Chapter 343: Three questions

By the time that Brent and the Wind Esper had come back down from the upper floor, Kellen had gotten his hand through the window. The towel he’d grabbed before wrapped around his hand to prevent any further damage. It was kind of amazing that Kellen was able to do so.

It was a testament to his training and his new Class. Brent whistled, impressed, while the Wind Esper rushed over, worried for Kellen.

"Are you alright? How is your hand? You should have waited since we don’t have a Healer with us." He scolded, but Kellen let him. He was an Esper first, after all, and there were some things he could allow as a Guide first.

"I’m fine. I covered my hand with a cloth first so that it would hurt my hand less. I wasn’t foolish about it." Kellen told him, amused. "Now, come over and help me toss these gas bombs. There’s one for each of us to put out the window." Brent rushed over, giddy as he picked up one of the bombs. He winced, coughing even with his mask on as he picked it up.

"Jesus. How the hell were you able to carry these so calmly?! Even if with this mask, this is-"

"Poisonous blood, Brent. That’s that." Kellen explained simply, picking up a bomb and passing it to the Wind Esper. "You go first because then you need to start clearing the floors." Kellen told him. Kellen could feel how the Esper was watching him, but he didn’t argue with Kellen. Kellen watched as he moved towards the whistling window and shoved the bomb Kellen had given him outside.

They watched as it fell for a few seconds before Brent shifted on his feet.

"Come on, move over. I want to drop this one too so that I can go get the others." Brent urged and the Wind Esper moved. Brent shoved his bomb outside, chuckling as it fell before Kellen picked up the last bomb and shoved it outside.

The Wind Esper watched the last bomb fall before he moved to head down the stairs.

"I’m going to start on the safe room level. If I start at the top they’ll notice quicker that things are clear." He said. Kellen begrudgingly agreed.

"Fair enough. Brent, before you run off to Sergei, come with me to grab some of the weapons from the others. I was too focused on getting these bombs outside." Kellen admitted. Brent tsked, but followed Kellen upstairs.

Thankfully, it was uneventful, Brent covering Kellen’s back as he grabbed the three weapons from the hallway and tucked them under his arm. They then went to the bottom level and went to speak to Sergei, the other Esper, and the two Guides.

~

Everyone was grateful to see them. Relief on their faces as they spotted Kellen and Brent. Sergei’s expression didn’t shift until Brent and Kellen uncovered their faces.

"Everything okay?" He asked and Kellen frowned.

"Two casualties, three more intruders. We haven’t checked the safe room yet, but our friend is working on that floor first. We cleared out the three gas bombs that we found and also found a few unconscious members upstairs. We didn’t bring them down because they’re in a safe zone." Kellen explained. Sergei nodded.

"Great. Then, we’ll take the masks from you and go scan the area and see if we can help clear the area faster while you two guard the area." Sergei said. Kellen nodded while the Guides seemed nervous being left with Brent and Kellen, but Brent just chuckled.

"Upset that you didn’t get to go with us?" Brent joked and Sergei turned his piercing silvery gaze towards him.

"Don’t poke fun right now, Brent." Sergei told him seriously. "I am upset." He admitted, seemingly surprising the others who were listening. Kellen tried not to smile. Brent didn’t hide his.

"Oh, you sweet man." Brent said, before pulling the man down to kiss him. Sergei went easily, clearly surprising the other Guides, or, at least the ones that weren’t imprinted to scary S Class Espers. Those two sighed, shaking their heads. They got over the shock of Sergei’s response and were now seeing it for what it was.

An Esper helpless against his Guide.

"You handled it well." Kellen told him when Brent had let the man go. Kellen handed his mask over to the other Telekinetic. "I have guns for you as well." Kellen said, waiting for them to put on the masks and goggles before handing over the weapons. The two suited up, nodded to the others, and headed off to do their own sweep.

Kellen set up facing the door, his gun pointed and ready. Brent checked on the Guides, making sure that everyone was okay while one of the Guides who had been with them since the gym approached Kellen.

"Do you think they know something is wrong by now?" She asked and Kellen nodded.

"Yes. They can’t freeze time, they can’t cut off clocks, and Rhys isn’t an idiot. He might not be able to sense things when they come to me, but some of the things that have happened haven’t been connected to me." Kellen told them seriously. "We also have so many S Classes in the building that it would be crazy that one of them hasn’t noticed anything." Kellen said. She hesitated.

"What if...What if quite a few of them are spies?" She asked, clearly anxious. Kellen tightened his grip on the gun.

