"What a long day," Alia said to herself in words that were mixed with a tired sigh. Kicking off her shoes, the woman fell back and slid into the wooden chair behind her. The seat wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world but it was there and a lot closer than the bed was for someone that was too tired and lazy to walk the extra feet. For an inn on the cheaper side, she had no right to complain about the furnishings anyway.
The day had been rough indeed. Taking on jobs wasn't fun but a necessity to life. Unless she won some lottery she had to do some every now and then for the jewels to keep on living. It sucked. Especially when the easy jobs didn't pay much of anything. The more challenging ones had the big payouts, but man were they life-threatening. Alia hated that. Why couldn't she get paid well for something easy? Like dusting. Looking at the table in front of her she could tell no one had dusted it in a while. She could do that. Easy.
Unfortunately, no one paid well for the easy stuff. Not without some luck, skill, and connections anyway. Everything she had in those categories only led to the dangerous paths of employment. She really needed something big enough to retire. Honestly, she thought it would have happened by now. Why was it that the further up the mage ladder someone went the less likely they were to retire? Alia was so far from being one of those heroic mages and yet she was still on the field taking care of stuff no average mage could. Her rank and skill became expectations. Only high-ranking jobs reached her in current days.
Although she was kidding herself. The easy jobs would have been boring drags anyway too. They weren't exactly fun way back when and she doubted that changed. Maybe what she needed was a paid for long-term vacation. Granted her laziness allowed for multiple "vacations". Those weren't paid for though. She needed a cruise or something.
Wishful thinking aside, she needed to get some rest. There was another job lined up for the next day. No thanks to her brother. He had a habit of keeping her busy when she got too lazy. Thank whatever god was watching over her that she was being allowed to solo the jobs. The last job she did with him was an annoying nightmare. It had been the first one actually and hopefully the last. With that thought, Alia closed her eyes, trying not to fall asleep but ended up doing so anyway. That last thought turned whatever dream she might have had into that nightmarish memory that she relived in her mind. A day and job after the border conflicts but before the war.
Sometime In The Past:
The morning was expected to be a normal one. A morning that turned into a day like any other followed up by a normal night of the usual. The next day would be the same. The day after that as well. Over and over again in a continuous repetitive cycle where nothing really changes. Life was normal. Predictable. Routine. Absent of the sudden changes and chaos that other people tended to have in their lives.
Some might even call it a bland and boring life. The one living such a life, Trey Conners, did not care. It was his and he enjoyed having a boring predictable agenda for his daily activities. Every now and then though that routine would become invaded. Plagued by a virus of chaos that destroyed it entirely in an instant explosion that was irrecoverable. That invasive virus had a name attached. It even took the form of a seemingly harmless and not completely ugly woman as its disguise.
The destructive explosion that caused the death of all perfect agendas and relaxing routines was called Aliarey Casady. She was a mage that he had known for way too long. Were they friends? That was a stretch. Their relationship was a bit more complicated than just being childhood friends that stayed in touch into adulthood. The explanation there could be covered another time. Maybe the next time he cared enough to think about it.
For now, the most important detail in his life was that an explosion in human form was in his house. In his lab. Making a mess. Possibly destroying everything. Oh, there went the pleasant sound of something breaking and the electrical static that followed up. Trey could hear it. He could also hear the demon blonde down below angrily talking to herself. Let's start before then though and go back to the night before. A few hours before he had woken up for his typically average morning routine.
It was a quiet night. If Trey had known Alia was there he would have considered that to be completely shocking. He had been stuck in the lab all day though and was doing even more overtime by staying there long after the sun had set several hours ago. Working on the mechanical beings from Mirai for a certain ungrateful blonde was not easy or quick work. There was so much that they did not understand and way too many unanswered questions. Maybe a lot of that would come to the light once they were tested on the field. But first, they needed to be ready and safe to use first. That was difficult to do when he didn't have the lacnite technology for himself and the one that did was hardly ever around long enough to do any lengthy testing. Oh well. So what if it took several more years to do?
Anyway, Professor Otto was helping and, being the "brilliant" mind he was, he thought of a possible solution for one of the problems they were having. A catalyst was required. Not something that was just pure lacrima. In his youth Professor Otto had recalled a time when one of his colleagues had discovered a strange crystal with different properties than the average lacrima. Unfortunately, there was only just one sample and that colleague had since passed on or retired. Professor Otto couldn't really remember which it was. Checking into the status of the other scientist wasn't something he intended to do anyway. They needed a whole lot more of the strange crystal than just one small sample. Lucky for them he also remembered where the crystals were said to be found.
The unlucky part was that the location was not exactly a well traversed area. It was pretty much deserted and kind of unknown. What was really lurking in there was anyone's guess. That meant it was dangerous. That meant there existed a slight element of certain death. That meant Professor Otto's health insurance did not cover him going there.
He couldn't send Trey there either. What if he lost his assistant, and adopted son, from the expedition? No. He couldn't have that either. The only solution was to call up Aliarey and send her there instead. Maybe he'd hire some other mage as well just in case. Alia might as well have been a weird adopted daughter at that point since he took her in when she was young so technically speaking he wanted her to come back from the trip too. With that in mind, the Professor had hired a mage from some random small time guild called Chrome Lion.
The pair had expected the hired mage to show up the day the mission was to occur. Professor Otto had already known Alia had arrived earlier that day to prepare and rest up. He had gone to bed sometime after that without informing Trey about that little detail. Regardless, it was Trey alone that heard a knock on the door. Or rather, he had heard the indication of a knock. He was too far away and a floor under to notice someone pounding on the front door.
