AN: I'm glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter!
Guest N.O.1: As cool as it would be to make Lincoln completely untouchable, that'd be pretty boring story-wise without any explanation of how he got to this state. (I do have plans to reveal in-depth his training to become this strong.)
The Royal Waves were considered celebrities in Fortune, so it's not completely odd for someone to ask about them.
Ray was on his back, lying in a machine in the middle of a room. A bright white light shined down on him, and a glass panel from above was the only way he could look out. Around the machine were large wires connected to other electronics. Light pulsed through the cables, heading into the machine the small child was in.
Surrounding him were a bunch of adults in lab coats, and off to the side, Atlas stood watching.
The young boy closed his eyes, something one of the men instructed, and the machine started to glow yellow as light pulsed through the cables faster.
Atlas watched on as the boy was unmoving inside. He knew things were going well, and his studies proved that everything would continue smoothly with few issues.
His mind flashed back to when he and Ray were still living on the streets not too long ago. He was all Ray had, and Ray was everything to him. Now, he had his entire company in the palm of his hands. But it still seemed that all he ever truly had was Ray. The only thing he ever cared for was him.
A good life for Ray. And a good life for himself as well. That was all he ever wanted.
Focusing on the now, he looked over Ray as he stayed still in the machine and knew the operation would be successful. It had to be. Countless hours of testing and more hours of finalizing. All of the studies and research. He was so close, and he could practically taste the finish line.
Lincoln looked around. One second he was on his way with Melina to get the poster, the next, he was here.
All around him was a dark void filled to the brim with nothingness.
He was ultimately confused. Walking forward, he continued, thinking if there was a way out of here. He preferred getting out of here and not starving for all of eternity.
His ears picked up a sound; it was that laughter again. The same laughter he heard right before being transported here.
"Who's there?" He shouted, his voice echoing through the dark void as much as the laughter.
"You look fun." A high-pitched voice said from somewhere. "Very fun."
Lincoln looked around but didn't see the person speaking.
"Do you want to play with me?" The voice asked. "Please say yes!" It was as if he was begging.
"Uh, sure," Lincoln said, putting a fist on his hip and scratching his head with his other hand.
"Oh, goody!"
That voice was behind him.
Lincoln turned sharply, and a little happy-looking jester puppet appeared. It wore a black and red pointed jester hat, white gloves, and a matching outfit. With its short arms and legs, it floated in front of Lincoln.
"I couldn't help but watch your dance-off with Evan! You look so fun!" When he spoke, his mouth didn't move. His body was static as he floated in the air.
"Who are you?" Lincoln asked.
"My name's Jackal. Nice to meet you, buddy!" He stuck out a white glove.
Lincoln took the handshake, and as they shook, he felt… fuzzy?
"Damn! That was supposed to zap ya," Jackal said, snapping his finger. "But I guess you're too cool for that. Now then, what game should we play…" He started to think, and Lincoln stood in front of him patiently.
Jackal pointed a finger in the air and said, "I know!"
He quickly snapped a finger in the air, and Lincoln felt something happen.
They were pulled a little apart, and quick, upbeat circus music began to play. Some options appeared for the boy. It was a turned-based battle.
"One rule!" Jackal shouted before Lincoln had the time to act. "You're only allowed to dodge my attacks!"
Out of the five options Lincoln had in front of him, Jackal quite literally slapped them all away with his gloves hand and replaced them with one singular button option he apparently had behind him: Dodge.
Lincoln shrugged and chose the only option he had as Jackal jumped up and down where he stood, seemingly unable to stay still and full of energy.
After putting his hand over and choosing dodge, the black void changed to wavy colors.
Hopping up and down while laughing, Jackal started juggling three gigantic red balls, nearly doubling Lincoln's size. One by one, he threw them at him.
Lincoln had to run backward as the balls bounced and chased him. The balls were faster than his running speed, forcing him to jump over the first one. The second one wasn't far behind, and he had to jump over that one as well. The third one came after that, and he jumped over that one too.
He skidded to a halt, and Jackal was right behind him.
He chose dodge once again, and this time Jackal jumped up.
