Inveigler

“He was sick when I found him, but he’s all better now and should stay healthy for years to come.” I smiled at the young couple I had found a street over from my target destination, handing over the dog I had infected and then cured. They happily took him into their arms, thanking me for what they called, “a new family member.”

My smile quickly dropped when I turned around and scanned the area. Now that one thing was taken care of, it was time to move on to the next: the mysterious organization that should be active in this neighborhood. If not in, then hopefully around the neighborhood. I continued to scan through social media and news networks for more images of these figures in black as I walked. From what I could find, they frequented this area. They definitely stood out, how was it that they had not been discovered by the government yet? Maybe they weren’t doing anything bad?

Then again, I had my own situation to think about. My glitches had yet to be discovered. Perhaps not as much was being monitored as we were led to believe? Or maybe there was simply no evidence on these figures because they didn’t have their own Lens. That seemed more probable, but I couldn’t rule out any possibilities yet, not even crazy theories. One thing I had learned under Mr. Dolion is to not disregard wild ideas, they could lead to success.

“Excuse me, sir?”

The timid voice of a child broke me out of my thoughts. I cleared away my screens of photos and turned to the boy, perhaps only eight years old if I had to guess, “How can I help you, kiddo?”

He shuffled in place, his fingers nervously fiddling with each other, “Your shirt, it’s the same as grandpas. He told me to look for someone with that shirt and give him this.”

I looked down at the shirt I was wearing, a plain blue and gray company shirt, and then to the note the kid had pulled from his pocket. His grandpa has the same shirt? The only other people with this shirt worked for Mr. Dolion, all of them in their twenties or thirties. That only left Dolion himself. Why would this kid, in torn jeans, worn out sneakers, and a stained t-shirt, call Mr. Dolion his grandfather? The paper he held out was crumpled, obviously from being fiddled with in his pocket throughout the day as though he had checked to make sure he still had it frequently. I took the small paper from his hands, “I work for your grandpa, huh? Thanks for passing this along.”

He shook his head as he released his grip on the note, “Not really my grandpa, but we all call him that.”

“‘We?’”

He nodded, “Me and the other kids at the orphanage.”

Mr. Dolion did seem like the type to frequent orphanages and give gifts to children, he was that kind of old man. He had always preferred to look after others. “You’re really well spoken, I’m impressed.”

The boy grinned, “Thank you, sir, we’ve been studying a lot!”

“It’s paying off.” I patted his head and held up the paper, “Thanks for this. No need to stick around, you can go off and play or study some more.”

He nodded enthusiastically once again before running off. My Lens memorized his face before it glitched, this time on command. I wanted to know more and it listened. Silas, nine years old, no known parents. Most likely was abandoned by a mother who didn’t mean to end up pregnant. That was everything on file for him. Although there was no need to try and learn more about the kid, it was nice to know that I was gaining control over the glitch. With a sigh, I finally looked at the crumpled note. My first name was written on the outside, so it was almost definitely for me. How many other people named Von wearing this shirt would wander around such a poor community? There was only one thing written down inside:

Research Inveigler

Inveigler, huh? I searched the word only to find its definition. Inveigle: clever talk, trickery. That’s a fun word to add to my vocabulary, but why would I research it?

It wasn’t long before I had the answer to that question.

After sitting at my desk for a few hours, spinning in circles in my chair, I came to the conclusion that Mr. Dolion wouldn’t be coming to work that day. I sent several direct messages, however no answer ever came. We were the only two that worked directly in the lab, so no one came in to notice that I was the only one present. I hummed to myself the same song that was playing the day before, that nice jazz tune. Did he ever say the title?

“Mr. Dolion, are you busy right now?”

No answer again.

“Whenever you get the chance, let me know if there’s anything you want me to do today. I’m at the lab.”

It was strange for him not to answer after sending a direct message. Those were hard to ignore unless you were completely caught up in a task or sleeping. “Ah, he could be sleeping.” I commented out loud, spinning once more in my chair.

However, that proved to not be the case. As the sun was setting, men in gray suits swung the door open to the lab. “Hello, I’m V-” I stood to greet them, but was quickly cut off.

“Von Ephialtes. We are afraid that you will have to look for a new job, this project is ending.” The man in front announced. He was tall, with sharp features, and exuded power with every step. He came closer, grabbing a vile in his hand and teetering it between his fingers, “Funding has run dry.”

I gaped, “Funding? But how? Mr. Dolion was funding most of this.”

The man’s eyes shifted from the vile to me, his gaze cold and calculating, “And now he no longer is. Both of you are done, find new work.” The air seemed to be sucked from the room as he spoke. I didn’t know what authors meant when they wrote about the atmosphere turning dark, feeling heavy, or growing cold, but now I know all three.

I wanted to question this man in front of me, but his demeanor told me that it would be best to keep my mouth shut. I had not ever met a man like him before. He seemed to be military, but there was no need for the military to be in a lab working on medicines for a home for the eldery. The way he carried himself, he seemed to be used to being in command. And the way his relaxed gaze now floated from object to object in the room, he felt no need to be on guard nor to be polite to an Ergasia such as myself.

