Chapter 814 - 813: Lazy Hangouts in Seventh Heaven and the Beginning of Merchant Garrett’s Interrogation."

A little over an hour had already passed since they had arrived at the "Seventh Heaven" bar, and Alex with unconcealed interest was reviewing the impressive array of decrypted data extracted from the portable version of the combat simulator. Taking a careful sip of coffee and along the way continuing to feverishly scroll through the lists on the phone screen, Alex could not help admitting: the creator of this simulator had indeed gone to colossal lengths and managed to produce something truly impressive.

In this extensive digital archive Alex managed to discover data on hundreds of the most diverse monsters, trained fighters, and even those who had ever put on these virtual glasses at all. But the most pleasant and promising news for him was that the open architecture of the system and the device interface were arranged so competently that any new files and combat profiles could be loaded there without any particular problems.

Lighting a thin cigar and exhaling a gray ring of smoke, Alex thoughtfully narrowed his eyes. A thought crept into his head to go in the near future in search of Chadley and in direct text propose to this talented android kid a promising job in the Guild. For how could one not notice that it was precisely Chadley who had virtuously improved this Shinra technology, making it many times better and more functional than the original sample?

While Alex was completely absorbed in his gadget, the others present in the bar also found themselves occupations in order to somehow while away the time. The foursome from the main wing of "AVALANCHE," who had originally come only for Yuffie, had managed to endure yet another powerful wave of shocks—and all because the loose-tongued Barret simply could not keep the cat in the bag and thoroughly spilled to them about the secret Arc Reactor.

It was located right in the basement of the establishment and single-handedly provided stable electricity to absolutely all the huge slums in the Seventh Sector. Having received such a quantity of shocking news in a single hour, Zhijie considered it wise to leave from there as soon as possible and immediately contact his Headquarters in order to pass on to the leadership all the obtained information—and especially the detailed data about Alex.

And when this foursome was already heading toward the exit, Yuffie did not forget to proudly shout after them that from now on she was part of a completely different, cooler group. Zhijie merely nodded his head with an understanding smile and good-naturedly waved his hand to her in farewell.

When the guests finally left the bar, Barret with a victorious smirk looked at Tifa and proudly raised a thumbs-up, beginning to hold forth in full color about how they had just wiped the noses of the arrogant main cell of "AVALANCHE." Casting an eloquent glance at the shining Barret, Tifa merely shook her head with a light laugh and set an appetizing portion of hot food right in front of Claudia.

Restrainedly nodding in gratitude, Claudia unhurriedly began eating. Bringing a fork with food to her mouth, she could not get rid of obsessive thoughts: from the very moment of her today's awakening something was wrong around. First this strange, vague dream, and now all this time a sticky, anxious feeling had not left her for a second—as if something catastrophically bad was about to happen.

Noticing the excessively thoughtful and heavy gaze of her friend, Tifa approached closer and carefully inquired what was gnawing at her so. Hearing this question, Claudia merely silently shook her head, showing that everything was in complete order. After all, she herself could not properly explain where this bad premonition had even come from. Looking at Claudia, who once again habitually avoided a direct answer, Tifa could only heavily sigh and no longer pester her with questions.

"And by the way, where are Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge? Everyone has long been gathered except this trio," Alex inquired, finally setting the phone aside, taking another sip of the cooling coffee and shifting a questioning gaze to Tifa.

"I don't even know… They appeared here a couple of hours ago, grabbed some things and immediately rushed off somewhere," Tifa answered, shaking her head, approaching Alex and gracefully leaning her elbows on the bar counter next to him.

"And where the hell are they hanging around?! We are supposed to celebrate our grand victory in full composition! It's already practically evening outside, and they're still not here!" Barret grumbled with annoyance, slamming a massive fist on the wooden tabletop and casting a dissatisfied glance over all those present.

"Maybe they simply went to look for that guy… Well, what's his name… The one who so meanly set you up?" Yuffie inserted in a thoughtful tone, frankly stretching toward the appetizing snacks lying on the plate right next to Alex.

