NOVPUBAfter a very much needed shower, Uriel dressed with the clothes provided to him by the lieutenant at his service. It was a plain white shirt and camo pants, not much to Uriel’s liking, but it was against his moral code to complain about free stuff. Truth be told, those clothes didn’t compliment his lean build in the slightest as they made the contrast with the muscular soldiers even more evident.
Nika, on the other hand, was completely against wearing long baggy pants and pouted until the lieutenant came back with tight camo shorts.
She had to buy them from a civillian shop since wearing shorts was against the army dress code, but she was more comfortable in them, not to mention she looked so stunning all the male soldiers and even some of the females, turned their heads when she walked past them.
"Thanks for the shower, I really needed it." Uriel started by thanking her as soon as he entered her office, mostly as a conversation starter.
"There’s no need for that, we’re so close after all." She said as she pushed the papers she was working on to the side.
"What’s the deal with the cold greeting?"
"It’s all Lieutenant Iris’ fault, even with her trait, she can’t tell whether someone is trustworthy or not. Isn’t it lucky that we just so happen to have someone capable of just that?"
"You do?"
"Yes, she’s listening to our conversation and she’ll be able to tell whether anything you say is a lie," She pointed towards a cellphone on the desk and then continued speaking. "this is just a formality, but consider this when speaking so you don’t leak any information. I consider this hunter particularly trustworthy, but no one can tell for sure."
"There’s actually a couple things I’d like to discuss in private." Uriel awkwardly said.
"We can do just that later tonight. I’ll proceed with the questioning if that’s okay with you. Did you come here on a ship?"
"I did, at least half way."
"Did you encounter any particular strong cryptid you should report on the way here?"
"I did, but it’s taken care of."
"I see, next question. Are you truly the original Sage or are you an impersonator?"
"I am the original, not an impersonator, cryptid or hybrid."
"I knew you were aware of skinwalkers, but wasn’t aware that you knew about the skinwalker hybrids."
"Your sister Luna called them doppelgangers, they’re capable of mimicking Human traits, but just like their cryptid counterparts, they’re weak to silver."
"You see, we thought that too... but some of them are completely immune to silver. That’s why we’re having so much trouble."
"Is that why there are two holy rank hunters in this city?" Uriel asked, hoping to meet with Mister Scofield as soon as possible.
"Not really, the reason why there’s two of them here it’s because this city has been under attack for months. It got to the point where without the world government intervention this city would have been lost already, the... doppelgangers, is it? They’ve only started appearing here a couple weeks ago." Judging by Cassandra’s tone of voice, Uriel could tell the situation was completely out of hands.
If not even two holy rank hunters were enough to solve the situation, it could only mean that things were at least as bad as they were back home.
Nonetheless, the problems of a city he never visited before were of no concern to him and he wondered why Cassandra had yet to ask him about her sister. When she came to greet him she seemed to be worried out of her wits for her sister, but now she didn’t so much as mention her.
"Why are you telling me all this? It’s not like I intend on staying here. All I need is to grab some spare parts and I’ll be out of here."
"That may be the case, but I think we can help each other in this situation. As you may have guessed, I landed in this city as punishment for assisting you. Not that I blame you, in fact, I’m personally grateful towards you and for what you’ve done for my sister, but I’m an army official now and I have to look out for humanity’s best interests. That’s why I wanted to ask you for your cooperation."
"What can I possibly do that two holy rank hunters can’t?"
"That’s the thing, our holy rank hunters are as much a blessing as they are a curse. We had an incident where a doppelganger managed to get to one of them and... well, let’s just say that the hole in the wall was a cheap price to pay."
"No way!" Uriel let out in a gasp. Just the thought of doppelgangers being able to mimick such powerful traits was dreadful, especially considering the rumors that claimed holy rank hunters could potentially destroy a city in a matter of hours.
"Yes, we can’t afford to expose them outside city walls, but the reconnaissance units we’ve sent to the bayou have been wiped out. That’s one of the reasons why Lieutenant Iris didn’t believe you. We’ve sent pretty strong heavenly units armed with the best of our gear and they’ve failed, what would you think if two heavenly rank hunters show up without armor and unarmed?" 𝖓𝔬𝖛𝔭𝔲𝖇.𝔠𝔬𝖒
"What’s in it for me?" Uriel asked the one question that could possibly convince him to participate in such a troublesome endeavor.
"First, you already came from the bayou so whatever information you can provide will be priceless for us even if you decide not to participate. Second, this shouldn’t be much trouble for you since you need to go back to the ship anyway, in fact, all I’m asking is to let us accompany you and once the ship is fixed drop us off back in this city.
It’s a small ask if you think about it, your trip will be safer and you’ll be helping us. And last, we’ll provide all the spare parts you need for free and an experienced engineer that just joined us, which should help make whatever repairs you need even faster. It’s an absolute win win situation."
