"I want to say I told you so..." Greg said bluntly toward Zara.
"I was a little thrown off by his act towards us."
"It was no act. He truly see's us as some godsend." Elara said. "He probably see's himself on the same level too."
"Wonder what he'll think now?" Greg said as he watched Bruno Hayes pull Carmen Ford away from the minister.
Carmen still had a cold look on her face not caring to hide it. Fortunately she didn't use OD, if so she may have killed Calum Verus. One hit to knock him out was enough.
"He deserved so much more than that Bruno." She said while pulling herself of from him.
"Yeah well now we probably have new enemies."
"Take his bag, we can..."
"Stop!" Juniper Fay said. "Enemy maybe, but they won't act in public. Since people would question why such a high ranking paladin would strike him. His department has been turned to dust, and he probably understands that he is in the wrong somewhat since he took so long to speak up about it."
Robyn was checking on the man on the ground and then put her hand on his chest, her OD acting up.
A few instances later he woke in surprise. He took a moment and then placed his hand over where he was hit, confused.
"What happened?" he then looked over to Carmen who still had a very angry look on her face. "Why did you hit me?"
"That boy you were salivating over past experiments is my current student!" she fired back regretting it as soon as it came out of her mouth. Fool, was muttered by a still standing Bruno Hayes who was standing close between them.
Calum's eyes gained a new gleam as he heard what Carmen said.
"Really. He's becoming a paladin. Wonderful." He shot back up as if forgetting what put him on the ground to begin with. "He had an odd gift to pick up almost anything instantly, the doctors and researches were scared of his brilliance thinking it would come back to bite them but hear that."
He then gave a deep perverted stare toward Carmen. "Can I see him?"
Carmen's face hardened, her fingers twitching as she was barely restraining herself. Before she could react, Bruno stepped in front of her, his broad frame blocking Calum from view.
"No," Bruno said coldly, voice low and dangerous. "You don't get to seem him, not now, or ever."
Calum's eye's flickered between the two as he started tapping his head thinking of a reply, a way to get what he wants. "Don't worry, there's no need to play overprotective, he's highly functional on his own. Trust me when I tell you, that boy will be special. He was even better than Elias."
"Mr. Verus." Juniper called out, her voice sending a menacing chill to everyone in the room. And even to Calum, it was the first time he felt danger since he stepped inside this room. "I think you've said enough today. But the two of us working together will probably not work out, and Theon Abara does not belong to the state. Please leave!"
She spoke in a respectful tone, but everyone in the room could feel it was filled with loathing.
Calum sighed, he took one look at all the paladin in the room and it seemed like it was only now he had started to see the look of disdain they had for him. Why?
"Don't we want the same thing?" he asked aloud.
"We plan on doing things our own way." she said. "I am sorry for how Carmen reacted to you and attacked, attacking a government official is a grave offense and so she will be punished accordingly." she stood and bowed to him. "Is there anything else you may have to say?"
Calum gave the people in the room another look, he started to shake and keep his head down and his face straight as he was packing up his things, the paladin in the room couldn't help to think that this suited him more.
Calum Verus finally left the room with the lights turning on again.
Juniper Fay sat back in her seat as she leaned back and gave a deep sigh.
And then the room exploded.
"How has this been hidden for so long?" Caleb said, balling up his fists in anger. "We're public servants. And who would have funded something like this?"
"Taxpayer's." Greg said. "Forty years of operation though. How many victims, and how many of our comrades would that be?"
"We probably fought more of them than fought alongside them." Zara answered back.
"We're just as guilty." Carmen said breaking them all into a silence for Bruno to then answer.
"It was our own government who approved of this under the guise of peace we provide. We're just as culpable for this to. For the creation of people like Elias Baldwyn. But if you want to waste time hating yourself over something you didn't even know, quit, you're not needed here and people will replace you."
"Please stop Bruno." Juniper sounded tired. "None of you should start questioning your purpose now. Or else that just means people like Charlie Liber win."
