I knew that if I wanted to survive, I would really have to bring my A-game. I've been underestimating my opponents up until now, but I can't let that happen anymore.
First order of business was to meet up with TJ and figure out what he had learned during all of this. His information would be crucial to the development of my plan.
"So, TJ, what have you got for me?"
"A lot, actually, I learned so much while you were gone."
TJ and I had met up at our secret spot at the park to discuss what he had learned, in case our houses were bugged. TJ said he was glad to see me back, and I told him about what happened to me and Viktor.
"TJ, I'm gonna have you hide from Fredrick with me, if you're okay with that."
"Are you kidding? Of course I want to help!"
TJ was as enthusiastic as ever, perfect.
He told me all about the Arcane Syndicate, and how difficult it was to find information. Pieces of it were slowly disappearing as the days went on. He learned about a supposed experiment that involved genetically breeding humans to create a perfect human. This means that Fredrick and Viktor were a part of this. The Arcane Syndicate also apparently had a lot of influence, enough to make all traces of them disappear. TJ said there was a high likelihood that several people outside of Fredrick and Viktor were a part of it. There was also a lot of information on supposed magic items and that something legendary would happen if one were to get their hands on all 4. TJ also mentioned a legend that said all 4 magic items could cause a singularity if combined.
I needed to get all 4.
To stop the Arcane Syndicate, we would need to infiltrate their headquarters to pick up whatever information they had on the rest of the items, and somehow get the hourglass the Fredrick now had.
I knew Fredrick had it since neither Viktor nor I got any magic item after winning the Paradox Game, and also with Aion gone it just made sense.
Which means the Arcane Syndicate already had 1 of the 4 items it needed.
And I had one of them.
Well, TJ still has it. Speaking of which…
"Hey, TJ. Still got the watch?"
"Oh yeah, I still got it. Haven't taken it off." He said as he showed his arm to me. I took it off carefully and put it back on my arm.
"Thanks, TJ. Now, let's move onto our next move. It's clear that we're going to need information from the Arcane Syndicate to find the next magic items. But also, I'm going to need someone to deal with Fredrick while I'm gone. If he isn't occupied, then he'll more than likely come after me. So, we're going to split up for a bit, TJ. I'm going to contact an old friend of mine. While I do that, get as much information as you can on any potential locations of the Arcane Syndicate."
TJ nodded.
"Got it."
…
The sun was setting, TJ and I had parted ways for a bit. I decided I was far enough away from my house that I could risk the phone call.
"Jeffrey? Yo, what's up man?" An enthusiastic voice said over the phone.
"Hey, Bob, not much. It's been a bit. I do need something, though. You know of Fredrick?"
"Yeah, the new kid? What's with him?"
"He'll be returning to school sometime soon, maybe even tomorrow. I need you to do everything you can to keep him returning to school. Monitor his every move, in and out of school. I'm caught up in some deep shit, so I'll need constant updates. I know you and Emma are pretty tight, so I'm assuming she's already hooked you up with a student council position?"
"Yeah, I'm event coordinator. What the fuck happened, will you be alright?"
"Yeah, don't worry. I have everything under control. I just need you to deal with him. Learn everything you can using any means you can. Sound good?"
Some time passed before he made his decision.
"Yeah, I can do that. One condition though, I'll need you to do something for me too."
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Don't keep me in the dark in your scheme here."
I smiled. This man was too good.
"Yeah, I can do that."
"Alright, I'll see what I can do."
With that, the call ended.
Bob Joel was an old friend of mine. We used to talk a lot, but we both knew that it'd be best for both of us if we pretended like we barely knew each other, in case something like this ever came up.
I'll explain the extent of my plan to him later, but there were more important things to attend to. I decided to text TJ about the progress.
J: Yo, TJ, finished with the thing over here, hyd?
TJ: Going well, figured out a lot. Meet up at normal.
Meeting up at normal meant the spot in the park. God, I love that spot. There were two trees towards the back of the park that completely blocked out the heat of the summer. However, they were also discrete enough to the point where you couldn't see our faces at first glance, but gave us a complete view of the park. Also, we dug an escape tunnel leading out of the park into an old building across the street, in case we'd ever need it.
Something told me we were going to need it.
After meeting back up with TJ, I decided to tell him about Bob.