Rather than asking my questions out loud, I asked them to my Lens. Capri Hemlock, head of military. At least I wasn’t wrong that he was military, but he was definitely more than I bargained for. Why would the head of the military be in this lab?

That… -lion… found… didn’t he?

I tried to focus on Hemlock’s thoughts, but no matter how hard I tried it only came in pieces. But he did seem concerned about what Dolion had been up to, something that he found. What did he find?

“Enough standing around, get your things together and go.”

I gave a curt nod before doing as told while still straining to listen.

I can’t wait to get off, she’s cooking for me tonight.

Hemlock is surprisingly calm.

Wow, there’s so much stuff here. How much of it belongs to this Ergasia?

I could hear all the other’s thoughts clearly. It was as if Hemlock alone had a jammer or something.

How long will this take? The one in the back was complaining. Apparently, all he could think of was getting home to his wife and eating her cooking.

The one who was shocked at how calm Hemlock was seemed to admire the cold man. All of his thoughts were praise for the head of the military and dreams of being like him one day.

The third and final lackey, however, had his thoughts on the task at hand: kicking me out. I chose to listen to him as I packed, At least this kid came back clean. It seems to be only Dolion that was involved in this mess. How could someone think of releasing our technology to the Ergasia? That’s unheard of and useless. Those common folk don’t need such things.

Our technology? Meaning that what we have and what the Arbiters have is different?

We’re lucky we caught on before a revolt of some kind. Though, we have to get our hands on that rebel group sooner rather than later. They seem to be scattered everywhere these days.

The rebel group, perhaps the figures in black cloaks? Mr. Dolion could be involved with them giving me all the more reason to find them. I silently put my few belongings into a box, making sure to slide in some of the papers we had on Solution B just in case, placing them between the pages of a book on architecture when it seemed like no eyes were on me.

“Is that everything, Ephialtes?” Hemlock grunted, peering into my box. After I nodded, he put his large hand on my back, pushing me forward, “Then get moving.”

I could just walk out and not think about any of this ever again. I could find a normal job and not put myself at risk for being caught with my sight issues and simply live a relaxing life. I was smart enough and now had a good looking resume after working directly with an Arbiter, I could probably get any job I want. However, that one man’s thoughts lingered in my mind. That along with the dog I had cured and the note Dolion passed along through a kid in the outskirts. This wasn’t going to be the end, rather this was the beginning. I bid my farewells to Hemlock and his men and walked away in the direction of home. But instead of heading home, I turned and took a detour back to Guevara Street. It surprisingly didn’t take long to spot the same kid again, who also recognized me and came running to greet me.

“Hello, sir! What are you doing back here?” Sweat dripped from the tips of his hair, the evidence of how hard he had been playing with the other kids in the neighborhood. A soccer ball was propped between his arm and hip, a cautious smile lingering on his face.

I mirrored his smile, “Good to see you again, kid.”

He snorted, “I’m not a kid, I’m nine. And I have a name.”

“As do I. Von, and you?”

I held out my hand which he quickly grasped in his smaller one for a quick hand shake, “Max.”

“Okay, Max. I was wondering if you’ve seen your grandpa around? I didn’t see him at work.” With no Lenses around, I didn’t have to be as careful about filtering my words and, as long as I stuck to saying grandpa rather than his actual name, none of us should get into trouble.

Max shook his head, “He doesn’t come around often, says it’s to keep us uninvolved, whatever that means. Why, did something happen?”

My hope of him possibly being here and being able to give me answers, quickly disappeared. But this kid, who has lived here and seen the people come and go, I thought there might be a chance he could point me in the right direction.

“What about any guys in animal masks and long coats?”

“Those guys are here all the time!” Max nearly yelled, “They’re so annoying, constantly telling us to get out of the way. But Grandpa said they had important work to do, so we try to not bother them too much. There’s a couple really nice guys with them too that play with us, so they’re not that bad.”

“Have you seen them around recently? I would like to talk to one of them.”

Max nodded, “Yeah, they’re probably around somewhere. But, Von, they might not want to talk to you.” Max pointed to his eye and tapped his finger right below it, “They’re not fans.”

I hummed, “You know a lot, don’t you? Thanks, Max. I’ll figure out a way to chat with them.”

“Grandpa talks a lot about you and likes you, so I like you too! I’ll try to help any way I can.”

I offered my best smile, “You’re great, thanks. Go play, sorry to interrupt.”

He nodded and ran off, joining back up with the other kids. I could only assume they were all orphans based on the information I had learned from my two conversations with Max along with simply observing. I didn’t know that there would be that many in this day and age, but I guess that’s a problem that’s hard to fix; some people still don’t want their children, others still die early due to illness we don’t have a cure for or they suffer from a mental disorder of some kind. I took the note back out from Dolion and read it once more, mumbling out loud to myself “Inveigler, huh?”

A shadow was cast over me and when I looked to see what could be blocking the sun, I was greeted by dark eyes, barely visible through the slits in his fox-like mask, his mouth exposed, a sly smile stretched across his face. “You called?”