[User has chosen Joker as their Path?]
[Path will now be installed. Please hold.]
Lee Seng glanced around, letting a yawn out. He didn't feel any different.
'Hmm, didn't she warn me to not be doing anything?' Lee Seng contemplated. He glanced at his phone and realized the video had ended. He exited the video app and opened social media. He hovered on the app for a while and sighed, shutting it off.
"This won't do me any good anyways," Lee Seng muttered. He slipped the phone back into his pocket.
[Notice: Path is 45% done.]
Lee Seng looked up in surprise. The Path was being integrated this whole time and he thought something bad might happen. He began to chuckle when he felt woozy. His vision began to blur and his body felt tense.
'Nevermind, maybe I was too---'
His stomach flared in pain and he groaned, clutching his stomach as he turned himself to lay on the bench. He groaned, turning himself to stare at the sky. He closed his eyes. He uncomfortably laid on the bench, trying to act like he was trying to sleep. Lee Seng's tail started to wrap itself around his stomach. Lee Seng could feel it pulsing. Something was telling him something was going to happen.
[Notice: An unknown mutation has occurred.]
[Notice: The Joker Path is---]
The woman's voice cut off. Lee Seng's eyes shot open. It began flaring red and blue.
"What the hell is happening?" Lee Seng groaned.
'Oh, I guess this was what you were talking about.' Keng said. 'I guess you won't really need this anymore.'
"What're you doing, Keng?" Lee Seng muttered. Keng chuckled.
'My job.'
- - - -
Lee Seng felt an energy pull him in and he gasped when he began to see the black, white and gray color-scape. The three colors were swirling around and he scoffed. He turned around and saw Keng sitting on a body.
"W-what's that?" Lee Seng asked. He took a step forward and Keng looked up. One eye was red and the other was blue. Keng looked back at the body he was on top of and hopped off of it, placing himself to the right of the body.
"I found whatever was talking to you." Keng answered. "Whatever it's doing, isn't trying to help you." Lee Seng came closer and squatted, taking a closer look at the body. The body flickered with weird energy. Lee Seng slowly moved his hands to touch the woman when Keng bumped into his hand.
"Don't touch it. It's not safe." Keng growled. Lee Seng retracted his hand and nodded.
"So, what did you do then?" Lee Seng asked. Keng looked up at Lee Seng and then the body.
"After you started mentioning a third person, I decided to take a look around. It didn't take as long as I thought it would, but I found this thing." Keng nodded at the body. "I don't like it." Keng swatted at the body, the energy fizzling and bursting. Lee Seng turned his head away trying to not be blinded by the outburst of energy.
"Is this what Akio meant?" Lee Seng wondered. Keng ignored Lee Seng, swatting at the body. The body began to disappear and Keng didn't stop until it was done.
"If this is the Protocol Akio mentioned, then I think it's better that I destroyed it."
Lee Seng nodded, lifting himself off the squat and stretching. Keng adjusted himself and sat where the body used to be.
"Did you find it there?" Lee Seng pointed at Keng. Keng nodded.
"It was trying to get underneath." Keng pointed with his snout.
"Underneath? What would be underneath this?"
"It's not important right now. What's important is that I managed to destroy whatever it was. I'm not sure if it kept anything useful though." Keng boasted. Lee Seng nodded, glancing at the ground beneath him. It was the same as everywhere he looked. Blotches of black, white and gray were scattered all over. The colors sometimes started to swirl together, but other than that, he didn't really see anything out of the ordinary.
"Lee...!" A distant voice screamed. Lee Seng looked up.
"What's that?" Lee Seng asked.
"Oh, I think it's someone on the outside." Keng remarked.
"Lee are you..." The distant voice screamed. The room began to shake.
"I think that's your cue." Keng said, wandering towards Lee Seng.
"H-how do I go back?" Lee Seng asked. Keng jumped onto Lee Seng and the warm familiar energy pushed him upwards.
"Lee!" Akio screamed. Lee Seng's body was shaking and his eyes fluttered open. He was looking up at the sky. He pushed himself up and realized the bench was to his right. "Lee, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I fell asleep." Lee Seng answered, rubbing his eyes. Akio was kneeling beside him while a buff man and a slender woman with huge metal bracelets were standing off to the side in front of him. "You don't need to call anyone. I'm fine." Lee Seng said louder. The two turned and Lee Seng recognized them as Alex and Scarlet.
"Nevermind, it looks like he woke up. We'll call you back." Scarlet said, hanging the phone up. The two wandered over and Scarlet crossed her arms while Alex hovered behind her like a goliath. "Lee, are you really okay? You were on the floor unresponsive." Lee Seng waved her off and started to stand. Akio grabbed him, assisting him up.
"I'm fine, you two." Lee Seng insisted. He brushed himself off and yawned. "Just a bit tired from... y'know. Everything." The three Numbers nodded and studied him. Lee Seng watched them access him before backing off.
