-Kenji-chan, please try to calm down and tell me what is going on.-

When he started hearing Kenji's panicked screams, Imakarum stopped trying to figure out what had happened, locked on to Kenji's mental presence, and teleported himself to his son's side. What he saw was the worst thing he could have imagined: lying on the ground, fighting for his life against that damned Lost Number Aptom, was his son. The only parts of Kenji that Imakarum could actually see were his son's fingers when Kenji managed to claw an opening in Aptom's liquid-like body.

Kenji's telepathic screams were both reassuring and infuriating to Imakarum—reassuring because they meant Kenji was still fighting; infuriating because his son was in pain. Imakarum knew that he couldn't touch Kenji's body, or he would risk becoming infected himself, but happily for him, physical contact was not the only option. Imakarum transformed and then, using a less powerful variant of the Spiral Crusher, ripped the gelatinous form of Aptom's body off his son.

Kenji was thankfully unconscious, but his skin was raw and red, bleeding in places where Aptom had ripped it open. Levitating Kenji, though still taking care not to touch his son's skin, Imakarum enveloped Kenji's wounded body in his forcefield and teleported them both back to Cloud Tower.

-Lord Fried'rich! Lord Fried'rich, I need you now!-

Happily for Imakarum, the dominant emotion that the Zoalord was feeling was transmitted along with his thoughts if the Zoalord in question wasn't working too hard to conceal them. Fried'rich arrived half a minute after Imakarum called, and he took in the situation with his usual speed and thoroughness, which Imakarum found himself very grateful for.

"Come, Imakarum. We will tend to your son."

Imakarum nodded, hurrying after Lord Fried'rich and not caring if any of the Zoanoids within Cloud Tower saw him in this state. There were some things that were simply more important than appearances. As he and Lord Fried'rich made their way down to the main laboratory of Cloud Tower for the second time, Imakarum scanned Kenji's mind. He wanted to know how Aptom had managed to get close enough to get at Kenji again. He had taken the time to explain to his son just how dangerous the Lost Number was to them, and with how badly Kenji had been hurt the last time, Imakarum was certain that his son would not have gone with the Lost Number a second time. Skimming over the surface of Kenji's recent memories, Imakarum found that Aptom had disguised himself as a Galma-type Zoanoid in order to get to Kenji.

Imakarum sighed; he was going to have to keep a closer watch on the Zoanoids who took care of Kenji when he wasn't there. He would also have to make an example of the Zoanoids who had been assigned to take care of his son. It wouldn't do to have his soldiers slacking off on their duties. Even though the Zoanoids in Cloud Tower were all technically under the command of Lord Fried'rich, Imakarum was still their superior, and they were duty-bound to follow his orders. Imakarum had never and would never countermand Lord Fried'rich's orders, and so the Zoanoids within Cloud Tower did not even have the feeble excuse that they were given contradictory orders by the two Zoalords. After Kenji's welfare was settled and his son was safely placed in a processing-tank to heal, heads were going to roll for the fact that Aptom had managed to touch him again: Imakarum was not one to forgive such egregious failure on the part of Zoanoids who had been given such specific orders.

Once he and Lord Fried'rich had entered the main processing lab, Imakarum made for one of the empty processing-tanks and started to settle Kenji within it. This included hooking up the monitoring devices to Kenji's body, something Imakarum liked to think he did more gently than any of the other Zoalords that had handled Kenji in the past. Imakarum could hear Lord Fried'rich bustling around behind him, and he knew that the silver-haired Zoalord was preparing the computers to monitor Kenji's condition. He was very grateful to his fellow Lord for that service.

XxXxX

As he activated the computer systems that would monitor the state of Imakarum's son, Fried'rich could almost feel the seething anger of the Twelfth Zoalord behind him. He was not surprised that Imakarum felt that way: if any of his own family had somehow been brought to him here and now, then almost lost by the carelessness of those serving him, he would have been rather incensed himself.

Since Imakarum was not taking care to shield his thoughts, Fried'rich knew also that the Twelfth Zoalord was planning to do to the Zoanoids that had been assigned to protect his son. Fried'rich personally thought that that was rather unfair of him, since the fact remained that his son was also a Zoalord and hence able to influence the minds of Zoanoids with the same ease that Imakarum himself displayed. The child might even have been completely unaware of what he was doing, and in fact Fried'rich thought that was most likely the case, since the little one still did not have as much experience with telepathy as his father did. Fried'rich hoped he would be able to convince Imakarum not to kill their Zoanoids—at least not without first considering that there were or had been other factors likely influencing them when they had left. Perhaps the boy Kenji had simply wished to be left alone for a moment and had unintentionally projected that desire to his Zoanoid caretakers. Given what he was, they would not have been able to refuse him.

Once the boy had been settled comfortably within the processing-tank (although perhaps calling one of those things comfortable was stretching the truth somewhat), Fried'rich turned and left the laboratory after turning the care of Imakarum's son over to one of his most trusted scientists. It was time he went to speak with Imakarum himself.

Following the Twelfth Zoalord's psychic trail, Fried'rich caught the mental impressions of Zoanoids in the same vicinity. Imakarum was berating them at a rather high volume, ranting about incompetence and the fact that Aptom had gotten close enough to be a danger to his son for a second time. When he started to hear the Zoanoids screaming, followed by the sounds of flesh and bone shattering, Fried'rich hurried his stride. He arrived just as Imakarum was disposing of the last of the Zoanoids that he had set with the task of watching over his son.

"Greetings, Lord Fried'rich," Imakarum said calmly, uncaring about the fact that there was a great amount of blood covering the wall to his left.

"Lord Imakarum," Fried'rich paused for a moment, unsure of precisely how to best phrase what he wanted to say to his fellow Lord. "Perhaps you are not thinking this situation through as carefully as would be beneficial."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that you do not appear to have considered the full ramifications of the situation."

"And you have?" The single eyebrow that Imakarum raised clearly indicated his doubt.

"You know what your son is now, Imakarum," Fried'rich stated plainly, hoping that Imakarum's analytical nature would lead him to the appropriate conclusion.

"What does Kenji have to do with this?"

Apparently not. "Kenji is a Zoalord," Fried'rich said concisely, trying not to let his mild annoyance with the elder Mirabilis' mule-headedness become apparent.

"I still don't follow you."

Fried'rich could just see Imakarum digging in his metaphorical heels, the way he always did when the subject of the changes to his son's biology came up in any kind of conversation. Sometimes, he wondered if even Lord Alkanphel himself could change Imakarum's refusal to see his son for what he was now—if he could, it would most likely only be through concerted effort. Instead of involving himself in yet another futile argument, Fried'rich chose to end the debate before it could truly start.

And perhaps give Chronos' Twelfth Zoalord something more to consider. "Think about it," Fried'rich said as he turned to leave.