I keep going outside, but the feeling of being watched never goes away. My greatest fear lies in the fact that it might be those vines again, the Green Reaper himself coming for me. But that’s a farce, and I know it now to be as such.

-From Professor Shokolov’s Journal, 30th Entry

An old-fashioned car stopped on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. The night air was cold and unforgiving, but the occupants of these vehicles even more so. Two well-suited men came out of the vehicles, one with a cigar in his mouth and the other wearing a bowler hat. They had shawls draping from their shoulders as they walked towards their meeting spot.

On the other end stood another group of men. The man at their helm had hardened eyes, black hair with grey sides and scowl on his face.

“You make me wait this long and for what?” he asked, waving one of his hands around. The two men in front of him nodded to each other, then opened the trunk of their car. A young boy was tied up in there, struggling to get out of his bindings.

“The promised amount,” the smoker of the pair said.

Hard eyes moved towards him and motioned the men at his side to. At the last second, instead of pulling out cash, he instead brought out a tommy gun and sprayed the two men. They fell in front of Hard eyes, their corpses dotted with bullets.

And yet somehow when he moved to see the young boy in the trunk of the car, he was unharmed. The man embraced the boy, ripping the cloth out of his mouth so that he could speak.

“Oh, my sweet boy, how I missed you,” the man said. Soon after, the credits rolled and AxEl was left with a slightly agape jaw.

“Do these movies get any better?” Nook asked.

“That one was worse than the one before that. And that was worse than the one before that,” AxEl said. A bowl of popcorn lay in his lap. AxEl put it down on the lush carpeted floor of his theatre and stood up.

“Out there, and with no assurances? What did they think was going to happen?” he asked.

“Maybe they thought the others would act in good faith?” Nook posited.

“Pft, yeah,” AxEl laughed and stretched his arms.

“And the one before that. Every single person he recruited was going to backstab him from the start. A bit of insight and discretion would have helped him avoid that kind of betrayal.”

Nook paid little attention to AxEl’s complaints, the irony consuming him. A bit of insight, huh? He held onto his chair with clenched hands, mouth opening and closing as he argued whether to reveal the information or not.

It could’ve been a hole. Clothes tear all the time. He chided himself. Later. He’d tell his friend once he was sure, but that would be later.

“And that kid should be riddled with holes at that point. There’s no way someone would survive a full out shootout like that without something helping them,” AxEl said.

“You’ve survived shootouts like that,” Nook replied. AxEl smirked.

“Yeah, and we both know why,” AxEl chuckled. Nook glanced at the time on his phone and left his seat as well. He grabbed the half-eaten bowl off of the ground, even at AxEl’s urging not to, and brought it up with them.

There was a spiral staircase that led from the basement all the way to the top floor. Nook considered it a bit cramped for the size of the house, but didn’t question the design. The kitchen led off from one of the common rooms and Nook laid the bowl on the table and put both of his hands on its marble top.

And if it doesn’t turn out to just be a tear in the clothes? And if AxEl gets locked up, or worse? He questioned himself.

“Are you doing good?” AxEl asked from the other end of the kitchen. He was pulling something invisible out of the fridge.

“Nah, it’s…. these kinds of movies just feel kind of childish now, don’t they?” Nook asked.

“The stuff you and I are doing right now, it seems so mundane compared to what they show on air,” Nook said, glancing at his friend.

AxEl pulled a soda out of the fridge and closed it. He popped open the can, which hissed in response.

“Yeah. But they don’t know what it’s like, so they wouldn’t be able to make it… realistic, I guess.”

“Is it bad that I wish it didn’t feel so fake to me? Enjoying those movies, not having to worry about next week’s shipments, the police patrolling around the streets or saying the wrong thing where someone could record us?” Nook asked. He felt nervous saying it aloud, but AxEl didn’t seem to mind.

He just took a chug from the drink in his hand and sighed. Perhaps he does. Maybe I don’t need to keep it from him, then?

“Yeah. I get headaches thinking about the things I have to work through each meeting,” AxEl replied. He looked at the can in his hand, a blankness coming over his eyes that Nook didn’t recognize.

“But you do what you have to.” He said, throwing the leftover can into the garbage can. It clinked and fell to the bottom, and Nook dared not speak up.

“Birthday’s coming up soon,” AxEl said abruptly. “My mother wants me home for it. You should come along. How long has it been since you’ve seen your parents?” AxEl asked.

“Yeah… I should. It’s been a while.”

“We could catch up with some of the guys from the academy too. I’ll have Anagen set up the trip. We’ll be leaving in two weeks,” AxEl said, placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder and smiling.

“I’ll be there,” Nook said. A ringing came from his phone and he glanced at the message for a moment before tucking it away. He yawned and AxEl raised an eyebrow.

“It’s late. I should get some sleep,” Nook said.

“The sun hasn’t even set?” AxEl asked.

Damn.

“I… take naps?” Nook said. AxEl bore a look of confusion for a moment.