"Well, if you say so." Akio patted. "We should take you home then." Scarlet and Alex put their hands up and took a step forward.
"We should at least check before we go." Alex told Akio. Lee Seng looked at the three and then back to Alex.
"Check what?" Lee Seng asked. Scarlet pulled out a device and showed it to Lee Seng. It looked like a thermometer gun but was black with one green button and two red buttons.
"We need to check you to see if anything out of the ordinary has happened." Scarlet told him.
"O-okay." Lee Seng nodded. He knew the device was harmless. He remembered it being used on him for years, but it never produced any results that the Creator liked. The device had become something Lee Seng resented the Creator for. He didn't give results like his Father wanted, so it was something used against him. Lee Seng moved to sit on the bench and looked at Scarlet.
"C'mon, the faster we do this, the faster I don't have to think about this." Lee Seng shook his leg with impatience. Scarlet glanced at Alex and Akio before continuing. She hovered over Lee Seng, turning the device on.
"Y'know how this works. Once the device has charged, I'm going to emit a shock into your body. If the device registers anything of importance, it will trigger green. If it doesn't, it's red." Scarlet explained. Lee Seng had heard this a hundred times and nodded along to it. The device beeped and Scarlet hit the middle red button. "Alright, ready?"
Lee Seng nodded and Scarlet moved the device towards Lee Seng's right arm. She pressed it up against it and kept eye contact with him. She lifted her finger to three and then started to pull a finger down.
3, 2, 1.
Scarlet pulled the trigger and electric shock flew out into Lee Seng. It stung and then tingled. It began to make its way throughout Lee Seng's body, making him squirm in his place. Scarlet held the gun, watching for the device to light up. Forty seconds went by before the gun made a buzz noise. She pulled the gun away and looked at the color. She turned to look at the other two and looked at the gun again.
"This is programmed to only show two different colors, right?" Scarlet asked. Lee Seng looked up. He knew the gun was only programmed for two different colors. He began to stand when Scarlet turned around and walked over to Alex and Akio. She showed them the color and they both looked up at each other, confused.
"Why is it yellow? It shouldn't turn yellow, ever." Alex said. Lee Seng wandered over and pushed through the three to see the gun. He saw the yellow light blinking.
"Huh." Lee Seng said aloud. The three turned to look at him. "Who knew it could turn yellow." Alex and Scarlet stared at Lee Seng before realizing he had a huge white tail slowly swaying back and forth behind him.
"Oh! He has a tail!" Alex exclaimed. He began to hit Scarlet who grew agitated and grabbed his arm and tossed it back. "You see it though, right? Akio, did you know he had a tail?" Alex turned to Akio who was staring at the surprised Alex and agitated Scarlet. He smiled and nodded.
"I only learned yesterday, so... It'll take time to get used to but it's cool." Akio said. Lee Seng shrunk in his body. He was surprised that they hadn't noticed until now. Lee Seng's tail slowly came to a stop and a gray swirl slowly showed itself. Scarlet's agitation turned to curiosity. She leaned left and saw the gray swirl moving.
"Is it an actual tail or..."
"It's pure Dark Matter." Lee Seng answered Scarlet's unfinished question. He slowly turned to show his tail and Alex and Scarlet were in awe of the tail. "I don't understand it myself, but it's just Dark Matter energy."
"So does it do anything?" Alex asked. Scarlet whacked him in the gut and Alex gave Scarlet a 'what' face. Scarlet stared daggers at Alex who nodded and looked back at Lee Seng. Lee Seng started to rub his hands together, looking down.
"I'm not sure, yet." Lee Seng whispered. "I don't know if it does anything... I got a theory but... It's only been a day." He looked up and the three Numbers were nodding. Akio quickly walked over and turned to look at Scarlet and Alex.
"Why don't we go back to the lab and figure out what a yellow light means for the device?" Akio suggested. Scarlet nodded and Alex began to ask another question when Scarlet covered his mouth.
"Let's give him some space about this. He doesn't have the answers yet, so let's be patient, Alex." Scarlet said sharply and quickly. Alex seemed to catch on and nodded.
"Y-yeah, let's uh... figure out the device first." Alex said with haste. Alex threw a hand into his pocket and pressed a button. A car began to rumble nearby and pull up towards them. It was a black SUV. Alex began to walk towards the drivers side while Scarlet went towards the other front seat. Akio began to walk towards the SUV and turned to look at Lee Seng.
"Why aren't you coming?" Akio asked.
"Oh," Lee Seng began. "What about your car?" Akio smiled and nodded. He pulled the back door of the SUV open and motioned Lee Seng over.
"It's stuck, so the cleaning crew will get it sorted out and I'll grab it at the shop." Akio explained. He waved Lee Seng over and Lee Seng jogged over and jumped into the SUV.