255 Life from a Beltâs Perspective
The place was still littered with broken and destroyed cars, glass and pieces, and in fact, mirrors were also on the ground.
I looked around, before my phone rang, catching my attention. âYeah?â I asked, seeing that it was Greg. âYeah, did you guys do it?â he asked.
âYeah, we got him.â
âPerfect,â Greg said, and I could hear his sigh of relief. âI was worried you guys were going to fail for a second.â
âSo you donât have faith in us is what youâre saying,â I said on the phone. Greg scoffed, and chuckled. âOf course, notâtotally. Anyways, we need to figure out what to do next.â
âAlright, so you got any ideas?â
âIn fact, I have to. I have a piece of a plan, but I do.â
âWhâwhat does that even mean?â I asked, my eyes squinted in confusion.
âSomeone is obviously going to have to look at him. Iâll try and get my captain to get someone to see some footage.â
.....
âOkay,â I muttered, taking a deep breath. âWho exactly do you prefer? And how will we see?â
âFirst question, I have no clue. Second question, weâll send important footage to you guys, so you guys donât need to see over 24 hours of nonsense.â
âYeah, I guess. Wait, when you say 24 hours of nonsense, do you mean evenâân/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
âDonât worry, no oneâs going to look at it.â
I sighed. âAlright, continue. What do you hope that we find?â Greg chuckled. âSimple, where Matthew Lock is, or something that can give us clues. I hope time isnât too short for that.â
âIt isnâtâ¦it shouldnât be.â
âAlright, Iâll see yâall later,â Greg said with a sigh. He hung up, and I put my phone away. Then my phone decided to ring once again, making me pick up my phone once again.
âWhat?â I asked, a bit annoyed, but my emotion changed completely once I heard Mr. Drails voice.
âYeah?â I muttered.
âDid you guys put the tracker on Luthor Bane,â he asked as if he just ran a marathon. I nodded. âYeah, we did.â
He sighed in relief. âOkay, Iâll send a portal for you guys to come back to the YMPA. Good job everyone, weâll see what to do next.â
âWell, Greg said that the FMA is going to look at the footage, then send us the important footage. Including the weird stuff.â
âWhat weird stuff?â
âYou know, bathroom and shower andââ
âFirst of all, itâs on his belt, not his body, so we shouldnât be seeing anything first of allâ¦I hope.â
âOh well, what you say,â I said with a chuckle.
***
It was the next day, and I was in school or at least heading to school. I needed to see if Greg maybe got anything worth looking at.
I entered the school, studying the hall to pick out Greg from the haystack. Then I caught him in the midst of a few students. I walked towards him, and I instantly caught his attention.
âOh, Connor,â he said. âWhatâs good?â
âWhat would be best actually, would be if you got anything from the footage.â
âIâm not sure, havenât checked,â he said. âAlso, they have cheeseburgers today for lunch so hopefully we can do our deluxe special if you know what I meanâ¦â
He nudged and winked at me, but I didnât seem to have any effect. âYeahâ¦um, when will we be able to see it?â I asked.
âHopefully when school ends, because if not, youâre gonna have two in one day. And Iâm not sure thatâs the most time youâd want to spend onâjust saying.â
âAlright,â I muttered. âBut they have cheeseburgers today right?â
âYeah, excited for it?â
âYou know already.â Greg laughed, as we began to attend our classes.
***
After school was done, the next thing on my mind was the footage. I was pretty excited to see if we were going to get any sort of information on Matthew Lockâs location. But I also kind of want to see his lifestyle. I might be weird about this, but itâs oddly interesting.
I entered inside, as the others began to join me as well inside the briefing room. Mr. Drails turned, and his mouth widened into a smile.
âWelcome everybody. Now I just got an email from the FMA to see an hour and forty minutes of footage. Come on everybody, sit down, sit down.â
We rushed to our seats, as Mr. Drails pulled up the video. The screen dropped down, and the video was revealed as it lowered.
âHere we go,â Malachi sighed, leaning back and biting his lower lip.
It started with us being in Luthor Baneâs belt perspective, in which we saw the wearer himself, walk over to it and latch it on. Then we were in the room once again and then all five of us watched, in silence. It was footage that made sense now, seeing it was probably from a camera attached to the guyâs body. All of a sudden, a ring blared inside the speakers which was obviously his phone.
âHello?â a distorted voice echoed.
âWho is this?â Luthor asked.
âItâs me.â
âOh, Father.â
All our faces shot up in surprise, and now our interest was in full effect. What is he doing with his father?
