(This is Part 2 of Chase Williams' short story, picking off where Part 1 left off. With Chase being conned by his girlfriend, losing $20 million, and being disowned by his family all in the same day. Since he appears at the end of the previous chapter, Battling in the Shadows, this chapter will explain how Chase came into contact with the Fist and joined his side. It will also reveal his ulterior motives as to why he joined Black Eagle as well. If you couldn't tell, the theme of Chase is that he's desperate in life as he has lost everything. Now he will do anything to get it all back… even if it means crossing several morale lines.
Hope you enjoy this chapter folks. Be sure to leave a review and let me know your thoughts on it.)
The sounds of distant gunshots, dogs barking, and police sirens were nothing more but a normal occurrence in the bad side of Sanjo City, the Quakeford Projects. Next to a rundown playground was a familiar blue Ferrari as a police cruiser drove by it, the car going unnoticed by the law enforcement inside. Inside the blue Ferrari was none other than Chase Williams, currently sleeping in the back seat of the car with an almost empty bottle of whiskey in his hand. It has been two months since he had lost everything. He was conned by his former girlfriend, lost $20 million as well as getting disowned by his parents, his only family other than his brother whom was possibly in Ukraine after he too got disowned by their parents.
Things have been tough for Chase over the past two months, having lost his love life, his apartment. Everything. Ever since then, he has been sleeping in his car and spending his money on alcohol, having fallen into a horrible life where he slowly became an alcoholic. The lowest state a man could ever get into. But at this point in Chase's life, he didn't care in the slightest as he was unable to find another job other than working at Omni-Tech anywhere in the city due to its recent economic decline. It was only a matter of time before the streets claimed him as a victim but for now, he was fine living in his car until that day would come. The only good thing he still had going was that he still had a job at Omni-Tech, still employed under Adam McCallum's payroll
While Chase was passed out in his car, a few gangsters strolled down the sidewalk, spotting the blue Ferrari which quickly became a prime candidate for stealing and chopping. The three gangsters smirked at each other as they approached the vehicle, with one of them looking in to see Chase sleeping in the back seat, smashed out of his mind. One of them pulled out a gun and knocked on the window with it, startling the sleeping Chase from his slumber as he jerked up.
"Uh, wha… What?" he stammers in a drunken state.
The car door was suddenly opened, Chase, in his drunken state, having forgotten to lock the doors especially in a dangerous part of Sanjo. The gangster pointed his gun at Chase before grabbing his color, pulling him out and shoving him to the ground as his whiskey bottle smashed on the pavement.
"Out the car, fool!" shouts the thug as he tossed Chase aside.
The other two gangsters got in the front seats while the third one quickly grabbed Chase's car keys, tossing it to the driver before getting in the backseat. "My whiskey bottle…" Chase drunkenly stammers as the gangsters start the car engine.
"Thanks for the car, loser! Hahahahaha!" laughs the gangsters as they drive off with Chase's Ferrari.
Chase glanced the direction where his car drove off, drunkenly picking himself up as he attempted to give chase, no pun intended, to his stolen vehicle. Unfortunately, chasing a vehicle on foot while incredibly inebriated was practically impossible as Chase tripped and fell into the gutter, where he quickly passed out once more.
"Come… back… zzzzzzzzzzz…" Chase snores as he passes out again, his stolen Ferrari a distant memory.
Cars honking as well as the city itself woke Chase up from his drunken slumber, drool escaping his mouth as he slowly woke up, his head pounding like a never lasting headache while he could just feel just how dirty his hair was. He groaned in slight pain as he picked himself up, realizing that he was lying face first in the gutter next to the rundown playground as a car drove passed him. He wobbled a bit due to his hangover only to quickly steady himself, before realizing that his blue Ferrari was gone, the memories of last night slowly coming back to him.
"Ah, shit. I thought that was a dream." he mumbles to himself.
He went to scratch his head only to realize he was holding his empty whiskey bottle, having lost it's liquids from his carjacking, as anger slowly fueled his system. "This is all your fault." he mumbles at the bottle before slamming it against the curb, smashing it into pieces.
