Classless Ascension

Round 1 had ended with the interrogator rage quitting. One point for Josh! This match would be one-sided for sure. After all his freedom was in play. Now, what would be the next move?

The man was making Josh wait. This time, it could very well be due to a lack of manpower haha. Josh had only one thing to lament, where was the popcorn! Should he ask for some? Perhaps only Josh would think of such a thing in these circumstances.

Let's just say there were probably two expected reactions from someone in Josh's situation. The first one, a poor bloke, would be frightened beyond belief. The second one would be someone with connections. The latter would have probably used those to get out already.

Still, Josh was ready for anything, including some "enhanced interrogation techniques", although he doubted they could use those. Let's just say Josh was confident to be able to resist whatever they threw at him.

Back when he was just trying to train his fighting abilities, he had wiped out a small criminal organization. Turned out that the boss of it had a big brother, one that was heading a much bigger syndicate, to say the least.

That big organization had captured him and interrogated him for a while, a fancy name for torture. It was pretty awkward in fact. After all, who in their right mind would believe that some guy had done this just for training? Not them! They kept thinking that he was from an opposing faction or even working for the government.

Crazy how some people won't ever believe the truth! Anyway, Josh had no choice but to serve them to the feds. As soon as he had learned about them targeting him, he had somehow made enough preparations. Honestly, he was ready to negotiate but they were dicks, so he decided just to have them all jailed.

Unsurprisingly their boss, the big brother, managed to go free. But the gang was weakened already, so Josh used another one to take revenge. He would always remember that dumbass that kept screaming right before dying "I knew it! You were working with an opposing faction!", yeah sure buddy. Even then the man still thought himself clever.

Honestly, Josh always had a slight dislike for the so-called government too. Well, they could be useful at times, but he knew very well not to rely on them. Most systems were designed to either be fair or give the illusion of fairness.

The reality, however, was often if not always very disappointing. Simply because of one word: bribery. That's all that was needed to corrupt it all. Josh had witnessed it first-hand with the Dragon Triad. Actually, there were also cases of sheer incompetence and pandering to the masses. Yes, the masses that Josh knew were most of the time extremely dumb. Not that Josh would judge them because he used to be a student who barely cared about politics himself.

Anyway, Josh was simply awaiting what would come next in this interrogation fiasco, deriving pleasure from it. Should he enthusiastically welcome the man back? Maybe he could complain about being lonely? Josh had to figure something fun to do.

Then came the sound of the door opening once more. Josh playfully said: "Welcome home, dear! Would you like dinner? A bath? Or perhaps…me?" Turning around he couldn't wait to see the expression of the man. Except, it wasn't him.

In his stead was a tall and fit young lady wearing a black uniform. She had braided hair and was wearing shades for some reason. Yes, indoor. Then again, the lighting was so bright that it could probably reduce a vampire to ashes in about 1.17 seconds. Or not. Sadly, Josh had never killed a vampire back on Earth so he could only guess.

She was just standing there speechless for a second, wondering how Josh knew that a gorgeous lady was about to enter the room without even turning. After all, the man was supposed to be a low-level Climber, the epitome of normal.

She didn't even bother sitting and simply walked near the table. Standing, she started her line of questioning, writing in a small notepad. At least, compared to her colleague, her questions were slightly more pertinent. Notice the slightly.

She didn't bother with small talk. Josh found it funny how she didn't address the fact that she was having interrogation sloppy seconds. Now, Josh simply wondered if she'd remain professional no matter what.

"Name?"

"Josh Malum, but I'll allow you simply call me Josh", he said while inspecting her from head to toe.

"Class?"

"You probably have seen the video already." It apparently had been really popular for a few days after all.

"Class?"

"None, apparently."

"Apparently?"

"Let's go with none."

"Level?"

"Eh, 9? Still, wouldn't you prefer doing this over drinks or something?"

"Skills?"

"I'd rather not answer that. Say do you always bring men here to get to know them? I need to remark, the lighting sucks."

Josh could see her writing none in the skill category. Wow, just wow. She was already writing the wrong info. Was making assumptions part of their training here? Also, she should have been hiding that for sure. Well, she was hiding her writing but didn't conceal her hand movements at all, so Josh was able to infer it.

"Name of the victim?"

"The deceased? Lenny, but you really shouldn't talk about other men on a date you know."

"Full name? Be precise!"

"No clue. Pretty sure this information would be easier for you to access than for me. Are you guys having that much trouble? Like seriously?!"

"You murdered a man in cold blood, and you don't even know his full name?"

"I'm innocent and no I didn't know the guy well, you'd know this if you did your research properly...or talked with the other guy."

Well, in a way. Josh truly was innocent. Innocent enough that he didn't fear any lie detector. He truly never intended to kill the guy, at first anyway. He simply wanted to figure out his true colors in order to help Dale.

Of course, that had changed when the man had threatened to kill him if he didn't sign the enslavement contract. It was totally legitimate defense, not that Josh would ever admit the deed.

"Do you think the Black Squad has so much time on their hand that we'd bother bringing an innocent man here?"

"Actually, now that I think about it…was this all a ploy to go on a date with me? It all makes sense now! Let me guess, you saw that one interview and got charmed by my handsome face, right? I mean, it's either that or yes you guys have clearly too much time on your hands."

"Do you believe yourself to be above the law?"

"Do YOU believe yourself to be the law?"

"Do you know what the punishment is for murder?"

"Yes, I do! The man before was kind enough to enlighten me! It is, and I quote, to be royally fucked! Now, I have a quick question of my own, who will be doing the fucking? Will it be the old man, or will it be you? Also, how much fucking are we talking about? Hours, days, weeks?"

That is the exact moment she ragequitted. She too left stamping her feet, bringing her notepad along.

To recap, the first guy was here spitting facts with some evidently wrong while the girl asked the most obvious questions. Now, what would come next? Perhaps both of them at once? Perhaps a third individual? Josh knew that whatever it was…he still was missing popcorn!