Chapter 85

Beginning’s End 3

-:-

2 days later

In a certain fast food restaurant in the middle of Vermilion City.

A sigh escaped Theo’s lips as he went through the data in his laptop.

Mind you, he didn't really need the laptop.

He could have easily have accessed the data wirelessly via the onboard computer in one of his spy drones.

However, there was a vintage feel of doing it the old low tech fashion way.

Such were the things taken for granted by most people that Theo enjoyed doing.

Unfortunately, Theo was far from enjoying himself at the moment.

The data in front of him was one of many reports pertaining to the Ecclesiarchy’s activities in Vermilion City.

He made use of every connection he had to gather whatever scrap of information there was hidden in the shadows. It didn't matter how irrelevant or stupid the information was, as long as it gave Theo any form of hint on Mother Leticia, her motives, her reason for being in Vermilion City and a possible explanation for her ability to extract information from others.

Sadly, Theo’s effort backfired in spectacular fashion.

It was a misunderstanding he had after his talk with Nichola a few days ago.

Contrary to his expectations, there was quite a decent amount of information regarding the Ecclesiarchy.

To be accurate, there was too much information!

Vermilion City’s Ecclesiarchy branches were akin to an open book. It was painfully easy to get information on them.

Even the more secretive stuff could be acquired by trained information brokers with a bit of effort. Though this was due to the fact that the Ecclesiarchy, while fairly advanced in the realm of magic, were very behind in the technological side of things.

This technological gap made it easier for the info brokers to sneak in and take a peek.

From the name of their personnel, age, sex, where they were assigned, their favorite food, their secret affairs, etc were all in Theo’s laptop.

Theo was looking at a mountain of useless shit, and it continued to grow as his sources send in more.

As Theo went through the heap of shit, he began to realize what it was he was looking at.

It wasn't a mountain of information, but a cleverly executed smoke screen.

It was a maze built to bury a small number of truths under an avalanche of lesser truths.

While the info that quite a few Ecclesiarchy nuns used their bodies to achieve their goals was very tempting to abuse, this did not tell Theo anything Miss Leticia.

And as he went through records of the past years, things became even more suspicious.

Why?

It was because it looked too normal.

… or at least the ‘normal’ in Vermilion City standards….

Secret love affairs, briberies, murder along with church sermons, community service, feed the poor programs, etc.

It was a cluster fuck of the mundane, the embarrassing, the brutal and the stupid.

However, not once did any information point to a grand master plan of some sorts.

It was as if they were just another bloodthirsty group like many others in the city.

Nothing special about that.

This was suspicious in on itself.

Though not as savage as the Mosque, the Ecclesiarchy Church has as its own fair share of brutality.

As such, there was no way the Ecclesiarchy has existed in Vermilion City so ‘peacefully’ for so many decades.

“What the hell! I already went back 5 years and there’s not even a mention of Mother Leticia arriving in Vermilion! There has to be something here. There just has to be!” Thought Theo as he scanned the reports in futility.

Due to his intense focus and mounting frustration for the lack of credible information, he failed to notice a group of individuals that would kickstart one of the worst days of his life.

Theo sat in one of those sofa seats with a table bolted into the floor right in front of him. His meal was a bucket of fried chicken and a large diet soda.

Nothing like a little grease to ease his growing frustration.

While munching on his xth chicken thigh, a group of painfully suspicious individuals sat on his table.

One sat beside him and gently shoved a Glock G19 into his stomach.

On the other side of the table, 3 individuals sat like they owned the place.

Annoyingly enough, they started chowing down on Theo’s fried chicken meal.

This group screamed street gangs with their baggy clothing, tattoo ridden bodies and the general aura of unruliness.

Even the people in the family restaurant could tell something was off and slowly began evacuating the premises.

“Yo. Theodore Lorne, right? We’d like to talk to you.” asked the thug who had the Glock on Theo’s ribs.

“Yes, that’s me. How can I help you?” replied Theo in a calm manner.

This response confused the thugs.

“Ho… You got balls of steel, kid. Not a lot of people can stay calm when facing a little heat.” said the thug who hid his unease under a facade of confidence.

“You do know I’m a student of the HAA right?” said Theo in a laid back manner.

“Yeah. So?”

“We receive combat training in order to deal with stuff that would make the common man shit himself. I’ve been at the receiving end of things that can vaporize me if it even grazes me. The very idea that your using a peashooter to threaten me is insulting. Come back when you guys have at least an AK47. Now go. Shoo.” said Theo as he boldly returned to reading through the reports.

Or at least that’s what he pretended to do.

The main reason of his confidence was his forced habit of wearing a ‘Chainmail’ under his normal everyday clothing.

A Chainmail was the first layer worn by those who wielded power armors.

It was a thin shirt that was strong enough to reduce the lethality of gunshots to a level just above a very painful body blow.

He wont die from getting shot in the body, but it will hurt like hell.

