 
After The Common Era: The Origin of James Doleman

By

Sean Clarkson

Published By Sean Clarkson at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 Sean Clarkson

# Chapter One - A Strange Request

"That will be 29 dollars." As I handed the business man the dozen roses.  
It was quite a simple life; my job was helping in my grandmother flower shop. I lived in New York all my life and I don't plan to change that. As I was about to clock out from the shop my grandma called for me "James, I need you working for a little longer, it's almost closing time and this shop isn't getting empty."

I bit back my lip, "can't you take care of the till? I have a matter to attend to." I wasn't given any reply which meant that grandma wasn't changing her mind. I went and clocked back.

The day at the flower shop was slightly busy for a Texday in the ten day week but it wasn't much to complain about, grandma was busy tending to the flowers outback. I was usually the one that takes care of the flowers since I have a gift with nature but grandma tells me that I need to be social. So far my social life is by far greater than hers. I never see grandma go out or anything but meanwhile I will go out and have a good time out with my friend Zach.

I flipped the close sign at the door with both a sense of relief but exhaustion, I ran my hands through my red hair when grandma was coming out back and saying "I don't know what's with you but it was hard trying to water the plants high up."  
I turned towards grandma, she was very old but was still capable of jogging, her hair was left in a tight bun that never seemed to have untied. She always asked why I have pots on shelves so I tiredly answered "We can't just leave them on the floor like you used to do. More than twice I've broken a set of pots walking in there." Grandma flailed her arms in the air and muttered how it was fine the way she did things. I threw off the store apron and walked out into the cold air.

The nights in New York weren't too bad, the stars still didn't come out yet but the ambient noise was the only thing that stopped my mind from drifting off. I looked to my phone and saw that I had two missed calls; both of them came from my friend Zach. He's probably pissed with me now so I started walking through alleyways to get to the local bar quickly. I kept watch around me in case anyone was going to try and mug me. Thankfully after walking through three different alleyways I made it to the bar. The bar had a purple neon sign that said "Cloudy with alcohol". I walked into the bar and coughed as smoke escaped.

The inside of the bar had a science fiction theme to it, the tables had neon glow on the rim, all the drinks along the back wall had fluorescent smoke escaping between them. As I looked around I finally spotted Zach in a dark red trench coat and suit. As I walked over to him, he said to me. "Have you ever heard of being on time before; it's fascinating and easy with a clock."  
I ordered a beer and looked back at Zach and said, "Have you ever hear of working all day, gets you lots of money and you're guaranteed the hours."  
"You still go over to your grans shop to help her?"  
"Why wouldn't I? I need the money and you know I have a green thumb with nature."  
"You have to work with my business James, it pays lots of money and you can work on your hours if your good at it."  
"Courier services for a scary boss with no idea what the package could be is not my cup of tea. Besides I'm fine I still make a reasonable profit"  
"So you moved out of that studio apartment and gone into something with a little more room?"  
"No, I quite like what I have."  
"I call shenanigans, you hate that place, and you can't have a heater and a television on at the same time."

The conversation dragged onto other topics; women, movies and current affairs.  
"Speaking of current affairs," as I finished pint of beer, "what is corporate owned government doing for the good of people again?"  
Zach set his drink down and handed me a small tablet, it showed a group of people escorted out of shelter with the article

Republics Support for a Republic Answer - 11 October 312 A.C.E.

The Michael & Fredrick United Corporation have announced that they have given support to the Northern Government for the newly elected republic candidate Alfred Henderson. Alfred Henderson, born in South Boston 264 A.C.E has been raised by the church till he enrolled into the New Boston University in 286, working in the bane sugar cane factory till it went through a buyout from the M.F.U.C. in 300 A.RE. By 302, Alfred received praise from the church and support when he elected that he would try for a seat in the house of congress as the Boston senate. Today Alfred is now a candidate in the presidential race. One of the issues brought up in his acceptance speech was related to the social stigma of the so called 'supernatural' race "the supernaturals were here before us; yes they are more dangerous than the common man. But they won't be there to welcome us to oblivion, for we will be the better man." The supernatural race was first seen in 2 A.C.E. the American government still hold resentment to the supernatural race since their first contact was the start of the hundred year supernatural war. While the United Nations allow supernaturals within their borders, The American Continents still deal with supernaturals being responsible for over 80% of crimes in America. To this day supernaturals and law enforcement are two forces that constantly bump heads with each other. Alfred has declared that if he gets a position into the presidential seat he would exert effort into separating the supernaturals and human race from each other and have the supernatural race to have their own land, government and laws as gesture that supernaturals can take responsibility. Though there are mixed feelings into this idea the supernaturals have this seen as an action similar to the holocaust back during 1935 C.E. although similarities are seen between the holocaust and Alfred's idea for the future, the human population has so far been supportive to this idea and M.F.U.C. seem to be joining in on the idea. A PR from M.F.U.C. was able to say, "The M.F.U.C. has been supportive in all entities that show the promise to have the human race advance towards the biological peak-

I didn't bother reading the rest of the article and I just looked over at Zach and said to him, "This is stupid, M.F.U.C. have several subsidiary companies that can support both sides of the polls."  
Zach just chuckled, "I'm just glad that they finally support a member with their own company, saves having to swim through the bull shit. Liberals say we're infected, republics say we stole their planet. Either way their next president is all about cleaning up the petri dish of the US. They might even put martial law on us with all the new breakdowns, and when that happens I've leaving capitalism. Hey my drinks low. Refill?" I walked over to the bar and ordered another drink.

"you had a rough day or did you finally get a proper job." the comment came from Samantha, she was wearing a tube top and jeans like everyone else working but what made her different was that she would change your hair every week into something crazy, this time it was a royal purple, we had known each other for a couple years now, it was amazing to think that when I first saw her, she had trouble passing a pint to any gentleman but was now mixing some of the strangest drinks to the craziest people. I smiled for a moment at what she said and just replied "last I checked, I was still working a basic nine to five job." she rolled her eyes and just passed my drink to me before heading back to another customer.

"You done flirting? I got to ask you something important." Zach seemed to have a serious look on his face. I sat down and just twiddled my hand to let him know I was listening.  
"I got a great deal from my boss, his normal brutes have got flagged and chances are we won't be seeing them again, he has a job for me, it's very simple just follow him around to some important place, shake some hands and keep an eye open. I'll be traveling around. It's kind of an international deal and it's a lot of money involved." I was bored at this point because I didn't see how this was relevant to me.  
"Is there a reason you're telling me this?"  
"There is, I get to bring a friend along if I can find someone I trust as a guard. This other guy would be good, but I've seen you do some fancy kung-fu stuff in the back alleys. To be honest I would do all the heavy lifting and you could just be a scout of some sort, we get nice suits, lots of money goes into our hand, we travel the world. Does it not sound like a good deal?" I took a moment to think, I never heard of Zach's boss being of European origins and it just confused me more as to why someone from Europe had a business in America, most of them were bought out or had to claim bankrupt because M.F.U.C. did a better job than they did.  
"Well Zach, it's a tempting, but I'm not a fan of violence or travel, you'll have to finds someone else for that job."  
Zach was just looking at me dumbfounded, "you're kidding right? We're escorting a double to business places with fancy food and great sightseeing, not war torn countries with soldiers and explosions. The only violence that will ever exist is from a mean drunk rival. It'll probably even just end up as baby sitting the guy to make sure he doesn't blow his cover"  
"babysitting Zach? Still, I'm fine where I am, you can find someone better than me so why don't you?"  
Zach didn't like my response but he knew that I wasn't going to budge any easier. He just got out of his seat and left a hundred dollar note on the table and left saying  
"fine, thought you would help me, but you're just like in high school." Zach's' last comment hit me at a low and I knew what I had to do.  
"Now wait a moment," I grabbed him at the shoulder and he turned around. "You knew I couldn't help you at that school. As for this offer, I would have to think about it more, I need more information and time before I can make a choice. Tell me things like; how are we traveling? Can you do that?"  
Zach sighed "I was given this offer at the last minute; I have to get set tomorrow morning."  
As Zach walked out I went over to the bar and kept to my drink.

Samantha was cleaning a spill on the bench and saw me, "what did you do this time?"  
I looked up from my drink "why does it seem like my fault."  
"You and Zach are thick as thieves if ever I saw a pair."  
I chugged the last of my drink and passed the glass to Samantha for a refill. "He tried to get me into a job"  
"and you didn't take it? Half the stuff I hear Zach does sounds like you can get rich quick with his so called jobs."  
"He wanted me to travel outside the US so that I can be a guard. I naturally said no to the idea because of inevitable act of violence that will come with it."  
"but as far as I see it, you have the most skill in preventing violence with all that kung Fu stuff you learned last year."  
"That's different, ju-jitsu protects myself from violence not prevent it. Besides, can you see me as a guard for a high class man in a fancy ball or something?"  
"Okay you got me there, but there is an amazing thing called a spa, they clean you up, make you sparkling like a vampire if you pay them enough." while wiggling her fingers to elaborate on the spark comment  
"vampires don't sparkle" I could never accept Samantha's false assumption on supernatural fiction.  
"You have proof of that mister supernatural expert?" the conversation got cut short by Samantha's boss. "Stay till closing and I'll prove you wrong."

After my drink being filled I just spent the rest of my time drinking and dancing till closing. I waited outside for Samantha. When she got out of the bar she was wearing a very large coat. I walked over to her and questioned her "Not comfortable outside the bar Samantha?" I was teasing her since when I first met her; the attire she wore was layers of clothing even with the summer heat today "it's one thing wearing a tube top and working a sweat. It's another thing completely once you walk outside." she was looking around the crowd while gripping the coat tighter. the air was cold for the past month but this was the first time I saw Samantha put a coat on after work "is there a reason your edgy tonight?"  
Samantha looked at me this time and decided to reply "No reason, just hate to bump into someone I know back from high school."  
"Any reason, this day is different than other days of paranoia of past social circles?" Samantha pulled from the inside of her coat a letter envelope.  
"It's just I got an invite for a high school reunion. From what I hear everyone I hung out with before is arriving, and the last thing I want is some of them seeing me like this" she indicated to the attire beneath the coat.  
"I would think you would be worried too since you and Zach would have received the same letter."  
"I didn't go to Zach's school" Samantha looked at me with a bemused look.  
"But only one school is still standing for anyone six states around, Zach said you hung around him during school."  
"I spent lunch with him, I was home schooled."  
"That' explains why the only occupation you have is being part of a family business."  
"Anyway this isn't about me, why are you scared others will see you?"  
"I'll tell you if you join with me." I was shocked to hear this come out of Samantha.  
"Um, last I checked, you turned me down when I asked you out last year."  
"I know that, but I can't ask anyone else, I only trust you with playing along to my plan."  
"Playing along to what?" I wasn't so certain what Samantha was going to ask me to do with her  
"most of my friends are well endowed in money and connections"  
"and you think having a florist as a fake boyfriend will make you seem as if you're rolling in money?"  
"I just need you to find your best outfit, come to my place for a briefing on what's going to happen while you're with me at the reunion."  
I was beginning to not like where this was going. Samantha wanted to have me lie to some of her old high school friends just so she doesn't look bad.  
"Samantha, pretending to be your boyfriend is one thing, lying to old friends that are rich and powerful that I am rich and powerful is something else" I could tell by her face that I gave her the wrong response.  
"Could you please do this, for me?, I can't ask anyone else" she started to make a face that attempted to make her seem more innocent, her lips pouted, and eyes like puppies. I straight forward said no, and she just continued making her face more obvious that she wanted me to change my mind. I realized that I never had a reunion to go to and it could be fun, so I was going to make a deal  
"Fine, I'll help. On one condition; you let me lie about my life." Samantha had a look of disappointment on her. Her expression changed later on to relief. We started to walk towards my place while she told me what I needed to do before going to her place and taking her to the reunion. The conversation was taken up mostly of Samantha planning the events revolving around her school reunion. By the time we were at the front of my apartment block, we just got to debating on the correct folk lore of vampires, which was supposed to be the entire reason we walked together.  
Samantha was trying her best to prove me wrong "and finally we have the twilight series which was a best seller during the Common Era and are newer than your Dracula series which there was only two books, both I might add have all the wrong facts. So vampires don't eat, vampires can look in a mirror and see themselves, and to top it off, vampires refract light while in direct sunlight giving them a sparkling effect." She crossed her arms and had a smile that could say 'I won'.  
I just raised my hands in defeat "you know Samantha, fine you win this argument but if I ever see a vampire in the night, I'll ask them" It was a slightly awkward moment for us when we stopped talking. But we both just said we had somewhere to go and I continued to my apartment.

As I walked into the building I had a petite lady holding a camera walk up to me. "Is that your crush from last year James?" I just sighed and replied  
"no she isn't, she's got some trouble and I'm helping, that's not really front page news Debbie." Debbie just raised an eyebrow and decided to return to a chair she was sitting on at the far end of the lobby.  
"So what are you doing sitting in the lobby at this time of night?" as I asked a wild flash went off and I was seeing stars. I realized that Debbie was fiddling with her camera and the flash went off  
"whoops, sorry James, I just can't get used to this camera, and answer your question I'm on the neighborhood watch. Thought I might join in on late night walks, and such." I simply shook my head, I've known Debbie for only a year but I could tell that she would be bored of neighborhood watch at the end of a week. I walked past Debbie and just started walking up the stairs, as I got to my apartment, my phone started ringing. I fished through my pocket and finally found it. The phone was ancient compared to everyone else with their specta-call; a pair of glasses that functioned as a phone and computer. As I answered the phone I continued with getting into my apartment.  
"Hello James speaking"  
"hey James" I recognized the voice to be Zach's'  
"I'm guessing you found someone to join you on your adventure"  
"No I didn't, I'm getting stuck with someone else from the company. so I'm going to be leaving tomorrow morning, can I leave you a key to take care of things at my place?"  
"You want to take care of things in your place. That's what keeps an eye on fish or something?"  
"It means take care of plants and throwing away useless garbage that arrives at my doorstep. Can you do that James" I thought about what Zach said and I realized that he could help me with something related to Samantha's school reunion.  
"Ya, I can take care of your place. Can I borrow one of your suits though?" there was a silence at the other end for a moment. I checked my phone to see if I lost him but I was still online.  
"No you cannot, I don't care if you stay at my place but don't sleep in my bed, or wear my clothes. I am coming back to that place."  
"No promises, where is your place?" I've known Zach for years but I have never been to his place.  
"164 East 87th Street, it's between Lexington and 3rd. I'll be at the front with the key, do not mess up my place"  
"See you tomorrow" I hung up and looked around for my clock.

The apartment was quite small; the kitchen was just a mini stove and a sink, the bed folded into the wall. All in all, the apartment was cheap and showed. I finally found that the clock was stuck in the bed and I set it early in the morning since I had to cross through the park to get to Zach. As I set the clock down and got changed into my nightwear. As I turned everything off, I looked outside my windows and just stared out watched the restless city with skyscrapers as far as the eye can see with some of their lights on for the late workers.

# Chapter Two - Shortcut

The prepared alarm clock rang at 6 o'clock. I shut it off and made the mistake in not bothering to leave my bed. As I was falling into a deeper level of sleep I got another call on my phone. As I picked it up I heard Zach in an angered tone.  
"Did I not say I was leaving in the morning?" I was still trying to wake myself up so my response was  
"what time is it?"  
"The time is I got to leave in 20 minutes and I don't think you're even out of bed. You remember you have no car right, and your place is on the other side of the flippin' jungle!" at this point I was fully awake and understood why Zach was angry with me.  
"Crap, Zach I'll get there in time, give me 30 minutes." I started looking for a fresh set if clothing  
"you got 25" I heard Zach hung up and I was already out the door.

I bumped into Debbie and I noticed she was more tired than me. She was trying to say something but I was already out the building. I got onto west 86th and I could see the New York jungle just off in the distance. It was once just a park but hundreds of years with no one to tend to gardening can change a park into a jungle. I was at the border of the jungle, there was a 200 foot concrete wall dividing the jungle from the rest of the city. I could hear all sorts of roars of animals inside. the reason why the wall is there is because before the change to A.C.E. 'After Common Era' the world had at some point in time a mix of cross species. I heard that unicorns were made for the fun of it, but were turned extinct at the turn of the era. As I walked closer to the wall I got a feeling in the back of my head that I should go over the wall. I started to see that overgrowth was getting through cracks in the concrete wall. I continued walking forward and thought that I could make up time by crossing the jungle. But I'm not too sure, what is in the jungle. As I got closer I could touch the overgrowth. I soon saw how some of the vines breaking through the wall appear as a ladder to the top. The thought in the back of my mind started to become more pronounced. I had the strangest sense that my mind was talking to me.  
"Come on, you don't want to fail Zach again, it's easy, the overgrowth can hold you. Best of all no one's watching."

***

I was still at the front of my house waiting for James. I had my duffel bag at my feet and my chauffeur was starting to get impatient and approached.  
"Look I can't wait any longer, I'm meant to get you to the zeppelin or else the boss will be late" I was confused as to why the boss wanted a private zeppelin rather than through red spice transport lines.  
"Just give him more time, he'll be here." I was starting to doubt that James would show up. It has been 20 minutes since I called him and I wasn't sure whether he could get a taxi to get around the jungle.  
"I'm sorry but we must press on if we want to get going on time." I admitted defeat and started to get into the chauffeur's car

"Zach!" I turned to see who shouted. It was James and he was sprinting down the street. I was surprised to see him without any form of transportation.  
"James, you finally arrived, to think I was about leave without givin' you the key" as James got closer I noticed how he seemed to have sections of his jeans covered in mud and had a cut across his cheekbone.  
"It's a good thing I got here on time then."  
"What happened to you? Did you cross through the jungle or get mugged?" all James did was shrug.  
"I took a shortcut. No biggie in this state." I just sighed and agreed with him, it's not easy going through New York, but it still worried me that he was injured and looked like he crossed the jungle to get here. What if someone saw him? no one ever tries to cross the jungle and if M.F.U.C. sees someone cross the jungle and live the experience, they'll want to know how he crossed, the last time I checked M.F.U.C.'s process of questioning the weird, they don't care for the person who caused it.  
"So when will I expect you back?"  
"Don't have an exact date yet but maybe a month. I'll try and get you a more precise date later on in my travels. Anyway here's the key to the place." I pulled out of my pocket a pair of keys. One was an electronic card while the other was an old key.  
"The card will get you into the building while the skeleton key will open the doors inside the building."  
"Wait, this entire building is yours?"  
"Not when I first got it, had a few tenants, though the place was a dump filled with junkies. I just bought it off the landlord last year, only some of the rooms have been renovated. My old room is on the fifth floor, you'll find that everything you need to take care of is on the fifth. Guest is on the second floor since it smells but has the least amount of damage."  
"How much do you earn?"  
"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to ask about money."  
"Never knew you had enough to ask."  
I was about to continue talking with James, but the chauffeur was beeping the horn. I quickly have James a handshake as I entered the car and I was off.

