Chapter 1: The Graduation
Summary:
Daniel wakes up almost late for his graduation, the day started bad enough but things start getting even worse. A life changing to the worse. He is faced with classified information that he would be soon to question.
Notes:
This chapter was fully rewritten because i was not satisfied with how the story was going, if you have read the first version of it, please reread it. The following few chapters will be all rewritten. I hope you like it!
Chapter Text
Chapter 1
"SHIT," Daniel jolted awake. His eyes darted to the clock, and his stomach twisted—he was late. Not just any late - he was late for his graduation ceremony. His typical top-grader self was rarely tardy, but this morning, fate seemed to have
other plans. Clothes were scattered everywhere as he sprinted from room to room, grabbing his suit jacket and tugging it on, cursing his reflection in the mirror.
A vibrating buzz pulled his attention to his wrist. His smartwatch glowed with a series of notifications: missed calls and messages from friends, each one marked with variations of Where the hell are you? Daniel glanced at the time: 15 minutes to get to the ceremony, leaving him no chance for breakfast. As he tugged his shoes on, he asked his watch for the latest updates, just for a distraction. The response was immediate, delivered in a crisp, almost too-cheerful tone:
“The travel exchange ‘Earth to Mars’ will be held next Friday. General Marshall has announced that 8,000 graduates from the Academy will be sent to different bases on Earth. The fight against alien forces continues. Troops on Earth have requested reinforcement, as alien assaults have intensified in recent months. The Empress has issued—"
"Okay, okay, enough," Daniel interrupted. He'd been hearing about the ‘Earth to Mars’ exchange for weeks. Despite the excitement it caused on Mars, it was grim news. Troops returning to Earth would almost certainly face the front lines, and casualties were frequent.
Mars and Earth are separated by millions of kilometers and their orbital periods are different, leaving the planets have a travel window once every 2 years, so when the window opened, media frenzy took over. Weeks before, soldiers and civilians alike scrambled with last-
minute preparations, and security heightened to maximum levels. Young Academy graduates were chosen from each school across The Great City Of Mars to reinforce Earth’s dwindling forces. They would travel with the massive supply shipments—the food, fuel, and nuclear parts necessary to keep Mars’ energy-poor systems operational. Nuclear power, sourced primarily from Helium-3 mined from the Moon, kept Mars running, and if supplies faltered, the entire colony could face catastrophe. Solar power is not as effective as on Earth, and the planet is often obscured by dust storms. Wind power and geothermal energy are also unfeasible because there's hardly any atmosphere, leaving nuclear power as the lifeline that kept
the colony—and its people—alive.. Emergency shipments rarely happen because that would waste too much fuel.
The Great City Of Mars started developing 400 years ago, at first it was a small base, and the crew that lived on it was faced with a lot of challenges some caused by the weather on Mars and its radiation as well as its surface gravity. With years scientists and space engineers found a way to deal with all of those problems, they created a panel around the base, protecting them from the Mars dust that is filled with toxic salts as well as the radiation that was coming from space. After creating the panel the engineers made devices with which they could fix the surface gravity and make it the same as Earth's. With that, the city started developing faster than ever, growing bigger every few years and more and more people that could afford it settled in to live there. Until the war, it was inhabited by no more than 1 million people and it was mainly the wealthy people that could afford to fly there. In the recent 18 years, a bigger part of Earth's population had to immigrate to live there including people that had poorer standards of life, and with each month more and more people were sent to Mars, which cost a lot of money and fuel but it was the only way to save the humankind from extinction.
The civilians were escaping the war and the disease that was spreading around the planet's flora. The disease was transmitted fast by the air-drop path and was highly contagious. It spread to new hosts through droplets, propelled into the air when a person sneezed, coughed, or even talked. These droplets could even be transmitted by touch when outside of the body for extended periods of time. The symptoms were never seen before, dizziness, internal bleeding, internal bacterial infections, and spitting blood. It could spread through your entire body including your eyes and it would make you blind. The first wave was like any other new disease, starting with a little number of cases, most of the victims living close to forests in small villages or farms. The virus wasn't spreading around bigger cities at all in the beginning but it hit many random places, it was like there is no specific place it originated from. The governments around the countries issued an order for a lockdown, reacting fast to the situation. Still, they tried to mask this as nothing more than an unusually virulent strain of flu, masking all media about it. The cases lowered and things died out and 3 months later, things continued to their normal life. A big mistake with which came the second wave, this time with more cases and a lot of death rates. The people started growing uneasy, getting mad at the governments and politicians. The citizens believed that the disease was spread on purpose just like many years ago with the SARS-CoV-2 disease. There was no cure, the medicine that existed could hold the symptoms from spreading around your body but not for too long. Over time the hospitals were filled with people and had become morgues. There was not enough personnel to help the people and not enough bedsides to enroll patients. People were returned to their homes, leaving them to wither away. At that time the death rate boomed to 2 billion. Over time, whispers grew into a grim truth: the disease wasn’t natural.
The people started protesting, demanding a change and a cure, demanding that the government stops lying to the people. Not long after a lot of politicians and supreme leaders died and humankind hasn't been faced with something like that for centuries. When all hope died, a woman published a discovery about the origin of the disease, as well as a cure for it. The aliens that came to Earth were the source of the disease, their biology incompatible with Earth's, releasing pheromones that poisoned the very atmosphere. By the time these discoveries were made the death rate was already 6 billion.
Survivors were shuttled to Mars in a last-resort exodus, leaving the Earth to an alien-occupied wilderness. Sick or not they all evacuated there and the cure was sprayed in the air around the whole city and everyone was healed in less than a week. Medicine and vaccines started being distributed to each household and the disease completely died out. Some were sent back to Earth, even if the chances of catching the disease were high again because without Mars receiving nuclear energy, parts, and supplies, the city's defense against the weather would be gone and everyone would die.
After evacuating to Mars, the woman was voted to become a leader. Her next move? War. Her forces returned to Earth with a single mission: reclaim the mother planet, alien by alien. For eighteen long years, the war continued. Every
two years, fresh soldiers arrived to bolster the front lines, along with technicians, farmers and scientists.
Today, Daniel would join their ranks.
He sprinted back to his room, grabbing his customized skyboard—a piece of tech he’d tinkered with endlessly until it could fly at speeds no commercial board could. As he leapt onto the balcony, he heard a familiar bark behind him. Bear, his loyal dog, had a knack for knowing when Daniel was rushing out the door.
"Sorry, girl, no time for a walk now. I’ll take you out as soon as I get back, I promise." Bear’s tail wagged in understanding, her eyes watching him go as he zipped into the bustling Martian sky.
The orange sky stretched wide above him, skyscrapers cutting into the vastness. Flying cars beeped and swerved around him, their passengers throwing a mix of annoyed gestures and shouted curses in his direction. But Daniel was focused—his heart thrumming as he neared the Academy, where his friends and future awaited.
Going to the front lines was a true honor for all and it's a dream of many soldiers. He didn't know how to feel about it, he was a great student and favored a lot by the teachers, but he was also very homesick and didn't entirely like the idea of leaving his home and family.
As he landed, Daniel scanned the crowd, spotting his friend Jayce almost immediately. Shorter than Daniel and sporting a stylish dark green suit, Jayce looked unusually polished. Normally, he was buried in coding projects, emerging only for meals and a good-natured roast of Daniel’s occasional lateness.
"Finally! Thought you were skipping graduation altogether," Jayce teased. "I mean, top student and all that—you sure don’t act the part."
"Yeah, yeah," Daniel shot back, breathless. "I made it on time, didn’t I?"
Jayce smirked. “Maybe, but I doubt Lyla’s going to be thrilled with your timing.”
At the mention of Lyla, Daniel felt a familiar pang. He’d do anything to make her proud. As his adoptive guardian, she’d raised him since his family died in the early days of the outbreak. She’d held high rank as the Empress’s right-hand woman, handling political negotiations and matters of state with poise that Daniel both admired and feared.
He shook his head trying not to think about the scolding he would get and him and Jayce walked towards the rows of students, the ceremony was soon to begin. As they got to their places they started talking with other students, laughing about Daniel's morning rush. Then everybody slowly started to quiet down.
Ahead of him, General Marshall took the stage. Broad and imposing, his voice alone demanded respect. “Congratulations to each of you,” he began, his tone steely yet warm. “Your commitment and discipline are the fuel for Mars’s future and our fight for Earth. Today, you join a legacy of bravery. May each of you bring glory to mankind, to the Empress, and to our survival.”
A surge of pride swelled in Daniel, echoed by the cheers and shouts of his classmates. Yet as the Empress herself stepped onto the stage, a quiet chill fell over the crowd. Dressed in scarlet, with eyes as sharp as glass, her presence alone silenced the crowd. She offered only a brief nod. “I am honored to see so many here today. Know that from each Academy, three hundred will be sent to Earth to join the effort. You have a duty now—fulfill it well.”
