After the meeting with Eros, Silver walked out of the building with an unhappy expression on his face. Sure, on one hand he was pleased to know that Eros lives up to his name but on the other hand, he's a bit pissed off by how easily he was rejected.
He still had a hard time believing that nothing he offered, appealed to the man. The leader can't believe he spent hours digging around for that information just for it to be pushed aside so easily.
A phone call to his cell broke Silver from his thoughts and he answered the phone without checking the ID.
"What" Silver spat out and the voice from the other line hesitated before speaking.
"Uh...you alright?" they asked.
"No, I'm annoyed right now" Silver grumbled as he dug around in his pocket for his pack of cigarettes.
"It didn't go well?"
"He said I did a piss poor job of selling him. Cared so little for it that he said he'll have his answer by tomorrow. Bastard's gonna say no without even thinking about it" Silver said as he took a stick and held it between his lips.
"Well you can still find something that will convince him"
"Why should I? This whole alliance crap is stupid, I shouldn't have listened to you. We're fine on our own" Silver grumbled as he lit his cigarette.
"We are not and you know that"
"..." Silver knew the man was right so he just opted for taking a drag from his cigarette.
"Suck up the attitude, okay? Your less pleasant side is showing"
"Screw you. Don't wait up, I'm gonna stay out for a smoke" Silver said before hanging up the phone and stuffing it back in his pocket.
As he walked, Silver's mind was only on the topic of the alliance.
Silver knew he needed something, and he needed to think fast. He figured he'd just have to review what he already had one more time just to be sure that there wasn't anything he was missing.
"Hey!"
Silver's eyes widened and his cigarette fell from his lips as his body was lurched backwards and into the arms of someone. In that next second, a train passed through at an incredible speed and Silver could only stay frozen for a moment.
When he finally snapped out of his daze, he looked to see who his savior was and it was another man that was looking at him with confusion and worry.
"Are you some kind of idiot? Why would you just walk in front of a—" the man stopped talking as a light gasp left their lips as if suddenly realizing something.
"Please tell me you weren't trying to kill yourself" the man asked and that's when Silver finally decided to give some reaction.
"No...I wasn't" Silver drawled and the man put a hand to his heart and let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank god" the man muttered.
The man had black hair that curled around his ears perfectly and those green eyes that had been staring at him not too long ago were now shut as the man tried to regain his cool. He was much shorter than Silver but that was never surprising to him so he was really only looking at the top of the guy's head.
"Did you really think I was gonna off myself?" Silver asked.
"W-Well, I didn't know what to think! You just kept walking and I panicked" the man stuttered out, his expression all over the place and Silver gave a lazy grin.
"Your face is funny" his comment threw the shorter male off.
"What?"
"Yeah, it gets all scrunched up like you're about to sneeze" Silver said before poking at the guy's nose that was scrunched up, wondering if it would go back to normal if he did so.
"Don't just go around touching a stranger!" The man said as he smacked Silver's hand away.
"What? You got rabies or something?" Silver asked and the man's face fell.
"No" he said and Silver let out a hearty laugh.
"I'm just joking" Silver said.
"Whatever. Just be more aware of your surroundings" was all the man said before he proceeded to pass by Silver but Silver wasn't finished talking to him.
"What's your name?" He called out and the man paused to turn back to Silver.
"Noel" he said and Silver nodded.
"Thanks. See you around, Noel" Silver said, waving Noel off before leaving the area.
Noel could only stand in his wake, slightly confused at the man's parting words.
"See you around...?"
~ * ~
"Remind me why we're doing this again?" Elliot, the man who Silver was on the phone with earlier, asked as he scrolled through the photos on the computer.
"I just want to see something" Silver said as his eyes skimmed through the photos.
"Keep going" Silver coached and when he spotted what he was looking for, he put a hand on Elliot's shoulder.
"I knew it" Silver said and Elliot turned to him with a confused look.
"Knew what?" He asked but got no answer.
For the past few weeks, Silver had been digging around in Eros' life for things that may help him be a few steps ahead in the game.
However, he had only focused on things from Eros' past rather than his present. Silver had hired someone to spy on the man for a bit so he had some photos of the places he frequents and those around him, Silver just hadn't been able to make the connection before.
Silver knew he had seen Noel before and there he was, only his hair was a different color in these pictures. Maybe he recently dyed it? Whatever the case may be, Silver couldn't believe his luck,
"Filter all of the shots on this guy and let's get some background on him. His name is Noel" Silver instructed and Elliot typed away at his keyboard for a moment, filtering Noel's face through all of their facial recognition software was the easy part.
"His name is Noel Limosa" Elliot said after a while and Silver's eyes narrowed.
"Limosa? Didn't that group die out a few years ago?" Silver asked.
"Yeah, the leader and his wife were murdered but no one knows who did it. They were found dead on the rooftop of one of their safe houses. Any remaining members either fled or got caught by the police in the raid" Elliot explained.
"The Limosa's were at war with the Azure's. Maybe Eros spared him under the condition that he switch groups?" Silver suggested and Elliot shook his head.
"It's a little deeper than that. Check this out" he said before zooming on an image of Eros kissing 'Noel'.
"No wonder they were at war, we've got a Romeo and Juliet on our hands" Silver said.
"Hold on" Elliot said before doing something. When the image on the screen turned red, he frowned.
"When I scanned this photo, a different name popped up" Elliot said and Silver's brow furrowed.
"What name?" He asked.
"Cole Azure" Elliot said.
"Cole Azure...?" Silver muttered.
That couldn't be right, why would he introduce himself as Noel if his name was Cole?
"So Noel used to be a Limosa, and then married Eros and changed his name? Geez, where the hell was my invite to the wedding?" Silver said.
"It's possible I mean, it only makes sense the guy would change his name after his parents were murdered" Elliot said.
"There's something that's bothering me though" Silver said as he continued to stare at the two photos.
"What?" Elliot asked.
"Don't these faces look...kinda different?" Silver asked and Elliot took a closer look.
"Zoom in and put them side by side" Silver instructed.
After doing so, the differences between the two faces became more prominent, even if it was just by the smallest difference in facial structure.
"Okay, yes, there are definitely some differences. It's a good thing you noticed that. Let's see if I can find out what's going on" Elliot muttered.
"Twins?" Silver asked.
"Yeah, looks like it" Elliot said and Silver hummed.
"Okay, so search for information on Cole Azure this time" Silver said and Elliot nodded.
"What's taking so long?" Silver asked when he noticed Elliot had been going at it for more than a few minutes.
"Uh...I've checked almost every official piece of identification I could think of and there's only a state and college ID. No official documentation such as tax files and not even a birth certificate" Elliot's voice was layered with extreme confusion. It's not unusual for some people to come up as ghosts but eventually he could even find a birth certificate, so for him not being able to find one bothered him.
"How'd he even get into the college without that stuff?" Elliot muttered.
"It's obvious Eros must have pulled some strings. The real question here is who exactly is Cole Azure" Silver muttered as he stared at Cole's photo.
Checking the time on his watch, Silver stood up.
"I think I need to pay Noel a little visit for some answers" Silver said and Elliot turned to him with a frown.
"Are you seriously going to harass him?" He asked and it was Silver's turn to frown.
"What? Having a small conversation isn't harassment" Silver said.
"Tell that to the men in the ground" Elliot said and Silver huffed.
"They weren't being cooperative. Not another word out of you, I'm leaving. Text me the location" Silver said and Elliot watched his boss leave while shaking his head.
He could only hope that Silver didn't scare Noel senseless.