"What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men." - Leigh Bardugo

≫ ──────── ≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫ ──────── ≪

The man's gaze reached Alard and his eyes widened a bit. His grin stretched longer as he began walking in their direction past the hostages that rushed to the helicopter.

"What do we have here..."

Aura stepped in front of Alard, holding her dagger sideways in a defensive position. "This is one of our new rookies. He's under our protection."

The man laughed, not even bothering to stop his stride. As he reached Aura he moved faster than either of them could see, reappearing right in front of Alard as he examined him closely.

Alard tried to step back but his body simply refused to respond under the suffocating pressure the man exuded. Even Alard's parasyte seemed more alert than ever, stirring uncomfortably inside his mindscape.

If this guy decided to attack him would he survive?

"Jarek didn't inform me that someone successfully merged with that rare parasyte I got him," the man said.

"That's because we don't report to you," Aura snapped.

The man's face changed like a storm washing away sunny skies, his face morphing into an enraged portrait. The change was so swift and intimidating that Alard's legs finally remembered how to step backward. Just as suddenly, his dark expression smoothed back out to its sunny roots. It was as if the two emotions were clashing to reach the surface.

"I guess you're right," the man said finally, walking back to stand over Aura. He had an erratic way of constantly scanning the surroundings with his eyes that made him look downright crazy. "I'll go and join the party before I'm too late, now." He adjusted his sparkling suit with practiced elegance. "Fashionably is the only late accepted after all." And with that, he was gone, faster than Alard's eyes could even begin to follow.

"Who the hell was that?" Alard asked, still staring in awe at the spot the man had just vacated.

"Trouble, that's what," Aura replied before turning to the helicopter and signaling up at the pilot. "Get the hell out of here."

Alard sighed as she started walking back toward the clearing. Frankly, he had been repeatedly shown that he wasn't ready to take on the level of these guys yet. He was lacking something that he just couldn't place his finger on.

"Don't worry," Aura said, seemingly reading his thoughts, "by the time we get there I imagine it'll be over."

Sure enough, when they arrived the battle seemed to have entered its final stages. The two teams were separated by a huge indention in the earth and the purple-suited man stood in front of Jarek and the rest, cooly studying the people they had been fighting. They all seemed wary of the man, pointedly keeping their distance.

The man who had initially wrecked their boat seemed to be in the worst shape with his shirt reduced to rags and blood dripping from a fresh wound. Alard finally got a good look at the man's face. He had a large scar traveling from the top of his face straight down to the bottom which seemed permanently engraved despite his built-in healing factor.

Purple Suit stuck his hand in his pockets and nodding to himself uttered a single command. "Leave."

Their attackers clearly didn't have any issue taking instructions for him as they immediately complied, dashing into the water. The scarred man risked one last glance at Jarek, gritting his teeth in frustration before following his team.

Nessa got up and advanced on Purple Suit with an angry gait. For once she was untouched, her usually straight hair turned messy and rips decorating her shirt's fabrics where her skin had previously been broken before it healed.

"Why the hell did you let them go? We could've finally killed those fuckers once and for all." She said, stopping only a few feet away from Purple Suit.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

Purple Suit sighed as if he was being addressed by an ignorant child. "Foolish woman, we benefit more from them being alive than dead. Their personal grudges will be the key to our long-term victory. But most importantly, killing them here would be plenty boring."

"Watch your tone," Kenneth warned from his seated position. His...doll had been rewrapped and strapped onto his back once again.

Purple Suit turned his head slowly to him, cocking it sideways as he pronounced his words slowly. "Or what?"

Kenneth stood up, hand going up to the strap across his shoulder with his teeth bared and a hostile glint flaring in his eyes. Jarek stopped the man's fingers before they could reach the strap, giving him a pat that sent a clear message.

Jarek walked up to Purple Suit calmly. Despite likely having to fight two people at once he seemed perfectly fine. "What are you doing here?" Jarek asked.

