The Zone was quiet, way too quiet.
Calvin stood in the geotric blue void, dripping water onto nothing.
"Okay, before you say anything else...." Calvin said finally. "I’ve got questions."
"I’m sure you do." The Blue Reaper turned away from where the window had been.
"Starting with..... Why the hell didn’t you just bring us here in the first place?" Calvin gestured around the space. "Before Phillip tried to drown us and we almost died."
The Blue Reaper was quiet for a mont.
"I didn’t know I could."
Calvin blinked. "You... didn’t know?"
"The Zone is complicated." The Blue Reaper started walking, and the geotry of the space shifted around him. "I can enter it alone easily. But bringing others is sothing I didn’t even know was possible."
"So you just... decided to try it for the first ti while we were this close to dying?" Calvin’s voice was getting higher. "That was your plan?"
"I didn’t have a plan." The Blue Reaper stopped walking. "That was just improvising."
"Improvising." Calvin laughed. It ca out slightly unhinged. "Great. That’s great, the mysterious vigilante who’s supposed to know everything was just winging it."
"I never said I knew everything."
"You sure act like it!"
"Calvin." Josephine’s voice cut through the argunt. She’d been quiet this whole ti. "Not now."
"When then?" Calvin spun toward her. "When’s a good ti to point out how funny this guy’s been moving."
Josephine t his eyes. Her expression was tired. "Later. But right now we owe him a lot for saving our lives."
Calvin wanted to argue more. But she had a point.
He took a breath and let it out slowly.
Fine, okay. So what were you saying about working with jewel?"
The Blue Reaper resud walking and the Zone shifted again, creating what looked like a path through the geotric patterns.
"I was approached by your Magister three days ago, just after I had an encounter with Peter." The blue reaper pulled up blue coloured holographic images that showed the tiline of events.
"It was within that period the master, as Peter and Phillip called him set up the whole thing what the box."
"I find all this hard to believe, but spit it out Reaper, what are you getting at." Calvin was getting impatient.
"Hahh." The blue Reaper let out a sigh.
"Think about how we got here. How we knew about the box in the first place."
Calvin frowned. "We were already investigating Azzuri because—"
Calvin’s stomach dropped.
"No," Josephine said imdiately. "No, you can’t be suggesting...."
"That the Sister set us up." Claid the blue reaper. " gave us the intel. And made us think Azzuri had sothing worth investigating."
"Because he did!" Josephine’s voice was rising. "He was working with Montez! With the man who killed our operatives!"
"Was he?" The Blue Reaper tilted his head. "Or was he just a middleman? And the right scapegoat."
"You’re insane." Josephine stepped forward, and golden light began seeping from her hands. "Sister Jewel would never."
"Never what?" The Blue Reaper didn’t back down. "Never manipulate you, use you as bait. Sacrifice a few pawns to catch a bigger target?"
Calvin watched Josephine’s face go through about fifteen different emotions. Anger, denial, doubt and more anger.
Luna spoke before Josephine could explode.
"I won’t lie, there’s a little bit of logic behind what his saying" she said quietly. "If soone wanted to draw out the Blue Reaper, they’d need bait, but then again this is the sister we are talking about here."
Josephine looked between Luna and Calvin. "You both believe this? You both think Sister Jewel would betray us."
Calvin raised his hands. "I don’t know what to believe. But..." He glanced at the Blue Reaper. "Everything that has happened here doesn’t feel right.
the Blue Reaper agreed. "Yeah it’s not and lets consider this, who benefits from tonight? The red-robe guy gets to an opportunity to catch the blue reaper and tie up any loose ends on the whole Montez thing."
He paused.
"anwhile, the Golden Chalice gets to eliminate Azzuri, and maintain their reputation while removing soone who knew too much."
Josephine seed like she was about to burst at this point."You’re saying Sister Jewel is working with the people who killed her own n. "
"I’m saying soone fed you information that put you exactly where the enemy wanted you." The Blue Reaper’s voice softened slightly. "Whether that was Sister Jewel or soone in her organization, Is what I don’t know."
The silence that followed was heavy, and Josephine broke it.
"You’re lying."
"Maybe."
"Sister Jewel raised . She took in when my family...when I had no one. She—" Josephine’s voice cracked. "She wouldn’t do this."
"I hope you’re right," the Blue Reaper said. And he sounded like he ant it. "I really do."
Calvin watched Josephine struggle with this. Watched her faith in Sister Jewel war with the evidence stacking up.
He knew that feeling. The mont when sothing you believed in started to give you reasons not too.
"What do you want us to do?" Calvin asked. "Storm Golden Chalice headquarters and accuse the sister of treason. That’ll go great."
"No." The Blue Reaper shook his head. "That’s the worst thing you could do."
"Then what?"
"Play it normal. Go back to your Magister and Report what happened; the attack, the brothers, everything. But don’t ntion your suspicions and don’t make it seem like you’re questioning her."
"You want us to lie to her," Retorted Josephine
"I want you to investigate," the Blue Reaper corrected. "See if anything doesn’t add up. Track where the intel ca from, who had access and who knew exactly what you’d be doing at Azzuri’s tonight."
"And if we find out you’re wrong?" Josephine challenged. "If Sister Jewel is clean?"
"Then I apologize and we focus on finding the real mole."
"And if you’re right?"
The Blue Reaper was quiet for a mont.
"Then you make a very hard choice."
Calvin let out a long breath. This was insane. They were talking about investigating their ntor. The woman who’d trained them, trusted them and given them purpose.
But the Blue Reaper had a point. The setup seed to point in one direction,
Soone had sold them out.
"I don’t like this," Calvin said. "Any of this."
"Neither do I," the Blue Reaper replied. "But we don’t have better options."
Luna stepped forward. "If we do this, we’ll need resources we can’t access through official channels."
"I can provide that."
"In exchange for what?"
Good question, Calvin thought. Nothing ca free.
"Information," the Blue Reaper said. "I’m working with your Magister now doesn’t an she’d be willing to share everythig."
"So we beco your informants," Josephine said bitterly.
"You beco my partners." The Blue Reaper t her gaze. "I’m not asking you to betray Sister Jewel. I’m asking you to find the truth. Whatever that truth is."
Josephine looked away. Her jaw was tight, her hands still clenched.
Calvin made a decision.
"Fine," he said. "We’ll do it. We’ll investigate."
"Calvin—" Josephine started.
"We have to," Calvin interrupted. "Jo, I know you don’t want to believe it and neither do I, But we almost died tonight. Soone set us up and we need to know who."
Josephine closed her eyes and took a breath.
"Fine," she said quietly. "But I’m making sothing very clear right now."
She opened her eyes and looked directly at the Blue Reaper.
"If you’re manipulating us, had anything to do with tonight and you’re just throwing us off the trail—" Her voice dipped in tone. "Calvin made a similar threat but I’m more than willing to show you just how low a Woman can go for the people that matter to her!!. "
The Blue Reaper nodded. "Fair enough."
"I’m serious."
"So am I." The Blue Reaper’s tone didn’t change. "I’ve got nothing to hide from you. This partnership only works if we trust each other."
"Trust." Calvin laughed. "That’s rich. We don’t even know your real na."
"You don’t need to."
"We’re supposed to trust soone who won’t even show us his face?"
The Blue Reaper was quiet for a mont.
Then his hand moved to his mask.
"Wait, what??....." Josephine started.
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