Jacket Knight: Old Wrongs Done Right

Chapter 3: News

It had been five days since we had gotten our injections, and my arms still burned like fire from Tuesday, when in the middle of soccer practice, my arms suddenly went slack with pain. The result was me whiffing an easy goal, as well as getting benched.

I called Koen up later that day, and he said he experienced the same thing, but he didn't whiff something as serious as soccer practice. His arms went numb during a Call Of Duty match, and his teammates, who were all noobs, got absolutely destroyed, when he could have carried them all to victory.

I got downstairs to find my dad cooking something up. Unlike lots of other dads who let the moms do the cooking, he knew what he was doing when he was cracking some eggs open.

Considering we had no mom to actually cook for us, you could say we had to improvise.

"What's brewing?" I asked dad, and for a few seconds, no response.

"<Steak and rice.>" He said in Vietnamese.

"Alright then," I replied, rubbing my hands together in anticipation.

I sat at the table, and within a couple more minutes, we were eating some rice with cut-up rare steaks.

I decided to turn on our TV, see what was on the news.

"Legion Industries, a military contract manufacturer, has announced that they will be testing their new military armor suit at Fort Shafter in Hawaii, after shipping their armor from here in San Francisco. Here, we have an exclusive look at the armor," The screen switched from the reporter to a (sort-of) mugshot of the helmet's face, and I had a brief sensation of déjà vu.

"-details about it have yet to be revealed, but Alex Smith, the CEO of Legion Industries, had this to say on the matter."

The screen switched to a video of a podium, where my mother's old science partner, Alex Smith, stood.

"Thanks to our collaborative efforts, the late Thanh Nguyen and I managed to create this armor, which will be an absolute breakthrough in the field of tactical warfare." My dad let out a growl.

"What is it?" I asked, and dad shook his head.

"Nothing. It's just that Alex Smith is a scumbag of the highest order." He didn't elaborate.

"Why?" I asked, cautious not to set my dad off.

"He started that fire six years ago. He did it, to claim that armor-" He stopped.

"No, I'm saying too much." I tapped my spoon on my bowl, letting him know that I actually wanted to know.

He sighed. "Fine. Your mother, she was making something for the military." I nodded.

"I knew that."

"What you don't know is that you and Huey were meant to be her examples. Sort of like, 'if these things can do this to two simple kids, what could it do to fully trained military infantry?' That kind of example."

I nodded. My mom may have been friendly, but she had been...analytical at times.

He took a sip of water, rubbed his face with a napkin, and continued.

"Alex found out about this little project of hers. They were working together at the time. He decided that he would sabotage the reactors of their workshop and trap Thanh inside."

"So, you're saying that my godfather killed my mom?" I asked, and dad nodded.

"At least...that's my theory."

"Recently, I went back to my mom's lab along with Koen." Dad looked at me, daring me to continue. "We found what I think is mom's project."

Dad pondered this. "What was it?"

"Two things." I held up the corresponding fingers. "The first thing was like the super-soldier serum but with nanobots. Then, we found one of these suits from Halo."

Dad nodded.

"Your mother told me that she was making some sort of armor, but nothing like that Halo suit. I think she meant for your brother to use that other armor, but Alex stole it in the fire." He sighed. "Too bad we can't steal it back."

I smiled. "I think I can."

My dad stared at me. "You know full well that you're talking about committing theft in front of the captain of police right?" I nodded.

"Give me your Glock and I won't get caught."

He shook his head. "No. That's illegal, and you know that." I sighed in exasperation.

"Then why'd you bring it up?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"You needed to know about it." He got up and pushed his chair in.

"I'll be checking in early tonight, will probably have an important case soon." He walked upstairs.

I had heard nothing about an important case, today or otherwise.

I waited for a few more minutes, and I walked into my room.

Waiting on the bed was my dad's spare Glock 17, with a suppressor fastened onto the barrel. Alongside it was a note.

Leave no evidence.

"Leave none indeed."