How Cute

Alec finally managed to find the main base where the research of the zombie virus was originally carried out with the help from Joseph and Jane.

He hadn't been expecting much at all from this area. After all, Country AA was huge, and there were bound to be many more labs throughout the entire country. This was already the twenty-seventh city they were going through in Country AA.

Their searching paid off, and the truth was laid bare in front of them, giving them the chain of events that had led up to this point.

Originally, in Country AA, the country sent a team to City J. The city that had been wiped out in a single night, so they were tasked to bring back the meteorite – or at least part of the meteorite – that had caused the destruction of the city in secret.

All the superpowers of the world had been roped into this decision-making process when the lab sent back information about the meteorite that had crashed into their planet's surface.

Alec had been right that it wasn't just a single power who had their prints all over this plan.

The true powers of the government's higherups had approved for the plan to go ahead, all of them using their best scientists and researchers to carry out the numerous experiments in that short span of time.

Alec didn't know what drugs they were all on, or if the power had all gone to their head.

What in the world had made them decide that this could possibly be a good idea? Did they want even *more* power to the point that they were willing to do this to humanity?

Alec just didn't understand what they were thinking. Or if they were even thinking at all.

Had they just thrown away all their morals to do something like this? *All* of the higherups had agreed to this like they were possessed? Surely there had to be some that didn't agree to this proposition?

Reading the notes that he'd printed out while lounging on Sircela's back, Alec's normal smile had a sharper edge to it. His eyes were cold as he thought about how to deal with this situation.

Thinking about it, he handed over the notes to Dominique, who quickly read it.

There wasn't any change on Dominique's face when he read it since it didn't affect those that he cared about. They weren't from this place, after all, and when this place was infected with things like zombies – that Dominique had never even heard about before – things like the people in power causing this calamity didn't seem so outlandish.

Joseph and Jane were both shooting them curious looks, but they didn't ask.

What exactly had been so important that it made these two powerful neo-humans go around to look for information?

Could it be the source of the mutation of the zombie virus?

Their hearts were burning with curiosity even as it held a tinge of sorrow.

Alec nodded at Dominique when he was done reading, and his subordinate passed over the notes to Joseph.

Joseph was confused as to why he was given a chance to read whatever the two had acquired from the labs, yet when he started reading, his facial expressions immediately changed.

From white to green, and back to white again, his face cycled through a multitude of expressions as his emotions roiled violently within him.

They rattled around ominously until things finally reached an exploding point, where even a mild-natured man like Joseph could no longer contain it within himself.

"Damn bastards!" Joseph finally cursed in pure, unadulterated anger.

The thought that all of this could have been avoided had those power-hungry morons at the top just stayed their hand made him furious. While he knew that not everyone from the government was like that, to think that there were so many of them that had damned humanity to this fate!

Why? For what? Just what could have caused them to make a decision like this when it caused the deaths of billions upon the planet?

There hadn't even been any failsafes put into place that would have prevented a lot of people dying. Instead, they were all left to fend for themselves mainly until the military took over.

Sophie would have still been alive. Jamie, Amanda…

Joseph was so angry that his chest was heaving up and down as he tried to calm himself down.

Jane was terribly curious, but she didn't make a move to read it. Her father would tell her if she needed to know. Just what had he read that would make her usually mild father explode like this?

"What are sirs planning to do?" Joseph inquired.

Alec supposed that it wouldn't hurt to tell him since he'd already read the report. As he had suspected, the man's reaction had been normal.

"Who's in charge of the N1 base?" Alec asked instead.

"Country AA's vice-president, George Bailey. Are you planning on taking him out?" Joseph asked viciously. There was no doubt that the vice-president had been made aware of the upcoming calamity and had done nothing to try and stop it.

"No."

"Why!?" Joseph shouted, his anger clouding his judgement.

He froze when the child's subordinate glared at him like he was itching to skin him alive, a chill going through him when he remembered that the two were dangerous people. Joseph bit his lips, calming himself forcefully.

"Right now, the most important thing to take care of is the mutation of the virus."

Alec left things unsaid because he didn't trust the man in front of him. It wasn't that his character was not trustworthy, but he seemed like he emotional type that would blurt out things when he was in the throes of anger.

Of course, Alec could always be wrong, but he would rather not take the chance.

Dominique grabbed Joseph's collar and flung him far off Sircela's back, ignoring his startled shout.

Joseph, who was so sure that he was being punished for his insolence towards Alec, braced himself for impact as the freefalling sensation rushed through his body, only to realize that he collided into the ground, but nothing hurt, causing him to feel stunned.

Dazed, Joseph opened his eyes and caught his daughter in his arms, who was gently floating down.

Sircela, who was controlling the winds with its magic and wings, turned around and headed towards N1 base.

Dominique slowly sat down, feeling entirely too pleased with himself.

Alec hid his smile of amusement at Dominique's rare moment of mischief. He felt quite happy that his subordinate was exhibiting more emotions than usual the longer they spent together, and not just towards himself.

The man was actually acting quite cute, and Alec told him so, causing Dominique to flush in embarrassment at the thought that his boss knew he did it purposely.

The boss and subordinate pair rode on Sircela's back towards N1 base, which wasn't too far away.

Since they were taking their time, it took longer as they drifted through the air at a leisurely pace.

Riding on Dominique's new familiar's back was rather soothing, almost like he was rocking. The smart whale even knew to block off the air resistance at the top so that their flight was more enjoyable.

Alec pulled out a brush and held out his hand towards Dominique, who placed his hand on top of Alec's without any hesitation.

Drawing a bit of blood from Dominique, as well as a bit of blood from Sircela, Alec started crafting an array between the two of them to solidify their familiar bond.

By now, Alec was sure that this place was an entire world that existed somewhere out there in another dimension and wasn't artificially created.

The people acted too real, and there wasn't a boundary on this 'stage'.

Alec had made sure, making Sircela scour the entire planet from high above.

There had been no place that could resist their travel, nor did anything stop them.

In this case, Alec was happy that he didn't have to break Dominique's heart and tell him that he couldn't bring his new familiar with him, so Alec was pleased.

By the time Alec finished reinforcing the bond between the two, a dark shadow cast over N1 base, the people from below pointing at the flying whale in the skies.