"Ah, right, Garrett… I somehow already managed to forget about him. Well, if they're looking for him specifically, then fine," Alex nodded understandingly and himself carefully pushed his plate closer to Yuffie so that she would not have to steal food right from under his nose.

When the name of this corrupt black-market merchant rang out, everything instantly fell into place, and it became finally clear to Tifa and Barret where their friends had so hastily gone, taking with them all the combat equipment. Even Alex nodded his head understandingly—for had he himself been in the place of Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge, he would have acted exactly the same.

However, because of all the crazy events that had occurred the previous day, he somehow completely forgot about this Garrett and about what he had originally planned to do with this fattened merchant. Deciding no longer to clutter his head with the dishonest dealer, Alex merely shrugged his shoulders and calmly continued sipping coffee while awaiting the moment when their entire company would finally gather together. He sincerely hoped that by the minute when all this unpleasant mess arranged by Shinra would begin, absolutely each of them would be here, under the protection of the bar's walls.

Shaking his head, Alex with a smile ate the snack that the hyperactive Yuffie was trying to bossily shove right into his mouth, and unhurriedly shifted his gaze to the television that Barret had turned on at that moment. The moment the screen flared up, emergency news from the scene of yesterday's events once again went on the air.

On the screen in close-up appeared the well-groomed face of a woman with long curly light hair, clad in a bright red dress with an open neckline. Alex recognized this person from the very first glance—it was Scarlet, the Director of the Weapons Department of the Shinra Corporation.

Propping his chin on palms locked together, Alex began carefully watching the news report together with the others. He could not help admitting that Scarlet virtuously knew how to hide her true rotten nature before the television cameras.

Despite the fact that she held herself emphatically professionally and voiced exactly what the naïve residents of Midgar so longed to hear, her real character left much to be desired. He clearly remembered that this sadist without a twinge of conscience used her own subordinates as a living footrest, and treated the rest altogether as if they were household pets, not disdaining to put collars with leashes on them.

Barret, for his part, at the mere sight of Scarlet clenched his fists to the cracking of joints, experiencing a wild desire to strangle this scum with his own hands. After all, how could he forget the vile face of the one who bore direct responsibility for the complete destruction of his native city?

Hearing the distinct cracking of joints next to himself, Alex turned to Barret and understandingly patted him on the heavy shoulder, expressing silent support. Noticing Barret's sharp reaction, Tifa was already reaching for the remote to change the channel, but he merely silently raised a hand, making it clear that he wanted to watch the report to the end and with his own ears hear what else this woman would spin and in what new sins she would accuse their group.

"Wow, and who is this beauty on the screen?" Dean inquired, briefly distracting himself from the exciting game of "Queen's Blood" with Steve.

"That's Scarlet, Director of Shinra's Weapons Department," Alex answered shortly, not taking his gaze from the television.

"Mmh, clear. And she's quite something. In the old days I would definitely have invited her for a drink," Dean said with a mocking smirk, casually propping his cheek on a fist.

"I strongly doubt it. You can safely consider that the characters of Abaddon and Rowena coexist in her simultaneously… Well, after such a description do you still burn with the desire to invite her for a drink?" Alex asked with a cunning smirk, turning his head toward his partner.

"Damn, you should have started right away with the fact that she's a complete, vile bitch! Now it's absolutely clear to me why she spreads so smoothly and so deftly hangs all the blame on you. Another manipulative scum," Dean spat out with deep disgust, slightly shuddering his shoulders from the mere thought of such a wild hybrid of the two most unpleasant women in his life.

"And that's you putting it maximally mildly! This creature's place is exclusively on the gallows. She has hanging on her hardly fewer bloody corpses than on President Shinra himself!" Barret growled with unconcealed fierce hatred, continuing to literally incinerate Scarlet's face on the screen with his gaze.

