Chapter 13 "Leon Alvarez"

Chapter 13
Leon Alvarez

[Knapp Mitsukai - Midnight]
[Sybil Magnus - Timeless]
[Danielle Medina - Forgotten]
[Logy Oib - Silent]
[Clear Dawn - Nova]
[Zack Kyota - Void]
[Jade Wolf - Gravity]
[Johnny Shiba - Atom]
[Skylar Lawrence - Starry]

For the past hour, the Dark Team has been waiting anxiously until they finally hear the radio coming in. 

“Midnight, Starry confirmed that Falcon did see her. The woman with silver hair,” Zack says on the radio. He sighs before he continues, “She never told him her name though. She disappeared before the S.W.S. could find out who she was.”

“Dammit,” Knapp mumbles. He cannot help but think about his brother who almost died not too long ago. “How is Owl? Is he OK?”

A long pause from Zack is making the rest of the team look at each other, both nervously and impatiently.

“Void, are you there?” Clear asks.

“I’m trying to figure out how to explain but… He literally came back from the dead. Starry said he got shot right in the head and still managed to come back alive. He even received the power of aquila, just like Falcon with the power of rush. The power to see anything within the range of thousands of miles.”

“It was Double God who granted him the power,” Knapp says with a frown on his face. “I don’t know what he is trying to do but he saved his life by giving him and Falcon a second chance. Even after… all those years…”

A sudden realization hits him hard. Has Hikyou-sama been staying with Kawaii’s heart this entire time…? Trying to save it as much as possible? He can barely leave the Heart, so is that why he gave the powers to Tezuka and Ryu to fight back? But… How long has he been doing this? I’ve been borrowing the power of the universe even though Kawaii is already dying… Was it the power of Double God all along? What about the Breakers--

“...And then he quit…”

“Excuse me?” Knapp snaps out of his deep thoughts.

“Ry-- I mean, Owl quit the S.W.S. He’s looking into getting a transfer to a different base.”

“I see…” Knapp says, not surprised at all.

“So, what do we do now?” Jade asks. “How are we supposed to keep an eye on your brother, your mother, and the S.W.S. at the same time?”

Before the Universe Warrior can answer his questions, Zack interrupts, “One more thing… Forgotten reported back to me earlier today about… well… Colonel Alvarez. He disappeared for a week without letting them know and then suddenly came back this morning.”

“That’s the first time he had done - wait a minute,” As Clear remembers, she grabs her tablet and is swiping her finger on it. “Didn’t he also disappear when the S.W.S. went to China back then?”

“Right! Forgotten is suspicious of him. We will send someone to follow him, but for now, we don’t want him to suspect us. As long as Falcon doesn’t know who we are and Owl is out of the picture, we shouldn’t be worried about anything. If Colonel Alvarez was one of the enemies, he shouldn’t touch Owl anymore - after all, he doesn’t want to be discovered either.”

“He’s right, you know,” Johnny says drowsily as he yawns. “Isn’t our original mission to discover the Locker? And find the Breaker and free Earth? Isn’t that why you gathered all of us… as your comrades? Doesn’t Kawaii still need your help?”

Knapp looks away from his team. He’s right. I’m definitely losing my way... 

“Void, thank you.” He shuts off the radio and then turns back to the Dark Team, using both his voice and sign language. “Clear, please start the search for my brother. As for the rest of you… train as hard and much as you can. As the Locker gets more souls, the stronger he becomes. I don’t want any of you to die on me… Not when I don’t have my powers anymore.”

~*~

Knapp closes the door quietly. He takes one more look at his dark bedroom only to find his girlfriend waking up and stretching. “Sorry to wake you up. I tried to be quiet as much as possible.”

“That’s ok,” Sybil smiles. “I’ve been awake for a little bit. I know how busy you are… especially when it comes to your brother. I understand how worried you are…”

“He’s out of danger right now. At least for now,” Knapp strips his shirt and pants before getting in bed with her. “Even the Locker knows that if Ryu gets killed suddenly right after he quits the squad, the suspicion will be aimed towards the entire S.W.S.”

Sybil cuddles up to him, placing her head on his bare shoulder. After a brief silence, she says, “Knapp, I… I miss the old you.”

“What?”

