"You must see this, My Lord!" he held out a tablet.
The headline made Shaw's face turn pale.
'THE GOTHAM TOWER FALLING BY ARASON!'
Shaw clenched, and the screen cracked in his grip. His assistant stood next to him, sweat covering his brow as he stared at the white marble floor, not daring to meet his Lord's gaze.
Laughter.
Shaw laughed as he tossed the tablet back to his assistant, who was blinking in disbelief.
This man's enterprise was crumbling to ash in the middle of Lauxdale, the capital of the nobility.
But he still managed to laugh.
A psychopath. That was all he could think of.
"M-My lord," he stuttered. "Everything about that boy was in the tower. Everyone who has seen him is dead. The entire system is down; we are unsure if we can recover any of the lost data. The whole server has melted down in the fire."
"The fire didn't leave anything untouched?" Shaw questioned.
Why didn't he think that this was indeed an accidental fire first?
Because accidental fires don't set everything on fire, and kill everyone in their sight.
According to the articles, not even one injury.
All deaths.
Over a hundred of Gotham's personnel were in the tower.
As a person who has done a lot of dirty deeds himself, he saw through it.
Someone was retracing their steps to make sure there were no loose ends.
"I guess our little host won this one," he snorted in amusement as he ran a hand through his graying hair.
"What are your orders, My Lord?"
"Stand by," said he. "It isn't like we have anything that leads us to him. Crane, where is he?"
The servant gulped hard.
"H-he was in the tower, My Lord," he hesitated, but there was no easy way to say this.
Shaw lost his sons in less than a week.
The glass within a perimeter of 5 meters around Shaw shattered. The researchers knelt, avoiding the flying glass, as the lab erupted in chaos.
Shaw stood there with anger flooding out of him in waves, destroying everything. Even the capsule that Jake was locked in rattled from the force, but didn't break.
First, he lost Drace.
The good-for-nothing son who died trying to summon Orathan, the prince of hell, who also happened to be the cause of all of this.
Second, he lost his eldest son as well; his only heir was now also gone.
He mourned for Drace. No matter how cold he is, he was still his father. They carried the same blood, and he believed in the saying, of Blood is thicker than water.
But now, Crane, as well. As a father, it was too much.
"At first I thought this might be a boy having fun with his newly bought toy," Shaw growled, his voice vibrating in his own bones. His face darkened as he said the words.
"Orathan has found a right master to serve," he added. "We wait. He will soon make his move and reveal what it is he truly wants."
He glanced over at the Capsule with Jake inside it and grinned.
"Once it's complete, nothing will stop me."
~~~~
"What the fuck?" said a boy who can't be much older than 20.
His brown hair caused a mess on his head as he stared at the small TV screen lying in the middle of the dimly lit warehouse.
"West, is this your doing?" he scoffed as he turned sideways to look at a boy who seemed slightly older than him.
"How could you do that without letting us in, man!" he giggled as he patted West's shoulder.
"Julian," said West, not sharing the same enthusiasm.
"This wasn't me." He raised his head at Julian. On their side was a girl who was as confused as he was.
"EH?" Julian exclaimed as he took a step back. "How is that even possible? Who else would set the Gotham tower on fire if not you! The leader of the Rebellion in Greater London?!"
West stayed quiet as he rested his head on his palm. Julian had every right to question his answer, but that was the truth; he wasn't the one who set the tower on fire.
"I don't know who did that, but they are quite bold,"
He glanced again at the TV screen, taking in the fire as it engulfed the tower. Windows shattered, floors collapsed. The whole thing threatened to fall at any moment.
"Even if I wanted to do that," said West. "I can't. We don't have the resources or the manpower to do such a job. Let alone to a building in the middle of Lauxdale."
"Do you think it was done by the Bromley's?" the girl finally asked, shifting the weight of her body to one side.
West shook his head. "Can't be, Scarlet," he said.
"They are too far away to just gracefully hide after doing that."
"You have got a point," Scarlet said. "To be able to pull such a heist, you need a lot of manpower, not to mention a place to return to after the deed is done. Could there possibly be a new group that we don't know of?"
"I can't say but that seems to be the case," said West.
"Or…it can just be an accident like they said," Julian suggested, though he knew that that could hardly be the case.
"Impossible," West stated.
He lived on the streets his whole life, doing any job that he was offered for a couple of dollars, and all that didn't just go down the drain. It gave him knowledge that many lacked.
The ways of a theif.
He could recognize the work of a theif when he sees one.
And this…if this wasn't the work of a thief, then he doesn't know what is.
"Things are getting interesting."