The World Of Steam

41

I walked up to the organisation of The Black Mark. Desperate times called for desperate measures. There was no one else that could help me. I did not have the faintest clue as to where Xavix was and adding to that, I was a complete hermit, so I had no one else to turn to. I had no colleagues, I had no partners. As much as I hated the place and its people, especially their master, I had no choice either way. The enemy of my enemy was my friend. There was no way that I could do the job alone. I could try to rescue Jennix on my own, but death would come quickly to me. Knox would swiftly take care of me like I was nothing more than a pest to him. It was a suicide mission. I had to force myself to work with The Black Mark if I stood a chance at rescuing my friend and getting the cure back. That was the only thing that mattered to me. The giant building that had its bricks slathered over with black concrete was pretty conspicuous, so the journey did not take long. I made my way through the organisation easily, having gained the trust of the ruthless assassins. The armed guards at the doors did not even flinch as I walked through without stating who I was. They stood at their posts like statues, not juddering one tiny bit, rifles gripped in their hands. They may have glanced at me, at my attire and at the sword that was strapped to my waist, only just hidden by my coat and at the rifle across my back in plain view, but they knew that I was an ally to them. They had no reason to kill me. Yet. Walking through the corridor, I came up to another pair of armed guards. Without stopping for a chat, I opened the door that they watched over. They did not move as I shut the door behind them, having no need to announce the visitor. I walked further onwards through the main room that was alive with swarming action. No one looked up from their work, no one raised an alarm. They all typed away at their computers and marked down maps, writing up battle plans and strategies, discussing tactics with one another. Some went back and forth across their posts, gathering up intel. They may have seen me with their peripheral vision, but I did not matter to them one bit. They were much too busy to try and do a security check on me. One tiny intruder to deal with was the least of their concerns. They all argued amongst themselves, trying to reach a consensus as to how to defeat their enemy once and for all. The war was all that occupied their minds. Nothing else was important to them. They had to win. Their cold master would not accept defeat. I entered Karzen's office, not bothering to announce my entrance.

"Yes?" He asked without looking up, only needing to hear the door opening. He scribbled something down onto a document, signing it off with his signature. When no answer was heard for two seconds, he looked up at me. He lazily threw his pen down and suddenly began laughing as though I had just told him the greatest joke in the world. I stood in place, waiting for him to finish. I did not have any time to waste arguing with him. In a situation like this, time was the most precious thing that I had. "So you're back." He said, after his fit was over, a humour in his voice. "What made you return? Have you finally agreed with me? Agreed with my methods?"

"I don't agree with anything that you do here." I replied.

"So why are you even here? You've come to gloat? Come to tell me that you've won some sort of glorious battle and that you don't need my support?"

I sighed in a small frustration, positively not wanting to say what I needed to say, but forced myself to spit out the sentence anyway. "I need your help."

Karzen laughed again, sweeping away my tiny plea as though it was a small stain on his suit. "You want my help? After everything that has happened? If you wouldn't have interfered, this war would not have begun in the first place."

"Don't waste my goddamn time here." I warned him, my anger slowly rising. Karzen suddenly jumped up from his chair, slamming his hands down onto his desk, his mood changing in an instant.

"It is you who is wasting my time! Have you forgotten that there is a goddamn war going on out there! All you had to do was hide the cure and now everyone knows about it! Can you even begin to understand how much trouble you have caused us?! It's pandemonium out there! Have you seen that giant tank?! Or is your gas mask tinted so much that you're blind?!" He shouted, tapping his finger to his own gas mask as he delivered his last sentence.

"Knox has Jennix!" I yelled at him, getting straight to the point.

"What?" Karzen asked, his voice changing to genuine concern. He straightened out and took his hands from his desk.

"Knox has kidnapped Jennix and he has the cure with him. I need your help to get them both back."

"Jesus." He said quietly and then sighed. "Alright. I'll help you out. But only because we have a common enemy and I'm feeling nice."