S2 Chapter 48 - A Diamond Collar

Author's Note ~ Reminder that for this arc, any FULL sentences done in fully slanted/italicized text will be dialogue spoken by either Ray Ramirez, Zesti Champion, Sam Penningberg, or Ronnie Everst spoken in the present day. If the dialogue doesn't mention who is saying the line, then you can assume it was whoever said the last fully italicized dialogue. 

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"So what do you say?" Casey Burns offers, "Interested in getting your fangs back?"

Ray, who's still covered in bruises and laying in the filthy alleyway, stares up at the extravagant teen ahead of him.

"Looking back, I'd say this was the start," Ray details.

"Why should I believe you?" Ray asks as he rests an arm on the side of a green dumpster, "You think I'm just willing to follow you after having just met you?"

"...Yes. And if you need more convincing, you can come meet my boss."

Ray looks toward Casey hesitantly, however pushing his concerns to the back of his mind he stands up.

"This was the start to a new era for me, and the city."

"Alright, I'll bite," Ray states, "But just a little until I've made my mind up."

THE MIRACLE CLINIC: THE TALE OF THE BEAST

Arriving right outside their destination, Ray looks confused before asking, "Your boss is here?"

The building Ray is looking at is none other than an old preschool. The place feels like it's older than his grandfather and yet it still stands tall regardless. Several kids are exiting the preschool with their parents in tow. Ray looks at them. The smile on the kid's face as their hands hold onto their parents' is casted into the eyes of the teenaged Ray.

"In that moment, I briefly felt something that I grew all too familiar with throughout the years."

"Yo Ray! You coming?" Casey asks as he brushes his way past the families.

Ray pauses for a moment, before trotting behind Casey as the two enter the preschool.

"Jealousy."

As the two are inside, Ray looks down the long colorful hallway, one that feels a size too small for him. The hallway seems to stretch on forever and ever getting tinier and tinier.

"Don't tell me your boss is some toddler," Ray groans.

"No, what are you talking about?" Casey questions as he knocks on a wooden door with a frosted glass window, "His office is right here."

Ray takes a second to look at the nametag next to the door which reads 'OFFICE 101 - PRINCIPAL R. JENKINS'.

"You can come on in," the man inside the office approves.

Before he opens the door, Casey turns to Ray and gives him a nugget of advice, "The Architect of The Underworld, The Ruler of The Unruly, The Man Who Turned Dirt Into Gold. There's many names he's been called throughout his lifetime, but if you play your cards right, you'll get to call him 'boss'." 

With his words finished, Casey opens the door and enters the office, with Ray following soon behind. Inside Ray finds a very old aging man littered with wrinkles sitting at a desk. The man has a balding head with few white strands of hair still clinging on, brown cold eyes, and the occasional gold & silver fillings in a row of yellowed teeth. He's in an old dusty brown suit with a wilted rose in its right breast pocket and black loafers. Resting on the side of his cedar desk is his walking cane that has a skull at the top. As for what's on his desk there are several papers, a miniature of a man dropping the sun, a miniature of a man lifting up the moon, and a basket of fruit. Several college diplomas hang from the wall of the office.

"You're…!" Ray begins to say as he remembers something.

When he fought those people at Burrito Bistro, there was an old man there having food.

But not just any old man, the same old man that's sitting across from him.

"Seems like your memory's as strong as those fists of yours kid," the old man comments, "Why not have a seat."

Ray is hesitant, but as Casey motions to the chair, Ray eventually complies.

"Say, what's your name? And did you plan on that fight breaking out?" Ray questions.

"My name's Robert Jenksin, you can call me however you'd like," the old man answers while lighting a cigarette, "As for that fight. That was just out of happenstance. My granddaughter recommended I'd go there and when I did I got treated to not only some food but a good fight. Ray Ramirez, correct?"

"Yes-"

"To be honest my first impressions of Robert Jenksin were…"

"Do you know how old I am?"

"That he was someone who was more fit to be in a retirement home than as some secret mob boss or whatever."

"I don't know, geriatric?" Ray guesses as he picks his ear.

"I'm not bedridden just yet. Though I am quite old, that age has given me experience," Robert Jenksin puffs, "I once didn't have a cent to my name, rose to the top of the underbelly of my hometown before being kicked out to some backwards lawless land. And you want to know what I did? I helped transform that wretched land into what you see as this city now. And I've done the same to others."

Hearing that, Ray looks at the diplomas covering the walls and realizes that all of the diplomas are from prestigious colleges…and each was given to a different person. One he helped turn into a success.