"HQ summoned you and your underlings. Originally I had no idea why but now I see you've been hiding good news from me," Purple Suit responded before looking directly at Alard.

Jarek followed his gaze, sighing when he found the source. "The kid's young and untrained. It wasn't the right time for you to find out."

"He'll never receive proper training from the likes of you. You are unable to understand what he and I are," Purple Suit responded.

His words seemed to annoy Jarek, judging by the quick clenching and unclenching of his fists but his expression remained neutral and his tone professional. "If you say so. I won't fight HQ's decision but I expect you to respect it as well."

Purple Suit shrugged nonchalantly, turning his back to Jarek as a helicopter landed. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

A second helicopter landed which seemed to be for them. Alard audibly groaned as he imagined falling to his death after hardly surviving almost drowning.

Hayaka walked up behind him, offering him a supportive pat on the back. "I'm glad you survived, pal. Though it looks like you'll have some political nonsense to face now."

Alard nodded grimly. "I'm glad you survived too." He smirked suddenly, a thought coming to him. "Although I must say it's pretty hilarious that your savior was a literal sex doll."

Hayaka punched him lightly on the arm.

"Shut up."

The team piled into the helicopter which unceremoniously lifted off, leaving the island behind. The inside was actually more spacious than it seemed from the outside, and it even offered a more comfortable ride than the van had before. That is - assuming you ignored the part where they were a failed engine away from falling a couple hundred feet. That part was a bit hard to remove from Alard's mind.

Regardless, he enjoyed the ride with Hayaka recounting his fight against the nimble man with frequent corrections coming from Nessa and Kenneth when he overexaggerated. Luckily, no one had been hurt enough that they hadn't healed by the time the helicopter was fully in the air and the hostages had landed safely. It was what Alard would certainly consider a successful mission, yet, Alard noticed Jarek held a pensive expression from his position in the front.

After what felt like a full day but was probably closer to two hours, the helicopter touched down. The release of the stress of falling from that ridiculous height was euphoric and Alard had to stop himself from kissing the sweet, trustworthy ground.

They had landed outside of a towering gate and it opened as Purple Suit typed a code into the keypad next to it. The big black gates cracked outward to reveal a mansion in its wake. Alard had only seen the building before on TV and marveled at the wealth and power the simple structure exuded.

The Underground headquarters' location was no secret, yet the Peacocks didn't dare attack it. It showed how wary they were of the Underground organization and as Alard followed the group through the groups he could immediately sense why.

His parasyte within stirred as they both sensed an immense number of parasyte users in the vicinity. The combined aura was suffocating, so much so that he almost felt nauseous from the potent tinge in the atmosphere.

He did his best to not show his discomfort but Nessa shot a knowing glance at him, then Hayaka who Alard realized looked about ready to vomit as well.

The rest of the group ignored their rookies' plight though Alard gathered it was a usual thing for people not accustomed to the thick air pervaded from a large assembling of parasyte users. Thus, Alard followed Hayaka's lead in powering through and following the group up the walkway albeit slower than before.

They entered the mansion and followed Purple Suit who made a beeline through the many twisting corridors. The house seemed completely uninhabited and unkempt, though the air was getting thicker the deeper they went.

Finally, Purple Suit found the room he was looking for and led them inside. The room was a library, its spacious interior allowing quite a few bookshelves to occupy it. Purple Suit walked up to a particular bookshelf that stood separated from the rest and turned around to look at them, a grin on his face.

Jarek and the others stayed in the middle so Hayaka and Alard followed their lead, wondering what was to happen next.

Purple Suit pulled out a book and the mechanical sound of gears turning filled the air, putting Alard on alert as he looked around trying to locate the sound. Too late, he realized it was coming from below him as the ground they stood on slid away, leaving them suspended in the air for a cartoonish split second before they fell into the darkness below.

So much for the ground being trustworthy.