Book 1 Chapter 6: Who?
Chapter 6: Who?
Zee came back not even that long after Jaeger had left and with his keen eyes definitely noticed several display cases were gone. Not opened and empty but gone competely. With a certain smell in the air he looked over to the furnace and noticed it was slightly hotter than it had been previously. Looking inside, remnants of burning display cases were still smoldering away before melting.
Zee sighed, laughed, and then sighed again.
The 3 who had just come in through the street level Café were indeed Solomon, Malcom, and Jack. They had traded quite a few amazing magical items to him for supplies, as well as resources for the weapons they had. Especially Jack, who needed several potions that were hard to come by. Malcom had met Zee quite a few times as he was his personal fence amongst the city.
It was beyond unlikely that they had taken these, as he would've easily given them. Some collector of strange designs had asked him to make these, and with the man recently have had disappeared they had become useless pieces of work.
Thus, someone else must have come in here. The person had left about 50 pieces of gold though, which unknown to Zee was half of what Jaeger had on him, and then left.
Zee wished they had stayed instead, he might have actually had some more things they might have wanted or commissioned the creation of something. Zee loved to craft, especially magical items and anything he made was put in a personally made display case and then thrown to a corner. He didn't care the least if they burned up right after he finished them. Practice and creation was what he enjoyed, not collecting.
However, a please would've been nice. Who was it that came? Why take guns not the other magical weapons? What a wierdo, there was no such thing as never enough but again unknown to him Jaeger wasn't one to collect things either. What a pity.
It could've been someone like the man that had commissioned the items had returned to gather them, but Solomon had said they had all disappeared and Malcom confirmed it.
So, someone under him must still be alive and came to pick it up as that man had been here before. Who else would know of this place?
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Solomon and his two compatriots left back through the Café's back door and out its front with a wave to its keeper and went out onto the street.
"What now?" Jack asked looking up and down the street.
"I have to look for Ana…but if what we are guessing, nobody appeared from that area and thus…she must be in the fog. I will go into it."
"Solomon…" The two looked at him catching the faint glimpse of the heart that ached within their friend.
"I can't leave her in that place, I told her I would never let her die in the arena and we would leave together…together and nothing less than that, I even told her I would pay her way out but they would've just grabbed her again after I died…she might have been caught in the fog healing someone during a fight. It is there I will go."
The two shrugged, Jack didn't have anywhere to go, and he had lived just less than half of his life in the arena. Anything he used to know would've already changed. For Malcom, he liked opportunity and was loyal to the core to his friends albeit how small numbered they are.
Solomon strode off towards the deeper part of the city to get more information on what was going on, to know what he was going to get into before it was gotten-into sorta thing.
Jaeger explored the sewers and yet found no traces of other people or places. Although he did indeed find traces of used places like that 'Zee's' place that hid items and a crafting shop…the traces left behind by peoples travels weren't there. Some places had it, but no mechanism could be found to get within it and most likely they were never the same.
Jaeger was about to head up a ladder to a man hole cover when he noticed a glint of light far down the passage from him. It wasn't long, but the rain water that ran right past his back had bent that light just enough for him to see its glimmer momentarily.
Turning around he was met with darkness, but he had DEFINITLY seen that glimmer, from some sort of torch light or something equivalent.
Jaeger didn't hesitate to run down the passage, breezing past obstacles before arriving where he guessed he had seen the light. Traces of steps led off to a certain passage and so he followed it.
Murky water ran to his left, dark as most of the water underground. The slight drips of water broke the linear sound of running water, but only minutely. The pattering of steps was what his ears were looking for and soon the sound of them grew louder. Jaeger reached his hand out from the darkness catching a girl who was running in strides.
"What do you want? Let go of me!" She yelled trying to strike him with her dwindling torch. Jaeger caught it and spoke in an even tone, "I am just an investigator…I ONLY have a couple questions…I promise I mean you no harm, I am just looking for the traces of an old friend down here." He nodded slowly, letting the grip of his hands slowly become less taught.
