Gabriel walked down the corridor towards the reception desk. On approach, he noticed a Japanese woman, looking to be in her mid 20’s. She was wearing a black pant-suit, with a short bob haircut and a straight lipped smile. Her face was emotionless and her eyes appeared dull, like she was just going through life’s motions.

“Hello Miss Tyaji, I’m Gabriel Draganov. Thank you for coming.” Gabriel introduced himself with a handshake and small bow.

“Mr. Draganov, it’s a pleasure. I will admit however, that I am here more out of curiosity than anything else. Lucy explained to me, that we went to the same college but I don’t believe we were acquainted. Can you explain to me how I can be of service to you and why I should at that?” Minoko replied with a small bow in greeting.

Minoko was the straightforward type and didn’t like to beat around the bush. Her way of talking was precise and without any useless banter. Gabriel grinned as he thought ‘Same old Mino’.

“I will explain all to you shortly, please follow me.” Gabriel said, while gesturing towards spare office door.

Gabriel entered through the office door and held it for Minoko. The office was bare, except for a desk and chair on either side. As they both sat, Gabriel could feel Minoko’s eyes constantly evaluating.

“First off Miss Tyaji, can I call you Minoko?” Gabriel said, trying his best to give a disarming smile.

“You may Mr. Draganov.” Minoko replied succinctly.

“Now there are a couple of reasons I asked Lucy to contact you with an offer of employment. I will first make it clear, as of right now, I am not a very powerful, influential or famous person. However I will soon end up in direct conflict with people who are those things and more. Especially when I start to make some waves.” Gabriel explained, the very air in the room started to feel heavy.

“The work I do keeps me in an isolated place for long periods of time. Leaving me unable to attend to many things that need doing. What I am looking for, is someone to be my right hand. Someone I can trust in all things. On the surface, the person will be my PA. However, the main job will be building and leading a team for espionage and counter-espionage.” Gabriel continued, while staring into Minoko’s eyes.

Minoko remained silent for a few moments while she thought ‘Who is this man? And what does he know...’ Minoko decided to reply the only way she knew how.

“Mr. Draganov, what makes you think that I would be an appropriate person to help you build a spy network?” Minoko questioned.

“Hahaha. Are you trying to tell me, the only daughter of Akira Rimonato, former head of ‘Naicho’, who reported directly to the prime minster of Japan, a man known as one of the greatest spy masters in the world, isn’t appropriate to handle a team of agents herself.” Gabriel said, an incredulous look scrawled on his face.

Minoko’s eyes narrowed into a glare, while she slowly reached one hand inside the sleeve of the other. Gabriel noticed the movement but just continued to smile.

“My Father has been retired for many years and only a select few know of his birth name. I find it odd that a man who has just left his teens, knows of someone that many people don’t even know exists. Explain?” Minoko said, her voice sounding colder then even before.

“I will not go into too much detail but the person who trained your father, also trained mine. I was once told that there were very few people in this world to rely on, but one of them is Akira Rimonato. My father also said that, if I get in trouble and need help, to find Akira. Now, I am not in trouble but I still need his help, in the form of his protégé and daughter.” Gabriel replied.

“What’s your father's name?” Minoko asked, her hands still in her sleeves.

“My Father’s name is Kristof Draganov but your dad would know him better as Jackal. If you don’t believe me, feel free to call your father and clarify.” Gabriel replied.

Minoko took her hand out from within her sleeve and visibly relaxed.

“I don’t need to call him. I believe you. My father also told me to find the ‘Jackal’ if I am in trouble. So, what exactly would you want or even need, a personal spy network for?” Minoko questioned.

“I am currently playing D.O. and let’s just say I have a lot of insider information in game. This gives me a significant advantage over other players. The guilds I will come up against currently are or will be run by some of the largest, most powerful companies and individuals in the world. I also plan to come up against two specific companies. Braxen Co and La Familia Michoacana, a.k.a the Knights Templar Cartel.” Gabriel explained, noticing a small tightening off Minoko’s mouth at the second name.

Gabriel acted like he saw nothing and stood up from his desk, he turned his back to Minoko and faced the window. He was silent for a moment, as he gathered his thoughts. He was trying to be as truthful to Minoko as he could, it would help build the trust he always talked about. Gabriel still didn’t want to reveal his future knowledge, for two main reasons. Reason one being, it was his true trump card and the second was Gabriel felt with his continuing changes to this timeline, his future knowledge will become less and less reliable.

