Call Me Ibrahim Chapter 2

Story
Sam shoved his hands into his pockets and walked into Robert Industries.

"You're here. Wait over there. It's going to be about ten minutes," said the blonde secretary greeting him on the top floor. In his experiences, "ten minutes" normally meant "an hour or more."

"Wow, nice couch. Pipi!" A large sofa greeted him upon entering the waiting room. It was still wrapped in plastic. Without thinking, Sam started to remove it.

"Hey, be careful. Don't take off the cover yet. That thing cost $3,000." She lowered her voice at the last part, lest someone should hear her.

"That's more than my salary."

Sam gave up looking for a magazine, got up from the sofa, and entered a large conference room. Bookshelves filled with books lined the walls. This was a reading room, as well. He grabbed books randomly off the shelf, but they were all difficult to understand. Topics concerning the economy and its analysis and its relationship to market changes in 2011.

A woman coughed from the other side of the wall. It was Jenny's voice. They had been associates for years, and he could recognize her just from the sound of her breathing. He yanked on a heavy book titled "World War II" and leaned in. With a click, one of the bookshelves opened. He tried to return one of the books to its place, but it wouldn't fit. He placed the book somewhere on top of the bookshelf and walked in. It was dim inside. There were glass display cases along the four walls, like a science museum. Each side had a name written on it. At the end of the room, a figure could be seen.

A woman wearing a beige suit with silvery hair had her head down, as she looked at some colorful crystals. The yellow agate she held belonged to Gordon. Since turning thirty-three, Gordon had turned everything he touched into liquid. Thankfully, despite this dangerous ability, no big problems had arisen, and Gordon decided to go off and live on a desert island.

He drank rainwater and ate fruit from the trees like an animal. When Sam and Jenny found him, he had dropped to below forty kilograms (88 lbs). Jenny sealed Gordon's powers. Jenny possessed the ability to seal, born of a family that works with crystals. She can neutralize another's ability and seal it into a crystal. But, in Gordon's case, one can say that she had failed. It was Gordon who had strongly desired it, despite the fact it was Jenny's first time; she removed not only his powers, but his personality as well.

"You did your best," Lord Robert had said, but every time she comes here and looks at a crystal, she is reminded of those moments in time.

It's not easy to distinguish between the two. Some abilities are rooted deeply in emotions, while other abilities are locked deep within the brain. And yet, she believed Gordon was happy. He is healthy and he laughs a lot. He could still use a knife and fork, despite his now low intelligence level.

"Are you done with Evan?" Jenny's face was red from a fire. A descendant of a fire witch, Evan had created a lot of problems. Evan was not like Gordon, and physical force was likely to be used. She stretched out her ash covered hand and set a dark ruby in Evan's place. A gem that evokes fire. The glass case closed with a whirring sound.

"No. 2082. Fire Burner. Ability sealed," said a computerized female voice. Who knows, it really might be a computer. "Did it go well this time?" "Yes," she answered curtly.

His personality was left intact. Evan did not require any more concern once his ability was removed. Even though he had engaged in bad things in the past, he won't be able to commit much beyond petty crimes. The police can handle him now. She next turned her sights to an amethyst, flashing purple. Thompson. She couldn't be sealed perfectly, either. Unlike her ancestors, Hillary could not teleport on command. After many catastrophic incidents, she came looking for Jenny.

"I can't live like this any longer," she had said.

Jenny was hesitant, but did as Hillary asked. During the process, Hillary disappeared. Only her abilities remained, locked within that purple crystal. It's unknown where she may have disappeared to, but since her abilities are now sealed, she cannot come back. The flashes of purple mean heart beats.

"You're not dead". Jenny uttered these words, as she held the crystal with both hands. She becomes too attached to the subjects she had sealed.

A door slides open. The echoes of two people's footsteps rang all the way into the room.

"You were both told to wait in the waiting room," scolded Lord Robert. Lord Robert always spoke in that sort of tone. He did praise you if the mission went well, but it was limited to "good job" or "thanks for the hard work." Maybe he's just not emotionally invested in it. Sam searches for individuals with special abilities in the service of A.E.G.I.S., which was led by Lord Robert.

Like a sniffer dog, if Lord Robert said, go smell it, boy – sniff sniff – where is it, boy – run, boy -- he would pick up the scent with abilities of his own. He used more than just his sense of smell. His sixth sense also revealed direction and distance. After that, Jenny takes over.

