42/XLII. A Mighty Fortress (Mastered)

“KID! WHERE ARE YOU?!” One of the MI-7 agents went out to the rooftop but as soon as Arthur went out of the rooftop, he already transformed as Michael, and teleported to the darkest alley near the London Eye Park.

“KID!” He shouted with his lungs, but to no avail, he tried searching the whole rooftop, but he only saw the emergency ladder down to the ground floor on the other side of the building.

As soon as Michael teleported in that dark alleyway, he cloned himself, and transformed back to Arthur.

SFX: Cough, cough, cough

He closed his flip-phone as he emerged from the shadows and entered the park.

The clone turned invisible as he followed Arthur inside the park. “Find JP, and I’ll check on Jonathan. We need to check where they had put their chemicals for the memory-altering process. We need to get them red-handed. We have no other evidence, but recordings, and witness statements and pictures, which is kind of flimsy at best.”

“Hm.” The clone nodded and straight away went out on another path to search for Pauls.

Where would he go? That Jonathan? No, wait, he’s a chef! Kitchen!

“Hi! Good evening!” The nearest bar and restaurant at the London Eye was the Le Whiskey Bar, and Arthur approached the establishment in caution since he’s just twelve years old.

He may appear older, but if an identification card is required, his real age will be revealed.

“Yes? Young man?” One of the servers approached him.

“Do you know of a man named, Jonathan Hughes? He’s a Welsh cook, I was hoping I could talk to him for a minute, it’s about his brother, Greg.” The server had a reaction when Arthur mentioned Jonathan’s name.

He’s definitely here.

“I’ll check with our kitchen, one moment.” She smiled as she went back to the kitchen doors.

Arthur baited him the only reason why he’s doing these things – Greg.

And soon, a postured man came out of the kitchen, along with his chef hat, and uniform, along with the server that fetched him out of there.

The server pointed out the man at the entrance, straight at Arthur and Jonathan put his hat down and marched towards the entrance doors.

“Young man, what do you want?” Jonathan sighed as he glanced Arthur from head to toe.

The child was not a familiar face, especially to a Welsh chef, living in the secluded pier for many years.

“Brother.” Arthur spoke, mimicking Greg’s voice, through his vocal manipulation.

“You-” His eyes widened. He remembered the night Greg died, not too long ago, but everything that happened in that room was engrained into his memories.

“I have come to ask for your help.” Arthur’s voice returned to normal, this pulled Jonathan back to reality.

“Were you there when my brother died?” He bent eye level to the child, and spoke sternly.

“You can say that I was there. Say goodbye, my little sweet Greg.” He then copied Zmanel’s voice, the one that Jonathan heard in the room.

He trembled hearing the different voices of the child. Knowing and remembering that night on Glamorous kitchen, the scene where he saw Greg’s cold corpse lying on the floor, lifeless, and unmoving.

He told himself that he can still save him, and starting CPR, but to no avail. He held his cold hand, as he heard a whisper in his ear, “Jonathan, brother…”, it was something extraordinary, supernatural, but he wasn’t afraid.

He knew his brother’s voice - he knew it was Greg from beyond the afterlife. And then after that someone with a warm voice followed up with, “Say goodbye, my little sweet Greg.”

It’s not a threatening voice, rather it was soft, gentle, and inviting. Almost like he wanted to be taken away, too, that time, but it’s not yet his time.

“What do you want?” The man gulped, he knew that the kid was something supernatural. He can feel it under his skin.

The terror, the chills, and the fear of the child – it was something extraordinary.

He stood straight, and looked down on him as to calm himself down. The hairs on his skin stood straight up as the child mimicked the voices only he heard at that room along with his dead brother on the floor of that kitchen.

“Jamison Pauls.” That name clicked immediately at Jonathan. His eyes widened once more, his jaw dropped in shock.

Of course, this kid is supernatural, of course, he’d know.

He thought simply.

“He’s planning the same thing that you did, only on a greater scale.” The next statements of Arthur seemed to have stunned him even more, that he lost his strength in his legs, and collapsed on the chair behind him.

As the two were discussing about Pauls, the MI-7 SWAT team were dispersed from the National Arts Museum towards the Parliament, and part of them to the London Eye park.

