There were few things Petir had caught up on the way to his 'enemy's base.
Besides some minor changes in the city, everything was practically the same as his world. Except for his old, cozy house in his memory, well, in his original form's memory, in Malaysia capital had been somehow replaced with a giant mansion at the end of the city. Petir had gaped at its size as they got out of the car. Beside him, Yaya hid her chuckle behind her hand at his dumbfounded expression then pulled the dazed boy inside.
Fang had excused himself and drove off to the airport after dropping them at the mansion, but his older version was a different story. The man continued to follow them down the hall and Petir could feel he was being watched closely like prey in the predator's den. Well, it was not much wrong in his current situation, but it didn't mean he found the sensation of someone's gaze burning a hole in his back the most pleasant thing in the world. Petir grimaced and shifted closer to Yaya, retraining himself from turning back.
The empty hall echoed their footsteps, one was noticeably lighter than the rest, the hunter footsteps. The lack of conversation started driving Petir up to his limit.
Fortunate for Petir, his torture ended as they reached a room with a door painted white. Its contrasting appearance to the other dark color ones they had passed identified it was an infirmary. Yaya now turned her head and looked at the other him.
"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" A statement, not a question. She continued, didn't sway when the stubborn man growled out a 'no'. "I don't think he will be happy if you act on your own."
"The second time today."
That hit the older Petir like a ton of bricks. He gawked at her then looked down to the boy beside Yaya, but Petir swept his head to the side, promptly ignoring him. The man clicked his tongue in annoyance. He glanced back at Yaya, opened his mouth, but thought against it and stomped away without a word.
The girl in pink shook her head at the display of childish behavior. She opened the white doors for Petir and guided him in.
"Come on, Let's have your wounds checked, the sooner the better."
Yaya blinked at the radiograph of Petir's left leg, which was in her hand. She squinted at it while a patched Petir shifted on his spot on the white bed.
"It's lucky that the bullet completely pierced through the muscles of your leg, so it didn't leave you a broken bone or a bullet inside your leg," Yaya said, scanned the radiograph again with her eyes. "However, I admit that I'm amazed by the healing ability of your body. The bullet hole is almost closed itself. Its regenerative process is even faster than the Mutant!"
Petir pressed his lips tight. He peered down the said leg, now had been covered in a fresh white bandage. The intense pain in there had vanished not long ago, replaced by a numb sensation and as Yaya had exclaimed, Peitr doubted it was the result of the whatever-their-name-were medicine she had given him. Hence, there was a tiny little problem...
How could he explain to her that his miraculous recovery might come from the fact he wasn't human, but some sort of elemental power materialized? Heck, Petir even didn't belong to her world from the beginning.
He decided that fending innocent would be the best solution.
"I don't know. It has always been like that." He answered, as nonchalant as a fourteen could be.
That was not a total lie, just a half-truth. Peitr heard Yaya hummed at his reply, for his eyes had glued to the food ever since he replied. The boy was aware of the familiar presence of a pair of dark amber orbs trailing on him. Yet, if the girl didn't buy his reply, she seemed to keep it for herself. Yaya placed the radiograph down then processed to rearrange some papers scattering on her table. Petir couldn't stop himself from letting out a relieved sigh.
However, as his panic faded away, guilt slowly replaced it. Petir did want to tell Yaya the truth, really, but the fear of losing his possible one and only ally in this world overwhelmed his desire. There was a chance she might think he had a brain problem after hearing his story, or worse, rejected him and left him to those men. Just the thought of it was enough to make his stomach chum.
Still, the fact he had lied eating Petir up as the minutes passed.
"So, when are you going to tell me your name?" A sudden question snapped the boy out of his tumor. Petir blinked at the girl, not quite caught what she had said. Yaya smiled, dragged her chair close to the bed he was sitting on.
"You have heard people called my name. It's fair that I get to know yours right?" She spoke, a small smile tugged at her lip and her hands idly clapped on her lap. The sight was nostalgic enough to move him to tear, if not for Petir felt his cheek heated up. For another more reason.
