Camille looked at Neil, smiling. "Are you jealous, brother?" she asked, with one eyebrow raised higher than the other.
Half bent towards his plate, Neil stopped. The spoon halfway to his mouth stopped too and he looked up at his sister. In fact, everyone looked at her. She kept smirking at him.
"I beg your pardon," he said, in a deeper, quieter voice, shaking his head to remove the hair from over his left eye.
"'Scum like him'? He bested all of us, bro." Camille's smile slowly disappeared. "Why are you so threatened if we think he knows something you don't?"
"Seriously?" he commented, wide-eyed.
"Yeah…"
But with a shake of the head, the Zaatsu began eating once again.
Marcus mimed wiping sweat from his forehead and the rest of the gang looked at one another and smiled.
Breaking the following silence, after cleaning her plate of fish and chips, Ella said, "He is top shelf though. I mean with his Ki manipulation but also with his fighting skill and tactics."
"I agree," Marcus quickly said. Then, he elbowed Neil and asked, "What do you think?"
"That's true," Neil replied, leaning back in his chair. He wiped his mouth with a tissue, nodded, and added, "Our boy has been trained well."
"Exactly," Ella said, pointing at him. "That's also why the Cult rumour got spread so much. He had to have learned all of it from somewhere."
"Nope." Neil ran his fingers through his hair. "Cults don't fight like that." After a pause, he said, "One of the worst things Outsiders ever did was take Martial Arts knowledge out to the Cults."
"Hmm," Gina nodded. "Wizards' magic used to be just a crude version of Magicism. But now, their understanding of Ki has increased drastically."
"But still…" The young Zaatsu shook his head. "No Cultist does what we saw out there."
"Their magic is better than their understanding of Ki," Ella mused. "Alright. But then it may actually be a magic spell rather than proper Ki Manipulation."
"Viable theory," Neil said with his eyes closed. Then, opening them, he added, "But I sensed a connection with the Order in that man…"
A gripping silence fell upon the table with the mention of that name. The Order was the yin to the yang known as the Eye. They were once one but split up after the second great war nearly a thousand years ago.
"Come on, man…" Marcus shook his head. "There's no way."
"Think about it," the Zaatsu stressed. "He had the same discipline as a Martial Artist. Not just someone who throws Ki around. Proper Martial Arts – Ki Manipulation, Magicism, the whole structure. That only comes from the Eye or the Order."
"They may be called Martial Artists but they're quite different," Ella said. "We all know that. Those guys act like gods among the public. They fight proud. I was a part of the Mystics group that accompanied the Zaatsus on the yearly sparring sessions between Eye and Order."
The Eye and the Order had never agreed on much – not hierarchy, not tradition, not even the proper use of Martial Arts. One waited in the shadows while the other acted in the open. And neither trusted the other.
The Mystic shook her head. "I have seen their operatives in action," she added. "They are way too aggressive and proud. That White Bolt is too calculated and careful."
"True," Neil said. "But he could be faking it. And he has killed many people in the past. We don't know his true motives yet. Just don't forget, he resembles a proper Martial Artist. That can't come from anywhere other than the Eye or the Order."
Marcus looked over. "So, rogue then?"
Every once in a while, an operative went off-script, severed ties, and attempted to become a ghost. When that happened, both the Eye and the Order would circulate lists of these rogues to watch for, hunt, and contain. They did not tolerate freelancers. Not at that level.
"Highly likely," Neil said with a nod. "Did you observe his fighting style?"
"Typical and classic," the red-haired Sokidu said, nodding. "Petrichor's classic…"
"Yes. He had brilliant form and was following many manoeuvres only an expert would."
