A\N: Last time I checked, still didn't own Naruto.
Beta Readers: PyrothTenka, Duesal Bladesinger, AlmostElectric. Special thanks to Ser Serendipity, Lord Darkly and To Mockingbird (I hope I'm not forgetting anyone).
Sorry for the long wait.
After who knows how many minutes, Naruto groaned as he got back on his feet, still gasping for breath from the tear gas, only to find a pistol pointed at his face.
"Gun. Now," the cop—Sasuke, Naruto reminded himself—demanded with a voice raspy from the recent abuse, hand held out as he looked at the blond warily.
The runner cocked his head to the side, arching his eyebrow in disbelief. "Are you serious?"
"Do I look like I'm joking?" the Uchiha asked, frowning.
"Oh, come on!" Naruto protested loudly. "I saved your ass—"
"As if!" the cop scoffed, keeping his weapon aimed at Naruto's forehead.
"I totally did! Which is why I should keep my gun!" Naruto said, taking a step forward. "Especially because—
"Stay back!" Sasuke barked, moving away from the blond. The Uchiha's enhanced eyes were red, meaning that the implant was active. Naruto knew that if he tried anything, he would get a bullet to the face.
So much for that plan.
"Fine, fine," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'll stay on my side of the elevator."
"Put your gun on the ground, then stand back. Don't try anything stupid, if that's even possible."
Naruto scoffed, but did as ordered and slowly placed his gun on the metallic roof of the elevator, careful to not give the wrong impression to those creepy augmented eyes.
Then he moved back, not making any sudden movements.
"Your bag too," the cop added as he scooped up the weapon.
Naruto froze before looking up with a glare. "I'm not giving you my bag," he said. He couldn't. It was his mission objective, take the damn bag to the customer. No bag, no creds, and Naruto needed that money.
"Do it, or you'll get a bullet and I'll take the bag." Sasuke cocked his head, eyes glowing menacingly. "I rarely miss, you know. Especially not at this range."
"Oh come on, now you're bluffing," Naruto snorted, even if he could feel sweat forming on his brow. "You want me alive, not—"
There was a loud boom and a flash of light far stronger than the emergency lights mounted on the walls of the elevator shaft. Naruto felt the bullet zip past his head and impact the concrete behind him, showering him with dust and debris.
"Bag! NOW!" Sasuke barked, gun still smoking. "Then back against the wall!"
"Alright, alright! Just take it easy!" Naruto yelped raising his hands in surrender.
"Here," he said, slowly slipping the bag's straps off his shoulders with one hand, maintaining eye contact with the smoking barrel. No matter how he looked at the situation, it couldn't be helped. Even if he tried to subdue the—to subdue Sasuke, the odds of getting a hole on his head were way too high to risk it.
He let the bag fall to the ground and pushed it toward the Uchiha with his foot before stepping backwards until he felt the wall against his back. "So, now what? Are you going to tie me up?"
"And risk getting both arms broken? No thanks. Besides, I doubt that my standard handcuffs would be able to stop someone like you."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Naruto blurted out just a little too quickly. He fought the urge to wince.
"You're augmented."
Naruto's breath hitched. "You—"
"I saw you rip a robot's head off with your bare hands, and that panel in the elevator. I'm not stupid," the Uchiha deadpanned.
"Could've fooled me," Naruto muttered.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "You're not very smart, are you?"
"Hey!" Naruto was about to launch into a rant about how smart—and totally awesome—he really was when he was interrupted by the Uchiha.
"How much?"
"What?"
"How much of you is augmented? Twenty-five percent? Thirty-five?"
"Forty-two," Naruto said flatly, lying through his teeth. It was probably way higher than that, not that he knew the exact amount.
"Then we can add 'unlicensed augmenting above the percentage allowed' to the list of your felonies," Sasuke said smugly.
Well, shit.
"Whatever," Naruto scoffed, rolling his eyes while doing his best to play it cool.
It was a mistake.
In a blur, the Uchiha grabbed him by the collar and the blond found himself slammed face-first against the wall before he could even attempt to defend himself.
"Try anything funny... and you're dead," Sasuke stated, pressing his pistol against Naruto's nape to underline his claim. "Understood?"
"Fine," Naruto replied, inwardly bristling at the idea of conceding another victory to the Uchiha. You didn't argue with a gun pointed at your throat.
