Shards of Old

It was so unexpected, it made me flinch, even though I didn’t have a body that would let me do so.

Did he lose his mind…?

Well, yes and no.

Yes, because, well, obviously!

And no, because there actually was a reason for it: he was just trying to change his own appearance. Or rather just face.

Hm, so his spell was still this primitive? Like what Kon mentioned, to rebuild differently you have to break it first…? I still wasn’t sure why he didn’t use mana for it, it would be a lot cleaner after all…

But, speaking of cleaning, he already changed his face into that of a janitor.

Yeah, the person we ran into was a janitor, for sure.

I didn’t notice before, but he was standing right next to a whole shelf of cleaning supplies and a trolley full of bops and shit he was definitely in the process of using.

Unlucky him.

The room we found ourselves in was just a tiny closet. No wonder the janitor was using it, it was stacked full of random boxes, from top to bottom.

As the change was ending, from below us we heard a rather loud thumping and hurried footsteps: the security was on their way.

Mike was not sitting idly, though.

The moment he felt his transformation finished, and even a few moments earlier he already was going through the belongings of the janitor.

Those that weren’t now stuck to the wall in a rock coffin, that is.

Luckily for him, there was a rather large coat that was lying nearby, which he immediately put on and grabbed the whole trolley, moving it further away from the body and leaving the room behind.

As we walked to the first room we arrived in, he immediately pushed down the trolley and spilled out the whole lot of its contents.

Just in time for someone to barge in through the door.

It was not the guy who stopped us downstairs, but I think it was one of the other guards.

I guess they spread out after we left the building.

-What is going on!? What are you doing?! - he barked, clearly alarmed by the noise, and on edge because of our earlier appearance.

-Sorry…

His voice was slurry. While Mike didn’t have the talent to change his voice, he managed to bypass that by speaking quietly and with as raspy voice as possible.

Hell, he just sounded like himself, but sick. I mean… good enough?

Hopefully.

-I… i spilled my stuff… just was careless… - he replied quietly, kneeling down and trying to gather the stuff he just a moment ago spilled all over the floor. - My fault….

The guard looked at him carefully.

-What’s up with the coat…? That’s not yours…. it belongs to some staff member. Put it down.

-I… I would rather not… See, I had an accident… involving a broken bottle and some other stuff…

-What?

-I… I spilled some detergents… and my clothes got ruined… - he said with surprising timidness in his voice. - I only had this to cover myself…

-Ruined? What kind of shit are you using?

-Corrosive. Very corrosive…

He raised his sleeve and showed him some blood… that was definitely just a leftover from where he just punched himself in the face.

-Oof. Okay fine, but they will definitely cut that from your pay. Clean this shit up.

-On it.

He gave him another glance.

Mike was already on his knees and gathering stuff that he moments ago scattered all over the floor.

And he closed the door behind him.

Quick thinking.

Hilarious that he managed to fall for it.

But what was his plan anyway?

Sure, we were inside. So what? Wasn’t he here to talk to their boss or some shit? Wouldn’t that be immediately going back to the problem we just left downstairs?

I don’t know what he was thinking, but he had to have some kind of plan. Or at least I hoped so.

Nevertheless, the plan had to wait until he was done with cleaning the mess he just made.

Well, at least he was committed to the disguise… Not like there was anything in the next room that would immediately sell him out when found…

It took him a good minute to actually put everything back. But he wasn’t done with this whole cleaning shtick: he went ahead and started going towards the outer corridor fully loaded with cleaning supplies.

At least no one is going to say he wasn’t playing his part.

The corridor was empty.

The security guy had already left and probably was still downstairs, put on duty because of his earlier appearance. I guess that was working in his favor, making the upper floor completely empty.

Speaking of empty, it was quite interesting.

I would've thought that their boss was somewhere with a lot better access, but judging by Mike, he was somewhere on this floor, because he was going forward directly without even looking around at all.

Now when I think of it… was he here before?

That would explain how he was so sure of himself here…

If it was true and he really knew that boss of theirs, it’s likely…

But who is that even?

The question was soon to be answered.

We reached an elevator.

It looked like the same one that we’ve seen downstairs, and most likely it was.

He called it without thinking twice and patiently waited.

Seeing how sure of himself he was, I sort of expected for the door to open and again for us to be greeted by a group of guards…

But nope.

The door opened to the empty, metal elevator, and closed behind us without an issue.

Really?

That easy?

What were those guards doing? On their spot, I would’ve immediately taken interest after hearing the elevator moving and at least checked it… especially after having a very unruly guest earlier…

Sure, they didn’t have any reason to assume that we’d have managed to get up here and now were calling the lift…

But, they supposedly knew the abilities of the Crystal. Or, at least one guy knew. Or thought he knew…

Assumptions can hurt…

Now when I think about it… I wasn’t any better.

I tended to assume a lot of things as well.

