Their conversation was cut short when someone walked out of the back area and pushed through the crowd straight to Ed.

“Follow me.” He said simply before turning around, expecting Ed to follow him, which he did. The two disappeared through the back door, much to the surprise of Zara.

What’s he doing going back there? Even I’m not allowed back there, and I work here! She stared at the door for a while, expecting this to be some kind of an elaborate joke, or for the guy to get thrown out on his ass. But after a while of nothing happening, she had to go back to her work.

More and more people came to the bar, and the events with Ed slowly slipped from her mind.

~

Following the man into the back did nothing to ease Ed’s tense nerves. Merely stepping through the door cut out the noise coming from the club, as if he had entered an entirely different world. Guards lined the hall, each blatantly carrying ‘illegal’ firearms, and not leaving a single blind spot.

The deeper he walked into the building, the more paranoid and claustrophobic he felt, like everyone was waiting to pounce on him and that there was no escape.

It’s fine. This is just standard procedure. They’re not here for you. He took a deep breath to cleanse his mind. He turned a blind eye to the guards, ignoring them in hopes of finding anything else to focus his attention on.

Just get the info and get out. Don’t stay here any longer than you need to. Unfortunately for Ed, he didn’t get much of a chance to calm down before he was thrown directly into the tiger’s den.

Reaching the end of the hallway that seemed to last for far too long, the worker he was following knocked on a door.

“Come in.” A harsh, throaty and authoritative voice called out from the other side of the door, immediately sending a tingle down Ed’s spine.

The worker opened the door and stepped to the side, gesturing for Ed to enter.

Having come this far, Ed had no other choice except to enter the room. The door slammed shut behind him, isolating him from the rest of the world, and leaving him trapped in the room. There was only one other person in the room with him, but that only caused him to sweat even more.

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The room felt old, as if it was pulled directly from an old world movie that Ed might’ve caught a glimpse of when sneaking into the illegal cinemas.

The walls were half-lined with red and gold decorative wallpaper, which turned into vertical wooden slats that covered the bottom half. Grotesque and brutal photos hung on the walls, sitting in expensive looking frames that matched the wooden slats.

Two chairs sat across from each other with a dark red wooden desk between them. Is that real wood? Ed had never seen real wood before, but it looked too beautiful to be synthetic.

Why are all the guards outside? The lack of guards inside the room made Ed feel like they weren’t there to protect the man inside, but to stop him from getting out.

The man himself only added to Ed’s worries. He was massive. Akin to a bear in size, and just as hairy. The man could probably lift Ed with one arm. He was wearing a down jacket that clung to his buff frame, with one sleeve rolled up to showcase his mechanical arm.

The mechanical arm was far more advanced than the shoddy upgrades Ed had gotten. It was a complex web of metal threads designed to emulate and improve upon the functions a biological arm was capable of. The arm granted him superhuman strength, and was capable of deflecting bullets without putting any strain on the body. Various weapons were hidden inside, all encompassed in a sleek metal shell.

“It’s nice, Isn’t it?” He said, using his metal arm to take the cigar out of his mouth. “Able to crush a man’s skull with this bad boy.”

Ed gulped, half-imagining it being used to crush his own skull “It’s amazing. I haven’t seen anything like it sir.”

“No need to call me sir.” He chuckled. “Keith will do just fine.”

Ed gulped and nodded awkwardly, unable to keep his eyes off the arm. Whether it was greed or fear keeping his attention, he couldn’t tell. But he knew that that arm could kill him in a second, and that he could only dream of being that powerful.

“Sit down kid.” Keith pointed at the tiny chair across from him.

“Of course sir.” Ed hurriedly took the seat, finding comfort in finally letting his body relax. He wanted nothing more than to sink into the chair, but felt like that would leave a bad impression on him, so Ed settled for sitting up nice and straight.

Keith shook his head, but decided to let it go that Ed still called him sir. From the way Ed’s legs were shaking, he could tell that he was really nervous. “I don’t want to waste time here, so let’s get straight to business.”

Ed nodded, relaxing slightly at this.

“Now normally I wouldn’t hand any thing to someone I don’t know, especially when a lot of money is on the line, but this jobs far too dangerous for me to be sending any of my guys on.” Keith said, slightly confirming Ed’s suspicions.

Keith leaned onto the desk with his hands pressed together and pointing at Ed. His arms took up all the space on the desk. “I’m going to be honest with you kid. There’s a chance that you’ll die. In fact, it’s very likely that you will. But as long as you don’t fuck anything up, or have any strange thoughts inside that head of yours, then things will be just fine.”

Ed shook a little, but took the moment to compose himself. He appreciated that Keith was at least being straightforward with him.