March 29, 2019
"Fucking hell..." was the first thing Lance said once they fully embraced the scene in front of them.
"You said it." Neither him nor Cielo moved.
It was 8: 15 am on a Wednesday. On any other normal weekday, at this time, they would have both been in their respective offices waiting for the doors to open. Instead they stood outside their workplace in complete shock. Doors were open though. Wide open.
Meritech prosthetics was the last place Cielo wanted to work at. In school everyone talked about their placements. Where they wanted to go and the methods to get their positions. It was the norm. Meritech being the top of the list of do not apply for. Poor management being the biggest reason. The sole reason why she ended up there was because no one else would hire her.
Apparently being top of her class meant nothing without experience. Of course in field, hands-on experience was important. She knew this. However, unlike her classmates that learned slowly with their placements, Cielo mastered everything on the first try. She connected with clients professionally, remembered tiny details easily and designed prosthetics that functioned perfectly. Having a student show up licensed professionals wasn't what they wanted. Instead of a student learning on the field, she was put into more of a receptionist position.
Her field was competitive. While it was possible to be well liked and top quality, people often thought of her as creepy. She read people too closely with good intentions that it was unsettling. The fact that she never gave a shit about others meant she was confident and headstrong about herself. Or cocky as others put it.
She had no real experience to show nor a proper reference for jobs. Lance was the only person that offered her a real job. As much as she liked to butt heads with him, he did have a few good qualities to him. He knew his stuff and always found it useful that she didn't care what bullshit was thrown her way. Learning about his black-market deals didn't even phase her. All she did was shrug and say she didn't want any involvement.
They didn't need to create an extremely family-like workplace. They held their positions professionally knowing that the other would carry their own weight without bringing the other down. That's all they really wanted. What they had.
Standing in front of the burnt building, it hit both Cielo and Lance hard that Meritech was gone in one night. The damage was already visible from the outside. Black marks crawled their way to the building's appearance that it was no question to any passersby what happened here. Windows were blown through; although the local authorities had already cleaned up most of the glass shards and caution taped the surrounding streets.
"Excuse me?" The two snapped out of it to face an officer approaching them. "You two should carry along. Nothing to see here."
"Ah no we're not spectators." Lance took out a business card that they took. "We ar- were both workers here. I received a phone call saying we could come in today?"
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize. Please follow me. We'll start by explaining the damages. Afterwards you'll be able to retrieve whatever you can with another firefighter shadowing you." The officer raised the caution tape for them to enter. The two nodded at each in support.
They were greeted by a firefighter carrying a clipboard. Both of them got handed face masks as some of the fumigates stuck around. Not that it would do harm to them but just to be safe. The building was still in bad enough condition to be considered a hazard to the general public. Seeing it from the inside fully set the idea into their minds. Meritech was gone.
"The damage is irreparable." They bluntly stated. "Due to the building's open accessibility, the fire didn't have many obstacles to block its path. The spread was so much that by the time we were here, the damage was already done. I'm sorry."
Lance fell to his knees. "My life's work... Burnt to the ground..."
"Big boss! Come on, don't be like this... You have plenty of insurance and expertise to restart. You can probably build a bigger office for yourself. Buck up..." as much as she wanted to maintain the smile on her face, it was hard seeing the absolute despair on his.
"Did you happen to find the cause?" His eyes stared down on the floor, completely lost.
"We are still running everything but we believe arson."
"Arson?" She tried not to show guilt.
It wasn't her fault Five reacted this way. But she did feel guilty because of the fact that she knew the cause. Not that telling the police would do anything about this situation. She wasn't too big on the law but there probably wasn't one against a man-child arson attack purely to stop the production of an eyeball.
Still, a part of her felt that she could have done more. Prevented the disaster in front of her eyes. This was both of their livelihoods. They may have had their differences but they both gave their everything to Meritech Prosthetics. To see it reduced down to nothing was heartbreaking.
Cielo jumped when Lance shot up. "I need to go."
He ran off, leaving them all behind. She looked between him and the fire fighters. Lance wasn't usually this brash. Normally he would fear doing anything drastic. A sinking feeling that this wasn't going to end well.
"Uhh you said we could look around, right? I'm going to- I'll go check on him." She rushed further in after him.
"Wait! It's still too dangerous to be running around!" One of the officers shouted out. Cielo barely heard them. She didn't like this situation.
The black surroundings become a blur chasing after him. But with all the fallen structures on the ground inhibiting her already less than athletic self, she wasn't close to catching up. She tried to call out to him but to no avail. He was talking to himself almost like he was in a trance. Running up the stairs without slowing down for a moment.