The boy forgot that he had never introduced himself and self-assumpted Yaya had already known his name as he got hers. Tok Aba wouldn't be happy if he found out about his grandson's lack of manners.
"It's Petir… My name is Petir." As his voice was hoarse, Petir tried again. He inwardly kicked himself for tripping over his word. Embarrassed, the boy lowered his head, found the floor so interested again, and missed an eye-widened Yaya.
"You are Petir, too..." The girl mused. Mischief twinkling on the dark amber eyes. "You two do share a good deal of similarities, it seems. He's probably flipping off once he hears about this."
Yaya giggled at Petir's miserable expression. He too, could imagine that said man's face when he knew this, and the boy was not looking for it. Yaya was about to say something but three knocks on the white door stopped her. The door creaked open before the girl could answer it.
"Excuse me, Yaya. I'm here to escort the kid to the Office if you are done fixing him." A blue dinosaur hat-wearing head poked inside. "He emphasized he wanted to hear the full story from its owner's mouth. "
Petir gasped as he and Yaya whirled around to greet the speaker. There was no way in hell he mistook that hat-wearing style anywhere, even he looked much older in this world version. His heartbeat went fast, Petir failed to notice Yaya's body had become tense beside him.
"Can I come too?" She asked quickly, rose on her chair. The Angin look-alike scratched the back of his head.
"He didn't mention anything else so I guess you can..." He trailed, as if unsure with his own answer.
Nevertheless, Yaya accepted it as a yes. She let out a sigh. Yaya smiled down at Petir and he quickly returned with one of his own. It got harder not to be mellow down when Yaya was around, especially when she showed that she genuinely cared for him. Aside from that, the news she could tag along with him was the best thing Petir got today.
As the newcomer's eyes finally set on him, they rounded. In a flash, The man was standing right before Petir and zoomed close to his face, which he had to lean back as his personal space was invaded all of the sudden. Angin lookalike scanned Petir up and down, and in the way the kid had to press down the urge to cover his body with his arms. He glared at him with murderer intention instead.
"Holy moly! I heard that they are similar but didn't expect it was at this level. He's exactly a mini perfect copy of my grumpy brother!" The man cried out in awe, unaffected by the killing look. His curious finger kept poking at Petir's uninjured cheek, much to the boy's chagrin. "Look at those knitted eyebrows. Aren't they two peas in a pod?!"
The boy felt a familiar irritation boiled inside him. Yep, this man was definitely an Angin, and he was exactly as annoyed as the one he knew so well back home.
After Yaya had rescued mini Petir from Angin's finger and berated its owner for rudeness, the boy determined to keep his distance from her blue hat friend. He used her as a living barrier between them on their walk to the Office, not that Yaya minded. Seeing Angin has trouble getting buddy-buddy with someone was a rare sight that you weren't able to see every day.
Then again, it was just an act. Yaya knew Angin was only trying to fish the information out of the boy, as the Family intelligence. As outgoing as he showed, Angin would introduce himself first, then act all friendly. He invited the target to a conversation with him. And when the target started letting their guard down, Angin would slowly lure them revealing the information he wanted. Those trivial topic questions and bubbly appearance were his main weapons to make the target reveal their secret without knowing.
However, his normal tactic seemed to backfire today.
Yaya had to hold back her laughter because, despite her friend's continuous effort and whining, Angin had yet to crack the boy's mouth open, less than his name. Little Petir pressed his lips tight and ever went far as refusing to acknowledge Angin's presence, fixating on the path before them. Angin had had to plead for help with his eyes, but Yaya just shrugged it off.
