It had been a week now since they had all been recruited by the newest face on the Black Block - not that he actually had a face, so far as they knew. They had all been looking for work, most of them had dropped by his shop at least once to see if they weren't hiring, and after the little gathering they were invited to and their respective interviews, they were the lucky few who made the cut. And, truth be told, they were a weird bunch.
Bob, the stupidly tall frogman with muscles that would make a minotaur blush, a man of few words with an odd way to speak, undoubtedly the strongest among them, and the best at handling the crates. If someone were to get an employee of the month award, it would be him.
Ellie Bell, a woman barely smaller and less muscular than Bob, a former member and sole survivor of a small gang named Merry Mess. She loved to laugh at anything and the fact her right hand had been replaced with a metal hook didn't stop her from being the second best at handling the crates, right behind Bob, her sole functional hand more than strong enough to do the work of two people on her own.
Elen Gurt, a much smaller and lithe woman, she could easily pass for a teen, she could never dream to carry even one empty crate but her mind proved to be a very impressive tool, she was the one whose voice mattered the most after Silhouette and the two bosses in charge of the warehouse, and even then those two didn't mind following her suggestions. She always looked awfully happy to be at her desk at the entrance, and no matter what, she was always here first in the morning and always the last to stay, bar the strange completely black and grey humanoids that brought stuff in and out of the central room, where the magic supposedly happened. At this point, the "regular" workers had unanimously agreed those were probably some sort of construct, some kind of magical summons or homunculi like the ones Wicked Witchcraft tended to use.
Claude Puma, a gender-bent clone who had managed to build his own life hidden away in the slums. He was a very charming and friendly fellow, and incredibly curious to boot. Perhaps too curious.
Snowflake, the diminutive pale humanoid with long ears and nose and short scraggly white hair - even he wasn't sure what exactly he was, having never met his parents, but whether he was some sort of goblin or fae or gnome descendent didn't matter to him, for he wanted to be his own man. He was quite sure of himself and his power, despite it only offering him an improved sense of smell, though it was undeniably impressive that he could easily notice and recognize people in the warehouse without even seeing or hearing them just by the scents they carried.
And lastly, there was Mop Skybreaker, the most normal man the rest of them had ever met, so normal in fact that he ironically became the weirdest of the bunch.
Well, Mop was the last of the new employees. There were the things they assumed to be constructs, although they mostly did their own thing and only interacted with the small group whenever they had to help move something, as well as the two managers of the warehouse, a black goblin shaman and a wolfman with ebony fur and claws. Both were the strong silent type and only spoke when addressed or giving out orders. Usually at least one of them watched over the workers while the other stayed in the inner room of the warehouse, but sometimes both were out at the same time, or on the contrary, both stayed in the workshop, leaving the new guys unsupervised. Those moments were rare, and most of the time it was during breaks.
It was during one of those unsupervised moments, during their lunch break specifically, that Claude addressed his coworkers in his suave voice after brushing his hair back with his free hand, the other too busy holding a small elongated sandwich.
"Say, guys, what do you think they're doing in there all day?"
Elen, still sitting at her desk, looked up from her salad - with no eggs, for her neighbor's operation had disgusted her from even chicken eggs.
"Making things, as all workshops do, I presume."
Mop took a bite out of his own sandwich and chewed on it as he nodded, while Snowflake took a sip of the soup he kept in his thermos before giving his opinion.
"Yup, it's what makes sense, so it's probably the truth."
"Come on, you know what I mean. If they were just building stuff in there we wouldn't be forbidden from going in."
Bob and Ellie looked up from their shared meal of roasted bugs - mainly giant locusts, each as long as a human forearm, spread out on the large square of cloth Bob had used as a bag to bring them - just as the towering green amphibian man finished swallowing whole one of the cooked insects and Ellie raised one to her mouth impaled on her hook, lowering her meal-to-be at Claude's words.
"Ribbit. Danger forbid. Ribbit."
"Yeah, like he said. Sometimes there's no big secret my dude, just dangerous work that only qualified people should handle. How do you think I got this shiny thing, eh?"
She took a bite of the locust's side.
"Beshide, you're ashking an awful lot of queshtions, ya know? Not shure the bosh would appreshiate."
"Ribbit. Talking and chewing. Ribbit."
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"Whoops, sorry Bob."
The frogman hummed before his tongue struck out and snatched another bug for him to engulf, and Elen was proud that she only shivered a bit at that before she focused back on Claude.
"But she got a point, Claude. Asking questions is never smart. If Silhouette wanted us to know what goes in that room, he would tell us."
Snowflake sagely nodded.
"Just like he would write an autobiography if he wanted us to know more about him."
The lithe woman raised a finger and opened her mouth to speak, before she stopped herself, and ultimately lowered her hand back down to her fork.
"I hate the fact he's not completely wrong."
Claude rolled his eyes before gesturing to the others with his sandwich.
"Come on, I can't be the only one curious. It's not every day someone so unique and with enough power to cement themself as a real threat appears, especially not out of nowhere. Like, one day there are rumors of something in the sewers, and the next thing you know there's an entirely new faction on the Block with weapons strong enough to chase away more established gangs. It's like the boss just manifested."
Snowflake took another sip of his soup.
