บท 227: 224: A Plague of Phantoms VIII
"And here it is! Moldworks!" I exclaimed proudly, motioning to the vast floor of the factory. My grandpa, the girls and I all stood in the threshold of the factory's main doors, however it did not look the same as it did when I left.
Before we only has a little over a dozen maturation tanks, all of them barely took up a third of the total warehouses space. That combined with the space for the offices, break room, and my office in the back there was still at least half of the warehouse not being used…or at least that's how it was when I left.
Now there were more than thirty maturation pods that took up half of the warehouse. All the new ones were either small or medium sized tanks and were empty. On the western side of the warehouse there were a half dozen brand new holding cages, one of them had a evo that I shaped and put into a small maturation tank before going to meet Jane and Iris family. There were a couple of orkands from Nate's group running around and cleaning everything.
"Wow! I wasn't sure what I was expecting but it wasn't this Starlight!" Grandpa Seamus exclaimed.
"I wasn't expecting this either…a lot has changed in the last two weeks." I admitted.
"That's a understatement! There are twice as many tanks as before! Not to mention the cages!" Iris exclaimed.
At that moment one of the office doors opened and then Louie and Haws both poked their heads out. Their eyes beamed when they saw me and they both rushed out.
"Chase!" They both exclaimed. As they got closer they noticed Grandpa Seamus and they both skidded to a stop a few feet away from us.
"Old man Seamus!" Louie exclaimed.
"Well ain't this a crack up! That you Louie? Haws?" Grandpa Seamus exclaimed. He walked around me with his arms opened wide and hugged Louie. He then moved to hug Haws and froze when he saw that Haws had both his arms. "What the…? Haws…you have both your arms!"
Haws smirked and flexed both his arms then pointed to me.
"I have your grandson to thank for this. He regrew my arm and added a couple of improvements." Haws said proudly. Grandpa arched his eyebrows in astonishment then turned to look at me.
"You did that?" He asked and pointed to Haws arm. I smiled bashfully and tussle my locks with a hand.
"I've had a lot of practice recently regrowing limbs and doing a little body modification…" I said sheepishly.
"Yeah, though most of his experience is with healing himself and changing his evos." Iris said with a snide smirk. I frowned and looked back at her then curled my upper lip.
"Gods above laddie! I didn't know ya knew healing magic and bod mod magic!" Grandpa exclaimed.
"Wait how do you know about healing and Body modification magic?" I exclaimed. Grandpa Seamus narrowed hos eyes at me and shook his head.
"I grew up in Sullivardic village Starlight. I might be a normie but I saw and learned a lot that you don't know." He said with a knowing smirk.
"So you grew up somewhere other than the US?" Louie asked.
"I thought the Scottish accent was a dead giveaway laddie." I Grandpa said. Everyone chuckled at Louie as his face grew slightly red with embarrassment.
"Well as good as this catch up session was…where did all this come from?" Jane asked motioning to the new tanks. Louie and Haws looked a little nervous as they shared a look.
"Madilyn ordered all of it." Louie said finally. I narrowed my eyes at them.
"Did she now?" I said in a slightly irritated tone. "How? And with what money?"
"Um…well…remember that you left us money for expenses and the like…well when I wasn't looking she used some of it to order the maturation tanks and cages from a supplier she knew and had them delivered Monday." Haws explained. I gritted my teeth and and clenched my fists.
While I initially took Madilyn I had a lot of restrictions in her because I didn't trust her or fully believe her story on why she wanted revenge on the Justice family and her Grandfather. I lifted some of them and gave her a little freedom. I was now regretting that decision.
"MADILYN JUSTICE!" I bellowed and stomped towards the offices. Madilyn poked her head out of the office, she saw me stomping towards her and instead of running she stepped out of the office and looked at me with an innocent expression.
"You called Chase?" Madilyn asked. I stopped in front of her and then pointed at the new maturation tanks and cages.
"What the hell is up with all that? Who authorized you to buy any equipment for Moldworks on behalf of the company!" I snapped.
