“So, what makes you want to work here?”
Arthur smiled as he asked, though it was more because this was the last time he’d need to say it today. Across the desk was the tenth applicant, and he heard the chair creak as the middle-aged blonde woman sitting there shifted in her seat.
Carly as she introduced herself, started fidgeting almost as soon as she was through the door. Her green eyes flickered around the room as she wiped her hands on her flannel shirt. She hadn’t so much as touched the water sitting in front of her.
With a cough, she cleared her throat.
“Well. Um. Sir. I’m known, to be honest, as my group can attest. Which means you don’t have to be worried about me stealing from you. I’m willing to work hard, and I don’t want to delve into the sewers. Not that I don’t know how to fight or look after myself. I’m not helpless.”
She stopped talking long enough to take a deep breath before adding. “Oh, and I’m not against being mutated.”
Arthur blinked, taken aback by the statement. “Excuse me?”
Carly blushed and looked down at her feet as she clenched and unclenched her hands. “I’m only saying. Some others said it might be a requirement. I wanted you to know that I don’t have a problem with it.”
“I see.”
He tried not to let his surprise at her words enter his voice. It wasn’t the first time an applicant had brought it up. Though none of the others had been so upfront about it. In some ways, it was good, as he didn’t need someone like Hulvin to sneak through the cracks.
Not that he planned on mutating his employees. At least, not without a good reason. But it was good to know she didn’t have any issues with the idea.
“I suppose that means you don’t have any issues with anyone working here?” Arthur leaned back in his chair as he tapped a borrowed pencil against a notebook.
“No, sir.”
“Great. Onto a different topic. What’s your opinion about the potential danger of the job? You know about the demon’s attacks on us before.”
“Yes, sir.” Carly nodded. “I know the risks, but I knew them when I moved into the housing. That isn’t something I’m worried about. Plus, I’ll be inside, so I’ll be safer than the external security you hired.”
“True enough.”
Arthur smiled at the mention of his new external security department. That had been this morning’s effort, and he’d hired on almost everyone who showed up. Mike, the man who’d eaten the nightmare ant meat, had taken up the head position.
From what the others said, he’d led a small group before. Which was about as much experience as he expected to find.
“Do you want to work days or nights?” He asked as he tapped a pencil he’d borrowed from Nyssa against a blank notebook.
“I don’t mind.”
“Anyone that you’d have an issue working with?”
“No.”
“Ok. Well, to make this point clear, you don’t have to go into the Mutagen Tank for this position. Any questions for me?” Arthur asked as he looked up to see her.
This was the interesting bit and some of the questions he’d gotten ranged from smart to bizarre. He still wondered what the guy who’d asked him about getting superpowers was thinking. Though that made him wonder if he could manage it. The Heady Sibling and The Assembly must have gone through some sort of process.
“If I wanted or needed to be mutated, could I choose what I wanted to be?”
He paused and looked at her. “I guess? Though I’d be curious why and what. And we’d have to have it on hand, obviously.”
Carly clasped her hands in front of her. “I don’t really know. It was more that I wanted to know if I had the option. We’ve all seen Nyssa and Theobold. Both of them seem strong; it would be nice not to feel so fragile.”
“I can understand that.” Arthur nodded. “I’m not against the idea, and as an employee, you’d have that right. But it would be your choice, and the process isn’t reversible.”
“Thanks, sir,” Carly said as she stood.
With a smile, and stood himself before shaking her hand. “Thank you; I’ll be in touch soon.”
Once she’d left, he sat down and looked at the notes he’d made over the course of the hour. There weren’t many, but he was happy with what he had. Arthur had decided on four clerks to watch over the desk. That way, he didn’t force anyone to spend all day or night here.
“Carly will be on. Adam seemed alright. Either Chris or Lydia would work. Maybe both? Someone is going to walk away disappointed no matter who I pick.”
He tapped the notepad with the pencil again. Almost any of the people he’d interviewed would work; it was simply a matter of not having room for them all. That, he supposed, would change eventually. But for now, he needed to make choices.
At least he had a day before he needed to decide.
With a yawn, he stretched and moved out onto the shop floor. It was about time for the dinner service, and he wanted to be involved. While none had arrived to interrupt or attack during the previous ones, he didn’t trust that to last. Not when he had fewer defenders available now.
Besides, he enjoyed hearing the scuttlebutt from the sewers.
***
As he sat at the counter, he noticed there was something different about those who walked in.
The groups were smaller and more tightly-knit. They clutched weapons when they usually would have put them away. Eyes flicked to the ceiling with disturbing regularity as they passed under the longest of the tree roots.
“Hey, Jeff. How are moss torches working?” He asked as the man waited by the counter for his weapon to finish charging.
From the way the E-rank Radiation Crystal in the side was dimming, he figured it was close to done. Arthur was thankful for the knight’s delivery, for both the moss and the crystals. It would have been impossible to keep this up without them.
“Oh, good. We’ve spread it pretty far. Though occasionally some of it goes missing.” Jeff shuddered. “Which isn’t great for the ambushes.”
“Missing?” Arthur frowned.
“Yeah. We set the torches up, and they work fine. Most of the creatures seemed to avoid them somewhat instinctively. But we’ve been down there a few times, and something has tipped them over and crushed the moss. No idea what.”
“Which is creating dark spots. I see. Is that why everyone’s so jumpy?”