A little alarm sounded on the security computer, alerting the junior scientist and engineer of the guest. The camera near the door turned to get a better look at who was at the door, sending the recording to the main computer. "Huh, he's here early," Trey commented to himself, completely indifferent to that little fact as he enjoyed the newly made cup of coffee while watching the screen.
The hired mage was easy to recognize. Trey and the Professor had done their research on the guild. While it wasn't one of the higher ranking and popular guilds like Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, Silver Wolf, etc etc there was more than enough information out there to read up on. The member roster and profiles being one of them.
The hired man went by the name of Eric Price. Age twenty-three. Magic specialty Re-quip. S rank. A man that had lived in the country of Fiore his whole life and came from a family that was financially stable. A man that was cut off because he didn't exactly have the best of reputations around and his family would rather see him disowned than allow him to embarrass them any further. Eric Price was a sleaze. A womanizer. A poor excuse for a human being in many ways. But, he was a mage that knew what he was doing if his history was anything to go by. The man was a solid pick for the guild to send. Still, Trey didn't like him for obvious reasons.
Trey decided that he'd check the door in a half hour or so if the hired man was still there. Applying the finishing touches to his research notes for the day was vastly more important than answering the door for someone that was there way too early. The pounding of the door continued. The beeps of the alarm followed. The man of total indifference continued to ignore it. Taking the hint to come back later was not going to happen. This had become apparent the moment Eric Price had rubbed two brain cells together to locate the doorbell and make use of it.
Many probably would have sighed, frustrated by the new inconvenience in life that just wouldn't leave. Trey didn't do that. That action was replaced by taking another long sip from the coffee mug. The act of drinking coffee replaced many emotions and actions he normally would have shown or done. It kept him calm, rational, and sane. For the most part.
Unfortunately, coffee did not solve most problems in life. The hired mage waiting outside didn't suddenly cease to exist just because he took a swig from his coffee mug. Although, admittedly, Trey thought that would have been an excellent project to tackle next. Coffee magic. No one would expect it. Alas, another ring of the bell and even more aggressive pounding of the door interrupted those thoughts.
Trey set the coffee mug down, careful to make sure it sat gently on the paper towel instead of the desk itself. "Well, I guess he's waited long enough. It has been raining since this afternoon so he's probably soaked by now." Yes, it had been raining pretty much all day and already starting to continue well into the night. That might explain why Eric Price was so eager to get inside the building. Not that Trey felt guilty. The mage could have stopped at an inn and waited until morning like he was supposed to. Still, the thought of the soaked man that he was about to let in brought a grimace to his face. "Soaked by now..." He repeated, fully comprehending what that meant. The floor was going to get all wet... How inconvenient. Maybe he should have opened the door earlier after all.
Trey debated the effects of karma on his way out of the lab, up the stairs, and all the way to the door. He couldn't figure out where his went wrong. Things were made even worse when he opened the door and immediately the hired mage shoved his way inside. "About damn time!" That must have been his way of saying hello. "Did you people hire me to stand outside to enjoy the weather or was there an actual job to do? With how slow you opened the door I can't even tell."
Trey stared at the man, seemingly to still indifferent about it all. He casually pushed the door closed without a word except in his own thoughts. Snarky and ill-tempered? Add that to the personality profile. Even more reason to not like or trust him. Why were they paying someone like that again? Trey was beginning to forget. Karma was definitely looking for that guy and it was only a matter of time before it went sour.
"You're early. You weren't supposed to show up until tomorrow. The one you'll be working with isn't even here yet." Trey put his hands in the pockets of his white jacket and went walking back towards the lab, attempting to ignore the puddles on the floor that were beginning to make his blood boil. Whatever though. The guy was inside now. He didn't exactly have to deal with him anymore to get the alarms to stop buzzing.
What happened next was something Trey would claim he couldn't quite remember or had no clue as to how it came to be. The details were fuzzy or maybe too complicated for his spectacular mind to comprehend. Eric Price had followed him, making more demands, insults, and being the predictable mess of a human anyone could expect. The job was to start now? With a raise in pay? The guy was forgetting who was in charge. Being fired was about to be an option.
A free room to stay in was also demanded. It was a natural... request. If a client was so set on not starting until the morning then of course a room to rest until then should be provided. Inns were so costly! "Hmmmm." Trey hummed as he continued onward to the lab, thinking. He said nothing else to humor Eric Price. That was only making the mage more annoyed. Being ignored was not a strong suit for him.
It was at the entrance to the stairway that he finally stopped and said something more. Not to Eric, but to himself. His gaze stared forward, his eyes slightly wider. "I got it." A great epiphany had exploded its way into creation in his mind. "I'll go." Yes, he would be the one to join Aliarey on the mission. It had been a while since he did any kind of fieldwork. Actually, it had been a very long time since he had taken on anything more dangerous than a worm. Unless dealings with other people counted.
Either way, he was inexperienced. He just told himself that he had to start somewhere. The Professor would understand. Even more so if he didn't know or had no choice. The latter was a good option. Money would even be saved if they didn't have to pay another mage to do the job. It was a win win in Trey's mind.
The question was what to do with Eric Price. He wasn't going to leave. Trey wasn't going to pay him to get out either. That would just ruin the whole point of the new plan being less costly. It was time to get a bit creative. Or just pretend to forget a few important details that would lead to poor Eric's most unfortunate future trip to who knew where.
