Chương 96: Omen

May had been working away at a take-home test in the common area as Leo had burst in.

"Oh! Hey, Leo-" She started, the boy simply storming past her and off to likely where his room was. She just let out a sigh, rubbing her face.

"There goes how talkative he was…" she trailed off. Chris and Jairo sat up from their beanbag chairs at the same time Leo had stormed through, but didn't speak due to a better reading of his mood. They were both dotted with bandages and wraps from their clash with the vampire.

"I think he just…" Chris started, looking over at Jairo, then back at May.

"…He's having a hard time still. And he worked himself pretty hard. He deserves some time to himself." Jairo nodded.

"Only thing I've seen him interact with that he wasn't told to was that cat-thing that's been with him. I wonder where he even got that. Do you guys think it's another power of his?" May pursed her lips.

"No, no I don't think so. Maybe it came from the crab?"

"Would explain why he's close to it," Chris added, prompting nods from the two of them. The door that led to the various bedrooms opened, as little Samara toddled in, seeming to move with intent as her little arms swung by her sides towards the pantry.

"Hey there, Sam. Where's your brother?" May asked.

"Talking to mom," she explained as she opened one of the cabinet doors, immediately beginning to scramble up the shelves. As she did so, Jairo practically blitzed over to hook a hand under her body and ease her off.

"Whoa, whoa! Don't need you cracking your head open! What are you looking for?" Samara pointed to some canned food.

"Wanna make mom a ravoli," she explained, missing a syllable. That prompted a bit of a laugh from Jairo.

"You wanna make your mom a 'ravoli?' She too busy to come up?" He asked with a surprisingly soft tone given the nature of his voice.

"Yeah, she doesn't eat a lot right now." Jairo flicked his monstrous eyes towards May, whose lips pursed again.

"She's not eating?" May asked, leaning forward a little bit in her seat. Chris began to approach as well, face inscrutable. When the boy procured a can of pre-made ravioli, Samara gave another nod, face neutral with a typical childish disinterest born from an inexperience with expressions.

"Yeah. Usually we get her to eat something but she didn't want to do it herself so I'm getting her a ravoli."

"Huh," Jairo muttered.

"I'll get this ready for your mom. You want any too, Sammy?" She shook her head.

"No, I ate some toast already." Chris mumbled next to May, making sure only she could hear.

"At least she's making sure the kids are eating. Have you spoken to Sam at all lately?"

"No, not really," May explained, shaking her head.

"She kind of just mumbles a bit but clams up pretty fast when we're doing tune-ups on the prosthesis. She looks kind of sick. It's been like that for a little while." Jairo placed the child down, who wandered off towards the beanbags, and took to grabbing a pan and setting up on the stove as Chris approached.

"Have you spoken to Sam at all, lately?"

"Just check-ins on my little stowaway once a week," he explained, tapping a hand on his chest.

"She used to be more talkative about designing an immun… immuno… drug that they usually use for implant rejection issues with the parasite, but even that's become less of a thing. She just confirms all of my vitals and stuff are good. I kind of have to ask her if there's any project. She gets pretty scared of touching me, too. Am I getting greasy? Chris, feel my hand, am I greasy now?" Jairo held a hand out, only for Chris to look a little befuddled at him.

"Dude, we fist-bump every other day. If I noticed grease on your knuckles, I'd tell you." Chris then shook Jairo's hand, his other one patting the boy's shoulder.

"See? No grease," the redhead assured. The boy gave a bit of a smile, before nodding and turning to get started on the ravioli.

"Thanks. I just get worried sometimes about me getting like… I dunno… Worse. Frogs aren't gonna know they're being boiled until the water's already been bubbling, you know?" Chris nodded as he gave Jairo room to cook, taking a seat by May.

"I get you, man, but I promise you, you're fine. To be honest, you seem even more in control than when we first met. That little dash you did to catch Sammy was definitely something you couldn't do before. You're really improving."

"Thanks," the mutant responded, keeping his face towards the pot to hide his smile. The TV played a high-tempo, aggressive musical sting that usually accompanied sudden news developments. The text "Breaking News" across the screen corroborated the notion, drawing everyone's eyes to it.

