(Herbstmonath 14, 59 / 5:03PM)

  Several hours ter.

  A red-haired man sat on the smoothed stone steps, in front of the adobe with an energy drink in his hand. Having it pced on the step, yet gripping it with his fingers, he didn’t raise the aluminum can to his lips.

  No, he kept it basking in the evening sun.

  Staring far into the distance, with heat haze bnketing the dark asphalt, he cracked his head by tilting his head. Letting off stress, he returned his head to its original position; and raised the can of Vampire to his…

  He noticed something.

  (Jack’s thoughts) Huh?

  Standing up, the soles of his boots cmped down to the smooth pavement below. Remaining still, he pced both of his hands into his pockets, once his eyes trailed the object that was driving towards him.

  It was a van, garnished in bck.

  Taking a single step back, his back hunched forward, as he gripped something metallic within his pocket. Staining the metal with his cmmy palm, his breathing remained neutral, once the van passed through the heat haze.

  Settling itself right in front of the adobe, the bck van’s engine died off, leaving it to slumber and rest. Tightening the hold along the grip, Jack blurred everything out of sight, leaving his pupils to solely focus on the bck van that looked to be from the government.

  (Jack’s thoughts) What do they want now…?

  The driver’s door swayed open, with the windows tinted pitch bck. Unable to see who came out, Jack held his breath, and began to pull out—

  It was a shark-human, a female shark-human. Smming the door shut, she swayed the strands of her short hair that flickered her upper eyelids. Wearing high wedge heels, and an all bck secretary outfit, she looked slimmer than the average shark-human. She had dark brown hair that reached down to her ears, and she looked like she had more muscle than fat, meaning she was slightly muscur.

  And most importantly, she had a rge nose and blue skin, followed by spiky-edged teeth.

  (???) You’re Jack.

  (Jack) Who are you? Do you work for the government?

  (???) I need to speak with your commander Luke. It’s urgent.

  (Jack) I’m not going to tell you again…

  Jack pulled out his sniper from his jacket, keeping the barrel pointed to the pavement below. His finger on the side of the gun, he let it twitch, as he huffed in air front and back through his moistened throat.

  While the female shark-human remained unchanged, her frowning face made Jack fidget.

  (Jack) Who … are … you?

  (Luke) What’s going on?

  Luke and the rest of the Dark Angels, except for Benn, came walking out of the adobe. Their boots thudding the stone, they huddled in the back of Jack, except Luke who pced himself next to him.

  Both of his hands in his pockets, he side gnced at Jack, who continued to sweat nervously under the evening sun.

  (Luke) Who is she, Jack?

  (Jack) That’s what I told her, but she hasn’t given me an answer.

  (???) Luke Fenix. Son of both Joseph and Mary Fenix.

  He felt a droplet of sweat flow down from his nose, leaving him to glue his feet down onto the pavement. His finger gripping onto a pstic bag from within his pockets, he tightened his body, as he continued to pry his eyes deep into hers.

  She looked soulless, almost cold even. Hearing both of his parents' names, he felt like something jabbed into his soul, like a javelin piercing through his heart. And yet, he kept his face neutral, keeping those damned feelings deep into his body like a bank.

  (Luke) Yeah, that's me ... w-what's your name?

  (???) My name is Isabel, just Isabel. And yes, I work for the government.

  Everyone took out their weapons.

  From handguns to snipers, shotguns to swords, uzis to rifles, they all gripped the metals of their respective babies. Keeping their barrels low, and their fingers away from their triggers, they squeezed their abs like they were doing a hundred sets of sit-ups. Squeezing and churning, churning and squeezing, some of them felt like vomiting out whatever dinner they ate.

  (Isabel) But I don’t work in the same government that sees you as enemies.

  (Luke) Expin.

  (Isabel) I work under direct orders from Kennedy, not Reed. Vice President Kennedy was the one that sent me down here.

  Luke gnced at his friends, seeing their faces mingled with confusion. Some of them furrowed their brows, some of them rubbed their chins, and some of them tapped their feet along the pavement.

  Scratching his cheek, his right uzi was stationed low to his waist, followed by his grip loosening with the metal. Continuing to scratch, he straightened his back while staining the grip with his sweat.

