The man burst into laughter as he slammed his hand on the table while Mykel just stared at him and opened the gin. He poured the gin into the glass while the man was still chuckling and wiping the tears in his eyes.
"My apologies," The guy said as he sniffled from laughter.
"It's fine, you guys must have suffered a lot from those ignorant people," Mykel replied and drank the gin.
"You have no idea what they did to people like us," The man stared blankly at the counter.
Mykel just raised his eyebrows and poured another then drank it in a single shot.
"You're alone?" The man asked. "Where's my manner, my name is Brandon," The guy said as he offered his hand for a handshake.
"Mykel," Mykel shook Brandon's hand. "And no, I'm not alone, I'm with my team. They're out there not far from here," Mykel answered.
Brandon sat at the counter next to Mykel after he collected all the dirty glasses on all the tables. He didn't say a single word and just stared at the cabinets to process what he just heard.
"For someone who's not from this world, you're pretty knowledgeable that they all believed you," Brandon looked at Mykel.
"I have been in dozens of worlds, I know how to adapt to the environment," Mykel answered as he stared at the bottle of gin half empty.
"I see, let's talk about this more after I bring you to our headquarters," Brandon said as he walked behind the counter. "Let's meet up with your friends," Brandon continued as he grabbed his coat and top hat on the wooden pole.
They both left the tavern and Mykel led Brandon to meet the others.
Brandon looked at Gunnar and the others, he was fascinated by their equipment. He introduced himself to them and Mykel told them that Brandon was an Awakener and he planned on bringing them to his headquarters.
"Thankfully you guys have your mask on because we are going to go down there," Brandon said as he looked at Mykel and the others with a bit worried expression.
It took them half an hour to finally reach the headquarters, and Mykel was right about it that he wouldn't be able to find it.
Brandon and Mykel stood in front of a small steel door, Brandon then knocked on the door six times with a long gap. The steel door was making the creaking sound and then it opened so slowly.
"Welcome back, mate," A guy wearing a dark grey ivy cap said as he took a peek at Brandon from behind the door but then he noticed that Brandon wasn't alone. "Who are these people?" He asked as he nodded up at Mykel with his eyebrows furrowed.
"They're allies, I can vouch for them," Brandon answered with a serious expression.
Mykel showed his right hand and lit it in flame to prove to the man that he was one of them.
"I see, come in," The guy tilted his head as he opened the door widely for them.
Mykel and the others walked in while the guy in ivy cap stared at each one of them from top to bottom. He was a bit confused about their equipment and attire because he had never seen something like that before.
The place looked cozy even though it was quite dirty and damp, not to mention the air smelt bad. Gunnar looked at the small round tables with cards, he smirked under his mask because he loved to play poker but he always lost to Lillith since she could read his mind.
"You guys wait here for a moment, I will call the boss," Brandon said as he pointed at the small tunnel in front of him with his thumb.
Mykel nodded and then they all waited in the small room.
Gunnar without hesitation sat down and grabbed the cards, he asked Rozan, Vincze, and Sven to play poker with him. Agnez looked around and was a bit confused why there were no people in the room but themselves even though it was a headquarters as Brandon said.
"Just double pair? Really?" Gunnar looked at Rozan's cards. "You're going to treat me once we are back," Gunnar said as he showed his cards and he had straight.
Footsteps could be heard from the tunnel Brandon went to, they all stopped playing and silently stared at the tunnel. A group of men in a white shirt and grey vest walked toward them, the guy in the middle with bright brown hair was smoking a cigarette with a black suit that he hung on his fingers over his left shoulder.
"You're Mykel?" The guy asked with a cigarette in his mouth and stared at Mykel with his bright green eyes.
"Yes," Mykel nodded his head.
"Clancy," The guy said as he offered his hand for a handshake.
Mykel shook Clancy's hand, Clancy looked at Gunnar and the others as he nodded his head as if he approved them.
Mykel explained to them where they came from and the reason why they were in Caspea world. Clancy and his underlings listened to his story and finally understood the situation.
"I see, there's another team that came here with you but they got separated," Clancy said as he rubbed his bottom lips. "It's either they're safe somewhere or they're in trouble," Clancy said as he looked at his underlings that sat at the tables behind him.
"Trouble? Why they're in trouble?" Rozan asked.
Clancy smoked his cigarette and put it out on the table. "As Mykel said earlier, they called us a freakshow," Clancy said with the smoke coming out of his mouth. "It happened eight years ago when it all started,"
Clancy was 17 years old when he became an Awakener, He and the other Awakeners had no idea where the Samael Tower was since it was hidden inside the volcano. People looked at him and the other Awakeners as a freak because they didn't believe them about the demon invasion.
Some were scared of them, some were curious about them, and so the doctors and scientists took them forcefully and did some tests and experiments on them.
"Nothing is scarier than a human with curiosity," Clancy said as he stared at Mykel and lit another cigarette. "I only managed to save these people here, the rest, they're all dead from the test and experiment," Clancy said as he pointed his hand at his underlings.
"What kind of test and experiment they did to them?" Gunnar asked.
Clancy looked at one of his guys. "Bring Barry, here,"
The guy nodded and went to the other tunnel.
"It's better for you to see it for yourself," Clancy said as he puffed the smoke onto the table.
The guy came back with a man with long hair that covered his whole face, the man was having a hard time walking with his own two feet while the guy helped him walk. Clancy stood up and put the cigarette in his mouth, he then stripped the man's shirt and it surprised Gunnar and the others.
"This is what they did," Clancy pointed his index finger at the man's body covered with dozens of scars from stitches. "This isn't the worse part, but this is the worst part they did to people like us," Clancy continued as he pulled the man's hair to the back and saw a big scar on his forehead from left to the right.
"They cut this poor man's head open and messed up his brain," Clancy said. "This guy is braindead and no longer can do anything on his own,"
Clancy told the guy to bring Barry back to his bed and then he walked back to his seat.
"They took most of us, so we hide from those people here, and when the breakout happened, it was already too late for us to fight off the demons. We didn't even have the chance to enter the tower because of those wankers," Clancy said as he gritted his teeth.
"Wait, you never enter the tower? Does that mean your level is still 1 right now?" Vincze asked.
"No, we manage to gain level when we tried to save the people. We are nothing compared to all of you because I'm level 10 and I'm the highest compared to the other Gifted people," Clancy answered.
Clancy put out the cigarette and then stood up as he looked at Mykel. "Let's talk about this later, right now, let's save your friends because they might be in danger,"
"Where to?" Agnez asked with her eyebrows raised.
"The parliament building, that's where those bastards are gathering and the chance your friends getting caught is very high and they're going to bring your friend there," Clancy answered.
"Then we will help you seek revenge," Mykel said as he stood up.
Clancy looked at Mykel and nodded his head. "Thanks, mate, let's get going,"
