There weren't as many people in the conference room as Lee Seng thought. He had met most of these people and chatted with them the night they ate in the Flower Forest, but he was bad at remembering all of their names. They all looked at him in shock like Valen had. They seemed to give each other knowing glances like they were telepathically talking.
'Better than whispering right in front of me.' Lee Seng thought as he awkwardly stood at the front of the room. Calis stood off to the side, arms crossed. He and Valen were exchanging a hushed conversation about what they should do next.
"Let's hear him out first, hm?" Valen told Calis. "We'll have a better idea of what to do after the General gets here." The door opened and everyone's conversations, verbal and non-verbal, stopped. They turned to look at the door and acknowledged Chrono stepping inside. She closed the door and took a seat at the end.
"The General told me to sit in for him. Since I'm one of the most experienced on this team, I'll make the shots." Chrono told them. She looked over at Lee Seng and noticed how awkward he was standing. She motioned at him. "If you don't wanna stand, sit. I know it must be weird for you since the trail and everything, but we're here to help. You don't have to act all stiff." Lee Seng nodded and rubbed his neck. His hands continued to move as he took a couple breaths and tried to steady whatever courage he had left in him.
"Well..." Lee Seng gulped. "I know you all probably heard the news, but if you didn't, I, uh… Killed a bunch of people while under the influence of the demonic fox." There were looks amongst the group as Lee Seng let that part sink in. "I'm alive haha… But things have gotten complicated, and I was on trail for murder but obviously the Creator, my dad, made sure I wasn't guilty of that… I've been locked off from my powers with this bracelet and have guards." He lifted his arm up to show the bracelet before motioning at Calis.
"I didn't know that… Calis was the friend Keng was with…" Lee Seng glanced over Calis's way before looking down again. "Um… Anyways, an assassination attempt was attempted on me and… I'm not dead and Calis broke cover to send me here." He looked up at the group. They were all looking at him in disbelief. Chrono nodded, scribbling notes on her phone.
"Where were you supposed to go?" Chrono asked.
"To the lab for… testing. Probably for…" Lee Seng stopped and looked at Valen. "Do they all know about me and the…" He began to motion for the 'protocol,' but Valen gave him a strange look.
'Protocol?' Chrono asked telepathically.
"Yeah, that." Lee Seng nodded.
"Not everyone does, but the testing has something to do with that?"
"Yeah." Lee Seng nodded. Chrono simply nodded and jotted it down. "We got hit on the highway and one of the guards was a bomb."
"A Biohuman bomb?" A female Fox Spirit spoke in a British accent.
"No, a robotic bomb. She looked very Biohuman, though."
"Interesting. Biohuman technology has advanced so fast in the last couple of years. I'm surprised that it didn't set off any alarms."
"So, to summarize this," Chrono cleared her throat. "Calis used the teleportation chant rune and teleported you two here after the bomb went off?"
"We got hit by something. A monster, I think." Calis answered. "Only the bomb knew about it beforehand. I tried to get in contact with the other guards but there was no answer from them at all."
"Why would they want to do that?" A male Fox Spirit asked. He pushed his glasses up and looked at the others then to Calis and Lee Seng. "Let's just assume they work under the Creator… Wouldn't they be defying orders?"
"That's what I'm confused about." Lee Seng spoke up, drawing eyes back to him. "The Creator made it clear he was going to use this opportunity to keep me locked up… Get put on missions and stuff, too."
"So why would he go through all this effort to kill his own son?" Valen asked.
"You called for backup, Calis?" Chrono asked.
"I tried to." Calis nodded.
"Well…" Chrono set her phone down. "You'll have to show up at the lab. I'm pretty sure this is already hitting the news as we speak. Take one of the cars and if anyone asks, you did exactly what you were trained to do."
"And what's that?" Calis looked at Chrono, confused. Chrono looked between Lee Seng and Calis for a while, arms folded. Her foot hit the floor as the phone lit up.
"You'll escort him back." General Halys spoke. The group immediately looked at the phone, acknowledging the General was there. "We'll give you a dinged-up car just for safety. Take the longer route to the lab. You'll wanna be extremely late to your appointment. That reminds me, are you in your same clothes?"
