Ross's eyes crowded in wonder; he didn't know whether to cry or be happy.
Upgrading was a good predicament for him, but Medussa leaving wasn't something to be proud of.
Awkwardness filled the air. He needed to direct the story somewhere else.
"I need to go prepare for my dad's funeral!" He pulled himself up from the bed and headed straight to the bathroom mirror.
Didn't even have a time to recall if he use the sleeping drugs or not.
His heart skipped a beat. It was the worst image of himself he had ever seen. His good-looking face was now a skeleton without any kind of feel or flare.
"That's why I didn't feel anything when I touched my face!" he reckoned, and knowing he brought the new frightening look upon himself hit even harder.
Deep down, his self-esteem began to crumble into little pieces not visible to the naked eye falling away by the second.
That's when it hit him. He couldn't go to the burial looking like an undead. It wasn't guaranteed that everyone would accept him the way Linward did. Even if they did, the media would turn the whole thing into a ruckus, creating theories that would force him to explain how he looked like that and was still alive, dragging attention he never wished for.
[I have an idea though]
Medussa interrupted. Even if she was emotionless, Ross could feel the need to speak coming from the voice alone.
[I took one of the devices the soldiers were using]
The memory struck fresh in his mind, the Eldery pressing buttons near their ears, transforming their wrinkled faces into the devils underneath. Young soldiers with a good cause, but willing to go to troubling lengths to fulfill it.
He was impressed by Medussa's level of intellect. Fighting them was the only thing on his mind; not for a second did he think of taking the devices from them.
Warp!
An object started to appear in his hand, pixels forming quickly like some kind of movie. The same transformation the soldiers underwent, but somehow different in his hands.
And their it was, a button like device somehow attached it self to the skin.
[They are 84 percent damaged. Usage period might be drained catastrophically.]
"You've helped me. Thanks, I owe you one."
[You owe me three, and still counting.]
"Three? What else did you do?"
[Helped you from getting shot at. Drove your tired body here.]
The debating man no longer had words. Medussa had beaten every logic he wanted to argue with.
[Just don't whine when I cash in a favor in return]
"No worries, only if it doesn't involve killing and if it waits until after my dad's burial!"
He accepted the deal, grabbing his toothbrush to start preparing.
After a few minutes, he had washed up, put on another black suit with a black shirt, and turned on the face-warp device, configuring it to show his face as if he were completely normal. Then he descended to the dining room only to find Marie eating pancakes. She looked bothered, lost in many thoughts, as she slowly ate, syrup squirting all around the plate. A very effective combo that brought heaven on earth to the tastebuds of whoever tried them.
"Good morning!"
Ross hugged the attention.
Marie's eyes twitched. She seemed to have been pulled from another realm, daydreaming, maybe, but definitely filled with sorrow. Her eyes were down, and if you looked closer, the tears hiding behind them were visible. Red too, like she'd been crying.
Unlike at the church, this time it was clear to anyone who saw her: the steady, calm, deceiving composure of a lawyer no longer had any effect. Its grip on her emotions was gone like a glove slipping off.
"Morning… are you okay?" she asked quickly, as if waiting to ask him since last night.
"Yeah, never been better. Why?"
"After we came back here, Linward said you went to sleep and didn't want anyone waking you up, so I figured something happened at the house!"
Ross's heart skipped repeatedly, indecisiveness swallowing him whole between telling the truth and keeping it a secret.
"Something did happen. Got a few pieces of information we might use," he replied, reaching for his own share of pancakes. "But enough about me. How was your day?"
"Aaah…"
She sighed, preparing to speak.
"We went to the mall, only for Mom to receive a call that one of her employees committed suicide. So we went to the hospital where she talked to the other doctors, to comfort them even though she was the one that needed to be comforted. And then she told me to drop off Linda at her house. Only for her dad to trap me there and force me to have lunch."
"That's not that bad, right?"
"It wasn't… until Mom uncovered it."
"What?"
"That all the companies are gone…"
She muttered heavily.
The secret they tried to keep from their mothers had finally come out,something they never anticipated at all.
.....
Zabi's House
A violin sound echoed in his house. The place looked bright and energetic as the sun's light illuminated the inside—bringing not only heat, but a positivity the night lacked.
Zabi was cooking in the kitchen, a cup of milk in one hand as he worked scrambled eggs in the pan.
On the wall separating the kitchen from the room where his dad slept inside a tube, there was an open slot, more like a wire placement. From it, a tube connected to a box of concentrated liquids, feeding nutrients directly into his father's body.
A silent witness that technology had gone far in medical applications.
Ring
Ring
Ring
A tablet on the kitchen table rang.
"Accept," he muttered, answering automatically.
"We have the video," Roy informed.
"Send it."
"O…kay!"
Beep !
Instantly, the video appeared.
Zabi played it, his eyes narrowed carefully looking at the video.
In one second the Eldery home was intact, beutiful ; the next it blew up into smotherings.
And after the dust settled, In the middle of the collapsing structure stood a man—his aerial appearance completely matching Ross's.
He froze for some seconds before he started leaping away before he finally had proper steps.
Ironically, Zabi smirked as he muttered,
"Roy, go buy a suit. We are going to Eloise Mutt's burial."