"Why would Verde attack us?!" Cried the Sun boy incredulously. If Verde had to put a name on his expression, he would probably go for 'betrayed'. He supposed that any regular person would feel guilty by now, but he was over such trivial feelings.
"For science, of course." He replied. As if there could be any other reason for his actions. "I need data on the way children handle Dying Will Flames, and you were the perfect test subject. It is ridiculously difficult to find prepubescent Flame users, so I took the opportunity when it presented itself." He supplied. He honestly didn't feel the tiniest bit guilty for his actions, but if he explained his purpose, perhaps he might be able to convince them to participate in new tests. A bit of emotional manipulation could also go a long way, especially with suggestible children.
"My companions and myself have been wrongfully cursed to live in the bodies of babies. You will probably not believe me, but-"
"We already know about the Arcobaleno curse." Cut off the white-haired Sky with a cocky smirk. That boy was probably slightly too old to participate in Verde's experiment, how dare he interrupt something he had no part in? "We know the Storm Arcobaleno."
Fon would regret interfering with science the next time Verde met him.
"In that case." He resumed. Perhaps bluntness would yield better results than emotions. "You know we're looking for a cure. Unfortunately we lack data on the way young bodies create and process Dying Will Flames. It differs from adult bodies significantly. I would appreciate it if you accepted to participate in a series of tests; I would even be willing to pay you for your efforts." He stayed polite and even dangled a prize in front of them. He could easily afford to give them some pocket money.
And if they still refused, he could always track them and force them into some more fights, this time with more sensors than he had managed to gather in so short a time to collect data. As though responding to his thoughts, his self-made cell-phone pinged to alert him that his search on their identities, place of residence and other records was complete.
He completely ignored the baffled looks he was getting from the five boys (could they not understand that he was willing to hire them? Or were they shocked that he would dare to ask after ambushing them?) to parse through the results. They were all rather remarkable.
The non-Flame-active blond was from Great Britain and had already participated in several invention contests and won. His robot -the one that had fought his own killer automatons- was especially noteworthy for someone so young.
The Storm was the heir of a small Mafia family that had ran away from home and had begun to make a name for himself as a hitman before he fell from the map. He apparently had a talent for explosives and made his own ammunitions.
The older Sky was also the heir of a Famiglia, although the Gesso were certainly higher on the food chain. He had been adopted from Japan after his Flame had been discovered, but there was not much on the boy himself. He seemed whimsical to the extreme, and rarely followed the code of the Mafia.
The Sun was from Japan as well. Verde was quite proud of his search engine, since it covered the whole world and could draw some links between one report and another, allowing him to expose the entirety of his target's life, even if they changed names or countries. It could hack into any database, including CCTV records and had the most efficient face-recognition program ever coded. The only reason he had not shared his invention with the world was that he liked to always have an edge over others. As such, Verde knew that the Sun came from Namimori in Japan, and had disappeared with two other boys, only to resurface in Italy with new surnames and to create a business. A business that currently hired several children, including the two Skies and the Storm. Perhaps there were other Flame-active test subjects to be found there.
Chapter 25: That worked for science
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