I Clean Gods to Pay the Rent

0016 Don't Tell Me There's Another Twist?

    "Heh. YOU can forget about forgiveness — but the new hire's off the hook, absolutely!"

    Giving Cassius a once-over that was almost admiring, the red-haired woman's sharp edge softened a touch, and she said, warmth in her voice:

    "Cassius, don't sweat the intel. You reported the Contaminated the moment you spotted him, you won over that troublesome demon, and you got it to lead you to Agnes.

    "Then, when Agnes got pinned down, you took out the mission target with one shot and got her out — and along the way you saved a few hundred people from losing too much of their life force.

    "For a rookie who joined the Oddity Cleanup Bureau only hours ago? More than good enough. As for the intel — that was just an accident nobody could have prevented."

    "No, hold on! Yours truly pulled off a feat here too! Do you HAVE to play favorites this hard?"

    Before Cassius could answer, the Soot Bishop — inflamed by the brutally lopsided treatment — burst out:

    "HE was the one who pulled the trigger, okay?! All yours truly did was help judge the position! How come with him it's 'an accident nobody could prevent,' but with me it's off to the kitchen to be stewed?!"

    "Why stew you... you don't have a clue what you did, do you?"

    The red-haired woman said with a cold smirk:

    "Don't think I don't know exactly what you were planning! Cassius didn't know Agnes has an undying body — but YOU did?

    "With Agnes in no danger, you could perfectly well have had Cassius carry you close to the hospital, then amplified that runaway Contaminated's malice from a distance — unhinged his mind and dragged him out into the open to be taken alive!"

    "Yours truly just didn't think of it in the mo—"

    "Don't tell me you 'didn't think of it.' That was your standard move the whole time you were in MY hands — what's with the sudden amnesia?"

    Leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed, the red-haired woman stared at the shrinking, hunched-up Soot Bishop and said with an icy smirk:

    "When you could've taken the target alive, you steered Cassius into shooting him dead instead. Something's wrong with you!

    "Out with it. Did you want to devour the target's sinful soul? Were you luring Cassius toward helping you restore your power? Or maybe...

    "...you're in league with whoever's behind him, figured he'd leak intel once captured, and silenced him on purpose?"

    "That's garbage!"

    Hearing the red-haired woman's theory, the Soot Bishop — now suspected of treachery — went absolutely ballistic.

    "Yours truly did NOT! That's all baseless speculation! You've got no proof!"

    "Since when does the Oddity Cleanup Bureau need proof? We're not a court of law."

    Another scornful laugh — then, abruptly, the red-haired woman's brow creased, and she stared at the Soot Bishop, thoughtful:

    "Hm... I'll admit, earlier I was only joking. But now that I turn it over, I'm noticing more oddities.

    "The Bureau's people were all dispatched out, but I stayed behind in Smoke City holding the fort. What mastermind is stupid enough to make trouble three streets from where I'm sitting?

    "So unless somebody deliberately fed a man to the wolves, there's only one explanation: the mastermind has an inside eye at the Bureau — someone who knew I'd suddenly left Smoke City yesterday!"

    Holy shit?!

    The red-haired woman's logic checked out, and Cassius's eyes went wide. He stared in shock at the goat head in his arms.

    Nobody else from the Oddity Cleanup Bureau was even in the city yesterday! Who knew the Director had left besides YOU? And you're the mole?!

    "It wasn't... yours truly didn't..."

    One look at the wide-eyed Cassius, another at the red-haired woman — who'd narrowed her eyes again somewhere along the way — and the Soot Bishop shivered. Then, bulging both goat eyes, it retorted in a frenzy:

    "Yours truly did NOT leak anything! You can't pin this on me!"

    "Oh?"

    At that, the red-haired woman rose slowly, planted both hands wide on the desk, and leaned her upper body in — a perfect portrait of looming menace — every word measured:

    "Then explain all these coincidences.

    "Setting aside that the trouble started the moment I left without warning — yesterday, when you could perfectly well have taken him alive, you chose to silence him through Cassius's hand. How do you plan to explain THAT one?"

    "I TOLD you, it was an accident!"

    The Soot Bishop roared:

    "I helped the kid kill the target on purpose — to get some blood on his hands! Builds good... habits... habits..."

    "'Good habits' like reaching for murder the moment anything similar comes up — then falling under your temptations, lowering his bottom line again and again, sliding into corruption one little step at a time without ever noticing... Am I wrong?"

    One glance at the Soot Bishop, tricked into blurting out its little scheme and now sulking shut, another at Cassius — who'd just gone through a full-body shiver — and the red-haired woman, storm-cloud dark a moment ago, curled the corners of her mouth. Sinking back into the plush chair with a beaming smile, she said gently to Cassius:

    "Cassius, remember everything you just heard. If you ever run into a situation like this on a future job, think back on today before you decide anything."

    "I... I'll remember. I swear."

    Throwing a still-shaken glance at the Soot Bishop, Cassius hesitated a moment — then cupped the goat head in both hands and set it back down on the red-haired woman's desk.

    "Um... please take it back."

    Reading Cassius's face for a moment, the red-haired woman smiled:

    "What, worried you can't keep it under control?"

    "Mm..."

    "It's fine. Keep it."

    Clearly pleased by his caution, the red-haired woman propped her left cheek on one hand and smiled at him, twining a lock of her flame-red hair around a pale forefinger:

    "Anomalous objects with minds and appetites of their own generally aren't a good fit for rookies, true. But you kept your head even under its influence — that alone proves you're at least qualified to hold it.

    "Besides, Agnes reported to me this morning — your soul sight reaches a full two kilometers. That proves you and this thing are highly compatible. Add in that careful streak of yours, and I'd say you're more than capable of carrying it."

    With that verdict delivered, she rose from her chair, rounded the desk, walked up to the still-hesitating Cassius, took his hand in friendly familiarity, and placed the deeply sulking goat head onto his palm.

    "Go on, take it. Just keep a clear head from here on — don't let it sway your judgment or your decisions. I have faith you can manage that."

    "..."

    Looking at the gorgeous red-haired woman beaming approval at him — still holding his hand, still saying she believed in him — Cassius felt his heartbeat pick up out of nowhere. He looked away on instinct, then forced himself to look back, nodded hard, and promised with a straight face:

    "I won't let you down!"

    "Tch... like hell you won't!"

    Lifting its eyelids a fraction and clocking the faint flush on Cassius's earlobes, the Soot Bishop — seething with a bellyful of fire — curled its lip and couldn't resist needling:

    "Somebody holds your hand and sweet-talks you for two seconds, and you're too dizzy to find north? What's it gonna be if she hugs you and plants one on you — you gonna go die for her, kid?

    "Heh. The only thing holding yours truly back is being a goat. Damn it, if I were a great beauty too, a twitchy, thirsty little virgin like you would be eating out of my hand in no ti— mmph... mmph! Let go! You can gag me, I'll still talk! You're a fucking—"