What's A King Without A System?

A few minutes after the trio of Leonard, Ben and Billy went out of Leonard's office, the door to the Cleansing room was opened without a knock. That can only mean one person came in, the man who pretty much controls everything in this facility.

"Pale, when's the next customer going to arrive?" Leonard walked with a frown towards Pale was lounging on the couch. His eyes were much more lively than the cranky face he displayed some time ago, making Pale think that something was coming. It was always when he lets his guard down that something wrong happens.

"It should be in three hours, maybe less. This one's going to be a three-person batch, sir, so maybe you could, you know, let me help you prepare?" An excited look flashed on Pale's face before hurriedly returning to his genial smile when he saw no change in expression on Leonard's face. It wasn't the first time he made side-shots like this to try and get something from the old man, not even the hundredth.

'Why do I even bother?' Pale thought to himself as he prepared himself to stand up. The paperwork for the procedure was waiting for him, and he needed Jasmine's signature so he could wrap that one up. Only after finishing this up can the credits go through and the appointment is considered complete.

'I'm guessing she'd leave a good review when she returns to her husband?'

Pale thought to himself as she was taking a little longer than expected to change out of her clothes, but then again, most of the customers couldn't help but stare at themselves a little longer than they normally would. After all, it wasn't every day that these people could look decades younger.

"Alright, then. Go get a few samples in the back and bring it inside the Testing Chamber." Leonard didn't mind giving the kid a pass today, after all, it was his last day at work.

It would also enable him to get more time later when he passes everything to the kid. Although it was harsh, they won't do anything to the kid. He might even get promoted because of the lack of a suitable replacement. There's a lot of value in the assistants of head scientists, such as how he was formerly someone's assistant that had a rise in rankings due to the loss of his superior. While it could be seen as the higher ups having no better option in their hands, it wasn't true at the time, as he actually was the best option.

While Leonard was walking to check on his Serum Nebulizer, he found out that he had already finished his initial reading and still, the materials weren't anywhere near him. Assessing the damages every time he uses it allows him to quickly scrutinize if a part is out of place or if there's a problem that needs more attention than normal. Luckily, there wasn't anything like that here at all.

"Hey, kid! Hurry up!" Leonard looked back to see that Leonard was still sitting on the lounging couch usually meant for the customers. His blank expression made Leonard smile as the kid finally had something thrown his way that caught him off guard.

"Uh, yes. Just a moment, sir!" Pale quickly moved from his half-sitting, half-standing position and ran to the back where the supplies meant for the Cleansing procedure was stored. He went through the serums carefully, picked up three of the remaining seven, and went back to Leonard's side with a huge grin on his face.

"Careful now, kid. Don't get too excited or you might mess things up. Now look closely, this is..." Leonard and Pale spent an hour rummaging through the Serum Nebulizer, the older man explained each part carefully, and with an intelligent student like Pale, the two had a quick time with the tutorial.

"Alright, that's good. Be careful not to let those two wires get too close with each other, the resulting shock when the machine starts can cause them to get tied up together and cause a clog if done too sloppily." In the end, Leonard had given Pale the role of maintenance while he guided and commented from the side.

Pale had never had a more fulfilling experience since he started working for Leonard. So much so that he felt something drop from his eyes and almost made him mess up as his vision got cloudy.

"Hey, kid. You alright?" Leonard looked at Pale worryingly as the young man suddenly started tearing up without any indication of doing so in the first place.

"Yeah, sorry about that, sir. I just, I didn't think you'd teach me any of this. Now, you're suddenly giving me everything I want, and I have this strange feeling. It's like you're leaving or something." Pale, who was holding on to a pair of Chippy Wrenches, placed the tools down on the ground and turned around to face a pale Leonard.

"Sigh." Leonard looked at the young man kneeling on the floor and was reminded of his children. The children he left behind to fend for themselves, without a parent to take care of them. Then he superimposed the image of his oldest son, Tommy, to the young man kneeling before him.

'Am I about to abandon another son?' Pale's look was bordering between abandonment and hopeful. It wasn't clear from Leonard's face what his thoughts were, but Pale could feel that he was on to something.