“What do you mean ‘greater scale’?” Jonathan emphasized that last part.

He knew someone would notice eventually whatever he was doing, and he wanted someone to stop him that’s why he sent those puzzles out, but no one did, on three occasions, no one stopped him.

“He’s planning on erasing the memories of the parliament and the intelligence office of the terrorist group Abaddon.” Arthur gave him the gist of what he deducted so far.

“How is he going to do that?” Jonathan even asked himself. “And how did he even get a hold of my formula?” He continued pestering the child of answers.

“He had connections to one of the camera men in the production floor that you are a consultant to. He knew you were the one that did the Chernobyl, the metros, and the one in the Big Ben. I can’t discuss the specifics with you right now, but he’s lurking around right now and he’ll be able to do the chemical attack any minute, so I need you to stop him.” Arthur pleaded.

Jonathan seemed shocked still, of the thought that JP had his formula and that someone knowingly let him do his plan in the memory-altering attacks, without even reporting him to the police or the authorities.

“What can I do to help?” He appeared cooperative. Arthur didn’t hear any adverse thoughts, only confusion.

“Find him, and then call my name in your mind once you found him.” He couldn’t fathom that instruction, but all he knew is that he had to stop his friend from escalating the situation to a bigger scale.

“What’s… your name?” He crossed his brows, and looked him in the eye.

He wondered in awe. Puzzled by the sudden visit from the afterlife, Jonathan found himself asking the eternal question, “Does God really exists?”, but ultimately, this interaction made the answer so obvious.

“Michael. Call for me, and I will hear.” The child shortly said.

Michael, the captain of the host of heaven, he who is like God, the name alone send shiver down his spine.

‘Call for me.’ He said. Just like a prayer?

“Alright. I’ll… call your name when I see him.” His eyes seemed lost, afraid, and confused, but nevertheless, he sprang up from his feet, gathering the little strength he had and marched forward the London Eye.

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“Chief, we’re now in the park. There’s tons of people roaming around.” A food truck pulled over the parking lot near London’s Eye.

Inside were the members of the elite and elusive SWAT TEAM of London, the SFC (Specialist Firearms Command).

All having civilian clothing with a bullet proof vest underneath and two guns strapped tightly near their ankles, and one directly fastened their with their belt, and one underneath their shirts, right under their armpits.

“You need to stay low. We have the profile of that Pauls guy, but not their accomplices. We need to locate the kid as well before we declare our presence in the park.” The chief bent over to speak directly the plan on the microphone back in the HQ.

SFX: Kshkshk. Kshkshk. Kshkshk. Click. Click.

The reloading of the guns, and clicking of the magazines can be heard inside the truck. In contrast, those sounds do not penetrate outside as the undercover vehicle has a 3 inch thick metal encased around it.

Everyone put on their game faces, and nodded in ordinance to the plan of going lay low.

The chief coordinated the time, “It’s already eight in the evening. Begin the operation, “Save the Crown.”

“Go.” And at his signal, one by one, the members of the SFC team came out at the back of the truck and also at the driver’s seat of the truck.

Soon, the park got flooded with the SFC Team, undercover, and spread out to the area, with their guns hidden.

-------------------- // --------------------

Back in the county hall hotel…

“Johnny!” Matthew barged into the top floor room as soon as he heard that Arthur ran after their target.

“Matt…” Johnny struggled to raise his left hand and reach it out towards Matthew’s direction. His hand shook as he raised it in the air.

“STOP RIGHT THERE!” One of the officers near the door almost pointed his gun to Matthew.

“I need to attend to my young master, please.” He begged the officer to let him enter the premises.

The officer looked at his senior attending to the wounds of the doctor, and patched in back in the HQ.

“Chief, the driver is here. The other twin struggles moving due to anesthetics, shall we have the butler attend to the kid and enter the premises?” The agent pushed a button on his earpiece.

He raised his right brow as he suspiciously looked at Matthew up and down.

“Don’t let him roam around the room, just have him attend to the kid.” The chief answered from the other line.

