Chapter 70 - 70 - From Rags To Riches

"If you are worried about the trash we left outside, don't be. My men will make sure to clean up." Being invited into the only extra room in the small groceries store, which was mostly used to check-in for the shifts and on the incredibly rare occasions when the owner would be available, as his office. 

Now, however, it was hastily remade as a makeshift meeting room. Offering the sole chair in the room for the lady, Lucien and Jack sat down on the floor with their backs leaned against the walls. 

Even then, seeing the worried, concerned look on the young Jack's face, his quick glances towards the back area where more than two dozen burly men were left in the dirt, Sera smiled at him and offered a few words to calm him.

Her words did hit the mark, his worries slowly eased up, replaced by a contemplative look instead.

'So they ARE from some rich family… Heh, I had a feeling…' He forced the sour and bitter feelings back down to his heart, only flashing a friendly, forced smile.

Unfortunately for him, both Sera and Lucien caught the momentary twitch at the corner of his eyes when he processed Sera's words. Still, they didn't speak a word of it. 

Closing his eyes, Jack muttered something that sounded gibberish to Lucien. However, his agitated state, his worries slowly faded as he repeated the same mantra. His breathing stabilized, his muscles gradually eased up.

"Okay…" He spoke as he exhaled all the worrisome, used air, his eyes slowly opening up, he turned and looked at Lucien sitting a few feet away from him. "Can you tell me why exactly you came to my help?" He asked the question mostly burning in his mind.

Thinking that his tone might sound harsher than he intended, he hurriedly added a few more words.

"Don't get me wrong, I am glad and thankful… I never would have guessed that today's nuisance would escalate to such a degree…" He sighed, shaking his head with clear displeasure.

"Before we get to that…" With the same calm, nonchalant smile, Lucien met his newly made acquaintance's inquiry, not minding his slightly aggressive tone at all. "…would you mind telling us what happened? From the looks of it these…" Not knowing how to refer to this gang's members he gazed at Sera who, understanding his Young Master's worry, warmly smiled at him. 

"…The general public refers to them as thugs, Young Master."

A meaningful glint flashed through Jack's eyes as he listened in on the way the blonde mature women referred to this boy, adding more to his conjecture that despite his words, he was indeed some rich kid, possibly one of the heirs of the big families ruling effectively controlling all aspects of the life in the city.

Yet again, this look didn't escape either Lucien's or Sera's attention, yet they didn't explain anything. Although Lucien didn't think anything of it, the truth was not that far off from what Jack thought.

"Alright... Thanks, Sera." Lucien nodded at the seated blonde woman, before shifting his attention back to Jack. "So, from what we could see and understand from how these thugs behaved… it was clear that they didn't just randomly pick you. Is there some history going on here?" 

Lucien asked, trying to phrase his question as innocent as he possibly could. Although he sounded like a concerned third party, full of compassion and care, in reality, he wanted to understand more of the power structure behind the scenes. Being close to the boy, he was now completely sure that the strange energy, the possible resolution to his current problem could be with him.

Still, he needed to be careful about his steps. It would be more beneficial to try to get closer to him, slowly earn and build up his trust, instead of going directly and possibly scare him away.

He wasn't sure how this all worked. At first, he was quite troubled, thinking that his issue was unique and could not seek help from anyone. Yet, to his surprise, he felt the same, similar energies surging from some random back alley of such a humongous metropolitan city!

Breaking the short silence, and pulling Lucien out from the storm of his own thoughts, Jack coughed, as he slowly began to recount the events that ultimately converged to the sight of him standing beat up and barely conscious by the time Lucien and Sera got to his aid.

"Well… It's not that great of a story." Jack sighed, flashing an awkward look as he remembered the stupid story. "I was just doing my last hours of work before I would be free for the night when suddenly the doorbell rang and this idiot came in." He explained, giving a pause for a breather before continuing.

"With this nervous, obviously shifty look on his face, he strutted towards the register and pulled a gun on me, ordering me with that shaky tone to give him the money."

Despite the quite shocking-sounding story, Jack chuckled as he recounted his story, earning a confused stare from Lucien.

Seeing the look in his eyes, Jack threw an impish smirk at the youth, before going on explaining further.

"You see, I wasn't that scared, I first just ignored him and gave him a gentle warning to get the f*ck out of the shop if he knows what's right to him."

At this point, Lucien couldn't hold back his burning curiosity. He could still remember the pain of all the gun wounds felt back when he, or more accurately Pravitas escaped from the Facility.

"How did you retain your calm when facing a gun? Weren't you worried about being shot at? Did you have a secret?"

Jack chuckled at Lucien's already expected questions, enjoying the brief moment before revealing the reason for his uncanny attitude.

"Hehehe, yes I was calm, I didn't really bother much of the dude at first. You see, the gun he flashed, although it was quite realistic, it was nothing more than a plastic toy. It even had the 'Made in China' text at its side."

Jack chuckled as he remembered the look on the dude as he ignored his threat. 

"Still, the guy didn't want to catch on and kept swaying his toy in front of me. Thinking he still had the upper hand, he kept threatening me!"

He sighed, shaking his head with a dismissive look for a brief moment as he kept going on.

"Anyway, at the end I took his toy, causing him to almost shit his pants in fright before showing him the door once again." 

Lucien glanced briefly at Sera, as Jack repeated his grand movement during his story.

"Anyway… after that, the dude scampered away, and I completely forgot him. Time passed, before finally it was time to leave. However, just as I was about to check out and finish for the day, suddenly the doors were kicked open and this gang charged in."

His happy demeanor instantly vanished as he finally got to the last bits of his story.

"They came in, yelling that they are the Hudson Reavers and I have some explaining to do." Jack scoffed, as he kept going on.

"Before I could even process what was going on, the same dude that I scared away came back with a smug smile on his face. Behind him three buff, bald dudes…"