Ryan arrived home, tired and hungry. He was also sleepy. Thanks to a truck driver, he had managed to get a ride. Of course, he didn’t think the explanation he had given managed to fool the driver. As he opened the door, his aunt rushed out, and embraced him.

“We were worried about you. Where were you? What happened? You look tired, and sleepy. I wanted to call the police, but Rose said you’d be okay”, she spoke.

“I’m fine aunt Denise. I just need to sleep for a couple of minutes”, he replied.

“Are you sure? Don’t you need anything?”

“No, I do not. Where’s Rose?”

“She went out some time ago. She didn’t say where she was going.”

“Oh, okay. I’m going to sleep then. If anyone is looking for me, I’ll be sleeping in my room.”

Ryan left and went into his room, where he closed the door and locked it. He just collapsed on the bed and fell asleep.

When he woke up, it was already in the afternoon. His stomach grumbled in complaint, and he went to the kitchen to get some food. There was a note left behind by his aunt, who had gone out of the house. The note instructed him on how to heat the food that was left in the fridge. After eating, Ryan went to Rose’s room and knocked.

“Come in”, came a soft voice.

Ryan went in, and found Rose lying on her bed, reading a book. The book was quite small, and from where he was, he couldn’t see the title of the book clearly.

“Oh, someone’s reading. What’s the name of the book?” asked Ryan, as he sat on a chair.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“Avoiding my question?”

“So are you!”

Ryan sighed, as he tried to read the title of the book. “That-time-I-got-reanimated-as-a-zombie? That’s a weird title. Didn’t take you to be someone who likes such things”, he spoke.

“Well, it’s interesting. Why are you here?” she asked, ignoring him.

“Now that I’ve passed the tests, now what?”

“Wait.”

“That’s all?”

“You really lack patience! Just wait until they call for you. Do you seriously think they’ll trust you just like that? What if you’re a spy?”

“Well, wasn’t that the purpose of the tests?” asked Ryan, confused.

“It’s not just the tests. They have to do a thorough background check on you, and stuff like that. But right now, you have to wait.”

“Isn’t your book a bit short?”

“That’s just the first volume. If you’re done bothering me, you can leave now. I need to finish reading!”

“Hmm. Where had you gone to?”

“Is that any of your business?”

Ryan sighed. He didn’t know what to do with her anymore. It seemed her mood swings were getting frequent. As he was stewing in his misery, someone rang the doorbell. Being bored, somewhat, Ryan was the first to reach the door. After Ryan left, Rose only glared at the door, before resuming her reading.

“Good afternoon”, spoke the delivery guy, who was holding out a parcel. He continued, “There’s a parcel here for Arthur Firn.”

“That’s me”, replied Ryan, taking the parcel. The delivery guy handed him a pad where he signed.

“Thank you, Mr. Firn. Have a great day”, said the delivery guy, as he left.

Ryan opened the parcel, and there was letter inside. Besides the letter, there was also a small note and a purple card. He didn’t read the letter but took a glimpse at the note. It read:

‘The Pinktail welcomes you, Arthur Firn. Please go and order a dry martini’

Ryan was quite confused. After opening the search app, he found the directions of The Pinktail bar. What was the relationship between the bar and Sky Haven?

He went into his room and changed into a black leather jacket, and black jeans. Leaving a note, he went out. His aunt’s car, that he had borrowed last time, had been returned. However, she took it when she went out. Sighing, he took out his phone and using the Ride app, he hitched a ride to the Pinktail bar. When he arrived, the first thing he ordered was a dry martini.

“Sorry sir, we don’t have that cocktail here”, replied one of the bartenders.

Ryan took out a purple card, and then slid it towards the bartender, whose expression turned sour.

“Umm … My apologies. Would you please follow me?” said the bartender, as he left the bar. Ryan took back the purple card, and then followed silently. They went down into the basement, through a door labelled “STAFF ONLY”. Inside the basement, there was a hall even larger than the bar.

In this hall, there were multiple desks and benches. At one side of the hall, there was a board, with many papers pinned on it. On the other side, there was a clerk, who was a young woman. She was talking to some rowdy looking men. One of the men had an ugly scar on his right cheek, while the other had an eye-patch.

Ryan walked over to the young lady, but before he could say anything, a guy wearing a black hoodie came over and patted him on the shoulder.

“Follow me”, said the guy.

Ryan followed him without objections. The went into the hall and sat at a table.

“Seems you decided to ignore my warning”, said the guy.

“Who are you?”

The guy removed the hoodie, and when Ryan looked at him, he realized he looked familiar. “Gary?!” exclaimed Ryan.

Gary signalled Ryan to keep quiet.

“You’re the one who came to my grandparents’ farm?” he asked in a low whisper.

“That’s correct”, replied Gary, with a smile.

*********

There was a knock on the door, and in came the secretary. She said, “Mr. Schwarz, there’s someone here to see you. He says his name is Grant Halloway.”

“Does he have an appointment?” asked Schwarz, without even looking at the secretary.

“No, he doesn’t.”

“Then let him book an appointment.”

“But sir, he says it’s about y2j, or was it y2k?” said the secretary, with a wave of wonder.

Schwarz stopped writing and looked at the secretary with a serious expression. It seemed this stranger knew about their secret code. He was getting a bad feeling about everything. It had been a long time since they had convened at the tribunal.

“Alright, show him in”, responded Schwarz, with a sigh.

A few minutes later, a middle-aged man walked into the office. He had black hair which was neatly combed. He was wearing a neat suit, with a white shirt.

“President Schwarz, thank you for taking the time to see me”, said Grant, as he walked into the office.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Grant Halloway, of Halloway Inc.”

“Never heard of you, or your company for that matter. So how can I help you?”

“Would you care for a game of chess?”

“I’m sorry, but I’m currently busy. If that’s all you came for, I’m sorry but you might have to leave!”

Grant chuckled, before replying, “If I were to tell you that Cerberus will be completely annihilated in 2 weeks, would you take me seriously?”

Schwarz’s face turned serious. “What are you talking about?”

“Peter Schwarz, president of the Allied Nations, grand elder of Cerberus, Chairman of the board of Ava technologies. Why are you playing dumb?”

“Who are you?”

“I already told you, I’m Grant Halloway.”

“And this information, how did you come about it?” said Schwarz, as he reached into his drawer.

“Taking out a gun, I suppose? Can we talk over a game of chess? It’s safer than pulling out weapons and pointing them at each other.”

***************

Dr. Paige had been missing in action for some time. The upgrading of the Pirin robot took too much time and resources. Adding the fact that he didn’t have a human body anymore, everything was now 10x difficult to do.

As he was walking around the lab in his new humanoid body, there was a beeping sound on the main computer.

“At least I no longer have to worry about working out, hehehe. Oh, I got new mail”, he chuckled aloud, as he moved over to the computer.

After opening the mail, he was shocked by what he saw! If he had a mouth, it’d have dropped wide open. Pity, he was now trapped in an empty metallic shell! Anyway, in the mail, there was a complete list of all organizations affiliated with Cerberus. The list also included individuals who ran the organizations, as well as the people who led Cerberus!

Who had sent him this email? No one knew, and even with his advanced tracking software, Dr. Paige couldn’t tell either. However, he chuckled before unleashing a maniacal laugh that echoed through the speakers of the lab.