Jack smiled at Chase as steam began to form in the pockets of his eyes.
Chase tilted his head, still connecting all of the pieces internally.
All of a sudden Chase let his guard arise once more, inching back from his ex-aetherball teammate ever so slowly.
"Rayan?" Justin suddenly asked, with the confused widening of his eyes. Then the knight with obsidean trims lifted his helm, revealing a terribly withered and frail Rayan of House Mayhem... Chase was extremely surprised that he could even lift the armor he was four sizes too small for, nonetheless maintain such balance anyway...
The two ex-generals of Rider's campaign shared a brotherly hand-shake before Chase returned his glance back to Jack... Who now upon realizing, had changed vastly over the years... His facial expression almost seemed to have developed a hint of maturity and intelligence, as Chase could immediately tell that this was not the same Jack from Phoenix Academy.
He sighed, pointing at the scar above Jack's right eyebrow.
"How did you end up with that?" Chase asked, raising his eyebrow with a blank expression.
Jack's eyes flashed at the mention of the scar, and for a split second, Chase could see the familiar pushover return to his body.
"Equus... Speaking of which... I thought you were dead?" Jack said, pulling out a cigarette and smirking as a flame instantly sparked on its edge... Vanishing with only a slight trail of smoke in its wake.
"I am, as far as you are concerned... But how did you put my flames out?" Chase asked with genuine curiosity, feeling a sense that told him Jack was no longer just another fire user...
Jack chuckled, "The Blaze Syndicate's benefactor bestowed me with the gift of knowledge when he assigned me to his team."
"So, you didn't name it out of idolism towards my father?" Chase joked, but Jack did not take it as such.
"No, I respect your father to the utmost degree... However, it wasn't me who gave the name. But that's enough! I actually need to discuss something urgent with the two of you...
Jack's voice grew dead serious as rain began to fall into the cramped alley.
Chase cocked an eyebrow.
"It wouldn't happen to do with the morse code coming from underneath the Coliseum would it?" Chase asked, crossing his arms and letting his blinking drag out as his cold exhale filled the air with haze.
Jack grimaced.
"From our informant?" Jack took a sigh of relief as he glanced at Rayan who nodded slowly.
Chase shrugged.
"I'm a little behind here..." Justin said, puffing on his own cigarette.
Jack glanced around, taking slow calculating breaths as he counted the amount of voices he could here in an obvious fashion.
"I doubt anyone can hear us here..." Chase chuckled, leaning against the wet brick wall.
"Right, basically... Do you two know how the Durangor House gained so much power and kept it throughout the decades even though Seh Jenah is a peaceful nation and doesn't gain wealth off of their battle district...?" Justin whistled in response to Jack's question.
"The kid knows his stuff..." Justin nodded, and glanced at Chase.
"No, please enlighten me..." Chase said flatly, blinking in patience while he gazed at Jack.
"Slavery..." Jack said, cutting the humorous mood immediately as the direness of the current possibilities had drastically increased.
"That's a war crime..." Chase noted, denying the fact entirely.
Justin grimaced.
"Not if its of another blood..." He quietly added on, causing dread to ensue into the meeting.
"Right, the House of Durangor is the number one, Beast-kin slave trading source in Vallmora..."
Chase sighed.
Justin glanced at the other three participants.
"And your plan is?" Chase asked, already expecting one.
Jack snickered.
"First and foremost you need to lose in tomorrows event... Which you don't really need to try in that regard..." Chase immediately frowned at the insult, as Jack chuckled before continuing.
"Then... During the firework festival's climax, we will sneak underneath the Coliseum... But that's plan B, so we might not even have to do that."
Chase tilted his head.
"What's plan A then?" Justin asked, picking at his own nails.
"When you lose and your identity gets revealed... You will inform the king that The House of Durangor is participating in torture and slavery, and hopefully that ties up all of the loose ends..." Jack clasped his hands together with a smile.
"And something tells me that is going to go horribly wrong..." Chase scowled.
Jack grinned.
"Luckily for us... I have full control over the House of Freznov as well as The Blaze Syndicate... If worse comes to worse than we do it ourselves..." Jack's grin vanished and was replaced with a far more serious and deadly expression that caused shivers to reach out and form along Chase's spine...