Wandering to the back of the run down apartment, Adam met Orion.
"Yo, why did you call me over- Huh?! What happened to your face?!" [Adam]
Much to his surprise, Adam noticed that Orion's right eye had been bruised.
"I got punched." [Orion]
"...Well, no shit. I want to know HOW." [Adam]
"I told my dad to never look for me or Halia." [Orion]
"Huh?!" [Adam]
Ada was in disbelief. He expected Orion to leave without his father's knowledge.
"Why?! I thought we were going to leave secretly!" [Adam]
"Why? Because if we leave without telling him, he's going to look for us. Where do you think he would look first?" [Orion]
("A place that his dad would look first?") [Adam]
Attempting to place himself in Orion's shoes, Adam ran a simulation in his head.
"The school…" [Adam]
"Exactly. He knows where we attend school, and I can't register to a different one without a guardian." [Orion]
He left Adam amazed. It never came to mind that Orion would be able to think that far ahead.
"In that case, why hasn't he come out screaming at you?" [Adam]
"I knocked him out." [Orion]
"Uh… What?" [Adam]
"I knocked him out. He punched me once so I punched him back." [Orion]
"With one punch?" [Adam]
"Yeah. I slammed his face onto the table his friends were gambling on. They're probably going to have to play poker on the floor now." [Orion]
Orion continued to amaze Adam. He never expected such bluntness to come from Orion.
"O… kay? So why did you call me back here again?" [Adam]
"I want you to have Felix guide Halia to your house." [Orion]
"I know I've been repeating myself a lot, but… why?" [Adam]
"...There are some things I need to deal with, but I can't do it myself. Adam, I need your help." [Orion]
Reaching out a hand, Orion prompted for a handshake.
"...Mind telling me what we're going to do before I shake your hand?" [Adam]
"Beat some people up." [Orion]
"So those dudes from earlier." [Adam]
"Yeah. You in?" [Orion]
Adam scratched his head with a troubled look on his face.
("If I let him go alone, he's probably going to get beaten up again…") [Adam]
Letting out a light sigh, he grabbed Orion's hand.
"I'm in." [Adam]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Minutes later, they were on the move. The two traveled through the streets after sending Felix and Halia off at the house.
"It's gotten pretty dark. Should we do this tomorrow?" [Adam]
"No. I know where we can find them. Just follow me." [Orion]
Doing as told, Adam trailed behind Orion. After walking for about twenty minutes, they happened upon an abandoned warehouse.
("Wait, isn't this…") [Adam]
Recognizing the building, Adam recalled the time he was kidnapped.
("This is where that masked guy almost killed me!") [Adam]
Though he didn't have very fond memories of the warehouse, Adam followed Orion.
"Hey-" [Adam]
"Shh…" [Orion]
Placing a finger on his mouth, Orion prompted silence. They began to hear voices as they approached the building, causing them to crouch down reflexively.
"Let's go around." [Orion]
Lowering his voice, he motioned with his hands.
("I see no need for any of this, but okay.") [Adam]
Carefully avoiding the hole torn open by Sebastian from the kidnapping incident, they circled around the building. Moments later, they came across a ladder leading to the top of the building.
"Up." [Orion]
Speaking only a single word, he ascended the ladder.
("Be more cryptic, why don't you?") [Adam]
Upon scaling the ladder, they found the roof to be completely empty.
"What are we doing here?" [Adam]
"We'll listen in on them." [Orion]
Placing a hand on the floor, roots began to form. They swirled in the center of the roof, eventually tearing a small hole in the ceiling.
("Just enough to see through I guess...") [Adam]
"I'd like to make it bigger, but I'm pretty sure anyone inside is going to notice." [Orion]
He leaned in to take a look as he spoke.
"Let's see…" [Orion]
As he peered into the hole, Orion's eyes widened in surprise.
"That's…" [Orion]
"What? Lemme see." [Adam]
Moving Orion to the side, Adam took a look inside the building.
"Oh… Yeah, that's a lot of people." [Adam]
There were a number of students in the warehouse. It was enough to make a group fifty seem small.
"What are they doing…?" [Adam]
As he watched through the ceiling, he saw the students hand in what seemed like dollar bills into a box.
"It's probably a levy system." [Orion]
"A what system?" [Adam]
"A levy system. I heard that a freshman formed a gang in their school and has been forcing the students to give him money." [Orion]
"A freshman? Everything you just said sounds ridiculous. Where do you even hear this stuff from?" [Adam]
"..." [Orion]
"Oh, the guys who beat you up. My bad." [Adam]
"They didn't beat me up-" [Orion]
"Yeah, yeah. I know." [Adam]
Ignoring Orion's claims, he focused on the current situation.
"Hey, I see some familiar faces." [Adam]
"What a coincidence. Me too." [Orion]
In the midst of the crowd, they managed to pinpoint two figures.
"What were their names again?" [Adam]
"The purple haired one is Toban and the orange haired one is Gael. I beat them up in middle school once." [Orion]
Gael and Toban seemed to lead the group of students. They went around collecting the boxes of money, which made them easy to identify.
"Should we go down? I can't hear anything they're saying." [Adam]
"That would be too dangero-" [Orion]
Just as he spoke, the ground made an unsettling cracking sound.
"Uh… What was that?" [Adam]
The ceiling caved in, and screams came from below.
"The ceiling's breaking!" [Terrified Student]
"Someone stop it!" [Frightened Student]
Concrete rubble began to fall upon the students, but Adam reacted quickly.
"Pressure Cannon!" [Adam]
Firing bursts of air in every direction, he blasted all the debris either into the wall, or outside of the building.
("Random stuff cleared! Now to get Orion!") [Adam]
"Implode!" [Adam]
Darting left and right, he caught Orion through the air and landed in the middle of the crowd. The students stepped away from them, singling them out from the others.
("...Well, shit. Out of the frying pan, and into the fire it is.") [Adam]