Altered Cosmos

Chapter 4; Unexpected Guest

3 days later, Levi was playing basketball in the afternoon with some other kids his age on a basketball court not too far the northern gate of the village which lead to the seaport.

A short boy dribbles past a defender and passes the ball to his teammate who quickly hurls it into Levi’s grasp. Two boys tried to stop him but Levi performs a professional drive through before performing a lay-up and the ball falls through the net with a swish.

“That’s right.” Levi said as he high-fives his teammate just as the other team approached them.

“You’re only winning because you have a Tron on your team.” The boy with the ball said and Levi chuckles as he turns to them with a hand on his hip.

“For your information, I’ve not used my powers yet. I’m just a good player.”

Another member of the opposite team spoke next. “Yeah right.” He sarcastically said and one of Levi’s teammate speaks up.

“Come on guys. You all know Levi’s actually got some skills.”

“Some?” Levi chuckles as he stares at his opponents with hands on his hips. “Fine then. I’ll show you what happens when I do use them.” His eyes suddenly glowed and his opponents grinned at the sight of him.

“Come on, guys. We got this.” His opponents said as they huddled up to form a plan and Levi does the same with his team. 

“Alright guys. I know it sounds selfish but just get the ball to me and I’ll show these boys how it’s done.” His teammates laughed but agreed as they broke up and the game goes on. After some passes and dribbles, Levi’s teammate finally gets the ball and quickly passes it to Levi.

The moment Levi gears to move forward, three of the opposite team suddenly blocked him but he grins as he suddenly weaves past all of them with his moving figure a blur.

Two more boys blocked the basket from front but Levi leaps into the air, completely scaling over them and dunks the ball into the basket with enough force to make the backboard shake vigorously.

He lands on the ground and grins at his opponents. “How’s that?”

The boys on the court laughed and turned to Levi. “Alright, I take it back. I prefer the normal you.” The other team’s leader said as he goes to get the ball and Levi laughs as he high-fives his teammates just as the other team began moving forward. “Alright, no powers this time.” 

Levi chuckles as his eyes return to normal. “Fine but it won’t make a difference.” He moved forward and they all laughed as they continued playing.

After some more minutes, Levi gets the ball and throws a three-pointer which barely enters the basket. “Woo!” He shouted out in celebration but the boys didn’t realise this as their attention were on the northern gate where people had begun gathering. “What’s going on?” Levi asked as he notices the growing crowd as well.

Some of the boys then ran off to see what’s happening and one of boys turned to Levi. “You coming?” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Levi said as he follows the boy and runs toward the commotion. After weaving past some people, he makes it out of the gate where he sees a large supply ship that just docked by the port. <I guess that’s the supply ship…>

He was about to turn away when he noticed another ship approaching the docks as well. He was surprised and impressed by its slick blue-white design but once he saw the logo on its sail, his heart drops into his gut. 

“That’s an Index ship.” A boy mumbled as he pointed to the ship which began to dock.

They all then watched as the door to the ship opens and once Levi saw the navy blue-white uniform the men coming out were wearing with the Index logo visible on the breast pockets, his fears were further confirmed.

Some of the villagers beside Levi noticed his worried stare as he slowly inches back the moment he noticed a man dressed in complete black step out of the ship with a scary look on his face. 

<Did they find me?> He thought as fear fills his heart and prepares to run away when a hand grabs his shoulder and he turns to see a familiar face. “Uncle Mark?”

“Just stay quiet, kid.” He whispered to Levi with a focused stare at the men ahead and some of the fishermen directed the men towards the gate.

As they approached, everyone around the gate then clears a path as a black van comes to a stop just before the gate. The door slides open and Luke steps out with an expressionless look on his face as the men from the Index approached him.

The men then stopped and cleared a path for the figure in black to stand in front of Luke who now introduces himself. “I’m the 3rd Chief of Asylum Bay, Luke West.” 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Agent Steel from the Southern Index Faction.” The man said with a slight British accent and Luke shook his hand respectfully.

The agent was bald and white-skinned with a very intimidating height, muscular tone and black shades which enhanced his already intimidating facial features. 

Luke releases Steel’s hand and glances at the six uniformed men behind him. “I wasn’t aware of your arrival, sir. Is there a problem?” Luke asked with both hands behind his back and Steel gives him a stoic stare.

