The Red Hand

Chapter 275 – The Imperial March.

"Finally, we get to see this 'Secret Underground Base' that Daikael wouldn't shut up about." Hishya rolled her eyes as she, Akagi, Yumi, and Halifax entered the Demon's office. "So, where's the stairs?" She asked, jokingly.

{Knowing Akagi I'm half expecting her to point at some random part of the wall and just make a set appear out of thin air.} (Hishya)

"No stairs here, I'm afraid." Akagi laughed as she went over to a massive painting of Napoleon riding on his horse. "That's far too boring away, and you know me, I don't do boring." The Demon said as she grabbed the side of the floor-to-ceiling painting and pulled it open like a door, revealing a hidden elevator.

"I figured it would have scanners, traps, and all kinds of safety measures." Hishya commented on the relatively mundane method of hiding the door. "I'll have to take points off for simplicity, Akagi." She smirked.

"Oh?" Akagi smirked. "Here, just try and open the door." She closed the door, returning the painting to its normal place. “Go a head.” She dramatically motioned for her to try and open it.

"I know you're playing me here, but I need to see what happens." Hishya sighed as she walked over and gripped onto the edge of the painting.

*ZAP!*

"AWAWAWAWAWA!" Hishya was electrocuted like a fly touching a bug zapper and launched backward a few feet.

"Owch." Halifax flinched as she watched Hishya get knocked on her back. “That looked painful...”

"I made the mistake of touching it before Akagi added me to the approved list, so I can attest that it hurts a lot." Yumi gave a wry smile as she recalled being hit with a large blast of electricity.

"Alright... You win... No minus points..." Hishya said as she limply put her hand in the air, still knocked on her back. "I think my tongue went numb..."

"That was worth the investment." Akagi laughed as she opened the door again. "Anyone not on the list gets a nice zap zap if they try and get in, and as you can see even the Great Dragon Emperor isn't immune to a wee bit of electrocution."

{I don't think that was a WEE bit...} (Halifax)

"It sucked, sure, but I could push past that." Hishya said as she got back up.

"If somebody is stupid enough to ignore the very obvious warning and attempt to enter the facility, they'll be greeted by much more than a small shock." Akagi noted that it would get worse the more you tried to force your way in.

"I hope your little bug zapper doesn't hit the maids." Halifax gave a wry smile.

"It will only zap if you attempt to remove it from the wall." Akagi waved away the concern. "Not to mention that my office is largely off-limits anyway, and I don't have staff that come in here to clean." She motioned for the three of them to follow her into the elevator, which they did.

"And now we descend deep into the Evil Lord's fortress, never to be seen or heard again!" Halifax laughed.

"Speaking from experience?" Hishya asked as she stretched.

"I've fought one or two idiots who wanted to take over the world before." Halifax shrugged, recalling a certain evil duck. "Though usually, they don't invite me into their lair. I guess the red carpet treatment isn't so bad every now and again."

"Should I have baked cookies too?" Akagi rolled her eyes.

"I did actually make some earlier, funny enough." Yumi laughed.

"I had the one that was shaped like a puppy! It was so good!" Hishya said, very happy with Yumi's amazing baking skills.

"Not to self, keep small animals away from the lizard. She craves their flesh." Akagi laughed as they descended deep below the Earth.

*DING*

The elevator slowly opened reveal a large underground complex made entirely of metal in the distance. It reminded Hishya of many of the depictions of science labs in fiction, though the roiling magma that surrounded it wasn't something she expected.

"There's no active volcano here. So why is there lava down here?" Hishya asked as the four of them walked across a glass-domed sky bridge that connected the elevator to the facility, looking down at the magma below.

"There are springs here, remember?" Akagi pointed out that underground springs were created via hot rock, which was in turn made by underground magma veins. "Also, lava is when it's on the surface. Since we're underground, it's magma." She snickered as she corrected her.

"Well, I'm calling it lava, and you can't stop me." Hishya blew a raspberry at her.

"I can't believe you put all this below your home." Halifax sighed. "You really are a villain, aren't you?"

"Hey, sometimes the kitty likes a nice warm bath." Akagi replied. "And also, what kind of evil villain doesn't have a lair? That's like villain 101!"

{Great, now I want to see how a lava bath feels...} (Hishya)

“I think we should dedicate this lair to perfecting our kitty fluffing technique!" Yumi laughed, which caused Hishya and Halifax to do the same.

"I wouldn't be shocked if she had an entire science team on that project!" Hishya laughed.

"I'm just imagining a little robot arm being calibrated to give her optimal ear scratches." Halifax chuckled as she imagined a small Catkagi being pet by a dozen small arms.

"Maybe one day, but for now I've got bigger things to work on." Akagi rolled her eyes as they made their way to the opposite side of the bridge where Yumi swiped a card that opened the facility door.

"Well, I don't hear the screams of the victims you capture and experiment on. So that's a good sign I guess." Hishya commented as they walked down a set of metal stairs.

"You'll find those a few doors down." Akagi sighed. "But in all seriousness, this place is used for actual research and development. Imp and Imperial basically run the place, and I gave Daikael an entire floor to conduct her crazy experiments on."

