Chapter 127:

"Thank you for having me over, it was a wonderful meal, and even better company.", Ace said, and the family smiled. "It was no problem at all, you are polite, kind, and most of all, you laugh at my jokes.", the father said, and they all laughed.

As he went out into the driveway and into the car that was waiting for him, they all stood outside, waving goodbye at the disappearing black silhouette of the black sedan.

***

'Man, I have to go there more often, the food was insane.', Ace thought, he had been to some of the best restaurants in the world, and they were, of course, amazing, but nothing felt as good as a home-cooked meal. The emotions that came with it, overpowered any expensive condiment, or fancy service. His trip home was spent on thinking various techniques and movements he could have perfected or taught better, either in a more efficient or intuitive manner, or both.

The reflection helped him realise his mistakes, and allowed him to improve theoretically, figuring things out which he would put to practise the next time he had the chance to do so. Once he got out of the car, he had figured out a way to execute a set of moves more efficiently.

The car stopped just in front of the penthouse building, and a distracted Ace only had a second to figure out something was wrong, before his world was cast into darkness.

***

"Wake up boy!", a rough voice sounded out, it grated in his ears like the sound of gravel crunching underneath a thick, rubber boot.

Cold water splashed on his face, but Ace was already awake. He used the precious seconds of silence to figure out what had happened, and his supersonic brain was able to find an answer in a matter of milliseconds.

'I have been kidnapped, by professionals. The hit was clean, and even with my enhanced senses, I was unable to tell something was wrong until the last second. They took me down in one hit, which considering my enhanced body is no easy feat. Furthermore, my head does not hurt, and from what I can detect, I am not heavily injured. All of this clearly points to professionals, the question is... What do they want? Is it another test? Or is it serious this time...', all of this and more went through Ace's brain, and within a brief moment, he had already figured out a plan.

"Wakey wakey boy, I have some questions, and you better answer.", the voice spoke again, and Ace tried to repeatedly blink, as if he was scared and confused, just like anyone in his position would be.

'For now, I have to mask my true feelings, the only way I get out of this is if they underestimate me. To get them to do that will not be easy, these guys are pros. They have questions, that is good, I have to buy as much time as possible, if they ask, I shall answer.'

"What do you know about The Tower?", the man spoke again.

"I do not know-", but before he could continue, a solid punch rocked his jaw. It landed perfectly, and while it did not knock out any teeth, it split both his lip and gum, blood beginning the pool in his bottom lip, slowly dripping towards his chin.

"Do not waste my time, I assure you, you can come out of this alive, my employer wants it done that way. However, that does not mean I am not allowed to put you through hell...", the warning was clear, the threat even more so. If he did not talk, Ace was f*cked.

'Ok, new info, they are hired, so definitely pros, anyone that dared to go against the family in such manner would not risk it with anything less. However, they either do not want to use it for some reason, or do not have specific teams under their rule that will handle this for them. That is weird, most large organisations do have at least one private military squad under their rule, which means the only reason they would hire a third party would be to cover their tracks or due to lack of availability. This is good, that narrows it down somewhat, since it is clearly someone that wants to cover their tracks. Third parties always leave crumbs for their own safety, now, I have to wait until my grandmother finds it, or I do, and then send her a message. For now though, just talk...'

"Ok, what is it you wish to know?", Ace asked, speaking slowly, as if his mouth impaired him. Really, it was him trying to buy as much time as possible, every second counted, since it could mean the difference between a trigger being pulled or not.

"Everything, but for now, who do you have deals with?", the voice seemed much calmer now, probably thinking Ace, a seemingly spoilt brat, had cracked as soon as it got a bit intense.

"Well, the question is, who do we not have deals with? I assume you guys for one, of course. Pretty much everyone that matters is in on it,", Ace let out a small laugh, which the man definitely did not appreciate, as shown by the annoyed grunt he let out. 'Now, time for the bait.' There are specifics, but you probably do not-", "Tell me everything.", the man intervened, and Ace smiled internally, 'The bait has been taken.'

From then on, Ace told him everything, and by everything, truly everything. He weaved in false information with real one, mostly just to add filler and waste time. He told him about each individual business, each worker, and the gossip. The man listened quietly, but by his heavy breathing, Ace could assume that he was not happy. For now, however, Ace was safe, as long as they thought he would give them useful information that was. Once they figured that all he was telling them were things they could easily find out for themselves, mixed in with made-up stories about unimportant characters, the game would be over for him, and the suffering would begin.

It took about three hours of non-stop talking for the man to stop Ace again with another bucket of cold water. The man told him to stop, and Ace spent about another minute 'coughing', before giving him a response, "Sorry about that, what happened? If there is anything wrong, you have to tell me. Remember that I cannot see with the blindfold I have on.", Ace said, and the man put a heavy hand on his shoulder, pressing down.

"Do you have any actually useful information?", he asked, a tinge of annoyance and rage in his voice, barely perceptible underneath his gravelly tone of voice.

"Of course, I told you, the main side manager of-", "No!", the man bellowed, and Ace laughed internally, 'Got him.', "Sorry for shouting, I got nervous, I mean something that we could use for our advantage, you are smart, you know what I mean.", he said.

"Ohhh, something like bank account numbers, and security room keys?", Ace asked rhetorically, pretty much feeling the excited nod from the brutish figure, barely detectable, as he blended in with the shadows in the room perfectly.