Naruto felt the cop's hand roughly pat him down and search all of his pockets, much to Naruto's discomfort.
No way was he going to stay silent during this.
"Like what you're feeling, Red Eyes?" Naruto asked with a smirk. He may not argue with a gun at his neck, but he could certainly snark.
Sasuke's expression—from what little he could see—was priceless. The cop bristled and coarsely ripped Naruto's commlink out the blond's jacket.
"Hey, don't be so rough! I like it gentle," Naruto mocked. "So, what now Sasuke?"
"You have the right to remain silent," Sasuke hissed, barely restraining his rage. "Anything you will say or do can and will be used against you—"
"The number you're trying to reach is unavailable. If you want to leave a message—"
"Unbelievable," Shikamaru grumbled, ending the call. Not even piggybacking the signal of the biggest repeater in Little Chiba had worked. Even if the chances had been low, he had wanted to give it a try.
"'It'll be an easy job, Shika!'" he said, imitating Naruto as best he could as his fingers danced on the grey keyboard and strings of text appeared on the screen. "'It's just a milk run, nothing could go wrong!'. Troublesome blond."
He pushed the enter button and as the computer started his search through the city archive, Shikamaru called another number and waited for the other person to pick it up.
Luckily, it didn't take long.
"Tenten? Are you there?" he asked, hoping to hear good news. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, there's a load of people here, nobody cares about another bystander," the girl replied matter of factly. "I can't get close though."
"What do you see?"
"Two Red Eye patrols around the pylon, and lots of their drones around. Sarutobi's security bots are blocking their way. I think they're arguing about jurisdiction."
"What about the elevator?"
"Nothing much, just lots of smoke from the doors. Two technicians around it. Nobody's even tried to check inside."
"I see," Shikamaru said slowly.
"Is that good or bad?"
"It could be anything," the decker sighed. "If only we had more data—"
"Did you try the piggyback trick?" she asked.
"Yes, and it didn't work. Which means that Naruto is at least below the fourth underlevel."
"If he's alive," Tenten added grimly.
"Do you think he's dead?" Shikamaru asked after a short pause.
"I don't know..." Tenten sighed on the other side of the phone. "I mean, he's a tough guy, but I don't know if he's that tough."
"Give him some credit. You know him, he's way sturdier than most people would think."
"Or luckier," Tenten added with what sounded like a smile.
"If you think this is luck..." Shikamaru snorted, leaving the joke hanging there. "Alright Ten, keep an eye on the scene for a while. Let me know if—if something changes."
"Will do," the sharpshooter replied before hanging up.
Shikamaru sighed again, really hoping to not hear from her that they had retrieved a corpse from the elevator shaft. He checked the computer once again: it was still completing its task.
Time to make a few more calls.
"Where the hell did I put my cigarettes?" he asked himself, looking around as he dialled a third number.
As the phone on the other side rang, he found and grabbed the package along with the lighter.
Almost empty. Great, he needed more cigs.
The decker put one in his mouth as the other end picked up.
"Hey, it's me," he said, not waiting to be greeted. "There's a situation."
The vent grate didn't offer much resistance as Naruto removed it from the wall, its bolts having being weakened by rust and lack of maintenance. It wasn't surprising, seeing how old the lower levels of the city were.
He let it fall in the very short gap between the elevator and the wall and took a peek inside the dark passage. There was no light, no way of knowing how long it extended for.
The blond turned its head towards the Uchiha, who was standing just out of his arms' reach, pistol ready in his hand.
"Get in," Sasuke said, securing Naruto's bag around his shoulder. "And remember—"
"Hey, man… I'm not going to do something stupid with a gun pointed on my ass. Or my—"
"Good. Go on then," the cop rebuked.
"Can I get a flashlight at least?" Naruto asked in annoyance. "I can't see anything."
"Not a chance," Sasuke said with a smirk.
Bastard.
Naruto reluctantly crouched, then lowered to his hands and knees with an embarrassed grimace and crawled into the vent.
The passage was so narrow that he could barely fit, and the blond couldn't help but feel suffocated by it. Fighting down claustrophobia, he forced himself forward. Real movement wasn't really possible: it was more of a squirming forward inch by inch than any actual crawling.
The thick layer of dust and grime didn't help and with each echoing movement he felt like he had to sneeze.