Her speech was short and on point. It felt like she didn't put much importance into it. And why would she? The academy sent soldiers to the battlefield every year, it wasn’t something she was lacking, so maybe she didn’t need to bother to say more than that. the battlefield every year, it wasn’t something she was lacking, so maybe she didn’t need to bother to say more than that. To some, her appearance on the stage was enough of a motivation. All are brainwashed into an idea, all following one person and their command without question or resistance. Daniel thought that her speech was more like an informative message- Hello, just so you know I'm sending more of you to die on the field, Happy graduation. It left him with a bad feeling in his chest. Not only this but he was surprised to see her attend the ceremony as well. He knew that Lyla was usually the one handling such matters with speeches and messages.
The general resumed his place, unrolling a scroll with the list of students selected for Earth. One by one, names were called. The anticipation buzzed through the rows until Daniel’s name—conspicuously—was never mentioned. He glanced around, panic tightening his chest. Why didn’t they call out his name? There must have been a mistake surely!
“What happened to your connections, top student?” a familiar, sneering voice broke the silence. Hayami, ever the smug rich kid, leaned in close. “Guess even you couldn’t get on that list this time.”
Daniel clenched his fists, heat rising to his face. Jayce laid a calming hand on his shoulder. “Ignore him, man. Let’s get out of here and celebrate later. Come on, your dog’s waiting.”
Daniel wanted to speak personally with The General but he knew he would be busy after the ceremony so he gave up on the idea and headed back home to get Bear. As he was walking the dog he received a message from Lyla.
Dinner will be ready soon, get back home to celebrate! Laurence and Peter are here too.
He replied to the message, saying that he will be home soon.
Later that night, back at Lyla’s, surrounded by the warmth of family, Daniel finally let his frustration out. When the email came through with his assignment, his stomach dropped: he’d been assigned to the outskirts, near the dangerous undercity—a place filled with criminal elements that everyone feared.
“After 4 years working my ass off, this is what I fucking get?!? I'm going to the outskirts of the town, close to the undercity?!?!"
Peter and Laurence tried to lighten up the mood, saying that maybe it was a mistake and saying it could be sent to the wrong person but after checking things again, Daniel was sure, this was not a mistake, the email was for him.
“It was personally sent to me by director Marshall…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll fix this,” Lyla murmured, her voice steady, her hand reassuring on his shoulder.
“But…You know that I don’t like relying on your connections that much...” replied Daniel.
“And I have to watch you all gloomy until the end of my days because you didn’t get what you deserve? Not happening. Consider it like help from a friend.”
“I don’t have a say in this, do I?”
“You don’t. Just leave it to me okay? It’s going to be alright, trust me.” She answered with a warm reassuring smile on her face.
Daniel felt the weight of the day slowly lifting if only a little. Lyla’s support made him feel like he could still tackle whatever awaited, even the dark underbelly of the city.
Chapter 2: The Visit
Notes:
Hello, this chapter is a bit shorter than the previous one, but i hope you enjoy it still!
Chapter Text
Chapter 2
Around 10 o’clock Daniel woke up, he was lying on the sofa, covered with a few bed sheets. He fell asleep while watching a movie with the others. The apartment was quiet, the others had already gone to work. He rubbed his eyes, his vision cleared up more. He looked around sleepily and saw Bear lying on the floor right next to the couch. Another thing he noticed was a note left on the small table that was in front of the sofa. It was a note from Lyla.
We are going to work, I’ll research the matter, take a great rest, tomorrow is your first day at the job! No matter what happens, I want you to know that we are all very proud of you and love you! Call me if anything happens!
Love, Lyla.
He smiled slightly and quietly got up so he didn't wake up Bear. He went to the kitchen and started making himself some breakfast with the leftover food from last night. While doing so he thought about how impressive it was, that Lyla and the others could wake up for work so early, despite the family gatherings they were having till so late at night. They usually party on the weekends so Daniel doesn't have school in the morning, but for them, it didn't matter if it was the weekend or not, Laurence and Lyla worked all of the time and barely had any time for a free day. Peter was another topic, Daniel would wonder if the guy had any job at all, considering how free he seemed to be.
Laurence was the head doctor of one of the biggest hospital in the city, and staying overtime, at this point was part of his schedule. He always had eyebags under his eyes and was reliant on coffee and cigarettes. His hair was very often messy and overgrown because he didn't have the time to cut it and take care of it. Peter was stating that it actually suits him so maybe that's why he hasn't cut it too short despite all those years.
Peter was the polar opposite of his partner. He was a nurse in the same hospital and worked with Laurence. He always had papers to write but he always finished them quickly and had the free time to bother or help Laurence when needed, or even go out on hangouts with Daniel. His workflow was always a mystery to the young boy, and he always wondered how the hospital hadn’t kicked him out yet, considering how unserious he could be at times.
While Daniel was having his breakfast and giving some to his dog because of the cute puppy eyes it was giving him, Daniel got a message from Lyla...
The curly-haired woman knocked on a wooden door and after hearing approval from inside, she got in the room. She smiled when she saw the familiar face in front of her.
"Miss Lyla! How have you been my dear, what brings you here today?"
“General, I am doing quite alright, what about you? I’m sorry for interrupting your busy day, you must already know why I’m here.”
The room was getting filled with fake pleasantries, the air was hot and suffocating for both of them.
“Good as ever! It’s always great to see such a charming face in front of my eyes, you aren’t interrupting me at all. I believe I have an idea why you might be here, but let's hear what you have to say as well.”
The face of the woman changed, she wasn't smiling anymore and looked seriously at the man.
“General Johnes, I’m here to speak regarding the students that will be sent to Earth next week. I went through the list and it seems like one person’s name is missing in it.”
The man sighed heavily. " Your observations are right, one name is missing, it’s a shame…”
Lyla was a bit confused by the response but she kept a straight face and asked instead.
“May I ask why this person is not on the list?”
“It was in the list... but it got changed last minute.”
Shocked to hear this she quickly asked.
“What are you trying to say? This is impossible, such changes happen only if the student has gotten into an accident and cannot continue their duties as a soldier.”
“Yes you are right, but I’m afraid that this case is way more complicated than that.”
Lyla looked at the general, showing that she was waiting for him to continue speaking.
“You see dear Lyla, an important person decided to take a look at the list on the day of the graduation. I was quite surprised as well. For the 18 years this school has existed, nothing like this has ever happened. They were barely interested in visiting the ceremonies too. I’m sure you know who I’m talking about already, you are smart enough to figure it out.”
The woman froze entirely, she got lost in her thoughts for a second, and she mumbled out loud by accident.
“So only 22,032 soldiers will be sent…”
“You shouldn't worry too much about it. One soldier wouldn't make a big of a difference. Besides he will be safer here."
“General, with all due respect, we both know that even 1 person can make a difference if they are capable. The position Daniel was sent to could be just as dangerous as the battlefield. I refuse to accept this is the place he deserves to be."
“If the student is unqualified, then there is no need for them on the battlefield, it’s just another rotten corpse.”
“We both know that the student is well qualified to be there.”
Lyla was pressing more and more on the matter, why did she need him to say the truth in her face, when she already knew the answer? The matter was getting on a personal level and she couldn't keep herself composed. She was getting mad because she couldn't keep things professional and let her emotions carry her words instead.
“Miss Lyla, I’m afraid that this is all I can tell you, I believe you know more about this than I do. Your question was answered, now I would ask you to leave my office.”
“Before I leave, I need to know if the working position of Daniel can be changed.”
“I’m afraid not, They had a word in this too, I doubt anything can be done about this. You seem close though, maybe you could go ask them in person?”
The General smiled but this time it was a mocking smile that annoyed Lyla. At that moment she wanted to throw a vase in his head. And Daniel considered HIM? As a father figure??? She wanted to shake the kid and tell him just how twisted this little old man was.
His behaviour was to be expected, he never liked anyone butting into his business. As much of a snake as he was, he was also one of the kindest generals out there. The rest were even worse, and she despised every single one of them. Having meetings with those people was the most exhausting part of her job.
I hope he isn’t acting like this around you too, thought Lyla, but she already knew that the bond between the boy and that old man was special and that he was acting like this in front of her because his tongue was tied. They most likely told him to keep his mouth shut and not leak any information. As angry as Lyla got, she tried to keep herself calm, she said goodbye to The General and left the room, soon after she texted Daniel, apologizing for not being able to do anything at the moment.
Chapter 3: The Garden
Notes:
Things are getting interesting~
Chapter Text
Chapter 3
After getting the message, the boy decided to completely give up on changing anything, if even Lyla can’t help then something more serious is happening behind the scenes. Asking questions would only complicate things. He started getting ready for tomorrow, in the middle of the day he received a package with his new uniform, he washed it, walked the dog, watered the plants. After the uniform dried up he tried it on. A fully black uniform with red ornaments on the sleeves, pockets and collar. A small symbol, showing the glory of human kind was embroidered near the shoulder, on the left side of the uniform. He liked the colors, way better than other uniforms he has seen. It suited his dark brown hair and eyes, made him look a bit pale even.
He was trying his best to distract himself from thinking about tomorrow, trying to keep his chin up and be as motivated as possible.