Dogs barking could be heard in the distance as Chase haphazardly walked down the sidewalk, wanting to get out of the ghetto side of Sanjo City and away from the gangs and low income apartments that were partly crackhouses or whorehouses.
Currently at the small Omni-Tech building, Reese was busy doing a digital reconstruction of an unfinished Spinosaurus skeleton, having been given this task by Mr. McCallum himself. Even though she has seen the real thing multiple times, she opted not to argue with him due to two reasons: she didn't think he'd believe her and she just didn't want to get into a debate with him. She was currently reconstructing the spine of the theropod, making it appear humplike rather than how Spiny's sail would be. At that moment, the door opened revealing a disheveled Chase with messy clothes and a tired look on his face, currently endearing a hangover at the moment.
"Morning, Reese." he mutters tiredly at the blonde.
Reese gave him a slightly shocked look but it quickly went away in response. "You look like shit, Chase." she tells him.
Chase turned to his colleague with a confused expression. "'Scuse me?" he asks her in an offended tone.
"You look like shit." she repeats.
Instead of getting angry at her, he chuckled wryly in response. "And you look as beautiful as ever, Reese." he replies to her as he enters their office.
"You look like you haven't showered in weeks." Reese comments as she turns back to her screen.
"If only you knew." Chase mumbled to himself so Reese couldn't hear his comment. "What're we doing today? What has McCallum got us working on?" he asks her.
"Reconstruction of unfinished fossils based on a combination of recent discoveries and modern animals." Reese replies in her usual monotone voice.
"Wonderful." Chase sarcastically mumbles as she pours himself a cup of coffee. "I wonder what dinosaurs will look like this time. Maybe with more feathers or lips. Maybe we'll find out they never roared in the first place. I wonder what bullshit science we'll come up with today."
"Actually, Chase, most scientific research on dinosaurs are at least 90% accurate." Reese comments to the man.
"Then why does the Spinosaurus keep looking different every year?" he asks her as he sips his coffee.
Reese was about to retort but realized he had a point. "Fair point." she admits. "Why are you so cynical all of a sudden? You're usually happy and overly excited like a party animal."
Chase swallowed his coffee before turning to his blonde colleague. "Rough night." he half lies to her.
"Ah."
Chase quickly signed into his computer while sipping his cup of coffee before beginning his work for today. "So what've been up to, Reeses?" Chase asks her in a tired tone.
"Nothing extraordinary. Just the same stuff, different day." she answers. "You?"
"Aches and pains, Reese. Aches and pains." Chase replies as he starts up the 3D digital software on the monitor.
Reese opted not to say anything, not wanting to pry in Chase's private life as she didn't consider their relationship that close for that type of conversation. She saw each other as work colleagues rather than actual friends. Chase however had his mind on other things, namely his family disowning their own son from their family because of a mistake.
During the long work day, Chase had found his thoughts to be distracting to his work so he decided to step outside for a quick smoke break to help relieve stress. Many people passed by the building, going about their business, while Chase continued to smoke his cigarette while leaning against the building's wall. Unfortunately, even though he came out here to relieve stress, it only allowed his brain to suddenly start having memories from the past, bad memories, completely ruining his stress relief break. Voices from his past suddenly started to yell at him once more as more bad memories flooded his head.
"You ignorant, stupid child!"
"You have disgraced the Williams family."
"Sorry, pal. Looks like she lied to you."
"It's for children. Use your money for good, right?"
"We sieged a children's hospital that was used as a front for a credit card counterfeit operation."
"You are no son of mine."
While the memories flooded his head, Chase only grew angrier and angrier as he bottled up the emotions to avoid a public outburst. Instead, he threw his half smoked cigarette on the ground and smashed it with the toe of his shoes, taking his anger out on the cigarette instead. With his smashed cigarette, he headed back inside the building as Francis suddenly walked by said building, currently starting his day.
Chase entered the main office to see Reese pouting herself a cup of coffee in the small common room that was their working area. "Hey, Reese." Chase suddenly calls her.
"Hm?"
"Can I uh… Can I ask you a hypothetical?"
