Chapter 4: The Hunt Begins

The Shen Estate.....

A new morning blinkingly arrives without waiting for anyone, whether you're ready yet or not, but we know too well that, time is waiting for no one. Much like the Shen family, that their everyday lives, they tend to race against time.

Hugo walks down the stairs from his bedroom, while he still not fully awakes from his slump yet. As he reaches the dining room just to have breakfast, he's shocks to see August's sitting on the chair that used to be Jaymin's, while wearing Jaymin's clothes, as blue-red striped t-shirt with long dark blue jean. Hugo sees August's sitting there silently alongside Henry and Juliet, while Mrs. Shen is cooking breakfast for them with fully smiling face, which Hugo cannot believe to see that, due to she barely smiles, right after Jaymin's death.

"So, those old clothes are fitting you so well, Ares No.9. But aren't you, at least ask for the permission to wear them, hmm?" Hugo criticizes August, as he walks to the dining table, but he doesn't realize that, August does not use that name anymore.

"He doesn't need to ask permission at all. Since mom already allowed him to use all of Jaymin's staffs, especially his room as well, due to he might need some privacy. Oh!! Also, he's no longer use that designation code anymore, because now he has a name, which is August. Remember that, Mr. Hugo" Juliet sarcastically informs Hugo about August's current name, while her eyes are focusing on her food.

"What?!! This is absurd. You didn't even bother to discuss this with me at all, mom. At least give me a head's up, mom" Hugo surprisingly shocks to hear that, which's why he's putting his mom at fault for not informing him about that.

"I may not be the new head of this family, but I'm still your mother, and the one who helped your father to build this house. So, which mean I still have the power to make the decision without discussing with anyone. But if you want to disagree, we can commence a family meeting just to vote for this matter. So, what do you think, Mr. Hugo?" Mrs. Shen also doesn't mess around at all.

I mea , she's a mother after all.

After hearing all of his mother's words, he completely speechless at the moment, so, he just walks to his chair that stands in front of August.

"Since you completely drowned with the power over this house, you can make something to eat for yourself, since I cannot please you at all" Mrs. Shen doesn't want to give in to the power of Hugo at all, that's why she's declaring war against her son, just to protect August.

"But mom !! I am your son, why are you saying this to me, just for a stranger like him?" Hugo's begging his mother to go easy on him.

"August is longer a stranger, Hugo. He's now part of this family, so give him some respect as well. And besides, you're the one who started it all, Hugo. Don't put the blame on me alone" Mrs. Shen's really not messing around, even to her children.

Fed up with all of this childish war, Hugo quickly drags his mom to the living to discuss this matter with her privately, to avoid the kids and August to hear what they're about to say. As he's taking his mother to sit on the couch, Hugo doesn't wait for any more times, so he decides to.....

"Mom!! This is not fair. You and the twins are taking his side, to fight against me. Why you want to protect him that much, mom? You know too well that, he's not Jaymin at all. Jaymin is truly gone, mom. You cannot live with the past forever. You need to let it go, it's not healthy to living with the past, mom" Hugo tries to convince his mom to stop what she's doing for August, even though, he knows too well, that's hard for her.

"Hugo, like I said to you a few nights ago, I'm going to follow my own instinct as a mother, despite I know that, August is not Jaymin at all, but trust me, I have no hope that he somehow is Jaymin, still, I need to protect him the way I can. Right now, you don't know him that well, like the way I know him. That's why, I want you to learn more about him, by getting close to him, so that you may see the other side of him, which is unique and lovely. Learn before judging, Hugo. Give it a chance" Mrs. Shen tries to convince her son, Hugo, to open up his mind to accept change.

"But.....!! Mom.....!! Okay, find. I'll try to open my mind to learn more about him" Hugo almost disagrees with his mom, but then he decides to change his mind, as he doesn't want to disappoint her.

"Good!! Then you will take him into town today. Let him see the world for once, since he's always on the moon, so I think he has never experienced to see something new. Show him around" Mrs. Shen sets up the plan for Hugo to get close to August, just to learn more about him, before making his judgement.

