บท 145: Heart To Heart II
"So, tell me?"
"What?" Irwin was confused as Ellen sat next to him beside the bar.
While Scott and Garth helped Jo clean up the tables of the hunters that had just left, Irwin was left alone with his thoughts. He had been trying his best to perfect the topic he was going to broach to the mother and daughter for their help would be instrumental to the success of the project.
It wasn't that he was afraid of their ridicule, more anxious of their rejection of the matter. Although he could still use other venues for hosting the project, the Roadhouse had a built-in reputation for other hunters and would therefore lessen the work needed to cower them into submitting into the new 'world order'.
"You told me you had an 'idea' after your 'vacation'," She air-quoted one after another. "What is it?"
"You might think me mad–"
"I will." She said with as much sincerity as possible before breaking into laughter with Irwin joining.
"Ha. Look… there's going to be a war coming. And I think you and the others felt it too," He said with a deep sigh, earning a knowing nod from Ellen. "Frankly, we are ill prepared for it and if we continue to do so… there's hell to pay."
"Well, in that case, it's best that we do what we can and hope for the best." She said, a hopeful tone escaping her usual grim countenance. "You know the Winchesters, yeah? Well, these boys got themselves into a bit of a pickle. They're going after this Prince of Hell, Azazel, and I… I'm scared for them."
She gazed at Jo who was leaping with joy as Garth fixed an arcade machine that had been broken.
"I'm scared for her." She gulped.
"What if… What if I gave you a chance at a happy ending?" The question brought Ellen's face towards Irwin.
"Boy, you know happy endings are not free. And I can hardly afford them." She remarked, grinning at him.
"I know, but maybe I can give you a discount." Irwin said, joining in on the metaphor.
"What are you saying, Richard?" Ellen finally cut through the business as she crossed her arm.
Her breast pushed against her shirt, much like her daughter did and, for a moment, Irwin second-guessed his thoughts.
"What would you do if I could permanently close all the Devil's Gates and rifts to Hell in the world and exile all the demons currently walking on Earth?"
Ellen immediately dropped all pretenses of delight as she scoffed at Irwin's words, "I'd knock you out because you might still be concussed from your 'vacation'."
"I'm serious."
"Me too, kid." She scoffed before crossing the stools between them and locked eyes with him. "Don't you think if there's a way to kick their asses out of our world, one of us could have done it in our thousands of years of existence?"
At the end of her sentence, her voice was loud enough to attract the attention of half the bar. Ellen immediately noticed and responded accordingly, "Go back to your things or I'll drop you."
"What's happening, mom?" Jo asked, extracting herself from the arcade and towards her mother. Her tight crop top dangerously left a little to the imagination, more so when her sweat dampened the cloth.
"He wants to kick all the demons back to hell," Ellen said simplistically.
"She's over simplifying–Actually, yeah, that's the plan." Irwin nodded at Ellen's words, shrugging his shoulders as both regarded him as if he was insane.
Jo rolled her eyes, "Are you drunk?"
"I'm not drunk." He defended himself. "I have abilities, just like Sam. Unlike him, these abilities were given to me by the other side."
Ellen palmed her face, rubbing it for a moment before sighing in exasperation. "You telling me Heaven exists, and it gives you the ability to talk out of your ass?"
"Yes, on the heaven part, not on the ass part." Irwin said playfully, earning a punch smack on the side of his head.
"Boy, don't you play with me," Ellen growled.
Irwin smiled softly, voice lowering into a whisper. "I'm not. I can show you."
Ellen shared a look with her daughter, Jo, with the latter shrugging her shoulders.
"I mean, what's the worst that could happen?" Her daughter gave a lopsided grin, amused by Irwin's words.
"Look, just give me a chance. Let me explain." He shook his head and leaned closer, "The war will be destructive, Ellen. It will reap the lives of thousands and it will increase exponentially, so long as we let the demons get what they want. Sure, you may be able to delay it, even if you can find where the Devil's Gate is, but it is an immutable fact that it cannot be stopped."
