Nervousness sunk into panic as the third day groaned to life. Kazi hadn't moved from his spot in the office but, he had moved a little more fluidly. Sleep found him for four hours and his body felt more at ease than he had been in the last three days. To his surprise it still hadn't rained; it did drizzle in strange cycles in the last two days but, nothing he thought could justify the look of the sky. It all seemed like a precursor to a worse storm to come, not just the sky but, everything that was happening. For every false turn he took, every dead end and every wrong answer he gave it felt as if it was added to a cloud that was on the verge of exploding and it would all rain down upon him; right there in that very office. All the folders, books, papers, letters, files, dossiers and records a wash with some torrential down pour of stress and ominous ambiguity. The flooded pent house surrounded by great windows that overlooked the city filling to the top like a great extravagant aquarium and poor Kazi floating, belly up, at the very top.
For some reason he looked at the door anticipating someone to walk through, not a specific someone (though that would have instantly stopped all of the worry) but, anyone. A stranger on the street, someone he knew, someone he wanted to know, didn't want to know, maybe him, maybe a cloned image of himself would walk through and take over for him. It was none of those but, someone he hadn't expected at all, all at once he took the man in; the baldness, the glasses, the disapproving frown upon his face and the hunched walk that crept quickly over to him.
"Abel…" Kazi said with astonishment; he had forgotten about Abel, the last time he saw him was the last time he had seen Heihachi. The revelation that Abel was still around gave him hope, even though there was no correlation something about seeing Abel lifted weight off of Kazi's shoulders.
"Sumon," Abel tersely responded moving over to the chair and indiscriminately moving files somewhere else so he could sit. He looked Kazi in the eyes and spoke deliberately. "What is going on?"
Kazi sighed, that was a good question, he hadn't actually talked about it. He addressed it without directly confronting what the situation actually was. He was so quickly thrown into it he hadn't the chance to actually think about what was happening to himself or talk about it with anyone else.
"It's Heihachi," Kazi began but, this seemed to upset Abel as he restlessly shifted his chair and sighed aggravated.
"He's missing," Abel blurted out the words. They hit Kazi like bricks, he thought of all the words and what they meant individually, then what they meant in conjunction with each other. It was all very strange. "I know that, I mean what have you found out since?" Abel asked; the words brought him out of his confused disbelief and he frowned at Abel.
"Nothing much," he thought for a moment; he had been on a sort of autopilot for the last few days. What was important to mention? "We haven't found out much, it's what we don't know that's telling," He stroked his chin, it was sprouting a beard. "We know that the third place contestant in the tournament is a name from America named Paul Phoenix and we know he lost. Now from there we should know who was in the second place spot but, there's no information on who that person is. Presumably this mystery person was the last to see Heihachi but, until we know who it is," His voiced trailed off at the rediscovery of the dead end.
"Can't you call this Paul?" Abel asked; Kazi nodded.
"We have, I have personally but, there hasn't been a response yet." Kazi explained; Abel shook his head, there was a deal of worry in him, Kazi noted. It wasn't like this man to worry too much but, this wasn't a normal situation.
"What about the JACK?" Abel moved on reluctantly.
"We retrieved it," Kazi assured.
"And the other?" Abel asked but, Kazi shook his head.
"The video feed went out before the end of the round, it was clear our Prototype JACK was the victor but, when the machine was retrieved the other was gone." Abel barely reacted.
"That's unfortunate," Abel muttered.
"Something was left behind though," Kazi went into a drawer and dove into some papers before picking up a palm sized electronic structure. "It looked important." He said as he handed it to Abel. Abel's face showed signs of life when his eyes rested on the device.
"This is the Dyson chip," he said with a hint of excitement. "It holds all the processes that the A.I. comes up with and stores them." Abel explained.
"Would it have any information on who created it, or where?" Kazi asked; Abel thought for a moment.
"It could," Abel thought aloud. "I'll need time with it." He admitted.
"It's yours, the sooner we can get answers, the sooner we may be able to make sense of what's happening." Kazi agreed. Abel nodded and didn't move for a long moment that preceding him getting up, it was awkward it felt as if he was going to say something but, he just started to the door but, before reaching it stopped.
"You don't think," He paused as he had changed his mind on what to say.
"What was that?" Kazi asked, Abel shook his head and smirked.
"Behind that desk," He started. "You look apt." And he stepped out. Kazi sat there looking at the door for a while longer.
It had only been three days.