๏ Collection City ๏

[animalobsessed1]

9: Rules

Under Annette's expectant gaze, Jaiden trotted into her house. With a sigh, he sat down at one of the many tables and slowly put his backpack down next to the chair. Then, he looked up, saw that she was still looking at him, and lowered his eyes to his backpack. Trying to avoid a conversation about such a difficult topic, he began to rummage around in the bag. Finally, he got out two tiny t-shirts and held them up for her to see.
“I bought these because I thought they looked cute, but then I remembered that I don't know anyone who's small enough to fit into them.” He glanced past the t-shirts, only to see that she was still staring at him. “...So I thought that you might be able to use them for your little orphanage-thing.” He reached out and handed then to her. She took them with a curt “thank you” and laid them on the table behind her. They would fit the younger children perfectly.
“Oh, come on! Will you quit looking at me like that!” Jaiden complained, feeling rather awkward under her expectant gaze.
“Don't try to change the subject. You brought it up when you said that to those guys, so now you're going to have to tell me, too.”
“Alright! You should know me well enough by now, to know that I absolutely love being in control, but the truth is, I don't get to make all the laws.” Having lost the staring contest, he decided to start explaining himself. “The law says that we have to keep the average age of our collection city down at twelve years, to avoid the risk of a rebellion.”
Annette had her hands on her hips and nodded for him to go on.
“You're 23 years old already, so you're raising our average quite far.” He looked at her, but her expression was blank. “However- yes, there is that word!” He broke off when he saw the hope in her eyes at the word `however´. Why was he even telling her this? Sure, he did like her, but not so much that he'd want to take such a risk for a single person!
“Yes?” She asked expectantly.
“However, I have heard reports of people reaching up to thirty years in other collection cities...” He saw her eyes widen, so he quickly continued, trying not to let her hopes soar too high. “In those cases, that's when the government stepped in and destroyed half the cities, because they said that the owners weren't managing them responsibly.”
Annette's face fell.
“So are you going to-”
“No way!” Jaiden interrupted her. “I'm not going to risk the destruction of my beautiful city just for a single specimen. Even if it is you.” How could she even suggest that I would do something like that? She is getting way too full of herself, just because I'm treating her a little more kindly!
Annette shrank back at his sudden outburst of anger. She really hated these unpredictable mood swings of his.
“I'm going to try to let you live for another three years, but that's as far as I'm willing to go. We have to bring in more and more young children to balance out the average, and I'm sure you wouldn't like that either.”
“No, of course not.” She mumbled. He'd managed to hit just the right nerve: children.
“But maybe you'll be able to find a successor, to lead your orphanage by then.” Jaiden tried to cheer her up. The consolation only worked very minimally. The feeling of worrying for your life was just not something he could fathom.

[animalobsessed1]

10: They're Looking for Someone

"Anyway," Jaiden tried to change the subject as Annette sat down across from him, trying to take all this in. But he was interrupted by the little girl who'd been hiding behind the door until now.
“Annie?” She said, as she came up to sit on her lap. She looked at Jaiden, and a question sparkled in her intelligent green eyes.
“Is this one new?” Jaiden asked, watching as Annette gently brushed the girl's red bangs out of her face. His own face betrayed no emotion.
Annette nodded.
“That's Master Jaiden, Minnie. Say `hello´.”
“Hello” said the girl shyly.
Jaiden didn't respond, earning him a stern look from Annette. Even though she called him `Master´, the two treated each other more like friends.
“Aaanyway, would you mind telling me what those guys were even doing here?”
“They were looking for someone, and apparently they thought that, since I run an orphanage, he might be one of mine.” She shook her head at the supposed absurdity of the assumption. “Or maybe they think that I know everything, since I'm also an information broker...” Then she looked at Jaiden. “Do you know what people like that might want with a thirteen-year-old?”
Jaiden got out his cell phone and looked at her seriously.
“And this thirteen-year-old really wasn't one of yours?” he asked.
“Of course not! I make sure that none of my children get in trouble with people like that.”
All around them, more children were beginning to crawl out of their hiding places.
“Okay then, so can you tell me anything more about it?” He asked as he opened the database.
She glanced at the screen.
“They said his code was 318K6-MB89673.”
Jaiden stopped, the everlasting grin on his face frozen. He put the cellphone back into his pocket. Annette stared at him, bewildered. This was not the reaction she had expected of him. Since when does he care what happens to the people here?
“And let me guess: tan, black hair, skinny, with yellow eyes?” He asked. The smirk on his face was clearly a forced one now.
“Well, yes. That's how they described him, but how did you know that?”
Jaiden jumped up.
“Seeing how much my mom cares about it, I'm pretty much the owner of this city. So I just know things, okay?” He called over his shoulder, as he rushed to the door.
As she watched him leave, Annette thought she heard him mutter something along the lines of “I have to get there before they do...” but she wasn't sure if that was really what he said. Her gaze landed on the two t-shirts again. Jeez, he tries way to hard to pretend that he's inhuman, but deep down, I know he actually cares.