With a newfound skip in his step, Trey made his way down the stairs, still ignoring the mage that followed him down. Even as Eric Price looked around, trying to hide his awe at the sight of the lab, Trey still continued to walk along silently. He didn't particularly care to answer questions or have a full-on conversation. Unless Eric started poking things or... oh hell there he went. The sounds of a button press and the particle array activating got his attention.
Immediately Trey turned around, his look of indifference transforming into a narrowed gaze and deepened frown. "Could you not touch anything? This stuff is fragile and worth way more than even your family could come up with to replace it all. Thank you." Ah yes, and so came Eric about to make a comeback that was sure to be fantastically witty. It was probably best to stop him before he got started. "Say, if you're that curious, bored, or stupid, I really don't know which one to go with, how about you walk over there and mess around with that machine over there?"
He raised his hand from his jacket pocket and pointed in the direction of a strange machine that was silent. Seemingly dormant. It was large, round, and made from a type of material that was a bit unrecognizable. Anyone that had seen the Wakusei portals before would notice many similarities and for good reason. The dormant machine was the exact same type of machine. One built to create a portal between the lab and somewhere else entirely.
Of course, the Wakusei portals had magic tied to them to complete the travel between realms. The one standing in that lab only used technology. Stolen technology from the planet Mirai, of course. To the population of Ishgar, which was very behind in that area by comparison, it might as well have been confused for magic. Even Trey was just beginning to understand the fundamental basics of Mirari's technological knowledge.
The result of that study was the portal machine in that lab, along with the other projects scattered around the room. Although, Mirai wasn't the only planet he was taking knowledge from. Draovis was yet another planet that had ancient knowledge that was even more advanced and complex than Mirai. His brain probably should have exploded long ago just trying to make sense of the data that came from the Draovis droids. The mechanical entities were in another room, also dormant. He took what little he could from their database and used that information to try and apply it to the man-made portal machine. He had built it using Mirai knowledge, but getting it to work the way he wanted wasn't going so well.
Getting it to lock on to the ancient planet of Draovis was more complicated than just putting in a set of space coordinates. Other planets made the connection, but all of them were abandoned and taken over by the wildlife. At least from what he could tell by the probes he had sent through. Convincing Aliarey to go through a portal to an unknown world was going to be impossible, and he nor the Professor were particularly fond of hiring just anyone to be a part of their research.
But here was Eric Price. A mage that was hired for a different job. Surely no one would mind if Trey just switched things up a little bit. Maybe he'd even let Eric come back. That may require having a memory potion or spell scroll on hand to wipe the mage's mind of the incident and secrets first though. It was still up in the air. Trey would figure out the details later if he cared enough to. For the moment he was just planning to get rid of the mage by "accident."
"I need to work out a few kinks and since you're here and your job partner isn't you may as well help me real quick. I might even throw in that room you were demanding."
"And more jewels. This is extra work."
"And here I thought you were just looking for something to pass the time," Trey commented dryly, making his way over to a large computer that was connected to the portal machine. "But fine, sure. Extra jewels for the extra work of pressing a button." The volume of his voice got quieter as he began to mumble to himself after that statement. "And for getting stuck in a random world of ambiguous origin. Huh, sounds like a bad science fiction novel." He supposed that was worth some extra jewels. If he planned on rescuing Eric once he was back from his own mission that he was forcing himself into.
"So where is this button?" Eric Priced asked, glancing at the other computers around and then walking over to the machine itself to examine it. "What is this anyway? It doesn't look useful." Unless it was the goal for some new sport he had never heard of the thing looked worthless. Who would need an oversized hoop for anything? It was clear from that observation that he had never laid eyes upon the Wakusei portals before. Cool.
"Eh, just a transportation project I've been working on. It doesn't work very well at the moment but I made some last minute adjustments before you came banging on my door. I was going to test it in the morning but why wait? Just hit that red button on the control panel over there. Not the green one. The red. It's the same color as your shirt. And your hair. Darker than strawberry ice cream."
"I know what the color red is!" Eric shouted, turning around and glaring at Trey in high offense. How stupid did he think he was? He knew the color spectrum just as well as anyone else! Except for those weird colors. The ones with the silly names that no one cared about like "tickle me pink" or "puke". Why did those exist? He didn't know. But he did know what red was!
"Oh, right. Good. This should be easy for you then."
Eric mumbled something incoherent to Trey, but he could take a few guesses as to what was being said. He didn't say anything though. His eyes were on the computer screen in front of him instead. The keys of the keyboard clanked loudly as he pressed on them one after the other in rapid succession. The computer beeped, signaling that the program was reading the information and processing the program connected to the portal machine. "Any day now..." He added on, growing just a tad bit impatient with Eric's lack of urgency. If the Professor heard all the noise and came down before he was finished he'd never hear the end of it. He'd probably be banned from the lab for a week! Or worse, his coffee privileges taken away. He couldn't have that.
And so the next few moments the incident that was to be feigned as an accident actually turned into an accident. Eric Price did indeed press the red button. Despite that, some might have confused the color as a danger symbol or a stop button that wasn't it at all. The red button was merely supposed to fully connect the portal machine and the computer to activate the coordinate input. The green button was to confirm the coordinates and turn on the machine to make the portal come to full reality. It was more steps than necessary, but with how the technology was he couldn't just run everything off the computer alone. The last one had exploded.
Unexpectantly the portal had fully started up at the press of the red button. It completely skipped the coordinate input step as well as the green button confirmation. The center of the ring pulsed and began to rapidly fill with water-like energy that swirled and rippled. The energy particles burst outward and then went back to the center where they became stable. For a few seconds.
