The Return of the Watchers (Armageddon Rising Book 1) (5 page)

“Does anyone want this? I’m not sure how to return it.” Yuki asked, holding up the movie that had been mistakenly sent to her.                             “You’re giving away of one of the greatest movies of all time!” Engel announced with astonishment and mock interest,  prompting Kasia to roll her eyes. “You sure you don’t want this? Gordon Gekko, the Darth Vader of investing, master market manipulator slash destroyer of companies and all around greedy bastard?” he declared, followed by him quoting lines from the movie.  “Thanks for spoiling it for me, loser! I was going to take it,” Kasia snapped, even though she had no actual desire to have the movie; her primary objective was simply irritating him. “How does a drunk, surfer rock, poser, wannabe researcher know so much about this stuff anyway? Isn’t this about the establishment and all that?”                             “Let's just say I used to day trade for a bit, so I know a thing or two about it,” he replied, not convincing the others within earshot.                            Yuki froze for a second. A chill went down her spine and her heart began pounding in her chest.

              “Engel, tell me, what happens in this movie?” she asked in a worried voice.                                                                                                                 “I’d be delighted to tell you all about it. Pull up a chair,” he said, the others in the room chuckling amongst themselves. “Well, it starts with-”              

“Just the short version, the main plot points,” Yuki interrupted.              Engel was taken aback. “Ok, ok, sheesh, what’s the hurry? Basically this billionaire investor would use dirty tricks to make money, like having insider information to make stock trades, or he would buy up companies and then strip the assets and raid the pension funds- pretty much obliterate the company to gut it for money. There was this younger associate he hired-.”              

He stopped in the middle of his sentence when Yuki got up from her chair and ran out of the building, trying to get reception so she could call her father. She let it ring until his voicemail came on, then left a frantic message. Immediately after, she attempted to reach her sister but there was no answer from her either. Her heart still racing, she ran upstairs to get to her computer and went to the web site for the Tokyo stock exchange, entering the ticker symbol for her family’s company. Sukekuni Corp. was up a considerable amount. She pored over the news headlines.               “Hermoni Corporation gains controlling stake in Sukekuni Company.” Another read, “Hermoni positions itself as a global leader in healthcare.”                                                                                                                               She felt ashamed at the loss of her family legacy. Tears welled up and began trickling down her cheeks, and she regretted getting involved with the scoundrel who had done this. This wasn’t an accident; TD International on the package she received was Theodore Dantanian’s company, it had to be. It was a message being sent to her. Play ball or face the consequences.                                                                                                                 Her sister sent a text message: “Mt. Fuji went off for the family today. Father is in the hospital, he had heart attack, mother is fine. Will call when I know more. Luv Aki.”                                                                                     Yuki started to come unglued. She went back outside and grabbed some snow on the ground and rubbed her face in it so she could feel something to take away the pain in her heart.              

“What the hell is going on with Yuki? One minute she’s asking who wants the movie, the next she's running around hysterically crying and whatnot. I don’t understand women at all,” Engel said in a dazed voice.                                                                                                                                             “And you never will,” Kasia retorted with mock condescension.               Engel walked over to Dorian’s office to give him the invoice numbers. He handed Dorian the paper, and whispered that Yuki was crying about something.                                                                                                   “Give me a moment, I apologize,” Dorian said to the student who was in the office with him. He went out into the hallway where Engel was waiting.                                                                                                                 “What’s this about?” he asked, hoping it had nothing to do with the events of yesterday.                                                                                                                 “Beats me,” Engel replied. “One minute I was giving Yuki a synopsis of a movie, and the next minute she was running around like a chicken with its head cut off.”                                                                                     Dorian peeked his head into the lab. “Yuki?” he sheepishly called out.                                                                                                                                             “I think she’s outside; her coat and purse are still here. She's probably trying to make a call. She was really upset about something,” Kasia replied, while staring at her screen.

              The other students in the lab were quiet, murmuring to each other about the commotion they had just witnessed. Dorian went back into his office.               “I apologize; we seem to be having a small crisis of some sort. I’m going to have to cut this short for today, but I’ll have office hours again on Friday. Don’t worry about your test grade. The final will be curved, so just make sure you go over what we talked about.”                                                         His student packed her books in her bag and gave him a dreamy smile. As soon as she had left he locked his office and went down the stairs to go outside, where he saw Yuki sitting on the steps of the building. Her hands were red, her face strewn with tears, and she was trembling amidst sobs.                                                                                                                 “Yuki,” Dorian said softly. “Let’s get you inside.” He gently put one hand under her elbow and the other around her waist, and the two of them walked into the building. They went into the conference room, where she sat down and Dorian motioned he would be right back. A moment later he returned with a cup of hot chocolate and a paper towel. After handing them over, he waited a few minutes until she was composed rather than peppering her with questions.

