Chapter 5: Chapter V4: Chance Encounter Part 2

“We’re officially moving to threat level three.”   “Any particular reason why?”   “A POI was spotted within the crowd of protestors, one we’ve had linked to a group calling themselves, ‘Retribution’ not much is known about them even to our CIs, but rumor is they’ve got a hard-on for the government.”   “This rumor have any credence to it?”   “Call it a gut feeling, any group that sneaks around and calls themselves Retribution, probably doesn’t have the best intentions. Plus most of the rumors we’ve collected seem to indicate they're being led by more than one Awakened.”   “Chikuso(Oh, Shit), better safe than sorry then, sector PKs been notified?”   “Not yet, local Peacekeepers already have their hands full with the protests, we’re gonna keep this under wraps for now. We don’t want to spook the only potential lead we have on the rest of his gang. But just to be safe we’ll deploy a few officers in plain clothes into the area.”   “Sounds good.”   Officer Audio log recording between High Judge Olfric Boland and Mediator Cersi Akagi

 

Chance Encounter Part 2

 

Jac quickly entered the backroom and turned a corner heading down the stairs leading to a basement. He nearly tripping in the process of running down the stairs, but managed to catch himself just in time to prop himself on a nearby wall. 

A tightness in Jac’s chest began to swell up as he started finding it harder to breathe, with chills crept along his spine, causing goosebumps to break out across his skin. 

“Get it together, c’mon man,” Jac reassured himself, slapping himself in the face a few times before burying his face into his palms and letting out a muffled yell. 

It had been years since Jac last saw an Awaken that wasn’t James, and during that encounter he had nearly died. Seeing the man’s overbearing nature, coupled with his attitude and demeanor, brought back bad memories that Jac really did not want to deal with right now. A feeling of unease and dread loomed over him as he unintentionally began reminiscing about the last encounter with an Awaken he had. He still had the scars from when he was choked as a child.

“C’mon c’mon, fuck. C’mon!” Jac kept murmuring before he started counting backward from a hundred. A tactic he sometimes used to help calm himself when things got bad. As he sat there, there was a moment of lunacy as he began laughing. 

A few moments passed before Jac finally managed to stand back up. A couple of deep breaths later, and he had composed himself enough to continue making his way towards a door at the bottom of the stairs with a numbered keypad on it. 

Jac quickly punched in the code, with the door making a slight chirp and flashing green indicating that it was unlocked. As Jac opened the door he was immediately greeted by a wave of cold air that rushed out of the sealed room, causing him to shudder. 

Quickly making his way through, the motion sensor lights turned on as Jac entered the room. The vault was big, with a large number of nozzles and pipes, and wires lining the walls, and a very big red button that read Incinerate.

It was also very damp and frigid like the rest of the building, however, in contrast to the other rooms, it was soon brightly lit with hardly any shadows maring the floor as several rows of lights buzzed to life all around the vault.

Jac seldom had an opportunity to come down here. Usually, Mr. Wong would handle the care and activities associated with the vault and very rarely allowed Jac down here. With the exception of teaching Jac about the mechanisms and procedures regarding the operation and use of the space below. On normal days, Jac wouldn’t miss an opportunity to poke around and explore, but he was in a rush and had already spent too much time down here. He definitely didn’t want to keep the Awakened waiting much longer. 

Several rows of storage devices sat within the chamber, each of varying sizes and colors with a series of buttons and panels on the side of each container controlling their respective devices. Looking around Jac quickly spotted a blue container that sat on a pedestal, where a pair of gloves and a hazard mask dangled from a hook attached to a plaque that read POISONOUS. 

Each container had some special type of plant or herb, usually dangerous or lethal in some kind of way that wasn’t safe to be cultivated or showcased to the general public. The legality of owning such plants was in question, but Jac chose to ignore it as he donned the gloves and face mask.

“Now where is that switch?” Jac murmured to himself while feeling around the container for a button. A second later Jac pressed a hidden switch at the back of the device, which popped out a control panel from the side. Jac rapidly punched in the code, unlocking the touch screen to hit the open key.

The container made a hissing noise as it unsealed, allowing him to raise the top of the box, to extend it, revealing the contents within. 

Seeds, stems, and several flower petals of similar appearance yet different colors lay within a box situated inside the container, all chilled and cool to the touch as he reached in to inspect the goods. Satisfied, Jac sealed the container and began to move it when something caught his eye in his peripheral. 

“Hey there.” 

