Chapter 66 - Keeping Promises

The next day, Blue woke up and stretched. He got dressed and headed out of his bedroom into the kitchen. His two guards were sitting at the table eating bacon and drinking coffee. Darrien stood in the kitchen by the stove cooking.

"How long are these two going to mooch, huh? At least tell Titus to send us money for groceries if we have to feed these two as well."

Blue poured a cup of coffee and took a seat at the table. "It's far too early to listen to you whine, Darrien."

Chris walked out a moment later. "Smells good."

"Well, you better get some before these two goons fucking eat it all." Darrien held out a plate of bacon for Chris.

He took it and sat next to Blue. "So, what did you think about the suits?"

"They looked badass. I'm curious to see how he can enhance y'all's abilities, though."

"Me too!" Chris grabbed Blue's coffee cup and took a drink. He immediately spit it back out into the cup. "My God, man, at least put some cream and sugar in it."

"I'm going to kill you." Blue stood up, grabbed the bacon off Chris's plate, and looked at the two guards. "Let's go. I need to go see a man about a gate."

"Bro, that's the rest of the bacon! BLUE, BRING ME BACK MY BACON!"

The door slammed shut. Chris looked at Darrien. "That son of a bitch. Can you cook some more?"

Darrien shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, fresh out."

Blue made his way back to the Association and stood in front of Titus's new makeshift office. He knocked on the door.

"COME IN!"

Blue opened the door and walked in. Titus's hand immediately hit his face. "What did you do now?"

"Jeez, no hi. How ya doing? Good to see you. Nothing. Just straight to thinking I did something."

Blue took a seat across from Titus as he rummaged through paperwork on his desk. "Well, did you do something, or are you just here because you're bored and wish to annoy me?"

"I came because of the S-rank gate."

"Yeah, I heard Grayson reserved it for you. When are you going?"

"That's why I am here."

Titus stopped and looked up. "You want me to go?"

"Yeah, the team is settling into the new normal. I don't want to disturb that, plus I kind of want to just go in this gate and kill a bunch of stuff. Ya know, without being yelled at about formations and whatnot."

"Understandable. Ummm, we can head there tomorrow morning. How's that sound?"

Blue stood. "Sounds perfect."

"Okay, I'll swing by Eclipse around ten and pick you up."

"Quick question before I go. Can you tell me if all the people from Dayton made it here yet?"

"About half of them. We've been so focused on repairing the damage from Midnight's attack. We have plans to get everyone else in the coming weeks as we repair more buildings to give them a place to rest their heads."

"Awesome. When their leader gets here, can you let me know?"

"Oh, Mr. White told me about him. Very unique ability. Just so you know, I will do my utmost to make sure he works for me." Titus winked.

"I found them, man." Blue shook his head. "Well whatever, I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks, Titus."

"No, thank you. I want to kill a bunch of stuff too." Titus smiled as Blue walked out of his office. "Now where the hell is that invoice!"

The next morning, Titus rolled up to Eclipse and honked his horn outside the gate. Eve stood next to Blue and grabbed his arm before he ran off.

"You sure about this? We could go with you."

"It's just an S-rank gate, plus Titus is going with me, and I have these two guards. What could go wrong?"

"I suppose. Be careful."

Blue winked and hopped over the front gate, landing on the hood of Titus's truck.

"Get off my fucking hood!" Titus leaned out of his window and yelled as he began to frantically wave his arm.

Blue laughed, hopped down, and jumped into the passenger seat. He looked over. "Nail it before those tw-"

The two rear doors opened as the two guards jumped in.

"You're too slow in your old age, Titus." Blue looked back at the guards. "You remember what Grayson said, right?"

The guards nodded as Titus drove toward the western gate.

Titus pulled up to a house in a neighborhood near the western gate and stopped. "Come on." Titus opened his door.

Blue tilted his head. "What the hell, Titus? This isn't the gate."

"I know. Just come on." Titus looked in the back seat. "You two come as well."

Titus knocked on the door of the house, and a woman answered.

"Dad! I'm almost ready. One second."

"Dad?"

"Yeah, you got a problem?"

"No, just can't imagine you with a grown daughter."

"And?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all. But why is she coming?"

"You'll see."

Titus's daughter opened the front door. "Okay, sorry. Come in."

Titus, Blue, and the two guards stepped through the door. Blue watched as the woman pressed a button near an old picture of Titus and her on the wall. A hidden door opened and led to a ladder. Titus gestured toward it. Blue shook his head as he climbed down the ladder into a small, confined room with a portal standing in the middle.

"What the hell is this? Looks like the portals we took to Germany."

"Why did you ask if you knew?" Titus hopped down from the ladder, followed by his daughter and the two guards.

"Blue, this is my daughter, Stacy. She is one of a few people with the power to create portals."

"Honey, this is Blue. The bane of my existence. Do not get too close to him."

Stacy slapped Titus and looked at Blue before shaking his hand. She winked. "He must really care about you if he talks about you like that."

Blue raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason."

Stacy looked at Titus. "Well, it's all set. Are we ready?"

Titus nodded. Stacy walked through the portal first, followed by the two guards.

"Well, are you going or not?"

