Once we landed down there, she immediately beelined to the commissioner’s office. He was quite the round fellow; perhaps unable to conquer the temptation of doughnuts. The empty box peeking out of his little mesh garbage bin didn’t look like it helped his situation. His moustache was a bit bushy and unkempt, as well as the hair on his balding head. He must’ve had a rough day.

Recognising her warpath, I stopped. Rosa looked back at me after she’d already opened the door and motioned me inside. This is a bit awkward. I felt like whatever the home secretary was about to say to the police commissioner was not something I was authorised to hear – especially with her in that kind of mood, or attire for that matter.

On noticing Rosa, the commissioner’s face crept through a few expressions, starting with shocked then remembering that it should form a more poker face to show respect. His eyes couldn’t refrain from scanning her top to bottom, but so briskly you’d hardly notice it. However, I truly doubt there was anything the home secretary’s eyes couldn’t perceive. “My apologies for interrupting you, commissioner,” she began.

I sat down on one of the two chairs, absolutely quiet, whilst the two of them conversed about how she ended up in the desert. After that, she struck him with a simple line that surprised both the police commissioner and myself. “I’m aware the case of David Cennet’s terrorism is of great importance at this time, but you must issue the arrest warrants for TEO director Franklin Donovan, minister of defence Michael Asher, TEO Sean Murray, TEO Harold Mason, and Dennis Ida.”

“Wow…” I thought out loud. The commissioner’s eyes latched onto me for the longest time they could until he felt like it would become awkward. He then refocused on Rosa Sorrentino’s uncompromising eyes and ever-so-slightly, he nudged his eyes in my direction. A very overt, yet somewhat respectable questioning of my presence near the two security giants. “Did your parents tell you not to talk to strangers?” I asked a bit condescendingly because I found his actions a little rude. Was it because he assumed that I wouldn’t catch onto it or was it because he simply didn’t ask me directly? I couldn’t be sure. “Just ask what you want to ask.”

“Alright then.” He snapped back, grabbing the opportunity by the horns. “Since you offered…” he turned his entire body to me. “Your personal reasons for continuing this charade is over, are they not? Your parents have been found. David Cennet’s recorded killings were all faked,” he threw some facts on the table in hopes I would tell him the things he didn’t already know. “Why then, are you still doing this?”

Hmm, I gave it some thought, let’s not mention revenge. The public didn’t know how much I loved Theresa; after all, she was just a servant to some entitled rich kid in their eyes. She was quickly forgotten. But to me, she was everything. I balled my fists at the thought of that, then looked to Rosa. But it seemed she was just as interested in my answer as the commissioner was. “I can’t not do it. I tried staying away before, but people are dying, man. Won’t just stick my head in the sand; I can’t. Besides, no matter how you look at it, I caused this. I’ve gotta clean up my own mess.”

He intertwined his fingers and leaned a bit onto his desk, “By ‘clean up’, what do you mean?”

“What I mean?” I relaxed back into the chair, and had my hand support my leaning head. “Well, we’ll see.” An awfully ambiguous answer. But even with the red flags that my answer shot him, it wouldn’t be easy to rescind the police’s official statement that allowed me to help. The public’s protests placed a lot of pressure on them, and taking back their decision would do nothing but paint their lack of confidence in their own decision.

The commissioner suddenly shifted his attention to Rosa again, “I’ll get the warrants. I trust you came to me for this because you can’t trust the TEO?”

“You can’t expect me to have the TEO arrest their director?” Rosa gave him a stern look. “The details of their crimes will be sent to you. Get it done.” She stood up, and subsequently, I did.

When we got back outside to the parking lot, I inquired about what happened to her security detail. “…all of them?” I questioned. “Your entire team, can’t be trusted?”

She looked at me, “I wouldn’t have you fly me around if they could. I’ll get a new team by the end of the day, but there’s no telling who’s in someone’s pocket.” She rubbed her temples in frustration, but quickly retracted her hands.

I yielded. She was right. “I can be your bodyguard, but I’m pretty expensive.”

Her eyes settled on me, with not so much as a simper from her lips. “You joke, but I’d actually hire you if you were of age. It’s unfortunate you’re one of the few people I can blindly trust anymore. Say,” she placed her arm over my shoulder, “are you busy today?”

I picked her up, ready to take off, “Is Home Secretary Sorrentino asking? Or is Rosa asking?”

