Domino Theory
November Eighth, Twenty Forty-Six; Nova Interrogation Room:
Commander Trusadale, press her finger against a thin black glass, which activates and scans over her fingerprint. The device dings, then the heavy metal door slides open, introducing a room to me that has an inhumane structure to it. Walls are silver just like the door we walk through, and the floor is submerged in a three-inch-deep puddle of water.
"Nathan..." The Commander musters out Nathan's name, water plopping beneath her step on enter. "He had the same look as you when he first seen this place." -
Lights suddenly clicked on, showing how massive the chamber spread, revealing that the wall I thought was silver is actually metallic white. And, where I thought we were alone, a young man laid in the center, chained to the floor. Zel.
-"Zel!" Without any hesitation I rush over to his side, to gain a better view of his face.
His eyes remain dead fish like, recalling from the day we reunited.
"Zel!" I call to him again, this time shaking his shoulder. "It's me... Your brother, Zenith." I held my other hand close to my chest, damping my knees in water.
"Still no response, huh?"
I swiftly face the Commander, who places her hand on my shoulder, squatting down to my level.
"Relax, we didn't do a thing to him." She removes her hand. "Though, I can't promise anything for too long. Once the Governor gives order to, I'll have to kill him." She slightly eyes the water beneath our feet. "But let's be honest, he'll die either way. Info or not."
Is this all? Is this the main reason she brought me here to him? In order to tell me that my only family left is going to die soon?
"Hey, don't look at me that way. It's only a part of my job-
"Shut the hell up!" I shout out, a tear rippling the water. "What the hell is this!" I cry. "Is this just to torcher me or something?!" I let go of Zel slamming my fist into the water, punching the ground. "Zel... He might have killed a bunch of people... However... He isn't responsible... My dad... Milo... -This isn't Zel's fault! He never wanted to turn out like this! He wanted nothing but to be a-
"Hero..."
We both pause, utterly shock by a voice that creeps out of nowhere, Zel's voice.
"Mom... I want... To be... A hero..." He crackles, legs splashing the water as he struggles to stand. "Protect... Protect...- Zel falls perfectly on my shoulder, clenching the white shirt I wore, making it damper than what it already was. - Zenith...! Protect him!" His eyes locks with mines.
"I'm right here! Zel! I'm right here with you!" I latch my arms around him, praying that my tears will reach him. "You didn't fail! You saved me that day! You saved us all! You are a hero..." -
Green flames ignite from his hand, scorching my clothing under a second. -
"Dam it!" -
Commander Trusadale immediately pulls me back, quickly swinging out a gun. And, before I could have any word, she fired it.
Zel's fire died out, causing a huge splash when falling face down into the puddle.
"Zel!!" Even though Zel aim to kill me, my legs react faster than my mind, dashing through the knee-high flood to his corpse.
"Relax." The commander strikes a pose, gun above her head, head tilt alongside her waist. "He's not dead."
She then slides the gun back into her pocket, grabbing me up by the back of my shirt again.
"I should've listened to my guts. Him and you are trouble for Nova." She straightens me up on my legs. "Let's go. I believe the both of you kids had enough play time for today."
"Wait! What about-
"It doesn't matter. leave him to your superiors to worry about. I have more important things to do than to babysit." She speaks in her signature sigh.
She proceeded to walk out, but I decide to stand my ground, not moving from my spot.
"I'm not going! I still have more things to get out of him-
The light around the collar I wore began to swirl in circles. Commander Trusadale didn't try to hide the reason behind it either. She held close to a detonator; I could only assume was mine.
"This happens every time we gain a new member, you know. When I say I won't hesitate to blow your head off, I mean it. We aren't buddy, buddy. And I didn't comfort you out of sympathy. This partnership is business only, you have no say, no freedom." She closes the detonator, de-arming the bomb around my neck. "Now that that is all cleared out, like I said earlier; Let's go."
Sigma Flames Main Headquarters:
"You returned from Epsilon rather quickly."
Ava, holding a clipboard in her hand, peeked over Gallion's shoulder, once again handing him an energy drink, which feature a picture of Zero Frost in a menacing pose on its wrapper this time around.