Much like the oldest triplet, this Petir was very private and kept to himself. But to her surprise and relief, he appeared comfortable around her, enough to willingly talk about his name, although his answer hadn't been deemed trustful. Yaya understood the boy was very wary of his surroundings, so she didn't push the matter. She just wondered if she happened to look like someone he knew or they had met somewhere before that she wasn't aware of, like…
The girl shook her head, they were her silly unnecessary thoughts. Right now, Yaya was the only person this boy could rely on to prove his innocence to the Boss of this Family. It was not like she didn't believe her friends' ability to handle the boy, only their method was too... extreme for her liking. Yaya stole a glance at the boy limping beside her. The bullet hole on his left leg, which almost healed thanks to his fast recovery ability that he could move without her help, had cleared her point. She knew Petir, the older one, had missed his shot on purpose, but it didn't quell her anger or change the reality he had raised the gun against an unarmed child. Yaya had a long tolerated list due to her growing up with the triplets and their Family, but harming children was out of it. God knows what they were going to do if they saw little Petir as a spy, or worse, a threat to the Family.
A small tug at her sleeve, so faint that Yaya almost missed it if not for her sharp intuition. Little Petir was peering up at her with a small hint of worry in his eyes, paying no heed to Angin's attempts to open him up. Yaya quickly composed herself and put on an assured smile for the boy's sake.
Yes, she was going to protect this child, even if it meant she would have to confront her own friends soon.
Nobody had prepared Petir for this. Nobody.
Black, unbuttoned tuxedo outside the brown shirt with a same color dino hat, the boy still don't understand why there was a dino hat at this point, on his head, a perfect growth up image of his leader welcomed them with a polite and perfect smile as soon as the door of the Office opened. Petir was astonished that he still remembered how to breathe properly because how could he have forgotten if there was an Angin, of course, another version of him could have existed too.
No wonder his version of this world was so resigned anytime they brought the Boss up, it made more sense now. The only one Petir would be willing to oblige was Tanah, and that unspoken nature law had somehow transferred to this world with him.
Just, this Tanah carried some kind of aura that unnerved the boy. It made him think he was a mouse standing before a lion.
"Greetings, I am Tanah Aba, currently in charge of this mansion." Tanah nodded at him from behind a large wooden desk, his voice was calm and even. "And you have met my brothers, Angin Aba and Petir Aba."
So Petir's guess was right. No Boboiboy was in this world and his Elemental forms by any means became siblings, which to be frank, was hard to imagine they were anything else but brothers.
"Angin'll do fine, or you can call me Upan if you like." The man in blue chirped and winked at Petir. Angin chuckled at the monotonous gaze he received and unceremoniously dropped himself down on the left side of the large table. On the other side, Petir lookalike rolled his eyes at his brother. When the man turned to Petir, he clicked his tongue and looked away, as if just looking at the boy would cause him stomach pain.
Yeah, hope I would also cause you hemorrhoids later, Petir sarcastically thought.
"You know it is a common rule to introduce yourself after people gave you their name." Tanah smiled as his guest was too busy to glare at his older version. Petir jumped and turned to the young boss, remembering there was a bigger issue than his ex-hunter.
"My name is Petir..." Petir tried his best to ignore the way Tanah's brown eyes changed their light. However, all the young Boss did was raise a hand to stop his older version from interfering and motioned him to continue. "...Or Boboiboy Petir, or Boboiboy. Those are what I was called." He added.
"By 'was called', you meant?" Tanah inquired.
The boy winced. He had really hoped they wouldn't ask the question which he had had to give Yaya a half answer. But at the look of the man, Petir suddenly possessed a thought it was better for him to tell them the truth or he would have a few more new holes in his head.
"I'm… actually not what I am." Petir's own voice sounded foreign in his ears. At the collection of confused then wary faces, including his only ally, he pursed his lips. Petir must have come up with a most easy-understanding explanation with his limited vocabulary. "I'm more like a clone of my original form, Boboiboy. When he used his signature move and split himself, he became me and two other ones, or sometimes six other ones. We all share his look and call each other by the name of the elemental power we possess-"
"Or in other words, you're just a fake with a whole made-up story." The older version of him cut off, sarcasm dripped in his voice.
