How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not with YanDustries?

A young man stood against a metal wall outside of a run-down intersection, minutes away from the busy city center. In front of him were two tall, tan men in tank-tops and shorts, one completely bald and one with a moustache and stubble. 

The man with the walrus moustache takes a step forward. You are only person who look like YanDustries owners in whole city. You must be of interest to us.

I literally live here. My apartment's like five streets away, or something. I'm as poor as we all are.

That is true, replied the moustached man. You do look like from around here. However, boss says there is YanDustries-looking man to extract, and you are more than likely man he was asking for. 

Both men approach toward the young man, with no escape. The young man swiftly reveals a pair of visor glasses from his pocket. Seeing this, both thugs immediately lunge toward the man, only to dive face-first into a solid metal wall. The thugs turn back to see the man with his glasses on. Suddenly, earbuds materialize on either ear within seconds, each connected to his front pocket. 

You ARE Scar!

The young man begins to run into the streets. The thugs immediately follow. The men chase Scar for a few kilometers, sprinting through alleys, weaving through people in busy streets, and parkouring over obstacles in large public buildings, before Scar finally shakes off the pursuers in the crowded city center.

Finally, Scar thought to himself after a moderate period of running and scouting to ensure that he was safe. He took off his ethereal-looking earplugs, which faded from existence, before taking off and stowing away his glasses. He then pulled out a small glass tablet and opened the GPS application.

Twenty minutes from home. By vehicle. Which Scar didn't have.

Dammit.

After barely trudging himself through to the opposite end of the city, Scar finally arrived at a run-down residence building. Upon opening the front door, Scar was greeted by a familiar smell of faint smoke and rusting metal.

Finally, almost home. Just the stairs to go.

Scar reluctantly climbed the creaky, unstable steps to the 11th floor, then made his way down the hall to apartment 11F. He pulled out his room key and opened the door, only to find the ruins and burnt remains of a once barely hospitable residence.

Oh, Scar thought to himself, right.

Scar shut the door, then put on his glasses. After pressing on his room key several times, the key glowed faintly, and the door briefly shone with a grid of red lasers. Upon inserting the key and opening the door this time, Scar was met with a completely different apartment, fitted with neon wall lights, clean metal walls, and proper furniture.

Finally. Home, sweet home.

Scar took off his shoes and jacket before approaching his bathroom to shower off the sweat and grime from being chased. Afterward, he changed into a comfortable set of clothes and sat down at his desk. He booped the nose of a stuffed green pig plushie on the desk before turning on his computer and browsing the Internet.

Upon checking his e-messages, his eyes were drawn to a single message.

From: Laoxin Xu
To: Chen Xu
Subject: My Son

Xiao Chen Zi,

Your mother and I wish the best for you, and want to make everything right. Jie says you are on Inorat. Please be careful, as that particular planet despises our operations, and you will be a target due to your similar appearance. If you ever want to come home to us, send us a message and we will escort you safely. Our family is not whole again without our younger son. Please consider our offer. We love you.

Your father

Scar took a brief pause. His mind was filled with many feelings of distraught, sympathy, frustration, and melancholy. These thoughts swirled around his head like a whirlpool, with Scar struggling to grasp anything from his ever-conflicting mind. Eventually, he anchored his mind back into the world around him.

Sorry Baba, Scar thought to himself after a few long moments in front of the glowing screen.

Scar logged off the computer, booped the nose of the stuffed pig once more, and hopped from his chair into the welcoming sheets of his bed for a much needed rest.

Hi. I'm Scar, and I live in an apartment. I'm the owner of Apartment 11F on NationStates. In TSP-RP, I'm usually seen as Chen "Scar" Xu, an apartment owner who declared sovereignty, Chen "Scar" Xu, an apartment owner and runaway son of two successful galactic businesspeople, or Chen "Scar" Xu, an apartment owner with unknown dimensional capabilities.

Either way, there is a person who calls himself Scar in every universe, and he always lives in an apartment.

(This post was last modified: 01-31-2021, 11:19 PM by Scar.)

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Xiao Jie, can you hear us?

Yes, father. I was in the underground tunnels. The signal's never good down there.

Xu Jie stepped out of the public tunnel system into the heart of the city of New Forci.

I do wish he picked a planet that was easier to navigate. Toratu is quite legitimately within sight.

Your brother was never one to make it easy for us to find him. Just follow the IPS signal we traced. Ring me when you pick him up.

Jie pocketed his comm drive followed the signal on his IPL tablet to an underdeveloped, seemingly-chaotic part of the metropolis.

On his path, Jie stopped at a large market street. A large mix of people, mostly poorer individuals, gathered at this street to sell all sorts of goods, from vintage smart watches to snacks and chemfood. Jie's eyes immediately latched onto a display of small and medium sized blue pig head plushies.

I wonder if Chen Di still has his green one, he thought to himself.

Wiping away this thought after a few moments, Jie focused on his current objective: to find his brother and attempt to convince him to return to his family. Following the signal on his tablet, Jie stared intently at his tablet's screen, observing every inch forward his positional marker made until its eventual destination, until he abruptly collided face-first into a hoverbus station display board, falling on his back on the sidewalk.