***

I waved to the limousine that Zach was in for a while and I walked over to the front door of the house. It still came as a shock to me that Zach was capable of buying a five story apartment complex just for himself. I starting thinking that I should've joined that job he offered if it was going to bring more money in than his previous income. I pushed the thought and continued walking to the front door. Where a keyhole would normally be was replaced by card reader. I grabbed the card Zach handed me; it was blue with a yellow arrow sticker slapped on it. I guessed the arrow pointed in the direction it wanted me to swipe in the card reader. I tried and it worked, the card reader played a short electronic tune and three mechanical locks went off. The door opened ajar and all I could do was be amazed about the security of Zach's home. As I walked through the doorway I was repulsed about the inside of the house.

The lobby was covered in dust, graffiti and other things I wouldn't dare to imagine. As I walked to the stairway I noticed that the stairs were brand new, they weren't like other stairs in New York that seemed to be made of glass or concrete, these stairs had the appearance of polished mahogany. As I climbed the stair - surprised that no squeak was made - I saw that each floor was in a different state of remodeling or living. the first floor looked it was under construction, there was no door, what appeared to previously have walls were wooden scaffolding to set up drywall. The second and third floor had the doors closed but a strong smell of odors escaped from the third. The fourth floor had the appearance of a recent fire since the door was charred and only half the door was still on its hinges. When I reached the fifth floor it was as if I entered a completely different building. The walls were all white; the door seemed to be made of solid steel, as I walked closer to the door I found a small keyhole. I retrieved the key from my pocket and I turned it in the keyhole. I could hear on the other side, mechanical locks clicking and the steel door swung into the apartment.

As I walked in I could only stand in awe at the foot of the doorway. The size of the apartment was similar to a small house; the kitchen was adjacent to the lounge while a separate room leaded to what could be the bedroom. The floor was carpeted until the edge of the kitchen, where the floor is then tiled black and white hexagons. I walked across the lounge that had a wall mounted smart glass and coffee table. I reached the second door and I walked into the bedroom. The bed was king sized and was hanging from the roof by four drapes that cradled the mattress. The color scheme of the room was oriental; there was a framed parchment of calligraphy that appeared to come from china. I saw a double door at the end of the room. As I opened it I was surprised to see a walk in closet. The clothes that were hanging were all suits or high fashion, with few pairs of casual clothes I recognized. When I reached the end I realized I was standing in a bathroom. There was a panel of bamboo that shielded a shower head, also made of bamboo. I turned and saw two sinks that had onyx colored basin and also bamboo tap heads.

I walked back to the center of the apartment. On the coffee table was a folded piece of paper. I walked over to the table and unfolded the paper with one hand. In what was in messy handwriting which could only be Zach's, was a note

_James sorry you weren't able to join up with me; here is a list of things needed to be done while I'm gone.  
\- Flowers are along the balcony of all the floor, simply watering will be enough. Take the fire escape  
\- the third floor you may have noticed stinks like an old corpse, get a deo-bomb.  
\- you can stay but keep the place clean  
if your low on funds I got a leisure jar for nights out and such. DONT TAKE ALL OF IT  
will contact you with any new developments.  
Zach_

As I looked around the apartment I found a jar that had stamped $$$. I guessed that was the leisure jar. I walked over to the kitchen area and started opening all the cupboards to see where everything was. As I tried to reach above the stove top I felt a sharp pain on my right side. Obviously it was a bad idea to cross the jungle. When I look back at the time I was crossing the jungle it felt more like I was in a dream than if I was actually crossing it, anytime I got hit it never registered in me. By the time I was on the other side climbing down I nearly fell because of all the sudden realization of all the pain in my body.

I walked back into the bathroom and started stripping to see what happened to the rest of me. While my physique wouldn't be seen as attractive according to Samantha, I was thankful that I only had bruising on my chest and the cut across my right cheekbone and sore feet. I started looking around for a first aid kit so I could clean up my wounds and maybe get rid of the pain in my chest. When I looked in the cabinet next to the shower I found a small first aid kit that had medicinal salve and ibuprofen. as I pulled the kit out I noticed a notch on the backing that looked like a fingerprint, as I pressed my index I felt a quick prick on my finger and indent turned red for a moment and back to normal.  
"I'll have to make a note of that." was all I could say at the time.

After I applied the salve and took a few pills I put my clothes back on and realized that my jeans were muddy. I decided to head down to the guest room to see what it was like. As I entered the second floor I saw that not a lot of effort was put into renovating the place. There was a small red couch and blue coffee table. When I walked into what appeared to be the bedroom, all it had was a mattress on the ground with a small lamp as the only source of light since the bedroom windows were boarded up. I looked around the place and only had one thing to say "no way am I sleeping here if there's a better place vacant upstairs." I opened the note Zach left, it said I could stay but it didn't say where in the building. As I put the note away I walked back to the fifth floor to try and find a watering can.

After looking around for a few minutes I finally found a watering can on the fire escape. As I filled the can I looked out the window just in front the sink. The view was similar to the view at my place, hundreds of skyscrapers however I could see the New York jungle. I shivered at the idea of crossing it. I must have been delirious. When I felt wetness on my hand I realized that I overfilled the bucket and quickly turned it off. As I walked over to the fire escape I could tell that the plants were brand new since the card names are fresh. Zach must have recently bought them so that I had some reason to be here.

After watering the plants I started feeling the effect of the drugs in my system wearing off. I went back into the bathroom and popped a few more ibuprofen pills in me. I walked back out of the apartment and looked at the note mentioning to get a deco-bomb. I turned on my phone and I used the echo service and I said to it "Search. Item. Deco-bomb." I heard a small chime and soon a soft robotic voice told me what a Deco-bomb was.  
"Deco-bomb, house cleaning product, positioned at center of room to remove odors bacteria and germs. CAUTION: do not stand in close proximity (10 feet) to the object when in use." a saw on screen a can that was compared to a normal spray can, there was no nozzle and the color of the can changed periodically displaying the different scents that it emits.  
"Where to buy" was the next thing I said allow. The image of the can disappeared and it was replaced with a map of New York. The same chime sound from before went off and pinned on the map a location called 'M.F. depot' the robotic voice said "would you like directions?"  
I replied with a no since it was just a block away from me and also I could see the battery status being low. So I shut down the phone and I started looking for a charge bench. I saw how in the kitchen the table had a section that wasn't made of stone but what would normally look like solar panels, I guessed it was a charge bench. As I placed my phone onto the panel and I heard the soft hum indicating that the electronic was charging. As I grabbed the essentials I walked out of the apartment and saw that as I reached the lobby, I could hear mechanical gears from the fifth floor. I was thankful that I took the card with me.

When I finally reached the depot the first thing I noticed was that there were what looked to be metal detectors situated outside the store and several armed men. I noticed how they forced people one at a time to walk through them. I was about to enter a line when I heard one of them go off. Two rows down I saw man be tackled to the ground by one of the armed men.  
"Sir, you got yourself a free medical check at the Genetic Containment Agency." was what I could hear from the man pulling from his pack a set thick metal cuffs onto his hands. Before he was successful in putting them on his captive, the captive screamed a high pitched wail similar to feedback on computers. Two things happened; first all the detectors started to go off and then burst. The second was the armed man pulled a gun out and shot the screaming man. As the armed man got off him he pulled out a badge that looked like a double helix and had stamped on 'MAF' as he showed it to the rest of the crowd two other armed men grabbed the corpse and moved it away. I got scared for a moment. Those guys are called hunters, it was rumored that the west coast had them as a private army to capture supernaturals. They were above the law. So long as they stayed in the continent, they could get away with anything. It's sick to think that they are preached as underdogs among the bigots.  
"Can't believe hunters have a right to do that." as I turned I noticed my neighbor Debbie was behind me. It surprised me.  
"Debbie, what has you coming over to the depot?" I asked as she raised her camera from last night and the flash went off again.  
"The silly camera just won't stop flashing. Enough about me, what happened to you? You left in a hurry and I thought you grandma has the morning shift." I continued walking and went past the now ruined detectors.  
"My friend has me tend to his place."  
"Is it safe?" I laughed at her question  
"SAFE! The front door to his apartment is a vault and he has the entire building. If he was bombed I wouldn't be surprised if he was just in a suit sipping" Debbie walked through the detectors and now walked beside me now that we were out of the line.  
"That's nice to hear, you don't want to be caught out on the streets what with breakdowns like those just then. Did you hear that there has been another mass bust for the supernatural? I just wish they all just stopped and talked."  
"You know the government won't listen to the UN now, they say they're traitors, and there's no laws stopping them making busts."  
"So what then? You're fine that people are dragged from their homes?"  
"That's not what I said, I'm just saying that unless the UN or supernaturals do something more than just complain, nothing's going to change."  
"Why don't you fight for them? I saw you protect me from those pyros a while back."  
"first, they could only light a finger on fire, second my skills in war is like bringing a knife to a fight with bombs, third I'm not a fan of war."  
"So you're going to just sit on the sidelines than? What if they grab you." what Debbie sad last caught me off guard. I tried to put a poker face on and started to walk away from her before I said.  
"I don't know what you're talking about" as I walked away I noticed that Debbie stopped walking beside me, I must have really upset her.

# Chapter Three - The Swiss

As I left Debbie I started to feel bad, I never really lied to Debbie but it still felt awkward to push her off like that. But I couldn't have Debbie realize that she just accused me of being supernatural, than the questions wouldn't stop. As I pushed that thought away I started looking through the aisles looking for the deco-bomb. After what seemed like several minutes I found the item was in the aisle it was in was the first one I walked and that I just skipped it. As I looked through the different scents they had on sale I started pulling the money I had grabbed from the jar. I finally found a scent that would seem alright for a room. As I walked over to the register with the deco-bomb I could see that Debbie was at the service desk and her cameras flash went off again. As I looked back at the clerk I realized he was telling me to move on since I was holding up the line. I grabbed the shopping bag and walked off. As I walked out the depot I noticed how the detectors were removed and that one of the armed men was holding what appeared to be a speed gun. I guessed they result to another method of detecting supernaturals. I looked around and saw that I could slip into an alleyway and avoid them. I started walking away from the crowd; I kept my head down and just walked in to the alley. When I knew I was in I started to run. I wasn't going to have them catch me if they started chasing me.

Thankfully when I climbed over the fence at the end of the alley and back onto a main road, I saw no hunters after me, I soon started looking for a road sign. After reaching a corner and walking around a block I finally figured out where I was and I started walking back to Zach's. After getting to the third floor I walked in and soon regretted getting in. the smell was atrocious, it seemed to have been the go to dump before it was cleaned out. The smell still clung to anything in the apartment, the walls, old carpeting, I swear I saw a rodent. As I walked to the center of the apartment (thank goodness there were no other walls) I pulled the deco-bomb out the bag I realized I have no clue how I'm supposed to use it. I started looking for instruction. When I finally found them I could hear a small ticking noise come from it, the only thing I could read was the warning

**WARNING: DO NOT BE INSIDE THE ROOM WHEN USED**

I panicked since I had no clue how long the ticking would go for. I dropped the can and made a mad dash to the entrance. I slammed the door behind me and braced for an explosion. A few seconds passed and I couldn't hear a thing. I figured it broke when I dropped it so I was about to leave to try and find another place that sells them when I heard my phones ringtone go off, it was faint but I could recognize the ringtone, I quickly ran to the metal door, swiped the card and made a quick skip and a jump to the phone on the charger. I answered the phone upside down  
"James speaking"  
"James, its Samantha." I repositioned the phone so it was the right way up  
"hey Samantha how's it going."  
"Same old stuff, hey I want you know where you live so I can check and see what you'll wear for my reunion" I realized I didn't have a suit and that I would have to break one of Zach's rules.  
"That's a good Idea I've got no clue what suit to wear"  
"you have more than one suit? You work at a florist."  
"I'm house sitting for Zach, he has a more than a few spare suits he won't notice used."  
"Does he know about the reunion?"  
"Hardly, plus he's out of town now for a wh-" at that moment a loud explosion went off inside the building. I could almost feel the shock wave.  
"James! What was that? Are you alright"  
"that was probably the deco-bomb on the third floor." there was a silence on the other line for a moment.  
"Okay, so is it safe to come over and give you the details for tomorrow night"  
"your reunion is on a Washday night? That's kind of important information."  
"Well now you know. So the address."  
"164 East 87th Street." Samantha hung up and I decided to check out the third floor.

When I opened the door the first thing that hit me was the smell, I was expecting the smell do be covered but in reality it was gone, no cover up smell, the second was that the can was still in the center of the apartment. As I walked to the deco-bomb to throw away, it started to spray a scented mist. The scent was like normal air fresheners, the can was spinning on the ground so I decided to prop it up right. I started to think about Samantha's high school reunion plan when I realized that I had no clue if Zach's clothing would fit me, even though he said not to wear them he would never find out since he has so many sets and he would be gone for more than a week. As I started walking the stairs I heard knocking on the lobby door.

As I got down to the ruined lobby I could see through the stain glass that it was a women, I assumed Samantha. As I opened it Samantha was taken aback by the mere state of the lobby. I tried to justify the mess but all I could say was.  
"Don't worry, the good stuff is five stories up." as Samantha walked through the door she started to take the flight of stairs two at a time. By the time I got to the fifth floor she was already trying to open the large steel door. I just smiled smugly and pulled out the access card and swiped it as she was pushing the door, it swung open and she nearly fell to the ground. She gave me a scouring look before she walked into the place and had a look.  
"How much money does your friend make to get this kind of stuff? 'Cause you seriously need to rethink your career if you just need to accept a proposition." was the first thing for Samantha to say after walking through the apartment. As I showed her where the closet was she started to just throw clothing off the hanger, she would mutter how something wouldn't match her color or didn't seem fashionable.

She threw me three sets of suits and said to me, "try these on, they're my compatible." she walked out the closet before I could say anything else. As she left me by myself I guessed he wanted me to try each one in turn. It surprised me that the clothing fitted me, I was started to wonder whether I was better off in Zach's line of work. The first suit was very much likes Zach's when I saw him at the bar last night, but this one had blood red as its color. As I walked out Samantha realized that I wasn't looking good in red; so she went back into the closet and grabbed one of the suits she threw before and handed it to me. It looked much like a green military overcoat, but had a dark tribal pattern at the cuffs.  
"Wear this one." as she walked back out I noticed how this suit lacked a tie but had instead a sort of hunter green scarf. As I changed I buttoned up the jacket and had the scarf tied into an ascot knot. When I walked out Samantha looked at me and nearly applauded.  
"now that's a good one, you look like a strong man, granted it's not yet winter but that can work perfectly for where the venue is." it was at this point that I should start asking questions related to the high school reunion.  
"Where exactly is this venue?"  
"it's on the top floor of a skyscraper called 'cloud elevator' funny name for a skyscraper"  
"how rich are these guys that are coming if they rented out a skyscraper floor"  
"it's being sponsored by some guy who went to our year, he seemed to have become some hotshot along the west coast after school, still no clue what he does but you can bet that it's not outside of M.F.U.C."  
"I'm beginning to see why you don't want old class mates seeing you work at a bar."  
"Well it's good to know that you're coming along as both moral support and as a fake millionaire."  
"Millionaire? Cant it be a billionaire."  
"I want the lie to be believable, not one that will have people doing background checks" I wasn't sure of Samantha was joking about the background check but I decided to heed Samantha's concern.  
"Since I know your reputation for mission deadlines and such, I will meet you back here to get ready for tomorrow night." as she talked I realized that I need to get back to the flower shop again since tonight is before the break.  
"What time is it now?"  
"It's nearly 12." I soon ran back into the closet and started looking for my old grubby clothing. By the time I found my clothing but only got my shirt on and was running out trying to get my pants on. When I hopped into the living room and I nearly fell onto the coffee table. As I grabbed my phone I properly ran out this time.

After running full sprint back to the flower shop I saw that no one was in the store other than grandma. She was holding a broom and was giving me a scolding look.  
"Do you have any idea why I asked you to work for me?" I had a feeling that she was asking a rhetorical question  
"why?"  
"Because I need help in my store, and you're not helpful if you get here late."  
"But there's no one else here."  
"Obviously you missed the full house that was coming in an hour ago, the start of your shift."  
"I'm sorry, I was held up by Samantha she asked for help."  
"So you'll give up on your job to help some woman in a bar."  
"She had a legitimate problem. Which is why I need to have tomorrow night off."  
"Tomorrow night is prom night or something for the rich. When did you get another job."  
"Is that a yes?"  
"That's a no. do you have any idea how many prom people come to our shop before prom."  
"I'm not asking all day, just before people start heading to prom."  
"Fine, but this isn't something that should become a habit"  
"I can't promise that but I can tell you that I'll be here tomorrow morning."  
"I'll hold you to that." as my grandmother walked into the back I decided to pick up the broom and continue the sweeping.

