RB Chapter 177 Reunited

Eric entered a room, it must have been a living room with a balcony connected to it, a posh apartment. The owner probably used to a big wig. The door, which had been made of composite materials was nowhere to be seen, probably having turned to rust. With every step he took inside, dust rose, or was pushed away from his feet.

Sally was the one who had offered a suggestion as to who the drones could have belonged to. She had been walking right in front of him and had attracted the two women's attention. They had been near the due when they had been contacted so they became the first to arrive.

'Its going to rain.' Eric thought when he saw the clouds, his vision passing Njibwa to gaze at the sky. 

"Sally, its surprising that you two are the first to arrive." Njibwa said calmly, not at all surprised, though she was still curious.

"We were nearby." Sally answered, moving to stand beside Njibwa on the balcony.

"Where is Monki?" Eric asked the woman next to him. He didn't want to take the risk of asking Njibwa as that might lead to bickering. Right now, finding Leah was priority.

"Monki said they are on the 87th floor." The woman revealed. Eric didn't grill her anymore, instead he walked until he reached the place where the walls ended and the balcony started, to gaze out and enjoy the view. The climb had served to calm him down considerably. If he was still the same as he had been before the climb, he would have headed to the 87th floor alone.

As he leaned his back onto the wall, he manipulated the cells in his eyes and activated a way to see further. He didn't put all his weight in the wall as he felt its fragility by passing a minute electric current through it. The wall was conductive since technology used to be booming back then. Everything practically ran on energy, this building must have been one of the smart buildings, run by an AI.

'Three drones, but what's the goal? Could it be that the city lord wants to monitor our every move so that his partners can prepare a suitable trap?' He wondered, his hands crossed on his chest.

Eric closed his eyes and proceeded to stimulate a few of his cells to produce electricity. He channelled it through the walls and tried to see how far it would go. Wherever it passed, a mental image of the inner structure of the walls was being constructed in his mind. 

The electricity spread until it covered all the surfaces of this room. Eric felt the structure and concluded that it still had a few years of weathering before it would collapse. 

While in the midst of his exploration, he felt something touch one of the walls, acting as an outlet through which the electric current entered them. It was a person, since the electricity was at a very low voltage, the person who had touched the wall, didn't feel it entering them.

Eric abruptly opened his eyes, the someone who had sucked away the current was an arrival, another team was about to make its entrance.

Two people entered the room, Elena and Chloe. Eric breathed in a sigh of relief upon seeing that they were okay, with not a scratch on their bodies. 

He didn't move from his position since they moved towards him the moment he was noticed. He noticed Chloe's eyes lighting up upon spoting him,  a sign that she was happy to see him. 

"So where is Monki?" Elena looked around as if searching for something before posing that question when her gaze returned to his. 

"Apparently he's on the 87th floor." He satisfied her curiosity. 

"Is that information reliable?" Chloe questioned. Eric could see her staring intensely at one of the two people on the balcony,  Njibwa,  with a gaze of distrust. 

"Monki himself said it." 

"What!?" Elena was so shocked that she shouted out causing embarrassment to color Eric's cheeks. 

"For real?" Chloe picked up where Elena had left off since she had been paralysed by the shock. 

"Yes. And he also confirmed that Leah is doing well." He added. 

After getting over the shock, the two stood by his side and waited for the other team, the team composed of the captain and his driver to arrive. They didn't get anxious since they could track them. They were getting close. 

"Let's not waste any time." Njibwa turned around and said to them. Eric saw that her gaze when looking at him was clear without the earlier prejudice. That caused him to wonder if she was scheming something. 

The captain didn't even have any time to rest because the moment he entered the room,  the others were making their way out to continue on. 

"Couldn't they have waited for me to rest a bit?" His grumble was heard by everyone but they chose to ignore him. 

'He acts too childishly.' Eric shook his heading disapproval. 

This time since they knew the actual location,  they sped up considerably, no wasting even a minute. 

Among this group of people,  Eric, Elena and Chloe eventually took the lead as they wanted to be reunited with Leah most. Eric expected Njibwa to grumble,  but her expression was serene aside it didn't matter. 

Eric knew that the treachery of humans was the top most danger when you were exploring the wilderness, so he raised his guard. Njibwa was acting too abnormally. Elena and Chloe were too focussed on finding Leah that they had failed to notice this point.

But even with all that cautiousness, there was something else...a bundle of other emotions that were causing his heart to almost jump with every step that he was taking.

Nervousness, excitement and anxiety. With every step that he was taking the bundle of these emotions was getting stronger and stronger. Anticipation was also there...nearing Leah again in this hectic day was something that was causing these emotions. A day which would have been another routine one where they took on missions had turned into one where they had to rescue her.

This day had made Eric feel that even with all the power that he held, he was powerless. That left a sour taste in the mouth. He had been reduced to praying and wishing, with no other choice in sight.

Eric felt his steps starting to feel heavy all of a sudden, he even started to feel that he shouldn't meet her as he hadn't managed to save her.

A hand patted him on his shoulder saving him from the despair that was his mind. The hand dragged him away from his thoughts and be turned to look at his side only to see those light blue pupils gazing at him with concern. Eric took in a deep breath and then he smiled to tell her that everything was okay.

He continued on with renewed vigor, making sure not to thing depressing thoughts. He simply sped up more, running along stairs, jumping through holes in the ceiling, though sometimes they had to save people in their group when the walls or floor crumbled without warning. After a few lessons, Eric found himself able to tell between the loose and intact structures by sending electricity through the walls. It was so handy that they managed to avoid many more dangerous places.