"Alright, TJ, I was able to get in contact with my acquaintance."
"Nice, who is it?"
"You remember Bob? He goes to our school."
"Yeah, I do. Didn't you two have like a huge fight?"
"No, but that's what we wanted everyone to think."
"Got it."
"Yeah, he's part of the student council now. Emma used to date his brother, but while they dated the two of them became good friends. He's going to make sure Fredrick doesn't do anything we won't expect. Anyway, what've you got in terms of potential locations?"
TJ nodded grimly.
"Not much," he said while handing me some old photos. "If I had checked earlier, I might've been able to get more information. See what you can do with this."
I looked at the photos. Not much to work with. One was of an old warehouse by some docks. Chances were at least some of these photos weren't even real, or maybe even all of them. One photo even looked like Virginia. In fact, I'm pretty sure it is Virginia.
As I panned over them, something caught my eye.
One of the photos was of a tall building, but I recognized the area.
"Take a look at this one." I said while pointing to the photo. "Does this place look familiar to you?"
TJ stared at it for a bit.
"No, have we been there?"
"No, we haven't. But I recognize this area. The trees here are from New York, without a doubt."
TJ grimaced for a moment.
"Are you sure, man? I mean, you've never been there."
I nodded.
"Yeah, but I know the layout. I learned a lot about American geography in one of the books I used to read. At first glance, this photo may be of just a normal park. But when you take a closer look, it's obvious. The straight angles, no curves. All the streets are in a grid pattern. There's only one place in the entire United States, hell even the entire world, that does that."
TJ nodded.
"Impressive, but what does it mean?"
"Well, it means that we're going to need to go to New York in order to find their main headquarters."
TJ looked up at me.
"You mean we get to go on a vacation to New York?"
I nodded.
"Hell yeah, man, we're going to New York. Pack your shit, we'll meet back up here first thing tomorrow. I'm beat."
The sun was starting to set, and we had already seen a lot of the children that were playing at the park heading home.
He nodded.
"Yup, see ya tomorrow, man. I'll go ahead and buy the plane tickets for the earliest flight they have."
I held my hand for him to dap up which he did as I talked.
"Sounds good, rest well, man."
…
Back at my house, I replayed the image of a picture in my mind, keeping me from sleeping for a while. I would need to remember every detail.
…
I woke up at a completely reasonable time of 12:04 in the afternoon. For some reason, I always slept way longer than most. Doctor's speculated it was due to how large my brain was and how much power it took to process everything at the level I did.
Anyway, after I woke up I checked my phone to see if TJ sent me anything.
TJ: I got tickets that'll leave in 12 hours.
TJ sent that about 4 hours ago, leaving me little time to implement my plan.
I was going to set a trap.
J: Just woke up, I'm omw to normal.
We met back up at our spot in the park.
"'Sup, Jeffrey? You got everything packed."
"Yup, you got the photos, right?" I said while signing 01-SHARK.
He looked at me with wide eyes.
The code I just sent signaled "change".
Because there was about to be a change in my plan.
I knew what he was about to tell me about the photos, that one was missing.
That's because I took it.
It would be important for later, I just needed to execute my plan.
"Yeah, man. I can't find one. Must've dropped it here sometime yesterday and the wind picked it off."
I nodded.
"That sucks. It's probably a fake, though. Anyway, I want to check out the airport real quick before we take our flight, come with me."
TJ seemed skeptical at first, he gave me a curious glance.
"You sure? The flight doesn't leave for a few more hours."
I waved his question away.
"I just wanna check it out. We gotta be prepared after all."
TJ was still a little hesitant to join me, but he got the memo.
I had a trick up my sleeve.
We got to the airport in about 20 minutes, wasn't too far from the park.
Once there, we roamed around for a bit. I bought a couple of overpriced cameras from a gift shop. These would be critical. After giving the place a thorough look through, I didn't find anyone suspicious.
But, I didn't expect to.
I placed the cameras in places that would give me the best views of the airport, then took a very confused and concerned TJ back to the park.
"What the fuck is all this for, Jeffrey?"
I smirked.
"You'll see." I said while pointing to the little monitor I had showing all the cameras.
We ended up buying 6 cameras from the store before I felt like we had spent too much money. Well, I felt like when we bought the first one, but I couldn't stand buying any more than 6.