He heard similar sounds being carried over from behind him, telling him that even the Uchiha was crawling inside the dirty hole.
"So, Sasuke," Naruto asked without stopping. "How come you know my name?"
"You have the right to stay silent, remember?" the cop said with an annoyed tone.
"Yes, you told me. Screw that," the blond snorted. He would've liked to look the Uchiha in the face to ask about that, but besides the darkness, he was sure that he would get stuck if he tried to turn around. "I want to know how you know my name. Have we met before?"
"No. We haven't met before," Sasuke replied after a short pause. "Although I chased you down a few times."
"For real? I didn't even notice!" Naruto said, widening his eyes in the dark before coming to a stop. He glanced behind in the pitch-black passage, as little as he was able to, frowning slightly. "Are you a stalker or something?"
"I'm a cop, idiot!" was the harsh answer. "Catching people like you is my job. Keep moving."
"That doesn't explain how you know my name," the blond runner muttered as he started advancing again in a way that mentally reminded him of a clumsy mole.
"You're on the list of the 'runners' known to the UPP," Sasuke stated, matter-of-factly.
"WHAT?!" Naruto yelled in surprise, hitting his head as a result. Flashes of pain exploded in front of his eyes, as he muttered curses.
"Keep moving," Sasuke repeated from behind him, not really caring about the blond's suffering. "And be silent."
The runner forced himself to bite back a long and very detailed list of profanities—most of which were about the Uchiha's lineage—and did as he was ordered to.
For five minutes.
"How did you guys find out?" he asked. Naruto had to know. If there was a snitch around, selling off other runners to the Badges, he had to find out.
"You'll be able to discuss it with your lawyer."
"Oh come on!" he protested, trying to look behind. "What's wrong with telling me?"
"Why should I tell you?"
"Look, if you tell me," Naruto said slowly, "I'll shut up."
He heard the Uchiha come to an abrupt stop, and the blond smirked. Sasuke was pondering it.
Hook, line...
"Fine," Sasuke finally said.
Sinker.
"So?" Naruto asked smugly. He could feel the frown on the cop's face.
"Surveillance footage. Forensic Evidence. Eyewitnesses. Lots of eyewitnesses," the Uchiha said, pausing briefly. "Most runners don't leave witnesses..."
"Yeah well I'm not most runners, and shouldn't you be grateful?" Naruto spat back. Really, he hated how a small—ok, a good chunk of bad apples were enough to give the whole basket a bad name.
"You're expecting me to be grateful that you don't kill civilians?" Sasuke asked, sounding almost incredulous. "Seriously?"
Naruto opened his mouth to protest when he heard a creaking noise vibrating all around him, through the vent's metal sheeting. Then there was a slam, and he felt the ground beneath him drop in a cacophony of metal and echoes.
The vent had given out under his weight.
He gave a loud cry as he fell face-first on the cold, hard floor.
Shikamaru sighed, stifling the cigarette butt in the ashtray. Whoever worked in that office, they deserved to be fired. In bulk.
Besides the fact that their security measures were utterly pathetic, the blueprints were incredibly out of date. He knew the underlevels were old, but this was ridiculous! The last update of their official maps had been done almost thirty years ago.
How in the Sage's name were the maintenance crews able to operate down there?
"Wait," he said, said, straightening up in his chair. "Maintenance?"
Shikamaru's fingers started to move, typing commands as the layouts of the various sub-levels around the elevator Naruto had taken flashed up on the screen. Even if it was a long shot, especially considering how outdated they could be, Shikamaru started comparing them.
Feeling disoriented, Naruto tried to move his head. His body felt numb and the left side of his face was throbbing in pain. A ringing in his ears dulled his hearing and made the world a soft, muffled place. All in all, it felt like he had been run over by something.
When he opened his eyes, his vision blurred with lights.
Didn't matter now. He had to figure out where he was. How come he hadn't gotten some nightvision aug—Oh right, he didn't want to get more augmented than he already was.
Well, served him right. Now he was lost who knew where, in the dark, with a probably swollen face and—
Was he hearing voices now?
Oh no, it was just that cop.
"Come... hear…" Sasuke said, but the runner's hearing was so muffled that he could understand only a word every few. The rest might have been static as well. "Can you... me?"
"Yeah yeah I hear you," Naruto grogged out. "I'm fine, by the way."
