Keng's eyes quickly opened, snapping into a sitting position. He immediately looked around for Lee Seng, finding everyone in a state of panic.
"Keng!" Ritsuka called out to him. He turned and noticed Ritsuka was crawling over to him.
"Where's Lee?" Keng asked. Ritsuka shook his head. Keng started to stand when Ritsuka grabbed Keng. He could instantly feel something odd was off. "What happened to you guys? Why are you… just there?"
"Long story short… You got knocked out and we all got stunned in place by Eyes."
"Eyes? The creepy Failed Experiment dude?"
"Yeah." Ritsuka collapsed onto the floor, resting. "Goddamn, why does this have to feel like your gravity…" Keng closed his eyes and took a breath. He muttered to himself, ruminating on what he should do next.
"Over here." A familiar deep voice spoke. Number 3 and 4 filed in first, noticing the familiar faces.
"You're the intruders." Scarlet spoke. She looked over to Keng. "What're you doing here? You—" She stopped speaking and studied Keng. Something was off about him. "Who are you?" She raised her arm up and metal wires shimmered into existence. They moved like tendrils while the rest of Numbers stepped in.
"Are you sure there's enough room for…" Dr. Valentin stopped with Number 1 wrapped around his shoulder with Carter on the other side.
"Are these the rest of the intruders, Carter?" Scarlet asked.
"Y-yeah…" Carter answered.
"Who are you? Why do you look a lot like Lee Seng?" Alex asked Keng. "I didn't think I would see any of your faces, again after what happened two years ago…"
"Yamada, what're you doing here? Decided to side with your little brother instead of doing the right thing?" Scarlet asked. Jiro let out a sharp hiss as his body began to ease off the stun effect.
"I didn't think you guys were this famous." Jiro spoke to the group. He took a step forward and put his arms up as the Numbers watched him. Zoe moved into view, noticing the situation and quickly went to stand between the two groups.
"H-hey, let's not do anything crazy, hm?" Zoe told the two groups.
"Get away, Z. We don't know who's side they're on." Alex ordered. "As the one currently in charge, we need to assess the situation and make sure they're not threats."
"I reunited with my brother by happenstance." Jiro told the Numbers. "I was sent to the Academy after a Deimon separated me with my siblings."
"Deimon?" Dr. Valentin had a perplexed look on his face. "What is that?"
"The D31 idiots." Keng answered. Everyone shifted their gaze to Keng in an instant. Carter was too quiet. Keng gathered Carter wouldn't help a look-a-like like him. "I am Lee Seng, but also not Lee Seng. I'm his Spirit, Keng."
"Keng…? Where have I heard that name before?" Dr. Valentin muttered. Alex looked over to Dr. Valentin.
"What do you mean, doctor?" Alex asked. Dr. Valentin glanced at Alex and then to Keng.
"Akio mentioned something about a Keng once or twice. It had something to do with Lee Seng… Ah, my memory is no use…"
"Is that true?" Scarlet asked Lee Seng. "Akio knows?"
"Yes." Keng nodded. "He knows. I'm sure Miss Akali knows too."
"Miss?" Alex raised an eyebrow. The stun effects wore off on the group. Evan, Olivia and Liz almost dropped to the ground, letting out a hiss of air like Jiro.
"Please, don't lock us up…" Olivia pleaded, weakly. "Lee Seng's in danger."
"In danger? Aren't you the ones who infiltrated the underground of your own volition? I don't think you should be saying things like this in your position."
"We're not lying." Ritsuka gripped his stomach.
"He's hurt, dad." Zoe commented. "They all look like they've been through the wringer too many times. We should heal them."
"After we lock them up." Scarlet added. Alex sighed and rubbed his temples. Number 1 coughed, drawing their attention back onto their leader.
"After we deal with her. Doc, Carter, find a room. The rest of us will watch them." Alex ordered. Dr. Valentin sighed and began to walk when he realized something.
"Where's my son?" Dr. Valentin asked. "If you're all here, that surely means my son hasn't died, right? Where is he?" The group grew quiet. Dread filled Dr. Valentin's entire body. Before the worst could force Dr. Valentin onto the floor, Liz spoke up.