  (Luke) So … Kennedy isn’t an enemy?

  (Isabel) But he’s not your ally; yet.

  (Luke) So then…

  (Isabel) You have to prove him.

  Walking toward the group of paranoid criminals, she jabbed her right hand into her pocket, her fingers pinching a little folded envelope. Watching as the Dark Angels take another step back, all of them letting their fingers twitch evermore, she pulled out the paper.

  All the while she stood in front of Luke. Being half a foot shorter than him, she extended her right hand out.

  (Isabel) Kennedy wrote this himself. He was hoping you would understand his request.

  Shyly, he took the note from her hand and began opening the paper up side by side. While he did this, he pced his uzi back into his holster, along with everyone else doing the same. Huddling over him like a pack of hungry pet hyenas, all of them set their eyes peeled on the elegant writing and text they feasted on.

  Going line by line, Luke read it in his mind.

  (Luke’s thoughts) To Fenix … I know this may seem out of the blue, but I have an urgent favor to ask.

  They all remained silent as they read the letter, ignoring the harsh desert wind from blowing into their faces. Since they had been living in the desert for about a month, they were accustomed to the desert heat, making them immune to the dry oven air.

  But Isabel wasn’t, as she fpped her colr up and down with sweat pouring from her pores.

  (Luke’s thoughts) President Reed, along with 90% of the government, think you’ve been let off too easily. With the many crimes they dubbed you during the courthouse and the many actual crimes you committed during your feud with the Zirardges; they are suggesting terminating Gabriel’s promise.

  Luke gulped loudly, making everyone spike up in nervousness. If Luke, a leader who could stop a train by standing still, escape a herculean storm of bullets by the skin of his teeth, and win a fight against the cruelest of agents … is nervous; then…

  By all means, everyone would be so. Continuing to read, Luke’s fingertips began to shiver the paper, but he only let his nervousness reside within him for a couple of seconds. He cleared his throat and began speaking it out loud.

  (Luke) Therefore, your status as criminals will continue to resume. Unless your group hides in a cave or dungeon, there is one option that will benefit me personally and yours truly.

  The line of text jumped into another paragraph, making them leap their eyes onto the next piece of text. Scouring and skimming the lines, they all moved their eyes along the paper, their vision solely focused on the letter in front of them.

  Ignoring the countless Pacithiest soldiers walking toward them, they continued to read. As the soldiers clutched their hands together, and hovered them over their crotches, they pinned their sights at the government worker.

  (Luke) I’ve devised a mission to uncover one of the most popur theories of our time; the underwater civilization beneath Aseneth Swamp in Khazuan Territory. Your group will be at the forefront of this task, to detail and try to find the underground city, by any means. Yes, it’s a long shot, but out of all the conspiracies in the world, this one is the most talked about.

  The sun began to cool and thaw, leaving the air to dwindle in dryness. The breeze turned neutral rather than hot, and all of them started to rex their leg muscles and thighs, but their heads remained still.

  Reading the st line of text of the letter, most of their faces darkened, with shadows overbearing their eyes. Unwilling to let the evening sun shine down, some strands of their hair prickled the top of their foreheads and upper eyelids.

  (Luke) Isabel, my most trusted secretary, will be leading the force along with you Luke. As for the pn, you and she would have to talk it out, as your pns in the end always work out for whatever reason…

  Finishing the st sentence, Luke and everyone else looked up toward Isabel, who was drenched in her own sweat from the heat. Putting the envelope into his pocket, he kept his right hand inside it, his eyes narrowed at her like a hawk.

  Her stone face cold as liquid nitrogen, she wanted to colpse and rest under the scorching heat, but she remained standing. Wanting water, wanting to take off her clothes, she kept her face from showing any emotion.

  Everyone saw through her but kept silent.

  (Luke) … He wants us to uncover whether this conspiracy theory is true or false.

  (Isabel) It’s to … gasps … benefit both parties …

  (Jack) How does this benefit us? We’re doing the heavy work, and all he’s going to do is jump up and down like a little kid when he finds out whether it's real or not.

