CHAPTER 95: CH 95: LIES.

Zara leaned in over his shoulder. "Those are the heroes on your government’s payroll. Welcome to the real world."

"There’s no way the C.A.A know about this and did nothing." Aegon avoided, files flailing in his hands.

"How naive are you?" Zara narrowed her eyes, observing him closely to catch even a hint of falter. "Those are the big heroes the government use to swing their massive balls around."

Skimming through the files again he ignored her. "There has to be something I’m missing."

Zara shook her head, laughing subtly. "You’re not missing anything Aegon." She pointed at the files. "That’s the truth, there’s no such thing as black and white, just demented shades of grey."

He said nothing, but stared at her for a minute. Feeling like an utter fool, he thought it was so simple.

That Nightwalker was the only major threat parading as a hero but in actuality, there were a lot more than manageable.

And worse, the C.A.A knew about it and did nothing.

They stormed out of the unit and headed back for school, not speaking to each other once during the ride.

Immediately the cab stopped, he marched out and was headed straight for the principal’s office, with the files still in hand.

As he stomped in the administrative building the principal’s assistant rose from her seat to stop him. "Excuse me?... You can’t go in there."

He completely ignored her, swinging the door open and slamming the documents onto Alex’s desk. "What the fuck is this, Alex?"

Alex, caught off guard, raised a brow. Glanced at the files for about half a second, then at Aegon’s furious face, before finally settling on his receptionist on the doorway.

She quickly stepped in trying to drop the tension that stifled the office. "Sir, I tried to—"

Raising a hand, he stopped her. "Don’t worry about it, Sarah." He shot her a light smile as she shut the door behind her.

Alex’s eyes locked onto Aegon’s. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" His tone remained cold.

"Read that file," He pointed again at the files he’d splayed across his desk. "And tell me you had no idea about it."

Sighing, he grabbed the document and read through it, his face completely indifferent throughout. Bobbing his head and occasionally stealing glances at Aegon with the top of his eyes.

"..."

"Alright," he tossed them into the trash. "Where’d you get those files Aegon?"

Aegon glanced at the trashcan for a second, his mouth hung open. "You knew." He said finally.

"I’m an agent, of course I know." He intertwined his fingers and settled them atop the table. "But that’s not what I asked... I asked where the fuck did you get those classified government files from?"

"How the fuck is that important?!" Aegon snapped. "Your heroes are sadistic motherfuckers."

Alex raised a finger. "Not all of them—" he swayed his head from side to side. "—just about thirty-five percent."

"And no one wants to do anything about it?"

"Grow the fuck up, kid." The principal rubbed his temple. "You make shit more difficult than they should be. The government has neither the manpower nor the resources nor the time to deal with this right now."

"And what’s gonna happen until they do?" Aegon asked, his anger still bubbling over. "These people aren’t important till then?"

"Unfortunately, no they’re not." Alex shrugged. "Kid, you work for V.A.L.O.R, that means you’re not supposed to care about the little shit anymore.

We handle national, continental and cosmic tier issues not heroes who’ve had one too many—"

"One too many?" Aegon’s brows shot up. "Should I read you some of this shit?" He grabbed the document from the trash before Alex could oppose.

His mouth opened for a second to stop him but he’d already started.

"Kheum..." He made sure to maintain eye contact with Alex as he read. "Spectral voyeurism, perpetrator, Invisiman. Intangible meta breaching private homes undetected.

Subjects exploited phasing/invisibility during night cycles. Sexual assaulted multiple women and men whilst invisible."

"Could you stop?" Alex scratched his stubble.

"Why?" Aegon asked. "These are the acts of someone who calls himself a hero." He laughed sarcastically. "In fact, this is someone who everyone calls a hero."

"What do you want to do about it?" Alex asked. "Because the higher ups in V.A.L.O.R have talked about it but we don’t exactly have a hero police yet."

"So we wait until they do?!" His tone grew more irritated. "And let these bastards keep getting away with things like this?"

Alex didn’t answer him. He leaned back against the chair watching Aegon with tight eyes, "are you willing to do something about it, Mr Dhalar?"

"What?"

He blinked twice.

"You stormed into my office without an appointment, barged in, tossed highly confidential files on my desk without telling me where you acquired them from..." He took a breath. "So, I assume you want to do something about it?"

Folding his arms, Aegon asked. "Something like what?"

A sly smile crept onto Alex’s features as he pushed off the chair and moved to the door. ~CLICK~ he locked it.

"I’m working tirelessly trying to make it possible for you kids to get your awakened licences as soon as possible but I don’t think it’d be possible before the next trial."

He slid his hands into his pockets. "The licensing committees just don’t fully buy the idea that kids can be full heroes—"

"Seems like heroes can’t be heroes either." Aegon hissed.

"True." Alex added. "So, anything you hypothetically do, you do it out the perimeters of the law. And you do it yourself."

"Vigilantes?"

"Is that what the kids are calling it these days?" Alex moved back to his chair. "... The news will, however, call you hero killers."

"There’s no way this can happen within the confines of the law?"

"No." Alex answered simply. "No one in their right mind is going to go up in the stands against a well known hero."

"..."

"I can’t do this on my own."

"You don’t have to. I’ll provide you with the information you need, the evidence to soothe your conscious and the equipment to get the job done... But I have to know, where’d you get the file?"

Aegon hesitated for a minute before answering. "Omniblade gave me the keys to his storage unit before he died... said I should find out the truth for myself."

"Hmm..." Alex mulled it over. Reaching her his drawer, he took out a lighter.

"..."

He closed his folder, tapping it against the desk to align the papers inside.

Lifting the files, he lit them on fire and dropped the burning trash in his bin.

"Aegon," he looked him dead in the eyes. "...are you hiding anything else from me?"

Aegon opened his mouth but Alex raised a finger to stop him.

"Careful before you answer, you’ve told me one too many lies," Tilting his head slightly. "Did you find anything else in Omniblade’s storage unit?"

"No."

That was a lie.