“You were the sweetest and gentlest guy I’ve ever met… Even with your flaws - your glasses and messy hair… I fell in love with you,” Sybil caresses Knapp’s chest. “Ever since you got the power of Universe Warrior, it’s… it’s just not the same anymore. Your focus… I mean, you changed your priorities.”

She looks up only to flinch by the dark look in Knapp’s eyes.

“I know that,” He says softly. He raises up his free hand, trying to draw out the power of the universe. “I had to change for everyone’s sake. Now that I lost my power, it’s taking me back to that time when I didn’t know who I was. Hell, back then when we first met, I… I was at the worst time of my life. I was barely getting through every single day… mainly because you were the only light in my life at that time.”

“That is not true… Even you should know that,” Sybil sits up and stares at him with a serious look on her face. “There has to be a reason why you were chosen by Kawaii. Out of all… zillions of people in this universe. With power or not, you’ve always been helping people. I just…” Tears start streaming down her face. “I hate that you have a huge burden on your shoulders… You… You have them… Clear, Jade, Zack, Johnny, and others… Me! And our baby!”

Knapp almost falls out of the bed. “What did you just say?”

“You heard me… I’m pregnant. I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want you to worry about me as well --” She stops when Knapp suddenly throws his arms around her.

When he pulls back, Sybil is relieved to see Knapp’s eyes being soft and sparkly, instead of being hard and dark. He asks, “How long?”

“I’m not sure. Probably eighteen weeks.”

Knapp flashes a grin as he pulls her back in his embrace. He places a light kiss on her earlobe. “I love you.”

~*~

FEW MONTHS LATER

The Sunny Wing Squad has been quiet since Ryu quit. Clear has not heard anything important back from Zack or Danielle except occasional updates about where Tezuka and Sky would train. Ryu’s whereabouts were hard to find because he never told either Zack or Danielle where he went.

I guess it’s my fault. Knapp thinks to himself. He suddenly gets punched in the face, falling to the floor. Ow! I forgot we were sparring for a second.

“Oh shit! I’m so sorry!” Logy exclaims in concern as he runs over to Knapp. 

“No, no. That’s ok! I just got distracted for a second.” Knapp laughs light-heartedly, rubbing his throbbing face and using sign language at the same time.

“No, it’s not ok! I could have killed you!” Logy’s brown eyes are getting teary as he takes Knapp’s hand, helping him to get up from the floor. “You’re about to be a father anytime soon!”

The Universe Warrior scratches the back of his head nervously. “Yeah, thanks for the reminder.” 

I guess there’s no turning back now. Why should Logy return the same feelings that I’ve been having for him for a long time now --

He jumps at a loud announcement coming from the speaker on the ceiling. “Knapp! I need you in the bridge, please.”

Logy tilts his head a little in confusion and asks in sign language. “What’s wrong?” He stops using his mind reading power right away. “I swear I didn’t use my power to read your mind!”

“Err…” Knapp raises an eyebrow at how red Logy’s face turns. He points a finger at the ceiling. “I just heard Clear on the speaker…”

“Oh, that was what startled you?” Logy resists an urge to smack himself in the face in embarrassment.

The way he acts… and how red he looks… Did he read my thoughts? On purpose or was it an accident? Knapp is about to open his mouth when he gets interrupted by Clear on the speaker. “I repeat, Knapp, I need you to come to the bridge, please.”

“Sounds urgent. We better get going.” He tells Logy.

~*~

“First of all, I found Ryu.” Clear claps her hands once. She grins at the Dark Team, except Sybil who is currently resting in her bed. “He has been living in Austin for the past three months. With his French girlfriend, of course.”

“Of course, that makes sense. He doesn’t trust anyone from the S.W.S… not even Tezuka,” Knapp says.

“At least, he’s several hundred miles from the S.W.S,” Jade says. “Speaking of which, did they ever find a replacement for Ryu?”

“That’s what I was going to tell you. Just a few minutes ago, Danielle and Zack reported to me that Garnet Stone is their new sniper. Her codename is Dove. In two weeks, they will go to Oma, Aomori… in the north of Japan.”

“Japan? Aren’t they going into their enemy’s territory?” Knapp asks in concern. “The way the Sunny Wing Squad operates… none of it makes any sense. Even the missions in China and France seemed to be random, and the powerful enemies appeared and seemed to target Ryu and Tezuka every time.”

