"Huff...Huff...Huff..."
A middle-aged man ran through the alleys of West Borough. His black and white hair flailed in the air. The beads of sweat quickly dropped down his face, further exacerbating his disorientation and panic. He arrived at a secret location filled with MCPD. It was the McCloud family diner that Favio McLoren had previously scouted.
"Upon entering the diner, he approached the cashier. The cashier cheerfully asked the man a question. "What can I do for you today?"
"I-I need", he said in a panicked voice, "I need a special service! Number 42!"
The cashier immediately exuded a dangerous aura as he glared at the strange man. "Very well sir. We will prepare your order in a moment." He pressed a button below the counter to signal the distressed man's arrival, but he wasn't exactly an enemy. It was the opposite.
The distressed man left the counter and went to the back of the diner. Before him were two doors. One door led to a normal bathroom without anything remotely suspicious. The other door was a maintenance room that no one but specific staff could access. Only an employee was allowed into the room with a special code.
He input the special code, [78193], and the door opened. The secret area of the diner was comprised of a singular hallway connected to six rooms. The first room was comprised of two men playing a game of poker on the coffee table. The mysterious man barged into the room and interrupted their fun.
The skinny man, Terra, let out an annoyed sigh. "What is it, Rowley? Don't you know that I just got a nice poker hand?"
The short young man, Nort, laughed at Reed Rowley with an air of condescension. "Hahaha! Man, you are pathetic! Just because we're allied with you under that man's command doesn't mean we must help you with every little problem. Deal with it yourself!"
"H-Hold on! It's not like the other times. I'm in serious shit now! I'm being tracked by a group of Solari and I'm not sure why. No...it can't be. They couldn't have found out about me; about my name!" Reed Rowley trembled at the thought of being hunted.
My name? What does that mean? If Reed Rowley is being tracked because of his name, then it can only mean one thing. This fuck-up got the Replacement Case system exposed...he is a total liability now. So that's what that man was talking about.
"I'm sorry to put it this way, but we aren't obligated to give you our support anymore."
Reed's expression dropped in an instant. "What...?"
"I'm saying that you are now a liability to the MCPD. The higher-ups have given us orders to refuse your service from today onward. Your very existence puts the Replacement Case System in danger of being discovered. You no longer serve any use to us."
"Hehehe!" Nort pulled a think knife from his coat pocket and slowly approached Reed Rowley.
"Stop! It wasn't my fault!" Upon being stabbed by Nort and Terra, his body was instantly transported away from the scene. A paper substitute took the place of his body.
"Tsk, the bastard escaped. I always hated dealing with witches."
"He couldn't have gone that far, find him."
____
Reed Rowley teleported outside of the McCloud family diner and made a run for his life. His life seemed to flash before his eyes.
Warren Lin, later known as Reed Rowley, was an ordinary citizen of Mathers City. He grew up in a middle-class household with ordinary parents and wasn't particularly gifted in any field. His grades, relationships, and attitude were nothing but "ordinary". He truly believed that his life would merely flicker and fade away like a candle; a completely forgettable existence that will come and go as naturally as oceans produce waves.
That was the case until he stumbled upon a mysterious man on a cold night in the Campbell district of West Borough. Warren Lin was being harassed by the homeless man for his money, but Warren continued to reject his advances. Eventually, the situation escalated into a violent encounter. The homeless man pulled out a switchblade and attacked the young Warren Lin. In a desperate attempt at self-defense, he smashed the homeless man's head in with a brick, killing him instantly.
He would later learn that the man he murdered was Reed Rowley.
After being arrested by the police a couple of hours after the initial murder, Warren Lin was scouted by Police Commissioner Frank Harrow for his background in finance. His knowledge of insurance agencies and credit companies was the perfect tool in the Replacement Case System. It was the first time Warren Lin felt important. It was the first time his life held any meaning.
However, this newfound meaning is gone. His sense of comfort was now stolen away from him as the police broke any ties to him. He was nothing but a loser with the name of a dead man; a walking corpse.
Damn, why did I have to get into that situation? Why did that homeless guy have to appear that day? I could have lived a normal life as I always had. I could have probably been content with my life. So why did he have to ruin it? It's all his fucking fault!
He retreated to the sewer system of Mathers City in pursuit of another organization. It was the organization he claimed to be a part of to Naoto Gan to sell him on a fishy investment. They wore robes with ancient runic inscriptions and spoke in ancient Flae.
They were the Alchemic Order.