Bunny - Chaos and Mystery

Chapter 5

They land on Leo's balcony, Mysterion pushes the glass door open, "You don't lock it?"

Leo shakes his head, "No one can get up here, it's the 30th floor. Well, I guess no one but you."

Mysterion sets Leo down on his couch, "Nice place. Do you live alone?"

"Yeah, I've got two more rooms other than the one I use. It really is too much space, but my company insists I stay here."

"Lucky. It must be nice to live in a big place like this."

"Not as much as you'd think. It gets lonely..."

"I guess I could see that..."

The doorbell rings and Mysterion flinches.

Leo puts his hand on Mysterion's shoulder, "It's just my food, it gets delivered to me every day around this time. Relax. Take a seat at the table."

"Right..." Mysterion feels embarrassed that he got so defensive at the sound of a doorbell.

Leo carries a plate with a large cheese pizza on it. "Do you like pizza?"

"I'll eat whatever I can."

Leo sits down and starts eating, Mysterion waits for Leo to take a bite, then grabs a slice for himself.

"Leo, are you worried about your parents?"

"Hmm? Oh, no. I called them after I got there, Turns out that they were never actually captured."

"Well, that's good, sorry that you got mixed up in all this."

"That's okay, I got to meet you. That makes it all worth it."

That comment made Mysterion happier than it should have. Mysterion didn't have any friends anymore. He is always so caught up in his work, they all left him. The only person he ever talked to was his sister.

"Mysterion?"

"Yes?"

"Why do you do what you do? Why devote your life to people who can't even celebrate your true self?"

"Well... I was cursed with power. I could sit here and feel bad for myself, or I could go out and make a difference, do something for others that they can't do for themselves."

"Why fight against an organization as big as JNPR and Professor Chaos?"

"How do you know about JNPR?"

"Can I tell you a secret?"

"Sure."

"I don't exactly work for them, but they have their uses for me. They need someone to launder their blood money. I don't know where it comes from, I just worry about where it goes. That's the accounting I do."

Mysterion stands up, "You work for them?!"

Leo throws his hands up, "It's not like I want to. I have to. To survive. They have their ways of punishing people who don't fall into line."

"Were you sent to get me? Was this a trap?"

Leo shakes his head. "No, in fact, I was the one who fell into a trap. As you said, I was sent in as a decoy. Part of me wishes that building killed me. Then I wouldn't have to live in fear all the time..."

Mysterion's expression changes, and he sits back down. "Don't say things like that. Living is worth it, as someone who has died millions of times, trust me when I say it's not all it's made out to be."

Leo cups his hands on the table and leans forward. Tears start to lightly fall from Leo's eyes, "But what if the cost of living is more painful than any death you could ever imagine?"

Leo was lying to Mysterion, but at the same time, telling the most truth he ever had. This was a cry for help, to his worst enemy.