The funeral began at dusk.

Bowed heads and tear-filled eyes belonged to the crowd standing in the middle of a golden field located at the far eastern sector of the Cordra District. There a cemetery could be found. It was a spacious area composed entirely of tombstones and buried bodies of the deceased. 

The crowd organized themselves into two groups, separated by the linear path leading to Matt Hunt's grave. It was a tradition to wear dark clothing for such a service. A standard created by someone who'd long departed the living world. Rex didn't recognize most of them though he'd been told they were friends and family from Haren. Regardless, the strangers didn't concern him. Three days ago, Matt Hunt was murdered. How could this happen? Why did it happen? Was this world really so cruel?

Chase stood beside him, both of them wearing black clothing they'd borrowed from Alice. Speaking of Alice, the girl chose to attend. Rex sideglanced at her, the girl crying into her hands as Lucas comforted her on the opposite side of the path. Like himself, she knew the professor well. He'd often watch the three of them play together and even bandaged a bruise she'd received when she was smaller. 

Chase, however, didn't bother ridding his face of the flooding tears. He was as still as a statue, not uttering a word to anyone since the ceremony began. Being carried by a team of four enforcers was a long wooden coffin. Rex was then struck with another wave of astonishment. He still had trouble coming to the revelation that yes, their father, the man choosing to adopt him when everyone saw him as an outsider, no longer resided in the land of the living. Whether he liked it or not, this was the brutal reality.

Chase clenched his fists tightly. Tears escaped his sockets though he never outright began to bawl like some of the other faceless strangers. But a storm of emotions raged within him. A mixed sensation of distraught, confusion, and anger. Rex had felt similar at first. He recalled the moment when they were told Matt died. The day that changed their lives forever.

* * *

"Ha! What did I say?!" Rex grinned. The two had just finished a long day's worth of work. They strolled down the streets of Cordra as evening fastly approached. "You know you really should have more faith in me, bro. Everything worked out fine!" True, their day had gone quite well. Almost too well. Mr. Fredrick wasn't even angry anymore, surprisingly enough. No, his concerns garnered towards how the number of exos crystals was decreasing. You see, in Sanctuary, these special crystals of sapphire were responsible for powering most technology and machines. For there to be a lack of them was definitely troubling news. Disregarding that, the day went how it normally did. Although, Chase had trouble coping with how nonchalant everyone was.

Rex placed his hands atop his head and boasted, "Told you there wasn't a need to panic."

"If I recall, you were just as scared as I was, maybe even more so. However, I shouldn't be surprised at how terrible you are at remembering things."

"Not funny!"

"Anyhow, we can't drop our god just yet. Enforcers are way too petty to let this matter so easily slide under the rug." Chase sharpened his eyes. "We need to stay vigilant. Something tells me this won't be the last we see of him."

"I sure hope it is. I don't know if I'd be able to keep myself from punching him in the face."

"And another thing," Chase muttered. "Should our paths happen to cross with him again I expect you to behave in a fashion which isn't comparable to a street dog."

"Hey!"

"I mean it. If you give in to his trickery you'll just be proving his point and establishing yourself as a cliche street urchin."

"I'd rather be a street urchin than some no good-"

He never got a chance to finish his retort as when the two turned the corner they instantly spotted the stallion waiting in front of their house. Four enforcers armed with rifles kept a growing crowd at bay. In a flash, Chase darted towards them. One of the soldiers noticed him, holding out a hand in an effort to make him stop. The boy didn't comply. He ran straight to the enforcer with clenched jaws. "What's going on here?!" The soldier eyed him up and down, then stared at Rex who'd arrived shortly after. "Did something happen?! Where's my father?!"

The enforcer's expression wasn't that of anger or resilience. No, it was that of sadness. Before he could explain someone exited their house. The older gentleman possessed scruffy dark-brown hair, grey eyes, wrinkled skin, and a well put together physique. He was clearly a soldier. His profound disposition showed in the stoic and emotionless expression plastered to the man's face. However, his most noticeable feature was his white-colored cybernetic left arm. 

The enhancement released low-pitched metallic grunts as he marched across the front yard. He stopped when he eyed the pair of boys staring at him. "You two are Matt's sons, correct?" inquired the soldier, marching towards them in a robotic stride. "If I recall, you're Chase, his biological son, and you're Rex, the one he adopted. It is a pleasure to meet you." Rex stepped back as the towering man approached. He crouched onto one knee in order to meet their eyes and said, "My name is Keith Stone. I'm a seeker commander who'd been informed of the incident concerning your father."

