“You have five seconds to start explaining yourself before I let Tana knock your head off your shoulders, Walter.” There were no pleasantries offered. No accommodations made by anyone as they all escorted the older man to a secluded location. An abandoned maintenance room in a part of the subway that had been shutdown and was unused. It was rather damp and dingy, but it had electricity and also had a crime board. Red string running all over it with Sullivan Clifford’s picture at the very top. His face was crossed out to show he was deceased.
Giovanni had slapped cuffs onto Walter, forcing him to take off his exo-suit and confiscating it from him. The plan was to repair the wings, but it really depended on how their conversation was about to go. He’d tended to his wounds, making sure the older man wasn’t going to bleed to death from anything. Tate and Tana had remained silent until one finally spoke up. They’d just revealed the very place where they’d been scheming and fighting Leviathan from for years, to the very man behind Leviathan. Tate leaned heavily on a table, crossing one ankle over the other and both of his arms over his chest. He’d nearly exhausted himself, but refused to rest until they got to the bottom of everything.
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“Well, you see, I actually did follow you kids to make sure you were okay. When I saw the place lighting up, I became worried that I had gotten there too late-” Walter held up his hands defensively as Tana practically lunged at him. “My partnership with Warmonger appears to have been completely derailed.”
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“Shocking.” Nia spoke up, rolling her eyes as she rested a hand on her hip. She was the only one still wearing her mask, and the only one that Walter didn’t know. They’d called her and filled her in on everything on their way to the Crawford siblings’ lair, telling her to meet up with them there.
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With a look from her head to her toes, a head movement that held enough sass to take down even the most dramatic person, Walter scoffed loudly. “And who are you supposed to be? You're nobody out there in the underworld, lady. Let the big leagues talk.” His voice was filled with sarcasm and contempt. In fact, it made Nia begin to laugh. She walked over and slammed a foot down right between Walter’s legs, nearly stepping on his groin in the process, while leaning forward and getting close to his face.
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“Oh, baby, if you haven’t heard of me then I’ve been doing my job right.” She reached out and flicked his nose, running her tongue over her teeth before smirking. “Who I am don’t matter. What does is what you said to my friends back in that factory. Something about… The Silent?” Walter raised a brow and smirked back, tilting his head as he leaned forward slightly and hovered just inches away from Nia’s face. It was like they were both playing chicken, trying to see who would break first and look away from the other… or they were flirting with each other. That thought alone made the two siblings glance at each other in disgust.
Gio stepped over at the mention of The Silent. A hand rubbing at his chin as he thought over what had just been said. He walked over to the crime board and looked it over, pointing at a picture of a woman two below Sullivan’s.
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“Her, Martina Kilgrove, right?” He looked around for confirmation that everyone else knew who she was, which he received in nods. “Isaiah told me that he had a run in with her once and she had some people working for her that she called The Silent. He only ran into them a few times and could only trace them back to about fifteen years ago.” Turning his attention to Walter, he eagerly waited to hear his explanation. Martina Kilgrove was nothing more than a CEO once on Sullivan’s payroll, but she had been making the rich richer and the poor poorer for years. “And with her being one of my dad’s biggest rivals, it makes sense that she’d be involved in some shady shit.”
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Walter continued to stare at Nia, even as she took her foot away and stepped back. They both kept their eyes locked. “Fifteen years ago would be about the time our dear cousin learned how to control his powers and began gaining influence. Isaiah did truly trace them back to their origins.” The man finally caved and gave his victory away in the silent staring game. Looking over at his son, frowning as his face suddenly shifted gravely. “When I returned to the safe house that Warmonger had so kindly been forcing me to use, I didn’t find her. All I found in place of her was, well, this.” He reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out a piece of paper.
Reaching over and taking it from him, Giovanni unfolded it to show everyone else the contents. A picture of an eye with a spiral in place of the iris, drawn in black ink, with the Korean hangul for silence written in one of the corners. Clearly confused by it, the tanned man handed the piece of paper back. “That is his calling card, our cousin.”
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“What kind of powers does he have?” Tate spoke up again, not taking his eyes off his father for even a moment.