“Minoko, I don’t plan to collide against these two companies and then retreat safely. I want to roll over them until there is nothing left. This will take multiple plans, filled with all sorts of legal and illegal acts. I have multiple plans in mind that need to be implemented soon. I will pay you top dollar, full autonomy of choosing your teams, a private base for further training and any equipment you desire. And all I require from you, is your loyalty and for you to carry out my orders to best of your abilities.” Gabriel finished, he turned back to Minoko and simply waited.

Gabriel also planned to make a team of his own soon, in IRL and D.O. He planned to extract the best and the most trustworthy instructors and trainees from Kristof's training centre. He first needed to convince Wayne to join him, he would be absolutely invaluable. Gabriel had another training session in two days and intended to put that plan into motion then.

“Do you swear that you will not just take down but expose the ‘La Familia Michoacana’?” Minoko asked, her voice was quiet but the question seemed to be filled with heavy emotion.

Gabriel just nodded silently as he stared at Minoko. She stared back at Gabriel; his large frame was silhouetted by the sun coming through the window. Casting a part of his face in shadow, his eyes took on an ethereal purple shine. Minoko felt the determination in the gaze.

“I will accept then”. Minoko replied.

For the next two hours, Gabriel and Minoko organized a rough outline of the system they will use. Most things couldn’t be implemented yet as they needed a lot more money than Gabriel currently has. He planned to fix that very soon though.

Gabriel also gave Minoko certain places that he wanted surveillance set up around the clock and people he wanted watched too. Gabriel also asked if she could involve her father to help train potential recruits. He checked the time and realized he had to leave soon.

“Mr. Draganov, I also have one more condition. For these plans to work, your life will need to be quite regimented. I understand that your sense of time is hard to gauge in D.O. As you may be in battle or somewhere you cannot leave. I want to be your actual PA and handle most of your personal schedule as well. I believe after talking with my father about some of your plans for ‘La Familia Michoacana’. He will jump at the chance to bring them down with us.” Kimono said, she appeared to have just as much determination as Gabriel.

“Alright... There are some parts of my life that will remain private but I will divulge close to everything I plan to do in the next month to you now.” Gabriel replied, as he explained his upcoming plans.

“Now a lot of these plans, could change from day to day but roughly that is my basic outline. Sh*t. I have run out of time. I need to go meet my family to choose their new house. I will be on D.O early tomorrow, for majority of the day. I will call you when I am done. Also, I will email you the two potential apartments I plan to move into, I will need them to be stocked with a few things.” Gabriel said.

The two left the office and walked down the hall, Gabriel continued to issue a couple more orders, as Minoko wrote notes in a diary from her bag. After taking the elevator to the bottom floor, Gabriel saw Lucy was standing in front a black sedan out front waiting for him.

“Okay Minoko. I will talk to you soon. I also want to thank you again. I hope we will do nothing but the best for each other.” Gabriel said, while holding his hand out.

“I very much agree Mr. Draganov. I look forward to our future endeavors.” Minoko said, she had a smile and something that was missing when Gabriel first saw her. Her eyes seemed to shine with life.

Gabriel got in the back seat of the sedan with Lucy and headed off to Brooklyn. On the way, Gabriel explained that Minoko had become his PA. He also wanted her dad, Clint, to set up access for Minoko to the offshore account.

They arrived at the first potential house just after 3pm. Gabriel saw his family standing in front of the house, looking perplexed at a male realtor who was standing next to them, explaining details of the house.

Kristof looked at his wife wondering if she knew what the hell was going on and why this guy was trying to sell a house to them.

“Sweetheart. Where is Gabriel? Are you sure we are at the right area, that driver who picked us up, didn’t say much.” Ariel asked her husband when she noticed he looked just as confused as her.

When Kristof was about to answer, a black sedan with tinted windows pulled up next to them. Gabriel got out of his seat first and held the door for Lucy. Gabriel was in a pair of suit pants, plain white dress shirt, matching black vest and red tie. He had dressed up today for his meeting with Minoko and also this moment.

