(7.2) Ball Breaker

Chapter 7, Part 2

“How is that even possible?” I asked. “How in the hell does someone manage to construct an underground facility in the middle of a Las Vegas suburb?”

He opened one of his normal eyes then, glanced at me and then rolled it, making an irritated sound. “I don’t know James, but I would boil it down to one of three options. Option A: It was dug before Vegas was built. Option B: Magic, or option C, which is more than likely the case, all of the above. Now then, my eye is starting to cramp, would you like to hear what they’re saying or can I close the connection?”

“You can do that?” I asked.

“I take it you’re not big on scrying then.”

“I’m not a fan of the fancy forms of magic. I prefer the loud and flashy stuff.”

“Alright well let’s make this quick,” he said. His main eyes closed again and he began mutter some more cantrips in Esperanto. A few minutes passed while waiting for the sound to start coming in, during which I realized that the pacing woman was actually Angel. She appeared to be answering questions from the heroes, repeatedly referencing something off screen.

During her apparent briefing, when one of the heroes seemed to be stepping out of line she produced a little black box and point it him. The amusing part about this being that while it was pointed at a hero, that person would hold their neck and begin convulsing.

The sound started in just as she’d stopped pointing the device at Dmitri the Russian.

“Damn you woman! Why do you keep shocking me?!” He yelled, grasping at his neck.

“Because you need to learn that there are higher people on the totem pole that you have to listen to,” she replied, turning her back to him. “Now, to recap, you’re going to be taken to your new rooms when we’re done here, and then tomorrow night you’re going to head out to investigate the reports we’ve been getting about the hotel. Any questions?”

“Just one.” Dmitri said, rising from his seat. “Can I at least keep a pistol?”

“How many different ways does she have to say it dude?” Piped up Sam the Nerd. ”No, negative, iie, nein, niet, non, no way jose. Jesus man, let it go so we can go to fucking bed.” This set off Dmitri and the two quickly began arguing.

In Russian.

Angel on the other hand simply sat down and pressed her fingers to her temples, seemingly tired of arguing with the group. Moments later, two men that had to have some giant nestled away in their family trees ducked into the room. Dmitri tried to put up a fight but ended up being manhandled out of the room by the two of them. The rest simply got up and left the room, leaving Angel alone with her headache.

Tom zoomed the ball in to get a better view of her, and after a few seconds, she got up and walked off screen, returning to the table with an incredibly large bottle of alcohol that was already half empty. She uncapped it and took a good long slug. The kind that would make a hard-drinking Irishman go under the table.

“Damn it James,” she whispered, laying her head down.

“What did I do?” I thought to myself.

Her head immediately whipped up and began looking around. After a few moments, her gaze settled onto us as a fog settled over her eyes, giving them the appearance of pure whites.

I was about to ask Tom if she was looking at us when all of a sudden he toppled backwards over his chair screaming. All of his eyes were open wide in terror as blood began trickling from them. He soon began clawing at his eyes, his screams reaching a pitch that caused me to cover my ears. His crystal ball shattered, along with every other glass object in the room.

When the screaming subsided, Eyeless Tom lay still.