Chapter 175 Smoked

"WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL, DUDE!?!" Manny shouted. He turned and looked at Lee Seng who's eyes were half-open looking around. "You almost got us thrown into sewage!" Manny's laid back and chill demeanor had disappeared and was replaced by, what Lee Seng liked to call it, the "real Manny." He began to swear expletives as the continued to hold onto the broken railing. The smoke whipped around them as tiny amounts sat still in the gravity bubble.

"A-are we dead?" Olivia asked. She looked around and noticed she was hovering above the sewage water. She began to scream and flail. "Oh my god, get me outta here! It reeks and I– AHHH!" Lee Seng opened his eyes and spun around. He was half sticking off the bridge while the others were pushed away.

'I guess I have a lot to work on.' Lee Seng poked at the air in front of him and rocket upwards. He moved himself into a standing position and bumped his head against the sewer ceiling.

"Ouch." He commented as he looked around. Ritsuka had held onto Evan while Evan's grip on Liz had loosened. Liz was floating a foot in the air off the sewage water while the rest were to his right. Lee Seng moved his hand towards Liz and took a deep breath, coughing.

"I'll start moving you guys. Don't panic. You're fine as long as I'm in the bubble." Lee Seng told them.

"Fine if we're in the bubble!?! What if you accidentally pop out, dipshit!?!" Manny shouted. Lee Seng chuckled.

'It has been forever since I saw him lose his composure.' Lee Seng slowly pulled Liz away and gently landed her on the bridge.

"Thank god!" Liz let her breath out. "I thought I was dead!"

"One down. Four to go." Lee Seng announced. He moved his hand over to Ritsuka and Evan. "I'll do Ritsuka and Evan first since they're still glued together, miraculously."

"Do me, idiot! Do me!" Manny complained.

"Oh shut up, Manny. You're safe! The bubble hit the ceiling and Lee Seng's head is touching the ceiling!" Liz told Manny.

"HE COULD POP THE BUBBLE!"

Lee Seng sighed as he pulled Ritsuka and Evan. The two quickly moved, letting out a yelp from Evan and Ritsuka as Lee Seng realized he had pulled too hard. He slowed his pull and roughly set them next to Liz. Liz grabbed at the boys as they kept their eyes shut.

"You can open them now." Lee Seng spoke. Ritsuka and Evan opened an eye and looked at each other before turning to look at Liz, who was trying to hold a patient smile.

"Come on, boys. You're fine." Liz reassured them.

"Oh god, let's never do that again, okay?!?" Evan shouted up at Lee Seng.

"Give us a warning next time dude." Ritsuka added.

"Maybe I should dump you in the sewage." Lee Seng thought aloud.

"N-n-n-n-o thank you." Ritsuka cowered. Lee Seng moved his hand over to Olivia. She was trying not to move closer to the sewage water and was shaking. Lee Seng pulled her up and away from the sewage water and accidentally knocked Manny, who started to shout more expletives. Lee Seng chuckled in amusement as he moved his other hand and grabbed Manny with gravity. He moved Olivia and Manny over onto the end of the bridge and set them down.

"The phones!" Liz pointed. Lee Seng glanced over to his right and found four phones floating in mid air. He pulled them over to the bridge near Liz and turned to look for the other phone. The phone was touching the gravity bubble as Lee Seng pulled it back towards Liz.

"All good? Did I miss anything?" Lee Seng asked. Liz looked around and gave Lee Seng a thumbs up.

"You're good."

"Now to get down…" Lee Seng quietly glanced around. The sound of the explosion had ended ages ago and the wind seemed to have died. Lee Seng guessed it had probably spilt into the drop off zone and pulled the gravity bubble back towards him. Earth's gravity took effect and the group landed onto the bridge as it creaked and groaned. The railings flew into the sewage waters creating loud splash noises as Lee Seng slowly lowered himself onto his feet. He released the gravity around him and felt his arms starting to ache from the precise use of his powers.

"Everybody's good." Lee Seng observed loudly.

"Great " Ritsuka slowly nodded.

