The night was young. The smell of the earth being drenched by the raindrops is currently filling my nose with many different stench.
Although, my nose seems to be delighted with all the many scents that it is learning.
My eyes and ears on the other hand are not having a great time.
As I could hear some confused people nearby screaming ear piercing profanities while some are asking for explanations.
My eyes, are currently seeing a bloody scene. A scene that I already grew accustomed to, but made me feel negative right now, somehow.
I am currently standing in the rain outside of the Kazama Vacation House. Lying down nearby is an unconscious Darren with a black eye and some injuries in his upper body.
The one currently under my feet, is an exhausted and beat up Kyle.
And the one in front of me is Levi, with countless small wounds all over his body and was struggling to stand up.
I was the only one with the most minimal wound, only a bleeding lower lip when I accidentally bit it earlier.
The four of us had been targeting each others backs now for weeks, and tonight, all hell broke loose as all of us finally unleashed each of our blood thirsty natures.
There's a bloody knife on the ground, a broken metal rod, a bloodied brass knuckles in Levi's foot, and a modified handcuff, that looks more like a dual karambit connected with a chain, near the unconscious Darren.
We've been fighting each other for at most, an hour now, each with the intent to kill everyone present.
I was about to snap Kyle's neck, when Joseph suddenly appeared from inside the house. He shouted.
"What in the living and breathing shit is going on in here?! This is some fucked up pillow fight you guys are having!"
To better understand how all of these escalated to this degree, we would have to go back to 9 days ago.
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"Well Eduard is my driver and personal assistant, and as for me?....I'm the damn School Director of ICARUS."
When I heard him state all of that, I realized just how careless I've been and how dangerous this situation is for me.
If I use all my power, I could contend both the Director and his Assistant together. But I doubt that I will survive if I do initiate a fight.
Because I can feel just how strong this man is.
He looks just like a typical old man with a tall stature, a white thick hair, and a hunched back.
He's not even wearing a suit but a simple blue shirt and a khaki shorts with slippers. But his killing intent fully displayed the contrast of his appearance with his abilities.
I was concentrating and calculating continuously on my mind the best course of actions in this situation, all while constantly under a steadily increasing pressure.
The driver went to a freeway outside the city and stopped by the side of the road.
Now 6 of my strategies went down the drain.
I couldn't read his mind, he was just smiling at me while releasing his killing intent.
I just stood there while maintaining my battle stance.
Suddenly, he pulled back all of his killing intent and sat on one of the seats near mine.
"Calm down kid, I was just messing with you."
I did not buy a single word he told me and still maintained my battle stance.
"Don't want to? Suit yourself. Let's get down to business then."
He said as he stretched his arms and yawned, then he continued
"You're probably wondering how I located you and easily isolated you. Well you could just keep wondering about that kiddo, I'm not telling you anything."
"What do you need from me?"
"Don't play dumb agent VIII, I know I'm one of your targets in that personal hitlist of yours. So why don't we discuss that? Hmm?.....Could you please sit down now I'm starting to feel exhausted just by watching you."
After a careful deliberation, I retracted my battle stance and sat down on the seat in front of the Director. Then I locked my eyes in his position before saying
"Speak"
"Great. Now we're civilized. I already know your name but you don't know mine yet, so it's Mr. Dante for you. And I'm here to offer you a deal."
He said, then he took out a gummy bear in his breast pocket and ate it. He then continued.
"In exchange for your services to me, I will not alert the NOVUS organization of your location and status. Hmm?"
"Tell me more about the other terms and the service you ask of."
"Well for a start, you will cross me out of my hitlist and I will in turn let you continue your peaceful days at my precious school. I am aware of the dire situation that the NOVUS organization is currently in, being under attacked by me and my pals, as well as losing their most valuable agent will make them desperate. So I'm assuming that a whole troop of agents are currently hunting you down right now."
"So you're saying, that you'll protect me?"
"Precisely. Now about the service. I received an intel last month that project ATLAS is currently living on ICARUS. You just need to track and eliminate project ATLAS for me. Upon completion, I will immediately use all the available resources on my disposal to fend off your predators."