The liquid-like energy went backward and began to work like a vacuum that started to suck everything around it inside its void. That included Eric Price. The man's eyes had gone wide in a mix of shock and fear when he felt himself being pulled inside by the portal. He turned to run away but the portal's force called him back and even his safety line of grabbing onto a desk did nothing. Both he and the desk were pulled inside. Then the portal closed with a loud zap.
Trey blinked after the room became calm. He hadn't made an effort to move when the portal went wonky. Its pull had not reached him fully. To be honest, it felt more like a light passing breeze where he was standing. Not that things were better for it. The room was a mess. Computers, lab equipment, and even furniture were now scattered around if not missing entirely due to being sucked through the unstable portal. Papers and folders littered the floor uncategorized and way out of order.
Last but not least there was now a missing hired mage. That had been the plan, yes, but it was also not the plan. Trey had expected to just push the man into the portal. Not just any portal but at least one that connected to a location of his choosing that was boring and quite safe. Looking back at the computer screen he could see that the coordinates were not listed. There were only two possibilities he could predict that Eric went. A completely random location that the machine had picked out during its instability, or the last tested ones that he himself had entered hours ago. Those weren't particularly safe. "Huh." He picked up a random cold cup of coffee and brought it to his lips. "Well, that's probably a rescue mission for another time." A long sip was taken from the cup after making his statement of total indifference.
Now, what would Trey do with the mess? It was late. He didn't want to clean it all up. He didn't really want to have to explain the mess to the Professor either. That would require too many details that he wasn't ready to disclose prematurely. Oh, and there was the matter of letting Chrome Lion know what happened to their mage. He probably wasn't coming back anytime soon. Much later than the anticipated mission time for obvious reasons. A letter would have to be written too to cover that. Partial truths within, of course.
Trey looked at one of the many clocks on the wall of the lab. Well, actually just the one now. The rest had come off the walls and even the one still remaining was cracked. It still worked well enough though and Trey's suspicion was confirmed. Yep. It was still late. Or too early depending on how one looked at it. He had better get to cleaning up some of the mess at least and work out that letter to be sent. If he was lucky, Alia would arrive and they'd be way gone before the Professor woke up and came into the lab. Getting a good night's sleep was out of the question now but it'd be worth it if he could sneak his way into a field mission for once.
The lab was cleaned up as best as he could with the time that was left and his own weariness starting to take over completely. The papers were picked up and stacked, although still not categorized or in order. What was left of the furniture was straightened up. The lab projects were checked to make sure nothing too obvious was wrong with them. The coffee machine was murdered.
At the end of it all, Trey was finally able to sleep. The young man sauntered his way out of the lab, up the stairs, past the couch with a snoring blonde sprawled on it, and all the way through the large house until he made it to his room. It was there he collapsed face-first into the sheets. He didn't even bother to get into the bed properly before passing out.
Morning came way too suddenly. Or so it seemed to the snoozing scientist that had way too little time to catch those sheep singing the melodies of the letter Z. The sunshine came through the window, bright and blinding as usual. That stirred him a bit but the thing that woke him up fully was the alarm. Instead of being set to a typical sequence of high-pitched beeps, it was set to play music. Used to, he would set it to play loud metal songs to instantly get him up, but that tended to give him more of a heart attack every morning. That was a bit excessive. Now the alarm was set to upbeat energetic tunes that were sure to put anyone in a good mood for the morning. Supposedly. He still required a lot of coffee before he got into that positive morning spirit.
Trey rose up from the bed and glared at that annoying alarm clock. He pressed the stop button. The music continued to play. Another press of the button was made. Same result. His hand went into a fist and he slammed it down onto the machine three times. That didn't work either. Professor Otto must have been playing around with the damn thing and changed its normal programming as some kind of joke.
As a solution, Trey took hold of it and gave it a tug to unplug it from the wall. The final step was tossing it out the window that automatically opened the moment the object got too close. Was that an often occurrence? Yes, yes it was. That was why the window had been tinkered with and technologically enhanced to do that.
Unfortunately, even as the alarm clock crashed onto the ground and scattered into several smaller pieces the music did not come to an end exactly. Oh, yes, the music from the clock itself ceased, but then it just started to go through an alternate route. The music began to play loudly through the entire room right through the intercom system of the house. Trey rolled his eyes and facepalmed. Of course. How could he expect anything less? He'd have to settle with this morning's montage music for now.
And so his morning began with the music following him wherever he went. To the bathroom, back to his room, to the kitchen, through the living room, down the hall. It was then he decided that morning montages were better left watching in fictional films than being a part of one for himself. Although he was sure that if the Professor were recording any of it it'd be heavily edited to look amazing and inspiring just like in the films. All he needed was to add the breakfast-making to complete the reel.
The entire time he moved around the house he passed the couch several times. Just like how he failed to take notice that Aliarey had been sleeping on it during the night, he failed to notice her complete absence.
The final visit to the kitchen had been made. Just as he got done pouring a freshly made cup of coffee into a mug the music came to a stop. It was silent. Finally. "There is a time limit after all then," Trey mused to himself while bringing the edge of the coffee mug to his lips and then taking a sip of the steaming dark liquid within. He wasn't one hundred percent confident that the music would stop. It wouldn't be unlike Professor Otto to make it last all day long. After all, his own quarters were separate and soundproof. It wasn't as if he were torturing himself with his little prank.
Whatever. It was quiet now and he could have a much more peaceful morning. At least until Alia arrived. But he could tolerate her if it meant getting in on the mission. Another sip of his coffee was taken. In doing this he also took notice of an old paper sitting on the counter. The large letters were all he needed to see to predict the main article's contents. "War in Ishgar: Pergrande Strikes Bellum." Ah, right. That significant event. He had almost forgotten that Aliarey had taken part in it for a decent amount of cash as a mercenary.
