Chapter 36 - 36: Idol
Some of the Delta Squad members started to collect the bodies while the others went to the surrounding houses to search for Lucifer.
Flourance, on the other hand, had stepped inside the house of Zale Azarel to check.
Xander walked towards the dead body of Zach as he placed his phone near his ears after dialing a number.
"Distribute Lucifer Azarel's picture to the cops and the army. Also, tell Legion City administration to barricade the whole city. I don't want anyone to leave."
Even though he gave the command, he had second thoughts right away.
"No, wait. Don't distribute his image right now. Wait for me. I'll be back and tell you what to do with that. For now, just tell the Legion City administration to barricade the city so that no one leaves, especially a kid."
After saying that, he disconnected the call and placed the phone in his pocket.
"You're right. There's no one inside the house."
A voice came from behind Xander, sounding like it belonged to Flourance.
"It did seem like a fight took place inside the house," Flourance further said as he stood beside Xander.
"They underestimated him. We all underestimated him. For him to still be alive after so much, he definitely has something we don't know about," Xander muttered. "He's a full-blown anomaly,
"Yeah. Luckily, this neighborhood doesn't have anyone living here. Or more people might have died." Flourance nodded his head, agreeing.
"Yeah. Apparently, this whole neighborhood is owned by Zale Azarel," Xander replied.
"Really? Why did he live in that crappy house then?" Flourance inquired as he gazed back at the house of Lucifer, which seemed like a much lower quality house here.
"I'm not sure. But I did hear that the house belonged to his father," Xander answered. "Maybe it had some family sentiments, making him live there?"
He went down on a knee to touch the face of Zach.
"Should we hand over the case to the higher-ups?" Flourance suggested. "That seems like the best option."
"No. The Alpha Squad is handling the cases related to the Variant Uprising," Xander replied. "Betas are also busy. Moreover, this case is not yet serious enough to involve them."
"How is this not serious enough? Four of our men have been killed by that kid," Flourance let out in an unconvinced tone. "For me, it is every bit as serious as it can get."
Xander gazed back towards Flourance.
"Yeah. Four of our men were killed, but don't forget that they were low-ranking team members to them. If we hand over the case to them with just this, then we'll become laughing stocks."
He took a calm breath as he continued, "Do you think if an army goes to catch a criminal, they will drop the case or give that case to AFP if one low-rank soldier of theirs gets killed?"
"The case can only be handed over when we truly fail, or the threat becomes much bigger," he added as he shook his head lightly. "Moreover, I don't want to hand over the case. I'll deal with it my way after what that kid has done."
"Anyway, did you find anything else of significance inside the house?" he inquired.
"Nothing else. A few portraits of Zale and Clarisse, the furniture and normal stuff. Nothing related to Lucifer," Flourance answered as he explained what he saw.
"You know, Flourance, I always considered Zale Azarel to be my idol. His sense of justice was what inspired me," Xander let out softly. "I even met him on one occasion, and I remember that moment to this day."
"I still can't believe that his son would be the one I'll be on the search for one day," he added.
"Yeah, it's regrettable. His son is the one that is destroying the justice that he worked so hard to protect," Flourance muttered as he gazed at the distance.
"What can we say? Some people are born to be psychopaths. Unfortunately, this psychopath happened to be the son of a great man," he further said.
" I guess that doctor also holds some blame for all this. Something definitely happened in the facility that we weren't told about," Xander said, remembering Lucifer's last words.
"I talked to him over the phone, and from the way he talked about it, I'm sure that they lied to us. Whatever happened to him was definitely not as simple as suffering the side effects of something," he added to his previous statement as his frown deepened.
"From what I gathered, he definitely hated the lab."
"It's possible. But the one who killed our men will always be Lucifer. He can't be forgiven," Flourance said.
Xander nodded.
"Yeah, a Quad-Awakened Warlock who has two or more S-Rank powers definitely has the potential to become the strongest Warlock in the future. As much as I hate the direction things have taken, we can't let him roam freely for long. Otherwise, the threat will just increase."
"Do you think barricading the city will help us find him?" Flourance asked. "Maybe he already left the city."
Xander stood up as he looked towards the south.
"It's alright. I think I know where he will go. We have a mutual destination, " Xander muttered as he looked towards the South.
"I want to go there to get more information, whereas he should be going there to destroy that place. We'll see what exactly he is made of."
...
The bodies were loaded in the helicopter, and the neighborhood search was also completed. Nothing was found.
The rotors of the helicopter started moving as Xander, and his team walked towards the helicopter. Their robes flapped with the wind as they closed in.
They entered inside the helicopter, which started flying, destination unknown.
***
As the Legion City administration got the call from the APF, they acted hastily and locked down the whole city.
Every person or vehicle leaving the city was checked to make sure that no kid could leave. Those with kids got their pictures captured which was sent to APF. Only after confirmation were they allowed to leave.