It was obvious his disgust for the MediBar was not going to be enough to hold back the thoughts.
He switched back to keeping his thoughts active himself.
He thought about the OMEGA Bastion.
The world's seat of power, rumors say it's a floating city. He was too low-tiered to know the truth about shit like that.
Ranked immediately after the World Power, where the Mega cities, media portrayed them as techno paradises.
Very large cities under the direct rule of Omega, there were 13 of them in total. Gaining access into any of them involved a lot of things, with the barest being a Tier 2 Denizen status.
A rank Jace would need a miracle to achieve in his lifetime..
After the mega cities came the ordinary cities, there were thousands of those scattered across the globe and ranked from E-grade to A-grade based on several factors like quality of life, average denizen tier, and economic value.
Neo-City was a C-Grade city…Ordinary cities like this did not really get any special attention from Omega, most leadership happened through an Instituted Tier 5 Citizen.
Below the Cities where the freeholds, Omega didn't give a damn about those. Just recalling those sent a chill down Jace's spine as memories of his life in those before Adea's birth came rushing back to him.
Beep…a timely tune came to the rescue. 76 more beeps till it was his turn.
Just how much longer will it be?... Jace raged mentally.
Halo took it as a challenge.
[Averaging Beep Interval]
[Average Beep Interval Established | 2.3 Minutes]
[Establishing Duration to 76th Beep…]
[Duration Established | Est. 175 Minutes]
Jace's mind short-circuited. Halo didn't care.
[Metrics Adjusted for Better Comprehension]
[Estimated Duration | 3 Hours]
It took a while for his mind to accept the implication of the result. It would be midday before he could even make a report
Even if the Enforcers took action immediately, which was a very delusionally, optimistic thought, would they get to her on time?
His legs turned jelly as he slid down to his butts. Too sore to care about the numerous gazes he had once again attracted.
There were no thoughts to chase back this time, just utter numbness and a hurt so intense he wanted to bash his head into the nearest wall as many times as possible.
"Hey, man?" a voice reached him beyond the chasm of his thoughts. "Everything alright."
Jace just stared aimlessly at the man, his mind barely registering the worn-out white shirt and bleached tie…A corpo slave prolly sweating off 10+ hours of work daily to secure a Tier 1 Citizenship.
Somehow taking his lack of a response as a cue to go on. The man continued.
"I am Benneson X," he introduced. "And it looks like you need some time to process stuff."
Jace did his best to follow the man's rambling as he digressed from sympathizing and began to explain how he needed to really get to work to maintain a stellar probationary record and how he had talked with everyone behind him already, and they let him move ahead of them.
"...So can I please move ahead of you?" the man concluded with a plea.
Jace felt his tummy churn with rage; he no longer felt like bashing his head on a wall.
The man's face would do just fine.
He took a large bite off the MediBar to yuck the desire off.
Bashing someone's head right in the Enforcer's Den will definitely come with strong repercussions.
Repercussions he couldn't afford with his current situation.
Swallowing the barely chewed edible with a whole lot of bio-lubrication, he settled on a different kind of assault to vent his rage,
"*uck You!!" he screamed with so much vigor that the crowded lobby silenced. All eyes in their direction.
"uck You and your *ucking stellar probationary record!" his voice resounded as he stood.
His frustration and rage found an outlet; they both went all in on it.
"My daughter is missing, and I have to **cking squat here and wait three hours before I can make a **cking report, and you think your stellar record is worth my *ucking spot."
"Man, I didn't know." Benneson X tried to mount a defence. It was obliterated instantly.
"Whatever made you assume your situation was more peculiar than that of anyone else?" Jace asked his eyes boring into that of his poor victim.
"Nothing…" Benneson mouthed weakly.
"Nothing?" Jace echoed back before he went all in, into a new and much fiercer round of mouthing a lot of F bombs.
By the time he ran out of breath, and had to pause to catch his breath. Benneson was sweating profusely, the lobby was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
He felt a lot better though, actually.
So better that his mental wheels began churning once more.
He didn't have to do this shit.
Yhh, the whole queue thing was a system, a pretty fair one at that, but he was no bot.
He had fucking freewill. He could do whatever.
He could freaking do whatever.
Jace left Benneson X, who was looking everywhere else but his eye, and marched off towards the office door where the second bot was regulating entry.
Beep…That familiar tune chimed once again.
Jace moved in front of the Bot before the next person could.
"But I am 33," the lady complained, waving her slip at his behind.
"And my daughter is in danger," Jace snapped back at her without turning.
She turned to look at the bot ahead of him. Jace brought his slip forward and towards the bot. It ignored.
Beep… It chimed again.
Jace didn't budge.
The construct of white and pulsing neon turned and looked into his eyes.
The stare didn't feel as lifeless as it was earlier. It felt like there was something living studying him behind those eyes.
His vision glitched.
Attendee 33, Not immediately present. The bot announced, snapping Jace back in the present.
It had broken eye contact with him at some point, Jace didn't know when.
Now attending to the immediate present Attendee. The bot concluded its announcement. Mr Jace, please step forward to meet a Process Enforcer.
Jace dismissed the glitch.... as Halo malfunctioning, he was a step closer to doing something about Adea.
That was all that mattered at the moment.
He stepped into the office, ready to meet an Enforcer for the first time ever.