The feeling seems to persist. So, I’ve decided to go on another expeditions to the mountains. No one needs to know of it, but I feel that I won’t be satisfied until I’ve found some evidence of my own sanity.

-From Professor Shokolov’s Journal, 32nd Entry

Nook felt bad for his friend. AxEl was covered in bruises of every kind, yet he carried himself with the strength of a man. He’d hoped to emulate those aspects of the man, but so far he’d not been successful.

He stumbled out of the car, just as he’d stumbled inside. Go turn yourself into an even bigger thorn in his side than you already are, OkIx’s words sounded in his head.

AxEl doesn’t think so, does he? Nook wondered. They burst into the meeting room late, but AxEl silenced all of the people present there with a single glare. Another sign of his strength.

He took his seat at the head of the table, not bothering with the dress code that he himself had set for the meetings. Nook took his place behind the man, and glanced at OkIx who looked at him disapprovingly. What did I do this time?

“I don’t have time today to go over each individual reports, sorry,” AxEl said, creaking his neck. Was that something Anagen had taught him?

“But I’m sure you have nothing major to report. If you’re not being attacked, targeted or blackmailed, then don’t bother me or Anagen, please,” AxEl spoke.

OkIx nudged him with his foot and Nook looked up, annoyed.

“What do you want?” Nook asked with whispering words.

“Our boss is leaving and we still haven’t dealt with LokIn,” OkIx pointed out. Nook sighed.

“We can deal with it after we’ve come back,” Nook said. OkIx clicked his tongue in annoyance. Does my existence really interfere in your life that much? He thought to himself, but didn’t outwardly say.

“The longer he’s gone, the more risk it poses to our business as a whole. Think of it, Anagen isn’t around to scrutinize every request, every operation, and LokIn pulls a sting no one knows about. You’re lucky we even got those letters before they went out.”

Nook looked at the back of AxEl’s head. He was going on emphatically with his speech, without a care about the trouble that he had almost gotten into. And now his mother’s in danger.

“What do you want me to do?” Nook asked.

“Stay back for a day or two. As long as it takes for us to take care of LokIn,” OkIx replied, though Nook hated the implications in the venom that he spoke. As long as AxEl is left out of it, he thought to himself as he nodded to OkIx.

“Also, I’ll be leaving sooner than I thought for a personal mission. You can contact me or Anagen if anything comes up, or otherwise bring whatever you need to Lex. He’ll handle it for you,” AxEl finished. He then stood up from the seat and it slid behind him.

“That’ll be all. Goodbye,” he said, and then he walked past Nook. OkIx smirked wryly towards AxEl as he went past. Nook followed the man into the hallway and all the way down to the car, where he waited with him. Anagen had been present in the meeting, but she’d left soon after to replace some papers.

“So, Nook, excited about going back?” AxEl asked. He was leaning against Anagen’s car and staring above at the tall building from which they’d exited. Nook sighed as the words welled up in his throat.

“I don’t think I will be,” he replied, and AxEl’s gaze shot back down and rested squarely at him.

“Why not?” he asked, waiting for a reply.

“There’s some… urgent jobs I need to take care of,” he answered. AxEl chuckled.

“Oh, we can just do that after.”

Nook shook his head. “Very urgent. I can’t put them off.” AxEl played around with his fingers.

“I… could send some people to do it for you?” AxEl asked.

“Sorry, AxEl, this is something that I need to do myself. I can’t let someone else do it,” Nook replied. AxEl grunted.

“Well, what work is it. Can you tell me?”

“I can’t.”

“Why is that? It can’t be that secretive, can it?” AxEl said, his voice growing louder.

“K-keep it down!” he said. He glanced around, but none of the managers were still in sight. But he did see someone who was. OkIx approached them quickly and shoved Nook aside as he did so.

“Sorry about that, boss. What he wanted to say was that we have a mole in our ranks.”

Nook took a sharp breath. He grabbed onto OkIx’s back, but the man held up his hands in surrender. “He’d have to find out someday, Nook. We can’t hide it from him forever.”

“But you… Why now of all times?” He asked, balling up his fists while OkIx still looked defenseless. He glanced at AxEl and crumbled underneath the gaze that Nook gave him.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?” AxEl asked, his voice cold.

“That’s not his fault, boss. I’d told him to keep quiet until we were sure,” OkIx explained. He shrugged off the hand that Nook held onto him with and dug in his pockets.

“Sure of what?” AxEl asked.

“Sure of this,” OkIx replied, before bringing out the bag of Bullets. He hid it well enough that no one passing by saw, then quickly put it back.

“These are samples of Bullets that LokIn was about to send to another location through a postal office. Nook has the scraps of the letter that he was going to send along with it,” OkIx said.

