The Last Dainv-Chapter 127

The Last Dainv-Chapter 127

Gale's eyes snapped open, his whole body twitching and launching upwards from the bed. Looking around, he was still in his apartment. Clothes still damp from last night's swim, and the ring had kept him warm enough that he basically just fell asleep as soon as his head hit the bed.
"Shit," he rolled his shoulder. Blood had clotted where the bite was. Now he has to get a new gray hoodie again from the Red Cross. Goddammit. If only he had enough money to buy the hoodies in bulk.
Picking up his phone from the side of his pillow, the phone had been completely bricked. Its whole screen cracked vertically. It wouldn't even turn on. This was going to be an issue to explain to Rachel.
He got up, took off his clothes, threw them on the floor, and into the bathroom he went. Hot water on first, letting his hand feel for the water to turn hot. Once it's hot enough, he entered the shower.
The water turned pink as it went down the drain as the caked up blood on his shoulders dissolved. The 5 in 1 everything wash did wonders on the smell from the water treatment plant. After the 4th full hair, face, and body scrub, most of the scent was almost gone.
Gale turned off the water and dried himself carefully around his shoulder. The bite wasn't as bad as he thought, looking more like a normal dog bite than a giant ghost hound's bite now that he's healed up a bit. Perk of being a Dainv, I guess.
He put on some clothes, this time a black hoodie with a styled hole in the sleeve and slightly less ripped jeans than he had before. Seriously, adults are weird. Clothes were supposed to protect from nature, and they still keep making stuff like ripped jeans, and now there's a literal rectangle hole in his sleeve. Maybe it was just the stuff from red cross.
Looking at his closet, he still had the dress shirt and dress pants that Rachel had given him for that dinner. He could wear that… but that was expensive. Who knows what kind of ghost he might run into and ruin something she gave him.
Enough of that. Gale exited the apartment, down the elevator, and then waited at the bus stop. Ollie was probably the best bet with all his tech knowledge.
The bus arrived, and he got on it. It took 45 mins to get to Eglinton subway station. Once there, Gale went down the stairs and hopped on the southbound yellow line. It took another 20 minutes to get to King Station.
Walking outside, he speed-walked through King Street all the way to TD Tower. When he entered the lobby, he almost bumped into a man in a gray vest who was at least 2 heads taller than him.
"Kid, what the hell," the man said, quickly looking at him, but then walked past him immediately.
Now, how was he supposed to go upstairs without being able to call Ollie to buzz him in? Looking around, everyone went about their way except him. He looked completely out of place. Maybe he should sit in the lobby chairs and wish that someone from Ollie's office found him and recognized him.
From behind a reception desk, a guard stood up and walked straight towards him.
"Kid, are you lost?" the guard asked.
"Hi," Gale said.
"Hello," the guard said, tone rising up slightly at the end of that hello.
"How are you?"
"I'm good."
Gale waited for the guard to say the magic words, but it was dangerously getting too close to 10 seconds, which communications 101 said was 'awkward'.
"I'm good too, thank you for asking. How is the weather today?" Gale finally said.
"Look, kid. Are you lost?" The guard eased his posture, shifting his weight to one side.
Dammit. That wasn't the expected answer. What to do?! Maybe tell him directly. Be concise!
"I need to see Oliver Glory," Gale said.
The guard gave him a clear stink eye. "Do you have an appointment?"
"No, but I know him."
"ID?" The guard held out his hand.
Gale paused, then took out his damp wallet and put it in the man's hands.
The guard gave a clear sigh, then sifted through the wallet. "Buddy, do you have a driver's license anywhere?"
Heck no, he doesn't. Kids like him shouldn't be driving out in the streets. What was ID for anyways?
"Look, kid. You can't see Mr. Glory. He's a busy guy," the guard looked him up and down. "Go somewhere else while I'm being nice."
"I work for him," Gale said.
"Sure you do, buddy," the guard said. "Everyone works for someone in this building. You got a keycard?"
Gale shook his head.
"Then I can't help you," the guard said. "Unless you're here for the restaurant on 56."
The restaurant. Gale remembered Ollie mentioning it. But Ollie's office was higher up. He would need a special access card to get there.
"It's important. Can you just call him? Tell him Gale is here," Gale said.
The guard sighed. "Buddy, you not right in the head or something? Mr. Glory doesn't take walk-ins. Especially not from..."
He didn't finish, but his eyes moved up and down Gale's body again, clearly looking at his clothes.
"I have information he needs," Gale said. "About last night. About the water treatment facility."
"Then what now?"
"Is there a problem here?" A deep voice came from behind.
Gale turned and saw a man in a gray suit. Gray hair at the temples, glasses, the kind of face you'd find in retirement homes.
