What the Hell...

All my question was met with was confusion for both parties. After what felt like years of waiting she finally said something. 

"Give me the ball" 

I had the basketball from prior in my hands still, I guess I had picked up subconsciously. For whatever reason, I felt the need to listen to her and handed her the ball. She who wasn't even in proper shooting form shot the ball towards the basket 40 meters away. And to my utter shock it flew right in. The ball's bounce once again filled the room as it bounced the rolled right into the equipment room. 

Ciel then picked up her bag and left. I, who was still in shock, picked up the keys and locked up the equipment room and gym as I left. I walked home without a single thought in my head besides that confusing woman. Without realizing I made it to a large building beating the empire state in length, and width by more than double. Why was I here? Because this is my home, My parents own the entire building. I walked in through the revolving glass doors, seeing tens of people in a black and red uniform make two even lines on both sides of the hall leaving a path between them. As I took a step closer, a loud yet respectful yell entered my ears. 

"Welcome young master!"

Young master….a title I will never get used to. I nodded my head as a way of replying to their obnoxiously loud greeting, and made my way to an elevator on the opposite end of the hall. What I was met with as the doors closed was a mechanical voice. 

"Where would you like to go?" 

This was my family's personal assistant, otherwise known as Rocessus, 

"Take me to the top floor, Ro." 

"Right away sir"

The elevator shot up to the top floor, passing hundreds of floors in a few seconds. 

As the doors opened I was met with a chubby cheeked, smooth skinned, tiny creature, aka my younger sister. She was a bit taller than 3 feet, and was wearing a princess dress for some odd reason, most likely due to my mother's obsession with her doll-like appearance. She had curly black hair like me, but it touched her shoulders unlike mine. Her eyes were a dark shade of brown and her skin paler than porcelain but not by an unhealthy amount. I smiled and let out a few words with a joyful tone. 

"And what do I owe the honor of being in the presence of such a beautiful princess?" 

She let out a few giggles before opening her mouth, screaming"Big bwotha!" 

She reached her arms upwards displaying her desire to be picked up. Fulfilling her desire I picked her up and put her on my shoulders. With her on my shoulders I walked to a room with a tv taking up the entire wall, which was around 3 meters in length and height. 

On the gray couch which was shaped like the outline of a half circle, was sitting a man with combed back black hair with a respectable amount of grays and a cleanly shaved black beard. He sported a white dress shirt and a black tie. His pants and shoes matched his tie. His skin was similar to mine but a bit tanner. He was sitting with perfect posture with his shoulders still like a rock, holding a book in his right hand which made the book look like a notepad, as he held it flipping the page with his left. He who was a mighty seven feet, five inches gave the aura of a predator in the wild. 

Maxwell Clovis, my father, and the reason we're able to own such a building. The reason for his success is his luck and intuition, he at a young age had a wolf like mentality, as he befriended multiple successful people including present congress members, he may not have known their exact careers at the time but he understood success. Since, most of them were from well off families to begin with. He then supported their dreams, by that I mean he guided them, he is what I consider a manipulator, a man who plays the game. Because of this he is made aware of economical changes ahead of time, and is able to adapt to them. He also started three businesses, applying to three different issues, social issues, economic issues and later on when his "friends" were elected, political issues. However, after my father met mother he grew soft, he no longer played the game, he chose ethics over economics. However, he was still a predator but instead he was one with a lion heart, instead of a wolf's mind. He now donated half of the gross income to charities for orphan children and incurable diseases. The entire gross income even after donating half was in the high hundreds of billions, nearing trillion, yearly. His company was called Lucky, which was quite literal, considering his company's origin. The start of his businesses was rather unrealistic, who in their right mind would believe such a thing, I'd be the same if not for the fact that I was living a comfortable life due to it. He put down the book looking at his two children, approaching us.

"Hello fa-"

Before I could finish my greeting he would have already had his arms wrapped around me. 

He squeezed the air out of me as he yelled with a voice resembling a wild animal's roar. "Asher!! My little boyyy!... .Are you alright my son??" 

He after noticing my paleness examined every inch of my body making sure I wasn't injured. 

