DD 302 Ch 35

I laughed with Bellaire and Heather at another joke as the rest of the class finished the boss on the floor above and made their way down to train or prepare themselves for the trial ahead.

“Everyone’s looking good,” Heather said, observing the class.

Almost on instinct from all my earlier scans, I used [Eyes of Wisdom]to check my class over. My heart plummeted. Amongst the class, one figure glowed unmistakably with the telltale sight of a Threadspawn.

Internally, I cursed and focused in, confirming who exactly was infected, only to find Selene staring idly across the floor and blending in with the rest of the class. It was like a gut punch to see her infected and so clearly integrating into the class.

“What?” Heather asked. A playful smile tugged at her lips as she tried to shake me from whatever had just shifted my expression.

“Nothing,” I said quickly, forcing a smile and turning back toward the conversation between her and Bellaire. “Just remembered something I need to do. One moment.”

I flicked a look toward Bellaire that was sharp, urgent, and subtle. She understood instantly, turning back to the Harem Queen with a pleasant laugh and seamlessly re-engaging her without giving up the game.

Rather than rush around needlessly, I headed where anyone would expect me to go, which was straight toward my party and exactly where I needed to be.

Des had a petulant pout on her face as I walked up. “Can you believe Helen finished before us?” she scoffed. “I think she cheated.” Des was clearly not handling her loss particularly well.

“Eh.” I waved a hand. “There are far more important issues than beating Helen down to the next level.” With those words, I met Des’ eyes. 

“Of course there are,” she said quickly. Her teasing evaporated instantly.

Her sudden shift grabbed Penny’s attention; the tank’s eyebrow rose in slow, quiet concern.

“Why don’t we all sit down?” I suggested. “Of course you want to go for the trial right away, but personally I think getting a good look at what it has in store is smarter. Better to fight something you understand than be the one to test it for everyone else.”

Penny nodded. By now my entire party was moving with me toward a quieter spot. Bellaire caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and, by the look on her face, politely excused herself from her conversation with the Harem Queen.

Just as Bellaire reached us, Des spoke up while keeping a smile plastered on her face. “So what’s wrong, Ken?”

“Threadspawn,” I said quietly, making sure my voice didn’t carry. They all sat up straighter.

“Well, you don’t pull any punches, do you?” Des glanced over the class. “It’s not Helen, is it? Is it bad if I… kind of hope it’s Helen?” Des whispered as she reached the end of her question.

“That is kind of bad,” Penny muttered. “I wouldn’t wish Threadspawn on my worst enemy. Much less my annoying classmate.”

Des raised her hands. “It’s not like I want her possessed. It’s just that it’d be a really good excuse to punch her in the face and that sounds kind of appealing.”

My look must have said enough, because Des wisely bit back any retort.

“Anyway,” I said, glancing at the more reasonable members of my party, “it’s a problem, and not one I have a good solution for at this moment. Selene has the worm.”

In truth, there were only two options.

The demonic option would be to kill her, declaring her weak, and move on. While I was technically an incubus, I wasn’t that callous. At least, I had not been pushed that far yet. Watching Lady Frey and Princess Xanthana handle infestations so casually had shown just how different demons were from humanity.

The humane option was to capture Selene and see if the UG could help. But that came with its own issues, especially since the UG wanted very little to do with me at present.

At one point, that had been the less humane option with its own moral dilemma. And now it seemed the more reasonable one when compared to simply killing her and the worm to solve the issue. 

“Well, we’re gonna save her sexy ass. Duh.” Des shrugged. “Just a matter of how.” Despite everything, I smiled. Des made it sound so simple, and her confidence always made me feel a little better.

“You’re right. We’re going to save her. So let’s think through our options.” I agreed.

Charlotte had already begun preparing food, knowing us too well. We never thought straight on an empty stomach.

“If I were the UG,” I mused, “even if I were trained to keep everything from me, I wouldn’t keep it from someone like Director Ametto.”

“Not to mention, she’s Selene’s mother, so she should jump to solve this one.” Charlotte added.