"Admittedly no one. However when you hear why I did it you'll thank me." Madilyn said.
"Oh this better be good!" I exclaimed and crossed my arms. I heard the other approach from behind me and surround the two of us. Madilyn was intimidated and calmly walked into the office for a quick second. When she came back out she had a black envelope with gold trim in her hand.
"I managed to procure this for you and the company…" She said handing me the envelope.
I reluctantly took it and looked at the front of it. It was addressed to me and was from the Evo management committee: Tech-9. It was the global committee that was in charge of managing and regulating the selling of evos from Techno-splicing companies to armies of different nations. Now a little more intrigued, I opened the envelope and pulled out the letter.
"We of the Tech-9 committee of Evo management and quality assurance hereby invite Chase Kingston: CEO and operator of Sho'lajah Artifact Company, to this year's… Evo-cution expo…in stunning Japan!" I read aloud then looked up at her in astonishment.
"You got us an invite to Evo-cution!"
"WAIT WHAT?!" Louie and Haws exclaimed then rushed to look over my shoulder.
"What's Evo-cution?" Iris asked, sharing a look with Jane.
"Only the biggest event for Techno-splicing companies!" Louie exclaimed.
"Companies from all over America gather in one country every year to show off some of their newest and best Evos!" Haws explained. Jane and Iris narrowed their eyes and sighed.
"So it's basically a beauty pageant?" Jane asked. I shook my head.
"It's so not a beauty pageant. Dignitaries and military officials from all over the world come to Evo-cution to bid on the most impressive evos and place orders for more. Countries entire defense budget is usually determined on the night of Evo-cution!" I explained further.
"That's nice and all but what does that have to do with Madilyn spending money on tanks and cages or this company for that matter?" Jane asked.
"Because fortunes are made and spent at Evo-cution. A good showing will effectively promise profits for next year. A bad showing…spells the end for a company." Madilyn said then motioned me. "In case you forgot, Chase and several employees at this company has a contract out on them for their deaths. Put on them by Justice Technologies and Simon Caldifax. While nothing has happened as of late if nothing is done about that contract it will only be a matter of time before someone tries to collect again."
"I haven't forgot but how does going to this Evo-cution help us get rid of those contracts?" Jane asked. I smiled deviously as it suddenly dawned in me what Madilyn was planning. Jane, Iris, Louie, Haws, and Grandpa Seamus all stilled when they saw the smile.
"Because we have the lysdale scripts for a bunch of evos that Justice Technologies is probably planning to bring to Evo-cution. Since shaped evos out preform spliced and Techno-spliced evos all I need to do is make shaped versions of each of their evos to present at Evo-cution making their evos seem inferior and rob Justice Technologies of a lot of their business!" I exclaimed with devilish glee. Jane's eyes widened as realization hit her.
"Since a good or bad showing can make a break a company we could bankrupt Justice Technologies and make it impossible for them to afford the contracts on Chase and the others!" She exclaimed.
"My thoughts exactly." Madilyn said.
"Yes I like this idea. We're not outright attacking our enemy this time, instead we're taking them out through backhanded means. If dignitaries and military officials from all over the world are going to be there then naturally all eyes will be on Chase. They'll want to talk to him about his enchanted items but once they figure out the strength of his shaped evos they'll overshadow. From there it will be a uphill battle for second place!" Jane exclaimed.
"Which is why I went ahead and ordered all of these new tanks and cages. Chase can crank out new evo mana crystals and we can gestate them in larger numbers. Even if we don't bring half the number of evos that other companies can it'll just mean the ones we do bring are worth that much more!" Madilyn exclaimed and motioned to the new equipment.
"Let's see…there are about thirty tanks here…two are extra large and can hold five mid to small evos apiece…plus the tanks at the laboratory…that's about forty-seven evos we can crank out a week. However I can only make about ten mana crystals a day. I could maybe stretch it to thirty if I borrow mana from my personal evos. When is the Evo-cution taking place?" I asked.
"Three weeks. Four days before school starts back up for you all." Madilyn answered.