"What is it?"
"What if uh… What if- What if you lost everything? Like… just everything?" he asks her.
Reese was caught off guard by the question, momentarily stopping from pouring her coffee before turning to her colleague. "Well…" she starts off. "I'd probably turn to my family for support. Why do you ask?"
Chase was about to tell her about what had happened to him, about his parents' disownment, his debt, and his homelessness. He decided not to as he felt that Reese wouldn't care about him or his problem regardless if he was her friend or not. "Nothing, just thinking out loud." he lies.
Reese stared at him with a careful expression and was about to say something until the printer began beeping, interrupting the serious moment. She placed her cup of coffee on the table and approached the printer, realizing that it was out of ink, just when she needed to print ten pages to which it only printed three.
"Damn." she mutters.
"What is it?" Chase asks.
"We're out of ink. Do you know where Mr. McCallum keeps the ink?" she asks him.
"I don't think he has any. I can go to the printing shop to get some."
"Alright, let me get you some money. It's my paperwork anyway." Reese says as she goes to her purse.
Chase was about to deny her share but due to his debt, he barely even had a few bucks to his name and couldn't even afford ink in the first place. Which made him question why he even offered to go buy ink in the first place. Reese came back shortly afterwards with a small amount of cash to which she handed it to her colleague.
"Thanks. I'll be back within the hour." Chase tells her.
Reese was confused when he said this. "It's just down the block. It's less than a minute drive from here." she tells him.
Chase sighed sadly through his nose at the reminder of his car. "I know." That's all he said before leaving the room, subsequently leaving behind a confused Reese alone in the room.
Down the block from Omni-Tech was a small business called Valliant Printing, dedicated to printing, buying printers as well as various ink cartridges. Outside the store was Bernard the homeless man that always hangs outside the Backland, this time hanging out the shop holding a metal can in his hand. Bernard shook the van as various people walked by him, not even paying him attention and his problem, although he was completely used to this at this point. Chase depressingly trudged down the sidewalk, walking passed Bernard who shook his metal can at him.
"Spare change, please." he politely asks Chase.
Chase, whom had his hands in his pockets with his head hung low, turned to the African-American homeless man with a depressed expression on his face. "Sorry, I'm… I'm kind of in the same boat as you." he tells him.
Bernard signed sadly in response. "City's gotten to you too, huh?" he asks him. "Everyday people lose a lot of things… This city, son… it's a harsh one. Sanjo isn't what it used to be. Thanks to the new mayor, he's turned this entire city upside down. Destroyed our culture, our economy… our honor. Sooner or later, son… everyone will go mad thanks to this city… Then again, if everyone's mad then it'll be back to normal. After all, a sane man in a madman's world… he'll find himself to be the only mad one. It's only a matter of time before this entire city consumes itself."
Chase stared at the homeless man as he took his words deep to heart, momentarily thinking about them before heading inside the Print-n-Go shop, as Bernard shook his can at another passerby. "Change, please?"
A bell rang when he opened the door, notifying the employee from behind the counter, whom was bent over behind the counter, obscuring her face. "I'll be right with you." the female employee says.
Chase trudged his way to the counter, sadness with each step as his depressed look stayed on his face, unable to get rid of it. The female employee finally stood up and revealed herself to Chase.
"Welcome to-"
It was Scarlet, and as soon as Chase met her eyes once more, flashes of memory began to flood his mind that lead up to this moment, reminiscing about when he found out she scammed him.
"I know a guy… who's starting up a children's hospital."
"You want me to invest in the children's hospital?"
"It's for children. Use your money for good, right?"
Chase silently stared at Scarlet with a blank, emotionless expression while Scarlet was constantly avoiding his gaze, frequently glancing to the side in potent nervousness.
"H-Hi… Chase." she nervously greets with an awkward smile.
Chase said nothing, continuing to blankly stare at the person responsible for ruining his life, showing no form of reaction to her. "Look," Scarlet begins. "I can already imagine how angry you are at me. But I just want to let you know that I had NO say in the matter. My boss made me target you and… I owed him in poker. He said if I conned you into his money laundering scheme, I'd pay off my debt. I know it was a horrible, HORRIBLE thing but I had no choice. He- He was gonna come after my own mother, Chase!"