"Though whether it's through them no longer recognizing who got them to where they're at or my aging body, most don't seem to return what's rightfully mine. All the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars I've dumped into them still hasn't been returned, so I need someone to collect it all back. Someone capable like yourself," Mister Jenksin details, "Work for me and I'll give you things you never thought possible. All of the things you thought were forever out of reach I can bring to you with a simple snap of my fingers. What do you say, kid?"

With a coy grin on his face, Robert pushes a document over for Ray to take a look at. Though Ray doesn't even take a moment to read it before standing up and walking toward the door.

"At that time, I couldn't care less for this stranger and his offer."

"You aren't even going to consider it?" Casey questions as he reaches a hand out to stop Ray from leaving.

Ray grits his teeth as he pushes Casey's arm away and grunts, "You should've just told me your true intentions from the start. You wouldn't have wasted my time if I knew all you wanted to do was replace the collar around my neck with a diamond collar."

"The feelings I had earlier that day made me convinced that what I wanted was something not even money could obtain."

As Ray storms off, slamming the door behind him, Casey glances over to Robert.

"You want me to go after him?" Casey offers, "You didn't even tell him who we were going after."

"Leave it be," Robert Jenksin remarks as he puts out his cigarette in a glass dish, "It won't take long for a mutt like him to come crawling back."

"It wouldn't take long to realize how wrong I was."

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As Ray walks up the steps to his and his grandfather's house, he grabs the key from his pockets and goes to unlock the door.

"Oi Abuelo, you know when Garcia said the store'll be open agai-" Ray begins to say as he opens the door.

However his words evaporate from his throat as he lays his eyes inside the home to see his grandfather passed out on the ground with a bookshelf over him.

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"The next hour or so was a blur, the first thing I can properly recall is…"

"I heard hospital food was bad, but this is pretty good," Frankfurt Schulz remarks as he eats a sandwich.

"Standing in a hospital with the one who pushed me down this path."

A drained and exhausted Ray Ramirez glances across from him to see the loan shark Frankfurt sitting in a chair making small talk with him. The hallway is empty save for a brown haired boy running down it.

"From what I overheard from the doctors, your grandfather seems to be recovering quite well," Frankfurt remarks as he stands up and motions for Ray to follow him.

The two enter a bathroom that's completely empty, Frankfurt walks over to the sink to wash his hands.

"Though, you know it'll be quite tough for you to pay off the medical bills when they come your way," Frankfurt smirks, "I'm glad you called since I'll be happy to lend you a loan."

Ray falls silent.

"But you gotta make sure to pay me back," Frankfurt affirms before getting an idea in his head, "Say, I heard your old man's life insurance is pretty big, so that should be able to take care of the costs right? All he needs to do is hit the bucket and you'll be all fre-"

Enraged, Ray goes to grab Frankfurt and slam him into the wall, however before he can do so-

CLICK!

A gun is pressed against the teen's head, with Frankfurt's hand on the trigger.

"Bet this is the first time you've seen one of these before, huh?" Frankfurt smirks, "Took a lot of favors to bring this into the city. Next time I won't have it on safety, so maybe think about whether or not you'd like to meet your parents so soon before doing anything stupid. Got that Ray?"

"When it happened, a cold sweat spread throughout my body as my heart began to beat louder than it ever had before."

Ray is silent before he walks out of the bathroom and then begins to run down the halls of the hospital. Before he can get scolded he's already out of the hospital and running down the streets in the pouring rain.

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Outside the preschool, Casey holds an all black umbrella for him and Robert as Robert locks up the place for the night.

"Guess your intuition was wrong Mister Jenksin," Casey tells the old man, "I'll make sure to call up my first two picks and offer them the position tomorrow morning."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you," Robert Jenksin remarks as he sees a familiar teen running toward the school.

Drenched in the unstopping rain, Ray finally reaches where Casey & Robert Jenksin are, his face looking down at the ground.

"If you ask me why I came back, to be honest I still don't know."

"Tell me, are the people I'm going to be facing if I work for you strong?" Ray asks, "Will they carry weapons? Use guns? Able to take out any opponent that stands in their way?"

"Maybe it was out of frustration for the hand I was dealt, maybe it was to get away from Frankfurt and pay off my debt and bills, maybe it was just because I wanted to fight, or maybe something else. What I do know is that…"

"To be blunt, most of the people you'll be up against if you work for me are going to be far stronger than the average lowlife you can find in this city. This job isn't meant for someone who hides under their covers at night. Does the offer sound scary to you?"

"No…," Ray pants as he lifts his head up revealing a look of ecstasy he hadn't felt prior as his heart continues to beat loudly, "That sounds perfect! When do I start?"

"That night was the night that truly started 'The Era of The Beast'."

A look of shock is on Casey's face as those words hit his ears, but Robert's? His face has a look of twisted delight at the fact that he got himself a new dog.

See You Next Chapter!~