"But hold your horses, pal. His Ki bursts, the Instantaneous Charge, it was rivalling Master Baylis's, ok? Then, he was also using all elements, Ki suppressions and boosts, and standard Magicism techniques and spells. But he was also using some mighty strange techniques. Some of them I could say were probably Cultist, but I can't say anything for sure. Order never teaches Cultist Magic, man!" When no one responded, he added, "He even levitated seamlessly. He had a bout with us mid-air." He looked around the table. "Hello! Was I the only one sensing nothing ordinary about his levitation? It did not involve the usual Ki Manipulation at all!"
Neil finally turned to look at Marcus. "Have you never seen Hugo fight?" he asked. "He does most of it as well. Trust me, he's a rogue."
Camille stayed quiet, watching them trade theories and realizing that each one said more about the speaker than the White Bolt himself.
"So, all in all, he is an expert Martial Artist, we're all agreeing on that," Gina said. "But at the end of the day, that speed…"
"Yeah," said everyone in almost perfect unison.
"Had Master Hugo not warned us," Ella added, "The guy would have ripped us apart."
Neil shook his head. "I think we could have handled it," he said. "We're all very well trained. We're one of the best squads out there. I think we could have handled it."
"You know what…" Marcus said with a grin, "I kinda agree there with the toothpick."
"Trained by the Order, leader of a Cult, rogue bounty hunter, whatever! The Eye has always handled miscreants of all sorts. Don't sell yourselves short."
Everyone smiled and nodded in agreement. The Zeta Squad had completed many missions with a nearly perfect track record and was sufficiently equipped to take on any challenge.
Camille, however, did not agree. "Ego," she finally said and leaned back. Everyone stared at her as she shook her head. "Confidence is one thing, but if you can't see that the man was a better fighter than any of us, then you are only fooling yourself."
"What the hell do you mean by that?" Neil was clearly agitated now. His eyebrows were scrunched, as he leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table. "You could sense him just as well as any of us," he said. "Do you think he was more powerful than Marcus or me?"
"Nope…"
"…Better at Magicism than Ella or Gina?"
"Not really…"
"A Mystic?"
"Nope…"
"Then what the hell do you mean?"
"He took on two Zaatsus, you and Master Baylis, four of us Sokidus, and then 11 helpers most of whom were Sokidus. And he almost got away. Hey Marcus!" She looked at Marcus. "Do you think you could have beaten him one-on-one?"
Marcus did not reply. "Does anyone here think they can take him on?" she further asked.
"I could," Neil replied with a shrug.
"Of course you could… but you wouldn't come out of it alive!" And before Neil could come up with a reply, she added, "How many times have you sparred with Master Baylis? Any of you? Has anyone here lasted more than a minute against Master Baylis in a proper sparring match? This guy was fighting one-on-three! You, Hugo, and Marcus, for three minutes straight! And he didn't break any more of a sweat than you guys did!"
The gang went silent. Neil leaned back in his chair, Marcus scratched his head, and Gina smiled with a bowed head. Ella, looking at Camille, commented, "You're making it sound like even Master Baylis couldn't take him… alone."
All eyes were now fixed at Camille who slowly turned to face her best friend. She took a deep breath and said, "You know what, El? I can't say for sure…"
Eyes wide open, Ella slowly asked, "What?"
"I have never seen anyone counter him that well in battle. And we have all seen Master Baylis spar with other senior Zaatsus even. I have even seen him spar with Master Moore, the strongest Zaatsu of the Eye. Even he lost! This White Bolt guy is no joke. He is very, very well trained…"
"Could he have been a spy of sorts?"
"Spy?"
"I mean, he could have been an active member of the Order, posing as having no connections with anyone just to gather info."
"Could be. But Master Baylis is very good at picking falsified intentions from Ki patterns. It would not have been a capturing mission then…"
Marcus added, "Why did we bring him back in the first place? Isn't he like a top-shelf criminal? He has murdered a Zaatsu too, you know…"
"If Hugo had let me," said Neil, quickly. "I would have killed him too…"
Camille frowned. "You don't mean that, do you Neil?"
Neil chose not to reply. The conversation ended there, and after a few strained pleasantries, the squad went their separate ways.