In the next day the boy woke up from the alarm, walked the dog, got breakfast and went to the location he was instructed to go to. When he arrived he saw a group of 8 people, all of different ages, and he couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the person he least wanted to see.
It was Hayami…They immediately locked eyes, both in disgust to see one another.
“I thought my morning was bad, but it seems it can get worse.”
“Yeah yeah, happy to see you too...”
“What is the top student doing here? Isn’t this place too dirty for a figure like you?”
“I could only ask the same. Seems like your parents connections didn't get you anywhere either. Or maybe your services weren't good enough to get you somewhere nicer.”
“Oh you little-“
“Newbies if you two don’t shut up I would ask you to leave and go back to where you came from.” The oldest of the group commented. He had an unbelievably ugly look. The man would have looked nice when he was young but now he had a beer tummy, nasty long beard and long gray oily hair. His uniform was dirty, probably had some puke in it too. He reeked of alcohol, had the biggest eyebags that Daniel has ever seen! Heck even the doc didn’t have such eyebags! The man was holding his head with one hand, gesturing that it was too early to listen to all this bullshit, with the other hand he was holding a bottle of alcohol, he had a cigarette in his mouth. For a moment the two young boys looked at one another sharing one thought- Is this even allowed?
The two were absolutely disgusted and even felt sorry for one another, imagine having to work among people like that, it was an absolute nightmare.
The man on the other hand ignored the boys, opened the bottle of liquor and started drinking, when he finished he started talking again, this time the topic in a whole different direction, obviously ignoring what has happened just now.
“The patrol around the black market consists of 4 groups, team E, W, N and S, each one after the direction they are patrolling around. We are team West, I’m the team leader, name’s Robert, I expect you to use honorifics when you talk to me. We split into groups of 3, don’t go too far into the black market even if you see something suspicious, you know this is not our territory, I think you all know you could get killed for getting in, especially with that police uniform. We patrol only around the entrances of the market, along with some safe zones, I’ll give you newbies a map, but don’t worry, me and the other old dogs will be with ya and keep ya safe.”
After the speech the leader gave the maps to the new additions to the team and assigned all the teams, for his own sake and for the sake of his colleagues he didn’t put Daniel and Hayami in the same team, having to listen to them bark to one another would have bringed him more headache than the hungover he was having. To Daniel’s happiness, Robert teamed up with Hayami, maybe, just maybe he felt a little bad for his classmate, but in a way he was also secretly enjoying it.
It was already lunch time. Nothing that interesting has happened, they checked few people who seemed suspicious, some of them were clear, some were trafficking some illegal items and got arrested and some carried drugs and to Daniel’s surprise instead of getting arrested they were let go. The black market surely worked differently, no laws worked around this place, no one had authority over this side of the city, not even the Empress herself, important figures would get shot if they stepped a foot in here, most of the time they would send a man to do their dirty job. Daniel was realizing why the police man didn’t do too much, arrest the wrong person and you would get killed, butt in too much and you would get dragged in a mess you wouldn't want to be in. What really surprised him, was seeing a guy or two buying from the stock of those people. Maybe it kept the two sides on good terms but it was still a hard thing to accept.
Around the chatters and laughs of his colleagues a sharp scream was heard.
“HELP, SOMEBODY HELP! THIEF IT’S A THIEF!”
Everyone jumped from their seats looking at the direction that the scream came from. Daniel ran in the direction of the scream and saw a woman standing in front of a pharmacy, looking scared to death. Across the street he saw a middle aged man running away from the scene with a bag in his hand. Just as he was about to start chasing a voice stopped him.
“Newbie leave him.”
The team leader was close enough to see what has happened.
“Wait, what? Sir, with all due respect we can’t just-“
“That’s an order. Do not chase after him.”
Daniel couldn’t believe his ears, leave the thief run away? Leave the drug dealers run free so they could buy things from them, ignore suspicious people, drink and smoke in the middle of the job? It was getting on his nerve, all these events from the past few days were getting to him. It wasn’t fair, it all wasn’t fair, how could you call yourself a cop, when you do nothing after seeing people in need of you. That’s why the black market is bad, because the cops ain’t doing their jobs. He was going to show them all, this place will finally have a change, he will finally prove his worth and show to everyone that sending him in this hole was a mistake, he was going to show just got much he deserved a better position in work. A sudden wave of anger hit Daniel, he ignored the team leader and started his chase. He heard the others calling his name but ignored them all. He could still see the thief running in the middle of the street, catching up to him would be a piece of cake.
The wind was in his face, heavy footsteps from running, everyone around him staring in confusion of the action. As they were closing in to the entrance of the black market, more and more crowds of people started showing up which made the pursuing harder. He was bumping into people, trying to get around them so he cannot lose the man.
“Excuse me! Sorry! Coming through!”
Suddenly the thief turned left, going into the small streets where there were no people. Daniel almost lost his track.
“Heck where did he go…”
A small beggar girl tugged Daniel’s shirt, then pointed at the direction the man ran away to. He tossed her some coins as thanks and continued running. The fire in his lungs was killing him, he was getting tired, the man was pushing junk all around so he could have more time to escape. Daniel was evading and jumping. The obstacles were a lot but he was getting closer and closer. The man was growing tired, his legs started to give out and trip, he didn’t expect to get chased, in fact he’s never been chased in his entire life. Why would he? The cops knew well enough not to mess up with him, but now a newbie that wants to be a hero was on his tracks, truly unbelievable.
“STOP RUNNING! IT’S THE POLICE STOP RIGHT THERE!!”
The man didn’t reply he only kept running, making turns, left and right around the tight small streets, trying to lose him but soon enough all got decided. Daniel threw a piece of junk at the man, making him trip, since their distance was close enough to one another, this was the perfect opportunity to catch him. Daniel jumped on the man, the next second his foot was on his arm, stepping on it so it could release the bag it was holding. He opened the bag but what he saw was not what he expected. He thought that he would discover a lot of money but it was actually a lot of medicaments, ones that he has never seen before. As he was trying to catch his breath he said:
“What the…Why…why did you steal this?”
“None of your business, let me go!” The man grunted under the pressure of Daniel on top of him.
“You are being arrested for a robbery!” replied Daniel.
“HA! ROBERY?!?! THIS NEVER BELONGED TO YOU HUMANS TO BEGIN WITH!” The man angrily spat out.
“Huh?”
“DANIEL!”
A familiar voice shouted behind him which made Daniel turn around.
“Hayami? What are you doing here?” He asked in confusion.
This was the perfect distraction that the man needed, he resisted Daniel’s grasp and managed to slip one of his hands out, bringing out a knife and stabbing Daniel at the leg, he pushed the boy, grabbed the bag and ran away.
“Shit- We need to chase him.”
“Are you out of your mind, you are fucking wounded, how do you think you will catch him again?” said Hayami.
“Then leave me here and go get him!” He raised his voice at him.
“YOU ARE SO DUMB! LOOK AROUND! YOU ARE IN THE BLACK MARKET! ITS ALREADY BAD ENOUGH! DO YOU WANT TO GET KILLED!?!?!” Hayami yelled at Daniel's face.
The sudden concern surprised the boy, this wasn’t like Hayami. Did he really care so much? Ever since their fight they were sworn rivals, he thought that the other would be happy to see him dead but he guessed this wasn’t the case at all.
“I’ll bandage the wound.” Hayami spilled out, you could sense an annoyance in his tone.
“There is no need…"
“Shut up will ya? Until the team finds us or I get you bandaged so we could leave this place I don’t want to hear a word from you. Got it?” Angrily said the small man.
“Ugh…fine…” Daniel finally agreed in defeat.
After few minutes the blade was taken out and Daniel was bandaged, he supported himself on Hayami’s shoulder and they started walking out of the black market.
“What did that guy steal anyway?”
Daniel wanted to ask why he suddenly wants to talk again but thought that he may receive a punch in the face if he started picking up a fight so he just simply answered.
“Some pills, never seen em before.”
“Pills? Did you see how they were called?” Asked Hayami.
“Started with an ‘I’ uhhh, I don’t remember very well.”
“Great…You're so useful as always...”
"Maybe if certain somebody didn't interrupt me I would have had more time to look at them and maybe even question the individual."
"Shut up." Spat out the black haired guy.
Hayami continued mocking the poor performance of Daniel, but the other couldn't complain much, the least he could do is remember the name of the item, but it sounded so weird when he first read it. Surely there were a lot of pills with weird or long names but this one felt different.
“Never belonged to the humans huh…” Daniel muttered to himself.
“What did you say?”
“Oh, uh, nothing. Was just thinking out loud.”
When they left the market they saw the whole group gathered in front of the entrance.One man sticked out from the group, Robert’s face was red as a tomato from anger, his arms crossed and his feet tapping on the floor, he had a cigarette in his mouth, to try and calm his nerves but obviously it wasn’t helping a lot. Next to him was the woman who was sobbing, she was still stressed from what just happened.
“Great, you two surprisingly didn’t get killed. He went easy on ya with that wound.” He commented as he stared at Daniel's bandaged leg.
He wanted to continue talking but the woman cut him off, his face got even redder because of that.