“My family lost our company today and my father had a heart attack. I have to return to Japan,” she said, amidst a renewed crying spell.              “I’m so sorry, Yuki. I hope your father is okay. Is there anything I can do for you?”                                                                                                                 “Help me get to the airport. I need to book a flight.” She slowly got up, dried her face and blew her nose. There were several student onlookers rubbernecking as she made her way into the lab.                                                         “Yuki, can I help you with anything?” Kasia asked solemnly.              Knowing that she was bound to ask, Yuki decided it was best to just come out and tell her.                                                                                                  “My father had a heart attack. I will be going back to Japan for now.” The news shocked everyone within earshot. Yuki conducted the bulk of the main research in the lab; her shoes would be difficult to fill.               By some miracle Yuki managed to find a flight that was leaving close to three hours from her present time. It cost a small fortune, but no price was too high for her family.                                                                                     Dorian got his coat and the two walked outside to the bus stop. He followed Yuki back to her apartment and waited outside while she packed. An empty feeling washed over him with the knowledge that she was possibly leaving for good, or at least for a long time, along with a sadness for the pain she was burdened with.                                                                                     They didn’t say much to each other on the way to the airport; he didn’t want to add to her troubles. “I will see you again, won’t I?” he asked softly.                                                                                                                               She put her head on his arm as he drove. “Of course you will.” They continued their conversation in Japanese for the remainder of the journey. Over the past several years he had gone so far as pretending to learn her native language in order to make her feel special despite the fact that he was already quite fluent.

              Every now and then he would purposefully mispronounce some words, or use incorrect sentence structure, so she could correct him. It helped break up the monotony of lab work, and she respected him even more for it. In Yuki's eyes he was learning Japanese for her sake, which explained in part why she was so loyal to him.                                                        “I’ll call you when I get there, and let you know that I arrived safely. I don’t know what’s going on for sure, but I think that Dantanian  was behind the take-over of our family’s company. He tried to pretend that he would help return control to my father, but he was obviously giving me a veiled threat. He must really be serious about you. You should be careful, who knows what he is capable of.”                                                                        Dorian felt heat rise in his face and his hand gripped the steering wheel tightly. “Yuki, when we meet again, there is something important I need to talk to you about.”                                                                                                   With that said they didn’t speak much more. Dorian dropped her off at the terminal, he hugged her goodbye, and she smiled and waved as he drove off. On the way back to the University he decided it was time to put his research into high gear and learn as much as possible while he could. His mother had warned long ago that if anyone discovered his secrets he would end up as a lab rat. She was the only one alive who knew about him aside from his biological parents, whom he had never known. That was the reason he had become a genetic researcher in the first place; if he was to go under a microscope, it would be his eyes looking through it.

              The radio was tuned to a news station as he was driving back. With his schedule it was difficult for him to find out what was going on in the world, so he turned it up to listen.  A talk radio show was discussing the record high unemployment and how the global economy was in the beginning of the second great depression. One of the hosts mentioned that as a result of  cities going bankrupt, police forces were diminished, leading to uncontrolled crime.  That was followed by discussion of the riots taking place in multiple cities and states around the country as well as the international trouble with China and the chaos in Europe. In addition, there had been a tremendous increase in natural disasters that year, causing increased financial strain. The consensus was that the world seemed to be coming apart at the seams.                                                                                                   “More depressing news,” Dorian thought. This was all that seemed to be on the radio, television, and internet anymore. Looking out the window at a red light one could see the desperation people were facing; even in these frigid temperatures there were two to three people at many intersections, their signs in hand, each with their own heart-wrenching story asking for assistance. He felt his spirit ache for them and wondered where the world was headed.                                                                                                   All this brought him back to the reality of the situation: Funding for his research was all but spent. Up to this point he had been able to provide for the majority of  it from the sale of several patents, in addition to the money he had received from winning a Nobel Prize in Medicine. But as a result of the out of control spending and government debt, research money was scarce.               With the pressure he was facing from Dantanian, he would have to put his secret research more in the open in order to find the answers he was looking for.                                                         What made him different? Why was he not getting any older? Why had he never been sick a day in his life? Why was he able to run five times faster than the average male his size, and why was he so much stronger?               “Am I some kind of alien?” he occasionally thought. At a young age he would read comic books in his bedroom and try to see if he had super powers like his heroes did. Would he have X-ray vision like Superman? Or could he control the weather like Thor? Or use the force like Luke? To his dismay, he was unable to perform any of those feats. He could run very fast, but not
super
fast; he was very strong, but not quite
super
strong; and he had no other observable abilities -aside from not getting sick, but who wants that power when you’re a child? His mother would often remind him to take it easy when he played sports with other children, so as not to draw attention to himself, or hurt anyone.                             As he got older he became interested in genetics, in an effort to find a logical, scientific explanation for his gifts. His aging didn't really appear as being unusual until he reached about forty five years and it seemed suspicious that he still looked twenty five or so.

              Up till now he had been able to discover everything that Dantanian had and then some. The blood sample that he had carelessly left in the cooler at Primase was his own, and undoubtedly Dantanian would be back to find the source. Unfortunately, Dorian wasn't sure what he was looking for. He knew that the makeup of his blood was of a similar make up to that of the early humans, with some exceptions. Something else was driving him, though; compelling him to look further. He was close to a discovery. It was a feeling he had, a guiding force; one which would seemingly take him far beyond his understanding to discern a greater mystery.