Chapter 54: Motivational Speaking

We debrief and then clean up at the rented condo. It's a 42nd floor home and the view of the city is incredible. We drink in a view that costs 5,000 bucks a night, and think that it might be worth it. Considering we just made over 10,000 dollars in tokens, I'd say so.

We head down to get dinner together and decide on to skip the fancy five star joints and just eat at a regular bodega. We go into the cramped deli/convenience store and order what turn out to be the best sandwiches of our lives.

We're pretty quiet through most of the dinner, but towards the end I ask something that has been bothering me. “Gwen got really hurt back there.” I have everyone's attention. “Diaz went down.” Jose already apologized and got shoulder punched in return, so they're past that. “And I almost got crushed and then stabbed to death by my own ice.” Mercy grabs my hand and squeezes it. I squeeze back.

“What I want to know is... Why? Why are each of you here? Why do you want to do this, this deadly job?”

Everyone glances down or away, thinking. Jose answers first. “My best friend needs me.” Those words mean a lot to me. Those words speak of years of comradery. I nod in acknowledgement.

“I'm not...” Diaz starts, then looks down as she continues. “I'm not the smartest FBI agent. I don't know the computer shit. But, I still want to be the best. The best damn agent anyone has ever seen.” She slams her fist down on the table and looks me in the eye. “And I can fight. I will fight. I'll crush every monster on the planet and then at the end of it say, yeah I'm FBI.”

Personal pride. Knowing your weaknesses and playing to your strengths. She has a goal. She has a dream. I nod with acknowledgement.

Next, Gwen says, “actually I do not know. I think that perhaps I was curious and overly confident. But now...” She looks down at her just broken and then mended hands. “Now I do not feel the need to continue. I think this shall be my last mission.”

“We can continue to send you data,” I say. “Actually it would be good if I had someone to help me with organizing my class notes and things I've noticed.”

She nods slowly. “Zen we shall continue to work together, just, not so side-by-side.”

I turn to Odysseus but he's typing and then it looks like he's deleting what he's typing. “Mercy?” I ask my girlfriend who I almost certainly shouldn't have brought along.

“I wanna be strong!” She says it with the enthusiasm of a Shonen protagonist. “I'm like Madeline, except I'm smart but not physically strong. But I want to be powerful. Powerful enough to take on anyone, any time. Strong enough to...” She looks down at the table as she continues. “Strong enough to not be taken advantage of ever again.”

I'm not sure what she means but I can feel a weight to those words. Madeline, who is on her other side, grabs her hand and says, “girl, you ready to get stronger?”

Mercy looks up at Madeline. “Yes? Maybe?”

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“Pfft! By the time I'm done with you you'll never say maybe again!” Madeline says this while flexing an arm muscle which makes Mercy giggle. It feels like something just happened, something important, but I don't know what.

“For my part,” I say. “I... Like this. I know it sounds nuts but fighting monsters and leveling up and also making the world safer... It's everything that I ever wanted. I know I just had most of my arm bones broken, but also...” I have to look away from the others. I don't want to see their faces as I admit something probably fucked up. “I'm having fun. I know any of us could die, but, like, we fought a big ass ghost today! We killed zombies! Giant zombies! That was rad as fuck! I want to keep going. I want to keep delving. I want to see what the next place has up its insidious sleeve. And I know that's probably deranged, but that's why I want to keep at this.”

“Dumbass,” is Jose's reply.

“Yeah, you're deranged,” says Madeline.

“A madman at the helm,” says Gwen. “Typical military operation.”

We all laugh. It's funny because it's true.

Finally, Odysseus types his answer. “I could have healed my tongue and been able to speak after the last dungeon.” I am taken aback. I didn't know that. “But I didn't because this is nothing. There's a lot of people who have it worse than I do.”

He takes a minute and then continues. “After the attack, I met a lot of guys and women, soldiers in the hospital. People missing legs and arms and eyes. They were impressed that I was a Ranger. They asked if I was still going to be a Ranger. And I said they couldn't stop me. So then at the Army hospital I got a reputation as the disabled Ranger. And I know it's a bit selfish but I liked it. I liked being thought of as doing it when others couldn't. So I'm doing it for them. And for me.”

Jose slaps Odysseus on the back in a manly way. The rest of us give him acknowledging nods, except for Mercy who gets up and gives him a hug. She's so nice.

We head back and rest for the night, watching Shaun Of The Dead on the condo's big ass (though not 97 inches) TV. We laugh and go “oh shit” at all the right spots. It's a genuinely good time.

After the movie we turn on the news. It's all about the chaos and fear that the average person is feeling. While first world countries are mostly fine, a lot of places are really messed up. And of course the greedy and selfish among humanity are trying to take advantage of the situation.

“People probably want to know that there are teams like us, trying to shut down the Dracosys sites. So, should we hold a press thingy?” I ask, clearly not knowing what I'm talking about.

“Press conference?” asks Madeline.

I say, “yeah the one with the questions you see on TV.”

Gwen shakes her head. “I have no interest in publicizing my work.”

“I really don't want people to know I'm doing this,” Mercy says. “My parents would kill me.”

“You don't need an entire team to do a press conference,” Madeline says. “Just a couple representatives. I can do it for us.”

We all look at her with disbelief. This reticent woman is going to talk for all of us?

“I've done three press conferences. I did the FBI training for it. I'll be good. Give them exactly what they need to know, not what they want to know. I'll have to get clearance from the higher ups but it should be fine. Highlighting successful inter-force cooperation is always a big hit.”

I shout, “who are you and what have you done with Madeline?”

She just rolls her eyes. “People have more than one side to them. If you bother to ask. Doing press conferences is just another thing you have to train for.”

I am dumbfounded. Jose steps in. “Yeah, okay, set it up. Henry should be free tomorrow, I'll get him up here.”