Chapter 136: Unnamed

[Are you sure about this?]

The voice of Olivia’s agent came through her earpiece as she prepared to go out.

"Hmm," she nodded before realizing that her agent couldn’t actually see her, so she responded, "It’s the least I can do. After all, they ended up inviting me for dinner."

[...] The agent was silent for a while before saying, [What if it wasn’t a coincidence?]

"Hmm?" Olivia asked, a bit confused.

[You two have met twice already,] she explained, [what if those meetings were not a coincidence? What if he knows that you’re Radiance?]

"..." It was Olivia’s turn to go silent as she thought about her agent’s words for a while before chuckling as she looked at herself in the mirror, "You said it yourself, didn’t you?"

Olivia adjusted the sunglasses over her eyes as she continued, "There’s no one who’d look at Radiance and associate her with me."

Although her eyes were hidden, the agent could tell from just Olivia’s voice that she was thinking about that unpleasant memory again.

[Sigh, I guess I’m being too paranoid,] she said, giving up, [you deserve a break after everything that happened recently.]

"Still," Olivia turned away from the mirror and towards the door, "it wouldn’t hurt to look into him."

[I’ll do that,] her agent responded, and with that, she stepped out of the apartment.

Since Liam’s apartment was in the same lobby as hers, she reached in a few steps.

Ding dong.

The doorbell rang the moment she pressed it, and she immediately heard the sound of little feet rushing towards the door.

With a click, the door opened, revealing exactly who she expected.

The little boy named Eli.

"You’re here!" He sounded excited as he spotted her, before leaning back and shouting, "BIG BROTHER, SHE’S HERE!"

Olivia was quite surprised at how loud he was, but she only ended up chuckling, realizing that the kid was just excited.

Soon enough, Liam and Lea reached the door, casually dressed, just as she was.

"Good morning," Lea greeted first, and Liam did the same.

"Morning," she replied with a smile before asking, "Shall we?"

***

The drive to the amusement park wasn’t long, as it only took five minutes to reach it.

"We’re here!" Eli let out again, with literal stars in his eyes as he looked beyond the open gates of the amusement park.

Unlike Liam or Lea, he had never truly experienced the amusement park. After all, the last time he had visited, he was far too young to remember any of it.

So this was his very first amusement park experience, and he was, very clearly, excited for it.

"Let’s go," Liam muttered as they got out of the car.

The moment they walked through the gates of the amusement park, Eli’s excitement seemed to reach a whole new peak.

"Calm down, buddy," Liam muttered with a chuckle as he crouched towards him, "we’ve got the whole day."

"Really?" The kid turned towards him, his eyes filled with excitement.

For some reason, Eli reminded him of the kids back at the orphanage, and he couldn’t help but find that cute.

"Really," he confirmed, "now then, what would you like to try first?"

Eli turned back towards all the wonders the amusement park had to offer before his eyes immediately rested on his first target, and he pointed at it, "That one!"

It was a game booth lined with various prizes, but if memory served him right, Liam was certain the kid had his eyes on the relatively large mech.

"Let’s go win it then," Liam said, and Eli immediately rushed towards the booth with Lea behind him.

"He seems quite excited," Olivia muttered, looking at the kid run ahead.

"Yeah," Liam nodded in response before turning to her, "thank you for coming with us."

"It’s the least I can do after you offered me dinner last night," She responded, "besides, it’s been a while since I took a break."

"I see," Liam smiled, "then I’m glad we invited you along."

"So am I," Olivia nodded as they walked towards the booth.

Eli was already there, his excitement impossible to contain now.

"Come one, come all," the booth attendant called out, spotting fresh customers, "test your aim, win a prize!"

"The game is simple," he continued, "knock down the pins with three balls, and you’ll win a prize."

The attendant then gestured toward a stack of milk bottles arranged in a pyramid.

Eli’s eyes lit up at the sight of the setup, and he immediately rolled up his sleeves.

"Three dollars for three balls," the attendant added.

"I want to try!" Eli let out, pulling the attention of the attendant.

"Is that so?" The attendant said as he crouched down slightly, sizing Eli up with an exaggerated, playful skepticism, "You look a little small for this game, buddy. You sure you don’t want your big sister to try instead?"

"I can do it," Eli said, puffing his chest out.

"Quite the confident one," The attendant slid three balls across the counter, "Alright, champ, show me what you got."

He handed the kid three balls as Liam reached the booth with Olivia and paid.

Eli’s expression immediately went serious as he narrowed his eyes and looked at his target.

One could tell that he was in the zone, and the next second, he tossed the ball.

"..."

Lea speechlessly watched the ball fly through the air....and miss the pyramid by a large margin.

"I-I did that on purpose," Eli claimed, an embarrassed blush on his cheeks.

"Of course," the attendant nodded, "after all, you have to take a test shot first."

Both Olivia and Lea held in their laughter as the kid readied himself for the next shot.

Eli looked completely serious again as he tossed the ball.

Again, just like his previous try, he missed by a large margin, his cheeks getting redder.

With tears forming in his eyes, he turned towards Liam with trembling lips and held out the last ball.

Liam looked at the ball for a while before ruffling his little brother’s hair and wrapping the kid’s hand around the ball. "Why don’t you try one more time?"

Unnoticed by anyone, Liam’s eyes released a subtle glow the moment they touched the ball before he withdrew his hand.

Eli was hesitant, but he turned back towards the targets, this time with Liam crouching behind him and helping him line up the shot.

"Line it up with the bottom left one," he said quietly, "and throw it straight."

Eli nodded and tossed the ball just as instructed,

"..."

Everyone silently watched the ball moving through the air...well, almost everyone, but Olivia’s eyes were on Liam himself.

She had sensed pragma earlier, and even now, she noticed a subtle amount of pragma flowing from him to the ball.

As if noticing that he was being watched, Liam turned towards her and smiled, causing her to focus back on the tossed ball.

And finally,

Crash!

The ball slammed into the bottle at the bottom of the pyramid, toppling the entire target over.

"I DID IT!" Eli let out with a large grin before turning back to Liam and hugging his neck, "BIG BROTHER, I DID IT."

"Yeah," Liam let out a smile, "you did."

****

Meanwhile, below the amusement park existed a place that looked like some sort of large bunker.

The bunker was designed similarly to some type of lab, and the barely finished tech lying all around confirmed that it truly was one.

Within the lab were three people, one in a lab coat and two dressed in similar colors.

Purple and black.

If Liam were here, he’d have immediately recognized the uniform,

After all, it belonged to the Splinters.

"What fascinating pieces of tech," one of the Splinters, a woman with short silver white hair and pale skin, said.

She rested her hand on one of the six glass cases before her.

Within said case was what seemed to be fingerless gloves painted black and purple, with metal on the back of them.

The moment the lady’s hand rested on the case, it suddenly started crumbling, a result of her Factor.

She then put her hand into the glove, and the tech immediately wrapped itself around her hand, extended a bit to her upper arm.

Her eyes let out a silver glow as the smile on her face widened.

"Y-you already have what you want, " the man in a lab coat stuttered out, "please leave."

"Not quite, Dr. Crew," the second splinter spoke up. He was a man with messy brown hair and brown eyes.

Though he looked completely unremarkable, his eyes seemed to be hiding something terrifying.

The man walked towards the glass case that contained a helmet that had purple glows on it, before he broke the case and picked up the tech.

With a smile on his face, he rested it on his head before adding, "Some testing is in order."

====

Helen placeholder place chap