Chapter 152: The Videotape

"You know me? I didn't expect my name to have spread this far already."

Luca's mouth curved upward the second Soren said his name. He couldn't help it.

He adjusted the red scarf tucked inside his coat, puffed out his chest, and struck a pose that clearly said go ahead, keep praising me.

Soren studied him for a beat. "Cheshire Cat?"

"Don't call me that stupid nickname!"

Luca exploded like someone had stepped on his tail. He jabbed a finger at Soren and shouted, "I'm a goddamn free journalist chasing the truth! Not some creepy, grinning cat!"

Soren watched the reporter flail and felt the corner of his mouth twitch. Luca was just a regular guy—no magic, no spells, nothing. Yet somehow he kept showing up at the worst places with nothing but a grappling hook, absurd luck, and that damn camera. Bayonetta had given him the Cheshire Cat nickname years ago. The witch treated him like an annoying stray that kept following her around.

"So," Soren said, "you're the contact Bayonetta sent to meet me?"

Luca took a deep breath and tried to look professional. He cleared his throat twice. "First of all, let's get one thing straight. I'm not working for that violent psycho. We have an equal partnership on certain intelligence matters." He stressed the word equal like it mattered.

"Second—"

He glanced past Soren into the hotel room. "If there isn't a woman in there, can we talk inside? Hallways aren't exactly great for private conversations."

Soren gave him a flat look. "One lollipop."

Luca blinked. His hand moved before his brain caught up. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a strawberry lollipop, offering it without thinking.

Halfway through the motion he froze, staring at the candy like it had personally betrayed him.

"Goddamn it—why the hell do I even carry these witch snacks around?"

He muttered the words under his breath, shoved the lollipop into Soren's hand, and squeezed past him into the room before the embarrassment could get worse.

Soren looked at the candy, shook his head, and followed him inside. Looked like Bayonetta had already left her mark.

Luca dropped into a chair without waiting for an invitation, crossed his legs, and let his gaze sweep over Soren. "Didn't expect you to be this capable, kid. That woman said there was some big trouble waiting in Maine. I figured you'd need my help, but you handled the clown all by yourself."

He let out a dramatic sigh and patted the camera hanging around his neck. "Too bad I showed up late. If I'd gotten footage of that monster, I could've sold it for serious money. Exclusive headline material right there."

Soren unwrapped the lollipop and popped it in his mouth. "Bayonetta said you'd contact me as soon as I got here. Took you long enough."

Luca waved a hand like it was nothing. "I was poking around the area a while back and found something interesting—"

He stopped mid-sentence, eyes sharpening. "Wait. After you killed the clown, has anyone started watching you yet?"

Soren shook his head. "The clown's only been dead a short while. They shouldn't have reacted that fast."

"Good." Luca's voice carried a spark of excitement. "While I was tailing one of their supply lines, I ended up at a mountain not far from here. Turns out they've got a whole mental hospital hidden up there."

He lowered his voice, leaning forward. "They're grabbing homeless people, corpses, even some… special individuals. Doing human modification experiments on them."

Soren's expression didn't change. Mental hospital. Human modification. This had to be one of the sites where they were sealing demons inside people—or at least a research facility for it.

"And then?" he asked.

Luca slapped his thigh, getting animated. "Then I used my incredible skills and genius-level luck to slip past the mutated test subjects and guards, got the evidence on tape, and got the hell out."

He reached into his coat lining and pulled out a tightly wrapped package, waving it in front of Soren. "If I hadn't run so fast, some guy with giant scissors almost cut me in half."

Luca's eyes lit up. "How about it? This place is obviously huge. If we hit it, we'll make plenty of noise. That glasses-wearing woman will have to be satisfied with the results."

Soren held out his hand. "Let me see the tape first."

He needed to know exactly what was inside that hospital. Luca's word alone wasn't enough.

Luca clicked his tongue but handed the tape over.

The hotel TV flickered to life. A massive building stood alone in the mountains. The footage was shaky, low quality, clearly shot while moving. It felt like watching a horror game in first person.

On screen, Luca crept along a wall with the camera. The hospital was eerily quiet except for the occasional distant sound of something metal dragging across the floor.

The camera entered what looked like an abandoned operating room. The moment the door opened, the lens jolted.

On the central table lay a body that had been completely dissected. The human organs were gone, replaced by mechanical parts and chunks of black, pulsing flesh. Even though the corpse had clearly been abandoned for a long time, the black meat inside it was still twitching faintly.

Demon flesh? Soren thought, watching calmly.

The screen went black.

Soren glanced at Luca.

The reporter scratched the back of his head. "Someone was patrolling. I had to hide for a bit."

Sure enough, when the footage returned, they were no longer in the operating room. Glass jars lined the walls, filled with human limbs, demon corpses, and some grotesque stitched-together specimens.

A loud crash made the camera whip around.

A massive, fat man had smashed through a metal door and was charging straight at Luca with an iron rod.

"FUCK!"

Luca's panicked voice came through the speakers. The image shook wildly as he ran down a corridor.

Then the camera jerked forward again.

A tall, thin man stood blocking the hallway, holding a pair of scissors bigger than he was.

Scissors in front. Fat man behind.

The lens swung back and forth between them. Luca's breathing grew louder and more ragged.

Watching it, Soren found it hard to believe an ordinary man had escaped that situation alive.

The screen went black again.

When the image returned, Luca was outside the hospital, lying in some bushes and panting hard.

The guy really did have ridiculous luck.

Soren ejected the tape and tossed it back to him.

"Fine. We rest today. Tomorrow we head out and take a look at that mental hospital."