Seraphina, Marlize, Zari, Amy and Otto arrive at John house.
"So he's still asleep." Otto says.
"But it's already noon." Zari says.
"He's always like this whenever I ask him to go to the mall." Seraphina says.
"Guess this is the first time is it?" Zari says.
"Nope." Seraphina says.
Seraphina begins to call John. John answers.
"Uhhh.. hello?" John says while drowsy.
"Hey, remember we are hanging out with Zari and her friends. Did you forget?" Seraphina asks.
"Ohh.. right. To the mall. Actually, I can't today. My place is a mess right now. It will take all day to clean." John says.
Seraphina rolls her eyes. "Didn't you say that last time? You think that will work again?"
"But this time I'm serious. You can go without me." John replies.
Seraphina walks up to John's door and rings the doorbell.
"Don't tell me... YOU"RE ALREADY OUTSIDE!" John yells as Seraphina moves the phone away from her ear.
Seconds later, John swings the door widen open with a gloomy face.
"What?" Seraphina smiles. "We were waiting for you. come on, we can help you clean."
Seraphina enters the house and sees it clean. She looks at John with an eyebrow up.
"Ummm..." John trails off.
"Messy huh? No way for you to get out of this one." Seraphina says with a smile.
"Ugh!!! Fine. You got me." John says.
*Mall*
John looks disappointed that he had to go to the mall.
"Cheer up. At least it won't be me alone who's gonna shop." Seraphina says.
"That's what I'm afriad of. It's gonna take longer than usual." John says.
Zari gives a kiss on John cheek. John gets surprised by this and backs up a bit. Seraphina looks jealous and stares at Zari.
"What was that for?" John says as he has his hand on his cheek while blushing.
"Well, I wanted to make sure your awake. Besides, everyone needs a wakeup kiss once in their life." Zari says with a smile.
"Y-Yeah sure." John smiles.
Seraphina looks angry and John notices it.
"What?"
"Nothing." Seraphina says as she looks away.
Otto, Marlize and Amy chuckle.
"Remember Seraphina. Time is ticking." Zari says as she winks.
Seraphina avoids eye contact with Zari.
"Hey Otto, why not take John with you. You guys could use some guy time while the girls and I do our usual thing." Zari says.
"Got it. Let's go John." Otto says.
"Sure." John says as he follows Otto.
"Let's go to the clothing store." Marlize says.
*Clothing Store*
Amy and Marlize are checking the hoodies sections. Seraphina and Zari were looking at the shirt section.
"So when do you plan on telling John you like him?" Zari asks all of a sudden.
Seraphina looks surprised. "I-I don't know what you mean." while hiding her embarrassed face.
"Oh really? Then you don't mind if I take him for mys-" gets cut off.
"NO!" Seraphina shouts.
People look at Seraphina and Zari. Seraphina looks embarrassed by her out burst.
"You do like him. It's okay. You can tell me." Zari says with a smirk.
"Fine! I do. But I don't want to ruin our friendship." Seraphina admits.
"Ahhh! Make sense. But you know, the longer you wait, John will be taken by somebody else." Zari states.
"I know. But I don't know how to tell him. Or when the time is right." Seraphina says.
"If it makes you feel better, I don't have feelings for John. I just like teasing him." Zari says.
"You don't!" Seraphina says with a bit of happiness.
Zari looks at her with an eyebrow up. Seraphina calms herself down.
"You were a bit too happy there. I guess you don't anyone to take him, do you?" Zari asks.
Seraphina stays quiet.
"I suggest you figure out your feelings for him. Because if you don't, you'll regret it later on in life." Zari states.
'But how do I tell John? Does he even feel the same for me?' Seraphina thinks while looking at a shirt.
*Warehouse*
Otto grabs a set of tools and a box with tubes.
"You really need that?" John asks.
"Of course. I do a lot. Besides, it keeps me occupied." Otto responds.
"I see. So, how do feel about being the only cripple in your group?" John asks.
"It's alright. At first, I didn't feel safe or trusted them. I thought the rest would treat me like trash and hurt me for doing something bad but I was wrong. They are the best of friends anyone would ask for. Even for a cripple like myself." Otto says with a smile.
"You're lucky to have them treat you like equal." John says. "I only have Sera."
Otto looks at John. "John, when do you plan on telling Seraphina about your ability?"
John looks surprised by Otto question. "W-What do you mean? I'm a cripple." John says nervously.
"John, there's no point hiding it from the rest of us. Me, Zane, Zari, Marlize, Amy and Marik know that you aren't a cripple." Otto says.
