Inside the cafeteria, Micheal sits with Segun across from him, starring at a plate of jollof, slowly turning the spoon within it with his mechanical arm.
His concentration is broken by the arrival of Moise with her own tray. Segun says hi and to his surprise she smiles back before turning to Micheal and asking, "Can I see?".
Micheal looks up, dropping the spoon as Moise slowly takes hold of his hand, staring with wonder as sparks slowly fly off his his new gray arm until she smiles saying, "It is cold". He smiles back and replies "Uh, thanks...".
Across the room, Dele and Amina observe their interaction with Amina remarking, "They seem to be getting along well" and Dele concurs "Not bad given how they were trying to kill each other 2 months ago".
"So what now?" Amina asks and Dele replies, "Well we still have a lot of outstanding issue...".
"Come on let's have a break, we've been through so much in the past year and there will always be monsters to fight. I want to put my feet up, go to Jamaica and relax".
"I'll run it by headquarters, until then no slacking, unless you want to tell me you already got approval".
Amina turns away with a guilty look on her face and Dele's jaw drops as he mutters, "You little....".
Heaving a sign he stands up and shouts, "Eagle, Scorpion, to me". As Micheal and Segun stand up he points to Moise saying, "You too".
With everyone together at the table, Dele says, "I'll make this brief, Amina over here decided to ask for leave so I guess we'll be spending Christmas in Jamaica".
Confused Segun asks, "Wait Mrs Amina aren't you a Muslim, you don't celebrate Christmas..." but she lightly scoffs at him saying "It's a team building exercise...".
Confused, Moise asks, "What is Chrisss muss?" and Michael tells her "It's where we celebrate the coming of the newborn king every year".
"Oh so like convergence? Do you kill a goat too?".
"Surprisingly, yes..." Segun says and Dele tells them, "You'll have enough time to get acquainted with the magic of Christmas for now you two are to remain on standby for any threats, now back to your duties".
Moise and Segun get up and leave, Micheal attempts to follow but Dele calls him back saying, "Hold on, we have things to talk about...".
Sequence 2
At Muritala Mohammed International Airport, the SRRG team waits at a private terminal hidden from view awaiting the arrival of their jet. Moise curiously looks at the planes landing and taking off with excitement and points to a plain white jet asking, "Is that it?".
Dele initially replies, "For the 10th time, no, that's not..."before looking up and correcting himself "Oh that is it, well let's all go".
Quickly they get on board and strap in for the journey ahead. The safety briefing is read out by DIVA and the plane takes off 10 minutes after.
Moise squeals in excitement as the plane takes off but her excitement quickly turns to discomfort as her ears feel an unusual pressure from the high altitude.
Amina gives her a lion shaped piece of gum to chew and ease her pain.
Segun says, "Hey I can see my house from here!" and Micheal replies "Yeah, sure you can...".
Dele puts on his eye mask and headphones for some peace and quiet while Amina watches everyone carefully until their excitement dies down.
The flight is uneventful until Moise taps everyone shouting "What is that!?".
Surprised they look down only to see the earth fade to a patch of blue as Micheal explains, "It's just the ocean calm down".
To prevent further annoyances Dele orders DIVA to dim the window blinds until they get to their stopover destination.
Several hours later, the plane lands for a refuel with Segun asking, "Are we there yet?".
"In what world does it take 4 hours to get to Jamaica? And you are supposed to be the smart one..." Dele says.
39 minutes later, the plane takes off again and they begin the final lap towards Kingston airport.
Meals are served and they sleep until the pilot announces. "Good afternoon passengers we will begin our descent to Kingston international airport, time at the destination will be 16:33, with the temperature at 24 degrees Celsius. We hope you had a pleasant flight and hope you a pleasant stay".
Once the plane is finally on the ground and parked at the appropriate terminal, the team is surprised to meet a large entourage waiting for them.
A flamboyantly dresses woman stands in front of a waiting black limousine and greets them with open arms saying, "Welcome to Jamaica".
Dele walks down and shakes her hand replying, "Happy to be here" before being ushered into the waiting car along with the rest of the team.
Inside Micheal whispers to Amina, "Hey what's up with the crowd?" and she tells him "Calm down they are all SDF, JDAM group".
"I didn't even know the SDF existed outside Nigeria" he remarks and Amina laughs saying, "It means we're doing our jobs well aren't we?".
They finally get to their hotel and are greeted by another woman who says, "My name is Shelly, I will be your guide for this trip, come along let me show you to your rooms".
Once they are settled in, Micheal lays down in his bed for a nap. He's woken up 20 minutes later by a voice message coming from his arm "Wake up sleepyhead! This is Shelly, I'm reminding you we have dinner in 30 minutes so if you want to eat, get ready".
Rubbing his eyes he replies "But I have no clothes" but Shelly sighs saying, "There's clothes in the closet, just pick one and come down".
Quickly he showers, careful to keep his new arm away from water, and walks over to pick something out from the closest. He chooses a red collared top and shorts with white shoes and walks down to the lobby leading out to the beach.
There he sees Dele dressed in a similar tanned combo outfit and Amina in a black abaya, taking pictures and laughing over old memories.
Behind him, Segun, dressed in all black beachwear, walks up saying, "Nice outfit, looks real Christmasy". Michael punches his shoulder saying, "Ode" as he cracks a slight smile.
Behind them, Moise walks out asking, "How do I look?" and the two boys look back in shock at her dressed in a blue bikini with the bottom piece covered by a long white wrap.
With everyone outside, Shelly directs them to long wooden table where drinks and snacks are served with a live band performing reggae classics. Soon after, the main dinner is served to their specifications and she leaves to attend to a phone call.
As they eat Micheal, notices a group of small children scampering about and gets startled when one child grabs a hold of his arm asking "Is this thing real?".