“It was LokIn…” AxEl said, receding into himself. It hurt Nook to see his friend so meek. But then AxEl’s brows twisted into more of a glower.

“Take him out. I don’t care how you do it, OkIx, but make sure he doesn’t leak anything,” he said, and Nook gaped.

“AxEl, what are you talking about?” Nook asked shakily. AxEl sighed deeply and ran his hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry, Nook, but it has to be done,” AxEl replied. “He knows too much. We can’t… I can’t let him get to you or Ana that way,” he added.

Nook tried to give a reply, to refute him, but stifled the words in his throat.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Okay, AxEl. I trust you.”

“We’ll have the mole taken care of by tonight, boss,” OkIx said, then nudged Nook to follow him. Nook took one look back at his friend and the troubled expression on his face and felt horrible. He’s just trying to protect us, he told himself.

****

Nook and OkIx had taken a different car this time to LokIn’s house. They didn’t want to alert the man by bringing the same vehicle over, obviously. Nook felt more uncomfortable in this one, but how much of that was the actual seat and how much of it his own mind, he couldn’t tell.

“Let’s search the place before he arrives. Might be that he has some more evidence hidden inside,” OkIx explained. He took a deep breath before padding down his belongings. Nook gulped as he saw the outline of the gun in there, but ignored it.

Instead, he took stock of the Magic Bullets that he had. Firewire, Prophecy, and just a bit of Tonguewisp in case it could come in handy. Then, they both exited from the vehicle and started walking.

Their steps were so unnervingly loud that Nook thought they would be caught instantly, but they made it to the front entrance of the house and entered through just as easily as before, OkIx picking the lock. No one was there to witness their break-in, but Nook still hurried and closed the door behind him.

“Need to make sure he doesn’t suspect anything,” OkIx said as he leaned down against the lock cylinder once more. The lock clicked into place and OkIx turned the handle to make sure it was in place, then nodded once he confirmed it was.

They entered through the front entrance of the house and saw a small complex greet them. Inside was a hallway that led off into a kitchen, two bedrooms and a living room that was sparsely decorated. There were some old decorations, a couch, some tables and a TV that covered it, but nothing apart from that.

OkIx and Nook stepped quietly through the complex, OkIx pulling out a flashlight to guide them through. He shined it across the tables, put it in his mouth, then began to search through them. With his off-hand, he gave Nook another one.

“Make yourself useful. We’ll need to search this place top to bottom for evidence,” he said. Nook took the flashlight and began his own search through the house. It took them an hour or two, but Nook came up with nothing. He’d searched the bedroom and found only a singular sad bed. There were photos framed on the dressing table however, and Nook picked up one of them.

He paled when he saw the sight of a young boy, smiling along with a woman who looked to be his mother. Nook shined a flashlight over to the side, at another picture, and found the same duo, this time joined by LokIn. He was younger though, his wrinkles less defined and his expression one of utter joy. Nook put the picture back, his hands shaking. He went back to OkIx and just… waited.

Crickets chirped, cars passed and the night wind blew. Nook hoped that LokIn wouldn’t even show up that night, that he would be absent, or had run away, but his fears were proven correct when he did.

He looked… casual. Like he was unaware of the situation surrounding him. He was carrying a bag of groceries, a slight smirk on his face as he entered into his house. He dropped the bag with a thud when he saw Nook and OkIx standing inside of his house, however.

“Hello there, LokIn. What’ve you got there?” OkIx asked, his tone casual.

“What are you doing in my house?” LokIn asked, steeling his expression. OkIx shrugged.

“Looking around. I thought I dropped something in her-”

“Stop with the games, I’m in no mood for them. What are you really doing here?” LokIn asked. He glanced over at Nook, who shriveled under the scrutinizing glare of the man.

“You messed up, LokIn. Tried to double-cross us, and that can’t go unpunished.”

“What are you talking about?”

OkIx pulled the bag of Magic Bullets he had hidden up his sleeve. “Don’t play dumb, it doesn’t suit you. We know you’re working for someone else, I’m thinking police, am I right?”, LokIn’s eye twitched and OkIx smiled, “Now, if you tell us everything you’re keeping in your house, then we’ll let you go.”

LokIn and OkIx stared at each other for a long moment. Nook tried to keep himself still, but his heart beat fast and adrenaline rushed through his veins. Then, LokIn made the first move.

He pulled out a gun from behind him and fired off a few shots into the air. Nook reacted quickly, dodging to the side. He crouched near one of the doors and peaked out from the side into the hallway.

LokIn had his gun levelled at them, and he kept firing, splintering the wood and causing chips of it to hit Nook and OkIx. Nook grasped a few pills of Prophecy and gulped them down, along with some Firewire. Immediately, he felt warmer, and Phantoms invaded his mind.

