NOVEL NEXT An Unexpected Meeting Part 4
(Aden's P.O.V)
"Now." I punctuated my statement by stomping on his leg and breaking it. Galiel groaned in pain but otherwise kept silent. I felt a brief surge of respect for his resilience before remembering what he was.
"I won't ask you again. What's in the goblet?"
Clearly I wasn't going to get through to him. Centuries had no doubt tempered his will to the level where a little pain just wouldn't cut it. That said, I wasn't worried about his retaliation through the explosion of hell fire from before because of how close he would be. If he activated the spell or whatever it was, even he would be blasted to Kingdom come.
So it was time to change tactics. I crouched next to him and brought my mouth close to his ears.
"I wonder what would happen if I informed Zatara of the presence of a demon who's been the cause of countless deaths and mayhem across history."
Galiel's eyes widened in panic.
"No you can't."
I smiled and continued.
"Zatara likes to stack the odds in his favor so he would most likely come prepared and with some super back up. The League kind."
I dug my fingers onto his shoulders and stared at him even more intensely.
"You would lose the fight. No question about it. And that would result in you getting deported back to hell…and from your earlier words, that's worse than a death sentence."
Galiel was shivering non-stop by then.
"Ok. Ok… I'll tell you."
He stammered out, the image of the defiant and stubborn demon from earlier completely gone.
"The Goblet…contains refined metahuman essence. I use the devices outfitted on both ends of the ring to detect metas and then afterwards…kill and drain them of their vitality."
I sucked in a deep breath. So…it wasn't to make the matches fair. It was a means to hunt down ability wielders.
"Why? Why target them specifically?"
I asked him the question, already suspecting what he would say.
My hand applied pressure to his clavicle and snapped it. Galiel shouted at the unexpected pain. He spared me a hate filled gaze that I ignored.
"You deserved that and you know it." I commented on the broken clavicle.
"Next question, how many metahumans have you killed so far?"
He clenched his jaw refusing to talk.
"You know…I have Zatara on speed dial." He looked at me skeptically, making me laugh.
"Ok that's a lie. But trust me, getting him here is a simple matter of making a single call. You wanna try me?"
Galiel huffed in frustration.
"Fine. Metahumans are rare. But occasionally one or two find their way to me. I cannot tell you the collect number but it's less than 5."
Less than 5 my black ass. Galiel was a demon. A demon's whole shtick was lying. Ipso facto Galiel was lying to me. Trying to downplay it.
"Last question. What will happen if I drink it?"
By now, almost everyone had cleared out but I could feel that something wasn't quite right. Where were Galiel's men? I had blown back Dumb and the group from earlier but I knew that none of them had truly died. So what was the hold up? I have to finish this quickly, get the money and skedaddle.
A glint of interest appeared on Galiel's face as he ran a curious eye around my form.
"To be completely honest, I don't know. The ones who have gone through the process before you, awakened Meta genes but their powers were either weak or incompatible with their bodies. so I changed things up a little and introduced…something else into the mix. So this is not like the previous versions. It's...untested." I narrowed my eyes at that. That sounds familiar. "I've only had one successful meta with a useful ability and their power…" At this point his smile was back. "Needs to be handled with delicate care. After all, it is oh so useful."
I narrowed my eyes.
"The meta gene scanning devices. The one who made them is that meta, isn't it? Probably someone with a technology intuitive ability. They were made shoddily... taking inspiration from Lexcorp, Wayne and many other companies involved with superhuman response, support and detainment tech. "
Galiel's look of shock was priceless. I felt a brief surge of pride course through me at the lucky guess. It was a farfetched guess but Galiel struck me as the kind of perso...sorry, demon, who would use every advantage he got. So based on that fact alone...of course he would see the potential of someone with the ability to Mish mash tech and create useful devices from poor materials.
"How? How do you know that?! Did Ra's Al Ghul send you?!! That bastard! We had a deal! "
At the name drop, everything clicked. Ra's Al Ghul was part of the light. The light had access to Kobra-venom and the original Blockbuster formula. I spared a look at the goblet once more. Galiel had said that this batch of meta essence was different from the usual one. It wouldn't be a stretch to think that...he could have mixed it with Kobra-venom or blockbuster. I mean the Light had done it already. Who says they wouldn't do so again?