Out of fatigue or it was the reaction of someone who has been cornered, Petir didn't know, the boy found himself snapped before he could control his body. "And they said empty minds make the most noise, I guess it's true."
"Wha?!"
Angin wolf-whistled. "I like this Petir. JR, can we keep him?"
"Don't call me/him that!" Two Petir hissed as if the name was the worst insult they had ever heard. Angin raised his hands up in mock surrender. Tanah sighed. He cleared his throat and the bicker died away.
"I see we have a name problem here." He announced, focusing on the two sources of the said problem. "It is no good for anyone if we have two Petir running around. So-"
"I am not called by anything other than Petir." The older Petir growled.
Tanah shrugged, he gazed at the boy. "What about you? What do you want to be called?"
"Should we call you... Boboiboy? you said people you know also called you by that alias." The man raised one of his eyebrows.
Petir frowned. "It's true... but it doesn't sit well with me since I'm not exactly him, my original form I meant... I have another name when I evolve to my second tier, but I can't bear that name just yet…" He murmured.
Apart from that, the brief pause Tanah had before saying Boboiboy caught Petir's attention. For some reasons, he had a feeling the man hadn't intended to make it, like he did have trouble in speaking that name aloud. Nevertheless, Petir was more reluctant to use it.
"Wow, this kid is pickier than he looks," Angin commented. "Just like-"
"Finish that sentence and I will end you." The older version of that kid gritted out. Angin simply replied with a fish-eating grin, immune to the threat.
"How about Lightning?"
A soft voice called out behind Petir back, reminding three men and one boy there was a girl in this room, who had remained silent from the beginning until now. "Lightning is Petir in English, so technically, you didn't change your name," suggested Yaya.
The boy blinked. That… was actually smart. How come hadn't he thought about it?
"Lightning… Boboiboy Lightning…" He rolled the name on his tongue. Satisfied, he nodded. "Okay, I will take it."
"Alright, we have settled." Tanah clapped his hands, getting everyone's attention back to him. "Now Lightning, let's hear your story. May we know where you are from first?"
"And I hope you will give us the most honest answer. It is all for your own benefit, please understand." The young Boss emphasized.
Petir- Lightning stayed silent for a few seconds, not wanting to screw up what he was going to say next. He stole a worried glance at Yaya, and she responded to it with her questioning one.
"I am… in truth, not from your world…" Lightning licked his lip then continued. "The world I came from is almost as similar as this world, from the name to everything except everyone is younger, around my age, and we have a powerband and Alien and all…I don't remember what happened before, or how or why I ended up here.. When I woke up, I was just… here, in your world because that was the moment I saw an older me marching to my place, with a gun in his hand and you know the rest…"
The room fell silent, let everything Lightning just revealed slowly sink into the people inside it.
"So you are from... like... another world?" Angin blunted, willing to be the one who voiced everyone's thoughs. "Another dimension? Mirror dimension? A whatever-it-name-is place where there is also a mini-me run around with a superpower like you..." he trailed. Lightning nodded.
The blue hat man scratched the back of his head."As cool as it sounds, that's too incredible even to me. Just how is it possible? Do you have a space gate or did you fall into a space rift or something?"
Noticing everyone was giving him a weird look, Angin furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"
"Just how come did you know so much about these... space dimension things?" Petir asked, gesturing his hand.
"Watching movies surprisingly provides you lots of knowledge," Angin answered with a smug smile on his face, much to his brother's annoyance. Then, his face became more solemn. He stared directly at Lightning, making the boy flinch as he wasn't used to this serious side of him. "And my point is they all are fictional. So how can you prove to us that you aren't lying?
"As I said, I don't know... Had I known the answer, I wouldn't have been here..." Lightning mumbled in dejection, his shoulders slumped. The atmosphere grew colder in an instance. The boy swallowed as he lowered his head down so that he didn't have to see mistrust shone in their eyes. Lightning knew well he was losing the battle here. Heck, even he found his own story ridiculously beyond belief.
