"What?", Phil asked in disbelief.
Gaston clenched his fist behind his back and tried to stay as calm as he could. However, he was flabbergasted.
"What did he just say? how did he know about the two guys outside? he even said the numbers exactly. has he been following me?"
Gaston maintained a smile on his face but he was trying hard to quickly formulate his next set of actions.
"who is this man?", Gaston was trying hard to browse through his memory of faces. He felt that he knew this guy from somewhere.
"I should probably tell those guys to abort." He was afraid of the exposure of his involvement.
The old man walked closer to Phil. He still had his hands in his pocket. he was dressed in white, had fairly long silver hair that was neatly slicked back with facial hair that seemed to have been taken care of with detailed grooming. He looked like royalty from the movies.
"Doctor, can I have a word with Mr. Louis?", At first Phil did not know who he was talking about then suddenly realized that was Marcellus's last name.
"May I ask the reason?", Phil asked nervously.
"Holy shit!! I have the owner of the whole army of France next to me and somehow this random guy is making me weak on my knees. just who is this old dude?" Phil could feel sweat dripping from his forehead.
"My reason is nothing insidious as the two people who are on their way to get him as we speak."
Gaston felt a chill again.
He definitely knew.
"But how much does he really know? does he also know that I'm involved?"
Suddenly the alarm started ringing. They were on the fifth floor of the building. Marcellus was on the seventh floor. The two guys had already breached past the main door of the building on the first floor.
Phil rushed towards the wall that had a console with a big monitor. it turned on after he scanned his thumb in the terminal. The two guys showed up on the CC camera. One of them had a glowing hand. He was opening a path through locked glass doors by melting them with his hands. the temperature of the area where they walked through rose so drastically that ended up even buzzing the fire alarm.
"These are not your common followers. They are definitely Angel class."
Phil looked back at everyone staring at him with a concerned look. He was just a scientist, he was not well suited to handle situations like this.
"What should I do?" He did not want to blurt that out but he did. He had both his hands on his temple, He was frequently changing directions while furiously walking.
"Do you have any awakened people among the guards?" The old man asked Phil. he was the only one in the room who was not panicking. Gaston had moved to a corner. He did calm down as he had reached his conclusion.
"It doesn't matter. Those two can beat anyone on this building, no one will have a chance to find out that I'm the instigator. In fact, the appearance of this man is a boon for me. I will find a way to make this guy the perpetrator." Gaston made the resolve, slowly regaining his confidence.
Phil thought for a moment.
"Wait, how do I even trust you, you are the most suspicious person here. how did you know there was going to be an attack?", Phil shouted at The suspicious man who was now slowly walking around focusing hard. It looked as if he was trying to focus on a sound he just heard. He had his right palm in front of him as if he was trying to feel something in the air.
"what are you doing now?", Phil asked both confused and annoyed.
"I asked how many awakened people you have in this base right now."
The slight grin on his face vanished and he looked quite serious now.
And that looked very intimidating.
"six, but they are nothing like the two intruders. they are normal followers," Phil did not want to answer but somehow he felt like he must do as the man said.
"Ok," he said but he had more to say.
"How is young Marcellus doing?"
"He is all healed up." Phil had started to answer as if he and the man were colleagues. There was a strange sense of trust, That man radiated exceptional leadership qualities. He felt like he could trust him.
"Would you mind calling him here?" The man politely asked.
He had a pure British accent, The way he spoke kind of compelled you to do as he said.
Gaston was quietly watching all this. He did feel threatened a little by the potential of the mysterious man but he was also quite confident in the abilities of those men.
They were angel class followers of a fire God who was working with Gaston.
Phil did not know what to do. What was his relation with Marcellus? A family? Marcellus did not really have a family left, even if he did they would not be able to recognize him.
The old man was looking at the floor, and three-storied below, straight where he was looking at, The two men were breaking another door on their path.
suddenly The man's eyebrows narrowed for a while and loosened as he let out a faint smile. Then he turned to look back, and he knew what he was going to see when he turned.
"Marcellus! what are you doing here?" Phil shouted.
Marcellus did not answer him. He was looking at The old man who was also staring back at him.
"Who are you?" Marcellus asked but wasn't very audible because he was distracted by a strange sensation.
He had developed a sixth sense thanks to his aura. He could roughly tell that there was something blocking the auras path. His aura spread a finite distance around him and had no definitive pattern of movement. He had felt a strong attraction towards this direction from the upper floors. that is why he came to check. He came following that sensation and got here, before this man.
The old man smiled, to Marcellus, it seemed like a very kind face. the man slowly walked towards Marcellus. As the distance between them shrunk, The lights began flickering in the hall. Everyone noticed.
Gaston was watching in awe, he was also feeling very uneasy.
The old man Finally reached Marcellus and extended his hand towards him.
"Hello Mr. Marcellus, My name is Daniel Davidson, I presume we are two followers under the same God."
