The Devil Within

Chapter 7

Federal Investigation Bereau Headquarters

"Agent Jones, there's a report of a Sephion in Quantihill Academy. Category One."

Agent Colin glanced up from his sleek laptop with a raised brow. Quantihill Academy? Isn't that wher-

"And?" Jones grunted. "Well he made an earthquake of a small magnitude, sir," the newly appointed resource agent replied. "Either way, we could use with a few or more class ones. Shake up the ground y'know?" Jones finished the cold cup of coffee on his desk and chuckled.

Colin certainly did not like the way Jones spoke about the kid as if they were some convenient tools, but remained silent. "But sir....when we brought him in, they discovered something odd, sir," the newbie continued. 

"Oh?" Jones flicked his eyes over. 

"We couldn't detect his abilities during the interrogation."

Jones slammed down his cold cup of coffee. "Impossible. They must've mistaken it." 

"Well..." the newbie said. "Charles never goes wrong in detection," he replied meekly.  

"So maybe he did this time. Big deal. His ability must've been rusty," Jones said calmly. "I guess it's time we did abit of expansion, don't you think?"

Colin wanted to give his colleague a good punch or two but refrained himself. That ass treats everyone like they're disposable. Colin sat there unmoving, his fingers paused on the keyboard.

"Colin, hey what's wrong, dude? Missing being in the field already?' Jones asked, pushing his roller chair to Colin's desk.

Colin gave a low whistle and smiled. The charming smile, lazy smile that he uses to maintain a low profile. "Of course, catching the bad guys is as equally thrilling as filling out these paperwork, yeah?"

Colin resumed staring at his screen and ignoring Jones' small talk, until the automatic door slid open and a man in a black suit walked in. All of them turned and nodded at him. He pushed up his glasses and walked towards Jones' and Colin's general direction. Even without speaking, he had an intimidating aura and there was no mistaking the bulk muscles that lay beneath his suit. His hair was greyed but it doesn't give a hint of his actual age.

"Colin," Henry said gruffly. Colin immediately stood up. 

"Yes, sir?"

He sat on Colin's desk and regarded him with a steely glare. "You heard about the latest Class One? The kid in school?"

"Yes, sir." In fact, last than a minute passed when they'd discussed it. 

The man leaned in and said, "When we found the boy, all the specialists at the scene could no longer detect a trace of his abilities."

So it wasn't just a matter of Charles' abilities getting rusty. 

"What do you make of this Colin? It's not the first time we've encountered this situation but there were no leads," Henry said.

Colin tried to appear neutral. "What happened to the boy?"

"It's the same this time. The user only suffered mild abrasions and some wounds. It looked like he got into a fight, and that was the same pattern as previous occurrences." Henry tapped his finger against his folded arms.

"All the monitoring devices were coincidentally destroyed. And I do not believe in coincidences." Henry turned to Colin again. "I know you've been keeping track of this situation. Let me know if you need any assistance." With that, he strode away, and the nervous tension in the air lifted. Colin didn't miss the admiring glance cast his way by the rookie. He intentionally avoided eye contact and looked down at his screen.