Can they just be worms?

Maybe the Tea Party liked collecting worms, slugs, or whatever these things were. Circus Mustache definitely sounded like he had overgrown maggots crawling up his ass, feeding on his assholeness. That's an excellent line; I did come up with the most creative things when stressed out. And the thought of wading through hordes of parasite-infested tentacle zombie bullshit...AGAIN...was super fucking annoying.

Of course, these are the same fucking parasites in my condo!

I hadn't seen how the attack on my former condo back in La Esperanza began, but I figured it would've been something like this. I spotted tons of broken canisters inside an elevator on my floor. They were on the pushcart I used to move my original Erind body around while in my Pino form.

And how many worms in canisters were there in the world? It wasn't like these were sold at the local grocery store. These were the same parasites the 2Ms were using—that they created, according to Stella—which meant that the Tea Party and 2Ms were connected.

"Quiet down, everyone!" Praying Man said, pushing away the idiots who tore down the projector screen. "For the love of the Mother Core, quiet down! We should watch the video because this is a matter of life and death.”

"Erind, is something wrong?" Deen whispered. Her brows furrowed as she leaned close to me.

Something must've shown on my face. Probably my annoyance peeked? "Uh...ye-yes," I stammered. Fearful? Anxious? Let's go with a worried expression. "I-I think I know what those things are."

"Really? What?"

"My condo...my old condo..." I shivered as I trailed off. I didn't need to elaborate. Deen's eyes widened, realizing what I meant.

"Settle down, settle down, children," Circus Mustache said. "But if you are already settled down because you're well-behaved, then ignore that. I assumed the reveal of our special guests on your tables would cause some of you to react, perhaps violently, so I paused to give you time to digest the situation and compose yourselves."

"Are you sure?" Deen said. She noticed Imani subtly shuffling closer toward us, trying to listen to our conversation. Deen lowered her voice. "They're...those things in your condo?"

I shrugged. "I guess so? I'm not sure...but what else could they be?"

"Listen to me if you want to leave this building," Circus Mustache continued. "Leave alive, mind you. I'm not doing some wordplay trick that you're leaving this building in body bags or in pieces. I'm a man of my word, and I swear you’ll be able to leave alive if you listen to me."

There was murmuring among us; those words made our whole group calm. No more outbursts or fighting. These people wanted to learn how to survive. But it was stupid of them to believe that this terrorist was telling the truth.

Leave alive?Yeah, right. More like leaving the building as zombie-parasite thingies—that counted as alive.

And then the police would open fire. They'd also call the BID to help scrub this place clean of inhuman beings. I supposed that Circus Mustache would still be a man of his word, as he claimed, if the people-turned-monsters died outside the convention center.

"I bet you like to hear that, don't you?" Circus Mustache winked at the camera. "I'm sure you're all listening to me with both ears now."

With a frown, Circus Mustache looked to his side; someone off-camera was talking to him. The microphone didn't quite pick up what that person said, but it sounded like a female voice.

Circus Mustache scowled and faced the camera again. "Fine, fine, I'm not going to play around anymore. I'll keep this simple, people. We're doing something in this building that's none of your business. A couple of hours? Maybe more? No matter how long it takes, we only ask you to stay in your assigned rooms, put your hands on your laps, and be good boys and girls. You can sing songs if you like."

"We should stop what they're doing." That was Deen, of course. It was in her DNA to say that kind of stupid thing.

"Mom first," I reminded her.

"Uh-huh, we'll get your Mom. Then we'll save these people and stop the Tea Party's evil plans, okay?"

I nodded. I didn't clarify that I agreed only to the first part of what she said to me. After getting my Mom, I wouldn't give a rat's ass about anybody else. Rat’s ass? Was that the first time I used that idiom? What’s a rat’s ass?

Circus Mustache spoke, "You're very much welcome to try breaking the doors and windows of your rooms. But I have my eye on you. There's a camera on top of the boxes on your tables watching your every move." He must be referring to the small bump on the metal crate flashing red light. "You'll find out soon enough what these disgusting darlings can do. The same thing will happen if you try to break the camera or do anything to the box. And what will happen? It's a secret...but no one's stopping you from finding out."

"No one touch it!" Praying Man loudly said. "I'm sure they can remotely control it and release those ungodly creatures if we don't follow their instructions."

"No one's dumb enough to touch that," someone called out.

Window Guardian took the seat right in front of the metal box. He leaned back on the swivel chair and placed his feet on the table. The thick soles of his boots thumped on the hardwood. "And I'm making sure it goddamn stays that way." He must really like guarding stuff.

"But I hope you don't try to find out," Circus Mustache said. "We had to pay through the nose for those ugly fat slugs. And we'd rather not use them on you, so kindly don't give us a reason to. No offense, but you are not worth the money we paid for those disgusting creatures. You get to keep your lives, and we don't waste resources. A good deal, right?"

These fuckers bought parasites from the 2Ms?

