● Graviton
Exact Location: The Star Lord's Villa.
Logan chuckled softly and dropped his hand. He slipped the gun back into its holster and held his hand behind his back. "Let me make this clear, I detest the blood that runs through your veins," he stated.
"But I'm willing to swallow my hatred and work with you if it means getting those Grey Landers out."
Aeson inched closer to the dark-haired man with a smile on his face. "I hope we work well together."
Logan sighed and moved to a nearby chair. He let out a loud groan before sitting on the chair.
"Are you prepared?" Aeson questioned.
"Am I prepared?" The leader of the Other Worlders laughed. "Boy, I have been waiting for this moment for the past decade and you think I am not prepared?" His smile immediately disappeared as he leaned forward while still on the chair. "I hope you haven't forgotten the deal we made."
Aeson moved his hands behind his back and turned to take a step back, allowing his mother to take his previous position. She curbed in front of him and moved her face to his such that only one space was between them. "So long as you complete your part of the deal, we will ours."
Logan smiled. "Let's get to work then."
"If I may…" Atlas chipped before taking a few steps forward. "I have heard your plans and I must say, it is an okay plan." He paused.
"It is only okay because you didn't account for the guards."
Logan furrowed. "Weren't all the Heavenly Protectors out with Zephyr? Then they should be fighting it out with my men or retreating now with Zephyr's dead body, isn't that right, Jack? I left that matter in your hands."
"Yes sir, it is."
The yellow-eyed man turned back to Atlas. "Which is why we need to hurry with the plan in case they retreat here, we'll already have this place under control."
"I wasn't referring to the Heavenly Protectors," Atlas's face turned stern. "I meant the Villa's secret protectors that are only known to a few -- The Imperial Protectors."
"Are they that much of a threat?"
Atlas raised his brows. He looked to Aurora and then at Aeson before turning back to the leader of the Other Worlders. "They are more of a threat than the Governors. It will be almost, if not impossible to take control of this Villa if they are not on your side."
The Star Lord's wise man pushed back his hair and cleared his throat. "But lucky for you, I know how to get them on our side."
"Get to the point already."
"Dahila Faye. She was made the commander of this special army by the Star Lord though on the outside, she's only Zephyr's bodyguard."
He turned his eyes to Selene and her brother Samuel who were sitting amongst the other members of the Other Worlders. "The Star Lord ordered them to follow her command second only to his. I could be able to pose as the Star Lord and order them, but I believe it'll be better if you have her on our side as well, especially since you are trying to take Zephyr's seat."
"Leave it to me," Lady Aurora said after a few seconds of silence.
.
.
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● Somewhere in space, a few minutes away from Graviton.
"Our squad's breaking apart," Thomas said to the light brown-haired man as they both sat in the spaceship along with other Sweepers that were to be on the mission.
The light brown-haired man moved his head to look at his friend who had a worried look on his face and his eyes fixed on his assault rifle that was on his lap.
"First it was Mr. Jenkins, then Zara… at this point the whole team will be reassigned."
Liam sighed and leaned forward, such that the stock of his rifle was on the ground and he held it by its muzzle. "We'll be fine, we always do."
He looked at Liam for a while before replying. "Would we? You know the minimum number for a squad approved by the organization is four, there's just two of us left… and I don't think I'll remain a Sweeper after this mission."
The teal green-eyed man abruptly raised his head to look at his partner. "What?"
Thomas laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. "I wasn't going to tell you or anyone this until I walked out, but Lyra said I should inform you before."
"What happened?"
He smiled. "Lyra gave birth to a boy, Liam… I'm a father."
"Oh my… really? Since when?"
"Two weeks now."
The teal green-eyed man sat up straight. His brows shift closer, turning his expression to a frown. "Seriously dude? Two weeks and you're just now telling me?"
"It's not that serious… everyone was going through a lot, especially after the full-dive operation, so I thought it'd be…"
"Stop, Thomas… you could have at least told me about it..." He furrowed. "I want to punch you so bad right now."
The dark-haired man chuckled. "Anyway, I already passed on my resignation letter to Daniel before he left for Graviton and this will be my last mission… I'll be dropping the suit after this."
Liam placed his hands on the dark-haired man's shoulder. "It's the right thing to do, Tom. You need to be there for Lyra and your newborn child."
"Liam."
"What?" The teal green-eyed man probed.
"We decided on naming the child Liam," he revealed.
"Oh."
Thomas shook his head. "Do not misunderstand, we didn't choose that name because of you, we just thought it was a cool name."
The teal green-eyed man chuckled. "Right, it's totally not because of me, I agree."
The two laughed. "What about you?"
"Don't worry about me pal, just take good care of Lyra and little Liam."
The ship's door slid open, signaling their arrival at Graviton. All the Sweepers, excluding Liam slipped a mask over their face before marching out of the ship to join the Graviton security forces already waiting out.
Immediately they stepped out of the ship, the chief of the security staff that was already at the scene approached Liam. "You must be Owen, the one we were informed will come to our aid?"
"That's me," Owen chipped, drawing the attention of the chief.
He chuckled awkwardly. "Oh… I apologize for the misunderstanding-- I'm Greg, chief of the security staff here."
"Let's just hurry straight to the point, we can't keep wasting time."
"Right, apologies." The man collected a tablet from his partner who was behind him. "This is the layout of the entire building," he said, turning the tablet to show the duo.
"There are four different entrances, but three use electricity to function, and without said electricity, it stays the way it is when the power goes out, leaving just one- the back entrance." He zoomed into the image while explaining.
"But we haven't attempted anything because we feel it's a trap."
"Why's that?" Owen questioned.
The man pointed at the back entrance that was some distance away from them. "It's completely unguarded."
"It only means they want a head-on battle. So we push in through that door so hard they'd wish they never left it open."
"Wait," Liam chipped. "We are just pushing in without trying to contact them? Maybe figure out what they want?"
"Power out, remember?" The chief stated. "Plus, not intending any insulting comment-- you guys are Sweepers, if we call you here, it means we are past the contact stage. As he said, we push in and take them out."
"We don't need the power to contact them, someone can speak to them directly..."
Owen turned to face the light brown-haired man. "What the hell are you doing? I'm the one in charge, I make the decision, not you."
"I know that, and I'm not trying to take over your duties or whatever, I'm just bringing up a suggestion," Liam said. "It doesn't have to be anyone else, I could do it. I can walk in there and try to speak with them, find out what they want and how to solve the problem without any bloodshed."
Owen narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "What if they don't listen? What if they chose to fight you instead?"
"I doubt they'll attack an unarmed man. But I'll make it out if they do, trust me."
Owen still wasn't on board with the plan. He had a look on his face that Liam could easily tell that he wasn't. "Five minutes, just give me five minutes and if I don't walk out that door, then you push in."
"Fine then, you've got four minutes, we already waisted one out here."
Liam chuckled and passed his rifle to the blonde-haired man. "Four minutes it is then." He turned and started towards the building.
"Put your mask on, you'll need it for the light," Thomas said from behind Owen.
"Don't need it, I've seen darker places."
....