I woke up with a jolt. As I opened my eyes, I was almost blinded by the brightness of everything. Someone had their hands on my shoulder and was shaking me ruthlessly. My back ache and my headache instantly slammed against me like a ton of bricks.

'Clark! Are you dead?! Wake up! Melina said she'd castrate me if I didn't bring you back alive! Come on! Wak-'

'Stop fucking shouting in my ear!' I snapped, sitting up immediately but was suddenly tugged back down to the floor, my neck twisted and suddenly I was face first in mud.

'Hang on...' He grumbled suddenly grabbing at my face as I twisted back over again. Aiden grabbed at my face and ripped something away from my face hard, I felt something snap at the back of my head. I gasped hard regretting it instantly, my throat was raspy and I started coughing and spluttering in response, collapsing to the floor once again.

'Don't strain yourself.' Aiden smacked his hand against my back as I continued to cough against my dry throat. 'You went without oxygen while awake for a long time, I'm surprised that you're okay. I kinda thought you were dead so I was going to leave.'

'Wow. You're so kind.' I looked to my side to see a big metal cannister beside me with a wire leading up to my side. 'What the hell is that?'

'Oxygen tank, I woke up and the two of us both had masks on our faces.' He explained, pulling the canister away from me and standing it up right. I looked around me and saw that the two of us were sat on a grassy piece of land across the road from the ctOS building.

I took gentle breaths in and out and felt the pain in my throat lessen. '... Did you wake up and bring us out here?'

'I presumed you had done it.' He frowned, he grabbed my hands and the two of us rose up to our feet. '... Because I didn't.'

I frowned back at him as I dusted myself off. If neither of us had got us outside and found the tank of gas then who did? Was it some passing employee who felt sorry for us so helped us out? Was it actually me and I just had no memory of getting outside and getting the tank?

'Let's not worry about it for now.' Aiden grumbled. 'Do you still have my phone?'

I reached into my pocket but surprisingly when I pulled out, it wasn't a phone at all but a piece of paper.

Consider this the payment for saving your life. Talk soon, Percilla.

My face paled and my voice caught in my throat. Who left this message in my pocket? Who helped us out of the building?

Aiden snatched the piece of paper from my hand and glared hard at it but then frowned. 'Who's Percilla?'

'... An old friend.' I whispered as I snatched the piece of paper back and stuffed it into my jeans. 'Come on, we need to get out of here quickly.'

For now, I'll pretend that note doesn't exist. I'll pretend like it's very presence hasn't shaken me down to the bones. If Percilla is back then that means everyone I've ever known or loved is in danger. Aiden and I jumped to our feet and ditched the oxygen tank. We made our way down the street slowly at first as we were both very uneasy on our feet then found our way back to my car.

'... Come on, we'll ditch it in the docks and I'll ask an old frie-associate to have a car there waiting for us.' Aiden grabbed my car keys from his pockets and jumped into the drivers seat. I jumped into the passenger seat behind him and closed the door.

I rested my head against the window and felt better the second my scolding hot head touched the ice cold window.

'Who's this associate of yours and how come he gives you free cars?' I asked.

'He knows someone who lets me buy cheap old cars every now and then when I can't use my own- and they're not free! Trust me, you're better off knowing just that about him. He's very good at what he does sure but I'm a very bitter person.'

'I can tell.' I muttered, eyes closed, breath fogging up the glass. Aiden switched on the radio and took my phone from my bag between us. He dialed in a number and for a few minutes discussed cars with someone on another line.

Aiden hung up after a seconds before placing my phone back in my bag. 'I don't take too kindly to people betraying me, Clark. Especially people I'm paying for their services.'

'Are you implying that I'm going to betray you? I mean, I might but if you started paying me I could be a bit more helpful to you and like twice as reliable.'

'You mean more helpful than say, slamming your head against a vent then not two seconds later, punching my head down onto a vent floor and almost breaking my nose.'

'Definitely.' I chuckled, head still against the window as Aiden roared my little beauty to life. 'I mean, I'll be so helpful that I could drag you through about fifty metres of oxygen deprived ventilation system then drop you out the other end first because y'know, I kinda care what happens to you. Then I could pass out right after dropping you down and almost die if it wasn't for some random stranger who clearly helped us out.'

'Fine, point taken. I'm a dick. Sorry.'

'Did the vigil-uncle just say sorry to me? I'm astounded. I think I might shed a tear. Oh, I can see the heaven's opening up and our lord and saviour Jesus Christ has appeared to me and he hath said to me … "you're still a tool" oops.'

