"Chloé, can't you stop with the endless questions…?
Honestly I've had enough of your badgering." Louis, the co-founder of Gloomy Shadow Games, had enough of his sisters' constant questions about their new home.
His sister, Chloé, was the only family Louis had left in the world since their parents passed away many years ago due illness.
From around the age of 16, Louis had to step up and work in order to provide for his sister and himself.
At the same time Louis worked multiple jobs to provide for his sister, he worked alongside Felix to establish their own gaming entertainment business.
Now that the business had been sold off to Esmond, Louis retained a managerial position within the company along with Felix, which happened to be the reason both of their families were heading to Aeoricia, the island currently off the edge of the Bermuda Triangle.
The island was governed by House Mhartel, who were already informed about Louis and Felix, that were travelling over to the island by plane.
Eddie already registered several aircrafts that were designed and created within the Spatial Ark Star World just in case Esmond would ever need to use them or anyone else.
The aeroplanes were slightly larger than the Boeing 737-700 aircrafts, while outfitted with amenities such as a shower, bedrooms, kitchen, a small lab, and extra space for concealing specific items.
Everything wasn't available for Louis, Felix, or their families to try out but the bathrooms and bedrooms were available to be used as needed.
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"Leave her alone Louis…
She has every right to ask, after all we've been fairly secretive with everything so far." Felix spoke up after hearing Louis snap at his sister who was pouting, after being yelled at.
Felix could sense the confusion and anxiousness Chloé was going through, as his own wife and children were going through the same emotions.
Though he swore everything would be made clear once they landed, it wasn't enough to spare him from being in his wife's bad books.
They still joined Felix and came aboard the flight to their new home, however his wife had taken one of the bedrooms to sleep, while the other one was taken by his young son and daughter to rest in.
"Will you finally tell me what's going on, Louis?" Chloé asked while gazing out of the window, watching the clouds below that covered the sky, leaving no patch of space where the oceans blue waters could be seen.
After listening to Felix and seeing his sisters depressed moved, Louis sighed before making the decision to tell Chloé everything he knew so far.
The plane was nearing the island that would be their home for the foreseeable future, so Louis caved and answered any questions his dear sister might have.
"Do you remember the game I've worked on with Felix separately to the other work in the office?
Well, the new owner found the data related to the game and…"
"Blew… our… freaking… mind… with the level of changes done to the game, both to improve the gameplay but also visually." Interrupted Felix as Louis started his explanation which was about to divert into the technology that they uprooted their lives in France for.
"The new boss… showed us these helmets which were Full-Dive Gear to help the user enter the Virtual World of the game." Felix and Louis both explained the functions of the Full-Dive Gear, loud enough for the two children to hear.
Even Felixs wife could hear what was being said and decided to exit the room so she could join in with the rest as the explanation continued.
Out of everyone in the group moving to Aeoricia, Felix wife, Jeanne, had given up the most after leaving behind a 6-figure salary to move across the world to an unknown place.
While she agreed to move, the anxiety that developed because she knew very little about their future nearly crippled Jeannes mindset into mush.
However, after listening to the passionate explanation of the Head-Dive Gear and the large alterations to their game, Stellar Wars, Jeanne felt their family may have made the correct decision to move.
Her reasoning on the matter came from the knowledge of what was occurring within the law firm she previously worked at.
Before leaving her job, Jeanne came across a case on her desk where a few different companies were looking into Virtual Reality technology, but after listening to her husband and his dear friend, it seemed the Head-Dive Gear was leaps and bounds ahead.
The conversation continued for a while, with Felix children asking their own questions about the game and helmets, mostly to learn if they could use the Head-Dive Gear at some point.
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"The Boss said we would be able to take them home to use and play with, however you both will still be restricted on the time you can play the games.
Is that understood?"
Felix's young son and daughter both diligently nodded, as their puffy cheeks failed to contain the cheeky grins strewed across their faces.
The two children left the main lounging and seating area of the plane and went back to the room before calling for a flight attendant, since they felt like ice cream.
Jeanne let the kids enjoy themselves for now as her own thoughts were to have a deep discussion with her husband and his dear friend about their ideas for the future.
"Are you both solely working on the Stellar Wars game and the Full-Dive Gear, or will there be other projects as well?"
Jeanne asked while being handed a glass of champagne by the young flight attendant that caught Louis attention, however any thoughts he had about the hostess were vanquished by his dear sister.
"Depends on the liaison we will be working with.
When we spoke with the boss last in Thailand, he wanted us to focus on our game but besides that, we will be learning about the functionality of the Head-Dive Gear." Felix answered his wifes question without a second thought, making sure not to hide anything like he'd done so far.
