Chapter 26: Underwater

Arson knew he was being followed. He could feel eyes on him. It was the oddest sensation that made his skin prickle.

He’d been under the assumption that someone had been following him for a while. As he constantly felt a strange sense of alarm that he couldn’t escape, that had now been intensified further.

He couldn’t tell if he sensed a killing intent, or an aura, but for some reason he felt that he would be able to eventually tell where the presence was located.

He walked through the sewers in a crouch. He’d already come across a few of the Wretches patrols, but had managed to easily sneak by under his cowl’s darkness. Until he’d found the entrance to the Wretches base, and had somehow managed to be seen. One of the two gang members left to guard the base’s entrance saw glimmers of something in the dark.

“I swear Delano, I saw something rush pass, and it didn’t look right man, thing looked like a sparking demon, bra,” said one of the two guards in a frightened whisper.

“It was probably one of the boss’ shadows. You know how fast those sparkers move through the tunnels at night dude. Just calm down.” Arson listened in from the corner only fifty yards from the pair. He grew frantic at the energy he could feel that approached from where he’d come from, as well as the two voices that began to come closer.

“If I go down here and a scout leader scares the sparks out of my soul I’m going to kill you, Barlow, I swear by the Maidens,” started the guard. Only Arson’s hand crested the corner and a hologram of what could be seen down the sewer tunnel appeared above his watch. The pair froze at the sight of themselves, and Arson made his move.

He’d liked the small form of the conductive water orb he’d used earlier and now summoned two instead of one. The two orbs rolled in his palms and the two guards tried to turn and run, but Anastasia made the pair easy targets, as twin laser points showed Arson where to aim even without a single glance around the corner.

Both guards were taken off their feet as sniper-like rounds struck them in the back of their skulls hard enough to knock them unconscious. Arson rushed forward and caught both before they could strike the floor. Without an obvious place to hide the bodies of the sleeping young men, he decided that his newest experiment may work, and went for it.

He’d been interested in how his mother’s power worked and after one of their many conversations, Arson had an idea. A small box able to transform any of its six faces into a malleable gateway.

The new door created had been linked to a rundown building Arson had both bought, and slowly worked to have reconstructed within an inter-dimensional space held within the cube. A space he would now use.

He pulled out the small cube, that contained an entire apartment building within its interior, and slid the two into the front door of the building.

It only took a moment to activate the cube, stretch open the portal mouth that replaced one of the cubes exterior faces, and drop them in. Arson was a breath away from a clean escape, when he heard another voice.

“You sure boss hasn’t done this before Khalif, he seems pretty good at it,” said a familiar voice.

“Shut up and hurry, we are going to get left behind if he moves any faster than he already is, and I think something spooked ‘im,” said Khalif. Arson rolled his eyes and slid up against one wall and froze.

Three figures darted passed Arson and Arson merely grinned as he started to follow Khalif and the two bodyguard trainees he’d picked as lieutenants.

Arson had apparently grown over the years, and with the assistance of his cowl, seemed to have finally become stealthy enough to sneak up on Khalif.

The older boy ran as silent as feathers caught in the breeze, but his lieutenants, did not.

Arson hid his movements in the sounds of their footfalls. The group charged toward what Arson assumed to be an underground town of sorts, but slowed when they were threatened to be seen by any of the gang’s populous.

There were small buildings in every direction, some used, but most abandoned. Arson felt he had missed something important, because as far as he knew, there wasn’t a city under Maelstrom… was there?

“What the sparks is this place?” asked Khalif, almost to himself. When Anastasia answered from his wrist Arson glared at the watch as the AI’s face appeared to smile at him while it answered.

“Vivarium, home of the FoxOwls, or at least it was before Zarra ManaMaelstrom was killed. Known as the city of all Orphans, this was once one of the greatest hidden cities in all the realms, it is now seemingly a rundown gang town,” said Anastasia. The group in front of Arson turned around in alarm as Arson pulled down his cowl with a glare at Khalif.

“Hey boss, how did you… never mind, that’s a stupid question, we need to get out of here,” said Khalif.

“Why are you here Khalif?” asked Arson. Khalif sighed and stared Arson down.

“You know why, boss. Troy wouldn’t let me stay back at the club with you neck deep in enemy territory, said she’d use me as target practice for her new hard light clones,” said Khalif.

“You didn’t let Lane follow you, did you?”

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“What am I, an amateur?” retorted Khalif.

“You ran straight passed me. You letting the trainees slow you down or what,” said Arson with a laugh. Khalif only growled.

“I’m kidding, I know how hard constantly training all the body guards for Blackhole must be. I appreciate you, but I needed to do this on my own for a reason. How can I make sure that I know what I am talking about if we need to strike in the future, especially if you and the others step up to fight all my battles for me?”

“Yeah right, kid, like any of us could stop you from a fight,” said Khalif with a smile of his own.

“Maybe not, but you all barely let me interact with anyone lately. We walk in a room and it’s like you’re waiting for me to pop off, or go crazy, but in all actuality I feel more calm than I ever have before.”

“I hear you, but if you go too far Arson, we lose you, the one person who puts up with our sparked up lives. You’re strong, but there is always someone stronger, you showed me that,” said Khalif.

“Don’t be like that, you’re plenty strong.”

“I am, but I am only growing now because my leader is growing, and If I let you die, what happens to that growth, because let me tell you, I wasn’t going to pull the orphans together like you have, if at all. I was on the fast track to the Assassins Guild and we both know it.”

“Well I’m glad we got you instead, but since you're here you might as well help,” started Arson as he pulled the group of three bodyguards into a nearby empty storefront.

He discussed his plan to find the leadership of the Wretches, and loved the baffled looks the group gave him.

