The Afterlife- Chapter 4

Where the lost go

[Modern Day, August 2115-The Sanctuary, Meathuman colony]

“Now if the both of you are done arguing like kids over a piece of candy, we have more important things to discuss. Our undercover agents have sent us footage of a person dressed in a dark red cloak destroying government facilities. Initially, we didn’t think anything of it and passed it off as a common criminal case. However-”

“Hang on, where’s Raina?” Kayden asked, cutting off the woman who was dressed in a full white outfit with a gray torina long cardigan on the outside.

“She refused to come. She claims that this doesn’t exactly classify as an ‘Emergency’ the woman said, sounding a little irritated at the fact that Kayden had interrupted her. She could let go of many things, however, talking over people was one of her greatest pet peeves. Even Though Kayden did not expect Raina to have forgiven him, he had hoped that at least she would have come for work sake. Despite it being out of his control, part of him always wondered how different things could have been if not for that incident. 

“Can you blame her? If someone murdered my entire family and claimed to be doing it for the ‘Greater Good’, I would be beyond mad. Heck, I would throw said person into boiling lava and watch him die. If said person could even die in the first place.” Vai’ ar said as he glared at Kayden. The woman sighed and placed her palm over her face and murmured to herself wondering how two kids become leaders of a colony.

“Anyway as I was saying, we initially thought it was a common criminal problem but after reviewing the newer footage once more, we found a clip of the person using powers to break down a government facility or some sort.” The woman said as she zoomed in to the image she showed them from before. “I can run a facial recognition scan on the sanctuary’s database to see who it is,” Kayden said unplugging the thumb drive from the woman’s computer and replugging it into his monitor. “We’ve already tried that back at our bases? We didn’t get anything.” The lady said. “Adam and I recently upgraded Apollo's database so that it has a larger base of information and a faster processing unit. Apollo can now identify metahumans that are both alive and dead.” Kayden said, eyes not leaving the monitor screen. A couple of seconds later the monitor started beeping, indicating that the facial recognition scan had been completed. On it, it showed an image of a child roughly around twelve years old dressed in a light blue top and gray bottoms with some information on the child. While going through the information, one particular information which stuck out to Kayden the most was the birthplace of the kid. 

“Hang on, Acre City was the name of the location where we found the new kid before the city went up in flames, maybe she knows something about this ‘Joren’. Kayden then got up from his seat and went into the room Luce and Hailey were in to ask her for her assistance on the Joren situation. Back in the meeting room where the rest of the five were, Hailey told them about the Acre city fire and how she knew Joren. Everyone stood there in shock and disbelief at what they've just heard. Shocked at the atrocities the government had committed and disbelief that they had not found out about it sooner.

“And that’s about it. Why’d you ask? He’s been dead for a couple of years like the others.” Hailey asked, half hoping that they were about to prove her wrong. 

“That’s where you’re wrong sweetheart” the woman said, finally snapping out of her shock. “We’ve received recent reports about a rogue metahuman destroying government facilities as though he was searching for something,” the woman added.

“Or someone.” Hailey added.

“I beg your pardon?” the woman inquired. Hailey stood there quietly glaring at the newcomers. Everyone in the room sat there in silence, expecting Hailey to continue. A minute passed, then two, then three. The room grew so quiet that you could even hear a strand of hair falling to the ground. Finally, the room grew so quiet that Vai’ ar could not take it anymore, and he asked Hailey in a slightly agitated tone why she stopped talking.

“Well for starters, I barely know who you are and your names and losing everyone you know and love isn’t exactly a trust building exercise.” Hailey said, shooting Vai'ar an irritated glance. 

“My apologies, I’m Dristina, the rude man is Vai’ ar and the quiet and tall lady at the back is Shi’ ar, and we’re members of the five.” Dristina said. The Five were said to be a group consisting of the five most powerful metahumans in the world at any time, be it in terms of physical powers or knowledge. As such, the five were entrusted to be the leaders of different metahuman colonies when metahumans went into hiding. In order to protect the five and their respective metahuman colonies, only a few metahumans were aware of all the identities of the five while the only members of the five the rest knew were their colony leaders. As for Hailey, having grown up in what the others knew as a “settlement camp”, she had only heard tales of the wondrous five from her parents as a child.