Lincoln couldn't see him for a split second, and the jester dropped back down, now balanced on a ball.
He rolled the ball toward Lincoln, his body spinning around on top of it uncontrollably, and the boy was forced to run again.
As he ran from Jackal, big drama masks appeared from below, and he had to swerve left and right before he was caught in one of them.
Jackal was rolling the ball with his legs even faster now, and Lincoln sprinted as fast as he could, dodging drama masks and staying ahead.
Soon, Jackal laughed as he tripped on the ball he was balancing on and landed on his feet after a nice flip.
Lincoln's option appeared again, and he chose dodge.
Jackal twirled a finger in the air, and two strings extended out of it. At the end of the strings were two red balls.
He kept twirling his finger, and the balls started to swing around him before reaching out and nearly hitting Lincoln.
Lincoln began to jump over the balls, timing it perfectly like that game in a ball pit. Soon, however, Jackal tried to trick him and raised his hand higher, so the red balls were now swerving above him.
He caught on to this quickly, ducking low to avoid two swings from hitting. After that, Jackal lowered his arm, and Lincoln had to jump over them again. After three more of the same attack, Jackal himself spun around. Tossing both balls at Lincoln. One of them headed straight for him, and he had to hop over it. Immediately after, the other bounced slightly in front of him, and he had to duck.
"Wow! You're good at this!" The jester laughed.
Jackal juggled some balls for a few seconds before throwing one at Lincoln, which the boy moved to the side to dodge. He dashed to another angle and threw another before dashing again, repeating this and throwing balls at Lincoln from different angles.
Lincoln bobbed and weaved, avoiding all balls to the best of his ability.
Jackal laughed, his attack ending.
Lincoln chose dodge once more, and Jackal snapped his finger high in the air.
"Let's dial up the pace!" He yelled out and made the same attack as last time, dashing around and throwing balls from every direction. Except for this time, when the balls landed on the ground after Lincoln dodged, they exploded into more balls in a spiral formation.
Caught off guard, Lincoln felt himself get hit once, and his Life took a little hit. More spiral of balls came, and he had to steady himself, moving between the incoming attacks, and only took that first hit.
"Faster! Faster!"
Jackal laughed as he fizzled out and disappeared. A medium-sized red ball dropped and started to roll around Lincoln before choosing at a random time to charge toward the boy. After Lincoln jumped over it, the ball would go back to circling and again randomly rolling towards him. This happened a few more times, and at the last one, the ball hopped into the air, dropped to the ground with a loud thud, and exploded into multiple smaller balls that shot at Lincoln.
Bracing himself, the boy ducked, bobbed, and weaved around them. Not getting hit once.
Jackal laughed loudly. "Keep it up!" He didn't even let Lincoln have his pointless turn.
His throws were faster now as he threw multiple juggling balls at Lincoln, some high and some low. The boy had to jump above most of them. He was always caught off guard with the medium-height ones, where he had to duck instead.
Jackal laughed. "These things are too 'kid-friendly' if you know what I mean."
Taking out small knives, Jackal tossed them into the air one by one, and after he threw ten, Lincoln noticed they were dropping down on him.
He stepped side to side, dodging some as they fell. But even then, Jackal wasn't finished throwing until moments later.
After the last knife was sidestepped, Jackal tossed one to Lincoln slowly. "Catch!" he shouted.
Lincoln caught the small knife and looked at Jackal.
"See if you can parry these!"
He began throwing spinning knives at Lincoln once every second, who used his to deflect them effortlessly.
"Alright, enough of these restrictions!"
Jackal ended the turn-based battle and instantly started rapidly throwing knives at Lincoln.
Realizing the fight wasn't over yet, Lincoln readied his knife. With more leeway, he deflected all of the knives coming at him at insane speeds. The clash of metal was heard at the speed of five times a second.
Lincoln had to dash backward to attempt to slow the rate of knives coming at him. This proved to help a bit, as he found it a little easier to deflect the dozens of sharp objects aimed at him.
His heart was racing, and he could hear his deep breaths. But even then, a smile dared to appear on his face.