"May I have a word?"
Lightning snapped his head up as Yaya stepped up beside him. The girl gave him a quick small smile and continued to speak after Tanah nodded his head."I don't think Lightning is lying. While I don't own any proof about the whole different world he said, I have something you'd like to hear."
"While treating his wound, I had collated his DNA with Petir's DNA and they matched 100%." Yaya carried on, not caring about the stun looks she was given. "So except our Petir had gone and created a perfect clone of himself somewhen I'm not aware of, I dare to say the story that Lightning is another version of Petir who comes from another world and somehow ended up here isn't impossible."
As Lighting gawked stupidly up at her, the girl whispered to him in an apologetic voice." I had my own hypotheses when I saw you. Few of them were as crazy as those movies Angin watched so I couldn't stop myself from checking out. Sorry for doing it without your permission."
Lightning shook his head, he smiled at her. "No harm is done. I'm actually grateful that you did it."
And he was really, really meant it. This could be his life-saving and hope that Lightning would be able to walk out here without bullet holes on his body. However, his little happy moment was cut short as something zipped past between his face and Yaya. The girl yelped and strengthened her back in reflex, while Lightning felt his heart drop to his stomach for a moment, his eyes involuntarily trailed after the pen that was being plugged deep into the wall behind them.
"Yaya, stay away from that brat." Petir hissed, still in his throwing state. Ignoring Tanah demanding him to calm down, the man looked daggers at Lightning. "If you had forgotten, he also had a matched DNA with us, and how coincidentally, this brat's other name was the same as his!"
The boy jolted at the venom every time the man mentioned a 'he/his'. Contrasting a moment ago, Petir had been so indifferent, a bit sardonic but nothing like this pure hatred. The glare he was throwing at Lightning was much worse than those back to the alley. The boy shivered and wondered it was about the information Yay had brought or something else he wasn't aware of had provoked his lookalike.
Yaya also had to take a moment to regain her composure. She stood up in front of Lighting so that she could shield the younger boy from the harsh gaze, dark amber orbs burned into the man before them.
"Then if you had forgotten, Petir. He was gone." The girl responded with equal hostility in her voice. "And had he been alive, he would have been in his thirties or more, not this young, with white hair and red blood eyes and anything."
The atmosphere became tenser. The young boss remained silent as he observed the affair with an unreadable expression. Even the jokester known as Angin held his tongue. Behind Yaya, Lightning swept his eyes around in confusion, and frustration. Who exactly was the 'he' they were talking about?
"It doesn't mean they couldn't re-create another him with some little adjustments!" Petir spatted out the words. Yaya frowned, hands clenched at her side.
"I've already told you, he is nothing like him! Don't force your own delusion on the others." She countered, calm and cold, and cleared to her point. The reaction of the man who she snapped never ceased to amazed the boy. "Had Lightning wanted to harm me, he would have done it ages ago. Didn't you all watch the footage of us in the infirmary on the security monitor?" Yaya narrowed her eyes.
Lightning was a little taken back. "There was a camera in there?!" He echoed, but no one seemed to hear him. They were concentrating on the verbal fight in the middle of the room.
"He is waiting for the right timing. And who knows, maybe he just faked all this innocence and harmlessness of a little docile boy because there is a camera watching him!" Petir sneered. He pointed a finger at Lightning. "That was a basic lesson every child of our kind had learned before we could walk, Yaya."
"Hey, I did not know there was a camera up until Yaya revealed just now." Lightning fumed, tired of people talking as if he wasn't here.
"Shut up! No one is talking with you!" Petir growled. The younger one flinched and shot him a dirty look, but he did inch a little bit further behind Yaya's back.
"Don't take your anger out on him just because he told the truth, Peitr. You are being unreasonable here." Yaya scowled, crossed her arms over her chest.
