“But?” Zip asked, hoping for Professor Z to continue his sentence. The old man had been silent for a while. He was in a deep thought, struggling to revive the memories, especially the one he wanted to forget the most.
“She doesn’t really acknowledge me as her grandfather. She never calls me that… she normally calls me Master or Sen Sei,” Professor Z explained.
He continued saying that their relationships were more like a teacher and a student than family. They talked, but nothing too personal. Even Professor Z wondered how and why she did it. She has no one in this world. Could she be trying not to make any bond with me since she knows she is going to die anyway? Maybe, I shouldn't have lied to her.
“I cannot believe that Kong, myself and Raoul had been used all this while…” Zip uttered. Professor Z shot a look at him.
“Raoul?” Professor Z asked then shook his head before continued, “There’s no Raoul. He had been dropped from this plan long time back. He has nothing to do with this now.”
“What do you mean?” King Kong asked.
“Raoul is no longer with us. I found out that he was in contact with one of the Japanese organization last year so I asked Marc to let him go. And he’s been missing since then.”
“No, he is not. He was the one who contacted me to steal the file from Mr.Benedict’s room,” King Kong said.
“What? No..no..no. It was Marc who contacted you,” Professor Z replied.
“No, Prof. It was Raoul. He called me and laid all the plans to steal the file,” King Kong reassured. Then he told them that he spoke to Raoul on the phone upon reaching Tokyo, and how they talked again when he was waiting for ‘the contact’ to take the file.
“She doesn’t really acknowledge me as her grandfather. She never calls me that… she normally calls me Master or Sen Sei,” Professor Z explained.
He continued saying that their relationships were more like a teacher and a student than family. They talked, but nothing too personal. Even Professor Z wondered how and why she did it. She has no one in this world. Could she be trying not to make any bond with me since she knows she is going to die anyway? Maybe, I shouldn't have lied to her.
“I cannot believe that Kong, myself and Raoul had been used all this while…” Zip uttered. Professor Z shot a look at him.
“Raoul?” Professor Z asked then shook his head before continued, “There’s no Raoul. He had been dropped from this plan long time back. He has nothing to do with this now.”
“What do you mean?” King Kong asked.
“Raoul is no longer with us. I found out that he was in contact with one of the Japanese organization last year so I asked Marc to let him go. And he’s been missing since then.”
“No, he is not. He was the one who contacted me to steal the file from Mr.Benedict’s room,” King Kong said.
“What? No..no..no. It was Marc who contacted you,” Professor Z replied.
“No, Prof. It was Raoul. He called me and laid all the plans to steal the file,” King Kong reassured. Then he told them that he spoke to Raoul on the phone upon reaching Tokyo, and how they talked again when he was waiting for ‘the contact’ to take the file.
“Only then I know that Elle was ‘the contact’,” KingKong concluded. Professor Z could not believe what he just heard.
“How did he knows that somebody was going to take the file from you?” Professor Z’s question left them looking at each other. There was a stunned moment of silence in the room when all of them thought of the same thing.
“I think he’s with Elle! Let’s find them! She is in danger!” said Professor Z as all three of them stood up almost at the same time and running towards the door.
*******
“We are removing it,” Raoul told her.
“What?! Are you crazy?! No, Raoul! I will die with it. No matter how much I am hating it. This is who I am and this is what I was born for, to sacrifice myself for my people,” her tone was shaky.
Raoul then took a knife out of his pocket. Elle jumped off the chair.
“What the hell are you doing?!” She yelled.
“You are not going to die to release Audris, Elle. You are going to live as a Stellis. And in order to do so, we have to remove the tattoo and let it never be known by anyone. Then we will do rituals to bring out the Stellis. This crossed image… it bears the message that you are either the Goddess of Light or Darkness. But I am telling you that you are not an Audris, you are a Stellis!” Raoul moved closer to her.
“Stay back! Stay back!” She held her hand across. He slowly stopped.
“Imagine what you can do living as a Stellis, Elle. You are going to own this world!”
“So you are telling me to live my life as Goddess of Darkness? Hold on… you are working for the Japanese now, aren’t you? Don’t tell me you want their share of wealth too?” Raoul didn’t answer her question.
“How did he knows that somebody was going to take the file from you?” Professor Z’s question left them looking at each other. There was a stunned moment of silence in the room when all of them thought of the same thing.
“I think he’s with Elle! Let’s find them! She is in danger!” said Professor Z as all three of them stood up almost at the same time and running towards the door.