After a dramatic pause, Jackal laughed and threw what seemed like nearly fifteen knives rapidly in a second.
Widening his eyes, Lincoln jumped back and deflected a few of them before going full sprint. He ran backward to give himself some time. Jackal's throw speed completely caught him off guard, but with that decision to give himself some space, he could fend them all off.
With another laugh, Jackal took his knife and procured a ball in his other hand. Using the blunt end of the knife, he punted the ball towards Lincoln.
Lincoln took his knife and deflected the ball back to Jackal, who retaliated by sending the ball back to him.
Back and forth, the ball went like a game of tennis. Every time the ball was hit, the speed increased, and soon the ball was at such intense speeds that any normal person wouldn't be able to keep up.
Suddenly, Jackal snapped his fingers, and the knife in Lincoln's hand vanished, turning into confetti.
Lincoln gasped and ducked under the ball that nearly took out his head. Behind him, another Jackal appeared with a knife, and this copy batted the ball back towards him.
Lincoln also dodged this one and quickly realized what was to come.
Twisting on his feet, he jumped over the ball again as Jackal batted it into him. The ball continued to be smacked back and forth, aimed directly at Lincoln.
Lincoln ducked and rolled, skidding on the black void ground before flipping forward on his hands. He had to jump off the ground and flip back onto his feet, then go on his knees and bend backward.
Jackal kept them coming, and Lincoln kept dodging until the moment came when the jester missed a hit.
"Oh, come on!" The Jackal that didn't hit the swing said with both arms up.
"It was a bad pass, and you know it!" The other argued.
Jackal laughed and looked at Lincoln. "You're doing great! You can have this back!" He laughed and snapped his fingers, and a knife appeared in the boy's hand again.
When the boy looked at his surroundings, four Jackals stood at each side of him.
"Don't move!" Jackal warned, and one at a time, they threw knives at Lincoln, still at insane speeds.
Lincoln focused his mind, breathing in and out, and gave each Jackal an identification.
North Jackal and West Jackal threw first, followed by East and South.
He parried those four, but they kept coming.
From each angle, some of the Jackals even threw two at a time, taking double the effort to deflect them.
Some of the Jackals even threw lighter on purpose to try and throw Lincoln off, but it seemed that calming his mind helped. He could think clearly and deflected the other knives before the first slow one.
Jackal laughed, and the four of them continued throwing knives. One or even two of them threw slower to try and get Lincoln, but to no avail.
Soon that attack was over. The knife in Lincoln's hand disappeared in confetti, and Jackal's four copies merged back into one in front of him.
Jackal was physically huffing. He threw some more knives at Lincoln, who dodged them. The white-haired earthling realized they were slower now.
"You're pretty good…" Jackal huffed, chucking softly.
Jackal threw two knives to his sides. They curved and intersected to try and pinch him, but Lincoln jumped, and they clashed together.
The jester then slowly juggled three more balls. One at a time, he threw them at Lincoln.
Lincoln didn't even have to sprint to dodge them.
He procured a giant red ball in the air and dropped it on the ground.
It didn't roll. Lincoln didn't have to move to avoid it.
Jackal puffed out, saying. "I'm… tired."
He didn't even bother trying to throw either a knife or a ball at Lincoln. His hovering body slowly fell to the ground as he visibly struggled to stand.
"Are you alright?" Lincoln asked, looking him over from where he was standing.
After a few breaths, Jackal said, "That was fun… will you play again with me someday?"
Lincoln gave a warm smile and said, "Sure I will. I had a blast too!"
Jackal laughed again, and though it wasn't as grand as earlier, it was still filled with genuine joy. "I'm glad…"
"I'm gonna rest for a while. See ya." After he said that, his body disappeared in confetti.
Lincoln looked at the confetti for a moment. The next time he blinked, he was back in the casino lobby.
Looking around haphazardly, he realized where he was and felt something in his hand.
It was a laminated poster of them. The Royal Waves. In perfect, mint condition.
He stared at the poster for a moment before heading outside, rolling it and putting it in his hoodie.
Almost immediately after meeting up with Mikey at the back of the building, he was greeted with a stern glare from Shade.
