Becoming Monsters Stay In Vegas 05

This is a story of the Becoming Monsters Universe by AiLoves, setting used with permission.

The idea for this story and these characters comes from Moonwing.

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Chapter 5: Cash Out

"Why don't you ever tell me about where you came from, Gooey?"

"I worked at a grocery store, Hush. Not too much to tell."

"But still! We've been living together for two weeks now, and I don't even know your parents' names! Come on, I know you have something to say. You didn't live the last twenty years without doing anything, so I want to know about your something!"

"Is this really the best time for this conversation?" Gooey's clear flesh began to glow purple as his Null Ray finished priming. In front of them stood a rather uncommon monstrous Hobgoblin, leading an uncommonly large horde of monstrous Goblins and Imps, coming at their uncommonly small pack of tourist Delvers. Business had been slow for this one. Nothing anyone could pin to a specific cause, just not too many people signing up for when the gate opened on a random Thursday morning after a deep-dive team cleared it out and the Dungeon needed to recharge.

As a result, this had been a discounted trip with only four escorts. Three very junior ones in need of training, one senior to train them and to save the day in case things went wrong. Just a little stroll through the first floor, pick off a few cheap targets then lead the tourists to the gift shop, then everyone gets to go on with their day. Instead, the party leader (the Knight anchoring the improvised front row) was frantically directing the team's efforts. The tourists thought it was some intense fun. The escorts knew that if things didn't go right, they might be the only ones to make it out alive. Of course, that was where Gooey came in.

"Stand aside!" He yelled at the (admittedly not too impressive) top of his voice. It was enough, the Knight dragged his clump of foes to the left and the tourists followed. Hush called her power to ensnare the Hobgoblin pack leader, and Gooey unleashed his ray of light-repelling force. The Hobgoblin didn't enjoy the experience, though to be fair it only hurt for a quarter-second before the monster was reduced to dust.

As the others in the party continued the fight against the now-less-organized foe, Gooey sagged a bit. "Status."

Fifteen percent left on the bar. Okay, I can live with that, just have to stick to defensive actions until I can soak up enough magic. That ate half my Stamina, though, and that doesn't come back so easily when I have to stay on high alert.

The problem with this idea was that the enemies largely didn't sling spells up here on the first floor of the Vegas Dungeon. The only one in this particular pack that used any just happened to be turned to dust by his Null Ray. That meant he was stuck taking a break and staying on the lookout while the others did their stuff.

Hush, of course, noticed immediately. "Okay, now you got a chance to talk. Nobody's blaming you for taking a breather after firing that giant blast of yours. Sexy as heck, by the way, hope you're ready for later. So, spill. What were you doing before I met you?" She stopped here to focus on trapping another enemy that was threatening to actually do something to an oblivious tourist.

Gooey judiciously shot another monster that was trying to sneak around the side of the group. "Not much to say. I'm an only child, both my folks survived the Change since our neighborhood was kind of quiet and they both stayed Human."

"Nothing about the neighborhood Succubus you mentioned? High School? Hobbies other than fighting games? There's gotta be more, what you've told me so far would fit on a notecard." The group was starting to gather back up to head back towards the Gate, which saved him from having to answer. Hush did notice a bit of an oddity in her boyfriend, though. Even for him, he seemed to get awfully focused on doing anything other than answering that particular set of questions. It was odd, and Hush was rather glad that the old adage about curiosity and cats had not panned out in her life since odd things had always drawn her attention.

The leader of the escorts didn't go straight back towards home, though that is undoubtedly what he wanted to do. Company policy was to take a right-angle turn if at all possible so that the customers could get more stuff (which, in turn, led to the shops doing better as they spent their gains and the boss getting more from the shops). Despite the severity of what they'd run into, nobody was seriously injured and even Gooey was able to continue support as long as nothing else needed one of the big blasts. Thankfully, this time they weren't tempting fate on that point, and only met small packs of weak enemies. Another half-hour of walking got them to the stairway up and out, another few minutes dividing up loot got Gooey and Hush their pay (barely over retainer, but worth the time by most measures).