"What's it saying?" Sammy asked. Chris answered, "It says 'breaking news.' Can you go to your room for a bit?"

"Okay!" She yelled, getting up and doing a stiff-legged rush off to her bedroom as the broadcast began to play. A woman, dressed in a red suit, sat at a desk as she spoke to the camera.

"We apologize for disrupting your broadcast with a breaking news story. Channel 8 WJAN news received an exclusive video message from the eco-terror group, the Anti-Deforestation Union, requesting we play it as a public service notice to the residents of Charlottesville. This is footage even we haven't reviewed yet, but we are on a seven-second delay so as to avoid any sudden atrocities."

The view cut to footage, oddly high-contrast and poorly shot, of the interior of an overgrown warehouse with trees and vines dangling. Sitting in a chair in the middle was an older man, clearly aged into his seventies. His beard grey and thick, his eyes static and glowering ahead. Beside him stood a familiar face. Brother Gleditsia, clad in his wooden armor. He looked markedly more stony-faced than before. His hands sat atop the pommel of a large sword made out of wood.

"Greetings," the older man's ancient, whistly voice boomed out.

"I am Master Sequoia, leader of the Anti-Deforestation Union. After a recent encounter that nearly killed one of our champions, Brother Gleditsia," he started, gesturing to the zealot next to him.

"We are seeking reprisal. Of course, as superior beings who do not engage in deceit like the archetypical human, we find it reasonable to give advance warning," he explained with a roll of his hand. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The three heroes stood up to approach the TV, standing beside each other as they watched intently.

"Dude looks so old," Jairo mentioned. May added on an "And creepy. Like he can't even focus on the camera." Chris said nothing, gaze unmoving from the screen.

"We will no longer tolerate the attempted interference of reclamation by trees of the city of Charlottesville, and the surrounding Albemarle County. We have chosen this area as a staging ground for good reason. It shall not be interrupted." A man in a green cloak stepped up besides Master Sequoia, unfurling a map with multiple marked points of the area.

"But we are not without reason," he added.

"We shall stop growing additional trees. However, any attempts at removing the remaining trees in the area, marked on the map, will be met with violent reaction. We can be anywhere. Do not test that claim," he added with a wheezing laugh.

"Now, I shall extend mercy to any who understand our movement. We will be supplying and distributing means of education about our cause and how we wish to give the world a chance to appropriately care for us in return for us caring for them."

"Mercy?" May whispered.

"Like with those people in the manor?" The whisper became a hiss.

"This education will be done in various means, including online resources and in-person, invitation-only sermons. Additionally, we shall begin long-distance sermons through radio. There will also be real-time outreach, attended to by our adherents. If you see an opportunity to receive this mercy: Take it. We will accept you into our numbers gracefully." Master Sequoia then stood up, raising a fabric-wrapped hand and pointing to the camera.

"As for you vulgar apostates, you champions of destruction of our beautiful Earth and the gorgeous arbor that blesses it: Your time is coming to an end. A great reckoning is coming for you." Jairo scoffed.

"Idiots with guns and a few guys with superpower-""And you may assure yourself," the elder continued.

"That you are secure. For the establishment and their superhumans shall protect you. As all have seen in the news, Brother Gleditsia is of a strength capable of slaying the great beasts from the sea," he explained, gesturing to Gleditsia again. Gleditsia stayed still. He then gestured off to the side.

"And we have more than just him. While Brother Gleditsia is our most blessed by Wyrdwood, what fools would we be to only have one man blessed by it? Our Fathers and Mothers could rival any superhuman with their blessings." The camera panned over to the side, revealing seven people in their own leafy cloaks similar to Gleditsia's, though theirs bear hoods that obscure their faces. Different heights and physiques on all of them, but no other details.

"And of course, we have others blessed by Wyrdwood in different ways." Breaking out of the ground behind them were the same kind of bestial tree-men who dismembered May, who Leo had killed.

"And of course, our support from the Arboreal Senate is quite material." What further piled up behind them was a group of the titanic tree-men, each taking a knee as they erected from the concrete below, their glares fixated on the camera. The camera returned to Sequoia, who pointed with an arrogant grin, his hood having fallen back to more clearly reveal his greyed hairs and wrinkled visage.