"That's about Ninety evos…now the problem is transporting them all…" I muttered. Grandpa Seamus suddenly grabbed my shoulder. Prompting me to turn around and look at him. He had a dark and grim look on his face that was out of place for the normally jovial man.
"I don't fully understand what's going on right now Starlight. But it sounds like ya have beef with that prick Beaufort T. Justice. Well more beef. That putrid pissbag has done plenty to earn my ire laddy. So if there is anything ya need I'm here to help." Grandpa Seamus declared.
I was surprised and moved to hear him say thar. I didn't really want to drag my Grandpa into anything that could get him hurt but I knew of I tried to push him away and sat I had it covered he'd just stock his nose into my business until he got hurt. So I smiled softly and hugged Grandpa tightly.
"Thank you. Since you're a expert on building stagecoach and the like can you design something to transport a large number of evos? Something we can make cheaply and quickly here?" I asked pulling away from the hug. Grandpa chuckled and punched my shoulder lightly.
"I can do ya one better. I can help ya make another car for your mana train." He said. Jane and Iris eyes both grew to the size of saucers at that declaration.
"YOU CAN!" They both screamed. Grandpa Seamus laughed at their surprise.
"Yeah it's simple! Just need a few chemicals and some mana and you can grow the cars in a matter of days. The hard part is synching a new car to a train." Grandpa said.
"Something you learned in Sullivard village?" I asked. He nodded.
"'Fore I left I was the head apprentice at the train smith's!" He proclaimed proudly and beat his chest. "Give me a few days and splicer lass to assist me and you'll have a new transport car fer ya train!"
"I'll help!" Iris exclaimed with unbridled excitement. Grandpa Seamus smiled.
"Glad to have such a enthusiastic helper then!" He said then looked to me. "We can start preparations tomorrow then. I don't want to spoil the little party we have planned for you tonight."
"Party?" Madilyn, Haws, and Louie all asked in unison. I groaned as I saw a smirk appear on Iris and Jane's faces.
"Yeah! Today is Chase's birthday and we're throwing him a party at the apartments tonight to celebrate him!" Jane said happily. Louie and Haws both slapped their foreheads and groaned.
"Gods above! I can't believe I forgot it's your birthday!" Haws exclaimed. I shook my head.
"I was hoping nobody would remember…" I muttered.
"Well you can definitely count on all of us being there!" Louie exclaimed happily
"We all lived in the partment building…how would we miss it?" Madilyn asked.
***
After a couple of congratulations and happy birthday wishes, Jane and Iris split up and went with Madilyn and Louie to start planning for our presentations at Evo-cution. This left Haws and I to show Grandpa around Moldworks. He was very impressed with how similar yet different it was to a techno-splicing factory and evo more impressed by how much we were able to build up in such a short time.
"…there is definitely a lot here Starlight." Grandpa said as we exited the Maturation tank area and started towards the holding cages.
"There was actually more here up until a week ago. Sin needed to borrow a few evos because of a situation he was handling." Haws said. I frowed at that and looked to Haws as we walked.
"Something happened?" I asked. Haws nodded reluctantly.
"Yeah…but it's not my place to talk about it. It's pretty personal…" Haws said then thought about it for a second and said. "He had a couple of your evos help him as well so I guess you could ask them for the details."
"No I'm good. If Sin wants to tell me he'll tell me. I'm surprised my dvos left their posts to help him though." I said. Haws laughed.
"Let's just say Empress, and Grimm-Guard got a little stir-crazy with their posts. They were practically jumping to help and Jiggles…well he needed to help because of the Job you gave him." Haws explained.
"Did you have many evos here before that?" Grandpa Seamus asked. Haws shook hos head.
"No, only three. Which is a lot by our standards." Haws said.
We reached the holding cages with ranged in size from six feet tall to over twenty feet tall. There were thirty in total in various sizes and they were all arranged by size. There was only one evo in any of the cages, it was a child evo that I instructed Haws and Louie to take out before it reached full growth.