"How'd you know all that?" Ellen asked incredulously. "I had to pry the info out of the two for a while. And here you are…"
Irwin didn't hide the truth. "Because I gave it to them."
"Shit." Ellen rubbed her face again. "You're telling me you can stop this war?"
"I told you… there's no stopping it. But I can win it without too much casualty." Irwin responded truthfully.
"Then what do you suggest?" Jo asked.
Irwin breathed out and said, "Unify the American hunters. All of them under my command."
"Maybe we should… close for a while," Jo suggested, sweat prickling her forehead from the gravity of the conversation.
Ellen nodded, finding it best to talk without an unruly crowd half-listening in. She took out a large bell from out the bar and rang it repeatedly.
"Last call! Last call! Everyone gets another round for free and then gets the hell out of my bar!"
A cacophony of disappointed yells, replaced by an exuberant hooray, reverberated across the bar as the various patrons and hunters stampede over. Some who still had glass half full chugged with all their mights, not one to pass up free booze.
Irwin excused himself as the two got busy, settling near the arcade where Scott was elucidating Garth about their adventure in Whiteclay.
The hunter had a swollen cheek and fractured nose as the result of his earlier fight. Although he had technically won the unfair fight, it was apparent to Irwin that a heavy cross was burdening Garth.
So, rather than cruelly admonish the man for fighting against two hunters who were far more large and experienced than he, Irwin clapped him on the shoulders and offered him what was left of his can.
"You did good out there." He said, "Sorry, I had to apologize on your behalf. Don't want to ruin what little rapport I had with the Harvelles in case it was your fault."
"Honestly, we're good, but you have to teach me how you shot the freaking knife out of his hand." Garth gushed excitedly, sipping what was left of the can. Like him, Garth didn't have the stomach for alcohol and was a sweet-tooth. "That was pretty cool!"
Irwin chuckled, but did inwardly agree that it was, in fact, pretty cool. The shot was a sub-effect of his Marksmanship skill: Dead Eye.
Yes, Irwin had chosen Wiccan Pugilist as his secondary job, aching Irwin as he watched Baneblood Hexer disappear into the darkness. While the latter was terrifying and pretty much a purely offensive job, Irwin knew that he would need to do the dirty work himself in the following war.
He had chosen Skeletal Reinforcement as his skill, which, as its name stated, had fortified his whole skeletal system, albeit that enhancement came with extreme pain. He nearly pissed himself when the pain suddenly entered his body and was thankful that Scott had been in the car when he was writhing on the ground.
Marksmanship was upgraded to level 5–giving him Dead Eye–while his Unarmed Combat, Swordsmanship, and, surprisingly, Krousurgy was upgraded to Level 10. Unfortunately, unlike what he had imagined, the skills that had reached level 10 did not gain another sub-effect.
Irwin was bummed out, to be sure. Fortunately, all was forgiven when he received information regarding Unarmed Combat and Swordsmanship when both skills reached the level 10, much like when they reached the fifth level. He was sure that his close quarter combat techniques would now be on-par with professionals in their various fields while his skill with swords and other bladed objects was the same.
'Actually, I haven't tested my blade skills since my last session with Joaquin. God, Also haven't even tested the skill's sub-effects. Maybe I should drop by his dojo and kick his ass for fun. I know he likes kung-fu, so he'll love it if I ham it up.'
"Only when you get older." He teased before cracking his knuckles and inching closer to the hunter. "How's your relationship with them?"
"Pretty good. Although Ellen gets pretty annoyed when I ask her for Poutine. I've been checking the hunter's teeth, which is a bad idea by the way, so they like me." Garth shuddered before giggling to himself when he mentioned giving odontological advice to hunters who, in most cases, were libertarians and anti-establishment paranoids with no medical insurance.
Irwin nodded in appreciation. "Good. The Harvelles agreed to hear me out on my proposal, although I think Jo's with me so far."
"As long as she gets to hunt, you're good with her. Ellen, though… man, she's a tough cookie to crumble." Garth whistled as hunters and patrons alike exited the bar.
"In any case, I'm about to show them the half extent of my powers."
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