Chapter 100

Unsung Heroes 6

-:-

30 minutes later

Vermilion General Hospital

Theo hated being angry

He found this particular emotion to be a double edged sword that gave people great power at the cost of getting tunnel vision.

Theo liked to think of himself as a cool and badass guy that always kept his head on the game.

If he ever had fits of rage, it would appear during intense physical pain and would always be very short in duration.

However, he knew there was one particular sore point that would cause him to get a ‘little’ angry.

His bottomline was simple.

Hurt the people he loves, and expect a revenge that was vastly disproportionate to the damage caused.

And he wasn't like those fools who would go on a warpath, killing both innocent and guilty alike. He was methodological in his approach and could perform a violent murder without any repercussions.

There was only 1 time he has ever been pushed to this breaking point.

The one that gave Danarius Lorne his scar was Theo and Barth’s eldest brother.

Their eldest brother was a genius and felt like his family didn't deserve him.

Technically, it was true, but he didn't have to be such a dick about it.

Once upon a time, they had an argument about eldest brother’s choice of friends. Some of which had questionable ties to activist groups prone to violent riots.

A few rude statements were thrown, and in a fit of rage, eldest brother pulled out a kitchen knife and stabbed Danarius in the forehead.

Fortunately, Danarius was able to deflect it with a haphazardly thrown parry. This allowed him to get away with badass looking scar instead of a new hole to breathe in.

On the other hand, eldest brother ran away.

Approximately 3 days later, a group of 3 drugged up teenagers that just happened to be the ‘friends’ of eldest brother were found dead with kitchen knives buried in their foreheads.

The killer was unknown.

The motive was unknown.

The only clue they had was a message written in the blood of the victims saying ‘You’re next’

Apparently, the killer used a hammer to nail the knives into the victim’s forehead.

Even to this day, that murder remained unresolved.

Good times.

FYI: Eldest brother was never seen again.

Anyways, Theo felt that another one of such mysterious killings were just beyond the horizon.

He stood silently inside a large room that contained 6 beds with 3 on each side.

Each bed was occupied with a person that was missing a portion of their body.

At the end of the room was Barth who sat beside a bed where Mary was lying.

She has lost both of her legs, her left arm and her right hand.

“Yo Theo. Wazzup.” greeted Mary.

Her voice was but a whisper and had none of her boisterous energy.

She was clearly trying very hard to be her usual upbeat self.

Naturally, Theo was very very VERY angry.

“You look like crap” said Theo in a calm manner.

His face was as cold as a mask, but it was easy to see in his eyes that plans were being hatched for revenge.

“I know… I cant run anymore. I cant even play computer games anymore… this kinda sucks” replied Mary with a weak laugh.

Barth sat silently on her bedside and refused to let go of her stump of a right arm.

It was clear that he was desperately holding the tears back.

“So… how did you end up like this?” asked Theo

Mary made a difficult face upon hearing this question.

She silently pondered for a bit.

“Before that, allow me to introduce my comrades in arms.” said Mary as she pointed at the others in the room. “These are Beefy G, Jenny Bravo, Little Mike, Sir Mustache, Lady QT and lastly me, Bloody Mary. We are part of the 81st Vermilion City SWAT division…. There were 3 more of us, but they didn't make it.” said Mary with big hint of melancholy in her voice.

“I see. Nice to meet you all” said Theo as he bowed to the others in the room. “Let’s not beat around the bush. What happened?”

“Wait. Before we tell you, what will you do with that information?” asked the man named Beefy G

“I think that is obvious. I’ll hunt down the individuals that did this and play tug-of-war with their intestines.” replied Theo in a cold and almost robotic manner. “I’ll break their legs, force them to walk through a rat infested tunnel and watch them be bitten to death. I’ll-”

“Okay! Stop!” said the alarmed Mary. “I understand your rage and I share it. However, do you seriously think will tell you anything after hearing that? Our predicament is unfortunate, but we wont allow you having blood on your hands even if it is for our sake.”

The other SWAT members nodded in agreement.

Theo couldn't help but feel impressed with the men and women in blue.

These were guys that risk life and limb on a daily basis, receive unwarranted harassment from the media and the lunatic protestors, yet still think of Theo’s well being despite being blown half to bits.

These were truly good people.

And Theo admired them for that.

However, unlike the members of the 81st, Theo was not a good person.

“Let me tell you what will happen by not cooperating with me.” said Theo in a menacing voice. “I will launch my own investigation, obviously. However, since I don't know anything, I’ll start by grabbing those who might know of your injuries and put screws into them until they talk …. or die. If they do talk, I’ll kill them anyway. I will keep repeating this process until I find the ones that did this to you, and of course kill them. By staying silent, I’ll make a mountain of corpses instead of a hill.”

The members of the 81st suddenly realized that maybe calling Theo for help might be a bad idea.

Before anyone could try to dissuade Theo, the door opened and a man that stinked of rich corporate bastardness stepped in. Right behind him were 5 burly men with one solid looking briefcase per person.

The contents were probably guns.

For some reason Theo felt he has seen this man before.