"No problem, sir," the guard said. "Just talking to this young man. He says he needs to see Mr. Glory."
The man looked at Gale. "You're here to see Oliver?"
Gale nodded.
"He's with me," the man said.
The security guard narrowed his eyes at Gale before saying, "Yes, Dr. Gray."
Dr. Gray walked to the elevators and motioned for Gale to follow him.
"Thank you," Gale said when they were far enough away from the stupid guard.
Dr. Gray pressed the call button. "No trouble. You must be Gale."
Gale blinked in surprise. "How did you know?"
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"Oliver's mentioned you. Though, you're not what I expected."
The elevator arrived with an audible beep. They went inside, and Dr. Gray tapped his card on the reader, then pressed the button for 52 and 58.
"What did you expect?" Gale asked.
Dr. Gray smiled. "Someone more... impressive-looking, more grand, I suppose. Oliver spoke highly of you."
The elevator went up and silence fell between them. Awkward.
"I'm heading to Lab 7 to meet with a colleague," Dr. Gray said. "I work with Oliver on several research projects. The dust project, mainly."
Gale looked up at the man beside him. "You work for the Path?"
"With the Path," Dr. Gray cleared his throat. "I'm, as you could call, a partner. But yes."
The elevator slowed, stopping at floor 52. The doors opened to a hallway of cubicles, cabinets, and everything looking gray. It was a familiar route to the wall that would open to Lab 7.
Dr. Gray stepped out. "This is me. Oliver's on 58. The elevator will take you there with my clearance this time. For future visits, have him arrange proper access. Good day, Gale."
"Thanks again," Gale said just as the doors closed.
The elevator continued up. At floor 58, Gale stepped out into a quiet hallway. Unlike the busy lobby, this floor seemed almost empty. Just a long corridor leading to glass doors at the far end.
Gale walked down the hall, double glass doors ahead. He saw Ollie typing away at his laptop.
He pushed the doors open.
Ollie looked up from his laptop. He had his suit blazer on the chair while he had his business shirt sleeves rolled up. From the way it matched his form, it must be expensive, just like the ones Rachel gave him. Probably cost more than the rent he paid to the Path for that apartment.
"Well," Ollie said, looking Gale over, "you look like shit."
"Thanks," Gale said, sitting in the chair across from Ollie and rolling his sore shoulders. "Got something I need you to look at."
Gale reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a small black cube, the storage box. Ollie watched as he swiped a finger through the air. A pale blue interface appeared, and he tapped the two papers in one of the 28 slots. Two pieces of paper appeared in his hand, putting them on the desk.
"What the fuck was that?" Ollie leaned forward, forgetting his coffee as it bounced up, spilling a bit on the papers on the desk. "Did you just?! Where did those come from?"
"Uhh… just a storage box," Gale said.
"That's impossible. Spatial storage tech doesn't-doesn't exist yet!" Ollie picked up the box Gale had set down, turning it over in his hands. "Something like this shouldn't exist on Earth. Not yet. Goddamn, Gale!"
"How did you think I stored my sword, then?"
"I thought you just had a sleight of hand or like it became smaller or something. Like normal magic!"
"Focus," Gale tapped the papers. "The box isn't the important part. These are."
Ollie set the box down carefully and slowly moved his hands to the papers on the table, still looking at the box. His eyes finally turned to the first page.
"'Project Armament... standard containment failing... something actively creating more rifts,'" Ollie read aloud. "Where did you get these?"
"Lakeview Water Treatment Plant. It's a Silver Lions front. They've got an underground facility there, doing research on artificial rifts."
"Artificial rifts?" Ollie's head snapped up.
"Exactly what you've been trying to do with the QPES stuff from the asylum?" Gale said. "Yeah, I figured that out."
"'Dust can accelerate awakening in those with latent potential...' They're making an army." Ollie flipped to the second page. "'Artificial rift creation has shown promising results...'" His fingers tightened on the paper. "How far along are they?"
"Far enough that they don't want anyone knowing about it," Gale said. "I had to swim through Lake Ontario in November to get away from their security."
Ollie's nose flared once. "That explains the wet dog smell."
"Thanks."
"So the Silver Lions are creating artificial rifts and using dust to build a private army of Awakened?" Ollie leaned back in his chair. "For what purpose?"
"According to these notes, they think the established Aur factions have forgotten your purpose. They claim they're protecting humanity from what's beyond the rifts."
"The greater good," Ollie muttered. "Always a convenient excuse."
"Says you."
Ollie grinned. "Touché."
The glass doors to Ollie's office burst open. Rachel barged in, wearing a dark blue blazer over a white shirt, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She stopped right beside Gale and Ollie's desk.