Chase's blank, emotionless expression still stayed on his face, even after hearing Scarlet's confession, giving him a mysterious aura to him. Scarlet stood there in awkward silence, wondering when Chase was gonna yell at her, honestly freaking her out over how silent he was. The young man continued to blankly stare at the woman…
…
…
…before he suddenly lunged forward and grabbed her by the neck. "AAAH! AAAAAAAAH!" Scarlet screams as she backs away, pulling Chase over the counter as well as he falls behind it. In the moment of brief freedom, Scarlet made a run for the exit. Unfortunately, Chase had managed to trip her, causing her to fall down to the ground while he picked himself up. With a tight grip on Scarlet's ankle, he began to pull her into the backroom while she fought and screamed in his grasp, trying to grab anything she could hold onto. Unfortunately, it was to no avail as Chase dragged her completely into the backroom while she kept screaming for her life.
Chase dragged Scarlet into said backroom before shoving her to the ground where he stood over her, an enraged scowl on his face. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right here in this store right now!" he yells at her.
"Y-You'll go to prison!" Scarlet tried to plead.
"You took everything away from me… EVERYTHING!" Chase yells at her. "I lost my career, my money… My FAMILY! Thanks to you, I'm out on the streets just trying to survive! It wasn't bad enough that you took my twenty mil then you go off and leave? I got NOTHING! ZIP! NADA! ZILCH! NOTHING! All thanks to you! You think I care if I go to prison? No."
Chase suddenly grabbed a stapler that was idly sitting on a desk, an improvised blunt object he could use to bash in Scarlet's skull. When she saw him grab the stapler, Scarlet feared for her life, crawling backwards until she backed into the wall, cornered by her former victim as he glared daggers into her eyes.
"I stopped caring a long time ago." Chase finalizes as he raises the stapler into the air.
Scarlet raised her hand in front of her in a defensive position, her eyes wide opened as she stared at Chase in utter fear. The young man seethed hatred through his teeth as he tightly gripped the stapler before-
*Ding! Ding!*
Scarlet's murder was suddenly interrupted when the sound of the door's bells ringing were heard, prompting Chase to awkwardly stand there with a stapler in his hand. The two stared at each other in silence, with Scarlet still scared while Chase was still brimming with hatred, though he has to admit he looked stupid just raising a stapler in the air.
"Paper delivery!" the delivery man calls out from the front.
Chase glanced back down to Scarlet, whom had a perplexed expression on her face as she was trying to figure out what to do next. "Y-Yeah, just give me a sec." she calls out before returning her attention back to Chase.
The man panted as his adrenaline wore down, the delivery man having interrupted any hotheaded decisions that Chase would've made.
Up front, the delivery man was revealed to be none other than Izumi, whom was busy talking to someone on the phone. "No… No, Daisuke, I'm at work right now… I've been trying to find someone to help us but there hasn't been much luck." he says to the person on the other end of the phone.
His conversation was suddenly interrupted when the stapler was suddenly thrown at the wall, startling the man as he turned around to see Chase marching out the backroom. "Hey, um, I'm gonna have to call you back. Tell Mr. Kotaru that I'm still looking." Izumi says before hanging up. "You alright?" he asks Chase. In response, Chase sneered at him, an angry scowl combined with his unkempt beard was enough to scare poor Izumi. "Nevermind."
Scarlet suddenly rounded the corner from the back room. "I'll take it from here, Izumi." she tells the man.
"Alright." Izumi says before exiting the store.
Once the man left the store, Chase and Scarlet turned back to each other. Chase's anger was still there but due to the interruption, it had died down, allowing Chase to have a clearer head than earlier. "I'm sorry." Scarlet mumbles apologetically.
"Fuck you." Chase harshly mumbles back.
"Look, if it makes you feel any better, my boss tossed me aside. I never even touched your money." Scarlet explains.
"Actually…" Chase then turned to the red haired woman, the scowl still on his face. "it doesn't… Where's my money?"
