"How... Or, I mean, when did this happen?" Vivi asked.

Kennedy and Malene looked at eachother and sat down again, fixing their clothing.

"Mine was shortly after my inner energy expanded. I'm currently at the late stage of Condensation and it seems like it keeps growing more and more, even without me doing anything. It's like, getting your battery charged even when it's not plugged in," Kennedy explained.

"Mine was about the same. It's weird though. When I do circulate my my energy and cultivate it, it grows, however it feels like a little bit of it is lost. In truth, the amount is so tiny that for everything that I am gaining, it doesn't even matter. I talked to Aqua about it and Aqua said that it's some sort of connection and that the little amount of energy that I am losing to going to whoever is on the other end," Malene replied with.

Hearing this, Vivi started asking some questions and forming a timeline in her head. After she lined everything up, a very strange idea popped into her head, but she didn't share it. Instead, she started focusing on other thoughts.

Vivi had a lot of tucked away knowledge from ages long past that had yet to be awakened. As she grew stronger or encountered things that triggered a response, the information would then become available to her. Because of this, she was able to offer some advice to the girls.

"I would recommend you both close the connection in any way you can. At the same time, try to observe it and see if anything changes as you both get stronger," Vivi advised.

"Speaking of that, I would really like to know how we proceed from here. Did you figure anything out yet?" Kennedy asked. She was the strongest in the team that she was building, but she needed to be able to have a path to follow and to outline for her recruits. So far, things were good as she tons of information about the first two realms thanks to Vivi and Laz. But soon, she would be looking to figure out how to continue and she needed to know how to go about that. Due to this, although she hadn't been constantly hounding Vivi about it, she still brought it up as often as she could. She knew that Vivi was trying her best, but the longer they went without an answer, the more worried she became. With the question asked, even Malene leaned closer to hear what was being said.

"Actually, if I'm not wrong, Laz should be getting the information from his hallucination girl shortly," Vivi replied with confidence, stunning both girls. Neither Kennedy nor Malene expected this response as usually Vivi would just give a general reponse that said lots, but promised nothing. At the same time, both girls knew that if Vivi was saying this, then it was true.

"Why is that?" Malene and Kennedy asked at the same time. Vivi took a bit to explain about what happened at the warehouse with Laz and almost dying. Although she wasn't there for it, after hearing about it from Laz, she got a sense of how dangerous it was. Hearing that the blue haired b.i.t.c.h showed up, she knew that she was still apying attention to him. Honestly, as far as Vivi was concerned, she wished that the girl would disppear forever, even though she was helping Laz, in a sense.

The hardest part for Vivi is that she felt like she should know something about this girl and where Laz was being dragged to in his dreams, but it seemed like there was some sort of lock on that information. Everything else was available, but that information was pa.s.sword protected and she didn't know the key.

Since there was nothing to be done about it, Vivi was going to keep extra cautious of anything having to do with her. Hence why she was keeping the communication and visits with Kennedy and Malene secret from Laz.

"That idiot. Can't he control himself even a little bit? What? Is he doing this just for the p.u.s.s.y or something?" Malene started freaking out and went off. Kennedy too shared her views, but thinking back to the young man and their encounter from a few years ago, she somehow felt that it wasn't so simple.

"It's not that. They weren't even in that kind of relations.h.i.+p," Vivi explained.

"Then why would he go to that extreme? He could have died..." Malene, despite being angry, was more scared than anything.

"Because, his desire to protect those around him outweighed any common sense he had. If anything, I would say that he is feeling extremely lonely..." Vivi responded back, trying to put her thoughts into words.

Hearing this, both Kennedy and Malene couldn't help but become a little emotional. Even though they had left him for different reasons, the truth was that they had both left him. Knowing his history and what's been happening with him, it was clear that many people had left him in his short life. So how could they not understand that something like that would have a profound impact on a person.

"Then what do we..." Kennedy was about to ask what to do but Vivi cut her off.

"Don't worry about him for now. He hasn't lost sight of his goals, his need to get stronger or his reasoning. From now on though, I will make sure I stick close by him and not let him do anything this reckless in the future."

"Alright then, enough about him. Let's go look at the ones I've recruited," Kennedy said, getting up.

"Are you sure the company will be ok with this?" Malene asked, knowing just what kind of game Kennedy was playing.

"It's fine. They will work for the company afterall so this is nothing more that helping others to help yourself," Kennedy replied with a smile and lead the two girls out of the office and down the hall to a seperate elevator.

...

Brian was sitting at a rather luxurious looking bar while examining the man next to him. This man looked nothing like what Brian had pictured when he had been contacted by some of the people he knew in the city. He was rather skinny, pasty, and even seemed like he would fold under the pressure from just sitting next to Brian. His hair was a mess, his clothing dirty and he even smelled slightly. The main issue was that Brian felt disgust towards this person, something very similar to the feeling it had when meeting that 'cousin' of Leona's. All these things added up made Brian want nothing more than to be rid of this little rat.