[animalobsessed1]

11a: Someone Like That

Remo plodded along the dirt streets with his head held low. He didn't look at anyone and hoped that nobody was looking for him either. He knew that he should be trying to stay out of sight until he managed to find himself a new hideout, but he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. He'd already gone down to the river and gotten himself a drink, so now he wanted to find himself something to eat, before getting to work and finding a new hideout.
As he walked along, he thought of yesterday's events. That boy really was weird. I guess it's not surprising that Athena didn't believe me. He thought sadly. I just didn't expect her to react so harshly. After all, I know she doesn't like them either. He wondered if she would change her mind if he managed to find the boy who'd saved him, and bring him back to show them.
For a second, a smile conquered his face as he remembered the boy's expression. Weirdly, that was the only thing he remembered about him. How are you supposed to find someone if you can't even remember their code? Nobody would know who I mean, if I just go around and ask for a boy with a beautiful smile! But even if that wouldn't be enough to convince Athena, he still wanted to meet the boy again. After all, he owed his life to him, so the least he could do was thank him. And, he admitted reluctantly, I also want to know more about him. Someone who would save a total stranger without expecting anything in return. It's just like a hero from some story!
Deep in thought, he stumbled into a young boy.
“Oh, sorry.” Remo mumbled absently, but the boy just stared up at him. He looked scared. “What?” Remo asked, when an idea occurred to him. “Hey, do you have any money on you?” Robbing a child who's even younger than me, might not be the most respectable thing to do, but hey, you have to do whatever you can to survive, right? Plus, it's the quickest and least dangerous way to get myself some food.
The boy reached into his pocket, not taking his eyes off the code that was burned into Remo's neck. Realizing this, Remo held his hand over his neck to cover it. He could only imagine that Bretta was already asking for him all over the place. “Hey, don't look at that.”
With shaking hands, the boy handed Remo a few coins.
“You can have it, but please don't hurt me.” The boy stammered, looking up at him with big blue eyes. Instead of looking at the burn mark, the boy was now looking at the scar on his arm. It was a scar that ran all the way from his wrist to the elbow, but Remo didn't even remember where he'd gotten it from. Probably just some fight when someone pulled a knife on him.
How rude! Remo thought indignantly as he took the money. Staring at me like that... Okay, I'm not much better either... He was relieved that the boy hadn't tried to resist. Although he was sure that he could have beaten the money out of the boy easily, he was glad that the matter had settled itself peacefully, without drawing any attention.
“I won't hurt you if you don't give me any reason to. So don't tell anyone that you saw me, got it?” Remo replied in what he hoped to be a menacing tone.
The boy nodded and scampered off.
Relieved, Remo looked around. Nobody seemed to be watching him, so he decided to just go straight to the nearest shop and get himself something to eat.

(I changed the poll. Please vote.)

[animalobsessed1]

