Chapter 55: Magic Is Real?

  Having learned at least some more about the spirits’ history and society, Erik left his mindplace just as MacLeod came by with two trays of steaming, yet bland-looking food for the Remnants. Erik now had a story to tell when this was all over.

  Emma, Amir, Angela, and Dunham followed behind MacLeod. Sophie arrived only minutes later as the group was standing around the hangar, leaving the food almost untouched as they all mingled with each other in dynamic and small groups.

  Erik had nudged Jessie with his aura to see if that got her attention, and it had, so she had also taken a break to eat and chat.

  Along with Sophie came Colson, having chauffeured Sophie back to the base. The two left again almost immediately as Sophie arrived in a ravenous state, soon reappearing with metallic trays, each with a pile of steaming food Erik hadn’t yet figured out what was.

  Everyone having finished eating a while ago, two unfamiliar faces entered the hangar behind Bumley. Angela greeted them with light politeness, having already met the pair early that same morning. A quick round of introductions followed, beginning with the military personnel inside the hangar, followed by the civilianised Emma, then Sophie.

  “You must be the scientists we’ve heard so much about. Mr Fried and Miss Callum, I presume?” said a savvily dressed man with thick glasses and oily black hair as he shook hands with both Remnants. “My name is Harvey. Miss Ashleigh must already have told you about me,” he continued, not stating the last part as a question.

  “Sorry, I’m drawing a blank. Are you the tailor?” Erik asked, looking over to Jessie, who shrugged and played along.

  “Tailor? You must have me confused—”

  “I told Miss Angela to get a tailor in. We’re going out to war in the morning, you know, gotta look sharp!” Erik continued, immersing himself in the role of the eccentric he was supposed to be to these people.

  “Of course. No, I am from the Office of Infrastructure and Defence. You might say I’m in charge of this base and others like it all around the United Britain.” He corrected his glasses midway through despite them already being perfectly even.

  “Oid?” Erik asked his peers, not Harvey.

  “If you prefer. I have come to talk about this new weapon you are developing against the so-called Hellbeasts. If I were to see it, I—”

  “Wait a frickin’ second!” Angela interrupted. “The deal specifically says that the weapon will be kept secret until the bridge has been reclaimed. You have no right—”

  “What good will the only defence against the monsters do when all those knowing about it are dead, trying to do the impossible? If you’ll share the knowledge, at least—”

  “Hell no,” Angela responded with a firm voice and firmer body language.

  “P-please, if I may?” said the second person who entered the hangar along Harvey.

  This man was small and slim and had almost the same haircut as Harvey, though it wasn’t as oily. His voice reflected his diminutive body, having the volume and intensity like that of a scarf in the wind.

  Harvey sighed but let the miniature man forward to meet Erik and Jessie. “E-Excellent to meet you, Mr Fried a-and Miss Callum. My name i-is Roger, head researcher of the Office of Research a-and Development Regarding Infrastructure and D-Defence,” he stuttered, though that might be nerve-induced.

  “Wait, wait. Ordrid? Is that whole thing really the name for your department?” Erik asked.

  “Yes. W-well, ORAD, for short, though officially hyphenated ORAD-RID.”

  “Oh, I see. I don’t much care for that first ‘and’ to be included and not the second one, but then again, who am I to judge? I don’t order every hamburger on the menu when I just want a single hamburger, am I right?”

  “As ever,” said Jessie, nodding in agreement to her ‘partner’. “A pleasure to meet you, Roger,” she smiled and caressed his hand more than shaking it.

  “O-oh, no, no, the pl-pleasure is a-all mine, Miss Callum. I-I understand your r-reluctance to share your weapon design and technology with us, b-but I really do have to agree wi-with Mr Harvey. I-it’s really—”

  “Shhh,” Jessie sounded, placing her finger on Roger’s mouth. “You have to understand, Rog, we really, really can’t share it yet.” Her voice became somehow seductive whilst sounding like that of a small child. Erik half expected her to call him Daddy.

  “We-we-well, what can you do, right?” Roger chuckled half-heartedly as he blushed a furious crimson and stepped back to allow Harvey another attempt.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “What my… usually competent colleague was supposed to say, was that the world will be doomed if you all die keeping that weapon of yours secret,” Harvey said in Roger’s place.

  “Doomed? That’s a bit dramatic, isn’t it? I’d rather think of it as ‘under new management’. All hail our four-legged overlords!” Erik said.

  “I see there’s no chance of talking you out of this. A shame. You do know that it’s me that is sending our forces with you tomorrow? How many was it, fifty? It would be a shame if we couldn’t send most of them after all, wouldn’t it?”

  “That is also specified in the deal we made, Mr Harvey,” Angela exclaimed.

  “Of course! I wouldn’t dream of going back on our deal. But you see, logistics are… hard.”

  “You piece of shit, I—”

  “Why is our tailor still here? Will we not get our new costumes for tomorrow?” Erik asked, looking at Angela.

  “It seems he’s struggling with logistics, sir,” Angela said.

  “Well, what can you do? It’s wartime. Inform him that we have no need for his services and send him away. Everyone, there will be no hero costumes tomorrow. I’m sorry, I know how eager we all were. Let’s give the man some applause for his work until now as he leaves,” Erik said, tapping his hands together in perfect calm.

