南瓜影院

"Everyone," Angus greeted them before pausing as he eyed them one after the other, detecting the mood,

"What\'s it?" He asked before looking around to do a quick sweep of the courtyard and added,

"Where\'s Tony?"

"Dead," Charles said in a deadpan tone.

"Oh," Angus said as he took off his hat and brushed a hand through his hair.

"That\'s all you\'re going to say?" Charles asked.

"Of course, it\'s a sad thing," Angus said. His smile was gone now and his head was slightly bowed,

"How did he die?"

"Bounty Hunters. We were ambushed." Henry said.

Angus looked at him. He remembered Henry and Tony had indeed left the Mansion together for the supervision of a job the newbies were on.

"I\'m sorry to hear that…" Angus said and sounded like he might say more but Charles interrupted to say,

"We had a funeral yesterday, you know. You were not present."

Angus sighed as he walked forward,

"Charles, I don\'t much like your tone. What happened to Tony was a tragedy but it was also not planned. I was away before it happened so you can\'t very well blame me for my absence now, can you?"

"It\'s not your absence I blame, it\'s your secrecy. Keeping things to yourself and having the rest of us just follow you like sheep being led to slaughter."

"Hey, now," Angus said, "Everything I do, I do for the good of the Gang. To make all our dreams come true…"

"Where exactly were you?" Charles asked, "Off spreading our names about again?"

"Just mine, actually," Angus said as he got close to the others and they created a space for him to go through and enter deeper into the Mansion.

The Gang followed him but mostly because they had not yet given him a piece of their mind. Not to their satisfaction, at least.

As he walked, Angus was talking, and with every word, the smile that had slipped at the news of Tony\'s death returned to his face;

The reason Angus\' name was known and his face was all over wanted Posters was because he wanted it to be known.

Ever since the incident last week, the Gang Leader had started taking trips out of the Mansion spreading the word in case the activity of the many greenhorn Gang members carrying the Dionisio name was not enough.

With his Spellbinding to arm him, Angus could, on his own, convince the simple people in this corner of the world that he was a genuine threat more than a thousand murders could.

The first part of his plan was publicity and it helped that the person he had offended was a powerful and wealthy Manor Lord like Maude Aleric who was happy to have put a name and face to his target while fanning the flames. To the point of even sending the reward money skyrocketing.

Of course, for Maude Aleric, all that was simply by the way. He could not possibly trust a bunch of hooligans and no-good criminals like Bounty Hunters to retrieve his precious item so with a week to better understand the enemy and prepare, another force of Vykers was on their way.

When he told the others about this when they were all in the meeting hall, they just stared at him blankly looking like they were no longer capable of forming sentences.

And then Triss asked,

"More of them are coming?"

"Yes," Angus answered with an enthusiastic nod.

"Here?!" Triss asked as if the location was in doubt.

Even then, Angus answered her graciously,

"Yes, here."

"How did they even know where to come?" Dana asked.

"To be fair, the Hadron Mansion as a hideout is not all that hard to figure out," Stefan said,

"They\'ve had a week to think of it and if you think of it hard enough, and eliminate other possible hideouts, you\'re left with this one. Anyone capable of critical thinking will eventually realize a \'Curse\' cannot be enough to keep a Gang out."

"Who cares how they know?" Devon asked.

"I agree," Angus said calmly but the Half-Orc was not yet done,

"The question is why we are still here, waiting for them!" Devon said slowly. It probably said something about the situation that Devon was sounding cautious and suggesting running.

At least that was what Henry thought as he silently listened to the conversations being had.

"Of course, we\'re still here," Angus said looking like he was enjoying a private joke none of the others were in on,

"We have no reason to leave. Or be worried."

Henry furrowed his brows at that statement but still said nothing.

"Are you— Are you mad?!" Triss asked with her palms hitting the table while she glared at Angus who remained quite relaxed.

Angus looked from one of the swelling faces in front of him to the next and then said,

"We have no reason to be worried because we have someone on our side that leaves the Vykers no chance."