She backed off, but didn't run like he expected to.
"Who are you looking for…"
"Friends of a friend…he died, or disappeared…I don't know, but I need to find him again. To warn him." Jaeger was honest, but kept the old man's name to himself.
"Well…my name…is Ana…I am looking for someone too. I don't know where to go, and some men who saw me escape from where I came from are after me…psychos…I don't know what happened to my boyfriend…he is who I am looking for…"
Jaeger thought of the three men he saw, could they be amongst the people after her? Or was one of them her Boyfriend. He didn't want to spook her saying they were down here so he asked to confirm it, "What did he look like?"
"Short hair…young, about 18 to 20…handsome…he has a good air to him, and a friend named jack who is about 30 with dark short hair, kind'ove a grizzly looking guy. Real big."
'That confirms it…'
"Listen…this is going to be kind'ove funny, but I saw them"
"Really?! Where?" Her head darted around down the dark passages.
Her torch light glimmered across Jaeger's face as he spoke, "They went up into the city…I have somewhere safe you can stay, maybe with my girl instead. Those sound okay? You shouldn't stay down here; it ain't safe for your health let alone the people who prowl it." He winked and turned around towards a nearby ladder before hauling his body up it. Rain pattered his face, and after a second or two a girl poked her head out of the hole and looked around.
She took a deep breath of the fresh air, it was very good.
"Come on…were not far from the café my girl's dad owns" Jaeger propped his hood up, bought Ana a jacket on the way over and arrived not long after that.
"Hey…" Alexandra's dad looked past Jaeger's shoulders to a girl shaking off water into the drain near the door, he raised an eyebrow and Jaeger caught his drift.
"She escaped the arena…strange shit is going on, wondering if you can give her a space. I will pay for it, she might be related to a current job I got and also some other things I am figuring out."
He shrugged but nodded, "Sure kiddo why not, Alex is upstairs by the way, she seems to have made her home out of your room already haha…aww…finally a son in law" Jaeger laughed but as Ana caught the conversation she actually relaxed. Jaeger was a kind hearted stranger, and one who thankfully hadn't lied to her.
Jaeger brought her up a backset of stairs leading up several floors to Jaeger's new apartment, which he bought off the old man. Even though it was a floor or two lower then the place he had before, it meant Alexandra didn't have to go back and forth between their places. The room even had the same styling as his own so it wasn't a bother. Alexandra met and hugged Ana, who in return 5 minutes later was laughing with her. The wooden floors didn't creak the same, the cupboards didn't groan and the window didn't have the same leak in it but that was fine.
Jaeger smiled as he watched them talk, maybe he had led Alex to a new friend which in return might bring him some free time. Boo yah.
Everything was great until the moment Jaeger looked out the window to the street below to see a man staring up at him. It was that stranger of a man, and soon to Jaeger, his name was Solomon.
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Jaeger nodded to the café below, looking behind himself to the two giggling girls. With a small white lie, he said he would be back and went down stairs to the Café.
Solomon was already there waiting, with Jack and Malcom at his left and right watching Jaeger. Alexandra's dad acted like he was cleaning, and Jaeger waved them to a back room.
Solomon nodded and strode forward, the slight clangs of the armor under his clothes apparent in the room. Jaeger noted this, as well as the garb and weapons Malcom and Jack were hiding.
After entering the back room Jaeger opened up a window or two to create a draft and let the fresh air in.
Solomon didn't sit down even as Jaeger did who in turn threw a pack onto the table and lit it with a lighter.
He flicked it closed, and looked over them one more time in full view past the smoke.
Solomon was the first to speak, "You know why I am here…I heard that you can find people, and you were the closest reference I could find to use…glad you saw me from the window, I didn't think I would find you that easily."
Jaeger smiled, "I really am good at what I do…how about this, if you tell me some things I will tell you some things, deal?" For some reason as the three heard him speak, the unwavering confidence and relaxed air he gave off told them that he wasn't lying.
