Riley stares at him, shocked, not quite sure she heard that right. "What?" she asks,

Before he responds, she clarifies. "My Mia? Are-are you sure?"

"I'm positive. It's her. Ryan doesn't know about you yet, of course. But I can't keep both of you out of it now that we are involved in this."

She lowers her head she's turned pale and is shaking slightly. "Do...do you think she killed miss Clark?" her voice is filled with horror.

"I don't know for sure...how long have you known her? How long have you guys been a band?"

"I-I, we met a few months before the year started and became a band a month before the year started, we uhm got pretty big fast."

"I'm not saying she did this Riley."

Riley has tears streaming her face, she wipes them away as she nods. "D-do you think Jessica could be part of it too? I mean geez..."

"We're going to figure this out Riley."

"What if they try to kill me? Why would they..." Her expression dies, Asher raises an eyebrow but lets her take her time. She clears her throat. "Asher, I don't want...wait...what-what if they're listening to us?"

"This room is secure, they won't be able to listen to us, but there are a few rooms that they can't listen in on to confuse them, you could just be talking to a friend instead of the one they are looking for."

She nods, "I understand...um...please don't be mad Asher. Please? I...I found a letter under my pillow. I didn't tell you for a few days because...I just got scared and I...."

She sighs, as if commanding herself to shut up. She pulls a white envelope out of her bag and hands it to him. He snorts, "You turd...you actually think I'd be mad at you?"

She looks up at him, a little shocked. "B-but-"

"Riley, you just got thrown into a dangerous world, starting with seeing a dead body. I understand why you didn't tell me right away. I'd have totally panicked. The fact that you came to me at all is awesome."

"Asher?"

"Yeah?"

Asher who had been playing with a pencil looks up at her. "H-how do you know I didn't do this?"

"I uh...watched you for the past few days. If you are trying to find out if Noctus was my bodyguard, you're like the best I've ever seen at keeping secrets and the suckiest assassin/kidnapper ever."

She simply looks down at her hands. She looks back up at him, "So...what now?"

"I'm going to spy on Mia tomorrow. I'd like it if you'd go with them, after you get over seeing Miss Clark earlier."

She nods, "What if I can't do it Asher? Texting is one thing, but I'd have to physically be there with them."

"You got this Riley, and like I said I'm not sure they are necessarily 'bad guys'."

"But Mia, you're certain that she was...Nicole? You know it was her?"

"Mia I'm not sure, she is involved somehow, but that doesn't mean Jessica is in on it. It's way more likely that Jess isn't involved."

Riley frowns, "Why?"

"It's just more likely and easier to insert one person than two, my guess is that Mia is in on it and her meeting both of you may have been planned but my money is on Jess not being a part of it."

Riley exhales hard. "Al-alright, I'll try."

"You got this Riley."

That being said, Asher was positive that if he told Riley he actually thought that there was a good chance that Jessica might be in on this thing as well, it would have probably horrified Riley too much and she couldn't just pull out. She'd risk her life even more than she would be if she just went along with this.

She still looks so pale and shaky. "I got to go back to my dorm, Jess and Mia will probably come over so we can all throw out crazy theories, no doubt."

"You got this Riley."

"I'll um...keep you posted."

"Alright, Noctus was in charge of my company, I've talked with them plenty about her random 'vacation' but I want to go physically check things out too."

"O-okay. Asher?"

He smiles at her softly, "Yeah Rie?"

She forces a smile, "I know it's to keep me calm and reassure me, but still, thank you for building up my confidence and telling me I can do this."

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Asher snorts, "It's funny you think i'm just trying to reassure you Riley. You don't give yourself enough credit. You didn't even break down when we were questioned, that's without any training. You'd make one heck of an agent Rie."

She gives a weak hum in gratitude. She turns and exits his dorm. Asher sighs and rubs his face. He's pretty sure about Mia but Jess, Asher could go either way. He hopes Riley doesn't open up to her, she most likely won't.

He exits his room and starts away from his building. He hadn't gone earlier to the office because he wasn't totally sure that whoever was looking for him had found him. But with the confusion that Asher's given, hopefully they haven't figured it out.

Asher makes his way to the light rail, the sun peaks through the clouds seeming to light the world, presenting it as any other day in the universe. He buys his ticket and waits among the crowd for the light rail to arrive.

Someone next to him clears his throat, just loud enough to get his attention. Asher looks at him, the middle aged man smiles at him and glances down at his black satchel hanging at his waist.

Asher glances down at it and sees a square, white box in the bag among so many letters. He's a letter deliverer, not a package mailman...the package is for him. Asher's eyes widen slightly as he meets the man's eyes. Noctus.

The man nods softly down toward the package. Asher looks forward and slowly reaches in and pulls the box out, with so many people together, no one seems to notice. The man sniffles and waits for Asher to clear his own throat. The man hesitates and then makes his way closer to the light rail tracks.

Asher turns and starts away until he finds the restroom, he finds a stall and sits on the seat of the toilet. He carefully inspects the plain white box. If Noctus was going to leave something like this, she wouldn't just leave the box plain, she'd give some clue it was her, even if it was the smallest thing.