Unease quickly spread through the thugs who were used to people instantly being intimidated by their usual tactics.

They did do a bit of research about Theo, but failed to fully comprehend what it meant to be a student of the HAA.

In a desperate attempt to maintain order, the thug leader quickly changed strategies.

“You’re worth 5 times more alive than dead, so let’s make a deal. If you don't come with us, we’ll start shooting up the place.You get me boy?” said the Thugs loudly, much to the fear of everyone that heard it.

On the other hand, this was exactly what Theo hoped they would do.

“*sigh*... Straight to my weak point huh. That’s the proper strategy to take when you know you are hopelessly outmatched.” said Theo as he closed his laptop and placed it in his backpack.” Let’s not waste time then. Off we go.”

The best way to not get any innocents in the line of fire was to move the battlefield.

Thankfully, whoever hired the thugs seemed to want to make sure that Theo suffered under their own hands.

But who was it?

This was Theo’s main concern.

He had a list of potential suspects, but none of them were certain.

But the thing that worried him the most was they were targeting Theodore Lorne.

And not The Boss.

What he needed more than anything was info… and the best source happened to be close by.

For now, he fired up all of the spydrones

Though confused by Theo’s willingness and annoyed how they were intimidated by someone of lesser age, the thugs swallowed their pride and humbly take this small victory.

Thugs they might be, they had enough experience in the hood to know that superheroes-in-training may break less amounts of bones that the real deal, but that does not mitigate the pain they would experience.

In their mind, the idea of Theo resisting was a one way street to the hospital.

As such, they calmly stood up and escorted Theo out of the restaurant without a fuss.

Just outside was the overly cliche big black van with a sliding door.

Pretty standard as thuggery went.

What surprised Theo was the 4 police cars that seemed to be escorting the van.

One of the policemen got out of the car and walked towards Theo’s group

“Mr. Theodore Lorne. We are here to escort you to your destination. There’s a lot of shady individuals out there. We don't want anything bad to happen to you after all.” said the shady as hell policeman.

He looked like your everyday good guy police officer, but the way he delivered his lines made it perfectly clear to Theo that he was going to get a cut in whatever this was.

Theo used the facial recognition program in his mech eye and quickly identified the police officer, his full bio and the secret crimes he has committed.

“Officer Santino Matts. It's a pleasure to finally meet you.” said Theo, much to the officer’s shock. “How’s Daisy? I heard she was helping you with the whole ‘tree planting’ business”

Tree planting pertained to growing weed.

Officer Santino face drained of color

“H-how-?! … What are you talking about? I don't understand what you mean” said Officer Santino as sweat dripped down his face.

Theo ignored Santino and scanned the other 15 police officers. And to no one’s surprise, they also had an equally colorful background history.

Gotta love the combined database of Miss Samantha, Doctor Frogface and the Lord of Vermilion.

Theo was so pleased that a light hearted chuckle escaped his lips.

“Is something funny Mr. Lorne?” asked Santino in an aggressive manner.

Clearly he took offense to this

“You surrounded yourself with trustworthy individuals. That’s good.” said Theo

“So I did. What about it?”

“Nothing much. I do suggest calling Daisy and give her a heads up. Tell her that you won't be coming home tonight.”

Theo didn't wait for Santino’s answer.

He got into the van along with the thugs.

Once inside, the thugs took away his backpack, cuffed his hands behind his back and placed a black bag over his head.

After that, they were on their merry way.

During Theo’s kidnapping, the people that witnessed it did what normal humans who had nothing to do with the incident would do.

Take a video and upload it in social media.

“Good. Very good. So far, you guys are playing things by the book” said Theo.

“Shut it! As much as I admire your balls of steel, I suggest you realize what your situation is.” said the thug leader.

“I would like to, if you guys just tell me what the hell is going on.” replied Theo

“You think we’d fall for that?”

“I’m cuffed, blindfolded and unarmed. Not to mention I’m surrounded in all sides by people who can turn me into swiss cheese. At least give me that.” said Theo

All the while, he used his Midas Alchemy to turn the cuffs into 2 small throwing daggers.

At the same time, he commanded his spy drones to follow along.

“Hmm… We do have some time to kill. It’s not like we can give you any information anyways” said the thug leader.

“Huh? What do you mean?” asked Theo

“This job was an anonymous bounty hunt that was posted a couple of hours ago. All it had was a picture of you and the promise of 2 million Rooks if we bring you in alive. 1 million if you’re dead.”

“An anonymous bounty? What’s that?”

“It’s a criminal thing. You wouldnt understand. But let’s just say a trusted middleman is making sure that we get paid.”

Theo more or less understood the situation and what course of action to take.

Whoever wants Theo had money and power but was annoyingly cautious.

If Theo wanted to know his enemy’s identity, he needed to ‘talk’ to this middleman.

“I see…. Thanks for the info.” replied Theo as he patiently waited to start his rampage.