Heroes of the Past Volume 1 Chapter 3.5

A man of below medium height, wearing a white hoodie with an eagle on it, chopped vegetables in the sweltering kitchen. He felt his phone vibrate but didn't bother checking it. The phone continued vibrating on and off for the next ten minutes.

He finally exited the kitchen from the back entrance of the restaurant, checking who had been so persistent in contacting him. His eyes went over the missed messages and arrived at the name of the person.

"I don't think I can make it. Huh? Yeah, I talked to him a few days ago. Yeah, I'll call you after I'm done with work," the worker said.

Meanwhile, another man exited the deli at a superstore, finishing his shift for the day. He checked the name on his phone after hearing it ring. Surprise appeared on his face.

"Yeah, I just finished with work. Standby? Sure, I can do that. Something big going on?" the man asked, nearing a van.

The interior of it was dingy. The age of the vehicle showed with a broken heater and worn seats. Wires extended out from where a radio or CD player usually was located. The back of the vehicle was filled with an a.s.sortment of clothes and opened boxes. He continued listening to the person speak without saying a word.

"I can make it if I have to. Yeah, anyone else coming? Uh, yeah, I'm sure I can give him a ride there. See ya." The man hung up and connected his phone to a portable speaker resting on the pa.s.senger seat.

At a house about eight miles away, a man wearing gla.s.ses clicked on his mouse with rapid speed. A screen on the left side of his desk had a background on it while the right displayed a raid occurring for a certain MMORPG game. A pet.i.te girl with white hair wearing a beret hugging a Siberian Husky was displayed on the left.

"Who's calling me?" the man grabbed his phone, frustration on his face.

He pressed the phone against his left ear while his fingers flew across the keyboard. His main focus was on the game. But the name of the caller meant he should pay close attention to whatever they said.

"Oh, no problem. I can be here all week waiting. Everyone else can handle it so you don't even need me there," the man replied to the person on the other end.

He hung up and then shifted his full attention to the game. This was an important raid since it dropped special rewards that wouldn't appear again until next year. However, he did keep in mind what he heard. It might mean he would have less time doing stuff like this. But that wasn't for sure yet so he would just have fun while it lasted.

A woman jotted down notes in a large cla.s.sroom bustling with noise. She saw the message icon flash across her phone screen. She believed it could wait until later and checked it after cla.s.s ended.

"I will make sure to try and be there if anything comes up. Does everyone else know?" she typed, heading toward her next cla.s.s.

The response from the recipient was instantaneous. The woman read through it and thought about calling the person. She glanced at the time on the upper right corner of her phone. Any conversation with that person would take awhile so she decided against calling for now.

"I'm sure that she will reach out to me right away if anything happens. I will trust the others to do what they need to do," she whispered to herself, putting her phone away.

Finally, in a large building containing an underground workout facility, a woman sat down on a bench. A towel was draped over her neck and sweat poured down from her forehead. A wooden sword was propped up next to her. The weapon was quite worn though, splinters of wood jutting out from it. Small pieces of cotton and cloth stuck to the upper part of the blade.

She ignored the buzzing of her phone, knowing who was calling her. In fact, she spoke with this person only four hours ago. That conversation sparked her interest in returning to this building. She hadn't been here for almost a year now. But in light of the information she received, this was an optimal time to brush up on old skills.

Thirty minutes later, she finally returned the missed call on her phone. She was only one of a few selected people that either had enough courage or didn't care enough to make the person that called wait.

"Any updates or are you just calling to tell me to slow down what I'm doing?" she spoke first.

"Yeah, I know, I'll keep it in check. Don't be worried about me, you have more important things that need your attention. So, let me do what I'm doing and I'm sure that you'll deal with things on your end," the woman glanced at the splintered wooden blade.

With these various calls, things were now in place. The person responsible for all the calls created this contingency plan if anything went wrong. Having backup wasn't a bad idea.