There it is, on the side, bottom right corner of the rectangular box, the smallest imprint of a diamond shape. He pulls a pocket knife and cuts the tape sealing the box. Asher opens it and pulls out a cylindrical tube with eight dials, some letters and numbers on each dial. It's thicker than his forearm.

He thinks for a moment. Not here, he holds it in the stomach pocket of his hoodie and walks out of the stall. He turns and gasps, freezing as he sees a man standing there. Asher swallows hard as chills rise up his spine.

The look of death is in his eyes. Whoever this is, they just found him, but this cryptex, it's definitely Noctus. "Ughhh...crap." Asher mutters,

The man pulls a pistol, decorated with a silencer, out of his suit coat, steadying it with one hand, he aims it at Asher. "You get something good in the mail?" He asks smiling evilly,

"I thought you were supposed to be hard to catch. Hand it over."

Asher takes a deep breath and holds his breath. Something swings behind the man and the man grunts and belly flops to the floor. In his place is Ryan stands wide eyed, shaking.

"Ryan?" Asher mumbles,

The man kicks Ryan's legs out from under him. Asher pulls out and rolls the cryptex across the floor to the back wall as he bolts toward the man who is scrambling to his feet. Asher jumps onto the man, tackling him to the ground, he lifts a fist and begins slamming his fists into the mans face and defending arms.

The man knees Asher in the ribs and rolls on top of him. Asher cries out and is thrown, Ryan swings at the man, but he ducks and sucker punches Ryan in the stomach. Ryan gasps and falls to the ground.

The man turns and starts toward the cryptex only to have Asher ram into him, as he elbows Asher's back, Asher slams him against the mirror. Asher cries out and flips back and slams the man on his head as they smack against the floor.

"R..Ry-an! the cryptex!"

Ryan groans as he scrambles to his feet, holding his ribs.

"Th-the dial! Run now!" Asher shouts, Asher jumps on the man,

Ryan hesitates a moment. "Ugh! Move!"

Ryan sprints to the cryptex, he snatches it up and hurries to the door. He hurries out the door and disappears. Asher is almost kneed in the face but manages to push the knee away. He uppercuts and knocks the man into the air and on his back. Asher scrambles to his knees and hands and dives for the gun, he turns and fires the pistol armed with a silencer. The man groans and drops to the ground.

Asher gets to his feet slowly, bruises and cuts from the glass explore his body like tattoos. The man is groaning, Asher sighs and walks over.

"Who...who are you working for?"

The man, just out of arm's reach spits toward him, Asher nods, understanding the behavior. He lifts the gun and empties the pistol into the man's torso, Asher wipes the gun with the man's suit coat and drops the gun next to him.

Asher fixes his hair and walks out of the bathroom quickly and quickly walks away. He hurries out of the station and finds Ryan not so internally panicking by a lamp post.

He sees Asher and seems to freeze entirely. Asher sighs and walks over to him. "You got to fricken be kidding me." He mumbles to himself,

"Come on." He whispers to Ryan,

"Asher? What the heck just happened?" He asks, he's shaking horribly,

Asher grabs his arm and turns him, they walk briskly away. "I think it's from Noctus. I think I'm blown now."

Ryan pales a little more. "Uh....whoa....what do we do now?"

"I'll read this and you find Riley as quickly as possible."

"I-isn't she at the World Mall? With Mia and Jess?"

"Yeah that's where she had said they were going anyway, I'll give you her number, track her down, find her but do not engage, I'll meet up with you."

"What are we going to do?"

Asher lets out a very uneasy laugh. "You might regret having asked that."

"Asherrrr?" Ryan growls,

Asher holds his hand out, Ryan looks at it and hands over the cryptex. "This will tell me whether I'm right or wrong. If I'm right, Riley and you are in danger, Jess and Mia might be as well and Riley won't just leave them."

"Alright Asher."

"Ryan, be careful okay?"

"You too, hurry up."

Asher and Ryan split up, Asher hurries to his dorm building and room. Asher groans and racks his brain, 8 letters and/or numbers. Practice? What? No. Strength? No...

He paces the floor, back and forth over and over. Oh wait! He fiddles with the dial, G-u-a-r...no d, Guardian doesnt work...Asher's eyes widen. Maybe. He fiddles with the dials again.

- - A P E X - -

Asher clicks a button on the side and pulls out a cylinder tube and a piece of paper hidden inside. He unrolls the paper and unfolds it.

Ghost Walkers are after me, they'll come for you...run, hide now. The place I've mentioned before. I'll find you. Run

Asher takes a deep breath, his hands shaking lightly. What the heck is a Ghost Walker?

Oh crap...this Ghost Walker most likely knows about the dead assassin now. Riley, Ryan, Jess and Mia. Asher turns and rushs out the dorm room door and turns but jumps back when he almost smacks into Garret.

"You little pri-"

Asher doesn't hesitate, he throws his fist into Garret's face, knocking him on his butt and rolling to his face. Asher sprints down the hall, his knuckles pound but he doesn't notice. He's too busy shaking and his mind frozen and racing at the same time if that's even possible. Please be okay Ryan! Please!