Another girl runs up to Moise and points at her hair saying, "Look it's blue!".
Immediately Shelly comes running out shouting "Donchta know it's rude to sneak up on people!? Now get on out!".
As the kids scamper off she apologises saying "We are terribly sorry for what happened, they are our advanced students and got a little too curious".
Amina smiles and tells her, "Well if they're one of us they can stay..." and the children all run back with shouts of joy.
In an instant one child quickly lays out the plates and serves the food for the other children to eat.
"Pass That Ting" one says and Micheal grabs a bottle of lime flavoured soft drink, opening it before handing it over.
"So how long are you staying for?" one asks and Segun replies "That's classified".
"We're here for a week and leave by Tuesday" Amina says while taking a sip of a mango smoothie.
"Oh oh you need you see The White Woman before you go, she sees the future, you might want some good news for the new year".
Dele says "Not interested" but Moise lights up begging to go.
After exchanging a tense look with Shelly and another with Amina he sighs and says, "Okay, but you mustn't stay long".
After the meal a nervous Moise walks towards the ocean escorted by the kids while Micheal and Segun watch, laughing at her naivety.
Sequence 3
The next day, one of the children, barges into Micheal's room with his advanced speed saying, "Wake up wake up! It's time to go see Auntie Anne!".
Micheal tries to grab the boy but he's too fast, then looks down after a moment realises his clothes have been put on for him.
He looks up to see Moise chasing after the boy and screaming curses in Leonid at him for entering her room.
Not long after Shelly comes in and calmly tells him "Johnny boy go and see if Auntie is around before you disturb our guests for nothing".
In a flash he runs out and comes back shouting, "She's there I just checked...".
"Good, now count to undecillion in that special notebook okay?".
The boy says, "Okay" and quickly goes out to complete the task.
With a sign of relief Shelly tells Micheal, "That should keep him busy for about 20 minutes, my apologies for his behaviour please be informed that breakfast will be served shortly".
While at breakfast, two British tourists, a man and a woman, walk up to them asking "Is this seat taken?" Dele tells them, "Only if you don't overstay, you Brits tend to do that".
Smiling they shake hands as the man laughs "You haven't changed one bit". Looking at the rest of the group the man introduces himself saying, "The name's Tommy, this here's is my associate Jane, me and old Dele here go way back".
Their meeting is interrupted by the children from before running around shouting "It's time to gooo, come on" while tugging on Micheal, Moise and Segun's clothes.
Quickly they make their way to the car for the 15 minute drive to Auntie Anne's place.
The car stops at a secluded area near the southern shore and they all start walking down until they get to an abandoned white house.
Stepping inside, Segun murmurs, "I don't have a good feeling about this" as they are led down to the basement.
Micheal's arm lights up to illuminate the passage where he sees images of animals, trees and one of Mary carrying the baby Jesus in her arms.
Once they get to an old white door, Nancy tells them "It's here but only one can go".
Micheal volunteers to go first and turns the doorknob to enter. Once inside he's surprised to see a bright and beautifully decorated room with a seat facing a set of red curtains in front of him.
A voice tells him, "Take a seat" and Micheal does so, surprised again to see a young white lady dressed in an anachronistic fashion.
"Not what you were expecting Micheal?" she says, and Michael replies, "No, I was not expecting an actual white woman who knows my name".
"I am quite honoured to be in the presence of the son of Ezili Dantor".
Upon hearing this Micheal gets uncomfortable asking "Who is Ezili Dantor?" and the woman points upwards to a mural of a woman holding a child on the ceiling.
She presses on saying, "Your road will be one of pain and struggle Fear not, for the spirit of Ezili Dantor in her, that spirit will protect and guide you to where you need to be".
As memories flood and Micheal looks down struggling to hold back tears, he wipes his eyes asking, "What is your price?".
She replies, "The price has already been paid" and ushers him out to the verandah to think about what she said.
He's joined soon after by Segun and finally Moise, all with sad dispositions on their faces.
"What did she tell you?" Micheal asks and Moise replies "She told us not to say" so they all decide to keep quiet about it and go back to the hotel.
Later at lunch Amina notices their sad moods and suggests they go shopping for Christmas gifts.
Quickly in they put on appropriate disguises and hop to the shops to get some mementos and gifts.
Once they are done shopping they head back to the hotel and are accosted by a man selling "happy cakes" on the street.
Back at the hotel, Micheal notices Segun eating some chocolate cake and asks "Where did you get those?".
Swallowing a piece he replies, "Some guy outside was selling them at the store, called them 'Happy Cakes' or something".
Michael tries a piece and says, "They're okay but I don't feel any happier".
Several minutes later, Moise walks up on them asking why they are acting so strange and they point to the brownies scattered all over the floor.
Moise tries a piece, shrugs then goes to her room to sleep.
Sequence 4
Micheal is woken up on the beach by Dele slapping his cheek, saying, "Merry Christmas,here's your gift from Moise".
Michael picks up the red box and finds 5 golden rings each with a different colour jewel.
"For someone who isn't human she does have a sense of humour".
"Seeing as you were giggling at everything yesterday I'm not surprised, anyway I you need to get dressed, there's a big dinner coming up and I can't have my favourite agent embarrass me, anymore than you already have of course" Dele says as Micheal hobbles off to go clean himself.
Inside the hotel lobby he bumps into a man and scatters his rings all over the floor. The man silently helps Michael pick them as he continues on to the safety of his bed.
Throughout the day Michael struggles to stay awake, nervously smiling at everyone and everything but his condition improves as the hours go by.
Finally, they have a dance, take pictures and pack their stuff for the midnight flight back home.
Outside the window Moise notices a sleigh flying through the air and Micheal laughs saying "You must still be high I guess".
The End?