It was really late at night. The storm had stopped, but it left marks all over the town. There were some people outside, like the usual drunk guy on the alley, but overall it had been a pretty quiet day thanks to the rain. The concrete that maintained the walls of the Wind Tower was soaked in rainwater. The walls had cracks, but they were strong enough to prevent the whole tower from falling. Inside, in the 8th floor, Tom Hagen was resting on his office. All the rooms and the building itself was warm, but Tom’s office felt cold, there were even little pieces of ice on the walls. Tom’s assistant knocked on the door. Hagen was sleeping, so he didn’t hear anything, but Harp decided it was an emergency and entered anyway.
Hagen was surprised to see Harp entering so quickly.
– Whoa, oh shit! – He said.
– Mr. Hagen! We’ve received a letter from Steise Island. It’s from Rock. – Harp sat in front of Tom’s desk. – What’s Rock doing in Steise Island? – Asked Tom. Harp just plain stared at him. Tom realized he hadn’t read the letter and didn’t have a damn clue about what happened, so he just asked Harp to hand him the letter. Harp did so without doubts.
Hagen opened the letter and read it for a while. It wasn’t really long, though it seemed like it had many things to say. – So… Rock’s still travelling? – Asked Harp.
– Seems like it. Well, at least we know he’s alive. This guy never messages us or shows any signs of life. – Answered Tom and sighed. – That’s not the most important part though… – He got up from the desk and walked around. He left the letter above a table and looked at some books on the library. He wasn’t really paying attention to the books, he was just thinking.
– So… What is the most important part? What does it say? – Harp didn’t know what to think. Did Tom seem worried? He could never tell. Tom’s face was always a mystery to him. <His face is cold as his office, cold as his damn heart.> Thought Harp to himself.
– It says that Brotato is dead. – Tom himself wasn’t sure of what he was feeling. He trusted Rock, but he couldn’t believe that Brotato was dead. – How can it be possible? – Tom stopped, but after a while, he added: – Nah… I don’t buy it. –
– Eh… Why are you so doubtful? Is Brotato immortal or somethin’? – Said Harp scratching his head.
– Nah… You don’t get it. Brotato is… strange. He’s special, in his own way. Not only because of the weird things he does, like leaving those rats free in the prison… I’m talking more about his power, or, well, the lack of it… For some reason it makes him special. I don’t know what it is or why, but he always survives the most impossible, stupid and ridiculous situations. I remember of a time when Brotato’s office exploded randomly. It was a problem with the electric system, nothing too worrying. – Sighed Tom and moved his hand to show it wasn’t anything important. <It was important enough to make an office explode randomly and potentially kill all the people inside…> Thought Harp. He scratched his head again. – Well… Brotato got out with no scratches. We found another body, Brotato’s assistant. His body was split in two. How did Brotato get out of that without scratches? Nobody knows. – Explained Tom.
– Well… maybe he’s just immortal, he just can’t die and his body isn’t able to be hurt. – Said Harp. Tom’s story didn’t make sense in Harp’s head.
– Nah, we actually tried hurting him on purpose to see what happened. We didn’t tell him about our experiments though. One day, at the bar, we gave him beer… vodka… whiskey… tequila… wine… sake… liquor… – Tom kept going for around a minute. – Kasiri… Nihamanchi… Eh… What was I saying again? – Tom looked confused. – You were telling me about the time when you tried to hurt Brotato to test if he was immortal. – Said Harp. – Oh, yeah, that. Eh, well, we gave him Kumis, Plum Jerkum… – He got interrupted by Harp. – Get to the point already! – Tom stopped saying drink names. – Alright, alright, sorry… Well, we tried to get him drunk. Then, Rock decided to occasionally start a fight with him. He told him something about his sister, or, well, I don’t know, I don’t really remember, I drank a lot of Huangjiu that day. The thing is, Brotato got really mad, he stood up, stared at Rock for ten seconds without saying a word, and then ran in his direction and hit him with his fist. Naturally, Rock used his dematerialization to avoid it, so Brotato trespassed him and hit the wall instead. His fist was bleeding, a lot. He screamed like a little girl, like a crybaby, like a wo… – He got interrupted by Harp again. – I GET IT! HE WAS CRYING. – He shouted. – Sorry! Sorry! – Said Tom again. – Anyway, we had to call Jake to cure his wound. – Paused Tom. – That made us realize that he could get hurt, he was just like us. And actually, we have advantages over him, Rock with his dematerialization, Nate with his invisibility, me with my ice… – He got interrupted again, but it wasn’t Harp this time.
