can we renegotiate the whole idea of only ever giving you information in threes. It is very difficult having to summarize everything I know into three messages.”
“No.”
Dorthna sighed. “I figured, but I just had to try. Sometimes I think you have an obsession with the whole trinity thing that’s why, then I remember that you only ask me to keep things in three, no one else. And only messages.”
Dorthna’s tone had fallen into a casual one, banking on joviality, even. It was a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn from the one he had used to threaten Deoti.
Clearly displeased, Deoti found herself a seat. She groaned when Fendor gave her a pat on the back.
“I guess I only have you for another three years,” he said in mock solemnity. “I’ll miss you.”
“And how long did it take you to calculate forty-two minus thirty-eight?” she retorted in annoyance.
She was more annoyed at herself for keeping her voice so low that it wouldn’t be heard over the phone
Fendor shrugged. “The amount of time it took you to choose sitting next to me over the others.”
Deoti sighed and shrugged his hand off. “Go suck it.”
Fendor opened his mouth, likely for another retort, before closing it shut. Surprised, Deoti followed his attention and found David staring at her. There was a frown on his face.
It seemed he hadn’t been joking when he’d told her to be quiet. If he was showing an expression, then it was serious.
So she held her tongue and chose to say nothing for the duration of the conversation.
As for Fendor, he had been right about one thing. The decision to sit next to him had been intentional. If she had taken a sit next to any of their other teammates, they would’ve had nothing but empathy for her.
And Deoti didn’t want to be pitied. At least not for this.
She could always trust Fendor to make fun of her rather than pity her. Most of the time she found him annoying, but at times like this, she was grateful for him.
“So are we still doing the three thing?” Dorthna was saying over the phone.
“No,” Madness answered. “This is not a message, so it does not apply. Tell me what you know.”
“Well, it’s simple,” Dorthna said. “Your oldest found out that her boyfriend cheated on her last week and cried in her dorm for approximately two hours. She still has no plans of telling any of you—for the boy’s sake, obviously. And she doesn’t know that I know. Since the boy is only human, I have no intentions of getting involved in this.”
David nodded as if he’d just been told that water was wet.
“What else?” he asked.
“Your second confirmed as at two days ago that he can win a fight against an elephant with both hands tied behind his back,” Dorthna said. “I think his strength stat is a little overpowered for some reason. You and yours may have to look into that when you can find the time.”
“My second fought an elephant?” David asked for clarification.
“Yep,” Dorthna confirmed, his voice slowly being drowned out by the sound of rushing air that had not been there before. “His mentor is a bit too reckless and they had a little mishap at the county zoo. Your second asked if he could help and his mentor agreed. He told me this one himself. He was more than happy to tell me.”
“Finally?”
“Finally, I’ve confirmed that your last is inside a portal. Personally, I am of the opinion that he’s alive and healthy. Before that, he had been going through an interestingly boring mentorship. There’s a girl, but I don’t think its anything anyone needs to think about. It’s probably nothing more than a coincidental pairing. They had him reading files and cleaning offices.”
“He will like that,” David said. “He has always been one for organization.”
“I thought so, too,” Dorthna said. “Turns out we’re both wrong. It seems it must have been driving him insane because next thing we know, he’s going undercover to bust some kind of human trafficking delivery.”
“Human trafficking?” Axe muttered.
“Anyway,” Dorthna continued, the rushing wind still trying its best to drown at his voice and failing, “in the wider scheme of things, they aren’t very important. The traffickers, I mean. They just do the trafficking because they are doing Gifted experiments. I wouldn’t bother too much about them if not for the fact that one of yours got involved with them.”
“Aren’t there rumors of an underworld organization trafficking something unknown?” Fendor muttered. “In the streets I keep hearing that they’re slowly making their way into America, pushing their operation forward.”
“There are,” Saxi said in confirmation. “My sources have all but confirmed it. I’ve been meaning to look into it with my spare time but we haven’t really had any spare time for a while now.”
Axe looked between the both of them. “Do you mean the Romanians?”
Deoti wanted to join the conversation but couldn’t. She wasn’t scared of whoever Dorthna was, but she respected David enough to hold her tongue, especially now that Dorthna had information on saving his son.
“Are they done speculating on the unimportant?” Dorthna asked.
Deoti frowned at how unbothered by them he was. If he could be this unbothered at being interrupted, then why did he threaten her life?
Maybe because you called him an asshole?
“I can start processes to look into—” Lisa started, only to be cut off by Dorthna.
“Lisa, dear,” he said. “I don’t mean to be rude, but would you be nice enough and speculate with your peers in a place where you will not interrupt this conversation?”
“Dorthna,” David said. As simple as the word was, he was clearly scolding the man. “You do not say ‘not to be rude’ then proceed to be rude.”
Silence settled on the room.
Clearly, after seeing the dynamic between David and this man named Dorthna in the beginning, everyone was more than eager to see how Dorthna would react to being scolded by David.
It would tell them a lot more about the man.
“You sound just like Mel,” Dorthna replied. “‘Don’t be rude to people, it’s not nice.’ I understand being nice, but in my defense, she was interrupting. You know what? Never mind. This is more of a Mel conversation.”
“Dorthna.”
Dorthna groaned like a petulant child. “Alright. I get it. I’m sorry I was rude to your subordinate.”
“Dorthna,” David repeated.
It was one word. One simple word.
Dorthna groaned once more. “Alright. Lisa.”
Lisa perked up. “Yes, Dorthna.”
“I’m sorry I was rude to you. It was not my intention to be rude but that does not excuse it. I should’ve tried to be intentionally nice, not just to not be rude. Do you forgive me?”
Lisa looked between everybody. When her eyes settled on David, he was waiting patiently.
“I… forgive you,” she said, confused.
“If you want a gesture of my sincerity,” Dorthna added. “The most I am willing to offer is an afternoon out.”
“What about a night out?” she teased.
“No, can’t do,” Dorthna replied. “When I am not being imprisoned by your boss and his significant other, I use my nights for things that are extremely necessary.”
“Then afternoon it is,” Lisa said, unbothered.
Dorthna made a sound, then muttered something too low to be heard. It was so low that the sound of rushing wind didn’t have to try in order to drown it out.
“May I ask a question, Dorthna?” Lisa said, looking at David.
“Go for it.”
“Where you are right now is so loud. What are you doing?”
“Oh, I’m sure your boss can answer that one.”
Everyone looked to David.
The response they got was simple yet confusing.
“He’s falling.”