The office of Moldworks East's manager was smaller than what I expected. Slightly smaller than the office shared by Madilyn, Louie, and Haws back at the original Moldworks. It was lightly decorated small knickknacks and pictures belonging to the manager. The walls and floors still looked new and freshly constructed.
The manager of Moldworks East was a middle-aged woman and a normie. She was of Egyptian origin and used to be a resident of the Bronze city before the Red Dragons rose to power and conquered the entire area. She however saw the writing on the wall and decided to take their chances on making a living in another city and left Andromeda, taking her daughter and son.
"Master Kingston!" Aya Rema, the manager of Moldworks East exclaimed as she jumped to her feet. She'd been sitting behind a large oak desk that had stacks of papers piled chest high when I walked in with Jane, Iris, Nate, and Grandpa Seamus in tow. "Lady Jane, Iris!"
"Aya." Jane and Iris both replied in unison.
"To what do I owe this unexpected visit…and from the revolutionary Paragon no less?" Aya asked, her tone low respectful. Though bordering on fearful.
"There was a security breach. A evo managed to free and ended up getting chased into the main storage warehouse by the Ogarai security teams where it was taken down by one of Chase's evos." Jane summarized, her voice taking on a cold quality that made it feel like the temperature of the room drop several degrees. Aya's eyes widened in horror.
"I had no idea! There were no alarms or reports from the Ogarai in charge!" Aya exclaimed. Iris stepped inside the room further and leaned against the wall to the left of Aya.
"That is not the problem, the alarms are only raised if the evo breaks out of a maturation tank. The problem is that the evo in question is an unauthorized evo, one that neither myself or Jane as even heard of." Iris said. Aya's frowned, the horror on her face from earlier was replaced with indignation.
"What evo?" She asked.
"Good boy Series: Rune hound." Jane answered her. Aya's indignation morphed into confusion.
"That is not a unauthorized evo…" Aya said then walked over to a filing cabinet behind her desk. She quickly opened the top drawer of the cabinet and searched through the files before finding what she was looking for. She pulled out a folder and flipped through it before pulling out a sheet of paper and holding it up for all to see.
"Authorization for evo creation and maturation…Good boy Series: Rune hound…transfer to specialized research section…" Nate read aloud then frowned and looked at Jane. "I didn't know the company had a specialized research center."
"That's news to me too…" Jane said.
"It definitely shouldn't, being the Chief of Operations." I said.
"Or the CEO and owner of the company…" Jane griped, shooting me a look.
"Can I see that folder lass?" Grandpa Seamus asked.
"Of course!" Aya replied and handed Grandpa the folder. He quickly flipped through the many pages of the file, stopping occasionally then continuing on. I focused on the Authorization form for the Rune hound.
"There's no signature on this form." I said, pointing to the bottom of the page. Aya turned the form around and looked at it then frowned for a second.
"Oh, that's because it's on the first form in this bundle." Aya replied.
"First form?" Iris, Jane, Nate, and I all balked in unison.
"Good boy Series: Ash Dog. Good boy Series: Boom hound. Good boy Series: Sick puppy. An' Good boy Series: Rune hound. Those sound familiar Starlight?" Grandpa Seamus asked.
"Those are all the evos from the good boy series! They're conceptual evos!" I exclaimed. Grandpa pulled several pieces of paper out of the file and handed them to me.
"They all have forms for 'em, an' look at the signature at the bottom." Grandpa Seamus said.
I looked at the bottom of the first form, which was the authorization for the Ash Dog, there was a scraggly signature that was total chicken scratch and completely illegible.
"The hell is that? Did a five year old sign for this?" I grumbled and squinted to try and make out something.
"Eleven year old actually." Aya chimed in.
Everyone in the room froze and turned to look at Aya. She stiffened seeing everyone's attention suddenly turning on her and I saw her eyes flash as she realized that she said something she probably shouldn't have.
"What eleven year old?" Jane asked, her voice cold as steel.
"Mr. Kestral's son. Bo Kestral…" She replied sheepishly.
"BO!" Everyone yelled in unison.
"Why the hell would you accept any authorization forms from a eleven year old?!" Jane yelled. Aya flinched again and retreated further behind her desk.
"He's Master Kingston's apprentice along with Master Silva. It's a well known fact ever since the news about your duel with the former Loki Paragon circulated." Aya said quickly then looked down at her desk. "I thought if anyone would have the authority to make new shaped evos it would be the apprentice lf the splicer that invented shaping."