More than anything, Felix was terrified of his wifes wrath, so now that the discussion had opened up, he answered anything she asked.
Within reason of course.
…
..
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"Lord Esmond…
Some of the Assassin Operatives came across a large cache of classified documents and information related to Chinese espionage throughout the continent of Africa." Penelope Raghar, a member of the Templar Order and Executive of the newly established Avitus Financial Group, spoke up first out of the leaders situated around the conference table.
Esmond sat at the head of the table with Carter beside him to the right and Nedric to his left, as he watched Penelope explain the problem for him being called to an emergency meeting.
"Originally… we thought about clearing some of the opposition that might appear when Phantom Security Group would land in Somalia, however before that we found a large network of espionage operatives.
At first, we thought nothing of it, but the deeper we looked into the network, the more we learnt about the close relationship several nations had with China." Penelope's report continued to label the various mines and warlords in the employ of China, as well as them being supplied by the East Asian nation.
They weren't the only nation trying to find a foothold within Africa, with the United States of America providing arms and resources to governments and warlords as needed, but the most interesting nation to be tangled up in Africa was Russia.
A large number of mines with minerals Russia was lacking within their borders could be found throughout the African continent, and the amounts weren't small either.
Seeing everything on the projected screen and within the written report, Esmond started to wonder why exactly he had been called, since nothing he'd heard so far would need his direct intervention.
He wasn't the only one to think that, as Nedric also felt his attendance could have been left out of the meeting.
His patience compared to Esmond in this situation wasn't strong enough to continue listening, so Nedric interrupted Penelope with a question burning away at his mind.
"… Penelope…"
"Y-Yes Commander Nedric…?" Penelopes voice crackled, slightly afraid of the man who'd called her name.
She didn't even want to look in Nedrics direction, but she couldn't avoid the cold eyes staring directly into her soul.
"… While you've gone on about the dangers from the three powerhouses of Earth, none of this tells me or Lord Esmond that an emergency meeting was needed.
You could have easily sent the information to Vaazakra or Kane and I would have found out, so hurry up and get to the point what you've called us here for."
Nedrics cold attitude was exactly what Esmond needed to push the meeting along since he wanted to leave already and grab some food with the girls.
Seeing Carter eating from the corner of his eye was beginning to bother him a great deal, but after hearing the issue he'd been called for, all of Esmonds hunger washed away instantly.
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"*Sigh*… Most of Chinas espionage network came crashing down, with the bodies of their operatives washing up at Lake Victoria firstly, before others appeared around the continent." Penelope's words blew away Esmonds calm disposition with his eyes widened by the shock from the news.
Nedric reacted similarly to Esmond, but his composure was rock solid, so he didn't even make a single bit of noise.
Carter on the other hand started to choke on the food he was swallowing the second he heard the disastrous news.
"… Do we know who did this?" Nedric asked before Esmond could raise his question to the leaders around the conference table.
"Unfortunately… yes…" Aryan Waseem, the Mentor of the Assassin Order stood up to take over the questioning, allowing Penelope to take a much-needed rest.
"It appears to be a cell of a secretive Order, whose leader is currently in your care within the Spatial Ark Star World…"
"The Order of Hassassins…" Esmond groaned aloud after figuring out who Aryan was implying with his words.
The Master of the Order, Rashid, was currently in the space undergoing treatment to improve the health of his body as well as readying him to take care of his own business.
From what he'd heard directly from Rashid as well as what the other members of the Order informed him; Esmond realised the Hidden Order of Hassassins was going through internal conflicts all across the globe.
Many of the people Rashid put into positions of power had turned their backs on him and the Orders laws and morals to fulfil their own greed.
Some branches became hired hitman for anyone that could pay for their services, while others tried to build up their influence throughout certain parts of the world by helping sympathisers into positions of power.
'*Sigh* Time for Gramps to set up and clean his mess…' Esmond planned in his mind to meet up with Rashid the moment he returned to the space so he could figure out how Gramps was fairing.
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"There's more…" Aryan coughed before speaking to garner Esmonds attention after noticing his Lords mind wondered for a moment after learning the Hidden Order of Hassassins was responsible.
"… China wasn't the only one to be attacked…
Russian operatives were also attacked, leaving only the Americans without any loses…" Esmond couldn't help but curse aloud after hearing Aryan explain Russian agents were also slaughtered by the African continent cell of Hassassins.
Taking in a deep breath to calm his nerves, Esmond fell back into his chair as he tried to think about the reaction of Russia and China, as well as the effect it would have on his plans for the African Continent which appeared to be crushed to dust.