Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 623: Hollywood contract Part 1

"I have to say, I'm surprised you signed those papers as fast as you did. Aren't you afraid of it being a trap or something? You know what they said, when a deal seems too good to be true..." Allegro spoke casually on their way back to the governor's office.

"I wouldn't put my signature on anything sketchy. It's not by luck I got to where I am." Lister shrugged, then turned to his friend. "but you know me well enough which means you want to know what the deal was about. I'll tell you if you explain to me what the hell where you thinking by gifting those girls a bouquet of roses.

I swear to the flag, if you're trying to play with that guy's sister I'll kill you myself if he doesn't do it first."

"It's not what you think. I don't want to play with them, it was just an apology for leaving the concert early. Soulfire told me how disappointed they were that the concert was cut short when I left out of a sudden. I might be a holy rank hunter, but there's no way in hell I'm crossing that guy again." Allegro replied earnestly.

"Really? Not even if you got your power back?" Lister asked with a sharp gaze.

"I'm being serious. It's not that I can't defeat him, I just don't want to harm the person that saved my sister."

"Then perhaps I did rush a little when signing that contract." Lister clicked his tongue.

"I could understand if they took advantage of the situation and made the terms more favorable to them, but maybe you should have slept on it before signing the contract. You haven't been yourself lately and I'm worried." Allegro said with a worried tone after watching his usually composed friend acting so nervously.

"It's not that, it's not even tilted in their favor. If anything it's rigged in our favor. You see, the contract was a long list of services they would provide for us including helping you recover your strength, finding a holy rank hunter for the neighboring city and even finding out what happened to the zeppelins.

All they ask for is for rights to operate in the city of Hollywood under the current law and to be compensated fairly for their troubles. There was no hidden clause or traps anywhere, I made sure of it."

"I don't get it, why do you sound so worried then?" Allegro could barely contain his excitement when he heard they would attempt to help him recover his power.

"Because they twisted my arm into it and only now I'm starting to realize something. When they said they would find a holy rank hunter for the city of Texas I assumed they meant Jon Hunter since they have ties with him, but he still works for the Mapple corp. so they must have connections with another hunter of the same rank."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Allegro tilted his head.

"You don't get it. The fact that they offered to help you recover your flux means they know you're not at full strength. This could also mean that there's been a holy rank hunter draining half the energy emitted by this city under our nose without us knowing for who knows how long.

Them finding out what happened to the zeppelins means they'll get to exit the city with our permission, but there's nothing in the contract that forces them to return.

They are also not obligated to perform any of the services they offered, they simply listed a bunch of things they say they can do and that we should compensate them if they went through, but that also means they can just leave the city and forget about us."

"Then why did you sign it in the first place?"

"Because there was nothing wrong with doing it. Just as it didn't state any obligations on their part, our only responsibility is to make sure they're compensated fairly within our means."

"So you're just scared they won't fulfill their end of the deal..." Allegro sighed in relief.

"You still don't get it, my friend. They not providing the services their offer is a possibility, but that would only leave us in the same position we are now. What truly scares me to the point of questioning if I made the right decision when signing the contract is the exact opposite.

If they can actually do what they say they can, we might be dealing with people far more dangerous than anyone we've met."

While this conversation was taking place, a bottle of champagne was being popped in the Dungeon Raider's Pegasus. Instead of pouring it in glasses to share with the rest of the members, though, Nika lifted her elbow and drank its contents directly from the bottle.

"This one is mine, you're free to get your own with your own money." Nika replied to the many glares going her way. Even Uriel who disliked alcohol was taken aback by her breach of protocol.

"Popping champagne is a celebratory ceremony, it's not about drinking alcohol but to make an event memorable." Uriel explained the anthropology side of things.

"I did want to try it." Luna said in her monotone.

"You're too young for this," Nika patted Luna's head after finishing the bottle in a rush then turned to Uriel with reddened cheeks. "the only point of drinking can only be getting drunk."

"Forget alcohol, I'm surprised the governor signed the contract so fast. Did you threaten him or something?" Medusa who in spites of being present during the signing of the contract was unable to see how things went down asked.

"Not at all, it was all thanks to Luna."

"You're welcome." She replied politely.

"What did you do Luna?" Nika asked.

"No clue, I'm just following social conventions. My sister taught me when someone says 'thank you' you're supposed to reply 'you're welcome'."

"It's not what she did, but being around her for so long gave me an idea. Lister's office was neat and decorated with more taste than money, but it was also impeccable and everything was in their precise spot."

"You think he's a werewolf too?" Medusa gasped.

"Of course not, but he's definitely 'something'. I think it falls in the cathegory of obsessive compulsive disorder. At first I wasn't sure, but when I noticed the look he gave me when he saw I had his pen confirmed it. He wasn't angry that I took it, he actually was relieved. Probably because not knowing where it was was driving him nuts." Uriel explained trying to hold a malevolent chuckle.

"So, now we have them right where we wanted them." Nika explained nodding her head as though she played a part in Uriel's ploy, which wasn't the case.

"Not really, but we're free to move about at our own pace. We can now resume hunting while they look for your sister in our stead." Uriel took a sip from a can of his energy drink and looked outside the window.

They were still docked in the same hangar, but now they were free to fly away anywhere they wanted without triggering the city's defenses. The same walls that a couple hours ago seemed like a cage now gave him the same sense of safety it gave to the rest of the citizens. Now he wasn't inside the city because he had to, but rather because he wanted to.

As much as Uriel would have loved to send his crew to hunt for cryptids again, they were all tired after a long week of work under Medusa. Upgrading the zeppelin wasn't cheap, but it was necessary to give the impression of power and wealth to make Lister more inclined to see them as partners rather than pawns.

Despite Lister's underhanded methods against them, Uriel understood where he came from. Lister's actions had been cautious and carefully planned with logic and reason, something that reassured Uriel it was nothing personal.

The governor's cold manner of thinking was also the reason why he knew he could trust them because as long as they could both benefit from cooperating, the governor would have no reason to get in their way.

Had Uriel lost a single member of his crew, the story would have been different and things would have most likely taken a more violent course. But since not even his Jaguar spirit was lost, the only side who took losses was the governor's.

The rest of the crew didn't understand much of what happened nor did they care in the slightest. All they wanted to do was to eat and drink to their heart's content and then tuck into bed for as long as they could.

It was only natural since lifting the alloy plates used to reinforce the hull was a mammoth task even to ascended hunters like most of them, but after putting so much effort into the ship it made everyone seem like they were also a part of it.

Thanks to everyone's efforts the Pegasus had gone from a means of transportation to a headquarters, not just in name, but also in the heart.