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Toy Land
New City of Shanghai

Hour 09:54

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He stands in front of the tall lavish building, hands buried deep in his pant pockets, feet planted to the cement ground. Over the automated doors hangs a neon plaque, 'Toy Land' blaring at him in a thick font. His eyes vaguely look into the crowd bustling in the colorful world beyond the closed doors.

Heba could sense the presence of his company and his continuous stares practically burning on to the back of his head. The man, or in other words his escort sent by FFI, was supposedly a huge brute, nearly two heads taller than him with a bushy beard. One of his bared forearms is littered with several tattoos drawn using a dye, unlike his own. One of the many designs is a collective tattoo of moon-phase, drawn along his forearm among dozens other tinier ones. Upon seeing him Heba could say how much of a fan of chicken skewers the guy is, for he was holding four thick sticks which Heba doubted to be from the night market that's been up on the other side of the city.

After a few deep breaths, coming to terms with himself on enduring the upcoming prompted lecture on 'Why and How to Not to Violate the Code of Conduct' by his boss, Heba unroots himself from the ground and strides towards the building.

The moment he steps through the automated door he gets greeted by the horrendous splashes of bright colors, making him squint. The place looks as if a thousand unicorns have taken their turns in throwing up in the place. And as if that isn't enough torment for him, the place is invaded by a swarm of little human beings, who screech instead of talk and Naruto-run instead of walk.

Heba's eyes unwillingly dart between the colorful yet haunting shelves of plushies, dolls, and all sorts of other toys arranged around the premises, trying to find the location of the receptionist's desk. After a few rounds of looking around he finally manages to tag down his target. Getting a hold of himself by sucking in another lungful he walks further into the building, taking long steps towards the mahogany desk in sight.

He purposely avoids those intensive eye contacts all the men and women in the gathering try to capture him in and ignores those very audible whispers of comments on his whole black being from black combat boots to his obsidian-colored jeans and overly large hoodie to the black veil. Added to the negative aura he could be probably giving off, now he is strolled by a gigantic beast too.

Upon merely seeing the guests near her at the desk, the fair lady behind the mahogany desk, leaps out of her seat as if struck by lightning. She beams merrily at Heba like a sunflower in full bloom in a very sunny morning. "Long time no see--Daldong", she almost coos, sending a wink his way. Her newfound enthusiasm attracts more eyes to him, making him mentally facepalm.

Heba recalls why he has never enjoyed any of his visits to this place: the HQ of FFI. And realizes that this woman has always topped the list of Whys. He vaguely wonders why no-one would ever consider having a new applicant for the post.

When X was still with them, it has always been him to be her main target. With his jet-black hair in a sleek style adorning his perfectly sculptured face, neatly rolled up sleeves of the white shirt he wore and the 5'o clock shadow that never really left his face no matter what he did attract women like bee to the honey. Whenever they happened to visit the HQ anytime, this specific receptionist would try her techniques on him. And X too seemed to be enjoying it, for he never missed a chance of flirting with this beautiful lady of milky white skin and urbun-brown hair in her usual style of a white shirt and a black pencil skirt. 

Heba in that case never really had either time or any interest in such things as seducing women or least to get seduced. And it took him till X's sudden disappearance to realize how grateful he should have been to the guy for saving him from those intense stares of this particular receptionist as she swipes her gaze up and down on his whole being.

"Yeah yeah---get done with already. We are late to meet Shannon."

A growl of a voice that emerged from his back snaps Heba out of his trance. He turns around only to be met with his brute mate who has taken it on him to rescue Heba this time. He has spoken up for the first time during their long journey from Macau to Shanghai. Heba's eyes widen at his company's sudden wakening and the scowling brute just shrugs it off. The woman's golden-red eyes briefly shift to the brute before fixedly settling back again on Heba.

"Let me just check it out real quick if he's available for you right now. He didn't inform me beforehand though." She sing-songs and turns around to type down something on the glowing screen next to her.

"Oh, he is waiting for you at Lab note-nine-seven, floor minus one-o-one."

"In a lab? And not in his cabin?". The brute interrupts once again earning another briefest glance from the receptionist.

"Yes. In a lab. And not in his cabin."

"Alright. Got it." Wasting no minute brute guy hurries his way to the elevator, leaving Heba behind. Heba throws his head in one hasty nod at the receptionist before breaking into a jog behind the giant.

The elevator door shuts behind them and Heba falls back to his comfort zone of less noise, no talks, no colors and just their reflections on the silvery elevator walls. With a slight jerk the elevator starts falling down, taking them to the underground laboratory complex.

FFI HQ has one of the most significant architectures in the New city of Shanghai. It is one of those few specific towers that stood upon tons of secrets. The part built on the ground that is visible to inhabitants of Lands is very cheerful mall complex while it hides down the FFI. Finally, the elevators dings and opens to the floor negative one-o-one. They step out of the elevator, brute leading the way as they enter the world of FFI.

Contrastive to the place they are coming from, floor one-o-one is extremely quiet and feels as if void of life. The place is so stale and colorless with flat walls coated in a dull grey saved for the moss green carpet matted the walkways covering the vast interior. Heba being the shady self he is admires this arrangement, nonetheless. He tastes contentment in the air as he breaths much easily than before. They walk along a narrow hallway and miniature buzz-bees like robots, whiz past them. Their none-stop buzzing as they glide around him reminds Heba of X again. Like the sunflower guy he is, he used to like it when those buzz-bees roamed around him. There was once a rumor going around that he stole one of the new badges of the buzz-bee robots and took them home with him.

The giant suddenly strikes to a halt making Heba almost stumble upon him. He gestures at a door that has 'Cabin 097' carved into it.

Heba grips the strips of his backup hanging from his shoulder and takes a deep breath in, as an attempt of preparing himself face the wrath of his boss. Then he knocks on the door three times, as was mandated, and waits for a reply. A faint 'come in' is heard and the door clicks open on its own letting the visitors in.

A/N: First read done. Definitely not edited yet. Let me know if you think that seems odd or can use a fix. Leave me a comments and votes as well :)

wc-1279