"I'm alright father, just give a bit of warning beforehand next time." 

"Oh i'm sor-" 

Cutting him off this time was the voice of a woman, from the left side of the room walking down the stairs. She had long dark brown hair that reached her knees, along with hazel brown eyes that reflected the light radiating from the ceiling, with beige skin that shined like a piece of metal. She was wearing a black dress that reached her ankles and dark red lipstick.

"You buffoon…forgetting our boy's illness."

"I know honey…my mind seems to forget at times."

The lion only bent his head for one individual…the lioness. She had both the brain of a predator and the heart of one too, making her this perfect match Her name is Angelina Clovis. She walked to the bowing lion and patted his shoulder. 

 "It's alright dear, just be more careful."

She then looked towards me and then the one on my shoulders. 

"Lior, dear that's dangerous"

"No! Big bwotha is strong" 

Lior grabbed my hair refusing to let go, her grip was mightier than a knight's on their horse's reins. I patted her head before saying, 

"Lior listen to mother." 

Lior pouted before tears started dripping down her eyes. 

"If you listen to her I'll cook you lunch tomorrow." 

Lior stopped crying magically as she rested her chin on my head with a look of contemplation. No matter how young, the Clovis blood lies within her too. 

After what looked like the weighing of the pros and cons she smiled. replying to my offer with a simple,"Awight" 

 She rolled off my shoulder into mother's arms. 

"Thanks Ash." 

Mother smiled similarly, as she thanked me with her soft voice. 

I nodded, accepting her thanks before walking into my room. Inside my room was a simple black desk, a bed with a black bed frame and white sheets and a bookcase that faced the wall my desk was up against. I locked my door before sitting on my chair and rolling it all the way back towards the bookcase, which I then took a book out of. 

"Ro, begin projection." 

In the now empty slot which the book I took out used to reside was a glowing lens which projected charts onto the wall my desk was against. 

"Ro, compare chart one's data to what it was a month ago" 

"There has been a fourteen and a half percent decrease in value" 

What I was looking at was stocks. I use Ro, a state of the art mind, to analyze data for me and then I decide whether it's worth it or not. Could I just do it myself considering I have photographic memory? Yes, I could, but since im still limited to a humane capacity I shouldn't overexert my brain doing things in a complicated way. So rather than pulling my brain for specific numbers and doing it myself, Rocessus's computing skills are much more sufficient. 

"Compare it to when I first invested." 

"90% increase, sir" 

"Hmm…Ro can you figure out how many have pulled out of the stock this month?" 

"Approximately 4 people." 

"What's the approximate value of the pullout?" 

"Approximately ten million dollars." 

Taking a few minutes to think I tapped the book a few times, before a camera popped out of the roof of my room. It was hanging low enough to be at my face and facing towards the bookshelf. 

"Ro, call Senator Mike" 

"Yes sir" 

The projection flickered for a few moments before showing the face of an old man with his silver white hair tied into a ponytail. He was wearing what appeared to be a business suit from the shoulders up. The man, Mike sat up with domineering posture before saying, 

"What do you need, Asher?"

"Uncle Mike, have you possibly traded stocks of an insurance company recently?" 

"Yes I have." 

Of course it was him…the congressman with the biggest greed there is. 

"Is there possibly a new law that might interfere with the company's profits?" 

"No not really I just needed the money" 

"Did you?" 

I walked over to my desk up to the camera, typing a command onto my laptop. Ro's mechanical voice filled the room for a moment.

"Right away sir." 

The printer that was on the right side of my desk turned on and printed out a few photos. Grabbing the photos I pointed them towards the Camera. 

"Guess you do need the money…new mistress?" 

A photo was of the old man meeting with a young ginger woman in a restaurant. And the second photo was a photo of her driver's license. 

"I wonder…how did you score a 24 year old woman?" 

"..I wonder where you got these devilish tendencies from. Alright, there's a law that has an extremely high chance of being passed that restricts insurance companies' hold on medical professionals. It'll also prevent them from charging high amounts for basic amenities. " 

Ahhhhhh, that makes sense, the profits of that company would decrease if that happened.. 

"Thanks uncle Mike, come over for dinner by the way, father would love to see you again.'' 

