Power and Hope

The kids walked silently to the laboratory. The silence was suffocating them worse than a noose can.

"I lost my sister."Leah suddenly spoke.

"You mean a murderer?"Daniel asked while he stared at his phone.

Leah didn't answer. He was right she wasn't a real sister at all. A sister would fight, eat, talk and help one another. She didn't do any of those.

"I suppose you agree with me."Daniel was still looking at his phone, however he wasn't processing what he was watching or reading. His mind was filled with thoughts of guilt and regret. He was mourning silently.All he could to make it better now was to hide it.

As they entered the laboratory, mixed feelings started to stream in.

"Maybe we aren't ready for another crazy weird discovery."Amil spoke his thoughts out. Shocked, he still tried to make it natural,"a break would be good I mean."

"What if we can stop another murder or something?"Daniel's calm answer didn't fit the mood.

How can one talk so calmly about murder especially after witnessing one? He is a soldier after all , hiding of emotions were all part of the training.

"So now what?"Luna asked, prepared to go back to her room for a good rest.

"We search the room."Leah walked into the laboratory, her friends followed behind like little ducklings.

"What exactly do we want to find?"Daniel walked up in front of Leah stopping her."anything?"Unsure of what she wanted to find.

"We need to have a goal before embarking on such a risky trail."Daniel tone sounded pissed, how can these people have no goal and enter a murderous dragon's lair.

"So?"Amil asked "We came in with no goal but learnt so much don't you think you're overreacting?"The tension grew.

"Well we witnessed a murder?"Daniel argued.

"Let's think about this. If another murder is about to happen and we continue standing here arguing, we would have to witness another murder knowing that we could have stopped it."Luna attempted to reason with all of them.

The three of them looked at her unsure what pursued them that she was right. Was it her soft sweet tone or was it her choice of words?

"You're wrong."Ferrah suddenly appeared on the screen."You can't stop it. You have no power or control over this."They looked at the screen, seemingly to have recognised her voice.

"Did you store your soul into this?"Amil disgust and agitation could be detected even by a mere human being.

"We do have the power."Daniel cut in,"We just haven't found it."

Ferrah laughed.

"Well you better get to work then and find that 'power'.Time is running out."She mocked.

"Why?We are being watched aren't we?"Leah asked emotionlessly.

Ferrah didn't answer.

"Why?"Amil asked.

The boys started to shield the girls with their arms.

"I have a bad feeling about this."Luna whispered into Leah's ear.

"My dear kids. You really are adorable."Ferrah continued to mock them,"Shouldn't you be finding your 'power' you have yet to find?" Daniel rolled his eyes.

"Cut the crap. You avoided the question."Daniel agitation scared Luna.

His tone of voice changed.

"You're buying them time to get to us right?" He said.

"All I can say is that time is running out."Ferrah robotic voice changed.

She was more afraid.He passed some weapons over to his friends.

"Protect yourself." Daniel whispered to them.

"Surrender now!"An army of people ran over. Upon hearing them, Ferrah logged off.

"Leo?" Leah looked at him shocked and afraid.Was he one of her workers?

"I know what is going on. Daniel told me beforehand."Leo raised his hand to signal his soldiers to put down their weapons,"Some guys were after you, we took them down already."

"Surrender the weapons. We need those back."Leo walked towards them to receive the weapons.

"But we will be defenseless won't we?"Leah reluctantly gave the piston she was given to by Daniel.

"I borrowed these from them. They need it back." Daniel reasoned. Leo smiled.

"Take these."Leo handed them some hand knives as well as another piston.

"Training starts tomorrow. Meet me at the gym.You need to learn how to protect yourself."Leo explained.

"Training?"Luna whispered into Leah's ear, afraid.

"Yes."Leo patiently replied upon hearing the fear in Luna's voice,"While they leave, me and Wes will stay and search the place with you."Leo spoke while signing to the soldiers to leave.

Once the soldiers left, the tension between them was finally loosened.

"Wesley. Nice to finally see you man."Daniel dragged his words while hugging him.

"Now you have 3 soldiers. Feeling safer girls?" Leo smiled at the girls especially Luna who was still hiding behind Leah holding onto her for dear life.