“They both are.”

I shot an eyebrow up, “Now I’m curious…”

A beguiling smirk crept upon her lips.

“Are you disappointed?” the shifting waters sounded as she moved her hand out the bathtub’s water. She had me take her home and pamper her, sort of. The soapy water dripped off when she slowly stood up, no doubt in covert attempts to tempt me.

I gave my chin a rub or two after giving her a towel, “Extremely disappointed,” I commented, a morosely face defying playful antics. Afterward, I kept her company. No, not leisurely, but instead as a bodyguard of sorts. It was a horrendous farrago of meeting after meeting. I idled outside whatever conference room she’d use to slam her arguments into the ears of those attending.

As it turned dark, Rosa got yet another security team, so I was able to return home, having what was my last night of somewhat carefree sleep.

My alarm gently shook me awake. I was able to grab breakfast with my family before Anna scurried off to work. My phone rang and I answered to a very angry and confused Serrette. “Ugo?! What the fuck’s going on?!”

“Uh… I’m sorry, what are we talking about?”

“Figured you’d know. Get down here, will you?” she said hastily then hung up.

What a stormy but short conversation. What’s up with her? I wondered, my mind futilely trying to imagine what could’ve gotten her so ruffled. Instead, all my thoughts were centred around the locations that Taylor – the goon who we caught in the hotel – had been sending the smuggled Neo-Chem canisters to. I wondered where that address led to and why the other location was UGO Medical. However, I decided to bury those questions for now and focus on whatever riled Serrette up so much.

The TK and I flew downtown toward TEO headquarters. Serrette was leaned against the wall in the smoking area with a cigarette in hand. The minute we touched down, she outed the cigarette, “Ditch the robot for a while,” and walked toward the carpark. “Let’s go for a drive.”

She and I sat in the back, whilst the Andinos were in the front. “Wanna tell me what this is about?” I asked, after a couple minutes of a silent ride.

“That’s my question,” Serrette palmed her face. “This morning, the police appeared with arrests warrants for Murray, Donovon, and Foster. I wouldn’t suppose you know why?”

“Oh, that.” I exhaled and smiled, “Sorry, but they did some things and this time, it looks like they over-did those things. Unfortunately, I can’t say anything incriminating.”

“Why’s that?” She looked me right in the eyes, “Will your friend, the Home Secretary be mad at you?” she asked me, as if I was a little kid.

“You think she has something to do with it?” I asked, as if curious to find out myself.

She chuckled a bit, rolling her eyes, “Oh, cut the crap, Ugo! This is serious! With a move like that, the police and TEO are going to butt heads even more. Even Michael Asher is in handcuffs! National security is stupidly vulnerable because they got arrested!” She balled her fists and emphasised, “Arrested! And you know why.”

“You assume I know why.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, “And if, hypothetically, I knew, what would happen if I don’t tell you?” My hand touched gently on my pistol.

Samuel Andino turned around after watching my movements in the mirror, “Relax, Ugo. We’re not here to interrogate you. She’s just a little overwhelmed.”

“So why the hell am I here?” I retorted, not exactly feeling welcomed. The car went quiet. “If there’s nothing else, then pullover.”

“There is,” Ferris pushed the signal lever down and the indicator blinked so he could make his turn. “There’s a raid at UGO Medical right now. We found the person in question who’s been receiving Mark Taylor’s deliveries. Before we could interrogate him, a call came through from HQ telling us to halt whatever we were doing and stay on standby. Why do you think that is?”

“How would I know?” I shrugged.

“How long will you continue to play dumb?” Serrette asked. “Fine, let’s spill everything for you, otherwise we’re wasting time. Our director got detained, so did a member of our bomb squad, and so did our criminal psychologist. Because of that, we’re now at a standoff with the police who wants to takeover the entire David Cennet case.”

“So, you only care about the case,” I surmised.

After a deathly glare, she said, “We care about finishing what we started. Ugo, if we get relieved of this case, there’s a risk it’ll be placed in the hands of strangers in the police, and who knows who the hell we can trust in the police?”

“Really? That’s your reasoning?” I turned to face her fully, “Need I remind you that the TEO and ex-militants were the ones involved in the attempted murder of the goddamn Home Secretary?! Are you saying we can trust the TEO?”

“I’m saying you can trust us!” she specified.