OkIx had taken cover too, and he was looking towards Nook with his eyes focused. LokIn reloaded his gun in his vision, so Nook gave OkIx the signal to move forward. But then a million more Phantoms flooded his mind just as OkIx left his cover.

Nook focused on the present and saw that LokIn’s eyes were also greyed out. The other man seemed similarly distracted as Nook, so he fired randomly at the approaching OkIx. A single shot caught the man in side, near his abdomen, and OkIx fell onto the ground with a grunt.

Nook’s face blanched as he saw the blood spread underneath OkIx. He took a decision and stepped out of his cover, throwing one of the bottles he saw on a table. That distracted LokIn long enough that Nook could close the distance.

He grabbed the gun in LokIn’s hand, trying to wrestle it away. LokIn was the stronger between them, but he still seemed distracted by the Phantoms. Nook kicked at LokIn, disarming him and holding the gun in his hand. He tried firing, forgetting it was empty.

LokIn took Nook by the arm and slammed him into the wall, taking the breath away from his lungs. The plaster cracked and fell onto the desk, and Nook coughed. He fell onto the ground, and found a single vision entering his mind. LokIn stomped down, but Nook slid away. He did it at the last moment, preventing LokIn from changing course.

Nook grabbed LokIn’s leg and pulled. The man fell, trying to hold onto a table. The table fell along with him and Nook had enough time to stand up. He heaved, his back aching. On the ground near him, he found a magazine that had dropped out of LokIn’s pockets. Nook grabbed onto it just as LokIn pushed the table off. It’s just one more person. I’d be a hypocrite to stop now. Nook reloaded the gun, but LokIn lunged at him.

He started choking Nook out, the pressure in his throat preventing him from taking a single breath. With one hand, Nook tried to scratch at the man’s arms. He drew some blood, but it didn’t last.

A second later, Nook’s Phantoms returned to normal. What they showed him sent him into a panic. He saw himself dying, his sight fading out. Please, don’t make me! Nook struggled harder, knocking over vases, bowls. He kicked LokIn, trying to free himself, but even that didn’t work. Please! I don’t want to shoot you! I don’t want to!

His vision began to blur, and Nook felt the grasp on his gun loosen. Then he saw another Phantom. He was free from LokIn’s grasp and he had lived. He didn’t even question it. He just followed the actions through. Nook shot the man five times, each bullet screaming as it left the chamber. Nook felt the grip on his throat loosen, but not fast enough. Nook fired even more then. He kept shooting, clicking the trigger over and over until the magazine ran empty.

LokIn stepped backwards, looking down for only a second. His entire chest was riddled with holes, blood leeking through the clothing. He then fell forward on the ground and Nook heaved. He dropped the gun from his hand. Nook dropped to the ground and shook LokIn.

“H-hey, come on. Get up, we need to take you to a hospital,” he said. Nook heard the sounds of someone shuffling nearby, but barely paid any attention to it.

“Please, get up.” He tried, but the body didn’t move. OkIx touched him on the shoulders.

“Hey, get up. That’s not going to help,” he said. He was clutching his side with some kind of cloth in his hand. It was stained red. Nook looked downward and saw the same colour staining his pants. He tried to wipe it off but it only clung to his hands and dirtied them too.

Nook broke out into tears. He had to be dragged out of the room that he was in by OkIx, who came back after a while. He looked cleaner, though Nook didn’t notice.

“Look, that was your first kill. It’s always the hardest.”

“First?” Nook asked, horrified.

“It had to be done, Nook. You know what would have happened if you didn’t. You would have died, and more people after you. That wasn’t evil what you did, it was the right choice,” he said, looking the man in the eyes.

“Come. Let’s get out of here. We need to burn the place down,” he said, then pulled Nook up and dragged him out of the house. The floor was wet and smelled of gasoline to Nook. They passed by his bedroom, and a sobering thought went through his head. He stopped both of them and looked inside.

“OkIx. His… kid and his wife… What are you going to do them?”

“I wouldn’t! They’re long dead, I’m afraid. At least he can be with them now,” OkIx replied, though it only sent Nook into an even quieter state. They left the house and OkIx dropped Nook off outside near the curb. He went back inside and Nook only watched on.

Crickets chirped, cars passed them by and the night wind blew. Though Nook found it strange. Had nothing changed after what he did? The gate near LokIn’s house closed and Nook saw OkIx fast approaching. Behind him, a yellow light began to grow inside the house.

“Get up!” OkIx urged him. He dragged Nook over to the car and placed him inside, taking charge of the Wheel. He turned the car on and the tires screeched as they took off from the scene.

“There were some files inside of the computer. Recordings. But I dealt with those,” OkIx told him, and Nook nodded slightly. The flames near the house extended far into the sky, and Nook watched it recede into the horizon, his hands beginning to shake once again.