MORE TO COME (Ch. 135)

Raven steps calmly through the path dividing the serene woods, the path wide enough two cars, his sight is zoomed in on the structure hundreds of meters ahead, the very familiar mansion, in his hand is a book, the book of '~A certain foolish researcher-'.

Eventually Raven arrives before the mansion, his hand raises to push the bells button when the massive door opens on it's own,

(Of course he knows i'm here) Raven mules stepping in, wasting no time he makes his way through the maze like mansion quickly arriving before the terrace overlooking the great expanse of land were he'd trained, seated with on a recliner with a simple beach short and dark shades while sipping from a coconut is Kevin.

"I don't remember us having any appointment" he states simply,

"Consider this part of the previous deal" Raven replies tossing the book unto the table, Kevin turns his eyes picking the book, his face gives nothing away,

"Why waste a trip to the library then back here to give me a book?" Kevin replies,

"You know what this is" Raven replies pointing, "your writing is in parts of it, comments here, thoughts there, sometimes even corrections" Raven follows, seeing Kevin's disinterest he weighs the Pros and Cons of having the book desicphered, 

(Silver knows a shit ton about the Martial Arts and Shifter progression, probably enough for me to advance till the zenith, nevertheless it's not all knowing...)

{Agreed} Silver quips, 

(who knows what might have been discovered or changed in your time away, or what we might learn?, Preferably something to help advance within a month, or rather enough to help an Artifact wielding Bone compression advancement level Shifter defeat an ATTUNEMENT level Shifter in single combat) he ponders, "How about a deal?" Raven purposes,

"What do you have that could possibly interest me?" Kevin questions,

"My body" Raven replies, Kevin maintains silence momentarily before replying,

"I'm sorry if i gave you the wring impression but i don't swing at all kid" he replies smiling,

"You know what i mean" Raven replies with squeezed lips, 

"What exactly does having your body here achieve for me?, If anything that would be doing you a favour" Kevin replies sipping through his straw,

"If i wanted it safe i could easily move into my mother's custody" Raven replies,

"So that's why you have the body chained to your apartment wall?, Interesting" Kevin replies factually despite his contextual sarcasm.

Raven pauses pondering furiously, 

(My only real bargaining chip is my body, knowing Kevin money isn't the way, Relics and Artifacts maybe...),

{Or maybe someone who has them?} Silver interjects,

(I'm not following) Raven replies,

{Without a doubt MURAKAN'S head is involved with your predicament. Surely he'll come for your body...} Silver trails,

(Bait!, But how? A normal gps device would be crushes inside the body, very few materials could hold under the pressure, and except we want to carve a portable gps device out of diamonds we're back to square one) he replies,

{You forget, Relics and Artifacts} Silver replies,

(I did think of those but can they be ingested?) Raven questions,

{Doesn't nessesarily have to function through ingestion, a 'Force' imprint could be placed upon you, though it's most likely to obvious for a Shifter powerful enough to head MURAKAN, it will probably be quickly noticed} Silver replies,

{Not unless it's ingested} Raven grins turning to Kevin, "Here's the deal..." He begins. Kevin after contemplating eventually agrees,

"Return here in four days" he states,

(Four days?, We'll have to push our departure time back) he mules, "Alright" he states turning to leave,

"Oh and kid?" Kevin calls bringing him to a stop,

"Wha..." He begins when vicious pressure descends on him, 

"Do. Not. Lose." Kevin instructs rapidly releasing the pressure,

(I don't plan to) Raven frowns exiting the mansion.

A familiar secretary knocks lightly on a massive office doors reminiscent of another, the only difference being their heights,

"Enter" comes the reply,

"Ma'am" the secretary calls towards Evelyine, "there's a priority level application" she states,

"Bring him in" Evelyine instructs.

"Come with me" the secretary who had returned from wherever she'd been calls towards him, he raises himself from his seat following her to the end of the skyscrapers hall,

(This hall's a little short) he observes, the reason for that coming into view, an office clearly for someone of great importance just based on the structural space it consumes. Stepping through the door he comes face to face with a stunning white haired woman, her gaze trained on his, 

"Good morning ma'am" he calls, 

"Sebastian Corinth" Evelyine calls, "tell me why are you here?" She questions,

(As expected, they're aware), "to join the SYNDICATE" he replies,

"Why?" She questions, her expression unchanging,

"Protection" he replies, "I'd like to make a deal" he follows,

"And what is it you're offering?" She questions,

"Myself" he replies his eyes morphing obsidian, his irises white,

"Go on" Evelyine replies impassively,

(She knew that too) he smiles, (I'm sure you're well aware about the existence of the four crews, specifically DEALERS, i want the SYNDICATE to ensure our... their protection in return for my service, no fancy salary, no addition demands, nothing" Sebastian concludes,

"To aquire a combatant of your level it's a small price to pay..." She replies, Sebastian forces away his blooming smile in response, "However..." She follows, "Due to the rules agreed on between the three major Murim factions we're not permitted to do such, not even to aquire the land to ensure your groups permanent tenancy" she replies, smiling lightly as Sebastian's face falls, "not unless you declare yourselves a legitimate organization then become subsidiary to us, naturally due to our impending deal with you we won't interfere with their activities in exception to those that infringe on our organisations policies" she concludes. Sebastian schools his face as he contemplates furiously, 

(On one hand it ensures even more protection than i intended, on the other no matter how she might phrase it it diminishes our...their autonomy, in the end the best thing to do is to hold off and run it by Duke) he decides, "could you please grant me time to think this over?" He inquires turning his sight back to her,

"Of course" Evelyine smiles, Trixie please, escort the gentleman out" she smiles watching the two exit her office, (we're already at this point, very soon everyone's going to need to pick their sides, war us coming) she grins manaically, her excitement causing her imprinted 'Force' to flare from within her Vortex momentarily.

Sebastain exits the organisation building, pulling his tie out and pulling of his blazer her flags a cab,

"Were too?" The driver inquires,

"Train station" he replies, (once we join we'll become...well we're already indirectly targets, MURAKAN won't be stopping soon).

Of how those thoughts where even he couldn't possibly imagine.

Shortly after he arrives at the station, using his phone to buy a ticket online he heads to the terminal quickly getting his QR code scanned before heading into the waiting area.

Several kilometres away is a normal middle aged man, his position situated above one of the many towering multiple floow complexes, a pair of bionculars are pulled away from his eyes, picking his communicator he glances to the time on his watch before speaking, his deep raspy voice sounding through the device,

"Target has boarded the train, is en route, estimated time of arrival at destination, seven hours, prepare to intercept" he states,

"Roger that" comes the other end's reply.