The next morning, a knock woke Kael up from his sleep. He tossed and turned, his smallish body, eventually falling off the small cushion.
His eyes snapped open and the knocks came again — loud and desperate.
He rose to his feet, and went to see the visitor.
Normally, he had no visitor except Juno and her crew. But since he was alleged to have died, they naturally would stop appearing here or else they'd either see him enter or want to rob him.
Kael sighed and pushed the door open.
Juno.
Her eyes pierced Kael and the short dagger in her hand, aimed at his throat.
"You betrayed your own team?" She spat.
"It was for our own team, to get the essence from that man's house. Did you know how much that would have cost if it was solded? Did you know how rich it would make us underground crooks?"
Kael sighed again and pushed the dagger away from his throat.
"Do not threaten me with a dagger again."
Juno was surprised.
Normally, Kael wouldn't dare speak against her or even disobey her but now, here he was, warning her.
She found it amusing.
"I did not betray anyone. And yes, I never succeeded in that mission of mine. Before I could snatch the essence, I turned on the fire alarm and was chased by this man."
Kael smiled.
"Actually, I almost died."
Juno walked into the safehouse and sat on the cushion.
"Tell me about it. I heard you screaming."
Kael picked up his OL-TECH and examined it.
"I was fighting against this man and he hauled me off the building and I was falling to my own death — thousands of floors to the ground."
Juno stared strangely at the gadget in his hands and at the gold coin stuck at the back of his hands.
"Then how did you survive the deadly fall?"
Kael chuckled, and he placed the gadget on a shelf, his fingers caressing the coin behind his hands.
"This!" He touched the coin. "Very soon, I will become rich— so rich that even the wealthiest in this City would wonder where a monster like myself appeared from."
Juno snarled. "Just because you survived a deadly fall, it doesn't guarantee one to be rich. Or does this mean that you're going back to complete the failed mission?"
Her eyes narrowed.
"Or… have you completed the mission and simply kept the essence for yourself?"
Kael's eyes flashed. "I have done no such thing, however I've decided to become independent. I do not want to be ruled by any organization which is why I did not turn-up even after surviving the fall."
Kael smiled. "I mean, yeah… I will only stand like a man if I live alone, fight alone, kill alone — ah, the feeling it brings. As long as it makes me feel at peace."
Juno stood up.
"This world is a small one Kael, you do not know when you'd need my help. You don't! So I suppose, this is your final decision. But you must come to appease the head of the organization for your sudden drop-out."
Kael laughed. "Are you kidding me? Did Tall Teak appease the head of the organization when he dropped from the team?"
Juno sneered. "He's different. He retired!"
"Give me a break."
Kael walked towards the kitchen, ignoring Juno's presence. He paused at the entrance and turned slightly behind him.
"Do you want coffee or tea?"
Juno sat back down, frowning. She responded anyway. "Coffee."
He entered the kitchen.
When Kael was four years, Juno had been fourteen years— tough, strong and scary. Now that Kael is sixteen and she's twenty-six, Kael seemed even scarier. She couldn't help but gulp whenever she sees his eyes, his beautifully sculpted face— those structured jawlines…
He's just as beautiful as he is scary.
Five minutes later.
He arrived with two cups of coffee. He handed one cup to her..
"Drink up and leave. I know that the Stiloh's gang must have arrived for their daily misgivings. If you're not there, who would handle it?"
Juno was puzzled for a while, realizing that she forgot about the Stiloh's gang.
Juno ignored the heat of the coffee and gulped down everything in one go.
"I might have forgotten those sorry excuses of a gang." She chuckled and stood up swiftly, her dagger flashing.
She turned towards him and said. "Then promise to be there for us when we need your help."
Kael was stunned.
"Promise?"
Juno smiled. "Yes."
Kael sighed and shrugged.
The moment she left however, the atmosphere changed dramatically and Kael's eyes grew cold.
[System scanning for threats…]
[Tiny 3D cameras spotted]
[Disabling 3D cameras…]
[Security measures adapted]
[Threats eliminated]
Kael's pupils were dark.
"She did not believe that I did not take the essence."
He picked the gadget and opened the Tor browser.
There were consequences of using the dark web and when these risks are meted, it is quite disastrous. These webs explores the darker aspects of technology and the consequences of playing with fire in the shadows of the dark web, which is why Kael had decided to lay low.
After this investment, he would maybe try something much more realistic.
Kael stares at the coin pulsing on his hand.
"This city took everything from me. Now I'll buy it back—one kill, one coin at a time."
And then a sudden system notification àppeared in his line of sight.
*
> [Mainline Quest Unlocked: Rise of the Coin Ghost]
Infiltrate the Shadow Market.
Objective: Become a Licensed Coin Assassin. <
Kael was impressed.
"A quest huh."
The kind that would definitely change his directive — the one that would make him the richest, the strongest, the sovereign over all.