Helga pulled a document. She was alone inside her personal office. The Boss wanted her to complete the profile gathered from all the information network. Testament from the village of Gharasu, informants from outposts, and databanks containing every data that came from the government.
"He's a Ghost," Helga wrote. "No official training records. All the contacts has confirmed that most of the people he spoke to are dead."
The screen shone on her face. She tapped her finger on the side of the table. She swung her swivel chair to another table with a thumb drive. She inserted the thumb drive to the side of her personal workstation. The data loaded, she took a cup, sipped on it, and placed the cup on a holder.
"No data either," Helga's brows meet. "The Boss will be curious about this. He's reliable, too reliable that it makes his achievements worrisome."
She tapped the keys on her keyboard. The screen changed to the checkup done to him. His vitals showed no other hints other than the strengthened body. The same as everyone he had enhanced his strength, but the effect of the enhancement was far stronger than the rest who got the same enchantment. It was too compatible that it left good remarks on those who performed the checkup on him. Some took his sample and had it examined only to found no anomaly. His genes were above average, but other than that there were no other ways to explain his strength.
"Strength that could lift the Commander's sword that was made to slay beluaman. His abilities as an operative exceeded expectations."
Helga played the data of footage that captured his fight with Bismark. His ability to execute an etherian with normal weaponry was astonishing. Compared to his newest feats, his fight with Bismark made him rather weak. Then again, she found the problem on this assumption that he was weak here. He was not as well-armed as he was, and the vibrant blade proved a change in his fighting style. If he was deadly with normal weaponry, then his skills with a vibrant blade was terrifying enough. His defense of the Silver Flame of Aured City, his ability to fight etherians head on and faced war machines were too experienced.
She found no trace of that experience. No records. No nothing. To call it talent was absurd. She had pulled records before Aured, and his appearance was in the arena of Aured where he won his match. The Sanctum has released records of his tasks and all of them proved to be absurd as well. He was an absurdity, a dangerous absurdity that had joined Haven for a reason unknown. To find that reason was her purpose, yet she found no trace of that reason.
Helga wouldn't have bothered investigating. But the recent affairs changed this. To kill two beluaman at the sixth layer and the ether forge was a great achievement that landed him a personal spot in Haven. Killing a beluaman was certainly an achievement worth speaking, but the ether forge changed things. He was not the only one who had tried to attain to make use of the ether artificially. There are ways to use the ether, but all of them are unrefined and crude.
His ether forge was refined. It was a finished product that was years ahead of their technology. Aured City is one of the well-fortified and technologically advanced bastion city in the world. But the technology he gave to Haven was certainly what made her dig deep into who he truly was.
It was odd. His experiences. His abilities. His attainment in the field of technology was beyond what a young man at the age should have. To call him a genius was not enough. It was only right to call him a monster, a ghost that have no history. No anything that can point out where he got all of this. He was a blank slate that seems to have been made. His history, his past, and where he came from seems like it was a lie.
Helga pulled a document. "Dona knows him personally, they spent a childhood together in the village of Gharasu who happened to be close to a steelfort. The information we got from the steelfort, the drone footage that we pulled from their survey drones showed that he indeed had lived in that village."
On her screen was the video image of a young boy. There were about hours of footage and she had run a facial scanning software through these footages. It confirmed that he was indeed from Gharasu. But that bid the question if the footage could be trusted. The video footages alone contained artifacts and loss in quality. Olga believed that it was because of the ill-maintained drone, but Helga showed doubt in this.
Helga closed the footage. She opened another folder and played the head-up display camera footage of the Black Hand member he fought. His knowledge of the Black Hand was surprising. No, it didn't surprise her now.
The Cult of the Deckers, the Black Hand, and the places where he appeared showed that he have great knowledge in where to appear. Helga wanted to test this hypothesis, but found no reason to go for it. It was only when the communicator that he had was broken that her mind churned.
She searched for the place where the communicator was broken and found it on a bench of a lone hill overlooking a community. Then she had the ghosts search a trail only to find later on that he was in the under-cities. By the time she saw him in the inner circle of the Estrella, one of the organizations that was hesitant to accept Haven's hand. Helga was almost amused. It looked like a coincidence, but he was appearing in the right places, in the right time. She could conclude that he has the foreknowledge and the wisdom to ascertain what Haven's goal are. She was going to teased him about it, but the anger that he showed on the video feed was not like the usual face he was making.
That unfiltered anger was certainly different from his usual behavior. Helga was sure that there would be no stopping him from attaining a complete victory against the Skinners underneath the city. This was someone who could kill a beluaman of the six layer of ether.
It was then hours later that Wisk appeared in the video feed. She had known Mr. Wisk and had spoken to him in hopes that he would cooperate with Haven. These bigwigs were stern individuals that are unafraid of intimidation.
