Inferno ᬊ Sheol

Slavic clenched a fist when he felt the sting. He’s dealt with demons, needles weren’t so bad. At least they gave you a predictable kind of pain. “Appreciate it. It does feel better when you’re informed. Though, one thing that’ll always boggle my mind is how your blood works miracles. I’d imagine it’d do well in the market,” He cracked a joke as Keira finished, more for himself than any other reason. He thought it’d lighten up the mood and jokes were always good distractions.

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“I’m sure you have a handful of eager clients. Hopefully, these parasites don’t take up too much time.” Slavic chuckled, “The digital era is coming quickly. Things really are advancing up here too. I suppose we’re really growing old.”

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The name made him sigh heavily. Alakairus, huh? “Alakairus? Did you have an encounter? Heard he’s a headache so I do my best to avoid him. That’s a fight I’d steer clear of.” The man cleared his throat, “I wouldn’t say the same about Caine. He’s been bored for the past few weeks and got himself into a mess. Now that I think of it, I’m sure he was after big fish. Since his head came back on its shoulders, I think he was rather successful.” Slavic facepalmed just thinking of it. No wonder their superiors were a little moody. Caine targeted a powerhouse. “What a moron,” He murmured.

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Slavic paused for a moment, a bit taken back. Was Keira really going to make a mess in her kitchen? It was funny given how hard Slavic was trying to keep clean, after all, he had manners. But this was her house, if she wanted to spring open his mechanical parasite-infested arm, so be it.

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Slavic laughed softly at the question, “No. Of course not. How could I be?” He moved his good arm to help unbutton the cloth to show more of his shoulder. He’d have to do this from the base of the prosthetic. /Click/. Slowly, he dismantled his prosthetic part by part. After all, he’d need to be extra careful. Setting an explosive off by accident didn’t sound like the greatest thank-you gift to Keira. The arm fell off with a thunk, splitting into larger chunks. Pink-like organisms became obvious, cluttered around the magnetic parts of the arm. Slavic sighed, shaking his head, “Parasite robots, huh? I think I finally got it.”

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Having that weight lifted was a relief, it was enough to help Slavic realize his flesh was stinging. It was almost like the parasites dug their “claws” into the upper part of the prosthetic, a feeble attempt to resist the magnetic force. Fortunately, they had failed to actually infect more than that. “Seems I got lucky this time, those creepy crawlers almost got me,” He gave a half-grin. “I have you to thank, of course. Uh… And be careful, please. Who knows if those things got trackers. I'd never be able to forgive myself if something happened to you on behalf of my own stupidity."

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Slavic then pulled out a phone, putting it aside for Keira to insert her number, "I know I don't use it often but I'd appreciate any updates. It gets tiring changing it every now and then but I suppose it's somewhat useful. I'll be sure to fix the screen too just for this occasion." An old man like Slavic really wasn't the best with devices like that but it was a simple way for them to communicate for now.

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Slavic nodded slowly, “Yes. The host was human. It did give off some sort of demonic energy before it self-destructed but all that essence wasn’t from the host. I made sure to inspect the body. He was an ordinary man. Very fit too, which I found strange, given… he was full of parasites.” The man pushed the box towards Keira, “Keep it. I sure as hell don’t want to hold onto it. It’ll be hard to hide around our suited jaws.” The mention of his cannibalistic partner was enough to make him groan. “You’re the expert here anyway,” Slavic was quick to give a small smile, a sad attempt at masking his exasperation.

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The man pulled his scarf over a single shoulder, thinking hard. They already had enough on their hands but hell seemed to be prospering at a rate they’d never be able to keep up with. He could feel his head ache at the thought. At least he had a few stable people he could lean on sometimes, right? Now wasn’t the time to stress. He exhaled, rolling his stiff shoulders, “I could give you my arm too if you’d like. To… further your research. It’s not even doing its job properly after it got hijacked so I won’t mind. I’d just need your help to safely disassemble it from my already irritated flesh.”

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