“You didn’t have to be so hard with them, brother.” Lucifer laughed, and smirked as he hovered around the spiritual realm where Michael stood unmoving.
Michael and Samael visited Abram’s altar in Bethel, and as Michael rearranged the stones that were toppled down, Samael scorned him for doing so.
“Sam… hasn’t humanity suffered enough? Are you not satisfied with this?” Michael held the last stone in his dirtied hand.
“As long as there is humanity, I will not stop. Father ought to realize that these vile creatures are not worth his time.” Lucifer continued to mock his older brother.
Michael just sighed and laid the last stone at the altar, and alas the light of God shone freely and brightly in the spiritual realm.
“Ugh, do you really have to do that?” Lucifer flew back down upon the light eating his darkened spiritual aura.
Michael slowly materialized himself in the physical realm, and watched every part of his body in the physical world.
He turned his hands, closed and opened it, and turned his gaze from his physical body to that of the wide fields.
From time and time again, he wondered why God gave human needs – the need to eat, the need to drink, and the need for a shelter.
“Why didn’t you just create them the same way that we were? No physical need.” He always found himself wondering the same question over and over again.
“If there’s no need, there’s no desire, and… if there’s no desire, then there’s no sin. No, that’s not it.” He tried to reason himself, but no matter how hard he tried, no matter how hard he wanted the answer. He’s left wondering.
-------------------- // --------------------
Arthur stayed up all night keeping guard, and Irene didn’t come home to stay with her fiancé as the three others – Johnny, Jackson, and Eddie already slept with their devices in the living room.
“Why are you still here?” Arthur wondered as Irene looked at him bewildered as well.
His sleepy eyes and his wobbling head reflected how much he was exhausted keeping guard and searching for the puzzle’s answers.
Irene was trained in the mafia to not sleep for 24-48 hours as sometimes, the police would trail his father and they had to run just to get away and get safe.
“Sleep here. Rest your head, you’ve been helping me with everything. I haven’t been able to thank you for what you’ve been doing.” Arthur followed Irene’s soft voice, and rested his head on her soft lap.
As she caressed his head, she sang a Russian lullaby as the night grew deeper.
Matthew only stayed in the shadows and recovered their blankets from their room, and got each one of them sleeping in the living room along with Irene.
Young master, you have already found people that can stand by your side. I’m sure whatever you do in the future, they’ll be with you and you’ll be with them as well.
-------------------- // --------------------
The disruption happened the next day in the metros, but it was only for a minute. All digital devices stopped working for a minute, and everything went back to normal as if nothing happened.
It even confused everyone in the vicinity, clicking and mushing their hands on their touch-screen phones.
After the disruption happened, the chief quickly called Arthur back for the intelligence quotient tests with Doctor Pete Dane.
Then after twenty-four hours…
“Sir, we’ve confirmed with the many tests that this kid’s intelligence quotient cannot be measured.” Cannot? That’s impossible. The chief doubted his subordinate’s words.
“Where’s the team that handled these tests?” He quickly jumped the gun.
“Doctor Dane, would you mind coming in to the meeting room?” The agent gave the order via the radio transmission directly to the laboratory.
The Doctor only sighed and looked directly at the camera monitoring the lab and with irritation. He marched out of there to the meeting room.
“Are these tests accurate?” The chief demanded an explanation. He slammed the hard copy of the I.Q. tests that Doctor Dane has produced and submitted.
“They are the latest set of tests. These tests are for understanding of concepts, body language, manipulation, and psychological aspect. If you ask me his mental capacity, I would say that it’s beyond our normal human capacity.” The doctor spoke with conviction, clenching his fists as he saw the doubt in the chief’s eyes.
“Immeasurable, huh.” The chief smirked in excitement.
The chief continued monitoring the Smith residences through the internet connection, and the building across the street. He also sent some spies to Harvard to check Arthur’s and his brothers’ movements.
Arthur stayed quiet awfully in class as well as his brothers, but the twins attend additional classes in the evening, and barely sleeping for about five hours for the next morning’s class.
“What? That’s their daily routine?” One of the superintendents violently reacted to the report of one of the spies in Harvard.
He slammed his fists on the table, and shouted, “Edward should be called back in! That’s child abuse!”
