The Mark

Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Lucifer didn’t move or attack. He was clearly confused by the words of the man. It didn’t seem very clear. He wasn’t an enemy? The others were going to be killed?

"You wouldn’t lose anything in five minutes. If I can’t prove my words, you can kill me. Also, if I was an enemy, why would I kill those guys? Trust me for a bit here," Caen said. "It’s like a child’s play for you to kill me anyway."

"Who are you?" Lucifer inquired as he started stepping closer to Caen, who was still piloting.

"Before knowing who I’m, let me explain who the people attacking you are. That will help you understand us better," Caen said.

He was somewhat worried as well since Lucifer was more like a psychopath from what he had seen. He wasn’t sure if Lucifer would actually kill him right there.

His fighting prowess was good, but his main ability was shapeshifting. He wasn’t made to fight, especially against someone like Lucifer. Also, he couldn’t be diverted for long since he was piloting the helicopter.

"The people who attacked you are from the Awakened Protection Force. In short, they are called APF. They are a government-run agency that is entirely made of variants. Their whole purpose is to catch people like you that don’t play by the so-called rules that they have made."

"They arrest people like you, take them to their prisons, and experiment on them. After they use the variants that they capture like expendable commodities, they execute them."

Caen kept explaining, exaggerating a few things Intentionally.

" In short, they are an evil organization that works against us innocent Variants while masquerading as the heroes of justice that work to protect ordinary humans." Caen provided the explanation, which was somewhat modified to further create hatred in Lucifer’s heart towards them.

Lucifer heard the explanation, but he didn’t stop walking towards Caen. By the end of his sentence, Lucifer was standing only a few inches away from him.

His hand was right above Caen’s head. There were only a few centimeters of a gap between Lucifer’s hand and Caen’s head. Fortunately, he wasn’t touching his head or the decaying powers that would have killed Caen.

Thump! Thump!

Caen’s heartbeat was fast, and a few drops of sweat trickled down his face as he worried for his life. He didn’t know if Lucifer was testing him to see if Caen would attack him now or if he was seriously going to kill him.

He could only take the risk and hope that it was a test of faith.

"They are from APF, huh," Lucifer muttered as he looked straight ahead towards the helicopter that was flying in the front. Lucifer had seen Flourance entering that helicopter.

Opening his small lips, he asked, "who are you then?"

"I don’t think you have ever heard of us. We are a group of people who fight against the fascist government and its lapdogs like APF for us Variants’ rights. You can think of us as an organization similar to APF as we are also made entirely of Variants, but there is a big difference between them and us," Caen answered.

"What difference exists between you two?" Lucifer asked.

"Rather than fighting to oppress variants, we fight to protect their rights. We don’t wish for Variants to live and die on the wishes of a handful of inferior humans. We wish for Variants to rule and get their rightful position so that we aren’t used again to satiate humans’ greed," Caen replied.

"We believe that you already know about the inferior humans. They treat Variants like toys. They experiment on us and even kill us like we are nothing. That’s why we wish to show them their rightful position," he continued.

"Our goal is somewhat similar to you but on a larger scale. I believe we can help each other," he added. "You have strength, but you lack knowledge. We have knowledge and strength, but we need even more strength. We both need each other."

Hearing the words, Lucifer fell into deep thought. It was true that he lacked knowledge but trusting someone was tough.

"Alright. Prove that your words are true and show me what you can do for me in the next five minutes, and I will consider. If you can’t prove it, I will kill you first before wiping them," Lucifer threatened Caen before he retracted his hand, giving some relief to Caen.

"Of course, right away," Caen acknowledged as he smiled.

Even though Lucifer gave him time, he didn’t move back. He kept standing there like he was waiting to see what was going to happen.

"Since we are friends, I will tell you what our plan was. We had found out about you through our resources and knew what happened to you. We knew that you would attack the Dillon Research facility, so we sent our more powerful team there to help save you from the onslaught of APF."

" The secondary team was sent here since we had noticed the movement of APF here. I am the leader of the team. I am called Caen," Caen introduced himself as he continued explaining the progression of events.

"Anyway, I found out about the plan of APF to capture you, so I made a better plan to save you without fighting them openly.