The further Lance got from her, the more she started to lose hope. There was a bang of a metal door slammed open. He had reached his floor. Looking at the sticker on the staircase wall, it was the 13th floor. He was heading to his office. She relied on the hand rail to keep her up, exhausted to continue running.
Pushing herself a bit, she made it to the same floor. Almost tripping over her tired self dragging her feet, she finally caught up. Across the floor she could see Lance in his office. Desperately holding onto a pile of papers that came from the open safe. The look on his face was the same one she saw on Klaus returning from the war. Complete defeat.
"This was the reason for it... I was so stupid... it's all my fault..." With the distance between them, she couldn't hear what he was saying to himself. The crazy act making her hesitate in approaching him.
"Big boss, hey what's wrong? Come on, you're scaring me. Let's head back down. Okay?"
"It was all my fault!" Lance slammed the papers down to the floor. Cielo winced as a metal sound screeched through the floor.
She had to take a second to process what exactly had happened. First scene. A burnt ceiling fan dropped straight on top of her boss. His screaming cut short and replaced with the crash. Next scene. The weight of the sudden drop, collapsed the floor beneath him. Then, another crash that she couldn't see but feel in her feet. Finally, more people arrived. Her heartbeat raising too loud to hear the firefighters and officers behind her. She paid no attention to them.
Her mind becoming blank. Her feet carried her as she ran forward. Only to be stopped by someone grabbing her wrist. Soon they were fully holding her back. Her hysterical screams for Lance mixed with theirs's calling for backup.
"LET ME GO! BIG BOSS TELL THEM! SAY SOMETHING! PLEASE!" She scratched at them, cried, punched, kicked, anything for them to let her go. There was no way her eyes saw right. Her boss was right in front of her. In his office like always was.
If she could just get to him, he'll respond in his usual annoying bossy tone. Tell her to get back to work.
The salty tears splashing into her mouth. Her exhaustion hit the moment she paused. Her body stopped fighting. Falling near limp in the arms of the worker restraining her.
"Please... please..."
Lance was announced dead on March 29, 2019. After an hour of emergency response surgery, doctors later called it at 5: 01 pm due to a failed recovery stage. Given that the incident was a case of his irresponsible actions in an unstable environment, the officers had zero to follow suit. Lance was dead and that was the end of it.
March 29, 2019
"Fucking hell..." Lance said upon seeing Meritech's condition.
Cielo looked around with a sense of confusion. People walking around without a care. Her boss standing next to her on the verge of a breakdown. Yet she stood still amidst all the movement. Unsure of this looming feeling creeping over her. It was all out of place but she couldn't find the source.
Turning her head to a nearby shop, she managed to see the large clock display it had outside the window. "It's only 8:15? I'm way too tired for it to be this early in the day."
"I couldn't sleep last night either." Lance sighed out. The apparent bags under his eyes proving that point.
Her body instinctively turned to the police officer approaching them. "Excuse me? You two should carry along. Nothing to see-"
"I'm sorry, have we met before?" Cielo suddenly cut them off feeling a sense of deja vu hit her. She shook her head. "Sorry that was rude of me. Um, we're actually prothestists that worked in this building. We were called to examine the scene and maybe pick up anything that was found?"
"Oh of course, I didn't realize. Please follow me." Her body moved before she thought of it. Like she knew what to do before they even raised the caution tape.
Again, the same sense of deja vu hitting her seeing the firefighter approach them with a clipboard and masks. The longer this went on, the less weird it became but more dooming. She tilted her head looking around their burnt surroundings. Rather than feel sad about her workplace falling, she was scared. This sight was not anything she didn't expect. She tried to blame her losing the ability to breath properly on the smell of heavy smoke starting to cling to her.
"The damage is irreparable. Due to the building's open accessibility, the fire didn't have many obstacles to block its path. The spread was so much that by the time we were here, the damage was already done. I'm sorry." Word for word. She knew exactly what they were going to say. The next thing to occur was Lance.
"My life's work... Burnt to the ground..." He fell to his knees.
She offered her fallen boss a hand on the back. But the words never left her mouth. There was too much. Looking down at her hand, she was shaking. She was scared of what's to come.
"Did you happen-" Lance was suddenly cut off when Cielo hugged him. She felt an overbearing sense of sadness wash over her. Mixed with guilt and fear. She couldn't understand why but she had to hold onto him. More importantly, he couldn't know the answer to his unfinished question.
"Thank you for your hard work Big boss. This place, this place that you've built wasn't perfect but it was enough. With the growth of the business came with all of us improving who we were. I can't not thank you for allowing me to work here for as long as I did."
He slightly pushed her back. "Y-you're crying? Are you okay?"
She wiped away the tears she didn't know why they were falling. The entire day she felt that something was off. Suddenly hearing Lance talk made her panic. Realizing that she was crying only made it worse. Words failed her despite wanting nothing more than to say something. Anything.
