novelzi Chapter 327: We good? Good.
Chapter 327: We good? Good.
"Prepare to depart for Aquila?" Big Sister said confused, "I mean… I know that getting the luggage and whatnot is important, but didn't you say that you had two weeks?"Ale had indeed said that.
"We had assumed that you would want to spend the whole two weeks here," [Golem] said from the side, "Or is there something urgent that requires you to return early?"
There was not such a thing.
"Is Dr Eversoul the reason? Is she bothering you?" Big Sister asked in a more serious tone, Ale could feel her spreading her mana wavelengths all around to check on if something was off.
"Nothing of the like, no." Ale said shaking her head, "If anything… She may a little angry or dissapointed on me depending on how she finds out what happened today."
[Eleanore] was a friend of Miriam Eversoul, but Ale was not sure if [Eleanore] would snitch on her, she could stop her from doing so of course, a little tampering on the Damocles sword and Ale could probably tie her enough that she wouldn't be able to say a single thing that Ale hadn't vetted.
But Ale did not want to be that person, just because [Eleanore] would be a little too happy to do so, didn't mean Ale also needed to do that, Ale would rather just blow her head to be honest. And then shoot the corpse, that was one lesson that she was grateful to learn from Alexanders. Always double tap your kills, lest they come back and be an annoying thing that you can't stop seeing for months on end. Growing stronger by the interaction, that was not a fun thing to deal with. At all.
"…What happened today?" Big Sister asked turning to look at Golem.
"… Is that why my phone has been ringing nonstop?" [Golem] answered turning to his device that was stuck between two pieces of rocks.
"… Let's just…" Ale sighed as she pointed with a finger at the TV, "Main Core, please provide context."
[As you wish Mistress. Do you want context suited for your defense, or a true neutral stance? There are several clips and videos going around the minion network and a few that went already to the wide spread network in The World.]
"…I want a factual retelling." Ale said sighing, she wouldn't mind setting it up to defend herself, but she didn't want to lie to Big Sister and [Golem], and besides, this was personal.
[As you wish.]
And with that statement, the big TV changed the image once more, this time they were seeing a video fed from… what looked to be way closer than it should be.
"That is one hell of a camera, was there a hidden drone recording there?" Ale said as the image went around her and then focused on [Eleanore] as she walked into the cafeteria.
[Negative, this is a reconstruction of the events in the cafeteria using multiple points of view and access to the cameras around the cafeteria.]
That answer came from the television, the voice of Main Core coming as strong and cheeky as always.
"…Was this… today?" Big Sister said as she saw some of the comments that had been given in some of the videos, since Main Core was showing them at the side, most of the comments spoke about how it was about to get good and a few asked who the minion that [Eleanore] was stopping was.
Apparently, not many knew Ale from her mask alone, which was kind of the point? But still, she didn't think there were that many young looking minions with her current build. so she was somewhat annoyed at the answers about her identity…
And she was somewhat worried since she did notice a few of the Aleniated usernames were being thrown around in the comments, so that was not good for her heart.
"Please tell me you didn't." Big Sister said looking at Ale with horror on her eyes.
"What? Of course not!" Ale said offended, she really wanted to do it, but she knew better. "I would never murder someone important with that many witness around… At least not if I could help it."
Ale of course said the last bit a little lower, not that it mattered since they were quite close to her at the moment, both [Golem] and Big Sister. Anyway, the video moved forward not caring for what Ale wanted or did, it showed the full confrontation, dramatic effects, zooms and sounds included, Main Core had a thing for drama huh. Not that Ale minded, since it was relaying everything as neutral as possible. While making it look like it came out of a drama.
The last bit was the last point of the video, and it zoomed in to showcase Ale's mask almost close enough to touch [Eleanore]'s mask.
[The next was reproduced from the available data accessible and by inferring what the other person may look like. It is not among the data available to the public at large.]
Main Core broadcasted that announcement as the video was paused. And then, after they all had read the announcement, the video resumed, this time, however, both Ale and [Eleanore]'s masks were gone. In one side the face filled with righteous anger of Ale was fully in display, Ale could even make out the mana burning inside her eyes.
While on the other side [Eleanore]'s face was one filled with fear and worry, she looked, quite honestly, pathetic.
"Do I really look like that?" Ale asked thoughtfully, she had guessed that her face was not pretty to look at during that whole thing, but since she was wearing a mask she hadn't cared about it. But to see herself almost snarling it was not pretty.
"We all look unrecognizable when we are being consumed by Wrath." [Golem] was the one to speak first as Ale finished her speech, her face showing a sardonic smile as she spoke and mocked [Eleanore] and the minions around one last time.
The video ended up at that point, leaving only the string of comment and the credits of where the multiple takes had been taken, Main Core was giving credits to everyone she had stolen the content from. And she even added a small note about how she was going to redirect some traffic their way to ensure their video was seen as a pay for her using the material.
Not that Ale wanted said video to spread, but she understand the point of view of others, as she herself made a sport of making videos and uploading to the internet.
"So, should we depart right now?" Big Sister said standing up, "Do we need to report we are leaving? But to who? Usually we would send note to Eleanore but…"
Big Sister seemed worried about it, and it was understandable… to some degree.
"[Eleanore] is not our boss." Ale said, first of all, getting that out of the way, "As I said to her, she is HR. At best she is there to listen to our complaints, but her work was never one of leadership. We don't owe her anything."
"She is a Lieutenant." Big Sister pointed, "And we are minions, we work for them."
"She is weak." Ale countered, "And a bitch, which makes it worse since she has some degree of power. But that does not make her our boss. We owe her nothing, if anything, who do you report to [Golem]?"
Ale had turned the attention to [Golem] who had managed to rewind the video and watch it again, this time minus the commentary, apparently he had asked for an unedited take.
