Chapter 95 – Josh Globe
[Sarah]
Two years prior to Earth’s integration into the Tower…
“Thank you, senator, this wouldn’t have been possible without your support.” Sarah said as she shook another hand of one of the many donators that had come to the charity event. She always hated this part of her work, all the glad handing.
After what felt like a hundred years of endless battles, logistical nightmares, and bureaucratic treachery - she had finally done it. She had built an orphanage. The Endless Hope Children’s Sanctuary. She moved through the patrons and donators, shaking hands and making small talk, trying not to lose her mind. She had been working at this for so long, and this grand opening event was the last hurdle before she could finally start doing some good in the world.
Sarah quickly excused herself for some fresh air, moving throughout the building towards the back, taking in the craftsmanship of what would soon be a safe place for those who needed it most.
Originally, this lot had been a boy’s home run by a truly vile man – Nathan Gunner. The man himself had mysteriously disappeared, and investigations and testimonies soon revealed that he had been beating everyone into submission that came through his doors. The state quickly shut the home down and abandoned it shortly thereafter. Sarah had chosen this location because she wanted to erase the dirty mark that man had left on the world. Sarah raised the money, bought the land and several of the surrounding vacant lots, tore down the old home, and rebuilt something better, something that represented hope.
Of course, it wasn’t actually that simple. She had thought it would be fairly straightforward. Who was anti-orphan, after all? As it turns out, a lot of people. It wasn’t so much that they didn’t want to see the project go through. It was more like everyone wanted their cut of the money first, which had surprised her, seeing as how she ran a non-profit. There was endless red tape she had to cut her way through, non-stop solicitation of bribes from people who threatened to ruin her career and her life should she not pay up. It had been disheartening, and she wanted to give up.
And then something changed.
Right as she was about to call it quits, someone made a donation of five millions dollars. She almost returned the donation on the spot. She knew the vultures would start circling again the second they found out there was more money. Which is when a second strange thing happened. The zoning permits she had been fighting tooth and nail to get finally came through. She had met with the senator, who not so subtly implied that a hefty bribe would go a long way in smoothing over the permit and zoning issues. When she had called him up to inquire about his sudden change in heart, his secretary blew her off completely. She didn’t stop there, however. Sarah eventually pinned him down at a charity event.
“Please. I’ve pushed your permits through. I swear you will see no more issues on the state’s end.” He said, eyes wide and hands shaking slightly. The man was terrified of her for some reason.
Her stroke of luck didn’t end there.
Construction companies lowered prices, scheduling issues had gotten resolved, and the building went up in record time. It seemed anytime there was some sort of hurdle or threat of shutting down, something, or someone, squashed the problem. Sarah suspected she knew who.
The mysterious donator.
She had looked into who it was and had to pull in a lot of favors to find out. There were endless shell corporations and a paper trail that went on for miles, but she had gotten a name.
Josh Globe.
The man didn’t exist, of course, but it was something. Sarah was still waiting for the other foot to drop. Everything had gone so smoothly. After it being so difficult for so long, she felt like she couldn’t breathe easy until she knew who this Josh Globe was and why he was doing all this. Was he going to come to her one day demanding impossible favors? She had to know who the money really came from. She wouldn’t feel like her project was truly safe until then.
Sarah moved out onto the back patio, which opened up into an enormous yard filled with playground equipment. She took a deep breath of the cool night air and suppressed a shiver as she rubbed her arms for warmth.
“Hey, I just met you,” someone started singing in the dead silence of the night. Sarah’s eyes went wide as she scanned the darkness.
“And this is crazy,” the voice continued. Sarah spotted movement on the monkey bars. Someone was walking across the top of them, holding a bottle and jumping from bar to bar. Sarah let out a long sigh. She didn’t want to deal with this right now.
“But here’s my number, so call me maybe-“
“Hey!” Sarah shouted, startling the man who missed his step and fell backwards, hitting the metal bars and then falling to the ground with a painful thud.
“Oh my god!” Sarah screamed, running off the patio and out to see if the man was ok.
The man groaned on the ground, slowly working his way up to a sitting position. The man didn’t look homeless so much as he did mismatched. He had a pair of blue track pants on and a floral button-up shirt. He had a clean-shaven face and a nice haircut that didn’t fit his attire in the slightest. Sarah squinted at the bottle, which had somehow not spilled a drop. It was champagne from the party inside.
