Chapter 3
"Hunter! I'm on the way to the morning briefing, whatever this is, can't it wait?" Estel huffs with annoyance when Adam storms into her office uninvited.
"Check this out!" He places on her desk the screwed up poster displaying DJ K Washi's next concert.
Her frown quickly turns into astonishment as she opens out the ripped piece of paper.
"Well I'll be damned…!"
"You know what this means right?"
"It means the twins are back. And I bet also that our mysterious CIA agent will need their help after last year's embarrassment". With hesitancy, she double checks to make sure that her door and windows are closed in the office whilst Adam glances at her with concern.
"We can't trust anybody! You know how corrupted WOPD is. So what's the plan then?" Estel raises her eyebrows.
"I thought you had a briefing to go to?" Adam smirks.
"I lied…" Estel grins.
He immediately sits on the edge of the desk in front of her. "Well then I'd suggest, you meet us at Benito's at 6pm tonight."
"Wait, who is us?"
"Cherry, Floyd, Sammy, Shiva and Max…"
"So you're expecting me to become one of your vigilantes? I told you, that's not going to happen any day soon!"
"And you understand that our strategy last time of arrest warrants and shit got us nowhere! Estel, when I signed up for this job, I did it because I wanted a safer city to live in and I wanted to protect the innocent people living in it. So even if that means getting shit done off the book, I'm willing to do it! Think about it, who are the real enemies here?"
She pauses, staring down at her desk biting her tongue. Estel hates to admit it but Adam just made a valid point.
"6pm, Benitos restaurant. You know where we are if you wanna make a difference."
It's 3am and Axel is suddenly woken up after having fallen asleep on the couch downstairs. He quietly gets up to investigate after hearing a noise coming from the kitchen. He gets up then walks forward slowly, approaching the kitchen door with caution, ready to fight or use his powers if any threat lies ahead.
To his relief, as soon as he opens the door, Axel catches Leon climbing on one of the stools in order to reach for the cupboard above.
"Are you trying to steal the cookies in that cupboard again?" He folds his arms, unimpressed.
"Err….." Leon hesitantly pauses with his mouth wide open after being caught red handed.
"You know the rules, no sugary stuff after 8pm otherwise you won't go back to sleep".
"I'm sorry dad, am I grounded again?" The boy innocently stares up at him with worry on his face.
To Leon's surprise, instead of the usual unwanted lecture or the video game confiscation, Axel opens the cupboard then reaches for the pack of cookies at the back of the highest shelf.
"You're just like your mother, if you want something all you have to do is ask for it! Don't leave me hanging here guessing."
"But you said after 8pm I can't have…."
"I know," he sighs. After taking the packet flavoured with chocolate chips, Axel then switches the kettle on.
"What are you doing?" Leon asks, confused by his actions.
"If you're gonna eat cookies at 3am, you might as well have a hot chocolate to go with it".
"On a school night?" The kid cheekily grins, eyes wide open with surprise.
"Just this once. It won't hurt for both of us to take one day off" he winks.
"Yes!" Leon happily celebrates with a spring in his step.
The two of them sit leisurely on the couch together, stuffing their faces in front of the TV.
"Dad, this reminds me of when we used to stay up at night in the wilderness, except there was no television.
"Yeah, I remember" Axel smiles whilst thinking back to how chilled out life could be.
"What are we gonna do tomorrow if I have no school and you have no work?"
Axel continues to crunch on the next cookie, "well, we'll both call in sick first thing. Then if you want, we can spend the day in the city centre. Maybe visit the zoo, hit the arcades… what do you think?"
"That would be awesome!" Leon grins.
"And we're also taking a trip to the airport tomorrow night. Uncle Max is coming to stay with us for a couple of days".
"Cool! He promised before we left to teach me how to do the spinning knuckle bomb."
"I'm sure he will...So how come you couldn't then sleep huh?"
"I don't know…" Leon shrugs looking down.
"Listen, I want you to know that if something is bothering you or if you're upset about anything, you can always come and talk to me and we'll fix it, ok?"
"Ok" he nods.
"I know sometimes you don't see me as often with this new job but I'm always here for you. And I want you to know that it's ok to feel upset or scared. I was scared last year too."
"Really?"
"Yeah, totally!"
"Why were you scared dad? I thought you weren't scared of anything." Leon asks, feeling puzzled.
"You know, I was so scared that if I had failed or didn't win that fight, I would lose you or your mom."