Blue sighed and stepped through. On the other side, they all stood in the middle of the highway about one hundred feet from the gate. The road underneath the gate was cracked through. With each pulse of the gate, red energy crackled and struck the ground, killing the vegetation surrounding it.

Titus cracked his knuckles. "Been a while since I got to clear a gate. You ready?"

Blue smiled. "Hell yeah. Let's see what you're made of, old man."

The two guards sat on the ground and watched the gate disappear the moment Titus, Stacy, and Blue entered. Titus, Blue, and Stacy stood inside the gate as they watched the entrance fold in on itself and disappear.

"I never get used to seeing that happen." Titus smiled. "Looks like this ought to be fun."

The three looked around at a mountain range that stood in front of them. The sky was black, with bright stars shining down on the world they had just walked into. On the face of the mountains were huge openings.

"I assume that's where we need to go." Titus pointed. "Looks like we are fighting inside caves today."

Blue opened his system.

[Bosses remaining 3/3]

[Defeat bosses or cleanse the anchor]

"Well, I guess the pendant isn't here and nothing crazy to make my system go nuts. So much for wishful thinking."

The three started walking toward the first cave on the mountain. Blue walked up to Titus and whispered.

"Why did she come in with us? Is that smart?"

Stacy cleared her throat. "Because I'm a big girl who can take care of herself. Plus, he made me a promise."

"A promise?" Blue looked at Titus.

"Well, we lost her mother in a gate raid years back. Her portals work even inside S-rank gates. She made me promise if I ever cleared gates again, I'd bring her with me."

"Oh, umm. Yeah, that makes sense." Blue leaned forward to look at Stacy. "So your portals work inside gates. That's crazy cool. I bet you got offers from all kinds of guilds."

"I did, even offers from other strongholds simply because I can have 5 portals leading to places set up. They remain undetectable until I create a portal that connects to them. He brought me to the gate last night to set up a portal."

"She has other portals set up too at important places."

"You... you have one at my guild don't you?"

Stacy hung her head to the ground. Titus grabbed his stomach and laughed. "Technically the portal was set up near the golden gate before you ever came into the picture."

"You can come work for me after this if you'd like Stacy."

"Like hell she will, she will stay working with the Association if she wants me to keep my end of our bargain." Titus looked at Stacy.

Blue put his hands in the air. "Okay, Mr. Grumpy. Well, how about for now we focus on the gate, we can discuss employment opportunities later." Blue chuckled

"That's a good idea." Stacy nodded her head.

The three entered the first cave. It was pitch black. No light entered at all. Small patches of blue moss lit up the walls, but not enough to light the way. Blue bent down and picked up a stick. He grabbed some moss, ripped a small piece of Titus's shirt off, and tied the moss to the stick. He pulled his jian out and swung it against the rock wall. Sparks flew as Titus's shirt caught on fire.

"Hey, it worked. Who would've thought?"

Blue handed the stick to Titus. "Lead the way."

"You owe me a shirt." Titus swiped the stick out of Blue's hand and proceeded down the dark and narrow corridor.

As the three walked with Titus leading the way, something stopped them dead in their tracks. They stood behind a large figure that was crouched in the room just ahead of them. Titus lifted the torch higher to get a glimpse of the creature. As he did, the torch hit the ceiling and rocks fell to the ground. The creature turned, stood, and stared at the three of them.

It stood fifteen feet tall with gray skin and was built like one of those guys in strongman competitions.

"Welp, we are in the shit now." Titus looked back. "Stacy, stay in this corridor. Blue and I will handle this ugly thing."

Titus and Blue stepped into the room, and the creature let out a loud roar.

Blue covered his nose. "My gosh, its breath stinks. Is that its attack?"

"I don't know, but it looks oddly similar to trolls that you see in movies."

The monster swung a club made of pure stone. The stone club smashed into Titus's shield.

"Now!" Titus yelled.

Blue jumped into the air, unsheathed his sword, and came crashing down on the troll's arm, cutting it clean off. He landed in front of Titus and smiled. The troll didn't scream or flinch. It bent down with its other arm, picked up the severed arm, and swung it at Blue.

"Watch out!" Titus yelled.

Blue turned just in time to raise his sword and brace for impact. The troll sent Blue flying twenty feet across the room and into the wall of the cave. Titus leaped forward and drove his shield into the troll's kneecaps. He heard the crunch of its bones exploding. The troll stumbled backward, lifted its now-mangled leg, and slammed it down onto Titus's shield.

"What the hell? Does this thing not feel pain?" Titus looked at Blue, who had just picked himself up off the ground.

Titus nodded. Blue understood immediately.

Titus roared and pushed his shield upward, sending the troll flying onto its back. In a flash, Blue came crashing down with his sword, jamming it through the troll's throat. The troll thrashed around wildly. Titus climbed onto its stomach and stood at the base of its neck. Blue pulled his sword out as Titus drove his shield through the troll's neck entirely, sending its head rolling.

"That felt... AMAZING!" Titus hopped off the troll. "Not bad, kid. Not quite good, but not bad."

Blue flicked the troll's blood off his blade and sheathed it. "Yeah, yeah. Shall we keep going?"

Stacy watched in awe. She had witnessed her father clear gates before, but never had she seen someone who could keep up with him, nor work together with him so well.