I paused, turning toward Charlotte with dawning horror. The idea of Selene’s mother being kept out of the loop while her daughter was infected was relatively unthinkable.

“What if we test the waters first?” I suggested.

My party collectively shrugged.

“Somehow I doubt the president of the UG is going to change his mind,” Des said. “But you’re welcome to try.”

Still, I pulled out my CID. I was much more willing to go through this process first for my classmate than to reach out to the demons. I was still very much human when it came to my morality. 

I sent a polite message to the UG president informing him one of my Haylon classmates was infected, asking for input on what I should do next.

But this time, there was no instant response.

I stood there, staring at my CID like an idiot, long enough for the message to switch colors, indicating it had been read.

And yet, still no response.

“Don’t know if he’s going to help us,” I said. “He left me on read.”

Des scoffed. “Can’t even ghost someone properly. Who leaves people on read these days?”

Charlotte shot her a pointed look while holding the wooden spoon like a threat. Somehow, the cute druid made it work or perhaps she had enough practice with Bun-bun.

Des held up her hands. “Right. Not the point.”

“Thank you,” Charlotte said, returning to cooking. “But the problem still stands. If the UG won’t help us, what do we do?”

I stared at my CID, not because it had answers, but because it gave me something to focus on while I worked through my thoughts. “If the UG won’t help us, then we help ourselves.”

My confidence solidified the instant I said those words. The others nodded as if that was simply the new reality.

“All right,” Charlotte said. “But that means we’re going against the UG. You know that, right?”

“I’d go against the UG for any of our classmates.” I met each of their eyes. “Once you’ve dove the dungeon together, you’re in this as one. No sense in me not trying to save someone when I know they’d do the same for me.”

Des scoffed only for us all to look at her. “What, you think Helen would save all of us?”

“Maybe not you,” Penny muttered. “But the rest of us? She likes us well enough.”

That statement earned an eye roll from Des and the rest of us a chuckle.

“As amusing as that is,” Charlotte cut in, “we can’t focus on that now.”

“Right.” Des straightened. “So how do we go against the UG?”

“First, we get Crimson involved.” I glanced around the group. “While I try one last attempt with the UG. This time, contacting Director Ametto.”

I messaged Director Ametto, not mentioning her daughter was the one infected. She responded quickly back, but she did not pass along any notable information.

“She says she’s been cut off from Threadspawn information because of her connection to me,” I relayed. “She’s been reassigned to manage several floors of the dungeon.”

Charlotte winced. “You didn’t tell her it was Selene, did you?”

“That would only make it worse. And who knows what she’d do if she found out.” I frowned.

Everyone nodded grimly. Considering the woman had sent her own husband to jail, none of us wanted her to find out how she would react and how many bridges she’d burn to get Selene cured.

“No,” I said firmly. “Let’s get Crimson here. And let’s get a plan cooking.”

Charlotte’s gaze swept the rest of the class, looking a little on edge. “Any more?”

“Just Selene,” I confirmed. “And I don’t think she can try anything. Not with Heather here.”

I took a breath. “If we’re going to do this without the UG, we should probably do it tonight. When everyone’s resting.”

My group exchanged glances that were quick, silent, and determined before simply nodding in confirmation. We had the bare bones of a plan, and we all knew there was no going back. We would be handling this situation ourselves.

***

Crimson portaled into the facility as she had before, this time dragging three body bags behind her.

“Another delivery,” she said calmly to the guard.

The man smirked. “I knew you couldn’t stay away long, though I thought the powers-to-be and you were having some sort of beef.”

“We are. Were,” Crimson corrected herself with a frown. “It doesn’t really matter. I found a few more going about my day, and what am I supposed to do? Just ignore them?” Crimson scoffed and set the body bags down in front of her.

“Well, the protocol changed,” the guard said, stepping up and blocking the doorway. Crimson had already expected them to have changed the rules regarding her.

“Oh, you wanna load them?” She smirked. “By all means. Have fun. I’m out of here.”