"Did you him send to intimidate us?" Wisk asked.
"No," she shook her head. "We have lost contact and found out that he had come for the Skinners. You may not believe me, but this is a personal vendetta that our operative has wanted to do for himself."
"Is that so?"
"Mr. Wisk, I assure you that Haven wants nothing more than a cooperation with Estrella in hopes that you would allow Haven to construct a branch on the city. You could say that we want another home, of course it would please us if we are given the better treatment. How is our operative doing?"
Wisk raised a hand. It was mutated head. The head of demihuman that had terrorized the under-cities for years. The one who had managed to become one of the strongest individuals under the city of Aured. His neck was perfectly cut and cauterized. His eyes were rolled in disbelief and Mr. Wisk showed only a cold expression on his face.
"Duncan, he had come to me in hopes that he can foster a good relationship with the Estrella," he started. "The thing about the Estrella is that we don't accept them. They are the impure. They are the corrupted etherians. Why would we need to have someone like him come and become a part of the pack? Duncan is a man of ambition. He knows what he wants. He gets what he wants. The moment I saw his eyes, I know that the man wants to cling to my thighs in hopes that he can rise. I wouldn't be so foolish to allow it. He knew I was going to refuse and yet he came to me in hopes for a gamble. I have sent twenty-two etherians after him in these few years. To find him and bring his head. None of them returned."
He placed the head on the table. He interlaced his fingers together and stared dully at Helga. Helga crossed her arms, and leaned back. She kept a smile on her face.
"He stole from us. He had killed many of our men. He had taken over some of our territories. He was a worm that we could not find. He knew the under-city better than everyone, he knew where to hide and where to run. I was impressed by him. There are days where I thought to make him one of lieutenants. But someone like him could not stay in the shadow of another person. He will rebel. He will make sure that he will reach the top for that is the man named Duncan is. He is an achiever, someone who would want to rise up despite his form."
Mr. Wisk placed his palm on top of the severed head once again.
"His Skinners were leashed because of him. Did you know that he is one of those that made the peace possible in the Under-cities? The demis looked at him as scum and treated him like a dirt. It made them docile and thought better than become like him. It worked in containing them. His actions made it so that they would behave. Intentionally or not it allowed peace between the Estrella and the Skinners. But their growth have become dangerous. Duncan has reached an attainment that made him unafraid of my enforcers. We rule my people with a fair iron hand. Aured City has made it so that the Estrella will obey and our rule here continues. They hold the city under a tight leash. Duncan is free of this leash. He was able to achieve much because of this."
"What are you trying to tell me?"
"I am telling you that you people are dangerous. Do you not understand why I didn't want to join hands with Haven? Because of this recent power that you have. But I understand that I have no choice in this matter now. There are too many benefits, and this is a reminder of who we are facing."
"Truth be told, I thought he would take days to find him."
Wisk nodded. "Do you know where he found, Duncan? He was sitting inside an open bar eating his meal. A normal bar that he seems to be his favorite. Not in a bunker somewhere. Not even in a place where his Skinners can lend him a hand. He still smells of alcohol. To think that our rival would end up dead just like this. To think that he could be found so easily while we fail so many times.."
"Where is he?"
"He is cleaning the rest of the Skinners alongside Yuki."
"Do you trust that Black Hand?"
"As of this moment, I trust her more than I trust Haven. You have already leashed the Black Hand as well."
"What are your plans after this?"
"Take whatever assets that Duncan have and make it ours. I will follow what your Boss desires. Make this alliance work despite my distaste for Haven,"
he paused. "Ms. Helga, there is something that I want to request from Haven."
"What is it?"
"I want that monster out of the Under-City by the time he is finished with the Skinners. He is not welcomed here. A monster like that shouldn't be in a place like this. We cannot work when a Ghost is running around our city."
The video feed was over. Helga rubbed her forehead as she thought of that severed head. "To think that he would find the Leader of the Skinners so fast."
Helga moved to the bar where she found Dona working. Dona gave a wave and went back to work. Helga rode the elevator up. She entered Olga's place and sat on the armchair behind the counter. Olga typed on her keyboard. Once in a while the screen would change to a control panel.
"You should just move, Sis."
"I would if I could. Main's room is already rigged with remote-controlled software that would ping back what needs to be done quickly."
"Have you done what I asked for?"
"Sis, there are many ways to deal with this, but believe me when I say that this is just talent and instinct. It wouldn't be a stretch to call him a monster with a talent in slaughter and right timing. I've been searching every possible information, and it is still the same. Not a single digital footprint of whatever he was or what former organization he once belonged to. The only thing we did found is the anomaly in the outpost."