“Are you ok?” she ventured, taking hesitant steps closer to the man.
“You surprised me.” He said, rubbing at his head.
“I surprised you? You’re the one playing on children’s equipment in the middle of the night dressed like… I don’t even know what you're dressed like.” Sarah said, slightly exasperated.
The man looked down at his clothes, and then up at Sarah. He took another drink from the champagne bottle.
“Give me that.” Sarah said, snatching it away from him.
“How’d you even get that? I don’t remember seeing you inside.”
“I blend in well.” The man shrugged, his eyes never leaving the bottle.
“Still. You shouldn’t be here. I don’t need you scaring people off.”
“I’ll have you know that I’ve been the life of every party I’ve ever been to.” The man grinned.
He has a nice smile, Sarah found herself thinking.
“Right… Which is why you’re outside drinking by yourself… Why are you even here, anyway? If you don’t leave, I’m calling security.” Sarah said matter of fact. She had to get back inside; she couldn’t be dealing with this weirdo right now.
The man didn’t respond, instead he just stared at the building. The home she had built, a strange look in his eyes.
“Listen,” Sarah said after another long moment. “Just leave, okay? I don’t want you to get in trouble or anything like that. Here, you can keep the champagne.” She said, handing him back the bottle. Sarah turned to walk back inside.
“I was just thinking of what life would have been like had I grown up here instead.”
Sarah stopped dead in her tracks.
“Where’d you grow up?” She asked, slowly turning around.
“Mr. Gunners Boys Home for Wayward Youth.” The man said matter of fact. “It was way worse than this place.” He said, standing up with a smile. “Whatever happened to him, by the way? He never struck me as the type to sell.”
“He disappeared,” Sarah said behind scrunched up eyebrows. “Nobody knows what happened to him.”
“How strange.” The man mused.
“What’s your name? The state seized most of the old records, but there was still some stuff that I held onto in case anyone came back around looking for answers.”
The man turned to her and grinned. He had a warm, playful smile that set her heart at ease.
“I’m Jack Atlas.” He said, holding out a hand.
Sarah looked him up and down. Her brain simply refused to believe this was the mysterious donator, Josh Globe. Only an idiot would go through all that work of hiding their identity, only for their fake name to basically be their real name. It was a coincidence. It had to be a coincidence.
“I’m Sarah. Can I give you a tour?” She said, taking his hand and shaking it.
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[Hannah]
Four months prior to Earth’s integration into the Tower…
Hannah walked into the warehouse that they had retrofitted as a base for the teams’ unique needs. A small gym, a constantly evolving obstacle course, and enough guns to invade Cuba. She made her way to the kitchenette, her nose following the scent of freshly brewed coffee.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
To her surprise, Sam was sitting in there, a despondent look on his face. Normally, he’d be glued to his computer by now.
“What’s the matter with you, Sammy?”
Sam looked over at Hannah in surprise, just noticing her arrival.
“Jack's decided on our next mission.”
“So?”
“So, you should go talk to him. I think he’s really gone insane this time.”
Hannah looked at Sam for a long moment, and then over at the coffee pot.
“Where is he?” she said, letting out a sigh.
“My computer. He kicked me out so he could do research.” Sam complained, pouting slightly.
“Alright. Let’s go see what he’s up to this time.” The warehouse was mostly open, but Sam had his own private room blocked off from everything else where he did most of his work. Hannah and Sam pushed their way inside to find Jack sitting at Sam’s desk, staring intently at one of the many computer screens in the room.
“Who taught you how to use a computer?” Hannah asked.
Jack looked up at her and smiled.
“Good, you’re here. Come take a look at this.” Jack said, quickly turning back to the screen.
Hannah exchanged a glance at Sam, who just shrugged his shoulders. She walked over to Jack and read the article he had pulled up on his screen.
“Grace Kelly’s engagement ring, valued at forty million dollars,” she read along before stopping and staring at Jack, who had a very excited look on his face.
“Why the hell are you showing me this?”
“Because we’re going to steal it.” Jack grinned.
Hannah pinched the bridge of her nose and let out another long sigh.