When I reached the back of the teller I saw that there was a gift wrapped shoe box, it was black with a red ribbon wrapped across it. Since I was close to finished and no one was coming into the store I decided to take the box out. As I looked at it I started hearing foot falls from the back. So I quickly shoved the box back into the cubby hole it was in before. I saw grandma wiping dirt of her hands; she must have been repotting plants.  
"James, I'm sorry about my behavior. It's just that I was scared for you, it seems like you're finding other ventures rather than tending to the plants. I remember when you would just spend days out there, convinced that you could see them grow. I guess I didn't see... want to see you grow old of working here." I was taken aback by the sudden change of emotion that grandma put towards her explanation.  
"I'm sorry grandma, Samantha has to deal with a unique problem with old classmates and she needed me to be there as... moral support."  
"Well I guess now is as good as time as any to give you a gift." as grandma turned towards the till I realized that the gift box below was meant for me. "I can't fathom that it has been 27 years since you were at my doorstep. My how the time flies." she handed the box to me. I opened it up and found that there was a sort of fingerless glove with an LCD screen attached and a pair of clear sport glasses.  
"This has to be old military grade, how did you get this, we work in a flower shop!" as I was still surprised by the gift my grandmother just remained calm and replied.  
"Actually I got it from a mystery case in the OP shop near the sky district. a young gentleman suggested the box and explained that what it held is actually last year's model of an optical... something related to computers, the point is that this glove it can do everything those fancy glasses everyone else has can do, only better. It comes with the glasses if you want. Apparently the device can work with all sorts of other devices very quickly. I couldn't find an instruction manual but when he turned it on, I could see a clock. This is perfect for you, it'll do you more good than that old phone." as she was talking I slipped the glove on. the material looked like Kevlar, as I fitted the glove on I felt a sharp prick on my wrist, I sooner realized that the needle feeling was still there and when I tried to take it off I could feel a slight warm trickle on my hand. Once off I saw that I was bleeding and that the needle prick must have been a catheter of some sort. I later ran into the nearby bathroom and started looking for something to stop the flow. Leaving grandma in the middle of the store

After finding the first aid kit I applied a bandage and walked back out. I saw grandma was right outside the bathroom wondering if I was alright. I showed her the bandage and walked into the garden now, as I started caring for the plants I saw the glove on the floor had the LCD screen turn on. I walked back over to it, it displayed a clock, what appeared to be a health monitor system, and thankfully I saw a small question mark at the bottom corner of the screen. As I touched the question mark button, it showed a message that said 'refer to glasses'. I walked back over to the shoe box and saw how the once clear lenses were replaced by tiny text scrolling down and so I put on the glasses. The text was no long small, it seemed to be able to look like the text was on the walls or the bench, like someone just wrote them on. As I looked through all the text I found one word that could possibly help me the most 'Getting started'. It was at this point that I had no clue how I was supposed to select that option. I tried touching the words but nothing happened, I looked over to the gloves LCD and it wasn't on there either. I soon got frustrated and just shouted it out, apparently it worked. The text was swept away, it was then replaced with a step by step graphic instruction on what I found out was called the OpCinq, and the first step was to insert the OpCinq on. I looked back at the glove and flinched, I wasn't sure if it was going to stab me again. When I looked at a second illustration it showed that there was a catheter that would inject small biochip. I guessed that I just pulled the glove out before it finished, so I took the bandage off and slipped the OpCinq it back on. I felt the familiar prick on my wrist, as that was happening the display showed a loading icon that wrote underneath 'sync' I soon realized that the needle wasn't out of my wrist and I soon saw a caution screen the screen then showed a graphic of the catheter in a wrist and said, "warning: remote biochip analysis incompatible with current firmware. Do not remove OpCinq without proper procedure and supervision."

After seeing the warning given to me, I decided not to pull it off like before since I saw how bloody my bandage was once it was off. I started wondering why I wasn't having the same warm feeling in my arm like before. in an attempt of replicating the same results from when I recited the getting started text I said aloud 'help' this also worked but what changed was that there was also a microphone icon on the glove this time, I took my glasses off and the microphone icon disappeared and the screen was the same message from before, I switched between having the glasses on and off and the microphone icon appeared and disappeared. I put the glasses back on and I tried to figure what to say.  
"How do you work?" I didn't realize that I said this aloud until all the text disappeared and it was replaced with a small figured that stood on the LCD screen. It was flipping through what could be seen as various appearances and clothing before it popped up with a red exclamation point and disappear. I could hear from my glasses two voices; one male and one female, they both said  
"This device uses optical transistors to transfer data across a vastly wider bandwidth than traditional electronic transistors, multiple calculations are then processed parallel to each other, the device is at minimal conditions be capable of creating an AI system to assist in the duties of the wearer, I'm the avatar to the devices AI system. Think of me as an assistant to this super computer you got on your arm." I was surprised to have such a complex answer but I came to realize that I did ask an AI how it worked.  
"You're an AI?" the mist hovering above the LCD screen compressed and expanded.  
"Yes." I was expecting more, but the mist was motionless at this point.  
"can you be more than a mist?" the mist disappeared and was replaced with a loading icon, the mist returned and soon looked as if the entire room was covered in fog.  
"this avatar is capable of acquiring new avatars from the Michael & Fredericks Network, This device can also use multiple still captures of a subject to replicate the subject as an avatar." the mist then condensed back to the top of the LCD screen and had a red exclamation mark. "ERROR: No external capture or data storage device linked to the device."  
When I heard the part that the device was connected to an M.F.U.C. network I started to worry.  
"Since you're connected to M.F.U.C. does this mean that I can be tracked by them?" the mist turned into a loading sign again and replied  
"This Device is untraceable to all services except streaming GPS and active telephone use. Do you wish for the device to remain untraceable to all services except streaming GPS and active telephone use?" I wasn't sure whether I was amazed that the device could become untraceable or that it was always untraceable.  
"Yes, remain untraceable, also how do I turn you off and on." the mist turned to grey and seemed to change into a sound spectrum.  
"The device has no keywords or key phrase to change between active or passive modes. Please say aloud the keyword/phrase that you wish to indicate the device to be in active mode." I thought for a moment what I would be comfortable saying to an AI.  
"Can you recommend a keyword?" after saying it aloud there was a small blip sound and the sound spectrum flipped horizontally.  
"And now the keyword/phrase that you wish to indicate the device to be in passive mode." I realized that it took my question as an answer.  
"I didn't say the keyword!" the small blip sound went off again and the sound spectrum returned to a mist and before it disappeared.  
"Key phrases logged, for security reasons the key phrase is locked to the default timeframe of - three business days - passive mode active."  
"But I didn't give out the keywords, I asked a question. Turn back on!" but the mist didn't return instead a small lock was seen floating above the LCD screen. When I took the glasses off, I saw the clock and that the medical screen was replaced with a mailbox icon.  
"What I got mail already?" the mailbox icon remained on there. I guessed that I had to reactivate the device before I could give read my mail. Just before I put the glasses back on I saw that below the mailbox icon it said touch to read.  
"I guess passive mode just turns off the glasses function." I touched the mailbox icon and the LCD screen was then replaced with text.

Dear Mr. Doleman,  
I hope my gift to you is efficient enough to get noticed, might I also add that you picked a really good suit for tomorrow night's reunion. I must say you are a hard child to find, then again a Doleman child that hasn't used their power isn't usually easy to find. I suppose you have no clue what I'm talking about. Well here's a quick lesson

The Doleman Family Line started before the turn of After Common Era (A.C.E) the earliest record was that a Doleman child was a stowaway upon the cryo spaceship ARK. After returning to earth, the Doleman family was proof that supernaturals still exist. And these weren't normal supernatural Morphers, these were heavy hitters; elementals that could turn their flesh into an element they control, or could destroy our understanding of physics. now rumor has it that the first Doleman was one of the first commercial supernaturals that just had too much money to spend on augmentations, but the rumor I want to believe is that they are descendants of an alchemist: an omnipotent of a supernatural, capable of anything they can comprehend.

Now with that history lesson over let me give you a friendly piece of advice; a war will come in and I most certainly will be watching the events unfold, but like all spectators I want a good show. So expect some gifts coming your way.

Sincerely, the Swiss  
P.S.  
Don't Die

I read over the letter twice and I was starting to be scared now. I never knew that I had a family name. Most people around the world are Mononyms; the only time a last name is applied is the use of medical ID for legal and medical reasons. So to have a family name, you were either born in a royal or in a vastly wealthy family. My greatest fear however, was that this mysterious Swiss character could see me in Zach's apartment which is much like a bunker than an apartment. I looked back at my glasses and put them back on, I spoke to my OpCinq  
"who is this Swiss?" there was no reply. The LCD still showed the letter. I then remembered that I turned the OpCinq into some sort of off mode.  
"Can you recommend a keyword." the LCD screen had the floating mist appear again.  
"Active"  
"what can you tell me about The Swiss" the mist moved to a clear section of the store wall and turned into a webpage showing the Switzerland flag and information.  
"The Swiss; commonly refer to the inhabitants of Switzerland. Most speak German with a minority knowing Italian, French or Romanian. Key features of -"  
"not all the Swiss, just the sender of the letter, sender was called THE SWISS." the mist returned to floating over the LCD and turned into the loading icon.  
"No citizen known legally as Swiss in name. Handle name is identified, however the data is restricted."  
"Restricted how?"  
"Restricted from viewing on this device."  
"Can you bypass the restriction or something?"  
"Access restricted." I admitted defeat when I asked the same question three times. Whoever this Swiss guy was, he obviously wasn't someone who likes to be found. So I decided to ask a different question.  
"Who's the Doleman Family?" the mist went back to the blank wall. It started with what looked to be a family tree. Most of the places that would have names were covered over with black. Some had an asterix mark besides them.  
"Doleman family is a family of Supernatural descendants; supernaturals in Europe say that the Doleman family is seen as honorable members of the supernatural community. Origins of the Doleman family are filled with mystery and rumors. Within the Michael & Fredericks Network the earliest case file related to Doleman is that a child on the ARK project during the civilization phase was discovered to have the supernatural gnome. when interrogated they only learned her name to be Mary Doleman before she as quoted "created a rift in space and disappeared." since then rare encounters of supernaturals claiming to be of Doleman descendants. as of this day there has been no confirmed sightings of a Doleman family member since 285 After Common Era during The Boston Flush." when The Boston Flush was mentioned the family tree was replaced by a newspaper snippet showing stacks of corpses lying on the ground outside a sewer outflow.  
"How can you confirm someone is of Doleman descendants?" I saw the mist go underneath the glove for a moment before returning to the top of the LCD screen.  
"Full genome sample is taken and is compared to existing genome samples of Doleman subject. To date there are three samples to compare to on the Michael & Fredericks Network." I took the glasses off and saw that the LCD still referred to using the glasses.  
"How long will it take to analyze the genome?"  
"Indefinitely, access to the genome samples is locked out of remote access. This device would require a close encounter connection to a storage unit already containing the genome." I guess that I wasn't going to find out anything about my family name, if I was supposed to have the letter since there are many people with the name James.  
"How do people normally get family names?"  
"Family names were introduced for a limited time during the civilization stage of the ARK project, currently only royal families of each European country and descendants of American entrepreneurs have last names. Family names are not normally passed through generations by birth alone; the family name is a title that passes on, determined by the predecessor who should have such a name, only one individual of a generation may hold their family name. In the event that two families join in marriage and only one child is born, a debate is set as to whose family name will be passed on. So far no such cases have been publicly known." after thinking it over I guess I understand why so few people in the US have family names.  
"I didn't say the keyword."  
"Passive" the mist disappeared again and I took the glasses off.

As I turned around I saw that grandma was looking at me and was holding a hard shell backpack and a piece of paper. I could already tell what she was going to tell me.  
"You got to get to this address as quickly as possible, the buyer also wants you to look presentable so grab the sport jacket in the back before you go." grandma handed me the backpack and the piece of paper. I grabbed them both and walked into the back to look for the spare sport jacket.

# Chapter Four - A Powerful Name

Alongside the store being a florist we also did something no one in their right mind would do in New York; Delivery service. While most people would think delivery involves a car, I actually do a delivery by running. Once I put on the sport jacket I looked at the piece of paper, written on the paper was an address. When I looked at it I had no idea how to get there. I then realized that the OpCinq had navigation application. As I turned the OpCinq back to active I donned the glasses back on and the address was now highlighted on the glasses before the AI voice said.  
"Location found" I was starting to get a hang of how the OpCinq works.  
"What's the fastest way to get there by foot?" once I asked it, the mist laid down a line along the sidewalk like a path. The LCD screen showed a map of the Manhattan boroughs and on the map was a guide showing where I am (as seen by an arrow at one end of the guide) and where the destination is.  
As I followed the virtual blue line I saw how the map was no longer on the LCD screen. Instead a small 3d map was displayed showing a red jogger icon on the blue path.  
"I'm guessin' the jogger icon is me."  
"If you wish I can change the icon."  
"You're just capable of many things aren't you."  
"yes." was the only reply I got out of the device.  
As I continued jogging I was now beside the wall separating New York's Jungle to the street. It felt uneasy running beside the wall, flora looked like they were slowly blooming. I continued running alongside the wall for the next fifty minutes before I rounded the corner. I soon saw the blue path coming to an end; I took my glasses off to have a better look.

I was now at the front of where the address led me. In front of me was a skyscraper that just towered higher than any I've seen around the florist shop or near Zach's place, this one was past the cloud level. As I entered the lobby, the floors were of black marble while black marble was used as the reception desk. As I approached the desk a man in a white suit approached me. He extended his hand out as a gesture for a handshake.  
"Names Maxim, I called about the flowers." I shook his hand in return and slung the pack off my back. I opened it and inside was various flowers; some were common species of roses while others were of the strange spliced breed.  
"I'm assuming these are for a girl?"  
Maxim just chuckled for a moment. "Hardly, I'm arranging an event near the top floor and I just need to have a look at some samples tomorrow, walk with me." Maxim started to walk towards the elevators and I started to catch up.  
"I'm trying to co-ordinate half a dozen things so I will just have you follow me so that you can see what I got to work with and you can tell me what kind of flowers would be great to have at the tables. You do know about flower arrangement?" I thought he was going to continue talking but Maxim was actually waiting for an answer.  
"I've seen enough to know what's right and wrong."  
"Good to hear." the elevator dinged and we were now exiting. The entire floor was one open space, there were nearly 30 tables in the room, and each could hold 12 people easily.  
"I don't wish to intrude but what is this event?"  
Here is what you can know. Three hundred people who knew each other are in this place. Is a social event, not business. Does that help you pick the flowers?"  
"okay, roses are okay but don't stick to red, get white, and if this is a black tie event go with Black Dahlia and the chocolate cosmos as the black with white roses and, black and white are safe bets when people in suits come along."  
"I thought there are no black flowers?"  
"not really, but black dahlia are a very deep burgundy while the chocolate cosmos are dark red, our store can have them closest to black than any other store from here to Mexico." Maxim gave me a small smile and patted me on the back.  
"You know what I like you. How much will it cost to have a bouquets for each table with the black and white arrangement?"  
"30 bouquets?! The chocolate cosmos are quite rare, are you sure?" he pulled out a small card  
"expense is not an issue" as he held it, my OpCinq started to beep. As I looked at it I saw that it was telling me to refer to the glasses.  
"I didn't know a flower boy had something like that"  
as I put the glasses on the OpCinq said. "Device detected, commonly used in paywave transaction. Do you wish to sync?" I said the key phase to turn it off and looked back at Maxim  
"Sorry about that, still trying to work it out. So it says that this is used as payment. I don't have the mobile teller with me. I thought it would just be just a pre purchased delivery." Maxim seemed to have been distracted by my OpCinq that he didn't give me an answer instead he just replied with his own question.  
"You do know the latest models of OpCinq are normally reserved to M.F.U.C. R&D sanctioned branches. How did you get an old one?"  
"It was a gift. I'm not sure who owned it before." Maxim pulled out a pair of reading glasses and rolled his left sleeve up, he too had an OpCinq however his was more like a gauntlet than a fingerless glove. I could see with my glasses that his avatar wasn't a mist but a bust of some woman, she had a double helix tattoo inked on the left side of her face.

Maxim seemed to be having his own conversation with the avatar somehow. So I started fiddling with my own. I soon saw that I now had a contacts list, the AI must have found it on my phone somehow. After a few minutes Maxim took his glasses off.  
"Sorry about that, so like I said no expenses are too much for me."  
"I can't give an exact price but hundreds of dollars at least"  
"no problem. Is it possible to have them delivered in the morning?"  
"I'll need to use the truck so can you give me a more precise time?"  
"Before 11 am, can that do?" I looked back at my OpCinq and I pulled down a calendar, I set a date and time to remind me to get the bouquets ready and delivered.  
"See you tomorrow at 11. How do you want to pay?"  
"You have an OpCinq; I can just paywave you here right now. Just give me a reasonable price and I'll pay."  
"I don't have all the kinks worked out yet with this thing."  
"Oh right, well here." Maxim pulled out a small object that looked like a lighter with an LCD display on it. "Keep this near you, it's a remote paywave, when you get the price, use this to pay for it. I'll accept the price and you'll be paid in full." he handed me the remote paywave and I dropped it into the backpack.  
"Alright, I'll just dash back and get everything ready for tomorrow. See you tomorrow Maxim." as I walked back to the elevator I noticed at the corner of my OpCinq LCD screen an exclamation point. when I tapped it, it showed a message "remote paywave detected, already synced to Crockett Family Trust." as I looked back at Maxim after entering the elevator all he did was give a quick tumble with his hand and half a bow as the elevator doors closed. He must have noticed that I found out his full name.

