Vices and Maces

Chapter 15: Well At Least the Factory Reflects Virgil's Mental State Now

CW: blood

Four bombs total had gone off in the factory, six were disarmed. One of them was planted in the basement, another planted near a furnace that heated up metal for them. Another one was placed near weapons that had been finished, and are now destroyed. The last was placed on the opposite side of the building near crystals and other magical items.

There were already teams being sent to clean and fix up the rooms, who knows how long they'll take though. Luckily Virgil's room and lab were left untouched, same with the mini kitchen he had set up in his lab. He was still planning on living there since it wasn't like he had anywhere else to go.

Right now he was in the room with the destroyed furnace. He was less upset about the weapons that were lost, and more upset over the supplies and tools that were destroyed. He was leaning against the wall to ease the pain in his injury. He had conveniently left out the injuries he got during the attack when he reported back to Black. Trusting that man with any information of weakness was just reckless.

A crew was already in there to clean up, but it would take weeks to get a new furnace in. This was a huge set back, but it could have been worse. It was still a loss to Black, and he was pissed.

"Virge-" A hand touched his shoulder, making him jump. He looked over to see Janus there, a worried and angry look on their face. Mostly worried. They looked masculine today, but Virgil could never be sure.

"Hey Janus," Virgil sighed, crossing his arms to hide that he wanted to hold his side. The cut burned but he was able to stitch it up.

"This place is a wreck, are you okay?"

"I wasn't hurt, just a few bruises from the explosion." And from the earth fae. "Nothing bad."

Janus squinted at him. "I'm going to pretend I believe you for now, but only because you're standing."

"Says the one who was almost poisoned."

"Oh there was nothing in my system, I'm fine. Besides, I want to know why you didn't call me?"

"I didn't have the time, I had to disable as many bombs as I could. I thought I could handle it. I'm just lucky I wasn't caught in a blast."

"You're lucky you can't be burned. Look, why don't you stay at my place for a few nights? I can talk to Black and-"

"No! No talking to Black, not right now. I'm doing everything I can to avoid him because he's angry, and I don't want to be the one for him to take his anger out on. And I definitely don't want that to be you. Besides, they had their little attack and got the message across. If Black doesn't take down that bounty, then they can easily find and break into one of their bases to attack."

"And what if they decide to attack here again? What if you're caught up in it?"

"Then I'll call you or handle it. I still have my bracelet." Virgil lifted his arm and pressed the button, the purple light flashing on both of them. He pressed it again to turn it off, crossing his arms again and holding his side. "I promise you, if I'm attacked again, I'll call you."

"You better. Now what's wrong with your side?"

Virgil's heart dropped and he moved his hand. "What do you mean? Nothing's wrong?"

"Then why are you cradling your side? Liar."

"Okay so I got in a small fight with one of them, but it's just bruised, I'm fine. I haven't been in a lot of fights in my life, so sorry if I can't handle a bit of pain. It's no big deal."

"Uh huh, then why don't we see this bruise of yours?"

Virgil was about to protest when he was saved by someone else calling him, "Virgil!" The two of them looked over to see Melany rushing over. "Virgil, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Melany. I wasn't hurt badly."

"That's good to hear. Though, Black is furious so I suggest you-"

"Avoid him? Already being done."

"Just until he calms down. I have a feeling he's going to be around here more often to make sure the reconstruction goes well."

"Hmm, fun," Virgil sighed.

"Maybe I should stay here for a few nights to help out," Janus suggested.

"No, it's fine, I'll clean up this place as best as I can, and there are already people here to help." Virgil gestured to the people who were carrying out scrap metal and sweeping up soot.

"I just can't believe they actually tried to attack this place," Melany sighed. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that on your own."

Virgil rubbed his hand, the one that held the ice crystal the night before. It was no longer frozen, but it did hurt the night before. "I was able to handle it, even if I made a mess."

"Six out of ten isn't bad! I'm proud of you for holding your own. I'm going to go find Black and see if I can calm him down before he goes on a rampage or something. Take care of yourself, Virgil!"

"Bye Mel." Virgil waved.

Janus was ignoring the conversation for the most part as they looked over Virgil. They reached out and put their hand through the hole of Virgil's jacket on his side, accidentally touching the injury and making Virgil jolt at the pain.

"Hey!" he argued.

"Ha! There's blood on this! Just a bruise, huh?"

Virgil stepped back enough to pull his jacket away from Janus. "Oh it's fine. Now since you offered to help clean up, let's just move on."

"Uh uh, you said that you can handle it on your own, with this team that Black brought of course. I'm going to get some lunch, so bye bye Herakles." Janus turned and walked out of the room.

"Bye asshole."

~~~

"A pet dragon?" Roman asked.

"There was another guy there, human I think," Sal told him. "But yeah, you four lost to a pet dragon?" She looked back at her team.

"Hey! It was a smart pet dragon! Crawling through vents and using ice crystals," the mouse traited pouted.

"But he was so cute!" the nymph said. "Oh so tiny, and big shiny eyes! Just like a scaly puppy!"

"A fire breathing scaly brat," the dwarf complained. "Shot a bunch of fire extinguishers at me!"

"But four of the bombs went off?" Roman asked.

"Yup, we think so. One of them was in the basement where they held a lot of their supplies," Sal told him.

"That's good. I'm glad you all made it out safe. Hopefully we created enough damage to send a message to their leader. If not... Well we can just attack again."

"I'm sure they'll have tighter security next time, it'll be harder to get in and plant the bombs."

Roman straightened his shirt. "Then I'll go with you."

"Are you sure? If there are more people there next time, it could be more dangerous."

"Please, Daffodil, you and I both know that I can handle taking care of a few obstacles."

Sal smiled. "I could never forget."

"Oh, and please, let's just keep this between the six of us. For now at least, I don't want Poisoned Thorn to be involved. Stealth missions are not his specialty, and he'll be upset if he finds out he can't go."

"That's Thorn for you. Don't worry, we won't tell. I just hope it won't come to that."

"I do too, but if either of us are attacked again, then we strike back."