Lunar Awakening-Chapter 44: A Strange Power.

The man in the suit led Leo deeper into the club taking him down a secret passageway hidden behind the wall. For the first few seconds the walk was quiet, Leo made use of this to think through everything that had happened while he was still under the heat of the pressure.

It was the first time he had felt such power and control. It almost seemed like he had gazed at a new form of combat, he wondered if this was how everyone perceived combat.

It was still hard for him to describe what it felt like despite having only just experienced it briefly, he wanted to fight again and feel it again.

Unfortunately that one battle left his mentally fatigued, he felt his stomach growl at him. He wondered why he always felt hungry whenever he was tired, at least he no longer craved human flesh. He just hoped it would stay that way for much longer.

Leo did not say anything during the work, and neither did Xavax. After a few minutes he found himself led down to what looked to be an underground bunker, the walls looked shady and odd. He could see CCTV cameras on several parts of the wall, and the walls seemed to be made of a strange reinforced material.

Leo’s nose twitched picking the scent of wine, he suspected that this place was used to store wine in the time when the club was still active.

When he entered however what left him troubled was the fact that there were other people in it, all looking distinct. They were mostly older than him, he counted eleven in total. Seven men and four women.

’Don’t tell me I am going to have to fight again?’ Leo groaned inwardly.

Despite the fact that a part of him wanted to fight, the more rational side of him knew that would be a bad idea.

All eyes turned to face them both, mostly him.

Leo could feel their eyes scanning through him like he was a piece of meat they wanted to rip to shreds. The oddly person who did not show him any hostility however was a young woman looking almost as young as he was.

She had long blonde hair held in place by a pin, she winked at him with her one good eye. Her second eye was closed shut and there was a scar running over it vertically. Her lips were glossy and painted blue, she wore a grey sports bra and long dark leggings.

Leo shrugged off her looks, he would very much prefer the familiar hostility he was always shown by others than this strange feeling.

The man in the suit spoke in his loud, unfeeling voice. "The twelve of you here were handpicked by me for a specific purpose. You are all awakened and you must also known that for a job like this your life will be on the line."

One of the people in the room spoke, it was a giant of a man looking to be nearly as tall as Goliath but almost as imposing. The man looked to be in his late forties. "And what is it that we will be doing?"

The man in the suit wasted no time in addressing the question, "If you would all follow me, I will take you to the sponsor of this job. But I will advise you, nothing that has and will happen today will be on the record. It would be wise to thread carefully."

After this the man led the way down another hallway.

’What the hell have I gotten myself into?’ Leo thought as he followed alongside the eleven other awakened superhumans.

Hopefully he was in a large hallway able to accommodate most of them with enough space to keep him from interacting with anyone.

In his mind he wondered what kind of job would require the use of twelve awakened. He ruled out the possibility of using them to start a riot or any trouble in the city. There were measures put in place after all to stop superhumans from becoming a threat to national security.

As he walked the young woman from earlier found her way to his side, Leo tried to avoid any form of conversation with her but she apparently did want to talk with him.

"My legs are killing me, are yours?" Her voice was graceful compared to any one he had ever known. It felt like he was talking to one of the princesses in the shows Trish used to watch as a kid.

Leo kept silent, he had no reason to talk to her. He was here to make money, and that was all he had to do.

The young woman leaned in closer to him that he could smell her cologne, or something. She smelt like flowers which seemed odd considering that they were several feet underground what used to be a club.

"You have a weak aura perhaps the weakest in the room." She said after getting a whiff of him and pulling back slightly, "Somehow I have a gut feeling you’ll be much fun."

Leo’s interest perked in that instant, "Aura?" He remembered having something like that in his stats but he never showed it any of his attention. Why would he? What did aura have to do with growing stronger.

She looked at him with her cherry coloured eyes glinting and said, "Not many people know about it though but my masters say that every superhuman has it. Even beasts. Ever faced something so terrifying it made you shit your pants and run without even fighting?"

"That’s aura." She added.

Leo did recall something like that happening to him many times in the past. He had felt it from two humans in particular. From Cassandra and Goliath, there was this air about them that intimidated whoever they faced, for Cassandra it was a sharp cold energy and Goliath had a more chaotic air about him.

The other times he had seen it rather than felt it.

The night he encountered the old man who had bitten him he had watched an awaken beast show fear so profound that Leo himself was troubled.

Another time he saw this was when Xavax had taken over his body and killed the young man.

All these things had one thing in common, did that mean that aura was something that also needed to be trained.

"Why are you telling me this?" He asked.

She faced him with a serious look on her face, "Because I want to carry your seed."

Leo’s eyes widened as he flashed her an ugly look, "Are you senile?"

She broke into laughter as she slapped her thigh hard, "Damn, I thought for sure that you would laugh back then. You’re hard to crack."

He took his eyes from her and looked straight forward, "If you are going to make more jokes then leave."

She stopped laughing but still continued to smile as she spoke, "Not everyone has aura, it’s for only those with the strongest will and an aptitude for it."

"So you felt it from me?" He asked. "How do you feel something that even I can’t?"

"By keeping an open mind you fool." She said in a somewhat polite tone.

Her words left Leo to ponder for a bit.

As they walked she held out her hand for a shake, "Name’s Roxy, I would like to be friends with you."

Leo looked down at the hand for several seconds before asking, "Why?" Whatever reason she had in mind did not hide the fact that they had only just met.

Roxy gave him a skeptical look before slowly withdrawing her hand and looking forward. She said nothing for several seconds, and after a moment she spoke.

And whatever she said was drowned out by the voice of another man from up ahead.

"Welcome one, welcome all. I trust you had a blast getting here."

Leo looked forward to find that they had just reached a massive room well furnished with some of the best furniture money could by. It was a literal casino that looked partly empty except for the presence of a distinguished man seating on a sofa sipping champagne from a beautiful glass cup.

The man sore fine white suit, and was puffy. He had well trimmed moustache and gelled back head.

One of the twelve screamed. "What the hell is the founder of Neuman’s aeronautics it’s doing here?"

The man’s face darkened slightly as he gestured for them all to seat while some butlers poured them a cup of champagne. Leo made sure to seat alone on a secluded seat, Roxy surprisingly stayed standing.

The man cleared his throat and spoke, "I am Bolton Neuman, I am well distinguished and able to pay the fee I put on the poster so we can get that out of the way."

Leo felt his gut tighten.

Bolton spoke, "I need your help to kill my daughter."