The two meandered over to the staff lounge to eat. Not that there was anything free there other than air conditioning, lockers, a fridge, and a microwave. It was still quiet and away from public eyes. The Delvers working there didn't steal each others' food, half because it would start a fight that could level the building and half because it was likely to be toxic to a significant portion of the people present if you didn't know the Race of the one who brought it. At least they were shaped roughly the right way for the chairs, there was only one meant for significantly larger people... and the roof wasn't really high enough for anyone more than ten feet tall or so to sit there comfortably.

For Gooey, a sandwich with extra pickles. For Hush, some fish. Served cold, since the one time she'd microwaved it led to some serious glares from coworkers. Both ate in comfortable silence for a bit. Given that Hush was present, though, that couldn't last for more than a minute. "Okay, no monsters to fight here. Spill. Start with the Succubus, let's get the hard part over so the rest just goes more easily."

"Any reason you really want to know about my ex?"

"It sounds relevant to things we do a lot, and I prefer to live in the meow."

Even Gooey had to simultaneously chuckle and facepalm at that one. He even made sure he had both a face and a palm for the occasion. "Uh, not too much to say. I took her out on a couple of dates, but really it was just a mutually beneficial thing. I got as much amazing sex as I could take, she got to eat. I know I wasn't the only one she was doing it with, either, but let's face it, I wasn't going to complain."

"... you know what? I'm not even mad. Especially since you like to use what you learned on me. Got a name to go with it?" She looked speculative. A look that said she wanted to meet this chick, though whether it was for a chat or for significantly more involved activity was a mystery.

"Sorry, Hush. Maya moved out and went to college. I think her parents insisted, she was happy living like that and the rest of us were happy to help."

She looked disappointed, but as she opened her mouth to respond there was a sound from outside. Commotions weren't exactly rare, not in Las Vegas and especially not here. Thing is, this one sounded different. Like nearly all Vegas natives, both Gooey and Hush could tell the difference between random noise and something that could become nasty. This particular commotion, with sounds of yelling voices and people moving around, definitely fell into the latter category. Both of them immediately got moving rapidly towards the noise.

Hush left half of her fish on the chair. Gooey shoved the remaining half of his sandwich directly into his chest to get digesting while they ran.

Amidst the stalls of the Guild Hall Market, trouble was brewing. Rapidly. On one side, a small knot of people stood. Gooey recognized a couple from the last trip down into the Dungeon, a couple of others were local Delvers who weren't on the escort teams. Five or six people total, reacting with potentially-lethal hostility to prepare to engage an enemy. Following their gaze was someone he definitely recognized, but hadn't expected to see here. Tall, with ebon scales and a blank face marked only by a stark white stylized icon of an eye. Dripping smoke like sweat, and presently with his hands up in a vain attempt to calm the people he was looking at. Erik, the Cursed Hexer who had come to save them when their first time Delving turned out to be a very different experience than it should have been.

"Come on, I just want to sell some materials." Erik's raised palms were perhaps not giving the impression he wanted to, given the vicious-looking claws he possessed.

This was evidenced by the fact that the group took on ready stances by reflex. Two spellcasters had telltale glows of readied spells, one man in a Japanese

gi

had his katana set to rapidly draw and strike. A fourth, dressed in mail armor and snarling through a lion's head, growled out "drop your weapons!"

Eric looked to the left and right, his hands staying up. "I'm... not sure how you want me to do that. They're attached to me."

"Last warning!"

"Sir, please be reasonable..."

Without warning, one of the spellcasters snapped up his wand and let loose a bolt of power at Erik. On his cue, the other one unleashed a lightning bolt at the same target. Together, the attacks would likely have seriously injured the monstrous-looking man. At least, they would have if Heath "Gooey" Martin had not been both present and ready to rock. As the attacks flew, a pane of purple energy snapped into existence between them and their target. When they crossed that line, they lost most of their oomph, barely affecting Erik and instead donating much of their power to Gooey's slim Mana pool.

"Erik! Run!"

