"You what?!?" Manny shouted loudly. The group gathered in the living room, listening to Lee Seng rehash everything that had happened yesterday. Manny gulped the information down, almost choking on it. The others seemed… quieter than usual. Lee Seng quietly sat on the floor in front of the TV as he watched his friends digest everything.
"So… you're saying Number 2 is still alive…?" Evan asked. Lee Seng nodded. "And he's been working in the shadows for all these years…? Why?"
"Beats me." Lee Seng shrugged. "Maybe he found out the truth and instead of sticking around, he 'perished' on mission and disappeared."
"So, you think they'll contact us in a couple days?" Olivia asked. "Or do you think they'll give us a month?"
"Dunno. It could be two days… It could be one month. It could be more than that." Lee Seng shrugged. "I think we should live our lives to the fullest here. Get creds, take on missions, gather information. Do anything and everything to hone our skills before we go back." The room grew silent. It would be hard to live like they would leave at any moment.
"Alright." Manny broke the silence. "I guess that brings us to Capitol City… What do we know so far?"
"From what we've searched up, it looks like a new group of sorts has risen in the last two years. They go by the name of D31." Olivia answered.
"They've advertised these 'juicers' that supposedly boost Biohuman capabilities." Evan continued. "I've seen a couple threads online that D31 is targeting those with abilities that are harder to use in combat scenarios. They suddenly change and often disappear."
"That fits in with what I've experienced…" Lee Seng said, quietly. The group looked at Lee seng like he was some sort of pitiful dog. Lee Seng shook it off and continued. "It's a fight between who you think you are and the horriblest parts of you. To think that the Deimons would mass produce a product that would guarantee people to think it would make them stronger."
"What's worse is that not a lot of people know the adverse effects… The few that did make it through the cracks of the web, shared a lot of horrible things that matched with what happened with you." Evan motioned at Lee Seng.
"What do we do then? We can't possibly fight a growing horde of Deimons. There's surely something we must do, right?" Liz asked. The group grew quiet again. They thought as most of them ate. Lee Seng turned his body sideways and laid down. He let out a yawn as his eyes filled with tired tears. Sleep was finally answering his call.
"You have to memorize these by tomorrow." Uncle Nikolai told young Lee Seng. He was slumped overhead of Lee Seng's chair as the young boy stared at a bunch of random runes. "If you can't get these down, you won't be able to get the next batch down, alright?" Young Lee Seng grunted a 'mm' with a small nod and sighed. "Let's go again. This one's…"
"Noct." Lee Seng answered. Uncle Nikolai moved his finger to the next one. "Juniper."
"No, this one doesn't have a stem. This one is stemless."
"Barrow."
"Correct. Next one." Nikolai moved to the next rune. Lee Seng continued through the exhausting and drilling process of learning every single new rune Uncle Nikolai had made.
"What does Noct do?" Nikolai asked, sitting in his chair next to Lee Seng. Uncle was quite patient with the boy. The boy would succumb to fits of frustrating outbursts and instead of meeting it with frustration, Uncle Nikolai was always gentle. He knew the young boy was going through a lot with his father who was barely there and a mother who was quickly growing a following with the city.
Lee Seng stared at the rune 'Noct'. It was fairly straightforward to conjure. A hand swipe in front of the face. The young boy thought for a moment and then looked at his Uncle. He mimicked the sign as a way of telling his Uncle he was paying attention.
"Noct makes you unseeable to others." Lee Seng answered. "Everything on you vanishes and your Dark Matter is undetectable through normal means."
"What are some ways you can see through Noct?"
"You have to use way more DM than the rune."
"How much?" Nikolai asked. The young Lee Seng thought for a moment and then shrugged.
"I don't remember." Lee Seng answered. Nikolai smiled and ruffled Lee Seng's hair. The young boy squeezed his eyes shut and tried to peel his Uncle's hand off him.
"Noct outputs 175 Dark Matter. You must exude an energy level four times that. What's 175 times 4?"
"700."
"Right. You need to reach 700. It's quite a high number for a normal person to reach thus making Noct immensely strong."
