The two reached at Gilbert’s place, as Gilbert stowed away his bicycle under the stairs leading to his house at the second floor, and Angeline took everything she brought from inside the bicycle’s basket.
At the front door, Gilbert knocked the door and used his keys to unlock it. As he opened the door, Catherine was slowly making her way to the door with the makeshift crutch he made earlier.
“Ah, you wanted to open the door. You should be resting, Catherine.” Gilbert said with a smile on his face. Catherine replied with a nod, and turned around towards the kitchen.
“Something smells good in the kitchen, are you making something?” Angeline asked as she helped Catherine to get into the kitchen, which she replied with a humming sound.
The gas stoves were on, with several pans and pots on it. It turned out that she was making some curry using the ingredients Gilbert bought not too long ago, as well as some fried egg omelet as the side dish. She also cooked some rice, which was left steaming in the rice cooker.
“Wow, you’re doing a great job! Thank you for making these for us, it must be hard on you.” Gilbert apologized due to Catherine’s being injured yet still able to cook something for both of them.
“I’m just returning the favor for helping me.” Catherine wrote on her notebook.
“Well, well, looks like you’ve got yourself a maid to help your sorry ass in the house.” Angeline said as she placed the clothes she brought over at the floor, beside Catherine’s bed.
Catherine were slightly flustered after hearing Angeline’s remark, she pretended to make herself busy in the kitchen afterwards.
------
After a while, dinner was ready to be served. The three of them sat around the table and ate together. For Gilbert, it was the first time in a very long time since he had some company having dinner with him in his house; the last time being was when he was with his family back in high school.
While eating away the rice with curry Catherine made, he felt slightly nostalgic. His mind went back when it was the simpler times; him and his family spending quality time together, enjoying a homemade dinner while watching the news. Sometimes, his father would share a story from his day at work, or cracked some jokes to brighten up the mood in the house. Then, it was her younger sister’s turn to share her day at school, complaining about homework.
The simple times went by fast, and he found himself now as a young adult, living alone in this small space he called home, having his time every day consumed by work, while struggling to have something to eat at least twice a day due to his meager wages. The friendly chatter and happy banter with his family were still fresh in his memory.
“Thinking back, it’s been a long time since I last visited my parents.” Gilbert said, breaking the silence around the table. The two girls looked at him, and Angeline asked if he’s alright.
“I’m fine. It’s just that…this reminds me of home.” Gilbert said as he wiped a shed of tear from his eyes.
“You must be very lonely here, living by yourself.” Catherine wrote to him.
“Every single time, Catherine.” Gilbert replied. This time, he couldn’t hold back the tears welling up on his eyes. He looked down at the plate of rice as tears slowly ran on his cheeks, while trying not to sob in front of Angeline and Catherine.
“It’s okay to cry, Gilbert. I know; you must’ve been missing them too.” Angeline said as she consoles her friend with a rub on his shoulder.
Catherine tapped his hand, and showed him another handwritten note.
“I’m very sorry for asking that question to you. I’m very sorry.” She wrote.
Sadness filled the atmosphere in Gilbert’s house, as he silently sobs. One of Gilbert’s favorite songs, ‘Adagio in C Minor’ played solemnly from the radio’s speakers.
------
Meanwhile, near to Gilbert’s house, Erica with her two companions from the Oracle Twelve, Six and Ten were chasing down Vincent Marlone, a rogue Magister Hunter along the neighborhood, jumping from rooftops to walls to ladders.
Six was left behind while chasing him with the van, prompting some drastic measures.
Erica turned to the van’s back door and opened it, then climbed to the top.
“What are you doing, One?” Ten asked her.
“I’ll try to chase him myself. You and Six, stay close by to provide backup when I call you.” Erica, now in her codename One replied.
“Don’t forget this!” Ten said as he threw a wristwatch-like device to Erica, which she successfully caught it. She then wore it on her left hand, before disappearing into a bolt of lightning and causing several houses’ electric supply tripped off.
“Always so stylish.” Six remarked at Erica’s actions.
“Yeah, but reckless too.” Ten replied as he went back in the van. “Where is his current location?”
“Dude, look at the target finder! Can’t you see that I’m driving here? I can’t drive and give you information at the same time!” Six were very annoyed by Ten’s question earlier.
“He’s several blocks away from where we are now. Go faster!”
“I can’t go faster, this is a neighborhood area!”
“Just turn on the blip lights, dammit!”
Ten switched on the blip lights above the van, prompting Six to step on the gas even harder as the pursuit continues.
Erica on the other hand, was flying across the neighborhood in rapid succession of dashes to catch up on Vincent. Vincent turned around to see a female figure with a shining grey hair catching up on him, fast. He then decided to take a sharp turn around an electricity pole and explosions came out from his boots, propelling him straight at her.
Erica nearly didn’t saw that coming and barely missed on his attack. She then dashed back at him and landed a powerful lightning infused punch to his gut. The attack sent him flying towards a house; something she should’ve avoided from doing to prevent unnecessary damages.
