It was 2 months after the last adventure, and Cole was teaching Eva on how to fly a kite outside their house.It was early noon and that was the time where the winds were strong in the〈Neutral Zone〉
Felicia was the one who bought the kite from the〈Times Zone〉
The kite itself was small and it should be because Felicia had explicitly told the clerk that it should be "kids-sized" because she was afraid that Eva might be blown away by the wind.
Well, Eva wasn"t actually that light though.
Anyway, back to now.
Cole was inspecting the kite to make sure there were no defects. The kite was light blue in color, Eva"s favorite, and had two trails of ribbon flowing from the side.
After he was done, he went to Eva who was rolling in the gra.s.s with her bunny plushie because she had nothing better to do.
"Eva, stop that, you"ll get the bunny dirty."
"Okay... Is the kite ready yet?"
"It is so let"s go fly it."
Seeing that the kite she was desperately and unnecessarily rolling in gra.s.s for was ready, Eva"s eyes shine like stars with childish excitement.
"Gimme gimme gimme!"
"Eva, be patient."
Felicia reprimanded Eva to which she pouted in response but, nevertheless she obeyed.
Cole couldn"t help but chuckle at the heartwarming scene between them and questioned if they really weren"t mother and daughter.
But Eva definitely wasn"t born from Felicia"s womb. Why does he know this?
Because at some point in time in the past 2 months, Cole directly asked Felicia if she was or wasn"t.
To which she responded with a big no because the last time she checked, she was still a virgin.
She ended up turning back into a tomato after saying that but it ended Cole"s suspicions.
Cole helped Eva take hold of the handle of the kite and instructed her how to do so.
"Now, Eva, do you get it?"
"Okay, let me try..."
After she said that, Eva started unwinding the string of the kite and ran.
Considering that she was still 5, Cole and Felicia didn"t have a hard time following her.
Eva failed a couple of times before she started to get the hang of it.
Seeing her fumble around with the kite made Cole"s heart melt.
But it froze up again immediately after.
Felicia was too busy helping Eva get out of the kite"s strings to notice it. And Eva... well, she was in the strings.
It would be too far for a regular human to see but Cole wasn"t a human.
He was a Mechanica, one specialized for combat. So of course he would be able to see way farther than what people could usually do.
It was about 5 kilometers away and it wasn"t a thing.
"It" was a group of people.
Cole"s eyes zoomed in on the party and noted that they were all wearing black hooded robes with a 4 pointed star pin holding the robes together.
There were a total of 3 people with them each having a different build. Small, medium and Beefy.
They seemed to be walking towards their direction and didn"t seem all that welcoming.
"Felicia."
"...Stay still... What is it, Cole."
"Stay here for a bit, I have to go deal with... something..."
"Eh?"
Felicia was too busy helping Eva and when she turned around, Cole had already left, leaving only a few blades of gra.s.s hanging in the air.
.
.
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.
.
"How... much farther, Altair?"
"About... 3 kilometers... Just a bit more... Leo."
"You guys are soooo weak...?"
The black robed people were all sweating and two of the people were panting heavily.
The medium build guy was fine.
And judging from their voices, the small one was a female and the other two were males.
"That a.s.s of a Queen... Why couldn"t she just have teleported us directly to the guy"s place!"
"She... has... her reasons, Crux."
"Guys... Stop talking... You"re making me feel even more tired than I already am..."
With the man named Leo"s request, they all stopped their chatter and continued on their long journey.
But Crux stopped for a bit and looked around his surroundings. Searching for something.
Leo and Altair stopped after seeing his actions.
"Is it an enemy?"
"I"ll get into position if it"s like that!"
"Stay put first..."
Crux had cold sweat running down his back, he couldn"t shake the sense of uneasy he felt.
Altair and Leo felt it as well and their palms became sweaty.
*WHOOSH*
In the instant that Crux heard a sound, he jumped away from his previous spot while he threw a total of 5 poison tipped throwing daggers to the direction he heard the sound from.
When he landed on his feet and took the time to see what he hit, he saw...
Nothing.
"There was nothing there? does that mean it was just the wind--"
*THUD*
Crux"s thought were cut short when he could feel a pain at the back of his neck, causing him to fall forward facing the ground.
"What... Was that just now?"
*WHIRR*
He could then feel some kind of thread wrap his legs an arms together, making it impossible for him to get up.
He still struggled for a bit and seeing that it was no us, Crux looked out of the corner of his eye.
There, he saw a man with glistening silver hair, dead black eyes, a pair of headphone pieces covering the place where his ears should be and a black metal frame covering his face.
He wore a grey coat with black labels that were flowing in the wind and he had his left hand in his pocket while the other had some kind of metal string coiled around his fingers.
Although Crux could only see the man"s side profile, he instantly recognized his target"s face.
He was wondering why weren"t Leo and Altair attacking and stretched his eyes even further, to only see that they, too, were tied up with their mouths being covered as well.
"Well, well, well..."
The man"s voice sent shivers down their spine and caused them to feel fear from every fiber of their being.
It was so cold and devoid of emotion that you doubted if you were actually listening to a voice of a human.
"What are you guys doing here?"