Ken had told her he’d already tried to message the president of the UG again. No doubt, the second she showed up, he’d get another ping, and maybe even come down himself to make sure Crimson hadn’t been let in. The more she pushed, the more suspicious he’d be.

So, she walked away without a fuss, hopefully that’d buy them more time.

Crimson gripped the air, opened a portal, and stepped through, leaving the guard there with all three body bags.

The guard let his rifle hang from its strap and bent down, unzipping one of the bags. He didn’t recognize the face, but when he reached in, he felt the thin, threadbare flutter of someone barely alive.

“Ice-cold bitch,” he muttered under his breath. Now that Crimson was gone and it was safe to insult her. You couldn’t pay him enough to insult that woman to her face.

She could, and probably would, break him and everyone he knew in half with a single touch. That woman was a freak of nature that made him shudder. Humans weren’t that fast or strong, she was something else.

As soon as he’d realized Crimson and the UG were having another tiff, he decided the smartest play was to stay completely out of it. No involvement. No opinions. No witnesses. It wasn’t the sort of situation any sane person got themselves mixed up in if they wanted to live.

He shook his head and grabbed the first body bag, dragging it behind him.

He dragged them down the hall one by one, until they were laid out on beds in the infirmary, then banged on a door at the far end until a bleary-eyed doctor, who looked well past exhausted, peeked out.

“More fresh ones for you, doc. Get to work,” the guard grunted, then turned and headed back toward the front entrance. He scanned left and right the whole way, making sure no one had slipped past him while he’d been gone.

Technically, it was outside the rules for him to haul bodies himself. He wasn’t supposed to leave his station. But the cheapskates hadn’t given him a partner for the front gate and he wasn’t allowed to let Crimson inside.

If only the cheapskates understood the limitations they were putting him under and the damage it did to his ability to do the job. But that was about as likely as pigs flying.

So, he did what he could, marching back to the front entrance and taking his position like he’d never left.

***

I wrinkled my nose, trying to keep still and deal with the discomfort of the face mask I was wearing.

Grandma Yui had made more than a few for me in the past. They were uncannily lifelike and smelled faintly of preservatives. I shoved any thoughts about where they’d come from to the back of my mind. When it came to Grandma Yui and her experiments, it was always best not to think too hard or ask too many questions.

A shudder passed through me, and I forced myself to go still. I was supposed to be unconscious.

“Three more,” the doctor grumbled, shuffling past and unzipping each of us in turn.

For the brief moment while he was focused on Penny, I got a look at him. The man looked well beyond anything I’d call healthy. He clearly hadn’t been sleeping. I hoped that wasn’t guilt clawing at his conscience and was simply from being overworked as he tried to find a cure.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, Penny, and I were all doing our best impressions of corpses, or at least people a stone’s throw from their final resting place.

The doctor kept grumbling as he checked each of us over. I stayed limp as he poked and prodded me, resisting every instinct to tense or react. He finally left me alone, not because he was finished, but because someone else knocked on the door.

“What is it now?” he growled at the interruption.

“Is that any way to speak to me?” a smoky voice asked from the other side. I listened harder, wanting to try to place the voice.

“Rouse them and have the worms go down to the station and get to work,” the voice said.

I frowned internally. Rousing us and sending “the worms” to work was a very strange use of terminology here. The last thing I wanted was for any Threadspawn to be given orders in a secure UG facility.

I was very tempted to use [Eyes of Wisdom]. But I was pretty sure someone unconscious suddenly opening their eyes with a bright blue glow would attract exactly the kind of attention I was trying to avoid.

So, I simply listened.

The doctor grumbled. “I’m not your fucking servant,” he muttered, but the words were followed by a loud bang as the metal table I was lying on shook from an impact.

“You will do as I say, or you will find the punishment far heavier,” the smoky voice hissed back.

A moment later, the door slammed shut. The doctor rubbed at his head. This time, he kept his voice much lower when he muttered, “Fucking worms.”