The memory came to Nikolai as he mindlessly swirled his drink. The car bumped along the roads, slowly making their way back to the city he had tried to forget. Akio glanced up from his phone and noticed Nikolai was lost in thought. He clicked his phone off and set it on the wireless charger bench next to him.
"What's wrong?" Akio asked. "Still upset that Lee didn't join us?"
"He outputted over 700." Nikolai answered.
"What?" Akio leaned over to Nikolai. "What're you talking about?" Nikolai snapped out of it and took a sip of his drink. He lowered it into his lap and looked outside. It was daylight and Akali was sleeping in the front seat while one of their men drove.
"Akio." Nikolai quietly spoke. "What did Lee Seng have to go through without me being there? Did he suffer? Those eyes… They looked at me like they were fully sure of their decision. Those eyes… they were filled with emotions even I couldn't begin to comprehend. How much did Lee Seng go through? How much did he endure to be so sure he would go back to Capitol City and face his past? How can someone that young do something I dread doing?"
Nikolai took another sip of his drink. He thought more about Lee Seng after seeing him. Memories of the past played in Nikolai's mind and a part of his heart hurt. He hadn't known how much he missed someone. It slowly slipped into thinking about the other Numbers, but Akio snapped him out of it with his reply.
"He was bullied." Akio said. Nikolai looked over at Akio. He was staring out the window of the car. His eyes were following something in his imagination as he told Nikolai things about Lee Seng. "After you 'died,'Lee Seng grew depressed. He didn't want to study. He didn't want to eat. He didn't want to exist. Your 'death' hurt him a lot. When his mother died, it was like he was rehashing everything again. He ran away from home. He ran to his friend's house and stayed nearly all Summer, yearning to say his goodbyes to his mother properly. We found him and I went to collect him.
"He looked like he knew exactly what he had done. He knew what would come when he stepped foot back into the lab - the prison he tried so hard to get out of. The Creator cut everyone close to him. Manny, Sarah, even the friends who hosted him all Summer - all gone. A threat given to each and everyone of them… He was subjected to bullying by the same friends who hosted him - twins. They bullied him and it got worse when they go their powers. Both were pyrokinetic Fighters. They used fire to hurt him. To torture him because they believed the Creator.
"He even was subjected to horrible sexual abuse at one point by those same 'friends…'" Akio stopped for a moment and let out a sigh. He noticed his sister had woken up and was quietly listening like she always did. Akio turned to look at Nikolai. He wasn't surprised by Number 2's reaction. Full of sorrow. Full of pity. Full of anger. "He endured that up until two years ago… I don't know all the details, even now, but he had a second awakening of sorts. The doctors all say it's unprecedented - impossible, really. A Specialist who's stats were better than any Specialist I've seen. A low C-ranking all around with Fighter and Glass at a S-possibility.
"Lee Seng was truly given a second start, but it came at a cost - his image. He had acted out, living life like it was a joke. He laughed when he wanted to cry and caused trouble because of it. My sister and I thought if we got him an apartment with the condition that he does well in school, he would do better."
"He was naturally always good at school." Akali spoke up. "You just thought it would tame his prankster ways." Akio smiled, agreeing with his sister. Akali shifted in her spot and cracked her neck. "Lee's always a troublemaker. A smart troublemaker."
"His image made people doubt him?" Nikolai asked.
"In a way, what he did to survive up until that point did hurt him." Akio nodded. "But, his physical form wasn't human. You saw it - the tails, the ears. He has many of them now."
"Eight tails." Akali inserted herself.
"Did you feel his power?" Akio smiled. "The little kid I used to bully in martial arts is strong now."
"That's why we should be prepared on all fronts." Akali rounded the conversation back to the task at hand. The car slowed to a stop and Akali reached for the unlock button. "We got to do our job and clear our little brother and his friends' names." She hit the button and the three Numbers unbuckled themselves and stepped out of the car.
"Ah, what's the problem this time?" Akio asked, tapping his earpiece.
"Vines. Loads of them are blocking the path ahead." Carlisle answered.
"I wouldn't touch that, Carlisle." A female voice spoke out. "It looks like a trap."
"Ah," Akio sighed. "Let's get to work, shall we?"
Th𝗲 most uptodate novels are published on free(w)ebnov(e)l.𝒄𝒐𝙢