- : Exposed

- : Exposed

- : Exposed

"I snuck inside this helicopter and took over. They still don’t know that their enemy is inside here."

Caen wanted to make sure that there was no misunderstanding between the two since his life depended on Lucifer’s hand.

"My team is waiting ahead. As soon as we get to the decided point, they will fire using rocket launchers. The two helicopters that contain the APF members will be blown up."

" The enemies would be killed without even fighting. After that, it was simple. We were going to take you to our base and free you. The higher-ups would have explained to you the same thing as I did. We are truly not your enemies."

"Killing them without fighting. The silent enemy is worse than the enemy using brute strength," Lucifer muttered as he remembered the words of Flourance. He finally understood why Flourance had said so during the battle.

This plan was so good. Without fighting, the enemies were going to die.

...

On the one hand, Lucifer and Caen were talking. On the other hand, Flourance was playing the snakes game on his phone, entirely unaware of what was happening behind his back.

After a short time, he closed the game and kept the phone back in his pocket as he stretched out his arms. A yawn escaped his lips.

He looked outside through the open doors as he wondered, "our little friend would have realized that it’s impossible to break through and be free. I wonder if he has anger or disappointment. Or does he have guilt and sadness?"

He stood up and walked towards the door.

He wished to see the expressions on Lucifer’s face and see what that guy was doing.

He brought his head outside and looked back, only to get stunned.

"What the heck happened here!" he cursed out loud as he saw an empty cage. Let alone Lucifer, even his shadow couldn’t be seen.

Hearing his yell, the other team members also ran towards the door opening and looked outside. Most of them went pale-faced as they saw the empty cage.

"The kid escaped! How was he able to bend the bars so easily!"

"Did we really underestimate his strength?"

"The bars are melted at spots! He probably used heat to make them weaker!"

"How is that possible? Can he use flames like Captain Xander? Why wasn’t there any information about it?"

"Just how many powers does the kid have? Is he even human or an accumulation of all the powers? How can a person have so many awakened powers?"

"Maybe we are misunderstanding him? His power can also be something like the ability to use powers of other people he had seen?"

"Even if we were to believe you, the reality of the situation is that he didn’t meet or see the Captain! How can he use Flames to make the metal weaker?"

"You are forgetting something. The first team that was sent to catch him at his . There was a flame ability user. He must have learned from him!"

All the Delta Squad members started discussing amongst themselves as they wondered about how Lucifer escaped.

Hearing the commotion caused by them, Flourance got even more enraged.

"Silence! What does it matter what power he has! The main thing is that we need to find him again! That bastard escaped! Instead of talking about how it happened, focus on when it happened!"

"That boy was able to use the power of the wind. He could have easily jumped down while we were on the route. We need to find him!" he continued. "I want the whole area searched for him!"

He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "I’ll talk to Cui. What the hell is he even doing! There was a camera there so that he could keep an eye on the prisoner. How could he let him escape."

....

Caen had just finished his explanation when a phone started ringing. It was the same phone that he had taken from one of the guys who was lying dead in the back.

"It’s the guy who caught you. He is called Flourance. Don’t make any noises. I will talk to him as one of his men," Caen said as he picked up the call.

"Yes," he said softly. He had already changed his voice to make it sound like the person this phone belonged to.

"Screw your yes! Tell me where Lucifer is? Were you so lazy that you couldn’t even keep an eye on the cage?!" An enraged voice of Flourance sounded in the ears of Caen, surprising him.

...

"Tell me where Lucifer Azarel is!" Flourance said grimly. "Or I’ll forget that you work for us and kill you with my own hands!"

Caen couldn’t help but frown as he got to know that Flourance found out about Lucifer being missing. If only he hadn’t realized for a few more minutes, everything was going to be perfect.

The disappointment was evident on his face as he realized that it was going to mess up his plan if they decided to turn back the helicopter before they reached the determined location.

The Variant Uprising members were already waiting ahead, ready to blow the helicopters of APF. They couldn’t do it if Flourance and the others turned back now.

"He escaped?" Caen acted surprised, as if unaware of what had happened.