Clear pulls up a large hologram of a monitor, showing two large words in the center. “Big Five.” She continues after a brief silence as if the Dark Team is waiting for her to say something more, “It was first founded twenty-seven years ago right after the Nuclear War started. Their names are…”

The names are being displayed on the monitor for the Dark Team to read:

BIG FIVE

NAME - CODENAME
Shishi - Master Key
Hakai - Silent Fighter
Jikan - Time Traveler
Kasai - Dragon Warrior
Rin - Air Healer

Knapp narrows his eyes at the names. “So, the time traveler’s name is Jikan. That’s a first. And…” He pauses as he seems to be in deep thoughts but he is more than sure that everyone is thinking the same thing. They had already met Hakai, Jikan, Kasai, and Rin… but…

Who the hell is Shishi?

“For the long months…” Clear gives an exaggerated sigh but at the end, she smirks widely. “I broke through every password, firewall, security, and… I finally cracked both S.W.S. and Big Five’s computer systems. Don’t you know… they’re exactly the same. Danielle and her team were fooled. Even we were fooled.”

“Colonel Leon Alvarez is Shishi. Danielle’s suspicions were right all along,” Knapp says. His smirk pretty much matches with Clear’s. “I believe we found the Locker.”

He turns to Johnny and Jade. “You go and meet Zack and Danielle. Clear will give you the location. She is staying here to watch over Sybil. And…” 

He glances at Logy. “You’re coming with me. We need to check on my mother one more time. And then somehow convince my brother to join us.”

~*~

Normally, if Knapp still had his universe power, he would’ve flown from Spain to New York easily on his own. This time, they took a mini space jet which was pretty fast - a few hours faster than a normal airplane.

They have been walking for a half hour, heading straight for Sapphire’s apartment. The conversation between them is in the entire American Sign Language without using their voices.

“You know that our conversation from the training room is not finished… Right?” Knapp glances his brown eyes at Logy, expecting him to turn red once again. Except this time, his deaf comrade is starting to look annoyed.

“Why do you care? You have Sybil and about to have her baby.” Logy turns his head away from the Universe Warrior, hoping to end the conversation.

Knapp moves in front of Logy, stopping him from walking any further. He waits patiently until the deaf man looks back at him. “Well, you invaded my thoughts… How much did you get from my head?”

Logy does not say a word right away as he is thinking carefully about what to say. As long as Knapp is with Sybil and is about to be a new father, there is no reason for Logy to wreck their relationship solely because of his own feelings…. Even though Knapp may also have feelings for me.

“‘There’s no turning back…’ That was only what I caught,” He says half truthfully. He has not looked at Knapp’s face yet. He does not want to see what kind of reaction he is probably having.

A couple of warm fingers lift Logy’s chin, forcing him to look at Knapp’s face. He shivers lightly at how close their faces are to each other. 

When I still had the power of the universe, I could tell when you were reading someone’s mind. There was some kind of energy leaking from your eyes. But… Knapp’s face is getting dangerously closer. Barely enough for their lips to touch. When I lost it, I realized that there’s no way to tell. That’s how powerful you can be. Even if you’re lying to me or not, I’ll repeat what I was thinking back then.

“No.” Logy’s breath is getting shaky as Knapp’s words are being poured into his head.

Knapp continues, My feelings for you… They are--

“Stop.” Closing his hazel eyes, Logy pushes Knapp a little bit with his hands on the other’s shoulders. His head is feeling very hot, and he is pretty sure that his face is completely red by now. “Please stop. I… I need you to stop playing with my feelings. You’ve been doing it ever since we first met. It was fun at first but now it’s just… cruel and unfair.”

Knapp stares at him in surprise for a minute. He moves a little bit away from Logy. He runs his hand through his black hair, sighing lightly. “...I know. But I’m not going to apologize for what I said to you. Regardless of what you heard from my head, you know it will not change anything. I will care for you, always.”

A look of annoyance is back on Logy’s face, which makes Knapp chuckle a little bit. He walks faster past him. After a few fast steps, he freezes on the spot. He asks using his voice, “Why is the police here?”

“What?” Knapp catches up to him. His heart sinks at the sight of the several police cars and police men talking to people outside his mother’s apartment.

“That whole apartment building.” Logy points at it. “From what people here are thinking… Everyone in the apartment died.”