"He's a Crockett!?" was the first thing I heard from grandma after retelling the events with Maxim Crockett.  
"Ya, he asked for 30 bouquets for tomorrow morning. I'm guessing that's my job for tomorrow, decorate and delivery." as I walked into the garden to check up on our inventory of the flowers needed for the bouquets, grandma was still at the till looking at the remote paywave. The reason why she looked at it stunned was probably because technology isn't normally an affair to keep up with in the florist industry.  
"Did you hear me? grandma?" after thirty minutes of tracking down all the flowers and materials needed and setting them to the front of the garden I walked back into the front of the store and grandma was still transfixed on the small object.  
"What? Oh ya, you'll do the delivery, with this deal we should be set for the rest of the month." grandma started working out the cost of everything I looked back at my OpCinq. It was still inactive but I was half tempted to go have a try on everything else it can do but grandma called  
"James, the remote thing, I got the invoice setup." I grabbed the remote paywave and I started to look for the paywave station. After a minute of going through drawers, I finally found it. As I held the small object close to the station. A small blip sound went off and the LCD had the words processing on it. As I kept an eye on it grandma went to the front of the store and started looking outside to see if anyone else was coming in. when grandma returned the LCD screen changed to accepted.  
As grandma started turning lights out in the back and turned on the envirostat she walked over to me "I'm closing the shop now. We can both start on the bouquets tomorrow morning. You will be getting here on time right?" I looked over at her and lift up my arm showing her the OpCinq she got me.  
"I got an alarm set I'll be in ahead of time so I can drop the bouquets off on time. I'll be here at 8." after saying goodbye I left the place and started walking back to Zach's place. While walking I swear that when I was walking past the New York Jungle the vines breaching the wall were into a ladder formation again. After slowly walking back I finally made it to the building of Zach's apartment. Once I entered the building, I heard screaming from the fifth floor. I started to run up the steps two at a time, when I reached the metal door I was so worried about what was happening that I fumbled when I pulled the access card out of my pocket. Finally I was able to swipe the card and rush through the doorway before the door fully opened, once through two things happened, the screaming stopped, and I was slapped across the face. In front of me was Samantha who had looked like she was crying moments ago and was ready to break down.  
"James you insufferable prick, you left me here to die. The door and windows were locked. Your water and electricity stopped working after an hour, and worst of all I think I lost my shift at work!" Samantha was screaming all of this and started hitting me. I raised my hands up to defend myself but other than that I was useless.  
"I'm sorry Samantha, I didn't know taking the access card out of the apartment would lock it down like fort Knox but I was in a rush. I'll make it up to you." this stopped Samantha hitting me for a few moments before she started again.  
"How are you going to make it up to me?! Go to my reunion, you're already going! So start thinking how would you make it up to me!" I couldn't think of anything else to say even when Samantha stopped hitting me.  
"It'll be an 'I owe you one thing'. Is that enough for now?" as I walked into the kitchen to try and find something to eat Samantha walked over too and just rest on the table.  
"I get the king bed for tonight. This place is closer to my work and plus I need to beauty sleep after the torture you put me through." I was about to interject but she held a finger up and reminded me I owed her one. When I finally found an apple in the fridge, I just snacked on it since it seemed late at night. As I reached the core of the apple I saw Samantha walking to the master bedroom. Once there I could hear the lock click.  
"There is no way I'm sleeping down in the smelly third floor." as all I could say to myself before I just slumped onto the couch near the coffee table.

At what could only be the crack of dawn I started feeling my arm vibrate. Confused I saw that it was really the OpCinq. On the screen was a clock Icon with the words "wake up, work starts in one hour" I tried to figure out how to hit the snooze button but when I simply slapped the screen the vibration subsided. One minute later an even greater degree of vibration went off and this time I started to go nuts.  
"how am I supposed to turn you off?!" once I sat up on the couch the vibration stopped now and the screen was showing a happy face with the text "good morning" written below. I grumbly walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water and cereal, while eating I walked over to the master bedroom. the door was still shut and quiet, I wasn't certain what the plan for Samantha's high school Reunion is going to be like so I knocked on the door.  
"Samantha. I'm leaving for work soon so I got to ask you what a time do you need me back to get setup with your reunion tonight." after listen for a second I could hear a groan coming from the bedroom, followed by a small thump before the door opened. Inside was Samantha wearing the bed sheet around her; she was checking her specti-call.  
"I need you here back by 4 latest. You'll need to get dressed into the green suit from before I talk more, I'm tired." she fell back into her bed and just went off to sleep. I walked into the bathroom and just quickly touched up on my appearance and check my medical salva. The medical salva was now hardened and had a green tint to it; while my face looked tired I splashed a bit off water on my face and started looking for toothpaste. When I tried to see if the mirror would open I found out it rotated on an axis in the center. On the other side were all sorts of skin and hair products. After finally finding toothpaste I just did a quick brush before I started walking out of the apartment when I realized that the swipe card was still in my pocket.

As I pulled out the swipe card, I left it on the coffee table and shouted out.  
"Samantha, the swipe card is on the coffee table, if you're leaving hide the card somewhere I can easily find it." all I could hear as a response was a groan from the bedroom. After leaving the building I looked down at my OpCinq to see how long I had before the shop opened. With plenty of time on my hand, I was able to just walk to the shop before it would open. As I walked I continued to use the OpCinq, it was quite fun using it now. After walking for an hour I was finally at the front of the store. After entering I could tell that grandma wasn't in yet since only the garden lights were on. Since I didn't want to waste my time I started on making the 30 bouquets for Maxim Crockett's' event. It took me quite a while to find all the chocolate cosmos needed. After losing a sense of time after the 18th bouquets, I started working faster. When I finally finished making the bouquets I could see that the sun was up this time. When I started setting up the shop for opening grandma finally got in and was surprised to see me.

"James, you here before me! That fancy device sure is worth every penny." as grandma was taking off her coat; I was already looking for the truck keys.  
"Where's the truck keys I'm going to prepare the bouquets for Maxim."  
"The Crockett man? You go do that, how much time you have, you should get a suit, look presentable." when I finally found the keys I started moving the bouquets to the back of the store.  
"A suit? You think he's going to tip me or something, not happening." when I finally moved all the bouquets I walked out and started driving the truck so that the truck bed was close to the door.

As I started moving the bouquets into the truck grandma just went back to the garden. After a few minutes I got all the bouquets in the truck now. I checked the time and found that I had plenty of time. After turning the envirostat inside the truck I returned to the store. Once in I saw that grandma was already collecting flowers for a couple and there still were a few other couples in the store, some were even in high class suits and dresses.  
"You weren't lying about people buying for today." as I walked over to another couple to help them, grandma was still at the till working with another couple.

After working for 20 minutes straight I could feel the OpCinq vibrating. I wrapped up working with the latest couples and told grandma I was going to Crockett. She didn't have time to reply so I just continued walking to the truck. As I turned onto Broadway I was surprised to see so few ground cars and a numerous number of tier 2 cars floating high above the roads. The good news was that there were no cars on the street; it must be because of high school reunions and events going on tonight. When I reached the skyscraper from before, in record time. Maxim was at the entrance waiting for me.  
"Your good, I would ask if you would like to join in but I guess you're busy tonight." he was wearing track pants and a jacket, both were white with a digital print on the left sleeve. As I jumped out the truck I just walked over to the back ready to grab the bouquets.  
"I have a previous engagement with a girl tonight so no work, just social." as I pulled the first two bouquets out, Maxim just looked at me with surprise.  
"Alright then, the staff will take those. Just put them inside on the trolley." as I walked inside I saw that Maxim started jogging. He must have been waiting for me to arrive. As I placed all the bouquets onto the trolley one of the bellhops grabbed the trolley and started heading to the elevators.

As I returned to the florist I could see grandma was having trouble with a few more customers. So I was able to help some others for a time before grandma raised her arms.  
"That's it, everyone get out! This store is out of roses. if no else wants a flower other than a rose type, leave." quite a few people left, but only one was left who was after a dozen chocolate cosmos.  
"I'm sorry, but those were already purchased yesterday and we're all out." the last customer just slouched and walked out. As grandma approached the front door to change the sign from open to closed, I went out to the garden to find out what we had left.

The garden had pots simply filled with dirt. All the flowers were used up during the bouquets and this morning's sale. Even the stored flowers were gone; all that was left were seeds and stems that weren't in full bloom. When I returned to the front of the store I could see grandma walking between aisles of empty shelves that once held dozens of roses. All that was left were lavenders, lilacs, birds of paradise and a couple of bougainvillea. As sat on the bench while grandma continued strolling down the aisles.  
"I guess you won't be opening the shop again till we grow more flowers. We'll have to outsource some roses today or we'll miss some customers." as I said this grandma finally returned to the till.  
"As much as I hate outsourcing, I have to do it. I can take care of that, you go help Samantha."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yes, besides after that deal you made with that Crockett boy, you deserve an early finish."  
"I had nothing to do with that Crockett deal."  
"Don't sell yourself short James; you've got power in convincing people."  
After waving goodbye I was about to leave but I had a moment of curiosity about what grandma might know.  
"Grandma, do you know if I had a family name?" when I asked grandma she looked at me for a moment before she gave me a look showing she was in deep thought.  
"You know, I think you might. I can't for the life of me remember what it was."  
"Were you in family that had a last name?"  
"Oh goodness no, neither did any of my siblings got married to families, but I have so many descendants that I can't ever know if any of them were married to any families." knowing that I wasn't to learn anything else from grandma, I decided to continue to leave. After getting out I put my OpCinq glasses on and activated it. Once on, I attempted to call Samantha.  
"Hello Samantha speaking."  
"Samantha, it's James"  
"James? But your phones at the apartment, how are you calling me?"  
"New tech, listen I finished early since we ran out of flowers so I'll be at the apartment earlier than 4."  
"Don't you have anything else to do?"  
"Oh I'm sorry, do you not like my loving company"  
"okay fine, but I'll be leaving in two so that I can pick up my dress and our ride."  
"See you when I get there." after hanging up I looked up and saw that there were even more tier 2 cars, they nearly blocked the sky during my walk back to Zach's apartment.

When I finally reached Zach's apartment, Samantha was finally up and was sipping what appeared to be coffee. I walked right past her and she didn't even know. when I walked into the master bedroom I saw that the bed was already made and that the green suit from yesterday was laid out on the bed.  
"You know, for someone who is using me as a fake husband, you ready do care about me." I walked into the bathroom to check on the wound under the medical salve and found that all that remained was a small blue hue the size of a quarter.  
"It's not that I don't love you, it's just I can't imagine living the rest of my life with you. You're a florist." As I heard this I started to take a shower to get cleaned up. It had been days since I had a day where I could shower and know I could dawdle.  
"So you do love me?"  
"Don't bend my words!" after showering for a while I could hear Samantha knocking on the door.  
"I need to go soon, and I need to be fresh when I get into my dress."  
"Wait your turn." before I even finished washing my hair Samantha started hammering on the door.  
"Get out!" not wanting to have a repeat of last night's tantrum I quickly washed and wrapped a towel around before unlocking the door.  
"Honestly, what do you do in there?!"  
"I enjoy showers, get used to it." Samantha started shoving me out the bathroom.

As I started getting changed into the green suit, Samantha was already out of the bathroom wearing the same clothes from before but this time had a towel wrapped around her head. Before I could question how she can already be done before I got pants on, she had already walked out the door. When I finally knotted the scarf on I could hear the metal door closing. In a panic I started running towards it to figure out what was going on. On the other side was Samantha and she was giving me an evil smile as the metal door shut. As I hammered the door and shouted at her cursing with every offensive word known to man but I couldn't hear anything on the other side of the door.

Two hours later

When Samantha finally returned she was wearing a long royal purple dress that had sleeves only above her elbows but then had a pair of deep purple latex dress gloves. As she walked in I was looking at her in the foulest of moods. She just waved her index finger back and forth.  
"Now you know a fraction of my pain yesterday."  
"But you knew that you were locking me in here." Samantha simply shrugged her shoulders as she walked over to the coffee table and sat down.  
"Are you going to relax, you'll ruin your appearance. That being said, we need to pamper that face." the minute I heard pamper I started backing away, my arms waving back and forth.  
"No, no makeup." Samantha just laughed as she grabbed my arm and started pulling me towards the bathroom.  
"It's not makeup it will be tinted moisturizer and some hair product. I know Zach has hair product." as we reached the bathroom I admitted defeat and just waited for whatever Samantha was going to put on me.

By the time night fell came Samantha was finished with my hair and on the contrary to my initial fear of what Samantha was going to do, she just added some shaping foam in my hair to change it from its usual mess to a spiked style that would normally be found in Japanese video games. As for my skin, I couldn't see my cut from yesterday or the tiredness under my eyes. Exhaling I looked over at Samantha who had a look of a master of an art bored of watching someone.  
"Samantha, I take it back, this is awesome."  
"I knew exactly what you would like. Now all we need is a convincing backstory and we will fit right in." as she finished talking she held her elbow out ready to have my arm loop through hers.

As we exited the building I was surprised to see that Samantha had hired what appeared to be a sports car. Its shape was long but didn't hug the ground like most sport cars I've seen on billboards in Time Square. As we approached it, Samantha passed the keys secretly to me as she walked to the passenger side of the car.  
"I do hope you can handle this car." before I entered I took a step back and pretended that I was hit by an arrow.  
"I can't believe you have no trust in me, I can drive."  
"I rarely see you drive, how do I know you won't be driving like an old man."  
"Do you remember when Zach had a car?" as I entered I started pressing buttons on my OpCinq to set the GPS up.  
"He had a car? I wasn't aware of that."  
"Guess who taught him."  
"You're an ass." at that remark I turned the engine on and the low rumble of the car started. As I closed the door I put my OpCinq Glasses on and looked over at Samantha. With my OpCinq held out in front of Samantha with a keyboard displayed.  
"The address madam." Samantha could only smile at me as she enter the address in, after entering it in she decided to join in on the fantasy that we were a posh couple.  
"You James, are quite the gentleman, lead the way my good man." once I saw the path on my glasses I started off. The car was silent for only a moment before Samantha finally asked  
"when did you get such expensive looking tech" I looked at her for a fleeting moment before I responded.  
"'Cause I'm awesome." Samantha could only roll her eyes as we continued the drive.

When we were nearing the destination, I had the strange feeling that I've gone through this route before. As we arrived at the front of our location I looked out the window before I exited.  
"Samantha, you said it was one guy who set this reunion up. Was his name Maxim Crockett by chance?" as I opened the car door Samantha replied  
"you know... it might have been him. How do you know."  
"Because I delivered him 30 bouquets to this place." Samantha had a surprised expression on her face as we walked into the same plaza that I've been to this morning.

# Chapter Five - The Price for a Lie

As both Samantha and I walked towards the Lobby, Samantha was starting to fidget with her gloves and worry about her initial plan.  
"What happens if he recognizes you? He might think I'm married to a florist. I shouldn't have agreed to go, we must go back." after hearing all this I stopped walking. As Samantha turned, I held her hand and I looked at her with a heartfelt gaze.  
"We won't go back, we're here now. If he sees me, I'll just say that is a hobby. Now take a deep breath and we'll walk in and look like a rich happy couple, like we agreed to. If we don't this moment is going to haunt you. The Samantha I know doesn't want things hanging over her head." as she took a deep breath she placed her other hand atop mine.  
"You're right, we can do this. I almost forget." she pulled out two bracelets behind her back.  
"How did you store those wedding bands." all Samantha did was wink as she put one on her left wrist.  
"It's a woman's secret." she held my left hand and slapped the bracelet on me. She looked into my eyes for a moment and started walking into the lobby again.

When we reached the lobby desk we signed in and entered one of the elevators. Before it closed however, Maxim arrived. To my surprise he didn't wear a white colored suit, he wore an evening dress uniform mostly seen worn by U.S. Marines. He stopped the elevator doors from closing and entered.  
"Sorry I missed you at the front. Nice car, how did you acquire such a car on a courier budget?" Samantha looked like she was going to start crying so I grabbed her hand slightly tighter and said.  
"You assume I work for money, didn't you ever hear of goodwill?" Maxim looked surprised for a moment  
"oh! I see, forgive me for being presumptuous, did you get it for yourself or was that a gift too." Samantha looked like she was going to break down.  
"Actually it was the misses here; I tried to convince her otherwise, but money changes people." Maxim gave a look of confusion for a moment but then had a coy smile.  
"So your wife bought it. I thought you were preoccupied with something else tonight. I guess I was too self-centered to realize you were talking about this event." after a moment the doors opened again and we were now on the floor with the reunion.

Even though I saw the floor yesterday with the tables out, it was still a sight to behold. The table had the bouquets in onyx vases, white sheets of silk were hanging from the ceiling. Fog could be seen above the silk with small star like lights illuminating the room. over near the end was a dance floor with everyone dressed in either suits or fancy ball gowns, dancing while a band dressed in suits were playing a slow tempo song. As I was staring at the area in amazement, Samantha and Maxim were already starting to leave the elevator. Samantha had to tug my arm to get me walking again.  
"What's the matter with you? Haven't you been to a prom like this before?" as Samantha looked at me was an angered look I was still looking around at the place. Thankfully I could be truthful since Maxim was out of earshot  
"I was home schooled remember. Anyway, he seems to fall for the idea of us being rich enough." as we continued walking behind Maxim, he would show us different people who have arrived. we met the secretary of defense, the CFO of some weapons manufacturer, a scientist from an R&D company, so many people were involved with weapons or battle that when they asked what we did I wasn't sure whether to go with the crowd or to come up with something new.

"So tell us James, what is it that you do? Can't be too important if you're not in a family." before I could answer Maxim barged in.  
"James here, delivers flowers just for the fun of it. He's a flower boy." as everyone listened to Maxim; they all started looking at me. They asked if what Maxim was saying is true, it was then I knew what to say, and without missing a beat I responded.  
"Partly true, I'm an owner of multiple vertical farming's along the eastern coast." everyone looked at me with a look of intuition than curiosity like before. Very soon they all asked question. As I was talking out of my ass, Maxim was at the back of the crowd with his reading glasses on. He was about to start walking away but one of the attendees asked him a question  
"here's a question, when were you in the Marines? You said that your business now is as a hunter." I was unaware that Maxim was a hunter, as he walked back to the crowd he took one final sip of champagne before he answered.  
"I was a Captain when I left the Marines, I was pretty good before that ranking though, but all my work was just touring south America making sure that no one was trying to get into the US from the south. When I hear of all the murder and supernatural events that go down in our own country I just couldn't take it at one point, so I asked for a transfer to the M.F.U.C. Hunter division. Does that answer your question." we all stood silent for a moment before Maxim excused himself saying that he had an important message. After that everyone would just continue on with our conversations. It was surprisingly easy to talk to these people outside of their jobs; it only seemed to be an opener to conversation before people would talk about other things. After a while I decided to get some air.