11b: The Fools

Just as Remo put the money on the counter, he suddenly felt a hand on his head.
“Don't make a commotion, I just want to talk.” And with those words, fingers were dug into his hair and he was pulled backwards. As he was dragged out of the shop, Remo couldn't even turn around to see who the culprit was.
What does “talk” even mean? Something that can't be settled inside the shop can't possibly be good, can it?
After dragging Remo around a corner and into another street that led to a dead end, the person finally stopped.
“I'll let go of you if you promise me that you won't try to run away.” The man said. When Remo hesitated in his response, the man yanked his head down by the hair he was still holding. “Do you understand me? Now sit!”
“Okay, I promise!” Remo said through gritted teeth as he allowed himself to be pushed to the ground. Once Remo was sitting on the ground, the hand released his hair and Remo looked up into the face of a man he didn't know. Looking around, he considered his chances of making a run for it, but decided not to, since there was only one way out of the street. The man had been fairly accommodating until now, so Remo didn't want to make him use more brutal measures.
“Who are you, anyway?” Remo asked.
“I'm Lukas.” He answered.
The two stared at each other for some time, each trying to size the other up.
“So, what do you want to talk about?” Remo asked hesitantly, breaking the silence. The man gave him a scornful look.
“Can't you just wait a bit? I've already sent someone to fetch my boss, because I'm sure she's just as eager to hear what you have to say as I am.”
Uh oh. Remo thought. How many female bosses are there? He's obviously talking about Bretta.
“I'm really hungry though, so do you mind getting me some food before I pass out from hunger?” Well, it's worth a shot, it's not like I have anything to lose anyway. If she gets here, I'm dead.
Lukas glared at him, but didn't move a single step. Even when Remo's stomach growled, he stayed where he was.
After glaring at each other for some time, they finally heard footsteps, and about twenty people between the ages of 15 and 25 turned around the corner, with Bretta in the lead. After they'd finished surrounding him, Bretta finally stepped forward.
Deciding that it was pointless to hide his fear at this point, Remo simply stared at her pleadingly.
“Hello, Remo, how have you been doing?” Bretta leered. “You poor thing look a little beat up.” As she said those words, she turned to Lukas.
He shrugged, signaling that he wasn't the one who did it.
Remo stayed quiet, so Bretta came closer, lifting a leg to kick him.
“Answer me! Who did that to you?” She hissed, and her leg swung forward. Remo scrambled to the side just in time to avoid the kick, but Lukas grabbed his hair again and flung him back.
“I told you to sit there! Don't even try to get away, you piece of trash!” He shouted at Remo.
What, so he's only nice when his friends aren't there to cover his back!?
“You know perfectly well who did that to me!” Remo yelled at them “Your people were the ones who beat me up!” Just as he finished his sentence, Bretta's foot hit him in the side. He wanted to fight back, but trying to fight against twenty people was obviously pointless. So he decided to just hope that they would get bored quickly.
“So you admit that they caught you?” Bretta spat as she kicked him again.
Well yeah, obviously. Remo thought, when he realized his mistake. He remembered what Athena had told him; that they thought he was the killer.
“...But I didn't kill them!”
She stopped.
“Then how do you know that they're dead?”
“Because...” What was he supposed to say now? Not even Athena had believed him when he told her, so why would Bretta?
“Because what? Speak up, brat, we can't hear you!”
“Uhm...” Another kick. “Argh... Because I couldn't have done it! You all know that I'm far to weak to kill any of you.” Will this work? Probably not.
“Then who did?”
“Someone else!” Remo yelped and tried to dodge another kick. “I saw it!”
“So why aren't you dead? Why are you, the weakest, still alive?” Bretta asked as she launched another kick. She was trembling with anger.
“Because... argh... He saved me!”
Again, all the thugs stopped.
“Who?”
“What?”
“Saved?”
“Who saved you?”
They all muttered.
Then Bretta bent down and lifted Remo up by the collar.
“Do you take us all for fools?”

[animalobsessed1]

12: Tracker

Panting from the long run, Jaiden finally found a boy who seemed to know where Remo was.
Normally, Jaiden should have been able to find him much quicker, by using the tracking device that was installed in each of the collectibles, but when he'd tried to use it, he noticed one crucial detail that he'd forgotten.
Because he didn't usually care who his victims were, and because he could normally just ask Annette for information, he'd actually never used the tracker before. And so, when he switched it on, he noticed that he really had no clue how to use it. The screen showed him all kinds of lines, symbols, and arrows, but Jaiden didn't know what they were supposed to tell him. So he'd resorted to the old-fashioned method of asking around.
Finally, he came across a little boy who seemed to recognize the code when Jaiden asked for it.
At first, the boy was unwilling to talk and pretended not to know, but he was a bad liar. So when Jaiden showed him that he had no tattoo and came from the `outside´, the boy relented and pointed Jaiden in the right direction.
When Jaiden arrived at the place that the boy had described, it took him some time before he finally layed his eyes on the boy who was being dragged around by the hair.
Unsure what was going on, Jaiden decided that he would just watch for now, and intervene if he thought it was necessary.
Dammit, I should have asked why they were chasing him when I first saved him! But I never even considered that I would ever have to know something like that.