"What about those weird powers he had performed? Are you leaving them aside?" Petir stubbornly pushed on. The girl in question sighed, in a fed-up way.
"Angin, has Lightning attacked anyone with his power ever since you guys tracked him?" Yaya asked, strained patience in her voice. Being suddenly addressed, Angin's shoulder jumped before the man pulled himself together and shook his head. Yaya gave Petir a pointed look. "I don't know much about his power, but as you heard and saw yourself, Lightning only used it to run away from danger."
"And if we were talking about the ill intention, the only one showing it so far I had met today is you." She stated. Petir's breath hitched, his face slowly turned red, out of embarrassment or fury, Lightning wasn't sure.
A loud clap was booming through the room. Everyone whipped their heads to the wooden desk. The young boss put his hands down on the desk surface and entwined them.
"That's enough, both of you," Tanah said, calmly. As Petir showed a sign of protest, he gave him a pair of cold brown eyes. The man quietened at once, he clicked his tongue and turned away. Petir went back to lean on the right side of the desk and crossed his hands. After ensuring that no one left to disturb him, Tanah spoke. "It's not like we don't trust your judgment, Yaya. Caution can be a friend but never an enemy. Please understand this matter involves both Family's safety and your own."
Yaya frowned, but kept quiet and clasped one of her arms. Lightning's eyebrows knitted at the 'Family', he felt the term had been implying a deeper meaning. Still, he was in a more serious problem to worry about. From the following development, Lightning could see his life was at stake again.
"However, I also hate to have innocence's blood on my hand."
Or not.
Both Lightning and Yaya perked up at Tanah. The man's facade remained neutral. "As you all stated, we don't have much information about Lightning, or a way to verify his story. But this boy has yet attacked anyone and we can't reflexively use violence as a function of our surroundings."
A reminder and a direct jab. If Pertir felt offended, he was good at hiding it.
"I am saying Lightning will be treated as the Family's special guest." Tanah allowed himself a small smile at Lighting and Yaya's delightment. "Under one condition, he can't roam freely inside the mansion or outside the city without surveillance, wherever it's you, Petir, Angin or me, Yaya."
The girl nodded. And although the thought of being babysat did not appeal to him, Lightning guessed it better than getting killed on the spot. Tanah scanned the boy's expression before continuing. "In any case, if the boy ever does any funny business, as Petir would put it. It'll be my job to come and end him with my own hands to mend my mistake."
That sent a chill down Lightning's spine. One way or another, his life was still threatened. A warm hand placed on his shoulder. Lightning looked up at Yaya but the girl's attention wasn't on him.
"I'll be equally responsible, too." She said. Tanah only shook his head. "No, this is my personal decision as the head of this house. I shall take full responsibility. Just take good care of him during his stay here."
"You can trust me with it." Yaya smiled, for the first time she stepped inside this room, and Tanah returned the smile. He looked at the boy who silently viewed the whole exchange. "What about you, Lighting?
"Well, I don't have any other choice but this... And you don't have to worry about my power, I am not attacking people out of nowhere." Petir narrowed his eyes and Lightning was content to give him the cold shoulder. "Besides, the last thing I want is for Yaya to get into trouble because of me." The boy vowed.
Tanah nodded his head in approval. "You keep what you stated and we will keep ours. Aba Family holds oaths and faith in high regard."
Angin nodded his head and Petir grumbled incoherently in agreement. Next, the blue hat man snapped his fingers.
"I just think out we could ask Ocho about Lightning. He often does some weird experiments, right? Maybe he will know a thing or two about the… dimension transmission." Angin suggested. Lightning blinked at another familiar name as Tanah mulled over the thought.
"That is actually a good ideal. I will arrange for you a meeting with our mechanic expert tomorrow, maybe he can figure out how to send you back." He addressed the younger boy and Lightning couldn't do anything but nod.
"Now, please explain to us more about the 'Elemental Power' you possess as you had mentioned..."