"Know this, you iconoclasts and apostates. We will give you two weeks to prepare to either kneel before us and beg for mercy, or to prepare for the reprisal you truly deserve. From then on, we will begin surgical attacks until you all beg for mercy or are wholly eliminated." The footage cut to static, before fading back in to focus on the anchorwoman.

"As the video was playing, we did reach out to the Charlottesville Police Department and The New Sentinels for comment, but they as of yet have not responded, but we anticipate a timely one from both." The news broadcast moved on as the three heroes looked at each other, faces marred in concern. Not even ten seconds later, before any of them could find an appropriate statement to start with, the door into the common area was shoved open by a very familiar loud mouth and mustache.

"Did you see the fucking news?" Tancred asked, audibly tense enough that he was only one deep breath away from mitosis.

"Yeah," Chris verified, stepping past Jairo and May to make sure he was between them all.

"This is bad, should we get Leo?"

"No, I still need to do a meeting with him on other things because of a new development. And the fucking cat-" He interrupted himself, rubbing his face and causing his shades to bounce around above his knuckles.

"Going on a tangent. Everything's pissing me off. That news outlet didn't tell us a fucking thing!" He shouted out, leaning against the kitchen island.

"Maybe they're in on it," suggested Jairo.

"They're a cult. Maybe it's a situation like with the guy from that plane movie."

"It's possible," Tancred conceded, gaze fixed on the floor for a moment as he gathered his thoughts.

"But you would think we'd have some kind of way to detect moles like that." Chris spoke up.

"I don't… think it's all bad news. They threatened the county, right?" Tancred nodded.

"Yeah, they did."

"Wasn't Leo the one pushing the idea that there's some corruption in the state government? This is an excuse to talk to the governor, since stuff that's happening to the county and not just the city is up his alley." The agent straightened out, letting out a sigh.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right, I can work on a meeting with him. Speaking of, we have a meeting tomorrow at noon. Leo included. If one of you could send him a text or a note or something, I'd appreciate it." May cocked an eyebrow.

"Why not you?"

"I'll be a bit more frank with you than I should be," Tancred answered.

"I'm lucky I'm not under HIPAA so I can blurt this shit out. He hasn't done great on his psych eval. And he's absolutely more pissed off than normal. He's got a hair-trigger right now. Normally I'd respect the fact he's actually pretty reasonable, but…" he rubbed the back of his neck.

"You get a little uncertain when a teenaged boy hefts up several skyscrapers' worth of crab. You guys, he trusts more." She nodded, hands on her hips.

"Alright, I guess. I'll send him a text in a bit." He nodded.

"I appreciate one of you being reasonable." He sniffed at the air.

"What the Hell is burning?" The agent glanced around, before facing a smoke-piling pot of raviolis. He just stared. Jairo gasped, rushing back over to take the stove off the pot while the agent pinched the bridge of his nose.

"God forbid we do unethical experiments and turn a bunch of competent military vets into cyborgs or something. Can't even just hire two hundred regular guys with rifles and some courses on basic superpowers to counter. No, young adult soldiers with no realistic life experience!" The agent griped out, heading back through the door. May went through the fridge as the quiet came along, sighing.

"I'm going to just… make something quick and simple for Sam. Something less likely to burn." The redhead crossed his arms, before glancing back at the TV.

"…They have superhumans."

"Yeah," Jairo piped up.

"Like seven of them not counting Glad- Glut- The armor guy, from what I counted. Do… do you guys think we can take that many?"

"Leo on his own could handle Gleditsia," Chris assured.

"We can do it."

"But Leo's Leo, man!" Jairo pointed out as he loaded the pot into the sink, throwing his hands up exasperatedly afterwards.

"You've seen what he can do! He put a hole in the sky! None of us can do that!"

"Well," May spoke up.

"He also said they weren't as strong as Gleditsia. So maybe it'll balance out. But I think we've got what's important, regardless. We're not people who just quit that easily." Silence polluted the room, as all of them pondered if each of them truly believed that.