"Meh, I've heard weirder things. Have you heard about that mystery monster in the main city? I think it was called the Nightsnatcher or something. Anyway, no one has ever seen it, and the only reason they even know it exists is that one of its victims was on the phone and accidentally interrupted its last meal. There's nothing left when it's done, and they have no idea where it came from."
Bob sagely nodded.
"Ribbit. Storks reign in the pond. Ribbit."
Ellie swallowed the mouthful of the bug she just finished chewing.
"Right, as the big guy said, some predators are terrifying from the prey's perspective, especially if that predator lives and moves in completely different ways from what they eat. That Nightsnatcher thingy is probably an alien or something that ended up here somehow. Probably an abyssal, now that I think about it. It would explain the whole mysterious vibe."
Claude considered her words before an idea wormed its way into his mind.
"Say, do you think that, maybe..."
Elen raised her fork from her salad to point it at him.
"You better not finish this sentence."
"I'm not saying the boss is the Nightsnatcher, don't worry about that. That thing's in the main city anyway, while the boss is here. No, I was just thinking, maybe he's an abyssal too? As you said, those things have a knack for mysteries and creepy vibes. It would explain his whole tentacle and shadows shtick."
For once, it was Mop who rebuked Claude.
"Nah, that's just an exaggeration. My mom worked for an abyssal once, and it told her the tentacles and shadows stuff wasn't as widespread as people say. It told her something about how 'not all reptiles are snakes' I think."
Ellie hummed as she took a smaller bite out of her locust which she quickly swallowed.
"Yeah, makes sense. Besides, even if it turns out the boss is an abyssal, what then? It doesn't change anything. I mean, Maltodextrin is an alien squid and no one minds her being there. I don't even think abyssals have a common weakness or anything of the sort, so it really wouldn't change a thing."
Bob croaked.
"Ribbit. No question, no problem. Ribbit."
Ellie rolled her eyes and took another bite of the thing impaled on her hook. Claude, for his part, sighed dramatically as he posed like a diva on the crate he sat on.
"Oh, woe me. If talking while we eat is such a big problem, I can just stay silent."
Elen huffed while Snowflake chuckled.
"Come on, man. You're a funny guy, it's nice talking with you, we just don't want to make the big boss mad. I mean, what would you do if the two bosses came out of their room right now just to tell you to shut it?"
Bob and Ellie exchanged a look and the woman bent back to take a glance at the door to the inner section of the warehouse, just to be sure. Claude lightly shook his head at his coworker's words.
"Fine, fine. No small talk about the boss, got it. Does the same go for the other two? Cause I'm really curious about them."
Elen pointed at him with her fork.
"Yes, it also goes for them. They're not discreet just to give you more to speculate about. I like this job, and I don't want you to ruin it just because you love to gossip a little too much."
Claude smirked.
"Fine, fine. So, if the bosses and the mystery workers are off-limit, then let's talk about each other. For example, Elen, you spend a lot more time here than the rest of us. Is there something you know we don't? Secrets from beyond the veil? A box of donuts only available to the first people who get here in the morning?"
Snowflake gasped.
"Elen! You wouldn't hide donuts from us, would you?"
"I'd prefer you'd call me Ms. Gurt, Mr. Puma. You too, Snowflake."
Claude did a small gesture with his hand, as though waving her worries away.
"Sure, Gurt. Anyway, what's the deal?"
She sighed.
"I just like to be here. It's safe, the others don't mind leaving me alone until you all arrive, and..."
Snowflake kept his eyes on her as he gulped down his soup.
"I'd just rather be here than home."
Ellie grimaced.
"Ouch. You're fine, sis? If there's someone you want me to roughen up, I don't mind lending a hand, or a hook if you'd prefer something more permanent."
Elen shook her head.
"No, no, I live alone, the area I'm in is relatively safe... It's just... I can't stand my neighbor anymore. It's too much."
Snowflake snapped his fingers as a light turned on in his brain.
"You live next to Gluglu! That explains the stink!"
Elen shrunk on herself, her salad long forgotten now. Bob croaked in understanding while Claude, Ellie, and Mop looked at Snowflake, confused. Mop was the one that ultimately dared to ask.
"What stink? And who's Gluglu?"
"Super smell, remember? You guys can't notice because she does her best to remove it. And Gluglu is a guy I learned about at my last job, I helped one of those street food vendors move their stuff and occasionally I smelled to check if their ingredients weren't rotten, I had to quit because they bought half their stuff from Gluglu and it almost always made me puke."
Bob nodded.
"Ribbit. Child of the pond with a knack for eggs. Ribbit."
Ellie raised an eyebrow.
"What kind of eggs?"
Bob looked away from her and scratched at his large chin and throat, but before Ellie could question him further Snowflake stood up all of a sudden, his usual joyful and somewhat mischievous look replaced by complete seriousness and slight worry.
"There's a bomb coming."
All of them stood up at once and followed him as he ran to the central room of the warehouse, his knocking at the door matching knocks that came from outside. The door opened at once and before the crew had the time to think the goblin shaman and the wolfman came out and pushed them further to the back and away from the warehouse's entrance, just as a sound echoed across their minds and vibrations traveled through their bodies.
BOOM!