Before he could respond Ro had already ended the call. 

"Ro, sell the stocks and send the profits to my offshore account." 

As they say, the rich get richer. 

"Ro, turn on the hot water in my shower…also find out information on a woman named Ciel Cherith." 

"Understood Sir." 

As the water turned on I began undressing, and then walked into the bathroom turning to face the mirror above the sink. I looked at myself before taking off my mask, to reveal a sharp jawline, probably due to the amount of breathing exercises they had me do, you'd be surprised by how demanding those are, along with having to wear this mechanical mask. I put the mask down onto the rather large sink still looking at my reflection. Slowly bringing my index finger and thumb to my left eye I pinched and took out an extremely dark brown contact lens, I did the same to the other before looking at my gem like green eyes. Mumbling to myself my thoughts began to wander. 

"How did she know…" 

However, before I could think up a plausible answer my body began to struggle to breathe on its own once again. Time doesn't intend for me to get my answer I guess. Stepping into the shower my thoughts wandered even further and further for who knows how long. Snapping me out of it was the flashing of a light on my mask signaling my time for wandering was up and I had to step out of the shower before I began experiencing something I much rather wouldn't. I stepped out, scrunching my hair and drying my body, after wrapping myself in the towel I stepped into my room to be met with Ro's "voice".

"Information was inaccessible Sir."

It took me only a moment to realize that something just didn't make sense. Ro's information authority was equivalent to congressmen. Meaning that for information on her to be inaccessible she'd have to have an identity equivalent or higher than that. I know that the school only accepts the elite of the elite, but nobody else in that school has information protection that strong. Excluding Alec and Noel, but that was due to their parents also having connections to a few congressmen. But information on those two were still somewhat acquirable, not completely inaccessible..The curiosity was killing me. Now I had to investigate further. I let out a command to Rowan, which he accepted and soon after acted on. The projection onto my wall changed into more of a grid format, being three squares by three squares, each square was live footage from a different security camera. These cameras followed a clear path from my school to wherever the hell that Ciel woman went to. 

"Ro, rewind the footage to trace the path Ciel Cherith took." 

Ro did so without wasting any time, also upping the quality of the video as well so it was easier to tell who was who. Following the white haired one through the grid projection, on the final action of the sequence she seemed to have walked into an alley. 

"You checked the footage on the other side of the alley?"

"Affirmative sir." 

"So she didn't leave the alley..?" 

Confused, I asked Ro to project a map of the area around the alley. 

"...How the f-"

Cutting myself off I looked closer at the map of the alley. 

"Is there a sewer under the alley?"

 "Yes there is Sir." 

Putting on a black crew neck over a white shirt, and black pants I walked towards my door before hearing Ro's mechanical voice remind me 

"Your eyes are green sir." 

"Thanks Ro." 

I ran to my desk grabbing a pair of colored contacts and putting them in. Opening the door I was immediately met with my mother's voice. 

"Where are you going all dressed up?"

"Just a walk"

Smiling towards her I gave the most believable excuse I could think of. 

"Are you sure you don't wanna stay? I'm making soup."

Looking over to her pot the forced smile instantly turned into an instinctual frown. 

 "Mother….it's purple." 

"Oh…Oh no!" 

Running to the stove turning off the heat and mixing around with the wooden spoon she tried to salvage what she could. 

"I'll be leaving now!"

I announced before going down the elevator. On my arrival I was met with a bowing bellhop. 

"Hello Mr.?" 

"Im Andrew Chen sir." 

"Ohhh the new bellhop. Hello." 

"Hello Sir, do you need anything on your way out?" 

"Can I get the keys to my bike?"

Andrew handed me the keys to what was a motorbike and then walked with me on the way out. 

"Have a good outing sir." 

"I will thank you." 

I walked to a private garage using my fingerprint to unlock it. Sitting on a motorbike that was mainly black excluding the silver trimmings I turned the key. As it let out a loud roar. The large garage door opened up signaling me to get going. As the bike zipped forward at around 400 miles per hour, I pressed a button on the right handlebar. 

As a response to the action was a mechanical voice that announced, "Is there anything you need Sir?"

