'What is this?! A PITY PARTY?'
As Patty walked through the door to see the group of people sitting on the couch in the living room of Jon, Pethant, and Ally's shared apartment, that was her first reaction. Her face became redder than an apple, and she turned to Jon before dragging him angrily towards the corner of the room.
'What's the matter?' Jon asked, not resisting as he walked with her.
'What's with all of the people here!' Patty asked with a blush, and yet her fiery glare is clearly felt, 'you asked me if I had any plans for dinner! What is this?'
'I thought you wanted to come with us to the Underworld right, they are the group! I thought we should all meet and get to know each other for a bit.' Jon said with an innocent look on his face, 'You asked me to bring you along, right?'
'Rig....right....' Patty said, throwing Jon's hand away and turning around to hide her embarrassment. Then, she took a few deep breaths in and out and walked out back into the room with a faced of confidence.
Jon thought Patty would have overcome her social anxiety over the years, particularly being the CEO of such a successful company. However, he did not consider the fact that she had been working with nothing but robots all these years, which didn't exactly give her the right social tools for situations such as this.
'So this is the mystery guest you are bringing, master?' Pethant asked, standing up from the full couch and offering his seat to the lady. The couch is by no means small, but Ally was lying across on it, which took up the majority of the space. Pethant was sitting between herself and Bones, and when Patty sat down in the space in between, Ally the curious android immediately pushed herself up and got close to the newcomer.
'Yeah, how's the food?'
'All ready and kept warm.' Pethant said, 'I have learned much about the art of making curry, master. They are great not just in taste, but also in nutrition.'
'Glad you liked it.' Jon smiled and slapped Pethant across in the arm before heading over to the kitchen, 'Ally! A hand please!'
'Yesssss-my-love!' Ally replied cheerfully as she flipped over the couch and skipped her way towards her boyfriend. Then, she reached out with both hands and split them into even smaller hands, each one grabbing onto a dish and picking it up effortlessly. Jon had to look away for a moment as the various hands reminded him of the unpleasant memories at United Networks.
Back on the couch, Bones and Patty sat awkwardly next to each other. At last, Bones was the first one to cave into the silence.
'I am Bones, a private investigator.' Bones said, nodding towards Patty who seemed rather out of it.
Then, her soul returned to her body five seconds later and she replied at last, 'I am Patty! I work at United Networks.'
Looking towards the deep eyes of Bones, she realized immediately that he didn't believe her fully. Letting out a chuckle, he looked down at his hand.
'I don't suppose that will suffice for both of us.' Bones said, rubbing his long fingers against one another, 'I am also the last member of the TEN FINGERS. Nice to meet you.'
'You...you are right...' Patty said, lowering her voice, 'I made United Networks....actually.'
Letting out a smile, Bones reached out with his hand, 'let's find the truth together then. I look forward to working together.'
As Patty reached her hand out too, Jon's voice cut through the room.
'Dinner's ready!'
The five gathered around the dinner table, and what was once plenty for the trio to sit around is now a tight fit for the five. However, as a wise being once said, THREE MAKES A TEAM AND FIVE MAKES A PARTY.
Jon, Ally, Pethant, Bones, and Patty sat in a circle in this order around the table, and as Ally lifted the covers and lids off each of the dishes, the first dinner of the party officially began.
Pethant took initiative in the distributing of drinks, and Bones was immediately spotted trying to mix a bit of extra content into the juice that Pethant was pouring into the cup, but nobody said anything.
'Alright, rounds of introductions!' Finally, Jon mustered up the courage to break the ice, 'I am not one for social interactions, but if I don't do it, nobody will.'
Ally slurped her bowl of noodles rather loudly as she looked around the room that's silent otherwise.
'Good idea, Master.' Pethant said from across the table, 'let's start with names, fun fact, and how we got to know master! I am Pethant Ouph, I am a pro fighter turned cameraman and I got to know master because he stole one of my jobs but still gave the credit to me for some reason...'
'Really?' Bones lets out a little chuckle as he gobbled down on his DIY cocktail, only to draw the unwanted attention from the others at the table.
'Me-me-me! I-go-next!' Ally said, wrapped her arms around Jon's neck and giving him a ramen flavored kiss on his cheek before continuing, 'My-love-saved-me-from-my-imprisonment. I-am-Ally-Androida, and-I-am-my-love's-girlfriend, or-wife-depending-on-which-document-you-are-looking-at.'
'You are married?' Patty exclaimed loudly before realizing her own overreaction, 'I mean....cong....congratulations...I guess.'