"Why have we not thrown this out yet?" The issue was old. There had already been several out since then. There had not been any real updates though. Anything the news articles said was mostly theories, lies, and conjecture by the writers and journalists that wrote it. Incomplete or made-up information was worthless. Not that he cared too much. As long as something like that was going on there were a ton of Jewels to be made. He was just waiting for the next opportunity to jump back in and get Aliarey involved to do the dirty work. Thus far, there were no more calls for random mages to pick up the slack of Fiore's allies. Most likely the Magic Council was using their selection of the finest and most esteemed mages of Earthland instead. It was a shame Aliarey wasn't one of them. It was a shame that at that time he couldn't have foreseen what was to occur in Joya and the war that would come from it as nations divided themselves. But that was another story and another memory for another time.
Trey read over the article as a mild form of entertainment, but the distraction did not last long. Something else had caught his full attention. Curious, the young engineer left the paper where it was. Right on the counter to be found the next day and him wondering once again why it was still there. He took the time to refill his coffee mug and then left the kitchen to investigate the new happening within his home.
Loud clanks, sounds of things falling and crashing, yells of a young woman cursing and complaining to whatever invisible being existed... which was another form of no one whatsoever. Ah, yes. That. These were all the things the young inventor expected on a normal day with Aliarey. Things were a little abnormal now thanks to his earlier misdeed so really all things considered the sounds in the other room were quite tame.
He should have prepared for her to destroy the house in a rage, but it was late and he had forgotten about her explosive temper. Especially that early. He shook the cup of coffee he held, staring down and watching the liquid swirl and swish around. "That didn't take long," Trey commented in a nonchalant tone.
Another crash from the other side of the door could be heard. He gave it no more of a concerned reaction than he had with the others. Maybe if he stayed there for a bit the blonde on the other side would lose energy and quiet down long enough to have some sort of an intelligent conversation. A few more stirs and a sip of the hot beverage were done in an effort to make that come true. Unfortunately, the chaos only seemed to grow as the sound of more things breaking could be heard. It was only a matter of time before he'd have to toss her through the experimental portal too for making such a mess that he'd inevitably have to clean up later.
Sighing, he finally took hold of the doorknob, twisted it, and then pushed with just enough force for the door to swing open on its own. Trey raised his cup of coffee to his lips and took a long quiet sip while standing in the doorway and looking down. Past the walkway railing, he could see the familiar yelling blonde making a mess of the storage room. "You could always call first before making a mess of the place. It takes time to clean it all up. Puts me behind in making all those gadgets you like to break. It's also rude considering you haven‘t been here in several days." Despite being somewhat agitated at both her and even himself, his voice was calm and collected. It was more annoying for her whenever he showed he didn't care at all. It was just the way he liked it.
"That damn partner I was supposed to have for this job never showed!" Aliarey shouted angrily, tossing various weapons from an open locker over her shoulder. There were two piles behind her. One for the not good enoughs, and the other for totally taking. Or so that's what Trey assumed they were. He couldn't figure out what the other random piles throughout the room were. Probably just tosses that really missed the mark, or so he'd like to believe. Alia had a better aim than that though so it was difficult to say for certain. It was also easier to just not bother asking and take in the reality that she was a dumbass that had a habit of destroying his house.
He stood there silently and watched for a bit. While listening to her further ramblings he concluded that she intended to hunt the poor guy down and teach him a lesson for ditching on the job. That conclusion did not surprise him at all. “You were supposed to meet him here, huh?“ Trey asked, obviously pretending that he had zero knowledge of the meetup.
“Yes, and I called and told Otto I was coming. Hell, didn’t you notice that I was crashed on the couch last night?“ Alia continued going through all the weapon containers and tossing the ones she didn’t want away and onto the floor… or crashing into tables, shelves, or whatever happened to be in the way. So much for the piles. What a mess. Well, as long as she didn’t hit the computer… or coffee maker. Yes, there was one there too. His coffee addiction was extreme. “Nope.“ Another lie, of course. He saw her on his way from the lab before he hit the hay. He just didn't care enough to acknowledge it.
Trey had to arch an eyebrow a bit later though, questioning the rocket launcher she held when she had just claimed one. "Alia, two rocket launchers is a bit extreme, isn't it?" Then again one was also a little much. She had one as part of her magic already and it was quite fancy. Not to mention the amount of work it took to upgrade the thing over the years. It was kind of insulting that she was considering replacing it with a normal one. He took another long coffee sip.
Aliarey focused her blue eyes up where Trey stood and then looked down at the launcher she held and the one she had thrown on one of the weapon piles. "... You're right." The launcher she held, which was smaller than the other, was tossed over her shoulder. It hit the nah pile with a loud landing. "That one's not for traveling." She had continued grabbing weapons and either tossing them or stuffing them in her magical storage space meant for her requip weapons for a few more minutes when the most annoying sound imaginable echoed through the room. A coffee sip so drastically exaggerated and forced to be ridiculously loud for the sole purpose of annoying her. Several eye twitches were made and even a vein at the side of her head bulged before she could no longer tolerate it.
Aliarey turned around fully, her hands balled into tight fists. "TREY!"
"What?" He asked, the question so innocent but his expression indicated otherwise. It was clear he was doing it on purpose. She was already pissed, and she certainly didn't want to have to put up with her sort of kind of adoptive brother.
"Don't make me shoot that face of yours! Now stop!"
