3guanoff

  Another door. This one looks less sturdy. A brief touch tells me that it is made out of an inferior aluminum alloy.

  It will only matter if the unlucky fel lied about the code.

  5...9...24...7

  With a 'bee-beep' the door unlocks and I stroll inside, Jumpy and Candy-corn following right after.

  Rather than one big room, behind the door lies a small room and a long tunnel leading somewhere.

  What was this pce used for?

  I spot what looks like a makeshift shower in one corner and stacks of zipped up clothes in another. Perfect, I could use an old-fashioned change.

  I walk over and go through the pile of zipper bags to find an outfit that fits my new body. I go through five before I open a bag with a blue overall. It looks like the kind a car mechanic might wear and is just my size.

  Humming along the melody pying in the back of my head, I put the duke down and strip off my sullied clothes and change into the overall. Until the pull of the other lessens, I should not use my powers for something as trivial as keeping my clothes clean.

  I feel Jumpy and Candy-corn's eyes on me while I change, but they do not attack. Now would have been a good chance since I am reluctant to use my head. Thus, I might allow them to get close enough to bash it in.

  ~~~

  The tunnel is long. After walking for five minutes we passed eight doors, four on each side, all leading to empty rooms. Well, empty in the sense that no living soul resides in them. I can tell without looking.

  Fortunately, the next door on the left is a winner. For one, even though the thick walls and metal door muffle the sounds, I am sure those are screams coming from the room. Additionally, I can sense three beings in there.

  I turn to Jumpy and Candycorn:

  "In there."

  I point to the door on the left.

  "Mmmh!"

  Another muffled scream.

  Candycorn looks reluctant to go in, but Jumpy is already pushing her in front of him.

  The door is unlocked, and I stroll in after the two. The room falls silent as soon as we enter. Well, aside from a wheezing sound that a big fel tied to a chair left center in the room is making.

  "Hello fels," I greet and wave.

  Opposite the big and noticably nacked fel tied to the chair is an older, well-clothed gentleman. The third being I sensed is a nky fel with a wicked grin on his face. Grinman is standing next to big fel with a pair of plyers. It looks like they were doing some old-school tooth pulling.

  Grinman looks at Gentleman whereas Gentleman let's his gaze wander between Jumpy, Candy-corn, the duke over my shoulder, and myself.

  "I did not know we would have guests," he comments amicably.

  "I am a surprise guest."

  "And the others?"

  I ponder the question for a moment.

  "They are my guests. I want to have a little party and I heard your pce has the right ambient."

  "Oh? Where from?"

  I point my thumb at Jumpy, and Gentleman inspects him for a few seconds before returning his gaze to me.

  "I do not know him."

  "On my way here I saw that you have many spare rooms, mind if I borrow one?"

  He smiles.

  "Ha. Are you joking?"

  Now that's a non sequitur, I frown.

  "You really aren't joking, huh?"

  "Why would you think that?"

  "If someone barged into your house with... what, a prostitute, a lowlife, and whatever that thing you are carrying is and asked you to lend them a room, would you think they were serious?"

  "Since they barged in, I would take them very seriously."

  Gentleman reaches inside his jacket and pulls out a revolver. How cliché!

  "Why a revolver?"

  "Huh?"

  "I suppose it needs to be small to avoid catching eyes, but there are better options."

  "A revolver has style. I know your generation prefers automatics, but a revolver is simple and functional. It will not fail you."

  I chuckle and force myself to make a small shift. Nothing changes... visibly. His munition just became useless. And my head is feeling extraordinarily light.

  Should I just kill them all and save myself the trouble? If they continually force me to shift, who knows what will happen. And I do not need any of them...

  "Click! Click, click!"

  Gentleman tries firing three times before he stops pointing the revolver at me. He looks shocked.

  I let the duke thud to the floor and move on Grinman. I grab his head. His right hand goes up and tries to push my arm aside while his left drops the pliers. Before it can join his right hand, I quickly turn his head.

  "Snap!"

  He crumbles to the floor.

  I look at Gentleman who stopped smiling.

  "I see now that you are extremely serious."

  "I am. Any reason I should let you live?"

  "Money? I have a lot of it."

  "Anything else?"

  "Power, information, if there is anything you want to know, I can find that out for you."

  "That all?"

  He looks around and spots the duke lying on the floor, face up.