She started to hyperventilate making even the nearby firefighters concerned for her. Her thoughts were telling her she was fine. But they were screaming. Warning bells, she couldn't turn off. She physically could feel her thoughts screaming for her to run. Fix a problem she didn't know existed.
Being escorted out of the building allowed her some time to think to herself. She was given water and some fresh air. The workers said something about this being normal. Most people don't expect to lose everything in a fire. It's a fear but not one that was extremely common for people to actually accept until it happens to them.
That's how they reasoned with her nerves. But she didn't get a panic attack from seeing the building. There was no reason that she could find but it wasn't Meritech.
"Feeling better?" Lance sat beside her on the doorstep.
"Yeah, sorry I don't know what overcame me." She aggressively rubbed the sides of her head to soothe her tiredness away.
"You gave me quite the scare. Never thought that I would ever see you lose your cool like that."
"Hey everyone has their days. I'm not as put together as you imagine me to be." She played with the water bottle in hand. Watching it flow back and forth.
"Honestly, if you didn't break down the way you did, I probably would have. We're in this together. No matter how sappy that sounds."
"That really does sound sappy but thank you." She knew that it was hard on him too.
Not only them but any worker they had under their wings. She wasn't alone in the suffering. By suddenly breaking down, Lance was reminded of that. His mind that had been drowned in doubt for his future was forgotten about the moment Cielo showed her own insecurity.
"I think I may be the cause of this whole mess." He sighed heavily. She let him continue despite knowing his statement was wrong. "Maybe an hour after I left work, I met this kid. No that's wrong, I met him a few times before. He's not right in his head. I'm afraid that because I didn't give him what he demanded, he burnt the place down. Or he got what he wanted and got rid of this place as evidence. I never should have dealt with any black market shit."
Cielo held her head low. Regardless of if Lance gave Five his files, it wouldn't have changed that he was threatened by her. She was the cause of the apocalypse. Lance was the bystander here that got his livelihood ripped from him.
"Oh come on Big boss? A kid started this fire? Jokes really are the best medicine." But she couldn't tell him the truth. It wouldn't reverse it nor make any sense. Instead, she acted the way he would have if she told him who Five really was. A smile on her face that appeared to have no thought behind it. She had to protect what little normality this place had left.
"I mean it Cielo! He was like 13, had this crazy dad, they were looking for some eyeball that didn't exist, they even-"
"Yeah yeah I believe you. Now let's finish this inspection. I think we both need the rest. We have E.I, right? Let's enjoy it." She stood up, stretching her arms. Not looking at him as she blinked some tears away.
He was hardly surprised at her sudden change in emotion. Wouldn't be the first time she didn't take him seriously. "You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah." A deep breath in and out. Her mind was clear for the first time today. "Somehow... I feel like we passed a pivotal point. In a good way."
He walked up next to her. "You are so weird. That was the first thing I thought when I interviewed you."
"And you still hired me. What was it that charmed you about me? My near perfect grades? My kind hearted personality that welcomes all patients in? The fact that I absolutely aced that interview?" She jokingly boasted herself.
"The fact that you asked if I was okay after getting my coffee split on me and postponing it for a few minutes so that I could get a new cup. Attention to detail and the mindset to put others first. That's all I was looking for in a prosthetist for my workplace." She briefly remembered the interview process.
That day Lance had fresh coffee on his shoes and placed a half empty cup on the table. The slight annoyed face he had on told her a lot. Though she was nervous about the whole hiring process, the first thing she said to him was if they could take five minutes so that she could get coffee. Making a brief comment about him needing it as well. It was a simple offer that told him all he needed to know about her. The interview didn't make a difference in his head. He had hired Cielo in a day. He never once looked back on it.
"Awww Big boss! I'm so flattered! I hope that means I can list you as a reference for my next job."
"No way am I letting a worker like you go to a competitor."
"Hey a girl's gotta make a living. Don't hate the player, hate the game."
"Never say something like that again." He shook his head as she laughed. It truly felt like the worst had passed them.
"Sounds like you two are doing better." The same firefighter and police officer approached them once more. The firefighter carrying a stack of papers with only some of the corners charred. "Ready to continue?"
"I apologize for my dramatic reactions. I'm feeling a lot better now. Please continue to give the report."
"That's nothing to apologize for. We'll just refrain from going inside today."
"That sounds ideal. Thank you."
"Let's get right into it then. As we explained earlier, the building would be easier to rebuild up than fix. A very rare case that we have reason to believe that this fire was due to arson. If you both will follow us." Neither told the officer that they thought of Five being the cause.