It was a funny sense, as if Jaeger already knew what they were going to ask.
"I am looking for a girl named Ana, no last name just like me…my name is Solomon, and this is Jack and Malcom. She has brunette hair…she is beautiful…shorter then me by a head, and she has a healing power involved with light."
"Alright…I can work with that." Jaeger smiled, waving his hand over with the smoke still in it to a couple of chairs. Now that the three relaxed a bit, they stopped standing and grabbed a chair each as well as a smoke off the table.
"Vanilla?" These were strange smokes and yet were 'fucking delicious' as they each thought in one way or another.
"Alright…looking at you three, the rugged air and scars across your body…as well as the way you stand in an enclosed room as compared to a populated street…I can guess you are from the arena. Malcom doesn't have these scars but you are each very trusting of him so I can conclude he had a part to play in the arena as well…as a bookie…a merchant…or a dealer…I am guessing merchant, as bookie isn't someone who would see the light of day anywhere let alone make friends…Jack has been there the longest, as his scars are the oldest as well as his age and veteran glare…he also isn't from here, his genetics that make up the face and build are from some other city…"
"You figured that out by just lookin' at us?" Jack asked eyeing him up and down.
"This girl Ana…she is your girlfriend" He pointed at Solomon.
Solomon felt a weird air coming up, but he couldn't place his finger on it. He was so drawn in by Jaeger's words that he didn't know what to say and so he nodded.
"Tell me about the fog…that is what I will trade."
The three looked at each other and silently agreed before spilling what had happened to them.
"That makes a lot more sense now…there has been random out cropping's lately amongst the populace of people disappearing…nobody seems to be able to do anything about it so far, and so thus barely anyone has been allowed to the middle ground area of the city in case it has something to do with the ground sections…I wonder what the living hell it is."
Jaeger also shared certain things he had been investigating as of late but of course left out the part about following them and stealing things from this 'Zee'.
Solomon nodded, they both had quite smart minds. Solomon had wisdom, and Jaeger had intelligence even though he didn't show it half the time even in conversation.
"So…where is my girlfriend Ana?" Solomon asked, lighting up another smoke.
"Oh her? I found her in the sewers and helped her escape some of the convicts that had escaped from the Arena like yourselves…I made sure you were credible with the words you had said to make sure I could trust you before letting you see her…she is on the 6th floor with my girlfriend Alexandra, she has a room to stay in now…and I'm paying for it, so I wouldn't mind if you stayed there too. The café owner is my girl's dad, he's a good guy. Ask him for anything you need and tell him to bill me."
Jack fell out of his seat, Malcom's mouth was open wide, and Solomon's heart was racing.
"Really? What room!" Solomon blurted out as he put his cigarrette out with his other hand.
"Room 5, 6th floor. Knock, or I can't save you from my girlfriend…" Solomon was a blur as he moved through the door, Alexandra's dad only saw a flash before some glasses wobbled on a table. He shrugged with a smirk.
Jaeger leaned out looking through the door before closing it and turning to Jack and Malcom.
"Think he'll come back?" He asked with a smirk.
"Probably not tonight no…they always dreamed of finally having a night alone together. I think it would be a good thing to let them have it, before we inevitably find out just what the mystery behind that fog is…" Jack took a deep breath of his smoke, "Also…vanilla?"
"Yeah…some people like clover, these are laced in such a perfect way you get the aroma and taste of Vanilla but not the harsh burn…I am a real addict for Vanilla. Just something about the flavor…"
Jack nodded, breathing in another puff he looked to Malcom and then over to Jaeger, "For a guy named Jaeger…say…got any drinks?"
"Hahaha…heard that before…hahaha….yeah sure, check behind the box over there, I stash some bourbon every now and then for clients to drink."
Jack smiled, "I like you kid" They laughed and Jaeger grabbed some hidden glasses before clinking them on the table. Even Malcom licked his lips to the robust and ancient looking bottle of expensive alcohol.