"Anything to note?" Rodrick asked. The top floor of the hotel, reserved for Zach and his staff. Nothing out of the ordinary, which was good. Zach's son, Arden, was discussing theories with him.
"Nothing out of the ordinary up here." Arden yawned. He knew yawning about the Legion members that were probably skulking around wasn't a good look, But damn, being stuck in a place not even the legion would be stupid enough to check around was the most boring thing ever. You could only watch so many old sitcom reruns without it getting as dull as it was.
"Good to know." Rodrick nodded, jotting things down in a notebook. "But still, watch out for any suspicious activity. The bait was broken into, you know."
"Oh, the prize leak?" Arden asked. "Yeah, heard about that. My dad's got the real thing, so we're good there."
"Excellent. Well, I'm going to cheer on…Adebayo, he seems like the best one left."
Rodrick looked over his notes. Somebody in the hotel either tampered with the door for the fake documents, or called someone in to do so. The main question now was who, so he put everyone in the tournament's second round into one of three lists. Not suspicious, somewhat suspicious, and very suspicious. Not suspicious, him and Ryland, the main three Battlestorms, the Maximos, the Kerobons, the miracle group, and Willow. Nobody in the hero groups shown much in indecent behaviour, and Cassandra and Willow already had weapons and weren't doing anything with them.
Somewhat suspicious, the Stone Queens. Sure they were good at their jobs, but always secretive. Not to mention the group was founded basically out of spite towards Arianna's old group, the GlassHearts. And speaking of them, Arianna could also be a suspect. Disgraced leader of a hero group showing up uninvited, even before the announcement her rival would be there? Certainly raised an eyebrow or two. Siena. His own teammate. But only very recently, with a power that could serve the Legion very well. Adya. Same with Siena, very recent addition to a hero group, so he'd have to follow up on that with Gavin or Caoimhe. If he asked Luca, he'd get confrontational about his recruiting skills, and that'd just be a pain.
And most suspicious of all, Cheng Tse. The guy just radiated evil, but too much evil. From his conversations with the guy he seemed…okay? If the legion could send someone, surely someone more charismatic? Unless he was meant to stick out while the real mole goes undercover. Always a possibility.
Roxanne was sat across from Zach, who was leaning casually across from her, looking over some papers. Roxanne wasn't allowed out of her room, apparently none of the round two losers were. Phones were also taken away. But after a while, Zach appeared in front of her with a stack of papers, sitting on the hotel room's chair while she sat on her bed.
"Roxanne. No official last name. Found on the miracle ship as a baby. No known family, assumed to be of Inarian descent but nothing confirmed. Currently single. Not a wielder. Part of the newer Hero group known as the Miracle Scouts. Officially a Sandalan citizen. Kazumi did all the paperwork there, I'll thank her for you. Holding the thunder axe, currently haven't done anything with it to arouse suspicions. Okay, you're in the clear."
"That's it?" Roxanne asked.
"Eh, for you it's basically a formality. Just gotta interview the other losers to make sure nobody's working with the Legion, you know how it is. Anyway, you can leave whenever. Second round starts in an hour."
He gave Roxanne her phone back, and opened it up to see a bunch of texts from Julian.
'Yo Rox where you at'
'Need 2 discuss strats meet me in the dining room'
Roxanne went to the dining room where the round three fighters were gathered. Julian and Cassandra were in the back, with Willow leaned in next to them trying to look discreet. But discreet wasn't really in Willow's personal dictionary. Or maybe it was, with about a hundred bored doodles dotted around it. Adebayo was nodding along to whatever self-aggrandising crap Luca was spewing out of him, while Cheng seemed pretty engaged in his conversation with Fiorella and Capri. Shame they didn't seem to be.
"So, where were you?" Julian asked.
"Zach took me in for questioning. If you lose you get interrogated on whether you're with the legion."
"Wait, really?" Cassandra asked.
"Well, he concluded that we haven't done anything with the axe yet, so aren't a concern. It'll probably be the same for you two."
"Oh, that's convenient." Cassandra sighed.
"Anyway." Julian cut through with a hand wave before leaning into Roxanne. "I think I figured out what Cheng's deal is."
"Yeah, that! We were talking about that!" Cassandra added, slamming her hands on the table for extra emphasis.
Julian gave a side eye to Cassandra, as if he was trying to read her mind, relaxed his face again, and continued.
"First off, he was drinking a lot at the party without getting drunk, but people were getting drunk around him. Same with him stabbing himself but hurting you and that other girl. Seems to me like he's a wielder capable of transferring things to other people. Just sensations, though. You aren't wounded, got the doctors report."
"So how do you beat him?" Roxanne asked.
"Well, this is just a dream right now, but maybe I could trick him into transferring the pain to the bear, or my bugs, or something like that."
"Will that work?"
"It's all I've got to go on right now. Also, Cassandra? If I win, please take the fall so I can beat Luca myself."
"Sounds fine to me." Cassandra nodded with a knowing smirk.
"Excuse me?" A staffer asked from behind. "Your fight begins in a few minutes."
"On it." Julian sighed. "Gotta prep. Mind helping me out?"
Julian made his way to his room. Nothing tampered with. He got the staffer to wheel the bear to just outside the arena, into the hallway he'll make his grand entrance in. His bug jar was in good condition.
"So, how confident are you?" Caoimhe asked from behind.
Julian spun around to meet her. She stood before him, arms crossed, looking bored.
"Luca hasn't shut up about fighting you."
"Feelings mutual." Julian replied casually, snapping his fingers at her.
"I'm still on his side, you know."
"For real?" Julian asked.
"You still think you aren't guilty?" She asked, squinting her eyes at him.
"Look, I'm sorry about the tarantula, but you've replaced everything else by now, surely."
"You could have killed thousands of people!"
"The ship exploded with the Legion guy in it, what's the big deal?"
"Listen, Julian. It took a lot of convincing from me and Gavin to not leak the fact the legion member you were supposed to guard got out in Bestiamea? And that they would have killed people in the capital if the Stone Queens weren't there?"
"It was for me, was it? Not the fact that you and Luca would have lost your precious sponsorships?"
Caoimhe stared at him, turning away without saying another word. Great, now Julian was pissed off before the fight even started.
"And welcome to the first fight of round three! The necromancer supreme from Miracle, against the mysterious man of mystery who makes folks drop! It's Julian Torres against Cheng Tse!"
Cheng stepped out, waving to the silent arena. Whoever won or lost, the audience wouldn't be satisfied.
Well then, time to win this thing.