"It's a lovely afternoon, isn't it?" KIllan asked with a superficial smile, sliding a small thin piece of paper across the long wood table.
Everyone took the paper and read it silently. A soft gasp was heard among the other murmurs and groans of concern. The atmosphere became more tense, no one dared to speak for a while even though looks of objection were shown all over their sweaty faces.
Adan looked around and raised his hand, "I'm sorry but this plan.. must be a farce right?" sounding baffled.
Surprisingly, Killan's normal teasing expression disappeared. He gently covered the bottom half of his face with his hands as he breathed in deeply. It seemed as if he was also stressed out over the ridiculous plan.
Ethan read the line, 'Other groups shall withdraw from this mission. Only Alpha shall advance.' It seemed like he was going insane. Had he not gotten enough sleep from the night before? No matter how many times he read the sentence, it didn't seem to change.
"I'm left stumped too. Seems like Draven already planned on withdrawing the others from the start." Killan admitted, going awfully quiet at the end of his sentence.
Felix had already given up, he tore the paper to shreds and threw it around the room like it was confetti. He turned back to his seat and slammed the table. "I knew it. No wonder the other bastards had extra work this week. And were rarely here in the training centre. If they were coming along, they would've been free from work and stayed-" he started spouting. It was all facts.
It seemed like something had snapped inside Killan. He released his dark shadows, it started gagging Felix's big blabbering mouth. "Quiet."
Killan's head started tilting towards Ethan, he seemed to change his mind and stood up. He acquired himself a marker and started scribbling on the big white board. His hands moved non stop. He paused and released the marker from his tight grip. All his movements were terrifyingly smooth, it was like he was like he was playing connect the dots with their lives.
"There are 7 boxes. Write your names in these according to what role you would like to play. 3 distractors, you guys will be heading in first. Get all the eyes on you and make sure to live. 4 will be the main group who will collect the datas and the objective. However, only 1 from the main 4 shall leave safely if the situation gets out of hand. We prioritize the objective over ourselves." Killan instructed, he then tossed the marker blindly.
It reached the quiet corner of the table. Xavier. A curly haired boy who wore a black hoodie, he groaned when he realised that the marker had landed directly in the palm of his hands. Pushing himself off the seat, he dragged himself to the front. Without wasting a second, he placed himself in the main group and walked back.
Everyone proceeded to do so in the same manner. It ended up with Adan. Felix and Castiel being in the distractor team. Unfortunately for the troublemaker duo, they were separated due to their late pickings. Killan, Quinn, Xavier and Ethan were in the main team, The safe centre had yet to be decided, only an idiot wouldn't want the safe role. However, before they could even proceed, Quinn spoke up.
"Tell me if I'm wrong but didn't our liege state that Alpha would have eight members? Where's the last one?" Quinn questioned, doing a headcount again just in case he was wrong. He didn't want to become a nuisance to Killan. He had to make sure he made no mistakes in front of him. Or his future self would regret it. Thinking about the consequences, he massaged the bandage on his neck that couldn't even be healed with magic.
Killan kept silent for a while and glanced at Castiel who was eyeing him like a hawk. It seemed like his disciple had figured something out. He knew who was the eighth member. "He'll work in the dark. Whether he becomes an ace or a joker depends on his mood." he briefly said, snatching the marker and drawing an X in the corner of the board. "I shall also be the centre, no disagreements, right?" he asked, emitting a scary aura. He won't stand for any objections.
The room went silent. Killan nodded in satisfaction and left without another word about the eighth member. Everyone left one by one. Castiel was about to walk through the door before he felt a hand grasp his shoulder. Ethan's eyes were ablaze. "Killan is hiding too much from us. This mission was a trap in the first place. Careful. Stay vigilant tomorrow."
Ethan walked away, biting his nails. He was sure something was wrong, he just couldn't place a finger on it. He headed for the dorm and saw Quinn ahead of him, his eyes sneaked around before making a decision to join with Quinn.
"Hi." Ethan said, walking alongside Quinn.
Quinn seemed taken aback, he lost control of the device he held in his hand. It started bouncing off his palms, he dashed out and fell to the ground just to not drop the device. He turned and looked at Ethan and shined a nervous smile. "Hey there, how are you holding up with the new information?" he asked. Suddenly, he felt something crawling up his spine and it stopped. What was that?
"A little pissed off but nothing new, right?" Ethan showed a friendly smile and made a mental note. "Is it just me or do you think there's no such thing as an eighth member? It's too bizarre. They just made up a false identity to give us a sense of security. We'll surely die on this mission after Killan takes his leave. There is no trump card."
"Oh...oh? You think so?" Quinn stayed silent and started hiccuping. "I'll keep that in mind, thank you Ethan." It sounded like he was on the verge of tears or was about to release a series of noises. He bowed and took his leave, his feet moving faster away from Ethan. He clicked various buttons on his device once he reached a deserted area of the underground. "Thank you, Ethan. I'll definitely make very good use of the information you have given me." he genuinely thanked him with a wicked sinister smile. He had to make sure it was his victory now.
"Psh, What an idiot." Ethan remarked with a smile, cracking his neck while walking. He has laid out the net in the ocean, now it was time to catch some prey. He didn't expect to make such a discovery. Now, when will be the time to start some fire, Quinn Mora?