The evo was a Hell-hog. A experimental evo that I made using the DNA of three different species of boar and then plating around with some of its genetic sequences. A full size it was designed to be at six and a half feet tall, be covered in bright red fur, have four large tusks that were tipped with crystal, Six legs, and have organic flame Mohawk that started from the top of its head and went all the way down to its tail.
However in its current form the little Hell-hog was seventeen inches tall and utterly adorable. It had two small little nubs of tusks, large doe like eyes and a little pudgy. It's flame Mohawk was only a couple inches tall and only went from the tip its head to the middle of its shoulders.
"Now who is this little guy?" Grandpa asked.
"We call him Colossus…mostly because he acts like he's the size of a mountain instead of a little shrimp." Haws said looking down at the evo with a amused smirk.
"Don't call me Shrimp, stumpy!" Colossus exclaimed and stomped his tiny front hoof on the metal floor of the cage. "I'm a strong and powerful warrior!"
"Of course! I'm so sorry!" Haws apologized with a smirk. Grandpa Seamus knelt down and reached through the bars and scratched Colossus ear through the bars. Colossus eyes glassed over and he started kicking with his hind leg.
"Nice…so good…" Colossus muttered and leaned into Grandpa's Gans. Haws arched a brow and looked surprised.
"Nobody's been able to touch the little guy since we let him out of his tank." Haws told me.
"Interesting…" I muttered.
I designed Hell-hogs to be guard type evos that formed powerful bonds with either splicers or normies. The fact that Colossus was standoffish with everyone was a little confusing but he seemed friendly enough with Grandpa right now.
"Grandpa why don't I have you take care of Colossus here. We're going to be needing these cages pretty soon and I don't really have anywhere to put him." I said. Grandpa Seamus paused and looked up at me.
"But I'm a normie Starlight. I can't really keep him like a splicer could." Grandpa Seamus said. I nodded and pointed to Colossus who was nudging his hand with his head to make him start scratching him again.
"Yeah but he's made to be kept by both splicers and normies. He's a guard type by the way. Plus look at the little guy, he likes you." I said.
"Old man! Scratches!" Colossus grumbled and stomped his hoof again.
"Okay little Colossus." Grandpa Seamus said and started scratching Colossus again. The little Hell-hog calmed down instantly slumped down on the floor of the cage. "Such a good boy…"
"Yeah I think it's a done deal." Haws said with a smirk.
"Stay with me Old man." Colossus pleaded Grandpa Seamus. He looked up at him with his big doe eyes. Grandpa looked a me with nearly tears in his eyes.
"I already said you can keep him." I said then reached up and unlocked the gate. Grandpa Seamus stood up and opened the cage. Colossus bolted put of the cage and ran to Grandpa's side and nuzzle his leg.
"Old man is my boss now!" Colossus declared. I chuckled at the declaration then something suddenly dawned on me.
"Did Sin and Chad patrol through the area recently?" I asked Haws. Haws scratched his chin.
"Sin and the new boy? Yeah…they were here earlier this morning and did a security check. Sin said they were heading to the edge of the silver city to check on a disturbance from last night." Haws said. I groaned and shook my head.
"I swear to the gods if this this another gang uprising I'm burning their home base to the ground…" I grumbled. Grandpa looked at me with a concerned look.
"You want to go check on your friend?" He asked. I nodded but remembered what happened the last time I went to check on Sin.
"I'm pretty sure checking on him won't result in you stumbling on another attempt to resurrect the red dragons like the high fire dragons. What's are the chances of that happening again?" Haws said as if reading my mind.
"I feel like that's setting things up for failure by saying that." I muttered.
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Hutexa_The_Djinn
Hutexa_The_Djinn HUTEXA_THE_DJINN HERE! Sorry for the late release! I meant to have this up at 7:00 a.m., but I had some problems with the app. I also know I'm supposed to be posting a side story chapter, but....I really, really, really wanted to post this one! Monday's chapter will be a side story chapter. With October coming to a close, my schedule should free up, meaning I can go back to my regular posting schedule! Thanks for the love and support!
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