Claiming his first Boon and talking to his father had made the day feel very long, so Dig didn't do much before falling asleep early. Somehow, though, he did not wake up on his own. Instead, he was awoken by a rapid knocking at the door an hour before dawn.
'Who thinks it's a good idea to visit someone this early?' He thought to himself while rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes as he walked over to the door. The knocking had sounded pretty rushed, so it probably wasn't an empty visit.
But just to be safe, he peered through the peephole and met Luisa's eyes. She looked straight at him and gestured for him to open the door.
"What's wrong?" He asked immediately once he did. Her expression was one clue that something wasn't right.
But there was also the fact that Luisa would never leave her post unless something was extremely wrong.
Luisa stepped inside, gently pushing Dig, and closed the door behind her.
"There's no easy way to say this, Dig, so I'm just going to say it. Your old man's gone." She crouched and held his hands in a show of comfort.
Dig slowly pulled his hands out of hers and simply looked at her with a frown. Luisa looked as uncomfortable trying to comfort him as she did telling him about his dad being gone.
"What do you mean?" He asked before jumping to any conclusions.
"We're not sure what happened, but last night, when the big guy left his office, he took the elevator to his apartment, as usual. But in the middle of the elevator ride, he simply disappeared. The screen flickered, and your dad was gone. We can't reach him, and while we figured we should keep it under wraps, we had to ask a Tracker. They said he was either hiding so well that he couldn't be found or nowhere on this planet." Luisa did her best to give Dig a comprehensive, albeit slightly rushed, explanation so that he could properly understand what was going on.
Unfortunately, Dig stopped listening halfway through as he remembered the dream he had yesterday.
He was starting to think it wasn't just an anxiety-induced nightmare.
"Have you heard of something called the Shuttle?" He asked Luisa, interrupting her monologue.
She raised an eyebrow and shook her head. It was her turn to be confused since she had no idea what that had to do with anything.
"It's a Curse that takes over any box-shaped mode of transport and sends the target to a place called the Underbelly."
Luisa's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"And you know this how?"
"I had a dream about it."
"Right." She did not believe him one bit. But if he didn't want to talk about how he knew it, he didn't have to. That wasn't important right now, anyway.
"So you're saying the big man is fine?"
"For now."
"For now?"
"Well, I don't know everything that's down there, but he should be fine. He's pretty strong, isn't he?"
Winter Russel had made a name for himself during the Chaos Descension twenty-three years ago and slowly but steadily built up himself and his Liama Ventures since then. He wasn't the strongest or most talented around. He had also had some major setbacks.
But twenty-three years of accumulation was a long time in a world that was only twenty-three years old. Well, the world was a lot older than that, but the Old World had next to no impact on the present.
"He's not weak, at least, depending on the circumstances. So, how long do you think it will take for him to return?"
"No idea."
"..." Luisa just looked at him until he continued.
"I don't know how to return from the Underbelly, after all."
"But you know it's possible, at least?"
"Yeah. Or something. I didn't quite get it."
Luisa's expression darkened. She didn't think Winter was dead from the start, but if what Dig had said was true, the situation was tricky. It wasn't a matter of Winter just taking a breather after fighting with his son.
"Alright, assuming that's all true, that means the business is in trouble." She looked at Dig with a meaningful gaze.
"I guess it is." He shrugged nonchalantly.
"..."
Realization dawned on Dig as Luisa continued to stare at him.
"N-no way! Let it crumble! I do not want to take over! I wouldn't even know how!" He protested fiercely to the idea.
"That doesn't matter. I'll be there to guide you. In fact, it would be fine if you just act as a figurehead until you get the hang of it." Luisa nodded encouragingly.
Dig shook his head.
"Can't you just do it then? Why do I need to take over?"
"Legitimacy. Everyone at the business knows the big man wanted you to take over should anything happen to him. Although I know some won't accept it, most should still be able to handle it. However, if I try to take over, I open the door to a free-for-all where everyone fights for control over the company or all the resources and Cobs under it."
"Isn't it just a business? Why make such a big deal of it? There has to be someone who can just oversee operations until Dad returns!"
"There is."
"Who?"
"You."
"Damn it."
Luisa took a breath and calmed down, inspiring Dig to do the same. Getting heated wouldn't solve anything.
"Dig, Liama Ventures is the biggest COB-Company in the city. We are responsible for more than half of the Cobs in the Vault. We handle the majority of all Curse-related incidents in and around the city. We have several strike teams continuously going outside the city to eradicate Curses in the wild as a preventative measure to keep the city safe.
"What do you think will happen if infighting breaks out within the company?"
Dig didn't answer. He didn't have to. It was obvious.
"Argh, screw it!" Dig shouted exasperatedly before returning to his bedroom.
He came back out a few minutes later, fully dressed, and pointed at Luisa.
"I'm going to work you to the bone for this."
"Yes, please!" Luisa beamed a satisfied smile and saluted before following Dig out of the apartment and to her car. She floored it back to the office. They had a lot to do.