They chatted as Claire guided Aiden through the base. Along the way she had pointed and mentioned a few things about it. She didn't go into too much detail, something he didn't find odd in the least, but she still managed to prove once again that the entire place was similar to her. They were both more than what meets the eye.
While they walked, Aiden didn't touch her. In reality, he wanted nothing more than to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her closer to him, but not being sure about how she wanted to portray herself in front of her people kept him from doing so. Instead, he stood as close to her as possible while they made their way to wherever she was headed to. Even so, he was extremely happy.
When she had first opened the door, he couldn't help but feel proud about his choice in clothing that day. He had decided to wear slim fitted black slacks with a white button down. It was nearing the end of the year so he also wore a long black overcoat to keep warm. He didn't have polka dots, but he was still matching with her. And once he saw Lily was twinning with her, his heart felt like it would explode. He was convinced that the two of them were going to slowly start causing him to have heart problems.
Something he didn't mind at all.
After a few minutes, Claire finally came to a stop. They stood facing a large metal door that surprisingly didn't have any security system. Aiden scanned it from top to bottom but didn't see anything he could identify as a scanner or a key panel. But even so, that wasn't what had him so intrigued. It was the lack of a doorknob or handle that truly made him curious. How was she going to open the door?
Claire answered his internal question when she knocked twice on the door. He assumed it was hollow by the way the sound of her knock echoed. A few seconds later she knocked again, but this time she did so four times. Once she did, the whole metal door slid down as if it were dropped from a hanger and disappeared into the floor. Aiden expected to see another tech filled room behind the door, but to his surprise, it was just dirt.
"Colton and I have a different way of doing things." Claire said as she took a step towards the dirt wall. "It might not always make sense to others, but it works for us. "She slightly turned to face him before she continued. "It can get a little rowdy in there. You might feel the need to speak out at some point, but please just watch. I'm sure you'll know when you should express yourself." Her expression was a bit nervous for some reason Aiden couldn't figure out. Nonetheless, he nodded to reassure her he would do as she asked. He would patiently wait to understand.
Claire smiled in relief. She looked down both ways of the hallway before waving for Aiden to bend down. Thinking she wanted to avoid somebody overhearing her, he bent down expecting her to say something. But to his surprise, she lifted her own face to steal a quick peck from his lips before swiftly turning back around to face the wall.
Aiden was shocked for a second before he smiled. His Angel truly wanted to test his patience in more ways than one.
Now focusing on what she had gone there to do, Claire approached the very center of the dirt wall. At closer inspection, different sized rocks and pebbles could be seen throughout it. With precision, she pressed down a series of rocks farther into the dirt. Only after a few seconds did Aiden understand it was a pattern. After she finished doing so, the entire wall seemed to rumble as if an earthquake had started. As it did, bits of dirt fell from it while it slowly started to slide to the side. Once it finished, Aiden stared at the room that had just been revealed with his famous aloof and stoic face. They were no longer alone.
Seconds after they stepped inside, he could hear how both doors behind them closed. The hidden room Claire and Aiden had walked into was small in comparison to the other spaces he had seen. It had glass walls exposing the dirt behind them similar to the training room he had watched her spar in, but these walls had things written on them with different colored markers. At the back it had two normal sized metal doors and in the very middle there was a large rectangle shaped table that fitted ten people. It's surface however was a monitor.
They made their way around the table as Aiden ignored the eight people obviously staring at him. Claire sat at the head of the table while gesturing for him to take the empty seat next her. Even before he did, he could tell the atmosphere was tense. And he had the suspicion that it was because of his presence. He was starting to understand why Claire had asked him to contain himself before coming inside.
Although his face didn't give any indication of it, he was quietly studying everybody present. There were three women and five men besides him and Claire. The oldest one looked around his age while the youngest one was twenty two at most. One of the women there was the same he had seen Anna talk to the first time he had come to the base. He meticulously memorized all their faces except for one. He couldn't see the face behind the mask of the man that was glaring at him without caring if he noticed or not.
Claire sat with her legs crossed as she leaned her head to the side to rest on her closed fist. The expression on her face was unreadable as she spoke. "Begin." It was a simple command that made the woman Aiden had seen twice now stand up and press the table surface monitor. Seconds later, a virtual image of a paper popped up in front of everybody. It was as if they each had a physical copy of the document placed in front of them.
"As we all know, the Boss and the young Miss were attacked not too long ago." The woman started to say. "Although their mission was unsuccessful, they did manage to cause harm." She pressed the monitor again and a small clip of Colton's car being crashed was played for all to see. Nobody had a reaction to it as they had seen it and studied it before. All except for Aiden.
He had to suppress the urge to storm out and kill somebody while imagining Lily's scared expression inside the car he was watching being boxed and rammed into repeatedly.
"The first and second batch of rats sent where taken into custody both dead and alive." The woman continued to explain. "And although we have managed to identify the source of the threat..." She momentarily stopped before carrying on. "Our plan still isn't ready for launch. Even with our current resources, we still need time to finish preparing to have a clean execution. Besides that, we still have a number of projects that lack personal. The current recruitment system is efficient in selecting prime candidates, but the process to get them ready is also time consuming. And that's besides the fact that the number of new pups that have been coming in was cut in half since last month."
"What about the seals?" One of the men asked her as he read through the other documents she had kept displaying in front of everyone.
"We understand they'll be ready by the end of the year." She replied.
"The end of the year?!" The same man raised his voice as he asked. "It's still October! That's far too much time!"
"As I said before." The woman replied with a more irritated tone. "We lack people. Working overtime can only get us so far without compromising quality."
"Besides I don't understand why you're complaining." The youngest of the women interjected. "You've had a whole year to finish your quota of projects yet here you are. Sailing on the same boat as the rest of us. So hush your tone. You're in no position to shout at others."
"I can shout all I want!" He complained as his face turned obviously displeased. "My department receives less than half of what you people receive yet I'm supposed to finish by the deadline?"
One by one they began to bicker and debate with one another as Claire, Aiden and the masked man all watched silently. It went on for a few minutes before Claire's voice was heard.
"Enough." Her voice was mellow and calm. She didn't shout or even sound angry which caught Aiden by surprise. Not that his facial expression indicated it.
The fact that she silenced them with a simple word made her look powerful. Respected. Feared. Things that made her look even more amazing to Aiden. His heart skipped a beat at the thought of all of the new sides she continued to show him.
'Heart problems for the rest of my life it is then.' He thought to himself as he watched her in awe.