Rise To Stardom - Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Orange Juice
Having found no one in the basement of the club, a location where ‘The Spider’ should’ve definitely been at, Alex had ransacked the whole room in a fit of rage.

Did Donovan lie to him or did The Spider know of his arrival beforehand and ditched the place way before he came? He couldn’t say.

However, as luck would have it, Alex had been fortunate enough to come across a hidden compartment that housed few microchips in a suitcase, along with some documents that shed even more light on the suicide serial bombings while ransacking the place.

Apparently, one of the higher-ups in the EMF, an old man by the name of Abraham Vine, had connections to this same man he was hunting.

Armed with this info, the young man had left the underground club a few seconds after, treated his wounds at his base the best he could and had decided to interrogate Abraham at a later date.

As for Sam, despite having reached a dead end again, he had been able to find a few strands of hair, along with some bloody fingerprints on a pillar that he had taken samples of.

Cross-examining it with a nifty little gadget most members of the EMF had on their beings, he soon found out the name of the ghost culprit that had been a real pain in the ass for him.

A middle-aged man that went by the name of Timothee Drake, someone whom had died 10 years ago in a car accident.

Of course Sam didn’t believe this because truly, if Timothee was dead, his GPS wouldn’t be tracking a certain individual currently located at an abandoned factory in Hell’s Kitchen, an indicator that the man was clearly alive.

Alex on the other hand, whom had tracked Abraham to Central Park West a few days later after patching up his wound, was planning to extract as much information as he could out of the man the best way he knew how.

Fear.

—

{Epoch One | 27th April 2019 | Act 3 | Scene 5 | Take 3}

Leaning against the bonnet of his car, a 1968 Ford Mustang, Alex savored the taste of his hotdog as he watched a certain grey-haired old man with similarly grey eyes, dressed in a fancy suit make his way into his limo from a popular hotel, his guards tailing behind him.

At the exact moment he got in, Alex dialed the man’s phone number.

Abraham on the other hand, seeing the encrypted call, one that came through a number only the EMF knew of, casually picked it up.

“Hello Agent Snow. You must have some real guts to be sauntering about like that in broad daylight” Alex greeted the man with his codename, a slight hint of amusement in his tone.

“Who is this?” Abraham asked in a commanding tone, his facial expression turning to stone.

“Have you tasted the hotdogs around here? They’re fantastic.” Alex replied, intent on messing with the man who knew that his location had been compromised and his cover had been blown.

“Do not make me repeat myself. Who the hell are you?!” Abraham demanded, a hint of fury in his tone.

“Oh that doesn’t matter. What does matter, is that colorful, tiny little metal on your quarter glass window.” Alex took another bite of the hotdog, moaning in satisfaction.

Hearing those words, Abraham’s stony exterior crumbled as he checked said mirror and saw a familiar microchip there.

One that could be remotely detonated at a moment’s notice.

Panic set in and instantly, the old man with his wrinkled face, began to sweat buckets, knowing fully well that this could be the end of him.

“See, you have a very lovely limo Agent Snow and honestly, I’d really hate to see it go up in flames.” Alex’s tone turned sinister over the phone as he said that.

“You, of course, will end up being collateral damage but I guess that’s fine. Think of it as punishment for all the innocent souls you’ve taken with that same chip.”

Stuttering on his words, his eyes frantic and scared, Abraham asked with a submissive tone;

“W-What d-do you want?”

“Ah~. That’s more like it.” Alex’s eerily bubbly tone graced Abraham’s ears as he questioned just after;

“Give me the location of ‘The Spider’. You have three seconds.”

“Please no! No! Anything but that. He’ll kill me!” Abraham begged with raspy breaths.

“Two…” Alex started his countdown.

“Please understand. I have a family! He’ll kill them too!” the old man continued begging, his voice shaky and his tone desperate.

“One…” Alex ignored Abraham’s predicament.

“He’s hosting a Business Gala taking place down at Chelsea, Midtown West, a few days from now! That’s all I know I swear! Please don’t kill me!” Abraham blurted out all he knew, tears already streaming down his eyes.

-Beep!

Cutting the phone call, already having gotten the information he needed, Alex proceeded to deactivate the dummy microchip he had created from the schematics, stopping it from blinking.

At the same time, just as he was about to get into his car, a singular gunshot whisked past him, shattering one of his side mirrors.