"You mean now?!! Isn't it too rush, mom? I need go to Mr. Bale's farm, to fix his tractor, mom. So, maybe the other day, mom?" Hugo tries to make excuses to avoid get close to August.

"Well!! Isn't it great, Hugo? You can show him how we live, and how we work. Let him to experience this kind of live, Hugo. So, I think it's an opportunity for you and him, though. Just let him tag along with you. Because you can take them into town right after that, hmm" Mrs. Shen gladly suggests her son, Hugo, without dropping her smile at all.

"Find!! I'll take him, mom. So, let call this a truce then, mom?" Hugo reluctantly agrees with his mother, as he got no choice at all, as he's now starving for breakfast.

"Find!! Let call it a truce. Go have your breakfast, then. Don't leave for work with empty stomach" Mrs. Shen gladly lets her son to have breakfast, as he hears his stomach's growling so hard.

"Thank, mom!! I'll go have my breakfast now" without a second though, Hugo rushes to have breakfast at the dining room.

August and the twins are keep looking at Hugo, as he walks to his chair with a smile on his face, which is very strange, as he was just offensively disagreed with everyone earlier. August keeps looking at Hugo in a strange way, as he really irritates toward that attitude of Hugo.

...

Mr. Bale's Farm, 12th District.....

As Hugo is inspecting Mr. Bale's tractor, in order to find the problem, August is walking around the farm alone, just to witness how the world has changed after the great war.

After his long walk around the farm, he so glad to be able to come here, as he learns so much more about humanity, and their stubbornness, as they keep fighting to survive, despite the odd of survival, right after the war. During his walks, he so surprise that, human completely able to preserve most of the crucial materials and resources for survival, like the livestock, and the crops, that they're farming.

"Hey!! It will take more time to fix the tractor. So, if you want to go to town, maybe another day, as I still cannot locate the problem at all. But if it's okay with you though" Hugo quickly tells August about the hold-up since now is already noon.

"Hmm!! Did you check the thermo-conductor of the auxiliary battery, yet? I think the conductor is not well connected to that auxiliary battery at all" August professionally tells the problem of the tractor to Hugo, as he's looking at it, while standing from afar.

"Oh!! I might have missed to check it, but how to you know about this? You didn't even get close to the tractor at all. Oh, well!! I forgot who you are at the moment" Hugo surprises to see August adapts to the world very quickly, even though, most of his systems are unusable for the time being.

"My optical scanner, is working as normal, that's how I could scan and locate the problem, despite I am standing from afar right now" August explains to Hugo, as it's normal for him.

After listened to August's advice, Hugo, without hesitating, goes to the tractor to check the thermos-conductor, whether August's really locating the problem correctly or not. Surprisingly, August is really correct, as Hugo connects the thermos-conductor to the auxiliary battery, then start the engines and finally, tractor is really running properly. Both Hugo and Mr. Bale are really happy to see the tractor's coming to life, so they start dancing along with hugging each other really closely, then with August as he the one who can locate the problem very quickly, since Mr. Bale really needs the tractor to harvest his crop, and Hugo really needs to take August into town, as he promised with his mother this morning. So, after getting the tractor fixed, Hugo and August are both decide to take their leave from Mr. Bale's farm, to get into town, since it about to be evening now.

...

Sho-gah Town, Emerald City State.....

August is so surprise to see a lot of people are gathering to come into this town, despite the current situation of the world. He sees those people walking around the central market of this big town, just to buy the crucial material for their daily used.

August's really enjoying the moment, as he sees a lot of strange things, that supposed to be disappear along with the old world after the great war, such as the cotton candy, which he's really enjoys it very much, as somehow, his cybernetic body unbelievably can sense the sensation of sweetness from that candy as well.

Even Hugo, he's also shock to see this as well, since he's really not yet process about this finding yet.

Somehow, August's attitudes, start to open Hugo's new perspective, as he now sees more Jaymin inside of August.

However, his unforgettable day for these two, especially August, begins to come to an end, which sad him very much, since he still losing himself to this amazing moment, after years of his existence, he has never been experienced this kind of moment before.

