[AiE] Innocence Tainted [WIP][01/06]

At the border of Taurus we sat, late night in a cafe. Our gazes strictly cast on each other. Both measuring the one opposite of us for their worth. A fire burning wildly in his eyes. He showed passion. Excitement. Fury and demand. But he showed and that was his first flaw. Lack of control.

Whereas your own simply seemed to lack depth. You could be looked at, but they could not look at you. You were made of ice and of steel. A structure, maintaining itself with no need for others. Calculated. Composed. If that was how you wanted to be seen.

 

Generic music blared in the background, its purpose lost on you. The air filled itself with minotaurs and griffons talking among one another in gruff voices. Silence wouldn't be heard in here regardless.

A sip of water, to relieve the sore throat on one hand, to break the stare-down mostly. "Let us talk business." More of an order than a request. Trying to gain the upper-hand from the start on out, the oldest trick in the book. Acquire dominance and maintain it. Effective. Very much so.

Easily seen through as well however. Blunt force. Exactly what you had come to expect of their kind.

Nothing that couldn't be dealt with. Let him lead this dance. As long as he tripped and fell at the end. A nod. "Let's."

 

...

 

Perhaps a clarification was due. This was quite the odd situation to be part of after all. Out of all the options you'd ever considered —and you'd considered all the options— this had never been one of them. Not that you blamed yourself for it. This was not an error that could have been taken into account. Your methods were still flawless.

Correction, as flawless as they could be. You needed to remain flexible, light on your feet. Falling into structures would be your downfall. After all, that in itself was the very essence of what you did.

 

Your name was—

Well, you had gone by many names. Pick one and odds were that at one point in time it had been yours for a while.

So when you first came here, you'd opted for the one that suited you the most. Anonymous.

Names wouldn't be sufficient to hide you here. No, you drew attention to yourself too much anyways.

A setback. But one that could be taken into account. What was the purpose of a name after all?

In your specific area of business names were nothing but trouble. No, the name wasn't go to ruin your plans. Simply something to work around. A little extra challenge. Though it oughtn't to, it brought a small smile on your lips at the time. Oh, to hell with it. You could show excitement once. Your plan had yet to be composed after all.

At the time itself, your main focus did not lay on composing your plan. No, you had to get rid of the shock firstly.

 

Your past is still not entirely cleared up yet. It beared much similarities with a videotape that hadn't been re-winded properly. The images were still mostly there but they weren't clear.

Business. That's what you did. You were a businessman. What kind of business? Any.

Work your way into companies, extract information, give it to current client, leave the country, begin all over again.

Simple. Structured. Something you were good at it.

There wasn't a specific point in time where you could say you started doing what you did nowadays. It'd just been what you were good at. Playing with people. Manipulating them. Subtly, of course. The second you'd draw too much attention to yourself was the second the mission was doomed to fail. No room for errors. To take down the machine you had to be one yourself. And you were. Or rather, you could be. Donning an alter identity required very little effort on your part.

 

It was... It was as if you lacked your own personality and you could simply choose to lay another one over the blank slate whenever the situation required you to. Though, that explanation didn't rub off on you too well.

You preferred to see yourself as a puppeteer of sorts, tugging the strings on every single persona you'd ever created for yourself. Yes, that was a metaphor that fitted you. A puppeteer. Playing with the people surrounding him.

Altering the outcome of any situation in ways that benefited yourself the most. Well, that benefited your client the most. Though, by extension, that meant you as well. Your area of expertise was one that paid well. Very well. You should have stopped when you had the chance. And you had so many chances.

But you couldn't. There was something in this for you that simply kept you going. What that was you still haven't quite figured out yet.

 

Perhaps you were waiting for one more commission. The big finale. The one that would satisfy you for good.

Or perhaps it was simply for need of validation. No one did what you did. No one could do what you did in the ways that you did them. There were those who tried. But they failed because they lacked commitment.

The rewards were high but so were the repercussions. The few who ended up in jail were lucky. The others... not so much.

Though lady luck had not been on your side during the last project either. You were discovered. To this day you still don't know how. Someone could have snitched.

Had there been someone to snitch, that is. Save for you and your client, no one knew of your ulterior motives.

It could have been your client itself, of course. It could all have been a set-up to capture you.

But you checked their background. It all added up fine. Things had looked the exact same as they always had.

Perhaps your flaw lied there and you had simply grown used to your usual methods.

That was a mistake that you wouldn't make twice. Not after what happened to you that night.

 

The company you were working in at the time was more than just lenient when it came to morals and ethics. Though that was not of your concern.

Extract information, give it to the client and move along. Business. Just business. No need to get more involved into things than strictly necessary.

At the end of it all, you regretted that line of tought. Their lack of moral values was in effect for you as well.

