Speculations

Did the man die from that?

I went forward to check his pulse, but he let out a low moan and rolled over right as I came to him. While doing so, he exposed the arm that I had cut pretty badly. It was kind of clotting, but to be safe, I started emergency treatment for the wound.

First, I sliced off a piece of his clothing and laid it over the area above his wound. Then, I retracted the switchblade and placed it within the cloth. Finally, I twisted the switchblade around to stem the flow of blood, and stuck the twisted area under a straight area, so it wouldn’t move around.

After treating the man, I looked around the area to determine if I had any unwanted witnesses. And although I could see people walking across the street through the tinted area of the door, no-one was peering into the small window or freaking out. Good.

I moved back from the window and started to drag the man by his armpits to the receptionist’s desk. Nancy watched me, smiling. I laid the man in the middle of the floor and grumbled,

Me- “Any help?”

Nancy- “I would, but any help from unrelated personnel decreases your reward by half. Are you sure?”

Me- “…Nevermind.”

I continued to drag the man over, and once I had finished, I held out my hand.

Me- “Reward?”

Nancy smiled, and walked over from the receptionist desk over to me.

Nancy- “Hold on, let me do some routine checks first.”

She checked the man’s pulse, and after confirming he was alive, she then took out her phone and pressed it to the man’s hand. A few seconds passed before the phone made an affirmative beep.

Nancy- “So you got the right guy, and he’s alive. Your reward will be sent directly to your account.”

Me- “Ok. But what would happen if, say a girl was hiding in your bathroom, and she hadn’t seen anybody use an ability. What then?”

Nancy gave me a glare.

Nancy- “Then… We would either wipe her memory and return her to her parents for a $100 processing fee, or you could take care of it yourself.”

I’m not paying that fee; that’s about 1/5th of my reward!

Me- “Alright, good to know. Would it be ok if I grabbed something to eat real quick before I teleported back to my area?”

Nancy sighed and rolled her eyes.

Nancy- “Do whatever you want.”

Taking that as my cue to leave, I walked directly to the girl’s bathroom.

“Knock, Knock”

The Girl- “Who’s there?”

Me- “...I’m here to tell you that it’s over; you can come out now.”

There was silence on the other end for a while, and then the girl said fearfully,

The Girl- “Once you leave, I’ll come out.”

Was she serious? How would I get her to come out of that bathroom? …Wait a minute, if she was desperate enough to have sex with a stranger for a measly 10 ounces, maybe I could tempt her with the drug.

I left a bag of the man’s pot a couple feet away from the door. Speaking loudly, I said,

Me- “I’m leaving some remuneration here, with your phone, outside the door. Just don’t tell anybody about what happened today, alright?”

The girl said with an annoyed tone,

The girl- “Do you really think I’d turn myself in just to get at you? Now hurry up and go!”

Me- “Alright, I’m leaving…”

I walked out of the library building, but as the door was closing, I slipped back into the library while using the golden aura to conceal the sounds of my footsteps. Getting into a nondescript corner of the room, I vanished from sight.

A few minutes passed in waiting, but after a few more, the girl couldn’t withstand the temptation any longer. The door opened a crack, and the girl surveyed the room. But her eyes locked on one thing, and she started to slowly move forward. Her target? The bag of drugs.

Its bulging, tempting allure made the girl totally unable to draw her eyes away from the bag. I decided it was time to move and slipped into the bathroom door quietly. Choosing a stall, I sat on one of the toilet seats within.

After a few seconds, the girl rushed back into the bathroom, drugs and phone in hand. She shut and locked the door quickly, and then she rushed into the corner of the bathroom.

The girl- “Why am I so scared? There was nobody there. Get ahold of yourself, Katie!” She pep-talked herself, irrational fear evident in her trembling voice.

I stood up on the toilet seat to get a better grasp on what she was doing. If she didn’t call the cops now, then it was likely that she wouldn’t do so in the future. I would just trail her for a bit to make sure, and then leave her to her own life. However, if she immediately went to call the cops, then it would be likely that even if I took away her phone and threatened her, she would still do so later. I would need to take more drastic measures.

I saw the light of Katie’s phone on her face as I stood up. Alarm bells rang within my head, but I continued to bide my time, waiting. Her screen was not on a call, but it was on a group chat. It read,

Katie- “Hey, I didn’t end up going to see the dealer. Can you get some for me? I’ll pay you back eventually.”

Interesting… Was she trying to cover up her involvement in the incident? Her friend responded with,

???- “I told you that you have to get some yourself. I can’t be seen around those parts any longer; the Bloody Scars have taken the area over.”

Katie- “Is there still fighting between you two?”

???- “They took over our territory! Although they may have gotten the jump on us, my big bro isn’t gonna let this go. They’re gonna pay.”

Gang conflict? Looks like she found herself a reasonable explanation for today’s events. There was no need for my interference.

