"Where are they keeping her?" Ethan asked. Seriousness was evident in his voice.
"some." Noah brought out his phone. He checked the map. "Some miles from here."
"How many are they?"
Noah scratched his head. "My intel is not the way you expect."
"Simply say they are not pros." Layla broke in.
"Look at all these eyes. Let's leave here," Ethan said, after noticing the elderly people all staring at them.
No one can be trusted. If any details about their mission got leaked, then it would prove harder for them to succeed, and that's the last thing they want.
----
The group soon walked into a ball-shaped glass building. Layla stayed at the front this time as they walked through the automatic glass doors.
A cool breeze hit their skin as they entered the reception. The white ceiling, with a box pattern, stayed far from the ground, and the atmosphere was a bit noisy due to the other guests who sat on sofas arranged to face each other with a table in the middle, chit-chatting with each other.
Such sofas filled the entire room.
Ethan stared at the people in the room. All the humans had normal clothes on, except a few who had some metal chest pieces on top of their clothes.
Ethan wondered why they wore this armor when there were no mutated beasts roaming the earth, but he remembered that humans got into a lot of fights with each other. He assumed they had it on for self-defense.
The sound of their footsteps hitting the glass floor echoed in their ears as they strode towards the massive reception table.
Ethan shifted his gaze to the ground. A blue pool ran beneath the glass floor.
"Humans always want to live a comfortable life," Ethan mumbled to himself as they reached the counter table, where a woman sat in a black tuxedo with two top buttons open, showing a glimpse of what lay inside.
She had bald hair, green eyes, a slim pointy nose, and red rosy lips.
Another strategy to get customers, Ethan noted.
"We'll need a room," Layla said, slipping a gold card to the receptionist.
The receptionist didn't look at the card. Instead, she looked behind Layla, where Ethan and the rest stood.
"You mean... one room?" The receptionist was unsure if she had heard correctly.
The teenage girl in front of her had three boys with her, and they would be taking just one room. Does that mean...
"Yes, anything wrong with tha--" realization dawned on Layla, and she stared at the boys behind her."It is not what--"
"We also sell pills in case you want to last longer--"
"Do you take me for a slut?" Layla broke in.
The receptionist still didn't know that she had offended Layla. "Sorry for my suggestion. I just thought it'd be a bit hard for you to take on three boys at once. "
"Seriously, bitch?" Invisible smoke started leaving Layla's nostrils, and her face wasn't pretty.
Noah gently pushed Layla to the side and stood in front of the receptionist.
He said, "You might want to check that card. We have somewhere to be. "
The receptionist took the card. Her pupils widened a bit when she saw the symbol on the card.
She slides it into a machine and gives it back to Noah.
Noah noticed the receptionist's expression, so he tried to peek at the card, but Layla snatched it in a flash.
The group checked into a large, extravagant room.
But they were not here for that. Everyone grabbed a seat, and Noah went through all the plans again.
He told the group about the plan once more but in detail.
Ethan played with a steak of flame in his hands as he listened to everything being said.
He took in every detail since he would be playing a crucial part. It felt like one of those missions he had gone on with his good-for-nothing brothers, but on a small scale.
"Question?" Layla raised her hand with a mug of tea in her other hand.
Noah looked past her. Since he started speaking, she had been the only one asking questions and changing his plans several times, and he knew she was about to make another change again.
He mentally calculated what could be wrong with his plan, but he found nothing, so he acted like he didn't hear her.
"Hey, bluehead. I know you can hear me," Layla said.
Noah gave up and looked at her. "What again?"
"You forget about masks. We'll need that, but it seemed like your brain missed that part too. " Layla said.
"I was just about to mention that."
Layla rolled her eyes.
Everyone knew that he had just come up with that just now.
"Everyone OK with the plan?" Noah asked again.
The group nodded.
----
MIDNIGHT.
Ethan, Noah, Ileus, and Layla stood in front of a seaport, where an old, rusty metal ship floated.
Brown Dead weeds and dirt covered most of the ship, making it look as if it was planted there. The windows were no more, and in their place were thick cobwebs.
The ship had the word "old cruise" written on it, only the l was missing.
No other ships were packed here. Even the lighthouse looked old and rusted, and it looked like it would fall apart anytime from now.
"You all ready?" Ethan asked. "No turning back now."
Their expressions didn't change.
Ethan taped his spatial ring, and a mask separated by black and red appeared on his hands. Two sharp fangs extended out of its mouth, and its eyes were those of an apex predator.
"That mask looks creepy," Layla said.
She had watched some horror movies, but she felt an ominous, sinister vibe from this mask.
Noah had also provided masks for them, but they looked like those used for stealing.
"Your mask is creepy, but it's cool, unlike these." Layla stared at the black piece of cloth with two holes for seeing and one for the nose.
The group put on their masks and changed their clothes into those of the ancient Japanese ninjas.
When everyone had put on their masks, Ethan wore his own, but, as he did, his black ninja cloth vanished and a tight-fitting sleeveless armor with red dragon scales appeared with two curved horns protruding out of the armor's shoulder on both sides, and in the chest, a pair of menacing gold eyes and a carving could be seen.
THE RED DRAGON.
"You look like a demon and a dragon at the same time." Ileus spoke this time.
"FOR TONIGHT, I'M A DEMON, AND THESE PUNY HUMANS...
WILL NOT LIVE PAST THIS NIGHT. "
********
REMEMBER TO VOTE AND COMMENT.