The problem was the rat had information he needed and was willing to work for him.

He also had a special ability that would prove to be quite useful.

"So you're saying you used to work for Jimmy's gang and you were there the night the warehouse was attacked."

"Yeah, it was horrible. This guy... he was a f.u.c.king monster. No matter how many times we shot at him, he would either dodge the bullets or just not die..." The man took another few gulps of his drink to steady himself.

This person who Brian had found was Fred who had escaped from the warehouse the night of the attack. Brian was trying to find a few people who would do things for him without asking too many questions and Fred needed some protection in case the black flaming psycho were to show up again. As far as they were concerned, they could use eachother in this way and both benefit.

"Was he someone like you?" Brian asked. Normally, he would have asked if he was like us, but he had started to feel like he was different from guys like Laz or this piece of s.h.i.+t, Fred. Because of that, he was loathed to compare himself to them.

"Yeah, except much stronger. I hit him before you know. Full on, right in the front. I've used this ability to bust through f.u.c.king concrete walls. But this guy? He just smiled and shrugged it off. So I'm thinking, maybe... just maybe, his ability negates mine right? Like maybe hes got some sort of special power that cancels mine out? If that were the truth, then that's that. You've seen it online and s.h.i.+t, where there's always a counter to something in every game. But then he goes and hits the f.u.c.king warehouse. And he's just killing people left and right like he is just stepping on ants. And those black flames of his? They melting the motherf.u.c.kers into piles of meat sauce. I mean, don't get me wrong, these guys were all f.u.c.k tarts who deserved it, but they were still people all the same. To see someone melting into a puddle in front of your eyes... d.a.m.n...."

As Brian listened to Fred's ramblings more and more, he suddenly got really interested in this person who could kill without bating an eyelash and who had no problem doing it in the goriest way possible. Brian felt like maybe Fred might be useful for now, but if he could somehow befriend this person, then he would have gained an incredible ally in the future.

As he looked at this dirty and disgusting person, Brian felt like he wasn't such an eyesore afterall. Especially if having him close by was the key to drawing out this homicidal killer.

"So then what happened, at the warehouse," Brian took a drink and asked. He was really interested in hearing how the things there had played out, hopefully without having to listen to Fred drone on and on.

"Thenu003e Jimmy goes f.u.c.king nuts. The guys start shooting the s.h.i.+t out of this mother f.u.c.ker and Jimmy goes and pulls out a grenade launcher he had gotten in some arms deal and shoots him with it. It doesn't exactly hit him directly, but he was caught up in the explosion and blown away. At this point, I had already gotten the f.u.c.k away from there but I was still watching from the shadows to see what would happen. And you know what that c.o.c.kroach did?"

"No. What?" Brian asked, a bit more exicted now.

"He stand back up like he had just taken a nap, covered in f.u.c.king blood but not a d.a.m.n scratch on him. 'WHAT THE h.e.l.l WAS THAT?' I yelled to myself and got the f.u.c.k out of there and didn't look back." Fred finished his story and downed the rest of his drink. Even thinking about it now gave him nightmares.

"So even after all that, he was fine?" Brian asked, amazed.

"Seemed like it. I mean, the blood had to come from somewhere and when he was killing out guys, he was snapping necks and lighting them up like candles so it couldn't have come from them. And yet, it was like... he didn't just heal quickly or some s.h.i.+t. It was more like, the wounds just vanished as fast as they appeared. Scary, right?"

"Yes... terrifying..." Brian said outloud while being secretly happy on the inside. If what this piece of human sc.u.m was saying was the truth, than this guy would be a perfect person to make friends with.

"Yeah. I told the boss way back after this first night at the club that this guy wasn't someone we should mess with, but he just told me I was being weak and a coward. But now, this coward is alive and he is six feet under, probably in liquid form. That a.s.shole should have listened to me from the start, thinking he knew better. He wasn't even close to being as smart as you, young sir. At least I know that following you will lead to a bright future," Fred didn't forget to bootlick Brian while ordering another drink, completely unaware that the 'boss' he was now following was thinking of how he could use Fred as bait to get in touch with this masked individual.

"So you said he worked for that club owner named Leo, right? Did you guys ever investigate and get a name or information about him?" Brian asked, trying to feel this situation out.

"Yeah. Yeah. No address or anything. Even our contacts inside said that his information wasn't recorded anywhere for some reason. but his name... Boss found that out right away. And it was a f.u.c.king crazy one too... like La.s.so... or Lenard.. or... Lazlo... Lazlo. That's right. He goes by the name of Laz though..."

Just as Fred had worked out the attackers name, Brian suddenly stiffened up. He squeezed the gla.s.s in his hand so hard that it shattered, causing the pieces to fly everywhere, scaring Fred.

"WHAT WAS HIS f.u.c.kING NAME AGAIN YOU LITTLE s.h.i.+T?!?!?!"