"What of it? There’s nothing we can do if that’s the case. We just have to make sure we make it out on the other side. Sure, we could have a lot of spies, but that doesn’t change the mission. In fact, they’d be revealing themselves too soon, in my opinion. If I was going to infiltrate and spy on people I wouldn’t make it so obvious so soon." Kellen said.

"Why are you so calm? What if we’re spies? Or anyone else here?" She was working herself up and Kellen turned to look at her. Really look at the Guide.

"Well, for starters, you’d be a terrible spy." Kellen told her. "They also tend not to work with Guides. Not to say that they couldn’t, but you don’t strike me as a spy. You’re too nervous, too panicked, and I don’t think you’re that good of an actor. As for the others..." Kellen cast a glance at the Guides who looked just as nervous as Kellen looked at them. "Guides are not the best spies. They’re too emotional, at least the ones that are in the city. No offense meant." Kellen explained. "My father is a city Guide, and he is more emotional than I am." Kellen explained.

"Kellen, you’re just abnormal. Don’t put that on just city Guides." Brent called from the room. "And he’s not the norm. He just wouldn’t be a spy, but he’s right that we don’t think any of you are spies. You’ve had too many opportunities to hurt us and have stopped. Considering we’re enemy number 1, that’d be really shitty of you as a spy." Brent added.

That seemed to calm the others.

"So him being this calm isn’t normal?" The Guide Kellen had been speaking to asked. Brent laughed, poking his head into the doorway and smiling at Kellen. His eyes were green, but just barely. Blue lingered, flickering.

"Part of it is experience, the other part is just who Kellen is. You get used to it over time. It’s how he’s able to keep a level head in the most absurd of situations, like this one. You want someone like Kellen in your group if something like this happens. His students, our students, are pretty close." Brent said proudly.

"Students?" One of the other Guides asked and Brent nodded with a grin.

"Yeah. Kellen and I are teachers. We teach Guides how to be badass and be able to defend themselves. We were officially Field Guides before we caught the eye of two Captains, but we did that by being Field Guides." Brent said with a wink. "Kellen caught Rhys’ eye when he was just an C Class Guide, now he’s an S Class." Brent bragged. Kellen scoffed.

"Doesn’t matter. We didn’t act on it for seven years." Kellen muttered, more annoyed about that now that he was engaged to Rhys. Seven years. Seven years of nights that he didn’t sleep curled up in his arms. Kellen let out a low growl, annoyed at himself.

Brent snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Ignore him. He’s adjusting to the Class change still, which makes him as moody as an Esper who’s low on guiding." Brent joked.

Kellen, worried, tried to check himself subconsciously but he couldn’t tell. Was he low? He didn’t think he was using his powers, but-

Kellen’s gun clicked, the door creaking open and with one hand Kellen shoved the Guide next to him as Kellen fired his gun with the other. He wasn’t aiming to kill, but aiming to injure and the person on the other side of the door swore loudly.

"Fuck! Who the hell shoots first!" They yelled and Kellen chuckled.

"The kind of person who doesn’t trust others." Kellen shot back.

"Kellen? Is that you? Shit, it’s me! Zaria!" Kellen only paused for a second.

"So? What should that matter to me?" Kellen shot back. He had to be cold because he couldn’t trust anyone right now.

"Fuck. Kellen, I’m not a traitor! I came back from a mission that Sergei sent me on to cause trouble for the police and I came back to the Guild in disarray. Thankfully a few of the Guilds that we are on good terms with answered my call, but I couldn’t get through to Captain Dina. I even tried the glass but she couldn’t see me. No one could. Then those gas bombs dropped from this floor and I tried to come up to the level where they dropped but no one was around and I couldn’t break through the glass." Her words sounded plausible, but Kellen was still on alert.

"Are you alone?" He asked.

"No. I’m with the team that came with Sergei. It’s a mixture of our people, and the S Classes that are staying at the Guild." Kellen let out a low breath.

What was something that Kellen and Zaria would know, but maybe someone else wouldn’t?

"What is Uncle Parker’s partner’s name?" He asked. Silence for a second.

"Ah. I see. Salem." Zaria answered. Kellen narrowed his gaze.

"What is the name of the child that was born recently?" Kellen asked and there was another pause.

"Nick’s been keeping that under tight wraps. What I do know is they had a lovely little boy with all ten fingers and toes." She said. Kellen relaxed slightly. That was all he knew as well, and she was right. Uncle Nick was being tight-lipped about the newborn.

"Who are they in a meeting with?" Kellen asked and Zaria sighed.

"The Saturn Guild for the most part with some Nemesis Guild and the...Peach Guild? I think?" Zaria added and Kellen sighed.

"Come in further." Kellen ordered. For now, it was probably Zaria, but Kellen wasn’t going to lower his gun any time soon.