As I exited to a balcony overlooking the New York Jungle, I could see a few stragglers were outside to catch a breath of fresh air or for couples to look at the view. As I watched the swaying of the trees, a pair of latex gloves wrapped around me, it turned out to be Samantha. She was most certainly drunk since she nearly fell while leaning on the balcony fence. I could see that she was holding an empty wine glass in her hand before she chucked it over into the Jungle. she began to talk in a slow voice, taking a pause for each phrase she said,  
"Can you...believe... that we... can waltz in here... and act like billionaires... when we can't even... afford a car" as she started to continue talking in her intoxicated state, as she was about to fall I was able to catch her before she hit the ground. Worried that she would cause harm to herself and the risk of exposing her facade, I lifted her up and started walking towards the elevators. As I walked past some of the guests, they started commenting on how Samantha couldn't even hold her drink, or that I was such a gentleman to carry her away. As we reached the elevator, I could see Maxim at the elevators, looking over his OpCinq. His expression was that of thought and anger, as I approached the elevator and called one, he talked to me.  
"James, there's something I got to ask."  
"Not now I must get Samantha out of here before she embarrasses herself in front of everyone." as the elevator doors opened Maxim grabbed my right arm as I entered, his grip nearly being painful to me.  
"How about talk now." this sounded more like a demand than a request and I wasn't too comfortable in staying around him, I shouldered him off me.  
"And like I said before, this isn't the time." I didn't bother looking at a button as I pressed it, I just wanted to get away from Maxim before any else happened. As the elevator doors closed I could see Maxim looking at me with a cold stare. But I didn't care because this would be the last time I would see him, any questions he had with me will be forgotten the next morning.

When both Samantha and I reached the ground floor I walked over to the lobby desk and requested the return of the car we arrived in. at this point Samantha was half asleep, I still had to carry her as we exited the skyscraper, waiting for the car to return. When it finally arrived I gracefully placed Samantha in the passenger seat and sat in the driver seat and started to drive. For a while I had no clue where Samantha lived that I just decided to return to Zach's apartment. When we arrived I just left the rental car at the front and walked in with Samantha in my arms. Walking up the stairs was trickier this time since I couldn't see where half the steps were with Samantha blocking my point of view. After finally arriving to the fifth floor, I momentarily rested Samantha to the side of the wall and started looking for the access card for the door. Samantha was mumbling now but I could catch a few words, most were just simply word salad to me as I finally swiped the card and the door started opening. As I enter I noticed that the fridge now had a small memo attached to the door. As I walked to it I noticed that the memo was actually electronic and as I looked at it I saw that words were being written on there with messy handwriting. As I read it I realized that Zach must be sending this note to the fridge from somewhere in Europe upon it was written

_Hey James,_

Clever fridge huh. Well these jobs pay for it. I'm in London now and the boss has just given me the down low on what the schedule is, thankfully I have the day free today, it must be night time for you so when you read it I might be sleeping or out enjoying the European culture. The weather is shit here, and the food is questionable when greater than fast food. I do hope you haven't taken any suits out and you're keeping the plants alive. Hope is going well in your side of the world.  
Zach

Underneath the note then came an image of what appears to be Zach in view of a field of large buildings with a clock tower at the center of them all. as I chuckled at already ruining Zach's hope of not wearing any of his suits, I continued into the master bedroom and I laid Samantha down on it, I was about to leave when I could feel Samantha still weakly holding me. As I turned to look at her she still had her eyes closed but said to me, "don't". I wasn't sure what to do that I just sat down on the floor and just laid my head against the mattress. As Samantha returned to mumbling words, I started trying to sleep.

When I finally got to sleep I started having a weird dream, I stood in the center of what appeared to be a plate of metal. Lava started to rise above the plate but wouldn't flow onto it, as I looked around I saw only a small platform that had inscriptions that I could not understand. Somehow I had the urge to walk onto the platform, as I walked to it; the lava kept rising yet wouldn't go onto the larger plate acting as a platform. As I was now standing on the platform, the surrounding platform start to crumble away leaving only the platform I was standing on as a safety between me and the lava below. I then started hearing the same voice that was in the back of my head from the time I was about the cross the New York Jungle.  
"My wish can only be done here." I started to wonder where here was; I then heard the voice again.  
"My project, my solution, my... singularity." the voice started to be heard outside my head now as it started chanting some sort of phrase I wasn't aware about. For a moment I wasn't sure how this was possible as the lava started rising closer to the platform, I thought this was a dream but I wasn't waking up at this moment. the chanting started getting louder now and I realized that I was chanting, as I cupped my hands over my mouth I took a step back and I fell off the platform falling down to the lava. It was at this point I awoke.

When I awoke I felt like I taking a deep breath after holding my breath for so long, the OpCinq on my arm was vibrating at such a magnitude I thought it was going to break. As I got up, trying to find my own feet the vibration stopped. I looked over to the bed and saw that Samantha was still sleeping, relieved that it was only a dream I walked to the bathroom to clean my face off. As I looked into the mirror, my hair still had a spiky appearance to it but was now down in front of my face this time, I swiped it back with the use of cold water and I now felt refreshed. As I was about to strip down ready for a shower I heard a knock on the door. When I walked out the bathroom I saw that Samantha was still asleep, the knocking must have come from the front door. This time I heard an even louder thumping at the door. I started to approach the door and open it. As I opened the door half way, I was knocked down but some heavy guy in body armor. I landed face first and I cracked my glasses on the ground, I tried to push him off but he just held me down. I could see a second person has come in from the look of his sneakers that appear to be as thick as combat boots. he grabbed my hair and started lifting it up, forcing me to look up, what I saw was Maxim wearing a white shirt was a bandolier slung around him with his OpCinq clearly in view, he had a gun holstered on his thigh and a belt that looked to be holding different small compartments like a utility belt. The large man stopped holding me down and I was now being held by Maxim by the hair. I didn't bother fighting my way out at this point since it would only be a waste of energy on my part. Maxim still gripping my hair started to drag me to a wall and threw me at it. He then held me at my neck with just his arm as he grabbed from under his arm a hilt normally found for a blade. he held it to my neck and I could feel a sharp pain from it as if a blade started to extrude out of it, it was only a needle I saw when he moved it away from my neck but I could see that the blood that was once on the needle was now running into the hilt and Maxim was now paying attention to his OpCinq. For a few moments there was only silence, it was at this point that I was unsure if calling for help was a good idea. I saw that the other guy was spinning his gun while walking around the kitchen.  
"Joe stops playing with your gun. If you're bored, check the other rooms. this freak here didn't leave the party alone." as Maxim was still paying attention to his OpCinq, the other guy who must have been Joe only stopped playing with his gun and just stood there.

The next moment we could all hear a beep from Maxims OpCinq and the look on his face went from anger and quickly to a coy smile. He removed his OpCinq arm from my neck for a moment before he turned me around with my arms behind my back and my front facing the wall.  
"Well James, you've got a lot of nerve to visit a high school reunion and take an innocent woman as hostage. Normally I'd kill you where you stand, but M.F.U.C. have a special request for live subjects such as yourself." as I could feel one handcuff placed on me I heard the door to the bedroom open. It was Samantha she walked out and asked.  
"James what was that-" before she finished the sound of a book slamming on a table was heard and I couldn't tell what was happening, Maxim softened his pressure on me and seemed to have forgotten about slapping handcuffs on me.  
"Joe what the hell was that, you shot her." after hearing only those nine words, nothing seemed to matter to me to hear, I was now in a panic and I knew the first thing to do was get out. I took a step back off the wall and slammed my head against Maxims'. Joe was thankfully cautious this time and didn't do anything. I ran out of the apartment and I could hear from the ground floor the metal door closing. When I reached the street I realized that the OpCinq was making a short tune. As I looked to the LCD it said that it received a message. When I tried to open it, the OpCinq referred me to my glasses, thankfully I had them in the inside coat pocket. As I looked I saw that it wasn't a message but a guide to follow. I was uncertain whether I should follow this but I then heard I great explosion from the building. All the windows were blown out and I could hear a few alarms, without wanting to be in a worse situation than I was before I started sprinting, following the guide that was sent to me.

As I sprinted I couldn't slow down. I was scared, scared of what would be happening if I got caught, scared of what could possibly be done to me. When reached the marker, I was at the Edge of the New York Jungles Wall. As I looked around me, I couldn't see if anyone was chasing me or following me. As I waited at the corner of the New York Jungle wall, wondering why I'm here I started to hear tire screeching. as I turned I could see a dark SUV with blue and red flashing light, I was about to start running again when I saw Joe, leaning out of the passenger window holding an assault rifle. before the SUV was even close to me, Joe started firing in. it was at this moment that I had my instincts kick in, I couldn't outrun them, I had to defend myself or fight back. As the line of fire got close to me I flung my arms forward in an attempt to shield myself from the bullets. In that moment, I could hear in the back of my mind,  
"you did not come this far to die now" as I looked at the wall I could see small fissures forming, making an opening for flora to stream out.  
"That's right, use it. I've hidden long enough, release me!" and at that thought, I forgot about hiding, forgot that dozens of people were watching. I reacted instinctively.

# Chapter Six - Questionable People

In the moment the bullets were near me, a thick set of vines crashed through the Wall and wrapped around me like a cocoon, as the vines wrapped themselves around me I felt like I wasn't being strangled, but that a warm hug was embracing me, protecting me. I could still hear bullets flying but none of them were hitting me; the vines that wrapped around me defended me by the onslaught of bullets. I heard tires screeching and car doors opening. The vines weakened their hold on me and became more of a barrier than a cocoon. In between the vines I could see both Joe and Maxim pulling guns out of the car and were walking towards the vines, willing to use more firepower to mow the vines away. At that moment I went into a boxer's stance and threw a punch, the vines acted in kind. The vines that were my barrier shot straight towards Maxim, Joe and the SUV. The sheer force of the vines colliding with them was enough to push the SUV and them to the other side of the street. I could see that Maxim and Joe aren't knocked out, but taking the moment of confusion to my opportunity I had the vines rip a hole in the wall to allow me to crawl through. No one in their right mind would follow me in there.

As I entered the forest, I wasn't too sure what was going on but the hole behind me was now covered by the vines from before. As I walked further into the Jungle I couldn't hear any animals, even though the rumors about the jungle all centered on the idea that spliced animals were in here. at times I couldn't see the sky as I kept walking deep in, I had no idea where I was going, just that I didn't want to be where I was before. After walking for a while my OpCinq started notify me of something. When I looked down to the LCD, it told me that there was a nearby care package. With no clue what a care package was I requested to know where it was. The OpCinq brought up a radar in the lower left corner of my glasses and I could see a small blip that wasn't too far from the center of the radar. As I walked towards the blip and was now on top of it, I started looking around for anything out of place. As I looked around I saw a small emerald green backpack, as I approached it I could tell that it was a hard case pack like the one used at the florist shop, I knelt down to open it.

Inside was a metal container that was the size of a small book, the OpCinq labeled it as an External Storage Device, I also found a new set of OpCinq glasses. After replacing my old set with the new set I saw a small camera the size of a woman's watch which was labeled as a Sticky Cam. when I pulled it out, a small note was attach beneath the base, on it was written "use me." when I tried to figure out how to use it, the OpCinq had instructions set to the side telling me that it could stick to any surface. When I stuck it on a nearby oak tree, a message on my glasses popped up. It said a called was being made, and so I answered it.

I could see in my right glasses lens a man hidden in shadow at a desk, I could only make out his hands where is right index finger had a small red cross on a ring. The shadowed man spoke.  
"It's good to see you're alive, nice show by the way."  
"Who are you?"  
"I'm the man that gave you your OpCinq."  
"The Swiss"  
"sharp one, aren't you. Now time is very important here and I have to say, you have very little of, as you could tell, M.F.U.C. is starting to look for you now."  
"Why now? I've been alive for nearly 30 years and they only start having an interest in me now."  
"Maybe it's because of a mutual friend gave them a tip off that I gave you something of interest."  
"And who is this mutual friend"  
"Not important, the important part is that this Maxim hunter has a Genome sample of you and a Doleman descendant, and an analysis proves your related." I froze; I didn't want to believe that I was related to Doleman. When I look back at Maxim checking my blood, he must of been checking I was a Doleman descendant rather than just a supernatural.  
"James, snap out of it. Look I can get you out of here, there's a boat that'll take you someplace safe. The problem is that the guy holding the boat will be a sitting duck, which means you have three hours before he boycotts out of there. He will be at pier 11, I suggest you run if you haven't started moving now."  
"Wait, now? What about my grandmother? She's at the florist right now, I have to get to her."  
"Not happening, Maxim searched for you there first, the entire block are locked down; they set off a gas main to clean up their mess. Your own your own."  
"grandmas dead?" as I said this out loud I fell back in depression, nearly everyone I cared about was either out of the country or was dead now.  
"What about Zach, he owned the apartment I was sleeping in last night, is he alright?"  
"Yeah Zach is alright, he's in England now so no M.F.U.C. operative is going to foolishly storm British land just for one guy, though Zach may not be someone to trust at this point in time"  
"what do you mean?"  
"Do you really believe that Zach bought that entire building and made a bunker out of his fifth floor flat with a salary of a courier in M.F.U.C. land? That he just got a random call to go to England as a job promotion, and was forcing you to come along? No Zach is not who he says he is, don't trust him." even though I trusted Zach all my life, what The Swiss said was starting to have me doubt Zach.  
"Now are we done? Cause you have two hours and fifty minutes before that ferry ticket I gave you expires."  
"How will I know which boat is his?"  
"Your OpCinq should identify his boat. Now stop asking stupid questions and start running." before I stood up the connection to The Swiss was terminated. I grabbed the camera off the tree and thrown it back into the backpack before I slung it on my back.

As I looked around I noticed that the OpCinq had a small speech bubble pop up and say "firmware updated to SR" I wasn't sure what "SR" meant but the first thing I noticed was that a HUD could now be seen on my glasses, it had a compass at the top of the lenses while a small arrow could be seen just below it. At the right side was a numeral telling me the distance to what could only be guessed as being pier 11. Realizing that I didn't have the time to be observing my new OpCinq's features I started running through the Jungle again following the small arrow. When I reached the wall I started climbing, when I reached the top and could see the streets of New York the OpCinq glasses started showing a blue line along the sidewalk as navigation.

As I started climbing down the other side of the wall I realized that I was now moving the vines to my next footing rather than having to look down to see where my next footing had to be. When I reached the ground I could hear sirens off in the distance, and this time there was more than one source, so without wasting more time I started sprinting down the streets again. After alternating between sprinting and jogging for the next hour I finally reached the halfway mark and was now at Times Square. Believing that I could blend into the crowd, I slowed down to a fast walk and started walking between crowds. Twice I saw uniformed police officers walking around, looking for me. The blending into the crowd was made much easier with the OpCinq being capable of showing me where the police officers were looking. When I crossed 45th street and was now bearing on Broadway, my luck ran out.

My OpCinq started having images of me pop up on the HUD, I got sick of it that I took the glasses off, as I did I could see that everyone in Times Square had stopped doing whatever it was they were doing before and were now looking at either their devices or the great big digital billboards surrounding Times Square, as I looked at the nearest one I saw a picture of me wearing the emerald suit from last night and a field of text below my face.

WARNING  
JAMES DOLEMAN  
KIDNAPPER, CON ARTIST, SUPERNATURAL TERRORIST  
EXTREME CAUTION  
INFORM HUNTER OR LAW ENFORCEMENT

In shock of what was being shown I didn't realize that in a crowd of thousands of people, they all started backing away from me, pretty soon the group backing away from me now formed a circle around me. As put my glasses back on, I could see in the lenses a red exclamation mark over many uniformed officers heads off in the distance. As I was about to adopt a stance, ready to fight or run I saw fingers being pointed at me.  
"He's there, that's the terrorist!" after hearing some random citizen shout this out I ran. As I tried to break through, I would be pushed back. As I was about to tackle my way out of the crowd, I heard a gunshot go off. Everyone in Times Square just dropped to the ground, possibly to avoid any more shots. While everyone was down on the ground, cowering in fear I started to run down Broadway while looking around for the shooter. By the time I reached 42nd street, people started to rise up, thinking that the coast was clear. When I could see anyone on the ground with a gun I started to look at the roof. In a split second I saw a small flash at the top of a skyscraper, in that moment I heard the gunshot again, as I was about to run again I felt a pelt hit me in my right shoulder. The force of the shot alone was able to make me fall, as I looked at my shoulder all I saw was a small puncture hole in the emerald suit jacket. The crowd this time didn't drop to the ground; rather they all started running in a panic. As I picked myself back up I started to run south on Broadway again.

Running this time seemed to be different, I didn't look back, I was now scared. As I continued to run I would see people running away, screaming sometimes. I started to hear more shots go off now, thankfully none were hitting me or civilians however and there were a few close calls. Since I knew the shooter must be at the top of a Times Square building, I made a quick detour down one of the small alleyways so as to have the shooter lose their line of sight. As I started running down alleyways and small roads, I didn't have as many close calls now, but I could still hear gunshots off in the distance. Since no one else was going through the alleyways, I took a moment to catch my breath. It was only then that I had a moment to feel shocked; hunters were now opening fire on me in a heavily populated area. As I continued to rest on the side of a wall I looked at my right shoulder to investigate the damage. When I took the jacket off, I saw that a pelt was stuck on my shirt. As I tried to tuck at it, the pelt wouldn't come off, I didn't want to ruin the shirt as much as the jacket so I just left it there. Thinking that I was safe to wait, I still had three hours left, and the pier would only be a good jog away.

