When Johan woke up, it was already evening; he picked up his phone and saw that Hans had called him 3 times. Johan forgot that he had told Hans and Anna that when he comes back, he will call them to let them know that everything went perfectly fine.
He immediately called Hans and told him everything that happened but still left out a few parts. After he got done talking and hung up, a call from the organisation came.
"Sir Johan, all the black cards are going to gather for a meeting. The manager said that your presence is required as well. I hope you will comply. That's all, sir."
And then the call ended immediately. Now Johan was really worried because the last time all the black cards had gathered was during the civil war that happened the first time nine years ago and the last time five years ago, when tensions rose among the powerless and the power users. These civil wars had also caused a large number of casualties on both sides.
The only reason Johan could think of why the black card was called up was Noah. Even if Johan didn't think much of him, he was still one of the world's strongest and one of the most dangerous. It is obvious that Noah would be much stronger now than he was when Johan met him for the first time.
Johan was making a big mistake by taking Noah lightly; the organisation must have known of this and decided to call the black card juries. The meeting was probably called to discuss the matter properly with Johan and the German branch.
Johan decided to not think too much of it and thought to himself.
"We'll see what happens then and there."
Johan was hungry, so he went to the kitchen to eat something, and while looking for something, he called his mom again, but there was no answer again.
Johan didn't think much of it, as it was not the first time that his mother had stayed at the workplace for more than a day; she once didn't come home for an entire week, but she did tell her colleagues to keep checking up on him, as Johan was not an adult then.
Johan could only find beer and elbow pasta and cheese. He decided to make mac and cheese, and he washed it down with a can of beer. There was still quite a while before the meeting started, so he decided to spend some time at the same mall where the base was, shopping and stuff.
He decided to send his mom a voice note, telling her that he was going to be coming home late, in case she came back.
It was raining outside, so he took an umbrella and wore a long black coat. Within a few minutes of walking, he reached the mall. He entered and saw that there was a stand for umbrellas, and to prevent someone else from taking them, padlocks were there.
He didn't bring much money for proper shopping, so he decided to just window shop to pass time and then get something to eat for dinner from the food court.
He spent two hours just window shopping, not buying a single item. (What a weirdo!) While going towards the food court, he saw someone he knew sitting alone on a bench. It was a man that was holding a cane, wearing a turquoise coat and brown trousers. He had a long bushy moustache and was wearing a black ushanka even though it was July. He looked much younger than he should have. Johan, when he saw him, immediately came closer to him and spoke.
"Teacher... How many years has it been since we last met?"
"Hmm... Johan, if my memory serves me right, then it's been five years," said Johan's teacher, the man that was known as the 'All Knowing Venerable' before his retirement five years ago. The name of that man is Vsevolod Volkov.
There was dead silence for a few seconds, but then both of them started laughing loudly, which caught the attention of everyone near them. Johan immediately sat beside him; Vsevolod put his arm around Johan's shoulder like they were friends of a similar age.
They had indeed been very friendly with each other; their bonding was more like that of two best friends rather than that of a teacher and a student.
"I am pretty sure that you had retired five years ago. What are you doing here now? Go to an old age home or something." Johan said to him jokingly.
"Your jokes are still as bad as they were before; it's really like you told God to put all your skill points into intelligence and combat... And just because I have retired doesn't mean I am free from all of the duties of the organisation; this meeting is important, probably more than the one that happened nine years ago."
Said Johan's teacher to him.
"Well...all the meetings which include black card juries are bound to be important...but that's not what I am interested in; what I am interested in is the topic for which it is called," replied Johan.
"Well... if I tell you everything, then what will Elesie tell you?...Wait for the meeting; it's almost time. Let's go."
Vsevolod stood up while talking to him to go to the basement, but Johan stopped him.
"I need to buy my dinner first, and then we will go...well, you can go; I will meet you at the base."
Vsevolod agreed and went towards the basement. Johan went to find something to eat.
After a while, Johan had finished eating and was in the mechanical elevator. The doors opened, and like last time, the staff there bowed before him as he walked towards the 'conference room'. That room was the most protected one in the entire base, as it was the most important one as well. There were many gold-card and a few diamond-card juries guarding the entrance of the room.
They all bowed low in front of him; Minami and Theo were there as well. They opened the door to the conference for him as well.
There were five people there, including Johan; those people were the only black card juries in the entirety of Europe. Johan, Werner, Vsevolod, a young boy who was 18 years of age (he was the youngest jury member who became a black card tier jury member and was regarded as someone who would one day carry the legacy of The Vanquisher), and the last was a middle-aged woman who was in her forties.
"Everyone's here now... Let's begin the meeting," said the woman.
Everyone sat down on the chairs that were there.
The atmosphere was tense, then Werner spoke up.
"Let's not waste any more time, Carmilla; you explain everything from the beginning." The name of the woman was Carmilla.
Carmilla began.
"This morning, even though the bodies of Jason Wills and James Clerk were properly disposed of, the power users society still found out that they were killed.... Apparently, Noah Wills had put a device in his younger brother's heart that would notify Noah when the heart stopped. This caused him to find out where he had been killed as well. " After a moment of pause, she continued.
"After finding out that his brother was killed by Johan, he immediately called a meeting for the top ten; there, by afternoon, they discussed what to do about us... But they all reached the conclusion that fighting us will only result in their destruction... But Noah couldn't agree to this." She stood up and looked directly at Johan with a menacing look on her face and said.
"Noah will be coming to Berlin for the Vanquisher's head."
Chapter 8
Completed