"We don't need your protection."Leah rolled her eyes, annoyed.

"Oh really?"Leo mocked her. "We need your help in training, not protection."Leah spoke in a tone most girls would have mastered, an annoyed, pissed yet joking kind of manner. It was complicated.

Speechless, Leo rolled his eyes, annoyed that he lost the argument even though he knew that it was a play argument.

"Well, I do have something to show you newbies."Daniel jogged over to the weaponry side of the laboratory.

"We discovered some AKs , swords, hand knives and pistons."Daniel opened the cupboard.

"That is a small variety my man,"Wesley added.

"Have you searched these drawers?"Leo asked as he opened cautiously.

"Trap undetected. No sensors of any kind. We are good."Wesley was still tense.

"My man, chill, we aren't in training."Daniel laughed.

Leo and Wesley however did not.

"Just more guns and… archery bows?"Leah slowly got to her knees to investigate clearly.

"Lesson one never kneel. Always be only on one knee. If attacked, you can get up easily to defend yourself."Daniel gave Leah a disappointed look.

"Stop talking. Look at this. We underestimated them."Leo's tone was serious which frightened everyone else.

Leo was more of a calm person for him to be tense was unusual.

"Yeah it's just guns, bullets, bows and arrows."Daniel shrugged, still unsure as to why he was so tensed over weapons.

"Dude, it's a weaponry cupboard, what did you expect?"Wesley added on. Daniel nodded, giving a tensed smile.

"It's a gun well known as the 'devil's minion'. It was specifically made for bullets that could kill with one shot. It can penetrate two bodies in one shot leaving mercury in both bodies. This results in silver poisoning."Luna was fascinated as she bent down to get hold of the bullet.

"How do you know all this?"Leah tilted her head in shock.

"My dad used to teach me how to shoot. I've used these before."Luna answered, seemingly oblivious to the shock from her friends.

"Well that's something we can start with."Wesley blinked continuously with shock but happiness.

"Uhm… can we please come back to this?"Leo's visible agitation silenced them immediately.

"I mean what did you expect? It's weaponry."Daniel asked, still confused.

"These weapons were only for people who are pretty much very experienced with all types of weapons."Leo tried giving them a clue in hopes that they could realise what kind of people Ferrah may have hired.

"Relliks…"Daniel finally realised. "You mean the myth?"Wesley asked in obvious disbelief.

"Ok...Now we are saying that a myth is now something that actually exists? Are you out of your mind or something?"Leah scolded deep down knowing that he was probably right and that she was just avoiding the truth.

All of a sudden, Wesley starts laughing purely in disbelief

"No...."He laughed uncontrollably. His friends looked at him like he was a madman.

"Did he drink before this?"Daniel looked at Leo with anger and annoyance in his eyes."You were with him the whole time."

Leo shook his head innocently.

"Not that I know of."

"Not that you know of?"Leah frowned, her tone filled with annoyance.

"Listen to me and stop scolding him. I just realised something and if you are going to talk instead of listening to me you're missing out."Wesley finally spoke.

They all turned to look at him seemingly pissed. It looked like an awkward situation from afar but was far more tense than that.

"As Luna mentioned, her father taught her how to use these and that these guns were made from a myth. Similarly, Relliks were also a myth and were said to be the only one who could handle these guns. Today we know that us regular people are not allowed to use these guns as we are not trained enough for these. It also means that by blood, Luna is a Rellik.''Wesley pointed his hand towards Luna.

Everyone turned around looking at Luna who was as equally shocked as they are.

"Look I'm not saying that your detective work is crap, but to sit and discuss about this situation will really do you guys good.Like a meeting with the evidence all around you ready to be opened for reference anytime."Wesley shrugged hoping his suggestion wouldn't just fade away into thin air as if he never mentioned it.

"Honestly I don't think that that is a bad idea at all." Luna chimed in trying to forget that she could be a Rellik.

They soon came to an agreement and started to gather as much evidence from the laboratory before going to the library to chat since it had an easier exit in case of emergencies. After knowing Ferrah they have become more and more cautious by the day.