That day, an order was given to Edward. “Bring Arthur at the MI-7 building tomorrow, and make sure to be present.”
-------------------- // --------------------
“Is there something that I should be worried about with this meeting?” Edward scratched his sleepy eyes as the two talked in the car.
“Not that I know of.” Arthur simply answered. He didn’t want to prolong anything. He just wanted to get this done as quickly as possible.
As soon as the two entered the meeting room, they were put into the spotlight.
Splat! One of the superintendents slammed a file folder in the middle of the table scattering pictures of their home, the dorms in Harvard where the twins where staying, and the school rooms that the two were taking classes.
At this point, Arthur just stood uncaring that they had all of these pictures.
“What… are these?” Edward approached the meeting table, and picked up some of the pictures with his hands and as a deer in front of headlights react, Edward did as much as get stunned.
He always acted as the spy, but this time, his house was the one closely monitored, spied into, and with all of the pictures on the table, he knew the extent of the violation of his and his family’s privacy were on this mission.
“Your son knew, and you didn’t?” One of the superintendents mocked the spy in the room.
“My father knew about this, he just didn’t think of the extent of this.” Arthur picked up one of the pictures and tore it in front of the meeting table.
“Yes, I’m sure of that.” The chief’s sarcastic tone set up the meeting to an unpleasant one.
“These are the schedule of your children at Harvard. Did you know that they only sleep for about five hours a day?” The chief presented another white folder in front of Edward.
“My kids are the ones choosing their classes and schedules. Who am I to be a hindrance to their desire for learning?” Edward simply answered and didn’t even bat an eye on the white folder.
“If this is the only reason for this meeting, then, I’d rather be at home studying.” Arthur knew what the adults concocted before they even called the two on the meeting.
“Dad, let’s go.” As soon as Arthur grabbed Edward’s hands and began to march out of the meeting room. The chief realized Arthur’s intelligence quotient.
“Fine. I’ll give you what you want. We need your expertise.” He folded quickly as soon as he realized what he missed by the days that passed by.
“Chief!” Some of the superintendents raised their concerns, and of course, their rejection of the chief’s decision regarding Arthur and his requests.
“What?! Do you have any better idea? We need his expertise right this moment as this warning is moving fast, and we haven’t yet figured out what will happen in the future.” The chief’s answer silenced most of the superintendent’s worries.
“I’ll make sure to keep you updated. I don’t work alone, but I won’t involve my team in this little charade you have here. I will notify you of everything we found out, and that’s it. It’s your choice if you still want to give me the post after all of this.” He just wanted that meeting to end.
“You’re going to help us without any guarantee of return?” The sassy secretary emerged from the darkness.
“I don’t particularly want to deal with the British government nor the Interpol, but right now…” Arthur paused, and looked intently at his father, Edward.
Somehow, Edward understood what Arthur was trying to accomplish, asking for that post in the Interpol from the MI-7 chief.
“I…” He sighed. “I need this.” He continued, without any reservations. “I don’t care how or when, I don’t care where from, but I will make sure that I get what I want… what I need, rather.” His uncaring gazes, and his resting face, gave the chief the idea of the seriousness of this kid.
“I will get you what you need if you give us what we need.”
“Deal.” Arthur stretched out his hand, and the chief reached out as well, shaking their hands midway.
“We’ve already wasted almost half a day for this agreement, you got the first and second clue, what’s the third one?” The chief drove the meeting to the most important part.
“I know that you already picked out the searches we got from our researches, but, from my team’s searches, there’s only one that fit the profile.” Arthur breathed deeply and walked up to one of the computers in the room, and started typing.
The chief squinted his eyes at the monitor and read aloud what Arthur typed. “Top Cook London Big Ben.”
“Two days from now, one of the top cooking shows in London will be performing at the London Big Ben festival. There’s a large chance that stimulants through smell will be scattered around.” One of the results that showed up on Arthur’s research was the trailer of the Top Cook at the London Big Ben Festival.
“Noted. I’ll make sure to get people posted in that event. We are bound to have casualties in these kinds of situations.” The chief sighed deeply as well, knowing that Arthur’s guesses were their best chance right now.