Chapter 16 : A little manipulation

[Author note : New KoSP chapter. Also, I'm currently posting another original story on P A T R E O N : Master of Healing. A kind of LitRPG but without the 'system' windows and stuff like that. If you're curious, the synopsis is available for everyone who visit my page !

At some point in the future, I'll do some poll over there to find out which of the stories is the most liked and you'd like me to continue. It doesn't mean that I'll drop KoSP and the Iron Lad squib though...

If you're interested in my stories or want to encourage me, please check out my Patréon : https://www.patréon.com/user?u=66371596 (replace the é by a normal e) or look for Cathbel on their website

KoSP : 2 advanced chapters

The Squib who became Iron Lad... In DC : 3 advanced chapters

AoH : Prologue + 6 chapters (exclusive)

MoH : 3 chapters/8 (exclusive)

Enjoy and please tell me what you think of it !]

Simon and Crys soon discovered what had the team of… whatever the hell they called themselves, so agitated. Though at the time, they had no idea about it. When the duo attacked and basically rendered all the defenses of the convoy null and captured the tyrant, it turned out the man wasn't even the real mastermind. He was just a puppet !

Simon asked him annoyed :

« A puppet had a body double ? A puppet of a puppet ? Does that make sense to you ? »

The humanoid-ish, cowardly tyrant was hiding his face with his four arms. Despite his bulky and tough figure, the man was surprisingly weak, of both mind and body. His last words were :

« He made me the boss ! I had no… » And then he choked and no matter what the duo attempted to do, they couldn't save his life. Soon, however, they had an answer as to why the man suddenly died on him with Penelope and Zrynn approaching to enlighten them. Their names were another thing they learned recently !

Penelope, the crystal woman with powers to manipulate the Earth, told them of a criminal, someone very long lived who already had and kept escaping custody. Apparently, it was one, if not, THE group's enemy. He had killed a number of them over the years, along with taking the lives of many, many other people. In fact, he'd killed so much that the medias had started to call him the Genocidal, with a capital G.

When Crys enquired for more information about the criminal, Zrynn rebuked him, saying :

« You need to be a part of the team if you want to know more. Unless that's what you want ? »

It wasn't subtle at all as a recruitment ploy. And Crys, despite being basically a newborn, could see it just as Simon could. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that Penelope's face was basically stone (well… crystal, but mineral anyway), Simon was pretty sure she would have made a face. Her ice cold gaze, fixated on her teammate spoke volume in and of itself.

Simon scoffed but it was Crys who gave their answer :

« We thank you but we'll decline. I'm too young to be embroiled in such conflicts and Simon is still recovering from years of being used by the Terran military. We need time to find ourselves… »

Simon added :

« 'sides, I'm pretty sure there's at least one of you guys who don't want me in your little group… Does it even have a name, by the way ? Do you guys have Superhero names ? »

« 'Superhero' ? » Penelope parroted. « What's that ? »

« It's… well, it's kind of like law enforcement, but not recognized by the law and with unusual abilities. Like your Earth manipulation or his… I actually have no idea what the hell his power is ! » He finished his explanation rather lamely by pointing at the squid-man. « Another example would be Crys and I's powers… Though I won't share what they are with you. You could actually be Supervillains acting like Superheroes. » Simon nodded to himself, seemingly convinced : « Actually, that'd made sense ! I was trespassing and none of you bothered to arrest me. You didn't even try to fight or anything. And when I was about to stop going after him… » He continued while gesturing at the corpse near him. « … Who, by the way, despite how he came to it, is the leader of his country, you basically pushed me to finish the job. Are you guys, in fact, villains ? »

For some reason, Penelope smiled. She was extremely amused by the young Terran's mind. He made obscure comparison and jumped to conclusions so farfetched, she wondered whether or not he was actually taking the situation he was in seriously. She gathered, if it were anyone else and without his powers, others wouldn't talk so much.

Crys shook his head :

« I don't believe they are, Simon. Though, now that you pointed it out, I suppose it's possible… »

And now her kin was thinking of her as a… villain ? It's a rather black and white concept, is it not ? Apparently, in the Terran's mind, there were good guys and bad guys… The reality was so much more complex. Although they tried to do good, Penelope didn't think most people on the team were 'good guys'. Asenath had killed more people than she could remember. Toru was… an extremely angry young man and that led to him being rather heavy handed when fighting. Coupled with his particular power-set, he, too, killed a fair share of people. Dana was a soldier : killing was part of her job description and since she was black ops at some point, the legitimacy, or righteousness, of her missions were probably in questions. Gus… Gustave was complicated. He was a researcher and magic fanatic, trying to push the boundaries of things. His experiments were, in some cases, not exactly moral. Zrynn was an enigma, since he was rather new to the team. As for Penelope herself ? In her long life, there were a lot of things she regretted and some she had remorse about doing. Was she a good person ? Hard to say. A hero ? Hardly !

While she was lost in those thoughts, the Terran-Crystal duo had left. When she came to, she looked around frantically until Zrynn told her :

« They've left. Apparently, the Terran wanted to listen to music and your brethren… decided to follow him. He doesn't seem to make much decisions for himself. »

« That's because he's still young. As he said, he's a newborn… I remember it took me a couple of months before I was able to find out what I liked and what I wanted to do with myself. At birth, during the moment we bond, our sentience is basically formed of our bond-mate memories, feelings and knowledge. We don't really have a personality of our own… After all, every sentients forms their personality over time by interacting with different people, their environment, etc… This young Crystal is still trying to dissociate himself from what he experienced from Simon. »

Zrynn brushed his tentacles together before he admitted :

« I can't fully comprehend such a thing. But I suppose that's perfectly normal : I don't think I've paid much attention to how my own personality was formed. I'm guessing not many people do… »

« Indeed ! » Penelope agreed and added : « Let's head for the meeting point. I'm guessing Toru will be happy to hear they refused your offer. » The way she said it was as if she was rebuking for something. Unfortunately, it flew right above his head.

« Let's go ! » He simply and calmly said.