Home Arrest

Irwin gazed at his phone with slight annoyance, having been forced to waste a favor for a private plane for him, Andy, and the unconscious Ansem as the drive from Oklahoma had taken way more time than he initially understood.

Ansem's special medicine would only last for twenty-four hours and, frankly, he didn't want to spend a single credit on the guy, much less fifty. The only thing keeping him alive and not traded was the fact that his brother, his newest hireling, still had some brotherly love for him.

They left the rental car somewhere in Kansas, calling the rental service about the vehicle being stolen. 

The service was, of course, opportunistic about the matter and burned Irwin out of $10,000 for the car, which, understandably, irked the latter. Having been taught the power of law firms in his current life, Irwin made one phone call to the firm in Los Angeles and released their greedy hounds to that specific branch of the rental car service.

As for the demon, Irwin wanted to have some alone time with it, but the necessity of the travel impeded his wants. As such, he had no choice but to trade him for credits and use the subsequent process to glean any information about demonic types.

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All tradeable items have been scanned. Please select which item to trade:

▪︎ Zertranomil - Class 0 Infernal - Zer Bathins Variant: 80

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You have traded [Zertranomil] for [80 Store Credit]

Current Credit: 233 -> 313

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Apparently, some damned souls were targeted by certain demon races for their past life's sins, often for one specific sin done multiple times. Once corrupted, the damned souls are, then, reborn as the same demon race, allowing the newly born demon to acquire their specific ability.

Zer Bathins was one of them and, according to the Supernatural Record, was a critically endangered race of demonic creatures. Their ability allows them to travel under the shadows of the mortal world, unimpeded by any creature, building, and warding on the real world.

Such was their power that Lucifer once used them as scouts in his war against Heaven, allowing greater mobility and preparedness for his army. Of course, with such great powers comes great costs; Bathins' consumption of magical power rivaled only the insipid warlocks of the Witch Dealers.

Irwin was surprised by the fairly large amount of credits since their encounter with the demon went easily enough. Still, he wasn't one to look a gift horse in its mouth and merely chalked up the extra credits for the fact that it was still alive and writhing like a work on an acid trip.

What was more interesting was the fact that once he accepted the trade, the doctor's body began to emit dark smoke out of every visible orifice. The sharp wails of the demon resounded in Irwin's ears before shutting the trunk down until its echoes became silent.

He opened it up and saw the lifeless, bloodied body of the demon vessel, now bereft of its possessor. Curiosity took him by surprise as he activated the Trade Shop sub-system once more.

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All tradeable items have been scanned. Please select which item to trade:

▪︎ Infernal Vessel - Class 1 Creature - Human Corpse Variant: 10

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You have traded [Infernal Vessel] for [10 Store Credit]

Current Credit: 313 -> 323

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It was a pleasant surprise, gaining another ten credits, but that just made him groan when he remembered that he just threw away almost two hundred credits' worth of demons in the past couple of months.

Seeing as Ansem would regain his powers in no less than twenty hours, Irwin set about to find an airport. Of course, it was hard to find an easy flight to board an unconscious man, much less when that unconscious man was prone to psychotic killing.

Still, with enough money and Archibald's connection, Irwin had found it manageable enough to find a broke magnate in Kansas with a jet and alimony problems that allowed them to fly near a field strip in San Diego. 

Upon landing, a car service, ordered by Ella, was waiting for them and took them to the manor with twelve hours to spare.

The sight of the manor caused Andy's mouth to widen in awe, his hands pressing against the window of the car to get a better look at the estate.

"You live here?" He asked, looking back from the passenger's seat.

Irwin nodded, messaging his other hirelings for any recent information regarding their missions. Now that he knew specialized demons were being sent to special children, it would be imperative for them to move along with their plans before Azazel's crew finished theirs.

"Should I enter through the gate, sir?" asked the driver, not daring to look at the unconscious body next to Irwin.

"Yes. Otherwise, we'll have to drag this guy through the grass." Irwin replied with a soft smile on his face. "Just stop by that lady."