[animalobsessed1]

13a: Interruption

“Do you take us all for fools?” Bretta repeated, shaking Remo violently until his head throbbed and he began to feel dizzy.
“No...” He slurred with half closed eyes.
Fuming, Bretta tossed Remo back to Lukas, who caught him and held him upright.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but you are going to tell us how you did it!” With those words, Bretta gave her henchmen a signal, and now it was their turn to try out the new punching bag. When she gave them another signal, they all stopped. Lukas let go of Remo and the boy slumped on the ground.
“Now, think about it.” Bretta said calmly, as she loomed over him. “Do you want to tell us now, or do you want us to continue.” An evil grin spread across her face, as she saw the terror in the boy's eyes.
“Pl-please... I'll... tell you.” Remo pleaded desperately. A relieved sigh escaped his lips when he saw Bretta take a step back to let him talk. “There was a boy- ack!” He jerked his arms protectively over his face when she moved back in, glowering at the mention of another person. But she didn't hit him this time, allowing him the chance to talk. “He was... older than me and he... he had a knife. He jumped from-”
“Alright, that's enough.” Resigned, Remo closed his eyes in dread, knowing that they didn't believe him. But the blow didn't come. After a few seconds, he realized that Bretta wasn't the one who'd said that. Now that he thought about it, it was actually a male voice. It was the voice of- him!
“He's said enough.” The older boy's voice repeated. “I don't want to hear any more of this.”

[animalobsessed1]

13b: Threats

Like a single organism, the entire gang turned around at the same time. Jaiden was greeted by twenty pairs of stunned eyes, and he grinned back at them.
“Don't you all realize that this is pointless. Even I noticed, and I don't even really know what's going on-” Jaiden stopped when he heard a surprised gasp coming from the center of the crowd. Peering past the other ones, Jaiden tried to see who's gasp it was. His eyes settled on the thug leader from earlier, the one he'd met at Annette's orphanage.
Somewhat embarrassed, Jaiden smiled at her sheepishly. “This isn't what you think. Honestly, I'm not stalking you...”
Taken by surprise, Bretta stared back at the intruder- the `outsider´. What was she supposed to do now? Was he angry that she'd hurt a child, like the one from the orphanage? When she met his eyes, a shiver ran through her. The gray dullness of the boy's eyes was a frightening contrast to his innocent smile and happy tone.
He's insane! The realization hit her like an actual blow to the head, and she fell to her knees in despair. This kind of person would be dangerously unpredictable, and she didn't even have the power to defend herself against him.
“Master?” Bretta whimpered in an attempt to appease him. “We are deeply sorry to have-”
“What!?” A shout from one of her henchmen interrupted her. Bretta flinched at the stupidity of the other gang member. Then another one gave a shout of surprise.
“He has no code!”
The surrounding gang stirred uneasily as this knowledge sank in, then the first few began to imitate their boss, and eventually the whole gang joined in, and they all knelt on the ground.
Still, the `outsider´ boy continued to smile at them sheepishly.
“Ahaha... no, no... That's not...” He stammered, blushing slightly and laughing awkwardly. “Really, there's nothing to apologize for... It was my fault for not telling you in the first place...”
The gang members stared at him in confusion, and then a muffled cry came from the center of the circle.
“It's him! I mean, it's you!” Remo cried out in relief, and he could no longer stop his tears from flowing. “You came back to sa-”
“I said, I don't want to hear any more of your babbling!” And suddenly, Jaiden was next to him, holding him up by the throat.

[animalobsessed1]

14: A Duty

Continued from Section 7

Monica spluttered. What? Did Jaiden just ask me if he should kill the boy he saved just yesterday?“Kill him? Now why would you do that?” ...other than the fact that you're obviously a psychopath...
“Well, I wouldn't want it to start spreading weird rumors about me being a hero. Then they'll all expect me to start showing up in some weird costume, every time someone's cat is stuck in a tree.” Jaiden replied, looking confused by her question. Wasn't it obvious?
Monica wanted to roll her eyes at his weird sense of humor, but then she realized he was serious. This was her chance to make a difference. She had to think of something convincing right now.
“Erm... no.” Crap, that doesn't sound very convincing. “Don't kill him.” Then she had an idea. “You can't kill him. Once you save someone, it's your duty to take care of them. You have to make sure that your act of kindness doesn't go to waste.”
Jaiden looked up at the sky, thinking about this. Monica watched him anxiously, hoping that her words would be enough to convince him.
Then, Jaiden turned his eyes to her again.
“And what happens if you ignore that duty?”
“That's just... Well then.... Umm... You just don't. It's like going to school; you just do it and you don't question it!” Oops, bringing school into this might have been out of line. I hope he doesn't think I'm messing with him. To her surprise, he was actually stupid enough to believe her.
“Like school, huh? I guess that makes sense...”