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“Holy fucking Citri!” Jac exclaimed, nearly dropping the container as the white-haired man appeared behind him from seemingly out of nowhere, spooking him. 

“Y-you can’t be down here!” Jac yelled, backpedaling away from the man and nearly knocking over the pedestal in the process. 

“Is that for me?” 

“What? Oh err, yea, it is.”

“Neat, thanks Jake, I’ll just take that,” the man said, snatching the container barehanded from Jac, causing him to freak out as the paint on the container wasn’t actually paint, but a poison made from the larkspur flowers itself that were diluted and enriched to enhance its poisonous properties. 

“That's poisonous! We gotta wash your hands!” Jac shrieked, trying to direct the man towards a sink that was situated near the entrance. 

“Ah, don’t worry, poison of this grade doesn’t affect me as it does you, mortals.” The white-haired man nonchalantly replied, while spinning the box around in his hand before scurrying off towards the exit. 

Jac quickly took off the mask and gloves, placing them back on the hook before running to the sink to scrub his hands. He rapidly shut the vault and hurried up the stairs in an attempt to follow behind the man.

Jac needed to make sure the vagrant didn't get into anywhere he didn’t need to be getting into, seeing as he clearly disregarded all of the safety measures in place. 

By the time Jac made it up the stairs and caught up to the stranger in the main foyer, he was gasping for breath. 

“Ple..pelea..please be careful with that.” Jac managed to wheeze out before looking up and noticing that there were more than just Jac and the white-haired man in the shop.

“Greetings, I hope my companion here didn’t give you much trouble.” A man with kind green eyes and graying black hair said as he smiled at Jac, placing a firm hand on the white-haired man’s shoulder.

In contrast to the messy white-haired man in a charred lab coat, the black-haired man was sharply dressed in a vest with his sleeves rolled up and slacks with a tie that had little polka dots on them. 

The man had scars running across both his arms all the way up to his neck, with a scarred-over gash around the side of his mouth as if someone had slashed his jaw open at one point.

“How much do we owe you, young man?” the black-haired man said while rummaging through his vest. 

“It was a gift! tell ‘em, Jake!” The lab coat protested, trying to shake the man’s grip. 

Jac was at a loss at what to do, seeing as Mr. Wong didn’t specify and only told him to give the man the container. 

“Uh, Mr. Wong only told me to hand him the container, so… Um, I think it’s free?” Jac said scratching the back of his head. He contemplated looking for Mr. Wong, but he knew he was in a foul mood and probably didn’t want to be disturbed.

“Ah, is that so? Then here’s a little something for your troubles young man. Consider it a payment for having to deal with my friend here.” The grey-haired gentleman replied as he fished out a credit chip and offered it to Jac. Seeing free money, Jac didn’t hesitate to reach out and take it, but as he did so he was grabbed by the wrist.

“There is one stipulation, however.” The man said, holding Jac in place with an iron grip. He immediately attempted to pull away but was stopped by the green glow of the man’s eyes. An oppressive aura seemed to emit off the man, threatening to choke Jac just with his mere presence. Every cell in Jac’s body screamed to run, but he was transfixed, a weird sensation of suddenly being hungry and scared at the same time stiffening his urge to run.

“We were never here. Do you understand?” 

Several seconds passed before Jac managed to stammer out a reply, his eyes downcast as he did so.

“Y-y-yes, sir.” 

“Excellent. I apologize for the rudeness, I swear I’m usually more refined, but we must be on our way.” The man said, retracting his aura and depositing the credit chip in Jac’s hand before releasing it. As he did so the hunger in Jac’s stomach quickly went away.

“Can we go now? It smells too green here.” The white-haired man complained scraping the poisonous paint on the container and getting it underneath his nails. The sharply dressed man raised an eyebrow before craning his head towards his companion. 

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that, seeing as you dragged me down here?” 

“Oh, yea! Yea, I’m done here.” The white-haired man said, already halfway out the entrance. He stopped for a moment to pause, seeming to contemplate something with a frown before continuing. 

“A pleasure meeting you, young man.” The man in the vest said as he took his leave. 

It was a few moments after the bells finished jingling above the door that Jac finally managed to breathe again. 

 

“Fuck!” Jac let out, before wiping the sweat from his brow and suddenly slamming his hand into the nearby countertop. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking as he steadied himself on the nearby counter. Soon fatigue began to sweep Jac's body, causing him to take a seat to avoid falling down while he tried to calm his roiling emotions. 

 

“Fuck.”

 

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