Chương 22: Don’t leave me...

Solis's stepmother was laughing psychotically. "Let's see how Solis lives in peace now that I've taken away his beloved fiancé!" she cackled.

"It is a little too early for you to celebrate," a mild voice said.

Noir stood unharmed, with a fish in his gloved hands. This was the second fish…the unfortunate one which had taken the poison in the celery. The fish was dead now.

Noir had moved so fast that hardly anyone had caught his movements. He'd picked up the fish and caught the button with it. The button had gone into the fish's open mouth…and it died immediately. Even it's silvery scales were turning a violent purple now. Noir had stuffed his handkerchief into the dead fish's mouth as well.

Noir put down the fish on a plate and shed his gloves on the same plate.

Solis walked up to Noir but stopped three feet away when Noir held out a hand.

"Don't come closer," Noir told Solis. He turned to the evil woman. "You are free to choose your own life and death, but you should at least care about your own flesh and blood, you foolish woman!" he snapped.

Auntie Ela raised an eyebrow.

Jovis coughed up black blood and collapsed next to her.

She paled immediately. "Jovis?! Jovis! What's wrong with you?!" she screamed. Then she herself coughed up blood and fell to the floor in a dead faint.

Since everyone else had already moved away from them much earlier, no one else was affected.

"What's happening?" Teacher Artemis asked.

"This woman used a toxin she shouldn't have," Noir said coldly. "Solis, get everyone out."

"Get a hazmat disposal unit," Solis snapped. "Alpha, Delta, mobilise the teams. Show our guests out safely."

Members of Chaos Demon sprung into action immediately.

Within half an hour, the room was emptied. The hazmat disposal unit was very efficient. They cleaned up and took away everything that had come in touch with the toxin, including the unconscious Jovis and Auntie Ela.

They were also preparing to take away the still conscious Noir, who was looking increasingly worse. His face was greyish by now and he was sweating profusely.

"Noir!" Solis cried, rushing to catch him as he wobbled.

Solis had procured a hazmat suit from the disposal team, since Noir wouldn't let him come near otherwise.

"I'm all right," Noir said weakly. And then promptly coughed up bright red blood.

"Boss Solis," the hazmat disposal team leader said gently. "We have to take him away."

Solis shook his head stubbornly. "I'll take him home," he said.

"He will die if you take him home," the team leader pointed out.

Solis glared at him. "Do you know what toxin this is? Do you know how to detoxify it?" he demanded.

The team leader shook his head ruefully. "We don't, but we'll try our best to find out," he promised. "We do need to put Mr. Noir in an isolation ward so that the toxin doesn't spread."

Noir nodded weakly. "That would be best," he whispered.

Solis cradled the young man in his arms. His eyes stung. "Noir…do you know how to detoxify this…?" he asked.

Noir nodded again. "I need…" Between a series of bloody coughs and frightening gasps for breath, he manged to list out about twenty ingredients.

Alpha and Delta took copious notes. Some members of the hazmat team also started taking notes.

"How do you synthesise the antidote?" the team leader asked curiously.

"You have to boil…" Noir began, but fainted before he could give instructions.

Solis's arms tightened around the limp body.

"I'm going with him," Solis said to Alpha and Delta. "One of you come with me, and the other can gather all the things he just listed.

"Boss Solis…" the team leader began, but shut up at the murderous look in Solis's eyes.

Teacher Artemis, who had been standing quietly on the side until now, spoke up. "I'll accompany you as well, Solis," she said. "I think I know how to synthesise the antidote. If Noir wakes up, we can confirm with him."

Solis nodded gratefully. "Get her a hazmat suit!" he ordered.

Thus, a few minutes later, Solis, Teacher Artemis and Noir were taken to an isolation ward by the hazmat team. This was located within a research facility where Solis was a double investor – both on behalf of his legitimate business empire as well as for Chaos Demon. As such, no one dared to oppose anything Solis wanted.

Noir was put in a clean room with glass walls and sealed. Solis and Teacher Artemis looked at him through the glass, concern etched on their faces.

Teacher Artemis had never seen Solis so shaken before, not even when he had woken up after the car crash and learnt that his legs had been wasted and his internal injuries were severe enough to cut his life short by decades.

She patted the young man's shoulder comfortingly. "Noir seems to be very capable," she said softly. "I'm sure he'll pull through."

Solis clenched his fists hard enough to draw blood. His grey eyes were rapidly turning red as he watched Noir's unmoving form.

Alpha, who had gone to fetch the ingredients, was very efficient. Within half an hour, everything was collected and brought to the facility.

Noir, however, was still unconscious.

And Solis was wound up tightly like a wire about to break from tension.

Teacher Artemis sighed. "Set up a table here as I instruct," she said, taking control of the situation. She was not an expert on toxins, but she had learnt a little bit from her own teacher. There was something familiar about the ingredients Noir had listed, and Teacher Artemis had an idea of what to do with them.

She quite liked Noir and thought him to be very suitable for Solis, who she had treated like a favourite nephew for a very long time. She could see how deeply attached Solis had become with the unique young man, and she wanted to do her best to save him.

She couldn't pretend to herself that she hadn't heard Solis's almost inaudible broken whisper of "Don't leave me…" as he desperately held on to Noir's hand on their way here.

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