". . . Incident?" repeated Rex.

Sighing, Keith arose. "Yes . . . Well, follow me if you will." He started for the front door, Chase and Rex hesitantly tailing behind.

"Sir, are you sure this is a good idea? They're only kids," called an anxious enforcer.

"They're his sons," Keith replied. "They have a right to know."

He guided them inside where they immediately perceived the abnormalities of the familiar environment. The dining table area was in a mess. Chairs had been turned over as the shattered glass of broken plates littered the floor. As Keith revealed to them their living room the thick scent of dry blood penetrated their nostrils. 

Besmirching the sofa, floor, carpets, and walls were stains of crimson. Rex covered his nose from the horrid smell. Chase, on the other hand, wasn't phased in the slightest. Rex soon discovered why. How he wished for this to be a nightmare he could easily escape. But this was reality. Leaning against the coffee table at the center of the room was Matt Hunt. He'd on the same clothing he'd worn that morning. The only thing missing was his hat. His face and chest were completely red, the blood draining from the gun wound through his heart and skull. Professor Hunt had been reduced to a mere corpse.

Keith wasn't surprised by their reactions. Rex got onto his hands and knees, spewing the bile building since he'd smelled the blood. Seeing his father in that state, the life completely drained from his eyes, made him want to scream in horror. But he couldn't utter a word. His voice abandoned him altogether. 

Chase reluctantly stepped closer to his father, tears welling in his eyes. Dad . . . Is dead? How could this happen? He was fine this morning. He went off to see the king along with the enforcers. Th- This doesn't make sense. His quivering legs refused to carry him further. The bewildered Chase abruptly collapsed, his frozen gaze glued to the corpse.

" . . . What . . . Happened?" Chase asked in a tremulous tone. "Why . . . Is Dad . . . Dead?"

"Earlier this morning, Matt Hunt was . . . Murdered. Our sources lead us to believe someone broke into your house and killed him." Keith explained softly, or at least, as soft as he could manage in his deep and rough voice.

". . . Someone murdered him?" Rex bared a monstrous scowl, rigid cords popping out his neck. He didn't bother to attempt concealing his typhoon of rage. He let the fire of indignation escape his soul, loudly roaring, "Why the hell would anyone do that?! Our dad treats everyone with respect and had friends in Cordra and Heran! He's a well-known scientist adorned for his research! What reason would someone have to kill such an earnest man?!! All that he did was for Sanctuary!!"

"For the moment, I'm afraid we haven't a definitive answer. While the reason as to why your father was targeted is unbeknownst to us it's most likely to assume he interacted with the wrong kinds of people. Do any of you have an idea as to who he'd normally associate himself with?"

"Our dad was a complete workaholic. Besides us and the researchers at the lab, he didn't really have many friends. At least not in Cordra," Chase answered, rubbing his red eyes. "Other than them, I haven't a clue. Sorry."

"I see." The commander narrowed his eyes at the enforcers in the kitchen. "Do you have somewhere we can talk in private?"

They continued their conversation in Rex's room. It was a mess but completely untouched. This begged the question as to why nothing else in the house had been disturbed. If their intruder was a robber than why hadn't he stolen anything? And if he was an assassin, why was Matt Hunt the target? Keith couldn't shake the creeping suspicion there was more to this case than he originally suspected. The boys sat on Rex's bed as Keith locked the door. He marched to the opposite side of the room, aiming a stone-cold stare at the brothers.

"You two probably weren't expecting a seeker like me to show up at your house, right? To be honest, I'm surprised myself. Murder cases tend to fall into the enforcers' jurisdiction."

Rex cocked his head. "Why did you?"

"Matt was a personal friend of mine. In fact, I owe him my career." A disheartened Keith glanced at his cybernetic enhancement. "A couple of years back I lost my entire arm to a creature in the Outside World. I thought my days as a seeker had come to an end. But thanks to your father's research, he provided me with a suitable replacement. When I asked him what I could do in return he told me to continue fighting for humanity's future."

A broken chuckle escaped Chase. "Sounds like him."

"Even so, I longed to repay him for his generosity. Well, seeing as how I've lost my chance entirely, perhaps I can do so by pointing his sons down the right path." The brothers stared confusedly at the commander. "Rex. Chase. I come bearing a proposition." Keith's grey eyes focused on them, the man curious as to how they'd react. "Firstly, have either of you put any thought into your futures?"

Chase, slouching at the edge of the bed, grunted, "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Do you have an answer?"

". . . No, there's your answer."