As he led the way, eyes closed and constructing a mental image of wherever they stepped by charging the particles of anything his feet got into contact with, something else entered his vision with clarity. A pair of lifeforms were above. He confirmed that they were lifeforms when he instantaneously activated and withdrew his domain. It had happened all in a fraction of a second.

"They are above us. The floor a love is sturdy so we don't have to worry a out it collapsing." He said to the group after opening his eyes. Blue arcs sparked in his dark blue pupils when he opened them.

-----

Leah was hugging her knees to her chest as she sat on the ground waiting. Her gaze was out the window, where the clouds had gathered and thunder was rumbling. She was in a daze, her gaze was unfocussed. Her emerald SYMOR was covering her body, all her wounds, internal and external had healed, though she had had to eat a voluminous amount of fruit. Right now though, she had run out of energy, so she basically couldn't engage in combat. She would have gone down with Monki when he had chosen to meet Njibwa but she couldn't as she had decided to save her energy.

"I am going to be imprisoned by the Black Diamond Group." Monki said after some few minutes of silence. Ever since he had come back, he had also been occupied by a few thoughts of his own, so this was the first time any semblance of a word came out if his mouth.

That statement dragged Leah out of her thoughts and her gaze moved to him. He was leaning against a wall, his arms crossed on his chest. Leah felt that he didn't appear to be depressed at all. He radiated an aura of relief.

"What about those who plotted against you? Will they allow it?" Leah asked.

"It doesn't matter as long as they don't kill me. But I speculate that they will try their luck when I am being transported back." Monki had also figured out that that would be their only chance.

"So those who have come will have to protect you." Leah concluded.

Boooom!

Thunder exploded in the sky sending out a sound that almost shattered their eardrums. Leah's face paled at the sound. It was terrifying! She even had the illusion that lightning might strike her dead.

"This weather is bad. It looks like it will start raining before we even evacuate from the building. Tch!" Monki frowned at the grey clouds.

Footsteps entered their ears before Leah could continue with the conversation. A few figures burst into the room. Leah hurriedly stood up and went on alert as she didn't exactly trust those not of her team. Since Monki had met Njibwa, she had been of the thought that Njibwa's team were going to be the first to come. They weren't exactly trustworthy as she had sensed some hostility from the woman during their earlier interactions.

But upon seeing the people who had entered first, she froze, her mouth hanging open as if in disbelief.

Eric, upon seeing the otherwise okay, but dazed Leah felt a burst of joy invade his heart. He half ran towards her and took her into his embrace, squeezing her to him as if wanting to confirm that she was real.

She was real all right. He could feel her heartbeat, her skin upon his through the SYMORs and the wetness on his shoulder. She was crying. Eric panicked for a moment when that fact sunk in before he started patting her in the shoulder. Everything else, from his thoughts to the surroundings was removed from his mind, instead he was only left with the thought to comfort her.

"I missed you. I thought I was going to die. I was scared..." All these words cane from Leah. She said them in between tears. Eric could feel her vulnerability through them. She was still a fragile teenage girl after all. This life and death situation had been too much for her. She had been maintaining a cold facade all this time, but all this had affected her.

Eric felt her body trembling in his arms, but he couldn't think of anything else to do, opting to keep patting her back.

"Leah, there are many people watching." Eric heard Elena's voice behind him. Those words acted as a trigger of some kind, because the moment they were said, Leah jumped away from him like a frightened bunny and blushed furiously, her eyes swimming around.

"Elena...its...good to see you." Leah said softly before jumping into her friend's embrace, hiding her face from embarrassment.

Eric scratched the back of his head. A blush had also appeared at his cheeks and he was spotting a silly grin.

"Monki, it looks like you are well. I thought you would look more dead." Njibwa taunted. She headed directly towards him, her surbodinates quietly blocking off all the escape routes.

"There is no need for such caution. I am not thinking of running away." Monki held up his hands.

"Why did you kidnap Leah?" Eric didn't even realise that his tone had become frigid. His face was also a mask of coldness.

"I wanted to lure you into a trap, but it looks like I was also played. Brat, you should consider yourself lucky. Even you wouldn't have survived a blast from a laser cannon." Monki said.

Eric vanished from his position, instantly appearing before the man, his arm pressing his neck like he wanted to strangle him.

"Remember this, you kidnapped a member of my team. The only reason you are returning in one piece is because you also saved her life." Eric had electrical sparks lighting up allover his body, his eyes resembled those of the thunder god, having so many sparks in them that they looked as if they were made of lightning.

"Enough. Monki saved your friend. Besides I promised him that he will live." Njibwa shouted, her face had become cold, and she seemed to be in the verge of fighting.

Eric moved his gaze towards hers, though she didn't look away, she wasn't scared at all. He let go since he had already decided not to kill him and walked away allowing the surbodinates to restrain him.

"We will rest for a bit...probably until the rain clouds pass, or it stops raining." Njibwa suggested.

Eric took a seat somewhere and leaned against the wall. He bent his knees, rested his head on the knee caps and closed his eyes. He felt someone come near him. Since he had an idea on who it was, he didn't open his eyes.

Though, there is one thing Eric never forgot, and that was the weird atmosphere he had felt when he had been climbing the skyscraper. Though it had vanished when he had exceeded the area having the vines, he still remembered it vividly.

"Eric and I noticed that there was something weird about the vines when we were climbing up. Did anyone else notice it?" Sally's question caused him to open his eyes and look at the expressions of the others.

"Yes." Njibwa was the first to answer.

"Something might have been watching us, but it didn't take action." The captain was the next.

"Did you also notice that even though, the leaves appeared to be different, they all had the same structure?" This question dragged everyone's attention towards Sally.

"What are you implying?" Eric questioned.

"All those vines, might be connected to a single organism." Sally answered, causing many expressions to shift, some more drastically than the others.