"She's simply the worst of all possible scum! Because of her fucked-up developments my native country is currently in complete decline!" Yuffie shouted, loudly clapping her palms on the tabletop, and in a surge of feelings intended to climb right onto the bar counter.

"That you all have your personal scores with her is already perfectly clear. And now be so kind as to get off the bar counter, I'm drinking coffee here after all. And your heels right next to my face are a little interfering with the process," Alex said in an absolutely calm and everyday tone, deftly catching the emotional Yuffie by the waist and carefully pulling her back onto the floor.

With difficulty seating the rowdy Yuffie back on the chair, Alex first of all deftly threw a tasty strawberry candy into her mouth and affectionately stroked her on the head, as if a restless and capricious child. Feeling the pleasant sweetness on her tongue and meeting the soft pats on the crown, Yuffie's attention instantly switched from Scarlet to a completely different thing.

Rubbing his forehead, Alex took out an entire pack of strawberry candies from the coat pocket and for safety's sake handed it to Yuffie—preventively, before she again climbed into his pocket with a pocket visit. Having obtained the coveted silence and peace, Alex continued watching the news report. However, by this moment he had managed to see only the final chord: Scarlet with cold contempt knocked the poor guy with the camera right onto the ground and unhurriedly left the frame, not forgetting at the same time to casually step with a sharp heel on the unfortunate operator.

Noticing that yet another persistent advertisement of Shinra products had begun on the air, Alex reached for the remote to change the channel. Flipping one channel after another, Alex sincerely tried to find at least one full report from the Seventh Sector.

However, in absolutely all news releases only the large-scale events that had occurred in the Fifth Sector were mentioned time and again, where dramatic footage shot by frightened eyewitnesses was played over and over. Hearing the distinct final moan of the victim before the picture changed, Alex merely quietly burst out laughing at this absurd scene.

"What exactly are you trying to find there?" Tifa asked quietly, carefully pouring a new portion of hot aromatic coffee into Alex's mug.

"I'm trying to dig up at least some honest news about our Seventh Sector. But on all the central news channels there's not a single word about the fact that yesterday two Mako Reactors were destroyed at once instead of one," Alex answered, pointing a finger at the television screen where once again they were playing epic footage of the unexpected appearance of Bahamut and himself in the form of the flaming Ifrit.

"These Shinra bastards simply want to scare ordinary people even more, that's their whole damn politics!" Barret spat out with deep contempt, pouring strong alcohol into his empty glass.

"Actually you yourself provided them with a simply ideal pretext for manipulating the masses, so you shouldn't complain right now. Most likely even the top leadership of Shinra itself is currently far from in the best frame of mind, mortally afraid that such a nightmare might repeat again," Claudia began speaking in a calm tone, leaning her elbows on the bar counter and carefully studying the news story.

"More likely the opposite! They're currently frantically thinking how to quickly twist Alex and drag him into their secret laboratory so as to thoroughly touch him there in the most various indecent places," Dean said, chuckling, and cheerfully pointed a beer bottle in Alex's direction.

"Well let them just try. I'm also an excellent specialist in the matter of touching someone in the most unpleasant places," Alex answered with a cunning smirk, turning on the revolving chair toward Dean.

"Are… are you really going to touch them right there?" Aerith inquired with sincere curiosity, slightly leaning to the side to look straight into Alex's eyes.

"Well of course! I have absolutely nothing else to do in this life except run around and touch entire groups of adult men on their chimichangas. I'm literally burning with impatience," Alex answered in a dry, sarcastic tone and with a smile slightly squeezed the tip of Aerith's neat little nose with two fingers.

Slapping Alex on the hand for squeezing her nose, Aerith quietly laughed, sincerely imagining the picture of him with an imperturbable appearance chasing a group of poor Shinra people in order to put what was said into practice. Following Aerith the others also vividly imagined such a spectacle, and absolutely no one even had the thought that Alex was not capable of such a thing.