“We aren’t thieves Jack-“
“I know. We’re assassins. But you used to be a thief - and don’t tell me the prospect of breaking into the Palace of Monaco doesn’t excite you.”
“Jack. This is ridiculous. Planning a mission on this scale alone is going to take us years. And then what? We just sell it? Who the hell are we going to fence this to?”
“Sell it?” Jack asked, a scandalized look on his face. “I’m not going to sell it. I need it for… other reasons.”
“Other reasons?” Hannah asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.
“I’m going to propose to Sarah,” he said, scratching the back of his head, a very uncharacteristic look of embarrassment on his face.
Hannah’s jaw dropped at that announcement.
“I know, surprising, right?” Jack grinned.
“No, you idiot. It’s not surprising. You won’t shut up about her. I’m surprised it took you this long to come up with the idea. What is surprising is how stupid this idea of stealing an engagement ring is. Just go buy one like a normal person.”
“I don’t have any money!”
“How could you possibly not have any money? Your split for the job two months ago was what? 150 grand? What happened to that money?”
“I lost it in an investment.” Jack said, taking a solemn tone.
“No, he didn’t. I keep an eye on his bank records. He’s terrible with money. Why did you buy so many bowflexes?” Sam asked.
“Hey! That’s personal. Regardless, I need this engagement ring.” Jack said, turning back to the computer.
“Have you thought this through even a little bit, Jack? We steal the ring and then what? Best-case scenario, she assumes it’s a fake and calls you a cheap idiot. Worst case, she realizes it’s the real thing. Then what?”
“Hmm…” was Jack’s only response as he stroked his chin in thought. “She probably won’t turn me in?”
“How about this?” Hannah said, fighting back the growing headache that was Jack Atlas. “I look around and find us a well-paying job. We get you some money, and then I help you get an engagement ring that doesn’t involve us raiding another country. Deal?”
“I’ll think about it. But the jobs need to be a really high paying one because after I propose I’m quitting the life.” Jack said matter of fact.
“WHAT!?” Both Sam and Hannah said in unison.
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[Gideon]
[The Tower Floor 1 – Forward Siege Base]
Gideon sat at the camp cantina, watching adventurers and soldiers mill about, talking amongst each other in conversation. He took another long pull from his cup and sat it down with a sigh. He had a problem, and its name was Jack Atlas.
Gideon had been trying for the past week to pin the man down and have a heart to heart with him, but Jack was some sort of expert at avoiding him. The man was never where you needed him to be and had the absolute worst timing of showing up and ruining the mood precisely when you didn’t want him to.
Gideon had kept a close eye on Jack over the past week when they went out on the battlefield. He was an enigma of a person, and Gideon was starting to understand the god’s frustration with humans if Jack Atlas was anything to go by. The man was either some sort of hidden genius playing an elaborate trick on everybody, or he was a complete idiot. Gideon honestly wasn’t sure which.
He’d seen the man in combat multiple times at this point. He had a playful, if not incredibly reckless nature on the battlefield that often crescendoed into a deadly chaos, leaving him the winner in every situation. Other times, he showed up late, hungover, and would spend half the fight on the backlines throwing up.
Then there was the issue of his unique mana core. Sam had explained a fair bit to him, but if he was being completely honest, half the reason he wanted to talk to Jack wasn’t because of the assassination, or Sarah, for that matter. He wanted to know about the man’s mana core.
Gideon had seen a lot of truly ridiculous things during his time in the Tower, but this one was in a category all on its own. The stress alone that Jack put his body through was an absurd thing to think about. Each time he used a mana drop, he would destroy his mana channels and break his body. Then he heals up and does it all over again without a word of complaint, like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Gideon couldn’t imagine the pain. Well, he could, he had experienced his own fair share of pain, but the self-inflicted nature of Jack’s pain was a difficult thing to appreciate.
Then there was the fact Jack wasn’t using any mana outside of his abilities. He simply couldn’t. Gideon had no earthly idea how the man managed to make it this far alive without constant access to mana. It was going to become a truly unique problem for him the higher he climbed in the Tower. Not to mention the fact that mana becomes more powerful the higher you climb. His abilities might wind up being the thing that kills him, Gideon mused.
But if he could survive… What would that look like? Gideon wondered to himself. He almost wanted to take Jack under his wing and ensure he was allowed to properly grow. Gideon had run-ins with Andurian artifacts before. Certainly he could find some sort of solution for Jack.