“The medicine, what happened with it…” She saw the boys weren’t holding anything in their hands and realized that they didn’t catch him. She started panicking and mumbling under her nose, afraid that she will lose her job she started crying.
“Ma’am, please go back to the shop, I’ll write a report, don’t worry about anything else. If someone comes to question you, send them to me. Everyone go back to your posts, and you newbie go back home, take a few days off.” Said Robert.
Everyone started leaving, commenting about the situation and discussing Daniel and his childish absurd behavior. Hayami was sent away and the team leader and Daniel were left alone. The old man looked at the young one head to toe and sighted. He didn’t look disappointed like the others, rather he was relieved there weren’t any complications today. If a dead student got reported on the first day it would have been a big problem for him.
“Here, take this. It will help you ease the pain and heal faster, and this prescription too, the school might have not told you this, but from now on you are required to take these once a day from now on.”
The teen caught the box that was tossed to him, when he saw it up close his face went pale. It was the same medicine. White box with a graphic red flower on the side. The name of the medicine was written with big red letters. Iruminophen. The boy gulped as the words of that thief started repeating over and over again in his head.
“You seem even paler now, maybe take two pills today and go straight home, I’ll see you in few days. Also, don’t let what happened repeat ever again, if you don’t follow my orders, I’ll make sure to remove you from the team and make sure you never find job as a military or officer ever again.”
"Yes sir...." Replied quietly Daniel.
Going back home was quite hard for him, his place and the market were quite far away from one another. He couldn’t fly back with his flyboard even if he wanted to because the police officers weren’t allowed to use such kind of transportation methods as Daniel did. He could have used the public transport but he wanted his head to chill out, think things over again, go through the events from today over and over again. The pain from his leg send shock waves to his entire body, in a way they calmed him down, and showed him that today or the recent few days were in fact real and not just some dream. When he finally got back home it was around the late evening, he had to walk out the dog which completely drained his energy and when he went back home he took the pills and lied down on his bed. Dizziness surrounded his body and he slowly fell asleep.
It was a thick forest, rain drops were making a sweet melody that was dancing around the air. The sky suddenly went dark, then light again. The images were flashing one after another. A sudden scream interrupted the music. It was so loud, as if the thing screaming was right next to. To what? There was no one around. As the viewer was looking around, he couldn’t see his physical body, just images, flashing more and more. At first it was the beautiful nature of Earth, a small house in the forest, a yard full with flowers, a woman with a big bright smile. The next flashback was showing the woman lying on the ground unconscious. Horns. Bright yellow eyes. Red hair. A scream. Blood. More and more blood. The sounds of footsteps running away, slipping on the ground every now and then. A crying baby that was lying around the blood. It felt so familiar, he has never seen this before, but why did it feel like he was witnessing a déjà vu.
Daniel woke up in the middle of the night, covered in sweat, this was one of the weirdest dreams he has ever had. He didn’t dream a lot ever since he was a child, or maybe he used to forget everything he dreamed when he woke up in the morning, but this was different, his head hurt more than ever, the pain in his leg now stinging. Wasn’t this medicine supposed to ease the pain? He got up and slowly started going to the bathroom. He couldn’t see anything, everything was blacked out in front of his eyes, he was swaying left and right, not able to stand straight, supporting himself on the wall so he doesn’t fall. It felt like eternity until he got to the bathroom. He splashed his face with some cold water, the impact with it refreshed him enough to be able to see again, but once he looked at the mirror he wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating or not. Was he dreaming again? In the mirror stood the image of a 19 year old boy, wavy dark brown hair, the mole under his eye, everything looked the same, except his eyes. Their brown color had disappeared and now were shining in bright yellow. He blinked once and they were brown again, the moment he blinked for a second time they turned yellow again. It looked like they were glowing in the dim light of the room. He stared at himself and got closer to the mirror, trying to look from a closer angle. He wasn’t imagining things, they really were yellow. When he pinched his hand to see if he was dreaming and felt the pain from it, pure panic erupted within him. His leg stinged again, when he unwrapped the bandages his wound was completely healed. No scar, no sign of anything. As if it has never happened. He started screaming, the dog woke up and started barking, it found him snuggled up on the ground trembling in fear.
“What’s going on? What the fuck is going on? God, oh God please let it be a dream please, please, please, please…please…”
The boy fainted on the floor, when he woke up again, his dog was cuddling next to him. He got up and looked at the mirror. His eyes were of their original color. The next thing he noticed is that his head wasn’t hurting anymore, he wasn’t feeling dizzy and most importantly his leg didn't have a scar or sign of any wound. It wasn’t hurting at all, it was like he never got hurt in the first place. No crust, no blood, no scar, it never was there, it never existed. Another panic attack emerged. The boy couldn’t hold his breath, his heart was hurting, he was getting light headed. The rest of the day he spent at home, not leaving the house except to walk Bear out.
He didn’t know what to do. Couldn’t ask anyone for help either. If he told anyone, they would laugh and tell him he is going insane. Even Laurence would get confused and wouldn’t know what to tell him. He was alone in this. He had to figure out what happened this night. A cut like that doesn’t heal overnight, it doesn’t matter how much humanity has advanced, the human body cannot function like that. It wasn’t normal.
It never belonged to you humans to begin with. Here take this, it will help you heal faster. Take this every day from now on.
The pills. There was something with the pills. Daniel searched the pockets of the uniform that was tossed on the ground. He found the medicine and the prescription. He stared at the small box of the medicine for a long while but couldn't figure out what felt wrong about it. He then looked at the prescription, there was some seal on the inside, a signature that probably belonged to Robert and Iruminophen written on it. Why is the signature of a police man on a prescription that’s supposed to be from a doctor? The boy got up and went to the nearest pharmacy, when he gave the note, the person didn’t say anything, they just gave Daniel a bag of pills that would last him for about a month. They didn’t question who gave him the prescription, they were acting like they are giving a normal medicine. When he got back he stared at the small boxes. How is this being sold like hot bread? Why did Robert tell him not to run after the thief? Why was the old man claiming that this belonged to him? He seemed like an ordinary thief. Why did so many weird things happen after he took the medicine? He barely got sick that’s a fact, he almost never needed medicaments to get better. Was this a side effect? He has never heard of a medicine that made your eyes glow that’s for sure. He looked around the box, read if there were any side effects, nothing. Then he decided to see what it contains. Everything seemed normal enough, nothing too shady. Then he saw something that got his interest. In the list there was this strange word again. Irumis (A). Could it be the flower that was shown on the box? And that would be the reason it’s called Iruminophen. The mysterious thing, was that Daniel has never heard of such flower before. He scattered around the shelves, trying to find some old left medicine. He found some things for flu, diarrhea, vomiting, etc. and checked the containing list. Weirdly enough on all of them he saw the word Irumis. But this time they were named Irumis (B) or Irumis (C). Was this a grading of the quality of the product placed in? In this case what he had last night had the strongest dose from all of them and maybe that’s why he had those side effects. The situation was unusual and it made the boy question things even further. He searched up the name in the internet. A photo of a gentle looking red flower showed up. The petals looked thin, almost transparent, it’s leaves were thin. It looked unreal, it was pretty, but it didn’t feel like it existed. He has never seen this, never studied about this in school either. If it was such an important thing, that you had to take every day, then why would there be almost no information about it. Even in the internet there were only 2 photos of it and in Wikipedia there was so little written about it. Pretty much only a description, no origin place, nothing. It was already getting late, Daniel couldn’t think about what else he could do so he decided to go to sleep, he didn’t take the pill as the team leader had instructed him, he was too afraid to do so. This night he didn’t have any nightmares or visions, he didn’t dream at all, maybe that was for the better. When the boy woke up in the morning he was feeling energetic and refreshed. He had a nice breakfast while walking Bear out. The whole time he was thinking about the flower, then he saw a billboard promoting a renovation of the botanical garden in the middle of the town. He has went there once with Lyla when he was a kid, she loved gardening and he took a bit from this interest himself.
“Botanical garden huh, maybe I could find the flower there. Hmmmm it’s decided then, Bear we are going for a longer walk today!”
The dog jumped around and barked in happiness after it heard “longer walk”. When they arrived at the garden, there were hardly any people.
“I guess even a billboard add can’t promote such place.”
A voice next to him replied:
“A shame really, it’s such a pretty place, those damn kids and their phones…”
It was an old lady with a cane that was supporting her. She was hunched over making her half the height of Daniel and was wearing some very old looking attire. She fixed her glasses and looked at the two visitors, then spoke again.
“This isn’t a walking park for dogs.”
“Oh, yes, I know, we are here to look around, I promise she won’t make any trouble!”
The granny sighed and replied.
“You guys are lucky that you are cute. Let me go get you a ticket and a map of the place.”
