There was an office on the 92nd floor of one of the tallest buildings in Temalas City. And inside that office was a large man, built like a tank yet wearing a blue suit and tie, standing by the window and sipping a glass of bourbon. His guilty pleasure. He needed the booze. He didn’t usually drink at work, but today was a special day because standing across from him was a woman, taller than even he, glaring down at him from behind her thin, rectangular glasses.
She went to stand next to him, staring at the city below through the window adjacent to his. Her eyes scouted the skyline, but her gaze held nothing but contempt for the ants below. Something he could very well share, but compared to hers, his greed and contempt were nothing but childish displays.
He knew who she was, of course. And he knew just how scary this woman could be. The reason she was here? Well, he knew that too, and the information only made the situation worse.
“We have a… favorable deal, you and I. For both of us. Don’t we?” She said.
“Yeah. We do.” He said. Of course, all his information about why she was here was purely conjecture. He needed to be sure. “I don’t understand why—”
“I wouldn’t want to put this deal in danger, just for some petty profit now, would I? Just to poach talent, one could say. You understand, of course. You are a businessman at heart, and you know good business from bad business.”
“That would be unwise, yes.”
Samantha Cromwell smiled, her canines pearly white. “Most unwise indeed. It’s best that you keep this in mind, then. For next time. Remember, you are replaceable. I am not. Nor are my agents. Especially my non-BSA agents. My… personal agents. It took effort to acquire them, and I will not see them stolen, killed or even offended for that matter.” She smiled even wider. “Do you understand?”
“I do. I’ll deal with the liaison myself. Is that acceptable?”
“It is. For now. It might not be enough though.”
When she turned to leave, the CEO of Transit Global finally allowed himself to breathe. It was a mistake, letting himself relax even for a moment, because somehow she seemed to feel what he was doing and spun on her heel, slamming the door shut as she reentered the room.
“Oh. Since I’m here. How is your daughter?” She asked, speaking slowly, furrowing her brow, savoring the words. She was enjoying this.
His eyes twitched. “She is stable, for now.”
Samantha smiled the smile of a viper. “For now. And then what? Let’s say she wakes. I wonder, when she will look at you… will she remember who you are? Will she smile at you? Call you daddy? Will she even be able to speak, for that reason.”
Giancarlo D’Onofrio, CEO of Transit Global, screamed. A guttural, primal scream of rage and pain. Only in his mind, of course. Never would he let his emotions surface in public, not in front of the most dangerous person he knew. He locked eyes with Samantha, seeing red. His muscles bulged.
Yet, she held up a finger, and he deflated like a popped balloon.
“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you. Not even think of that. You know better.” She said, her tongue twirling around one of her pointy teeth. “We are civilized men, you and I. We don’t engage in barbaric activities. But then again, I would never have put my dau—”
“What do you want, you devil?” Giancarlo asked. No, snarled.
“I don’t want anything. The question is… What do you want?”
“You know what I want. You know it well.”
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“And what would be willing to pay for it?”
Giancarlo paused. It wasn’t like he needed the time to think, but he felt like the moment demanded him to pause and so he did.
“Everything. I would give my own soul just to have a chance to save her. To spare her terrible fate.”
“Well, then. I’ll be in touch.”
Samantha Cromwell strolled out of the room, and went into the elevator. On her way to the exit, every single one of the many employees she met, people of high positions working for one of the largest companies in the whole world, each one of them parted before her like she owned the place. Like she was the one dictating whether they lived or they died.
And all of this because one man couldn’t keep his mouth shut in a rundown warehouse in Singapore.
***
Albert sat on the hard concrete floor of the ground level of the Lair. Legs crossed, although at times he had to shift in place a bit to let the blood flow better. He had tried using [Strengthening] to offset the itch, but it didn’t work.
He was working on reverse-engineering the teleportation technology. He had taken out what remained of the prototype teleportation device the system had given him, and was procrastinating. He knew he needed to activate his analysis mode, though, no matter how much it felt like a waste to use it on something that was not a skill. Fortunately (in hindsight) the ludicrously loud voice of the Lair interrupted him and almost made him jump out of his skin.
“I see that you are trying to make a teleportation device.” It said. How it knew what Albert wanted to do was anyone’s guess.
“Yes.” Albert replied shaking his head as if to shake off the jitters from the scare.
“I can help you with that. Feed me those scraps you have there. I should be able to integrate the technology into my own structure.”
Albert reluctantly decided to comply. He got up and went up the stairs to the second floor, and was momentarily taken aback by the sight.
There were sofas!
The large open space was clean, roomy and super comfortable looking. Along with the sofas it also featured several plush chairs and a large, black table. The room was bathed in warm suffuse light that almost simulated the sunset outside, which in turn was visible through the large windows on both clear sides, and potted plants on every surface were the finishing touch.
Had he known, he wouldn’t have sat on the hard concrete floor downstairs, under the sterile electric lights the Lair had provided to lit up the space. But then again, how would he ever manage to concentrate if he was sprawled on the most comfortable looking sofa he had ever seen?
When the Lair had mentioned a living area upstairs, Albert had thought it would only be a small kitchenette and a cramped bedroom. Instead, as he explored he realized that this floor occupied the entire surface of the structure, with four separate sections built all around a central space.
There was a huge bedroom with a king sized bed on one corner, windows overlooking the forest and the mountain, and a large mahogany desk.
Then there was a fully furnished gym. It had weights and calisthenics equipment, and a myriad of other tools. The only things it lacked were the machines, giving it a rugged look and making it feel like it was a sort of prison gym. Very cool, Albert thought, approving of the choice. There were windows here too, but only on one wall.
Then there was the kitchen. Huge.
Last, on the opposite corner relative to his bedroom, there was an empty room with no walls. Completely empty.
All four rooms surrounded the central space, which still had access to the perimeter wall and windows, where all the sofas and chairs were arranged around a central table.
The Lair’s core was in Albert’s bedroom, close to his pillow on the nightstand. The whole piece of furniture was made of black marble as opposed to wood, and the Core itself was like a bright green night light.
“Wow.” Albert exclaimed. “You really outdid yourself.”
“I’m glad you like it!” The Lair said. “Now, give me those scraps. I can’t wait to study them!”
Albert already had a teleportation skill for himself. He was counting on making an item for the rest of his family with his skill [Magical Item Creation], but he knew that at level one it couldn’t do what he wanted it to do. He would have had to level it up first, then find a way to build a device, then find a way to replicate his skill onto the device…
It was much better to let the Lair deal with it.
“Interesting…” The Lair said after feeding on the teleport device scraps. “I might be able to combine this tech with the other dungeon’s core you gave me earlier and make some sort of portal.”
“A portal?”
“A two-way transportation opening, to be precise. I will be able to build one connection to the outside for now, with possibility to add more as I grow in power.”
“Cool.”
“That’s not all!” The Lair added, sounding very excited. “This technology will also improve the overall capabilities of me as a Dungeon. Everyone labeled as a friendly will be able to teleport to any part of my domain at will! As such, I will be removing all stairs and corridors because they look awful.”
“Oh. That’s…” Albert paused. He really didn’t know what to say. It almost felt too good to be true. “How long will it take?”
“Two hours.”