'Hahahaha not yet not yet...' Jon said, scratching his head and poking Ally gently in the face, 'you smell like ramen, Ally...'
'Delicious-ramen-that-my-love-made!!!'
'Alright, I guess I will go next.' Bones said with some liquid courage inside of his bloodstream. He stood up from the table and towered over the rest of them without realizing that none of the others actually stood for the self-introduction, 'I am Bones Skinner, the worst and weakest of the TEN FINGERS, and a failing private detective that's too skinny to get the girl I liked, and I got to know Jon because I saw you hanging out with Freya at the gallery! Explain yourself after Patty's done her introduction!'
'You-like-Freya?' Ally asked, 'I-fought-her-once! Both-her-and-Imogen-together!'
Bone's eyebrows rose up to such a large extent that Jon didn't think it was physiologically possible, and he leaned forward to look at the silvery girl more carefully, 'and you lived to tell the tale? Impressive...'
'To be honest, they weren't taking it seriously at all.' Jon butted in again, and Ally complained about him ruining her image in front of the rest of the party.
In the meanwhile, Patty was left on an island as the other four burst into conversations between themselves.
'Yo, it's your turn now.' Bones said, turning his head towards Patty who's face is redder than even his very own.
'I am Patty, and I work for United Networks.' Patty said, 'I was classmates with Jon at University.'
'I-heard-you-two-had-a-nice-conversation-in-my-love's-visit-a-few-days-back?' Ally asked, 'was-it-fun?'
That was what Jon told the rest of the group about his little visit to the headquarters of United Network? Patty looked towards Jon who winked back at her.
'Yeah, I think it will be worthwhile putting all of the information we have together at some point.' Patty said, 'I am not sure dinner is the best timing for this though.'
'Don't ya worry about it.' Bones said, 'The android's a fast learner, I work intoxicated half the time, and the rest already know what's up...'
So talk the party did. Patty talked about all of the information she has collected regarding the current status of the Red Blob, which is essentially a slightly different version of the Red Compound that was once used widely in S Prime. Then, she talked about the potential of upper-level involvement and her concerns with Freya leading Jon into a deadly trap at the Edge. She was afraid that Bones might take it the wrong way, but to her surprise, he appeared oblivious to the fact.
'Bones, you okay with facing off against Freya if she is indeed behind it all?' Pethant was the one to ask the obvious question, and Bones lets out a sigh.
'It won't be the first time my eyes deceived my brain.' He said, leaning back into the chair and dangling his long arms behind it, 'Don't worry about me....'
After Patty shared all that she knew, Jon and Pethant then chimed in from a slightly different angle about the trafficking and kidnapping of superhumans in S city, the experiments to create more heightened generations, and the trading of Red Blob between countries.
The network of the Red Blob stretches from all the way up in S Prime and outwards to cities in the rest of the world, and when everyone started to put the big picture together, it became clear that something big is about to happen.
The production and early distribution of the Red Blob are up and around S Prime, where the drug is used as a drug, be it recreational or prescribed, and a power booster. However, that is likely due to the higher power floor for the superhumans in S Prime. For those at a lower power level in the other superhuman cities, the compound is far more in the stimulation and enhancement category, where it is used to pump out more powerful superhumans all the time.
Then, those superhumans that now became new members of the heightened generations are used for other purposes...
'This felt like an arms race...' Bones commented, 'what is the point of creating more strong superhumans anyway?'
Those sat at the table shared uncomfortable glances between one another before they came to a mutual understanding.
With every arms race comes a war not too long after.
'That's where we come in.' Jon said, looking directly at Patty, 'the primary purpose of us diving into the Underworld is to expose the chains of product and supply for the Red Compound.'
'Then what?' Patty asked, 'I do not expect the S Prime city police department to go marching into the Underworld to stop it.'
'That's assuming we haven't caused a ruckus down there first.' Bones said casually, and Patty immediately shut that idea down before explaining the aftermath of what Jon did.
'Shit...' Pethant said, 'this has gotten a hell lot more complicated and difficult, hasn't it?'
'Well...I may be able to help with that.' Bones said, 'if we can create a big enough narrative, the Ten Fingers will HAVE TO respond to it somehow. I can then take that chance to dive into the tiger's den and see who's really with us.'
'You are willing to do that for us?' Jon asked, and Bones let out a chuckle.
'You and I are the same, aren't we?' Bones smiled, 'we are both chasing after the truth behind the stories, and sometimes we get paid, other times we get hurt.'