“Uh actually, I was wondering if you could give me a tour? ”
The three of them started walking around, first outside the building and then inside. Everything was in thin glass, the architecture was very beautiful, quite different from the modern architecture around the city. It seemed old, it was just as old as the plants that were in it. Everything displayed was from earth, the air even felt a bit fresher than usual. The woman walked them around, explaining everything with great detail, the dog was bored from all of this, when it heard walk it didn’t expect this slow crawling of the lady who was stopping every one minute to talk. Daniel on the other hand was listening closely, not only because he liked the atmosphere and vibe of the place but also because he was trying to hear if she would mention that flower. While walking he saw a door that had a warning sign to not enter. At the end of the tour he was convinced that she never mentioned it, so instead he decided to ask her directly about it.
“I have onr question.”
“Go on boy, what is it?”
“Could the flower Irumis be found in this botanical garden?”
“It is off limits, I don't think you're authorised."
The boy showed the old lady his ID card, which showed that he was part of the police and also graduated the military school. The granny looked at him from head to toe.To her he looked like some “smartass” trying to learn for his phytology exam in the last second and has come to research and study. The sudden interest from a cop seemed even more unusual.
“Your authorisation level isn high enough. I can't show you anything. Where did you hear about this flower anyway?"
" I was uhhh... Making a research that's all! I was doing a project and I uhhh wanted it to be more interesting, so I stumbled upon it..." Daniel quickly spat out a white lie.
“Tour is over, I suggest you leave and don't stick your nose where you're not supposed to."
Daniel knew that she had information about it, she probably knew something, but what was weird was that she wasn't allowed to talk about it at all. He had quite a lot of questions but she was done speaking. It felt like he was back to zero, no clues, no answers, only more questions. Regardless of her words he still decided to try his luck.
“Why is the visit limited? I'm sure the flowers are really beautiful, shouldn’t be hidden from the common folk!”
“Boy, I’m saying this as a friend, don’t stick your nose where it isn’t supposed to be, you will only regret it in the end...”
“Why is this such a big secret? Granny you are hiding something aren’t you?”
She didn’t reply and headed towards the entrance, she petted the dog and said goodbye. Daniel and Bear both went out with gloomy expressions, both for different reasons.
“Sorry for bringing you on such a boring walk, why don’t we get you a treat?”
“Woof!”
Daniel laughed and petted her, he then noticed a small paper tugged between her collar. There was something written on it.
She sees all, she knows all. You are already in the list. Be careful.
He looked back at the direction of the garden, chills went down his back.
Daniel was lying on his bed thinking about today, about the note and flowers. Something wasn’t adding up. And the granny was acting very weird too ? Was it an order from a higher up, so all who seek knowledge would get observed?
The flower, it all connected to the flower, he needed more information.
A sudden impulsive thought hit him, if he can’t find any research information on the internet, then he was going to research things himself. He grabbed some black clothes, a mask and glasses and went out. He got on the flyboard and flied out. It was around 3am, some parts of the city were asleep, others still had their lights flashing in neon colors, like they would never go to sleep. It was quiet and chilly, when Daniel arrived at the garden it looked dark and scary, the total opposite of its daytime glory.
“Idiot what are you doing, what if there are alarms.”
He looked around. No cameras or sensors. The place wanted to keep the old style of the botanical gardens on earth, maybe that’s why there wasn’t any security, after all what crazy head would go out and steal flowers?
“Well, I guess I am a bit crazy huh... Now how do I get in? Pickpocket the lock or use the laser on the watch…”
He never thought that his modifications would come in handy someday, he loved repairing or inventing small things, it was a hobby of his. It wouldn’t be him if after buying something new, he didn’t take it apart and assemble it back together afterwards. He was like that ever since he was a kid and he always thought that maybe being a soldier wasn’t the best thing suited for him. Building new weapons or something along the lines seemed way more interesting. Well now it wouldn’t matter what would suit him better because he was turning into the same stinky thief he was chasing down the street the other day. Maybe using the laser would leave less prints, he was already feeling bad about it, just by thinking about the vandalism he would cause. He turned on some buttons on his watch and a red laser flashed out of it, he cut the doorknob with it and pushed the door slightly with his leg. He got in and started walking to the direction of that door with the warning sign. His heart was raising, the heartbeats were getting louder and louder, his head was pulsating and at some point he couldn’t even hear his footsteps. All he could hear was his heavy breathing and his heart beating as if he was on a race. Sweat was dripping down his face and he was trying to walk as fast as possible. The sooner this was all over, the better. Luck wasn’t on his side though, finding his way in the dark was pretty hard, even the flashlight he was using didn’t help him. All he remembered is that the door was located to the right. After five minutes wandering around, he finally found it and used the laser again. The boy looked around and saw stairs leading down in the dark. The place was humid. He almost tripped down the slippery stairs but caught himself on the railing in the last second. When he got down he looked around, surprised there were really no alarms or cameras in this place. Finally he reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around with his flashlight. There were glass containers and inside of them were placed gentle flowers. At the end of the room, right in the middle of all the other plants stood one small red flower. Daniel looked around, the flowers had slightly different colors but in a way they resembled one another. Could it be the different grades? If the red one in the middle was grade (A), could there be a grade (S)? But none of the flowers seemed quite as beautiful as this one. He picked the container up and put it in his backpack. It was small enough to get in there, so Daniel didn’t need to worry about anyone stopping him for checkup. The mission was accomplished but only halfway, now all he had to do is head back. Getting out wasn’t as difficult as getting in, well almost, he slipped for the second time on the stairs and almost fell backwards. If this happened he would have damaged the flower and all he did would have been for nothing. The stress was getting to him and it was making him do mistakes he usually wouldn’t. He cursed the heavens and continued walking. Soon after he found himself at the top of the stairs and was heading outside. He tried to remember his way in from earlier so he got out in no time. The boy made a big sigh of relief after he left and flied out in a hurry, worried that somebody may see him.
By the time he was back home it was already 5 in the morning. When he got back in his apartment he closed the curtains of all the windows. He moved aside some of the instruments and junk on the kitchen table to make way for the container. He carefully opened it and put it in a normal pot. With small tweezers he snapped off one of the petals and put it on a glass, he went to his computer and turned on some scanning device. After some minutes the machine beeped and said in robotic voice.
“No information.”
“Huh?”
He checked the machine, could it be broken?
“Run full analysis.”
After few more minutes the machine beeped again.
“Pigment- light red, ingredients- crude oil, gas, coal.”
“Wait what? Simpler language.”
“Plastic.”
“What the- no way this is plastic, hold on.”
He went to the flower and got another petal with the tweezers, when he touched it, it was like a brick hit his head. The flower was fake. It was fake. It’s fake, it’s fake, it’s fake, it’s fake… Was this framed? Were all the other flowers fake too? That’s why there was no information on them, because they never existed to begin with. It was a trap wasn’t it? He stuck his nose where it wasn’t supposed to, he was dead, oh he was so dead, this was the end.
“What am I going to do, what do I do? Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Knock, knock.
His panic got interrupted, there was someone at the front door.
Chapter 4: Unexpected guest and more arising questions
Summary:
Daniel had only one place to go now. The black market. If he wanted more information he had to buy it.
Notes:
hello this chapter is still in editing stages please do not read it thank you <33
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 4
Knock, knock.
Daniel stood frozen in the kitchen, looking at the door in the corridor.
So many thoughts went through his head. Should he open or hide everything, or just run away? His dog started barking at the door.
“Bear shhh… Shhhh… don’t bark, it’s ok…”
But the dog could sense the fear of its owner and it felt the need to protect him at all cost.
The boy moved closer to the door, his hands were shaking as he was reaching out at the door handle. He took a deep breath and opened it, but what he saw took him by surprise. Why was he here?
“Took you long enough to open.” Said a familiar voice. Somebody that Daniel wasn't really expecting to see. -
“What are you doing here…?”
It was Hayami, he was wearing his work uniform. Daniel looked at his watch, it was already 6 am. The other boy was probably heading to work.
“Team leader told me to check up on you last night, don’t think that I want to be here either.”
“So you decided to check at 6 in the morning??”
“It’s not like you were sleeping, I saw you flying back home a while ago.”
Shit. Daniel thought to himself. He looked around, everywhere but not at the other's eyes. He was scared that the sly fox would catch up on something.
“What? Did you see a ghost or something? You're pale again. Look if I was you I would focus on resting instead of flying around the city.”
“Ah… uh…I was getting a breather! You know nothing else!”
"Not my job to care enough anyway. The squad leader said you should get back to work next week, I'm leaving now."
Daniel shut the door behind the other boy. That day he couldn't fall asleep. His head was filled with worry and paranoia. Disturbed by the thought he could get arrested, his curiosity was killing him. He started thinking about his next move and concluded that the black market was his best place to find information, or at least buy some. He put the flower in his backpack he needed to take with him in case the police started searching his house and then tossed his body to the bed. Bear lay down next to him. His next plan was first to get some sleep and the second was to go at night when there were no patrols and search around for information.
