one-time-offer - Tumblr blog

one-time-offer · 1 year ago

Text

The scent of gunpowder filled the alleyway after the sharp noise of a gunshot.

“Wasn’t her.”

Chamber hissed with anger, blowing the smoke off of his Headhunter. Thanks to him using it quite close range, nothing was actually heard. Chamber pressed on the earpiece while putting the gun back in his vest.

“Why did he have her phone?”

It was a mumble to himself, to be honest, but since he had two more people on the line, they heard him.

“Theft?”

Mirror Chamber responded. Neither of them enjoyed the thought of Manon getting mugged. Was that why Manon never returned his calls? Kneeling down, Chamber grabbed the now shattered phone and turned it around to inspect it. The wallpaper showed the man that Chamber had shot, posing with his assumed boyfriend. The bastard had changed the wallpaper. Irritated, Chamber stood up and stuffed the phone into his pocket. With a forceful turn, he stormed out of the alleyway.

“What now? We don’t have any other leads.” He hissed.

“Ace is working on it.” the other Chamber responded in a comforting tone.

There was a lot of typing in the background alongside the frustrated groans of a young adult.

"THERE IS NOTHING!" screamed Ace. "It's like, they deleted everything about her!"

It was all in vain, Ace couldn't find anything about Manon in Kingdom's database. Did they erase everything about her? It was a tough situation, they needed more info than what the e-mails contained. Everything seemed to be in vain, Kingdom had erased every trace of Manon, even her employement. He could hack into this new protocol his bosses joined but nothing from Kingdom.

"I will be back soon from Italy," Chamber took out a Marlboro and lit it as he spoke. "I have retrieved her phone as well."

"Wait- her phone?" Ace chimed in, almost cutting him off.

"Yes." Chamber pulled the cigarette out of his mouth to exhale. "I will be back in a day."

"We are waiting for your return... Emperor." Mirror Chamber grinned.

The plan was set, everything was in place and now the only thing left to do was to put it into action. Through the acquired phone, they managed to locate exactly what they needed; Manon's last known location (the old facility she used to work in). The Chambers had given Ace a dart gun to take with him. They wanted to design a gun for him but Ace was stern on his "Do no harm" policy.

After a few days, Ace was at the designated location, hiding behind some trees. He was observing the building, his arm device downloading information on the building. The wind was strong, causing his purple-green braided hair to flow with it. This moment was... peaceful. With a deep inhale Ace pulled his mask up. It had been a while since he had gotten the chance to just relax and take a breather.

"BEEP BEEP!"

Ace glanced down at the device. "Download Complete!" it said.

After pulling the mask down, Ace opened the downloaded file; a 3D version of the place. It was in bad shape, near the point of collapsing. The security cameras still worked and there was a man guarding it. Yeah, totally reasonable to protect an abandoned facility. After closing the file, Ace started running towards the place. He climbed over the metal fence and jumped down before hiding behind a tree. They should be here in...

"Woof!"

"Easy, Daisy." The security-guard whistled.

Ace reached for the dart gun and pointed it at the dog first. His hands trembled with fear, but he knew that he had to do it. The dog was faster than him. After a deep exhale, Ace shot the first shot, causing the dog to yelp. Ace shot the man also before running off, a timer was set on his arm device for 15 minutes. The guard stumbled for a moment before reaching for his neck to yank the dart out and threw it away without. But he didn't properly check what it was.

"Come back here!" The guard ran after Ace who had put some great distance between them.

This shouldnt be too much of an issue for Ace. Keep them far enough for 10 more minutes. During that time, Ace managed to find a new place to hide.

"Where'd that bastard go..." The guard panted after running for almost 9 minutes. His vision was getting blurry at this point. He glanced down to see Daisy had passed out on the floor.

Footsteps.

Before he passed out, he met with his attacker; the hare masked individual. A much smaller person compared to the guard- one in a skirt nontheless! His pride couldn't fathom this loss.

"...bi...tch...."

With that, the man fell limp as Ace's alarm went off.

"Right on time." Ace shut off the alarm and walked towards the broken window he had planned to enter from.

Now to find the circuit board.

Ace took out a flashlight and shone it in the darkness. The building honestly wasn't in such horrible state; just abandoned.

Ace walked around the facility, following the floor plan on his screen. His walk wasn't long, the electric room was right around the corner. But even being in the building was terrifying. It was silent, even the wind stayed away from the building. Ace walked towards the locked door of the electricity room and kicked at the lock. Whoever designed this door should've been fired forever ago because it broke easy. Ace stumbled forward a little but then fixed his clothes before he walked to the circuit board. He opened the electricity box.