"I don't know."
"Don't lie to me!" Chase booms at her.
"I don't know!" Scarlet repeats loudly. "I don't have your money! My boss has it."
"Okay, where's your boss?"
Scarlet shook her head in response. "I- I can't say." she hesitantly replies.
Now Chase was getting furious. "Who is he anyway?!" he yells.
Scarlet was hesitant at first to name drop her former boss, not wanting to get in any more trouble than she was already in, before finally caving in. "Bryce Kerwin." she whispers.
"Kerwin? As in the Bryce Kerwin? Best plastic surgeon in all of Japan Bryce Kerwin?" Chase asks in a bewildered tone.
Scarlet scoffed in response. "Best?" she asks, not believing him one bit. "I've seen his work. All the women that come out of his clinic look like they're from a bad horror movie with even worse CGI. No wonder why he's conning people for their money."
"So he's been doing this for a while?" the young man asks.
"Of course he has. How do you think he stays in business?" Scarlet rhetorically asks him. "Bryce took me under his wing one day and together we scammed a lot of guys. The only reason why he hasn't been brought down is because of how bad Sanjo City turned into thanks to our new mayor. The police are too lazy and unmotivated to do anything these days."
"If you were his partner, why did he betray you?" Chase skeptically asks, feeling like this was another scam.
"No honor amongst thieves, I guess." Scarlet guesses with a shrug.
Chase was about to say something until he suddenly noticed something hiding underneath a piece of paper on the front desk. "What's that?" he asks her.
Scarlet turned around to see where he was pointing at, grabbing the object underneath the paper to reveal that it was a dinosaur card. "It's a dinosaur card." she replies.
Chase took the card from her hand and examined it. "Looks like an Eocarcharia." he identifies. "Where'd you get this? EBay?"
"Actually, I found it." Scarlet reveals. "It was in a capsule shaped like an egg in the water fountain Meadows Park. You know these things have been popping up around the world for some time now? China. Russia. Brazil. Even here in our own neighborhood."
"Are they worth anything?" Chase asks.
"I've seen people pay a lot of money just to get their hands on a card like this." Scarlet replies before leaning in. "I heard these cards turn into dinosaurs. Real, living, breathing dinosaurs."
"My co-worker mentioned something like that on her first day… when she was drunk. I didn't believe her."
"So I've been making copies of these cards and selling them across the city and world to make some money." Scarlet continues.
This peeked Chase's interest immediately. "People… buy these cards?" he asks.
"I mean, they're not the real thing. I've only been making copies of this card and googling dinosaur images to make others."
Chase was silent for a few moments, currently contemplating and thinking about Scarlet's next scam and currently, he was desperate for money. "I want in." he says.
This caught Scarlet off guard. "What?" she asks again.
"I want in." Chase repeats. "You took my money away from me and now I want my money back. If it means conning people and working with you then so be it. And before you say no, let me remind you my co-worker knows all about these cards and if she finds out you've been bootlegging them… You'll be out of a business like me."
"Okay! Okay! You're in!" Scarlet panickily exclaims. "Not like you're giving me much choice." she quietly and scornfully mumbles.
"50/50?"
"Yeah. Sure. Whatever."
"Where've you been printing them?" Chase asks the woman.
Scarlet sighed through her nose, angry that she figuratively had her hands tied, forced to work with Chase with no other option.
A garage door opened by Scarlet as she showed Chase her operating room, which was basically a table with several measuring instruments, several ingredients used to make playing cards, and a copier inside her garage. Nothing short of anti-climatic. Here, Chase thought she had a whole sophisticated system for forging these cards but nope! Just a copier. "This is it?" he asks her.
"It's what I can afford." Scarlet replies.
Chase sighs in defeat, realizing this was gonna be difficult but he was desperate and desperate times called for desperate measures. Even if it means breaking the law and working in some old garage. The young man entered the garage and approached the copier, caressing it before taking a look at the workstation. "How much?" he asks Scarlet.
She didn't know what he was talking about at first. "How much what?" she asks for clarification.
"How much money do you make with these card scams?"