They injected you with the chemicals they researched. In the brief time you'd been part of their staff, you'd seen the effects on the animals they tested on. You knew exactly what was going to happen. And so did they.

The moment the cold steel of the needle broke through your skin, you were on fire. You burned, insides first. Whatever they had shot into you was sucking you dry. You convulsed, though the bonds kept you in place. As you screamed and pleaded for mercy, they brought down another. It fed the fire within you.

Looked like this was your grand finale after all.

 

That was the only memory that had remained clear ever since you came here.

Perhaps because it was the reason you came here in the first place. You remember the pain and the screaming, the loss of sight, then the loss of hearing. Eventually, you lost it all.

Dead. Just like the animals. To them, you were nothing more anyway. Another corpse for the pile.

Or that's what you should have been at least.

 

Corpses don't wake up in hospitals. You did. Looks like your application for death had been denied.

Good. You liked that. You were quite fond of living. An extension to your life was quite the pleasant surprise.

Well, it wasn't quite an extension. It was an entirely new one.

You were never a very spiritual person. If there supposedly were higher forces out there looking over you, you'd say they were doing a rather lousy job at doing so.

No, what you meant was that you found yourself at an entirely different world. Nowadays it sounds so simple. At the time itself... You thought you'd gone insane when you saw the bull-human hybrid walking through the hallway of the hospital. Or perhaps you had died after all and this was some odd interpretation of hell.

That's an option you still kept open.

But the fact of the matter was that you were consciously here. And despite the initial shock of living in a world filled with other species, there were a lot of similarities with your world of origin.

 

You were found in the streets. They'd brought you in. When they found out you had no money to your name, or even a name for that matter, you were swiftly kicked out again as well.

This kingdom had seen better days. Giving out free healthcare wasn't exactly a possibility anymore. And so you found yourself in the streets, with no name, no money, no house, no nothing.

And there were so many just like you. Save for the 'no name'-part. Most had a name.

But in essence, they were the same as you. Businessmen. If something needed to be done, they'd hire someone like you guys.

If this was meant to be a chance at a new life, you had to throw it away. This was all you were good at. If you wanted to keep living, you'd have to fall back into your old habits. And that's exactly what you did.

At first, you took any job you could get your hands on. Your clients were reluctant at first, afraid you were working for the officials or afraid of drawing too much attention towards themselves with your strange looks.

But after they saw what you were capable of...

Things quickly picked up from there. More jobs came in, more money came in.

 

Crime was at its apex in this kingdom. Poverty and famine had struck and so had desperation. Law enforcement was severely shooting short, corruption among them ruining the efforts the few sincere ones.

Perfect circumstances for you. The streets had never come across someone like you. At first, you felt... disgusted by having to resort to petty thievery. You were above that. You were a man with skills. A man of grace.

But you wouldn't let pride destroy you. And as time passed, your name spread through the streets of Taurus.

You became a force to be reckoned with. In just a matter of months, you'd worked your way to the top of the underground.

You started out as no one. Now, at the mere mention of your name, people bowed in respect. Or in fear.

Either one sufficed. You held power and that was known. That was the thing that mattered.

 

You kept a close circle of associates around you. Your position required that. Not that you trusted them. They were looking for power, just like you had been all those months ago.

And who were you to deny them a slice of the cake? As long as they proved themselves both loyal and useful to you, they were allowed to take a nibble.

 

Things had gone flawless. Just the way you like it. But as with all things; if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

You were found out. Again. But you weren't going to let the past repeat itself. You were tipped off. In under an hour, your mansion was empty, everyone that stayed in it hidden under the radar.

A day later, you regrouped. Everyone had shown up. No inside job then...

And that same day, you were found out again. Whoever it was, they had their sights set on you and they didn't intend to let you go. A note had been left at the door.

 

~~~~~~

We know your methods.

Do not run any longer if you wish to see tomorrow.

Meet us at the nomad's auberge. Nine tonight.

Come alone.

~~~~~~

 

Someone had been keeping track off you. For months now, it seems. And you didn't even have a clue.

Things didn't add up. These streets were yours. Everything that passed through them would reach your ears eventually. Perhaps an outsider job. The nomad's auberge... This might be griffons at work then. You weren't too far off the border. Travelers frequently passed through. Though that's all they usually did too. Just pass through. Taurus had nothing to offer after all. Not anymore.

Then why would they want anything from you?

Your choices were limited. They knew what steps you were going to take next. You could improvise but that would turn itself against you eventually.

It wasn't your preferred option, but it might be wise to see what they had to offer.

Going unprotected was another thing you weren't too fond of. But your inner circle had a reputation in the streets. They would get recognized far too easily. You needed new recruits.

Nine tonight. No time for new associates...

Whoever was behind this had planned this out perfectly.

For the first time in months, your thin lips curled into a sinful smile.

Finally, a worthy opponent.