Eventually, Freya has done all that she wanted to do with Jon, dragging him all around the gallery before finally deciding to call it a day at last. To his pleasant surprise, Jon ended up learning quite a bit about the Freya Freed, the Left Middle Finger towards the end of the day. However, there comes a point when she also realized that she is giving away too much information to Jon and made herself far more reserved and less talkative for the remainder of the day.
She has asked Jon to send her all of the pictures he has gotten through her personal contact that she wrote down using a strand of her light before she jumped onto a shuttle taxi and flies away.
Freya waved through the window with a genuine smile on her face, and Jon returned the friendly gesture.
Texting Ally and Pethant about the completion of his job, he then turned around to face the groups of a triplet of robotic cameraman who has been following him all around all day.
'What do you want?' Jon asked, putting the camera back into his bag and rolled his shoulders a few times to loosen it up.
'An-invitation. To-United-Networks-Headquarters.' The robot said, 'Alone-come-alone. You-shall-get-what-you-sought.'
Then, the robots dispersed at a speed far faster than any belonging to those that Jon had encountered before, leaving behind nothing but a piece of card on the floor.
Today must have been a day of business cards. Jon thought, picking up that piece of paper which had nothing but a string of numbers printed across its mid-line, likely a coordinate for the headquarters, though Jon is surprised that the location of such a big company isn't something that he can just straight up search online.
Ally has showed up at the meeting point on time while Pethant said he would hang out with Bones for a little while longer. She looked a little upset and tense when Jon is there, and he could tell easily even without having to use his eyes as sharp as a string of atoms.
'I am sorry...' Jon said, reaching out his arms to hug Ally, and she held Jon tightly in her embrace too, 'I told Freya that I am with you, Ally, and still she wanted something in return for telling us more information about the RED BLOB.'
Ally's body tensed up, and she pulled her head back with her bright yellow eyes locking onto Jon.
'My-love...did-you-two-have-s...'
'She just asked me to walk around and take photos of her.' Jon explained quickly before any misunderstanding brews further, 'nothing more!'
'Ah...' Ally said, 'I...I-don't-know-what's-happening...I-am-scared...'
'It's okay.' Jon said, throwing his camera around his back and picking Ally up like a princess, 'to make it up to you, should we go on a date now that Pethant's not around?'
Ally nodded with a slight smile, though she still looked a little down. Jon reached in to kiss her and she caressed his hair as their tongues gently rubs against one another. She can tell if Jon is telling the truth quite easily with her speech analysis algorithms, and she knew that Jon is being honest. Yet, the strange feeling inside of her is something she needed to work through by herself. Plus...
She placed a hand over the secret compartment where she kept the business card of John Cutter.
'My-love...if-I-am...nevermind...'
Taking advantage of their day access into Zone 3, Jon and Ally went around to one of the fancier restaurants overlooking the metropolis of S Prime atop a skyscraper and had a meal together. With the backdrop of relaxing hotel music, Jon laid out everything that he has learned from Freya in front of Ally.
'So-we-are-going-back-to-the-underworld?' Ally asked, grabbing onto Jon's hand and never letting go all through the conversation.
'Yes.' Jon nodded, 'but it is not something that we have to rush ourselves into. I am not making the same mistakes as before, so I will have to make some arrangements to help us get in unnoticed. We also will not be cameraman when we are there. We are there to find out the truth however we can.'
'Is-that...alright-with-you?' Ally asked, 'wasn't-that-what-you-did-last-time?'
'It was, partially.' Jon admitted, 'but if I am going overboard this time, please stop me. I will tell the same to Pethant too.'
Ally looked down, and she wondered if she could actually stop Jon with either her words or her actions.
'Regardless, the arrangements is going to take a little while, so we have some time to kill.' Jon said, 'If I take up Freya's offer for a few jobs, I should be able to quit the Paparazzi job fully and come watch more of your fights!'
'My-fights...' Hearing Freya's name made Ally slightly annoyed, though she is happy to hear that Jon wanted to be there, 'they-had-all-been-really-easy...'
'When is your next one?'
'In-a-week-or-so...It's-promotional-tournament-of-sorts...' Ally said as she rubbed her finger alongside Jon's knuckle, 'it's-gets-me-from-silver-major-to-gold-minor...'
'I will be there!' Jon promised, and she cracked a smile for the first time that day.
Jon had gotten in contact with some of the shadier middle man smugglers to arrange for their entry into the underworld. To his surprise, getting into the underworld now is actually more difficult than even getting into zone one, as the various gangs which control the various gates have their own sets of rules, and allegedly there had been various skirmishes recently, making everything even tenser.
The smuggler said the things are going to take two weeks, so Jon simply took on a few more smaller Paparazzi jobs while waiting for Ally's fights. Freya didn't say anything back after Jon sent her all of her pictures from the day of the gallery opening, and time passed as if nothing has happened.
Ally had dropped all of her modelling shoots this week in preparation for her fights, and she has been going to the silver tier gym nearly daily.
Pethant, in the meanwhile, has been taking on more and more clients at the gym, and he was slightly hesitant about dropping his clients when hearing about the possibility of going into the underworld for further investigation of the RED BLOB.
Then, he looked at the armored suit collecting dust in his room and changed his mind.
'Eventually, things will have to go online anyway.....' He said, before diving full on into creating an online training platform for his clients.
Then, when the day of the fight comes at the biggest sports stadium in zone five, Pethant and Jon were among the thousands of fans waiting at the arena for the 'GOD OF SILVER' tournament.
'Master, it has been a long time since we have gone out together like this.' Pethant commented, and Jon had to agree with him.
'Yeah, part of me missed those times at S city.' Jon said with a sigh, 'but with the cameraman field as it is in S Prime, it is hard to say when we can go back to doing what we loved.'
'Perhaps all that we were waiting for is a breaking story.' Pethant said, 'perhaps the world is waiting for the truth about the RED BLOB. One story that will change the world, and the industry itself.'
'Yeah.....' Jon's story from back then did change the entire cameraman industry, for the worse.
This time, they will have to do things the right way. Not the right way morally or legally, but the right way in the sense of being the first to tell a compelling story about what the truth about the RED BLOB really is. Well...it's not like none of them had any idea from what the middleman said back at the abandoned city, but there is one thing about a statement made, and another thing about seeing the RED BLOB being made in action.
Jon had a feeling that's what they will find in the underworld, though it is way too soon to think about that now.
The tournament is organized such that the top 24 fighters in the silver major rank and bottom 8 of gold minor are facing off against one another, with the top eight in the tournament being promoted onto next level. Totaling 32 fighters, Ally will have to make her way through three rounds of fights over the week for her to be promoted, though her aspirations are not only about being promoted.
It's about showing her dominance and strength.
'Ally, the BOT, is absolutely dominating her opponent in her first fight...no....she is TOYING WITH HIM!'
With an uppercut directly to the jaw of her first opponent, she sent his body sticking through the gaps in the fighting cage as his superpower of shock absorption are what spelled his downfall. As the crowd cheered on, she turned towards where she knew Jon and Pethant are sitting and looked directly at her boyfriend.
Just you watch, Jon.
I will make sure you always have your attention on me.
Walking off the stage, she prepared for her following fights, which all ended in absolute white washes.
She being promoted to Gold is inevitable, and her strength is undeniable.
However, there is also this strange void inside of her that doesn't seem to go away no matter how hard she was beating down on her opponents.
As her fists got bloodier and bloodier through the rounds and her movements become faster and more erratic, the emptiness only felt worse and worse.
Just what...is happening to her...