The white butterfly tango

Сhapter XXVIII

The boy got into an old factory heading directly to the biggest room there could be. It had big windows, completely covered with dust and mud, so they weren't too helpful. Mostly the huge hall seemed dark and abandoned. He entered and immediately noticed a cage with a black raven in it. It was Ruth and she was trapped, which seemed weird since she could transform into anything. It was only when he came closer; Mike noticed her wings were broken and completely burned.

"Ruth!" The masked boy rushed to help but as soon as she noticed him, the bird started bumping around in panic.

"Mike, no!" She tried to warn him and suddenly a lightning bolt hit him but the boy managed to react. He used the defensive shield and the attack was stopped.

"I'm impressed, Tomas. This student of your have really good reflexes." Some man appeared to be sitting on something looking like a very old counting device, used to program the robotic elements at the factory. Mike immediately recognized the man. It was mister Whittle, Esma's father, and Mister Hubert's teacher. There was no way he'd be able to fight the two of them.

"He was trained from the far childhood. Would be a complete failure if he wasn't able to react to that." Mister Hubert stood beside him with his regular cheerful attitude.

"And his parents?" The man immediately asked the question and rubbed his chin.

"Mister Hoover took care of them when we tried to bring back Esmeralda." The teacher stood without moving, only leaning his head a bit to the side with quite a curiosity.

"Right! That summoner was there too... What was her name?" The man continued sitting there and smirked a bit.

"Hayama... Her name was Hayama and you will pay for everything you did!" The raven inside the cage spoke up again and bumped into the cage, trying to break free.

"Calm down, birdy," Mister Whittle chuckled sincerely but then stated way too seriously, "your clan is weaker and weaker with every new generation. I'm a bit disappointed."

"Let her go. She can't fight you anyway." Mike knew it was stupid to engage in combat and was looking for anything that would help them escape.

"Noble and kind?" The teacher's teacher pointed at the boy and gave a curious glance to Mister Hubert.

"More like 'easily attached'." He answered without hesitation. It was obvious; they were discussing the masked boy.

"That something we can work on." Mister Whittle leaned to the back a bit and crossed his legs, leaning onto his own palm. Mister Hubert nodded and in a second another lightning bolt flew into the boy's direction. He managed to dodge that and the attack hit the wall, leaving a burn mark there.

"Stop that!" Mike took a step back, a bit unsure of why Mister Hubert was helping that guy and why did he say that Mister Hoover took care of his parents... "What is the reason behind all this?" He tried to understand it all better, while still remaining cautious.

"We just want peace and that's it." Mister Whittle announced proudly like it was obvious.

"You clearly have no idea what you are talking about." The boy stood without moving an inch. The plan was building itself but he wasn't sure if it would be possible to achieve something like that.

"They do Mike. It's a great plan." The next person to appear in the room was Esma herself. The girl stood confidently and even smiled a bit.

"Esma!" Mike could not believe it. He could not believe how easy the girl was to manipulate.

"Aren't you tired of hiding away?" The girl stated seriously and pointed at the dirty big window. "Humans are weak. We are superior to them and we always were." She explained it and the boy felt shivers running down his spine. It wasn't Esma speaking... It couldn't be her.