“You are members of the five? The ones from the fairy tales?” Hailey asked even more wary of them now. She didn’t know much about the five or colonies, but she did know that the identities of the five were traditionally kept a secret even when the roster changes from the common folk. 

“Not everyone here, but yes we’re the five. Kayden over here is one of us too, and I assure you, we are very much real.” Dristina gently said, sensing Hailey’s weariness. Hailey looked over at Kayden for confirmation to which he responded with a nod. Hailey was still a little weary of Dristina and the others, but she trusted Kayden. After all, Kayden did just save her life not long ago.

“Well, the last I remembered, the only dead bodies I saw at Greenville were those of the adults. The children’s bodies were nowhere in sight. And if the person in the red cloak is Joren, which I highly doubt as I’ve been searching for him for years, he would probably be searching for the rest of the kids from Greenville” Hailey said.

 “Look, I don’t mean to sound rude, but Joren has a 75% facial similarity with our red-cloaked vigilante,” Kayden added. 

“ Ye and there’s a 25% chance it isn’t him. Perhaps your machines got it wrong. I know Joren well enough to know that no matter the circumstance, he wouldn’t kill.” Hailey said defensively. “People change Hailey. You would be surprised how much they can change after going through life and death situations” Kayden replied.

“People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, you know.” Vai’ar interrupted. 

“ENOUGH!” Dristina snapped. “Vai’ ar would you please stop trying to start fights with Kayden every time we have a meeting? What’s in the past should stay in the past. Bringing it up now won’t solve anything. Hannah, Hailey or whatever your name is you’re right it may or may not be Joren. Until we get more information, we will assume it's not him. But you'll have to prepare yourself mentally in the event it is.” Dristina sighed, dragging Vai’ ar by the collar out of the meeting room as Jay escorted them out.

“Here’s your room, you’ll be sharing a room with me, Eddy and my sister, Alena,” Luce said as they walked down the hallway and into a room marked ‘201’. As the words left his mouth, they were greeted with a high pitch scream for Luce and Eddy followed by a hug so tight, that both Luce and Eddy almost suffocated to death. “Oh? Who’s this? Is she your girlfriend Luce?” A girl half the height of Luce asked. “PFFT, Oh please, Luce is so single he makes the phrase ‘Single as a Pringle’ seem attached.” Eddy mocked. Luce tried to hide his face as everyone else in the room started laughing. “Well excuse you sir, I’d have you know I’m single by choice, just not mine” Luce said jokingly. “Anyway… This is Hailey, and she’s our new roommate.” 

“Yay new roomie! Ello, I’m Alena or you can call me sparkly.” Alena said cheerfully. “Sparkly? Is that a nickname or something?” Hailey asked. “Well kind of. Her actual alias is serotonin. She calls herself sparkly instead because she finds it cuter.” Luce said as he typed something on his hologram keypad which appeared above his watch. “Alias?” Hailey asked puzzled. “Yep. Everyone from a colony or the sanctuary is given an alias the moment they join in the case of an emergency.” Luce replied. “By the way, here’s your standard issued sanctuary wristband. Using it, you can send a distress call, activate a temporary combat armor, call anyone in the sanctuary that has an allocated wristband as well as use the sanctuary’s Artificial Intelligence, Apollos.” Luce said. After that, they showed her around the sanctuary, introduced her to the others at the sanctuary. While Hailey settled in, Luce and Eddy proceeded to prepare themselves for school the next day.

The following day went about like any other day. Luce and Eddy attended their classes as per normal, except this time they both had the company of a new friend, Sarah. During break times, the three of them would talk about their lives, with Luce and Eddy skipping the fact that they were metahumans. After school, Sarah asked Eddy and Luce whether they would like to stay back to have a study session. To which of them nodded their heads in agreement. 