"So knowing that they have these weapons gives us no useful information."Leah sighed.

"The fact that they have such weapons means that there may be more myths that they have tried to recreate. It also means that some of the workers may be Relliks."Leo observed while admiring the gun.

"Look at this logo."He showed them a logo that resembled four kids holding each other's hands, their eyes white.

"It looks...Eerie."Luna stammered

"Luna, you're a Rellik and you're scared of this?"Wesley questioned.

How can someone who was brought up with weapons, weapons that are only for people who were very experienced, be so scared of everything.

"My mother never liked the fact that I was always playing with weapons."Luna admitted,"I promised her that I am not going to use any of these ever again."

Guilt washed over them as they realised that they shouldn't have said what they just did.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know…"Wesley's apology trailed off.

"It doesn't matter now."Luna shrugged it off."She is dead."

"Look I know I may not be showing enough empathy but Luna I need you to break that promise."Leo apologised beforehand, "Just this once, we need you to show us how to use this gun along with other things your father taught you."

"Why?"Luna asked worriedly.

It was well known that Luna always kept her promise. To break her deceased mother's promise was a huge thing to her.

"Because if you break this promise, it can help all of us from being killed and attacked by Ferrah's workers. This is about life or death. It's not something we want to joke about.''Daniel supported Leo realising that he wasn't wrong.

"Luna?"Leah placed her hands on her shoulders anticipating her answer,"help from you will be greatly appreciated but if you really can't…"Leah trailed off.

Without her help they had no other hope.

"You're our hope...our power."Daniel's eyes widened, "see! We found it! Our hope and power!"He hoped that his excitement could allow Luna to agree with them.

"Ok."Luna agreed, bringing smiles to all of their faces."I could teach you but I can't."

Everyone else was taken aback."Why not?"Leo asked using his expression. Tilting his head allowed Luna to get a slight hint that they didn't understand why.

"We only have such limited bullets. Do you really want to waste them away?"Luna's sweet tone clearly didn't fit the situation.Leo looked at her more confused than ever.

"Your father is a Rellik. Every Rellik has a book or journal on how to make weapons like this. Doesn't your father have one?"Wesley asked, confused.

For someone who grew up mainly with her father, she knew very little about him.

"He did keep a journal."Luna answered oblivious to the fact that Wesley and Leo were getting agitated.

"Give me a few minutes, I'll quickly go get it."Luna quickly ran off to get to her bag.

She always brought her father's diary everywhere she went. Her love for her dad was truly sincere and the time he spent with her was definitely a contributing factor to their close bond.

"How do you not get agitated by her?"Wesley asked.

"Precisely, I'm trying not to be mean but she seems really retarded."Leo agreed.

He shrugged it off hoping to be agreed with.

"You jerk! She lost her parents and this is how you treat her?"Daniel immediately yelled at them.

"Leah lost her parents and she doesn't seem retarded…"Wesley trailed off still thinking that he was right.

"I didn't know that you were like this."Leah was taken aback,"how can you say something like that to us when we grew up with her since we were young? I clearly don't know you well at all."Leah's emotions changed immediately.

"Ok geez...Sorry."Leo and Wesley immediately apologized admitting defeat.

Suddenly Luna came running in waving the diary in the air. Rolling their eyes, Wesley and Leo weren't as happy as the rest were to see her.

"I got it!"She ran over with diary in hand."Here here here!"Luna frantically flipped the pages of the diary's delicate pages.

Her hands were shaking uncontrollably from trying to hide the fact that she overheard their argument.

"Listen, we need gunpowder, metal casing one must be larger than the other and mercury."She looked at them hoping that she would seem useful to Leo and Wesley.

"I'll go get some. Wait here."Wesley quickly turned around hoping to take this chance to get some fresh air away from them.

The tension between them was truly suffocating.

"Wes…? I'm sure they have some here. If they have the bullets why wouldn't they have the materials to build them."Luna stopped him in his tracks.For someone in their right mind, they would feel bad knowing that she was trying her best to be an equal.

"For god's sake."Welsey muttered under his breath. He closed his eyes for a brief moment trying to calm his nerves.