The moment he woke up the media was full of information about the missing flower. They were interviewing the old granny but she was repeating that she knew nothing. The detectives on the other hand stated that they couldn’t find any clues, as if this was the perfect crime. They also stated that they couldn’t see anything on the street cameras. This was weird. Daniel is nothing close to the perfect criminal and he knows it. He made so many mistakes, he slipped on the stairs multiple times! There is no way they didn’t find fingerprints. Is it because the room was humid and the fingerprints washed out from the water drops? Even if this was the case, no camera videos? They were covering the story, in fact, they were covering information from the public eye. They didn’t mention what was stolen, didn’t mention the name of the flower, and just said it was something rare. Someone didn’t want the people snooping around the case, nor the flower. Full manipulation and brainwashing, something that Daniel couldn’t believe he could now see so clearly. Was it always like this? Is this society really based on lies?
The Empress removed every single person from the government 18 years ago and started ruling on her own. Everyone trusts her and doesn’t have doubt or suspicion about her work, after all, she freed the people from the lies of the government. She was the one who led the people to revolution against the government, and thanks to her the human race is still alive. If it wasn’t for her excellency, everyone would have died of that disease years ago. The humans are holding their forces for so long thanks to her excellent leadership. Despite all this, was there still control based on lies? Was she not who everyone thought she was?
He couldn't stop thinking which resulted in his head hurting, deciding that making a plan about how to sneak up in the black market was the best way to get distracted from all the negative thoughts surrounding his mind. He had to cover up his face, he wanted neither the police or the people from the market to notice him. He put on a fully black outfit, that he thought would suit the operation, and he put on gloves this time just in case.
It was around the late evening he was doing the final preparations, putting money in his pocket, wondering if it would be enough to buy him information. He also got a knife in his pocket for more safety and self-defense. He grabbed one of his old unmodified flyboards, something he thought would be better because a lot of people had it. If he decided to bring anything too personal that describes his character it would be dangerous. He looked at Bear, if anything happened she would be all alone.
“Maybe I should bring you to Peter, it would be better than staying alone, he would take better care of you at the moment…”
The dog looked at Daniel with a gloomy face, it was worried for its owner, and it certainly wanted to go with him.
“It’s ok! I promise I’ll be back safely!"
With that being said Daniel texted Peter, asking him to take Bear for a few days.
Bear was the Family dog and they all took care of her whenever one couldn't. That's why everyone had keys to each other's apartments.
Peter quickly replied that it was not a problem. With this, Daniel was reassured and left for his mission, after giving a hug to Bear.
Daniel landed on a rooftop close to the black market and started looking around. The police were still patrolling, mainly around the main entrance, so he had to use some of the small alleys to get in, the same alleys he was chasing the thief around. He slowly got down and looked around, then put his mask on, there were some people around but no one seemed to pay attention. After a few minutes, he found himself walking around the same tight small streets from a few days ago. There was only trash lying around, along with puke or blood. His was probably mixed with the others already. The bad smell could be sensed under the mask, making him choke in disgust. He was getting closer and closer to the centre of the black market, he found that out from all the chatter and noise that could be heard ahead of him. Screaming, laughing, moaning, gunshots here and there. It was like a zoo full of people. As he went out of the alley he saw shop booths all around him. Some were selling weapons, others were selling food, he even saw people selling gadgets, bolts, devices, and so on, something that he would want to check out, maybe purchase something too. His obsession with trinkets and modifications was screaming, if only he knew such things would be found here, he would have sneaked in long ago. Everything he used was made by him and by different scrap he found. But what was being sold here was of great quality, he found himself looking at one of the booths for at least 5 minutes now and the shop vendor couldn’t help but invite him to take a closer look. He started introducing everything that was in front of Daniel’s eyes, he noticed the interest the boy was showing, and he hit the nail with this customer.
“What would you like to purchase?”
“Oh, uhhh, I…”
Daniel remembered the mission, he couldn’t spend his money on such things or he wouldn’t be able to buy information. He couldn’t use his credit card either. It would get tracked or even worse, what if his information got stolen. Purchasing stock from the black market was illegal, most purchases would be in cash anyway because the people in the black market were mostly outside the system. Everyone around him was practically a criminal.
“If you don’t have any money, leave.”
"Oh actually...I was looking for something else...Have you heard about the chase from few days ago?"
"A chase happened around the west entrance yes, but what exactly do you want to know?"
“I was curious about who they were chasing...You know its not something that happens often.” Daniel was trying his best to keep his head calm, one wrong move and his disguise could get blown.
“Why, are you a cop?” The vendor stared at the tall black figure. Thank god Daniel was wearing a mask and his face couldn't be seen.
"...Noo no of course not I was just, looking for him because I own the pharmacy!" This was a white lie that was so bad even Daniel cursed at himself for acting so stupid.
"Look kid, I don't know what you're trying to do, but you are having a death wish right now."
“I can sell back information and if you sell it to the right people you could earn you a lot."
The vendor exhaled and gestured to the boy to follow him. And so he did and found himself in a bar that was booming it people. When they got in he got the immediate feeling that everybody was watching him. He looked around, it was full with scary, rough looking faces, all covered in scars, some had robotic limbs or eyes. Another thing he noticed was that they all had weapons on their belts, some knifes other guns. He could hear his own heartbeat rising up. The man led him to a more private table and spoke.
“The price is 5000$"
“What?!? That’s too expensive!”
“Boy you are so annoying, ya come here thinking you can bargain with our prices? 5000 final price.”
Daniel didn't know what to do, as of now he didn't have many options to choose between. It was either the vendor or asking around for rumors, but rumors are unreliable. But what if this vendor was also lying to him. His thoughts got disrupted from a figure getting close to their table. Leaving two glasses of whiskey for both of the guests. Probably the vendor gestured for them.
“I don’t drink.
“You don't drink or do you just hide something under that mask? Here's a deal to you, I'll lower the price if you remove the mask.”
Daniel clenched his fists, they knew he was an outsider. The only thing he could do now is just bargain his way out.
"Taking the mask off and you lower the price to 1000" He wanted to test out the waters and gave a sum that was very low.
"4500." Replied the vendor.
" I could give you more information, although my identity should be more then enough to provide you with double the money you're asking for."
"And what's so special about you boy? Overly dressed buffoon, you think i can't tell you aren't from this part of the city?"
"This is exactly why my identity is so expensive." Shortly replied Daniel.
"3300$, if you are interesting enough ill purchase some information back." said the man.
This seemed like an alright deal for now, so he took his mask of, revealing his clear face. The eye bags under his eyes were getting darker with each day. His fluffy hair was now all messy. He took a sip out of his drink and looked at the vendor's eyes. The man in front chuckled.
"So the cop came back to capture the thief." Said the salesman.
"I'm not here to arrest him, i need information from him."
"Information you say..." He tossed 300$ across the table, a sign for Daniel to continue talking.
"I need to know why he stole the..." Daniel made a break intentionally. Another 50$ were tossed.
"Pills..."
"Which pills?"
"I don't seem to remember the name very well..." Another 100$ was tossed. Daniel smiled and said the name.
"The new batch huh..." Whispered to himself the salesman.
The talk continued for a while more, Daniel managed to get information about the location of the man. He got his money back to 3330$. For now things were going smoothly. He finished his drink, put on his mask again and headed to the next location. The waitress poured another drink to the vendor as they were watching the boy leave the bar.
“He seemed normal, but could it be that he…” She started speaking but got cut off midway.
“No way, nothing pointed at it, he didn’t have the sign of it.” He raised his voice.
“What if they were cut off? I feel like there was something…”
As Daniel was walking around the dirty streets he found himself deeper and deeper into the undercity. He felt like he was completely lost. With a bit of help here and there he finally found the location. It was a motel house. A dirty and poorly maintained one on the outside. He took a deep breath and stepped into the lobby.
Notes:
Hello! Thank you for reading so far! If you liked the chapter please leave a comment or kudos or maybe even share it with friends? If you have any questions, please let me know, I'll answer everything as long as it doesn't spoil the story. I decided to put important information here and there as the story goes, instead of wikipedia dropping everything....
This novel means a lot to me so all support is appreciated! I'll try my best to update it once a week! No specific schedule for now but I'll keep updating everyone in my instagram stories! @ivrou_ if you would like to find me. Thank you all a lot again, see ya in next chapter <333
Chapter 5: King of the undergrounds
Notes:
hello this chapter is on editing stage please do not read it
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 5
Daniel started walking towards the location he was given, walking around the alleys, asking for direction every now and then. He found himself standing in front of a 3 floor building, rather small compared to all the others that were around. There was a big neon sign that had the name of the motel written on it, the letters were flickering, as if they would go off any minute now. Motel Jayu seemed just as dirty as the other buildings around, It’s dark gray paint was peeling off, leaving room for the wood to show here and there. It seemed even a bit tilted to the right, as if this building was older than the whole town. Some of the motel's windows were broken and had holes from gun shooting. He started walking towards the entrance. He looked around the lobby and saw there was a door leading to a restaurant. The interior was just as old as the building. Daniel sat on a table and started looking around. The place was full, he had to look carefully if he wanted to find his target. A waiter greeted him and gave him a menu. Just as Daniel opened it a person sat in front of him. He looked skinny, his beard and hair now white, one of his eyes had a big scar on, which made him half blind. He was just as disgusting looking as the rest of the people in the restaurant.
