Detective Rhyner's ears were assaulted by the deafening sounds of scraping and crushing metal as he reluctantly approached the scrapyard. He despised visiting this noisy and chaotic place where machines relentlessly processed metal without end. The towering piles of junk obscured any view beyond, even dwarfing the nearby buildings. The unbearable stench added to his displeasure, and the crime-infested Broken Ring, where the scrapyard was located, only heightened the unpleasant atmosphere.

The foreman of the scrapping company working here had generously lent the detective his “office”—a smelly, broken trailer designed for a single person. At least it provided Rhyner with a place to drown out some of the noise and conduct a more normal investigation. That's what had brought him to this shithole part of New DC, following up on clues related to the recent murders of a gang.

Inside the trailer, a small Mexican woman with uncertain eyes sat at a well-worn dinette booth. Despite her exhaustion, her pretty face remained charming, and the weight gained from having children seemed to enhance her allure rather than diminish it. Sweat dripped from her wet hair, and her clothes were drenched from a day's work in the scrapyard.

“Mrs. Maria Flores, correct? I’m Detective Rhyner. I would like to ask you a few questions.”

“Okay,” the Mexican woman, Maria, answered with a heavy accent.

“You were wife of one Gabriel Flores, is that right? I’m told he has recently passed away.”

“Sí.”

“My condolences,” the detective offered, only out of formality.

Maria side eyed him warily. She could sense his lack of genuine sympathy. Rhyner put on a smile. Inwardly, he sighed. He hated dealing with perceptive people. It made his job that much harder.

“Your late husband was close with a man named Lucian Corven, correct?”

Maria was silent as she watched the detective closely.

“Lucian?” she said carefully. “¿Qué pasa con Lucian?”

The detective didn’t speak Spanish, but he knew she could tell that he was referring to Lucian. It would have to do.

Rhyner then explained, “He has been linked to several murders in the Workers Ring. If you know anything related to this matter, it would be greatly appreciated.”

A pause of silence grew between them. Maria narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before she shook her head.

“Lo siento, no hablo mucho ingles,” Maria decidedly said, pretending not to understand.

“I’m asking if you know anything about Lucian and the murders of certain gang members, loan sharks. A crime was committed—murder,” he reiterated, trying to bridge the language gap.

“No entiendo.” Maria was still shaking her head as she continued to feign ignorance.

However, the detective couldn’t tell if she was being forthright with him. Rhyner then decided to subtly reference her family to encourage more honest responses.

“I’m told your family has recently moved up to one of the gray blocks in the Workers’ Ring. I wonder how a scrapper and an MHS worker managed to pull that off with their income…?”

Maria's gaze hardened as it locked onto him. Surprisingly, rather than the mention of her family unsettling her, it seemed to fortify her resolve.

“No ingles,” Maria said coolly and without breaking her composure.

“You had no problem answering my questions earlier…” Detective Rhyner remarked with waning patience.

Maria maintained an unwavering gaze, choosing silence as her response. In her eyes, Lucian was a good man, and she wasn't about to comply with a stranger making accusations against him

“We’ll see how long you can keep this up,” Rhyner scoffed and left the trailer. Scrappers were moving about doing their daily tasks. He announced loudly, “Does anyone here speak Spanish? I need a Spanish speaking person to translate for me.”

The workers turned to him, and before any of them could step forward, their attention was drawn away. Maria was in the window of the trailer, shaking her head at them. When Rhyner turned to see her, she stopped.

“Sorry, man,” one of the workers said to the detective, his accent thick, “I don’t know any Spanish, man.”

Detective Rhyner turned back to Maria in the window and narrowed his eyes at her. Someone else from behind the trailer came up.

“I speak Spanish,” the man enthused, “for a little cheese, that is. You get me?”

Rhyner breathed out a chuckle. One thing that moves everyone in New DC is money.

“Sure,” the detective agreed with a smile, “I got cash on me.”