It did get me here, though, so…

Well, hard to tell if that’s a good or a bad thing…

I kind of had reasons for both…

Mike pressed a button designed as “6”. Suppose the office of our “big important” was there then? Sixth floor it is.

A quick ride later, we were on the top floor.

With a quiet “ding”, the door opened, and we found ourselves in a small room. Almost like a waiting room.

It definitely looked like there was supposed to be at least one guard here: there was a desk filled with random papers and other office bullshit, that included but were not limited to: a cup of coffee, a half full bottle of water, a closed laptop and an empty plate.

Hm. I guess our appearance got more attention than I thought.

Seeing as we weren’t going to need it, Mike ditched the disguise.

He just dropped all that shit behind the desk of the supposed guard…

A bit on-the-nose, don't you think…?

And, surprisingly, he knocked at the door.

Sure, we were ditching the disguise, but for him to actually knock? It sure was not going to help anything in the current situation, nor really affect anything… but for some reason it made me want to chuckle…

We stood there for a good couple of moments. He even knocked again.

But…

There was no answer.

Shrugging, pulled on the door.

Honestly, it was probably something that he should’ve done already a long time ago.

But what do I know?

The door was not locked.

We found ourselves in a rather large office… no, it wasn’t really an office. It was more like someone’s fancy living room.

On the right, there was a leather couch, standing in front of a fancy glass table and a large flatscreen TV, mounted on the opposite wall. Right next to it, there was a rather nice looking, dark wood set of shelves, fully stocked with books in different languages, from ones that were quite easy to understand and identify, to some that I was not even going to try and guess the origin of.

The room was being divided in half by an aquarium, fully stocked with fish and lit up with dim LED lights at the bottom of the tank. Inside, the decorations included not only a vibrant palette of plants, but also a miniature model of a ship that was sunk at the bottom.

The other side of the room was the “working area”, so to speak.

It consisted of a glass desk, with a leather chair standing in front of and behind it, the one behind being at least twice as large and twice as comfy looking.

And, in the chair, there was sitting a man.

I thought that I might find someone familiar here, since he was apparently someone important to Mor. And supposedly connected to the MIRE. But nope, I couldn’t place his face at all. It was just some person I had never in my life seen.

He looked in his fifties, maybe more. His black hair a bit graying, but full and without even a hint of balding, making me a tiny bit jealous.

He was wearing a full suit, including a tie, although the latter was a bit loose on him, clearly on purpose.

-So, who are you?

The question snapped us both from the apparent staring contest.

A bit lackluster question, I have to say, but more than that, it was not something that I was expected to hear now

I thought he was going to scream or at least try to call the guards… but nope.

At least not visibly…

Maybe he just was stalling for time…?

-I see you went through the trouble of avoiding my security. So, who? And why?

-That is my question! - replied Mike, finally snapping out of the sudden meeting. - This is not your office!

-Hm.

He gazed at him with surprise.

-Not mine? What could that mean? You’re firing me or something? - he asked, trying to stifle a chuckle.

-They’ll fire you in a second, seeing as you managed to break into the boss’ suite.

-Hm. Ah, yeah, that would be a possibility, I agree… If they could, that is.

-What?

-See, I feel like I am done answering questions. You should feel lucky that I am even entertaining this farce. So you better answer me. Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?

Mike froze.

And not because of some sudden feeling of intimidation that was coming from the guy sitting by the desk.

Although his demeanor really changed and the atmosphere turned very dire in a split second, Mike was not really influenced by that.

Instead… he seemed… away…?

It was a bit strange. It looked like he was just now having some kind of an epiphany, if that was even possible?

-You… you are the new boss? - he finally asked the question.

But the “boss” was not having it.

-I asked you first. I’d recommend for you to cooperate…

In a split second, he enlarged his hand and grabbed the “unruly guest”.

What the hell.

-...or I’ll get to crushing.

This was strange.

Why wasn’t he defending himself…?

Was he so full of himself…?

It did seem so.

-Like you can do shit to me.

Mike just puffed his chest and immediately broke free, slapping his now gigantic hand away.

Honestly, considering the immediate act of hostility, the slap seemed too gentle to me… But what do I know?

-Interesting power… - he added, pointing towards his enlarged limb. - Who taught you that? One of us?

-”Us”? Ah, I get it. You’re one of those creatures.

-I’d rather not be called a creature. I warned you.

-And I don’t care - he shrugged. - Do I need to remind you what situation you found yourselves in?

Seeing as he didn’t reply, he continued.

-We are in one of the highest-security…

He didn’t even get to finish the sentence: there was already a fist flying right at his face.

-Wha…

The altercation that followed, and the scuffle before wasn’t the most silent one, so unsurprisingly, the security managed to get here just as they started again.

Honestly, what took them so long?

I mean, there weren't many of them on this floor… if any… so…

-Why are you so slow?! - yelled the guy, echoing my thoughts. - What the hell do I pay you for!?

-Sorry, sir! The elevator was…

-I don’t give a fuck! Shoot!

And so they did.