"Who is also a victim I might add." Caleb said.
"Many paladin are also victims, like Theon Abara." Juniper said as she looked at both him and Bruno. "But where they choose to redirect their pain is what we respond to."
"So what do we do now?" Robyn asked.
"We're calling a general assembly, there aren't as many second or third years in the region so we'll mainly be focusing on the first years working with us. We tell them we know of the insanity attacks and tell them that Oscar Dempsey is just a victim of Charlie Liber, if Charlie finds out we have received this information then he would want to maximize on the casualties and split our attention as much as possible. We have to avoid a massacre at all costs."
She continued with every paladin taking in her words.
"We call in police as well, both them and the rookies will patrol the city to locate these people with priority being Oscar. We'll tell everyone an abbreviated version of this while leaving out anything pertaining to Grid." she turned. "And you Carmen."
Carmen turned her head to her.
"You will speak with your student and tell him we all know of Grid. Try to get whatever information you can from him."
"But..."
"Just try, there's valuable information that he would have that could be useful to us. And figure out who on the BPA took him in if you can."
"He could still be a threat."
"Shut up/Quiet Bruno!" Both Carmen and Juniper shouted to him.
Juniper then clapped her hands together.
"And that's everything. Go."
Knock Knock.
The door opened up to reveal one Marc Simpson.
"Did I miss something important?" He asked with his usual sly smirk.
Greg spoke out first.
"I didn't even notice he wasn't here." he said before patting him on the shoulder and leaving the room.
The rest of the interactions with Marc went like this leaving even him somewhat confused.
Juniper was glad she decided to leave him out of it.
"Marc, we're having an assembly soon, so make sure to be there."
___
(Previous night)
By the time he returned back to the neighbourhood of an apartment that was provided for him by his "boss", it was night time and the feint aroma of freshly manufactured fabrics had just started to wear off after a second evening wearing them.
Everything Edwin was wearing was new, if Charlie hadn't provided it then he just took them.
'Finally.' He thought. He had gotten used to working with Charlie, the guy was cold. Edwin thought of him as a charmer who would do anything to get what he wants, and if he couldn't use his charm he would use force.
He wasn't lazy in any way and liked to always be on the move. The latter is what Edwin didn't like as much. Edwin would spend many long nights moving from place to place in the San Diego region for that guy. To make a statement.
If Edwin were to point out one thing he found weird about Charlie, it would be the way he eats. Charlie approaches food with an almost ritualistic precision, meticulously inspecting every bite before consuming it.
He would usually take small, measured portions, chewing slowly and deliberately, savouring each flavour. Yet there's an intensity as if he were analysing the act of eating his meal rather than enjoying it.
Edwin noticed it the first time they went out to eat right after being freed. Charlie would alternate between moments of pure indulgence, sometimes binging snacks like he was trying to reclaim some lost pleasure, only to then revert to caution, almost fearful of his consumption.
'Maybe he used to be fat.'
One decision of Charlie's he didn't like though, was sitting in front of him as soon as he opened the door to his temporary home.
"Ed, you're back." A small brat that he had to take care of. When he asked why he had to look after Oscar, Charlie said he couldn't leave him with Renata since she's all the way messed up and Jo stays close to him.
"Yeah I'm back." Edwin removed his mask, the mask was of the skull of an antler that he nicked from some gun shop. He thought it looked cool and so he just took it, like always.
He then brought out a bag he was hiding, the bag was of food, tacos from a food truck.
"Street food again?" The dull eyed boy asked.
"Learn to love it, it shouldn't be hard. It's not like we had much to eat at Grid."
That always shut him up, remembering. Being stuck alone all day probably left him to do that a lot.
The small space they were living in was an uninspired and dull place. But Edwin knew that to a select portion people living in this city it could be considered a sanctuary. An escape from the chaotic streets. To some, it's drabness was no sign of neglect but instead stability, which could be rare in this world.