"What? I'm not talking to you," the Uchiha deadpanned.
"Wha—"
"Dispatch, come in," Sasuke said suddenly, ignoring the blond. The only thing Naruto could see were his bright red eyes. "Unit seven here, come in. Can you hear me?"
Naruto felt his jaw drop in surprise. He was not worried about his possible head injury—yes, he was augmented but Sasuke didn't know how much, for all he knew he could've got a concussion or something!
He was trying to contact his red-eyed buddies! What an asshole!
"We're too deep," he told the cop drily. "There's probably no signal."
Sasuke silently listened to the static coming from his device before closing his eyes with an exasperated sigh.
"Get up, we're leaving," the cop ordered finally.
"Fine, fine…" Naruto said, compiling. "Where are we, anyway?"
"Some maintenance tunnel, probably."
"Why it's so dark down here?"
"To save power. People rarely come here," the Uchiha explained as he turned on his flashlight, pointing it towards Naruto's face. "Start walking."
"Yeah, yeah…" the blond muttered, covering his eyes with a hand. "Which way?"
"We don't know where we are so I guess that it doesn't really matter."
"Do you have a coin?" Naruto asked jokingly. "I want to flip one for—"
"Just move," Sasuke seethed from behind the blinding light.
"Geez… why are you so pushy?" the runner asked rhetorically, rolling his eyes as he turned left and started walking along the dark hallway, followed by the cop that was still keeping his pistol pointed at him.
At least he could see where he was going this time. The shapes formed by the reflections beyond the beam of light were a little creepy though.
"So what's the plan?" he asked without turning back after a few minutes. He didn't exactly like to talk to the cop but it was better than walking in silence watching the tubes and cables running along the walls and ceiling.
"Why can't you just be silent?" Sasuke almost pleaded. Almost.
"Why should I?" Naruto snarked. "So, how do we get out of here? We get the first elevator to the surface?"
"It's not that simple," the Uchiha grumbled.
"Ooh right. Because of the mess about you entering corporate territory," Naruto summed up nonchalantly. "All to catch little old me."
The Uchiha didn't comment. Both knew how much in deep shit the cop was for violating Sarutobi Enterprises' sovereign territory, where the UPP had no authority. It surely would cause a shitstorm between the violation of jurisdiction and the fight.
"How do you plan on explaining that to your boss?" the blond asked, enjoying imagining Sasuke being literally grilled by some higher-ups of his company.
"I'm thinking about it," Sasuke finally admitted.
"Oh, so you don't know," Naruto said, only to slow his pace as he spotted something beyond the limit of Sasuke's flashlight. The cop didn't protest at his action, so he may have noticed as well.
The hallway intersected with another one, creating a crossway that resembled a small cavern decorated with pipelines and conduits. The two of them could hear the echo of distant machinery, as well the musty scent in the air. All in all, every direction looked identical to the others.
"Great. Where to now?" Naruto mumbled in annoyance.
"Walk forward a bit," Sasuke said slowly, and Naruto did, dragging his feet. The blond saw the flashlight being diverted from him as the cop checked down each of the corridors. He knew, though, that the Uchiha's weapon was firmly pointed at him the whole time.
"That way," the Uchiha finally said, pointing towards the left one with the torch.
"Did you just pick one at random?" Naruto asked sarcastically. "Because I could've done that too."
Instead of answering, the cop nudged his head towards the hallway, and the runner knew that it was stupid trying to argue and reluctantly moved towards the passage. It was only when he started to walk along it that he noticed a gap between the pipelines mounted on the left wall and realized why Sasuke had picked that one.
"There's a door down there!" he said, picking up his pace.
"Perceptive," the cop deadpanned.
"Oh shut up, UPP! We don't all have special eyes, you know," Naruto yelled, turning towards Sasuke and pointing at his own to make a point.
"Speaking of which," Sasuke said slowly, his tone sharper. "You mentioned the Sharingan before."
"Duh. It's obvious you have a set, red-eyes."
"You seem more familiar with it than most people."
"I told you, I know a guy."
"What is his name?"
"I've the right to stay silent," Naruto snarked, not-so-secretly enjoying keeping the Uchiha out of the loop.
That, and knowing that Kakashi would not have been pleased if he found that he told a UPP officer about him.