*******
“We are removing it,” Raoul told her.
“What?! Are you crazy?! No, Raoul! I will die with it. No matter how much I am hating it. This is who I am and this is what I was born for, to sacrifice myself for my people,” her tone was shaky.
Raoul then took a knife out of his pocket. Elle jumped off the chair.
“What the hell are you doing?!” She yelled.
“You are not going to die to release Audris, Elle. You are going to live as a Stellis. And in order to do so, we have to remove the tattoo and let it never be known by anyone. Then we will do rituals to bring out the Stellis. This crossed image… it bears the message that you are either the Goddess of Light or Darkness. But I am telling you that you are not an Audris, you are a Stellis!” Raoul moved closer to her.
“Stay back! Stay back!” She held her hand across. He slowly stopped.
“Imagine what you can do living as a Stellis, Elle. You are going to own this world!”
“So you are telling me to live my life as Goddess of Darkness? Hold on… you are working for the Japanese now, aren’t you? Don’t tell me you want their share of wealth too?” Raoul didn’t answer her question.
“I can’t believe this. I can’t believe my grandfather was right! You are a traitor! I trusted you, Raoul! You are supposed to be with me in this, that’s why I carried you all along. You were only going to help me to find who I am! I even had to fucking betray KingKong for this! I lied to my grandfather! And I kept about you from everyone!”
“So nobody knows, eh? That’s perfect…” He responded with a smile.
He moved closer after ge explained that he would want to remove the tattoo then bring her to the higher orders so they would make a big and new distinct tattoo that will represent Stellis on her left thigh, an image that will be stronger, enough to surface the dark spirit. They would keep her as long as they need her, performing rituals, calling for Stellis everytime they are in need of a powerful force against almost anything.
“No! So what are you going to do now, Raoul?!”
“I’m thinking that since I couldn’t make you agree with me, I’m gonna have to use my force!” He pushed Elle to the wall and her face hit the wall hard. His strong hands grabbed her wrists and he pinned her tiny body harder to the wall, she almost couldn’t breath. In a quick move, he took a rope out of his other pocket and started tying her arms.
Elle didn’t scream but she fought a struggle. But Raoul was a bit too strong for her already strained muscles. She fell to the floor when Raoul was done tying her two feet too.
“What makes you think you can bring Stellis out of me?” She asked, at the same time trying to gasp for air.
“Well, for a start, you are already half way there. Next thing to do is to get you back to The Agency and have you strapped before having the real Stellis reemerged in front of the people who spent billions of dollars investing, waiting for this to happen,” he answered before dialing his mobile phone.
**************
The two men in suit were driving Professor Z, KingKong and Zip to the hotel where they had dropped Elle after her meeting with KingKong earlier on. It was the one and only place they could think of where to find her before its too late.
“Then what's with all the 'freedom' that Raoul had been promising me about? Our history?” KingKong asked when sitting at the back seat of the car with Professor Z and Zip.
“I’m afraid he was using you, KingKong. Raoul knows that you are dying to know about who you are. He used it, so that you will co-orporate with him to achieve his own mission. No one knows about your past but me, not even the Japanese. I gave the Japanese organization, a fake history about your origin. I was being precautious. I am sure you remember being taken away by a lady from your home,” Professor Z’s words made KingKong numb.
“You know… about my parents?” He asked, a little afraid to even know the answer.
“I know the past for all of you. You will reunite with your parents once we get this all sorted out. All this will be over soon and you… and I mean, all of you, shall return to where you belong. To your real home, your real family,” said Professor Z while looking straight into KingKong’s eyes.
Professor Z also sensed that by the time they were in the car, Raoul already had the solved clue in the ULAM files. He shared this with Zip and KingKong, he told them about the file content – about the clues to the tattoos, then about its origin and its power – both Audris and Stellis. He also told them whether dead or alive, if they can bring Stellis out of Elle, it would be the beginning of a disaster to human kind.
“But I thought you said she was an Audris. How can you bring a darkness from light?” asked Zip.
“Well, Zip… Elle doesn’t this but I had to protect her, so I told her that she is the Goddess of Light… whereas she is actually a Stellis.”
Both KingKong and Zip’s jaws dropped.
“If they knew that she’s a Stellis, she wouldn’t have survive this far. They would’ve taken her long time back… the Japanese… The Agency. I had to do it. She is my only descendent. My only one and now I have to save her from them,” Professor Z said, fighting the tears he had been holding for years.