By that point, Trey made his way down the stairs as casually and as confidently as can be. "I don't know what you're talking about." An extremely exaggerated and loud coffee sip followed his words once again.
Aliarey's eyes narrowed and her teeth clenched. She couldn't stand that sound. It was one of her number one pet peeves in the world. Every moron that made that sipping sound, even by accident, should be thrown off a cliff! Using a small bit of her magic, Aliarey called on her most basic of weapons. Well, basic to her because that's what they were at one point long ago. Now they were classified as S rank. Not the highest tier, of course, but certainly up there. The small firearm of white, black, and gold coloring looked pretty, and its firepower even more so. It was a Ray Gun and, if she wanted, she could use it to disintegrate anything in the room. The weapons, the computers, the coffee maker, Trey himself. The woman had options! "Don't make me go after all the coffee makers in the house!" She threatened, switching her original target of him to the dear machines that sated his caffeine addiction.
Trey stared blankly at her with a slight tilt of his head. It was way too early for this. Sure he started it technically, but my god. Now the coffee was on the line. Still, he acted very much unphased and remained composed. As ridiculous as the conversation was it was normal for them. Anything that other people would consider normal would probably be a horror story if they were forced to live it. Coffee cup raised to take another sip, Trey stopped himself and shrugged his shoulders. "Well before you shoot you should know the guy that was supposed to be meeting you here for the job arrived a few hours ago."
Alia pulled back the weapon and gave a look of confusion. Her blue eyes blinked and her mouth opened with no words coming out at first. "Excuse me?" She finally managed to say after gathering her brain and mentally piecing it back together as a result of the implosion that happened inside her skull.
"Yep. He was here." The keyword being "was" but the significance of that word did not dawn on his blonde sister just yet.
A thin brow raised suspiciously all the same. "And you still didn‘t know I was even here?"
"Well, he was kind of early by several hours. I just figured you weren‘t here yet." Another lie. "You being late is always possible. I'm kind of surprised you're as punctual as you are so consistently."
Aliarey ignored the comment regarding her punctuality. She was just happy that her partner for the job had made it after all and wasn't chickening out or wasting her time by deciding to decline the job for another. "Oh, I guess that's fine then!" Her temper disappeared instantly and was replaced with an easygoing grin. "Where is he?" No more was there a reason to hunt the bastard down for making her life more difficult than it had to be. Gosh, finding another partner was going to be a huge task, and going solo would have been an even bigger nightmare! Unfortunately, her hopes quickly came crashing down thanks to the young man that stood in front of her.
Trey stared into his cup, swishing the coffee inside it around. It was almost time for a refill. "Probably on the other side of the planet. I didn't get a good look at the entered coordinates of the lacrima wormhole gate." He scratched his chin as a new thought occurred to him. "... Actually there's a good possibility he isn't even on this planet at all. It's been malfunctioning a lot during the tests. I would consider looking into the Wakusei Portals for a solution, but I doubt I could take them apart even if I was allowed to. Then again, their power is also more of the magical variety so they probably wouldn't be of much use anyway." To him, the malfunctions of the portal seemed to be a much more problematic catastrophe that needed a solution than the case of the missing job partner. Trey couldn't help but think out loud of the possible theories that came to mind.
"WHAT?!" Aliarey's blue wide eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. The disbelief was huge. How could he have been that stupid?! They could get into some serious trouble if people started to think they were just throwing random people into portals as test subjects! She was guilty by association!
Trey showed no change of reaction toward her outburst. As much as he wanted to laugh he resisted the growing urge just so he could make things worse for her little brain. He took one last sip from his coffee mug. A shorter one this time, but for a good reason. Rather than look at her he turned his coffee mug upside down to confirm that it was empty. Damn. Disappointing.
"Yep," he confirmed with a nod, finally glancing her way. "He wanted to help me with it while he waited so I told him to stand in front of the gate and to press the green button. Or did I say red button? Things went so horribly wrong that I can't really remember that detail. Seeing as he isn't here even you can guess what happened after. My mistake, his, a malfunction in the machine. Either one leads to the same result of whoops." He calmly told her as he walked towards the greatest thing in the room full of various weapons; the coffee machine. Thank goodness he had installed a piece of magitech he had obtained from a friend of his. The machine always had fresh hot coffee. He wasn't quite sure how, but hey it's magic. Why question it?
"Why would you have anyone be pressing buttons around here?! They get switched all the time! The last time I was here the button to my alarm clock activated a glitter bomb in the lower levels of this place!" Why there was a glitter bomb to activate in the first place, and why was it connected to her alarm she still had no clue. The only thing she could figure out was Otto needed something to serve as the activation button and he had run out or forgot what was connected to what, leaving the alarm as the only choice. The man was weird.
"I wanted to get some work done, and he wanted to help. Simple mistake." He picked up the coffee pot and began to pour some of the dark steaming liquid into his mug. "Fact is he is gone. Another fact is that there is now an opening for this mission you were supposed to go on with him. I admit that even if it means tagging along with you, I wouldn't mind going on this trip in his place." Yes, he did need to get to that part. Trey preferred to convince Alia quickly and get out of the house before Otto woke up and said no to the idea. "I'll also say that I am completely ready to get going right now."
A thought passed through Aliarey's mind. Another one of disbelief even though it really shouldn't have been. It was how Trey was. Sure he didn't normally put other people on the line and make them disappear through random portals, but he had done that kind of mischievous crap on her before to get his way. He had finally crossed that fine line of including others in his list of victims. "Oh my god. You sent him to who knows what hell on purpose!"
