"So, brother…" Twist said as he fiddled with his spoon, stained pink with strawberry yoghurt.
"Yeah?" Ess raised a brow and gave him a side glance.
"…hundreds of those related to the hostages continue to relay their dwindling faith in the Bureau because of the unusual phenomenon that seems to occur whenever subjects attempt to approach the building or exit it."
The news from the television blared afterwards, almost as though intending to interrupt Twist's desire to have a sincere conversation with his older brother.
"You really enjoyed your years away from us? Five long years without family or anyone who really understands you?" the boy said, now stirring his thick yoghurt with a finger.
"Yep," Ess replied succinctly and took a swig of his throat-eviscerating beverage only to ask for more from the pale bartender.
"…now we have news that Half Side has established communication with the Bureau Agents who have established a perimeter around the bank. The National Bureau of Defence prides itself on having power enough to completely disregard negotiations with criminals and their demands. We see once again their integrity being tested, and like always, all of us here at the scene and the many others watching from their screens, surely hope that they will deliver as they always have."
The sombreness conveyed through the television seemed to bleed through to Twist as he heard what Ess had to say.
Two days ago, he had been quite upset with Ess because he couldn't understand just how much he and Bee had missed him. Aside from the fact that Ess genuinely didn't want to see everyone succumb to Father's wrath while they were scattered, it was hard to even connect a smidgeon of his emotions to the interests of the family.
But now that he had calmed down, Twist had decided to confront Ess about this again, and sadly, the answer wasn't all that reassuring.
"I see," he said while gritting his teeth, and his spoon twisted, leaning more to the left than the manufacturers intended.
The bartender gulped audibly at the sight.
"I bet D-dee feels the same. That's why she's the only one you can actually tolerate, right?" Twist hissed.
"Exactly," Ess said nonchalantly. "D-dee is a hardcore introvert. She usually keeps her interests and opinions to her… selves. She's more built for what Father thought the family needed to be than anyone else. I like that, is all. That's also why I'm actually looking forward to seeing her again."
Twist's small hands balled into fists.
He didn't know what he had expected, but it certainly hadn't been for Ess to double down on his cold shoulder towards everything to do with intimacy.
"Oh! A new development seems to be coming to light around the—" the news reporter reflected on the television screen began, but…
"Turn it off!" Twist barked and the bartender switched off the television with a sorrowful sigh.
He had begun to become mildly invested in what was going on – perhaps more concerned than invested - despite it being far away from here.
While bands of criminals composed of Utility Users weren't anything uncommon, few of them ever managed to get live news coverage. Most of them were mentioned in passing as afterthoughts to deny them attention after their expected defeat and capture.
Thus, when there was a firm follow-up by the news, everyone knew it had to be something serious.
With no more distractions available to him, the bartender could only tend to Ess, Twist's beverage demands as the minutes ticked by. (T-96 didn't order anything.)
Strangely enough, no one else entered the bar, but this gave the bartender hope. This must have meant that the customers who had left had probably alerted the police. The bar had likely been isolated.
In fact, because the gruff bartender couldn't hear as much noise in the immediate surroundings, he assumed a wider perimeter had been established around his bar.
He grinned inwardly before glancing at the three before him.
Ess looked to be getting a little tipsy while Twist, with a dark, childish frown on his face, twiddled his hands restlessly around his tub of yoghurt. The masked figure beside them looked as insignificant as he felt. He too wasn't paying attention to anything outside.
'Good, good. You bastards are bouta learn that no one is above the law!' the bartender thought with a vision of triumph.
As if to validate his thoughts, rapid, heavy footsteps were heard outside. Several people were coming. At once, Ess, Twist and T-96 recognised the distinct sensation of Fint being mobilised around several bodies.
Ess sighed exasperatedly while Twist groaned unpleasantly.
Noting their desire to not get involved in this, T-96 rose and bowed to Twist.
"May I take care of this for you, Master Twist?"
The bartender was befuddled.
What was this masked man talking about? Surely, he wasn't going to go out there and fight law enforcers, was he? Not in broad daylight.
Twist gave an airy wave to his guardian, and with a nod, T-96 took wide strides towards exit and once he was outside the bar, he met a group of men dressed in police uniforms, their faces covered in what seemed like dark, glass helmets.
"Put your hands in the air!" one of them said as he pointed his pistol at T-96.
T-96 bowed, not minding the urgent command.
"Gentlemen," he said, looking past the six police offers and toward the ten or so men behind them, most of whom had been in the bar before. "I think there's been a misunderstanding."
Ess barely heard anything of what T-96 said next. Twist continued to pester him, after all.
"Say by some stroke of luck everything works out for us. Say we manage to evade what the Forecast says and we kill Father permanently… what will you do afterwards?" he said, his eyes getting a little watery.
"You're asking a bit too much of me right now. I don't know what I'll do and I'm not even sure of the state I will be in after all that. Last time, it took everything I had to put Father down. It will likely be worse this time around. If I am fit enough though, I'll probably move to another country, live in a beach house and spend the rest of my sorry, unfeeling life watching the sunset on the oceanic horizon. Hmm. Poetic," Ess said as he downed the remnants of his alcohol and stood up. "You should be thinking about what YOU will do if we do come out of this alive. I get the feeling you haven't thought much about that."
Twist's face seemed to desire to fold in on itself.
'Think about myself?!' he thought, enraged. But then, he considered it seriously. 'Think about myself?'
What else was there for him to think about?
The boy had no retort to Ess or to himself. He rose and followed after him towards the bar door.
Right as the two exited the bar, they were greeted by a most peculiar scene.
One of the officers with a helmet covering his head practically dived in Ess' way and reached out to grab his hand.
"Dear God! You were going to obliterate us, weren't you? Thank goodness I got some sense knocked into me before I did something stupid. I have a wife and son, you know? I haven't made enough savings for them in case I meet an untimely demise," the man sniffled, "To be honest, I kind of have a lot on my plate right now. You see, I'm deeply insecure—"
Before he could finish yapping, another of the officers rushed to grab Ess' other hand and shook it aggressively.
"I never would have taken a load of shite from that bunch of drunk idiots lying down! Good on you, mate!"
Another figure hopped towards Ess. This time, it was one of the men who had been in the bar before.
"You really put us in our place! Way to demolish my old knees! Never needed them anyway! Next time you wanna kick my ass, feel free to ask."
Twist wasn't exempt from the oddly honest and friendly treatment either.
A few of the men who had been in the bar ruffled his hair and slapped his shoulders affectionately while bellowing things like, "How was the yoghurt? If it wasn't anything good I'll go home right now and bring you the stash I'd bought for my little daughter" and "That's your brother, right? He's one heck of a man, ain't he? Wish I could be his little brother."
Twist wiggled free from the nigh-on molestation and hurried to T-96 who stood behind the frenzied group.
"You overdid it," he said with a stern look.
"I had to make sure they would forget afterwards, Master Twist. The only way to do that is to increase the output of my Utility. Forgive me," T-96 said with a bow.
Twist grunted, but said nothing else.
Soon, the trio had returned to the car and waited for Bee and 'Elliot' to return, something that didn't happen for another hour.
Poor 'Elliot' was carrying a lot of fuzzy 'prizes' in his hands that Bee had won for him at the fair. He looked tuckered out, his breathing hoarse and his face pale. No one cared, however.
Using his Utility, Twist made the V-Amp warp into the desert around Giant Milkshake and the journey continued as per schedule. Despite the high security across the nation, the Ryduun Family siblings managed to reach Green Lolli City on the third day of their travels and lucky for them, it wasn't too hard to contact the person they were here to meet, but before that...