“You tell me.” His cold response makes Luke flinch slightly but he remains as professional as he can be. “We were informed by an unknown source that this place was attacked by Drals a few days ago. Is this true?”

“It is, unfortunately.” Luke said and Steel raised a stern brow at him.

“Why didn’t you report this to the Index?”

Luke gives a respectful nod and answers. “I apologize but the Drals we encountered were all anonymous and we were able neutralize all of them. So I assumed it would be irrelevant to report it.”

“With all due respect sir, that is not your decision to make.” Steel said and Luke clenches his fists behind his back a little frustrated. “Where are the bodies now?”

Luke looks up with a composed look and answers. “They were disposed of, outside the village.”

Steel creases his brow but his eyes could not be seen. “Take me to them. I want a look for myself.” 

“Very well.” Luke nods and gestures to the van. Steel motions his men to enter first while Steel looks around at the crowd staring back at him with Levi hiding his face among them.

He kept looking around, searching for something or rather someone and just as he was about to face Levi’s direction… “Mr Steel?” Steel suddenly turned to see that all his men had already entered the van.

“Right and if you don’t mind, I have something else to discuss with you.” Steel said as he entered the van with Luke following and even though most people didn’t hear that part, Levi did because of his enhanced hearing.

The door closes and the van turns to drive but as the van passes where Levi was, he sees a glimpse of Steel in the window and it felt like he was staring directly at Levi before the car drives away.

Mark stares at the vehicle as it drives away before turning to Levi who was frozen in place. “You okay, kid?” Levi couldn’t utter a word so he just nods but Mark knew that Levi was nervous because of his tightly-clenched fists and expression.

The next few hours, Levi spent his time thinking about Agent Steel and what he said. Does he know? The way he looked at him when the car drove past? What if he’s the main reason Steel came?

All these thoughts and emotions continue to bounce around in his head until eventually, the sun sets and it was time for dinner which was supposed to be relaxing……until Levi learnt that Agent Steel was dining with them tonight.

He was pacing around in his room, unsure of what to do when he hears a knock on his door and his mother walks into the room with an expression which was somehow more nervous than his. “Mum…” 

Before he could say anything else, Rose wraps her arms around him and buries her face into his chest. “Just be quiet for a moment…” She mumbled and Levi nodded as they stood in that position for a seemingly long moment before staring into his eyes.

“Alright. Just calm down and act……normal, okay?” Levi remains silent at the thought of this plan and Rose shakes him strongly. “Do you hear me?” He takes a huge gulp and nods. “Okay, okay, okay.” She said to not just calm him down but also herself before grabbing his hand with a sudden smile. “Let’s go.” 

Even though she was smiling, Levi knew inside his heart that deep down, she was seriously hurting.

“Okay.” He said with a similar fake smile and Rose could tell as well but they just pushed themselves to head downstairs where the family were already dining with Steel sitting beside Luke.

Levi awkwardly sits down opposite Steel who was weirdly conversing and laughing with Luke, which could mostly be as a result of the opened bottle of wine Steel encouraged him to drink. Luke takes one more sip from his drink before peaking to Steel. “When did you receive that unknown message?”

Steel who was more drunk than Luke laughs and pours himself another cup as he explains. “The message was sent around the time it happened. It was still unclear why the sender wanted to remain hidden. So they sent me to check it out… I actually thought it was just some prank.”

Steel chuckles loudly but Luke swirls his drink around in his cup deep in thought. “But how did you guys to handle those Drals? They were all Level 2. They’re usually B rank so they’re seriously below what I usually handle but I didn’t expect you guys to handle it.”

Levi’s grandfather chuckles as he answers. “Don’t underestimate us. We’ve been battling these things for over forty years.” Steel raises a brow at him and Luke comments.

“We also have some special weapons we requested from the Index to help, of course.” Luke said with a little smile and Steel nod.

Steel leans back into his seat and chuckles with a cup of wine in his hand. “But still. To be able to handle 5 of them. It’s like you guys have a secret weapon or something…”

Levi flinches when he heard the word ‘secret weapon’ and he looks at Steel who downs his glass before noticing the large metallic bracelet on Steel’s right hand.

“The Index band.” Levi mumbled and Steel raises a brow when he hears him. 

Steel sets his glass down and gives Levi a smile. “You know what this is?” He asked, holding up his arm to give Levi a better look at the navy blue-white bracelet with the Index insignia on it.

