Gift of the Goddess

Chapter 94 - Broken Scales

"Alright Leo, everyone's here." I leaned back against the tree and folded my arms. "Tell the class what you learned. Then will move on to Zack's report."

Leo nodded, but his eyes never met mine. It was obvious he was avoiding my gaze.

"I captured a grunt member near Asinus street. He wasn't anything special, but I wanted to get an idea as to how the chain of command worked." He huffed and sparks came out. "So after some convincing, I got him to explain things to me."

"Does the guy still have his fingers?" Zack asked.

"Of course he does." Leo grumbled.

"And fingernails?" Zack asked.

"Anyways, I found out that the grunts don't know anything about the actual base for Joe. The only person who knows is the leader of the group, which was the Mime." Leo said.

I balled my fist.

"So that's why he killed her..." I mumbled.

"It was a risky decision, it's apparent he doesn't have many gifted fighters. There's no reason he'd go to such lengths to be secretive, then throw himself into the fire to save them. Not to mention the grunt says Joe paid for the Mimes services." Leo added.

"That would explain Joe's line about a refund." I sighed. "So it's safe to say he's limited on gifted level fighters. Meaning, if we can get the few he has left. We can cripple him immensely." I said.

"Exactly, so now the other information. From what I gathered at his parents' place, it sounds like he visited them once. Sometime earlier this year. From what I can tell, it was definitely after your encounter with him." Leo said.

"So he didn't die." Zack groaned. "So this creep must've been watching us for a while then."

"Which means he definitely knows about how we work." I grumbled.

"Another thing, It seems like Joe has an inferiority complex. I managed to take an old phone of his and talked to a family member. His motives seemed to stem from past bullying. He wants to prove he's the best. His father also abandoned him for another family when he was around fifteen. I don't know what you'll be able to do with this information. But I figured it might be able to give us some kind of advantage."

That sent a shiver down my spine. I see, so he's like me in a way...

"Thank you Leo, I think if we ever get the opportunity to talk. This could be really relevant." I said.

"With Bean's shifting abilities it could help trick him." Zack spoke up. "Especially since we know something we shouldn't."

Right, almost forgot. This is war. I can't just assume talking it over is gonna solve our issues. Manipulation is necessary.

"Yeah, once we capture braids and No face I'm sure we will have more opportunities,"I added. "But with that, go ahead Zack. Tell us what happened on your front. Then if Penelope has any perspectives I'd like to hear them."

"Right, so Wiz has a fun cup trick he can use. In short, if someone guesses the wrong cup, they lose their abilities for a while." Zack explained.

"She guessed wrong!" Wiz cheered excitedly.

"How long exactly is a while?" I asked.

"Not sure, we couldn't afford to test it. So we never really found out." Zack said.

"Wiz didn't use his spells all that often. So it's a coin toss really." Leo added.

"A magician never reveals his secrets after all!" Wiz snickered.