Chapter 69 – Action Part 1

Chrissi’s memory was hazy. She just knew that she had sat down for a coffee with Melody and then things went blurry and now she was tied to a chair in an otherwise empty room.

“Finally. I almost thought we had put too much into your drinks.” A man walked around Chrissi from behind her.

“Who… where am I?”

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is what you know about the demons of Hell.”

“So… practically nothing?”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“Keep lying to him.” That was a familiar voice. “It’s me, Kuria. I will explain everything once I get you out of here, just play along and follow my instructions.”

Chrissi sighed. “I only know that they gave me sanctuary and cook good food. What else do you need to know?”

The man sighed in annoyance. “We will get what we need from you, don’t you worry. Just stay put, okay?” He grinned and left the room.

“Don’t answer verbally, just flex your right hand for yes and left for no. Do you understand?”

Chrissi balled her right hand into a fist.

“Good. So here is the deal. You and Melody got kidnapped. Melody is currently escaping on her own but you don’t have access to the same tools she has. The restraints are laced with some sort of teleportation-blocking substance. That means we can’t just get you out of here without removing them. I can help with that but there are cameras in this room. For some unknown reason, we also can’t magically locate you. Something in this building must be preventing that. I managed to slip into you via Melody, who is in the same building right now. Our connection is stronger than the block. Do you think you can covertly cut the restraints if I provide you with a razorblade-sized knife?”

Chrissi flexed her right hand again.

“Okay. I can also take over your body if necessary and try to rescue you that way. Flex both hands at once if you need me to do that, but I fear that these people might notice. I can conceal my presence as a demon if I am just talking and doing small things from inside your head but piloting your body around would reveal that there is a demon here to anything or anyone with a sense for magic. Still, it is an option as a last resort.”

Chrissi flexed her right hand once more before Kuria conjured a tiny knife between her fingers.

“I will remain here if you need anything.”

Chrissi didn’t respond but started slowly cutting through the ropes her hands were bound by.

Just as Chrissi had awoken to an empty room, so had Melody.

“The demon daughter is finally awake. I thought you’d be sturdier.” This was another man dressed in the same black suit.

“My apologies, do you want to try again? I can just leave and you can try to capture me again. I don’t have plans for today besides dinner at home and that’s still a few hours away. I have time for you.”

“So cocky… I will teach you your place. In due time.”

“Oh? Don’t you need to know what I think my place is first? Do you have a whiteboard?”

“I ask the questions here.”

“So far you haven’t asked a single one, you might want to start.”

“How did you manage to beat up two agents after we drugged you? You should have been knocked out instantly?”

“How did you manage to knock me out after that?”

“We tazed you.”

“Only once?”

“Five times.”

Melody looked suitably impressed. “Any less and I would have complained. You guys need to take this seriously, you know.”

“You are the one not taking this situation seriously. We are in control here and you will tell us everything you know about your demonic parents and how we can enter Hell.”

Melody crossed her legs, something that should be impossible with them tied to the chair. “My girlfriend has more control over me for three nights a week. The other three she fucks her other girlfriend and one is left for, oh you know, flexible people… plans… flexible plans. Anyway, going by what you know about how everything works, the best way for you to Hell is to shoot yourself, but you are obviously looking for a return trip too.”

“Tell me how to get into Hell and back.”

“I was getting there, don’t rush me. You people…” She shook her head playfully. “If you want to displace matter between two unconnected points, say in two separate universes, you need to create an in-between space.”

The agent looked a little out of his element but started taking notes.

“You following me?”

He nodded. “Yes, continue.”

“Creating that space is simple spatial manipulation, I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you how that works.”

“I would prefer if you did.”

“Okay, sure. Given that you know the resonance frequency of a universe’s spatial filaments, you can insert a perpendicular resonance into the local filaments to essentially create a spatial field that is, well, perpendicular to local space. If you then take the filaments of that new spatial field and create a perpendicular resonance in there that corresponds to a different universe, you create a connection between the original universe and the second one via this brand-new spatial field. Easy.” That was all made up.

“I see. You can then just travel through this space?”

“Well, no, it is twisted by ninety degrees after all. But you can make it traversable by either turning yourself perpendicular to this universe, which sucks in many fun ways, or find something that exists in both directions. A single quantum particle is enough to essentially allow normal existence to go into this twisted space.” Once again, Melody just made stuff up.

The agent continued to diligently take notes. “Okay, I take it you know how to make such a particle?”

“Oh I am good, but not that good. I know a few things though. Even for demons, this is a big machine. You know those chariots? They are that size for a reason. This takes a LOT of power. The underlying physics are simple enough but actually putting it all into practice is another thing entirely. Beyond even me…”

“That’s sad. But we could use you as leverage to press this knowledge out of the demons.”

Melody sighed and rubbed her forehead. Once again something that would be impossible if her arm didn’t just pass through the restraints like they didn’t exist. “You people are so dense. All this is in the open, just ask. There is an entire library full of knowledge that you can apply pretty easily. Just ask and stop kidnapping people for shit that just sits freely on a shelf. Tell you what, you pretend I knocked you out, I leave this room, rescue my friend and then go home. You stop troubling us and start using your brain and we all forget this happened, okay?”

“I can’t let you leave. I’m sorry.”

Melody stood up. “What you can and can’t do is debatable. What isn’t debatable is me leaving with my friend. It’s up to you if we all just forget this ever happened or if there are consequences. Leave us alone and nothing will come from this. Keep bothering us and things will go badly.” She conjured a dagger.

“I will advise my superiors. I will also now pretend you knocked me out. I don’t know where your friend is in here, sorry… and… uhm… have a good dinner.” The agent forced a smile as he stumbled away from Melody.

“Thank you and good luck with your superiors.” She left the room.

Chrissi had finally managed to cut through her restraints. Kuria dissolved the knife quickly. “Should I take over to get you out of this room?”

The human flexed the fingers on her right hand.

“Understood. Please do not resist, even if your mind wants you to. Try to relax and simply allow your body to move.”

Chrissi’s body shot up, kicked the chair into the agent beside her, pulled a sword from thin air, hit the agent unconscious with the pommel and slammed through the door into the hallway. Melody sauntered into the same hallway from a nearby room.

“Chrissi! Are you safe?”

“I think I am. Thanks to Kuria.”

“She’s here too?”

“In my head, yea. How did you get out?”

“Magic, literally. The ropes only prevented teleporting but not direct manipulation. The tattoos on my arm allow me enough magic to free myself and conjure this knife. It also allows me some other tools, like a plasma welder that was intended to be used for tinkering but… uhm… the enchantment has no limit on the flame.”

“You have a flamethrower tattoo?”

“Pretty much. It can also conjure tea and get us safety.”

“Kuria said something about this building blocking something. We are also still missing our purses and stuff.”

“Right, yes. Well, let’s keep searching through every room then. I guess they will keep our stuff with theirs in some central location. Likely a place they can easily exit the building from.”

“That makes sense, yes.”

“I also caught a glimpse out the windows, we aren’t that far from the city. I recognize the construction site across the street, we’re in the industrial zone one town over.”

“I imagined that they couldn’t have taken us very far. They don’t seem to have access to too much magical stuff, just the restraints and whatever damping field extends through the building.”

“True… but we better still be careful, they might have a surprise or two.”