The Mark

Chapter 53

Chapter 53

These people were really showing some sincerity, but it also made Lucifer a bit more suspicious of them.

’It doesn’t matter. I’m using them, not them,’ Lucifer thought as he tried to convince himself before he stepped inside the room.

"When will you tell me the location of the facility and get me there? You said you’ll help me if I came with you. I came. Now help me achieve my goal. I want the location," Lucifer told Caen, reminding him what he was here for.

"Of course. I remember. We never lie, so we certainly will help you. But as I said before, attacking blindly is useless. You know the APF, right? The guys that you fought were the weakest of them."

"The strongest of them will be there, protecting your enemy. We need a plan. So just stay here for two days. We’ll give you all the details, give you some training and knowledge so we can destroy that place easily," Caen explained.

"We already have a plan. But it needs time. So we need two days. After that, watch how we destroy that place," he added.

"We?" Lucifer asked, frowning. What did he mean by ’We’?

"Of Course I meant we. The Variant Uprising. As I said, you’re a part of our family. We would certainly come with you and help you in your revenge," Caen answered, smiling.

"My revenge is only mine. I’ll kill them myself. No one else."

Hearing Caen’s reply, Lucifer was upset. His life had no meaning. He didn’t even know if he could ever die. His family was already gone. He was all alone in this world where he could call nothing his own.

The only thing he had for himself was his revenge. No one was allowed to take that from him. He needed to kill Doctor Rao with his own hands.

Understanding Lucifer’s concern, Caen tried to explain.

"I know what you’re thinking. But don’t worry. I don’t mean that we will take your revenge for you. We know how special revenge is for a person. We’ll let you do the honors."

He slowly stepped back towards the door as he continued his explanation.

"We’ll only hold the APF back, so they don’t interfere in your revenge. As I said, we will explain everything in two days. For now, you should rest," he said as he stepped out the door.

"That’s better." Lucifer nodded his head.

"Wait a minute, my gloves!" he suddenly remembered as he raised his hands. He didn’t have the special gloves. How could he sleep in a bed without destroying it at night because of his Decay?

"Ah, right. Wait for a little. I’ll arrange for that too," Caen told Lucifer before he closed the door.

Walking back, he again entered the lift, which took him back up.

As Caen stood inside the lift, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sigh, it’s so tough to act nice. I feel like vomiting already," he muttered as he rubbed his head. "I would never have done it if it wasn’t Vega telling me to do it. Smiling so much, I feel sick."

"But at least we have Lucifer now. Just a little more. As long as we can make him appreciate us and become a part of us, it would be worth it," he added.

Stepping out of the lift, he walked to the room where a meeting between Vega, Isona, and Dion was taking place.

- : Memory Manipulation

- : Memory Manipulation

- : Memory Manipulation

Caen entered the room where a meeting was seemingly taking place between Vega, Isona, and Dion. Each of them was sitting around a table, not talking. It seemed as if they were waiting for someone here.

"Finally, I’m done with this babysitter job. Sigh, why did I even get stuck with it? Do you know how hard it is for me to be social?" Caen complained as he took one of the chairs and sat on it.

"Isn’t it because you happened to be lucky and were assigned the place where he appeared?" Isona replied.

"On the other hand, we stalked that facility. It was so boring. Do you know how bad it was there? At least you got some action. Us, on the other hand, were bored to death," she added as she started laughing.

"So my luck was bad in short," Caen summarized as he sighed.

"That aside, how is he? I heard you clashed with the APF?" Vega chimed in, effortlessly changing the topic. "How was his battle power in that?"

"His battle power? In that regard, I can only say one thing. He is an absolute war machine. And on occasions, his ideas are pretty good," Caen replied. "But on the personality front, he is pretty bad. He is very suspicious."

"I’m sure he would be after what happened to him. That’s why we need to win his loyalty first by helping him," Vega said, agreeing with Caen’s words.

"Do we really have to go that far for him? I know he is an asset, but now that he is here, why not have Raia mess with his memories? Make him our puppet? We don’t have to work so hard anymore," Dion intervened with his idea. He was finding all this effort to be a waste, especially when they had a better option.