"She heard us."Daniel whispered into Leah's ear.Leah could only nod her head while she felt her bones shiver with anger and fear. What if she thinks that no one likes her? What if her mind is too weak to accept such comments?

"As long as she knows that we care for her she would hopefully not get upset."Leah tried to soften the shared anger between her and Daniel.

Wesley nodded his head before going to search for the materials needed to make the bullets. As he searched, his friends slowly, one by one, started to help him. Time went by quickly and they found nothing.This gave Wesley an opportunity to get back at Luna for taking his only opportunity to get some fresh air.

"So…"Wesley began to think of something that was hurtful but isn't too obvious that he was mad at her,"I should go get the materials you guys wait here."He decided to guilt trip her instead.

Luna nodded seemingly apologetic.

"Not even a 'sorry'?"Leo exaggerated his accent, his eyes fixated on Luna.

Luna was taken aback.

"I-"Luna stammered. She was still questioning herself. What exactly did she do wrong? Why is she wrong again?"I'm sorry…"Luna trailed off, sincerely apologetic.

"No…no...It's my fault."Wesley continued his act.

Daniel, Leah and Amil however didn't seem to fall for his tricks. Unfortunately, Daniel was the only one ready to pounce and he was definitely the last person anyone wanted to be in a fight with.

"How?"Daniel asked, smiling as if he knew what he was doing,"what did you do wrong?"

Wesley kept silent,speechless.

"Why blame yourself when you don't know what you did wrong?" Amil titled his head while raising his eyebrows. His visible smile clearly showed how proud he was of himself.

"Huh… So you think that it's Luna's fault?"Leo smirked clearly knowing that deep down both him and Wesley felt that it was Luna's fault.

"Yes and I'm glad she apologized. Everyone makes mistakes.Unless you're inhuman."Leah quickly backed Daniel up.

They stayed silent. Not daring to speak. Leah, Leo's and Wesley's best friends since 10, just implied that they were not even human! Why didn't she agree with them? It wasn't like they were unhappy with Luna for no reason...or were they?

Wesley immediately left to collect the materials to make the bullets.

"Oh god I can finally breathe."Wesley sighed as he left the room.

"Yea the air is so much better here."Leo added while following Wesley.

Shocked, he turned around face scrunched up.

"Hey don't think you get to leave without me."Leo mocked while placing a hand on Wesley's shoulder,"share the air with me will you?"

Wesley nodded, smiling, at least someone agrees that some fresh air away from the four musketeers, especially Daniel. I mean who isn't afraid of Daniel. If Ferrah, a murderer, was intimidated by him, wouldn't a mere human being like Wesley and Leo be scared of him.

Ferrah was scared of Daniel, deep down she knew that he was the key to everything. These four kids were made to overcome all these challenges she herself created to cause chaos. Afraid that one day she will live to regret her decision, she created these four kids to turn back whatever she did with her. Daniel was the strongest and the most protective made to protect the three others. Luna was the one with experience with all kinds of weapons, traps,survival skills and more. She was the beacon of knowledge. As for Amil, he was a good leader to arrange and put things in place, with his mature mindset that was shaped since he was a kid, he will help the group make the most mature and rightful decisions. Leah however, many may not have realised what she could do, just not yet, a warrior with a mindset to kill when told. She was a weapon.

"Luna, listen, you mustn't take his words seriously. You must know that-"Leah attempted to comfort Luna.

"It's ok. I'm fine."Luna immediately cut her off attempting to forget the conversation she overheard that was chewing away her heart silently.

"Luna, we know you overheard the conversation. Just show your feelings to us, it's ok…"Daniel consoled hoping to get her to open up.

"Looks like you haven't found a key to your problems?"Ferrah mocked the computer screen lit up in green with her silhouette being the only thing visible,"you know,you have to think realistically. A bunch of kids like you won't go far...not even a little bit."

"You think so?"Daniel asked pitifully, as if his hopes were all gone.

Bursting into laughter, a menacing kind, she continued mocking like it was her job.

"Look I'm sure you have other things to do...maybe covering up more unknown murders of yours?"Daniel's facial expression became serious, ready to throw his hands.