As I leaned on the wall catching my breath, I heard fewer screams and other noises now. If I was lucky I could probably just briskly walk down main roads without having to worry about people actively searching for me. After a moment I started hearing my OpCinq ringing, when I looked the caller ID seemed to be blocked. Even so I answered, for a moment I heard nothing on the other line.  
"Hello?"  
"You ass, I told you not to wear my suits, and what do you do. You decide to wear my suit." It was Zach. I was relieved to hear him, even after what The Swiss said.  
"Zach, you have no idea how relieved I am that you called."  
"Nice to know, what's this about you being a terrorist and a last name?"  
"Long story listen, I've got some help from a guy called The Swiss and he says he can get me out of here."  
"The Swiss?! James he isn't to be trusted, where are you, I'm taking the red spice's rift jump and will be in New York in 5, and you in 10." after what Zach mentioned not to trust The Swiss, I wasn't so sure that I should even wait for him.  
"Zach I may not have enough time. Besides you're safer in England."

"Let me be the judge of my own safety, and let's not think for a second you're safe. You can use a helping hand."

"You don't understand... they got grandma and Samantha." we both went silent for almost a minute; all I could hear was breathing on the other end.  
"I got to hang up now, I'll get to you." before I could respond, Zach hung up.

As I looked at the time and how far I was from the pier after checking I put the glasses in the backpack, since I knew the pier was now just following a main road and turning off onto Wall Street, I started to get up. As I peeked out of the alleyway, I could see that there weren't any signs showing my wanted poster. Thinking it was safe I started to walk out but I was then pulled from the collar back into the alley. When I fell onto my back I saw Joe the hunter and Maxim were there, smiling at their fortune.  
"What did I tell you Joe? Ms. Sutton is the best shot in the Association, and she didn't kill the freak." at that moment Maxim was holding a small ammo clip and he pressed it to my shoulder where the pellet from the sniper shot was. I then felt a pain similar to tape being ripped off on my shoulder, the pellet that was stuck on my shirt was now gone.  
"You see Joe; this is how we take down freaks like Doleman here. Controlled shots and not twitching the trigger at every chance we get" Joe looked at Maxim with contempt.

"It wasn't my fault! She walked out, I reacted."

"Then why don't you keep an eye out so then you don't get an itchy trigger finger when we get this Doleman transported to CGA" as I tried to get up, Joe just stomped his foot on top of me before walking away. I was now coughing and had a sharp pain on my chest. As I was coughing, Maxim was pulling a set of handcuffs out of his pocket. The handcuffs were like two large braces melted together. As he rolled me over I could see Joe was looking out the alleyway.  
"No one knows I'm here." I wasn't sure how much time had passed but I was sure that Zach couldn't have found me now. But my response seems to have fallen on deaf ears as Joe continued to keep a lookout. once the heavy handcuffs were on me I felt like I was exhausted even though I were resting just before, when Maxim pulled me to my feet I had trouble getting to my feet.  
"Feeling blue are we (!)" Maxim's sarcasm wasn't helpful, when I was finally on my feet I was starting sweat. I could only guess that the handcuffs were causing my discomfort. Joe returned and was holding his handgun out; I was starting to feel scared but also fury at this point. Joe was the one responsible for Samantha's death. I felt a shove from behind as Maxim pushed me forward, signaling me to walk forward. As I took a step forward, Joe aimed his gun at me. As Maxim was now walking past me to take Joes gun, I could see a ring of keys and electronic USBs were sticking out of Maxims back pocket. I knew that if I had any chance of escaping I had to act soon, Zach wasn't going to find me quickly enough.

Even though I was feeling exhausted from the effects of the handcuffs, I knew that I had to try. I charged at the two hunters. Even in my weakened state, I was still able to knock both Joe and Maxim down. I saw that the Joe was reaching for his gun, inches away from his hand. I kicked his hand and in a fit of rage at him, stomped his chest. I felt prideful that I was returning the pain Joe put onto me from before. As kneeled down on Joe's neck to choke him, I completely forgot that Maxim was here and was knocked on the side of the head by his sword handle. As I turned I saw that Joe was still on the ground catching his breath and Maxim was holding his own gun at me. Before Maxim could take a shot I swept my feet across his, he fell to the ground just as he fired his gun. The shot missed me but I could see a tennis ball sized crater near me, the noise from Maxims gun wasn't like Joes, the firing shot was followed with a loud bang that seemed to have started a ringing in my ears. As Joe started crawling to his gun, pivoted on the ground and now had Joes head locked in a leg triangle choke. Even in my tired state I was able to knock Joe out in 10 seconds. As I was about to get back up, Maxim was already standing above me with his handle sticking out a long black blade, being pointed at my neck. I could see that the blade was extendable by the shape of the blade tapering.  
"Are we done playing?" as Maxim knelt down to lift me back up, he was kicked in the face by someone fly kicking him.as I sat myself up I saw that it was Zach. Even though I could only see him from behind I could tell it was Zach, his burgundy hair combed stylishly to the side, his ankle long black trench coat and his leather combat boots. Zach turned to me; he had a coy smile on his face.  
"You couldn't wait five minutes for me could you?"

# Chapter Seven - Geronimo!

I was relieved that Zach was now here. I started to get up now; I nearly fell from the exhaustion of both the handcuffs and the recent brawl. Zach walked over and grabbed my hand and lifts me to my feet.  
"I leave you for two days I you get into fights. You really need me, and what's with this not trusting me?" I started to feel bad now; I was putting more value in a stranger's advice rather than trusting my best friend.  
"It was something The Swiss said." as Zach had an expression of sadness but understanding on him; I saw that Maxim has risen up and was ready to attack us.  
"Behind you!" as I said this Maxim has raised his blade and was swiping down. Zach turned and he raised his right hand, palm towards the blade as if he was going to catch it. I thought it was folly, but as the blade was just mere hair length away from Zach's hand, the blade rebounded like it hit a solid wall. As Maxim was stunned in amazement for a moment he started swinging his sword, this time more violently than before. Zach continued using only the palms of his hands, every strike seemed to just bounce off of Zach's hand. As the two of them fought I attempted to check Joe's pockets to see if he had a set of keys to take the cuffs off. Even after checking Joe's pockets and coming up with nothing, Zach and Maxim were still locked in battle. I could tell that Zach was get exhausted from the attacks, but so was Maxim. As I thought that the fight would stretch on longer, Zach deflected the blade with his left hand before he made a fist with his right and threw a punch at Maxim. Even though Maxim appeared to be out of Zach's reach, Maxim lost his grip with his blade and was somehow thrown across the alleyway as if an invisible force had pushed him. As Maxim slid across the ground, Zach picked up Maxims blade and walked towards him.  
Before Maxim could get back up, Zach had placed a foot on Maxim to hold him down, as Zach rose the blade ready to strike, I called out to him.  
"Zach No!" just as Zach was about to stab Maxim, he stopped. He turned to look at me, his foot still firmly planted on Maxim.  
"James, he's a Hunter and you are a Doleman, he will hunt you to the ends of the world until he catches you or either of you is dead." Zach was about to strike again but I wasn't going to let that happen, I started walked towards him.  
"How does that give us the right to murder him in cold blood?!"  
"Like you said he killed Samantha, their heartless."  
"Says you!" Maxim was struggling under Zach's boot. "Your kind says they want to live as equals, but my family knows better than anyone else. You're savages. The broken truce in the first year, the hundred year riots, the Vatican Rapture. You all tried to prove to be the higher form of humanity. We aren't going to sit idly by as your kind massacre us in the name of evolution." Zach was starting to get frustrated with him, the hand holding the blade was now shaking uncontrollably, and I've never seen Zach lose himself like this.  
"You're lying! You got as much blood on your hands as you accuse us! You killed innocent lives in the Boston flush!"  
"They weren't innocent! Terrorists were right under our homes! My parents died for The Boston Flush!"  
"So did many others on our side! I've had enough" as Zach swung the blade down me now charged at Zach and stopped him from killing Maxim. I looked at him and with a raging cry shouted  
"I won't let you kill him like this!" Zach was infuriated; he looked like he wanted to strangle me. As Maxim got up, he grabbed the blade again and was going to strike at us. As he got up and raised his blade, Zach held both hands out and what happened next shocked me.

The entire alleyway seemed to have a strong wind blow as I saw dustbins tumble over, papers flew up into the air and I saw Maxim, he was several feet of the ground and was flying away from us. When he fell to the ground I could see he wasn't getting up. Fearing that Zach killed him I ran over to check. I could feel Maxims pulse but he wasn't waking up, I saw a patch of blood in his hair, he had been knocked out. Zach got up now and he looked even more depleted in energy than me, he was taking heavy breaths and looked like we was about to fall over.  
"You should of let me killed him, he doesn't need to live."  
"We can't say that, all life is sacred. Besides, he would have been right if you killed him." as I told all this Zach had a look of shock on his face. He now knew that I was right to stop him; there have been very few times that I saw Zach break down. This was one of those times. As Zach fell to the ground I got close enough to him to have him lean on my shoulder he looked like he was ready to cry.  
"I'm so sorry James."  
"It's okay, you weren't thinking straight."  
"I've done some questionable things but I never thought that I was going to kill a man." Zach just stayed silent for a while. Neither of us said a word to each other, when I checked the time I realized that I was running short of time to reach Pier 11.  
"Zach, he has the keys to the handcuffs in his back pocket, we got to go." at that point Zach lifted himself back up and walked over to Maxim and rolled him over.

As Zach started inserting keys into the handcuffs I just sat there in silence before I decided to ask a question that I couldn't hold in for any longer.  
"The Swiss said I shouldn't trust you. That you lied to me about your job. Is it related to that power you just used before." at that moment Zach had found the right key to the handcuffs and I could feel them let go of my wrist. At that moment I started feeling a burst of energy. As I turned I saw that Zach still looked tired. I grabbed one of his arms and had lifted him up.  
"I never told you because you didn't seem to be a supernatural until today." as Zach was about to fall after taking two steps. I grabbed him again and started assisting him in walking.  
"Well now you know, so were both supernaturals." Zach chuckled for a moment as we left the alleyway and walked down a main road.  
"Alright then, the reason I lied about my job is because I used to smuggle some goods. It was small stuff for a while, but for the past year I started to give safe harbor and escort for people outside of North America"  
"You're a smuggler turned human trafficker?"  
"Goodness no! I literally escort them. Sometimes they can just need a place to hide for the next day or so when waiting for their ticket out. Other times I come along for the trip and just take a rift jump home."  
"Yeah you mentioned a rift jump. Five minutes from London to New York is impossible. You also found me in a short amount of time."  
"Yeah two things one; I heard a gunshot so it wasn't that hard to find you. Second; a rift jump is when a guy literally opens a rift and has two points in space connect, like teleportation but for other people and cargo."  
"That's amazing! So who do you actually work for then, obviously not some Brit who wants coffee delivered to him"  
"the political group The Third Helix. They represent us supernaturals."  
"I know they support us. But I thought they didn't have any affairs with M.F.U.C. or North America to be politically correct."  
"not really, but there is talk going around that M.F.U.C. will have Martial Law on this land, and we both know that's just M.F.U.C. troops controlling the government directly rather than be secretive about it. When that happens, this place will be a battle ground."  
"And the UN is going to let M.F.U.C. do all that?"  
"You don't get it. M.F.U.C. has the largest naval fleet and armed force. The UN is lucky that M.F.U.C. doesn't declare war on the world."  
"So what do we do when either scenario happen?"  
"Round up every supernatural and try to fight back."  
"The fight will only be good if people understand that M.F.U.C. isn't to be trusted."  
"One step at a time James. So where are we going?"  
"I was told to look for a man at Pier 11 who would get us out of here."  
"Then let's hop to it then." I realized that Zach had some of his energy returning to him that he didn't need me assisting him in walking. We both started to lightly jog now and would at times I would exchange details about what has happened over the past two days.

When we both reached the pier I started looking around, all the transport boats were docked now. I grabbed the OpCinq glasses out of my backpack and put them on. As Zach and I walked down I started looking for the boat we were supposed to be on, all the boats were highlighted red except for the last one. I took the glasses off and point to the boat so that Zach knew which boat we were going on  
"Zach, that's the boat." as we both jogged to it, we saw a robot on the walk way, its appearance looked like a suit of armor from medieval times, as we approached it I could see that on its chest was a small red cross on it. I came to see the Red Cross as a symbol of The Swiss. When we were both standing right in front of it I waved my hand at it, the robots helmet opened and inside was a speaker.  
"Nice to see you have arrived, although the trip should have taken 2 hours not 3. And who's this? Zach, your best friend to lied to you?" obviously The Swiss was none too happy to see Zach here.  
"Look, you said get here in four hours and you would offer us safe haven."  
"I would offer safe haven to YOU, not Zach. Besides he lied to you, I'm doing you a favor."  
"Swiss -"  
"but I guess not having him come along will just be like leaving havoc unchecked in New York." Zach started cracking his knuckles, ready to hit the suit of armor.

"Come aboard then, watch your step." the suit of armor helmet closed and the suit now walked onto the ferry. As I looked at Zach I could see that he was starting to calm down now.

When we got on the ferry the suit of armor was already at the controls. As the ferry started to move both Zach and I took a seat. For the first twenty minutes the only noise was from the ferry. At this point I got up from my seat and walked over to the railing. I saw New York with its skyscrapers, every time I looked at them before I would always wish to be at the top of them, to have a feeling similar to what it was like to be higher than life, but I guess that won't ever happen now. I turned my head and saw that we were approaching a small island. Before I could ask what the island was, Zach already was asking a question.  
"So why are we heading to the Governors Island? As far as safe havens go, that is still a hop, skip and a jump away from M.F.U.C." the helmet on the suit of armor turned its head so that it was looking directly behind itself.  
"That island is simply a gateway to a great city, while not as great as where I am now, it can quite possibly be the safest place any supernatural can be, The SubCity." as the suit of armor said the name, Zach was laughing at this point.  
"The SubCity?! The mysterious city under a city that had safe harbored supernaturals at the turn of the era. The city is a myth."  
"Well you are half right, it's not just one city, all around the globe; London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Baghdad, Chicago, Rome are cities that hide far below them. And the Governors Island is just one way of accessing one of those cities." I was amazed to hear that such things yet Zach just muttered under his breath.

When we reached the Island I was surprised to see that no one else was on the pier we just docked at. As the suit of armor walked off the ferry and down the pier, Zach tugged at my sleeve to hint at walking slower so as to be out of earshot of the armor. As I slowed down I heard Zach talking to me under his breath.  
"Are you sure we can trust this tin can. What if it's leading us to a trap."  
"It could have betrayed us at Pier 11, but here we are. Why don't you trust the Swiss? He's on our side isn't he."  
"James, the Swiss has no side; he gives stuff to both sides of the conflict. It was probably responsible for that hunter Maxim finding you." as I heard this I stopped walking, Zach also stopped wondering why I had.  
"Zach, I was in the jungle with no clue what to do. I get a pack filled with useful stuff, he helped me get here. Let's just trust him for now. Besides once we're at the city we got a clean break."  
"If you say so." Zach started walking again to catch up with the suit of armor.

After walking for a few minutes, the suit of armor stopped at a large oak tree that was on a hill leading to the Governor Island memorial statue. As we reached the oak tree and started looking around, Zach just walked over to the suit of armor.  
"What's this about tin man? You said we were heading to the SubCity." the suit of armor helmet opened and a small monitor appeared in it.  
"This symbol is the lock to the chute, all that needs to be done is for a supernatural to merely touch It." as I walked over to the suit of armor I saw the symbol on the monitor. on it was a redwood bark that had indented an outline of an upside down cityscape, in each of the outlines of towers and buildings were several carvings; a howling wolf, a dead tree and its roots, a brain, a hand with an outline bordering around it, and what appeared to be a wave of water crashing into an erupting volcano.  
"So we touch a symbol and we will get a chute leading to The SubCity." the suit of armor shut its helmet and looked at Zach. It waved at both Zach, and I before it walked away.  
"Great we got to find a symbol and touch it" as Zach walked over to the large oak tree and leaned on it to rest. I started to look around.

After walking around the area for a few minutes I looked at the oak tree and remembered how the symbol the suit of armor showed was on a redwood tree. As I walked around the oak tree looking for the symbol Zach just stayed where he was.  
"James, why are you walking around a tree?"  
"Because the symbol The Swiss showed us was on a redwood wood tree."  
"Okay but this is oak."  
"Never the less, this tree might have the symbol." when I finally walked around the tree once, I saw that Zach was still leaning on the same spot on the tree as before.  
"Zach, move aside." as I pushed Zach aside I saw the handprint symbol.  
"Great we found the symbol! Now what? Put our hand on it." I rolled my eyes as I heard Zach's comment.  
"You know what Zach; let's have a good thought about this." I looked at Zach as I put my right hand on the symbol. For a moment nothing happened. As I stared at my hand, I was disappointed that nothing happened.  
"Great, we were promised safe haven in an imaginary city and what do we get. A moment of stupidity at tree." I didn't want to give up at this point. I took my hand off the symbol for a moment, and started thinking about how the symbol would have worked as a lock.  
"Zach, put your hand on it." Zach walked over to me and just looked at the symbol and looked back at me with a quizzical look.  
"How will it be different for me than you?"  
"Because I think you have to use your power to unlock it."  
"Then use yours."  
"I kind of just started using it, the most I could do was in a state of panic. It's not like I could turn it off and on."  
"Fine then." Zach placed his hand on the symbol. I thought for a moment that Zach wasn't doing anything but I then saw that his hand had sunk into the oak tree a bit.

