Gifted | Sleepy Bois Inc

Chapter Fourteen

"You're kidding."

I shook my head. "I'm not. Trust me, I don't like it any more than you do, but it kinda makes sense."

The phone's audio quality made Wilbur's sigh so crackly that I had to hold it away from my ear to make sure that I didn't go deaf. "Come on, Techno, how does this make sense? What you're suggesting is so controversial that I--- this--- it can't be possible."

He sounded so stressed that I felt bad about telling him, but I had promised. Even if it had taken me a whole twenty minutes to explain it all, it was better than keeping quiet. Besides, Wilbur was smart enough that he would've figured it out eventually.

"It's possible, and you know it," I said. "Wilbur, I know you don't like it. Neither do I. But there's a chance for it, and so we have to consider it."

"I don't want to consider it," my brother grumbled. "This is ridiculous."

"You know it's likely, and that's why you don't want to accept it."

"Techno, that's not---"

"You can live in denial," I said with a shrug that I knew he couldn't see, "but I can't. Didn't you tell me to act? I might have to. And that means that I have to stop and think about exactly how many people I'm dealing with."

There was a moment of silence. I could almost see Wilbur standing in the studio building, glaring out at the night scenery provided by the floor-to-ceiling window and probably acting weird to all the people looking. The image made me smile.

"Fine, I'm in denial," Wilbur admitted. "I don't like what you're suggesting. But I also don't like how plausible it is."

Honestly, I didn't like it either. I didn't like that I was considering it, I didn't like that I had thought of it, and most of all, I didn't like that someone else might've thought of it and put that thought into action.

"Be careful," Wilbur warned. "You have to watch out. If what you're saying is true, then it means that you need to be wary of everyone around you. The mastermind behind Smiley's actions could be anyone."

I frowned. "Will, what are the chances that it'll be someone close to me? There's a lot of people in this city, much less the world. It could be any of them."

"We know they have to be in this city," Wilbur reasoned. "But think about it. They went after Tryxel."

"Tryxel's a big organization."

"Tryxel's capital building is here. Smiley could've went anywhere. He --- or rather, the person helping him and working from the shadows --- is targeting this organization specifically. That means that it's someone who knows it well enough to predict how it will send out its bounty hunters. First Storm. She's the best, but she didn't have to be the first choice. It could've been anyone, but it was Storm first. Then Lapis. Then the rest. Clearly, you have to be extremely talented to be able to defeat them out back-to-back, but that's not all. I think Smiley got a tip as to who was coming and how to defend against their powers."

I stayed quiet as I processed his words. Sending out the strongest Gifted wasn't really much of a surprise. But predicting who of the strongest would be sent --- and how to deal with them --- would need insider info.

"So you're saying that it's someone within Tryxel," I summarized.

"No," Wilbur said. "I'm saying that it's someone familiar with Tryxel. Or at least someone close to someone with connections to Tryxel."

"Maybe they've just done their research on the organization."

"Who's in denial now?"

I sighed irritably and rubbed the bridge of my nose, scowling to myself. I didn't want to consider that Tryxel, the organization that protected, had been breached. Believing that there was a person operating behind Smiley's actions was already bad enough; believing that that person was one of Tryxel's own people was worse.