"That actually makes sense…." Iris muttered then glanced back at me.
"But it doesn't explain how he got those cores…" I said.
"Maybe he made them." Nate offered. My eyes darted to Nate and narrowed slightly.
"You know something…don't you?" I asked. Nate sighed then scratched his chin.
"Bo has been…distant ever since we returned from Tsushima. Secretive and a little paranoid. Jade and I thought it was him trying to deal with the death of Gargesh so we held a funeral for him a month after we got back…." Nate stopped suddenly, clenching his fists and taking a deep breath. "…he attended and insisted that he and Gadget be the ones to dig his grave and lay him to rest. They didn't let anyone help him. Afterwards I swore I heard him say 'If I can surpass him I won't feel this pain again.'"
"I didn't know Bo was taking Gargesh's death that badly…" Iris muttered.
"He's only eleven, ten when Gargesh died. How else could a kid that young take the death of a loved one…" Nate muttered. I nodded solemnly.
"If I can surpass him I won't feel this pain again…am I the him…?" I asked no one in particular.
"You have to be…" Nate said, the sadness in his voice made my heart ache for him. "…it's definitely not me. You are the personification of strength and power to him. The way he talks about you, even in the last six months, is more than he talks about anything or anyone else…"
"But I've lost people. Important people…and family…" I said, letting the unsaid names hang in the air like phantoms.
"And the world over now fears your wrath. You can honestly say that you are the most feared and respected splicer in the world." Nate rebutted. I huffed and ran my hair through my ragged locks then looked to Jane.
"Can you get all the information on this special research section as well as the evos from the Good boy Series?" I asked. Jane nodded slowly, her expression neutral.
"What are you going to do?" She asked.
"Find Bo and have a chat." I replied then turned to the door. Iris grabbed my arms to stop me.
"Yelling at him won't help either of you." Iris warned. I looked back at her with understanding eyes.
"I know. We need to have a conversation, like teacher and student." I said softly then looked to Nate. "Do you know where he would be right now?"
"Its's mid-day…so Gargesh's grave…" Nate said softly.
"Show me, besides you need to have a conversation with Bo too…" I said.
***
Gargesh's grave was located in the middle of a empty dirt lot three blocks away from where the Sho'lajah Artifact Company shop was. It had once been a held demolished building that had been a market before the red dragons. The area had long since been restored thanks to Jane and Iris restoration initiates, the section of the city feeling alive and vibrant now everywhere except in that one lot.
Bo sat on his knees in front of the grave, marked with a single slab with 'Gargesh' in both universal standard and Toropas. Gadget sat beside Bo, neither moving or acknowledging that that noticed Nate's and mine's approach. They just stared at the grave marker in silence. Nate and I stopped a few feet away from Nate and Gadget but even then they didn't react to us.
"Paying respects doesn't involve beating yourself up." I said softly though in the vast and empty lot my voice carried easily. Bo stiffened on hearing my voice but didn't turn to face me.
"Like you're one to talk…" Bo spat angrily. Gadget turned his head slightly to look back at me for a brief second then immediately went back to looking at Gargesh's grave.
"I haven't been paying respects, just beating myself up." I rebutted then walked over to Bo's side and knelt down beside him. "Because I know my grandmother and Fours would hate me for using their memory like that."
"Is that really how you've seen your actions as for the last six months?" Bo asked, a slight growl rumbling in his chest.
"No…" I admitted with a shake of my head. "Grandma Lulu would slap me with a wooden spoon if she saw me now. Fours would have called me something worse than a pretender."
Bo became quiet again. His body radiating with anxious and angry energy. Like a volcano just waiting to blow. Nate chose this moment to sit down next Gadget. The Four of us stayed silent for several moments, the air feeling heavy and noxious.
"There was a incident today at Moldworks East…" Nate started suddenly, Bo's flinch was barely perceivable to anyone unless they were paying attention or using a evo's special vision to monitor them. "…a evo broke free from containment and made it all the way to the main storage warehouse before it was stopped by Empress."
"Why are you telling me this?" Bo asked defensively, still looking straight at Gargesh's grave.
"You know why Bo." I said softly. Bo gritted his teeth then turned to look at me and lowered his head.
"Then go ahead! Get it over with! Smack me on my head and tell me how stupid I was for my little scheme! Ground me for however long you want!" Bo snapped.
"I'm not going to hit you. I'm not going to yell. Neither of us are, I just want to talk." I replied.