"Huh?" he gasped, "Someone messed this on purpose..."

Ace opened his bag and started repairing the circuit board. The flaslight was in his mouth, fixated at his hands as he worked. It was a hard fix but with one final cable wiring, the electricity came back. He celebrated with a small "yessss" and put the flashlight away, walking around was easier now and not as scary.

And now for the second part, the database.

Ace turned left after leaving the room and walked past the cafeteria, where tables and chairs had been scattered around. The walk from there to Section B was a little longer, it took about 10 minutes of walking. Soon he reached a z shaped automatic door with a slight run-down text atop of it. "Section B". The space was too small for him to squeeze through. After a quick search, Ace found a metal pipe and used it to wedge open the doors a more.

The Biology Sector was... in a terrible shape. There were many animal carcasses scattered around. Even some claw marks that even Ace failed to locate. Walking around, he could swear it was getting colder and colder.

"so cold..." Shivered Ace but didn't yield.

This section was too big, Ace needed the plans again to aid him with this maze. After pulling out the floor plans he begun walking towards the Cerebrum (main data vault). But there was an odd feeling inside him ever since he walked past a labaratory with more carcasses. It was like... someone was watching him. He turned around sharp, a hand to the dart gun but there was nothing. Was he imagining things? Ignoring it all Ace kept walking, following the floor plan which took him past an empty emergency axe box. It was odd. That was the only empty one in the whole building.

Soon he reached the door to Cerebrum but this door had a digital lock. Luckily for him he came prepeared. Using his arm-screen he connected to the padlock, ran a program and cracked it open.

Bingo. Never use a 4 digit code.

Pushing the door open he gazed at the servers for a moment. There was more than he assumed. Then he took a deep breath in and placed his backpack by the door. This was going to be a long night.

But being too focused on work is not a great trait, you don't realise your bag getting stolen. To make matters worse, the freshly turned-on electricity suddenly went off.

"What?!" he shouted, cursing underneath his breath. Despite the amount of tapping he did to his screen, nothing happened. Frusturated, Ace walked towards door for his bag.

"...where is my bag..."

Fear replaced Frusturation. His stuff was gone- someone was no doubt with him. Turning the arm-device into a flashlight, Ace took a few steps back. He was terrified. With a hand to his dart gun, Ace begun walking out of the room fast. He needed to get to the first exit he could find.

But through the pure darkness of Section B, someone was following Ace.

Step.

Ace didn't notice the sound of someone approaching because of his heartbeat.

Step.

It was getting close.

STEP.

Too close.

A sharp object shone through the dark and raised to the air.

"LOOK OUT!" A new voice screamed.

A bullet flew by Ace and into the thing behind him. The creature let out a roar like a polar bear, stumbling back from pain.

The new man grabbed Ace by the wrist and dragged him with him. Through the light from Ace's arm device, Ace met his saviour; he had spikey black hair with a blue-orange jacket, decorated with spikes on the shoulders and an earring.

ROOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Ace turned around to look at the creature. He couldn't see anything but a blue shine and a sharp object -an axe?- through the darkness. The air was cold once again, maybe the creature was the cause of the cold. But Ace's distraction caused him to stumble.

"くそ!" (Kuso!)

Without hesitation, the man picked up Ace and begun running faster. Ace leaned to the Japanese man and kept his eyes hidden. The man got down to his knees and slid through the Z shaped doors. Once on the other side the man took out the gun again and shot at the metal pipe that held the doors apart just in time. The creature had thrown the axe at them but it only stuck to the closed doors.

"whew..." The man sighed, setting down Ace with care and glanced down. "That was close."

Ace's mask had tilted off a little to reveal his hazel eyes and pale skin. He was panting alongside the Japanese man. But his hyperventilation was out of fear. The japanese man's eyes widened a little. He was not a man to show his worry so he stayed silent, looking at the door. Then he stood up again while carrying Ace in his arms.

"wwooah-" Ace fixed his mask whilst.

"Maybe come with a real gun next time." The japanese man smirked.

"... I am a pacifist." Ace mumbled.

"hmm. Suits you."

It was actually nice to be carried this way. Ace couldn't help but blush. He never got treated this way by the Chambers.

"Why did you enter the facility?" Ace asked.

"Someone told me I might find something" then, the man glanced at Ace again. "you?"

"...That is confidential."

Once by a window, the man helped Ace out of the window and settled him down. Ace bowed to him and started walking backwards.

"Leaving already?"

Ace nodded. "I must. I have to return to my bosses." and begun walking away.

"Tell me your name at least." The man called out.

"..."

After stopping, Ace turned to look at him, his hair flowing with the now stronger wind.

"Ulti."

3 notes · View notes