Chapter 136: A Reward & a Really Weird Letter

Chapter 136: A Reward & a Really Weird Letter

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"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

- Blanche Dubois, (A Streetcar Named Desire)

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<(Bruce POV)>

"What do you think this is, Cortana?" I casually asked while inspecting the huge courier box with the help of the bat tool one of the drones had brought me earlier.

"Whatever this is supposed to be, sir, it's not completely normal. Despite the various types of analyzing methods, we have been using to try and find out its contents, I couldn't find a single significant detail about it. All the test results save for the camera sensors failed even to perceive the box, much less find out any hidden details about it." The AI responded in a puzzled voice.

"And what about the person who delivered it? Any news about him yet?" I asked with curiosity. "After all, he was not an ordinary human being either. His evading my senses proved just how capable he was."

"Unfortunately, no sir. I have searched every digital database on the planet that I had access to. I haven't found even a single detail about the man that we saw earlier. Even the CCTV cameras near the hotel failed to capture a single photo of the man trying to enter or exit the property."

Currently, I was in one of the hotel suites that I had just rented in order to find out the origins of the huge package that was delivered directly to my hotel room by a very shady-looking delivery guy.

Initially, I was quite skeptical and hesitant to accept the package. However, when the delivery person begged me to sign for it, citing that both his job and life were at risk if he couldn't deliver it today and mentioning his hungry children back at home, I was compelled to oblige.

The guy sounded so pathetic that I just couldn't say no to his pitiful face. He sounded like one of those guys who always worked as hard as he could to provide for his family but still had to face misfortune wherever they went for no reason at all.

Originally, I intended to interrogate him or perhaps even scan his mind to discover how he managed to bring that package to the eleventh floor of the hotel without notifying the security staff. However, after I signed the delivery receipt at his request, he just vanished as if by magic. A single lapse in my vigilance allowed him to slip away undetected, leaving no trace of his whereabouts or how he managed such a swift escape.

"Yep, he was definitely a supernatural being, possibly even connected to the Olympian pantheon in some way," I said as I eyed the unique name pasted on the outer cover of the package 'Hermes Express'.

"Should I open it?" Cortana asked as two thin metal arms with pincers extended from the white drone floating in front of me towards the boxed package.

"... Okay, do it. Although I would have liked to wait until we went back to the cave to conduct additional tests to find out more about the package, I doubt we would find anything new especially since we haven't found anything about it after doing so many tests already." I said, giving Cortana the go-ahead to unwrap the package.

Yours begrudgingly,

Hephaestus,

God of Fire and Forge,

Vulcan Forges Corporation, Olympus

P.S. If you figure out how to stop gods from making absurd promises involving my labor, do let me know. I'd be eternally grateful. Also, if you ever invent something amazing you can share it with me either via prayer or just burning your invention in a fire lit in my name."

Cortana finally finished reading the letter in one go.

"..." My silence lasted for a long time as I wondered how to respond to the letter. All of it was mostly Hephaestus ranting like a ten-year-old about him having to give away so much of the metal to me but truthfully, Hephaestus sounded like a—I don't believe that I am saying this— but he sounded like a... "good" guy who was always bullied to do stuff by his family members. Even though I was the one benefiting from this the most, I could not help but feel slightly sorry for him.

"Sir, now that we know this is pure eighth metal, should I arrange for it to be transported back to our lab?" Cortana finally broke the silence after some time. She sounded like she was also confused about how she should react to the letter, so she just chose to ignore it.

"Yeah sure, do that. I won't be working for the week since I am on vacation, so I'll look into this after I return to Gotham." I answered after thinking for a while as I surveyed the glowing piece of metal.

'Now, I just have to decide what to make with this... as well as how to actually make it since I have no idea how this metal is even used in metalcraft'.

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