Chapter 11.
Following closely behind, Lincoln kept his eye on the suspicious man. He hid behind a pillar and peeked out from it, from there, he saw Oswald looking around as if he was searching for something.
What are you planning now, Oswald? He thought, growing ever more curious to find out what the man's current motive is.
"I know you're here." He nonchalantly spoke up, surprising the boy.
Worried that he might be in trouble, Lincoln kept quiet. He tried to compose himself from the shock of having his presence known by keeping a steady breathing pattern.
"You can come out now, I'm not going to hurt you," Said the man, "I mean, why would I?"
"Oh yeah?" Lincoln gathered his courage to answer, he was definitely scared. He didn't know what Oswald is truly capable of, "Prove it!"
"I guess all those knocks you got on your head is starting to take its' effect," Oswald groaned. He dropped the empty body bags and crossed his arms, "What else should I do to prove that I'm no threat?"
"Alright, I'll come out. Only if you promise not to do anything."
"I promise."
Lincoln slowly walked away from the pillar and slowly towards the disgruntled man. He stopped just a few meters away from Oswald and maintained eye contact. Lest the man tries anything.
Instead, Oswald simply motioned the boy to follow him as he picked up the body bags and began walking around the first floor of the parking space. He continued to look around like he's looking for something.
After finding nothing for the past several minutes. Oswald stood up straight and scratched his head as he groaned in annoyance. What exactly was he looking? Lincoln wondered that too. Then, Oswald closed his eyes and began humming quietly, cutting off his mind from unwanted interference and sending himself into a deep mental focus.
He opened his eyes shortly after and looked at a nearby dumpster, and for whatever reason, walked up to it.
"Seriously, what are you doing?" Lincoln finally spoke up, no longer tolerating the silence.
"This."
With that, Oswald moved the dumpster with ease and behind it, was a dead man. All bloodied and battered.
Lincoln reacted with great disgust at the sight. He looked away and gagged, trying not to puke.
"As you can see here," Oswald put down the body bags and began unzipping one, "There are hidden bodies all over the town."
"Wh-what?" Lincoln asked, still keeping his eyes away from the corpse.
"This is the result of the attacks. The worst one. People are afraid to die," He answered monotonously, "And some, well, they die alone, and terrified. Nobody has any idea about it too."
"What are you getting at?"
"I'm sure you've all seen Zed's overly optimistic demeanor right?" Oswald turned to look at Lincoln with a questioning expression, "He's actually doing that because he didn't want to expose to you guys the full horror of our battles."
"If you think about it, you guys are pretty lucky." Those words repeated itself over and over in Lincoln's head.
"How are you so calm about this?" Lincoln stopped covering his eyes to look back at Oswald, who had just finished zipping up the body.
The man sighed and kept quiet for a while before answering, "I'm just, used to it I guess."
Before Lincoln could even ask anymore, Oswald got up. He began walking around with the boy following closely behind him.
As the time went on, Oswald filled up all of his available body bags and finished zipping up the last one. He lined up them in a single row.
Lincoln could only look at the bodies in terror with a slight hint of disgust.
"Now all we need to do is wait for-"
As if on cue, the person he was just about to mention made his presence known.
"Hello there, Oswald." Greeted the police officer.
"Speak of the devil. Lawrence."
"How's your work over here?" The officer asked
"I was just finishing up." Oswald replied.
"Hold it, what's going on here?" Lincoln confusedly asked the two.
"Ah, Lincoln. Nothing, just checkin' up on him." Lawrence calmly replied.
"I told him about this and he agreed to help." Oswald explained.
"Yep, ever since the attack last week. Knowing that you were the one who helped us, I had no other choice but to give a hand. Besides, he's right. Least we could do about these bodies are to find them and well, you know the rest."
"I see." Lincoln said simply.
After that, the two men went on to load the truck Lawrence had brought with him to send away the bodies. Once they were done, Lawrence got inside the vehicle and bid his farewell.
"Right, I'll see you two later then." Lawrence said as he began driving off with the bodies.
Once the truck was out of sight, Lincoln sighed heavily and walked away from Oswald. He sat down on the sidewalk, face buried in his hands.
Oswald couldn't do anything about this. He wished he could say at least something, but he wasn't Zed. As far as he knows, only that guy could help ease people up, even during the worst times. He tried to speak up anyway.
"Look, Lincoln, was it?"
"Yeah?" The boy looked up at Oswald.
"I know th-"
The sound of an explosion and the shaking of the ground caught them both by surprise. Oswald and Lincoln ran back into the building and went up the higher floors to get a better view on where the attack might have occurred. It didn't take long for them to find their first visual cue. A rising smoke not far from the building they were on.
Oswald wasted no time and jumped off. Lincoln was alarmed by his sudden action and looked down to see him there, having landed safely. He groaned and held his chest. These people are going to be the death of him.
Back on the road where Oswald landed on, he looked on as two figures walked out of the smoke. One was another one of those creatures in armor and beside it was a monstrous beast that looks like a giant toad.
The white-armored creature set its' focus on Oswald, who glared down at the two of them. Raising its' hand into the air, it began creating at least a dozen of minions. The mindless creatures then screeched as it took form.
"Hexons!" Lincoln shouted.
"What?" Oswald looked at the boy, confused at the name.
"Yeah, that's what the police named them. You know? Because of their body markings?"
"Sounds a bit too generic, if you ask me."
Placing his hands around his hip, his belt materializes around his waist. Oswald clenches both his fist and moved the right one diagonally to his left side. He then moved that arm forward and opened it up in a claw. With the short series of poses done, he was covered in a green light and appeared again in his battle suit.
"Wait for me!"
Lincoln tried out the same stunt that Oswald pulled in an attempt to look cool but ended landing on his face. Good thing no one was there to see that. He was pulled from the asphalt and set back on his feet by Oswald.
He shook his head and thanked him before taking up the same fighting stance from before. His belt then changed from its' disguised form to its' actual one. The small screen then glowed, covering Lincoln in an orange light.
Once the light disappears, Lincoln was now back in his own fighting suit.
"Alright, here we go!" He announced.
Chapter End.
Alright then, that's all for the breather chapters. Sorry if all three of them has a weirder pacing than usual.
Chapter 12 will be out next week, as usual.
Also, double upload. Like last time, don't let your guard down just yet.