Chapter 9: Return.

*Boom, headshot*

"All right, kill confirmed." "Good job Bartholomew, now just return undetected and you will gain the bond money for freedom." The voice on the watch said.

It had been 12 hours since his homie Quandale Dingle died and his death made him think differently. He wouldn't just let his death go by without a bang, and getting himself free was the first part. It was raining heavily as he got on an agency licensed hoverboard. He had to make sure he would not get caught. His target, Riley Hem was a politician who wanted to illegalize assassinations and that wouldn't do well for his contractors. Being a rather corrupt politician he could afford thousands of security, the ones that are now trying to find him.

As he sped away into some alleys, he saw some searchlights flash onto him briefly. He was wearing a cloak which made sure that they wouldn't know who is the assassin, so if he could lose these people, the bail money would still be available. As he tried every manuver to lose the helicopters, these pilots seemed too skilled to fall for these tricks. Running out of options, he goes into the underground. Though this made the pilots lose track of him, it would be only a matter of time before they came in. Worse of all his hoverboard ran out of power, so he had to ditch it.

Bartholomew ran across the underworld portion of this city, trying to find another exit, but he made a wrong turn and faced a dead end. Continuing his bad luck security made it into the underground as well and it seemed like he had no escape.

"Come in, Bartholomew, if you wish for freedom." Having no other option, he ran into the door that a stranger wearing a hoodie opened up. Inside, he would have a few more minutes before the security bust into homes. Wait, how did this random guy he never met before know his name? "Who are you?" Bartholomew asked. "It's a bit rude that I was the one who saved you from inprisonment and you don't even say thanks? *Laugh* Don't worry, I know that you are on edge and have no time for such pleasantries. I know that my house is usually the last one searched. Come now, have a seat, let's have some tea I've been preparing." The stranger said.

"This feels like a setup, why do you want me?" "I understand the mistrust you may have for me, but I assure you, I mean no harm. If I did, I would have just let you fry, but here we are, chatting. You can check me if you wish." Bartholomew checked the stranger for any weapons, none except for some pickaxes placed far away. He checked the tea, it was abnormal, but not in any harmful way. "Enough for you?" The stranger asked. "I guess so for now" *sits in a chair* The stranger pulls out his kettle and two cups, and pours the liquid into both of them. It has a white color, almost glowing, even. Bartholomew checks the tea again, abnormal, but safe. The stranger take a sip and seems fine, maybe even more so.

"I know you want to leave, I am getting an exit ready, but it takes time. While we wait, do you want to hear a story?" "Guess there is nothing better to do." Bartholomew says while reluctantly sipping the contents. He was expecting a poison, not a strange sense of refreshment. "Hope that's enough, now, have you ever heard of Greek Mythology?" "To be honest, I never got a chance to read any books for fun, let alone mythology." "That's fine, you don't need to know anything from that to understand this one." "Okay, may I hear it?"

"Long ago, before humanity, there was a singular ruler of all of this reality. Though, in his lenses he was all powerful, he was still one conscious. One that couldn't think beyond simple ideas. The only thing he knew was that his void was imperfect, and he had to fix it. He created various images of him which focused on one certain aspect that he could think about. Once the vessels were created, he created a landscape that in today's view would be chaos, but it's only in chaos that there is change, and in that change, perfection would be found. After that, his final act would be giving these vessels the ability to think, and after that, he kept himself as a spectator, losing relevance. These vessels would start confused, not knowing what they were meant for. Eventually, they went to certain parts of the landscape that called to them, and it was these locations that gave them an identity. They saw the natural ups and lows of the landscape and with their power, they made larger structures, while refining their own. Though to a present day person one of their creations would seem like the best, all it would take was for them to look at their neighbor's project, see their strengths and their own weaknesses and try to adapt. However, due to their limitations to a certain region, they could never achieve what they could call "the best." It was when all of their constructs seemed the same was when they tried creating something together. It was, in their eyes, perfect. They expanded their reach, turning the once empty void into a universe, filled with marvels we've yet to comprehend. By this point they have reached true sentience and decided to follow in their creator's footsteps by creating life themselves. Though this life seemed imperfect to them, there was a small spark in what they did that made them want to keep watching, albiet, with some intervention. Eventually, life would discover them back."

By this time, they both had finished their tea, and the secret exit had opened. "I would continue and in hindsight I left out a lot of details, but as you said, you have to leave this area soon, just remember, it's only in uncertainty perfection can be found." "I must say thank you for this, though I have two questions. First, how did you think this and may I know your name?" Bartholomew asked. "For the first one, I have a job as an excavator in foreign lands and I guess I found some good herbs and found tidbits of a forgotten story." The stranger then rose and took of the hood, revealing a wisened man. "As for the second question, I am Wallace. Now, you best get going, for they are going to check this place soon. I'm sure any other questions you have will slowly answer themselves." "Well thank you Wallace, and may we meet again." Bartholomew said as he left. As he left the area, he could hear security go into Wallace's house, only to leave when they didn't find him.

When he left, he found his stationary teleporter and used it to go to the agency. "Bartholomew, we almost thought that you got caught, but since you made it out, we will pay off your bonds now. For now, we have no more work for you as this isn't a work day." With that, Bartholomew made his final remarks and used his teleporter to return back to his house.

He returned to Jamarius Quangledangle having some rice. "Took you long enough, we got rice for dinner, got it from Quanlingling Dingle straight from the rice fields. Serves him right for killing my homie Quandale." "You know, I got to go relax for a bit, this day has been tripping." "Oh well, guess more rice for me." Jamarius said as he continued eating his rice. As Henry Bartholomew returned to his room, he decided to go on TF2 to blow off some steam.

He was ready for the swarm of bots in casual, he even got a perfect loadout in demoman to counter them. He booted up a match, and saw that the server he joined had no bots, he thought that they were going to join en masse soon, however, he did quite a few matches of Dustbowl without a single sighting of the aimbotting snipers. Finding this weird, he got onto Youtube and saw that every post was about the lack of bots and even Valve confirming some major updates. Well it was about time. He returned and finished his rice. Bartholomew then played one final match of 2fort then went to bed.