B3 C59: Who's Going to Clean All This Up?

Haunted. That’s what that damned brat of his looked like -- like a woman possessed. The very moment Tess had learned that the Valis girl was okay, she’d jerked upwards and opened her mouth as if to scream.

Even the motion itself gave Suds flashbacks to the start of the semester, and he could feel his hair visibly graying at the prospect of Tess going back into that state. Not that he’d tell her this, but it had taken an entire day to set up the silencing runes in her room -- an entire day where the house had been filled with the most anguished, blood-curdling screams he’d ever heard someone make.

It was with some measure of relief, then, that Tess did not start screaming. Instead, she froze there as if locked in a silent wail, until, all at once, she slumped back onto the couch, eyes open but unseeing.

Suds winced, almost wishing she was screaming now. In some ways, the utter lifelessness was even worse. He waved a hand in front of her face, hoping to elicit any sort of reaction.

“Girl. Talk to me. We need to know what happened.” He warred with the desire to let her rest and the need to know what kind of shitshow he needed to prepare for. Depending on exactly how she’d ended up this way, there could be all sorts of ramifications, and at this point, it was his job to protect her from those.

For all his attempts, Tess remained unmoving.

Suds threw his head into his hands, clamping down as every inch of his scalp became one giant tension headache. “What a damned mess.” Remembering himself, he dropped his hands and tried to project an air of surety.

He needn’t have bothered. It certainly wasn’t like he needed to worry about Markus, and the Sylus girl was focused on nothing but Tess, using some sort of ice spell to cool her forehead. It was already a pain that she was here at all -- she’d barged in, claiming that Tess had been late for some appointment or other. One of her rings had lit up shortly thereafter, apparently delivering her some sort of message about the Valis household and a commotion in front of the dungeon.

Suds made it a point not to compare himself to the nobles too often, but that she’d learned all of that before him was a sore point.

Might need to make some changes to my information network after this. Damnation.

And then there was the other one. The rogue brat. A girl in entirely black clothing who’d suddenly popped into his house screaming bloody murder.

He’d been of half a mind to wash her out of existence out of principle -- who let rogues roam freely in their home? Only Verin had saved the girl, taking a single look at her before declaring “You are the princess Calilah, I believe.” How she could possibly know that, Suds had no idea. He did however, have some vague recollection of that fool boy of his telling him about a girl by that name. How she’d gotten here, he didn’t know, but once she’d dragged them to Tess, he hadn’t cared either.

He supposed that had changed now, though.

“You.” He jerked his chin her way. “Tell us what happened.”

Cal pointed at herself as three pairs of eyes swiveled towards her. “Me? Sure. And in return, maybe you can tell me where I am and who the hells all of you are. And uh. Maybe what date it is, too?”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Between the four of them, it was easy to piece together the general picture, if not the exact details. Somehow, knowing what had happened only made things worse, though.

Had to be the damned Goss boy, didn’t it? He couldn’t even pretend to be sad that the kid was dead. Hell, if he’d died any other way, Suds would have probably thrown a party. Even aside from how insufferable the brat was known to be, he was one of Chamber Head Goss’s favorite pieces to play against him. The sheer number of strikes and organizing events he’d “peacefully” shut down in the past few years had made Suds think about killing the kid himself.

But of course, he hadn’t, and for a very good reason.

With how much money and effort that witch of a mother put into him… She’s not going to take this one lying down, is she?

He glanced over at Tess, still awake but utterly unresponsive. And it’s not like she’s in any position to be dealing with all that right now. If Goss managed to get her hands on the girl, everything was bound to explode.

Fine. Stalling it is.

Having made up his mind, he wasted no time in barking out his orders.

“I think it’s best that we have Tess keep her head down for a while. Get her out of the city. I can work on finding some mind healers once she’s somewhere Goss won’t find her.” If there was any silver lining to this whole mess, it was that he knew exactly where to send her. “Markus, go grab the gem to Emer’Thalis please.”

As strong as his obfuscation gear was, Suds still liked to leave sensitive items at home on the off chance a high leveled thief or information-gathering class figured out what he was carrying. It was probably a touch paranoid, but the fact that the girl owned a city was a very tightly kept secret and-

“Ah. I believe there will be no need for that, Chamber Head.” Verin waved her hand, and a glistening blue recall gem appeared within which she held out to him. “I had one commissioned to transport me to my vacation home there.”