  "Is that the Duke?"

  "Sure is."

  "I can tell you about the King..."

  "Already killed him. Anything else?"

  "Then what do you need the Duke for?"

  "I want to know where his powers are from."

  There's a peculiar glint in the Gentleman's eyes.

  "Aren't you one of them?"

  "Disambiguate."

  "Aren't you a Dreamer?"

  I scoff. That's what we were called by some of the suits.

  "He received his powers from a Dreamer?"

  "That's what I heard."

  "What else do you know about Dreamers?"

  "They all work for Hypnos."

  "And?"

  "All of you are crazy."

  If that is all he knows, he is useless. I stare at him deadpan.

  "You won't deny it?"

  "No, but if that is all..."

  "If I tell you something you do not know, will you let me live?"

  "It's possible."

  "That's not very reassuring."

  "Your alternatives are suicide and taking the pce of that fel."

  I point at the big fel in the chair.

  "Even torture won't make me talk."

  How tiresome.

  "Even if you don't, there's the duke."

  "He doesn't know as much as I do."

  "Too bad for him."

  I walk over to Gentleman and he stands up. Will he run?

  "You are going to kill me, huh?"

  Is he a slow thinker?

  "Since our conversation is over, yes."

  His expression changes to one of constipation. Yes, constipation and not consternation.

  "Alright, I'll tell you."

  ?!

  "Hypnos is pnning something big. They changed the duke to gain the support of the president.

  "He is a part of the KLF."

  Gentleman looks at the duke again.

  "Or was... They are pnning something thay they need the support of the government for."

  "Is that all you have to go on?"

  "You know that the president of Brolun is visiting Boge ahead of the Big 12 summit?"

  "I've heard about it."

  "And your organization heard about it from the government officials under KLF's control."

  That's odd. Would they need to take over the KLF for such trivial information? A bribe should be enough for that kind of intel.

  In short, it is likely Gentleman is spewing bull to stall.

  I turn to Jumpy.

  "Kill him."

  Both Gentleman and Jumpy look shocked.

  "M-me?"

  "That's not all I know!"

  I ignore Gentleman and continue staring at Jumpy.

  "Use that knife you brought."

  Jumpy gapes at me and shakily pulls a knife from under his shirt and unwraps it. Not the best pce to hide a knife, and if you need to unwrap it first, it will be almost useless for self-defense.

  Gentleman does not just wait around either. His gaze lingers on my head for a good minute before he makes a decision and swiftly turns to face Jumpy.

  "Thump!"

  He throws his revolver and it tumbles through the air before hitting Jumpy square in the face.

  Shocked Jumpy drops the knife and clutches his nose.

  "..."

  Though I do not doubt it hurt, the throw cked the power to do any real damage.

  While Jumpy is still shocked, Gentleman rushes forward and almost throws himself on the knife. When Jumpy sees Gentleman lying on the ground with his knife in the fel's hands, he comes back to his senses and kicks Gentleman in the head.

  His foot connects with Gentleman's nose and does a lot more damage than the thrown revolver did, but Gentleman does not let go of the knife.

  He lunges forward and stabs Jumpy's other foot with it.

  Jumpy howls in pain and stumbles backward, bending down to clutch his foot. That's a terrible combination and nds him on his ass.

  Do I still need him? If I do not intervene, Gentleman will undoubtedly stab him...

  Indeed, Gentleman is already walking toward the howling Jumpy. Blood keeps pouring down from his undoubtedly broken nose, but his steely eyes tell me that he's endured worse.

  Jumpy raises his head and freezes when he sees Gentleman looming over him with the knife. Even his howling stops for a moment.

  Gentleman is cautious, he knows this is a dangerous situation. He may have a knife and his opponent be injured on the ground, but a cornered rat will bite. The reason he has an upperhand in the first pce is that Jumpy is a wimp.

  Instead of striking, he turns to me.

  "I won't kill him if you promise to let me live."

  I could easily make that promise. There are many ways to ensure he would kill himself after I am done with him.

  "No thanks. Go ahead."

  My words are enough. Howling, Jumpy throws himself forward and pulls Gentleman down. Gentleman loses bance and the stab aimed for Jumpy's neck hits the back of his right shoulder instead.

  Before he can yank the knife back out, Jumpy is on top of him, throttling him while howling like a rabid animal.

  Gentleman tries to move the hands wrapped around his throat, but his arms ck strength, especially now that he is being deprived of oxygen.

  In the end, they drop and he stops moving while Jumpy is still howling and holding onto his neck as if it were a lifeline.

  What a mess.