Listening to this friendly laughter, Alex merely shook his head and calmly continued sipping coffee, glancing at the television screen. It was still difficult for him to finally get used to the fact that in Midgar the modern entertainments familiar to him were almost completely absent.

Propping his cheek on a fist, Alex thoughtfully thought about how he would not mind at all watching a good movie, and was ready for this even to go to a full-fledged cinema. However, all that this gloomy industrial megapolis could provide him was only rare theatrical performances held only a couple of times a week.

Wearily sighing from the irresistible desire to entertain himself with at least something, Alex thoughtfully stroked Yuffie's head, who was frankly bored, laying her cheek right on the cool bar counter. Alex's boredom had reached that critical point that he was already ready to play a couple-three tense games of "Queen's Blood" with Dean, just to occupy himself with at least some business.

And the moment this thought finally took shape in his head, Alex decided that this was simply an excellent way to while away the drawn-out day. Snatching a bottle of strong alcohol standing next to Barret and grabbing two clean glasses, Alex unhurriedly walked to Dean's gaming table. Sitting opposite and carefully transferring Tonberry Steve slightly to the side, Alex extracted his personal deck from the pocket.

"Whoa, you yourself decided to challenge me to 'Queen's Blood'?" Dean asked with a cunning smirk, deftly shuffling card after card and looking at Alex with excitement.

"Yes, we can throw a couple of games. There's absolutely nothing to do anyway. This is clearly better than if I finally get bored and decide to go hijack a Shinra train to stage an epic tunnel drift," Alex answered with a smirk, generously pouring strong alcohol into the glasses.

"Oh! I'm all for hijacking a train with both hands, and not playing these boring cards of yours at all!" Yuffie immediately instantly perked up, barely hearing such a tempting offer and highly raising a hand over her head.

"I was joking… Maybe another time. Right now I don't particularly burn with the desire to go anywhere," Alex answered with a chuckle, pushing a wooden chair next to himself so that Aerith could comfortably sit down.

"And if we're going to hijack a train, then exclusively a Shinra freight train! I'll with the greatest pleasure spoil the life of this corporation even more!" Barret intervened with a loud and rolling laugh, sitting down on a neighboring chair next to Dean.

"Well why are you all so terribly boring… We've been sitting here in the bar for several hours in a row already, and absolutely nothing interesting is happening at all!" Yuffie moaned wistfully, with annoyance sitting down on a chair on the other side of Alex.

"You know, when nothing special is happening—that's even for the better. Such calm and quiet time is now worth its weight in gold for us, and it simply needs to be enjoyed," Tifa said in a soft, peaceful tone, gracefully leaning on the back of the chair on which Aerith had settled.

"Exactly so, Tifa. Yesterday we all had enough crazy events for a whole week ahead. So now is the perfect time to properly relax and be a little lazy," Alex summarized with a light smirk, with an elegant snap of his fingers laying out the gaming board right in the center of the table.

From these words Yuffie moaned even more strongly from longing, powerlessly laying her head on the table and beginning to complain out loud for all to hear about how unbearably boring everyone around was. Shuffling the deck and listening to these capricious complaints in the background, Alex turned his head in her direction and slowly, with a smile squeezed her lips with his fingers into a "duck face" so that Yuffie would at least for a short while fall silent.

He categorically could not right now voice the true reason for his behavior—that he was straining with all his might to keep their entire group together in the bar, not allowing anyone to scatter. In the coming critical situation he wanted once and for all to exclude any fatal "what ifs." Alex was deeply convinced that simply no one would believe him if he declared right now that right after sunset the leadership of Shinra would give the cruel order to drop the entire upper Plate right onto the densely populated slums of the Seventh Sector.

But even if he managed to convince his friends, it would be far more difficult to force the ordinary residents of the slums to drop everything and immediately leave their homes. And if panic and a large-scale evacuation began in the Sector, Shinra could quite panic and collapse the Plate much earlier than the planned deadline.