“Well then, plenty of guest bedrooms in the mansion,” AxEl offered, waving a hand behind him. Nook shook his head.

“Thanks, but I prefer my own bed. Bye, AxEl,” he said, taking off quickly from the house. Outside of the mansion’s view area, Nook sped down the streets until he made it to the meeting spot.

A park, filled with colourful red slides, swings and seesaws came into view of Nook. The sun was red on the horizon, and He saw a group gathered in front of the sandpit. Nook walked through the gates of the park and saw OkIx crouching down in front of them.

He bore a smile on his face and held a deck of cards in front of him.

“Pick whatever card you like, but don’t tell me,” he said to a small boy in front of him. The boy looked pensive, extending his hand towards and away from one card or another. The boy settled on a card with the portrait of a jester on it.

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“Good, now give it back to me without showing me,” OkIx told the boy. He handed it over and OkIx shuffled it back into the deck. He split the deck in two and folded them together, extended the deck into a snake like pattern that he moved around to show everyone, then pulled it back into itself.

He pulled a complex trick with the deck, the cards themselves forming into an expanded circle, then he pushed it back. Then, he touched a single card and locked eyes with the card.

“Now, is your card…” he pulled it out and there was a king emblazoned on its surface, “King of Hearts?” he asked the boy. The school children stared at him wide eyed and the boy in front swallowed.

“Uh… yes?” he said and OkIx gave him an unamused expression before sighing.

“No, it’s not, kid. Your actual card was the Joker,” he told him. The boy twiddled his thumbs in front of the man.

“I didn’t want to make you feel bad,” he told OkIx. The man chuckled.

“Haha, it’s fine,” he said, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“But you want to know where your card really is?” he asked the boy.

“Where?”

OkIx pointed at the boy’s heart, then opened his hand to reveal the Joker nestled within. The audience of children looked in awe, then began to clap loudly. OkIx held the card out to the boy.

“Keep it, it’s your lucky card,” he told the boy. The young boy beamed at OkIx, and took the card, turning it over to find some money on that back. “And a bit of cash doesn’t hurt either.”

He stood up from his position and dusted himself off. The sand had gotten on his pants, which Nook took notice of. He stepped forward towards them and coughed to get the kids’ attention.

“You kids should get going now,” he said, waving them away. They ran in different directions, a small group crowding around the boy with the card. OkIx looked on fondly while Nook stood near him and waited for the man to speak up.

“What are you doing here,” he asked the blonde man.

“Can I not entertain some kids?” OkIx asked.

“You’re a killer. I don’t trust you around anyone,” Nook told him. OkIx sighed.

“I don’t go after kids,” OkIx replied.

“Don’t believe it,” Nook replied, clenching his fists. OkIx glanced downwards at Nook’s hands, then flashed him a smile, so Nook hid them behind himself.

“I’ve always wondered, why are you so straight edged?” he asked Nook, approaching him. Nook looked away, not meeting his eyes.

“Some of us have to be when we have scum like you around,” he replied. OkIx laughed.

“Ouch! Fair, though.”

“AxEl and Anagen should never have hired murderers like you,” Nook snarled.

“I’m not a murderer,” he said with more emotion that Nook would have expected from the man. “I won’t deny I’m a killer, but I am not a murderer.

“Do you understand how many people’s livelihoods depend on our operation going smoothly? We provide the cleanest drugs in the entire country. If we fall? Then the junkies will find somewhere else to get their fix. The people who work under us, the ones who have nowhere else to earn their money? They turn to something worse, peddling weapons, people even,” OkIx explained.

“Not everyone had the life you did, after all,” OkIx finished.

“What are you going to do once we catch the mole, OkIx?” Nook asked. He hoped that they could just threaten him and go, as much as even that disgusted him. He didn’t want the blood on his hands, the bodies on his mind. He wasn’t AxEl, who could brush off the death as if it were nothing.

OkIx looked at him with still eyes. “Don’t ask something you know the answer to,” he explained.

“We don’t need t-”

OkIx sighed once again, rubbing at the bridge between his eyes. “And what happens if we do that, Nook? There’s always going to be a chance that he confesses, and with that AxEl gets sent straight to prison. Anagen gets imprisoned. Or worse to the both of them. They’ll both be incriminated for so many crimes they might not even bother with the trial!”

OkIx grabbed Nook by the shoulders. “But you can stop that. Protect them. Make sure no one’s there to hurt them,” he said. “Don’t you want that?”

Nook struggled under OkIx’s grip. Eventually he stopped struggling, and so OkIx let him go.

“LokIn will be home in a few hours. I’ve got a car parked near here that we can take to his place. Come on,” he told Nook, who nodded listlessly. Together, they entered the small buggy that served as their stake-out point.

OkIx and Nook sat in silence as the drive took them around to the other end of the city, where LokIn’s house was. It was far from the extravagance that the rest of the city was known for, but was still built on a solid foundation. White with dark grey spots in some locations, the house was small and had a single door in its front.