  (Miles) Yeah. This seems sus…

  (Isabel) Kennedy … gasps … isn’t like Reed … gasps … he’s one of the few honest politicians of our time …

  Everyone was skeptical, as during their previous ordeal, they all were invited to a military ceremony, only for it to be a military tribunal. Betrayed, being dubbed the unforgiven, everything that had happened in that treacherous ordeal was pushed by Reed himself. They don’t know what Kennedy was like. Not only that, but they also don’t trust Isabel in the slightest. If a person tells another person to do them a favor, and the person doesn’t trust them at all, would they do it?

  Without taking a step back, Luke snapped his fingers, swaying his head back and forth while looking down.

  (Luke) Sorry, but ever since that courthouse fight, all governments are the same…

  The door to the adobe swayed open hard. Slowly walking out from the house, was a shark-human wearing a bck leather jacket and pants. With his jacket unzipped, dispying his bare chest to the world, his biceps dispyed its hugeness through the leather.

  His hands to his sides, he stared motionless at the female shark-human, making him push up his cheeks and wrinkle his nose.

  (Benn) Isabel…

  She turned to face Benn, seeing him twitch and quiver from pure frustration. Noticing his short hair, his rge nose, and blue skin, she kept her stone-cold face glued. Even when she was on the borderline of heat stroke, she continued to sweat under the sun, a sun that started to give her sunburn.

  (Isabel) I suppose… gasps … you don’t miss me.

  (Benn) After what you did, no I don’t.

  (Luke) Wait … you two know each other?

  Luke and the Dark Angels gnced at Isabel and Benn, both shark-humans who had simir facial features to one another. Sealing their lips, Isabel huffed out an excess of air from her wrinkled lungs, drying her lips as they were already dried to begin with.

  While Benn maintained his gre at her, his knuckles cracking against one another since his fingers curled into his palms. Composing his stature, he looked like he might explode, but all of that anger kept itself locked in a box deep in his heart.

  (Isabel) Benn’s … gasps … my twin brother …

  They all gasped.

  All of them turned to look at Benn, wrinkling his face like he was smelling trash. Averting his eyes away, he didn’t want them to look at him with curiosity, making his anti-social nature skyrocket.

  Turning toward Isabel, who started to wobble from the ck of strength of her legs, she swiped a truckload of water from her forehead. Staining her bck long-sleeve shirt, she hunched her back and looked at them coldly.

  (Isabel) If you hadn’t heard … gasps … he was put in jail for trying to molest a kid. Ever since then … gasps … I’ve avoided my distance from him.

  (Benn) You abandoned me.

  Benn began his angered walk toward her, his hands shaking violently under the strain of his strength. His nails, dull enough for no blood to be drawn from his palms, kept themselves stabbing into his skin.

  Pushing through his friends, he reached right in front of Isabel, who looked like she might pass out.

  (Benn) You left me to join the very same people who hate us. Discriminate us. Treat us like second-css citizens.

  (Isabel) I was just … gasps … trying to work my way up the social dder … gasps … I don’t see many of us doing it.

  He thrusted both of his hands toward her colr, his fingers tching themselves onto the white fabric of her shirt.

  All of his friends hovered over him, with Luke and Miles tugging Benn’s shoulder softly to let her go. Ignoring them, his scleras started to turn a crimson red, remembering the past like a horrible tale.

  Her abandonment, and his defense against the world, and how it treated him; he had nowhere to go except to walk aimlessly, like a flying pstic bag.

  (Isabel) That’s the problem with us … gasps … we continue to victimize ourselves … gasps … and expect the world to give us an apology … gasps … b-but … g-g-

  Her monologue was cut short, once her eyes rolled into the back of her skull.

  Arching her head back, her breathing slowed down rapidly, her mouth wide open for even the rgest of tarantus to crawl into. Shoving her back and forth, Benn widened his eyes, seeing her twin sister…

  (Benn) She needs water.

  (Luke) We could take her inside. Sean, tell Christian that we’re bringing Isabel in.

  (Sean) Got it.

  Pushing the soles of his feet, Sean began his sprint into the house, leaving Luke and everyone else to carry Isabel inside. But Benn was stubborn. When he carried Isabel with both of his rge bicep arms, he made his way into the house without uttering help.

  Leaving Luke and his friends to be in the back of him.

  (Luke’s thoughts) Honestly … I don’t know who’s right or wrong…