The Clibbers Bar
T
he Clibbers bar actually a five-star restaurant and a club built under a massive aquarium. It was one of the most patronized places for romantic dates or for a good time. It was also a hub for the record keeper. The grandeur and opulence of the Clibbers bar was overwhelming. You could literally see predator-fishes perusing the mimicry of its natural habitat, hunting for its next prey. The restaurant was underground under the aquarium which was sealed above with reinforced tampered glass, twenty times stronger than iron. Above the aquarium was just a normal street, cars drove above it, it was actually part of the high way. Those driving could see the beautiful sea creatures beneath them. The glass on the top layers where dotted with tiny transparent balls to ensure that friction was present for the cars to ride on. This high way was also named after the awesome restaurant Below the high way. It was not humanly possible to break the glass road that ran for a mile or two. The sight was a beauty to behold… with the aquarium sandwiched between the highway and the Clibbers bar.
Entrance into the Clibbers bar was mainly for the affluent. A reservation for the five-star restaurant or club was as high as forty thousand units per reservation. Many only admired the ambience but never could afford such extravagance in their life time. For Emilia it was as good as cheap, apart from being from an affluent family, she was also a thief and she was proud of that. But she only stole of from only Jixor. She also made it a habit of denoting to the poor anonymously. She kept a reasonable fraction for herself: which was more than enough to carter for he the rest of her life time. Now that she was legally dead, she was worried that the estate that her dad left for her might go into the wrong hands. This was why she made sure that she changed her next of kin to Ivy few months with the help of her family lawyer when she clocked sixteen. She really respects her lawyer who had stood by her through-out her time in prison. Although he was not allowed to see her, they exchanged emails.
Emilia pulled up in a special land rover drone, an Armadulion Diam. The car was a sport car, a drone and weaponized machine. It was customized for her specially: she made the purchase with her alias name Nonye Nakins. That was one of the names she used in making purchases, the manufacturers never verified, their great interest wasn’t legality but making money. Plus, they dealt with both legitimate and illegitimate clients. Her car looked slick and unique, but normal enough not to attract undue attention to herself. She had seen cars with better physical design, but this Armadulion Diam was a weaponized, disguised and hidden.
She pulled up to the underground parking lot and parked and she made her way for the club. Her Intel told her that the record keeper hardly visited the restaurant in the day time, but he always showed up at the club within this window time period. Emilia checked in with the bouncer and she showed them her pass, she entered. Adorning her beautiful white curly fringe, she wore a very short blue gown. She wore tights and carried a pulse. She was definitely one of the most attractive ladies in the club. Her heels made her quite taller and she stood out, she had a beautiful curvy but slim body shape. She moved to the bar and ordered for a drink and began to scout. She wore a special tech eye-lens that ran a facial recognition match...she had to wear this device, although she could match souls, she could not recognize it, except if she had encountered that person before: the only data-base she had was those she had met before.
One of the qualities of the record keeper was that there was no record of him, as far as the government was concerned, he was none existent, this means that he would likely be the only one without a facial match or even data. Her Intel also revealed that he was a very tall and well-built man and he always wore a night garb. She studied the massive club and checked everyone possible but they all had green bar tags, showing they had legal records of them.
It was already an hour and there was no sign of him. She had ignored the bartenders; she didn’t want to be distracted from her mission. The idea struck her deep, what if all her Intel was wrong? What if her dad was right? he said that the best place to hide a thing is to hide in plain sight. where no one will ever believe it could be hidden. She faced the huge bar section and scanned each and every one of them. She saw a grumpy young teenager like herself, he was shy and reserved. He had been staring at her all night and had tried coming close but kind of noticed that she was not in the mood. He looked serious and melancholy. She scanned him and was astonished at what she found. He had no record!! There was no database of him! He was the record keeper, hiding in plain sight. where anyone would least suspect. She knew that his grumpy and melancholy look was a camouflage. She beckoned on him with a seductive smile, he seemed to be confused. Emilia pointed at him and signaled him to come.
