Arsenal

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Arsenal and Lana stood behind Kael, who was working on a laptop in front of him.

"What did you say you found?" Lana asked.

"While you guys were busy chasing around images, I saw that. By the way, it was really funny," Kael giggled.

"Okay…"

"I took the liberty of going through Mr. Hemsworth's stuff, and guess what I found out." Kael punched some buttons on the laptop and brought up an image.

"Calvin Ricardo, another member of the Mind's Eyes team. The last time he and Hemsworth spoke was just a couple of minutes before he was killed. Apparently, he was also a target of assassination on two occasions, but he successfully escaped both of them."

"Probably an esper?" Lana asked 

"I don't know because it doesn't state here that he is an esper." He responded, his hand on his chin

"Can you find out where he lives?" Lana asked.

"That won't be a problem." Kael continued typing.

"How about I tell you where he is now." Kael said 

+

A jazzy tune played on a car radio, and a man in his mid-thirties hummed and danced in his seat to the tune. Arsenal and Kael both obstructed his way, and he swerved to avoid hitting them.

"Are you mad?" he shouted from inside his car. 

"Excuse me; we would like to ask you a few questions," Lana said, putting her head inside the car through the side.

"Who are you?" the man asked fearfully.

"Just neighborhood security." Lana released a gas canister inside the car, and the man passed out.

+

"Wake him up." Arsenal commanded

Kael poured a bucket of water on the man, who quickly regained consciousness. He scouted his surroundings, with Arsenal standing in front of him, arms folded, and Lana by the window, he struggles with the ropes

"It's no use, not if you somehow have super strength," Kael said.

"Who are you? What do you want from me? If you're after the Mind's Eye, I don't know anything about it. I've told you already." He said shacking 

"Have you?" Arsenal said. His voice deepened as he walked toward the man.

"Kyle?" the man called.

"How do you know my name?" Arsenal said in shock.

"It's me, Uncle Milliam, your parents' colleague."

"Parents?" Lana asked.

"What are you doing with these people?" He asked forcing a smile 

"Kyle, what's going on?" Lana asked.

"I wanted him to tell us by himself, but I guess we found out before he could tell us," Kael added.

"Talk, Kyle." Arsenal ignored her.

"Kyle is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Rodriquez, the people who created the Mind's Eye," Kael said.

"How is that possible?"

"What do you know about my parents' murder?" Arsenal asked ignoring his team 

"I… I don't know anything I…I swear" 

"Do you think I'm playing with you?" Arsenal hit Milliam.

"I can hear your heartbeat; you're lying." His voice gradually increases 

"I said I don't…" Arsenal hit him again, and Milliam spit out blood.

"Kyle, that's enough." Lana shouted.

"Don't butt in; it doesn't concern you." He lashed at her 

"Why didn't you say anything about it?"

"Like I said, it isn't your business. Now tell me, what do you know about their murder?"

"I… I'll talk. Don't hit me again, please. Paradise, Paradise hired a mercenary called Ignite. They murdered your parents because they refused to hand over the blueprint of the Mind's Eye to them. The mercenary was to look for the Mind's Eye and not kill them, but they refused to cooperate, and he…he killed them. That's all I know, I swear."

"Hey, Arsenal, you're going outta the objective of the mission to satisfy your selfish desire, you moron," Kael lashed out at him.

"I said don't butt in." Arsenal shot a sound wave at Kael, sending him crashing into a wall.

"Kyle, are you crazy?"

Arsenal grabbed Milliam by his collar.

"This Ignite, how can I get to him?"

"He's a personal mercenary for Paradise, not a lot of people know him." Arsenal tossed him on the ground and generated a compressed sound wave at his fingertips.

"You still have the nerve to lie."

Lana shot ice shards at Arsenal, who dodged the attack. Kael closed the distance between both of them and immediately landed a punch, sending Arsenal crashing into a wall.

"What are you doing?" Arsenal asked.

"Take it easy, Kyle. If anyone here is to be mad, it's Lana and me. Why did you hide such a thing from us? We are your friends for God's sake."

"Friends? We only knew each other a month ago, and what would you do even if you knew, huh? This is what I was made for. I can finally get the person that killed my parents, and you want to stop me from doing that?"

"I understand how you feel," Lana said.

"Understand? How could you possibly understand? You are a goddamn orphan."

"That's it; I'm killing you here." Kael said as he generated electrical aura around his arm

"Awwn, friends shouldn't be fighting."

Arsenal and Lana quickly remembered that voice, the figure sat on the window.

"No, no, not you." Milliam struggled to get away from her, but he got shot in the head.

"You bastard." Arsenal shot sound waves in her direction, but she dodged the attack effortlessly.

"I would've loved to stay, but I've got some other bastards to wipe off the map, so bye." She waved at them.

"What do you know about Ignite?"

She stopped, then turned.

"Ignite, huh? He was a former colleague. I heard he is running some kind of institution now, I guess."

"Where can I find him?"

She tossed a piece of paper at him.

"That's my address. If you want to know more, how about over tea? You might not return, you know. Ciao." She leaped off the window.

"Kyle…" Lana said her voice low and concerning 

"Thanks for all your help; I can handle it from here."

"You dumb fuck; you can't take on Paradise by yourself." 

Arsenal ignored them and walked out of the room.

"That piece of shit," Kael struggled to get up.

"I'm going back home."

"No, this is when Kyle needs us the most," Lana objected.

"I am not giving up on him. I can still save him, just like how you saved me from myself, Kyle. I am not giving up on you."

"Didn't you hear him? We are not needed; he clearly doesn't need us. He never did, and I'm not going to put my life on the line for someone like him."

"I'm not giving up on him."

"You need to know when a guy isn't into you, Lana, sheesh."

"It's not like that, Kael."

"So, what is it like?"

"Kyle wasn't like this before. He was a kind kid with a bright smile. But since he began carrying out missions, he became more and more distant."

"That's because he faced the real world with a fragile mentality," a feminine voice added.

Lana and Kael directed their gaze toward where the voice came from, and she stood just in front of the broken door.

"Raven ?"

Raven, her appearance striking in the dimly lit room, continued to speak. "Sinclair sees Arsenal as a grown kid who can handle missions all by himself. I am here on my own accord. So don't bother asking"

"What happened to him?" Raven asked.

"He lost his mind," Kael answered.

"I saw that coming," Raven remarked.

"You did?" Lana asked.

"Yeah, I also knew his background, about how he is the first child of the creators of Mind's Eye."

"First child? So he has a younger sibling?" Lana asked.

"Yes, his twin, actually. Her name was Eero."

"Was? Is she dead?" Kael asked.

"She died on the day his parents were murdered, and there are some claims that he was the person who killed her."

"How come?" Lana inquired.

"You know that someone needs to go through a traumatic event to awaken one's latent psionic ability. The house was destroyed by a massive wave of sound energy, his awakening brought the house down on his sister."

"Damn, that must have devastated him."

"The level in which he was traumatized must have been the cause of his enormous psionic energy, even more than most Natural espers born with psionic energy."

"Raven, we need your help. We don't know where he went, a weird lady gave him a card with an address on it."

"And why would he fall for an obvious trap?"

"She said she would tell him all he needs to know about Ignite."

Raven smirks 

"Why?" Lana asked 

"Guess it's time, Ignite is Sinclair."