I knew Fredrick wouldn't just let us go, so I set a little trap. When I checked my phone this morning, I learned Fredrick was the student council vice president. Meaning, he probably would've chosen to stick to the school life instead of trying to hunt me down.
But he wouldn't do that if he couldn't send someone after me.
The flight would be our bait. I set up the cameras to see if I couldn't find anyone suspicious appearing at the airport to try to find our flight.
I wanted to find who Fredrick sent after us.
"You want to spy on the airport?"
TJ was as clueless as ever, poor thing.
"No, I'll show you. We just have to wait."
TJ sighed then folded his arms over his chest.
"Fine."
We sat there, staring at the monitor I made with the 6 different cameras.
After a few hours, I finally spotted our suspect.
A man, very tall, dressed in a black suit, black slicked back hair and sunglasses. He stood out like a sore thumb.
"TJ, take a look at this."
TJ, who had fallen asleep while waiting, threw himself up to a standing position and looked at the top right camera.
"Who's that?"
"Our guy. That camera is pointing towards the terminal where our flight was supposed to take off in 30 minutes."
The guy looked around for a bit. Then walked up to the gate agent and pulled out two photos, likely asking if she had seen us. The lady did some pondering, then shook her head.
I figured they'd use photos of us, so I made sure we arrived at the airport early enough for the gate agents to have changed shifts since we were there.
The man then did something unexpected. He started looking around.
"What is he doing now?"
TJ wondered aloud.
At first, I was also curious. But then, I realized what he was trying to do.
"He's trying to find the cameras."
This man, whoever he is, was far sharper than I imagined he would be. I told myself I'd stop underestimating my opponents, but here I go again, making the same mistake.
This was getting irritating.
The man traced imaginary routes along the ceiling with his finger, then scoped out the best spots to put a camera. Very quickly, his eye locked on the one we were now intently staring at. Sweat started to form at my brow, he wouldn't be able to see us, but knowing about the cameras is still dangerous. He can ask for security footage of who was at that gift shop and find out we were behind it, not that he didn't already know.
The man approached the camera and started saying something. We bought cameras without mics since they were four times cheaper, but I understood what he was saying pretty clearly.
"You fucked up, Jeffrey Thompson. You better be halfway across the globe right because I will find you. Start praying to whatever God you believe in because that's the only thing that can save you now."
With that, he picked up the camera and turned it off.
"The fuck did he say?"
"We've been made. He knows we aren't at the airport and is likely going to make his way down here."
"Shit, what do we do now?"
"Grab as much shit as you can from your house and we gotta get the fuck outta here."
"On it."
I dashed back to my house and packed up everything I could think of. My toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, spare change of clothes, my debit card, a laptop, some non-perishable food, among other things. I threw everything I thought would be useful into my backpack then dashed out of my house, but in the distance I saw something horrifying.
A fire.
Not just any fire, though. This one looks like it's coming from TJ's house.
I couldn't waste any time. I texted TJ real quick to make sure he was alright.
J: Yo, you good? TF happened?
TJ: I'm alive. No time to explain, we got company.
Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, a voice called from behind me.
"Jeffrey Thompson. A pleasure to finally meet you." The man's cold, calculating voice sent a chill down my spine. I turned to face the man.
"Who might you be? A lawyer?"
"Funny. You're really amusing. My name is Mark Lawrence. You know what, I'm feeling rather generous right now. You have 5 minutes. Get as far away as you can. When I find you, I put a bullet in your skull."
The man said this as he slowly pulled a gun out from his cloak. I got the slight impression he wasn't going to wait 5 minutes to shoot me, though. I dodged to the left, right before I heard the gun fire. To my right, I saw the bullet embedded into the blazing asphalt next to my palm.
I was an inch away from losing my hand.
The man started making his way closer to me, but I quickly ran down the road. I heard him closing in on me.
"Come on Jeffrey! I just want to play a game!"
I didn't want to play a game.
I risked a glance behind me and saw that I had lost him after a sharp right turn. To my right, I spotted a bush that would give me cover for the time being. I ducked behind it.
Luckily, for situations like these, I had a button on my phone that would turn my location on. TJ also had this on his phone. We had these in case we got separated in a pinch and needed to find each other, especially if we needed help. I punched the button, but learned something from it.
That function was broken.