I got back down from the stall, and walked near the door. I had to wait for a few minutes longer before the girl finally decided it was safe to go out. She fled the building, and I slipped through the door behind her.

Deactivating my invisibility, I went back to the teleportation portal. And with a flash of light, I vanished.

****************

…What do I do?

Nothing had really changed after I had touched the ceiling. In fact, it would be more accurate to say my hand had inched through instead of using the word touched. It was almost like dipping my finger into water, yet it wasn’t like this realization helped me. Little’ Goldies 1 and 2! I need your help!

Responding to my summoning, the golden motes of light flew out from within my chest and swirled around me. Then they jumped up and down within the air in front of me and dashed over to the area where the bridged faded away, spiraled up, and merged into the golden light.

Me- “…”

Was I supposed to follow them?

I held tightly on the end of the bridge and extended my foot into the nothingness in front. The golden strands of light that made up the end of the bridge swirled around my foot, but nothing else of note happened. So I shifted forward a bit more, thinking that I wasn’t close enough.

Me- “Whoah!”

I almost lost my center of balance! I quickly moved back within the safety of the bridge, not daring to try anything like that anymore. But what else was I supposed to do?

Suddenly, a warm strand of light appeared in my hand. It was slowly growing hotter and hotter, and it was tugging away from my grip. But I wasn’t falling for it’s innocent urgings. The other motes of light had left me as soon as I let them, and this strand of light was my only clue on how to get into golden ceiling.

My grip grew tighter on the stand of light, and I held onto it strongly, despite it’s increasingly strong tugging upward. But suddenly, I realized that it was lifting me off the ground!

I held on tightly as the golden strand pulled me upwards into the golden sun.

***************

As the violet light faded into nothingness, I was greeted by the thick darkness that permeated the underground room. The familiar bookshelf behind and the blast doors in front told me that this was the room under the Racetrac. I was back.

I looked around the room, deciding what I should do. Nobody would be looking for me… Right?

Suddenly, the bodyguards came to mind. I had left them at school, with no explaination. It would seem as if I had just ‘vanished.’

I debated going back to the general area to see if they were still at school, but I decided against it. Going back to school would require an explanation, and I wasn’t inclined to do so. Alternatively, I could just make my way home, and bullsh*t crap to them and my parents. They would be unable to refute me, and it would also help with getting rid of the bodyguards before Blackmist could do anything. But first…

Taking out my phone, I opened my profile and did the only thing I could do with the points at this time: upgrading my clearance level. One of the points was spent, and then the clearance level moved up from 0 to 1. The value to upgrade my clearance level also changed from 1 point to 10 points.

The description of the clearance rank was as follows,

‘Clearance Rank’

‘This can be raised through spending a certain amount of points. Your clearance level is used to obtain a wider and rarer range of items and information from C.H.I.B.I., reduce punishment for violating one of the disciplinary laws, and raises your respective position in the organization.’

The key words here are ‘wider and rarer range of items and information.’ What did this entail, exactly? I opened up the shop to get a better idea of what could acquire.

So there weren’t any new items in the ‘weapons’ and ‘armor’ sections. However, there was an entirely new category, and there were some new additions to the intelligence section. Interesting.

‘Intelligence’

‘$50 Hidden microphone, $100 Tier 1 Mission Additional Information, $500 Micro Camera, $2500 Recon Drone.’

‘Special’

‘$100 A beginning to your Ability (Vol. 1), $500 A beginning to your Ability (Vol. 2), $2500 A beginning to your Ability (Vol. 3)’

Looking at the special section, the corner of my mouth twitched. Why were these novels so expensive? Have they ever heard of libraries before?

I tapped the A beginning to your Ability (Vol. 2) and reluctantly watched my funds drop to zero. A second or two passed, and then the circle started to shine with a purple light. Had the teleportation started?

As I waited for the guide to be transported, I mentally went through the information from A beginning to your Ability (Vol. 1). One, abilities would repel each other when they got within a certain range, except for a couple of exceptions.

Two, the relation between the strength of your ability and the strength of your thoughts was proportional. If the thought was stronger, so was your ability. If the thought was weaker, so was your ability. That was why my concentration allowed me to temporarily block the Blackmist, and the lack thereof allowed him to slip through. It also explained why Viola was able to withstand so many explosions in the illusionary space, whereas before she was unable to withstand two without getting a concussion.

Three, continually using your ability could make it stronger than before. That was self-explanatory.

Four, having an exceptionally strong attachment or desire towards something can allow for your ability to be ‘imprinted’ on whatever that something was. The implication of this was that your ability could then be activated and used independent of the ability user. Chloe, a contractor, was a good example of this.

Five, gaining the recognition of your subconscious could increase the strength of your ability. Now that I think about it, this…

The purple light reached a crescendo, and a book surrounded by a purple crystal came hovering within my view. Once the light faded away, the book dropped directly to the floor. I picked it up and glanced over it with a small smile. What sort of secrets does this book hold?