Trey put the coffee pot down now that his cup had been completely refilled. He slowly turned around to face Aliarey and leaned back on the counter. “Me? No way. I'm completely innocent."
"Liar."
Trey took a sip of his coffee and then brought his cup down to reveal a closed sly smile. "It's what is said in the letter."
"What letter?"
Coffee sip. "A member of a guild was supposed to meet up with you here, and he suddenly goes missing. Not really a way to get a good reputation. So I sent a letter to Chrome Lion explaining what happened."
Aliarey crossed her arms over her chest and glared daggers at Trey. There was no way he explained it in truth. He lied about pretty much everything, especially if it caused her more trouble. She didn't need that when she often caused herself trouble all the time as it was! "Oh really? What did it say?"
The young man smirked as he recalled the contents of the letter. Or so he made Aliarey believe with his thoughtful expression. In actuality, he had never sent a letter. He never got around to it. In fact, he probably wouldn't even bother sending one until way after the mission was done. Or maybe not at all. He did still plan to rescue the guy later. Maybe. Depending on where Eric Price was sent. It might have been better just to pay someone to either impersonate the guy or make a believable story on how he went missing or ended up in jail or something. Making things up was easy. Aliarey wasn't exaggerating when she called him a liar. "That he was eaten by a magical rainbow liopleurodon of the sky on the way here, and that he should be fully recovered from this experience within a week after being digested and turned into sparkly glitter. Sounds believable, right?"
Aliarey stared at him, mouth agape and eyes wide. "What is a lio-" her eyes closed and she put her hand to her head as a poor attempt of making her now growing headache disappear. "No, you know what? I don’t even care what it is. You did not send a letter saying that?!"
"You're right. I didn't. There wasn't enough time and that story is way too stupid. It needs to be a unicorn to be believable." Trey's playful smirk disappeared after that. Toying around with the blonde was done. He was getting bored now and things really needed to move along. Even his stoic expression did not return. Instead, he looked at Alia, his eyes narrowed and fully serious now.
"That's still a problem though, and I don't intend on rescuing him until after this one is done. Otto is expecting these materials as soon as possible. If he finds out things went the way they did not only will he ban me from fieldwork forever but he'll probably demote me to a normal salesfloor employee at the shop. I can't say that I regret it because as you already said, I did it on purpose. I want to do some field work and drastic measures had to be taken to sneak my way into it. There was no way I was going to be able to convince the original guy to leave unpaid as an alternative to get rid of him and take his place. So, that being said, I'm going with you to act as your partner." And most likely to act as the only one of the two with a working brain that wasn't mush, but he kept that to himself. For now. He needed her to agree to the plan and to stay quiet. At least until it was too late for Otto to have a say in the matter.
"Oh, I'm SO telling Otto about this." Aliarey grinned. She had blackmail she could make use of now. He handed it to her so easily. It was surprising really, but she wasn't going to question her rare good luck coming out to say hello and bless her for the day.
Trey slowly blinked, unamused. His frown deepened. "Telling on me? What are you? Ten?" The chuckling made him sigh. "Did you not listen to what I just said? If you tell Otto about all of this and he removes me from the lab for who knows how long this means I can't work on your stuff. No weapons, no tune-ups for the droids, no upgrades, no advice. All of it gone in an instant. Trust me when I say you don't want Otto to touch any of it, or whatever novice assistant he hires to take my open position. So, yes, go ahead and tell and enjoy that short moment of glorious payback before things go straight to hell for the both of us after those fifteen minutes are up."
"Eh, you do have a point." Aliarey snapped her fingers. "Drat. I thought I'd have some good blackmail on you that time." As unfortunate as it was she had nothing. Sure she could get him into a lot of trouble, but technically she'd be punished too. Trey was really the one that did most of the work when it came to her equipment. Hell, he was the only one that really knew how to calibrate the Mirai technology with her magic and the lacnites going through her body. Not just anyone could mess with that stuff. She'd likely not even let them attempt it for fear that they'd seriously screw something up. Plus, she was known to break things. Trey either fixed everything up for free or took it as an IOU. Anyone else would probably have her pay the normal fees and not even give her any discount regardless of being the unofficially adoptive daughter of Professor Otto.
So much for that luck she had been counting on. Trey just had to burst that bubble and bring her back down to reality. "All right, fine. I won't say a thing about what happened to the last guy, but do you really have to come along? Like, we can't just hire some random mage off the street to tag along and not get me killed?"
"Considering I got rid of poor Eric Price just so I can take his place... no. I'm coming. That's not negotiable. I don't even know why you don't like the idea. You know I can handle myself in dangerous situations. I used to be better than you in combat."
"Yeah, but that was ages ago! You haven't done any real fighting since..." Alia hesitated from finishing that sentence. She looked away sadly for a second but was quick to force those thoughts and emotions away. There was no point bringing all of that up. She'd just change her words around to get to her main point. "You're way rusty. The only training you've had since then was what we got set up around here. Glorified laser tag doesn't really compare to real missions. We also aren't really the best description of teamwork either. We'd probably be fighting ourselves more than anything else, you know."
Trey caught onto what Alia was about to say and if he hadn't caught himself he might have displayed that same slip of emotion as she had. Even if what she had said was fact it still hadn't crossed his mind the last time he had been in a real combative scenario. Not until it was said out loud. He chose to ignore it and say nothing about it. Just as she had chosen to do after nearly bringing it up. "Just means we'll scare everything else away with our fights. Not really a big deal unless we're using a stealth plan, and this job doesn't really require that. It's just a gathering mission. It might not be the easiest one out there, and I'm sure we'll have to take care of a few predators along the way, but it shouldn't be out of our capabilities."