Vincent looked towards the house he’s about to crash into, and threw several rocks before charging up his fist with his Power; Explosive Touch. His Power enables him to make anything he touches to become high explosives, while also increasing his physical attack power and damage output.
------
Just then, Catherine sensed that danger is coming straight at the house. She suddenly stood up towards the sliding doors of the veranda, and lifted her arms in front of her.
“Catherine? Is something wrong?” Gilbert asked after he finished crying.
Seconds later, a powerful series of explosions rocked the house, completely obliterated the veranda. Amidst the chaos and smoke, two huge steel shields protected all three of them, while successfully blocked Vincent’s charged up punch. Gilbert was protecting Angeline by using his body as a shield, but the two escaped and unharmed thanks to the steel shields.
‘What the hell?!” Gilbert yelled in total shock, as he turned around to look at the carnage in his house.
“You, kid! I’ve been looking for you, you bitch!” Vincent yelled at Catherine.
“Do you know him?” Gilbert asked her, to which she shook her head.
“You’ve been nothing but trouble to me! Now you’ll pay with your life!” Vincent yelled again as he charged towards the steel shields conjured by Catherine.
Just in time, Erica activated the device on her hand, to initiate a force field containment known as Negate Force. The force field containment prevents anything inside it to get out, but anyone from the outside with the device can get inside the force field. Negate Force also created a parallel reality; any damage that happened inside won’t be happening at the real world, so that Gilbert’s house was spared from any major destruction.
The force field engulfed Gilbert’s entire house, but Vincent did not even realize what’s happening around him. This time, his explosive punch destroyed Catherine’s shields and sent her flying to the door. Realizing the situation had gone for the worse; Erica stormed into the force field and pummeled Vincent onto the floor.
Vincent then let out a loud roar as his eyes turned blood red, with his irises turned pitch black. His body also lets out a powerful aura, which reacted to his Power and created a powerful shockwave to throw Erica off from him.
As his monstrous form awakened in front of Gilbert, Angeline and Erica, Catherine launched a surprise attack by conjuring several rocket propelled grenade launchers and fired at him, causing him to go off from his guard. Erica took the opportunity to land successive solid punches at Vincent before finishing with a spinning heel kick, charged with electricity.
------
A minute after the chaos happened, Ten and Six finally reached at Gilbert’s house. Ten went inside while Six remained outside to provide live information to Cindy, back at the headquarters.
“Use the Restrainer on him!” Erica ordered, to which he followed with conjuring a device to lock Vincent’s hands and legs together and another one to gag his mouth. “Alright, target has been successfully subdued.” Ten replied after ensuring that the device was fully functional. Erica then switched off the device, and the Negate Force field disappeared, leaving only the initial damage caused by Vincent’s break-in explosions.
Shocked and puzzled by everything that unfolded before his eyes, Gilbert asked, “What is happening right now?” before turning towards Catherine, who was out cold after her final attack moments ago. “Hey, wake up! Catherine! Wake up!” he said as he shook her body, but she still remained knocked out cold.
Angeline was also stunned by the chain of events happening just moments ago, she couldn’t even move away from the table she used as a shield. She was clearly shaken and terrified, her hands and feet were visibly shaking. She couldn’t even speak properly, only stuttering when she’s calling for Gilbert.
Erica then checked up at Catherine’s condition, by checking her pulse and trying to sense something inside her by using her high-tech glasses to scan her body for vital signs of life; as well as her Power’s levels.
“She’s alright, but it seems that her injuries prohibited her from engaging in the fight for a prolonged period. We’ll take her to the hospital to treat her injuries.” Erica said to Gilbert.
“Thank goodness.” He replied.
“Is your friend alright?” Erica asked.
Gilbert looked at Angeline, and she nodded her head.
“She’s not injured, that’s great.” Gilbert answered back. “But what about my house? I mean, you can’t just leave while my house became a war zone just minutes ago! I want you to fix this back!”
“Well, that was partly my fault. I wasn’t supposed to do any significant damage to civilian property, let alone putting your lives in danger. I’m truly sorry.” Erica apologized to the irate Gilbert.
“I also need answers; who are you guys? What is Catherine? Why can she suddenly pull off something like that?” Gilbert asked in anguish.
“Look, sir. Please calm down, sir. We will help to answer your question to the best of our abilities, but for now we need to take back this criminal right here and your Magister friend right there to the hospital.” Ten replied.
“Magister…?” Angeline spoke the first time since the incident happened.
“Oh, now you’ve done it.” Erica smacked her head in disbelief.
“Alright, listen up. You two will be coming along with us. We’ll take along your friend here for medical treatment as well. Don’t worry. We’re not the bad guys. We’re from the Department of Internal Security. Your security is our utmost importance to safeguard.” Erica said to both Gilbert and Angeline.
Minutes later, another van came along to the scene of the incident, taking along Gilbert, Angeline, Catherine who was placed on a stretcher, and Erica. The previous van driven by Six carried Vincent, which was taken care of by Ten and another member of the Oracle, known by the codename Eleven.
The two black vans drove silently into the night towards an undisclosed location in Kyrie.
Comments (0)
See all