Weirdos IV: The Emerald Heart

EXTRA STORY

Two years earlier. . .

“Well, what the hell do you want from me, you idiots?”

Ezekiel Evanesca threw the men in front of him a contemptuous stare. Despite the bright sunlight shining through the glass wall of the room, the atmosphere was quite cold and tense. The seated men also stared back at the young Evanesca, their faces flat and emotionless. One of them leaned forward, tapping a stack of papers in front of him.

“Lunaria and Talla have just concluded their one-month training here at the Agents International,” the man with a pristine white beard said. “Based on our observations, they were quite powerful. It’s no surprise that they are two of the best students of Emerald.”

“So what?” Ezekiel snapped at the bearded man. “Did your heart flutter in excitement after seeing such powerful, promising young lads, Antonin?”

The man’s eyebrow twitched. “In case you have forgotten, those two are the reason why the entire world nearly ended two years ago. Remember what happened in the war, Ezekiel? Serafina literally held the world in her hands with the help of those two.”

Ezekiel rolled his cosmic eyes. “I remember the war very clearly, thank you very much. While we were fighting for our lives in those forests, you people were sitting inside this comfortable room. Remember how I practically begged you to help us? Remember how you didn’t even stop those countries from sending their freaking nukes when we were trying to save the world? I remember everything pretty clearly, so you don’t have to remind me, dear Antonin.”

“I only came here because I wanted to make sure that you won’t hostage Ike and RB,” he added. “I am no longer working for you, so I don’t even know why I’m answering your questions. I already quit your stinky, dingy agency. If you think that I’ll let you boss me around again, then I suggest you take a powerful dose of reality to bring your senses back to life. I’m going.”

Ezekiel tried to head to the door, but a wall of blue fire suddenly blocked his path. The young Evanesca turned around to glare at Antonin as his own hands also erupted with blue fire.

“You wanna fight, you bastard?”

“It is the duty of the Agents International to neutralize dangers posed to the world by weirdos, active or potential. It seems you were blinded by your closeness with those children, that’s why you didn’t see the great danger that their respective weirdnesses might pose to our society,” Antonin replied, his tone even and calm.

“We are very much aware that Lunaria and Talla can practically control all weirdnesses in the world,” he added. “We will do what is necessary to make sure that they won’t go out of control again. I’m not expecting you to help us, since it’s obvious that your loyalty no longer lies with us. This is a warning for you, Ezekiel Evanesca. Do not meddle with things that do not affect you.”

A subtle grin curved across Ezekiel’s face. “Are you trying to threaten me, Antonin Fritzberg? Sorry to say this to you, but all I’m hearing right now are the whines of frightened little men. If you think that I’ll allow you to control and manipulate those two, then you are badly mistaken. I will do everything in my power to keep your dirty hands from them,” he said in a low, sharp voice.

“Also, if you think you can use the ‘good cop’ approach to try to bend their minds to your favor, then I’m sorry but you’re already too late. Those two have been brainwashed by that old hag a long time ago, so I don’t think you’d be able to sway their thinking. No matter what you say to them, they will sense the manipulative, controlling old man hiding underneath that pristine image of yours,” Ezekiel added.

The wall of fire behind him suddenly dispersed into faint wisps of smoke. With a click of his fingers, Ezekiel sent the door flying from its hinges and into the hallway outside. Several people rushed into the room, but the youngest Evanesca froze everyone without even moving a muscle.

“I’ve been playing the innocent good boy all this time. I think it’s time for me to turn into a rebellious teenager and give you guys some serious headache,” Ezekiel said as he glided towards the door.

For the first time since the beginning of their conversation, an expression of annoyance ran across Antonin’s face.

“What is that supposed to mean, Ezekiel?” he asked in a low, threatening tone.

The youngest Evanesca turned around, his lips curved into a wide and menacing grin.

“This is a warning for you and your men, Antonin,” Ezekiel replied, his voice dipping into a deathly whisper. “Try to lay even a finger on Ike and RB, and I swear you’re going to deal with someone even more troublesome and dangerous than Pluto or Serafina.”

● ● ●

“What should we do with Ezekiel?” one of the men asked Antonin Fritzberg as he watched Ezekiel from the glass wall of the meeting room. The youngest Evanesca was already gliding away from the agency. His powerful aura as he glided forced the people in his way to give him a wide berth.

“He can easily trick all our spies and agents. Once he decides to hide, we’ll never be able to find him again unless he wants to be found. If you want to dispose of him, this is the perfect opportunity to do so. It’s obvious that he doesn’t have any plans to cooperate with us anymore,” another one suggested.

Antonin turned his attention back to his colleagues. “We’ll only complicate things between us and Ezekiel if we attack him. We can leave him be for now. I’m sure he’ll talk to Lunaria and Talla at some point in the future to warn them. We should focus our attention to those two since they are our current persons of interest,” the bearded man said.

“They are protected by the national government and the NMLEA. I’m sure Emerald won’t even think twice about helping those two, either. With their strong national government, powerful agents in the NMLEA, and the influence of Emerald, their country is basically a weirdo superpower. They can survive on their own even without the protection of our agency or the IWA. I don’t think you’d be able to convince their government to turn their back on the people whom they practically consider as heroes,” one of the men said.

“We’re not going to assault them openly, at least not now,” Antonin replied. “We still have to gather information about Lunaria and Talla. We need to know if they pose a threat to our world. Once we have gathered enough information, then we can finally make a decision on how to best deal with them.”

“Do you think Lunaria and Talla are related to the report that Ezekiel sent us last year? The alien attack?”

“According to his report, the aliens who attacked that apartment building weren’t looking for those two. We’ve conducted our own investigation, but Ezekiel was able to hide all evidence of the attack. He basically hoarded all the information to himself. He only told us that an alien race of magical beings hunted down a specific bloodline that somehow managed to end up on this planet hundreds of years ago. Ezekiel said that we shouldn’t worry because he was able to control the situation. However. . .”

“He seems to be hiding some information from us,” one of the men replied.

Antonin nodded. “We weren’t able to identify who were the targets of those alien species. No matter how hard we tried to convince him, Ezekiel didn’t give us any more information about those who were involved. Even their national government did a great job covering up the incident. It’s also a top-secret information, so we can’t really divulge any part of the report to the general public. We can’t just go around asking people if they’ve seen any aliens walking amongst them. We don’t want to create mass hysteria if people found out that aliens have been living with us since God knows when.”

The bearded man sighed heavily. “We have a lot of questions, but we have to be careful with our every move. Ezekiel seems to be planning something, and it worries me that he’s acting all on his own without any guidance from us. If things become complicated for us, we might have to start making big and difficult decisions. . .”

A tall lady with pristine white hair and grey eyes suddenly stepped into the room—not even bothered by the crumpled door lying just outside. Her sleek and slim attire with white highlights accentuated her height and graceful form. The lady marched towards Antonin Fritzberg—exuding a potent aura of alertness and power with every step she takes.

“You called for me, Sir Fritzberg?”

Antonin locked his eyes on the newcomer.

“You have a new mission, Serena Branislav.”