"Have you ever cried before?"
"Yeah, many times. And you know what kid, it's ok because it's part of being human and it doesn't make you any less of a man."
"I'm scared those bad people are gonna try to take me away again. I know that's why we left Wood Oak".
"And you know your mom and I would do anything for you. You got us both now to protect you so anytime you feel frightened of anything, there's nothing to feel ashamed about. All you have to do is come and find one of us, ok?"
"What if it's in the middle of the night? That's the worst part when I get scared the most".
"Both your mom and I are always here in the middle of the night, right? Remember you got Charlie also. And that dog, he can sniff out an intruder from a mile away! If someone even dared to try and break in, everyone including our neighbours would know about it".
"Yeah, he barks so loud!" Leon laughs.
"Exactly. So there's no need to worry as much, OK? Where is that lazy dog anyway? Is he still snoring on your bed?"
"No, he went to sleep next to mom tonight. He always knows when she's sad."
"I see," Axel replies, avoiding his eye contact and feeling a sense of guilt. "Did she say anything to you about why she's sad?"
"No, but it's obvious otherwise you wouldn't be sleeping here on the couch."
"Are you sure you're gonna be 10 next month and not 20?"
"Well, my advice for you would be to just spend more time with mom. She misses you when you have to work long hours. And maybe you should also cook dinner tomorrow, you know how much she loves your food".
"You're right kid…" he smiles.
"I'm usually right!" Leon confidently nods.
The two of them spend the rest of the night cuddled up on the couch together. After the cookies are finished, they end up eating popcorn in front of the late night comedy show until the two of them fall asleep.
"What a difference a year makes huh?" Mr Y smirks from across the rounded glass table where he is enjoying a champagne lunch opposite Orson Briggs who is accompanied by one of his fellow CIA agents.
He delicately tucks into his blue rump steak and salad whilst the two agents sip slowly on their coffees.
"Are you sure you and your friend here don't want to try this steak? It's exquisite" the young fair haired man smiles, eyeballing the new agent with amusement from head to toe.
"No thank you" Briggs replies. "Agent Silver and I came here because…"
Mr Y immediately interrupts, "please gentlemen, let's talk business once I've finished eating".
Five awkward minutes later and he has completed his last mouthful of steak.
"So I'm guessing you're here because the CIA needs my assistance once again or some of my fathers old contacts. Fire away if you must…" he delves in straight to the point.
Briggs replies "my colleagues from the Government and I agree that your idea of manipulating the weak using your sound wave technology will be a triumph for making this city a better place. Currently, the state of Wood Oak is still in over 10 billion dollars worth of debt after it's war with the Lima Nations ten years ago. Society here is lazy, not trusting of it's government and unproductive in their work."
"Carry on Sir…" Mr Y flicks his wrist, intently listening.
"Your father once proved that he could build a whole city in a matter of months back in Lima. If he was still alive today, he would be the richest man in the world. Our problem here in Wood Oak is it's people. They seem to always want an easy way out with low level crime and there are too many here draining and abusing our services. By controlling their minds, we could double production and investment in this city. Wood Oak would be a state to recon with and would have to have its own government and independence as a principality".
"That was my original planned vision".
"And it works! But there was always one flaw in your plan".
"What was that then Mr Briggs?"
"The US army would never allow it to happen. Wood Oak has too many hidden resources including Rakushin. To take this city, you would need the best defense weapon no money can buy".
"And that is why you need the boy".
"Think about it, not only could his power potentially defeat other nations and armies but years ago, your father's scientist Dr Dahm discovered ways of injecting this power into the average citizen. His Gold Star program was a huge success. Imagine how our own citizens would be with a small dose of Leon's power in a similar way. All with their minds under your control."
"I like it, I really do. Except for the fact that the child is thousands of miles away and has his own army of guards with supernatural abilities."
"What do you need then? The CIA are willing to provide…"
"For starters, I need Washi's concert to go ahead without any hiccups. Your agents will have to deal with the SIF who no doubt will try to sabotage it. I also need my own luxury plane and extra security on my island."
"Of course…"
"Once all of these contingencies are in place, we will go ahead with our plan in controlling this city. That will be enough reason for vigilantes to return, then we will take the boy. My sister and I want to have the pleasure of killing his parents then finally our father will be able to rest peacefully in his grave. A war is coming like no other Mr Briggs, I hope you're ready for it".