"Rose, wait!" Ash shrieked into the phone, making his sister hiss in pain at the sharpness of his voice.
"Really, Ash. I'm still here. I can hear you perfectly fine."
"Oh. I'm sorry, Ash. But, is- is ell still there?" He tried to sound nonchalant about it, but deep inside he was silently praying that Mell was still there.
"Yes. In fact, he's still chatting with Alexander. You know what, Ash, it's really weird seeing Mell so carefree. I mean all this time he's been tense, uptight and too serious about everything. Plus our meeting in the afternoon wasn't really pleasant. But after all of that drama and us heading off to the coffee shop, the tension quickly evaporated and we were surprised to see another side of Mell," Rose explained and Ash could sense both the delight and amusement in her voice.
"I see. Well, I guess that's a good thing. I bet everyone shows their carefree and true self with the people the
30 minutes later, Ash heard a series of knocks on his door while he was organizing the documents he'd collected and examined a while ago. He set his laptop on the couch as he stood up and headed towards the door. When he opened it, the smell of hot pizza made his stomach grumble as Rose waved it ever so slightly before his nose."Good evening, Ash!" Ash group greeted with grins on their faces. Ash stepped aside to let them into his apartment. The group immediately crashed inside, running through the dining room and opening the pizza. They grabbed a handful of bites while Ash, Mell and Alexander were still by the front door. Normally, Ash would scold them for their behaviour, but he found himself not caring. He knew it was kind of a tradition of theirs. Even though they'd say they'd bring Ash some takeout food, they would order extra pizzas for themselves.Ash stared at the two men outside his door. Alexander smiled and leaned closer to him,
"So, what do we have in here,Ash?" Mell inquired as he sat down on one of the chairs while Alexander moved towards Ash and joined him in seating on the couch. Ash leaned forward as he gave the first four photographs they'd gathered from the Black Clan' attack on Los Angeles and the most recent ones from the city another glance over. He asked Mell to interpret and decode the mysterious notes while watching his reaction. And, as expected, they reached the same conclusion."I see. It seems Alexander really was right. Your deductive skills are pretty impressive. It's no wonder you became an elite solider, Mr. Fraze.""Thank you, Ash. You're very talented as well, seeing as how you deciphered it in just, what? A day? That's pretty awesome." Mell smiled as he tried to please the young man in front of him. Ash only nodded in affirmation. He suddenly stood up and walked to the side as he leaned on the wall, making the two men turn their heads to loo
The City's secret gate has a three-phase locking system. The first phase is composed of an ordinary gate with a key. The second phase of the security system projects a virtual screen to key in the required security code for access. The third and final phase of the security system is a list of high profile authorities who have been granted permission to enter by the authority. Their faces and biometrics are recorded in the central database for the program's basis to finally grant the trespasser access or not.The last phase of the security system is strictly confidential information. Only the lists authority side butted in as he resisted the urge to roll his eyes.''Fantastic'your face. Do you have any idea what danger we're in right now? You just blatantly told the enemy that we have our own program running to gather the confidential and secret information from all across the internet. You just revealed to our
"Fuck!" Mell screeched as he slammed his hands on the armrest of his throne. Rage and anger was written all over his face."Fantastic! My Donna is one smart cookie!"Alexander said in delight as he raised his wine as if having a toast with Mell. He then wore a wicked smile as he took a sip on his wine."I want to kill that bastard!" Mell yelled as he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He could feel his jaw beginning to ache from the anger that rose in him. His vision was clouded with red and he desperately wanted to slit Ash throat and see him bathed in his own blood."I'm afraid you can't do that Mell. For one, he's our Donna. And Ash friends and the world would suspect us if we killed him right away. Seeing as we're the only ones who knew the whole truth. And I know he already set a trap for if we ever decided to get rid of him.""His damn last line. Tsk," Mell replied as a realization dawne
Ash sighed as he sat down on the bench in the waiting area of New York Penn Station and shoved his bags beside him. He glanced at his wristwatch and checked the time. It's already 7 pm in the evening and still there's no sign of the rest of his group. He wanted to call and tell them to hurry up before they missed their train tonight, but he supposed he couldn't blame them if they chose to have a quick break and enjoy the busy streets and the urban life of New York. After all, this will be the last day they will set foot in their home city for a while, this was also the very first time they would travel interstate during an actual mission.Throughout their life, they've never been to another state or country for an actual mission. Sure, they've visited different countries and states, but they only did that whenever they were on vacation trips, field trips arranged by the warrior Academy, and those times when Ash was having his internship. He has been on several warri
The past week had been such a wreck that Ash even managed to let the confrontation slip from his mind. They've been looking through the internet for transportation and accommodation options to be able to travel and stay in Wausau, Wisconsin where they can save the most money. Aside from that, they also had to bring some gadgets, maps and other tools they needed for investigation. Not to mention they needed to prepare for their basic needs, like food, personal expenses and weapons for fighting, and some extra medical supplies in case they got injured during the middle of the mission.Fortunately, Seth managed to convince their parents to give them some money to support their mission. It was never a problem reaching out to their parents for support as they loved their children more than the authority. But the hardest part was to give some support to them, without the Authority knowing. It was hard when all of their personal savings, accounts, assets and pr
He sighed in defeat and let his shoulders down as he apologized to his siblings."I—I am really sorry. You guys don't need to suffer from this kind of cruel situation. You don't have to do it, you know. I can handle it. Plus, technically you're not adult warrior yet so you don't need to feel obliged to join me. I—""Cut the shit, Ash!" Ash gulped as he took in the deathly glare he received from both Rose and Simon."We already told you, didn't we? We're all in this together, Ash. Don't let that bastard falter your perception of yourself and our group. And no matter what you do, you can't change our decision. We are friends, goddamn it, you are my brothers Ash, and I, no, we will not leave you no matter what!"Simon screeched as he gave his brother a murderous look. The last thing he wanted is to be angry with Ash. He knew about Ash inferiority complex an
Ash certainly forgot about Alexander as well as their confrontation until he appeared on Thursday morning with five big suitcases with him. They were momentarily speechless because of the amount of baggage Alexander had to bring to go to Wisconsin. It's as if he's going for a trip around the world, not for an investigation."Ah, Alexander, just so you know, we are not going on a vacation trip. We are going for an investigation and mission. It's not that we will stay there for weeks, or months. We might even just stay there for a day or two, depending on the results of the mission. So I don't think you really need to bring so much stuff." Ash said as he raised his eyebrow nervously, he was a bit hesitant to voice out his concern to Alexander, afraid that he would be the object of his wrath. It happened to him once when he interrogated Rose about bringing way too many clothes on their 3-day field trip and Rose gave him a very col