Zach took his hand of the symbol and I could see that in the symbol, the tower with the hand was glowing. Both Zach and I looked at each other and started walking as the glowing on the symbol was spreading. Soon the glow spread and shaped into a door. The glowing subsided and the oak tree now had a door on it. Zach was perplexed at the door, but I walked towards it and opened it. Inside was just a long drop down, I couldn't tell how far down it went as all I could see was darkness. There was a strong wind blowing upwards. Zach now decided to walk up as well and looked down at it. He looked at me and flamboyantly extended his arm forward to the chute.  
"Well you first." I looked at Zach surprise  
"are you nuts, jump down a chute?!" as I said this Zach put his hand out to feel the wind.  
"This breeze is strong, you'll float more than fall." as Zach started leaning forward to have a better look I decided to push him into the chute. Zach screamed for only a moment as we both realized that Zach hadn't fallen more than an inch. We both thought the wind was too strong but we both noticed that Zach was slowly going down, inches at a time. By the time Zach had finally descended past the ground.  
"Are you joining in or not James?" I looked down and could still feel the same strong updraft as before. When I saw that Zach was now hidden in the darkness, I decided to join in.  
"well, got a jump." at that moment I turned my back to the chute and walked backwards so as I descended down I could see the New York skyscrapers before entering darkness. After my head was now past the wall I could see the oak doors closing. As they shut close Zach and I were now shrouded in darkness. Waiting for when we stopped floating down to where ever it was we were going.

# Chapter Eight - A First Time

As I was slowly falling in a chute shrouded in darkness I had a lot of time to think about what had happened in the past two days. I was invited to a fancy reunion and met the hunter Maxim Crockett who would hunt me the next day. I find out that I'm part of a long line of extraordinarily powerful supernaturals, and that my best friend Zach who is two feet below me has been a human trafficker while telling me he was a courier. All this was because of a mysterious character that I know only as The Swiss.

After what seemed to be an hour, I heard a thud below me. As I looked down couldn't see anything. I later stopped feeling the strong wind that was slowing Zach's and my fall down the chute and had now fallen on top of Zach. Zach was hitting my in the back,  
"James! GET. OFF!" once I got up I noticed that my OpCinq was glowing slightly.  
"Great, we fell down a hole for an hour and we are now walking blind!" as Zach was talking I took a few steps forward. As I started fiddling with the OpCinq, I found a night vision option. I turned the night vision on and I could see that Zach and I were in some sort of chamber; the chamber had a few odd materials such as rope and glass bottles and along the wall was scribbles in several different languages. I guessed that wherever Zach and I were, this place has long ago been abandoned. While Zach was getting up and appeared to be dusting dirt off him, I found the only door leading out of the chamber.  
"Zach I've found a way out." as I was about to open the door, I could hear bottles being kicked over. I turned and could see that Zach had his hands outstretched and was trying his best to walk in the dark.  
"That's great and all James, but I can't see a damn thing." realizing that Zach couldn't see in the dark I consulted my OpCinq.  
"Can you recommend a keyword." the OpCinq had the text 'active' appear on the glasses and I knew that the AI was turned on.  
"You're making no sense." I ignored Zach's comment as I talked to my OpCinq  
"can you light the place up?" after a second my glasses had text appear in the right corner saying 'torchlight active'. I took them off and found that the LCD screen was shining through my sleeve. When I pulled my sleeve up the entire room was now illuminated in light with a slight blue hue.  
"That's better. Man that chute took us to a dump." I looked back at the door and opened it. A hot blast of air started to flow into the room before the air went still, the temperature didn't get to the same heat as the hot blast from before but it started to feel like we were dropped into a desert. Zach was now following me as I walked through the doorway. I was now inside a long corridor that started to go down a slight incline. As Zach closed the door behind him, I turned and saw that the door was now forming into a wall that had the same symbol that was on the oak tree back at Governors Island.  
"Well then, guess we can only go one way." as I started walking Zach followed suit. As we walked I noticed how the air seemed to be getting warmer the farther down the corridor we walked. Once the corridor reached an uncomfortable heat I took off my jacket. To my surprise Zach didn't take any of his clothing off, instead he continued to walk with his trench coat on. As I continued to watch Zach be finally noticed me staring.  
"What?"  
"This corridor is like a sauna and your trekking in a leather trench coat."  
"Clearly you haven't gone into a sauna."

After what seemed like an hour we finally reached a chamber that was far larger than the one Zach and I were in previously. When we reached the center of the chamber I saw that my OpCinq had a low battery warning was flashing. I looked over at Zach who seemed to be slightly scared of where we were.  
"Zach, don't panic. But I think we're going to lose our only source of light." I couldn't tell what expression Zach was making as I told him this because the OpCinq had now starting making a loud alarm sound before it turned off, leaving Zach and I in the dark.  
"Great James! This can't possibly get any worse can It." as Zach and I just stood in the darkness for the next minute I tried to find a way to get another source of light going. In my failed attempt at looking through my backpack I saw several feet away, a lit torch. Not bothering to question why it has suddenly lit up, I started to walk towards it. As I did the flame had shot up to what I could guess to be the ceiling and the flame expanded to the entire roof of the chamber. with the new source of light I saw several people were no surrounding Zach and I. while on person had his hands raised, others had fingers in shooting gestures pointed at both Zach and I. Zach had taken to having both his hands doing the shooting gesture while I had my hands up as if I had guns pointed at me.

The man who had his hands raised to the ceiling had a severe burn on his jaw; I could see that his torso was covered in soot and that he wore a loose pair of pants. He then proceeded to lower his hands slowly. As the mysterious man did this I noticed that the roof of flames was now slowly lowering. He then spoke in a deep husky voice.  
"Speak your title and business here." as the flames continued to lower, Zach was the first to respond.  
"You first pyro!" this seemed to have angered the man as he started to lower his hands faster now. The flames were now only a foot from our heads and Zach and I started to crouch down so as to not catch fire.  
"Name!" as the flames were now at the height of where our heads were before we dropped to the ground I answered.  
"James Doleman and Zach, we were told this was a safe haven." the minute the pyro man heard the word Doleman he clapped his hands and the flame that was now only several feet above the ground was now in a small ball in his hands.  
"Is this true?" before I could answer back an old woman in dusty white robes was in front of me and had a thumb on my forehead. For a moment I wasn't sure what she was doing, and then I started remembering what happened for the past three days. as I remembered, I somehow saw the days reply in my eyes transparently overtop the chamber we were in. as my eyes no longer had transparent images flashing she let go, she had a look of sorrow on her face before she talked.  
"He has inherited the title." as the rest of the people surrounding us started to put their hands down, she spoke to me in a whisper.  
"I'm terribly sorry for your grief" before I could ask what she meant by that, she had already retreated to the pyro man's side.  
"My apologies, it is just that this chute has been used since the Boston Flush from up above, we feared that this was compromised so we abandoned it. Next thing we know our geokinesis start worrying about two intruders thumping down the-"  
"that's great and all but is this all of SubCity? just a large dark cavern." the pyro man was looking at Zach with what could only be described as a scowl expression, the pyro man walked up to Zach and it was obvious to see that Zach was far shorter than he was, even when wearing boots.  
"Don't. Anger. Me." neither Zach nor the pyro man broke eye contact. It was strange to see them just stare at each other for so long. It wasn't until the pyro man talked that they backed off each other.  
"My name is Zain. now if neither of you mind, we can take you to the Elder Hall, which is IN SubCity." as Zain turned and started to lead everyone down a corridor far larger than the one Zach and I were in before, I looked over at Zach who seemed to be flexing his fist. I elbowed him so as to snap out of his anger to Zain as we started to follow everyone else down the corridor.

After walking for hours in silence, the roof of corridor started to have crystals embedded. Our group was now at a large metal double door that reached to roof of the corridor. Zain walked to the huge metal doors and I could see through the crowd that he still had the ball of fire in his hands like before. He pressed the ball of flames at the door and the flames spread out to the entire area of the doors, I could feel the heat from the flames now. The doors started open, the flames were starting to shrink back to Zain's hands when the doors were opened a crack, enough to have people walk through without trouble. As everyone else was walking through the gap, Zach and I were at the back of the group. By the time we reached Zain at the front of the door, he just waved his arm forward to the gap in the door as he said.  
"Welcome to SubCity."

The first thing that I noticed was the roof, what could easily be six miles high. Crystals of various colors covered the roof and littered the highest parts of the walls. I realized that buildings of clay were extruding from not only the ground, but also the walls and roof. As I stared at the ceiling and walls, Zain tapped me on the shoulder.  
"Doleman, before you can sight see any further you must be escorted to our eldest" as I was about to walk with Zain again I heard Zach arguing again.  
"Wait a moment. Why do we have to see this eldest whatever they are?" as Zain turned around to confront Zach again, I quickly got between the both of them.  
"Only Doleman has to see the eldest. You can just blend with the crowd, your presence is no longer needed." as Zach was about to raise his fist up, I stopped him and turned to now confront Zain this time.  
"Zach isn't just a presence, he's my friend. So we might as well know who this eldest is."  
"The eldest is what the name says, the oldest resident of this SubCity. They remember the Alchemists who built this place. Their word is the closest thing to law hereafter the alchemists' gift." Zain turned around now and started walking down a street I didn't realize was there before. Looking over at Zach, I gave him a scorning look before we started following Zain again.  
"Fine then, but this isn't a coincidence, The Swiss finds out you're a Doleman descendant, and he sends you to a place that warrants you an audience to some VIP."

After walking down the street for a few minutes I was able to notice more of the city. I saw that the buildings extruding from the roof were positioned similar to the New York Times Square. As I followed Zain down what seemed to be the main street of the city, people were moving out of the way as we walked down the street. By the time Zain stopped walking, we were now in front of grand tower that extruded from the ground and had smaller towers connected to it from the surrounding walls. The entire tower seemed to be made of brick and mortar rather than the common clay, at the top of a tower was a large yellow stone that seemed to be the source of light for most of the underground city. a set of stairs led to a part of the tower that would normally have a door but instead the symbol that was on the tree was also on the tower but was nearly the size of a door, guessing that the same trick needed to be done to this tower like the tree Zach and I walked forward. Before Zach and I walked up to the symbol, Zain held his hand forward, blocking us from walking further  
"This is the lighthouse, each SubCity has one. You'll find the Eldest in there; I can't exaggerate how important it is to stay formal and not to be rude. They oversee everything in the city; you'll make no friends if you offend him." I nodded at Zain and looked over at Zach. I was expecting a clever line from him, but all he did was nod his head too.  
"Alright then, Master. Doleman, I wish you control of yourself." Zain now moved his hand from blocking Zach and I from walking. as we were now in front of the symbol Zach was going to place his hand on the symbol but Zain grabbed his wrist before he did.  
"The eldest wished for Master Doleman to enter, he must open it himself." as Zach pulled his hand out and looked over at me I had to tell him the problem behind me using the symbol.  
"I'm not sure how to do that. Zach opened the chute for me since he knew how to use his power." when I told Zain this he just pinched the bridge of his nose before he looked back at me.  
"Place your hand on the symbol." I was waiting for Zain to give me a full explanation but he just waited for me to do as he said. After half a minute of silence I realized this and put my hand on the symbol.  
"Now imagine you have an energy, you want to pour it into you hand and onto the stone." I wasn't sure how to do this that for the first minute I was trying to push the symbol into the stone like Zach did with the tree. Zain held my hand lightly over the symbol.  
"Forcing a door is useless. Collect yourself." at this point people who were on the streets and clay buildings were now looking at me. They must be seeing a grown man be treated as a child. I calmed myself and I could now notice that my hand was getting warmer, Zain must of notice. As I realized this the warm feeling stopped.

After repeating the process over again constantly for nearly a quarter of an hour I was finally able to get the same warm feeling and not lose it after a second of distraction. At this point a crowd started to circle around the stairs, watching me.  
"Good, now tell it what you want it to do, think of something simple like a noun or verb" I thought for a moment as I tried to keep my mind clear, when I thought of the verb I could feel a hotter glow under my hand. As I removed my hand I saw that the symbol was now glowing. The tower with the plant was now glowing. The glow spread to the entire symbol and grew, I thought it would only be as large as a door but soon the glow grew past that, it reached the size of double doors, it grew larger still. After a few seconds it was now the size of two grand cathedral doors. The border of the glow now had vines growing out of it that started to weave in and out of the stone, slowly replacing the glow with its vines. The vines were now doors, as they opened a blast of cold air hit me, I turned around as the crowd started to cheer and clap.  
"Why are they clapping?" I asked Zain as he had a look of disbelief.  
"No one has made doors larger than just a double door or opens them that wide; you really are a Doleman descendant. What was your thought?"  
"I just thought of the word "open"." as some of the people from the crowd left I turned around and entered through the large vine doors, Zach and Zain now following behind me.

# Chapter Nine - Two in the Dark

As we entered the lighthouse, the vine doors remained open as we walked further down a hall. The columns were made of transparent crystals that varied in color as we walked further down the hall. After walking past twenty columns we were now in a chamber with the roof out of sight, a blue spiral staircase was in the center of the hall. As we walked around the staircase, I saw what looked to be a throne, the throne had several crystal stalagmites, and each crystal would change colors harmonically. It took me a moment to realize that someone was walking down the staircase as I started hearing high heel footfalls. I could then hear a feminine howl.  
"Zain! I leave you to your own devices for twenty minutes, and you interrupt me. I can't keep the puppies' wai-. Why hello handsome. " as she came into view I was surprised to say the least.

While I wasn't expecting an old woman by the sound of her voice, I was surprised to see a woman that was about my own age. Like Zain, clothing was scarce on her, while she wore latex lingerie; she only seemed to include a pair of thigh high boots and what appeared to be a masquerade mask. I could see various tattoos were inked on her, the most prominent being the SubCity symbol under her right breast. As she reached the foot of the stairs, she stared at both Zach and I and started walking up to us. The tattooed women walked over to Zach and seemed to be attracted to the leather trench coat he wore  
"you must be Doleman's accomplice. I could have fun with you." as she leaned towards Zach for a kiss, Zain cleared his throat. Annoyed judging by the woman's expression she looked at Zain.  
"Madam Cristales, this Doleman is in your presence."  
"How rude of me, to tease you in such a way." before she walked over to me, I held my hand forward to stop her. I wasn't afraid of insulting her but I still cringed when she stared at me with a look of anger. She looked me over and then whacked her forehead  
"of course you're taken, monogamy is such a bore." as I looked at my right wrist remembering that I never took off Samantha's wedding band. Before I could tell Madam Cristales otherwise she had already walked over to the large crystal throne and sat down on it, her legs over one of the thrones arms.

"My name is Cristales, I am the eldest in this city, you may call me madam, madam Cristales or whatever fancy title of ladyship you can think is appropriate." at that moment Zach pushed passed me.  
"I call shenanigans!" Zach shouted" You're our age, Zain's older than us. Why isn't he the eldest" I just had to slap the back of Zach head for the comment. Cristales had a look of fury and the crystal throne was now blood red in color. for a moment I thought that she was going to attack Zach, but her expression changed to that of flirting as the crystals changed to scarlet  
"Quite forward of you Zach, I like that in a companion, as for Zain being older than I look." she stood up and pointed at the city symbol under her breast. "Alchemists give leaders like us gifts. It's cool for about the first century, but once you age past a millennium, being mature kind of gets old."  
"A millennium?!"  
"Try two millenniums getting close to three." Zach and I just looked at each other with confusion.  
"You look great."  
"I put a lot of work and ink to all this, I could give you some ink for your vector power." she snapped her fingers and a blue safe rose next to her throne. She pulled out an old ink bottle out. She held it in her hand as she looked back at us.  
"Hopefully this will be an incentive to tell me everything, and don't leave any little details." as she twiddled the ink bottle, Zach nudged me at the side and whispered.  
"James now might be a good time to talk." I was pissed to hear this from Zach as he has been the one talking all this time. Even so I stepped forward and spoke aloud.

For the next fifteen minutes I spoke to Cristales about the past days. As I talked Cristales would nod her head sometimes she would bite her thumb. When I finished she just gave a slow clap in a sarcastic manner.  
"Bravo Doleman bravo. Might I say you've made my day, I need a good story or two to keep me going between endeavors. Alas my deepest condolences to Samantha." I bowed my head slightly as she mentioned Samantha  
"thank you Madam."  
"I do hope we have the chance to meet in a more... intimate time, preferably without your own guard." Zach showed a look of distaste at Cristales mention of Zach being a guard.  
"I am sorry to say but I don't think it's best for me to spend too long here in SubCity. I might endanger your safety since I am a wanted man."  
"Endanger my cities safety! Our city is full to the brim of our kind and is self-sustainable. They didn't find us in three centuries and they won't for the foreseeable future. Besides the Sub Cities are the only places above and below the world. Short of going to the eastern side of the world, you'll be looking over your shoulder when you return above. So why not stay? Granted The Looking Glass is in another SubCity but I'm confident that you as my entourage will entertain you." as she walked down from her throne. I looked over at Zach who looked irritated and was shaking his head shortly. I spoke up  
"Madam I can't say whether I wish to stay here all my life yet. I need more information."  
"Really now? Spend a night out on the town." as Zain bowed I assumed that we were down talking. I bowed too and started walking towards where the door was before.  
"Allow me" Cristales somehow was beside me and had her hand on the symbol on the wall. A mosaic double door was formed. I bowed again to her and walked through first. When both Zach and I walked through I noticed Zain wasn't walking through as Cristales seductively trailed her finger along Zain's face as the glass doors closed and disappeared. Zach looked irritated as we started walking down the main street.