"Mourning the death of Number 7." Liz answered.
"What?" Alex asked. He turned to Carter. "You know this?" Carter looked down and slowly nodded. "Why didn't you tell us Abby died? We—"
"What happened?" Dr. Valentin asked the group.
"We don't know the entire details but…" Liz looked to Keng. Keng sighed and licked his lips.
"Are you aware that Number 7 was under the effects of the D31 juicer?" Keng asked.
"We were aware. She went rogue and we couldn't find her. The Creator wouldn't allow us to find her. How do you know this?" Alex asked Keng.
"Lee Seng and I are one. If we hop into the Soul realm-"
"Soul realm? That sounds made up." Scarlet interjected. Keng sighed and moved his tails.
"I think it was twenty or some years when the Creator captured someone exactly like me. Even made an Eleventh Number serum with it." Keng watched the Numbers' faces grow dark. "The Eleventh Serum was put into Lee Seng which resulted in Lee Seng having no Dark Matter due to the serum. The serum made Lee Seng into a super-human. Stronger, faster, smarter, heals fast, et cetera.
"Everyone believed the serum didn't work on him until two years ago when he exhibited gravity manipulation. The tests by Dr. Valentin only confirmed that he had somehow had a 'reawakening,' but it was actually me."
"What do you mean by that?" Scarlet asked. "This sounds too… unbelievable."
"And so was the Biohuman serum." Ritsuka commented. "All of this was just some fantasy. You don't really think that there are other forces out there that could play a hand in this messed up fantasy?"
"Ritsuka." Jiro sighed.
"What?" Ritsuka looked at his older brother. "They only believe what they want to believe because they were subjected to it. How many Failed Experiments did the Creator have to go through before he perfected the serum? It's not so far of a stretch to believe Keng was planted into Lee Seng as an energy source."
"Energy source?" Dr. Valentin's eyes moved to Keng. "That would explain the strange readings…"
"You're really gonna believe that, doc?" Alex asked.
"So you think these tails are just a result of something in the serum?" Keng asked. He forced a sarcastic smile and shook his head. "So what's more believable: me or the fact Number 2's alive?"
Metal wires flew at Keng as the entire space began to crack under Alex's earth manipulation. Keng sighed and blocked the metal wires and forced gravity to hold the cracked ground caused by Alex. Zoe gulped, unsure what to do.
"How dare you bring up Number 2!" Scarlet shouted. She moved forward, only to be met with resistance by her husband. Alex grabbed Scarlet, fully aware of something the rest weren't - a pressure above them.
"Enough." Alex told Scarlet. Scarlet turned to argue with her husband, only to notice it. Something was above them. Alex looked over to Keng. "Let's just say everything you said was true. You were the reason Lee Seng got his powers and began to inhibit miraculous growth. Let's just bypass all of that for a second and get to the meat and potatoes: why are you here now? What does a supposed terrorist group want with the underground?"
"We don't know much about ourselves, but Lee Seng thinks the Creator is trying to do something." Evan answered.
"What do you mean by that?" Zoe asked.
andasnovel.com "You know the Failed Ones didn't all die, right?" Keng asked the Numbers. Their silent looks only answered his question. "The underground was built to contain them and Lee Seng has suspected that the mother that died years ago wasn't his actual mother. His actual mother… is in the underground - a Failed One."
"That can't be." Dr. Valentin shook his head. "Technology was made to detect Failed Ones on the outside. That's why we're here. Our job is to make sure that doesn't happen. How could Lee Seng be a Failed One? That's impossible!"
"You ever wonder why Lee Seng spent so much time in the lab?" Keng asked the Numbers. Number 1 stirred, eyes blurry as Keng's voice began to filter through her ears. "Why did he take so many shots as a kid? You don't think the Creator was trying to hide the fact Lee Seng is… a Failed One?"
"That can't be!" Dr. Valentin shook his head. He pulled away from Number 1 and Carter, letting Carter take the slack. He pushed past Alex, furious. "Dr. Chang would've told me that! He would've shared that with me!"
"You weren't supposed to ever know that Lee Seng's a Failed One. I guess the Creator had secrets that even you, his closest colleague, didn't know about."
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