Arwan was physically weak, but the adrenaline made him ignore his draining stamina. Since the party merely entered the edge of the forest, it didn't take long for him to leave the forest, cross the grassland and reach the city gate.
When he got close to the city gate, he was already done with his call. He also stopped running and reduced his panting under his mask to avoid unwanted attention. The bike was parked close to the gates, it didn't take long for him to reach it.
Arwan got on the bike and headed straight at the Alliance HQ.
On reaching the Alliance, he removed his mask, then entered the building he walked into the last time. Probably because of the worried expression or because he wasn't meant to be at the Alliance at that moment, Alicia once again urged Arwan to come to her reception, which was devoid of people.
"Arwan, why are you here? I was told you guys will be going on the hunt tonight." Alicia whispered with concern. "Don't tell me.... Did the rest die?"
"No, no. Miss Alicia, no one i-is dead. A-at least not yet." Arwan's voice kept cracking as he spoke. "F-femi is in danger! We have to help him!"
Alicia calmed the breaking down Arwan, telling him to expatiate about what was happening.
"The trio you introduced us to, I s-suspect - no, I'm sure they are abductors. Their actions, they-they want to lure us into the forest. They de-deceive you by using your lack of knowledge and use that to drop your guard. Please help us! Femi's my only friend!" With each word, tears dropped from Arwan's eye, his face on the reception table, hidden from Alicia's eye.
Alicia looked at the poor, weak and pitiful kid. She took her time to form a sentence, "There there. Are you sure about this? Just so you know, false accusation is a crime."
Arwan raised his head and looked at Alicia, "I'm very certain!" He proclaimed.
"Okay then. You go stall those bastards for a while. I'm sure you can do that?" After getting a positive nod from Arwan, Alicia continued, "Give me access to your live location, I'll make sure to send the enforcers there immediately."
"Alright Miss. Thank you so much!"
Arwan did as Alicia instructed. He wiped his tears and rushed out of the HQ avoiding making eye contact with anyone.
As Alicia watched him leave, she thought 'How pitiful. I should move…'
*****
"Femi, just let's go. It's not like such a wimp will help us in the hunt." Eva said to Femi who sat on the spot where Arwan left him.
"Nah. I'll wait for him to be back. Eh, Arwan isn't a weakling, you shouldn't underestimate him." Femi replied.
Eva had already spent a lot of time trying to move Femi from the spot. Seeing he wasn't budging, she sent a vicious gaze at Gallagher who stood, watching her wasted efforts.
Gallagher cleared his throat, then crouched near Femi, "Femi, we both know Arwan isn't made for hunting, he might have run when he heard us mention a pack leader. Please, let's not waste any more time and go."
Femi laughed at Gallagher's statement, "That's where you're wrong. At this stage, that fellow won't run. And besides, my hunch says I should wait, then I wait. He'll be here in a few, I assure you."
Gallagher glanced at Eva, and shrugged, signifying he's giving up.
Eva then walked up to Femi again, wanting to use force on him. That was when everyone's attention was caught by a distant yet close ruffling.
"Ah. It's me, It's me. No creatures here." Arwan yelled, seeing the intense stares on him.
"Told you he'll come back." Femi teased.
"You kept us waiting, wimp!" Eva hissed at Arwan.
"I'm sorry. The toolbox was a bit heavy to carry while running. And as y'all know, I'm not especially built for running."
"Fuck that! Deal with your shit and let's move." Eva said with suppressed anger.
"Yes ma'am." Arwan replied.
"I don't need emotion management, she does." Femi muttered as he went to meet his mate.
Eva, who heard, ignored his comment. For her personal desires, she didn't plan on killing a talent like Femi.
Femi stayed with Arwan as he fixed the mecha. The process didn't take too long. Moments later, everyone was ready to move again, this time though, Arwan wasn't in the mecha. Femi and Arwan were tolling the mecha and the cart at the backline of the party.
A bit hard to move around initially, but Gallagher later joined in, making things less hard.
"Thanks for helping me. It isn't so comfortable if you stay inside for long. I've also been more of a burden than help. I'm sorry." Arwan spoke to Gallagher with a tense voice.