Suds suppressed a twitch.

Does the brat know the meaning of “secret” or… He stifled a sigh. Fine. Not the time. Instead, he accepted the proffered gem, motioning for Markus to stand to the side.

“Once you’re all settled in, I’ll be coming back immediately. The moment Goss gets wind of the boy’s death, she’s probably going to go scorched earth, and my absence will be noticed.” He didn’t relish the thought of handling an enraged chamber head and the entire arm of the law she commanded, but so be it.

With those cheery thoughts, he beckoned the others and activated the recall gem.

The mana within it thrummed to life. The world around them faded to a glassy translucence, signaling their impending teleportation.

And then, quite abruptly, the mana fizzled out.

Teleportation failed.

You are in a spatial lock!

For the briefest of instants, he stared at the message, stupefied, before the horrifying realization dawned on him.

“Damn! Damn, damn, damnation. Damn that woman!” He’d never invested much into his Dexterity, but at his level, he had ways around that. As he rushed behind his desk, jets of water burst from his feet with each step he took, the water splashing against the floor only to be cleaned away moments later.

“Where is the blasted… There!” He activated a crystal inlaid into the underside of his desk, one he had seldom cause to use. Still, at times like these, he was happy he’d had it installed.

An image sprung into existence in the center of his office, much as if he’d triggered a mirror gem. Unlike was true of a mirror gem, however, the picture was not of Suds, but instead of his house. The entire structure was rendered from a bird’s eye view, complete with the surrounding land.

Land which, quite regrettably, was presently occupied.

“Ah. I imagine this complicates things slightly,” Verin helpfully supplied.

Thanks for the understatement of the year, brat. Of course, she was right though.

Spread out in a wide circle around his house stood a full twenty guardsman. That alone would have been an issue, but the real crux of the matter was the woman who even now was approaching his door. He fiddled with the gem, and the image dropped down to display the familiar, steely woman from a ground-level view.

Rather than knocking, she activated a sound-amplification trinket, yelling loud enough that the entire block would hear her.

“Chamber Head Suds! This is the peacekeeper of the city, Chamber Head Goss. I’m here in an official investigative capacity. The presence of everyone currently in your house is required. Please come out immediately. As this is a matter of some urgency, we will need to enter if you do not comply within a minute.”

Bastard! How did she get here so fast? And does she know how this looks, announcing all that for everyone to hear? The entire city is going to think I’m involved in some horrible scandal. But, of course, that was probably the point.

Nice. Classy. Using your kid’s death for a political stunt. Don’t know what I expected. For a split second, Suds entertained the idea that she was here for some other, coincidental reason. After all, she sounded shockingly stiff and put together for someone who’d presumably just learned her son had died. Remembering who he was dealing with, he shook the thought off.

That woman probably hasn’t felt a flicker of emotion in decades. No reason to think she viewed the boy as anything other than a tool. Perhaps Suds would have even felt bad for the kid if he hadn’t always been such a raging asswipe.

Still. None of that changed how royally screwed they currently were.

Enough cursing the blasted woman out. Focus. How do we get out of this one?

Fighting was naturally out of the question. Even if he could have won -- which notably, he could not have -- it would escalate the situation ten times over and get all of them into massive legal trouble. Even as a chamber head, he wasn’t immune from the consequences of attacking the head of Sylum’s legal branch.

So it’ll be politics, then. Framing.

If Goss got her hands on Tess this instant, it was over. Best-case scenario, Goss compelled her to sign however many confessions she needed to lock Tess away for life. It wouldn’t take much. Killing a guardsman was already pretty severe as far as sentences went. No matter what, though, she would make sure Tess never got a chance to make any public testimony. It would be far too damning to her son -- and by extension, her.

Worst-case scenario, they broke into her head and did a deep interrogation. He imagined it wouldn’t take much in her current state, either. They’d quickly find out that she wasn’t his granddaughter and that she was a Protagonist, and that would be it. Goss would likely kill her the second she got a chance and then manufacture a story about some sort of accident. Naturally, this would be directly after Tess was forced to sign a confession that he’d hired her to pretend to be a family member. It was likely a scandal he could survive, but that only made one of them.

