The Devil’s Cage

Olinde Street Block which was merry and clamoring quickly quieted down as the citizens scattered back home.

Citizens left for home, shops closed down, all that was left were groups of police officers loaded with real bullets and a bunch of extraordinary individuals with their weird outfits.

The officers were patrolling ceaselessly while in each patrol group was an extraordinary individual dressed weirdly.

Everyone was serious and had a heavy expression, it further made Olinde Street Block more scary and anxious; the routed officers were in fright and they would treat every bush as an enemy.

Drexton falling into Mr. Ghost’s trap accidentally wasn’t concealed by Willis, neither would he conceal it because he knew what kind of enemy they were facing.

Mr. Ghost!

A notorious, infamous super villain in Alkender City that everyone knew!

A terrifying criminal who slaughtered hundreds and thousands just for his own pleasure and fun.

If their enemy was this ruthless, concealing the accidental mistake for the sake of saving face would be suicidal for them all.

Therefore, before Kieran and the other extraordinary individuals entered the meeting hall of the office on the block, Willis had briefed everyone about the severity of the matter.

“The situation is not too good for us! Mr. Ghost was prepared for this long ago and we were careless about this. Spicy Hot Kitchen was supposed to be one of my important surveillance areas, but the mess that happened in Alkender City recently distracted me, this is my mistake.”

“Fortunately… 2567 here is willing to join us!”

Willis who was there in person, he had curly brown hair and freckles on his face, making him look like a student in high school. He was sitting at the meeting table where Drexton used to sit and was speaking to the other five extraordinary individuals at the table.

Unlike those who followed the officers in patrolling, the few extraordinary individuals at the table were the true pillars in the mainstream who upheld justice in Alkender City.

Each of them possessed decent strength and excelled at their own techniques, therefore when Kieran was mentioned, the rest of the four landed their gazes on him.

The news about Slither Bone, Predator, and Ironjaw Croc being taken out had reached their ears with Willis’ mutual sharing of information. Due to that, each and every single one of the four extraordinary individual looked at Kieran with quite a curious and judgemental gaze.

They were curious about Kieran’s abilities, judgemental about his appearance.

They knew about the matters regarding Hell Breath as well and might have even gotten a hold of some intel that common men couldn’t get their hands on.

“Meow, you smell weird, but you look like a good guy. Can I lick you, meow?”

The female amongst the four stood right up, circling Kieran while her mouth was teasing him.

Her movements were soft and light, her manners showed nothing but curiosity and although her face was covered, everyone could see the eagerness on her face, especially her restless gaze at Kieran.

Her pupils were straight lines like a cat under the sun, her actions were showing interest like a cat discovering the unknown. The only unfortunate thing was, she had no tail behind her, or else she might look like an oversized cat.

Kieran moved his gaze from her backside, shaking his head with a smile.

Without a second thought, he sternly rejected the weird request.

“Ms. Kat Lady, please sit back down, we are discussing a very important matter here… Ah!”

“Please get off the table!”

“Not the lamp!”

“Your chair is right here!”

Willis was preventing the woman named Kat Lady from running wild but he was less than successful.

Kat Lady was as nimble and as agile as a real cat, jumping and dodging her cat slave who tried to clean her up after toilet session.

The rest of the extraordinary individuals though greeted Kieran one by one.

“Vine Whip, nice to meet you, 2567.”

A man dressed normally, looked normal with his normal physique extended a friendly handshake to Kieran.

After a small shake, he sat back down in his chair with a smile.

“Machinist.”

Another slightly thinner middle-aged man with a pair of frameless spectacles stood up and introduced himself. He was wearing a striped T-shirt and worker pants and, no matter which piece of clothing it was, they were tainted by oil and grease; Kieran saw a toolbox beside his feet.

The last extraordinary individual stood up, nodded but he didn’t say anything.

Unlike the others, this man wore a wind coat and a military hat. The lifted collars of his coat and the edge of his hat covered his face completely.

“This is the Silencer, as his title suggests, he’s silent and doesn’t talk much. He is a nice guy.”

Willis got back to his seat after finally persuading Kat Lady to behave and introduced the Silencer.

“Now everyone has met, I hope that everyone can work together for the next 5 hours. Boss just gave me a call just now, he said he will be back in the city within 5 hours as well, so all we have to do is hold ourselves until then,” Willis continued.

“It won’t be that hard to hold on for 5 hours with the reinforcement here right? What worries me more is Mr. Ghost’s target, what if he isn’t targeting this place?” Vine Whip pointed outside the window.

“Relax, Vine Whip. If it’s another super criminal, I can’t say for sure but if it’s Mr. Ghost, I can assure you this final target will be here, or should I say, his target has always been… everyone!”

Willis said with utmost confidence despite his young face.

His confidence didn’t originate from an empty source though, but engagement after engagement with Mr. Ghost, Willis has engaged Mr. Ghost more than a hundred times, he already knew what the super criminal’s motive was.”

“His target is us? Sounds exactly like that director who had lost his limelight!” Vine Whip nodded after some thought.

Mr. Ghost being a director in the past wasn’t a secret, a lot of the extraordinary individuals knew about it and of course, there were some who purposely went to watch that black and white movie that he directed in the past, but…

It was too boring! To the point that no one could finish the movie!

Therefore, Mr. Ghost’s identity as a director only piqued people’s interest at first and slowly, it had become something people used to ridicule him instead.

“I’ll go strengthen the machines in the perimeter.” Machinist said and walked out by himself.

Silencer also left his seat without uttering anything.

Willis couldn’t help but shrug at Kieran when the other two left on their own.

“I am not boss, I had to thank God for them even listening to me and being here.”

Willis told Kieran with a sense of self-ridicule.

“If they are not willing to participate, we are!” Vine Whip stood up smiling, acting like he was ready to receive his mission any time.

On the other hand, Kat Lady didn’t buy what Vine Whip said and got close to Kieran. She kept sniffing as if she was ready to jump on Kieran, licking him without caring whether Kieran allowed it or not.

Kieran too seemed interested in Kat Lady, he didn’t even bat an eye at Willis.

All Willis could do was smile bitterly under the circumstances.

“Assign the missions, we will carry it out with our best effort.”

Vine Whip said as he went up to Kieran and Kat Lady.

Just ask Vine Whip took the first step, Kat Lady who was circulating Kieran, looking for a spot to land her tongue was frightened and jumped aside abruptly.

Bang!

A heavy explosion later, the upper half of Kieran’s body exploded.

Blood and flesh splattered everywhere, a brilliant green plant grew out of Kieran’s body, tainted with his blood and was growing rapidly.