As some time passed, Luce yawned and bent over and took out his phone from his pocket to check for the time and upon seeing the time, it had occurred to him that he and Eddy had combat training with Jay back at sanctuary. He quickly nudged Jay and showed the time to him, and he mouthed the words ‘Jay’. Eddy stared at him dumbfounded, trying to figure out what he was talking about. When it finally occurred to him, the two of them started frantically packing their backs and Luce, in a state of panic, told Sarah that he and Eddy had ‘family’ things to attend to. Sarah looks at them perplexed for a couple of seconds and comments that she didn't know they were brothers. 

“Oh...oh yea forgot to mention that haha. Let's go bro, we better go before Dad kills us again.” Luce said as he awkwardly hugged Eddy and dragged him away from the bench. “Aww… that was so sweet bro, we’ve gotta work on your hugs someday though” Eddy said chuckling. As they walked out of Sarah’s sight, Luce dragged Eddy to a dark alleyway just outside school and told him to teleport them back to their rooms. Eddy’s face changed from a happy one to a concerned one. Sensing his mistrust, Luce looked around the corners once more to ensure no one was watching them. “See, there’s no one here, we’re safe. Come on, we can’t be late for Jay’s class. Again. Look, I'm not sure about you, but I would rather not clean the daycare’s center's toilet again.” Luce remarked. After spending some more time persuading Eddy, Luce finally managed to convince him and the duo teleported away. However, unbeknownst to them, somewhere in the rooftops in the buildings near where they were, they were watched by a dark figure dressed in a dark red cloak.

A couple of seconds later, the two of them rematerialized back into their rooms and landed with a loud ‘thump’. Eddy laid on the ground for a couple seconds, complaining that he was surprised that he had forgotten how painful teleporting was despite having teleported the day before. While picking up Eddy from the floor, he urged Hailey to quickly get ready for combat training, or they would get killed. “Figuratively, of course” Eddy quickly added and made a slicing motion below his head and shot Luce an irritated look, telling him that it was too soon to use the word kill around her.

“You mean the spinning objects dude?” Hailey asked in disbelief as she closed the hologram from her watch. “Yes, him. Now get changed.” Luce blurted out. Hailey glanced at the both of them silently as though indicating that they had forgotten something. Luce stared at her for a couple of seconds, mind completely blank, trying to figure out what she was waiting for. When realization had finally hit him his face turned pale red in embarrassment, and he stammered, “Ri..right...” without a second thought, the two of them exited the room.

“Cha cha real smooth” Eddy mocked.

“Alright kiddos, for today’s demonstration, I will need a volunteer, anyone?” Jay asked. Awkward silence fills the room. “Thank you for volunteering, Eddy.” Jay said as Eddy hesitantly dragged his feet upfront. “Today, we will be learning about the five combat rules by simulating a real world fight. Eddy and I will be fighting without any powers and will rely solely on our combat strengths.”

The two of them fight it out with Eddy almost at the verge of winning until Jay makes a pulling motion with his hands, which sends the nearby rods flying towards Eddy, knocking him to the ground. 

“Rule number one: always watch your back, you never know what surprises your opponent will pull off and if possible, fight in pairs to avoid these situations. Rule 2 : Don’t hold back, we don’t live in a fairy tale world where everyone will be fair and equal. Holding back will give them ample opportunities to knock you down.” Jay said, picking Eddy up.

“The next part is incredibly important, so listen up. Powers are like people, they function better together and can be deadly effectively paired correctly with the right partners. Kenzo, come up here. You and Eddy will get 3 minutes to come up with a team move, or synergies as I like to call them according to your powers.” Jay said, staring at his watch. A few minutes passed, and Kenzo and Eddy were ready. Now, using their powers, the two of them went all out with each of them attacking Jay from each side. While fighting, Eddy teleported and grabbed Kenzo away and reappeared behind Jay seconds later. Jay dodged the attack and grabbed Kenzo and Eddy by the neck and slammed them to the ground.

“While team synergies are important, it is important that you do not solely rely on them as it makes your moves easily predictable. In cases where your opponents overpower you, it is vital that you remember the last rule: If you can’t overpower them, out smart them, As such it is important you spend time to come up with various team synergies. To do so, a st-” Jay said as he was cut off by an excessive beeping on his watch, which indicated that he had an emergency message. On it read “Meeting in ten, bring Hailey and Luce along”.”