After seeing August expression like that, Hugo kindly decides to stay a little longer, despite the sky is getting dark, and more people begin to pure in, as they want to enjoy festivities during night time in this town. This news, make August incomparably happy and he's grateful to Hugo's kindness as well. When he realizes that August's cybernetic body, can sense and digest the food like human as well, so he decides to buy some snacks for him to try as well, which make August really happy for Hugo's generosity very much.

These two decide to enjoy their snack along the concrete shoreline, to enjoy the view of Blue Crystal river at night, which full of the colorful lanterns that brightening the entire area from both the sky and on the river's surface.

After they finish their snack, August and Hugo decide to return home, as the night is getting late, and this beautiful event also comes to an end as well. Them both really enjoy the view of various colorful light that lighten up around town as they make their way back to their truck. While they appreciating the beautiful decorating of this town along the way. Unforunately, while they're enjoying the sighseeing, they accidently bump into a group of drunken men.

"Did you not see us walking along the way, huh, you little brats, hmm?" a man among those drunken men, asks both Hugo and August, while he's not able to stand steadily, due to the effect of alcohol.

"We're so sorry, sir. We don't want any problem, sir. So, just let bygone be bygone, what do you think, sir?" Hugo tries to disperse the situation by negotiating peacefully.

"You two bumped into us. And my friend's shoulder is hurting, so you need to compensate us or else, kids" that man threatens the two young men without realizing that they're messing with the wrong people.

"Sir!! It was a small accident. We just bump into each other lightly. It's not like us punch you or something, sir. So, you cannot just make any demands without any proper evidences. So, if there's not any more problems, I would like to take my brother home, sir. It's very late now, you should go home as well, sir" after explains things to these men, Hugo starts to hold August's hand then take their leave immediately.

After seeing these two kids disrespect them, those useless douchebags decide to chase them, just to teach them a very meaningful lesson. To avoid any more confrontation, Hugo starts to increase his speed to run away alongside August, despite he shows no facial expression of fear at all. Not long after, the two young men reach their truck safely as they don't see themselves being chased anymore.

However, as Hugo about to unlock the truck's doors to get in, both of them, are being dragged by those men to a nearby alley forcefully. Being stuck in that kind of situation, Hugo warns August not to do anything, as it would risk exposing himself to the outside world, so, due to August's obedient attitude that he gets from Jaymin, he decides to listen to Hugo, and stays still without fighting back.

The worst thing happens, without asking for anything, those drunken start to beat the shit out of Hugo very hard, which very painful for August to bare, still, he has to listen to Hugo's words. August tries to beg for those men to stop beating Hugo, still they do not listen to him at all. This events starts to overwhelms August's data processor, as his brain, like a normal human, obtain too much information, along with overwhelm emotion, as he's not supposed to feel at all, so, due to this, August starts to go.....

Kaboom.....

August suddenly releases a massive of mysterious blue energy pulse, which course a big explosion in that block, that throw those men away and knock them out cold. Hugo is very shock to witness that kind of event, however, due to those men still in their slump, so without delay, Hugo takes August to the truck, despite he also knocks out cold as well, when he released that energy to every direction. When they both get inside the truck, Hugo starts to drive off very quickly.

.....

Headquarter of Prometheus Corporation.....

Mr. Stryker's Office.....

Mr. Stryker is enjoying his whisky alone in his office, while both of his eyes are looking to the view of Empire City through his massive glass window at night. Out of the blue, a red beeping light on his transparent glass desk starts to go off, which shocks him very much, so he quickly rushes back to his desk to see what happen. Upon seeing what the red beeping light represents, Waylon Stryker shows his sinister smirk, then press a blue light bottom at the other side of desk then.....

"Ms. Rand!! Call to the entire team to come back to the command center immediately. Also, contact Deathstike, and tell him that, I have a proposal to him" Mr. Stryker makes a late call to Ms. Rand with a smile while he still looking at his table.

"Right away, sir!! However, may I know why, sir?" Ms. Rand asks for the clarification before making an emergency call to the entire team.

"Tell them that the hunt is on !! ha ha ha....."