Ferdinand headed for his front door annoyed with his headphones lowered and his controller still in his left hand. “Who the hell knocks on someone’s door this late at night” Ferdinand muttered to himself, “yeah I am coming!” Ferdinand called out as the knocking got even more intense.

Making it to the door, Ferdinand took a look through the peep hole. His eyes widened when he saw who was behind the door and after a moment of hesitation opened the door. “What are you doing here Tim?” Ferdinand asked as the guy made his way into his apartment.

“Come on Takyi, is that how you talk to an old friend you haven’t seen in a year” Tim looked to Ferdinand with a smirk etched on his face. “When said friend knocks on your door at 10 in the evening and interrupts you when you are in the midst of a serious game? Then yes, that’s how I talk to them” Ferdinand spoke with a deadpan look before noticing the state his friend was in.

“What happened to you?” Ferdinand questioned.

“I need help”

“Help? Oh come on, Tim what did you get yourself into this time”

“Hey, you haven’t even heard what happened and you’re blaming me”

Ferdinand pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a deep sigh, “fine, tell me what happened”. Tim opened his mouth to respond before stopping himself, “okay so maybe this one was kind of my fault”. Ferdinand folded his arms before his chest before giving Tim a really look.

“So, I was in need of some cash recently and then I heard of this gig. It seemed simple enough drive to a location receive a package and then drive to the given location.” “Of course it seemed like that to you *sigh*, so what exactly happened?” Ferdinand had a brow raised in curiosity.

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“I found out what I was transporting” Tim’s voice began to tremble as he ran his hand through his hair, “I stop for a second, turn around, next thing I know I have assassins on my tail, arrows in my car as well as a sword. I mean who shoots arrows and carries swords in this day and age”

“Woah, woah, slow down!” Ferdinand moved in grabbing Tim by his shoulder. “Explain to me slowly, what happened?”

“I saw what was is in those cannisters, and I couldn’t do it anymore. I wanted out then these guys ride in on bikes and try to assassinate me.”

Ferdinand’s eyes widened with a feeling of dread beginning to cover him, “Timothy… what exactly is in those cannisters?”

***

Timothy brought Ferdinand down to the parking lot showing him his car.

“So you weren’t exaggerating about the arrows and the, sword” Ferdinand motioned to sword sticking out of the roof of the car. “And you just left the sword in there”

“What was I supposed to do?”

“Oh, I don’t know take the sword out before driving into the parking lot”

“I wasn’t exactly thinking straight” the two shared a look before Ferdinand turned away massaging his temples. “Open the trunk” Ferdinand demanded, Timothy quickly moved in popping the trunk open and as Ferdinand laid eyes on the cannisters he was drawn back into a memory.

Flashback

Ferdinand ran through an aisle with a filtration mask over his face, he came to a halt seeing a group of people on the ground before him. One of them looked up to him stretching out their haggard arm, they tried to scream but not a single sound made it out of their lips.

Struggling Ferdinand closed his eyes and made his way out and into a parking lot with the shopping mall he just escaped behind him. Looking around the area was covered in a green mist; people were running around covering their and mouths trying to make it out of the green mist but some were unable to as the began dropping to the ground struggling to breathe.

Ferdinand watched all tis happen around him, his eyes stopping however when they landed on some cannisters. The cannisters were the source of the green mist and on those cannisters was a symbol everyone in Lakeside was now familiar with.

The symbol of the most feared man in the city, the architect.

Flashback end

Ferdinand turned to Tim with a look of pure terror etched unto his face, “I had that same expression when I saw it” Tim spoke before Ferdinand moved in and grabbed him by the collar. “Do you have any idea how dangerous those things are, if there is a tiny leak, we would all be dead in minutes!”

Ferdinand glared at Tim for another minute before letting him go and cursing as he began to pace around.

“What now?” Tim questioned.

“What now? I don’t know, whoever these guys are, if they are dealing with this stuff then dangerous doesn’t even begin to describe them”.