The black-scaled man didn't have to be told twice. He turned and sprinted as hard as he could towards the Dungeon Gate. Gooey and Hush were shaved seconds behind him, sprinting as hard as they could to keep up and keep protecting him. Police would be no help for the current situation and didn't come out to this place often. Cynical minds had pointed out previously that police didn't like being where they were regularly outgunned. Either way, the small bunch of people not far behind them were also sprinting as hard as THEY could in pursuit, though to what end Gooey and Hush could not tell. Given the sterling nature of their introduction, though? Odds were not on it being to give Eric a bouquet of roses.

Eric's dead sprint didn't slow by even a fraction as he dove into the Gate, practically flying down the stairs and heedless of the danger one missed step could represent. Hush saw an opportunity as she came to the first stone stair, pausing to lay her hands upon it to turn the narrow way down into a wall instead, one positioned between the oncoming threat and the three of them. Gooey and Hush struggled to keep up with the pace Erik set as he juked through recently-cleared hallways in the dim coolness of the First Floor. Eventually, he grabbed a door, threw it open, and ducked inside. A moment later, a certain Glass Slime and Nekomata came in as well...

... to find Erik, claws out and crackling with ebon power, barely pulling a strike. "Guys! Don't scare me like that!"

Hush was predictably the first to counter-snark. "Scare YOU? We're the ones who just got those people off your tail! You wanna tell us what that was all about?"

Eric didn't have eyebrows to furrow or a mouth to grimace with, but his anger was clear all the same. It showed in every line of his body, the tension of his shoulders and the drip of shadowy smoke off his scales. "It's always like that. You wouldn't know, would you? Slimes and catgirls might not be normal, but you're not monsters like me. You don't make children cry when you show up."

Gooey held up a pseudopod in what he hoped was a calming gesture. "I get it, man. I shielded you, and after this we'll be up there to talk to the boss and make sure the ones who attacked you get punished."

"Bah. Don't make promises you can't keep." Erik's low voice was grating hard. "You and I both know how that's going to go. You tell them, whoever's up there will take one look at the picture of me and call it justified, nobody gets punished except maybe you for making a stink."

"You don't know that..."

"I absolutely know that! The world Changed, Heath. People haven't."

Gooey looked back at him, but couldn't think of anything to say. Neither could Hush, which was a bit of a change.

Erik looked at the two of them. "Now, if you want to

help

," the word was loaded with bitter sarcasm, "help me get to a hidden room on the second floor. It's got a portal out."

Hush's head tilted. "I've never heard of that before. Where does it go?"

"A different Dungeon. The big one in Greece likes linking up with other ones. Athens locals say it goes to all of them, and if it likes you it'll help you move around. Well, it likes me. Drop me off at the portal and tell the others the Dungeon got me. Maybe I'll come back in a few years, once this whole thing is forgotten, but I don't think I will."

He didn't wait for any response before walking off. Gooey and Hush looked at each other. Hush shrugged. "He knows where he's going. Try to remember how we get there, it won't be the first time we've gotten out on our own."

Gooey forbore from saying that they hadn't quite been alone last time.

The way down was relatively quiet. Even the monsters they came across seemed to realize that this was not the time to try anything. The couple that tried to get a free lunch at the expense of Erik's face were reduced to dust in short order. It was a matter of minutes before they got to an innocuous doorway like any of the others, which led to a stairway down. Next floor, they took three seemingly-random turns before coming to another door.

Erik looked at them. "This is my stop. If you hurry up and get back, the creatures and creeps down here won't realize I'm not with you."

Gooey frowned. "Where exactly are you going?"

"Somewhere else, is all you need to know. Someplace loud and crowded, where I won't stick out as much. Goodbye." The black-scaled man turned and opened the door. Behind it wasn't a room or a hallway, but a gaping red void. He didn't look back as he stepped through, pulling the door closed behind him with a bang.

The echoes of the sound bounced around for a few moments before Sienna "Hush" Usher sighed. "I hope he gets somewhere better than this, Heath. I hate how bad this has been for him." The two turned to go back the way they came, the halls still clear and leaving them alone to walk. "What do you think about... Heath? What's wrong?"

Heath didn't have tear ducts to cry with or lungs to let him sob, but she had gotten to know him decently well in the last couple of weeks. Something about the slouch of his posture and the drag of his step showed that he really wished he could still do those things. "Hush... Sienna... what are we even doing?"