"That’s right. Boss Raia can change his memories to make him loyal to us. That’s a much faster option, all things considered," Caen agreed.

"No."

The first person to say no was none other than Isona.

"Why do you say no?" Dion asked, curious. "You don’t believe that’s a better idea?"

"It’s not. Because it’s not only the easier option but also the worst of the two options," Isona replied.

"Vega was silent on this whole matter, simply looking at Isona with an amused expression, wondering what she would say. But it did seem like he was also against the suggestion of Raia using his powers of Memory Manipulation.

"Alright. Let me simplify. Raia uses his powers and messes with Lucifer’s memories. How long do you think that will last" Isona asked.

At her reply, Vega smiled as he nodded. It seemed like Isona realized why they didn’t use that method right at the start.

"Lucifer has that strange healing power. We don’t know if it only works on his body or his brain as well. Even if Raia messes with the kid’s memories, how can you be sure that his old memories won’t return because of that healing? It is a big risk if we try that, and if we fail, we will make Lucifer lose trust in us. He would become our enemy too," Isona explained.

Without stopping, she continued, "So which is the better option? Take the risk and make the kid our enemy or just help him destroy a human facility to win his trust?"

"That’s true. I haven’t thought of that. That is a problem indeed," Dion agreed as he understood what she was trying to say.

It was finally when Vega started speaking.

"That’s right. Raia and I already talked about this plan, ultimately agreeing that it was bad," Vega said. "Also, what Isona said was only one of the reasons not to do it. There are more."

"What more?" Dion asked, curious.

"Those reasons are not for you to know," Vega straight away refused to answer.

His refusal followed by a long silence. Almost everyone understood what his refusal to answer implied. It most probably had something to do with the limitations of Raia’s abilities which no one knew either.

Every Variant had an ability that came with a limitation which they kept a secret or only shared with their closest ones.

They believed that Vega knew Raia’s limitations.

"Enough talking about that. I am sure you all know the next part of the plan?" Vega said.

"That’s right. We’re going to blow up the facility. Isn’t that why we didn’t release the footage that we could have used to our advantage to make Variants hate humans?" Caen nodded his head as he said.

"That’s right. We had footage of Lucifer getting tortured. He is the son of Zale Azarel that all Variants consider their idol. Releasing the footage is definitely something that can help us, but for Lucifer, we can’t," Vega agreed.

"If we release that footage, the government will come into damage control mode. That facility would be closed, and the people that Lucifer wants to kill would be removed from there," he added. "Our whole plan to win his loyalty rests on helping his revenge. Releasing that footage would have made it much more difficult."

"But now that he is here, we can start the plan. As for the footage, of course, that will see the light of day after we destroy that place."

...

Lucifer was sitting in his room, gazing at his hands which were bare. He had lost his gloves last time, and now he had none. He couldn’t touch anything that he didn’t wish to destroy.

He was still wondering if these people were going to have the gloves or if they were just bluffing.

He had also started to feel hungry.

Standing up, he placed his feet on the cold floor as he started walking towards the door.

He needed to look for food. He couldn’t just sit here. He also wanted to see if these people had locked his door like they used to do at the facility or not.

Fortunately, the door was still open. The doorknob decayed a bit as he opened the door, but he had taken his hand off just in time.

He stepped out of the room, entering the long corridor which seemed entirely empty.

- : Was He Wrong

- : Was He Wrong

- : Was He Wrong

Lucifer entered the corridor, leaving his room, looking to find someone.

The whole place seemed ghastly as not a single person was at sight. He started walking towards the lift from where he had come out with Caen.

Unlike before, he now at least had proper clothes that were delivered by a person. Unfortunately, Lucifer had missed the chance to ask for food when that guy was here, only remembering it now.

...

The upper echelon was busy in their meeting, unaware that Lucifer had left his room.

...

Reaching the lift, Lucifer pressed the only button that was there. But the lift didn’t open. He had forgotten that there was a fingerprint sensor nearby that scanned the fingerprint. Only the Variants of this organization were allowed to use the lift.