"I should ask for a raise, I'm sure I'm much more helpful than that couch", he thought.

"Speak, Igor," Lord Robert said to the lanky Russian who was following behind him.

Igor was Lord Robert's accountant. He thought the pay would be good, but between his measly salary and part-time job as a photographer, it was still difficult to make enough for MJ's stage clothes. Igor was intelligent and good with numbers. He liked Lord Robert. He was the only one who could stop Lord Robert cold from doing anything reckless. If it weren't for Igor, Sam and Jenny could have been stranded in the wilds of Africa, or in a dangerous place like Chechnya, for months on end.

"You're too optimistic, Robeeert," he often said to him.

Lord Robert would then try to convince Igor that he's being too pessimistic. Igor still had a strong Russian accent, on top of having learned English in England. As a result, he tended to elongate his vowels. He wants to be able to speak faster.

"Gregooory, we must send him to the doctooooor."

"You said this was just child's play. Do we have to respond?" asked Lord Robert.

"We didn't think it was serious because there were only four cases in the last ten years. Consider if all of this had happened during the last year".

"Just assumptions. How do you expect to start anything based on just assumptions?"

"There might be more out there that we haven't found yet."

Sam listened to the two men argue and then looked over at Jenny. She didn't know either. This seemed like the right time to interrupt.

"What's wrong, Lord Robert?"

"He's getting worked up over some bird that flew over the Loch Ness three years ago," pouted Lord Robert.

"Wasn't that just a rumor?"

"It was true. The ones before that may have been rumors. Plus, it was not a bird, it was a pterosaur. A pteranodon, to be exact. A.E.G.I.S. was able to recover the carcass".

"A summoner?" Jenny spoke up for the first time.

"There have been other incidents. A soccer field appeared amongst the Nazca lines one year ago. We had a hard time erasing it".

"See, what did I say, just child's play", giggled Lord Robert.

"No, it's not. It just appeared overnight. There are planes that fly over to keep watch over the Nazca lines. If someone was working overnight, they would've been detected right away. And the depth of the lines and the soil analysis show that it was made a long time ago. A regular human did not create this. This is similar to the Statue of Liberty case. The torch was replaced with an ice cream cone".

"Now, that was funny", he said.

"It's really funny" said Lord Robert.

"I don't see anything too serious about it", Jenny commented.

"That's what I'm saying, nobody got hurt", Igor thought for a moment and continued.

"Imagine what the ability might be. In a very short period of time, a large drawing was carved into the ground, the Tower of Pisa was tilted a bit more, and a single part of the Statue of Liberty was swapped out. And the ability can conjure up something like a dinosaur. Plus, we compared lists of visitors to those areas, and they show no one in common. What this means is that someone was able to do these things without actually having to go there. One can assume that it's someone who can freely turn their imagination into reality. Thus," Igor paused dramatically, "this is an as yet unknown ability. We must go and investigate this."

Lord Robert did not object. He was rather obsessed with differentiating and organizing individuals. Igor had persuasively made his point.

"Why did you call us here, Robert?" Sam's voice broke the silence.

"The reason why I called you all here, is this. Sam, you go find this individual. Jenny, once captured, seal up their abilities, if necessary. You have one month."

"How am I supposed to catch this person if we're not even sure what the ability is?"

"I can't just seal people". They both rose like a swarm of bees and buzzed in complaint.

"Ah, then I'll give you half a year. Find him ASAP, or have you forgotten the oath?"

Those with abilities must give it their all, to save just a single life, even if it means sacrificing your own.

These words they had recited countless times. Igor blankly looked at the two of them and spoke.

"This is very important. We are counting on youuuuuu."

"Easy to saaaaay," Lord Robert mumbled. Jenny laughed.

Lord Robert also burst into laughter and looked at Igor. Igor had a blank look on his face. Perhaps he didn't get what was so funny.

"Anyway, do you think that MAN U will come out on top this year? The FBI director made me make a bet with him".

"They won't beat Barça," Igor replied. He responded with the urgency of a crazed soccer fan.

"Damn. Looks like I'll be losing more money this year."

"You're rich, what are you so worried about?" asked Sam.

Sam wondered how many months' worth of his salary Lord Robert had bet.