"....did I really fucked up?"
Given such a tally warning, by whom? One of his mates? one of his colleagues? No, he was nonother than the known head, the absolute, the picture-perfect image he had of him, the villain of reckoning, the author of treachery itself. The tremor he was feeling in his mind, of course his misplaced mind was justified, as he gazed back at the secret exit, where the man he had worshipped had run away. Still discerning if this was a dream or not. He pulled out his gear watch, a hologram of numerous call logs appearing with a bright shine, lighting the mundane room with some gloss. "come on…pick up, pick up, pick up…." He complained. His foot now tapping the floor.
Buzz!
"Team 069, this your leader speaking, do you copy?" he questioned right away. There was only silence for a second, his anxiety slowly tapping out his feet.
Buzz…..
Buzz….
He waited, waited, and waited, for someone to take the call, as his late patience gradually turned to prayer. Praying, he didn't mess it up as his boss foretold. Praying, everything would turn all right. He didn't care who picked it, even the child molester, he would be relieved even to hear his voice.
[ team leader?..... Team Leader.] someone replied.
Finally, someone answered, his taps of anxiety held for the time being, but there was a disturbance, were they in an ally, or somewhere in a hidden location? No, that mattered not, what he wanted were answers, only answers, to comfort his bleeding senses which his boss stabbed to the depth.
"Hello! Team 069, the situation, the mission, what of it?!" he bellowed. "….what of the Princess?!!"
[.....]
"Hello! Answer you fucking cunts!!"
[….aaaaaa!!!.....crack!....]
Light screams, the echo of something cracking, bones, gears? So ambiguous, he didn't know what to think. But he had a suspicion, a keen suspicion which rattled his heart, roofing his anxiety once more.
[…..Help!...somebody!!...]
His heart beat going faster and faster, as the pilling sweat poured out from his brow, his back turning cold with the screams echoing louder and louder. His burst of anger had already vanished, replaced with only plain worriedness. coloring his looks grey.
[…..oh, a gear mike.] someone voiced.
[ pretty outdated, don't you think....crake...ahhhhh!.....it's just a broken elbow, no need to scream….] someone commented, lapsing with a scream of pain.
The seed, the seed of fear the head had planted eventually bloomed, listening to an unknown voice. Even now, he was still praying, wishing for this to be not true, maybe, his mates were joking, trying to pull a prank on their leader. Maybe this whole Charade was just the head's doing.
"Enough with the jokes…..come on guys, let's stop this and tell me the good news, will yeah?" he questioned.
[hmm?….hahaha….HAHAHAHA!!!] The person behind the mike laughed. [....buddy….oh my god, my stomach….it hurts. it hurts…hahaha…. Hoping to get flowers when playing with fire huh?]
"...…"
[hahahaha...enough jokes. Let's get serious.] he said, his tone changing altogether. [ you muffled with someone out of your reach buddy, and when you touch the bull, you get the horns too, so sit tight, and I mean seriously, hiding won't do any good. Sit tight! and let me bury you all the way down with all your friends…..ok? be a good boy and wait for me.]
Buzz!
That was it, that was the end of the call. The voice wasn't threatening, wasn't noxious, but instead sounded childish to a degree. But his anxiety-filled thoughts didn't hear it as it was. what he heard were facts, cold hard facts which the previous screams and his boss confirmed.
But he heard something, something more in his words. Like the speech of a person held more, somewhat dark, the tone, the confidence, it sounded like of a psychopath, who had murdered millions and trillions, his gut feeling was screaming to him, to run away from the individual. May it be a child or an adult.
"He was right…."
His hand flopped, like a lump of boneless meat, his legs getting weak, his knees giving in to the floor. "haaa…. I definitely fucked up." He said, accepting the cold hard facts he was trying to avoid.
.
.
.
Within the tunnel way out of Maximus city, there was hardly any traffic, not even a single Tesla car in view. The plain road which should be busy during the midnight time, all empty. Even the lights gave mixed singles, hardly giving any shine on the road, and within the empty subway was one and only van, all broken up, parked all the way to the side.
"….be a good boy and wait for me." Said a hooded individual, his bloody knuckles holding a gear mike.
He walked by the road, littered with people, some conscious, some not. All laying on the ground with their body parts shifted in directions which they should never be shifted. Most of them still moaning in pain. Lingering like dying insects they were.
"Rudy." He called. "what are you doing inside?"
It was dark inside the van, the lights flashing on and off, Aaron wanted to curse out more, ridiculing the bandit who used the EMP. But he had done enough. As the person in name was already lurking somewhere in pain on the roadside.
"Young master! Please come inside, hurry!" the one-eyed man requested.
Aaron tensed his eyes, surprised to hear Rudy's voice in worry. He had never heard his voice in such concern, as until now, his concerns only involved him, relaying the times when he was doing something ridiculous out of nowhere. 'this must be something interesting.' He thought.
He jumped on the ladder, his small feet reaching inside the huge van. "yeah, what's up?"
"Ummm…I don't know how to put this. But it seems we found ourselves in a pickle." Rudy proclaimed.
Aaron's crimson eyes picked inside, a child laying all roped up, he watched and watched in silence, his eyes slowly turning wider and wider.
"is she ….who I think she is?" he questioned, his tone worrying like his butler a moment ago.
"…..sadly but, yes. She is whom you think she is…..she is Princess Christine Bon Celestia, the first of her name, and the seventh child of the king." He answered.
Aaron took a long breath, blessing himself with a sit by the side. "…..wh…why is a princess doing here? Wait….that's not the important question right now, the important issue at hand is how the Mirakle House let the Princess of royal blood be kidnapped. If this shit catches fire, it will turn to wildfire in no time…." He complained.
Rudy couldn't help but nod. It wasn't their usual playtime, knocking up thugs and saving the night like before. This involved many crucial subjects in hand, their reputation, their city, their family, and how will the public take it? no, more essentially, how will the king take it? Was this planned by someone? Or just a coincidence? There were many questions but the answers were non.
Aaron laid back, deep in thought, trying to think of a way to tally this matter in a way that didn't harm their house. His house. His family.
"Young master?" Rudy called. "The princess, she's waking up.."
Aaron couldn't help but grit his teeth, gazing at the now-conscious princess, opening her rosy golden eyes. "…Fuck."