The earth shook, drawing everyone's attention away from the large apartment complex building. The ground shook, drawing Lee Seng's attention to the right. The ground cracked, moving straight for Lee Seng.
"Get back!" Lee Seng shouted, jumping backwards. Calis, Ritsuka and Evan jumped up, watching the ground open beneath them. "This isn't anything close to a tremor! What the fu—" A roar erupted from beneath the group as Number 3 flew out of the ground, fist propelling forward.
Number 3's eyes widened too late. Lee Seng grabbed the fist, taking the brunt. He held on like a koala, moving in the direction Number 3 wanted him to go. Alex's swing finished with Lee Seng holding on for his dear life.
Lee Seng's entire body shook as the aftereffects of Number 3's ability shook through him. Calis swung forward, releasing a wave of water and darkness, swinging it downwards at Number 3. A colorful barrier appeared, blocking the attack and sending Lee Seng and Number 3 flying to the right.
"D-don't attack!" Lee Seng shouted.
"What?" Ritsuka asked, summoning the elven bow. He plucked an arrow from thin air and pulled the bow string, lining it up at the barrier. A line of bubbles flew outwards as Ritsuka fired the shot. He watched as the arrow flew straight through the first bubble before being destroyed by the second barrier.
Three large colorful barriers appeared around Calis, Evan and Ritsuka, preventing them from doing any more damage.
"Alex!" Zoe shouted, pulling out from behind an old brick building. Alex pinned Lee Seng to the ground, eyes studying Lee Seng as ripped Alex's arm off him.
"Get off!" Lee Seng shouted.
"What're you doing here?" Alex asked Lee Seng. He pushed his arm back down onto Lee Seng, trying to pin him. Lee Seng knocked Alex off of him with one blow, swinging another open palm hit at Alex, breaking the barrier and sending him flying.
"Alex!" Zoe circled her finger on Alex, forming a barrier. She moved her other free hand and fired a barrage of colorful bubbles at him. Lee Seng slashed at Zoe, releasing a blade of fire. The flames cut through Zoe's barrier bubble like nothing, forcing the Observer to shield herself. Lee Seng pointed his finger at the three bubbles in the air, shooting at them with three thin beams of fire.
"Lee Seng, stand down!" Alex shouted. Alex rushed onto his feet, going for a tackle onto Lee Seng. Lee Seng moved his pointed finger at Alex, letting fire appear on the tip of his finger.
"I'd stand down if I were you, Number 3." Lee Seng warned. Alex slid to a stop.
'Fire? When was he able to do that?' Alex wondered. His eyes moved onto Lee Seng's ears. Those were the deciding factor on why he even attacked the group in the first place. Flames rushed by Zoe, allowing her room to breathe. She stepped out of the barrier and continued forward. Lee Seng formed a finger gun with his right hand and pointed it at Zoe.
"Stop, Zoe!" Alex ordered.
"W-what? Why? That's a monster! We should be dispatching it with the rest!" Zoe shouted. She slid to a stop, drawing her eyes at the fire billowing from Lee Seng's fingers.
"Take a good look." Alex motioned with a nod. Zoe studied Lee Seng closely, unsure of what she was seeing. "You know who that is."
"L-Lee?" Zoe exclaimed in surprise. "W-what're you doing here?!? I thought you were a monster!" She looked over to the three in the bubbles. "Are those… your friends?"
"Put down my friends and we can talk." Lee Seng stuck his hands up, extinguishing the flames on the tips of his pointer fingers. Zoe frowned and waved her hand at the three orbs and moved them over to the ground and popped them.
Zoe sighed as she moved over to Alex's side. The two of them looked a bit worse for wear but didn't look like they had any signs of way too dirty clothes, hair or skin.
"God, I was panicking when you said to move! You left without me and took the underground approach! You would've wrecked the place, Alex!" Zoe complained. She looked over at Number 3 and noticed his eyes were shaking. They hadn't seen Lee Seng in a while and Alex's fatherly instincts must've been kicking in hard. "Alex…?" Alex wiped his nose and moved over to Lee Seng. Calis, Evan and Ritsuka grew tense, unsure of what to do when the large man wrapped a hug around Lee Seng, squeezing him.
"Thank goodness you're alive!" Alex's voice cracked. "I thought you were dead, too!" It was apparent on Lee Seng's face he didn't know how to react to this. Alex sniffled for a second before pulling himself together. He pulled away and tried to give a smile at Lee Seng. His eyes moved over to Ritsuka and them. "You were together, weren't you? You were down in the lab, right?"
"Yeah… How'd you know? Did Carter tell you?" Lee Seng asked.