"What do you mean? We're down here so that we can afford to live, Heath. We both need to eat, and Delving is the best way we have to do it." Her own voice sounded off in her ears. It was a lie, or at least the truth if it was an exceedingly hollow kind of thing. It was a statement both of them had been chasing hard as they tried to go forwards, but neither had ever looked back to see how it was actually going.

"That's just it. I don't think it is. I mean, even if we get promoted to the Second Floor team, then what? We still have to come down here at least twice a week and risk getting our faces clawed off to let some tourists have a thrill."

They paused for a moment to open a door to get to the stairs and climb them. Heath was kind of glad for the break, but as soon as they were on level ground again Sienna confirmed that she wasn't about to let the conversation drop. Not while the path was clear of monsters. "Then what do we do instead? We already talked about this, anything else takes qualifications we just don't have. Not like we can get them fast enough to not starve to death, anyway."

He was thinking for a few more steps. "What about college? We're still in the late-application period for a lot of places, especially since they're all trying to fill back up. Most of those feed their students, last I checked."

"College? We're talking about how we're going to afford to eat a week from now, Heath. Unless you win the jackpot at a casino or find something super rare between here and the Gate, we can't afford it. Unless your grades were good enough to get a scholarship that covers two people, anyway, I know mine weren't."

"We have to try SOMETHING, Sienna!" The Glass Slime was unusually heated. "Some kind of federal program, some kind of loan, some kind of anything. We just can't keep living like this."

A lone monstrous Redcap decided to try something stupid as the two walked by. Sienna barely broke her stride before burying it in rock. Still, the two took it as a cue to walk just a bit faster. The final stairway up was thankfully not all that far away, and they reached it without further incident. Other than the man with a jackhammer trying to get rid of the stone wall she'd put up some time before, one who was rather irritated when it dissolved back into the ground. Others came rushing in, only to suddenly stop when they realized there were only two of them. Someone gave them a questioning look. Both Sienna and Heath merely shook their heads back.

Everyone knew what that meant. Erik Onassis would not be coming out of this Dungeon gate. They didn't need to know he was still alive. The building boss ruled it a suicide by Dungeon and commended the two on selflessly diving in to try to save him. The fact that this commendation came with neither a tangible reward nor any attempt to punish the people who had driven him to run to his fate cemented Erik's words in their heads.

The two sat down again. This time they were out in the public-viewable area instead of the back rooms. It wasn't their break time, and having Delvers out where the tourists could see always helped keep their minds on the mystique of it all. It also didn't help that Heath... just couldn't quite bring himself to go back there. It just didn't feel right, and it wasn't like either of them had a bunch of gear they needed to pick up. Heck, Sienna probably didn't even want to eat the rest of her fish after it had been sitting out on a chair for nearly an hour.

"Heath? Heath Martin? I didn't expect to see you here." It was a man's voice, a friendly-sounding baritone, and the Hispanic Human it was attached to was dressed in lightweight business casual despite the heat. He was also quite familiar... to Heath.

"Mr. del Oro? I could say the same! Haven't seen you since..." Heath's voice trailed off as he realized what he was about to say.

"Since Maya went off to college, yes." The man smoothly (and rather diplomatically) inserted into the silence before it got too awkward. It wasn't EXACTLY a secret that his Succubus daughter had been having sex with every willing person in a two mile radius before she left, nor that Heath in particular had been significantly more frequent than the average on that count. It was just a bit gauche to say it like that. "How have you been?"

"Been better, sir. I quit the job at the Chow Kitty, ended up here to make ends meet as a Dungeon Delver, but I don't think that's a good idea long-term."

"I see, I see. And who is this lovely lady?" He indicated the bright red catgirl with a tilt of his head.

"Oh! Sorry, I should have introduced you two earlier. Mr. del Oro, this is Sienna, my girlfriend. Sienna, this is Robert del Oro. I told you about Maya, he's her dad. Been a good neighbor as long as I can remember, and really helped our neighborhood stay peaceful during the First Year."