Project ATLAS. The greatest creation ever produced by the NOVUS organization. The project was spear headed by the Han Pharmaceuticals, The Kazama Corps. And the Amontillado Conglomerate. After the completion of the project, the Amontillado Conglomerate bought all the rights of the finished product.
And now the Amontillados own the first existing strongest living weapon.
"What makes you think that I could accomplish that task? Project ATLAS had been a thing of the past for a decade already. The Amontillados haven't given their report about the status of ATLAS for a very long time now. And even if I did locate ATLAS, what makes you think I could kill the perfect soldier built specifically for combat. We don't even know if that intel of yours is reliable."
"Just tell me if you'll do it or not. If you won't, then we all sleep without our head tonight."
"....It's not like I have a choice...I'll do it then."
"You're not even doubting if I'll break my deal with you?"
"If you really did, then all I could do at that point would be to blame myself for trusting my decision."
Dante widened his eyes and started laughing really hard before replying
"I can see now why your father was afraid of you PUHAHAHA! I like you young man. Do not worry, I won't break our deal. But I could only give you 9 days to complete this task."
"Fair enough. In exchange for that ridiculously short time span, I'll need all the legitimate information of all the students of ICARUS."
"Sure. Screw the parents. PUHAHAHAHA!"
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After my deal with the Director, I hopped off the bus and was now in the middle of an isolated highway. In my hand is a flash drive containing all the background profile of all the students of ICARUS High.
Director Dante told me that the Amontillados are starting to be more aggressive, and that Dante wanted to eliminate the greatest threat first if he wants to start a war with the Amontillados.
It was already 5:46 and even if I did just escaped death, I still need to go to work if I ever want a steady life in the future. And I'm already losing precious time.
Luckily, a car stopped in front of me and asked if I wanted to hitch a ride. So of course I answered yes and hopped in immediately.
The driver was a nice old lady who was driving towards Athena city with her 2 cats. We talked about the cats the entire trip before she wished me luck and dropped me off at the western entrance of Lascar city.
I went to the nearest subway and boarded a train towards the nearest station in Oasis. After getting off the train, I ran towards the exit of the subway and to the Oasis bar.
I finally made it but I was already 10 minutes late. So I quickly entered the staffroom and dressed appropriately before manning the left bar counter.
------
I've been working for 6 hours straight now and it's already midnight.
I went to the staffroom and changed to a casual attire. After changing, I went out the room and saw Cheryl standing while leaning on the wall. She then approached me and said.
"Hey there! Late on your first day huh? Wanna get some coffee first before hitting the hay?"
"Cheryl, you should be careful of what you say in public."
"What, you think this sissies gives a shit about us? Screw them. So? You wanna grab a coffee or stand around here all night?"
"Sure. Let's go then."
-------
After going to the coffee shop with Cheryl, we headed back home together and bade each other goodnight before entering our own rooms.
I just had a quick shower and now I'm currently browsing through the files that Ms. Melton gave. Then, I compared it with the digital profiles that Dante gave me.
The things I learned so far are that, the profiles given to the teachers are seriously tampered, unlike the originals that Dante gave me. For example, in the printed profile of the only absent classmate of mine today, indicates that his name is Kyle Matsuhiko. But in the profile that Dante gave me, his name is indicated as Kyle Kazama. These information alone is very valuable to me as I now have a lead regarding the head of the Kazama clan.
There's more helpful informations that I got, like Darren being a part of the Calante military family. Joseph being the son of a foreign country's major senator. And a 2nd year girl named Han Minji being affiliated with the Han Pharmaceuticals.
But the most important and crucial information I got tonight. Is the original name of Levi, the one who threatened me earlier in the school.
Once, when I was only 6 years old, my father brought me in an isolated island and made me fight with a boy, a year younger than me. I had a knife back then and the boy only had his hands to defend himself. But the fight resulted to a loss for me. It was the first and only battle that I lost up until today.
But I did get intel back then.
I learned that project ATLAS was named by the head of the Amontillado family. And that the actual meaning of ATLAS is the full name of one of the sons of the Amontillado head.
And now presently, I'm looking at the original profile of Levi.
He's full name is indicated as Amellan Tiellencio Levitico y Amontillado the 5th. Otherwise known as A.T.L.A.5.