He was truly disappointed by the turn out. Wrath shrugged. "I didn't expect much. Your plan is a good one. You just need to put in some real money. As they say, garbage in, garbage out."
Kelvin nodded and increased the reward for the mission from 40 thousand to 100 thousand.
Wrath urged him. "Maybe a little more."
He sighed and doubled it to 200,000.
Wrath wasn't satisfied. It asked, "What else do you even want to use the money for?"
Kelvin thought about it and said, "I want to kill my arch enemy. She is a speedster. She is still unranked, but her parents are her D-rank."
"Well, 1 million is not going to cut it. You will need at least 10 million to touch the D rank. Better to get a good ability for cheap and make it in the games. She won't mean much then."
Kelvin listened to its advice and doubled the reward to 400,000 dollars. He would need to pay the villain league 10% of that 400,000 dollars if the mission goes through, so he is really paying 440,000 dollars for the mission. But Wrath was satisfied, so they put that aside.
Kelvin had to decide if he wanted to do more missions or relax until his game in the next four days. He decided to relax.
Not only was he tired, a mission could take up too much of his time and interfere with his game. So he relaxed until it was time for another game.
During that time, something noteworthy happened. He was watching the news during his free time from exercise. He wasn't truly paying attention to the TV though. He was actually focused on his phone. The TV simply provided an ambience to what he was doing on his phone.
But he had to pay attention to the TV because something interesting came on. Apparently, one of the goons of the Patriarch had been successfully rehabilitated.
It wasn't a total lie because he recognized the goon. That's what attracted his attention in the first place. Whether the goon had been truly rehabilated or he was pretending or he was being forced into sagiohe had been rehabilitated is another thing entirely.
The goon was having an interview on the TV. A woman asked him, "What has been your experience so far?"
The guy replied politely, "The Justice League has been kind to me. They took care of me. They fed me and kept me safe."
Then the guy teared up. He said through tears, "They didn't lie to me. This is the first time no one has betrayed my trust. They truly do mean well for all of us."
The lady interviewing him said something, but he wasn't paying attention to her anymore. He was scrutinizing this goon. His eyes were narrowed in suspicion as he examined him.
He thought to himself, "I didn't know this guy much, but he seems to have changed. Maybe this rehabilitation thing is not a scam."
So he asked Wrath, "Do you think the rehabilitation claim is fake? Do you think he is deceiving them or they are forcing him?"
Wrath took one look at the TV and began laughing. Its reaction made Kelvin frown.
He asked, "Is something funny?"
His question made Wrath laugh harder. It said, "'Is something funny?' he says. What isn't funny about this? That should be the question."
Kelvin couldn't figure it out. So he checked everything again. He still didn't find anything strange.
"I give up. There is nothing odd about the whole thing. Look at the boy; his eyes are bright. I haven't seen so much hope in the eyes of someone before."
Then he remembered something. It made him frown. He thought to himself, "Come to think of it. His eyes are a little too bright. I don't remember them being that color. Didn't he have brown eyes?
Were his eyes that bright before and I didn't notice, or did he awaken an ability that made them bright? Also, aren't those eyes familiar?"
Wrath asked him, "Have you caught on yet?"
He replied uncertainly, "His eyes?"
Wrath rolled his completely white eyes in derision and said, "Yes, his eyes. Those are the eyes of the Patriarch. His eyes are not bright. They are tattooed. He has golden tattoos in his eyes."
Kelvin finally remembered where he saw those eyes before. His face changed when he realized the implications.
He said, "The eyes are the windows to the soul."
Wrath said in agreement. "Correct. That's the Patriarch alright. He has returned from the dead. I wonder what his game plan is."
Kelvin was wondering the same thing too. Fortunately, they received more information to help them guess soon.
The lady on the TV said, "That is good to hear. I also heard that you have awakened your ability. I hope that it isn't too much of a stress to you."
The boy shook his head and said with excitement, "Not at all. The Justice League has been truly good to me. They are going to let me join their junior division. I am so happy."
Wrath was laughing again. It was getting on Kelvin's nerves because he didn't see what was funny about the whole thing. He still can't find anything funny about it even after knowing that the boy is the Patriarch.
He tried to work it out himself. "He was killed by the Justice League but now he is going to join them. Something is at foot."
Wrath stopped laughing to speak. "Of course something is afoot. Maybe he let them kill him on purpose. Maybe he let them find his lair on purpose. Or maybe he even leaked the location of his lair to them. Now he has entered the Justice League.
Just thinking about his possible motives is enough to crack me up."
Kelvin still didn't find it funny. He said, "If you can identify him with a glance, won't Raijin be able to too?"
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A/N: I have decided to take your suggestions into consideration and lock the chapters at 44. Number 44 is a good symmetrical number. It should do.