Trey set the coffee cup on the counter. "If we're in agreement on this we really should get out of here. Otto does have the tendency to oversleep but that doesn't mean we can just dawdle here all day and chat. There's also the matter of the scheduled shuttle. It won't take off without us unless the day ends, but the fee that comes with the waiting is extremely high. I'd rather not have to pay that."
"Couldn't you just make Chrome Lion pay for it? They don't know their mage is gone yet so really we could take advantage of that."
"Sure, if they were the ones that made the job request, but they didn't. Otto is the client. The expenses come from his account, including the payment. Naturally, I get what would have been Eric's pay. Seeing as I'm the one that handles Otto's finances I'll even give you an additional bonus for cooperation. He won't even notice."
"He won't notice an additional bonus going into my account but he'll notice a shuttle late departure fee? Just how much did this thing cost?"
"Too much. But, the portal is unstable and I can't really count on teleportation magic when I have none and neither do you. Not in the capacity that is required anyway. Eric Price's abilities also did not highlight any use of such magic. The Draovis droids, while capable of flying themselves I'd rather not test how well they do with longer lengths of flight with me as their luggage. Aside from basic land vehicles that I consider too slow, inconvenient, and don't have a good track record for crossing an ocean, I was out of options." Trey gave the clock on the other side of the room a glance. Yeah, they had spent way too much time conversing. "You'll have to wait and clean this mess for when we get back." He hadn't forgotten about the damage to the room. It was impossible with him being surrounded by piles of weapons and scattered parts.
Alia frowned and sighed that whining exaggerated sigh that nearly every child does when told to do a chore. "Fiiiinnnneee." She sank and leaned forward slightly as she dragged her feet to follow Trey up the stairs and out of the room. "Let's get out of here before the old guy sees us and does something stupid."
Unfortunately, Alia's words had come too late. Something stupid was coming their way to delay them and make that shuttle fee increase dramatically. Professor Otto was quite awake. Had been for a while. Normally he didn't pay attention to anything that went on in his house and lab unless it directly involved a current project or experiment. That day was different. Well, not really different per say. Trey and Aliarey were just that unlucky.
Otto had misplaced his sleeping medication the night before. His iLac had also exploded which meant no ASMR videos to listen to. There was no computer in his bedroom to use instead. He didn't sleep deeply the previous night. At all. His brain was wired and told his aging body to get the hell out of bed and get to work! Much to the misfortune of the two young adults that were planning to sneak out and conquer without permission.
The two young adults had gone back up the stairs and approached the doorway. The door opened seemingly on its own but in actuality, it was the work of Professor Otto. He stood there at the doorway, arms crossed and tapping his blue bunny slippers on the floor. What? Did anyone expect this man to be dressed in a lab coat? Well, anyone that assumed yes would be correct! Over his blue sleeping robes was a bleach-cleaned spotless white labcoat. Aside from that, he had plaid blue pajamas on along with the previously mentioned bunny slippers. It was early when he rose and still technically was. There was no way he was putting on any actual daytime clothing before noon. His grey hair hadn't even been combed yet and was just a mess that covered even the spots that were normally bald. He didn't care.
"Oh hey... It's the old man!" Aliarey exclaimed with a wide grin and raised a hand to wave in greeting while teasingly leaning on Trey. So much for the sneak-out plan. "Surprise, surprise! You're up really early. Been taking those energy boosters again?"
Trey slumped and facepalmed. Of all days for the old guy to not only get up early but also be in that section of their home. Those two never matched! Until then. There was an obstacle in the plan. The biggest one, and based on the look on Otto's face it was clear he knew something was up. It was in a way intimidating, which was strange considering it was coming from someone so short and light that they probably could have been tossed across a field quite easily. Not exactly by Trey, but anyone in Aliarey's family line certainly could. The man barely stood higher than the waistline of an average sized guy. He could be confused for a kid if it weren't for the obvious signs of age giving it away.
The scowl that had contorted his facial features disappeared, having been replaced with his usual goofy energetic smile. "Energy boosters? HA! I don't need energy boosters!" He shouted, his hands going to his hips and puffing his chest out in an exaggerated superhero pose. "I awoke today just as I do every day! Full of energy and a desire to be one hundred percent productive! I don't run out until my scheduled bedtime." He proceeded to raise his nose to the air in a snobbish fashion, jokingly. "Asking me if I took energy boosters. HA! Nonsense! Absolutely nonsensical!"
"One hundred percent productive... Right." Trey needed some more coffee hearing that like an overworked retail associate needed a case of beer after a twelve-hour shift. Trey respected Professor Otto a lot. He was pretty much a father figure and had been one since he was a young kid. To say that he was productive completely was a false reality that he couldn't lie about. The Professor worked, but most of the time his grand ideas had a way of backstepping progress instead of being progressive. It gave the young man a headache all the time.
Professor Otto stopped heroically posing and glared at Trey, grumbling lowly as a response to what he had just heard. He huffed. Rather than argue he just let it go and played along as if it were a seriously accurate comment and not sarcasm. "Indeed! One hundred percent productive! I have been working diligently in the war room!"
"I've told you before to stop calling it a war room. It's an over-the-top laser tag arena. I don't know why you even made that instead of expanding the lab so we have a better equipped and secure place to test things."
(Word Count: 10,404)
10,000 used for 4 B Rank Jobs (2500 each)
404 left to start next batch
![Novice [250]](https://i.imgur.com/lrYlde6.png)