Scarlet was hesitant at first but quickly smartened up. "I've made a couple thousand this month." she says.
Chase nodded his head while still caressing the copier. "This'll work." he says as Scarlet closes the garage door.
Why Don't You Do It by Little Barrie plays…
And thus, a whole process of copying these cards went through, which lasted for about several weeks of copying and forging the cards inside the garage. Chase placed several of the card making ingredients on the table before placing the Eocarcharia card on top of them, where he used a pencil to outline the card on them. At the same time, Scarlet was busy processing the machine so it could start making cards, including the key ingredients into it.
Been a strange old week,
With the stuff you didn't do and the people you meet,
And digging up words like pulling teeth
Scarlet placed the dinosaur card in the copier and turned it on before at least thirty copies of the card came out from the other end. Afterwards, she grabbed the stack of papers to cut them so they were the shape of the cards while Chase pressed hard down on the machine to make more card-like material.
Got a face, a number
And a name that she goes under,
Guess there's plenty worse places to be
After a while of copying the image of the dinosaur onto the prototype cards finally came the copying process, using a different sort of machine to actually make the card. Chase, having made several card-like objects before placing a single one on the table as Scarlet placed a copied image of the Eocarcharia on the card, gluing it so it wouldn't come off. Then, they went over to the card copying machine and copied the card, with one coming out shortly afterwards. Chase grabbed the card and examined it. The texture was right but was the image convincing? He compared both the legit card and the forged one, finding out that there was next to no subtle difference between the two. Physically, they were the same card.
So why don't you do it?
Yeah, why don't you do it?
Chase nodded his head in approval before putting the first of many copied cards on the table before getting back to work. This time, Scarlet was googling images of different dinosaurs to make it more convincing as Chase continued to make more card-like material. They repeated this process over and over again to the point where it soon became dark out, the sun having long gone down and they were still making more forged cards. Inside the garage, the two decided to take a quick break, having ordered a pizza delivered at Scarlet's garage where they were currently eating it while still making more cards, with Chase outlining the card over some card material.
Ain't no harm
In having just a bit more fun,
Whether you like it or not
Chase was currently outlining the card until he noticed there were some pizza crumbs on the material, quickly pushing them away before continuing his work. Scarlet was shown loading more paper into the copier as more forged cards were being produced behind them. By now, the table was littered with forged dinosaur cards, with a pile specifically made for tossing the failed copies, a pile which was quickly thrown in the trash by Chase.
Make no place for dragging down your face,
Don't you know it's the best one that you got
This time, Scarlet was the one outlining the card and cutting the material while Chase pasted googled images of dinosaurs on the already finished product before sticking them in the copier. Afterwards, he had placed more card making material and quickly produced another batch before bringing it to the table. There he placed the legit card on the material and used a precision knife to cut the material in the shape of the card.
So why don't you do it?
Yeah, why don't you do it?
Why don't you do it?
Why don't you do it?
Scarlet had placed several dinosaur images on the many empty cards, some of them being a T-Rex, a Triceratops, a Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, and other popular dinosaurs. Although unbeknownst to them and the rest of the world, these dinosaurs were already in their cards, yet they didn't care cuz they had no idea. Chase placed the T-Rex card in the copier and made at least twenty copies of them before moving to the Triceratops.
Break that bank,
You never know you might draw blanks,
Then again it might sort you out
Soon, several stacks of copied cards littered the table as several trash bags of failed copies were carelessly tossed in the corner. This was mostly the reason why it took all night for them to copy these cards to perfection because of all the failed versions of them. Scarlet once again loaded the last stack of copy paper in the printer while Chase continued to make more material for the cards. Afterwards, several copies of Stegosaurus cards shot out from the other copier before they were picked up by Chase, whom carefully examined them to make sure they were perfect.
'Cause life is short and love is shorter,
With a hung drawn mind that's cut up into quarters so,
It's never gonna leave your doubt.
Chase placed the finished cards in the pile while Scarlet copied more of them with the card copying machine, having finished searching up dinosaur images a while ago. The redhead placed a cut photo of a Stegosaurus on top of a blank card before taking it to the card copying machine, making multiple duplicates. While she was doing this, Chase had finished using the precision knife to make more blank card material before combining them all into the card making machine.
