Chapter 8 CAPTAIN SMOKE

.

Mere looking around the Cybertron facility,one would easily

figure out it is a multi million dollars project,with series of

machines and devices inside. Lexi was silent for a

while,staring constantly at me in particular.

.

"Can you please stop staring at me that way? You're

intimidating me already" I said. Lexi then looked away from

my direction with a slight chuckle.

.

"Well,you guys found me in that forest because I was there to

train myself" Lexi started,taking a pause. He was the type that

will always put up a smile for everything,even though the

situation isn't worth smiling at.

.

"Train yourself??? Wait a minute...It will be a lot better if you

expatiate what you're trying to say because am sure none of

us understood what you meant by training yourself" Victor

quickly countered. Actually,none of us saw a point in arguing

against what we're yet to understand.

.

"Well,I came there to master how best to use my artificial

body in a fight or anywhere....I found myself trapped in this

new world of mine since my father died" Lexi said

again,taking a dramatic pause. I really don't know of others

but it was clear I was still not getting what the latter was

driving at.

"You see,all these started five hears ago when my father was

still alive...At the early age of seven,I was diagnosed with

cancer of the bones and this made me totally down for close

to a year and half. At that time,I was partially paralyzed and

could do nothing that had anything to do with strength....My

father,being a very wise and powerful scientist teamed up with

some of his fellow science experts and carried out a

dangerous surgery on me that requires removing all the

damaged bones and replacing them with indestructible bionic

steel compartments made from the strongest element on

earth...After the success of the surgery,everything about me

changed...I was no more a regular human" Lexi explained.

The looks on our faces could easily tell that we were more

than surprised.

"My father once said to me that if I could learn how to utilize

what I have,then no amount of legion,thousands or millions of

them could defeat me....He said I am now like a god who

can't be destroyed by anything,not even what I was

reconstructed with. But sadly in the last few years since the

death of my father,things aren't turning out as I've thought

they would and this in no way had constantly been having

ripple effects on me for a while now" Lexi explained further.

.

"So,what you're trying to tell us is that even with this facility

you've got,you still have artificial strength in you?" Kenzie

asked. Lexi smiled and nodded the positive.

.

"You seem to have been in this hero league for a while

now...Why aren't you using your abilities to save humans

from troubles?" Boyka enquired. We all glanced at each

other,rating the question good. Lexi got up from his seat and

began advancing towards another direction in the facility.

.

"I once did that before...But I stopped after realizing I couldn't

save a situation without destroying or causing more

havoc...something like this" Lexi said. He raised his left leg

and violently hit it on the floor again,making the slated ground

of the facility crack vertically towards where we sat down.

.

"If I attempt to save any troubled situation,I'll end up making it

worse because of my extreme strength...I can't control what I

have" Lexi added. His own story was making him look

devastated,the main reason why he doesn't want to talk about

it in the first place I guess.

.

"Wait a minute...Do you know any creature by the name Brain

Puncher?" Boyka asked. Lexi swiftly turned at him with a stern

look at first but was later relaxed into a gentle smile.

.

"I know Brain Puncher is a villain here in this city....Myself

and Captain Smoke had once tried to stop him at first when

he was terrorizing the Chinese continent but when we couldn't

handle him,we gave up on our quest on him....He then went

into hiding for close to a lot of years before finally resurfacing

here in New York" Lexi explained. Everyone of us somehow

believed Lexi and then pulled him out of our suspect list but

the explanation he made was questions leading to more

questions.

.

"Wait..Let me get this straight...You mean Brain Puncher has

been in existence for quite a long time now?" I asked,glancing

at Boyka who nodded slowly at me for giving a headstart

question into the case.

.

"Yes....If you're thinking he's a new villain,then you're

beautifully wrong brother" Lexi answered while attending to

one of his machines in the facility.

.

"Interesting...so Brain Puncher isn't a mutant from the meteor

blast" I muttered to myself. After thinking for a while,I

suddenly raised my face up.

.

"But you mentioned someone as Captain Smoke few while

ago" I said.

.

"Yes...You made mention of Captain Smoke...Who is he?"

Victor asked. Lexi suddenly bursted Into a hysterical laughter

and that lasted for few seconds before he stopped.

.

"That's not funny, nincompoop...its a simple question" Kenzie

said sarcastically.

.

"Captain Smoke isn't a boy...She's a very good friend of mine

but not from this city....She's based in the Chinese part

known as Wuhan where we first battled Brain Puncher....Back

then,Brain Puncher made a total kill score of two thousand

kills in less than a year" Lexi said. I gasped in shock and this

made me feel like grabbing and strangling Brain Puncher to

death...Of all types of human,I somehow developed a liking

for Chinese people. Sometimes I wonder why I even have Rae

and not a Chinese girl as my girlfriend. The pure form at

which Lexi answered every bit of our question made us all

trust him instantly but left to me,I sensed Lexi was still hiding

something about Brain Puncher.

.

"Does she possess any powers? I mean supes abilities" Victor

asked. Lexi smiled,walked to a water dispenser,took a cup and

gulped down the whole content. He then faced us again.

.

"Well,Anabelle do have powers...Teleportation,Combat

skills,Electrokinesis and ultrasonic wave powers....She got

them after a gamma radiation accident in a laboratory where

she once worked in Hong Kong when she was still

seven,working as a little cleaner alongside her mother" Lexi

answered,walking back to his empty seat and occupied it

again.

.

"Does she know that Brain Puncher had resurfaced here?"

Kenzie asked. Lexi nodded the negative.

.

"No...I didn't tell her...She can only know that if she's

constant with the news which Anabelle hates a lot so I doubt

if she knew he's here again" Lexi answered.

.

"Is there any way we can get here back here?" I asked. Lexi

swiftly looked back at me,obviously wondering I asked such a

question.

.

"Why do you want her here in New York?" Lexi asked,throwing

the question at no one in particular. It was our turn to explain

our moves on Brain puncher. Initially,I had thought of cooking

up a lie in order to force out what Lexi seem to be hiding

about the latest villain but Kenzie got up and spoke before I

did.

.

"Well Lex,maybe you and Anabelle couldn't defeat Brain

Puncher because your powers aren't enough to stop him

but...." Kenzie was still saying when Lexi interrupted.

.

"My powers alone is enough to crush Brain Puncher if I learn

the perfect use of it and not using it to cause more havoc"

Lexi defended himself. Kenzie made a sorry gesture and

continued her speech.

.

"But now,we're taking the bull by the horn,respawning the

fallen courage to tackle and stop Brain Puncher's menance act

in New York....if we decide not to do this,then Brain Puncher

is not going to stop extending his branches,continuing his kill

counts....We are here for a reason,you are also here for a

reason...And luckily,the reasons corresponded in many

ways...We can't keep watching him kill more humans when

we have what it takes to stop the nonsense he's spewing

around" Kenzie said.Lexi slowly got up from his seat and

faced away from us.

.

"I...I don't think I can do this and....and the reason is that...."

He was saying and then stopped,raising and looking at his

hands.

"I feel nervous already....Am so sorry" Lexi said. There was a

long silence afterwards before Victor got up and walked to the

devastated and heartbroken Lexi. He placed a hand on his

shoulder.

.

"You'll do this,Cybertron....You have what it takes to be a life

savior...When the quest is immenient,we'll come back for

you...You have the strength to master your powers....Get back

Anabelle and stay strong brother" Victor said,tapping Lexi on

the shoulder three times before finally turning back and few

minutes later,we all left Cybertron facility ....