“CUT!”

—

“Alright everyone. That’s a wrap for today! Let’s meet up at the restaurant nearby. Tabs on me!” Mark clapped his hands and said, eliciting cheers of happiness from the crew.

“Great acting as usual Jeff.” the director praised the old Hollywood star, Kyle’s co-actor whom had been playing the role of Abraham.

“And Kyle. Keep up the good work.” Mark finally called the young man by his name.

Considering he had been calling him rookie for the past one month now, this was a very welcome change.

It was a sign that the Director was acknowledging all his efforts.

“Thank you sir.” Kyle respectfully smiled and responded.

“Call me Mark.” the man pat his back as he walked past, soliciting a few head turns from the rest of the crew who were watching the interaction.

It was usually a deep sign of respect when a Director gave an actor, a newbie no less, the privilege to refer to them as someone of familiarity.

Nodding his head at that, his smile bright like fireworks on the 4th of July, Kyle felt fulfilled to a certain extent.

“Haha! That’s one hell of smile kiddo!” Jeffrey who had watched the entire thing play out, laughed a bit as he saw Kyle walking over.

In response to that, Kyle simply scratched the back of his head, his expression bashful and his blush, strong.

Oliver whom had just returned back from Canada after dealing with a few endorsement deals pertaining to Kyle’s part-time modelling career, also chuckled a bit as he watched his ward struggling to hide his blush.

“He really needs to learn how to hide that better…” the man couldn’t help but mutter, a warm smile on his face.

Soon, everyone made their way over to the restaurant Mark had reserved for the entire night, eating and drinking to their hearts content.

As Kyle watched the reverie play out, laughing a bit as Bruce, Mark and Jeff waltzed together in the crowded restaurant, obviously drunk on whatever it was they had consumed as they sang pirate shanties, he soon returned his attention back to the notifications in his field of view.

| You have acted before everyone and impressed them! |

| You have gained the acknowledgement of the Director! |

| Huge bonus will be applied! |

| You have obtained a huge amount of exp. points! |

| 2500 exp. points have been awarded! |

| Total exp. points available (2810) |

| [Deep Dive] has increased from Grade C to Grade B! |

| The effects of [Deep Dive] have become stronger! |

| You are close to breaking through to Acting Level 10! |

| Keep acting to improve your skills! |

___________________________

{Kyle Kestis} – Exp. Points (2810)

⸶Skills⸷

| [Soulful Vocals (P)], [Growth Spurt (P)], [Appraisal(A)], [Resonance (P)] – {C}], [Charisma (P)], [Polyglot (P)], [Deep Dive (A) – {B}], [Recollection (P)], [Scene Stealer (A)], [Action & Stunt Mastery (P)]…

* Exp. Points can be used to create skills.

⸶Levels⸷

| Singing › Level 10

| Acting › Level 9

| Composing › Level 10

| Dancing › Level 6

| Instrument Mastery (Piano/Guitar) › Level 8/7

* Levels will increase in accordance to your growth.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Smiling a bit, mostly because he hadn’t received a single notification in quite a long while, Kyle felt satisfied with the progress he was making.

Despite understanding that he was progressing at an alarming rate, much faster than others could ever dream of, Kyle still couldn’t help but want to ascend even higher.

Having seen everyone, mostly his co-actors, both main and the extras, at an average of level 10 and above, made him want to grow even faster.

It was almost as if that level was a standard that everyone in their professional acting career had to reach.

However, being the contented and hardworking person that he was, Kyle knew that he would still need to put in a lot of time and effort before he reached their level as even they, didn’t reach that position in the short time span.

But at least for now, he could be on the same playing field as them due to the effects of [Deep Dive] and [Charisma], both of which had filled in the skill gap between he and his co-actors.

“So, you holding up alright?” Oliver asked, noticing that Kyle was blankly staring at the table.

“Yeah. I am.” Kyle responded, returning his attention to the reverie in the restaurant.

“Besides, these past few days have been one of the most exciting moments in my life.” he propped his head and leaned on the table with his elbow, a warm smile adorning his face.

“Well as long as you’re having a good time, that’s all that really matters.” Oliver responded, lifting up his jug to cheer.

Lifting up his own cup, a glass full of orange juice amidst all the jugs of beer and alcohol, Kyle followed through with Oliver’s gesture, simply glad to be part of it all.