"Ro, direct me to the alleyway that Ciel Cherith was last spotted in and tell me if there are any movements in or out of that alley." 

"Yes Sir. Keep going forward there and then make a right turn when you reach…"

Using Ro's directions I got there in like 5 minutes.. Which is also due to the fact that my family actually owns these streets. Meaning we had access to paths that others didn't. A lot of rich folk actually own the streets many people walk down everyday without a care in the world. In the modern world the rich people have the most power after all. That also allows me to ride a motorbike at 400 miles per hour when I'm only 14. I parked a block away from the alley so I didn't draw too much attention in case I ran into her. I walked until I was a step from entering the alley. 

Ro's mechanical voice let out a warning. "There is somebody approaching the alleyway sir." 

Responding to his warning I hugged the wall on the entrance of the alley. And coming in through the other end was…Alec? Thoughts ran through my head as I tried figuring out what was going on. Why was Alec here? 

Alec's voice echoed through the alley reaching me. "Who's there hugging the wall?" 

My eyes widened as my anxiety increased drastically. Before I could respond Alec dashed forward reaching the entrance I was by. 

'What the f-'

Cutting my thought off was Alec who peaked his head out of the entrance looking at me. 

He looked confused as he questioned my presence."Asher?" 

I stepped back, almost tripping on my foot, not being able to respond. Suddenly the manhole cover in the alley was pushed upwards as another man who had a physique akin to a monster. 

His body was probably only muscle and he stood at a height of eight feet tall. Usually when one is that height they have some kind of disability or something of the sort, but no this man stood tall perfectly fine, towering over me and Alec. 

He was wearing a white dress shirt and a black vest, pants and shoes. He had white hair tied into a bun along with a white beard that reached his shoulders. His left eye was blue and his right was white. 

My thoughts managed to focus on his white eye as I thought. 'He's partly blind?'

He glanced at me, and then moved his head around to examine me. 

His deep voice gave the eeriest feelings as he questioned, "So this is him?"

Alec proceeded to question, "You know him, Vince?" 

Vince responded, "Not quite but Mistress Ally does. What about you?"

"He goes to my school." 

"Does he now?"

While they were speaking about me I felt this insane amount of pressure pressing down on me that made it difficult to talk. It felt as if I was inhaling hot steam repeatedly. 

"Vince get rid of your aura, you're freaking him out." 

"Oh right, sorry kid"

 Suddenly the pressure seemed to disappear leaving me to wonder what it was in the first place. 

'Wait aura…' 

Whenever I got bored and nothing interesting was happening around me I'd usually go on my phone and read comics or web novels. And the term aura was used in most if not every fantasy web novel, leaving me wondering; are these two crazy or is there a big secret in that sewer. I've gone to school with Alec since first grade due to our similar statuses and he never showed signs of being insane, hell he never even missed a day of school. 

Acting on my curiosity I asked, "What are you guys?" 

Alec sighed before replying, "Follow us, Vince close it behind us." 

I nodded, which Alec noticed taking steps towards the manhole. He climbed down it first before signaling me to come down. Was I hesitant at first, hell yes, but my curiosity was stronger than my disgust leading me to climbing down without problem. Vince followed shortly after, putting the manhole cover on as well. It was like what a sewer was like in those movies I watched or those webcomics that I've read. Luckily the mask filtered out what I'd imagine to be a rotten smell. We arrived at a dead end wall. 

Out of curiosity I asked, "Where to?"

Alec sighed and replied, "Wait a sec…also why are you so sociable all of a sudden it's weird." 

Now that he mentioned it, it is a bit weird. I didn't even realize I was talking this much. My curiosity affected more than my hesitance to climb down a manhole I guess…yeah that's probably it. Blaming it on my curiosity I looked to Alec.

"Speaking of weird things, your speech changed."

Alec smiled while responding, "No shit, I don't actually talk like a movie character." 

"Ahhh." 

Suddenly the wall started shaking as Vince put his finger on it. The mortar joints were filled with a white glow as the bricks started folding into one another opening a pathway to…a forest. 

My jaw almost hit the floor as I was trying to process what the hell I just saw. 

"What the hell…"