"What were you doing inside?!" She shouted.
"Just looking around!" Lincoln said with his hands up.
"With your disguise off?" Shade seemed unamused.
Lincoln laughed sheepishly, took the camouflage from his pocket past the poster, and patted it on his face.
Mikey stood off to the side, not looking in their direction and taking an interest in the city's streets instead.
"Remember the reason we're doing this," Shade said before breathing out. "They aren't suspicious of you, right?" She asked him.
Of course, Lincoln remembered the reason for all of this work. But looking back at it, Evan Medy and Melina seemed really nice, and even Jackal, despite him having a screw loose. Then again, he would once say the same thing about the people he knew in the past, and that didn't turn out well.
"They don't have any reason to be," Lincoln told. "I swear."
"Fine. Whatever." Shade turned and made her way back to the streets. "Let's go."
Back at Atlas's building, Shade told the two to wait in the boardroom while she went off to do some work. She let them know that Atlas was on his way to see them.
The two sat quietly in the room, only waiting around ten minutes before Atlas rolled in.
"Hello, boys!" he greeted as he rolled up to the front board. "Shade let me know you all completed your mission. Everything went smoothly, I presume?"
Mikey gave Lincoln a look.
Lincoln furrowed his brows back and told Atlas, "Yeah."
"Well then—" He turned around in his wheelchair, looking at the two boys. "—we should be ready for the main mission now."
"On the night of The Nightshow, you will be led by Shade to each building to plant the EMP devices. Once that's done, and everything goes well without a hitch, all of those greedy Big Bosses will regret starving this city of resources. Without power, all of the people will be forced to go to Atlas Industries for their needs."
He gestured a hand out the door. "Now, boys. After a hard day's work, aren't you a little hungry? Why don't you two come to eat with me today?"
Lincoln and Mikey looked at each other, and they shrugged.
"Sure, why not?" Lincoln said.
"Excellent!" Atlas already began making his way out. "I'll have your food prepared right away."
Lincoln and Mikey followed him to his personal office, on the opposite side of the building compared to the boardroom but on the same floor.
As they walked down a hallway, a kid ran past them. It was the same boy Lincoln noticed earlier that day.
For a split second, Lincoln could swear the boy was looking up at him directly in his eyes. His gaze clashing with his own.
"Careful, Ray." Atlas chuckled. "Don't trip and fall."
"I won't!" the boy said back with a laugh, turning the corner.
"Who was that?" Lincoln asked.
"That's Ray, a very special person to me." Atlas began. "We've been treating him here. He has a very rare condition that is affecting his energy levels."
"Oh, you call it energy too?" Lincoln cut in. "Finally, someone normal."
"I create technology, Lincoln. It suits me, doesn't it?" He chuckled before continuing about Ray. "The doctors of this city have tried their very best to help him. But none of them were successful. I believe that technology may be the answer."
"What do you mean?" Mikey asked.
"If I can somehow replicate energy to sustain Ray, I may be able to help his condition. Because without much energy—he could die."
Lincoln widened his eyes briefly, looking at Atlas with his mouth agape. After some time, he found the courage to ask, "Is he your son?"
"No, unfortunately," Atlas said with a small smile. "But I wouldn't mind adopting him. He is an orphan."
The three entered Atlas's office, and the two boys were amazed at its interior.
The red velvet carpet floor was very classy, and the golden-lined fireplace stood out. The walls were also red, and a large chandelier was strung from above. The room was big enough to hold at least two decently sized kitchens, and large windows covered the back so one could peek outside.
In the room were Atlas's desk with a bottle containing that orange drink he loved, some flowers in pots on the sides, and a picture frame of himself, Shade, and Ray standing together. If Lincoln hadn't known them, he would have thought it was a family photo. Lastly, a dinner table was in front of the fireplace, waiting for them.
It wasn't long until Atlas's chefs arrived with plenty of food. The three of them ate together, and at the end of it all, Atlas told them to relax until Friday, which was in some days.
It was later that night. Mikey was in a fancy hotel building, one of Atlas's. He went to the room where the Big Boss had let him stay. Entering, the smell of the fresh room entered his nostrils, and he immediately felt content. He felt as if the workers here cleaned it every day.
