"And who is your boss?" Eric asked.
"No questions, or I'll shoot you."
We were led out of the car when I saw a log near a tree.
"I need to go to the bathroom." I said.
"What," said the captivator. "You think this is Manhattan? This is the forest of Upstate, not Chicago."
"I'm in a hurry!" I stamped my feet to make it more convincing.
"Well, alright."
I went to the tree and realized that the captivator was straight lay looking at me.
"What are you doing?" I exclaimed. "You can't respect someone's privacy???"
"Fine." He roared. "But don't try anything funny." He turned his back on me.
I saw my chance. I grabbed the log, ran as quietly as I could with celerity and swung it at him. Eric and Waylen found rope in the back trunk of the taxi and bound him. The captivator became the captive.
We took the taxi and drove with Loretta's directions to her grandmother's house. However, when we got there, the door was open. We immediately went in, the thought of a raid from the Misterio company looking for the stolen information. Thankfully, it appeared so that there was no raid. The house was in perfect order. But Loretta's grandmother wasn't there.
"Isn't this breaking and entering?" inquired Waylen.
"Not if you're making sure you're relative is okay." Loretta presumed.
"We're not your grandmother's relatives."
"You're my friends. Its not like strangers coming with me."
Then suddenly an old lady came up to the door.
"Who are you?" she inquired. "What are you doing? Get out of here, raiders, or I'll call the police." She was holding a shovel, pointing it at the 4 of us.
"Grandmother!" Loretta shrieked. "Don't you remember me?"
The old lady stared into Loretta's face, so intently it felt like a police officer examining a criminal during interrogation or a prosecution attorney staring at the defendant.
"Lorrie!" She cried. "It's so good to see you again! How long has it been, 10 years?"
Loretta nodded.
"Lorrie?" I inquired.
"My grandmother always calls me that. It's a nickname." Loretta replied.
"Where's Leila?" She looked at the 4 of us. "Is she here?"
"No, Grandmother." Loretta sighed. "She's still in Minnesota."
That was when Mrs. Leponez looked at me.
"Who are you?"
"Aziel Martinez." I greeted. "At your service."
"SERVICE???" She screamed. "Service??? You're not Aziel Martinez. You're some relative of Frederick Murphy."
Eric turned to me.
"No, no, no," I explained. "I'm the son of Matthew Martinez, who was adopted. His name before he was adopted was Matthew Murphy."
"LIAR!!!" Mrs. Leponez screeched and charged at me with the shovel. Loretta suspended her.
"It's true, grandmother." Loretta consoled. "Matthew Martinez is adopted. Have you never heard the news or read the newspaper about when he and Edward Vealtch stopped the Razrusheniye?"
Mrs. Leponez ceased her movement.
"Is it true then," Mrs. Leponez asked. "That you are the son of Matthew Martinez, adopted by Drake Martinez?"
I nodded.
"Waylen," I pointed at him. "is also the son of my maternal uncle Edward Vealtch. We're cousins."
"You have no idea who you're real grandfather is?" Mrs. Leponez inquired.
I was obfuscated. How could this old lady know who my grandfather was? How did she know? She didn't wait for a response since my countenance spoke for me.
"You see, before I married Daniel, my last name, was Murphy. Maria Murphy."
The 4 of us were stunned. I nearly fell to the ground, but fortunately Waylen held me up.
"I had 12 brothers and 13 sisters. I had a giant family, you see. 26 children born to my parents Nathaniel and Vivienne Murphy. It was so huge that we had to buy 7 houses for the entire family. It seems impractical for 28 people to live in one house, doesn't it?"
"How many of your siblings are left?" Waylen inquired.
"5." Mrs. Leponez replied. "Kyle, Howard, Thomas, Gregory, Monica, and I are the only ones left. The boys now alive are all younger than me between 5-9 years. Monica and I are twins. I'm the 5th oldest. Anyways, when I met Daniel, (Your grandfather, Lorrie) I was immediately in love with him. And it appeared that he was fond of me. We were only 18 at the time. It was then, at the age of 19, that he got his first job at the Misterio company. At first, my older brother, Frederick, the eldest of the family, was absolutely against our marriage. We got married as soon as Daniel got the job. Then, came that man."
"Who?" I asked.
"You're grandfather, Drake. I was still pregnant with Levi at the time. Daniel had told me all about Drake, how he had fallen in love with Lillian Walker, and how they met again after 4 years of no contact. He told me that he would help Drake find this Lillian. But then, Daniel received a call. It was from the Misterio company. I heard a giant argument. After the call ended, he told me that the Misterio company had demanded for some information Daniel had created. He refused to. Daniel told me that if the Misterio had their hands on that information, the world would be under indubitable tyranny. I asked him why he was working for them in the first place. I still remember his exact words to this day. 'Maria, it is the duty of any person to save the world from tyrants who are avaricious and eager for power. If any person has the competence to defeat malice, then he has to do it.' He promised me that he would return safely after helping Drake find Lillian. He then, handed me a necklace, a necklace I handed to Levi, who handed it to you, Lorrie. He told me: 'Keep this necklace forever. It will be a reminder of me, and it will be the source of truth.'
"Then, I heard that Daniel was killed by gangsters. Drake came and consoled me at the funeral. He told me that Daniel was a brave man, and that he could have suspended the gangster from shooting Daniel. I forgave him. I knew that it honestly wasn't his fault.
"Then trial day came, taking the leading gangster as the defendant. At first, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was Frederick! He wouldn't confess to anything that happened on the plane, nor would he confess that he shot Daniel. The prosecuting attorney then brought Drake up to the witness stand and he testified that he was sure Frederick was the one who shot Daniel. Frederick wouldn't testify to who he was working for, but he did confess murdering Daniel. I totally remember that day. He cried: 'Daniel Leponez is a horrible man!!! He worked for an absolutely malicious company! I was just trying to protect my sister from marrying her!!!'
"During a visit to Frederick, we argued for hours on why he should and shouldn't have killed Daniel. As I stumped out of the room, he called out to me. He pleaded: 'Please, Maria, please find my wife and take care of her. My son is with her, pregnant with my daughter too. Please, Maria, I just request this simple thing!!!"
"I left the office and soon found Mrs. Murphy. Unfortunately, I was too late. She had already sent her children to the orphanage, telling me she wanted nothing to do with my brother. That's where you come in, Aziel. You're my grand-nephew."
