"And who is this?" asked Benjamin. His fears had come true. Not only did the mystery man stand a couple of inches taller than him, but he had a robust agreeable face, too. "Oh" started Amber "This is Mr. Kirkland. We went to high school together."Benjamin felt that was an underdescription. He'd bet half a million this man was from a special breed of high society. Mr.Kirkland shook Benjamin's hands. "Nice to meet you. Kirkland. CEO of Moonshot Industries." said Kirkland. Moonshot industries. From TV? That was building rockets for NASA? Benjamin had even heard faint whisperings that there were even plans for Commercial Transport as early as 2025. "Moonshot Industries. The Moonshot Industries?" asked Benjamin. "Guilty as charged" smirked the man. It was not an innocent smile. "Benjamin Black. CEO, IVY Corporations," he replied. Mr Kirkland turned his head in doubt. "Black. Of Black Industries?" Benjamin nodded. "That's my father-in-law." However, Benjamin left out the neat little fact
"That is good Anna. Very good!" Amber tossed the papers back on the table. "So you'll be forcing us to pay 300 million? Those were some pretty threats back there.""Threats? Oh, no. I am simply stating facts, Ms Amber. It would be in your best interest to honour the bid. Everything else is a precaution by the Auction House for defaulters. We are running a business, after all." said Anna, devoid of her usual hearty tone."And the part about my friends and Acquaintances?" asked Amber. Anna ignored the question. "How would you like us to proceed Ma'am?" she asked politely. Amber looked to Benjamin, who threw a devilish smile."We aren't proceeding with anything, Ms Anna. You can't force us to pay that kind of money."There was a pause. "I wonder about that," said Anna. She rose to open the doors to the Conference Room, meeting and talking with one of the guards outside. After a satisfying nod from her, she returned."Good news, Ms Amber. We have decided to let the Justice System handle
"We're going to find him" stated Anna."You better" replied Amber. She felt a sort of kinship towards Anna; it seemed she was the one calling all the shots in the auction house, but doubtless, she had a boss too. A lot of difficult decisions had to be made immediately, and she seemed up to the task. But this was not the time for compliments; not when millions of dollars were at stake."I hope you don't mind, I've also gone through the trouble of assuaging the two police detectives that it was a false alarm. Just a simple misunderstanding." Anna smiled weakly."We'll see," said Benjamin. Anna chuckled nervously, looking at nobody in particular, she tapped the desk as she counted the minutes. At precisely the 15th minute of silence, she received a call. "Hello?""We've identified him, Ma'am." said the voice on the other end."Why are you calling me, then? Bring him up!" barked Anna. "That's the problem, Ma'am. He's not budging.""One person, against your whole squad! Is this supposed t
“He’s over there” pointed Anna, to the entrance. Simon frowned and turned to her.“Are you serious? Here?” he barked.“I’m afraid he insisted,” said Anna, holding out her arm. “Shall we?”Simon made a clicking sound with his tongue as he followed Anna up the steps. On the final landing, Amber and Benjamin approached them.“Good Evening, Mr.Simon.I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting” started Amber.“Are you the one that’s being a pain in my arse?” asked Simon bluntly.“Oh, no. That would be my boss, here” Amber pointed backwards to Benjamin, who stood a few yards behind her.Simon squinted to get a good measure of him.“Listen, man, let’s all be reasonable here. What you say we go inside, and-”Benjamin stepped closer to him, and Simon’s eyes slowly expanded from their resting narrow shape
“That was you?!” whined Simon.Benjamin made a polite bow. “Benjamin, the blind bat, at your service.” he said.“You can guess how we got the rest.”Simon yelled, and rushed at him, grabbing both his shoulders.“Who put you up to this huh? Was It Zeppeli, or the Maestros, or the Jaegers? Which one of our enemies sent you?” Johny shifted backwards on the mention of Zeppeli. Benjamin used Martial Arts to promptly break three of Simon’s fingers.“Ahhh!” roared Simon, dropping to the floor in pain. Some loud chanting could be heard from Simon’s security as they advanced with no fear to their master. The auction’s security cocked guns, ready to fire this time!“Don’t you take another step!” barked Anna, but Simon’s security had had enough. They continued advancing.“This is your final warning. We will shoot!” threatened Anna, but it fell on deaf ears. That is until they could hear sirens. It was coming from down the street. Simon looked up.“We had a deal. Who called the police?” asked Simon
“You’re the one who stole my dominion points, aren’t you?” Mr Kirkland was too stunned to speak for the first few seconds. But soon, he put his arm around the window of the Ferrari and smiled at Benjamin.“So, you figured it out. That was quick. Did your System tell you? I thought they were not allowed to disclose other identities of System Users” mused Kirkland. “But I suppose it was a no-brainer after all. The choices were between me and that Kid, right?” Benjamin approached him.“Who the hell are you?” asked Benjamin. Kirkland grinned and leaned back in the soft leather bucket seats of his car. “Me? I’m Kirkland. CEO of MoonStar Industries. I believe I’ve already introduced myself, Mr. Benjamin. “Yeah, we’ll see” started Benjamin, firing up Appraisal.[Appraisal. Name: BLOCKED. Age: BLOCKED. Dominion Points: BLOCKED. Exp: BLOCKED. Skills: BLOCKED Strengths: BLOCKED Weaknesses: BLOCKED.] “What the fuck?” exclaimed Benjamin. Kirkland laughed. “Don’t tell me. Appraisal? Come on. S
“What?!”“Whoa, you haven’t heard the most of it, Mr Black. It’s much worse than that.” Replied Kirkland squeezing through Benjamin’s left wrist. Benjamin didn’t feel a thing, but [Notice: Strengthened Body Integrity Compromised. 90% Integrity left. 70%. 50%]Amber was with Johnny several feet away, still clueless to their conversation. “Let her go, Mr Black. It wouldn’t work out anyway. Do you think she could ever look in your direction? No amount of money’s going to change that. It won’t erase, all this—“ Kirkland gestured to Benjamin's demeanour.“If you’ve got something to say-“ started Benjamin.“It’s like putting perfume over a rotting stench. Well, I’m sure you can imagine how worse that makes it” snapped Kirkland. Was his appearance really that distasteful? It had been fun to get one up over people who kept underestimating him, but for even a system user to bring it up. Amber also commented on it back at school, he thought.“Ahh, it seems you understand, already. Has she comme
“But you are the Johnny Zeppeli!” said the older gentleman. “How the hell do you know that?” asked Johnny, flustered. The gentleman clicked his tongue, and his colleague shook his head. “Such short memories, they have, this generation. Can you truly not recall? I fitted you personally for your sister’s graduation party.” “And the ball in Norway, If I remember.” said the round man.“And the Presidential Rehearsal Dinner in the United States.” Said the other. Johnny cocked his head and turned around the room. “Oh, yeah. I guess this is why this place felt a little familiar. I’ve never come here on my own accord though.” he said.The two men lead Johnny and Benjamin deeper into the Catacombs of Valentino. “I have done a disservice to you, Master Benjamin. Allow me to introduce ourselves. I am M. Dubois, and my small round colleague goes by Mr. Giordano.” Said Dubois, bowing.“Ah, it warms my gentle heart that we have a Zeppeli and a Black at the same time in our humble store. It is