So why don't you do it?
Yeah, why don't you do it?
Why don't you do it?
Why don't you do it?
Morning eventually arrived hours later, the two spending the entire evening and night and at least over 12 hours of forging cards and by now, they were tired. "We did it." Scarlet pants in exhaustion. "We forged over a hundred cards… We should be good for a few years if we sell these to the right people."
"We can always sell them online." Chase suggests.
"Good idea. It'll reach more people that way." Scarlet agrees. She then let out a huge yawn and stretched her muscles. "I think I'm gonna take the day off from work today. We've been at it all night."
"Yeah." Was all Chase says before leaving the garage but not before suddenly turning to Scarlet. "Scarlet." he calls out, grabbing her attention. "Don't think I haven't forgiven you for what you've done yet."
"I don't think you'll ever forgive me." Scarlet replies in a grim tone.
"For once… you're right."
And with that, Chase shut the door leading into her house, leaving the red headed woman alone in her garage with her thoughts.
WEEKS LATER…
Weeks had gone by after Chase and Scarlet had forged more cards, having sold most of them to local people in Sanjo and shipping a good quarter of them across the world. In the end, they had amassed enough money to keep them alive for a good month or two, all in all, a successful scam. They had opted to lose any connections with each other for a while until they needed to start forging more cards, so they had cut communications with each other and went their own ways for now.
Currently, Scarlet was inside the Valiant Printing shop, copying some documents for a customer to be picked up later. Her work was suddenly interrupted by the front door's bell ringing, meaning someone had entered her shop. She turned to the front to see Chase standing there with a scowl on his face before approaching her.
"Chase? What're you doing here?" she asks. "We're supposed to be keeping a low profile."
Chase leaned across the counter, his scowl suddenly turning into a solemn expression. "We have to stop." he tells her.
Scarlet widened her eyes in shock. "What? Why?" she asks him.
"My coworker found out." Chase replies. "Turns out those cards we've been forging and selling? They're her friends. Not just that but his life's
work. She told me to stop."
"Did you tell her anything else?! Did you mention me?" Scarlet asks.
"She doesn't know a thing about you other than you're a woman." Chase reassures her. "She quit last night. So now we've gotta stop selling this guy's cards. Destroy any copies we have."
"No!" Scarlet yells. "I'm not gonna stop this! We're in too deep! We've made more money than we could at our jobs! Why stop now?"
"Because she has a point!" Chase yells. "You and I both know how it feels to lose everything you worked hard on! Me especially! I'm not gonna be some hypocrite and go behind my friend's back! I'm not like that! You're lucky I told her we only sold ten copies here and two out of country! You and I are the only people who know there are way more forged cards out in the world than that!" the young man calmed down a bit while regaining his composure. "Look, it was fun while it lasted but we need to stop. We're bringing too much attention to ourselves. We have enough money to keep us on our feet. It's enough for an emergency situation. We earn enough to support ourselves."
"Chase, I work at a printing shop! I don't even earn enough to pay rent!" Scarlet yells at him.
Chase sighed through his nose in response. "Then I guess that's your problem… not mine."
With that, Chase turned around and approached the store's exit, but not before turning around to face Scarlet once more. "So it's like that, huh?" Scarlet asks him. "Just going to leave me like everyone else has? When I need you the most?"
Chase suddenly turned around and scowled at her. "Like how you did to me?" he asks her with anger in his voice.
Scarlet was left speechless because she knew he was right. She did do that to him, and now she's in his shoes. Without saying anything else, Chase exited the store, leaving the red haired woman alone to her own thoughts and problems.
Poetic justice Chase figured.
A COUPLE OF MONTHS LATER…
Adam McCallum had arrived back from Washington state in the U.S. and had shut down Omni-Tech for unknown reasons and because Chase was living in the building before he did, he now had no place to live. For weeks, if not months, Chase was completely homeless, having nowhere else to turn to. No place to stay and was forced to eat out of the trash. Because of this, he had grown a mangy beard and unkempt hair while also developing an addiction to heroin as he was now living on the streets of the Quakeford Projects, the low income ghetto area of Sanjo City.