“What brings ya here boy? Ya don’t seem to be from around these parts…” Said the man with a grin on his face.
“Ahah…You know, got here for a meal, and to meet somebody…” replied Daniel.
The man completely ignored his answer and continued talking.
“Are you a head hunter from the overcity? Hahah…We rarely see those here, cuz most of em get killed before they even step in the territory of the market…”
As he said that the man looked straight into Daniel’s eyes, a hint of danger hit the boy along with worry that the he wasn’t safe at all anymore. One wrong move and he could get killed.
“I’m not a head hunter, just an ordinary person…” Laughed it off Daniel, trying to stay as composed as possible.
“Ya stink like an outsider…So, how did ya even survive for so long, I’ve been hearin words about ya since you stepped in this hell hole.” The man spoke casually.
“You know about me?” Daniel was getting more and more stressed out.
“Not much, but everyone has been watching ya very closely the whole day…” said the bartender.
“And why didn’t they kill me right away, when they noticed I’m not from here…?” Asked Daniel in confusion.
“Ya askin the wrong person boy, but hey maybe they can answer ya.” The man replied while pointing behind Daniel’s position. Creaks on the floor signaled that someone was getting closer and closer to the boy, but he couldn’t react on time. He turned around to try and see who was approaching, but he couldn’t even make out their faces before a hand went around Daniel’s face pressing a white cloth around his mouth, as Daniel tried to struggle out, he slowly started losing consciousness and before completely passing out, he heard the people in the bar restaurant.
That was it… I messed up…
He opened his eyes slowly, everything was spinning around, his vision was blurry but he could notice the siluette of a person sitting in front of him. He tried moving, but his body felt so heavy he couldn’t move an inch. After his vison got better he found that he was sitting on a red leather sofa, there was a small coffee table in front of him that had bottles of alcohol, cigarette boxes and cards on it and under it a rug made from an animal’s fur. There was another sofa right in front of the one he was standing on. The room seemed rather small, there were a lot of exotic taxidermy animals hanging on the wall, plants all around, neon lights getting into the room making it look very aesthetic. Everything looked expensive, the furniture, the glasses, the alcohol, the plants, rare like the ones in the botanical garden, but Daniel could tell he was still in the motel, from the looks of the old walls. No amount of furniture could hide away the old smell and cracked walls. Despite everything the place indicated that whoever the owner was, they were wealthier than average. Daniel got his focus back on the person who was sitting in front of him and there he saw a man that was sitting, enjoying his alcohol and looking directly at Daniel. Next to him were standing 2 tall buff looking man, probably his guards. His attire was formal and well tailored but despite the change of clothes, Daniel could recognize that this was in fact the thief from few days ago.
“Oh, you are awake! Good! Want a drink? I offer whiskey with coke and hmmm, well I guess I have only that.” The man sounded rather friendly towards Daniel, as if he didn’t kidnap him just now.
“Where am I?” Daniel asked with a sharp tone.
“My VIP room, now tell me what you want to drink.” The man was holding a glass and a bottle, ready to pour in the alcohol at any second.
“Why didn’t you kill me?” Questioned Daniel, but the man looked like he didn’t care what the other was asking.
“No alcohol huh, more for me then, haha.” Simply replied the man and poured himself a glass.
“Stop ignoring my questions!” Daniel got a bit up, but that slight movement made him see a gun pointing right in his face, as relaxed as the man seemed, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t kill him right here and now. The boy sat down.
“It wasn’t in my interest to kill you. Your situation piqued my interest.” Finally replied the man, his tone serious but yet very carefree.
“…” Daniel didn’t know how to respond, he was just looking and waiting for the other to say at least something more.
“It’s interesting that you got so far, I thought they would kill you the moment you stole that flower.” At these words, Daniel’s eyes widened and his heart started beating harder.
“You know about the flower?” He asked with a raspy voice.
“I know a lot of things about you boy. I know about your real family, your current one, your friends, where you graduated from, everything I need to know, I do.” Daniel never thought that the stinky thief he chased down few days ago would sound so scary now, the man looked like some important figure, there was power in his voice, it reminded him of the general.
“You did a background check on me…”
“The information was harder to get than you think it would be…”Laughed it off the man.
“Just who exactly are you?” He asked, in hopes that the man won’t ignore his question again.
“The head of the black market you could say, I run the parade down here, that’s why you didn’t get killed when you got in.” The man replied.
“What do you want with me? Why did you let me in?”
“Because you want to get your questions answered and you look entertaining enough, for me to spend my precious time with you.” The man took a shot from the drink and then poured himself one more glass.
“You are going to answer my questions? Without even wanting a payback?” The situation sounded very fishy to Daniel, he didn’t think that he would get his answers that easily, there was something that the man was hiding…
“That depends on what you ask, all I need is for you to tell me what got you to the point of stealing the flower.” Here was the condition that Daniel was waiting to hear, no one would will to share information for free. The only thing that was confusing him was the condition itself. Why would such an influential person be interested in Daniel’s story. Not only him, but everyone he met seemed like they knew what was happening and were only waiting to see how he would play his cards out. Tragic story or a great discovery, it was still unknown what his fate would be.
“That’s all you want to know?”
“I know everything else, this is the only information running away from me.” Simply said the man.
Despite Daniel’s worries and him finding the situation very fishy, he didn’t have any other choice, it was either talking or getting shot, and sharing a bit of information seemed like the better option. He started talking about the pills, saying how his team leader gave him the same ones, about the dream, about what he saw in the mirror when he got up. As he was about to continue talking, he got cut off.
“What did you see in this dream?” The man was staring at Daniel’s eyes, it looked like he was trying to get into his consciousness. It was only just a dream, why would it matter to him? The man repeated his question, with a bit more aggressive tone so the boy stated talking again but as he was trying to remember his dream, his head started hurting. He started rubbing it, explaining the scenery of the Earth he saw, the forest, the house.
“What else did you see?”
“There was something, something unfamiliar, next to the woman was another thing, an alien…There were horns on it’s head, yellow eyes, I can’t remember anything else, I remember only a black figure with the eyes an horns…” His head was spinning, as if not letting him think about it, his memories getting fuzzier and fuzzier…
“And then the mirror…My eyes…They were yellow…The same yellow…” Daniel’s voice was raspy, after saying everything out loud, the situation got even scarier.
“Interesting…Could it be…No never mind that…”The man mumbled under his nose then spoke again with a louder more energetic voice.
“Very amusing! So you started searching for the flower because you got suspicious of the medicine and what it was made off!”
“Yes…”
“That was all I needed to know, you could ask your question now.”
The boy couldn’t believe it. Realistically speaking, he thought he would get shot the moment he finished speaking. Not only this but the information didnt seem useful to begin with. Daniel didn’t want to test the man’s patience so he asked his first question.
“The day I chased you, you said that the medicine didn’t belong to us humans, what did you mean by that…?” These words were still confusing Daniel a lot, didn’t belong to the humans? Then who did it belong to? Was it connected to what they were made off? The man laughed and replied that he can’t share anything about this.
“You are an outsider of the black market, telling you this would be dangerous to a lot of people that live here, not only that but, even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
Pressing more on the question would be pointless, the man clearly didn’t want to give away this information and getting him angry wouldn’t be of any benefit for the boy. He thought for a bit, about what he could ask the other person, there was a 50% chance that the man wouldn’t share no matter what Daniel decided to ask, so in the end he asked the question he has been wondering about the whole time, ever since he got the visions.
“Do you…Do you know what the medicine is made off?”
“I do, but are you sure that you really want to get this question answered, a lot of people get killed for finding out the truth, but you probably wouldn’t know that, after all, everything gets covered by the media…”
This made Daniel’s mind go blank. Was he really ready to throw away his whole life because of some illegal information? If he got his answer now, he would become a target, if he simply left without getting his question answered, at best he would be monitored till the end of his life. He thought about it, he thought about his future, about his past. The whole world turned against him the last few days. The job he was ready to take on, snatched away in mere seconds, his trust for the government, gone in merely days. His trust for the people around him…The people around him…His family…Did they know about all this? Did they hide all this from him? Lyla…she probably knew all along, right? She was the right hand of The Empress, there is no way she isn’t covering something. Could he trust her? Laurence and Peter worked in a hospital, all of them could know about this, all of them could be hiding what they know from Daniel. Were they protecting him or did they just not want him to butt into their business. He never knew any specifics about their work. Could he trust them? Was he all alone now? The moment he gets this information it would be him against the world. The moment he steps out of the market with this information, the government will chase after him.
“Tick tack, tick tack…I don’t have a whole night only for you boy.”
His thoughts got interrupted and all he could do is stare blankly at the man. Was he doing the right decision? Before he knew it, his mouth opened and asked the same question again. The man laughed loudly, which got Daniel very confused. Was he tricking him the whole time?
“HAHA, you really thought that I will tell you? Hahaha you are funny my boy, but I don’t want to drag myself too deep into this situation. Besides telling you everything straight away wouldn’t be interesting, right? Not only that but, yet again you wouldn’t believe my words, I believe you should see the truth for yourself.”