"No." Lee Seng answered.
"Then I suggest you change back into them. You'll wanna look like you experienced an assassination attempt." General Halys continued. Lee Seng and Calis nodded, and Chrono reached for the phone. "One last thing." Chrono's hand stopped. "If you're here, Lee Seng, where's Keng? Where did he go?" The look on Lee Seng's face darkened. He averted his eyes from everyone. He didn't want to explain he was punished, but what choice did he have?
"I… I did something I shouldn't have done, and the demonic fox's influence grew too strong for me… So Keng used a forbidden Savior spell." Lee Seng answered. "He's inside me until all of this is fixed."
"Why is he locked up?" Chrono asked. "Was this because of the spell?"
"The gods decreed it so." Lee Seng truthfully told them. He felt like his body was going to literally collapse due to embarrassment.
"You were punished?" Valen asked. Lee Seng slowly nodded. "Was that the only thing that happened to you? What did the gods do to Keng exactly?"
"Well…" Lee Seng's voice trailed off. "Lord Rox'su said this was a human matter, so I should solve it like a human…" There was an audible sigh from General Halys.
"Alright. This makes things more complicated. What do you have then? Your gravity powers?" General Halys asked.
"That and supposedly the… Other ability from…"
"Yes. That one." Halys quickly confirmed. "Everything else has been stripped until you settle this. What of the Protocol?" Lee Seng gave a wide look at Chrono who nodded at him. "Have you felt anything since you've acquired it?"
"No. It's been… Quiet." Lee Seng shook his head.
"Keng had mentioned something was happening to you. A deimon or something? Is that still there, too?"
"No… It, uh… He's dead." Lee Seng scratched his cheek as he looked at the phone.
"Alright. Get them a car ready, Chrono. The rest of you, keep this locked up. No talking about it whatsoever. We'll do what we can to assist Lee Seng and Calis, alright?" General Halys addressed the Fox Spirits.
"Yes, General." The group answered.
"And Lee Seng." General Halys's voice cut through.
"Y-yes?" Lee Seng stuttered.
"Your punishment is often a time for repentance. You've done a lot without Keng so you can do so much more without your Fox Spirit gifts."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"You'll understand when the time comes. Don't worry so much about the punishment, but get through this, okay?"
"Sure, I guess." Lee Seng shrugged. Chrono reached for the phone and lifted it up to her ear. She listened for a while, nodding as she motioned for people to leave. The Fox Spirits filtered out, leaving Chrono, Valen, Lee Seng and Calis.
"Sure. I'll do that. Yup. See ya, General." Chrono hung the phone and stood up, stuffing the phone in her pocket. She looked at Lee Seng and then to Calis. "You two get dressed. Valen take them to the back exit when they're done. Their car will be waiting there."
"Sure thing." Valen nodded.
---
"Nobody's responding?" Number 4 asked Number 3. Alex shook his head at his wife, Scarlet and sighed. He clicked out of the call and redailed, again. "Where could two survivors have gone?"
"Scar!" Zoe slid across the hall, stopping just short of the middle of the hallway. "Alex! Scar! Did you see the news?"
"That Lee Seng is missing?" Scarlet asked.
"No, even worse!" Zoe raised her phone and played the clip.
"Breaking news! It seems like a car was hit off the highway and down to the forest below. A large fire exploded shortly afterwards, leaving no traces of survivors after this point!" The news reporter motioned to the video. There were footprints and some sort of body print left in the wet earth.
"That's the car Lee Seng was in!" Zoe rewinded it to the car pinned against the tree. She pointed to two doors. "I think the doors were ripped off by him. Even with the bracelet on, Lee Seng's crazy strong!"
"Where could he have gone?" Scarlet asked.
"It looks like there's two set of footprints though. Go forward a bit, Z." Alex motioned. Zoe began to move until they reached the footprints and body indentations, again. "There."
"Ahhh, who was with him then?" Scarlet asked. "What happened to the rest?"
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