Heading to the back of a local coffee shop across the street, they were sat in front of a few surveillance videos. But where both Cielo and Lance thought that the fire was caused by Five himself, they were confused to see two adult figures with mascot heads walk into Meritech. They were the cause. Further determined by the traces of gasoline all over the floors and a fabric ear that fell off one of their heads.
As they started to explain a bit more of the situation and question if they knew anything about the offenders, Cielo watched the video continue. Right before the explosion happened Five ran onto the screen. The blurry camera barely captured the shock he had at the scene in front of him.
Her anger towards him changed to relief. It wasn't him. He didn't cause the fire. This had to be Commission's work.
"Well I do have one piece of good news. While you two were settling down, one of my fellow investigators found these in a safe. Though most of the other documents were destroyed, these ones managed to last a bit longer."
She was handed the stack of papers. On the very top was the label that told her that it was a list of Lance's prosthetics. This was it. Lance's files that most had the potential of holding information about a certain apocalypse causing eyeball. If she had this information, she could possibly find out if everything was worth it. The fire, the deal with Five, they could save the world.
"Thank you but these are old files so it'll be best to throw them out." Lance took the pile out of her hands to throw into a nearby trash can. She reasoned that it being because he blamed those files for the fire. Keeping them would only attract Commission workers once more. And she knew that if Five caught wind that this was still here, he would return. She would have to deal with the mess that they were.
Continuing with their examination of the building and talks about the insurance, the rest of the day went off without a hitch. Though Cielo's mind kept going back to the pile in the trash. Without anyone looking, she took it back. She wouldn't let the world end like this.
Cielo nervously stared down at the pile of papers that she technically stole. When no one else was around she reached into the trash to take it out. This had to be a crime.
"I'm going to jail. I'm going to rot in a prison cell for taking key evidence away from a crime scene. They may not know that it was due to these papers but I do and now I'm a criminal that's going to end this world. I hate this." She banged her head against her small living room table. She never- Never- thought she would be doing something like this in her entire life!
"Ughhh where's Five when I need him! These were his goal, not mine! Lying brat tried to blame the fire on himself. And for what? To scare me away? Hah! Well I'm back at it again! Ugh he's going to excuse me of reinserting himself into his life with a malicious desire. How am I suppose to explain why another version of me is running around? Don't blame me because you have some sort of supernatural phenomenon happen to you."
She braced herself, flipping open the first page. Then the next. Slowly she kept scanning over the sheets of papers. Until she found a grouping of the information that was crossed out with a large X. A set of listings that were documented to have been shipped to the closest hospital to them. But if this was meant to go to the black-market. Why would someone record that they were shipped to the hospital? Unless they were.
"No way... did the intern..."
Running over to the landline, Cielo dialed the hospital's business number. Instantly getting through to one of the receptionists. "Hello, sorry for the late night call. My name is Cielo Cavallone, I'm a prosthetist at Meritech prosthetics."
"Ah yes, how can I help you today?"
"Um I'm not sure if you heard but Meritech burnt down in a fire recently. A lot of our documentation had been lost with little record. So I'd like to follow up on some of the shipments that you received this week."
"Of course. Just give me a second to pull up that information."
"Thank you." She once more scanned over the files she had. It was a simple intern's mistake that made them go on this wild goose chase. She saw the signs through their messy work but for them to ship a whole collection of Lance's work that leads to the apocalypse, talk about the butterfly effect proving its own theory.
"Okay thank you for waiting, I have Meritech's shipment information right here. And from the looks of it, only one eyeball is currently in the works of being owned."
"In the works? As in they don't own it as of this moment?" She tried her best to show that this information wasn't scaring her.
"From what I see, he was involved in the fight just earlier this evening. A prosthetic was listed as required once the patient was ready to receive such." All the little mentions matched everything Cielo had imagined for the owner of the eye. An adult male, an abrupt implantation, violent. This was the eye they were looking for.
"I see. Though I believe there might be some issues with that. Would it be possible to delay them getting the eye? With our records missing I wanted to review the shipments' information and re-report them. If it any of them have any problems, I want to be able to have our own files to rely on. I can speak to the patient themselves to explain the situation?"
"Hmmm. I understand your reasoning but I don't think that's really necessary. They aren't due to get it until the late afternoon after getting some other bodily check ups. If you're free then you're welcomed to come and evaluate them before the patient receives it. After that you'll have to leave that one out in order to not delay the patient's healing process. Would that be alright?"
"That would be more than enough for me. I guess I'll, maybe, see you tomorrow. That's all I had to ask. I wish you a good night."
"You too. See you tomorrow. Goodbye." Both sides hung up the phone. Cielo finally released all the stress she built up by screaming into a throw pillow.
"I found him. The true cause of the apocalypse. And he's getting the eye tomorrow." Now she knew why Five was constantly saying they had no time to be messing around.