And even then, the place was quiet, and enough for someone like Edwin who didn't have much growing in an orphanage. But he wanted more, he was aware of how greedy he could be. It's what got him in the countless messes he barely escaped.
"What did you get up to today Oscar?"
Oscar looked up, his small figure tense, his eyes wide with a mixture of wariness and something harder for Edwin to define. He hesitated, his lips pressed tightly together, as if searching for the right answer, his small hands gripped his seat by the kitchen counter, knuckles whitening. He finally shrugged and mumbled, "Nothing."
Edwin sighed, he knows the kid is lying but it's not like he can force him to speak.
"You didn't trigger today?" he asked him.
"No, I felt nothing."
Edwin nodded before putting his portion of the food in the fridge. Having running electricity and even heating felt like a luxury, the room he was thrown in had no heating, everything was so pointlessly cold.
"I want to go on a cruise one day." Edwin said to Oscar, his voice oddly wistful. "You know those big ships? They got pools, theatres... and better food too."
Oscar's eye's flicked up from the glass counter, briefly catching Edwin's gaze before darting away. He just gave a small, almost dismissive grunt.
Edwin didn't mind it, the idea of something like that probably seemed so far away to him. Actually Edwin could barely envision it all.
Edwin hesitated before asking, "Do you ever thing about getting away? To something normal?" It was a question that gnawed at him, one he wished he could ask someone who could really understand a past like his. Not someone like Charlie who was hellbent on his own goals.
"Yeah." Oscar muttered. "But I think of my mom a lot more. I want her back."
Edwin could feel a familiar bitter annoyance bubbling up, he never knew his parents and had never truly lost someone, so in that aspect he couldn't understand the pain of the kid in front of him. It angered him for some reason and he wanted to know why.
"Ed..." Oscar called out. "Are you working tomorrow?" he asked.
"Yeah." He then glanced over his shoulders to see his reaction. "Don't look at me like that, you're not my minder kid it's the other way 'round."
Oscar shrugged his shoulders not wanting to argue.
"But, it will be during the day so I'll be back early. And then maybe we can go out and explore some."
There was no Tv in there flat so no way for Oscar to really know what would be going on tomorrow. Edwin knew that it was serious enough for Charlie to go back and grab Renata for it which Edwin silently dreaded, the girl made his skin crawl.
Edwin didn't tell Oscar much about her even when he asked, he was hoping the two would never meet.
"When you have time..." Oscar spoke up. "Do you think you can take me to school?" It was during times like these where Edwin would remember that the kid in front of him has a stutter, although it was only most noticeable whenever he would ask for something for himself.
"I never actually got to go to one, not for long anyway. And I never made any friends, but it's not like I have to be enrolled. We could just stand in the back and watch during festival season, as long as we don't bother anyone."
The answer was no. Edwin didn't go to school either and then again there was another thing he just couldn't resonate to Oscar with.
"With your power, it's probably a bad idea."
"Right." Edwin didn't even get to expand his reasoning, Oscar's tone didn't change in the least, only difference being the lack of a stutter or slow blink as he faced Edwin.
Edwin felt bad.
He told him that he was off to bed which was the couch, and that Oscar should finish eating quick and head off to bed.
"But Ed, it's your turn to use the bed tonight."
"Nah, I prefer the couch. So you keep the bed from now on."
There was no answer.
He looked back to Oscar to see picking at his food, ever since being freed the kid did not smile once, he just had the same haggard and worn out face, like the look of an old man.
It was depressing, and for some reason it just made Edwin more hateful.
___
They were all made to go to the main hall's to attend some assembly, all but Theon.
Theon was stopped by his teacher Carmen, she had told him that she will debrief him on the assembly during their conversation. He was a little suspicious but, over the last two weeks he had quickly begun to start trusting her.