John looks surprised. "What?"
"We were able to tell because of what I made." Otto says.
"What do you mean?" John asks curiously.
"We have contact lens to see pass through lies." Otto states as he points at his eye. "If you thought I was gonna say that we were able to see auras, that isn't the case. Although, I have been working on them for quite some time. Of course there's are some failures but it's a work in progress." Otto says.
John tries to say something but doesn't.
"John, we only pretend we didn't know because when Seraphina said you were a cripple, she was telling the truth but we were still skeptical about it. And when you told Amy and Marik you were a cripple, we saw the lie right away. Marlize signaled Marik and Amy to role with it. So you never told Seraphina about your ability huh?" Otto asks.
"You can't tell her. Okay?" John says with a bit of anger.
"Then how would you be able to date her if you don't tell her the truth?" Otto asks.
John angry face turn into a blush right away. "I have no idea what your talking about." John says.
"Heh! You know Zane did message the group chat that he would like to see the Ace of Wellston and the 'cripple' to go out." Otto says with a bit of a laugh.
John looks embarrassed. "Well, she is pretty and she's been there for me. She doesn't treat me like trash and doesn't judge me based on how strong or weak I am." John says.
Otto puts his hand on John shoulder. "Let the actually cripple give you some advice. If you don't tell her, everything you built will fall into pieces. The only way to prevent that is to tell her the truth and save your friendship with Seraphina. Who knows what could happen. It might be the push you need to admit that you two like each other." Otto says as he removes his hand from John shoulder.
Otto carries the box and tools and walks to the register. John looks at Otto and looks at the ceiling. 'Is he right? Maybe I should tell her.'
'MONSTER'
John shakes his head. 'No, I can't. But, maybe I should give it some time.'
*2 hours later*
"Oh thank god, that's done." John says in relieve.
"It wasn't that bad." Seraphina says.
"I got what I needed." Otto says.
"Same here." Marlize says.
"And I bought some binoculars and a hardshell case. Otto, you think you can improve these binoculars?" Amy asks.
"Oh yeah. But I'm gonna need your help with the metal. You do like it customized in your taste." Otto says.
"I know." Amy responds.
"Jackets, shirts, jeans, pants and extra masks. Oh boy! We really gonna need these extra clothes when we go out." Zari says.
"Good thing your brother lend you some money." Amy says.
"No kidding." Zari responds.
Seraphina sees Remi, Blyke and Isen.
"Hey Remi! Blyke! Isen!" Seraphina calls out.
The three turn around to see Seraphina, John, Zari with three other people. The trio walk towards them.
"Hey Seraphina. Zari." Remi says happily. "What are you guys doing here at the mall?" Remi asks.
"Oh we were hanging out with Zari and her friends." Seraphina responds.
Remi, Blyke and Isen look at Marlize, Amy and Otto.
"Hi! I'm Remi." Remi says while waving at them.
"Rei's sister." Zari says.
"You know my brother?" Remi asks.
Zari realized she wasn't suppose to say that. "O-Oh yeah. I met him once. Seems like a good guy." Zari responds.
"He never told me about you." Remi says.
"I mean, we only hanged out for like a few minutes. He talked about you and a few other stuff." Zari responds.
"Well, I'm glad you met him." Remi says happily.
"Hey look. An ability gauger. Marlize, why don't you try it. Easy price." Otto says.
"You only get a teddy bear." Seraphina and John say in unison.
"Is that right?" Otto says while looking at the Booth.
"Is there something wrong?" Marlize whispers in Otto ear.
"Don't you think handing out teddy bears as a prize for levels 5 or higher seem a bit too suspicious?" Otto says to Marlize softly.
"Let's find out." Marlize says before tapping Amy.
Amy looks at Marlize." Hmm?"
Marlize points at the ability guage. Amy looks at the booth and reads the prize requirement. Amy looks at Marlize and nods.
"Hey, you have an ability like your brother right?" Zari asks.
"Yeah." Remi responds.
Amy, Otto and Marlize look at each other and nod. Amy taps Zari shoulder. Zari looks at her and sees Amy motioning her to come closer. Zari leans her head to Amy.
"Otto thinks the ability gauger is up to something. Look at the requirements for the prize." Amy whispers.
Zari looks at the requirements for the prize and sighs. "Have Otto be ready for anything." Zari whispers.
Amy nods and walks to Otto. Otto and Marlize listen to what Amy says. Isen activates his ability while looking away to listen.