"Yeah, and unscathed too." He laughs, taking the drink, slushing it down on the spot.
"Huh? Do we really have someone that cruel on our team?" Ava cutely, drops her jaw, pulling on Gallion's shirt, making him spill the leftover of his drink on the floor.
"Be honest with yourself Ava, all of us is a bunch of psychopaths." He lets the can from his hand slip to the floor, shifting his attention back to the humanoid glass tube in front of him. "It just happens that we recruited something far from our understanding. A boy who has been treated like nothing but a god till his maturity." He then turns to Ava. "Hey, I didn't ask before, but when Tau died, what were you feeling?"
Ava places her finger on her cheek looking to the celling. "What a random question to ask a lady."
Gallion stays quite for only a short moment, taking it upon himself to switch to another subject. "Anyway," He jots down on a sheet of paper; Remains Oblivious, when speaking. "While Epsilon and Upsilon have Dimond city on a hazard zone, a few others will be attacking the remaining districts."
"Hm? Really? What for?" She tilts her head for the second time.
Gallion eyes jot to her, becoming a bit agitated by her behavior. "They're working effortlessly in order to cover us from any distractions when going to save Phi. If you recall, they have her held up in a prison at the Yellowstone District."
"Right, right. Zeta mentioned it to us earlier today. But who did we send again?"
She obviously began to enjoy this, dancing up and down while clenching the clipboard to her chest.
"None other than Rho and her pet!" Gallion smiles out of character, striking a rather goofy pose to her applause. "And as that happen, Gamma and Mu wish to help out as well, along with Xi and his abomination Nu!" He flattens his back onto the glass tube behind him in a melodramatic way, holding a pleasurable grin. "Was that entertaining enough for you, Ava?"
He didn't waste no time to drop the charade, walking over to his desk.
"Omg, yes! That was perfect!" She claps her hands together in mannerly way.
"I might be The Fool, but you really are The Apathy, Psi."
Once Ava takes ear of Gallion's words, her expression fell blank, no longer pretending to be Brightful and overly joyed. She shined her true colors.
"Someone has to bring excitement to this dull room of yours..." She seats on his desk, eyeing the capsule in front of them, which was standing on the wall, far away from Milo's. "Once this little project of ours take sparks, do you think the end will finally be in reach?"
Gallion slides his chair to another desk, beginning to type on the computer that laid there, untouched for some time.
"Project E will be about done the moment Zel return." They both stare at the tube on Galion's note. "We are so close to the end Milo... Our theories, our dreams, will soon come into light... Just one last stand against your son. Watch, you will get to live again..."
Dimond District; City square; Four o'clock:
"So, this is the spot..." Flashing a tattooed E on his right eye and number two on his left, a young man, wearing a black raincoat and rubber boots look below from atop a tall building with his darken blue eyes.
"It's rather small for the five of us, dontcha think Malaby? Maybe we should split up, cause some chaos separately." Another girl speaks, hopping up on the edge of the balcony, lengthen her leg one at a time, playing to fall. Her caramel pig tails swayed in the air as the nun clothing she wore flutters.
"Leah. Julian..." Malaby speaks out their name, pointing in two directions.
"So, I take the west end, and Julian here takes the east. Doesn't sound too bad." Leah falls her butt flat down on the balcony's edge, not slipping off or anything. "Buut~ that doesn't explain the big guy, or the little guy's position."
Malaby jots her eyes to who Leah spoke about. A humongous looking being, plays peekaboo with a child smaller than him. It was like watching an Elephant play beside a rabbit.
"Calin," Malaby bends down to the kid's eye level. "Do you and your friend wish to join, me?" She speaks to the boy in a kinder way.
"Big sister Malaby?!" He gasps, overly excited, sprouting up from his spot. "Of course! Me and Mighty, will gladly join, sister Malaby."
Malaby, her line stretches to a smile, eating the boy's gratitude from her palms, a signal jewel dangling from her ear as she pulls her hair away, behind it.
The sun dims away, the break of evening turning her skin orange.