No one has cared about Agnar's absence until now. They needed all hands on deck. Armand tried calling through his comms, however, he received no response.
"Maybe he ran away," Tomas said.
"Either way, we've got to save the people inside." Sera intoned.
Putting Agnar out of his mind, Armand began calling his uncle, only to find out that the signal was being jammed. "Is this why there's been no reinforcement yet?"
"No, the entire convention was being broadcast throughout the entire Milky Way." Nyla countered. "The moment it cuts off abruptly, the entire galaxy would know that something's wrong." It was at this point that the guys noticed that she was carrying a briefcase.
But they didn't care to ask what it was for.
After all, they weren't that close.
"Someone's got to stay with the scientists. I volunteer myself." Tomas suggested as he went to open the doors to the SUVs. One by one, the scientists stepped out of the cars.
Narvel counted in his head and when the seventh person stepped out, he couldn't help but frown. "How many scientists were they originally?"
The rest looked at him as though he were asking a weird question.
"Six… no, seven, I've been counting since I began chasing after those assassins," Tomas answered.
Even Narvel had counted seven scientists, however, his instincts kept on screaming that something was wrong with that number. Due to his acquired condition, it had always been very hard for Narvel to ignore his instincts.
They've been a major player guiding his way since he lost his parents.
If he felt that something was wrong, then it was highly likely so.
There are more pieces to the puzzle than there need to be.
That was how he felt.
Narvel glared at the scientists and all of them flinched, especially the ones he had rescued himself. There were five males and two females.
"Please, don't kill us." One of the females pleaded as she shook where she stood. She was a petite woman with pink hair who didn't look taller than 5'7". Her green eyes looked scared, as though she truly believed that they were going to be killed.
It was only after she pleaded that the other scientists joined her.
"No one's going to do that." Armand frowned as he reassured them.
He found it annoying and also strange that they would say that even after he was sure that they overheard his team speak about saving the people trapped in the building.
"What's your name?" Narvel asked as he walked a bit closer to her.
"This isn't the time for introductions—" Nyla started, however she was interrupted by Armand's glare.
If there's one thing Armand had noticed about Narvel, he didn't waste his words, nor did he do things without motives.
"I'm Dr. Asana—"
"Which of the technologies mentioned during the convention were you a part of?"
Narvel's question caught her off guard.
"The Evolution program—"
"Could you tell me something important about the process of successfully creating a Mutant?" He pressed on.
Asana paused for a second, flustered by the way Narvel pressed her with questions. She sighed and said; "I'm sorry, that is confidential information."
"I see… Thank you." With that, Narvel began walking toward Armand. With his eyes, he signaled to Armand.
I know what you're trying to say… but how sure are you? She didn't say anything wrong. In fact, she would have been suspicious if she revealed anything about the research.
Just when everyone was wondering what Narvel was doing, he suddenly turned and pulled out his Velocitronic gun and pulled the trigger.
To everyone's surprise, they saw a blue streak blitz through the air, striking Asana square in the chest. Like a ragdoll, her figure flew back after being hit by the streak.
Everyone held their tongue.
"What the hell?" Tomas whispered.
It didn't make sense.
The blue streak had bounced off Asana.
After falling and rolling on the floor, she got up with a frown as she looked at Narvel.
"How did you know?" Asana asked as she patted the dust off her gown.
"Wouldn't it be weird that Earth and the Federation would let such talented scientists go to waste over their petty schemes? That's a foolish thing to do in my books."
Asana's brows jerked at his response, "Who says that it's the Federation's doing? Come on, tell me how you figured out I was fake… if you tell me, I'll let you die painlessly."
Armand and the rest were already on their toes, agitated.
They hadn't attacked because none of them could really tell how strong Asana was. Not an ounce of Idra had leaked from her, even when she had blocked a velocitronic shot.
"Either she's a rare type of Egomaniac or she's at least at the peak of the Eminence Stage." Armand voiced out as his halo reappeared over his head.
"The rest of you, head into the building and try and save as much as you can. I'll deal with her."
"I don't think that'll be possible," Narvel said, pointing at the other scientists.
Unlike Asana whose demeanor had changed, the other scientists were still standing in place. None of them had made any reaction even when Narvel shot Asana.
It was as though they were lifeless.
"You can also tell that they're my puppets," Asana chuckled. "Now I truly want to know how you figured that out."
"You're a bad actress, and even worse puppeteer. Your expressions were off, and their reactions came a tad bit too late for it to be normal. It was as if their brains were lagging at the same time. Honestly, if you hadn't spoken, I wouldn't have noticed anything." Narvel noticed.
While he was questioning her, he wasn't only focused on her, he was looking at the other scientists around her… if they were truly scientists.
Narvel pushed a lever on his gun and a neon-like magazine fell out. He caught it and looked into the magazine. About 60% left. If she can block Single Velocitronic shots of that magnitude, it might not matter if I shoot her a few more times. I'll need something stronger.
"Answer me this," He began as he fixed his magazine back. "Who are you?"
"Beat me first, and I'll tell you," Asana smirked.
"I will… but who are these people you hypnotized? They're definitely not the scientists who worked on the items revealed tonight. Even my monocle doesn't have the clearance level to peer into their identities."
Asana's expression fell and the air suddenly turned cold as Idra flowed out of her body. "I'm starting to dislike you. For a person without an Ego, your mind is exceptionally sharp… I'll add you to my collection." Asana moved, vanishing out of Narvel's sight.
At the same time, Armand reacted instantly, intercepting a kick meant for Narvel.
Boom!
The collision sent a shockwave ripping through the lot, hurling Narvel away.
"Go!" Armand shouted. "She is at the peak of the Eminence Stage."
Ignoring Narvel, the rest of his teammates started running towards the building only to be intercepted by the other "scientists".
Four surrounded Sera and Nyla and then the remaining two went for Tomas.
At first, they were hesitant, thinking that they were as strong as Asana, however, they didn't emit the same aura as her.
Nyla was the first to attack. She wasn't willing to waste any more time here. As she silently uttered her mantra, the tires of the closest car turned into bronze threads and soon flew towards her.
She weaved them into whips and attacked the puppet in front of her, trying to figure out how strong they were.
Her whips immediately drilled into the shoulders of one of the scientists, creating a deep hole. Despite this, there was no reaction from the scientist. It was as though he didn't feel pain.
Grabbing onto the whip, the scientist tried biting it, but he soon found out that the whip was stronger than he imagined. However, he still kept it in his mouth.
Sera did the same with her Mirror Chains, and the scientist she attacked tried taking a bite off the chain only to end up with broken teeth.
As for Tomas, he was faced with the same thing. Besieged by a man and a woman, he had to avoid getting bitten by them. "Aren't they just under a spell or something, why are they acting like zombies and trying to take a bit out of me!?"
At least, for now, their worries about how strong the scientists were had reduced. Although they weren't Egomaniacs, their strengths and speed were no different from Egomaniacs at the early stages of the Seeding stage.
They had nothing to fear.
In a short while, they killed the scientists by blowing their heads out. Just when they thought they had gotten the chance to head for the building, they saw Armand's body flying into the distance. He had been hit by Asana.
"Oh, you kids shouldn't think of leaving now. You think that weak Eminence maniac will be enough to deal with me? Think again! Come at me together!" Asana, almost crazed.
She vanished again.
Wham!
Tomas barely saw her before her fist hit his chest, sending him sprawling.