Marcellus did not fully process what he heard until he offered his own hand for the handshake and finally when their hands met, he felt his aura acting up, he felt empowered. The lights flickered violently, went out for about 2 seconds, and lit up again.
Everyone was shocked. And not all of them were shocked for the same reasons. Phil, Marcellus, and the receptionist were shocked to find out that The man was also awakened, however, what shocked Gaston was the name That the man called himself with.
"D-did you just say, Davidson?" He stuttered, he looked like had just seen a ghost.
Davidson let go of Marcellus's hand and turned to face Gaston.
"Yes, Mr. Chief of defense." The calmness never seemed to leave this man's face.
"It's quite a common name, I'm sure you have met a lot of Davidsons before."
Gaston checked his memory to be sure again. No matter how much he tried to deny it, this man was definitely someone he had heard of before. He also knew that face, although only a photograph of it but he had seen it when he was much younger.
"The man who married the third princess of England 20 years ago and was accepted into the royal family. Daniel Davidson, The Brilliant tactician of the British army.The one that went by the name cunning devil during the operation in the sierra." Gaston said all this in one breath.
He realized something again, he was remembering small details about him and shocking himself in the process.
"you were supposed to be killed in a car accident." He said, demanding an explanation with his eyes.
Davidson laughed, "oh my....you just described me as some sort of war veteran."
he looked at everyone else and said, smiling,
"I am no such person, just an old man wandering around."
Nobody said a thing. Marcellus was already too dumbfounded to say anything so he just stood there in his gown waiting for the madness to stop.
"Anyway-", Davidson turned towards Marcellus.
"They are going to burst out of that spot in about 80 seconds" He pointed towards a spot on the floor. Everyone continued to be in a state of dumbness throughout all this.
"I was hoping for the awakened guards of this building to be of assistance but they have already been wiped out on the fourth floor."
Phil wondered if this guy was sane. Or could he really see everything that was happening around them? A sensory type? There were definitely some awakened with an extraordinary sense of hearing and eyesight.
"Would you be interested to show me how much you can do young Marcellus?" Davidson asked.
"What are you saying? those two look like veterans. Marcellus is strong but he can't control his powers yet."Phil showed concern.
Marcellus definitely wanted to try out his new strength. He did not think much about it but he wanted to fight so he was ready to say yes but Davidson spoke before he could.
"No, wait," He rubbed his bearded chin with his fingers and thought for a very short moment.
"They can control fire so it could be quite dangerous for the other people here," he said looking at the receptionist and Phil.
"Ok then, young Marcellus, you will have to sit this one out for the sake of the best outcome. I'm a bit old to be doing this sort of thing but as a responsible adult I must step up."
As soon as he finished talking, the floor cracked at the spot he pointed at earlier. it melted and the two attackers burst out of there. nobody was counting but exactly 80 seconds had passed since Davidson said they would appear there.
Marcellus was confused once again. These were the attackers, normally he would take action immediately. but this time he felt like he did not have to. He felt like a child who felt safe around their parents. It was a feeling Marcellus hadn't felt since his mother died.
"Is it really ok for that old man to fight? He does look like he has a very fit body. and he is awakened. " He did have his doubts about letting an old man fight while he was there, But he felt like it was fine so he decided to see what happened and step in if the old man got into trouble. This was actually happening so fast that other people could only watch.
After making the entrance the two men looked around to make an assessment. An old man, a lady, a doctor, and the target. Also, they had to act like they did not know Gaston so they carefully made sure not to take any glance at him. Gaston acted like he was surprised seeing them too.
"Our receptionist was quite taken aback by your extraordinary entrance so may I ask in her stead to what do we owe the pleasure young gentlemen?" Davidson asked the two attackers playfully. The receptionist mentally smirked at that but it did not show on her face because she was quite afraid because the floor was still shaking and glasses were shattering.
"You there." The attacker with the silver hair who was taller than the other pointed at Marcellus.
"If you just come with us we can avoid a lot of mishaps."
"well if you could just fuck off that would be a lot better don't you think?" Marcellus instantly replied.
The two guys were standing between Marcellus and what Marcellus said triggered the hell out of the silver-haired attacker, He charged at Marcellus. It was a very swift movement. he covered four meters distance in a blink of an eye. But Marcellus was ready. He could cleanly react to this speed. he was amazed both at the guy's speed and his own ability to react to that but what shocked him most was although he could react to this guy coming at him, he did not realize that there was already a person's back right in front of his eyes. he looked up to see who it was; Davidson. He looked at where Davidson was standing a moment ago only to find an empty spot.
"You mean he traveled twice the distance even faster?"
The silver-haired guy dropped to the ground. nobody saw what Davidson did to him. Not even Marcellus. did he get hit somewhere? The guy was out cold.
Gaston gasped. One of the strongest angel-level followers in entire France just got knocked down in a second by an old man.