“Doctor, to confirm, do you know exactly how we can stop and foil that vigilante’s plan regards Parliament?” The senior officer began questioning the doctor, even though Matthew and Johnny clearly can hear them.

Almost losing his consciousness, he still managed to say a few words before passing out, “It’s… he’s pla- planning to- to- have the- them in- in-gest Amnesic chem- chemical.”

His eyes almost half dead, as he drifted into unconsciousness.

“Hey, Oy! I’m still talking to YOU!” The one applying the pressure on the wound shook him several times, and checked his breathing through the nose, and noticed that he just passed out.

The agents looked at each other, appearing to be plotting something, but only sighed in the dead end they had encountered for the day.

At least they were able to listen in and confirm everything on the communications line and Mayer was able to request the assistance of the SFC at a short notice.

“Where’s… Arthur?” Johnny little by little attempted to sit up. His crooked back became evident that the anesthetic has not worn off completely.

The paralysis from the drug certainly was visible with his rigid movements, but as time passed by, his movement function improved and the paralysis wore off.

“The other kid!” The agent that followed Arthur barged in back from the rooftop.

Writhing in pain and losing his breathe, he grabbed his chest, wrinkled his clothes and gasped for air. He just ran back quickly as he didn’t see the kid at the rooftop.

“Hey! Calm down, we don’t want another ambulance here!” The senior agent pointed out the chair beside the guy.

“He- He…”

“Breathe first!” The other investigating agent came out of the room, holding a girlie doll in his hands.

“My name’s J-009.” The senior agent glimpsed and turned his eyes at Matthew massaging Johnny’s leg muscles.

“Code name’s R-004.” The one that came out of the room introduced himself.

“I’m T-002.” The one who stood guard at the door and gave permission for Matthew to come in spoke in order.

“O- O-004 he- here.” The agent that came from the rooftop hurriedly sat on the chair beside him, and caressed his chest up and down with his right hand and calmed down.

Matthew smiled and nodded to acknowledge their introduction, and simply replied, “Matt, I’m.. their… butler.” He trailed on his response.

J-009 turned back to O-004 and quickly asked, “What about the other kid?”

“I- I can’t-“ *Gasp* “…seem to…” *Gasp* “…find him up there.” He pointed at the roof.

“How’s that even possible? He went there, right? You should look carefully! He has not yet come down here and that is the only door down!” J-009 turned sour as soon as he learned that the kid went missing after going to the rooftop.

“You lost the kid, or you haven’t looked thoroughly! Get back there! Find him! The chief will kill us if something happens to that kid!” R-004 rattled on and shouted at the junior agent.

True, the chief has become too invested on Arthur ever since his first visit in the MI7 building – whether its fear of the genius, or interest in his intellect, time will only tell.

“I’ll- I’ll check again!” He rushed to the rooftop once more. The chief will kill us. He said with total indignation. That made the junior agent panic even more.

That kid? Are they talking about Arthur? Matthew rolled his eyes, pretending he didn’t hear anything.

“R! What’s that?!” J pointed out the girly doll that R was holding in his hands.

“We surveyed Pauls’ house last time and found similar dolls there, and this is the only thing that is out of place in this luxurious room. Do you think this has any connection with them?” He’s trying to withhold some information, but he wanted answers to the puzzles in their minds.

The room went silent. The doctor doesn’t know how Jamison thinks as well and he’s not that acquainted with the right hand command in Abaddon.

The agents looked down, not knowing how to respond to their colleague’s question, but then they realized there was someone who could answer their inquiries – the butler and the twin.

They all turned their eyes to the two.

“Your stares are making me nervous, Sirs.” Matthew’s timid side showed a meager attempt to lighten the mood in the room.

It’s already ten minutes from when they barged in the room, but the ambulance hasn’t arrived yet.

“Arthur brought back a picture of the doll from JP’s house to our board last night. That’s a similar design. It’s a phone.” Johnny picked up the conversation ending the silence in an awkward manner.

They haven’t figured out the puzzle themselves, but knowing that the doll was a phone seemed ridiculous in itself, but with their knowledge that the kids were steps ahead of them, ridiculousness didn’t matter at all.