"Swell." Manny sarcastically agreed as he slowly stood up. Lee Seng watched the rest slowly stand and help each other as he slowly descended back to the ground. His muscles were aching and his eyes were already drifting over to the infection zone to their right.

"That explosion… It came from over there, right?" Evan pointed over to the direction Lee Seng was looking at.

"Mmm, it did." Lee Seng answered.

"Don't tell me you wanna stop what we're doing and go see if they're okay." Manny grumbled. "We don't know when those hound guys are coming for us, so we should be careful."

"You heard the guy, right? They have someone who's injured." Evan defended.

"I don't think that's a wise choice." Ritsuka turned to look at Lee Seng and Evan. "The infection zones have high levels of toxins. If that was a yellow one then it would still do harm to us in the long run. We're breathing in the toxic air already. We need to get out as soon as possible."

'They do have a point.' Keng agreed. Lee Seng turned his eyes slightly away from the group, moving to stare at a sewer wall. 'If you guys waste your time helping others, you might not be able to help yourselves when the toxins actually start affecting your bodies. Plus, the hounds will come. It's only a matter of time.'

"Ignore them to preserve ourselves?" Lee Seng turned to look back at the group. He sighed and took a step forward, rubbing his temples. "I guess we'll do what we need to do in order to stay alive. We don't have the proper equipment to keep the toxins out of our lungs, so we need to keep going."

"B-but those people." Evan pointed. "You're going to leave them behind?"

"I don't want to, Evan." Lee Seng took another look towards the tunnel before turning. "But we need to make distance and get out of here before we're dead." Evan's face soured and nodded.

"Let's go before we get caught by something not friendly." Olivia motioned. Lee Seng lit himself up with White Fox Cloak and grabbed the phones. He wandered over to each person and watched them fish for their phones. Manny gave Lee Seng a glare before snatching his phone.

"'Kay, let's go." Manny turned. "And shut that glow off." Lee Seng smiled as he balled his hands and dissipated the cloak.

Lee Seng led the group to the left, pulling out the map. He unfolded it and traced where they were.

'We're about here…' He tapped at the bridge they just left. 'If we go for a little longer, we'll curve to the right and need to go across the bridge and that should lead to a tunnel that'll take us east for a while. We'll pass about… three… No, four four-way intersections and the fifth one we'll need to go left and hug close to the drop off…'

"Alright, let's go." Lee Seng nodded as he folded the map back into a square. He stuffed it in his pockets and started down the path. He followed the right sewer wall, ignoring the openings and looking behind him, occasionally, to check on his friends.

Manny held his phone to light up the ground in front of him. He watched Lee Seng's back as he continued forward. He glanced at his phone and noticed the reception had blipped enough for his phone to be spammed with text messages. Manny lowered his phone a bit, shielding it from the group and clicked the text messages. They were all from his dad.

Pops: Manny, are you alright? The whole school got attacked and many people are fleeing and/or panicking. I hope you got out.

Pops: Are you with Lee Seng? Make sure he doesn't get caught. There's intel from the other Numbers that these people want Lee Seng for whatever reason. Don't let them get him, alright?

Pops: The cellular connection keeps getting cut off. There're guys who are disrupting the connection and a squad was sent to deal with that.. I got word that the tunnels were breached and students started to flee and fight. I hope you're okay.

Pops: Order from C. Force Lee Seng into a hard position. We need to know what he'll do. Protect his friends or flee and protect his secrets.

'Protect his friends or flee and protect his secrets? What does that mean?' Manny sighed. The bar dropped and Manny moved out of the text messages and shut his screen off. They curved out to the right and appeared next to a bridge. Lee Seng stopped and turned around.

"It'll be a straight shot for a bit. Be careful." Lee Seng warned his friends. They began to move across the bridge when Manny's phone buzzed in his hand, again. Manny turned his screen on and noticed a new text message.

Unknown Number: This is C. Do as you're told and gather intel and report back after the incident and you'll be graciously rewarded. Send your location and hounds will dispatch to you. Don't worry about your connection, the connection has already been re-established.

Manny's finger tapped and moved over to the 'send location' button. He sighed and looked at his friends behind him before turning to look at Lee Seng.