"Hahaha. You don't have to be like this. Don't mind Ruth, she's just like that sometimes. The mecha too, it's all my fault that I didn't know it was bad. I'm sorry about that. See, you can be freer with me." Gallagher tried cheering Arwan up.
"Ah, if you say so. I'll be free with you then." Arwan said, turning to look at Gallagher to his left. "It is true though."
"What's true?" Gallagher asked.
"Someone who is proud of his weapon collection couldn't tell that one out of his two mechas has a fault. As someone who uses mecha and other weapons talks to integrate into the society, there's no way you wouldn't have basic engineering knowledge similar to a newbie like me." Arwan said.
What Arwan just said left Gallagher speechless for a while, "Eh, you see, some issues.... Eh, overtime." Gallagher was completely at a loss for words.
Femi was quietly pulling from Arwan's right while listening in on their conversation with amusement. He smiled as he listened.
Seeing Gallagher, Arwan decided to change the topic. With a heightened voice, he asked, " Say Gallagher, did you hear about the recent spike in crime rates? I heard abductors are going wild nowadays. Targeting teens for experimentation, how nasty! I wonder why they haven't been able to capture them. When I thought more on this topic, I couldn't help but think that these criminals are hiding as adventurers or worse, workers of the Alliance."
Everyone including Ruth and Eva who walked ahead began reducing their walking pace, as if all wanted to listen.
Gallagher contorted his face to form a crooked smile, looking away from Arwan's curious eyes, he spoke, "Right, I heard about that. The poor kids, their parents... I can't imagine. "
~GBAM~
"Eh?" Gallagher turned confused to look at Femi and Arwan who suddenly stopped tolling the mecha.
Arwan turned his body and faced Gallagher, he scratched his hair, "Ah sorry. I'm not supposed to talk about the teenage abduction and the experimentations, I was told it's meant to be a secret." His lips contorted to form a grin as he spoke, "But Mr. Gallagher, you seem to know about it though. How? It's meant to be top secret. Wait, are you one of them? Are we being abducted too?"
"Huh?..."
Before Gallagher could even reply, Arwan continued speaking, "Hey, do all of you wanna know something? The mecha didn't have any faults, in fact, it was in top shape. Now, what'd you guys think I did when I went back?"
"He knows something…" As the realization crossed her mind, Eva cursed out loud. "This fucker!"
Ignoring her, Arwan didn't stop talking, instead he turned to Ruth and smiled, "One more question, coyotes live as family packs with the head always leading the pack. The head can never be this far from the pack's location. Say, where are we going? Don't tell me… Are you bastards taking us to your hideout?"
~POW! POW!!~
Immediately Arwan completed his words, sounds of gunshot sounded. Femi moved to pull Arwan away, but unfortunately it wasn't normal bullets.
'What's that? A zapper.' Femi thought as his world slowed down and watched the bullets approach him. It was unavoidable, the zapper will inevitably electrocute him and Arwan, paralyzing them. They had also turned off the damage absorption feature of the bodysuit, so that was also out of the question. They made a mistake there.
Eventually, the zapper bullet hit, creating a web of electric current around them and stung them, leaving them to fall to the ground.
Gallagher watched them fall while biting his lip. "Hey, we don't harm them that way. Who said you should shoot at them?!" Gallagher yelled at Eva.
Before Eva could retaliate and point out Gallagher's mistake of not feigning ignorance, another person arrived on the scene.
"I did, you bastard." A delicate voice sounded from behind Gallagher. "I bring you top tier goods and you act like this. You want to spoil business for the rest of us?! You really are a worthless man."
Gallagher knew the owner of the voice immediately. Knowing the odds are really stacked against him, he apologized, "I'm sorry... Miss Alicia."
While Femi still struggled to get up, Arwan who was already weak physically knew his limits gave up and looked towards where the delicate voice came from. "Alicia, you're the real bastard after all." Arwan said before losing consciousness.
Alicia looked at Arwan who was close to Gallagher, then said. "Worthless men should die." She pointed at Femi who was already on one knee, and instructed Ruth, "Knock him out. You guys take them to the base. Prepare Femi for experimentation, Arwan on the other hand seems to come from a questionable background and is obviously weak, we'll use him for ransom. I'll handle searching for his background, you guys do the rest appropriately. And make it fast, Lord Moros is coming."
"Alright." The trio party said in unison.