“Huh?”
“The Tower is where your answer lies.” The man’s face was covered in a wide smile, he himself knew that what he just said was absolutely crazy, and no one would dare to even get close to The Tower.
“Man, are you insane? This is the most guarded place on the planet, only people with special access could get in, only people part of the government…I can’t sneak in, I would get killed right away, this is more dangerous than sneaking into the black market!”
“But you have someone from the government, don’t you? You just don’t want to think about stealing the access key card from her, am I right?”
“I…I…”
“Don’t back off now, this is what you wanted, didn’t you? It will work, you have one try though. Next week, Friday, on the departure day when everyone is preparing to send the ships to Earth, and when they expect the new ships to come in. This is when their defense is the weakest.” The man was trying to convince Daniel into doing it and it fact it would have worked very well on some people, but for Daniel doing such a thing was absolutely unspeakable. Breaking into restricted places wasn’t something he hasn’t done before. Every now and then he would go to some building and draw with graffiti, what was worrying him was actually stealing again and this time from his family too. If anything happened, Lyla could get in trouble and he didn’t want to do that to her. He didn’t want her to get worried about him. The second thing that worried him was of course the fact that, despite the tower’s security being lowered at that time, he would still need to be very, very careful because he didn’t know the place and could literally get lost in there. The Tower was a huge building, it was a bit far away from the center of the city and it had 300 floors. How the heck is he going to search 300 floors for the little time he had while also having to escape security? The mission was impossible just from thinking about it.
“Floor 213, if you want to know more, start walking up the floors, though the higher you go the bigger the chance for them to catch you.”
At this point Daniel wasn’t even surprised about how the one standing in front of him knew this information, he was convincing himself that if he asked about any person, the other would be able to make a full report about them. The man probably knew more about Daniel more than he himself ever would. Being the head of the black market really was a powerful position, even The Empress herself had little power against him. Daniel imagined him with the title “King of the undergrounds”.
“I…I have to think about it…” Finally said Daniel.
“Sure, I’ll get my people to escort you back outside of the market and also, return back to work as soon as possible, don’t do anything suspicious, act as if nothing ever happened, act as if you never met me or got in here, it’s for your best interest.”
He whistled and the big mans beside him opened the door, waiting for Daniel to exit with them. Before he would go out of the door, the boy stopped, turned around and asked the man if he could ask one last question before he goes.
“Go ahead.”
“Why are you helping me?”
The man smiled and took a sip from his alcohol, then answered.
“Your fate is special.”
That was the only thing he said, then waved with his hand, signaling to get the boy out of the room.
When Daniel got back home, the sun was starting to rise. He was feeling very exhausted. The moment he hit the bed, he fell asleep.
Everything was black, as if he was blindfolded. He heard a baby’s cry. He heard a language he has never heard before, echo from a distance, he couldn’t move, all he could do was listen. After the cries, a sharp scream followed and then he sensed the scent of blood, it was strong and surrounding him, so strong that he would start choking for fresh air. Then all of a sudden he started feeling this sharp pain, as if someone cut his body, he started screaming and coughing blood all over. The baby nor the other thing could be heard anymore, it was only him, drowning in pain. He knew this was a dream, he wanted to wake up and stop this unpleasant feeling, but it felt like something was stopping him from breaking away from this dream, as if something was channeling it into his mind and he had no other choice but spectate.
After few hours of this torture he finally woke up, it was 10 am and he had to start getting ready for work. He felt more tired than when he went to bed, wondering if this will start happening every night from now on, and if it really did, he thought that maybe getting shot while searching through the files in The Tower would be better than experiencing this night over and over again. The dog’s missing presence saddened him, he needed his supporting non talking friend more than ever now and wanted to hug Bear and just fall asleep with her. He felt his spark and joy fading from him, he didn’t know if this was because he was tired but he for sure could tell that he wasn’t feeling mentally alright at the moment. This dream wasn’t a coincidence, it was most likely a left over side effect from the medicine but the timing was too perfect for that. Daniel got up to go wash up and then go out. As bad as he felt about it, he was slowly starting to think about how he should steal the access card from Lyla.
Notes:
Thank you for reading and supporting my work <3 I hope you liked today's chapter! <3
Chapter 6: The Tower
Summary:
Sometimes a decision one does is not the best. Sometimes curiosity kills us. We can hide but we can never run away from our mistakes.
Notes:
Hello everyone! It's been such a long time since I last updated this. I was busy editing the previous chapters and clearing up some mistakes of mine. I dont know when I'll update it again. I have a hard time writing and I'm always worried that I'm not portraying my thoughts well enough. In any case I hope you enjoy it! <3
Chapter Text
After leaving the black market, Daniel went to sleep, or at least he tried. He was feeling uneasy and had a bad feeling about the latest events. He was suspicious of the old man from the market, but he was also the only person, who actually told him any information. He had no other hints or clues so the Tower was his last mark.
In the upcoming days Daniel started going to work again, but nothing unusual happened. In the meantime he was searching of a way to enter The Tower without having to steal the access key from Layla. Unfortunately it was impossible if you're not security or a worker and Daniel didn't have high hopes of promotion in the upcoming years since he reached rock bottom with the upcoming position he's in.
Something was really messed up, the system was obviously against him. He felt like it was testing him.
After all his effort in research, there wasn't any other way but to "borrow" Lyla's key card.
He messaged her asking if she's free for a dinner in Friday, the day when the exchange program was happening.
And there it was, the days passed and he was now sitting on the sofa and eating dinner with her. They played a show on the TV and not long after she was asleep. He snooped around her belongings and got the key. Guilt was showing on his face and he was still wondering if this is the right decision to make.
He decided to leave one final note to her, if anything went wrong and disguised himself in a hologram suit, that would help him put an image of the uniform the guards from The Tower were using. People would suspect him less if he looks like he belongs there. Not a genius plan, but it was better than getting shot on the spot the moment he got close to the building.
He flied to The Tower, there were 2 guards around the entrance, but he managed to play everything cool and unlock the door without a problem.
After getting in he started going around the long corridors, everything looked the same and he was getting lost. It was also rather empty, for the time he was snooping around he didn't see any guards around.
He found an elevator and he went up to floor 213, after verifying his 'fake' identity with Lyla's card.
He shortly arrived and continued walking around, he was surrounded by bad smell, one of rotten flesh mixed with copper and metal. Unlike the other floors, this one seemed rather dark, it was a bit poorly lit and the floor and walls were black. As he entered one of the rooms he saw a lot of documents flying around. Biology sheets of Aliens. Blood tests and others. He took pictures and decided to go to the next room. As he entered it the only light that was coming was out of a hige human sized tanks, and in them tied up with multiple systems and needles, humanoid looking creatures. You could mistake them for humans were it not for their pointy ears. One thing was missing though, their horns. Terrified he took a photo of the tanks and left to the other room. There he saw it, a little alien tied down to a metal table and a doctor, cutting it's skin down, while it screeches in agony. Daniel was petrified, he was looking at the gruesome picture and couldn't even blink.
"Who are you? What are you doing here"
Daniel tried to get himself out, to say something, but nothing was coming out of his mouth. The doctor in front made a grim expression and the next thing he knew, alarms started ringing. Daniel finally went out of his trance and he knew he had to run. He sprinted to the elevator but he saw the cabin was already coming up to the floor. Turning around he saw stairs right next but he heard voices coming from the lower and upper floor. He had no way out.
Or maybe he did. He jumped on his fly board and started speeding up down the corridor, breaking through the glass window, he flied outside The Tower. Not long after he heard cars, motors and helicopters roaring behind him. A chase began, as he got closer to the city he was evading other drivers or buildings. He finally reached a place where he could hide from the guards, and that place was the black market.
He tried to blend with the crowd, but the whole place was getting surrounded by helicopters and the red guards. The next thing he knew, he got yanked by the collar.
He found himself in a dark alley and the head of the black market was standing in front of him. He tossed him keys.
"Get out of my territory right now before you cause any more problems." He said in angered voice.
Daniel asked where he's supposed to go and the man told him to run far away from here, from Mars.
Daniel's next destination was obvious. He was to catch a spaceship and fly away from the planet. As he was sneaking around the town he finally reached the docs. He was pressing on the button of they keys given to him, looking around to see it any of the ships would light up. He finally found the ship which the key's belong to. A small spaceship that could hold around 6 people. He got in and turned the controls on. Thankfully he had a little experience flying thanks to his school.
He flied with the ship and started getting out of the docs and flying away but soon after sirens started ringing and he started getting chased once again.
As he flew around space trying to evade lasers and gunshots from the other ships he was also trying to evade asteroids and keep the direction of the course.
Flying at high speeds allowed you to reach Earth really quickly, but it also required skill. The chase continued and not many of the chasing ships managed to evade the asteroids gathered around. He was getting closer and closer to the atmosphere of earth when suddenly the wing of the ship got shot. Crashing down and with last hopes left he tried to land. At the crash he lost consciousness.
HauntScript on Chapter 1 Thu 03 Jul 2025 11:06AM UTC
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