Naruto forced himself to focus on the actual situation as they arrived in front of the door.
"'Maintenance'," the blond read on the faded sign. "Do you really think that-"
"Just get in."
"Alright, you're the guy with the gun after all," Naruto shrugged, turning the handle and opening the door with a rusty squeak.
They were immediately assaulted by the air leaving the room, carrying an awful, rotting smell along with it.
"Holy shit!" the blond yelled, stepping back while covering his nose and mouth. "What died in there?!"
The Uchiha didn't reply, visibly trying to not gag as he flickered the flashlight inside the room. Still clutching his nose, Naruto took a peek.
They were not able to see the whole room, but what they could see was in a better shape than the blond would've thought. The floor was a bit dusty, and there were a few cracks here and there, but all in all it was much better than his own bedroom back at home.
On the other end of the room he saw some lockers against a wall along with a long bench, a small desk tucked away in a corner, and a few chairs—but nothing that explained the horrible smell. No sounds came from inside, except the rapid scurrying of a rat startled by their intrusion, escaping into its nest.
Inwardly, Naruto felt the need to pray to the Sage that the cop wouldn't—
"You go in first," Sasuke said.
Well of course he would, Naruto should've seen that coming. When had anything gone well on this job?
"Can I have a flashlight now?" he asked, and Sasuke tossed it to him with a note of disdain. Catching it by reflex, the runner slowly entered the dark room, still covering his nose with the free hand in a desperate attempt to stifle the stench.
The smell was stronger inside, as if it had started to stick to the walls of the place.
Naruto tried to ignore his nausea as he kept walking, the crunch of their boots being the only audible noise.
Looking around with the help of the light, he took in the details. Security posters for workers, a pile of mugs besides a small coffee machine, documents spread around on the desk... the place didn't look abandoned, but it was surely in bad shape, Naruto thought as he looked at a pair of dented lockers.
He turned as he heard a sudden click behind him, forgetting about the rows of closets only to see the Uchiha cop holding a phone handset.
"No line," Sasuke informed him as he let go of the phone.
"Weird," Naruto said, relaxing a little. "Shouldn't they be able to call a place like this?"
"The line may be damaged," the Uchiha said, pausing as he picked a stapled packet of documents from the desk. "These are only three days old."
"For real? Wait doesn't that means that people still work here?" Naruto asked, looking around incredulous. "Why is this place so badly kept then?"
"I would be more concerned with where the workers are," Sasuke slowly said and Naruto listened to the sound of the switch being flicked up and down several times.
Despite the uneasiness in the pit of his stomach, he had to appreciate the sweet sound of an asshole getting frustrated.
"The lights are off, as well. Go check if the power cables are damaged."
"Can't we just leave?" the runner asked, "Maybe you didn't notice but it stinks in here."
"If there's a chance to call the surface, I'll take it."
"Oh yeah, so you can throw me in prison. That really motivates me," he said sarcastically, obeying only because the alternative would've been doing it anyway, at gunpoint. Or being lectured about being technically under arrest, which would've been worse.
With the help of the flashlight, Naruto followed the cable slithering along the wall, almost stumbling on a fallen chair doing so.
"This place is a mess," he muttered, kicking a broken mug with his feet, sending it clattering on the floor. As he came closer to the rows of lockers, he could sense the smell becoming stronger.
He cupped his hand completely around his nose, to no avail. The mouldy scent had invaded his nostrils.
For the first time in his whole life, he wished he had an artificial sense of smell, just so he could turn it off.
He kept following the power cable—that was now at his shoulder height—and as he got past the lockers, he stopped when he saw a glint of metal.
Lodged in the wall, cutting the wires in two, was a fireaxe, its head covered in a dry whitish sludge.
Naruto felt a chill run through his spine but forced himself to move closer to check the discovery. He was pretty sure that an axe shouldn't be found like that in normal—
A sudden squelching noise made Naruto pause. He had stepped something and he could feel a slimy something under the sole of his boot.
Slowly, he lowered his gaze and the beam of light, feeling sweat forming on his brow.
He saw a rotting pale arm.
His mind tried to come to a stop—and failed spectacularly.
Oh Sage, arm arm arm oh Sage shit why was there a fucking arm on the floor?!
The blond wasn't sure how, but before he knew it he was against the lockers, a good two meters away from the hideous limb and he was trying to calm his breathing.
