[August 6th, year 2063, 9:45 PM]

At this point, Shindo had lost count of how many times he wanted to curse like a sailor this week. Last week’s encounter with The Hog had been bad enough, but the days that followed became Shindo’s personal hell. Just thinking of that bastard’s shit-eating grin as he worked made his head hurt.

As if that wasn't enough, Manny's aggressive supervision of the store also dropped the morale of the employees to an all-time low. His unrelenting pressure caused most of the part-timers to either quit or bail on the store. One of the two interns even decided to rescind her internship, due to Manny constantly targeting her for her slow-building output. The second intern considered doing the same, but thankfully she decided against it, in favor of supporting the senior members.

However, the senior members were far worse. Every time Shindo passed by his office, Ben filed his documents in a defeated manner. Manny's pressure seemed to have affected him deeply. His fiery red hair seemed to have dimmed a bit, and his furrowed brow made him look older than he was. Sometimes, Shindo even asked Ben if he needed his help, but the man only gave him a weak smile and told him to get back to work.

Angela was the one that was affected the most by the employees who bailed, which left her with more work than what she could ever handle alone. Her tasks now included general gadgetry and even attending customers, but the unrelenting droves of orders caused her to keep trembling and fumbling over projects, which led to her attitude growing worse as the week went on. In the last two days, she has refused to talk to anyone except for Oscar, but it was clear to Shindo that she was starting to fall apart in her distress to keep the store from bankrupting.

Oscar, thank lord for Oscar, was the sole reason Shindo was still somewhat sane this week. Oscar losing and winning his bets with Angela, him constantly being available, and him sometimes drawing Manny's unrelenting pressure onto himself by "asking" for help, was the little bit of normalcy left in the store. However, his cracks were evident every time Manny passed by his smeltery. Shindo worried his palms would bleed from how hard he tightened his knuckles.

However, the one on Manny's sight was Shindo himself. Shindo didn't understand exactly why, but Manny had convinced himself that Shindo was selling gadgets to villains. The man was constantly looking at him smugly, but his bloodshot eyes emitted a sort of bloodlust, rubbing in the fact that Shindo was finally on the palm of his hand. Oh, how Shindo hated every second of Manny’s arrogant demeanor.

Yet, that wasn't all. Manny was also sabotaging Shindo’s efforts to produce gadgetry. The Hog constantly forced Shindo to dispose of any recently made gadgetry because they violated DSG regulations. This was especially apparent every time Shindo was developing "string" visors. His attempts at sabotaging were so blatantly obvious that Manny even told him about it in one of the rooms with cameras.

Speaking of security cameras, he couldn't even drop his guard outside of the workshop. He could feel the lenses follow him with every step he took in and out. He knew for sure that the blasted informant was spying on him, waiting for the moment he made one simple mistake, but this stress was making his life even more difficult than it ever needed to be.

"Argh!" Shindo hissed as he felt a sting in his back. In panick, he quickly looked at his right hand and was relieved it wasn't vibrating. To prevent this, he simply sat at his desk and gripped the small pyramid he had in his pocket. Shindo simply reclined and sighed at the ceiling. What else could he do to help the store?

Not only was he being targeted, but the store was suffering for it. This was the complete opposite of paying Ben back for all he'd done for him.

"Oi, Shindo. Shindo!" A voice called from behind him. Shindo threw his head back and gave out a long sigh.

"Hey Oscar," Shindo said tiredly as he spun to face the bronze man. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. It’s been a long week and I want to cool down a bit.” He replied while cracking his neck. However a small smile appeared on his face “So... I'm thinking on hitting that new bar called O'Shays by De Poirot's street for a few cold ones. Wanna come? It's my treat."

This perked Shindo’s ear.

"Who lost a bet and made you rich?" Shindo asked in mock sarcasm.

"Angela, that's who!" Oscar chuckled. This brought a smile to Shindo. He eyed the camera in the corner but then proceeded to check the time. It was around ten in the night.

"I'm down. Will Ben come with us? I think he needs this as much as we do." Shindo smirked.

"Nope, Ben has to stay here. Manny dumped him with a lot of paper from DSG that he has to review."

Shindo sighed. "Well, I guess it's going to be another Blue Wave, then."

"You promised to never talk about Blue Wave!" Oscar said exasperatedly.

Both stared at each other in silence and burst out laughing.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

By now, Shindo knew of Oscar's taste in bars. Simple, hidden, and with not too many people. However, he did not expect Oscar to bring him to a bar in De Poirot’s street, which was known to be filled with people going to multiple bars located all over the street by ten in the night.

However, Shindo was also surprised by the lack of people on the streets. Very few people were walking out in the open, and some bars had even closed early. Shindo also looked up and he didn't see any heroes patrolling or swinging overhead. This emptiness was echoed when they entered O'Shays, since there were only a few guys sitting in the corner of the small bar, wasting the day away.

