Henry didn't say a word, but his mind was racing. "Shit! How'd she find out?" he thought. Then his eyes widened in realization. "Unless… Alicia! She must have told her. But she promised—"
"Alicia didn't tell me," Felicity suddenly cut in, as if reading his thoughts. "But your silence clearly suggests that I'm right."
Henry sighed in defeat. "How did you figure it out?" he asked.
Felicity revealed a smirk. "You forget that this is my city. And that grants me access to all its security networks… including surveillance cams," she stated, walking over to his desk. She tapped her wristband and an holographic screen instantly materialized in front of them, displaying a video.
She pressed play.
The footage was grainy, clearly captured from a CCTV camera mounted high on a building. The timestamp read yesterday's date, around the time of the attack.
Henry watched in awe, his blood turning to ice.
The video showed the plaza where he and Alicia had been when the beasts first showed up. It showed a blur of motion, too fast to make out clearly, saving a family and fighting a Steelwolf. Then the footage cut to another clip, showing Henry at the construction site, luring the behemoth in the trap that immobilized it just before the TRIAD agents arrived.
Felicity stopped the video. The holographic display flickered and vanished.
The silence in the room was suffocating.
Finally, Felicity spoke. "The footage was sent to me personally by someone I trust," she said. "Someone who knows to alert me when things like this happen."
Henry's hands clenched into fists. There was really no use denying it anymore. The video was enough proof.
"Did anyone else see it?" he asked.
Felicity chuckled. "Are you worried about TRIAD?"
Henry raised a brow. "Wait… I keep hearing about this TRIAD. Who are they exactly? And… why does it sound like everyone is terrified of them?"
Felicity exhaled. "T.R.I.A.D; the Technology Research and Innovation of Magical Beings Development, Authority, and Enforcement Division. They are the organization responsible for everything that happens in the world," she explained thoroughly. "They have just about the same power as the top factions and world leaders. But while these factions… like mine, focus more on our sole development in certain sectors, TRIAD took it upon themselves to focus on all. Beast control. Hunting. Military. Advanced science and technology. Weapon development… everything. And eventually, they somehow became the world's new federation. They became responsible for maintaining order and upholding the law. Making sure to keep every superpowered human in check… to prevent any instances like an uprising or world domination. That made them kind of a bigshot, and so everyone had to follow their so-called rules."
Henry nodded, pretending to be hearing all these for the first time. He already knew about TRIAD from his predecessor's memories. What he really wanted to know was.
"Do you also have to follow these rules?" he asked.
Felicity chuckled. "I might be powerful, Henry. But that doesn't mean I am above the law," she said. "Even the world leaders have to follow these rules… because they were in on it as well. TRIAD didn't just create the rules and began enforcing them; they needed to meet with world leaders first, to discuss which rules were acceptable before announcing them to the public."
"And one of those rules requires everyone with mana cells to be accounted for," she continued. "This is why your sudden use of an ability, despite having been tested to have no mana cells just a year ago, would cause quite a stir."
Henry furrowed his brows. "But… isn't that how it works? You suddenly develop an ability at an unexpected moment."
Felicity shook her head. "That's the thing… it isn't unexpected," she sighed. "Everyone develops mana cells at age 6-8. Of course there are some late-bloomers who develop theirs at age 9-12. But after 15, it is considered impossible to develop mana cells anymore."
"Though there have been cases of some developing theirs much later, like in their 20s… but it is extremely rare," she added. "And even then, it must be justified both logically and biologically. Otherwise, TRIAD would consider you an abnormally and start conducting experiments on you."
Henry let out a shaky breath. "So I'm gonna be treated like some lab rat?" he murmured, sweat already forming on his forehead.
"You don't have to worry," Felicity said, tapping her wristband again. "I had the footage scrubbed from all networks within the hour. My people handled it personally. As far as TRIAD and the public are concerned, it was an unknown individual that contained the outbreak until reinforcements arrived,"
Henry exhaled, but the relief was short-lived. Something still didn't add up. Felicity showed him the video only so he won't be able lie to her… but that didn't mean she found out through the video.
"You already knew, didn't you?" he said quietly. "Yesterday, when I came home. You knew I'd been in that fight."
Felicity nodded. "I suspected, yes," she said softly. "Your clothes were torn. You had that injury on your shoulder. And you looked… exhausted. Drained in a way that simple physical activity doesn't cause."