Fine. So we’re still stalling. If he got out ahead of this, he might be able to pin things on Warram.

“Brats,” he shouted, dropping the usual propriety he would have shown to the Sylus girl. “I have a place for you to hide Tess. I need to go deal with Goss before she barges in here. Markus, show them where.”

Not like it will hide her for too long if they choose to do a full sweep, but I like to believe the hidey-holes are at least pretty well hidden.

Seemingly intent on ruining his mood, the rogue girl chimed in. “You mean the one I passed in the hallway, or the one behind your bookcase? Also, I get we’re doing something kind of important right now, but really? Behind a bookcase?”

How-

“The bookcase, gods dammit! Now move! And take the gem. If the spatial lock drops for any reason, get out immediately.” He tossed the recall gem to Verin, and the entire room burst into motion as he went off to meet the chamber head and they hefted Tess off to hide. Even as he began to jet out the room, he was busy brainstorming exactly what he’d say to keep Goss at bay. His initial thoughts leaned towards lots of yelling and acting indignant.

Those plans, however, quickly ground to halt.

In fact, the entire room ground to a halt.

Even with how urgent their tasks were, every single one of them froze.

Their hairs stood on end as an overwhelmingly oppressive sensation washed over them. Like prey afraid that it had just been spotted, not daring to move a muscle.

Not even Suds was immune, though he knew the others were currently far worse off than he was.

And as all other thoughts fled from him, it was with some shock that Suds realized he knew this feeling. Never this strong. Never this angry. But he’d felt this particular flavor of suppression before.

Oh hells. I know I wanted to stall, but this might be more than I bargained for.

Well before any visible change occurred on the projection still hanging in the room, a booming voice shook the foundations of the house.

“GOSS!” a man bellowed. “EXPLAIN. NOW!”

The speaker entered the range of the gem a moment later, approaching his target at an aggressively rapid clip. Still amplified, though pitching her voice somewhat lower, Goss replied.

“Chamber Head Aren. I didn’t realize you were able to give me commands. If you’ll please leave me be, I’m currently conducting an official legal investigation.”

This, it seemed, was not what Tyrin’Aren had been looking for, as the weight in the air intensified. Suds watched mutely as the ring of guardsmen around his house notably slouched under the pressure.

“DO YOU THINK I’M DENSE?” He stopped well out of arm’s reach, if perhaps only to keep himself from doing something rash. “I rushed here directly from my niece’s bedside to figure out how in the hells the girl I personally trained for years ended up half-dead and in a coma from a dungeon she’s run five times already, and what do I find? You, Goss. You! Do you think I didn’t hear that your damned shit-stain of a child was somehow waiting for Alara and her friends right as they came out? Do you think I don’t find that suspicious at all? And then here you are, seemingly trying to arrest the only person I figure can give me some answers.”

The words whipped out from his lips at a feverish pace, but despite how angrily he spat them out, the tension in the air started to subside.

Only to flare up to double its original intensity all at once.

“SO TELL ME, GOSS. DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH MY WHAT HAPPENED TO MY NIECE?”

Blasted idiot. It wasn’t like he’d get anything done shouting like that. If anything he was just making a scene. In fact, if he were anyone else, he’d probably get arrested. Given that the Chamber of Adventure was partially created to balance out the Chamber of Peace and guard against military coups, though, Tyrin was explicitly harder to arrest than almost any of them.

Still doesn’t mean it’s going to help.

Not that Suds blamed him. The Chamber Head of Adventure didn’t have many soft spots, but everyone knew how much he loved his niece. She must have been in good hands right now, or otherwise Suds could hardly believe Tyrin had even left her bedside.

“Chamber Head Aren, in light of what you’re currently going through, I will forgive your outburst. Please remove yourself from the premises, and I will be happy to discu-”

CRACK. Tyrin stomped the ground, a crater forming around his foot as he cut the woman off. “Remove me your gods damn self! Or if you want me gone, tell me where that whelp of yours is hiding. I’ve been nice to him, Goss. I don’t mess with your family because you don’t mess with mine. But if you’re busy shouting at Suds, let’s see how the kid acts when he can’t go run behind his mother. Would you like that? Your kid in a coma too?” He pitched his head forward and spat, lowering his voice so that it could barely be heard. “Who am I kidding? Probably wouldn’t even care. Heartless bastard. No wonder he ended up like he did with you as a mother.”