“Whilst I want to trust you, it would be stupid to do so. The Home Secretary is a much better judge of character than I am, and her own personal bodyguards helped sabotaged and planned her murder. She was still backstabbed. How can I trust anyone?”

Samuel chuckled, “Gotta say, that stings, Ugo. You saved my daughter and my son, so I trust you, but to hear that the feeling isn’t mutual is a bit…”

“I know what you mean,” Ferris agreed. “Guess that leaves us with one decision.” In the blink of an eye, a pistol was aimed for my head and was fired off. But I could feel it coming. Since entering the car, seeing Serrette’s expression, taking note of the Andino’s silence during the first half of the ride, it give my instincts the cue to be on guard. And guard I did with the shielder, causing the shot to ricochet off my lazuline shield energy and hit the window. Immediately after, I tried opening the door but that didn’t work.

Going full throttle with Grav from the get-go, my body slammed up to the car’s ceiling, raising it just enough to cause the car to wobble out of control. We flipped so many times that nothing in my vision made sense.

Recovering quickly from Vasc and shrugging off the dizziness, I shot the door open with my pistol and exited the overturned vehicle. So many cameras clicked and flashed at the scene whilst I breathed and caught my breath. Samuel eventually crawled out, leaving the other two unconscious TEOs inside.

“Dammit, Ugo! You left us no choice!” he said, pointing his gun at me and trying to control his haggard breath. He limped a little, coming out into the open to get a clearer shot at me. “There was,” his eyes watered a little, and he blinked to somewhat dismiss the tears, “no other choice.” His hand trembled and his jaw muscles showed that he clenched his teeth. With a wipe of blood off the eyebrow, he steadied his aim. “Sorry, kid.” He began firing it off, causing the crowd around us to scamper in all directions.

Instead of erecting my shielder’s energy, I simply tilted my head down and blocked my head with both arms, letting the few bullets hit me. It hurt like hell! My mind was reeling in pain, but given enough time, Vasc numbed that pain and the formed blood literally pushed the bullets out of my body and proceeded to heal me. It was a bit of a risk. Okay, it was a huge risk, but the results screamed a very strong message at the top of its lungs – I wasn’t easy to kill. And relying on the crowds that recorded the scene to push the message out there was admittedly, something that I didn’t foresee. It was only meant for the TEO and other similar entities to understand that I had much power, and so, some off-handed assassination attempt would never work.

I pointed my pistol at him calmly, then simply rescinded it. Ire rattled my mind, knowing that someone out there had enough power to cause people like the Andinos to turn against me. Dammit, Cennet! I was beginning to feel more and more alone in this entire ordeal as the seconds went on by. What now? What’s my next move? When does this end? When do I get to walk away? How long do I have to keep this up? Why me? My eyes watered. Theresa… I missed her dearly.

Just like my bullying in school, it seemed like danger reared its neck into my business every day. Only, this time around, Theresa wasn’t there to tell me everything would be okay. Sure, I loved all three of my parents, but they could never replace Theresa, no one could. Therefore, there was no replacement that would calm my stirred heart as she once did. Fucking Cennet! I gritted my teeth, coming to the realization that literally everyone I know could be turned against me. It felt like the very time I had left to live was quickly shortening. Who was to say a servant at home wouldn’t be the one to take my head? Who was to say that a random passerby wouldn’t put a bullet in my head? The murmurs around me made me paranoid, and thinking that my death could come from anywhere, I flew off frantically.

Suddenly, another call came in. I stared at it until it stopped. The view from atop a ten-story building wasn’t as comforting as I thought it would be, especially when my brooding was interrupted by the fourth time by the same private number that called before. “What?” I answered irritation embroidered in my voice.

“Is this Jared Ugo?” a man asked.

“…” I remained silent, as if simply too mentally knackered to answer.

“Please, the son of the minister of education is being held hostage and he needs your help!”

“Why should I believe you?” I questioned the strange man.

Instead, a strange but frantic voice answered, “Jared Ugo? This is Charlene Jefferson speaking. The scene is being broadcasted on any news station! Please, I beg of you! Please help my son!”

At that moment, my mind was tearing itself apart. One half said no, the other said yes. One half told me it was the height of stupidity and recklessness after being betrayed by those I thought had my back, to trust the words of a total stranger. The other half wouldn’t let me live with myself if what was being fed to me was to be true and I did nothing about it despite having the means to do so.

With a sigh, I thought, I’m a fool…