“Hi, you seem to be trustworthy. I need whatever is hardest on the house!” she said with a seductive smile.
“You sure that you can handle it?”
“I was born ready; it’s been a while since I had a hangover…’’ she whispered into his ear.
“The hardest could knock you out!! You wouldn’t want that you know, especially in a Place as this.”
“You here right, to protect me? Moreover, you could always take me home.”
“That’s kinda cool…how are you sure that you would be safe with me?”
“Instincts tells, but the heart explains…the heart never lies”
They both smiled.
“You are a poet, aspiring to be a drunk poet.” He joked dryly.
“Yeah I kind am…a nasty and carefree one at that!” she quipped with a smile.
“We are such a contrast you know.” he quibbled with smirk
“Contrasting colors make the best of arts.” She added.
“Quite true, I must say.”
“I hope you wouldn’t mind, but you are too beautiful of a lady for me to allow you to fall into the hands of these things.”
“My guardian angel.” she jokingly remarked
“I would love to be…the most beautiful girl in this room.” he complimented her.
“Wow…am I?” she whispered
“Yes, you sure are. If you wouldn’t mind, I would love to take you somewhere more befitting for your beauty.”
“Where would that be?” Emilia asked him with a beautiful smile enveloping her cheek.
“Mystery is the characteristics of a romantic.”
“mum…I really like that, my guardian angel.”
“So, can we go now, it’s within this building.”
“Wow!! Really…thought it only had a club and restaurant.”
“It has many things to many people, which you don’t know about.” he replied as he held her hands and led her towards a secret door at the far end of the club. “Oh!! My God!!! Am so sorry, I didn’t ask for your name… my beautiful companion.”
Emilia was confused which of her aliases to give.
“It’s Nonye, what’s your handsome?”
He seemed to have blushed at such an exaggeration “mine is Bruce.”
“That’s really a masculine name you know.” she complimented.
“And yours is quite a blissful name my beautiful one” he reciprocated.
He approached the door, the bouncer Manning the door, bowed and opened the door. Emilia pretended to be surprised.
“he bowed to you, are you some kind of prince?”
“yes, you can say that my princess.” he said with a romantic smile.
Emilia pretended to be intrigued, but did not push on, in other not to look too inquisitive. They came across a very long hall way with many rooms like that of a hotel.
“This is for only trusted members of the Clibbers club and many don’t know of its existence.”
“But it could be seen from the streets above.” She noted.
“No, we can see them but they can’t see us. The glass on this side of the building is designed to make this floor look non-existent…and sometimes, we make you see what we want you to see”
He led her to his quarters and it was a beautiful apartment. He led her to the room and pushed her on the bed. He looked at her with a wicked smile.
“You ready?”
“For what?”
“For a face off, you look like a spy to me” he accused.
“I am not a spy, am just a teenager trying to be wild, young and free.” Emilia tried to convince him.
“Okay!! Now pull your clothes off.” he barked.
“you know something Bruce?”
“what!” he said impatiently.
“My dad told me that any boy who disrespects me as a woman, I must beat the hell out of him.” She said with a frown.
“Ha! Ha! Ha!” he laughed hysterically “looks can be deceptive” he replied as he shapeshifting into a very huge middle-aged man. Very muscular and fierce looking.
Emilia seemed to be un-impressed.
“No Bruce you made the mistake…you underestimated my look.”
She replied him, jumping up from the bed, she punched him, knocking off a tooth. She watched it regrow.
He was now very angry and all his veins were popping out. He shape-shifted into a huge purple muscular giant. “you just made the biggest mistake of your life.” He cursed defiantly.
“Probably!” Emilia whispered to herself faintly.
He charged against Emilia, but she too charged forward, bent down and resurrected by giving him an upper blow throwing him up and hitting the class ceiling and crashing back on the ground.
“No, Bruce or will I say, record keeper, you made the biggest mistake of your life.” She barked at him.