Feeling a dull irritation from the heavy thoughts about the inevitable catastrophic event, Alex decided to fully concentrate on the game of "Queen's Blood" against Dean. Unhurriedly laying out bright cards on the gaming board and along the way sipping strong alcohol, Alex periodically cast short, anxious glances at the electronic clock hanging behind the bar counter.

Once again staring at the running digits of time, Alex felt how someone softly patted him on the hand. Turning his head, he met the gaze of Aerith, who with a smile pointed a finger at the board, making it clear that right now it was his turn after all. Understandingly nodding, Alex evaluated the current position of the cards and Dean's excited move. Looking once more at the layout in his fingers, he nodded to himself and confidently laid the next card on the key field.

Quickly and without particular problems beating Dean, Alex already calculated on taking a small break, however the others also caught fire with the desire to play a couple of games in order to somehow while away the dragging time. Even the usually detached Claudia decided to join the common game without extra explanations. Over the exciting battles another hour unnoticed flew by. Alex was finishing yet another tense game with Aerith, who categorically did not wish to surrender, burning with the excited desire to win at least one single round from him.

"Okay, enough cheating!" Aerith cried out in her heart, once again with a crash losing a game of "Queen's Blood."

"I'm not cheating at all. My hands have been calmly lying on the table right before your eyes this entire time," Alex answered in an absolutely calm and imperturbable tone, carefully collecting his winning cards from the table.

"Then stop constantly winning! Well why can't I beat you no matter what?! It's all your stupid, enchanted deck!" Aerith declared with even greater childish offense and began from annoyance under the table playfully kicking Alex on the shin with the tip of her shoe.

"Actually right now you're playing with exactly my deck, and I with yours. Don't forget that you yourself proposed to exchange card sets. And before that you even managed to try the decks of Dean, Tifa, and Yuffie," Alex reminded in a soft tone, with a smile accepting the light kicks on the leg under the table.

"Still it's terribly unfair… Well why do you play so well?" Aerith uttered with a heavy, theatrical sigh, disappointedly laying her chin on the table and not forgetting at the end to once more tangibly kick Alex on the leg.

"Come on, don't get so upset! It's just a harmless game. Yuffie over there also never won against me even once, and now she's sitting and thoroughly sulking in the background," Alex said with a light laugh, pointing a hand at Yuffie who was sitting at a neighboring table and with fierce excitement trying to get even at least against the imperturbable Tonberry Steve.

"I'm not sulking at all! You simply shamelessly cheated! I personally with my own eyes saw how you unnoticed substituted the cards!" Yuffie shouted with feigned offense, measuring Alex with such a gaze as if right now she was going to throw something heavy at him.

"I see you have a simply incredibly lively atmosphere here!" the loud and cheerful voice of Biggs suddenly rang out right from the threshold of the bar.

Hearing the familiar voice of Biggs behind himself, Alex turned his head and slightly raised an eyebrow at the appearance in which this trio had returned together with Jessie and Wedge. They looked as if they had spent entire days at an abandoned dump, with excitement digging through all possible trash.

Biggs himself looked as if he had just fallen into a gigantic dust collector, Wedge looked no better—as if an entire canister of black fuel oil had been poured on him with full force, and only Jessie alone turned out relatively clean, being only slightly covered with dirt and dust. And looking at their absolutely happy, shining faces, Alex simply could not help thinking about what was making them so sincerely glad despite such a pitiful external appearance.

However, already in the next moment absolutely all those present in the bar received an exhaustive answer to their silent question. Wedge with dexterity dragged into the premises of the bar an unconscious, tightly bound man with a gag in his mouth, who clearly displayed a fresh broken nose and an impressive bruise under the eye.

Raising an eyebrow at the sight of this beaten prisoner, Alex heard a deafening slap on the table, after which immediately followed Barret's choice curses. From these emotional curses it became finally clear: the captive poor fellow turned out to be that very dishonest merchant Garrett who had meanly leaked secret information to the Shinra Corporation.