Oh hells. He doesn’t know. Even Tyrin wouldn’t have gone that far had he known. Not that it mattered -- it was likely all the same to someone as emotionless as Goss.

Which made it somewhat strange. With the constant stream of shouting, the last minute had been enough to leave the entire neighborhood’s ears ringing.

That only made it even more unsettling, then, when everything grew eerily, perfectly silent.

The entire city seemed to hold its breath as the projected image froze in place.

CLANG. The noise reached him before his eyes could adjust, a deafening metallic ringing. As if resumed with the strike of a gong, the scene shifted.

In the blink of an eye, Tyrin soared upwards. Where previously he stood, a mound of hard iron shot out from the earth.

The moment Tyrin touched the ground, that same metal hill surged forth, liquifying and wrapping around him. From the metal formed dozens of shackles which clamped down over every inch of the adventurer.

Far from seeming hurt, however, Chamber Head Aren mostly looked baffled, taken so off guard that his anger was momentarily abated.

Until, sadly, Goss opened her mouth.

“Let me be clear, Aren.” Each word was sharp, almost an attack in and of itself. “I would trade a MILLION of your dumb-as-bricks niece for my son if I could, and if you keep this up, I might just go over there and make sure she doesn’t wake up from that coma myself!”

This time, it was Suds’ turn to go slack-jawed.

Hells. Maybe the demon has a heart after all.

Unfortunately, this was a rather poor time to discover that. Almost as poor as her choice of words.

Of the five people in the office, all four of them besides Suds crumpled to the floor as a tidal wave of pure pressure threatened to flatten everyone to the ground. Only one man was entirely unaffected, and as he flexed his muscles, the shackles binding him broke apart. The discordant whining of metal filled the air as he freed himself, his face twisted into a snarling rictus.

“You know Goss, that sounded an awful lot like a threat to my family. Why don’t I show you how I handle those?”

For Gods’ sake Tyrin, don’t-

The only thing Suds managed to catch in the projection was the briefest instant of Tyrin dashing forward, a sword as tall as its wielder materializing in his hands.

And with that, everything went to hell.

Immediately, the entire house shook as shards of iron and dirt and pavement ripped through walls without care. Only seconds later, they were joined by skills, deflected slashing attacks bisecting rooms in two, entire meteors worth of iron barreling through at high speeds.

Are we serious, you two? That’s my house!

The projection gem died out, but Suds was too busy to watch it in any case. Reflexively, he surrounded himself with a thick shell of water, only belatedly remembering there were far more vulnerable people to be protecting. A few jets of water placed him in front of the others who he was relieved to see were unharmed by the chamber heads’ opening salvo.

For hells’ sake, you two can’t be fighting! Never mind the fact that you’re turning my district into a battlefield, who’s even going to stop you? The two of them were probably the strongest fighters in the city outside the archmage, and if he was going to do anything, he was taking his sweet time with it.

As wooden splinters and household shrapnel splashed against his shield and completely ruined the house Suds had lived in for decades, Suds reflected that there was only one true upside to this entire mess. With the next loud crash, the notification Suds had been waiting for finally arrived.

Note: You are no longer spatially locked!

Guess that’s one way to solve it. “Brats! Go, now! Markus and I will handle things here. Sit tight until I come get you!”

Seeming to have taken charge, Verin nodded, ushering the three of them to the other side of the defensive bubble before activating her recall gem. Not showing nearly enough concern given her position, Calilah waved goodbye. “Nice city! Would love to visit again sometime without all the fighting and people dying. Bye Barb’s dad!”

He didn’t even have the energy for a retort. With great relief, Suds watched as it worked this time, Tess, Verin, and Calilah vanishing all at once.

Good. They’re somewhere safer now. Now to get Markus out of here and deal with all this. Someone had to, after all.

Although, the two of them better not actually hit me, he thought wryly to himself.

After all, if I die, who’s going to clean all this up?