"Nymphomaniac, she didn't even give me the ink." I looked over at Zach as he talked.  
"What would the ink do for you?"  
"That wasn't normal ink. She referred to alchemists inking her to be immortal. That's not ink, that's trapping."  
"Trapping?"  
"Imprint supernatural power via symbols and transcript. The symbols on the tree and tower is an example of trapping, may be complex but that's because it's using our power rather than the creators."  
"How do you learn this?"  
"Word of mouth, I learned my power by practice, but I never learned the name until she said it. Vector sounds cool don't you think?"  
"Off track, why is the ink important?"  
"Cristales said that inking was done by alchemists, the ink could be actual alchemist blood."  
"Blood?! Zach how is that useful?"  
"Okay picture this, I take a stone, and with it I pour a bit of my power into it. I can make it float if I want to since my power is manipulate vectors and velocity. The rock will only float for a while depending on how much energy I put into it. Now if that stone had a drop of blood painted on, it could last for months effortlessly."  
"So would an alchemist blood bestow limitless power or something like that?"  
"Alchemist don't work the same way as us, scientifically speaking they aren't in the same family as us. We're just a genus away and look how humans treat us, imagine how alchemists were treated by either side! but to answer your question, alchemist blood is legend at best, I would have no clue what it would do, but worst case scenario is it does nothing, we just sell it for a king's ransom."  
"Who would want alchemist blood?"  
"Did you not hear me? Alchemists are more than another species! Their blood could to key to unlocking more potential in our biology! We're not as technology advanced as we were in the Common Era and the alchemists were the last example of all sorts of singularity"  
"but why did we lose this knowledge in the first place?"  
"Who knows, but I tell you what. We need to think about our next move."  
For the next few minutes Zach and I exchanged ideas as to what we would do next as we continued to walk around. While the heat was getting to me, Zach was still wearing his trench coat. As I looked around I saw that the buildings extruding from the roof were always changing, sometimes just minor changes like a bridge for someone to cross buildings, other times some would make drastic changes like adding floors to the already tall skyscraper clay. I saw two buildings merge since so many bridges were connecting it.

After walking for a few minutes watching the changes going on above me that I bumped into someone was I walked. When I fell, I could hear a man talking in a weird rhythm.  
_"My apologies sir  
I seem to intrude your trance  
I only wish caution"  
_as I got up I saw that it was a man holding his hand out to help me up. When he pulled me up to my feet I was able to see that he wore a black kosode over a mud green shitagi, he had a hakama on that was the same color as his kosode but seemed to have mud and grass stains tracked to the bottom of them since he was barefoot. When I looked at him he was clearly of Japanese origins and had a thick mess of black hair that looked to obscure his vision. As he batted dust off my clothing with a pamphlet I apologized to him  
"I should be sorry, I wasn't looking where I was walking. What do you mean you wish caution?"  
_"Danger sweeps Africa  
their earth and code ruined soon  
I call for your arms"_  
confused as to why he spoke in such a manner I looked to Zach and all he did was circle his index finger near his ear. I looked back at the Asian man.  
"Why Is Africa in danger?"  
_"Danger is a storm  
Calm but will shake with metal  
false gifts before war"_  
"why a storm of metal?"  
_"Bullets for mowers  
soldiers before the builders come  
lynchpin to more to come"_  
"okay who and why?" this time he didn't speak in rhythm this time but was having great difficulty in talking. This time he had his hands on my shoulders  
"M.F.U.C. want... more...control. The Third Helix... can't... help. We need... more... allies. Can... you... help me."  
"Okay then." I lifted the guys' hands off my shoulders, as I turned to Zach the Asian guy handed me a flyer before I motioned Zach to have a private chat with me.

"What is he and what is 'The Third Helix'?" Zach looked at the Asian guy before he looked back at me  
"he's a Brainiac, their brains are like supercomputers. They can predict the future; far fewer however can't have a simple conversation since so much is going through their minds. Strange how he could speak in haiku but not have a simple conversation."  
"And 'The Third Helix'?"  
"I heard in passing while in Sweden of an organization that was recruiting. Though I've never heard of them doing anything." As Zach told me this I looked down onto the flyer that the guy gave me and it had written

Who is The Third Helix? 11 September 112 A.C.E  
While the M.F.U.C. wants to hunt any supernatural no matter how juvenile their reason may be. The United Nations have just sat back and allowed this to happen. Ask any political member of the United Nations and they'll say that M.F.U.C. has no control of the North & South American Democracy and that the United Nations has no right to invade the continents just because their laws seem harsh. When I ask a supernatural the same question however they respond "United Nations don't do anything because they fear M.F.U.C. The M.F.U.C. has more wealth than the Vatican. M.F.U.C. also has the largest Military that makes the ancient Second World War seem like a skirmish. If the United Nations want to be destroyed and the world be given to the M.F.U.C. on a silver platter, all they have to do is flip the bird at them." While M.F.U.C. have shown no intention of spreading their hunt outside of their territory. Supernaturals still fear them, which is why I write this. The Third Helix is here for supernaturals. While the United Nations haven't officially provided supernaturals a place to safely call home, The Third Helix has been the only group to actively support the Supernatural race during the 100 year riots. Many Brainiacs believe that M.F.U.C. will want to fight us once again, if so than don't fight alone. The Third Helix is willing to call upon any supernatural to fight when the time comes. It may not be in a decade or even a century, but we must honor the call when The Third Helix calls.

When I finished reading I looked back at the date and realized that it was made two centuries ago. I turned to Zach and said to him "they existed during the 100 year riots. I guess they disbanded after a while" Zach looked down at the flyer and grabbed it off me and looked at the flyer himself. "So an organization that supported supernaturals two hundred years ago resurfaces and has Brainiacs running around in the streets telling them of doomsday? Whoever reorganized 'The Third Helix' must be taking the threat of M.F.U.C. future invasions seriously"  
"So does that mean this Brainiac talking about doomsday stuff is viable?"  
"Most are shenanigans since they can be vague. One said I was going to see many things when I was young. But this guys, not only is he pointing his finger at M.F.U.C. but he's also given a place as to where they'll start."  
"So you're saying we should take his word, go to Africa and prepare to fight M.F.U.C. for the off chance that if we don't the world is going to be ruled by them."  
"Yeah."  
"But he hasn't told us yet when they arrive or if they started."  
"Like he said if they aren't stopped, then the rest of the world follows. I'd rather make a stand than run like you." I was taken aback by what Zach just said.  
"Is that how you see me, a runner not a fighter? I don't kill people, you were ready to murder someone just to make it easier on yourself."  
"Now hold there. That someone you're talking about was a hunter, not only are they murderers, but they are contracted murderers, fucking mercenaries. So don't give me shit just because I was going to kill a killer."  
"And you think that justifies murdering him? Not in my books, he failed to do it, so you didn't need to."  
"Never the less, you owe me James. If it weren't for me, you would've died in an alley and just be branded a traitor of the state. Now I'm cashing in that save. We are going to find out more from this Brainiac."  
At that point I looked back at the Asian guy and saw that he was listening in.  
"how long have you listened to us?" as I waited for his response he stayed silent.  
_"Enough to help me  
Time hard to hypothesis  
the name is Shiki"_  
Shiki extended his hand out for a handshake, I returned in kind and introduced us. "Okay then Shiki, this is-"  
_"Zach & Doleman  
Inexperienced and Lost  
Teachers Here & There"_  
I was shocked and amazed at the same time that Shiki knew who we are. "Lucky guess on the names."  
_"Yet the door is power  
your control is a false truth  
You Need a Mentor"  
_"is there anyone here who could teach me."  
_"Yes the gardener  
while novice with the blade  
a master of stone"_  
Zach looked at me and said "that'll do for you, do you have a name or where this gardener is?"  
_"I do know where to  
you two shall follow my path  
our quest shall begin"_  
at that moment Shiki started to walk down the road. Not wanting to be left behind, Zach and I started following closely behind him. Shiki was somehow graceful in his fast walk through the crowd. I was starting to wonder how he could possibly bump into me if he was able to pass people without being notice. After nearly losing sight of Shiki twice, Zach started to walk with his hands forward. As Zach walked forward people started walking out of the way as if an invisible force was pushing them. After a few people moved out if the way, the rest of the crowd on the road parted to leave us a path. Shiki was in the middle of the path and was staring at Zach in amusement like. While Shiki just stood there, we both walked up to him. Zach patted him on the shoulder.  
"What is it Shiki? Haven't you heard of parting the Red Sea?" Shiki only gave Zach a cold stare  
_"Biblical humor"_

As we followed Shiki, we saw how fewer buildings extruding from the clay. Soon the crystals that were providing light up above were now gone. Instead there were several old bottles filled with some sort of worms that glowed.  
_"Darkness has protect  
Dark fool us when we enter  
stay close to the light"_  
as Shiki picked one up he just continued walking. As Zach and I followed close behind we started to wonder whether it was such a good idea to follow Shiki to such a strange location. After following him for what may seem like hours, I tripped. Zach and Shiki seemed to have forgotten about me as they just continued to walk. In a few short moments the glow was gone and I was now left in the dark. As I propped myself up I was still unable to see. I tried my hardest to walk. I walked slowly and with small steps, even then I would find that I nearly tripped twice. I started to feel the heat getting to me more, I stripped down my shirt and shoes. I could feel the combination of dirt and other plants.

I was now walking with nothing on but my pants, the OpCinq and the bracelet Samantha gave me. I was starting to hate the idea of being here. I fell down again this time I landed on all fours. I hated what had happened to me. It was at this point that I just broke down crying. In just a few short days I had lost my grandmother and her flower shop was apparently burnt to the ground, my very existence is an excuse for people to hunt me. The worst of it was that Samantha got caught in the crossfire.  
"Why do you weep?" as the voice echoed I looked around and I couldn't see anyone.  
"You may have seen terrible things. Don't let that be your bane. Your bane is if you chose to do nothing. Everyone sees you as a Doleman. Don't let it be a title needing to be fulfilled, let it be a title that will befit your future actions. You can't save Samantha, but getting up can be a start to stopping others die in vain. Zach said you're a runner. Well then show him you will run not from danger, but will run beside him in fights, battles, even war. " for a while I was beginning to take the voices words at heart. As much as I wished to deny, I was a runner most of my life. I was helpless when Samantha was killed, and I still wasn't going to kill the man responsible for it. The voice was right; I have to do something else other than just stay on the ground.

I finally decided to stand up now. Even though I still had trouble seeing in the dark, I knew that Shiki wasn't just simply walking in aimlessly. I could feel the compost and dirt under my feet and I soon started to sidestep in different directions. Trying my hardest to feel out a path. After only two minutes of walking in circles I started to feel that a set of vines or roots were above the ground, probably the same vines that I was tripping over before. With my feet I started to walk, having on foot on the vines and the along the dirt. After walking on the vine till blisters started to form on my feet, I knocked into something. When I held my hands out I could feel that the object was a tree. As I walked around it, my hand brushing along the trunk I figured that the tree was three times as thick as me and couldn't possibly tell how high it was. After walking around it once I soon saw a faint light. It was off in the distance like a star but I started walking towards it nonetheless. After walking for hours I could see far better than before, I could see more trees as I approached the light. When I finally passed the tree line I could see that a large orb was planted firmly on the roof of a shack. While the roof was tiled, the walls were made of glass with the glass cutting into the vines that were holding it up. When I walked over to the house I noticed that it was functioning as a greenhouse. Inside were several different species of plants. Before I entered I could hear Zach and Shiki shouting my name.

After hearing my name I walked back over to the tree line and shouted out.  
"Zach! I'm at a tree line, where are you?" I didn't hear anything for a few seconds, but Zach called back  
"you ass, you disappear for Shiki knows how long." after a few minutes I could see three shadowy figures beyond the tree line. One of them looked like they jumped, and the next thing I knew, a boot hit me in the face. Standing above me was Zach and he still had all his clothing on.  
"What the hell is wrong with you? You're stripped to your pants and here I was, thinking you boycotted on me."  
"I didn't, I got lost in the dark. I had a moment of reminisce."  
"Well that isn't convenient, but onto better things." Zach stepped aside and held a hand out to help me up. When I took his hand and I got up I saw that Shiki and the other mysterious man next to him.  
"James, here is your teacher, Timothy the gardener."

Timothy was a short man. While he wore a poncho and pants for too short and tight for him, dirt covered him up to his nose. He wore no shoes and I could see that moss was between his toes. His white hair was long, dirty, and stuck out in several directions with the use of amber in his hair. As he extended his hand out for a handshake I could see that his fingernails were long and had dirt under them. Repulsively I extended my hand out and was about to shake his hand. But Timothy shook mine with great enthusiasm.  
"It is an honor to be your teacher Mr. Doleman. Truly an honor." Timothy continued to shake my hand for a moment before he let go and started walking towards the green house. I followed suit  
"The Gardener? What is that a last name?"  
"Not like yours. It's just a profession, doesn't need to be inherited by kin. You just need someone willing to learn and stick by you."  
"So what do you do as the gardener?"  
"Those trees are my life, as they are for everyone in the SubCities. Took many gardeners to grow millions of these for the population."  
"Is that why they're so tall."  
"Tall doesn't begin to describe their height. Up above them is the New York Jungle."  
"Are you serious! That's got to be at least 6 miles high."  
"try 7.08 for our highest one yet, if you ever go back up top to the New York Jungle, all you'll see are thousands of bushes." as I looked back out to the tree line I noticed that the glow was able to show that the tree trunks grew all the way to the roof and through it. I looked back at Timothy and all he did was shrug as we walked over to a flower bed of roses.  
"Now while I'm not that great at teaching the micro skills, I can teach you the basics of Mezzo and what is needed for Macro skill." as I looked at him bemused he realized that I had no clue what he was talking about. He pulled out a small bag out from under his poncho and pulled a single seed and dropped it into the flower bed  
"Mezzo is your basic skills, for us it's growth of organic materials and to control them." as Timothy placed his hands on the flower bed. Between his hands a single stalk grew and soon blossomed into a red rose in just a few seconds.  
"Micro is far harder to accomplish, while essentially the same as Mezzo, it works; like the name suggests at a very small scale, nearly microscopic. Observe" Timothy now cupped his hands around the rose. For a good two minutes all there was in the greenhouse was silence. As I looked between the rose in Timothy's hands and Timothy himself, I could see that whatever he was doing was causing him a lot of strain. After a moment long I began to notice that the rose was now losing its red color and had now reverted to white. Once the rose petals were all white, Timothy removed his hands from the rose and wiped the sweat from his brow.  
"Really tricky stuff. Micro is used to modify the properties of plants usually. Those trees out there, they were once redwoods, but after a few months, they grew higher than any other trees in existence and have a higher photosynthetic efficiency than sugar canes. Helps with providing oxygen down here. "  
"Pretty daunting stuff. What about Macro?" Timothy walked out the greenhouse and walked over to one of the large trees along the tree line.  
"Macro is quite like Mezzo, except... bigger." Timothy pulled out the same seed bag from before and dropped another seed down into the ground and laid both his hands down above it. In just a few short moments he started to part his hands further away from where the seed dropped.

Between his hands a single stalk grew, it started out as thin tree and soon grew thicker as it grew as tall as he was. He had now placed his hands onto the trunk of the tree that was as thick as him. The tree continued to grow, branches would spawn off it with leaves and still it grew. After only 5 seconds there was now a tree three times as thick as Timothy and was nearly as tall as all the other trees. Timothy removed his hands from the tree and wiped his hands clean.  
"now that tree will die if I don't get a tetra onto that roof tomorrow but if that wasn't there I could get this tree as tall as the rest of them." as Timothy looked at me, Zach and I were just perplexed about the tree that just grew. Shiki now walked in front of me and started clicking his fingers. I snapped out of my trance and asked Timothy.  
"How can you grow redwood and roses with the same seeds?" Timothy pulled out the seed bag and threw it at me. I caught it and pulled a seed that was the size of a staple out and saw how it was blood red. As I looked closer I saw that the seeds shined slightly, I soon realized that it was-  
"blood, well shaman blood to be precise. It makes it far easier to change between different types of plants. Granted blood alone didn't make that work it needed-"  
"trapping, Zach gave me an idea what it is."  
"ya, those seeds take a lot of will and thought to make, they're meant to be the most simplified form of a seed, after that you just need to think of the plant and that seed will grow into it. I call them SimSeeds." after hearing the name I looked back at the SimSeed in my hand. I thought for a moment what kind of plant I wanted it to grow to and dropped it into the ground.

As I placed my hands over the dirt the seed got under I tried using the same technique Zain told me for the door but just changed it to suit the need for the seed to grow. While everyone else just watched for the next minute I tried my hardest. After three minutes of concentration, a small chocolate cosmos grew, it was only a single flower but I was still impressed with myself about it. As I got up and dusted the dirt onto my pants I looked over at Timothy and all he had was a playful look on him as he said  
"nice one green thumb, but that is something that should take a few seconds." Zach patted me on the back  
"well I guess you now know what you need to work on. As for me, I'm going to enjoy the market that's back in downtown. Try and find me in the market when you're done gardening."  
_"Training will be long  
Time however smiles on us  
lighthouse we will meet"_  
as Shiki started walking away with Zach, lantern in hand. I looked over at Timothy as he motioned me to the greenhouse.  
"Night time is on us, so you can sleep where ever there's a soft patch. Tomorrow we'll start the training."

# Epilogue

I hated going to Washington, the only reason I'm ever sent there is to just talk to these five old men that have nothing better to do than to just stand there and listen with their cold emotionless stares. I walked in to the dark chamber and saw all five of the council members high up in the stands as I walked towards a microphone stand.  
"You wished to speak with me counsel?" I waited for the oldest of the five sitting at the center of the stands leaned forward to a microphone and spoke in a crackled tone  
"that is true. It has come to our attention that a descendant of the supernatural Family line "Doleman" was discovered and on that very same day was capable of escaping the custody of two marshal grade Hunters and was then assisted in leaving New York and whose actions are now unknown to us." I took a step back in surprised, I was usually telling these old guys what happened out in the real world and I felt hurt that I missed such important news.  
"How long ago did this happen?" a short elderly woman on the far right stood up and spoke in a petite voice  
"18 hours ago, the hunter known as Maxim Jensen – a decorated family line – called on his mistake. A small file will instruct you on what we know so far and we want you to try and devise a strategy on making sure this Doleman doesn't ruin any of our diplomatic missions." This was a first for me being given a job outside of debriefings like normal. I looked down and saw a pedestal extrude from the ground with a light drive assumingly filled with data about my assignment. Before I grabbed it I looked up at the council and asked one final question.  
"How long do I have?" the oldest man leaned forward and replied  
"until the Doleman or any followers of Doleman surface."