– You forgot me with my super dick. – Crackman entered the office. – It was really cold out in the hallways, so I figured you’d be here. Jake is out, he’s asking to meet you. – Crackman was a tall and strong guy. He looked like a fighter of some kind. – Why can’t he just come here and talk to me like you and Harp? What is he doing at this our out there anyway? – Said Tom. – Listen dude… I like making people believe we have some kind of organization… even though we don’t… so I told him that he has to ask to meet you. It looks like you’re, I don’t know, the official public-relationships guy? – Responded Crackman, eating a sandwich he had just stolen-- grabbed from the kitchen. – All right, tell Jayko I’ll be there in some minutes. You can go now. – Said Tom.
Crackman walked out of the room at the same time he finished his sandwich, taking from his pocket another sandwich he had stolen.
Harp wasn’t sure of what to think.
– Well, like you said, he escapes from a lot of situations… but Rock did find his body now. There is a possibility of Brotato being dead. – Said Harp. He grabbed the letter and started reading it.
– Hey buddy… listen… – Tom used a sweet tone. – I know that you’re new here… so you don’t really understand why we don’t believe Brotato is dead… but… – Harp interrupted him again. – This letter says that Brotato’s body was found outside of Sos’ cell. The cell itself, was empty. –
Tom stopped walking and stared directly at Harp. – What? – Yeah, you’ve heard it. – Said Harp. – Fuck… – Tom sat on his chair again and started thinking. – Sos… is free? – Tons of images suddenly appeared in Tom’s head… A lot of memories, most of them he didn’t want to remember.
– Brotato… may be dead after all… – He stopped for a second. – If Rock saw him… –
– Look… I’m not denying Brotato may be dead… but we don’t have to jump to conclusions just yet. Are you really sure the one that wrote this letter is in fact Rock? What was he doing in Steise Island anyway? Didn’t he say that he wouldn’t visit the Island anymore? – Asked Harp. He was trying to calm Tom down.
– Well… You already know Rock, aside from his dematerialization, is able to feel… things. It’s like some kind of compass. He can just feel the energy, and where it is coming from. Maybe he felt something odd in Steise Island? – Thought Tom. Harp didn’t seem convinced.
– I don’t see why he would. The prison removes any kind of unwanted energies. Rock just wouldn’t feel a thing. It’s either that he was there for other reasons, or he wasn’t there at all and it’s just someone trying to fool us. –
– Dammit… How could Brotato fall on Sos’ tricks?! – Said Tom. He fisted the desktop.
– I… don’t know. The cell was opened using the keys directly, so it’s obvious that Brotato got closer enough for Sos to grab him. If this letter is really from Rock, that is. – Harp sighed, and so did Tom. Frozen steam came out of his mouth when doing so. – Damn! – Tom fisted the wall. A little circle around the spot where his hand hit on the wall froze. – If Sos is out there… anything can happen.
__________________________________________________
– Ahg... Fuck this so much. – He felt dizzy and he also had a strong headache, but he was used to it. He was breathing as fast as he could. It was the same as always after waking up, it felt like his lungs couldn’t take enough air. How many times had it happened already? Too many to count, definitely. Brotato was trying to stand up but his legs couldn’t respond yet. For now, he could only sit on the floor waiting. He looked at the cell. It was empty. <That fucker escaped… I should send a message to Tom…> He thought to himself. The rats at his side had blood on their mouths. They were trying to get meat from Brotato’s old body. – Well, thank you so much. I knew you’d be helpful someday. – Brotato told the rats. He then realized they weren’t able to understand him. He took the beer from the floor and drank some of it. <Ah, well, Sos was right, this is definitely not as cold as the cell.> After some minutes, he finally felt like he could stand up. He did, slowly, and it hurt a bit at first.
After standing up, he decided to go his office. He had a personal beer dispenser there, and it was empty. <Classical Sos, huh?> After that, he went to the hall to check on the other rooms. He quickly noticed that the main door was open. <He left… Fuck.> He looked outside for a second, and he saw there was a boat tied at the dock. To his surprise, the boat was Rock’s.