He took off his black sneakers and blue hoodie, revealing a tight black long-sleeved shirt and black socks, hopping onto the sole bed in the room. Sighing, he closed his eyes and felt his body soak into the large mattress.
Going back in time with his mind, he remembered when he first went up to Atlas to ask for somewhere to stay.
He was a bit embarrassed but didn't want to show it. Thankfully, the man didn't do anything absurd, like make fun of him or anything of the sort. Instead, he didn't waste a moment's notice, gifting a room for him at one of his five-star hotels.
The perks were amazing here, especially the food and service. He didn't need to clean or worry about his living space at all, and on the bottom floor, other activities came with the package deal. There was a swimming pool with a slide, an arcade with pool tables, and even a bowling alley. And Atlas gave him access to all that with a snap of a finger. With a few days until that final mission they were talking about, he would have time to do these various activities.
While thankful, he couldn't help but feel a bit… off.
With the other boy, Lincoln, looked to be genuine when he helped him the other day. It may have been naive, but it was genuine nonetheless. He didn't even ask for anything in return. On the other hand, Atlas was so generous as if he was afraid Mikey would suddenly back out of their deal. That's how he felt anyway, but it was all speculation. However, that was only his personal relationship with the man. Witnessing the other things he had done swayed his mindset a bit, like fixing the city and helping that other kid out. Still, he knew how people worked. They would always want something in return. Fixing the city would give all power to him, and that was what he was getting out of him and Lincoln. But with that kid, Ray, what was Atlas getting out of that?
Whatever it may be, he was just content with doing this job and getting the money. After that, he would have to see what would happen. But at the end of all of this, there was only one thing he truly wanted more than anything, and that was an actual fight with that kid, Lincoln.
Lincoln sat down on the edge of his hotel's tall building. The starry night sky was like a blanket over the city, and the line that went across was a nice touch.
Under him were all of the city's lights. The pedestrians were down on the streets as they did their own thing.
He held something up for his eyes to see, delicate with his fingers like they were holding the most important thing in the world. With a look empty of emotion, he stared at the laminated poster of The Royal Waves.
He never thought that he would see any trace of these people. But now it was obvious he would have, eventually. He knew them too well to know they would influence those around them. It was always like that. This probably wasn't the last time he would find a trace of any of them.
He decided not to think about it too much. They already had their impact on this city, and it wasn't his business, nor did he care. But it was nice to see some familiar faces with his own eyes, he supposed.
He decided not to fold the poster. Instead, he took his Inventory and put the poster inside as it was. Before, when he rolled it up, he cringed a little inside, but he didn't feel like coming up with a lie for Shade and Atlas. It didn't matter how many items were in his Inventory. It would be safe inside, never to be crumpled.
He sighed, looking at the shining city in the dark once more. It was about time he started focusing on what was more important; The upcoming mission in a couple of days.
Atlas had told him to relax, so he had some time before then.
"What to do?" he asked himself.
Well before anything else…
Lincoln slammed a small pouch filled with tharite on the front counter, getting a raised brow from the worker.
"Kid, this is a bank," the man in his suit said in a dull voice.
"I know." Lincoln nodded his head. "So can I exchange this for some valley, please?"
The worker raised a brow at him. He wasn't in the mood to play with a child. He picked up the bag and peered inside, gasping.
Ten minutes later, Lincoln walked out of the bank with his Inventory filled with a bunch of valley bills. He got most of them in twenties, but some were fifties and hundreds. Overall he had around ten thousand.
Turning the corner of the street, he was grabbed by two hands and pulled into an alleyway.
There were two big bulky guys in dark clothing, one of them pinned him to the wall with a sharp knife to his neck.
"Give us the money," he said in a voice that Lincoln compared to a nineties movie. "We don't wanna hurt ya."
The boy chuckled.
Ten seconds passed, and Lincoln walked out of the alleyway dusting his hands off. The two men were groaning, lying on the ground as he walked off. In a couple of minutes, cops would be showing up to collect them.