"[Golem]?" Ale asked yet again, it took a few prodding but the big piece of rock finally answered her.
"Sorry, just wanted to check something." [Golem] apologized as he turned to Ale, "As for the answer, I answer to Gabriel and Billy. As Ale said, Eleanore holds no reign on what I can and cannot do. As the leader of our team she can advice me to take certain jobs and to reject others, but we aren't obligated to listen to her. Listening does grease some things as then we can ask for favors back. But it is not needed and I personally have not used said privileges, which means neither of you has done so."
"Privileges?" Ale asked tilting her head, "We are minions, what kind of privileges could we use?"
"Access to restricted areas, discounts at bars and brothels. Preferential access to casinos and the likes." [Golem] said raising a finger with each statement, "We are part of a criminal organization, so that is the type of advantages we can get. Some that are more family oriented instead ask for living areas far away from those sectors. The apartment you and Skye use is one such example, these are reserved for senior minions with family, usually you would have started near the slums and work your way up…"
"That conniving bitch…" Ale spat to the side said words, "So much for a honest living."
"Even like that, Hephaestus' Forge is better than the other options." [Golem] pointed, "If you wanted something more… straight. Then you would need to join the Hero side and work as a sidekick, not that the advantages are that much better. You would still live near the slums, just working your way to the city center, and depending on your power that would be faster or slower. The only difference with us is that your power does not give you that much of an advantage."
Ale somehow doubted that, she had no doubts about the fact that wearing a White Mask opened more doors than not, but then again, the [Hero] side only had masks to wear, so perhaps that meant that the only difference was that one could join the organization even if they wielded no power?
But even if they did, that was not that much difference if one thought about it in the way that you could get a job with a Hero organization as a civilian? Ale really didn't want to think about this at the moment.
"So… we are good?" Big Sister asked, "Since we don't actually work for Eleanore? Apparently?"
"No." [Golem] said shaking his head, "But she can't do anything to us, this only means that if we need to work our way higher within Haephestus' Forge, then we will need to use either Billy or Gabriel to do so."
"But they are friends of Eleanore…" Big Sister said sighing, "Won't they… you know… cut us loose?"
"They will not." Ale said shaking her head, "[Elder] is a pragmatic person, besides he knows that I do not like [Eleanore]. He asked me to try to forgive her, but never told me to do so, I don't know for sure with [Gabriel Light], but at the very least. [Vulcanus] is on our side."
"…Right, the rumors about him wanting to raise you as a Lieutenant." Big Sister said nodding, "Why does he want to do that? And is that still on the works with you know… his problem?"
"Yes." Ale said nodding, "Both sides of him like me, so that is not an issue."
"Well that is good to know, I was worr-" Big Sister sighed in relief only for her sigh to stop midway and stare at Ale, "Both sides? You have spoken to both?"
"Alexa was the one to notice it, and the other side noticed that Alexa noticed it. So yeah." Ale said nodding, "I didn't knew it was an issue till [Elder] told me to check it out."
"How was that not an issue?!?!" Big Sister said confused, "He had… another… oh… yeah, that checks."
Good thing that Big Sister noticed on her own, since Ale would have find it awkward to explain on her own, "Exactly. To us that was not really an issue, if anything it was weirder the fact that not many lived like us." Ale of course no longer found that strange.
Even if she no longer had a direct line to speak with Alexa, and she no longer had her 24/7 at the back of her head, she still found solace in the fact that Alexa still wanted to stay around her. Ale did not want to think about what would happen should the little girl even thought about letting Ale go…
Not after what happened with Alexandra, the fact that she had separated herself from them… Seemed to imply that it was possible for them to do the same, meaning… There was a possibility for Ale to split away from Alexa.
"Usually, people don't live like that." [Golem] stated the obvious, "And we don't see many advantages to such an arrangement, but then again, our Core Powers don't allow us to live like that."
"Yeah, it is more convenient in the sense that you get to do exactly what you want, but now that I am like this… I wonder if doing it like that was wrong. I for one can do more things than before, even if they are more limited." Ale sighed, "Perhaps that is why [Vulcanus] is amenable to get a new body."
"A new body? But… didn't he turn his own body in that?" Big Sister asked confused, "I was under the impression that he was a Machine Core user and that was why he was a robot!"
"He may be one of such [Core User], but he is not one because he wants." Ale said shaking her head, "I offered the same deal that I did to [Golem], I'll try to get a stable body set up and then he can move there. That should fix his issues, both physical and mental."
The problem at hand would be if both Vulcanus would move or only one, Ale really needed a way to solve that problem, getting the body would be the easier part, but the mind… She may need to convince Alexa to help with that bit, since Alexa's powerset seemed to be more focused on that side. Which was not a nice thing to think about, since the little girl was a menace with the mental horror and what not.
Ale still shuddered at the rips on her own memories from the time when Alexa's idea of something more soothing was those disgusting worms crawling out of cracks in reality, Ale did not want to find out what was that Alexa had actually shown her.
And she also didn't want to dwell too much on why it hadn't bothered her before, or had she not been able to see those thing before? That would explain why she hadn't been affected before, but if it was something she hadn't been able to see before, why could she see it now? Was it also a part of whatever Inheritance that old man Alexanders gave her? If so, she would ask for a refund, she did not need to see those kind of things that break mortal's minds.
But that would be something Ale would complain later on, either to Alexanders or to the Aleniateds, since she didn't think she would be seeing old man Alexanders soon enough, whatever that could summon him was not something she wanted to go through. For now, she had informed Big Sister and [Golem] about the problems at home, now it was only time to see if they would want to leave now or not.
IF they didn't… well, it would be two awkward weeks, more so since [Eleanore] knew where she lived… Perhaps she could crash at Alexanders apartment? That could be fun.