“No…”

“What do we do now--” Logy turns back to Knapp only to freeze right on the spot. 

Knapp follows Logy’s glance until he turns his head around. What they are looking at is a transparent figure. A familiar female person. Endless chain that is attached to a metal collar around her neck.

“Logy, can you see her too?” Knapp asks just to make sure that he is not imagining anything.

“Yes…” Logy slowly says.

“Knapp… Is that you…?” She asks in both fright and surprise. “You… You can’t be here--” Suddenly, she gets pulled fast towards the sky.

“Mom!” Knapp screams. 

He is about to run after her but another long chain stops him by wrapping his body. He falls to the street, yelping in pain. He quickly glances at Logy to find him in the same state.

“Ah, Universe Warrior. I’ve finally caught you.”

“L-Leon… The Locker…” Logy says nervously.

Leon rolls back the chains, pulling Knapp and Logy across the street towards himself. “I was expecting Ryu Mitsukai, but… I didn’t expect that his older brother, the famous Universe Warrior, would be here.”

Knapp’s entire body literally trembles at how close Leon is. His and Logy’s lives are at Leon’s mercy now. He is more worried about Logy than himself so he is waiting for Leon to say something more.

Leon squats down closer to Knapp, displaying a smirk on his face. “Ryu has been hiding ever since he left the S.W.S, so… do you know where he is?”

Knapp is silently praying that Logy is reading his mind right now. Logy, do not do anything. Do not attempt to break the chains. Say nothing. Otherwise he will take our souls. 

“Refusing to tell me?” Leon grabs Knapp’s shirt, pulling him closer to his own face. “Maybe I should take your soul instead. I’m actually curious how much power your soul will give to my precious chains…” He points his forefinger up at the sky .”Or… should I take your friend’s?”

“No, wait…” Knapp starts to say. “I know where my brother is…”

Leon is waiting patiently.

“Like hell I’ll tell you!” Knapp spits at the Locker’s face. Leon grabs his neck harshly with one hand and lifts him off the floor.

Is he crazy?! Logy thinks to himself.

“You’re really testing my patience,” Leon says angrily, as he places his free hand on Knapp’s chest. “I was hoping to get Ryu’s soul but yours will be sufficient.”

“For what --” Another chain is being shot out of Leon’s palm and pierces through Knapp’s chest effortlessly. Heavy blood is being poured out of the large wounded hole on his chest as well as his slightly open mouth.

Leon flashes a big grin but after a minute has passed, the grin fades away from his face. He tosses Knapp’s lifeless body away. “Where the hell is your soul?”

He turns to Logy, smirking. “Doesn’t matter. Your turn, then.”

As he takes a step, he notices a bright white glow from behind. Even Logy has already stopped tossing around trying to break the chains. They are speechless.

Knapp is floating a couple of feet above the street. His eyes no longer have pupils. Instead they are also glowing in a white light. 

“H-how…? Aren’t you powerless because of my chains?” Leon asks. Suddenly, he gets kicked in the head so hard that he gets sent flying across the street for several hundred yards, narrowly missing the buildings and vehicles along the way.

“Phew.” Logy lands safely on the ground after giving the Locker a strong kick. He broke out of his chains while Leon was distracted by Knapp’s floating body. He glances at the large wound hole, which is getting smaller and smaller. Is he being healed…? By who? Or is it because he’s still the Universe Warrior, even though he doesn’t have the power anymore?

He is reaching out his hand for Knapp but stops. He is not sure if he is supposed to touch him while he is in an odd state like that. Before he knows it, he gets hit by a large lightning bolt. He stumbles back a little bit but he refuses to let himself fall. Ugh!

“You punk!” Leon roars as he stomps his feet onto the hard floor after leaping all the way from where he crashed. He wipes his bloody mouth with the back of his own hand. Lightning bolts start sparking over the other hand. “Your soul is mine for sure!” He yells at Logy as he points his open palm at him.

Long chain comes rushing out of the Locker’s hand, heading straight towards the shunned deaf warrior.

Only to be stopped just an inch away from Logy’s chest by Knapp’s glowing hand.

“...Huh?” Leon blinks in confusion. He did not even see Knapp’s body moving. Has he always been that fast?

“He is Knapp’s precious. I can’t allow him to die.” Knapp’s mouth starts moving, but he sounds completely different than before.