Henry suddenly felt eyes move over to him. He and Angus had killed the most Vykers so far. Three each.

But, Henry knew Angus wasn\'t talking about him. Nothing about his accomplishments guaranteed or even hinted at a win against a Vyker force Angus was teasing to be larger than the last and as he watched the look on Angus\' purple eyes, the confident smile on his face, it dawned on him.

\'Yelena!\' He thought with his eyes wide.

Angus chuckled,

"Yes, yes, Henry is impressive," Angus said and shook his head, "But I wasn\'t talking about him. We have someone even better… We have the \'Immortal Witch\'."

A minute of silence passed only to be broken by Devon who asked with a dumb look on his face,

"Who?"

•••

Learning that Yelena, their resident Healer, could not be killed and was boasting of power so immense, she had nothing to fear from Tens and Tens of Vykers was so difficult to accept, it was almost ridiculous.

"Let\'s test it out," Devon said to her when everyone went into the Medical Bay to confirm what Angus had claimed,

"Hit me with all you\'ve got!"

"You\'ll die," Henry told him with certainty.

Devon snorted,

"I can take it."

"You can\'t," Henry told him shaking his head.

"Then half of it then," Devon said for a compromise.

Henry opened his mouth but Yelena answered faster than he could,

"You\'ll probably still die," she said gently.

Probably was putting it kindly. He was definitely going to die. Yelena knew this for sure because she doubted she had ever pushed herself to the limit so all her killing strikes so far could have well have been half of what she was capable of. One-third even.

Devon\'s brows furrowed but he stopped insisting. Yelena looked over at Henry who held her gaze wondering when she made peace with her aversion to killing because there would be no avoiding it this time.

Then Henry looked at Angus and wondered for how long this had been a plan.

Meanwhile, Angus was grinning,

"So then, we will retreat into the Mansion and Yelena will fend off the enemies. I advise we don\'t interfere and just let her handle it as she sees fit," Angus announced and gave Yelena a pointed look to which she frowned.

"We should leave and give her time to prepare."

Angus led the way out and the others followed.

"Henry?" Triss called to him when he didn\'t move.

"You should go on ahead," Henry said gently.

Triss paused and looked from Henry to Yelena and then with a nod and a slight frown, she left and closed the door behind her.

"You\'re wondering why I\'m doing it?" Yelena asked him after a minute went by in silence.

"There will be killing," Henry said.

Yelena nodded,

"I know," she said.

"How did Angus convince you to do it?" Henry asked.

Yelena looked away,

"He just— He made a convincing point. And if the Mansion gets torn down, I get torn down too. Besides, I can help so I should. Shouldn\'t I?"

Henry paused and then stepped closer to her. He grabbed her shoulders gently and turned her around so he was looking into her eyes,

"Are you sure?" He asked.

Yelena nodded,

"I\'m sure."

"Then I\'ll help," Henry said.

Yelena looked at him, her green eyes wide and a surprised look on her beautiful face,

"How?" She asked.

"Just temper your magic as best as you can and try to knock them down rather than kill them. I\'ll take the kill instead."

"You don\'t have to do that," Yelena said gently.

Henry sighed,

"Remember what I said last time? You should never feel guilty for killing someone who won\'t think twice about killing you. I still mean it but I saw how you were after killing three.

It\'s not going to get easier. Not yet at least.

I can help, so I will."

Yelena paused and then nodded,

"Alright," she said with a smile, "Thank you."

"Don\'t mention it," Henry said with a small nod and as he released her shoulders, an alert sounded in his head;

[You have triggered an Optional Quest]

[Optional Quest: Infernal Partner.

Help Yelena Hadron, the Infernal Spawn, alleviate some of her oncoming guilt.

Reward: For every kill you steal from her, you will receive a bonus of 150 Exp.]

[Will you accept the Optional Quest?

Yes/No]

\'Yes.\'

[You have accepted the Optional Quest: Infernal Partner]