Scratching his cheek, Alex once more thoughtfully examined Garrett, and then shifted his gaze to Jessie, who with a contented and joyful smile showed him a peace sign with her fingers. Shaking his head, Alex with a chuckle raised a thumbs-up in response. Jessie sweetly laughed and in one moment jumped up to Alex, childishly sincerely embracing him around the neck.

Slightly smiling from such sudden and impulsive embraces, Alex softly patted Jessie on the back, just in case checking whether everything was in complete order with her and whether she had any hidden injuries. Having made sure that she was safe and sound, Alex carefully wiped a strip of dust from her cheek with the sleeve of his coat.

"Guys, what even happened to you that you're in such a wild state?! And why did you drag this guy right here?" the astonished Tifa inquired, with sympathy examining the dirt-smeared friends and quickly taking clean towels with a deep bowl of water from behind the bar counter.

"Heh! And what, in your opinion, were we supposed to just take and leave this bastard free after he so meanly dumped shit right on our heads?! Fat chance! This degenerate is obliged to fully pay for everything done!" Biggs cried out with a mocking smirk, unceremoniously roughly grabbing Garrett by the scruff and dragging him deeper into the bar hall.

"And where did you even manage to dig up this freak?" Barret inquired with a menacing appearance, expressively standing over the unconscious carcass of Garrett and pondering whether to give him a kick right now or still postpone this pleasure for later.

"Well he was hiding in the Slums of the Fourth Sector! To the greatest fortune, Jessie had a good acquaintance there, thanks to whom we managed rather quickly to track his trail," Wedge responded in a cheerful tone, vainly trying to wipe the dense layer of fuel oil from his face.

"Did… did he make you look like this?" Aerith asked with sympathy, approaching closer and helping Jessie carefully wipe the dust from her face.

"No… We simply were catastrophically unlucky," Jessie uttered with a sigh, slowly and disappointedly shaking her head.

"And in what exactly were you so 'unlucky' that all three of you look as if you lived your entire conscious life at the nearest dump?" Dean asked, chuckling, slightly rocking on his chair.

"And all because this cunning bastard was hiding right in the middle of the city dump, calculating on quietly getting out of Midgar through secret underground paths! And when we finally spotted him, he tried to make a run for it. So, one can say, we simply were a little unlucky with the surroundings… But we still managed to twist this guy and drag him right here!" Biggs explained with a sincerely contented smile, for persuasiveness lightly kicking the unconscious Garrett right in the stomach with his boot.

Hearing this detailed explanation, Alex could not help nodding his head in approval. But at the same time he was rather impressed that Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge had independently managed to catch the elusive black-market merchant. Dean also sincerely praised this trio for the excellently done work—for he on his own rich experience knew perfectly how slippery and evasive such merchants could be.

Even Claudia with a sparse but respectful nod evaluated the small feat of this trio. While the others with a smile observed how Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge tried to wash off the deeply embedded dump dirt and fuel oil from themselves, Alex unhurriedly approached the still unconscious Garrett and easily lifted him by the scruff with one hand. Raising the merchant right to the level of his eyes, Alex slightly narrowed his eyes and turned to Yuffie, since he knew for certain that in her thigh bag there would definitely be a sturdy metal cable.

Hearing his request, Yuffie joyfully smiled with her whole mouth and immediately jumped up to him, burning with the desire to help. Seating Garrett on a wooden chair, Alex stepped aside a step, and Yuffie incredibly deftly and quickly bound the merchant with a thin but very strong metal cable. Pulling another chair closer to himself, Alex turned it with the back forward and casually sat down.

Leaning with crossed arms on the wooden back, Alex thoughtfully reflected on exactly how he should deal with Garrett. While he was completely absorbed in his thoughts, Dean unhurriedly approached him and with a short nod wordlessly asked what the latter was going to do with this captive merchant. Slightly shaking his head from side to side, Alex made it clear to Dean that he himself had not yet fully decided Garrett's fate.