"Carter didn't say much." Alex shook his head. "I should've known, especially after we saw them." He motioned at Ritsuka and the others.
"Where's the rest of your friends?" Zoe asked Lee Seng.
"All this is happening so they're trying to find their loved ones." Evan answered.
"Evan." Ritsuka tapped him. "We shouldn't spill anything."
"What? They asked. We should answer right?" Evan whispered back. Ritsuka elbowed him with a quiet little shush. Lee Seng sighed and nodded.
"It's only us now." Lee Seng squeezed his neck with his hand. "Why're you two on patrol around here? Someone might be looking for the Numbers and you might've given your position away."
"Are you trying to say you were looking for us?" Zoe asked. Lee Seng nodded. "Why? After everything that happened, why would you want to find us?"
"Well, Dad left me something to do."
"Dad…? Dad…?" Zoe's face grew completely blank as she slowly registered what Lee Seng meant by 'dad.' "The Creator?"
"The Creator's not alive… All that burning rubble. We saw it." Alex informed Lee Seng. "There's no way he would've survived if he was…"
"Down there?" Lee Seng finished. Alex nodded, clearly uncomfortable by what he jsut said.
"You were taken, right?" Zoe asked Lee Seng. She stepped forward. "How did you get out? M-maybe…" Lee Seng shook his head.
"I don't know how I got out. Dad's long gone." Lee Seng crushed any semblance of hope he saw in Zoe and Alex. "I found some stuff Dad wanted me to find about ending the Failed Ones." Alex and Zoe grew stiff at the mention of that. Alex started to look away while Zoe simply looked down. "I was hoping you guys knew where to look… You guys do, right…?"
"I'm not sure… if we should be telling you this." Zoe slowly looked up. Her face looked pained and Alex was unresponsive. She gulped before speaking. "We're in no condition to be hunting them down… Y-y'see, a lot of stuff went down and well…" Alex sighed and looked up.
"Number 1's barely hanging on." Alex finished Zoe's sentence. "Between that, we barely made it out in time. S-Scarlet and Dr. Valentin were heavily injured in the… whole thing. Scarlet's barely keeping it together… She's on threads… and…" Alex's voice shook. He sucked in a hiccup sob and wiped his eyes. "M-my daughter… she… She's…"
"How long?" Lee Seng gently put his hand on Alex's hands. Alex was fidgeting. Alex shook his head. He couldn't bring himself to tell.
"Well…" Zoe's voice was quiet. "We don't know. It was after the whole lab incident…" Lee Seng nodded and squeezed Alex's hands.
"Recently, then." Lee Seng whispered. He nodded and pulled away from Alex. He wrapped his arm around Number 3 and looked at Zoe. "Can you take me to the others? Maybe what little healing I can offer will help."
"Healing? You can't heal." Zoe gave Lee Seng an odd look. She shook her head. "We can't take anyone there. It could jeopardize everything with four people from the outside. Needs a sterile environment and the sterilizer is about done."
"C'mon, Z." Lee Seng pulled away from Alex and grabbed her hands. "I've changed a lot. Physically, magically, every-ically! I can do this. Trust me." Zoe frowned.
"I don't like this…" Zoe shook her head.
"C'mon, Z! I'll be in and out. Give them a quick heal, get some information and be on my way. I swear on my life!" Lee Seng crossed his heart and gave a melting smile that usually got Zoe to cave. Zoe fought against the "sinister" smile and sighed.
"Fine." Zoe pulled Lee Seng's hands away. "I'll take you there but I don't think you can do much for them. I don't think anyone can help you with where the Failed Ones are." Lee Seng smiled and celebrated with a small dance. "Man, I'm going to get hounded for this… Alex, do you really think this is a good idea?" She looked over to Alex who was staring at Lee Seng. "Three? Three? Hello?"
"Huh?" Alex snapped out of it. "Yeah, I think it's fine. The worst that could happen is he's a liar and infects everyone."
"Exactly why I don't want them to go!" Zoe pointed at Lee Seng.
"But someone should really deal with the Failed Ones… If what Lee Seng is saying is right… We should take it. It's our only hope." Alex turned and looked at Calis, Evan and Ritsuka. "The four of you are going to kill all the Failed Ones?" All four young men nodded.
"We already killed three." Lee Seng wrapped an arm around Alex and stuck three fingers out. "It'll be fine. Trust me! Seasoned Failed Experiment killers! We're almost there." Alex gulped and peeled away from Lee Seng.
"C'mon, let's go before I change my mind." Alex turned and started down the cracked road.
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