Gabriel’s mother barely looked at her son and focused on the pretty young lady Gabriel had helped out of the car. ‘Who’s this bi*ch. My baby boy has only been single for a little over a week and he already got another trollop to replace his mother’. Ariel thought to herself. She shot a glare at Gabriel, who was trying his best to look professional in front of his family.

“Gabriel. Come to Mummy, right this instant.” Ariel said through gritted teeth.

Gabriel lost all his professionalism at the sound of his mother’s angry tone. He ran over to her as quick as he could. Putting his head down, he looked like a large child being scolded.

“Sorry mum. I wanted it to be a surprise, I have managed to earn a decent amount as a professional gamer and I wanted to surprise you all. I have a solid revenue that will be coming in for my videos on Deliverance Online too, so you won’t have to worry about money again.” Gabriel started to explain, he was afraid his mother was mad about him keeping it secret.

“Who is that woman? Is she the reason why you haven’t had any time for me recently?” Ariel said, she appeared to not care about the fact Gabriel had a sudden windfall of money and stared daggers at Lucy.

Gabriel looked to where his mother was staring and saw Lucy standing next to the car, looking nervous. Gabriel made eye-contact with Kristof and looked back at the jealous and fuming mother bear. Both men started to laugh. Gabriel turned back to his mom and gave her a soft hug.

“Mum, it’s not what you think. This is my friend and Agent, Lucy Westwood.” Gabriel introduced Lucy; his mother relaxed slightly after the introduction.

“Hello Mrs. Draganov. I work for your son as his Agent, I handle all his publicity matters when it comes to his character in D.O.” Lucy explained.

Lucy and Ariel talked for a little bit. Gabriel’s mother was a lot nicer now, she understood Lucy wasn’t trying to replace her part in Gabriel’s heart. Gabriel has picked up Max and was explaining to Jane and Kristof about how he sold Gold for US dollars. He showed his family the video of him fighting the [Goblin Chief] as [Osiris].

Kristof patted Gabriel’s side in appreciation of the fight. Jane covered her eyes when the [Goblin Chief] started to become a BBQ. Max just cheered for his older brother, like he was watching a superhero battle. Gabriel finally noticed the Realtor standing to the side of the family awkwardly.

“Oh, sorry mate. We got side-tracked.” Gabriel apologized. Before turning to his family.

“Everyone. So, I think you can guess the reason I have asked for you all to be here. We are getting a new home!” Gabriel announced. Max and Jane cheered with Gabriel. While his parent both frowned at him.

“Gab, I don’t want you spending your hard-earned money on monthly rent for such a house. You’d be better off saving that money, to buy a house of your own one day.” Kristof said, it felt good that his son wanted to get them a nicer home but he couldn’t also let them be a burden to him.

“Dad, I don’t think you quite understand, we are not here to apply for a rental. We are here to buy our family a new house!” Gabriel said, putting his hands on Kristof’s shoulders and looked him in the eye.

“I will be buying our family a new home today and I won’t take no for answer. This is something the oldest son has the privilege to do.” Gabriel said.

Kristof patted Gabriel’s arm and shut his mouth that was about to open in protest. He saw the determination in Gabriel’s eyes and knew it would only hurt his son if he rejected his offer. Ariel just burst into tears and hugged Gabriel after. After a teary moment with the family. Gabriel and his family with Lucy followed the realtor through the first house before moving onto looking at two more houses.

The family decided on the 2nd house, it was a long brownstone and even came with a pool. It was priced at $800,000. Gabriel bought it immediately and Lucy called her father to help with the settlement.

Max and Jane were excited about the house with the pool as his parents just walked around the house in a daze. Gabriel approached his little sister Jane and put his hands on her shoulder before crouching down to her eye level.

“Jane, do you know what is only a couple of blocks away from here?” Gabriel asked.

Jane thought for a little while, being the smart girl she was, Jane looked at Gabriel with sparkles in her eyes, at the sudden realization.

“Big brother, it’s Brooklyn Technical high School. Are you saying I can go there next year??” Jane said, as she grabbed onto Gabriel’s sleeve.

“You sure are. I promise, you can go to any one you want now.” Gabriel said with a smile.

He was then half tackled by Jane, as she shouted in happiness. Gabriel thought to himself. ‘No matter what happened in the past or what will happen in the future, these moments make it all worth it’.