Chapter 54 Truth

"Must be nice to not have Two around to keep you in check." Lee Seng retorted.

Nicole snapped. The room scattered into chaos. Chairs flew in all directions. Papers whipped in the air. The TV ripped off of the wall. The desk began to rip into pieces. Nicole flew all of this at Lee Seng. Lee Seng punted a chair with his fist, sending it off to the side. It wrapped back around as another chair slammed into Lee Seng. The Numbers watched in horror as the chairs, paper, ripped desk and TV pushed and buried him.

"Number 1, what're you doing?!?" Alex shouted. "He's just a kid. He doesn't know what he's talking about!" The room quieted down and Lee Seng sighed under the large amount of stuff on him. His body ached even more now.

"You'll <strong>always</strong> be held against your own will. You won't <strong>ever</strong> get a choice." Nicole spoke after a long pause. Lee Seng could hear her move closer to him. "I'll make sure your life is a living hell."

Lee Seng sighed. He knew the Numbers went through a lot. They went through their own versions of hell, did things they didn't want to and rose past it. Despite all of that, some had looked after Lee Seng, hoping he wouldn't go through the same things they did and the others felt like it was Lee Seng who needed to experience the hell.

Lee Seng turned his palms upwards. A gravity bubble shot outwards and pushed everything away. All of the rubble floated away from him. Nicole watched the rubble pass her by as Lee Seng let a sigh out in relief. His hands felt the familiar numb and heavy feeling. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and struggled to stand up. Lee Seng looked at Nicole with a sorry expression. He crossed a line he knew about, but he ignored. He was tired of being pushed against a wall, so he pushed back.

"Then I'll continue pushing. I'll continue proving the Creator and all who oppose me, wrong." Lee Seng started. He stared at the other Numbers before looking back at Nicole. "My life hasn't been the best in the last couple of years. You know that. You all know that. I don't like the fact I have an easy ride in life simply because of the Creator. I'm the Creator's Son. I'm the Creator's Failure Son. I'm the kid who makes him look bad.

"Even if I'm blamed for his fall, I want to live my life truthfully. I want to live my life the way I want to because I want it. Not because there's a Protocol in my system that dictates someone can rule over my life. Yes, I don't know what the hell the Protocol is doing to me. I know it's fighting against me. I know it's going to harm people. I know I'm going to kill innocent people in the wake of it all. But if live in fear of the Protocol and continue to live in that fear after it's all done, what's the point?" Lee Seng sighed. He hit his chest with his heavy hands and smiled.

A long silence filled the room. Lee Seng turned away from Nicole and sighed. He watched as the rubble floated around the bubble. His mind raced. He let out his anger on part of the problem and that frustrated him more than help him. He sighed and rubbed his eyes before turning. Nicole stood in the same spot, staring at Lee Seng while the others watched.

Lee Seng walked over towards the edge of the bubble and looked around Nicole for any rubble on top of her before leaving. The bubble popped and everything fell onto the ground. The loud slams of ripped desks, chairs and the TV snapped everyone out of it. The Numbers blinked a couple of times before looking around.

Lee Seng made his way towards the exit door and grabbed the handle and opened it.

"So you're just gonna leave?" Carter spoke up. Lee Seng stopped and sighed.

"If I'm already almost done with the tests, I might as well finish them." Lee Seng said. "Also, I need new clothes." He pulled the door open and a soldier with ACADEMY plastered across his chest stood with clothes.

"Sir, the clothes you requested." The soldier said.

"Just give it to him." Carter instructed. The soldier nodded and handed the clothes to Lee Seng and saluted. He wandered back down the hallway. Lee Seng turned his head and nodded before he followed after. He passed elevator and found the restroom. He walked into the bathroom and wandered over to a mirror.

He groaned and rubbed his eyes. He stared at himself in the mirror. He looked like he got whipped by a tornado and the elements looked like they didn't like him, so they plastered themselves all over him. He turned around and noticed he had spots of dirt everywhere. He groaned and looked around. The restroom lead farther in so he decided to wander farther in. He stepped into the other side of the restroom and noticed their were showers.

"Huh," He said. There were six shower heads. There weren't any dividers so whoever showered, just came in for the shower and stepped out. He looked to his left and saw towels sitting out and to his right was a bin for dirty towers. He stripped naked and grabbed a towel and wandered over to a bench placed before the shower room. He put his stuff there and threw the towel on top.

Lee Seng spent awhile showering. He carefully washed any sweat, dried blood and dirt off of him. The showers had shampoo and soap dispensers so he took advantage of it. The warm water made his body relax. He could feel the negative melting away. He washed away the shampoo and soap and stood in the warm water for awhile before shutting it off and walking to the bench to dry himself off.

He dried himself off, slipped on an Academy T-shirt, sweats and new a pair of new sneakers on and sat. He rummaged through his pockets and pulled his phone out. It had holes in it and he groaned.

"This took me forever to get." He whispered. He strapped the wrist watch on and looked at it. A couple of hours had passed. The field test was about to be over, so he stood up and tossed the towel in the dirty bin and threw his phone and ripped clothes into the trash can and walked out.

"You used the showers." Carter said. Lee Seng turned and saw Carter leaning against the wall. Lee Seng nodded and started past him. Carter grabbed Lee Seng and pulled himself up and close to Lee Seng. "You alright?"

"Dandy." Lee Seng sarcastically answered. Carter pulled Lee Seng closer and the two stared at each other very close. "I said I'm fine." Lee Seng pulled away.

"You said a lot and left afterwards so I wanted to check on you." Carter explained.

"And I meant it. It's my life, so let me do what I want with it. If anyone gets in my way, I'll push past them." Lee Seng turned and walked past Carter. He hit the down button for the elevator and folded his arms. He could hear Carter following him.

"The clothes fit fine." Carter observed. Carter looked around and Lee Seng turned to look away from him. Carter sighed and grabbed Lee Seng's hand.

"Cart--" A phone was placed in Lee Seng's hand. Carter looked at Lee Seng and sighed. Carter pulled away from Lee Seng and leaned against the opposite wall to the elevator.

"I figured your phone would've been destroyed so I had them activate this phone for you. There isn't anything on it and it's a new number, so if you got any friends who need your number, you'll have to give them your new number." Carter pointed. Lee Seng turned the phone around and looked at Carter.

"Is this an Adventurer Grade phone?" Lee Seng asked. He could feel the textures were slightly thicker than his old phone. The materials seemed better. The elevator dinged and the door opened. Lee Seng stared at the phone in amazement and Carter wandered over and tapped him.

"C'mon, get in. You got another test coming up." Carter said.

"Oh... Yeah." Lee Seng stepped in and Carter followed afterwards. Carter tapped 1st floor and the door closed. Lee Seng unlocked the phone and noticed a note was plastered in the front. It was his new number.

"Your new phone number. I had them put some of the Numbers cell numbers down just in case you needed to reach them." Carter explained. "Oh, before you protest that I put ALL of them down, I didn't. It's just the ones you usually talk to. Your older siblings, Scarlet, Alex, and my phone numbers are all in there." The elevator became quiet as it dinged on the fifth floor. Students stepped in and one hit another floor button. They began to chat and Lee Seng looked at Carter.

"Thanks." Lee Seng said.