  Jessie and Emma followed along with their own subdued applause, while Colson, MacLeod, and Bumley all wore ill-concealed smiles on their faces. Sophie’s eyes darted around confused, though she started clapping a little louder than the others after a short while.

  “What’s happening right now?” Harvey asked, Angela approaching him with her hand outstretched.

  “It seems the deal is off, Mr Harvey. Mr Fried says he appreciates what you’ve done for us thus far, and regrets that there will be no… British heroes retaking the bridge tomorrow,” she explained with a flat smile, pausing for effect where needed to drive what Erik meant home. “Thank you for your service,” she continued, then clapped three times and showed Harvey the door.

  “You can’t mean this—”

  “There’s only one door, Mr Harvey. Logistics aren’t that hard,” Angela interrupted.

  “But—”

  “Mr Harvey, sir… I think we better go,” said Roger as he looked up at Harvey.

  “No, please stay, Mr Roger,” Jessie said in a faux complaining voice. Roger froze and turned crimson once more, having just got rid of the hue from earlier.

  “I see I’m unwanted here. I’ll inform the minister of this at once,” Harvey complained through gritted teeth and left the hangar.

  “We make a great team, don’t we?” Erik asked as the door slammed shut.

  “That was fun!” Jessie said, giving Erik a high-five as he held up his hand.

  “Was that necessary?” asked Angela.

  “What do you mean? You didn’t even hesitate! You were all in from the start, playing along with me,” Erik said with a grin.

  “He was rotten to the core, and I’ve been wanting to kick him in his shin since this morning,” Angela responded.

  “And what better way to flirt than to tear up a figurative contract right in his face?”

  “What is happening?” the diminutive ORAD-man asked, looking around confused like a lost puppy.

  “Sorry about that, Roger. I just can’t stand people like him. I’m Erik,” the Titan said, giving the small man his hand once more.

  “Wait, you were just acting?” Roger asked.

  “Sorry. We were just playing the part the rest imposed on us, then that asshole started to go back on the deal Angela made with him. We just wanted to let him know we don’t need him or his help,” Jessie said, back to her original voice and mannerisms.

  “Playing the part? You? You were supposed to be socially awkward, not openly thirsting.”

  “How isn’t that socially awkward?” Jessie countered. “I made it my own thing; you just stole the personality of that warlock ninja character from those books of yours!”

  “And I was this close to accusing him of sleeping with Colson’s wife!”

  “What?” Colson asked.

  After a while of bickering between the two, Roger retreated to Angela’s side while monitoring the pair now discussing role-playing game characters.

  “Why am I here?” he asked in a slight whisper while leaning towards her.

  “You’re asking me why you came here?”

  “No, I mean, why am I still here?”

  “I think those two have plans for you,” Angela responded while shrugging to make it apparent she didn’t know.

  She didn’t know, but the two maniacs were rather obvious in their ways, and though they had yet to admit they could telepathically converse with one another, they were often thinking the same thing. It was eerie.

  “Plans?”

  “Don’t make it sound so grim. They won’t experiment on you. They’ll just use you to ‘stick it to the man’ or something,” Angela responded, rolling her eyes at her theory of what the pair wanted.

  “And ‘stick it’ we will!” Erik said, joining Angela and Roger along with Jessie.

  “What are you planning now?” Angela asked with a sigh.

  “Hey, Rog? How would you like to see the weapon?” Jessie asked with a wink.

  “Magic is real…” A pale-faced Roger wasn’t even paying attention to the woman covering her upper body back up with clothes.

  “Did she have to undress for that?” Emma whispered to Erik from behind. “You’d think the magical fire was enough, why did he have to see the Crest as well?

  “It might’ve been a bomb?” Erik asked back, also unsure of the reason.

  “So, she showed him two other bombs instead?”

  “At least she’s wearing a bra, I guess?”

  “Magic is real…?” Roger repeated with deadpan eyes, a slight questioning tone now lurking after the same sentence he had repeated a few times by now.

  “Did we break him?” Angela asked Jessie, having approached her to lean on her, whispering.

  “Magic…is real.”

  “Nah, he’s fine. Right?” Jessie assured Angela as much as she realistically could.

  “Want me to put the kettle on? Coffee, maybe?” asked Sophie.

  A resounding ‘yes’ met her, though nothing specific about what to make.

  “Magic is…real?”

  “How many ways do you think he can say that?” Jessie asked Erik, a cup of tea in her hand.

  “I’ve been waiting for the exclamation marks, like ‘Eureka! Magic is real!’, but maybe he won’t get there?”

  “Does anyone mind if I go back to meditating? I want to finish that contemplation or compounding or whatever it’s called,” Jessie then asked.

  Erik felt a marked difference, an improvement, from her—meaning she had ranked up a few of her abilities—at least. If she had more to go, she should get it done before morning, so he had no issues with her going back upstairs.

  “What about your father?” Erik asked as Jessie walked up the metal stairs up to the catwalk.

  “He’ll live,” was all she said.

  Erik watched Sophie’s expression falter, but now wasn’t the time to ask.

  “Magic… real.”

  “Is that a good sign or a bad one, skipping words?” Emma asked. She only got shrugs in response.

  “Does anyone want to see one of my new powers?” Erik asked to break the following silence.