It led out directly into the street, barely leaving enough space for someone to walk on the side of the street. OkIx had positioned their vehicle near a bend, poking out from the front just enough so that they could peek out and see anyone walking into the house.

AxEl and I used to do this all the time. I wonder… did the professor know that we would arrive because of Prophecy and leave before then? Or were we just lucky to find what we did, Nook wondered. How different would our lives be if he hadn’t found it?

I would’ve graduated and gone into some field or another. Maybe even moved out of Barksight altogether for some opportunity. I wouldn’t be stalking people, discussing how to push drugs, wouldn’t be running around with illegal possessions on me at every point, Nook thought, as the night raged on. A few cars passed them by but none of them stopped for even a second.

Granted, they couldn’t look inside the windows anyway, but it made him feel uncomfortable to know that they didn’t even know of his presence. He could be staring right at them and they’d never find out. A beggar passed by and knocked on the windows of the car, but OkIx pulled Nook away from it, shaking his head.

But AxEl wouldn’t have been so lucky. He’d still be working in Barksight, doing one job or another. Would he have become a thief? Or a beggar? And Anagen, we wouldn’t have ever even met her.

Nook kept his thoughts rolling in his mind, the car’s silence both mundane and distracting. OkIx tapped his fingers on the steering wheel of the vehicle, his head resting on his other hand.

But then a man came into view. Not wearing the ornate dress code of the meetings, but just a simple pair of shirt and pants. Nook would’ve had trouble recognizing the man had it not been for the fact that he had that solid frame about him, with muscles that caught people’s eyes.

Nook and OkIx both leaned forward in their seats, observing him come into the house and seeing the barest glimmer of light shining from within the complex.

They waited like that for many more minutes, before the man came out dressed in another garb, one which bore a black knit cap. His arms were hidden behind a large coat and he walked with a quickened pace. A few paces away, he clicked his keys and a light came from his vehicle.

OkIx put his hand on the ignition of his own car, waiting and watching as LokIn’s car roared to life and sped away. OkIx followed a moment later, tailing the vehicle from as far as he could manage. They entered a busy intersection, cars blaring their horns and the vehicles waiting in line.

LokIn’s car split off from the main thoroughfare and turned left to another road. It stopped near a burger joint, and LokIn took off down the street. Nook and OkIx did the same, though their vehicle was parked in a different spot. OkIx turned to Nook.

“You need to tail him.”

“What? Why?” Nook asked. OkIx waved up and down at himself.

“This doesn’t blend as well here,”

Nook clicked his tongue in annoyance and left the car searching. He saw LokIn in the distance and followed him as he wound his way through streets, alleys and crowds. If he noticed Nook sneaking behind him, he didn’t give any indication of it. At the end of his path, he abruptly walked into a postal office and came out only a few moments later.

Nook watched the man come in his direction and swallowed the lump in his throat. He crept to the side of the crowd and tried avoiding the man. LokIn passed him by with nary a glance, and Nook sighed in relief.

He walked towards the postal office and noted its name down. AlexAn Postal Office. He pulled out his phone and called OkIx that instant, the other man picking up and driving over to his location immediately. Nook walked to the vehicle and OkIx rolled down the window.

“What are we going to do now? He just went in and out,” Nook said.

“Just the slightest bit of invasion of privacy. Not too big of a bother,” OkIx replied.

“You want us to break in there?” Nook asked.

“Don’t worry too hard. I’ll put the letters right back where I find them. I just need you there to speed up the reading,” OkIx replied.

Later that night, when the crowds had thinned and the lights shined in the sky, OkIx and Nook made their move. They hid their faces behind masks and stormed the location.

OkIx made it through the locks on the door easily. Nook stood guard and entered in behind him when he had opened the door. They walked in and rummaged the place for recent letters, finding nothing useful in particular.

They were limited, but there were many letters from grandparents, from people to their family members, filled with important belongings. OkIx eyed the pendants they found, but Nook dissuaded him and put the things back.

There were multiple letters to celebrities and formal complaints. And finally, there was the letter they had been searching for. They’d made a mess in the process, but Nook held in his hand a letter that gave information that he found familiar.

Timings of meetups, names of people that he recognized. There was small bag with the letter, filled with some pills and a bit of Firewire that Nook found. OkIx grinned widely as he looked it over with Nook.

“Oh boy, would this have been horrible if it got out. Schedules, names and physical evidence? Good work, Nook, with this in hand, we’ve got everything we need,” OkIx congratulated.

Nook ripped the paper to sheets. He then ripped those sheets into smaller sheets, and then even smaller. We can’t let this go, he thought to himself as the pieces of paper fell on the floor. Realizing his mistake, Nook crouched and started packing the pieces into his pocket while OkIx took the small bag of evidence.

“We’re done here, right?” Nook asked the man. The idea of the letter’s existence had shaken him.

“We’re done, yeah, but only here. There’s much more work to be done outside. We’ve got a mole to take care of, after all.”