Upon slowly forcing his eyes open, Jie saw a figure holding a grocery bag in either hand, staring at him in shock.

Didi.

Chen shifted the bags into one hand and scratched his head. Long time, no see.

Jie reached into his pocket and pressed a single button. Within seconds, three white hoverlimos rushed to the brothers' street consecutively, with the middle hoverlimo stopping right next to them.

What an entrance, I guess.

Our parents wanted to make you feel welcome. I'm coming with you with a few robots to gather your belongings, and then we'll go to see mother and father. They have been worried.

A brief silence ensued. The ambient noises of the hoverlimos and the busy streets of New Forci engulfed the area.

Chen let out a sigh of concession. Fine. It's not like I have anywhere to go to get away from you guys now. But I don't plan on staying.

Excellent, replied Jie. That was much easier than I thought.

Let's just get out of here. You're literally flexing your wealth with these flying moneybags.

Chen was right. A crowd of people had formed around the hoverlimos. It wasn't often that the wealthy ever arrived in this part of town. Jie raised his middle and ring finger in the air, and the hoverlimos drove off without hesitation.

Alright. Jie turned back to Chen. Show me where the urban legend 'Scar' resides. Jie let out a slight grin.

Asshat.

Chen led Jie back to his rusted, near-uninhabitable apartment complex.

Wow, Jie said in mild surprise, you chose to live here instead of with us.

Not like I have a plethora of wealth at my fingertips.

To be fair-

You know what I mean.

It's not very respectful to cut off your older brother like that. Jie shot a look of stern disappointment at Chen. I understand, though.

Saying nothing, Chen entered the stairwell, climbing 10 flights of stairs with Jie following just behind.

I would have taken the elevator, said Jie, breaking the silence as the pair exited the stairwell at the 11th floor.

You live in a place where broken elevators get fixed, replied Chen. Here, not so much.

Chen led Jie down the hall, stopping at his residence.

11F, stated Jie, reading the rusty room number plaque. You evaded almost all forms of detection, yet you reside above ground in an ordinary, vulnerable apartment.

Still saying nothing, Chen revealed his pair of tinted visor glasses and a seemingly conventional room key. He pressed the key a few times in a sequence, causing the door to flash with a brief grid of red lasers. 

That's not conventional technology, said Jie as Chen slides his key in. What does it do?

Chen opened the door, ignoring Jie's question. Upon the door opening, Jie found himself staring into a messy room with dirty neon lights, overflowing wiring, and scattered furniture.

Someone needs to learn interior design.

Someone needs to not stalk me.

Ignoring Chen's last remark, Jie throws out a couple of wired cubes from his jacket pockets. The cubes hovered in the air for a second before growing in size, hollowing themselves from their tops, and materializing metallic arms and soft rubber hands.

I heard those things set some woman's house on fire, Chen rebutted as the bots began to pick up items and place them into themselves.

That was a gamma test run, and we patched that. Jie explored past the foyer and living room, letting himself into Chen's bedroom.

I don't think you'd like it if I barged into your room like that, Chen said.

I'm glad to get you home in general, Jie replied, eyes staring at the green pig head plushie on Chen's desk. Hey look, it's your Piggy. Looks like you never outgrew it.

Shut up.

It's pretty rare, too. You could have sold-

Just stop, please.

The collector robots entered the bedroom larger than they were previously. They flew at a noticeably slower speed, indicating additional mass inside of it.

Jie picked up the plushie. I'd keep this with you. He threw it at Chen, who caught it with both hands.

Anyway, the bots should be done any second now. Jie gestured at the androids, who were carefully unplugging and wrapping Chen's various cords and cautiously placing the last of his computer setup in the bots' selves. Let's get out of here.

Jie and Chen stepped out of the bedroom, and into the now-emptied room, save for a few cans and other rubbish. The robots followed with stowed arms and passed the two brothers.

Well, Chen said, looking back at his now-barren apartment, This is it for now.

I'm glad you're with us, replied Jie. Let's get down there.

One more thing, interjected Chen as he pulled out his key and glasses again. Jie watched as Chen inputted a different set of commands, and when the sequence was finished, the grid of lasers reappeared, then slid into Chen's key. The door fizzled and rusted.

Alright, we're good to go.

Jie continued to stare for another few seconds. Alright then.

The reunited siblings walked down the creaky stairs and were greeted with the same three hoverlimos right outside of the building's entrance. Still holding the pig plushie with one hand, Chen gestured at the prominent luxury vehicles with his other hand. You could make it less obvious that there's an insecure, rich dude here to extract his long-lost brother.

It's called a warm welcome back, Didi. The back door to the middle hoverlimo, again aligned with the pair's position, opened after a brief hand gesture from Jie.

After you.

Hi. I'm Scar, and I live in an apartment. I'm the owner of Apartment 11F on NationStates. In TSP-RP, I'm usually seen as Chen "Scar" Xu, an apartment owner who declared sovereignty, Chen "Scar" Xu, an apartment owner and runaway son of two successful galactic businesspeople, or Chen "Scar" Xu, an apartment owner with unknown dimensional capabilities.

Either way, there is a person who calls himself Scar in every universe, and he always lives in an apartment.

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