Henry furrowed his brows. "Then why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I wanted to see if you would tell me yourself." Felicity's expression softened, but there was disappointment beneath it. "I waited, Henry. Through dinner. Through the evening. I gave you every opportunity to come to me. To trust me. But you didn't."
Henry looked away, unable to think of what to say.
"Why didn't you?" Felicity asked, her voice gentle but firm. "Why didn't you tell me the truth?"
Henry's jaw tightened. He wanted to answer, wanted to explain, but the words caught in his throat. How could he explain that he didn't remember most of the fight? That something else had taken control? That he was terrified of what that meant?
"I…" Henry's voice came out as a whisper. "I didn't know how."
Felicity studied him for a long moment, then sighed. She walked over and sat on the edge of his bed, patting the space beside her.
"Sit," she said softly. "Please."
Henry hesitated, then sat. The mattress dipped slightly under their combined weight.
Felicity was quiet for a moment, as if choosing her words carefully. Then she spoke.
"Henry, I need you to understand something," she began. "Whatever you're going through, whatever you're afraid of, you can trust me. I'm not going to judge you. I'm not going to punish you. I'm your mother. I just want to help."
The word mother made Henry's chest tighten. Because she wasn't. Not really. And sitting here, lying to her, felt wrong in a way he couldn't articulate.
"I know you have questions," Felicity continued. "And I know you're scared. But I can't help you if you don't let me in."
Henry let out a breath, his mind racing. "How much should I tell her?"he thought. "She knows about the speed. But does she know about… the other thing?"
He didn't know what exactly to tell her, but he had to say something. Anything.
"I didn't mean for it to happen," he started carefully. "I was just there, and people were in danger, and I… I couldn't just stand there and watch. I wanted to help."
Felicity's expression softened. "I know, Henry. And I'm not mad at that. I'm just concerned," she sighed. "You have powers. And a significant one, from what I can see in that footage. But still, those beasts were way above your league. You could've been killed."
Henry exhaled. "I know."
"Do you?" Felicity's voice became firmer. "Henry, that was a C-Rank Behemoth. Even experienced B-Rank hunters struggle with those. You're lucky you only fought the Steelwolves directly."
Henry looked down at his hands. "I had help. Alicia was there."
"Yeah, but she also didn't tell the truth." Felicity tilted her head. "Why do you think that is?"
"She's… protecting me," Henry admitted.
"Yes. Because she's your friend. And because she knows what happens when TRIAD discovers unregistered powered individuals." Felicity placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "But I am your mother, Henry. And I need you to be honest with me."
Henry hesitated, then nodded. "Okay," he said. "I'll tell you everything."
Felicity sighed in relief. She was glad to have finally gotten through to him. "Let's start with the basics. How long have you had these abilities?"
"Since… since I came back from the forest." Henry replied.
Felicity's eyes narrowed slightly. "But the test you took at the Pegasus guild clearly stated that you still had no mana cells," she muttered. "So… how come you suddenly have an ability?"
Henry shook his head. "I… I don't know," he said. "I just sorta had them."
"I see," Felicity was thoughtful for a while. "We'll have to look into that later, maybe have you take a standard mana cell assessment. But until then, you have to keep all this between us, okay? At least until we can think of a plausible explanation to tell the public."
Henry nodded slowly. "Okay,"
"What about yesterday, during the attack," Felicity asked. "You seemed… different. Care to explain what really happened?"
"I…" Henry's voice cracked. "I actually don't remember most of it."
Felicity's expression grew serious. ".Elaborate."
"I remember the Steelwolf attacking that family. I remember wanting to help. And then…" Henry's hands clenched into fists. "I passed out. There was only… darkness. And when I woke up, I'd somehow already saved the family and fought a beast. I didn't understand what was going on, but then it happened again. And this time, I managed to trap the Behemoth. But I don't remember doing any of it. It's like someone else was controlling my body."
Felicity was quiet for a long moment, her expression unreadable. Then she stood up from the bed.
"Come with me," she said. "We need to run some tests."
Henry raised a brow. "Tests?"
"Medics tests. A brain scan to be precise. I need to understand what's happening to you." Felicity's voice was gentle but firm. "And after that, we're going to start training you. Because if you're going to have these powers, you need to learn how to control them before someone gets hurt."
Henry hesitated. "But Alicia said I should—"
Felicity sighed. "Alicia is a smart girl, but she's not qualified to help you with this," she began heading towards the door. "Get dressed. We're going out."
Henry blinked. "Where?"
Felicity smirked. "My faction. The Glacial Order."