The outpost where he supposedly heard of Haven was an outpost that had been wiped out by the beluas. Aside from that, there was something that had happened in that outpost. An anomaly that resulted in the area around the outpost to shake from vibrations that came out of nowhere. This made the belua attack the outpost, resulting in the outpost to be lost, the equipment destroyed, and those who might confirm his identity.
"Lone survivor, he was able to survive a full-on belua stampede. Sis, I think the Skinners were part of this."
"What do you mean?"
Olga showed a geographical map of Aured. Ever since the discovery of the steelfort a map of the world was released, resulting in a better imagery of the landscape to evade the giant-class beluas that could trample convoys. Have got a a copy.
"The outpost is situated here in the Reek's Mountain range, and below that range is the fifty-kilometer tunnel used by the Skinners to mine malachite."
"You mean."
"Malachite and ether meeting is dangerous. Though these Skinners are demihumans. They still release a faint ether on their skin that when met with Malachite causes a dangerous phenomenon. The ether forge needs malachite to function. Do you get where I am going?"
"The stampede then."
"The ether forge is part of this somehow? That seems to be quite the stretch, sis."
"Is it?" Olga opened a redacted document. "This is one of the reports that came from the outpost itself."
On the document there was a single line written. "The transformation of a man into beyond."
"What does that mean?"
"Forty miles from Reek's Mountain Range is the plains of Gharasu and the same steelfort. A few kilometers away is the home village of Gharasu."
"No, this is just stretching isn't it?"
"You want something, right? Indeed, we might be finding a connection so that you can justify his prowess, but there are records. Isn't it strange that the village of Gharasu, former encampment of hardened operatives who called themselves Gray Talons. Are the ones who are near the steelfort? The old guard still lives, and it shows how dangerous they are because they lasted that long."
"Were you able to question these Gray Talons?"
"Their lips are sealed, not even torture could break these men."
"Serum?"
"We tried, but we lost one because it induced them into a berserker's rage. They are hardwire combatants, Sister."
Helga stood next to Olga. Her eyes on the screen that showed the footage of an old man being shot to death. The old man itself didn't die before he was shot in the heart and the brain.
"A sleeper agent?"
"It could be, but there are flaws that this activation code is self-activated."
"What the?"
"The Gray Talons call it their fighting words. They are Operators, hardened veterans that had been working long enough for Gharasu to prosper. Their oldest leader is nearly one-hundred fifty years old, Sis. There is something in their blood that made them better soldiers."
"What about him?���
"The diagnostics we got from the person we captured matches with him as well. Even Dona has this kind of blood running on her veins."
"Dona, does this mean that it's inner ability?"
"They are probably sleepers."
". We only got this because we found one of the family of the Gray Talons."
"Where's the family?"
"Buried."
"I see. Let's test this.
"Do you really want to?" asked Olga. Olga saw the firmness in her sister's eyes.
Olga whispered the activation phrase to Helga.
"Call Dona here."
Helga and Olga waited for Dona to appear. She wore her bartender uniform and around her thigh was a custom pistol given to her.
"What is it, boss?"
"Sis, you can do it."
"Let me whisper something, Dona."
Dona nodded. She moved next to Helga and propped her ears to Helga. Helga neared her lips on Dona's ears and whispered softly.
"On the plains of Gharasu, there are phantoms who once rode with the great conqueror. Time to join them."
Dona shook. She fell to her knees as she held her head in agony. Then her shoulders drop and her head bowed. There was silence and in that silence comes a wisp of ether crawling to her skin. That ether seems to invigorate her for a second before it dispersed from her body.
"What the hell?"
Dona stood. She looked around and clenched her fists. "Who did you kill to get those words?" Dona asked them. There was a chill on their words. "Not that it matter, hmph, I guess they found out."
The docile Dona changed. There was no other words to describe the change that happened on him. She exuded with confidence that the plain old Dona have.
"Have you said these words to Jakob as well?"
"Then is he?"
Dona shook her head. "He's still not activated," she pulled the pistol from her thigh and checked the sights.
"What do you mean?"
"It means that he's still not activated," Dona said to them. "It is clear that he's not activated. He hasn't got his invocation yet. But then again, no matter what he does, he's already the best of us. Too bad, there are only a few of us that remained."
"You're kidding right?" Helga frowned.
"No, it only means that that what my forefather had wanted finally happened. I advise you that you don't wake him up." She gave a knowing smile. "If you are so suspicious, then I worry what will happen if you do wake him up. I wonder if it would even work on the current him."
Helga stared. Dona shook her head. "He's no genius. It only means that he had achieved a flow effect. If he's already this good, then it only means that he had become a Ghost of Gharasu as well. It's too bad Gharasu is no more. So, can I return to my duties? I do enjoy bartending."
She switched. Helga frowned even harder. Dona gave a smirk as she heads back to the bar as if it was simply nothing to be worried about. They had awakened another Ghost from Gharasu, and the other one wasn't even awake yet.