Location- Sun Blossom City, Outskirts, Unknown.
After the confusion cleared from Cole's eyes he looked around in cold sweat, as he had no recollection of what happened in the last 20 minutes. All his physical and soul damage was healed using elixir and potions, so there was no physical evidence left of what Sniper had put him through. Without his memories or physical wounds, there was nothing left of the torture he went through by his fellow members despite being nothing but loyal to the organization.
Though he had no memories or wounds to tell him that he almost died a grueling death in the back of his mind, Cole had a nagging feeling that screamed whenever his eyes glanced at Sniper. An unknown dread would surface from his bones into his heart whenever his eyes met with Sniper's eyes. Cole had no idea why he felt this way when he saw Sniper because this was his first time seeing Sniper. Cole did not understand why he felt this way but he decided to keep his distance from Sniper. Which was hard seeing that he was his superior in the organization.
But one thing was clear to Cole that his missing memory meant that the Matron herself acted, which meant whatever happened in the past 20 minutes was something he should not have seen, heard, or even worse spoken. Thinking of this Cole decided to apologize to the team, "I'm sorry, I don't know what I did for Master to act and erase my memories but I promise I will redeem myself."
"Mamapimp, don't think too much into it. You just heard some classified information above your paygrade hence master had to act for your safety, so don't worry you did nothing wrong," Grey fur explained to Cole that it was not something he spoke that made their master act and erase his memories but something he heard.
Hearing Gray Fur's explanation, Cole felt his nerves calm down. Then immediately said, "Thank you, for being patient with me."
Cole was being so docile because no matter what happened the price he paid was 20 minutes of his memories and not his life. As long as he was alive, all was good.
Seeing the victim of his gruesome torture apologize and thank him Sniper found a new sense of pleasure which added to his already morphed sadistic deviant nature and an unconscious grin formed on his face. Only he and his master knew what was going on in his mind right now.
Feeling Sniper's hot gaze Cole trembled as if a chill passed down his spi
ne. Just when Cole was thinking of a reason to excuse himself from these people his grimoire sounded,
[Unknown Number calling….. Answer/Reject/Ignore/Reply]
"Answer," said Cole out loud to show the others that he had got a call and he was not ignoring them purposefully. He did such that he did not want the others to misunderstand him as they were all card emperors and he was a mere card overlord, for some reason he felt helpless in their presence. Cole has walked along many card emperors but none gave him the feeling these people gave him. Which let Cole believe that there was more to his lost memories than he was led to believe but Cole did not dare to investigate it. Because he knew that since Matron was involved even if he found the truth, he would wound up back to the start all over again because his memories will be erased by Matron again. If he still stubbornly chose to search for the truth he will be stuck in a vicious loop of finding the truth and having his memory erased until the Matron gets fed up with him and decides to dispose of him. So Cole felt that it was in his best interest not to look for the truth and move on with his life, "Hello."
"Codename Mamapimp, I have a new mission for you, accept or retire," Sansa's voice sounded from the other end of the call.
"Your highness, Codename Mamapimp reporting, I accept the mission," Having worked in the organization Cole knew what retirement meant for the members of this organization, death. Therefore he did not ask about the mission details and directly accepted the mission. He did not have much choice in this matter since it was being tasked to him by the Matron herself.
"Have you heard of Kathy Duskborn?" Sansa asked Cole. Now that he had accepted the mission now it was time for his briefing regarding the mission.
"I'm sorry your Highness, I haven't," Cole replied honestly as there was no point in lying to Matron who controlled his memories. Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder that if Matron controlled his memories why doesn't she directly implant the memories of the mission and orders instead of using a grimoire call which was a very tedious process and had the risk of being eavesdropped on.
This question did not just pop into Cole's mind but every member of the organization. Many had many theories regarding this. Some believed that there were some limitations to her origin card but the popular belief was the one that stated that she did this to interact with the members and not make them feel like mere tools. This way the feel
ing of members toward the organization and their leader would rise and over time they would cultivate a sense of belonging to the organization and respect their leader willingly and not out of fear for their life. In the end, these were all just theories. Only Sansa knew the reason behind why she choose to deliver the mission to her members through grimoire calls and not implant them into their memories.
This wasn't the only thing Cole thought about he also had doubts about why the Matron only erased his memories and did not alter them. He felt that there must be a reason behind this as someone as calculative and manipulative as the Matron would not do anything without a purpose.