Packing Up

"How much longer do we have?" Ben placed his hands behind his back while watching Dr. Prime work on the computer in front of him. Files upon files of his research were being downloaded into a secure hard drive that looked nothing more than a packet of chewing gum. As soon as they were transferred, the original file in the computer was deleted.

"An hour at the most, half an hour at the least. My assistant would have to clean up before the next one arrives, and I won't be helping him so it should take that long." Dr. Prime watched with a strange gaze as his work that he had compiled for years were mere data on a computer. It was his legacy, his whole life's work that he was looking at, and all he felt was... nothing.

'Is this it?' Leonard didn't have this feeling before, feeling that he did nothing worthwhile in his time here. Feeling like he could have done more, or even changed his whole life entirely if he chose things differently.

'Would you still be waiting for me, Maddy?' Leonard took a look at the photo on the right corner of his office desk, where a beautiful woman was smiling as she held her five children tightly in a wide embrace.

The five of them were in swimming wear as the backdrop of a beach can be seen behind them. There were three young men in the picture, all wearing blue trunks that had their initials written on the right side. The two young girls had on their one-piece suits that looked similar to the one the woman was wearing, with their initials stitched on their right chests. It was the gift he gave them before they took the vacation back on Kali Beach. 

This was the last time they were all together, the last time she was even awake to see any of them. 

"Is that your family? They look happy." Billy was watching Leonard all this time, keeping an eye on their target was never a bad idea. He saw how Leonard's cranky face formed a smile when he looked at the picture in the distance.

"Yeah, well, they're dead. Except for her." Leonard's previously gentle smile turned vicious as he faced Billy with a hard glare. His eyes were telling Billy to fuck off, a message that was delivered and easily complied to by the man who turned his eyes away the instant he saw his eyes.

"If you come with us, you might just get the equipment you need to wake up your wife, at least. If you stay here, they'll just use her to keep you working the rest of your days away." Ben didn't have any expression on his face as he kept his eyes closed.

He kept his mind at peace so he could optimize his usage of his ability later on. He had seen many of his brothers fail because they were in a bad state of mind, it was better to keep a level head now so they could keep their lives later.

"You say that as if you aren't holding her hostage yourself. Don't try to talk like you're doing me a favor when we both know that it's a deal where I'm the one who could choose to say yes or no." Leonard didn't bother with these two anymore as he went to his saferoom in the corner of the office. He didn't mind the surprised expression of Ben who hadn't sensed the hidden room and just went on to collect his things.

Inside the hidden room was a backpack, a box and two safes. Before doing anything with the items inside, Leonard closed the door behind him until there was only a slit left. He knelt down on the ground then proceeded to open the backpack to check on the things he had left behind, he didn't know if these things were already inspected after all.

'It's all still here, Phew. Thank God I didn't make a prototype or those would have been left behind. These plans are enough.'

Inside the bag were journals he had made privately, storing them inside this hidden room was a plan he had done years beforehand. He had to make a lot of deals with stupid people to make all this happen, and now he would finally reap the rewards of those risks he undertook.

'I need money, too. And I should take that with me before I leave.' Leonard's eyes moved from the inside of his backpack to the two safes and eventually focused on the one on the right.

'444'

He stood up while reciting the code inside his head, while the numbers were simple, they held a lot of meaning to him, after all. It was the duration of time that he promised to his children when he would come back, and he broke that promise. He was still breaking that promise right now.

'Four hundred and forty-four hours. I guess your daddy was a big fat liar, wasn't he?' Leonard's eyes reddened as he thought about the children he abandoned. Children that had to fend for themselves because their parents weren't there for them. He remembered how his eldest child would work for days on end just to feed his younger siblings, and he couldn't lend him a hand in fear of causing more harm than good. Thankfully, his own nephew got them handled or he wouldn't have lasted this long.

