214 Another Kind of Curfew

Allen and Sebastian were talking about what happened at the Serpent Conference. The latter already had a gist of who was invited, but he yet to know about all of the things that they discussed.

"Then I got a message that The Piper was dead," Allen sighed. "Now we're back to square one."

"But the Circus must know something about their customers, right?" Sebastian asked.

"That's what Jack and Liam are trying to figure out right now," Allen said. "They are trying to take a look at the records of their transactions which Line thankfully managed to save."

"But Allen, this is a huge bad news for us," Sebastian said. "Them attacking this piper guy and them attacking West Eternity means that there are a lot of them that are involved with Roger Huntsman."

The realization dawned on Allen which sent shivers to his spine. Jack noted that the members of Circus had exceptionally great talents and power, it wouldn't just take a few to destroy their mansion and defeat them.

Another thing was the wall in West Eternity. There must be at least ten of them involved in the attack.

"What are you going to do now?" Sebastian asked. "Do we keep moving forward?"

Allen sighed but nodded. "It's the only direction we have."

–

A few days after their talk, another meeting was decided. Everyone met at the same place, only this time Sebastian was involved.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here the last time," Sebastian sighed. "You all knew what happened to West Eternity. I was the one who led the Hunters into helping everyone."

"I also read the reports," Lin said. "It was a good thing that you were eating kebab in that restaurant or else the attack would've been catastrophic."

Sebastian cleared his throat after the woman revealed his prior activity. "I got hungry. So it was natural that I eat."

They engaged in a series of light laughter before they got serious again.

"West Eternity and The Piper's mansion were attacked simultaneously," Allen reported. "There must be at least thirty members of Roger Huntsman's men. That's thirty powerful people."

"If that's just the number, then we wouldn't have to worry so much," Sun shrugged. "I can take down half of them."

"That's the problem," Allen sighed. "Pillow here has a close combat battle with one of them, so he can testify."

Pillow was behind Allen, standing behind the couch. "I was fighting with three of them at the same time and I have never felt so helpless in my life. It was so hard because it felt like I was facing two Bearers."

This sent a shock to everyone. "I am not even kidding you. I wish I was. One of them had an aura that was worth half of a Bearer."

"If there are thirty of them, then there are at least fifteen worth of Bearers," Allen said. "We can't just fight them aimlessly."

The facts silenced Sun. He was regarded as the most confident of the Bearers because he was also one of the most powerful, but after he heard this, he became silent.

"This is impossible," he muttered. "How can they gather such members?"

"Experimentation," Allen replied. "Sebastian found out that the beasts that attacked West Eternity after a hole was conveniently created for them were products of a laboratory."

"One more thing," Jeremy handed them each a folder. "These are the missing case reports that had gone up in the last couple of weeks."

"Missing cases?" Lin asked. "Why do we have this?"

The projector went on and displayed a video that was taken outside of The Piper's mansion. One of the attacker's cloaks was removed after Pillow attacked him. 

"This man is one of those who are missing," Allen said. "We think that they are kidnapping people and then using their bodies to control and do their bidding. Roger Huntsman is not only a villain, but he might well be the worst there is."

"Impossible," Sun whispered. "I handled three of these cases. Does this mean that they are fighting on behalf of Roger?"

"This could also mean that these people are experimented on?" Genesis asked. "If so, then we don't stand a chance. There might be even more of them that we didn't know. These Hunters are from Eternity, they're already strong."

"Don't lose hope just yet," Lin said. "These are just speculations, right Allen?"

Allen nodded. "We still don't have clear and definitive facts to present. What I am speaking here about are mere theories that we created after the recent series of events."

"Then what are the facts?" Lin asked. "Do we know?"

"For now, the only thing we are certain about is that we are effed," Allen sighed. "Especially if this goes on. They could create more chaos and damage and then get stronger at the same time."

"We need this to be over as soon as possible, correct?" Sebastian asked to which Allen answered by nodding his head. "Then we have to publicize this."

The room was silent for a couple of seconds before they unanimously disagreed.

"The public cannot know."

"The people would panic."

"This could stir more problems for us."

…

Sebastian raised his hands in surrender as he chuckled. "Relax. I was kidding. What I really have to say is recruit more members, or at least provide ways to know if other Hunters are being recruited."

It was like a lightbulb that lit up above Allen's head. He grinned, "Buddy system."

They looked at him in confusion, all clueless about what he just said.

"Hunters will be required to report every day," Allen said. "With this, we can track those who are missing and prevent more from getting missing. It's hitting two birds with one stone."

"How will that work when there are a lot of them who go to the woods and stay there for days?" Lin asked. "Do we assume that they're dead?"

"Curfew," Allen said. "You did this to Haven so you could control their movements, now we're doing this to everyone to save them."