Aiden took off instantly and the two of us charged away from the ctOS building. I had no idea if the bug had worked. I mean, I'd hidden it well enough without detection so Blume should be blind to it being there but will Melina be able to use the bug to find the information we need. Without Aiden's phone I have no way of speaking with her right now and I would rather to speak to her about this in person anyway.

'Everything okay?' Aiden mumbled. 'You look… ill. With your head up against the window like that I mean.'

'Thanks.' I mumbled. 'I don't feel too good but it's just the oxygen and shit. We're lucky its not worse. I mean, although we clearly had a mild case, hypoxia can still can lead to things like blindness, hormone problems, disturbing speech and language communication and lots of other things too.'

'... You seem quite knowledgeable on that stuff.' Aiden mumbled. 'All I really know is to just duck behind something for a few seconds and my injuries will clear right up, if I'm not injured during this of course.'

'That's stupid.' I laughed. '... I learnt a bit about hypoxia at university. Then I studied it in my own time at home with Melina because I'm a bit of a medical nerd.'

'We all have a hobby.' Aiden was fully concentrated on the road that much I could tell but the second I was about to sit up and look where we were. He parked the car and took the keys from the ignition and through them at me. 'Get the back number plate, I got the front.'

I jumped out the car and did as I was told. I ripped the number plate off as easy as a band aid and then walked over to Aiden who was already at another car placing my front number plate inside the boot.

The new car wasn't anything too special. I mean it was younger than my car. It was made in 2002. Kind of looked like some sort of Audi. I dunno, cars was also Melina's thing.

'I specifically said not a coupe.' Aiden growled banging his fist against the boot. 'This is going to cost me an arm and a leg to pay him back.'

'Who?'

Aiden noticed me, surprised then frowned. 'No one, don't worry. Just an old man talking to himself here… This is for you and Melina.'

'What the car?'

'Yeah. Y'know since I basically made you get rid of your car, it's the least I can do for the two of you after the help that you have given to us.'

'Y'know. For someone I met this morning, you seem to know an awful lot about us.'

'... I've known Melina a long time.'

'- What?'

'The two of us met when she was working as an apprentice. I needed some information and she was kind enough to get me through the system. Since then we kind of just talked business every now and then. We met up earlier to go info hunting then came back to pick you up and do this stupid job. Didn't she tell you?'

'Clearly not.' I mumbled, kind of hurt that Mel had kept something like this a secret from me. She intentionally kept it from me and didn't want me to know since she acted like some vigilante superfan since we arrived. Why would she hide something like that from me?

Maybe it was the same reason I tried to evade telling her about Jordi over the phone earlier. Jeez, I can't believe it was only this afternoon that we went out together. It feels like its been years.

'You can drive. I need to make another phone call- on your phone since you lost mine.'

'I'll buy you a new one, I swear.' I whimpered. 'Y'know I was a little too passed out to realise I was being mugged.'

Aiden humphed as he opened the drivers side door and grabbed a pair of keys dangling from the rearview mirror. He pulled out and through them to me which I caught with ease.

'... So, you and Mel are friends?' I couldn't help but be inquisitive and if anyone was going to tell me then Aiden was. Mel was the type to keep some stuff to herself which I respected but I'm nosey and I doubt Aiden cares either way.

'Yeah?' He shrugged. 'I guess so. I mean, we've hung out a few times and done some jobs together.'

'What kind of jobs?'

'The kind that you should ask her about yourself if you're really that interested.' He smirked as he crossed over to the passenger seat and jumped inside.

I growled in frustration as I returned back to my car and grabbed all of my personal belongings from the entirety, making sure to double check I had my phone, keys and purse. I pulled my scarf back over my mouth and pulled my gloves up my wrists a bit as they were starting to slip then sighed.

I'd have to talk to Melina when I got back and I'd have to get patched up too. I can feel the dry, crusty blood stuck all over my forehead each time I moved my eyebrows even a little and it made me feel sick. This wasn't what I signed up for. Sure, the injury was my own fault for being an idiot but I didn't sign up for almost dying because of having to crawl through air restricted vents.

I rubbed at my temples with my free hand and piled it all into the boot apart from my phone which I brought with me to the drivers seat and handed to Aiden.

'You don't need to get anything on the way do you?' I mumbled, pressing the key into the ignition but Aiden didn't answer. He just placed my phone by his ear and started talking to someone else.

'No? Okay.'