Zalan knew both situations wouldn't be ideal if the machine revealed him to be an awakened or not.
If he were an awakened, they would definitely whisk him away into a dark lab hidden in some corner on 'Inanis'. Like the other 7 great clans, the Vermont clan precisely represented an association that valued power above all. And unfortunately, morality doesn't exist in the pursue of power in this world.
For Zalan being on the unfavourable side, he could be sure that they were going to use this chance to rip him apart and thoroughly investigate every last cell of his in hopes of providing future generations with valuable research. After all, who wouldn't sacrifice an unknown creature if it meant that hundreds if not thousands of others could use the research to reach greater heights as well as receive glory and prestige in the act of doing so?
Despite its altruism, Zalan wasn't ready to be treated as a lab rat and viciously tortured in the name of science— and will never be.
Now if he weren't an awakened, Zalan could already tell the four men around going to express their annoyance. Or rather the leader will and his subordinates wouldn't have any choice but to comply. Violent gang leaders have the tendency to rule with an iron fist solely to ensure that they remained in complete power. And it so happens that, to Zalan, the leader of the was awfully similar to one. Hell, he can be the first image that comes to mind when someone mentions anything remotely similar to criminal, gangster, or psychopath.
Turning slowly towards the leader operating the machine, Zalan saw him turn away and contemplate for a bit. With furrowed eyebrows that accentuate the scars running along his forehead, Zalan couldn't help but wonder if he had his face shoved in a blender. But maybe even that was doing him a bit of justice. Zalan didn't know and looked away when he felt nausea building up.
Zalan was smart enough not to voice out his thoughts and decided to remain silent fearing that he would disturb the leader. He wasn't the only one however, as both Alex and Amanda and the other three men stood there in silence. Almost like they knew mortal danger would come to them if their peeped ruined the leader's train of thought.
'He's already shown himself to be an impatient bastard, and probably ran out of patience from the long time it takes to get here' Zalan thought bitterly.
Additionally, the reason the gang was even testing him at all was because someone obviously tipped them about an awakened 3 year old. Reflecting back on the sequence of events, Zalan couldn't help but be reminded of the two shocked women in the hospital ward that day. How did word spread so fast? Zalan didn't know.
'That goddam nurse' Zalan curse, but kept on his horrified expression to not arouse any more suspicion than he already had.
The most likely scenario was that after they had left, the nurse would have spread the information to her co-workers and eventually have the rumour reach the ears of the Vermont Clan. Although many people would doubt her at first, there was no doubt something suspicious was going on given her panicking state and so the Vermont clan probably decided to investigate. Hence leading these four men to storm into Zalan's house.
'Fuuu…. they are going to take me to the clan headquarters?' Zalan moaned in his head, slightly panicking. If only he were a bit older when he decided to awakened he wouldn't have to go through all this trouble. But it was too late to go back now and so Zalan could only suffer in silence.
Not long after, the leader snapped his head back around and glanced at Zalan with a malicious expression. The leader grinned and showcase a perfect set of yellow teeth that wasn't gold plated, but rather stain by guck accumulated for who knows how long. Bits of left over food even came out as he spoke.
"Looks like we're going on a road trip to meet his majesty!" he said with an unusual amount of excitement.
Currently, the 3 of them had their eyebrows raised in surprise and seemed to stare at Zalan in disbelief while the leader kept his dark look glued on Zalan.
Alex and Amanda didn't get to see the results from their positions kneeling on the carpet, but they both paled when all the goons displayed surprised faces. After all, shock, disbelief, hanging jaws were the exact opposite of what they would portray if Zalan was an unawakened.
However, the machine flashed something no one expected.
Displayed on the screen was an error message that didn't soothe Zalan even in the slightest despite being a more favourable outcome. The message plastered against it was practically unheard of for a testing machine. Especially one from the Vermont Clan.
'Why is this happening to me?' Zalan thought in a daze.
Zalan already knew the reason why it had happened, but due to a slight miscalculation, the result was clearly not what he aimed for.
Originally the fourth wall was suppose to prevent his core from being revealed. But since Zalan only received his abilities today, he didn't know their effectiveness. The system instinctively telling him didn't help as much as he would've like. On the contrary, it made things even more complicated due to the ambiguity. So he could only hope that what the message he was passing on would yield the results he wanted.
'That stupid wall' Zalan thought as he identified the culprit of this ordeal.
During that moment, he felt as if the fourth wall spoke with him. It seemed to have asked him what information he wanted to reveal. Startled at first, Zalan quickly recollected himself and instinctively thought:
'Don't reveal anything!'
Apparently the wall obeyed him but came to a different conclusion that what Zalan implied. It had completely reflected the scanning waves resulting in an error. Only then did Zalan realize the fatal mistake.
'Maybe I was the stupid one' Zalan thought with a heavy sigh as he realized the wall didn't anything wrong. Before he could continue sulking, he felt pressure on his chest.
"Aren't you an interesting little one" The leader sneered before tapping on Zalan's chest a few times.
Zalan suppressed the urge to spit in his face, and could only turned his head to look away.
"Ignoring me now eh!" the leader said with a soft chuckle before turning to Alex and Amanda.
"You lot have a very special kid. Never have I ever seen an error message written over this shit in my life time"
Promptly standing up, the man looked at his watch and turned to Alex and Amanda seated on the carpet.
"It's around midnight right now. Let's go in the morning. The child needs to sleep".
Although he seemed considerate, Zalan didn't buy it for a second. He'd already had his share of dual faced people in his life with the most hated one being his very own mother on earth. Zalan scoffed before felt himself being lifted off the ground.
'Awakeners rarely could go a long time without sleep. Especially tier 4 ones. Wouldn't it be better to complete the mission now?' What does he really want?' Zalan wondered.
Despite the man having not done anything wrong, Zalan or any body really, would never imagine this fellow to be a kind-hearted one.
Gesturing to the man holding Zalan to give him back, the leader turned to Alex and Amanda.
"I hope you wouldn't mind us crashing at your place Mr and Mrs Caddel" he spoke like a predator teasing their prey.
"After all we don't want you running off. It be a hassle to track you down."
Alex and Amanda didn't object, or rather, they couldn't. Unless they didn't care for their lives.
Like Lions deciding to make themselves home in a sheep barn, Alex and Amanda could only watch helplessly as the cohort made themselves comfortable in the living room. Two men sat down and occupied the couch and the other two laid down on the carpet. The leader and his most trusted subordinate made themselves comfortable by draping Amanda's blanket over their suits while rested on the couch. The other two seemed to just pass out on the floor as if it was just another normal day at work.
"You don't need to worry about us. If we were to kidnap or harm you we wouldn't receive any benefits. If we bring you to the Vermont clan head quarters then we could be paid handsomely. After all we don't want to waste this trip for nothing".
Silence fell as Alex, Amanda and Zalan sat there stupefied at the situation. If someone didn't have any context of what was going on, it would seem like a sleep over party with workaholics. Just Four men resting comfortably in a living room.
"Hey Amanda I think we should head upstairs and get some rest too."
Alex could only softy mutter, fearing that he would wake them up.
Amanda only nodded, before carrying Zalan in her arms to the bedroom.
Zalan could only lean tiredly against Amanda and blame himself for bringing this ridiculous ordeal upon them.