"So, I'll just spit out the important stuff..." she didn't, she looked to be struggling to speak on whatever she wanted to say. It made Theon feel weird. All he had seen from her was almost unmatched strength and perfection in everything she done. "Me and all other mentors in this school know about Grid."
.
.
.
What!
Theon didn't show any reaction, his face didn't twitch and his body didn't move or shift unnaturally in his chair, he didn't avert his eyes from her either.
"We recently received information about your past, as recent as this morning even."
Who would have told?
His immediate thought was his benefactor Victor Kane, the deputy of the BPA. That was possible but...
"Calum Verus, the current face of the Ministry of Welfare came to give us information on the attacks happening in the city."
But that answer made more sense.
Theon remembered Calum, he remembered his smile. It was one of conviction, spread across his face, one that found satisfaction and solace in the certainty of his actions. It wasn't wicked but it was incredibly unsettling. Theon certainly remembers it as well as what would come after when it came to that man.
"So you know him? Remember him?"
Well there was no denying it, "Yeah I know him."
Carmen seemed a little disturbed, maybe at the fact he answered so quickly instead of pushing back a little.
"He was one of the researcher's at Grid, before he left anyway." Theon then tilted his head as if trying to remember something.
"There's no need for you to go into your past there, there will probably be a time for that in the future. I just wanted to confirm it...for myself." She looked him dead in the eyes, her emerald green stared deeply into the calming blaze. "Actually, you don't have to say anything about that place. Not until your ready,"
Her tone was a far cry from her usual playfulness that seemed to colour her words. But it somehow suited her more, like she was being her real self. The easy smile that typically tugged at the corner of her lips was replaced by something softer, more genuine.
Theon didn't respond, he had now finally averted his gaze to the floor, processing her words. Even with gaining what he would call a true friend in Jon, he was not used to being spoken to with such warmth, warmth that didn't push him or demand anything from him. It just waited.
There was something he felt like he should be saying right now, but the words couldn't take form. Carmen must've sensed this because her head tilted, her long black hair cascading over one shoulder, catching the low light of the room. Her own emerald eyes softened further.
"Theo, listen." Her voice broke the quiet, but it wasn't harsh. It was smooth and gentle, like the breeze she could control with her power. "People in this profession try so hard to bury their pasts thinking that it'll make them stronger in a way, like if they don't talk about it or acknowledge it, it'll just go away. But it doesn't. It never does, not unless you decide what to do with it."
But there was nothing in his past that was good. He couldn't even remember his life before Grid, he knows he had one, it's not like he just spawned there with a power, and he also knows he had his mother by his side at one point. If not her then it was at least someone he really cared for, someone that cared for him just as much.
But the feeling was always replaced by a cold and cloudy fog that would shroud him.
Carmen began speaking again. "You don't have to talk about it now, or tomorrow, or even a year from now. But whenever you're ready, people will listen, I'll listen. And if it's something you'll never be comfortable with? That's okay too." She paused before taking a breath, "You're more than what they made you Theo."
Words that he remembers distinctly telling his now friend, bounced their way back into a new conversation where they were directed at him, echoing in his mind.
He knew they must have meant something to Jon back then, a shred of comfort but he never thought they would be so meaningful to him now. He never had someone to speak to him like that before, never had a choice in what he wanted taken seriously.
For God's sake, he didn't even have a goal he could tell people. At best he was just a drifter- no direction, no purpose, just existing.
Suddenly, it was like the hands on a broken clock had started ticking and time had resumed.
It took Theon a moment to realize how tightly he was gripping the armrest of his chair. His shoulders had hunched over, and his breathing had quickened without him noticing. His chest heaved, and a hot, stinging sensation burned behind his eyes. Sharp and unfamiliar.
The tears came silently, one after another, slipping down his face without warning. For a moment he froze, unsure of what to do with the sudden wave of emotion. He can't remember the last time he had cried.
But in that quiet, with tears still falling, Theon felt something he hadn't felt in a long time... Relief.