Chapter 37: Two Sides of the Same Coin
When Gelato woke up, he saw that the walls were white, and so were the curtains, though outside it was dark. He had been here a few times before, but he never liked going to the hospital. Near the window sat Capriolo, who was snoozing in his chair. This puzzled Gelato, so he tried to get up, but he felt completely drained, so he fell back down on his pillow. Just then, a young nurse and an older doctor came in, which made Capriolo wake up.
The doctor had the nurse check on Gelato, while he said to Capriolo, "It's time for the guests to leave."
"But I was ordered to guard him by Capo Spauracchio," Capriolo said lazily, not moving from his chair.
"A Capo?" the doctor readjusted his glasses, and said nothing as the nurse finished her examination.
"His pulse is normal, his breathing is normal, and he doesn't appear to have that fever from earlier," the nurse said confidently. "So I can safely say he's perfectly fine."
Gelato was confused. "I had a fever?"
"You were showing signs of an illness that is caused by an unusual substance called Uranium. It is caused when you have been exposed to it, either directly or standing above a deposit of it in the earth. Does either of these scenarios coincide with your case?"
For a moment, Gelato scratched his head, and then he remembered Hercules saying something about Uranium being underneath the quarry where he trained for the past month. If what the doctor said was true, then he certainly must've been exposed to the substance. But one thing puzzled him.
"Why didn't I feel any symptoms before?" Gelato asked.
"If you were exposed to the Uranium in small douses at a time, you wouldn't have felt anything until it accumulated later. As you can see, I happen to be an expert on this substance, as I was apart of the team of scientists and alchemists who attempted to dig the Uranium up in the nearby hills for the Foglia family. When you started showing signs of fever, I knew right away what had happened, so I immediately sent for a Healer (Medical Ninja), who eliminated all traces of the exposure before it got worse. Now, back to my original question: were you exposed directly to the Uranium, or were you in a place that had Uranium underneath it?"
Before Gelato could answer, a sudden cry came from the hallway outside. The nurse and doctor opened the door and went out to see what was going on, leading Gelato to get out of bed. Capriolo tried to convince him to stay, but Gelato was already putting on the orange hoodie and sweatpants he wore during the training sessions with Hercules. Then just as he was reaching for his gun and tie, a couple of thuds echoed further down the hallway, causing Capriolo and Gelato to investigate. When they got to where the scream and the thuds came from, they found the bodies of the nurse and doctor lying on the floor unconscious after being thrown violently against the wall opposite to a room similar to Gelato's.
The door was wide open, allowing Capriolo and Gelato to see Tarma, who was wearing his sack, manipulating the sand that came out of it to cover the sleeping Beni Niro inside. Capriolo was about to perform his Mocking of the Shade spell, but Gelato immediately pulled out his gun and fired a shot close to Tarma's head. This activated Tarma's Wall of Sand, which caused the bullet to bounce off and hit the wall next to the door, but it didn't wake up Beni Niro. Tarma then turned his head, and upon seeing Gelato and Capriolo, he jumped over Beni Niro and flew out the open window on the other side. Gelato and Capriolo followed, and pursued Tarma down a series of power-lines as they used their nature energy to make them light enough to walk on them without being electrocuted. Eventually, Tarma found himself on the roof of a building with no power-lines, allowing Capriolo and Gelato to corner him.
"Alright, Sandman! Start talking!" Capriolo said as he performed the Mocking of the Shade spell, immobilizing Tarma.
"You're out-numbered and trapped!" Gelato added.
"Were you trying to finish Beni Niro off because you failed to during the Preliminaries?" Capriolo asked.
"And what if I did try to kill him?" Tarma replied. "I could kill you both right now and be done with it."
"Just answer the goddamn question, will ya?!" Gelato yelled, clicking his gun.
Tarma's expression didn't change, but he answered. "Yes, I wanted to kill Beni Niro, but not because I failed to do so at the match between us."
"Then why?"
"Because I wanted love."
Capriolo and Gelato's eyes widened.
"Love? How can you attain love by killing others?" Gelato asked.
"If you knew what I had to go through, you would understand," Tarma said, and sighed. "Before I was born, there was a monster called the Sphinx (Shukaku) who threatened to destroy the Rena Family territory if someone didn't answer its riddle. Everyone was too afraid, so a woman who was nine months pregnant volunteered. This woman was my mother, and instead of answering the Sphinx's riddle, she offered her own life in exchange that the territory and I be spared. The Sphinx accepted, and so it possessed my mother, but then she went into labor.
"She died of child-birth shortly after, so the Sphinx decided to possess me out of revenge for my mother not fulfilling the contract. It is for this reason that I have power over sand, and why I was shunned by everyone, including my brother, sister, and father. He was and still is the head of the Rena Family, so he constantly worried that the Sphinx might be unleashed at any moment. So he organized a secret assassination attempt to kill me, using my uncle to carry it out. I didn't realize it till after I had killed him when he tried to attack me, and afterwards I forced the sand out of my forehead, creating the scar that you now see. From then on, I killed every assassin my father sent mercilessly, forcing him to stop out of fear. That is my only reason for existing: to seek love in the violence of the world through killing."
Neither Capriolo nor Gelato spoke. Gelato was especially surprised, because he saw himself in Tarma's story, if he had used the Hydra's powers for violence instead of good. However, Gelato also knew that Capriolo wouldn't be able to keep up the Mocking of the Shade for much longer, which would allow Tarma to attack them, and thinking about what he did to Beni Niro made Gelato cringe. Just then, the sand from Tarma's sack started to pour down on the shadow that surrounded him, causing it to wobble and make Capriolo flinch slightly as he tried to maintain his hand-sign. But as the sand piled up, Tarma's eyes grew wilder, and even grinned. Gelato tried to pull the trigger to his gun, but he was too afraid. Then just as Capriolo's shadow lost possession of Tarma's shadow, Scar Face suddenly appeared in front of him and Gelato, staring at Tarma with a bitter look.
"You monster!" Scar Face said firmly. "First you tried to kill a mobster in cold blood during a monitored match, and then you try to finish the job while he's recovering from the injuries you did to him! If I see you near my pupil again, you're going to get a pummeling that you'll regret later!"
Then Tarma, who was ready to attack Capriolo and Gelato, suddenly made the sand retreat back into his sack, tie the string on, and walk away.
"Fine, I won't harm your pupil anymore, but I'll kill the rest of you when I get the chance!" he shouted, and disappeared.
End of Chapter 37