Gideon stared out at the crowd of soldiers making their way through camp, still lost in thought over his Jack problem. Then he spotted Sarah. She was wandering through camp, throwing out the occasional healing spell or refreshing rains and talking amongst everyone with a smile on her face. When she wasn’t talking to someone, though, she wore a look of concern. Gideon watched as she scanned the group of returning troops. The group Jack was supposed to be a part of.
This was his real problem with Jack.
He spotted Jack amongst a group of soldiers, bottle in hand and making wild gestures, causing the group to erupt in laughter. Gideon looked at Sarah, who was watching Jack with a small smile on her face.
Gideon had never experienced jealousy. He was ten thousand years old and had mastered his emotions, more or less. To him, he was an iceberg, and jealousy was a gnome with an ice pick. It did nothing to him, but he was still aware of it, and he found himself annoyed by it.
Admittedly, Sarah made him feel things he could neither understand nor comprehend. His mind, his body, and his soul felt all ease when he was with her. It was a feeling of completeness he had never before experienced. Sarah was his soulmate; he was convinced of that much.
The problem was, he was still cursed. It seemed that in order to break the curse, Sarah would need to realize her feelings for him as well.
Gideon had a few hangups about that. It didn’t feel right to court her without telling her about the whole soulmate thing. He’d tried several times, but he always fell short. If this was to work, the choice had to be hers, Gideon knew that much. He just wished he knew how she was going to respond. That uncertainty was holding him back.
So the courtship had been slow. He was certain Sarah felt something for him as well, likely the same things he was feeling, but he simply refused to take things further until she knew the full truth. He just had to quit being a coward and confess.
Then Jack Atlas showed up and ruined everything. Sarah had grown distant since Jack’s return. She had been avoiding Jack, but not because she didn’t want to talk to him.
Gideon stared at Sarah, who was still watching Jack talk and joke amongst the other soldiers. She turned to look at Gideon and gave him a smile and a small wave. Gideon waved back, and she started to move in his direction, joining him at the small table.
“Hey you.” She smiled warmly, taking a seat next to him.
“Everyone make it back alive?” Gideon asked.
“Mostly, we lost some, but we always lose some.” She grimaced.
The two sat there awkwardly for a long moment, Gideon tapping his drink and Sarah staring at her hands.
“So tell me about-“
“We need to talk.” She said, cutting him off. Gideon cocked an eyebrow at her.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” he replied with a smile. Sarah smiled back at him, a gentle, sweet smile.
“It’s just… Life in the Tower has been so… Crazy? Hectic? Ridiculous?” She tried. “I’m not even sure what words I could use to describe it. If you told me I would be slinging magic spells and… killing people, I would have called you insane. But there in the middle of all that chaos you showed up, and I can’t explain it, but you make me feel complete.” She finished with a smile so radiant Gideon felt his heart start to race.
“But then there's Jack.” She started, her smile dropping in an instant. “I thought he was dead, but then he shows up the same goofy guy that I fell in love with, if not slightly manic... It’s just, there’s too much I don’t know, too many unanswered questions. I feel like Jack deserves the chance to explain himself at least. I don’t know…” she finished.
“Go talk to him.” Gideon said with an easy smile.
Sarah looked up at him, and Gideon stared into her eyes. She looked a little hurt by his casual response.
“I don’t mean get back together with him. Let him give his side of the story. Get the closure you need. I’m a patient dragon. I’ll still be here for you, no matter what.”
Sarah’s smile returned as she looked back in Jack’s direction.
Gideon had lied. He was a patient dragon at one point in his life. But not anymore. He honestly wasn’t sure what a conversation between Jack and Sarah would look like, but he found himself failing to ignore the jealous feelings that poked and prodded at his heart.
You could always kill her instead, came Kaleidoscopes voice unbidden.
He buried that thought deep down. He knew that line of thinking was a trick by the Goddess and not to be entertained in the slightest.
He didn’t want to wait any longer. It was time to quit being a coward. It was time to tell her the truth.
“Before you go having any conversations with Jack, how about a conversation with me first?”
“Sure. What about?” Sarah asked, a playful smile on her face.
“I was thinking I could tell you about the reason I’m here.”