Chapter 12: Theo Kapoor

"Yeah kid, someone recognized me after all. I can't believe you didn't recognize me."

Teal and Ryu exchanged a look, they still don't know who the person before them was.

"What is with you robotics people. Everyone you know is a genius, what a drag." Ryu started speaking with his annoyed tone.

"Whaaaat! How dare you?! Dr. Kapoor is considered a genius second only to Arnold Fringer!" Van had this rage carrying in his voice for disrespecting a person he respected.

"Who the hell is even Arnold Fringer."

"Now now. Don't fight over me." Theo got in between Ryu and Van, he turned to Teal "After examining the arm, it looks like a real arm but the material used is a mystery. It looks like steel but it had the hardness similar to the bones. I guess you are called a genius of the next generation for nothing, maybe you have already surpassed us."

Van's face turned serious "It's not what you think it is. I wasn't the one who created it."

"What? Then who made this." Theo tilted his head from the blunt answer.

"We don't know about that... we actually came here searching for that. We thought maybe you were the one who did it, but it turns out it wasn't you." Van's voice carried a bit of pain.

"Hmm. So you haven't seen the person who replaced a whole arm?"

"It's not only me." Teal turned to Ryu. Ryu understood what Teal was about to say and took his gloves off.

Theo's eyes lit up seeing Ryu's metallic arm, which was shining for some reason "OH MY GOD! This is even better."

Ryu looked genuinely offended "What do you mean 'even better'? My hand got replaced by this metal crap, I mean its cool but it still replaced by original hand for no reason."

"Sorry sorry~ I didn't think when saying that. But this hand... this has a hole, like its placed there for some purpose, some cool purpose I suppose." Looks at Ryu with a knowing smile.

Ryu's lips curved to a smirk "You sure know about these stuffs, and you definitely know which stuff is cooler."

Teal flinched at the words but keeps his silence, fully knowing that the hand that Ryu has is a lot cooler than his.

Ryu brings his arm forward, angling his palm straight and shoots a beam from his palm, the beam flies towards the stone wall, blowing it up to smithereens.

Theo's hair shot backwards from the air of the blast.

"Wow... It truly is fascinating."

"You didn't even see the function that is the coolest." Ryu brought his arm forward again, this time a small metallic grain popped from the small hole in his palm. The grain transformed to a beautiful, well shaped shield.

Theo got even more surprised "Woah! That is so cool! A shield? How did it even transform from that tiny grain to a whole shield?"

Ryu and Theo laugh in unison, Ryu laughing at the praise as he feels proud, While Theo laughs that he discovered something new.

"Tch. Look at them going at it."

Van looked at Teal looking annoyed and smiled playfully "Looks like someone is jealous."

"Anyway. The arm itself is so strong it cannot be broken easily. The wires you see here, they are used to operate the arm. You may ask "doesn't wire just conduct electricity?".
Well technically it does. But my theory is that the constant beating of the heart create small electricity, which is stored in a place somewhere in your body, I don't know exactly where but the stored electricity maybe the thing that makes these arm move possible. As for the laser and shield... it's a bit of mystery even for me."

Van looked surprised and a sense of familiarity, the way he explained, it was how he explains to others. The explanation from just a look showed how much he knew about these stuff although the analysis provided by Theo was mostly theoretical, it made most sense.

"How do you live here?" Teal asked suddenly going off-topic out of jealousy.

"It's just a cover. My lab is underneath in the basement."

"Like in the movies. I knew you were a cool person when you recognized my arm."

"Hahaha. Come I will show you around my lab."

Theo starts walking towards the house.

"The house still gives the creeps though. Why did you choose a lab here?" Ryu asked, talking to him as though he was his friend.

"Well an abandoned house is the perfect cover to hide my lab." He turned his head back, looking over his shoulder.

"Cover for what?" Van asked, his voice sounding curious.

"From everything. The government, the people and the corporates. Although Mr. Satoshi found me and is funding my research" They started walking as he spoke.

"Although I tend to not come out for a long time too."

"How much time do you stay in?" Van spoke.

"Depends. I sometimes stay weeks, sometimes months."

"MONTHS? What do you even do for so long?" Teal asked in a high pitched voice.

"Mostly think my brain off and sometimes work on prototypes. The foods are stocked in the lab so I don't have to worry about that."

"Must be nice. Researching with funds and living your life." Van had an expression that screamed he wanted what Theo was having.

All of them enter the house. The flooring starts creaking as they start walking, each step feeling link the wood would break and they may fall.

"How do you even walk to your lab with these floors." Ryu almost broke the stepped on a wood that was half broken, waiting for a slight force to be fully broken.

"I manage somehow. But this feels a lot older than the last time I saw."

"Of course it would look older when you rarely come out your lab." Teal looked around seeing only wood that are on the verge of collapse.

Theo slams his hand on the wall beside him, making the other three jump. 

An elevator reveals when the wall before them opened.

"This is the lift to my lab."