"Otto, be prepared for anything. It's an order from Zari." Amy says.
Isen looks confused and deactivates his ability.
"So Marlize, you wanna check it out still?" Otto says.
"Sure." Marlize responds.
"Hey Remi, mind if you go with them?" Zari asks.
"Okay sure." Remi says happily.
Isen looks at Zari in confusion. As the others follow, Isen grabs Zari arm. Zari looks at Isen.
"What's your game here?" Isen asks.
"I think that man is suspicious." Zari responds. "Be ready for anything."
Isen looks confused but sees how serious Zari is. "Alright."
At the ability gauger, Marlize extends her hand. The man grabs her hand and readies her ability.
"Congratulation. You're a six." the man says. He takes out a teddy bear and places it on the table. "A cute teddy bear for a cute lady like you." the man says.
Remi sees something in the teddy bear. Marlize grabs the teddy bear.
"Hey, mind if I check it out?" Remi asks.
"Sure." Marlize says as she gives the teddy bear to Remi.
Remi opens the teddy bear and takes out a tracker. Everyone looks surprised. The man looks shocked. Blyke and Isen slam their hands on the table.
"What's the meaning of this?" Remi asks.
"I-I don't know. My boss gave them to me. I didn't know about these. Honest." the man while being nervous.
"Liar, your heart beat is irregular." Isen says as his ability is activated.
Blyke grabs the man by the shirt. "You're coming with us."
Suddenly, a smoke bomb was dropped.
"Now!" Zari shouts.
Otto reveals his mechanical arms through the smoke and grabs the man. He slams him to the floor, next to Zari. Zari grabs the man and activates her ability to put force on the man.
"You aren't going anywhere." Zari says.
"Blyke! Clear the smoke." Remi says.
"Right." Blyke responds. Blyke clears the smoke.
Otto already retracted the mechanical arms, hiding it from the rest. The security guards rush towards the group.
"Hey kids! You got some-" stops to see Zari holding the man down. "What's going on?" the mall security guard asks.
"This man has been giving out trackers in his prices inside these teddy bears." Remi says, showing the bear and tracker.
"I see. Well, I need you all come to with me." the mall security guard says.
*Later*
Everyone was held in cuffs expect Zari and Otto, who were taken out of the room by the mall security guard.
"So you two are working under the headmaster at Wellston." the mall security guard asks.
"For now, yes. He is aware of our work." Zari says.
"Hunting down EMBER is dangerous but fine. You two will taken to the man. I'll keep quiet." the mall security says.
Otto and Zari nod. The mall security guard removes the cuffs and enter the room with the man.
"Wel well. You got some explaining to do." Zari says.
"I got nothing to say." the man responds.
"That's too bad. I was hoping for some light work but I guess we got to do it the painful way." Zari says.
Otto reveals his mechanical arms and the man gets scared. One of the mechanical arm lid opens and a vial appears. Otto takes the vial and takes out a needle. Otto equips the vial in the needle. Otto walks toward the man.
"W-W-What are you doing?" the man asks nervously.
"Oh don't worry. I know what I'm doing." Otto says.
"You should've cooperated when you had the chance." Zari says.
"No. No. NO!!" the man yells.
Otto injects the needle into the man.
*30 minutes later*
Zari and Otto walk out.
"Got what you needed?" the mall security guard asks.
"Oh yeah." Zari says.
"He'll be out for quite some time." Otto says.
"Well, you know the drill." the mall security says as he holds the cuffs.
"Yeah yeah." Zari says.
*Small time skip*
The rest were waiting for Marlize.
"Be careful alright?" the mall security says.
"I will uncle." Marlize smiles. "Bye" Marlize runs towards the others.
"I swear." the mall security sighs.
The group leave the mall.
"Seraphina, when you get back to your dorm. Destroy the tracker in the teddy bear you got." Zari says.
"I will." Seraphina responds.
"Remember to give me a call if yor in trouble." Zari says.
Seraphina nods.
"Alright see yeah!" Zari says.
Zari, Marlize, Otto and Amy wave at the rest and walk away.
"So what did the man tell you?" Amy asks.
"ZetaSci and EMBER are working together but only a small portion of ZetaSci is involved. I think Zane and Marik would like to here this." Zari says.
"It was risky, you know. Didn't think I would show my invention in public." Otto says.
"But the smoke bomb covered you so you should be fine." Marlize says.
"I hope so." Otto responds.
"In any case, we need to hurry. Who knows what could in store for us." Zari says.
The rest agree with Zari.