Even as he asked, he wondered what the issue with the torches would be. As far as he knew, there was nothing big enough in there to knock them over. That meant if Jeff was right, either the Slagsouls were smarter than he’d known or someone was destroying them on purpose.
“Yeah. You get jumped enough times, and you get twitchy. Not everyone made it out.”
“Oh.”
Arthur watched as Jeff gestured to a few people who moved forward. Each pulled out handkerchiefs that dripped with blood. Out of one, he could see a severed finger. He didn’t need to ask; he simply motioned them down into the basement. Dr. Muriler could assist them with that depressing task easily enough.
Once they were gone, he turned back to Jeff.
“Is there any way to detect them?”
“Only in the general area. Sometimes there are half-dissolved corpses, but not always. We find those around the sacks as well. The key is to go slow and stick together. If you can get them off their victim early, it’s fine.”
“So would more animals work? Like canaries in a coal mine.”
Arthur knew that creatures for that purpose wouldn’t be difficult to gain. Jessib would have plenty on hand that she wouldn’t mind offloading. He could see it now. The Sewer Dwellers releasing one of those rage hares into the sewers and letting them get gobbled up.
However, Jeff shook his head.
“No, I don’t think so. Besides, there are plenty of creatures down there, especially around the sacks.”
That caught his attention. “Sacks?”
“Yeah. These goblets of goo, I guess you’d call them. George reckons he saw something new poking around them.”
“I did!” George called from where he was looking at a selection of folded shirts. “Unless the slime grew legs.”
Arthur tried to sound calm as he listened to George explain what he’d seen. How the creature had slipped into a crack in the wall before he could get a good look at it. Though he’d checked out the slime trail that it’d left behind.
“Chimera,” he whispered once the man was done. “That’s not good.”
“Chimera?” Jeff echoed loud enough that other people looked his way.
Arthur shifted uncomfortably before explaining. “The Hero told me about them earlier. Apparently, creatures use the goo to mutate or combine with the Slagsouls. George, how big was it?”
“About rat-sized.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.” Arthur sighed. “Let me guess. Dr. Kunibert is still worried about his missing rats?”
Jeff and George shared a look before Jeff answered. “Yes.”
“Well. Keep an eye out. I don’t know what abilities they may have. It could be those who are destroying your totems.”
All around him, people broke out into whispers, each discussing how best to handle this new threat. He let them go, happy to have focused them on this rather than his other idea for what was destroying them.
After all, it wouldn’t be difficult for A Iocus Daemonium to slip something invisible down there. One of those lanky demons, or even an imp. He didn’t have a way to know, not without sending Augustus or Theobold down to see if they could sense them.
“That might be a feature I could pitch. Each group has a mutant in it to sense for demons. Carla certainly seemed okay with the idea.”
As he pondered that, he looked up to see a scuffle outside. With a sigh, he stood and moved to the door, with Leo and Augustus behind him. It was time to deal with the next problem.
***
“Hey, you stop!”
Arthur winced as Mike shouted at the top of his lungs and pointed his baseball bat at the rapidly approaching man. The man in question was tall and gangly, wearing a ripped suit that he didn’t know if even the box could repair at this point.
As he got closer, Arthur could see the limp, though it didn’t slow him down much. His labored breath was audible, even with his head bent toward the ground.
A quick look around didn’t show him any signs of demons. Though he knew better than to trust his eyes. With a small step, he moved towards Augustus.
“I said stop, or I’ll have my guys shoot you!” Mike yelled out again as she stepped forward.
That was when the running man looked up. He looked scared, but he still didn’t stop. All around the street, those he’d hired who had shown firearm proficiency raised their weapons.
“Don’t shoot!” Leo called out as he ran forward to intercept the man. “I know him!”
Arthur frowned. “Leo?”
“That’s Benny. What are you doing here? Is Miss Heady okay? Did she send you?”
“Yes,” Benny gasped out. “Important information. Got away. Attacks. Being chased.”
All the guns went up then, and several people gripped their bats and swords tighter. Arthur stepped forward, motioning for Augustus to grab the man as well.
“Pull him inside, and then we’ll—”
The appearance of one of the muscular red demons jumping off the rooftop at Benny interrupted him. To his relief, his security team acted quickly.
Electricity arced through the air as the demon fell, striking it but not seeming to do much to knock the creature off course. Mike moved forward, bat raised, but Augustus got there first.
With a mighty crack, the heavy bat smashed into the creature’s face and sent him to the ground. Augustus growled and squeaked as he started savagely beating the demon into the ground.
It didn’t stand a chance.
Near the fight, Leo took Benny and started moving him to the store.
“Anyone who isn’t on the creative team, get inside!” Arthur yelled as he watched the action unfold.
No one paid him much mind, all too enthralled by the mutant-on-demon smackdown. He turned away from the fight, watching as Leo dragged Benny under the security sensor.
To his shock, it didn’t change color.
“No hitchhiker then. Strange.”
“What do you want done about this, sir?” Mike asked as he motioned toward the fight.184Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUcexvdOdxK
Arthur shrugged. “Keep a lookout for any more demons. I’m going to get the corpse before Augustus vaporizes it. Good work today.”
“Thank you, sir.”
With a shake of his head, he jogged toward the fight, ready to clean up and then go interrogate his new friend. He couldn’t wait to find out what information Carina wanted him to know.184Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPD8CiPXsf
