Chapter 3: The First Offer
Simon Hale sat in his garage like it was a secret lab. The walls were lined with tools, cables, glass containers, and chemical bottles. Every part of the garage was quiet, organized… and slowly turning into something dangerous.
Project Catalyst was no longer just a file. It was becoming real.
The Mist Returns
He had improved Mist-X. It now lasted eight minutes. He tested it again—this time near a private office building with heavy surveillance. He sprayed the mist, waited, and walked by slowly. He looked up at the lens.
It blinked once. Then stopped.
By the time the camera restarted, Simon was gone.
He smiled again. That smile was now familiar to him—half pride, half darkness.
The Message
That night, Simon sat down at his computer. He logged into an encrypted science forum he had once used to publish chemistry puzzles. He hadn’t posted there in years. But tonight, he left a coded message in a hidden thread:
“If you're watching, Mist-X is real. Invisible in motion. Eight-minute window. Contact only if you can think beyond rules.”
It sounded like a challenge. A riddle. But the right kind of person would understand.
He didn’t expect a reply.
But he got one the next day.
The Contact
The reply was from someone using the name "ZeroHour". Their message was simple:
“We’ve seen the footage. Meet tonight. No names. No lies. Bring the vial.”
Simon stared at the message. His heart beat faster. He wasn’t ready to be part of anything criminal… but wasn’t he already halfway there?
He replied with a time and place: 11:30 p.m., old warehouse near the train tracks.
The Meeting
The warehouse was dark and silent. Simon arrived five minutes early. He wore a black jacket and kept the vial inside a protective metal tube.
At exactly 11:30, a black car rolled into the warehouse and stopped.
A man stepped out. Tall. Face covered with a scarf. No emotion.
“You’re the teacher,” he said.
“You’re ZeroHour?”
“No. I’m the message,” the man replied.
He held out a black briefcase.
“Inside: ten thousand dollars. Just for the formula. If it works the way you say, there will be more offers. Bigger.”
Simon didn’t move.
“What do you want it for?”
The man paused. “We don’t destroy buildings. We destroy walls. Think of us as… architects of change.”
It sounded like nonsense. But dangerous nonsense.
Simon looked at the case. Then he looked at the mist tube in his hand.
He didn’t hand it over.
“Not yet,” he said. “You get a test. Then we talk price.”
The man nodded. “Clever. We’ll be watching.”
He turned and left. The car vanished into the night.
Back to the Garage
Simon stood alone again. The cold air felt sharper now. He had just touched a world far beyond chemistry or education.
Back in the garage, he opened his notebook and wrote:
“First offer received. They want control. I want impact. There’s a difference.”
Then, underneath, he wrote something else.
“No more small steps.”
He looked at his next formula: Flash Dust – HX-7
A fine powder. Odorless. Triggered by heat. Not deadly, but enough to shut down any room for 60 seconds.
He stared at it.
And smiled again.
📍 Next Chapter: “The Experiment” – Coming Soon