Levi was still a little restricted but his geeky side surfaced as he explained. “It’s a device which connects a Tron to the Index Network and I read that it will never come off as long as the Tron lives.”

Steel chuckles as he leans forward and stares at Levi intensely. “Looks like you know your stuff, kid.” Levi rubs his neck as he flashes an embarrassed smile just as Luke cleared his throat to get Steel’s attention.

“I’m sorry I haven’t introduced him. He’s my son, Levi and he’s kind of a fan of Trons.” Levi and Luke share a funny smile and Steel laughs.

“Is that so?” Steel asked with an interested expression when Levi clears his throat awkwardly.

“Can I ask a question?” Levi said, feeling more confident and calm and Steel gestures him to ask. “Are you still wearing shades to cover your eyes?”

Steel leans a little bit closer and removes his shades, staring at Levi with his yellow-coloured iris. “You’re right, Levi. People always give us weird looks when they see our coloured eyes” He squints his eyes to stare at Levi even more intensely. “Have you ever met a Tron before?”

Levi instinctively leans back into his seat and chuckles softly. “No. I just read up everything I can find on Trons. Even though most of the information is…” He trails off once he realises how Steel was still staring at him. “Is something wrong?”

Steel doesn’t answer as they continue to lock eyes and the more Levi looks into his yellow eyes……the more he felt choked up, like something was trying to jump out of his body…until he realised it was his powers that were now trying to surface, as if being somehow attracted to his.

<No. No. No. Stay in. Don’t come out.> As Levi began to struggle with controlling his powers and his eyes flickers slightly with blue colour, Steel suddenly backed away with a long laugh.

“I like you, kid.” Steel said as he placed his shades back on and Levi lets out a breath of relief.

“He is our pride and joy.” Luke said as he gives his wife’s hand a slight squeeze before turning back to Steel with a serious expression. “By the way, earlier you mentioned how you wanted to talk about something other than the Drals.”

Steel downs a glass of water and snapping his finger at Luke. “You’re right. I almost forgot and…” He glances at the happy family and workers moving around. “…I guess I can say it here.”

He then leans on the table with his elbows with an interested stare at Luke who now seemed attentive. “Other than the Drals, the message we received also indicated that there has a been a… Tron secretly living here.”

The moment he said that, Levi freezes in shock with Rose tightly clutching her fork. The entire table also goes silent when they heard this and Steel looks at all of them with a perplexed expression. “If that’s true and a Tron is hiding here…”

“I understand completely but I can assure you that there are no more Trons present in this village as of this moment.” Luke said with a stern and composed look but Steel seems completely unmoved.

“I suppose so…” He mumbled as he rubs his chin, reflecting on Luke’s statement for a moment before looking at Luke with a serious expression. “But just to be sure, I’m going to stay here and look around for myself until I can confirm it.”

Levi clenches his fists below the table and Luke creases his brow a little. “Or will that be a problem?” Steel asked with a raised brow at Luke who shakes his head with a smile plastered on his face.

“Of course not. You’re welcome to stay as much as you like.” Rose said with an assuring voice and Steel nods with respect before glancing at Levi whose eyes were fixed on his empty plate.

Meanwhile, on an uncharted part of the island, deep within a cave, a figure on a stony throne opened its eyes which glowed bright red.

“Hmm, it’s been days but I haven’t seen five of my pets.” The figure’s voice strange… almost auto-tuned and the moonlight which reflected on its metallic body. It closes its eyes and focuses, its robotic mind recovering the memories of the Drals which attacked the village.

“So they were destroyed…Worthless pieces of…” It stops when it sees an image of a young boy covered in dust and blood with blue eyes glowing back at it. A smile began to form on its face and it taps its fingers on its chin with loud clanks, like two metal sticks tapping each other.

“Well, well…I’ve been looking for a new pet…” It focuses on Levi’s image and notices that he didn’t have an Index band on his band. “And he’s still not fully awakened.” Its eyes opened again and it chuckled as it stands up with an evil grin on its metallic face. “Looks like I have some hunting to do.”

Its eyes glowed even brighter and suddenly, one by one, different pairs of red-eyes began to glow as different animals and creatures moved and growled around the figure who began to laugh with its robotic voice enhancing the laugh’s evil feel as it echoes throughout the cave………