That said, I wasn't going to use it now. That would be dumb and pointless despite having access to an ability that ensured nothing would change with my body. More study needed to be done on the...what should I call it? Oh yeah, how about The Meta-trigger? It's simple and precise.
I looked around for a container of sorts and my eyes landed on an empty whiskey bottle. Not the ideal container but desperate times call for desperate measures. I turned my attention back to Galiel who was still furious about Ra's Al Ghul's supposed betrayal. I wasn't going to correct him though. Villains going at each other's throat was fine with me. What I was more interested in was the Meta, Galiel had commissioned to build the Metahuman scanning devices.
"Where are you keeping them? The meta who made those devices. Tell me and maybe just maybe we can renegotiate on whether I'll let you go or not."
"Fuck you."
Here we go again.
(General P.O.V)
Maze contemplated on following after Lucifer as he made his way towards the front door of the establishment but decided not to. She was more comfortable in the darkness. Millenia spent being the boogeyman to the sinners in hell had ensured that the shadows were a favorite place. Not because of the concealment factor but because of the philosophical nature of it all. People fear what they don't know.
That fear...was deliciously satisfying when drawn out and intensified through a touch of mystery and suspense. With that she used the backdoor to infiltrate. Unseen and unheard except for the guard propped up on the wall with a slit throat. Lucifer never said anything about killing a single human. He'd said to keep their steps light and influence minimal. At least until they had their bearings right.
To be honest, Maze didn't see much point in all of this. If you ask her, whatever the Boss was after on earth... she was skeptical he would find it here. The city was... sufficiently dark but not to the level of a few others. Plus the Superpowered community would also be a problem if they crossed paths with them. Maze however was confident in Lucifer. He was the damned Devil for crying out loud. His power was unfathomable. It didn't matter if he was currently suppressed to just above human in terms of strength.
Maze's eyes lit up in a little interest as throngs of people started making their way outside the room while panicking. She pushed through the crowd and found herself before a cage that had patches of blood on the floor. Her eyes quickly ignored that to watch a contingent of guards ran up the staircase towards the V.I.P section.
"Galiel."
She muttered in excitement.
'I'll have to thin out the herd before he and I have a...long overdue family reunion.' she thought to herself and took a leap. Using her superhuman agility, Maze grabbed the frame of the staircase and hoisted herself up. She landed halfway to the top of the Stairs and started going up.
Suddenly, the foundations of the rooms shook following a huge explosion of sound. Maze stepped back just as the guards from earlier were blown back out of the room at the end of the hallway. She narrowed her eyes at the groaning men and stepped over them. Knocking out those who were about to get up.
Her hand shot out to block a stone like limb from one of the men with her dagger. There was a loud ting! sound following the clash and Maze flipped backwards to study her opponent. The man did not look injured despite the massive attack from before. His right hand grabbed the remains of his tight t-shirt and shredded it from his upper body.
"Are you with that guy? Answer me bitch!"
He shouted and got mad when Maze cocked her head to the side in puzzlement.
"Fine. Don't talk...I like it that way."
He licked his lips while running this perverted eyes down her body. Maze sneered. He would pay for that disgusting look.
His skin turned to stone to resemble the hand he had used to block Maze's dagger with. The man stepped forward with a cry and threw a punch. Maze ducked under his arms and snaked her way up his body. Her legs locked around his neck in a tight grip. Maze twirled her two daggers and then dug them through her opponent's eyes.
The man staggered with a shout of pain and knelt on the ground while spasming. Maze pushed them in deeper and a second later, the man's dead body fell onto the ground. Maze didn't spare a look at him and simply turned to stare at dozen more guards who had surrounded her.
The elevator from the main floor of the nightclub opened, revealing Lucifer. Getting inside had been a breeze. He had even taken the time to tour the place. Lucifer was thinking of turning this underground section into a cellar. However he didn't see a point in changing the business. From what he had seen, the nightclub was successful. What he would change however was the name. He was thinking of calling it...Lux.
The sound of battle pulled him out of his thoughts. He smiled in amusement at the scene of Maze being surrounded by over a dozen of Galiel's men. Someone else would be worried for her but he knew that the ones at a disadvantage were the lackeys.
'Looks like she is enjoying herself.'