To Gaston, Phil, and the receptionist this was incomprehensible. The other attacker and Marcellus were also confused. both of them did not fully understand what happened.
"You guys are the frog in the well." Davidson stood proudly next to the guy who had passed out.
"Clearly You have never seen the other followers in action." He said looking at the next attacker.
"I'm not a very good fighter, but you guys are still not strong enough to fight me. The Angels of the top gods would single-handedly defeat hundreds of you guys like you."
Marcellus's eyes widened in excitement. He was sweating. the black aura identical to his own was radiating through Davidson's body. But he noticed something was different. Davidson's aura did not spread irregularly like his, they were instead uniformly distributed around his body with the same thickness around every part of it.
This man was strong. he knew what he was doing. He was clearly in a different league.
The only attacker left realized this too. He sensed an incredible energy pool inside the old man, way larger than his own. He had to make a retreat.
"I should take someone hostage." He thought to himself.
He wondered who would work as the optimal hostage in here. Taking gaston as the hostage would be nice because it would eliminate the suspicions of gaston's involvement in this. He was also the person with the highest value. But a lady hostage would be better to guarantee their escape because they would not try anything that might put the lady in danger. He decided to go for the lady after all.
"How cheap of you to be thinking about taking our sweet receptionist as the hostage." Davidson scolded him.
"what? how did he know? I haven't even looked at the woman. I haven't even moved my body. I have done nothing to hint that I'm going for her." He was taken aback.
"Can he read my mind?"
"I should go for Gaston after all."
He looked ahead. Davidson and Marcellus were in front of him. Phil and the receptionist were on his right. Gaston was right behind him.
Gaston understood.
"he should take me hostage. the chief of defense is a much higher value than any other person in this room. That would also free me from the suspicions. "
The man quickly turned back to rush towards Gaston.
Bam!!
In a matter of seconds, he was on the ground, He was hit so hard that the floor cracked even more than it already was. Davidson was standing between him and Gaston.
"Damn this geezer," Gaston cursed.
"How cool is this old man." Phil and Marcellus said in unison.
"And very good-looking as well." The lady said that out without thinking and immediately tried to hide her grin when Marcellus and Phil stared at her.
Davidson fixed his white tie as he walked towards the sofa and sat there crossing his legs.
"Imagine going through all this trouble to get beaten in two seconds," Phil said looking at the two unconscious fellas. he was actually pitying them. He looked around and then went to the monitor on the wall. "they did quite a number on our building though."
"So, what are you going to do about these two?" Davidson asked Phil.
"I will take care of them," Gaston said in one breath.
"Sir, I'm failing to see how this concerns the army. These matters are handled by the UN task force." Phil voiced his concern.
Gaston could not let them be taken by the UN. if they spilled out all the information he would be dead. Gaston looked at Davidson as an abomination.
"Why did this guy have to appear right at this time." he cursed.
"I must say I'm very impressed with your fashion sense Mr. Gaston. could you suggest to me where to buy the watch you are wearing?" Mr. Davidson was smiling, But to Gaston, it looked like a death threat.
"This bastard. how much does he know?"
"The main squad is returning. They will be here soon." Phil said as put his phone in his pocket.
Gaston did not have a say in there anymore. All he could do was hope that they would not rat him out.
"Ok then, I will take my leave here." Gaston hurried towards the elevator.
"I will see you outside then." Davidson stood up.
"what does he want now?" Gaston felt really annoyed but he was nervous too. he did not want to be with this guy alone.
"I will be back in a minute young Marcellus, we have a lot to talk about," Davidson said as he followed Gaston.
As the two left, Phil asked the receptionist to call the medical staff to take care of the injured on the lower floors.
"Isn't it weird?" Phil asked Marcellus scratching his head.
"what?"
"The chief of defense, He is one of the most important figures in the country, yet he did not have a single bodyguard with him."
Marcellus realized it as Phil mentioned but he wasn't the type to dwell on these matters much. And he wasn't bright enough to relate things like that.
"Well then, it's been a pleasure, Mr. Davidson." Gaston wanted to get rid of this man as soon as he could.
As he turned back, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Which family is it?" Davidson asked.
Gaston felt like his heart stopped for a moment.
He could not possibly know about that.
Nobody should know about that.
"I'm not sure what you are talking about." Gaston nervously replied. He did not bother looking back, he did not have the courage to look in the eyes of this beastly old man who was clutching on his soul.
"You know very well what I am talking about Mr. Gaston."
He let go of Gaston and lit a cigarette. As Gaston hurried away towards his car he heard Davidson. "I'm sure they already have Mr. Marcellus's energy signature."
Gaston stopped for a while.
"Whichever family you are working for, Tell those parasites that it would be in their best interest not to come for the people of my clan."
As he looked back at Davidson he let out the smoke and stared at Gaston.
Gaston hurried back to the car and started it. he felt like he would have been killed had he stayed any longer.