21 Chapter 21 - Turn back!

It would be a lie if we were to say that Sera wasn't expecting such a response from the boy. After all, that pair of elders were the people that took him in and helped him when he was at his lowest.

It was obvious that he would not want to see them suffer and would want to help them. Especially if the cause of their misery was because of him.

Sera could only sigh, as she slowed the car down. They have already left the city limits thanks to her speeding. Still, instead of turning around, she parked the car on the sideway but kept the doors locked, for the time being.

Giving a soft sigh, whilst keeping both of her hands on the steering wheel, she looked at the cold, emotionless eyes of the boy.

"Listen Lucien." She began, trying to ignore the rising hostility in his expression. "I know what you want to do, but before we rush back, tell me: What do you intend to do once you get there?"

Lucien didn't hesitate even for a second before he responded, something he felt was clear.

"I would help them of course."

"I see," Sera revealed a gentle smile as she continued to guide their conversation. "You would help them. How exactly? Do you plan to kill the soldiers? Do you think they are the same you defeated in the facility? Do you really believe that a man such as the Director of the Modern Institute of Technocracy, the place that managed to capture and hold many other mutants and experiment on them, would have no other methods to force you into submission?" She asked with the same smile on her face but with a slightly higher volume, startling the boy in the process.

"Mutants?" Whilst her questions bothered him quite a bit, the main keyword he picked up was this strange term. What did she mean by that?

Sera gave a light chuckle at the boy's honest response. She was delighted that even if for just a few seconds, she managed to push through the barrier he erected to keep everyone at a distance and could finally speak to the 'real' Lucien.

"Mutants… Superhumans, Beings with supernatural powers… I could go on. They are people, man, and woman, boys and girls… just like you, that at some point were deemed dangerous and got swiftly captured by their agents and placed in one of their underground facilities."

Giving a short pause, she continued after a brief moment.

"They are a secret organization, a hidden branch of the government, continuously working to create the next step in warfare, an evolved soldier that they have total control over."

She smiled, looking at the boy in expectation, waiting for his next words. After all, what she revealed is not something that could be easily digested. She could see as the momentary shock slowly settled, returning to the previous agitated, cold outlook.

He reached for the door's lever before he spoke with the same cold tone in his voice.

"I understand. Will you drive back, or do I need to walk there myself?"

Sera could only sigh. She couldn't force the matter, she had to do everything to earn the boy's trust. Not trying to argue any longer, she nodded, as she restarted the car.

"Sure. But remember, that I have warned you. These agents are not your average soldiers. They came prepared, knowing your abilities full-well."

She muttered just loud enough for the boy to hear, as she pushed on the pedal and turned the car around. A moment later their dark blue blur could be seen slithering through the traffic, rushing towards the southern parts of the hillside town.

Although they were speeding with maximum speed, Lewis's home was still quite a distance away…

They just turned in through the corner, when the loud bang echoed through the streets. The sound of a gun being fired reached their ears, causing Lucien's pearl-white sclera to almost instantly turn into the void-like black.

—

In front of a particular suburban family home, a silver van could be seen parked down. The front gate was torn off from the fence, the front door also destroyed, only splintered remains could be seen hanging from where once it stood, trying to fulfill its purpose.

The dozen-strong skull-faced mercenaries formed a circle around the pair of Lewis wife and husband. One soldier was holding them from behind. Several bruises could be observed, signs of the clearly unjust and rough treatment they had to go through in the span of the previous minutes.

A short but stout man stood in front of them, wearing a white lab coat. Dark, round sunglasses hid his rigid, calculating eyes, a huge silver beard reached almost to the ground, giving a big contrast to his bald head that he tried to hide with a trilby hat.

"It is quite commendable that you two are so insistent to keep on with this farce." He spoke, giving a welcome change to the groans and woes of the pair of elders. "Sadly, your stubbornness is pointless and will just give way to further completely avoidable pain."

"Listen, this is just as hard for me as it is for you. So, let me ask again…" The dwarf-looking scientist asked again with a fake smile over his bearded face. He leaned closer to the still sobbing middle-aged woman. "Where. Is. The. Boy?"

Martha, the middle-aged woman, slowly raised her head, revealing her red, cried-out eyes and woeful expression. She took a large gasp of air as if trying to collect herself before giving the expected response.

However, instead of doing that, instead, she suddenly spat her bloodied saliva in the middle of the bearded man's face, before heaving her previously heard, obstinate words.

"You… ugly… little… angry gnome… Neither my husband… nor myself…knows anything…" She gave a lightless chuckle, as she slowly uttered her closing words. "Hehe… you are… just… wasting your time… Assaulting innocent… civilians…"

The dwarf man took a long sigh, as he reached out with his right hand towards the closest soldier. A white piece of cloth, a handkerchief was swiftly placed in his palm, which he used to clean the disgusting dribble from his face.

Instead of looking insulted, the man clicked his tongue and shook his head with a theatrical saddened, disheartened look.

"That was not what I was hoping for, Mrs. Martha Lewis… You see, I truly hoped we could solve this small matter without needing to resolve to… unsightly means… Oh well."

He nodded at the nearby masked soldier as he turned around and stepped behind them.

Before he could leave, the husband, George Lewis cried out after him angrily.

"Do not dare to hurt her!"

"Oh? What would happen if I do?" The dwarven man stopped in its tracks and approached the husband with an inquiring gaze.

"Hmm? What would you do, huh?" He repeated the taunting question.

In the next moment, he reached into the lower right, deep pocket of his lab coat and pulled out a small revolver from it. Before the aged husband had a chance to respond in any manner, he aimed the gun to the side, and without hesitation pulled the trigger.

*BANG!*

A loud blustering, explosive noise filled the room, reverberating and reaching all to the neighborhood as well.

While the small white puff of smoke slowly evaporated the elderly hunter's eyes turned hazy, he cried out with deep sorrow.

A single, high-pitched whine could be heard, as the trusted hunting dog, Roxy fell to the ground in her own pool of blood. She looked at her master one last time before her eyelids closed. She died on the spot.

Bursting into tears, George cried at the sight of his beloved partner's dead body.

"ROXXYYYY NOOO!!! PLEASE…. SAY SOMETHING… PLEASE… I BEG YOU…"

But Roxxy didn't respond. She didn't budge. She laid motionlessly on the cold floor as her own blood pooled under her, painting the white marble tiles to a deeper shade of vermillion.

Just like that, she was gone. Just to prove a point, just to make them understand that no matter what they think, nobody will come to their aid. They are the law themselves, the police, the neighbors will be powerless against them.

His sobbing quickly died down, replaced by rhythmic breathing. He slowly turned his head back to the bearded man, looking at him with a hideous expression.

"YOU… YOU *SSHOLE!!! I WILL KILL YOU!!!!!" He cursed, only earning a giggle from him.

"I highly doubt that. Before you try to come up with plans of revenge, you should first worry about your own wife. You can't even save her. If I want, she could be put down just like this mutt and nobody would even bat an eye. I can do whatever the hell I want and nobody will be able to do ANYTHING about it. Especially someone as pathetic and meaningless as you."

With that, he turned around and walked out of the living room, entering the short hallway and turning towards the kitchen. He wasn't interested in what was to come next, he just wanted results.

In the next moment, as if contradicting his earlier words of contempt, a dark blue sports car arrived on the spot, its tires loudly screeching on the pavement as it came to an abrupt halt. The side doors of the car flew open as a dark blur of a figure flew out of it with high speeds, rapidly approaching his startled figure.