Rex chose not to respond, turning his head from the commander

"Well then, have you thought of enlisting in the military? Or should I say, the Seeker Corps?"

The question was so bizarre it took them a minute to respond. Becoming a seeker? Was this supposed to be funny? Chase fought back his erupting glare. His father had just died yet he deemed now to be an opportune moment for bringing up those moronic seekers? Chase had half the mind to barge out the room. On the other hand, Rex genuinely didn't have an answer. He respected them, sure. Although, he'd never considered joining them.

Chase frowned. "Why ask such a random question now of all times?"

"It's simply an offer. Personally, I think the two of you would make excellent seekers. You've got the same fire inside of you as your father. With a little training, you boys could become serious assets."

"I think you're missing the point, Commander Keith . . . Was it? Our father has been killed inside of the walls. Now you're asking us to go outside where our chances of survival are even slimmer?!" Chase's aggressive tone grew the more he spoke. The emotions he should've felt when he saw his father's corpse now rose to the surface. "My only concern is taking care of what little family I have left! I'm not going to throw my life away when Rex needs me! What reason would I have for enlisting in the first place?!"

"Well for starters, you could uncover the truth behind your father's untimely death." For a while, no-one said anything. Keith patiently provided Rex and Chase the opportunity to digest his suggestion. "In case you didn't know, us seekers and enforcers pretty much have equal status. Despite us working in separate fields we more or less have the same privileges. So, should you choose to become a seeker, you'd gain access to documents and files otherwise restricted to the general public. Papers regarding past coverups. Pictures from the first days of Sanctuary. Even case files on recent murders. It would all be at your own disposal."

This made sense to Rex. Maybe joining wasn't such a bad idea. However, in spite of this news, a look of anger mixed with confusion lingered on Chase's face. "The fact you're saying this tells me you have no intention of looking further into this case. Am I to assume correctly?"

"Unfortunately, you are," Keith admitted, lowering his head. "I only came to confirm if the stories were true. Since I'm a commander I have an infinite number of responsibilities. As much as I want to get to the bottom of this crime my schedule simply won't let me."

"What about the enforcers? Couldn't they carry out the investigation?" Rex countered.

"They're the same as me. I doubt any of them hold interest in partaking in an investigation they aren't getting paid for in a district like this. I'm sorry to say this but I'm afraid your father's case won't get solved for quite some time. Not until a whole group of detectives is available."

What the hell?! My father's dead and none of these bastards want to help find the guy who killed him?! Chase ground his teeth in aggravation.

With that, Commander Keith walked toward the door. "The enforcers downstairs will escort you someplace safe. The burial for your father will be tomorrow. I'll send some of my men to pick you up. Once again I- . . . I'm sorry." He opened the door not before glancing back at them. "I also hope you give my proposition some consideration. You'll never acquire justice unless you're willing to explore every possibility present."

* * *

He'd left them with those words. Even now, Rex replayed Keith's words in his head as he snuck a glance at the seeker standing adjacent to Lucas and Alice. Was enlisting in the Seekers Corps really the right decision? What would you do, Dad? While he wasn't sure where he was expected to go from here, he knew for a fact that he was fed up. 

Fed up with the way this society operated. A man had been killed yet the higher-ups couldn't care less. In their eyes, Matt Hunt was a mere peasant. What kind of world did they live in where a murderer could so easily roam free? If what Keith said was true then there wasn't a point in trying to find whoever did this. As much as it pained him to admit, he didn't think there'd be a possible method of tracking the bastard without the assistance of the enforcers.

While that situation seemed hopeless, Rex would ensure nothing like this would happen again. A society contemptuous with letting a murderer escape due to the inconvenience it'd cause its rulers was somewhere he no longer wanted to inhabit. 

He may never catch the murderer, but that didn't mean he couldn't change his future. Everyone watched with empty stares as the coffin containing Matt Hunt's body lowered into the hole dug in the earth. Rex and Chase averted their gaze when the soldiers began covering the coffin in heaps of dirt. The boys were the first to arrive but the last to leave.

Never again would they wake up with the excitement of seeing him. They could never again hug or consult with him when they became perplexed by life's obstacles. They were on their own. Abandoned in an unforgiving world filled with monsters. Rex may have coped with this reality until now but no longer. He was done letting others decide his fate. He'd strive to give the people of Sanctuary better lives. To liberate them from the walls they were trapped in. To grant them the gift of deciding their destinies. He'd call this his resolve.

Thanks for everything, Dad. Tears once again welled in Rex's eyes. I'll take it from here.