"You really want this old pile of bones to die? Come on, kid. I'll live for a hundred more years. Haha." Leonard laughed the rising tension away and went on to guide the young man over what to do. All this while, he hadn't touched a single object, giving all the work to Pale.

"I didn't mean it like that, sir. You know what I mean." Pale frustratedly pointed out while watching Leonard sit down on the couch nearby while fanning himself with his hands.

'Hmmm...' Leonard hadn't taken a sip of his coffee that Pale prepared for him a while ago. He might not drink it anymore because it was cold, but Pale hadn't seen his boss leave behind a cup of coffee untouched before. The old man was acting strange this morning, too strange that there must be something going on.

'Is there a change in the plans? Did he find out?' Pale couldn't help but feel like his mission was exposed and that the old man was preparing him for an execution.

Making him get what he wants then suddenly, bang, the old man goes and kills him without any warning. He could do it, he never saw him do it before, but Pale was sure that he could do it. He had seen the pent-up stress and anger this old man had, there might be nothing he wouldn't do.

"Are you finished?" Leonard looked at Pale who had stopped working with his hands and slapped his knees to wake him up from his deep thoughts.

"Ah, ahh! Yes? No, I mean, no, not yet, sir." Pale stammered his reply while trying so desperately not to cry. He didn't know what was with Leonard today, but the years of hard work finally paid off. Now he can leave and go for greener pastures.

...

"Is it handled?" Ben had an irritated ring to his voice as he spoke to Leonard who had just left the Testing Chamber.

It wasn't unusual for someone to say goodbye to people they have worked with for a long time when they're about to leave. That's if, and it's a big if, you have a healthy and normal working relationship. 

But for people like Leonard, people who are supposed to be escaping as sneakily as possible, didn't conform to any common sense and went and met with his assistant anyway. Although Leonard assured Ben that nothing wrong would come from it, and that he'd be sure that this would even help their escape, the danger of being discovered was still up in the air at this moment.

"Yeah, I'm done. Let's go." Leonard didn't bother explaining himself and moved closer to Ben so that he'd be hidden behind his [Cloaking Barrier].

'Damn, this always f.u.c.k.i.n.g hurts!' He placed his hand on his waist and pressed a button that made his t.h.i.g.h twitch. An orange glow overtook his deep black eyes and made him look menacing when added with his emotionless expression.

"You took like, a minute. Not many words to exchange between the two of you, huh?" Billy couldn't help but shrug his shoulders at how quick Leonard was in saying goodbye.

He had to check up on the room Leonard had left behind without turning his head back even once. That was because while taking Leonard for his word was enough for Ben, Billy wasn't going to take that sort of chance. He was about to leave, he didn't need that kind of stain on his record now.

'What the hell?' But what Billy saw inside wasn't what he expected at all. The man wasn't working again as if nothing happened, nor was he crying as his boss left him behind.

No, he was just sitting on a couch while an empty cup was placed on the table in front of him. His eyes were listless, but tears had clearly fallen from them. He was mumbling words that Billy couldn't hear from all the way over the door. The young man had a terrified look on his face while his arms extended forwards like he was in an embrace.

'He's an Illusionist?' Billy looked at Leonard with another light as his guess turned true before his very eyes. Leonard's old and weak looking body had turned to one much younger and stronger looking for a few seconds. Billy blinked a few times and his body returned back to what he remembered it to be. As Ben was at the front of the trio, he wasn't able to see any of it happen.

"What did you do with him?" Billy couldn't help but shiver at the thought he just got.

'Gulp.' Billy had cold sweat run through his back as he recalled their initial meeting. That they were threatening the man in front of him without a doubt in their hearts that they would succeed. Turns out, there was more to this man than they knew about.

"Just wanted answers to questions that were bothering me. Nothing to concern yourself with." Leonard gave Billy a soft smile while laughing heartily in his heart. He had thought that there would be a lot of things left for Pale to do, but that didn't matter now. 

'So that kid really did turn out to be a spy. What I didn't know was that it was Mark that sent him. That boy finally grew to turn against me now? Or could it be that he's being forced to do things again.'

Turns out, it wasn't smart to judge a book by its cover. He'd thought that saving a man's wife was a lifetime debt, but people change. Even he changed, but it's time people knew just how much.