'I just hope that Mark kept his promise and got them to safety, or I will destroy this corporation with all the time I have left.' Leonard looked at the three completed serums that were inside the injecting equipment he created along with them.

These blue vials were three shots of pure Linton Energy, stabilized and ready for a regular human's use. While the cheap defects he had created were given to those damn customers, he was making improvements on the real formula he created. Years of hard work and dedication had led to these three serums, and one was meant for his wife. As for the two others, they were back up in case something happens.

'Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue.'

Having experimented with those Linton Diamonds all this time, he had learned that there were tiers to the quality of the serums he created, and blue was the highest level of concentration he had made to this day.

'Ahh, Linton Diamonds. That name really bugs me, now that I think about it.' Leonard made a quick inspection of the equipment before storing the two vials of the serum inside a case that was inside the safe. He then raised his foot and exposed his leg before placing the injecting equipment right on his thigh. All he had to do to start the injection process later was to press the button on the left side of the gadget.

'These boys want to learn more about Linton Diamonds, but they have some quite advanced abilities already. Was it possible for people to awaken abilities without the use of my serums?' Leonard thought about the intentions of the men outside and started to get thinking about what they could possibly be.

'The Association, huh? I remember that Stephanie introduced herself as one of these people, but I didn't think they'd actually have the capability of sending in two awakened humans, especially one with that kind of ability.' Leonard had already been briefed by Ben earlier. He said that their division was one that worked in secrecy, even though the Association was pretty much a tight-lipped secret already.

They wanted his help, that he works for them to head their research into Linton Diamonds that they call 'Mana Crystals'. They offer him freedom, access to their database and a chairman position inside of their facilities here in Kanada. But their primary incentive was that they would retrieve Leonard's wife from the clutches of the Linton Industries, the corporation that was currently holding him captive. 

But while Ben was explaining his proposal to Leonard, the man was reading in between the lines and creating some conjectures for himself. It was important to do this because these people might not really be as pleasant as they try to present themselves to be. It might just be going from one sinking ship to a burning island. There wasn't any room for mistakes when the life of his wife was on the board, he wouldn't have lasted this long if it weren't for his dedication to saving her.

Even now, the vials inside this case were his hope for a future for his wife. A hope that she would get the chance to live longer, to wake up and see her family once again. Everything he is doing was to get his family back together, and he won't allow another mistake to happen again.

'I need to get this man to trust me, or at least make them understand how valuable I really am.' From what he could tell, Ben's position in this partnership with Billy was simple, he was the brains with the invisibility cloak while Billy was the muscle and the guard. The aura Ben gave off was one that Leonard associates with the "Mental-type' ability while Billy had the more of a 'Power-type' ability kind of aura.

Based on intensity alone, Ben could probably fight a couple of average people with his current strength, but his partner Billy could dispose of ten similar men with ease, but even so, his position was still higher than Billy's. That's because their purpose wasn't to kill or destroy, but to infiltrate without leaving a trace behind. Ben was more suited to lead that kind of mission.

"Is she in your care, yet?" Leonard put all the essentials inside his backpack, clearing out his supplies and leaving nothing behind. He's leaving this place, and he won't let a single drop of his formula stay behind. All he had to do now was wait, wait for the confirmation that Madeline was safe and they could leave.

"Yes." Ben looked at the confident Leonard with a smile as he handed him their tablet. The screen showed the image of a woman inside of a glass-like coffin. Her face was as familiar as he could ever imagine, and Leonard couldn't help but cry.

"That's a live feed, you can talk to them if you want." Ben pointed at the icon of a microphone in the bottom and pressed it. He then leaned over and said. "Hey, Chris. Guys, wave your hands for the new boss. Show him that it's real."

It was only now that Leonard saw four men carrying the glass coffin, and he watched as they waved their hands in the air. It was then that Ben took back his tablet and placed it inside his jacket.

"You ready to go?" Ben held out his hand towards Leonard, and finally, with a firm grip, the man was leaving this prison.