The walk to the Hub was a blur.

James and Jennifer descended a flight of stairs that led to a dimly lit corridor, its walls lined with reinforced cells. They were pushed into one of the cells and locked inside without a word.

Jennifer’s temper flared. She turned to the enforcer who locked the cell. “Hey! Aren’t you even going to question us? He’s the one who tried to kill _me!_”

The enforcer ignored her, walking away without so much as a glance.

“This is insane!” she shouted after him, her voice bouncing off the cold steel walls. She paced furiously, her claws unsheathing with a metallic snikt. Without hesitation, she began slashing at the bars, each swipe sending a shower of sparks flying.

James muttered from the corner, watching her in confusion, “what are you doing?”

“Breaking out, what does it look like?” she snapped, continuing to claw at the unyielding metal. “We shouldn’t even _be_ here. We didn’t do anything wrong!”

*I should have taken those damn lizards teeth skill!*

“Yeah, but those bars aren’t going anywhere,” James said, leaning back against the wall. He didn’t press the issue. Her wild swings and ferocity seemed almost desperate.

They were kept in that cell for over an hour, the oppressive silence broken only by the occasional clang of Jennifer’s claws against the steel.

Then, the door at the top of the stairs creaked open, and the sound of slow, deliberate footsteps filled the hallway. Jennifer’s claws retracted instantly as the figure emerged from the shadows.

It was a slim man in a crisp suit, his dark hair slicked back and a faint smirk on his lips.

Henderson.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” James muttered, rising to his feet.

Henderson’s calm gaze swept over them as he stepped closer to the cell, hands in his pockets. “I asked to pay you a visit,” he said smoothly, his voice laced with mock civility. “Do you have any idea how much it cost to bribe these men? Quite a fortune, let me tell you.

Jennifer narrowed her eyes, stepping forward. “Bribe who?”

Henderson tilted his head slightly, his smirk widening just enough to make her stomach churn. “Who do you think?” he asked, as if humoring a child.

She clenched her fists. “The enforcers that dragged us here?”

He didn’t answer. The smug expression on his face was answer enough.

Jennifer felt the blood rush to her head, and her claws itched to come out.

“Of course it was,” James muttered bitterly. “You always did know how to get people off to do your dirty work.”

“What do you want?” Jennifer asked. "You can't do what you want here."

“Oh, I can. I don't care what the consequences will be, but I'll get your life force,” Henderson said.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Jennifer summoned her claws and reached for his neck. She attempted to use hyper movement in conjunction but her muscles were too pained for that.

Henderson quickly grabbed her wrist.

Before Jennifer could react, his fingers clamped around her wrist with a grip like iron. She gasped, unable to pull free as he yanked her closer.

James charged forward, but Henderson turned and delivered a single, calculated punch to James’s gut, sending him crumpling to the floor.

"I'll take everything you got..."

But then, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from the stairs above. Henderson frowned, releasing Jennifer abruptly.

"Damn it..." he muttered.

He disappeared up the stairs just as other enforcers descended, their heavy boots thudding against the concrete steps.

An hour passed in tense silence. Jennifer rubbed her sore wrist, glancing at James, who sat hunched over on the bench, still recovering from the blow.

“I thought he was smart. Lead people to gates, leave the body thereafter draining everything,” she asked.

"I guess he really wants your life."

Jennifer opened her mouth to respond, but the sound of approaching footsteps cut her off.

It wasn't Henderson. The man had a keyring dangling from his hand. He unlocked the door, pushing it open with a casual shrug.

“You’re free to go.”

James and Jennifer exchanged confused looks. “What?” James asked. “Why?”

The man shrugged again. “Not sure what’s going on. But there are no charges against you anymore.”

Jennifer stepped forward, her eyes narrowing. “That’s it? After all that, we just walk out of here?”

“Pretty much,” the man replied. “Henderson was here about an hour ago. He left the Hub along with the three that brought you there, discussing something, and then... Well, everything changed. The three enforcers rushed back to the hub, acting weird, like they’d seen a ghost. Next thing I know, they’re confessing to bribery and false charges. Everything unraveled. Don’t ask me why—I’m just the messenger.”

James frowned. “Where’s Henderson now?”

The man shook his head. “No idea. The enforcers outside were saying something about fire, a dragon-man, and—well, let’s just say they didn’t sound all there. Like they’d cracked under pressure.”

Jennifer and James followed the man out of the cell, their minds racing with unanswered questions. They walked through the Hub in stunned silence.

Outside, the cold air bit at Jennifer’s skin as they stood on the steps of the Hub.

“What the hell just happened?” James muttered.

Jennifer didn’t answer right away. Her thoughts drifted back to the moment she’d been saved in that false gate. A creature that powerful should have been her end, but someone—or something—had intervened. And now this? Henderson and the enforcers falling apart just as she was in real deep shit?

Her claws flexed involuntarily. “What are the chances,” she muttered to herself, “that this just magically worked out in my favor?”

---

Jennifer walked back to her apartment, her thoughts weighed down by the day’s events. James had offered to stick around, but she’d waved him off, needing to be alone.

Her apartment greeted her with the same cold, empty silence it always did. Jennifer locked the door behind her, pausing for a moment to lean against it, her breath shaky.

She peeled her armor off piece by piece, letting each section fall to the floor with a muted clatter. Beneath it, her body was littered with bruises and scratches from the first day of being a monster slayer.

She was getting accustomed to it.

She slipped into a loose shirt and shorts before collapsing onto her bed. The mattress welcomed her with a softness. For a long moment, she simply lay there, staring at the cracked ceiling, her mind swirling.

Henderson’s smirk haunted her thoughts. His words, his calm confidence—they clung to her like a shadow.

And then there was the strange series of events that had saved her and James. The enforcers turn on him. The talk of fire and a dragon-man. None of it made sense.

Jennifer turned onto her side, clutching the pillow as unease crept through her.

“Maybe all this good luck isn’t so good,” she muttered under her breath.

She thought about the reason Henderson had been after her in the first place. The memory of that false gate, of the inexplicable figure who’d saved her, felt too connected to dismiss.

Her gaze drifted to the blank wall beside her bed. The words slipped from her lips before she could stop herself. “Why was I chosen to have a Key of Everything?”

The air in the room grew heavy, and her pulse quickened as the wall in front of her began to shimmer. Lines of fiery light seared across its surface, forming glowing letters that spelled out:

**Why is anyone chosen to inherit a Great Key of Everything?**

“To fight monsters that plague the land... gates that appear on Earth. But what else? Are you behind all these things? You must be behind the skill staying as a secret though.”

There wasn't a response.