“How do I work this out?” R flipped the doll up and down, and moved the limbs and arms and heard a “Click!” when he lifted the left arm, and as he did, the torso displayed a keypad.

The three looked at each other, stunned by what they had discovered.

R continued to twist and turn each nook and cranny of the doll and finally turned the left leg and-

“Wait! I see something!” J, just sitting two feet away, noticed the engravings on its left foot.

R got shocked at the moment and froze with his hand, “What did you see?” He asked curiously.

“Check the left foot – there’s an engraving.” J pointed at the left foot of the doll.

“What?!” R turned the doll upside down and squinted his eyes. He wasn’t content with that, he even drew the doll closer to his face just to see the engraving.

“Damn! That’s- Your eyes are too good!” R followed up with a quirky comment - at least to lighten the mood in the air, along with a bloody carpet, a doctor unconscious lying down on the ground, broken glasses everywhere, and a paralytic kid seated on the couch.

“Stop joking around.” Said the senior agent, but he was smiling and smirking as well.

Johnny grinned and giggled along. His upper body showed signs of improvement.

SFX: Ring, ring, ring!

“Ope! That’s my phone.” The agents became jumpy upon the hearing of the call. They thought it was the chief.

“Storm!” A loud shout echoed from the phone, Eddie called in worry what happened inside the hotel.

From the first ring to the first word of the call, the agents turned their undivided attention to Matthew, their eyes focused on him and on his call.

“Put it on speaker.” J instructed the butler. His jaw dropped. He couldn’t… but…

“Ugh…” Matthew can’t decide. He can’t just go ahead and expose the kids to the agents.

“Matt, it’s okay. They’re good people.” Johnny reassured Matt to trust them at least at that moment.

“Eddie, there are agents here and I’m putting you on speaker.” He laid the phone on the couch just beside Johnny.

‘Thank you.’ J mouthed to Matthew and Johnny, not wanting to break the momentum of the conversation.

“That’s okay. How’s everything up there?” Eddie wanted to know the situation at the top floor.

Matthew looked around, he’s asking permission to talk visually from the agents. J, being the most senior from the group, nodded in agreement.

“We’ve rescued Johnny, but Arthur’s missing. I think he went ahead to the London Eye Park.” Those statements truly terrified the agents that they stopped shuffling in the room and walked and drew closer to Matthew and Johnny at the center of the room.

“WHAT!” A shrieking shout of a lady can be heard echoing in the county hall parking lot underground.

“WHY DID YOU LET HIM GO?!” Irene pushed into the conversation. “Shut up…” Eddie and Jackson’s whispers can be heard atop Irene’s shouts, but cannot be heard clearly.

“SHUT UP YOU TWO!” Irene was clearly trying to calm down in the most wrong way, but she just can’t.

She was worried at the start of the day, and even in the course of the day, going into the evening made her more anxious than ever.

She realized… no, she felt the change of her heart. It’s not just a simple puppy love, it’s more than admiration, and it’s something that can be surmised as romantic love.

She’s familiar with it, the moves a man make to have a woman fall for him. A woman seducing a man to do whatever she pleases – it’s her mom’s specialty. Seduction and…

SFX: WEEE-WOOOO, WEEE-WOOOO!

A ringing alarm blasted little by little, nearer and nearer to the county hall. It was an ambulance.

“The ambulance is here. Let’s attend to Johnny and the doctor first.” Matthew agreed with J’s suggestion.

“What do you mean, doctor?” Jackson butted in the phone line. “The doctor was shot.” Matthew quickly replied. “Wha-?!” And ended the call.

The hotel manager led the EMT to the highest floor where Johnny and the doctor has already been waiting for about ten minutes now.

“I’ll be okay.” Johnny refused the EMT’s service as he sprang up from the couch carefully and gently.

“Attend to the doctor first.” One of the EMTs tried to check on Johnny, but he pointed to the bloody doctor.

“Evans, EMT, what happened here?” The first respondent checked the breathing of the doctor, from his chest, and mouth and nose.

“He was shot along with the roof.” J gave the simplest explanation. They knew the protocol, apart from that, they can’t give any more details.

J let go of the pressure, and another EMT resumed putting pressure after they carried him and transferred him to the stretcher.