She kicked him in the face and was about to kick him again, when he grabbed her feet and throw her across the room. She fell into a partition wood. He shape-shifted into a ninja and pulled out two Vercillin glass swords and charged against her. She swerved and swiveled, missing both blades by an inch. She pulled-out the foot of her hill and revealed two customized daggers and she threw them. One missed him, but the second pegged him by the side. Emilia smiled knowing that the daggers had a tranquilizer that made one paralyzed. She summersaulted forward and two fiery swords emerged from her skin and she charged against him and they engaged in a dangerous sword fight for minutes. She waited for the tranquilizer to set in. He evoked a huge fiery shield and repelled all of her attack. She kicked him and she spat at him, spraying ice on the shield and then she punched it, breaking it into pieces. She punched him in the nose, he slapped her on the face and nodded her on head on. She gave him an elbow, she flied and spun, kicking him to the ground. She slid through in between his legs, punching him in the groin. She spun on her knees 180 degrees and pulled him by the leg, hitting his head on a glass table, shattering it.
He shape-shifted into some huge creatures with rocky skin and laser eyesight. He looked at her, shooting out dangerous rays of light, she dodged. She evoked a shield and surged forward, he shot it at her again, but she hid behind the shield. The pressure on the shield was getting too much to withstand. The room was getting hot, she cried out loud as she battled to resist the heat.
‘’Argggg!! Arggggg!’’ she yelled out in pain. She stretched forth her hand and she blasted him by evoking fire ball. She shape-shifted again, this time into an old monk and he punched her in the stomach throwing her off. She pulled out her laser gun from her tight and shot rounds but the creature maneuvered her, dodging the bullets shot at him. She fired even explosive fire balls from her hands and he seemed to dodge with each ball destroying the room. He grabbed her and threw her up against the glass ceiling. She got so irritated that she vomited liquid fire on him, but it didn’t hurt him. He laughed.
“Why do you think I am the record keeper? I am infallible” he boasted.
“No, the hell you not!” she yelled at him.
She ran across the wall, so fast until she managed to create a little whirlwind in the room and she started scratching him. The wind created a chain reaction, he shapeshifting too many times that it zapped him of every strength he had. He was back to the body in which Emilia had seen him in the bar. He fell to the ground tired.
She grabbed him and punched him consecutively, pounding his chest and throwing him on the ground.
“Give me the record you keep!” she thundered.
“I rather die than betray the Jixor-Cult”
“You will, but first you must give me the record.”
“I can’t give you the record, I can only show you the record…but I am too tired to shape-shift. “
“you must,” she grabbed him “you have to!”
“I never wanted to be the record keeper. I was forced into it.”
“Save me the story, where is the record?”
“I am the record.”
“Then show me, I command you!”
“Strip me of my robe.” she complied and he was only in shorts now. He shape-shifted into a young whitish boy. On his body were different records. A list of Leftners for the year 2043 with dates and execution.
She looked up April 9th, she saw the street and the Leftners name was Louis Malice. Finally, she had a form of disclosure for her dad’s death.
‘’Louise Malice was the Leftners in charge of the execution.’’ He said faintly and tired “No one must know that I showed you or else they will kill my family” he pleaded.
“Then help me get out of here without creating a scene.” she requested
He stood up and walked outside with her and gave her a red long robe. “Wear this and no one will dare stop you. “
“Thank you.”
“Please keep this a secret for the sake of my family… Jixor-Cult never forgives.” The young whitish boy pleaded.
She strolled outside victoriously. Although beaten, she emerged a Victor and also now had an inside ally. Her white hair was stained with blood. No one had the effrontery to stop and many assumed that this was a walk of shame for her, after a nasty rump with the beast record keeper. Within her, she knew better and played along, this eliminated every ounce of suspicion on their part but instead camouflaged as one of the misfortunes of a misguiding teenager who wanted to be wild, young and free. She entered her Armadulion Diam and zoomed off with a smirk of triumph. Although she knew that it was not yet over, as a matter of a fact, it only just began.