“Who… who are you?”

A big grin is being formed on Knapp’s face. “I’m the Heart of the Fifth Universe.”

Leon widens his eyes in shock. “I-Impossible…” Just as he gets over the confusion and shock, he starts chuckling lightly. “That’s right… You chose this guy to be the Universe Warrior… But I don’t get it… when my chains caught him, no soul came out at all. Have you been occupying his body this entire time? Are you just keeping him alive?”

Silence except the chain make a loud thud when they hit the ground after Knapp drops it. His soulless and glowing eyes shift towards Leon without turning his head.

“I… My brother and I had been searching for you for a long time… Even I… for the past decades…” Leon scoffs as more chains emerge out of his body. “He knew you were here all along. Hiding somewhere on this stupid, pitiful, weak planet. Why are you revealing yourself now?”

Logy can only catch one-way conversation. While he can read Leon’s mind and lips, he is unable to read Knapp’s at all.

“I’m done.” Knapp says emotionlessly. “The actions of yours and your brother’s… You’ve destroyed so much… killed so many… All because you are so desperate to find me. What will you do if that happens?”

Leon suddenly throws his head back as he roars into laughter. “Why, of course… I’m going to destroy you! I don’t care if that means everyone, including me, can die! For what you and Hikyou-sama did to us… the countless number of the Lockers… I won’t forgive you… Ever! Now tell me… where the hell are you?”

Just as Knapp opens his mouth, Logy suddenly yells, “No!” as he rushes off towards Leon. “I refuse to let you find the location of the Heart!”

Knapp’s glowing eyes are no longer emotionless. Instead, fresh tears start coming out of them and sliding down his face. This is why Kawaii is so fond of the Dark Team. Especially Logy.

Leon beams a big grin on his face as he is powering up several lightning bolts around one of his fists. He tosses them at Logy fast.

Only to miss him. “What?”

Logy has jumped high into the air.

Who the hell is this guy? He doesn’t seem to be from Earth…! Either way, he can’t move in the air… Now’s my chance! Leon takes off into the air before sending another set of chains and lightning bolts at the same time to the deaf warrior. 

He stops quickly in the air, hovering right after Knapp suddenly gets between them and creates an invisible barrier, which deflects away the chains and lightning bolts.

Logy lands safely on his own feet and then looks back up at two men in the air. They… They are flying?

“You know that there’s nothing or nobody that can save you now. My chains already sealed this planet… Your heart and soul are no longer connected,” Leon says in annoyance. “Why can’t you let them go? I’ll just take their souls so they are no longer in pain --”

Knapp interrupts the Locker by landing a powerful punch on his face, creating a small shockwave across the cloudy sky.

“Dammit…!” Leon hisses in pain. His scowling face is very bloody at this point. This… I’ll find it. I promise, Taichi! I’ll destroy everything!

Logy begins to hear everyone’s thoughts. It turns out that the civilians of New York City have finally noticed two guys hovering in the sky. He stops using his energy, leaving himself with pure silence.

“You’re finished,” Knapp says emotionlessly once again. “Either way… We are going down together. I’m not going to let you take more souls.”

“You’re going to finish me off?” Leon scoffs. He points his forefinger at the thick, large, and long chains in the sky. “Don’t you know what it means… If you kill me right here, the chains will not be broken. Your heart and soul will never be reconnected again. You will die… along with everyone in this universe!”

“That’s fine with me.”

No.

I’m ok with it.

No, I’m not ok with it.

“Kawaii. G-get out,” Knapp hisses angrily as he grabs his head with one of his own hands. His eye pupils are back.

Leon raises an eyebrow in confusion.

You found the Locker. Isn’t our purpose to stop him?

We can’t kill him. Not yet… Not until we find a way to break the chains.

Time is running out. Double God has been fading away everyday. The Breaker… He has not discovered his power just yet.

“Please… Please give me more time,” Knapp almost pleads. He briefly glances at Leon and yells, “Go! Or else you will die here!”

“Tch…” Leon scowls and starts to fly slowly. “Very well… We will meet again when the end of the universe is here!”

And then he launches himself through the sky.

Knapp manages to carefully land on the floor only to collapse to his knees. He looks up to find an angry child form of the Fifth Universe, who is slowly disappearing into nothingness.

You let him get away.