“He’s breathing, but he’s unconscious. Based on the pool of blood, he may have lost about 200-300 cc of blood.” Evans diagnosed the patient while they pulled up the wheels of the stretcher.

“How many minutes has passed since he was shot?” He turned his attention to the three agents and finally to J.

“About 10 minutes.” J answered, quickly with a serious note on his face.

The EMT wheeled the injured man to the elevator, and the agents decided to ride along with them in the elevator.

“O, you stay with the butler and the kid, make sure you don’t lose your eyes on them.” J left a voicemail for the agent that was still on the rooftop as he pressed ground floor on the elevator.

The third EMT brought a heart monitor and patched in the wires while they were inside the elevator.

The fourth one pulled out a valve bag and started pumping the oxygen into his mouth into the lungs and vice-versa.

“R, T, you accompany the doctor to the ER and ask more questions once he’s out of danger. I’m going to the parking lot.” J gave his clear instructions and pressed B1 on the elevator.

The two only nodded silently as they put their guns back to their holsters.

“BP: 130/80, it’s a bit high, we need to stabilize him in the ER. O2 Stat is 80 and dropping, keep on the pressure!” Evans began to worry halfway down the elevator.

“What’s happening?” J inquired.

“It’s the air pressure changes in our elevation - he’ll stabilize once we’re on ground.” He answered simply as well.

-------------------- // --------------------

JP, where are you? Jonathan wandered around the Park as well as Arthur, but Arthur concentrated on checking the passengers of the ferris wheel, and the surrounding area of the London Eye.

Have you seen him? Arthur telepathically reached Jonathan’s mind.

Woah! Like a deer in front of a headlight, Jonathan’s face proved to be most shocked and stunned at that telepathic message.

How are you inside my head? He replied back in his head, thinking, and nervously looking around to locate the supernatural kid.

You already know the answer that you’re asking for, do you really want me to spell it for you? Arthur sarcastically answered. He’s searching the darkest corners in the park.

No, I’m still searching for him. He replied, still looking around, but not for JP, but for the kid.

Don’t search for me, search for him! Arthur sighed, even his sigh can be heard through telepathy.

I’m sorry, this is my fault. He calmed down a bit. And as his eyes darted from left to right, he located Jamison near the operator.

Jamison? He thought, and gasped, he covered his mouth using both of his hands, and raised his shoulders, as if spilling the beans on his brother. He tried to stop thinking but cannot.

Where is he? The angel quickly reacted, he knew something was up. No, he can feel it.

Arthur closed his eyes, hid in the darkness of an alley near the London eye, and established the Vision of Life Oracle and Telepathy inside Jonathan’s mind.

Without the touch of his hand, he needed the telepathic connection stronger and opened his white eyes, and searched for his memories.

The man immediately froze and seized on the spot. Foam and bubbles formed from his mouth as he collapsed near the busy line of the Ferris wheel.

The man needing medical attention soon became the star of the night. Crowd flocked around him and one man called 999. The undercover officers approached with caution and speed.

They screened through the multitude like Moses dividing the Red Sea, and immediately identified the man.

“Call 999.” One agent knelt on one knee and checked his pulse through his neck and one through his wrist.

The memories that Arthur went through just to get the necessary information he needed.

Jonathan’s eyes rolled over as he continued seizing.

“Ugh…” Arthur coughed up blood as soon as he rushed through things. *Gasp*. He can’t have another attack, not now, not there. He closed his eyes, and calmed his heart down, breathe in slowly and breathe out gently.

He searched through his memories with precision, and-

“EUREKA! That’s how he manipulated their memories! And JP’s already at the Ferris wheel! UGH!” He spat blood from both of his nose and mouth, and gasped for air once more.

He lifted his eyes and glanced at the London Eye. His vision’s getting blurry. His heart’s not pumping enough blood to his brain to his eyes and it’s affecting his vision now.

“Just for this night, let me do what I can, what I need to do.” He whispered to himself as soon as he took his eyes off the London eye, he breathed in deeply, and out and put on his determined eyes and game face.

“Let’s do this.” He marched towards the London Eye and-

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