When I encountered Stella in my Pino form, she mentioned that they were 'field-testing' the parasites at my old condo, may my condo rest in peace. She also told me they were weapons smugglers before or something. Perhaps other bad guy organizations, impressed by how the 2Ms' parasites 'performed' in La Esperanza, bought some for themselves?

Wait...is the Tea Party the 2Ms' rival organization in Vegas?  Stella's underlings accused me of being sent from Vegas, and I sort of went with that misunderstanding as Pino. I supposed business was business, and the Tea Party really wanted the parasites.

Not sure what these parasites were supposed to be for, but these assholes should’ve gone for bombs instead of these creepy things. Bombs sounded cheaper, from what Circus Mustache said. But then again, I had no idea what their aims were other than stealing hi-tech stuff.

Maybe it was a bad guy thing? If they wanted to terrorize people, these parasites would undoubtedly be the top choice compared to a bomb.

Circus Mustache went on, "After the Tea Party is done with our business, we will release you batch by batch to keep things organized. There are so many of you, and we lack human resources, so please understand our situation. You will hear the ringing of a bell when it's time for your group to exit this place. Think of it as the school bell ringing for class dismissal time.

"The door of your respective rooms will open, and voila! You're free to go! Leave the building and continue going about your day. If you want to stay around and check if your loved ones are among the dead, be my guest. I’d even suggest taking pictures on your way out as souvenirs of this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Anything you want! But before that, just stay in your rooms and be well-behaved."

Everything sounded sketchy as fuck.

Before, Circus Mustache spoke of ‘shopping’ for stuff here, which meant stealing. But now, he was talking about this mysterious ‘business’ of theirs. They had something else planned.

Furthermore, the Tea Party wouldn't go through the trouble of dividing all the hostages into groups and putting them in rooms with parasites if they only wanted to secure us, as Circus Mustache claimed. A hundred percent, they were going to turn people into zombie mutant thingies.

I know what their escape plan is! I gasped a tiny bit which made Deen glance at me.

Shaking my head and then flicking my eyes back to the video, I wordlessly told her that we continue watching until the end before I shared my thoughts. Circus Mustache wasn't saying anything important, mostly just rants about how the Tea Party was doing the world a favor. I took the time to consider if I was right about my suspicion.

The Tea Party was going to stall hostage negotiations, or whatever was happening with the police right now, until they built up a vast monster army—the parasite zombies did mutate into stronger creatures given time. I think they also evolved when they ate each other. When these asshats were ready to leave, they'd let the monsters out into the city.

The police, expecting to fight a group of terrorists, would be ill-equipped to fight a horde of monsters. Maybe the police could handle a couple dozen of them, but not a couple of hundred. And I wouldn't be surprised if the Tea Party released parasites in other locations too, mimicking the 2Ms setting monsters loose around EFU Medical Center and the police station where Johann worked.

Amid the chaos, the Tea Party could easily escape.

With monsters rampaging in the city, the police would have their hands full. They would be hard-pressed to chase a criminal organization with a stupid name when their priority should be saving innocent civilians getting chomped by monsters.

Fortunately, the Tea Party hadn't turned people into monsters yet; they weren't done with their ‘business’.

But what could it be? The goal of the 2Ms at La Esperanza was to make an Adumbrae Titan or something evil villainy like that. Escaping the police after a heist seemed incredibly tame in comparison.

Is the Tea Party also planning to make an Adumbrae Titan? They surely lacked originality if they’d go for the same thing as the 2Ms.

Deen might be right that we should stop the Tea Party from doing...stuff.

Mom and the Greaves corporate bigwigs were separated from the rest of us. I was hoping that'd keep her safe, that she wouldn't get turned into a parasite because the Tea Party deemed her important. But if an Adumbrae Titan were going to show up here, Mom would be in grave danger.

And if I find Mom as a zombie...

"Erind?" Deen nudged me with her elbow, snapping me out of my thoughts. "It's over. Are you okay?"

I didn't notice that the video had already ended. A picture of Circus Mustache’s face with a speech bubble saying, "Wait for your turn," continued to be projected on the wall.

No more shouting, no more arguments. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement that everyone would follow Circus Mustache's instructions and simply wait for our group's turn to be 'released'. Promising safety and freedom if no one attempted to escape was a genius idea to keep hostages pacified.

Tesh and Kiera were whispering to each other, probably thinking of calling off our plan. Plan to plan—we didn’t have an actual escape plan yet. Praying Man was telling people to relax; he tried to get people to start praying to the Mother Core with him. Window Guardian told off some curious guys who wanted to examine the metal crate with parasites.

Imani, her hands clenched, sighed as she examined our group. What could she be thinking about?

She turned to me and met my eyes.

I dropped my gaze and said to Deen. "Ye-yes, I'm okay." After a pause, I honestly added, "I'm just thinking about Mom." That went without saying, but this was more of a reminder for Deen because I could guess what she was thinking.

Deen grasped my arm and led me away from the others. "We need to be careful how we act." Behind her, I noticed Imani tentatively approaching us. "I know you're worried about your Mom, Erind. But we shouldn't act rashly because we'll endanger these people."