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“Excellent question, my boy!” Walter pointed over at his son, grinning. When it didn’t spur a reaction from him, he lowered his hands back down to his lap. “You see, dear U-Jin has a very special ability. He can see through the eyes of anyone he wishes. He could even be listening in to this very conversation right now, if he so wanted.” Reaching up, Walter pulled down the skin under one of his eyes, pulling the eyelid with it and exposing the inside of it. “U-Jin can take over anyone’s mind and make them his pawn. That’s who The Silent are.” Letting go of his face, he pointed at Nia this time. “And what does that make Warmonger? Go on, you’ll score ten points if you can answer me correctly!”
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“Possibly one of the most dangerous pawns in his arsenal.” Gio answered him instead, face showing just how grave this realization was to him.
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Walter whipped his hands away from Nia and over to Gio, laughing as he nodded vigorously. “Ding ding ding! Winner! Ten points awarded to your team!” He cleared his throat whenever he noticed both of his children glaring daggers at him. “Right, uhm, as I was saying… I know our cousin only took her because he’s out to get me.”
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“Such a surprise.” Nia rolled her eyes again, shaking her head afterwards.
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“I know, it's probably hard to believe since I’m such an upstanding guy and all.” Walter scoffed back at her. “But you see, I may have double crossed our cousin just a touch.”
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“Spit it out, asshat.” Tana growled out, finally standing up from her criss-crossed leg position on the old couch that she’d taken during the conversation. “You won’t have to worry about anyone knocking your head off if you don’t hurry up. I'll pummel you to death.” She cracked her knuckles before tilting her head to both sides and cracking her neck as well. Her father’s eyes went slightly wide for a moment as he watched her display.
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“I promised to close one last deal with Martina Kilgrove’s company for him. He’s always been a silent investor, if you would excuse the pun. Rather, shortly before you kids stopped my reign of terror, I stole some more tech from the place. Upgraded the exo-suit and weapons that I also stole from them, and tried to keep U-Jin’s influence from growing more on my turf.” He shrugged his shoulders, smiling his typical little sly smirk. “I thought with Big Boss gone that New Elysium City needed a new kingpin. Leviathan could have been a God… but Martina is a very smart woman. She’s eight moves ahead playing chess while the rest of us are playing checkers.”
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While listening to Walter speak about his delusions of grandeur, Gio stepped back over to stand next to Tate. He reached up and gently touched one of his shoulders, testing the waters. The last thing he wanted to do was overstep a boundary, especially if the shorter man was still angry at him. When it wasn’t shrugged off, he slid his hand to the back of Tate’s neck and carefully began massaging it. He visibly relaxed back against Gio’s hand, closing his eyes for a long moment.
Though he continued to speak, none of this went unnoticed by the father who still sat handcuffed. He’d been there for the last fight on Gio’s graduation day, so he knew that their friendship had ended and hadn’t been restored before he went to prison. Tate had once confided in Walter, telling him that he’d had a new year’s kiss one year and it was with his best friend. He’d tried his hardest back then, hoping his words had once eased his son’s unrequited love. Sitting where he was in that moment, watching the two interact silently, he caught himself smiling. His son’s unrequited love didn’t appear to be that unrequited after all.
Maybe it was the fact that Tate had calmed down from seeing his father again, or maybe it was Gio helping put him in a better mood — but when Walter suggested that they team up and he went back into Praxis Industries under the guise that he wanted to make another deal with them, Tate agreed. Martina had recently announced she was pulling Praxis entirely out of Korea and dropping certain investors, which meant the partnership with The Silent was falling through. U-Jin no doubt felt slighted by Martina as much as he did his own cousin, so there was a chance that he’d planned on using Warmonger to get his revenge on Praxis and everyone else in one fell swoop. Everyone was shocked that Tate had agreed. Maybe he really did think his father could be useful… unless he was just wanting to see how far his father would go for forgiveness.
But there were conditions, because of course there were. In order for them to even let him out of his handcuffs he had to be fitted with a tracking device, along with a device that Gio had invented that could disable his exo-suit, and then he had to carry a piece of technology that could remotely hack nearly anything. They were going to download everything they could about Martina and her inventions. There had to be something inside that U-Jin, or even Warmonger, actually wanted. Praxis was known for inventing reactors, weapons, and state-of-the-art technology that was supposed to help improve not only the US military, but also civilians’ daily lives. They’d invented a new vacuum cleaner in recent times, along with trying to invent a new, clean, and more sustainable form of energy. That piqued Gio’s interest.