Currently, Chase was passed out in some alley with a used needle beside him along with several empty bottles of alcohol that were littered around him. Because he was blacked out, he didn't notice a person walking up to him, their shadow over his passed out body as they looked down on him. The person suddenly bent forward and picked him up bridal style, although Chase was so high at the moment that he didn't even wake up. The person threw him in the trunk of a car and quickly shut it.
Chase suddenly woke up to complete darkness as he heard the muffled engines of the car outside, making him realize he was in the trunk of a car. "Hey! HEEEEY! HEY LET ME OUT OF HERE! LET ME OUT OF HERE, PLEASE!" he pleads for his life as he bangs on the trunk's ceiling.
The car jerked up a bit, scaring the poor man before suddenly coming to a stop, the engine dying shortly afterwards. Then, the sounds of a door opening and closing were heard before finally the trunk of the car was opened, the sunlight immediately blinding Chase as the silhouette of a man stood over him. "What do you want from me?!" he asks the stranger.
In response, the man offered a hand, to which Chase curiously glanced at, not sure if he should take it. Then he quickly remembered that he didn't really have anything to lose, so he took the hand as the man pulled him out of the trunk and into the light. The man was revealed to be a man in his early to mid 40's, short black hair that was slicked back along with a 5 o'clock shadow beard as well as heterochromia eyes, one blue, one green. The man wore an open brown leather trench coat with a Black Eagle pin stuck to the collar with a black turtleneck underneath. To finalize his outfit, he sported a pair of woodland themed pants with the cuffs stuffed in a pair of black leather tactical boots.
"Who are you?" Chase asks the man.
"My name is Colonel Jack Hammer." the man introduces himself. "I work for a faction called Black Eagle… and I've been looking for you, Chase Williams."
Chase was taken by surprise when the man knew his name. "How do you… How do you know me?" he asks.
"I've been assigned by my superior to locate you in order to welcome you into our force." Col. Hammer explains. "Granted, it took some time to find you. I wasn't aware of you… poverty problems."
"Things have been tough." Chase sadly replies as he glances to the ground.
"But your troubles are over." Hammer continues, grabbing Chase's attention. "My superior has informed me of your knowledge of dinosaurs, something which he needs for his work. I assure you, if you join us, you WILL have a better life. Free meals and sleep quarters. A place to call home. Something I'm sure you desperately need."
"Why… Why me?" Chase asks. It was too good to be true; he couldn't believe the man.
Hammer grew a stern expression in response. "Because you're the best in the field of paleontology… You are needed."
Those words. Those were the words Chase has yearned to hear in his entire life, to be wanted- no, needed by someone. For a moment, Chase pondered on his decision before finally making one. "I'm in." he replies.
"Excellent." Hammer replies with a smile, before it quickly disappears. "But, one more thing… You're gonna have to kick your heroin addict first." he tells him.
Chase rolled his eyes in response. "Like I said, times have been tough. It was just something to keep the edge off. Not like I actually liked it." Chase explains.
Colonel Hammer smiled in response before extending his hand out. "Welcome to Black Eagle, Mr. Williams, or as we will now call you… Sabre."
Chase welcomed his hand and the two gave a firm handshake, finalizing their deal as Chase was now officially working for Black Eagle. His homeless days were now over as he was finally given a second chance in life. A second chance he was sure to not waste.
(And Chase's second chapter is done!
This chapter explains how Chase was copying Dr. Ancient's dinosaur cards that were being sold online in the main story chapter Wildfire as well as how Chase got into Black Eagle at the end of Battling in the Shadows. These character stories will explain off screen events on how the characters got to where they were when they appear in the main story. Chase and Francis are excellent examples.
There are still two more characters that will have stories about them but we have yet to reach that point. I will say you have met them before.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this mediocre chapter as well as the main chapter that was posted alongside this. Be sure to leave a review if you enjoyed it!
KOKBYE!)