The emptiness of the street rubbed him the wrong way. That’s why when Shindo and Oscar approached the bar stool and sat down, he decided to find out why by speaking to the bartender.

"Good evening, Tim." Oscar greeted the man.

"Good Evening, sirs, what can I get you tonight?" Tim responded.

"A pair of beers, it's on him." Shindo pointed at Oscar.

"On it, wait a bit." The bartender went to serve them while Shindo and Oscar made some small talk. In a few minutes, both men had their glasses filled to the brim with beer, while Tim cleaned one of the crystal mugs.

"Hey, Tim." Shindo suddenly called. The bartender perked up. "Do you know why the street is empty? I thought De Poirot is always busy on Thursday Nights?"

"Ah that. Well, sir...?"

"You can call me Shindo. Shindo East."

"From what a friend in the police force told me, some villains that were captured last week escaped into Crime Joint. The officers and the Center are really occupied trying to find them all. Because of that, a lot of people have been cooped into their houses."

"Ah that makes sense," Oscar said a bit too happily. "That's why I didn't see a lot of them in the store."

This interested the bartender. The three of them engaged in small talk, with Shindo and Oscar telling him about their job. Overall, the night calmly passed midnight as the two men enjoyed their drinks in silence.

"You know Shindo," Oscar started saying, "I never truly asked you on how you ended up in Unwin's, since you are amazing at assembly and smithing."

Shindo looked at Oscar. “I thought I'd told you before? Didn’t I?"

"Not that I remember," Oscar answered. He took a small sip from his mug of beer.

"Oh well, it's not that big of a deal.” Shindo said as he played with his own mug, “I owe Ben."

Oscar looked silently at Shindo. His brows showed that he completely understood what he meant, but he let Shindo continue with his story.

"After The Night of Fear, I was in a slump. I bounced all around the lower sectors, looking for a job as a gadgetsmith. Yet, I had the misfortune of meeting Manny. He and I butted heads with our views on gadgetry but almost ended up with me being blacklisted. All because most of the DSG and workshops ‘round the city agreed with his ideals."

There was a bit of silence. Shindo took it as a sign to continue talking.

"It was a low point for me, but then I met Ben at a gadgetsmithing convention. By then, there were a lot of rumors about me, but he didn't care about what the others said. He gave me a chance to prove myself and after that, it's history. Still, if it weren't for him, I would've been in a worse place than where I am today. That's my sob-story."

A nostalgic smile appeared on Shindo’s lips as he emptied his mug of beer.

Oscar looked a bit sad, and Shindo caught it.

"Well, that ended on a depressive note.”

Oscar nodded, but a little question popped into Shindo's head, “No that I think about it, why isn't Angela here?"

"Huh?" Oscar said a bit absentmindedly. Maybe he had drunk enough for the night.

"Angela would've come with us if we were going drinking. Why isn't she here?"

"Oh, that," Oscar realized. Then he gave Shindo a toothy grin. "I mentioned before that she lost a bet with me, right?"

"Yeah, I think you did," Shindo responded, interested.

"Well, part of the losing conditions was that she had to help Ben with his work." Oscar puffed his chest victoriously.

Shindo's eyes widened at that, but not witho-ut bursting into laughter first.

"HAHAHA! Oscar Ashlin, you fucking bastard! You do know that she has a thing for him, right?"

"Oh, come on, East! You would've done the same!"

The two men laughed at that. Before long, a sigh escaped Shindo as he emptily stared at the ceiling.

"Well, I do hope that she asks him out."

"One more for them?" Oscar asked, while pointing at the empty mugs on the table.

"One more for them," Shindo confirmed. Oscar ordered another pair of beers, and Shindo smiled softly. It was peaceful. A little escape from that hell he experienced that week.

Then his phone rang. Shindo saw it was Ben calling, but he found it weird. Ben was usually out by eleven-thirty.

The pit in his stomach grew big, as the unsettling feeling he felt before entering the bar started to make his back itch. He slowly took the call.

"Hello?" Shindo asked. Oscar saw his face, a worried look in his eyes.

"Is this Shindo East speaking?" Asked a sort of familiar male voice. Where had Shindo heard it before?

"Yes, this is him speaking. Who are you, and what do you want?" He asked sternly and clear. His heartbeat quickened. His right hand started vibrating.

"I’ll cut to the chase. I have two people here as my hostages. If you come here without no one, I promise I will release them. But you have to come here alone. Or else."

The voice then closed the call. He said nothing less, and nothing more.

Shindo slowly took his phone and placed it on the table. His mouth quivered in astonishment as he slowly looked at Oscar.

"Oscar." He called to the bronze oaf of a man, while he gritted his teeth. Oscar's eyes widened as fear started to settle into him.

"A villain has taken Ben and Angela as hostages." Shindo solemnly announced.