“Do not press these brave men and women to hard. They are simply doing their duty to protect the good people from the bad.” said the man in the fancy suit

“Who are you?” asked Theo

“I am Alial Milza. I am an entrepreneur and a little bit of a public speaker on the side. A pleasure to meet you.” replied the man

Theo shook Alial’s hand while trying to figure why the man was familiar.

A second later, eureka.

“Oh. You’re that rich shipping not-reporter guy that asked Nosferatu some questions in that interview a while back.” said Theo.

“Hahaha. Correct. I am that man. Glad to finally meet you Theodore Lorne”

“You know me?” asked Theo with a hint of caution in his voice.

“Of course. The Valkyrie Incident made international news after all.”

Theo groaned internally at Alial’s words.

It seemed that the Valkyrie Incident will be a thorn on Theo’s side for a long while.

“So? Why is a super rich guy doing here?” asked Theo

“Take a seat Mr. Lorne. This is going to be a long one.” replied Alial

Alial Milza was an activist of sorts and the subject matter he was passionate about was ‘Human Evolution’, which happened to be a very heavily debated topic in the Commonwealth.

Many believed that Humanity has advanced to the point where equally improving the 3 branches of power was no longer enough. Complete and uninterrupted focus was required to go to the next step

The main question was ‘What was next for Humanity?’

Thus began the culture war for the future of humanity.

Out of the 3 branches of power, the Chi/Martial Arts branch was the least popular among the masses.

This was because in order to have any advancement in the realms of Cultivation, a person must be born with some special background.

Son of a Demon Lord, some sort of hybrid dragon thing, whatever.

The point was this, normal humans cannot advance far in cultivation.

As such, other than martial arts practitioners, no one really cared about the Chi Arts.

At the moment, the intense cultural war was between the Magic and the Science branches. Both of which were much more newcomer friendly than the Chi branch.

Alial Milza was one of the most vocal advocates for the Science branch of power.

And just like any other cultural war, no matter how civil the discussions were, there will always be fanatics on every side.

“When I asked for added protection for the Police, they were kind enough to lend me Vermilion City’s finest. If it wasn't for them, I would have died and my personal guards would have been annihilated. However, large portion of my guards still died and I take this very personal.” said Alial with a calm fury.

Theo wasn't sure if Alial was being genuine, but he could be sure this corporate man had a stake in this, thus making him a potential ally.

“I see. Good to know. Since you’re more than willing to speak, then tell me everything you can remember about the attack. I need any clues to latch on to.” replied Theo

“Of course. The first thing we noticed was that the enemy was a mixture of both science and magic. They tried to hide this by using only guns, RPGs and grenade launchers for their offense. However, one of my magic inclined concubines, she’s a beastkin, noticed that they were using some sort of defensive spell. Normally whenever fire fight starts, the sound of bullets striking either metal, concrete or flesh was the first thing she could hear. However, she could not hear these sounds on our opponents side. Instead, she heard something she could not explain.” replied Alial.

“Did you guys check the site of the ambush for clues?” asked Theo.

“Sadly no. We prioritized getting our injured the medical care they badly required. I am also making sure that my men are guarding both the injured guards and the members of the 81st. Our enemy might try to finish off our wounded. I will have none of it.”

“Can you call for reinforcements?”

“Yes, but that would take some time. My operation base is concentrated on the East. I have next to no power here in the west.”

“I see…. Then we’ll make do with what we have.” said Theo with a firm voice. “Do you have the location on where you were ambushed?”

“Indeed I do. Our route was predetermined before I even set foot on this city.” replied Alial

“I’ll head there now and do some snooping of my…..Hold on…. ‘Predetermined’?” asked Theo in shock

“Yes. Predetermined. In short, there’s a mole in the Police department.” replied Alial who had clearly given his predicament quite a lot of thought.

The members of the 81st SWAT division was clearly hurt by this fact, but even they understood that the possibility of a traitor was very high.

“Kid Lorne. If you’re truly set on doing this, go to Chief Inspector Jinny Bravo. She’s my twin sister. She’ll help you out I’m sure.” said extremely muscular woman named Jenny Bravo

“Got it.” replied Theo

“Then what about the 81st? I’m not sure how long this area will remain safe.” said Alial

Theo went silent for a bit. He was actually sending a signal to a hidden unit of his nearby to proceed with the plan.

“My people will be here in a few minutes and pick all of you up. They’ll transport you my company building. That place is built like a fortress. I’m sure you guys will be safe. Mr. Milza, kindly deal with any complications with the 81st’s sudden transfer” said Theo

“Very well.”

Theo then turned to leave the room.

As he was about to exit the door, Barth called out to him

“Bro….” said Barth

The 2 brothers looked each other in the eye.

Without words, everything that needed to be said was conveyed.

Theo knew that Barth was racked with guilt.

Barth may be your typical spineless soft spoken guy, but he was cunning on his own way.

Barth was a pacifist, but he wanted revenge on those who did this to his wife.

He called Theo to do what he could not.

With a smile of confidence, Theo said..

“All will be resolved. I guarantee it.”