He didn't really care about the smell anymore, he couldn't stop pointing the flashlight at the lump of rotting meat.
"Why are you screaming, dumbass?" he heard Sasuke ask as the cop quickly approached him. "Can't stand the sight of a rat?"
"Lookatitlookatit!" Naruto pointed frantically, and the Uchiha slowly followed with his glowing eyes, being careful to not leaving the blond out of his sight.
"What's the matter?" Sasuke asked almost mockingly, even if it looked like he was on the verge of grimacing himself. "Never seen a severed limb in your 'line of work'?"
"I've never stepped on one!"
Without replying, the Uchiha walked towards the limb, briefly glancing at the axe. The runner noticed only then the folder of documents in the policeman's unarmed hand.
"Hey, what's that?" he asked, somewhat desperately attempting to divert his focus.
"Later," Sasuke replied, unzipping his UPP jacket and putting the folder inside it. With the documents safely tucked away, Sasuke turned, kneeling by the dismembered arm. "Give me more light here," he asked as he picked up the limb with his gloved hand.
Naruto obliged, only to realize of the whitish drops that were falling from it.
"Ugh, what's that stuff?" he asked with a grimace of disgust.
"It seems to be... blood," Sasuke observed, squeezing the flesh around the cut to make a few more drops trickle down.
"Wait, for real? But that's impossible! People don't have white blood!"
"This is not a person's arm."
"Eh?" Naruto said, cocking his head in confusion.
"It has no bones, and the flesh looks like... a hardened sponge," Sasuke said, bending the hand at an impossible angle to demonstrate. "Then there's the white color. Maybe it's a synthetic prosthesis..."
"It squished when I walked on it!" the blond protested. "Fake arms don't squish!"
"You would know that very well, wouldn't you?" the Uchiha asked with a pointed look of his red eyes before going back to examining the dark corners of the room.
"Well, I know that I don't have white—What are you looking at?" Naruto asked, noticing Sasuke's lingering gaze.
"Point the light there," the other man ordered, but there was something in the tone of his voice that made Naruto not argue with the request.
He moved the torch following the Uchiha's line of sight along the row of lockers until it lit up the far end.
Dried blood. Not white.
A giant brown stain practically redecorated the corner of the room previously hidden from the exit by the lockers. As if a person—or more—had exploded against it…
Or been butchered.
That wasn't the end of it though. A streak of it climbed up along the wall, in a way akin to a brush stroke and he kept following it.
He lingered with the beam when he saw the first hand-shaped stains. As if someone had been climbing the wall—or trying to grab something.
Finally, he reached the ceiling. A broken grate, similar to the one he and Sasuke had used to leave the elevator shaft was there. And the traces of blood disappeared through it.
"Can we get the fuck out of here now?" Naruto asked without looking away.
"Yes," Sasuke replied, letting go of the arm and turning towards him. "Yes we can."
Tenten checked her phone for calls once again, already knowing that there wasn't going to be any. Just as the police had started to disperse the crowd of curious bystanders, Shikamaru had called telling her to keep a low profile. To wait for him to form a plan.
So here she was, sitting in a small café and keeping a low profile as the smart guy had asked, her rifle hidden inside the large bag besides her seat. Waiting.
The place was actually pretty packed. Between the civvies and cops wanting to eat something after leaving the area of the "accident", it had been having a great day.
She pushed her bag further under her table as an UPP officer passed besides her, oblivious to her action. Maybe it was just paranoia, but paranoia had kept her alive so far.
Sighing, she dipped her blueberry muffin in the cheap coffee—although it was probably best to call it a chemically flavoured beverage that just resembled actual coffee, as the real thing was too expensive.
Giving the pastry a bite, she savored the flavour. Not as good as homemade, but not bad, even though she knew the snack was probably going to end on her hips.
She told herself to not care about it, though. You only lived once, after all.
Too bad they didn't have any sesame dumplings.
"I hope that stupid knucklehead is safe," she whispered, looking out of the window.
A\N: In the last months I had a huge writer's block. Then I freed myself from it and started binge-writing because I wanted to end this story arc in a single chapter.
And I did. Kinda.
But it would've been an incredibly long chapter, almost as long as the rest of the previous ones combined.
So I decided to split it in two parts, but don't worry! The next chapter is already ready and will be posted in a manner of days!