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It was no surprise that Walter had a phone number that gave him a fast track meeting with the executive board of Praxis Industries. The company had spent the last almost six years trying to cover up that Leviathan’s suit and gear were stolen prototypes. Really, all Walter had done was live field testing for free for them — which was precisely the reason why they never sent anyone after him to get the gear back. They arranged a meeting with Martina, her two head executives, and Walter immediately. It barely gave everyone time to prepare everything they needed. Between Gio having to quickly get the gear together and repair Leviathan’s wings, Nia trying to scout out ideal positions where they could set up and keep their eyes on the high rise building, and trying to figure out the layout of the building in case Walter needed to make a quick escape — it was truly a wonder they had time to get him equipped and sent in for the time they’d given him.
Rest was the last thing on anyone’s agenda, but especially Tate. He needed to be there, ready and waiting for Walter to slip up. Wanting him to, even, so he had an excuse to let everything out on him again. They all loaded up and dropped Walter off, setting up in the position that Nia had chosen with the best angle looking directly into Martina’s office. They watched from their hidden perch, Gio tracking Walter’s every move as well, as he entered the building. There were blindspots, but it didn’t take long for him to activate the remote hacking. All the information began siphoning instantly, breaking through fire walls as it went along and trying to bypass security without any human assistance.
Inside, things were going about as well as they could. Anyone who watched the news knew that Walter Crawford was Leviathan. His face had been plastered everywhere after he was arrested and once again after he escaped prison. Sure, most people may look at him and assume he was just any other Asian man walking around NEC — but when he walked up to the front desk and loudly announced his name? It turned several heads. Though it worked, his loud display. He was swarmed by security escorts, quickly rushing him towards the elevator and up towards his final destination. Stepping out, it was obvious word had traveled fast about him. Employees scurried out of the way of the escorts, trying to get a quick glance at the famed Leviathan. He ate it up, that kind of attention. It made him walk with much more sway to his step. Winking at every woman he passed by, slicking his hair back and straightening tie.
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The moment Walter stepped foot into Martina’s office he immediately put on the charm. Smirking at her as she quickly stood from her large chair and desk to greet him. His entire life he’d been a con man. Swindling didn’t just come easy to him, no — it was his very nature. He could talk people into giving him the very clothes on their backs if he truly wanted. In fact, it was precisely how he’d stolen from Praxis Industries the second time. All it had taken was complimenting dear Martina on not just her beauty, but her brains. The woman had intelligence so vast that it hindered her. Made her blind to things that were obvious and simple because she tried to make them complicated and over-thought their meaning.
Seeing the two men in the room with her made him assume they were her head executives. One was young enough to be her son, or younger brother, and the other was old and bald. Toking on a cigar as if he owned the office himself, looking at the man who’d just plopped down in the chair across from Martina’s desk as if he was beneath him. It was an interesting group. Walter read them all so easily just from their greetings… or lack thereof.
Martina was the most intelligent in the room. She knew the next four moves she was going to make before Walter had even figured out what game they were playing. The younger man, introduced as Tanner Connors, was inexperienced and nervous. He tried to shake Walter’s hand and swallowed hard when that only garnered a cold stare. The older man, Stephan Osbourne, side glanced at Martina as she greeted their guest. In that one, quick, single look Walter had determined that he thought less of her. He viewed himself as more important than anyone else in the room, and rejected her judgment of calling this meeting.
Stephan remained quiet as Martina began to speak. Asking Walter what the intent of his reaching out had been. She listened whenever he spoke, quickly processing everything and offering accurate retorts. It didn’t take her long to realize he was stalling, even as he was talking business with her. It took Walter less time to realize that Stephan was the most dangerous one in the room. He blew smoke out, directly at Walter, and left Martina fanning annoyedly.
“I just don’t understand what exactly you’re trying to do here, Mr. Crawford.” Martina was very frank. Even after Walter had revealed that he believed The Silent were coming for her. “You being intentionally helpful seems like a ploy.”
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That made Walter chuckle — but how could it not? She wasn’t wrong, it was definitely a ploy. She was quickly seeing through his guise, but he had another ace up his sleeve. “Perhaps it is. Although, what if I could offer you a quick piece of advice right this moment?” Walter raised a brow, watching as Martina clasped her hands together and leaned forward in her seat. “Your dear bald COO to your left, Stephan was it? I regret to inform you that he’s a traitor.” Martina quickly whipped her head over, staring at Stephan with her mouth agape. He looked over at both of them, wide eyed. “How much are they paying you, Stephan? Did they promise you that they’d put you in Martina’s seat if you helped them?”