{I imagine the nutty fox has exploded things more than once...} (Hishya)

"I also see a bunch of normal Humans down here." Halifax noticed that there were several groups of what she assumed were foreigners down here as well.

"Some of them work under Imp, while others are here as part of joint projects between me and other nations. Right now, we've got both American and Chinese researchers here working on a number of different projects." They were mostly doing things with magic, but a few work analyzing some of the magical gear from FWO in an attempt to replicate it.

"How the hell did you get both nations to agree to work in close proximity like this?!?" Hishya figured the Americans and Chinese would never agree to work together.

"When it became apparent that magical knowledge and other developments could handle some of their most pressing internal issues, such as water and energy, they quickly dropped all hostility and agreed to work jointly." Akagi explained that Shiru was actually leading a team of Chinese scientists who were dedicated to reversing climate and ecological deterioration and desertification.

As they walked toward Imperial's main lab, Akagi greeted the different scientists, answered a few of their questions, and provided a bit of input where she could. Generally, a small team of Dumetor staff handled what went on down here alongside Imp and Imperial, so Akagi didn't really need to monitor what was going on beyond ensuring resupply and the delivery of needed equipment.

"Now that I think about it, I've never seen Imperial since we got back." Hishya said as they stood outside a door labeled 'Imperial's Workshop of Wonders!'

"Who is this 'Imperial' anyway?" Halifax asked about the Gnome that she'd heard about a few times.

"He's ex-Libra, and Birdy grabbed him when I hit their base. Part of our deal was that he would work for me, and for the most part, he keeps his head down. He comes up to the surface from time to time, but the Deep Gnome in him seems to enjoy living down here anyway." Akagi shrugged as she opened the set of double doors. "Yo! Shortstack! Where you at?"

"I'm in here! You bloody' slave driver!" Imperial's deep husky voice came from an adjacent voice. "You better not have brought me more work to do! I'm already up to my pits with your bullshit!"

"Aw, but you like more work, don't you?" Akagi laughed as the four of them entered a large room where a small dark-skinned Gnome man was welding the top of what looked like a large archway.

"Considering you asked me to make a fookin interdimensional portal, I'd think you've already given me enough ta do!" Imperial flicked up his protective welding mask revealing his light gray beard and countless scars. "And I see you brought the wee lass." He looked at Hishya, giving her a warm smile.

"Hi, Imperial." Hishya sighed, she hadn't seen him in a while but was glad that he seemed to be his usually grumpy grandpa self. “And you're still calling me that even though I'm now taller than you?"

"You'll always be a wee lass ta me, lassy." Imperial laughed as he hopped to the ground. "Good ta see you again." He took off his glove and put his hand out for a handshake.

"I suppose it's good to see you too, old man." Hishya shook his hand. Imperial was part of the Assault Team, and alongside Imp, the two were responsible for most of their gear and other items. "Though I still don't get why you worked with Libra. Akagi never did answer that when I asked her." She'd asked a few times but always pushed it off.

"I just figured that it was best if the man himself answered that question." Akagi shrugged.

"Ter ain't much to tell ya, lass." Imperial sighed. "I felt useless when I got back from da game. I had a new body, but..." He shook his head. "There was nothing for this old man ta do in this world, so when Herlex came a knockin, I said ye."

"You felt like you had no place in this world." Halifax nodded in understanding, knowing that such feelings were common amoung the Libra members.

"I'm a man of action, and I'm not one to sit around idly, sleep in a rocking chair, and let the years go by." Imperial was a member of the British Military in the past and worked alongside Special Forces until he was forced into retirement due to hitting the mandatory retirement age. In his later years, he moved to Japan and got into VR games to pass the time, since his old and worn body couldn't keep up with his still very active mind.

"I know it twernt, a very good choice." Imperial said quietly. "A lot of people died because I gave those dumb kids the gear to kill with... But at the time... it felt nice to be needed..."

{Those kids were always just so happy ta get gear from me... And I was all to happy ta give it to dem...} (Imperial)

"I suppose at this point yelling at you would be pointless." Hishya sighed, realzing that it was long past the time to scold him. "You've already got your punishment by working for this one over here anway." She pointed to Akagi.

"HAH! Yeah, Akagi here reminds me of some of my superiors in da Army! Though I suppose working on all manner of new projects is fun. Especially since this time, they'll be used to save people, rather than ta kill." Hishya could tell that Imperial was genuinely happy that his work could do more than just take lives now. "Though I could do with a few more assistants down here." He tried to subtly hint to Akagi that he needed more help.

"I'd be happy to give you more help, but you keep rejecting all the candidates that come forward!" Akagi groaned. She'd tried giving him puppets as well, but he'd rejected them declaring them nothing more than useless junk.

"I need real engineers! Not those wet behind da ears kids that ya keep sending me!" Imperial grumbled.

{Said 'wet behind the ears kids' being highly skilled people with backgrounds in the most important Defense Industries on the planet...} (Akagi)

"I suppose that no matter the world, Gnomes tend to have unreasonably high standards for their work!" Halifax laughed.

“Yer got dang right!” Imperial smirked.

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