Khalif felt as if he’d lost his mind as the others hoped he had just told them a long joke. He only rolled his eyes.

“What makes you think we can beat up an entire gang Arson, this isn’t a baby group of newbies either, there is like 500 cultivators in there…”

“Look, at this point we are wasting time and are probably still being watched,” stated Arson. Khalif’s eyes went wide at the casually spoken words, and Arson managed to put a hand over his mouth before the young man could yell whatever he had planned to.

“I feel as if I can sense an energy, it seems to stay the exact distance away from me, but is always there as if someone watches my every action,” said Arson. He removed his hand so that Khalif could speak, and Arson smiled at the frown he wore.

“So why are we going through with this if you feel like you are being watched?”

“I’ve actually felt like this for a few days, and believe this is someone else rather than a Wretch. I just had to get that off my chest and Troy is either trying to out-train me or fighting, so you are my next best choice,” said Arson with a slap to Khalif’s shoulder.

“You know you’re insane, right? Like the real deal looney bin type,” responded Khalif.

“Look, just follow the sparking plan and we’ll be just fine.”

The three body guards passed around unsure glances and eventually all shrugged. So began Arson’s first true raid.

“Hey, did you see that fight in Port last night,” said one guard to another from atop the building’s roof they were designated to scout from.

“”Naw, I don’t mess with anything from the Port of Heaven anymore man, everything is so massive and out of proportion, it just gets hard to-” Arson didn’t even let the man finish his sentence. Two compressed orbs shot out and knocked the two unconscious. He stored the bodies in the pocket dimension with the apartment building inside and continued on. As he made his way through the town, he also picked up the bodies that the bodyguards left asleep as well.

Arson began to admit that Khalif may have been closer to the assassin profession than he’d originally let on. The way some of the bodies were stored and the Wretches members mostly unharmed, yet rendered defenseless, impressed Arson.

He’d found a full grown man in a cupboard, and wouldn’t have known to look inside if the group hadn’t marked the buildings as they completed them.

Arson had a little over a hundred of the gang members collected by the time he’d even managed to see Khalif again.

Only the young man disappeared so quickly Arson couldn’t think of any way he could have checked in. He’d been given orders, and was going to follow them out to his absolute best, a fact about Khalif that Arson loved.

He knew it would be hard to get people to join his association of Cultivators, but felt he’d lucked out when Khalif took him seriously. It had taken Arson’s rage and the one sided victory against the former ScapeGrace gang, but even that had come with its own repercussion.

Arson thought it would bother Khalif more when he lost some of his members to the cooks and even Jasmine’s sales teams, but he’d only been happy for his fellow orphans and their new successes.

Arson again ran into the group of body guards as they brawled with nearly a dozen Wretches in a warehouse. Anastasia had disabled the alarm that had been set off before the signal could be sent out and notified Arson of their general location.

Arson slowed his perception as much as he could, but knew that his regeneration wasn’t nearly as high without the sun, nor stars above him. So he wouldn’t have long to use the ability before he would need to recharge.

Three laser sights scanned the room from Arson’s watch and he fired compressed shots as quickly as the beams could make contact with vital points.

All that could be heard was shattered glass and bodies hitting the floor. Arson didn’t know if he liked the regular or compressed orbs of conductive waters better.

“Your mother’s calling,” said Anastasia before she connected Jade into a call with Arson.

“Hey bud, I’m surprised you picked up. Is everything ok? I only rang to check on you and thought a call would have you send me a message. You don’t have to answer me on mission,” said Jade. Arson grimaced, and scrambled for a response.

“Uhh, it’s no big deal momma, I’m good just cleaning up the garbage, you know me,” said Arson. He slowly pressed his fist to his forehead in shame.

“Oh yah, you’re too funny sometimes, kiddo. Don’t beat ‘em up too bad and come by for some food before you run off again, okay?” His mother didn’t take no for an answer and hung up. He smiled and rolled his eyes.

“Khalif says thanks for the save, want me to respond,” asked Anastasia.

“Sure, and could you warn me before you just go and answer calls in the future, please.”

“Yes sir, Lord Sovereign Arson Omni, Sir,” said Anastasia in a serious tone before she bursted into laughter. Arson only shook his head and took a deep breath.

“Come on, we have rats to collect…”

After a while the members became harder and harder to find. Arson had collected just over 300 people in the apartment storage? He didn’t know what to call it and decided to leave the name undecided for the moment.

Then he had an epiphany. He knew what he wanted to name his clothing brand. He pulled up Jasmine’s contact and messaged her from his watch.

I know what I want to call my clothing brand,” said Arson as he typed what he spoke.

“Oh, maiden, please don’t give me another terrible name buddy. This is a serious matter and will form the opinion of how anyone in the fashion industry looks at us,” read Arson.

“Way to take the wind out of my sails, Jasmine,” said Arson to himself. He ignored her and explained his choice, before he revealed it.

“My mom said it once and I liked how it sounded when she said it, she learned it from a realm she was forced to separate from the rest of the realms, it apparently means, the fate you needed to find,” stated Arson simply.

“Hmm, not going to lie you pulled me in with that,” read Arson just before he opened the door to his next target. Only to find a room full of Cultivators waiting for him, ready to charge.

“Hey Anastasia,” said Arson as he shut the door and backed up.

“Really no warning?” He stepped back as he readied himself, a breath before the door exploded from its hinges.

“Hey, Arson, you’re about to run into some trouble, any last words? Ooh what about, I love you mom, or something dorky like that, you seem to really love your mom,” said Anastasia.

“No, I’m good. Message Jasmine for me instead,” said Arson as he raised his hand toward the groups of cultivators as they rushed out the door onto the roof Arson currently occupied.

“What do you want to say,” said Anastasia with a pout on the screen of his watch.

“Eureka!”