I resisted the temptation to roll my eyes. This was precisely what I expected from her. If it were just me, knowing what the Tea Party had in store for us, I'd be busting out of here to find Mom. Fuck these other people. I had my own life to worry about.

But in Deen's eyes, my Mom's life didn't outweigh eighteen others. She wouldn't agree to sacrifice everyone else to save only Mom. And I needed Deen's cooperation to protect my Erind body after I turned into Pino and for her future-seeing powers to navigate this situation as safely as possible.

"Tell me what you know about those worms," Deen said. "We'll figure out—" She stopped talking because I was shaking my head. She looked over her shoulder. "Imani? What is it?"

"Um, sorry for interrupting," Imani said. "But I have to continue what I was about to tell you earlier before we were interrupted. It's really, really important. You see, I'm also—"

"I think that can wait later," Deen interrupted her. "Erind and I need to talk—"

"Deen, it's fine," I said. Before planning anything, we should first find out what Imani truly was. Depending on what she'd say, I'd know if she was a spy, as I suspected, or not. And we'd also be alerted if the Tea Party already knew about us. "Let's hear it, Imani."

"Okay, this might come out of left field," she said, "And I really don't know how to start this, but here goes." She took a deep breath. "We're all on the same side."

"Huh?" I said. She needed to be more specific than that because I was on a lot of sides. Pino was even on the Tea Party side because I pretended to be hired by the criminal syndicate here in Vegas.

Imani leaned closer and whispered, "I'm working with the Professor too. I also fight Adumbrae like the two of you."

"What?!" Deen exclaimed. Some hostages looked at us. I wanted to cover my face with my palm in exasperation. She bent down and whispered, "Uh, I mean...what are you talking about?"

"It's kinda late to play dumb, Deen," I said with a nervous laugh, even though I wanted to wrangle her neck. Way to expose us, my stupid best friend.

I didn't immediately react to Imani's revelation because it wouldn't surprise me if the Tea Party had intel about the Professor, and she was using it to get closer to us. We were a threat to the Tea Party. If she could fool us into thinking we were allies, she could neutralize us when we least expected it. More than half of me still suspected her of being a mole.

But another possibility arose—the secret organization behind Dario could've sent her. They wouldn't care about me, but they'd certainly care about Deen. This would explain why Imani was interested in Deen over me.

"You and Erind are part of a group in La Esperanza that fights Adumbrae," Imani told Deen. Somehow, it irked me that she faced her instead of me. "You are working with the Professor. He gives you supplies such as weapons...and also Suppressors and the Diluters—yes, I know what those are, the blue and red vials. Unfortunately, I don't have any on me to show as proof.”

Deen’s forehead wrinkled, but she didn’t say anything. Good thing she was guarding her words now.

As for me, I wasn’t still sure which of my two guesses was correct. There was another possibility—could Imani be someone innocent that this Professor asshole tricked into becoming a ‘hero’ like Myra and the rest?

“I know this is a big shock," Imani pressed on. "Believe me; I was just as surprised as you were when I knew there were other groups. Unlike your situation in La Esperanza, my friends and I fight the Adumbrae in this city—mostly just the criminal gangs dealing with the Adumbrae black market. We do our best, but we're not as accomplished or experienced as you guys.”

"Do you also have...?" Deen placed her hand on her chest where her artificial Core should be. She didn’t finish her sentence, possibly testing Imani if she knew about it.

"An artificial Core?” Imani shook her head. “I don’t have one. There are four of us in our group. Only two have artificial Cores. Yes, I know about artificial Cores because we also work with the Professor. And I also know that you have one while Erind doesn't. I hope that’s enough to convince you.”

Hearing her story, it was probably safe to say Imani wasn't with the Tea Party. Not sure if that was a good thing though. I asked her, “But why now?”

“Erind’s right,” Deen agreed. “Why weren’t we told that there are other groups like yours? All this time, we thought it was only us at La Esperanza and the Professor fighting the Adumbrae.”

“I also only recently knew about this,” Imani said. “Just a few days ago, in fact.” She explained that the Professor didn't want the different groups with artificial Cores to know about each other for security reasons. "The Professor decided to tell us about you guys in La Esperanza because—"

"Because of Deen," I finished. Everything was starting to make sense.

Different groups with artificial Cores bolstered Myra's theory that there was a huge secret organization behind Dario and that the story he sold to us was bullshit. It'd also make sense that they'd look for Deen, given that she had a powerful ability. They probably had a mini-heart attack when Deen suddenly left La Esperanza.

But how did they know so fast? Imani already knew about us just a few hours after we entered Vegas.

"Uh...you're right," Imani said. "We were tasked with protecting Deen from the shadows and not reveal ourselves, but..." She gestured around us. "We're in this situation now. I choose to talk to you and tell you the truth because we should work together.”

“Work for what?” Deen cautiously asked.

“We should work together to fight the Tea Party and save the hostages."

Damn it! She's a Deen clone!