Chapter 17: Hidden Agendas

Vice-Admiral Rowland left the door to the basement open and said to Betty who had at some point come close to the basement, "Bring him out and clean up the mess he made."

Without waiting for a response he walked back into his room. He locked the door behind him and sat down on a chair. In front of the chair was a table on which a monitor was placed. The monitor was linked to several cctv camera he had placed in the house. He took the recording back to when Raziel manipulated Mojo to create cosmic fire. He had been watching him when it happened. He had almost sent over a bolt of lightning to destroy the noose. He couldn't understand how a level 1 suddenly managed to manipulate the Mojo around him. He concluded it must be one of the benefits of being a superhuman of a main pathway.

Betty walked down the basement and saw Raziel sprawled on the floor. She saw a branding on his forehead, the stamp of Vice-Admiral Rowland. She tried to imagine what kind of pain he was feeling and pitied him. At least, with the branding, no one in Nicaorh would hurt him publicly.

She picked him up and carried him on her back. She walked up the basement and took him to her room. She placed him on her bed and used the healing abilities of a superhuman of the water pathway to treat his wound.

Raziel thought back to when he was committing suicide. He realised only very brave people could actually go through with suicide. People like him who attempt to commit suicide only to stop halfway are the weak ones. Inspite of the pain he had just been put through, he still wants to hold onto his life. Is that being brave or just the act of cowardice? Perhaps everything depends on individual perspective. Maybe to others he was weak to even have thoughts of suicide. Maybe....

Betty broke his train of thoughts, "It looked like you tried to commit suicide. Why? Don't you have something to live for? A family perhaps?"

Raziel thought about his sister. She had left him in this hell hole but it was not like she had a choice. Perhaps he was being a coward by deciding to leave his sister in this world. He tried to anchor himself to the thoughts of finding his sister so as to not descend into an abyss of despair. Maybe he would find a better conviction to keep him going in the future but he decided to hold on to the thoughts of finding his sister. The only way he can find her is by escaping from the Vice-Admiral and the only means of escaping is to get stronger. His body could not resist the fatigue he was feeling anymore and fell asleep.

Betty saw that Raziel had fallen asleep. She stood and went through her first aid box to pick up some bandages. She then bandaged his forehead. The brand on his forehead can never be erased even with a healing potion. The brand was made of a superpower.

She stood up and left the room closing the door gently behind her. She went to Raziel's room to clean it up. The room was a total disaster. She saw the pieces of a hidden camera in a corner of the room. The camera Vice-Admiral Rowland placed in the room was not completely erased in the fire. She picked them up without any expression on her face and used her powers to freeze them. She placed them on the floor to stamp them with her right foot. The pieces of the camera shattered into tiny unrecognisable pieces. She was not surprised there was a camera in here. She had noticed the cameras in the house right from when she had started working here.

She chuckled to herself. It was more like someone told where the cameras were hidden. "It looks like the days ahead are going to be very interesting." She said in an inaudible voice.