"Found you," she said, looking at Gale.
Ollie stretched his arms before saying, "Perfect timing! We were just starting our super secret important meeting about a conspiracy theory that Gale uncovered. Care to join us? I'll have someone bring up coffee. Or would you prefer chamomile or green tea with some biscuits?"
Rachel ignored him completely. Her eyes went to the papers on the desk. "What are those?"
"Evidence that the Silver Lions are researching artificial rifts and building an army of dust addicts," Gale said.
Rachel picked up the second page. "Do you know what these numbers mean?"
"No idea. A reference number or something?"
She sighed and then reached into her purse and pulled out a brand new looking smartphone, a different model from what he had before. A Ringo Pro X model that he'd seen ads for, one of the most expensive phones out right now at over $3000 CAD. That stupid Ringo CEO clearly greedy with his smug black turtleneck. How can something so small even cost that much? It’s bananas; that’s what it is.
Rachel held it out to Gale. "Here."
"How'd'you know my phone's dead?" Gale stared at the phone, then at Rachel. Not sure if he can really even accept this….
She grabbed his hand and curled his fingers on to the phone.
Putting the phone closer to his face, he couldn't believe he just got something so expensive. The things he only saw in ads were now in front of him. When he turned it on, the lock screen came on.
1208.
That was the pin that Rachel told him to remember. He tapped that in, and it worked.
Rachel turned to Ollie. "It's coordinates. 46°49'45.3"N 80°57'40.9"W. About five hours north of Toronto."
"So how'd'you know my phone… died?" Gale repeated.
"Among other things," Rachel said. "The coordinates are in Northern Ontario. Near Sudbury."
Ollie pulled out his own phone, typing rapidly. "Checking satellite maps... there's nothing there. Just forest."
"Or something hidden," Gale said, avoiding to ask the question a third time when clearly the room temp went up by a degree.
The three of them stood around a desk, staring at papers. It was nostalgic. The three of them had also done this kind of thing back in the Eclipsed.
"This kinda brings me back," Gale said. "Just missing Annett."
Ollie looked up from his phone. "She went back to the UK immediately after we got out of the Eclipsed. Straight to the United Knights headquarters."
"Did she ever find a replacement for her broken sword?" Gale asked.
"No idea. Haven't really heard from her since. She did tell me she joined Order 2 of the knights though. They're a pain in the ass." Ollie set his phone down. "So what do we do with these coordinates?"
Gale looked from Ollie to Rachel, then at the window where Toronto spread out below them. Five hours north of the city. His eyes beamed at the thought of the adventure.
"Road trip, anyone?" he said.
"Five hours each way. We'd need overnight supplies," Rachel said.
"I've got meetings booked all afternoon," Ollie scrolled through his calendar on the laptop. "But I could clear tomorrow. We'd need a vehicle that can handle forest roads."
"I can provide one," Rachel said. "And supplies."
"So we're actually doing this? The three of us, road trip to mysterious coordinates in the middle of nowhere?" Gale said.
"You got plans for the weekend or somethin'?" Ollie grinned. "Hot date, perhaps?"
"My calendar's clear," Gale said.
Rachel pulled out her phone. "I'll have Gerard prepare a vehicle. We should leave early tomorrow. First light."
"Six AM at your place?" Ollie asked.
Rachel nodded. "Bring warm clothes. November in Northern Ontario is much colder than Toronto."
"What do you think we'll find up there?" Gale asked.
Ollie picked up the torn paper again. "Could be anything. A hidden research facility. A natural rift they're studying. Or maybe it's just where they dump the bodies."
"Always the optimist," Rachel said.
Gale's stomach growled loudly. Oops, completely forgot to eat before leaving home. The loaf of bread in his fridge was saved yet again from his stomach.
Ollie grinned. "Hungry?"
"Starving."
"Let's continue this over lunch." Ollie stood and buttoned his suit jacket. "Restaurant on 56th. My treat."
"You need to remember to eat." Rachel smiled softly at Gale. He could only smile in reply.
They headed to the elevator, then went down two floors. When the elevator doors opened, they entered the restaurant level. From left to right, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the area around TD tower.
A hostess showed them to their table away from other diners, in a private room.
"So," Ollie said once they were seated, "About that box. What's it made of? How do you power it? Does it need charge? Ether? Something else? Electricity? Come on, Gale. Give me something I can work with. What is it?!"
"Just a storage box," Gale said. "I don’t know."
"Which shouldn't exist," Ollie countered. "The Path has been working on spatial storage tech for decades. Best we've managed is basically nothing but compressing items into smaller sizes and then back to their original size. It's not exactly pocket dimensions, which are so much cooler!"

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Chapter 127