âAre you okay?â
âYes, but I need you to come back to the bunker. I have a lot on my plate, but I should be able to make it by tomorrow.â
âAlright, Iâll see you then. Where are you at right now, Iâm about to head to the TSA mainstream.â
âIâm headed to the car, so Iâll meet you there.â
âPerfect.â
âI love you too, bye.â
âBye.â
âIâll see you soon.â
âYeah, Iâm looking forward to it.â
âSame. Bye.â
Luthor Bane put away his phone, and he once again headed towards the door, in which he found himself staring at a line of expensive and exquisite vehicles of his choosing. He unlocked the vehicle and closed the door. âHmph, itâs about time.â He muttered as the engine turned on, and the doors were locked, in place. He pulled out of the parking spot, and moved out of the driveway and into the street.
After a few minutes, he turned onto a road that took him through the city of Detroit, and into another town. The roads were filled with cars, some speeding down the street while others just drove slow. The sun was going down in the sky, revealing itself in the beauty of orange and red in the night sky. The moon and stars were also there as well, and they were shining bright and beautiful in the night.
âOoh, this is a nice setting,â Malachi said, shooting an admiring look at me.
âIt is.â
He began to approach this tall building that completely took my eyes. It towered to the sky, covered in clear and white glass, with the color being a combination of the green grass that surrounded the building. There were large windows and pillars that reached to the very top of its height. The design in which the building was was both a mix of modern architecture as well as Victorian styles. The main difference was that it looked like it had a much newer and brighter feel than the Victorian architecture.
âWowâ¦â I muttered. It looked mesmerizing even from a video. He went into the parking lot of this beauty of the TSA Mainstream Building. Iâm pretty sure it is not allowed to compliment the TSA, but my goodness, look at this thing.
Then we watched as he walked up to the entrance, where he rang the bell. The moment he did that, the doors opened, and there stood the security guards. They instantly let him in, and they didnât even check if he had the black utility belt. He must be very popular among all of the TSA.
âHere you are, sir,â the guard said with an odd sense of familiarity.
âThanks,â he said.
âYouâre welcome.â
He was about to walk away, when he turned his head back towards the door. âOh, and the bathrooms are on the second floor by the way, down the hallway on your left, to your right.â
âI see, thank you.â
âNo problem.â
We watched him go through the lobby and then onto the stairwell that brought him up to the second floor, and in his office. He quickly made his way inside, and he immediately shut the door behind himself. We only caught a glimpse of the room, but it appeared to be quite spacious. All of a sudden, he went through a door, and opened up to a room that was completely mind-boggling to see. A row full of computers, buttons, and screens all around the room placed on the walls was the depiction of this room. It was like a technological slideshow. It was oddly exciting to look at.
Then as I continued to watch, the door at the end of the room slid open, as a man entered. At first glance, he looked very distinguished and sophisticated. But then I noticed the familiar face structure of the man, and my eyes widened with disgust. âRedford Bane,â everyone said in a joint remark.
âYes, and what is this? What a surprise to see you. The traitorous littleââ
âLuthor, please,â Mr. Bane interrupted. âWe can discuss this later. For now I would like to inform you of what is going on. Iâm sure youâve already seen my email.â All the agents in the room turned their chairs, making this squeaking noise of chairs turning directions. âNow, we have reached out to an old friend of the TSA who is very good at tracking, and Iâm pretty sure you guys know him. His name: Mark Gerard. He is very skilled with both tracking as well as hiding himself. And he has been given a task. To track a certain person, as well as keeping it secret to the rest of the world.â
âMatthew Lock is that certain personâ¦correct?â
âYes, obviously. But heâs retired, so me and my son will meet him, and we can resume our mission. Understood? Good, then you will meet him at the meeting area that I specified.â
âUnderstood. Alright, Iâll be there.â
âPerfect. If anything happens, you call and contact me, or my son at once. Now if thatâs everything, I believe I need to go. Be safe.â
âWait, so whatâs the location since you already know where he is?â an agent that was sitting by one of the computers asked. Mr. Bane chuckled.
âI have it on file. He was seen in that restaurant earlier today, at about four PM.â
.....
âAlright, alright,â the agent said. âWell, off to find that file right now.â
âBe safe, and good luck to all of you. I hope that this works out, because things are getting really out of hand. I do not want to see the destruction of the TSA by a bunch of villains and monsters. Bye.â
The screen then dimmed, and everyone stood up.
âWell, that was interesting. Canât wait to hear the rest,â Malachi said. âBut yeah, that was pretty much the information we were told to gather. I donât know why Bane is trying to reach out for an old friend of the TSA to track this guy, but this sounds like itâs going to work for us.â
âHe mustâve been a very good agent then,â I said with a chuckle. âDo we have any background information on Mark Gerard? Or what does this âold friend of the TSAâ have to say about all of this?â
All the agents shifted their gaze over towards Mr. Drails, who was standing up from his seat. âWell, let me pull up a folder on this guy first.â