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“Go ahead, tell us that he’s lying, Stephan!” She didn’t want to believe it, but Martina was already reaching for the silent alarm under her desk. The bald man looked absolutely dumbfounded, dropping his cigar in his shock at the accusation.
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Sputtering a bit, his face contorted from disbelief into anger quickly. He whipped his head around to look at a door off to the side, an alternate entrance and exit into the office. Marching in, almost in perfect uniform order, was a group of people dressed in all black with spiral masks on. Warmonger was at the lead of them and carrying her signature, large semi automatic rifle. Pointing it at Walter and aiming down the sights as she walked to stand beside Stephan. Tanner shrieked as Praxis’ security stormed in, also carrying large guns, and pointed at Warmonger.
Stuck right in the crossfire of it all, Walter raised his hands as he leaned back in his seat, chuckling. “Oh, don’t shoot! I’m unarmed!” He joked, looking around at everyone. He craned his neck to check out how many security began pouring into the room, letting out a huff as he looked back at Martina. “Dear, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but that hound with the gun pointed at me can and will kill all of your men by herself.”
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“I only want you.” Warmonger growled out. Her cold gaze staring him down and watching him intently. “But you’re wanted… alive.”
“Shame, isn’t it? That you’ve been chained by someone that could just take over my mind right now and fry my brain if he really wanted. Make me blow my own head off my shoulders. But that’s too easy and no fun.” He flicked one of his wrists and in a matter of seconds part of his exo-suit came out of a bracelet and formed around his hand, allowing him to press a button. Warmonger’s eyes went wide and she began to shoot right as Walter kicked the chair he was in backwards, avoiding the bullets’ spray as it hit three of the security guards behind him.
Martina ducked behind her desk as the rest of Leviathan’s exo-suit came crashing in through the glass wall of windows, shattering them. The glass caused Warmonger to have to duck as well, along with the members of The Silent with her. It gave the suit just enough time to envelop Walter’s body entirely. He used one of the wings to block the next spray of bullets, this time from the security. In his ear he could hear Giovanni telling him that they had all of the information that they needed downloaded. He made a run for the window that his suit had broken, jumping straight out of the high rise building and beginning to make a head drive straight for the ground.
He fell at least thirty floors before he ignited his thrusters and came soaring back up, heading for the building where his kids and the other vigilantes were as the lookout. It was only a few seconds after he ignited his thrusters that he heard Giovanni again in his ear, this time saying something about how Warmonger had jumped out after him. If she’d jumped from the ninety-fifth floor just like he had, there was no chance that she would survive that — but Walter was so, so wrong. He flipped around, continuing to fly backwards, just in time to be crashed into by Warmonger herself. She had on a similar exo-suit to his own, but obviously with a few new upgrades than his.
After colliding in midair, Walter struggled to try and get ungrappled from her. He barely got her kicked away in time before he went crashing into the building where his kids were, sliding on his back and skidding to a stop. He’d left a decent sized hole in the wall, one that everyone could see Warmonger heading straight for. Everyone prepared for a fight, jumping in front of Walter — but the shocking one was Tate.
He stepped out ahead of everyone, widening his stance just slightly before he pulled his fist back. It began to glow such an intense blue from the energy pooling there, arching back so far that it reached Walter and threatened to burn him. Tate swung his fist forward, launching an energy projectile so large and powerful that when it hit Warmonger it sent her all the way back into the Praxis Industries building. She crashed through another window and only stopped because she hit a wall hard enough to stop her from going through it, too.
Everyone was shocked at what they’d just witnessed. That Tate, after he’d already exhausted himself just hours before and hadn’t had a chance to properly rest yet, had managed to let out an energy blast that strong. And yet, the most shocked of them all? Had to be Walter. As he laid there, looking up at the back of his son that had just stepped in front of the woman that had nearly killed him once and took her down with a single hit, he began to realize something…
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“You’ve grown into one hell of a man, my boy.”
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With the shocking new revelation truly confirmed, everyone begins to wonder what exactly it means that someone like Warmonger has been leashed by a person with powers. Surely, if U-Jin doesn’t kill her before he loses his control over her, the woman will hunt him down and eradicate him for such an intrusion. Only time will tell, as our heroes now must regroup to review the new information they’ve just discovered about Praxis Industries.
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