“Este gringo está tratando de meterse con María,” the worker from before said to the worker that came forward.

“Oh,” the worker who was willing to help ceded, “I fucked up. I meant, I don’t know how to speak Spanish. Like, what even is Spanish, you know?” He hadn’t been able to see Maria’s silent gesture from behind the trailer. He would’ve never stepped forward knowing she needed their silence.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me…” Rhyner grumbled.

Maria smiled from the window at the other workers.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Detective Rhyner spent the entire day searching for someone willing to translate for him but couldn't find a single person, especially once the workers spread the word that he was not to be trusted. He ended up going home with no progress in his investigation and smelling like the Broken Ring. The experience left him infuriated, but he remained undeterred. Even if he had to crawl through piles of shit, he was determined to catch that Hellside demon, Lucian. Any Hellside demon free to roam in the world posed a threat to society, and Rhyner felt compelled to apprehend him for the betterment of New DC.

***

“My training isn’t halfway finished and you want money already!” Penelope remarked with disbelief. “It's like finding clothes at the mall and being told to pay before I even try them on.”

“I’ve never been to no mall before,” Xavier scoffed.

Penelope turned to Dougy and pointed a finger in his face. “And my training is going just fine.” She turned to the mercenary. “Isn’t that right, William?”

William kicked at the dirt bashfully and said to her, “Perhaps you could try a bit harder…?”

Penelope began to get the sniffles. William regretted piling on against her seeing as she was beginning to cry. But he was trying to help her.

“You’re all against me…” Penelope sniffed, memories of her past surfacing. She found herself surrounded by family, their disdain evident in their disgusted expressions. None of them could fathom her ineptitude. In their eyes, Penelope appeared almost brain dead—a target for mockery even among the children. Yet, she couldn’t seem to do anything right; nothing came as easily to her as it did for others.

Why didn't her family stand by her side, she wondered. All they could see when they looked at her were her shortcomings.

“Get your finger out of my face!” Dougy barked, shoving her hand away.

Penelope lost her balance from the abrupt movement and fell into the dirt.

“Hey!” William shouted in alarm at Dougy.

“She’s alright,” Dougy spat dismissively but noticed tears beginning to fall from Penelope’s face. “Oh, give me a break. The baby’s crying. Can you believe that? She’s sprung a leak.” Originating from a brutal place, crying was deemed a grave weakness where he came from. If anyone had caught him shedding a tear there, they would’ve stripped him bare and forced him to dance.

Xavier began to cackle at seeing such weakness. Two Tap continued circling the injured goblin, now rubbing her eyes to emote crying. The young Wastelander woman was too high to understand what was going on.

A scuffle could be heard as Penelope bolted to her feet and began to run. Dougy started to feign crying loudly with Xavier joining in. William was the only one who gave chase. He had to slow and dodge a rock being thrown at him.

“Don’t follow me!” Penelope shouted at him while picking up another rock to throw. “I hate you!”

“Penelope, wait!” William tried to say but had to dodge again. He had no choice but to watch her run off into the forest.

Penelope sprinted through the dense woods, her foot catching on a hidden root, sending her sprawling to the ground. The sharp twigs and dry leaves scraped her palms as she tried to break her fall. She winced, feeling the sting of yet another small defeat.

Dougy's booming laughter echoed in the distance as he effortlessly traversed the terrain, showcasing a prowess that seemed unattainable for Penelope. Xavier and Two Tap, despite their casual demeanor, smoothly moved through the underbrush, unlike her. Meanwhile, William snickered, his chubby face stretching into a wide smile as he strolled through the landscape, effortlessly navigating around obstacles with ease.

Penelope gritted her teeth, frustration bubbling within her. She recalled the countless times she had stumbled through life. Taunts from her family soon rang in her ears. “Can't even walk straight,” they sneered down at her, sprawled out in the dirt.

She pressed on. The forest transformed into a maze of challenges, each step a reminder of her perceived inadequacies.