He would have completely not given a damn had Garrett managed to escape from the city—he would have been able to track this merchant at absolutely any moment as soon as he carved out free time for himself. But Alex definitely was not going to simply let go in all four directions the one who, even if slightly, had still spoiled his personal plans.

Rubbing a finger on his chin, Alex pulled a thin cigar from the pocket and unhurriedly lit it. Exhaling an aromatic bluish cloud of smoke, Alex suddenly grabbed Garrett's index finger and with a sharp, precise motion yanked his arm forward. Immediately after that in the silence of the bar rang out a nauseating, distinct crunch of breaking bones. Together with this sound Garrett's eyes widely opened in wild horror, and from his gagged throat a dull, choked moan of unbearable pain burst out.

When this sound rang out, absolutely all those present in the establishment instantly turned toward Alex and with shock noticed that Garrett's finger had been literally crushed and now hung limply bent at an unnatural angle. Having listened to Garrett's frantic attempts at a scream for a couple of short moments, Alex without hesitation delivered him a short lashing punch with a fist right to the nose, forcibly forcing him to shut up.

"And now be so kind as to shut up. If you continue to yell—I guarantee that I won't limit myself to one single finger. As you perfectly know, you have only twenty-one of them in total. And I'll with great pleasure crush the remaining twenty," Alex said in an absolutely calm and everyday tone, slowly bringing the smoldering tip of the cigar practically to Garrett's very eye.

"A… aren't there twenty of them?" Yuffie asked embarrassedly and with naïve confusion, examining and counting the splayed fingers on her hands.

"I'll explain to you somehow later… And now—you. Nod if you understood me absolutely clearly," Alex answered in a light, almost cheerful tone, briefly casting a cunning glance at Yuffie, after which he again turned to Garrett and bestowed upon him a soul-chilling gaze.

"Hmm-hmmh-mmh!.." Garrett howled frantically through the gag and began convulsively, continuously nodding his head, straining with all his might to move his face and eyes farther away from the dangerous light of the smoldering cigar.

"That's good then. I think I don't need to waste time at all and explain why exactly you ended up on this chair… And precisely for that reason you will right now have to pay with something very valuable for your vile act. There, where my friend and I come from, there is one rather interesting expression…" Alex began speaking in a soft, peaceful tone, smoothly and unhurriedly waving the smoldering cigar near Garrett's very face.

"Everything, bitch, has its price," Dean finished with a predatory smile, placing a heavy grip on the top of Garrett's head and completely depriving him of the possibility to move his head in any way.

"And now you'll have to pay the most corresponding price for the fact that you meanly subjected my friends to mortal danger. If, of course, you sincerely want to leave this place whole and relatively unharmed. So… what can you delight us with?" Alex asked in a cheerful tone, practically touching the smoldering cigar to Garrett's pale cheek.

"Hm-hmm-hmmmh!.." Garrett thrashed with renewed force and howled frantically, vainly trying to break free, but nothing worked for him because of Dean's steel grip.

"I think he really has something to tell us. Seeing how frantically he's yelling," Claudia said in an emphatically cold tone, standing next to Alex and expressively folding her arms on her chest.

"Well then, let's carefully listen to our new dear friend. I somehow don't feel like resorting to my old harsh methods at all when everyone is looking at me so intently and disapprovingly," Alex summarized with a cheerful chuckle, finally moving the smoldering cigar away from the face of the trembling Garrett.

To be continued...

(Guys, sorry for ending the chapter on a cliffhanger. Something urgent came up. Besides, it was going to end on a cliffhanger anyway—just at a different point. This way, I can jump straight into the events of the Fall instead of dragging things out. Or rather, I'll try to fit it all into a single chapter, which will be quite a challenge—after all, it's a massive event. It's pretty obvious what happens next, so I don't need to go into detail about it. That means I can go grab a bite to eat with a clear conscience. Peace, love, and London Bridge is falling down.)

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