Chapter 167

Ace took a sip of his warm tea, a gift from one of India's biggest moguls, given personally by him to his grandmother. It was nice, and it gave Ace the feeling as if he was in a garden of flowers, one of the various palace gardens that Ace had visited during these past few years.

He looked outside, at the wide expanse of sea he could observe, it was visible for as much as the eye could see. A mass of blues and greens, encompassing the island Ace was in. He also observed the few people that were already on the island. They were mostly staff, but a few of his grandmother's close business partners and friends were there as well, having received an invitation to enjoy all the island had to offer much earlier than most others would.

Somewhere in the pool, enjoying the morning sun and going for a calm swim, others, were running or having breakfast in the various luxurious terraces one could find throughout the whole island. Of course, some people had not even woken up, and were still sleeping, shattered from last night's party, or exhausted by the afternoon's gala.

He finished up his tea, and went downstairs, intent on going to the sauna. He usually worked it into his workout, but he had decided to do something different today, this time, instead of attempting to sweat and relax his muscles as much as possible, he would just take it as a way of meditating. He would alternate between the ice-cold room, and the scalding sauna, while the temperature of the water in the room changed, he would concentrate on his muscles, but mostly, on his breathing.

In. Out. In. Out. A repetitive process, that helped him calm down, and as of now, he had a lot of calming down to do. His sister was here. He had not seen or heard from her in years, even if he had never really looked for her, it was still insane.

He wondered where she had been… 'No. Focus, breathe…' In. Out. His breath stabilised again, he was reaching the peak of consciousness, his brain working overtime, helping him reach that state of optimum activity… "Hey!", a cheery voice greeted him, and the spell was broken, his breath remained in tune, and yet, to Ace, it felt erratic.

He looked at the approaching figure of his sister, "Good morning.", he smiled, "What's up?", he asked, while looking at her smiling face.

"Nothing really, I am just surprised that you came here, I usually come to this one every morning since I got here, but I guess they did not tell you.", she spouted the blatant lie.

"I guess so.", 'Bullsh*t. What is she talking about? Of course, I asked- ahh, I see.'

That was when she finished her sequence of tapping, and Ace tapped his finger back. Since she had come in, she had been lightly tapping her finger on her hand, a harmless gesture which Ace noticed instantly. "They are listening.", she tapped, Ace had no idea who 'they' were, but for now, he would listen and play along.

"So, I was just going to go out, I finished my session already.", Ace grinned, do you want to meet later though?", he asked, and she smiled gratefully at him for not blowing her cover.

"Sure, I'll show you a cool place."

"Let's do it then, see you later.", Ace said, as he left the room, more troubled than he had first come in.

***

"Ok, Alfred, I need you to give me something, I assume you have already analysed what happened?", Ace said, as he set down the watch that he always wore. A custom-designed piece that he had then modified, so that Alfred would always have access to it, regardless of where he found himself. Of course, there were certain places where he would be unable to get the feed, but for the most part, it was an extremely useful gadget.

"I understand sir, I will get you something as quick as I can, as of now, I am already compiling data I have obtained into a file, which you should be able to read within the hour."

"Thanks, your speed and effectiveness is appreciated."

"Of course sir, I aim to please."

***

For an hour, Ace just relaxed in his room, researching on various topics and subjects that caught his interest, whilst all the while, continuing his compiling of information on the people that were in the forum. It was slow going, but he was getting faster and faster as he got more practice, and his educated guesses were quickly becoming deductions.

Ace had no doubts that there were people on the forum that were doing the exact same thing he was doing, and yet, he knew he would be most likely the most effective. Not many would have a supercomputer AI available, and the power of deduction he had obtained from the extensive study he had and still did carry out.

Nevertheless, the possibility existed, and because of that, he ensured that he only posted when necessary, and in such a way that tracking him would not be easy at all. In this way, he would limit the possibility of being found out by anyone doing the same thing he was.

After slightly less than an hour, Alfred pinged him, informing him that he had finished compiling the file, and so, Ace asked him to display it for him.

What he read, surprised him.

She had apparently engaged in activity with pretty much any criminal empire one could think off. The problem was that she had always used fake names, and done it so well that it was pretty much impossible to trace it back to her. Normally, that would be good, especially considering the things she had done, and yet, had she used her real name, she would have found no problems at running amok, except maybe a warning or petition to leave.

However, by doing it this way, they had managed to track her, but without knowing who 'she' was. It would make things complicated, but even if his grandmother did not want to take part in this, Ace would most likely be able to fix it. In the past few years, he had built his relationships with pretty much any notable criminal and non-criminal groups or organisations. Especially ones that had heirs his age. The truth was, that Ace was a great manipulator, which meant that it was quite easy for him to simply form good bonds with people. Due to them, he had a great position, and now, it was not uncommon for someone that wished to contact a certain person to come to him first, in order to request that he vouch in their favour.

Part of it was because it was rumoured that he was more than happy to listen to anyone - which he was, and another was that his vouching truly counted for something, it was not just a token. Someone he vouched for would truly be taken seriously, and would be treated with the utmost respect by whomever he wished to speak to.

On the other side of the coin, of course, it was not easy to get him to vouch for you, you would have to truly have something he thought unique or necessary. This meant that while they were reduced in number, the people he introduced to the various empires, were pretty much always successful. And of course, they would always remember who it was that gave them everything they now had.