Chapter 6: Screening

"You'll know it soon."

Why do they always say it like that? Why not just tell it straight if someone asks you? This will only increase the anxiety of the person involved. Not me, though. I'm speaking on behalf of all the people who will be dragged by this towering figure in the future.

I just followed Terrius and Allen silently. We passed several doors, and finally, after turning to the left corner, we arrived at our destination—the interrogation room of the NSA. I'm still clueless about all this, but I dare not ask again, knowing I will just be wasting my saliva.

I walked in as soon as the doors were opened after Allen shoved his ID on the scanner. It seems that the interrogation room was off limits, and only a select few can enter. I was wondering why until I glimpsed the actual room.

Holy… this place is where human rights will be embarrassed to enter. I feel like I entered another world. The chamber beyond the glass screens was vast, far larger than I had expected. It wasn't just a normal interrogation room. On the left wall was a display of many…weapons, on the right were…weapons again.

And in the middle of all that was a single metal chair, with metal cuffs attached on the armrests, and legs, and metal seatbelts on the lap and back. I gulped unknowingly.

"… I think…we entered the wrong room?" I asked the two, but Allen just smiled at me, his eyes curved like crescent moons, and I felt a chill run down my spine. I'd like to ask him if he has a split personality perhaps, but the door opened again and revealed the root of my worry.

"You're in the right place, Jade Dela Torre."

"Captain…" Allen was as just curious as me, but he stopped speaking after the captain motioned for him to stand by the control panel. A long black table with nothing on it at all, but when Allen placed his ID in the corner, the table became a large screen, just like a touch-screen control panel.

Well, it is one.

I stepped forward. "Can you please explain now why am I brought here?" I'm being polite because these people are scary. Better not get on their bad side.

Captain Vanderheinz turned to me. His eyes scrutinized me. "You did something before."

"Pardon?" What did I do?

He stepped forward. His black combat boots made no sound, and it was as though he was walking on air. If only he didn't have a shadow, I would have thought that he was a ghost… or maybe he is. Wait…did I just see his shadow grin at me?!

The captain's voice echoed in the room again, cutting my staring battle with his unmoving shadow. I could swear I saw it move! "I'm sure it was your doing. And we are here to confirm it. Now, we can skip you sitting in that chair and getting interrogated with those weapons to spill the truth, if you tell us right now what you did earlier."

I blinked. Briefly glanced at the shadow before looking at him. "Not…sure what you're talking about here, sir…"

"Don't play dumb, Jade Dela Torre. After you entered your house, the Aetherlock spheres malfunctioned. They all stopped working, and guess what happened? The vortex was unsealed and your entire house and nearby surroundings were sucked inside. Even the poorly built drainage in that neighborhood crumbled and the wastewater was sucked in too."

I couldn't believe what I just heard. My eyes widened a bit. My whole house was devoured?! Then how will the appraisers evaluate it?!

"Vortexes grew more powerful and larger by the minute if not controlled. The one who reported it last night said it was just as large as a plate and could only suck like a vacuum cleaner, but after only twelve hours, it became that large. If the spheres malfunctioned even a minute, imagine the damage. So, tell us now, who are you, and who are you working for?"

In an instant, that captain whose black eyes bore into me, was right before me already. He looked frightening with the black smoke in his background, like a special effect when a villain appeared on the screen—

"Captain, he's a civilian—

So, that smoke is not a special effect?

"I don't think someone who can pull off that trick by merely standing there and throwing groceries in the vortex is an ordinary civilian." The captain did not even glance at Allen who sounded concerned for me, but the smoke that slowly scattered from behind him slowly thinned and vanished.

I guessed he still cares.

He continued, "Tell me what you did. Did that plastic bag of meat and green onions were a medium you used to make it happen? What's in there? What kind of magic is that? You better answer or I will have to use every weapon here to make you talk."

"I—

"You better not lie as well. I won't tolerate any fabricated answer you will give."

"—am Jade Dela Torre. My employer is the stinky old man who owns the minimart at the station near H University. And the contents of the plastic bag are meat, green onions, garlic, and soy sauce. No magic involved."

A minute of silence passed. I stared straight at the captain, trying to discern what the hell was running in his head. But his impassive expression made it had to do. Slowly though, that stoic face broke into confusion, wonder, and then shock.

"You… what did you do?!" He yelled.

I flinched a bit because he looked really mad. I tilted my head in confusion. What did I do this time again? I merely stood there and answered his question!

"Captain, did something happen?" Terrius finally spoke. He glanced at me and then at his captain. Allen approached us too, wondering what the issue was this time.

Captain Van—I'm just calling him like that because his name was too long—pointed at me. "It disappeared!"

What did?!

He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, but nothing happened. When he opened them again, they were straight glaring at me with murderous intent. "You would have died on the spot after inhaling my poison, but it didn't come out. The two of you, try releasing your awakened powers too."

Allen and Terrius exchanged glances, and then they both followed, but like their captain, after a few minutes, their expression turned to confusion then shock. Are they playing with me? I don't believe what Captain Van said. How could he suddenly lose his powers? And he's blaming me for that?

They were probably just fooling me.

"How…did this happen? No matter what I did? I can't use them at all. I felt like I was turned into an ordinary person again!" Allen exclaimed.

I grimaced. That's probably an exaggeration.

"I feel the same," Terrius said next. My face distorted. I swear their acting looks real.

"Now, you know what I'm talking about." Captain Van dropped his gaze at me again. His hands were on the pockets of his tight black jeans. He leaned forward, trying to intimidate me with those glaring down eyes, but I wasn't affected at all.

"How is this possible?" Allen asked again, still staring at his hands, bewildered and scared at the same time. It seems losing his awakened powers frightened him.

I know the feeling of losing something precious to you, so I answered honestly. "I really have no idea. Maybe just like those Aetherlock spheres, you guys malfunctioned too? I'm not a Seeker so I don't know, but this certainly had nothing to do with me. You can do a background check on me, but the most you'd find is my identity being the runaway son of a gangster and a loan shark."

Captain Van eyed me suspiciously. I met his black eyes without blinking. His face darkened a bit, and then he turned away, saying the words, "We will see about that."

The door closed behind him with a loud noise. I turned to the two Seekers left and couldn't help but yawn. "Can I… go back to the UAO now?"

Terrius answered me. "I'm afraid you can't. The captain will be back soon. He just left to probably ask the RDC to send someone to inspect you."

"What?" Did I hear him right?

"You will undergo a series of tests to see if there's something wrong with you—

"I would have registered myself as a Seeker if I am one, no?" I cut Allen off. I just know that the series of tests he was referring to was the awakening verification process, performed by the Department of Awakening and Mutation in RDC, or the Research and Development Center.

Terrius stared at me; his expression was unreadable. He stepped forward and leveled his eyes at me as if trying to find truth in my words. "The DAM is called the Department of Awakening and Mutation for a reason. People not only awakened supernatural powers, but some also mutated into monsters. Pray you're not one of them."

He walked past me. I know what he meant. If I am an asymptomatic mutated human, then I won't get to see another day. I'll die right away, inside that testing center. They will kill me.

For the first time, I regretted saving money.