The driver nodded, slowly driving through the cobblestone path that circled the front of the manor, before stopping in front of Ella, who had a wheelbarrow beside her. The next few seconds consisted of Andy and the driver putting Ansem on the wheelbarrow while Ella inspected Irwin's body for any injury.

Finding none, Ella turned her attention to the driver, barely hiding the five hundred dollars in her hand as she shook his hand. "Thanks for the help."

The driver's eyes widened slightly, clearly well-versed in such matters. "No problem, ma'am."

Seeing the car service drive off the estate, Andy could not help but ask, "Uh, I think the gate's open."

"It always is. Follow us," Ella responded as she, along with Irwin, who was pushing the heavy wheelbarrow, walked past the training grounds and towards the newly repaired vegetable garden. "Passcode is 998-203-528-352-318."

Irwin rolled his eyes, dropping the wheelbarrow and heading towards the cellar that once contained vintage wine and heavy-caliber weaponry. He couldn't help but gaze around the area with a longing look, reminiscing of the olden days.

He noticed the patch of carrots in the garden, remembering the way the Ancestor tore his kidney apart. The crawling vines of the eggplant had been destroyed by the ensuing gunfire, as well as having been crushed by Garth's broken body.

What was once a wooden cellar door diagonally embedded onto the floor was now destroyed and rebuilt like a normal tool shed, except shiny and metallic in construction. Painted moss green to barely camouflage itself for the scenery. The tall door was large enough for the wheelbarrow to pass.

"Anytime now." Ella pursed her lips and looked at him with widened eyes.

"Sorry. Anyway, how do you fucking know that passcode off-hand?" Irwin told Ella to repeat the passcode as he flicked open the cover of the number pad and typed in the code.

As he opened the door, an icy breeze passed by his body, causing him to look back to Ella with a hooked left brow. "Did I order a fridge or a holding cell?"

Ella smirked. "You were busy."

She walked in and the other three followed suit. The sight of the interiors caused Irwin to chuckle involuntarily, head shaking in disbelief.

'I've always wondered how Batman could build his Batcave and furnish it with hundreds of cars and state-of-the-art technology without even a hint of his secret identity leaking to the public. I guess when you're rich and smart… you can do anything,' he thought.

Unlike the other renovations, the contents of the cellar had been removed and paved with cement, leaving a single large trapdoor at the center of the shed. Under the trapdoor was an L-shaped winder staircase that led to a large hallway with a series of rooms on either side with metal grated on the floor before each door.

Beneath the winder staircase was a small office that had a single office table, two monitors, a leather chair, and a locked box with enough weapons to take over a small apocalyptic town. A metal box with a glass window was located on the back of the office, containing keys to every room besides the office. 

Each monitor had access to the cameras inside of the room, affording them a full view of each prisoner inside. Unfortunately, since the builders only had less than a month to work before Ansem's arrival, only one room was fully furnished.

In any case, the cameras would be monitoring and recording them every second of the day, before sending each daily record to an offline database located somewhere Irwin doesn't even know.

"Cameras offer colored pictures and sounds. Works 24/7." Ella had a smug smile on her face as Irwin and Andy moved Ansem's body down the shed and basically threw him on the stairs.

"Hey, that's my brother!" Andy complained once.

"Shut up." Irwin said, grabbing Ansem by the leg and dragging him to the floor. He shuddered at another chilly breeze that passed through his body. "Where'd they put the air-conditioner?"

"Sub-basement… below this specific basement." Ella opened the office and took out a key to a room.

Placing Ansem onto the neatly folded bed, Irwin placed leather cuffs on both his ankles and wrists under the purview of his brother. Andy had been strangely quiet throughout the proceedings as he took in the underground prison underneath the manor.

"Is, uh, is this all… legal?" He asked once Irwin closed and locked the door.

Irwin shared an amused look with Ella as he gazed back at Andy and responded, "Not at all!"