Dougy appeared before Penelope, a smirk playing on his lips. “You still crying, Wall Hugger?”

She forced a weak smile, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. Each step forward seemed to magnify her struggles, a silent battle waged against the wilderness and her own doubts.

Penelope knew no one was around. She had left everyone behind when she ran. Her family had never said, “Can’t even walk straight.” They weren’t in this monster gate. It was just her insecurities that had transformed into apparitions to haunt her.

The emotional weight of her past mistakes brought tears streaming down her face. She couldn't comprehend why everything seemed to go wrong, and her history nagged at her relentlessly.

Frantic grunts disrupted her thoughts, causing her to tense. Undoubtedly, it was the unmistakable sound of goblins. The heavy pounding in the dirt made leaves in the distance quiver, signaling a fierce battle.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Penelope cautiously peeked around a tree. Before her, a familiar scene unfolded—a colossal man with bulging muscles was a whirlwind of glowing fists in the midst of a group of vicious goblins. If the stout green creatures could plead for mercy, that moment would have been time to plea. The muscular man's red eyes glowed with ferocity as he skillfully avoided goblin attacks before retaliating with precision. His fists shrouded in Aura turned the bodies of the goblins into a mixture of green and red mush.

Penelope immediately recognized him upon first sight, their latest group member. Her doe eyes couldn't look away, captivated by his technical and artistic motions. He moved like a machine engineered to astound while being impervious to the attacks of his foes.

The imposing figure of the man crushed the head of the last remaining monster like a grape. His red eyes then scanned the scene, locking onto Penelope.

In his raspy voice, he grunted in recognition, “Penelope...”

“The player,” Penelope replied.

[Angry Gremlin]

Lucian shrank into his normal form. He cocked his head in confusion.

“What?” he asked.

“The player who messes with a lot of girls,” Penelope clarified. She knew how good looking guys operated.

“Just call me Lucian…” Lucian sighed. “What are you doing here? Where’s the rest of the group?”

“Oh, we had a disagreement. I don’t like them anymore. They suck.” She stared at her hands bashfully as she twiddled her fingers together. “I think I’m done here. I’m not meant to do this monster hunting thing, you know?”

“What? Why?”

“It’s just not meant to be. I’m not good at anything. Everyone back home knows how much I suck, and now everyone here knows I suck too, so I think that’s it for me. I’m going back.” She rushed to say, “Don’t worry. I’ll still pay you guys. My grammie left me some money. She loved me most, after all.”

“But you’re one of the Anointed. Do you know what Anointed means?”

“…”

“It means chosen. You were chosen to do this.”

Penelope shook her head and denied, “I’m not like you and William. You guys kill these things so skillfully, and I’m just a klutz.” Her mind was still fresh with how Lucian dismantled those monsters. “I could never do what you just did.”

Lucian looked at her evenly and said, “I just became an Anointed a few days ago.”

“…huh?”

“I just became an Anointed. Before, I was an MHS worker.” Lucian had also been experiencing monster gates and witnessing Anointed battles as an MHS worker, as well as researching for most of his life on how to be a Warden, but he left a lot out. Penelope was clearly mentally on rocky terrain and was uncertain. She needed motivation.

It wasn’t like Lucian cared much for her since they just met, but she was an Anointed, and that meant something to him if not her.

“But you’re so good at this!” Penelope nearly shouted.

“I had researched stuff a lot, but I’m almost as new as you, Penny.”

“I’m Penelope,” Penelope corrected, unwilling to receive a nickname, especially since her cherished grandmother gave her the name, “But do you think I can really get as good as you?”

“It worked out for me. Why wouldn’t it work out for you?”

Penelope could feel her heart rate begin to pick up. His words reignited the vision of herself being a success story and being in front of her family who finally looked at her as someone worth knowing.

Her mind was still clouded with uncertainty, but the spark of hope had been started.

“Please, Lucian,” she said seriously, “Teach me.”