She felt her work was done as Kayla took her results and left the apartment. As she opened the door, they were three people who were about to ring the doorbell. The last three people she did not want to run into right now.

Kayla’s face became white as a ghost as she recognizes the three, “Ayeka! Ryoko! Adrian—! I mean, M-Mistress… Y-you are here to see Natty?” She stuttered.

The three were just as shocked as Kayla since they knew the rivalry between them.

No one else knows that better than Adrian as well, “Trust me, I am in disbelief too,” she deadpans she muscles her way into the apartment. Ryoko and Ayeka followed suit while giving Kayla a confused look. Kayla shuts the door behind her and joins them in the living room.

“NATTY, ARE YOU DEAD IN THERE?!” Adrian hollered.

“No, Mistress…” Natalia whimpered.

“Thank goodness… IF YOU ARE NOT BUSY, I WOULD LIKE FOR YOU TO COME ON OUT PLEASE!” Adrian ordered as Natalia joins the group in the living room.

Adrian sees Natalia’s face, scrutinizing her looks, “Were you crying just now?”

“No, Mistress…” Natalia answered with her head down.

Then, Adrian did the unthinkable by approaching Natalia and pulled her in for a big hug. She even patted her on the head.

“You were always a crybaby, Natty,” Adrian jokingly teased.

Natalia didn’t know what to think or feel. Adrian was always helpful to her, but never like this. She was still overly friendly, like a loving mother, and accepted Natalia’s traits of weakness far better than anyone else.

Letting go of the embrace, Adrian addresses her team, “well, it seems to me all of you been very busy getting your shit pushed in. So, who was the lucky bastard?”

“Redgrave, Mistress?” Kayla answered first.

Adrian then smiled at Kayla, “Was I asking you?”

Kayla didn’t respond out of fear. Even though Adrian treated Natalia nicely, it didn’t mean she treated everyone else the same way.

“As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted,” Adrian continued. “I knew who it was, Kayla. The little bunny rabbit, Jeanne Redgrave. Still in her big brother’s shadow. Now, Kayla, I will ask you this personally,” She said while approaching Kayla. “Who was the one who agreed to take on this mission in the first place?”

Kayla felt dizzy as her heart was so fast and hard that even Adrian could hear it. She didn’t want to answer, but she had no other choice.

“It was me, Mistress…” Natalia answered for Kayla.

Again, this is uncharacteristic of Natalia to fall on the sword for anyone. Kayla was the one who accepted the mission in the first place. However, Natalia was still the leader of the Nether Elite and agreed to do the mission. That responsibility completely fell on her.

Adrian turns around as she cocked an eyebrow, “Interesting because I didn’t know anything about this mission. Do you know who told me about four wolf girls breaking into a military research facility and destroying private property? The media. And so did everyone else who’ve heard about it.”

In fact, no one ever did relay anything back from the meeting with Noel Moon. She knew it was a misstep. Many surviving members on the Oleander Syndicate wants to keep a low profile to avoid scrutiny. And what they did days ago was the last thing anyone would have wanted.

Natalia had no words and no excuses. At that moment, she had to be humble, “I am so very sorry… p-putting everyone in danger, Mistress!” Bowing her head.

Adrian grinned at Natalia’s humility, which was never a good sign to begin with.

“I know you are.” Adrian then approached Natalia as she lifted her chin up. Kayla and the others were waiting for Adrian to assault their leader, but she did something even more out of place by comically pinches her cheeks.

“Second chances are rare, but you have to be better than that.” Adrian jovially teased as she gently slapped Natalia’s cheeks. “Silly wolf lady…”

Adrian then turns her attention to the rest of the group. “Okay, ladies. As you all know, the remaining remnants of the Oleander Syndicate have been officially absorbed by Interpol. More like my brother went over there months ago and took it up the ass. Still, most of us can all breathe a sigh of relief. But that is not why I am here. I don’t need to be a part of my little brother’s plans for redemption and acceptance. Since I have my own doubles in Interpol, and I know everything that goes on in Madrid.”

The Nether Elite wasn’t really shocked by this as Adrian had a knack of getting insiders to inform on her behalf.

“A couple of days ago, I found out something really intriguing. Something that greatly involved your little mission with Noel Moon,” Adrian informed as she pulls out a multi-page letter. She started to read it with her glasses. “On October 12, 2014, the medical examiner’s office in Interpol branch in London was given a silk handkerchief by Trainee Kayla Falkenhayn-Anderson for Mitochondrial DNA testing. It appeared the trainee may have found a substantial link to the lineage of the Novak family and/or an unidentified Royal Nephalem bloodline. Which both were confirmed to be 100 percent accurate, with the DNA sample showing being a Syrian Jackal-Grey Wolf Kemonomimi with Spanish, Serbian, and Syrian descent, but having strong traits of Nephalem and Diara heritage.”

Ryoko and Ayeka stared at Kayla at disbelief, as the frightened Kayla tired her best not to make eye contact with anyone.

Adrian continued to read the report, “The trainee who gave us such a prominent source of evidence, was indeed a godsend to many cold cases. From this day forward by order of the Superintendent, we will re-open the missing person's case of one Aurora Rose Novak and launch a full routine investigation of one Bĕhēmōṯ Firas.” Adrian concluding the report.

Kayla felt like running away as fast and far away as she could. She knew Adrian was pissed off about her independent study for obvious reasons.

Folding up the report and putting away her glasses, Adrian addressed her team, “I must say. I am so proud of all you!” She sarcastically praised. “To think that the same little girls that I molded into my operatives would do this behind my back and cause trouble? My mind is blown.” Adrian teased. “Of course, I shouldn’t be too upset. I mean, our home was burned to the ground by our enemies, but everything is fine… My own constituents are being killed, and people are stealing from me, but everything is fine. MY BROTHER BITCHED OUT TO INTERPOL, AND NOW THEY ARE JUST WAITING FOR AN EXCUSE TO TAKE THAT DEAL HE MADE AND SHOVE IT UP HIS ASS! BUT NO! Everything is fine….”

And Adrian’s rant begins as they stood firm and took it. “AND NOW, WE HAVE THIS! AFTER FIVE FUCKING YEARS, ALL OF YOU CAN’T EVEN CO-EXIST WITH ONE ANOTHER! YOU GUYS ARE FUCKING TERRIBLE AS GROUP! AS INDIVIDUALS YOU ARE EVEN WORSE! RYOKO CAN’T GO DAY WITHOUT EITHER A DRINK OR DICK IN HER MOUTH! KAYLA OVER HERE IS STILL ASS REAMINGLY WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING SHE DOES, YET SHE HAS NO PROBLEM SHITTING ON NATALIA! AYEKA CAN’T FUCKING MAKE HER MIND UP TO EITHER BE A DEN MOTHER OR A LEADER! MEANWHILE, YOU HAVE NATTY OVER HERE WHO GOT FUCKED UP BY ALASTAIR, AND SHE STILL FUCKING BROKEN!” Adrian criticizes.

With their heads down, the wolf girls didn’t say a word.

“But everything is awesome, according to the Lego man. But you know what, I agree! Everything is fucking awesome! My rat fuck brother wants to save everyone else, but me! AWESOME!” Adrian manically stated. “I HOPE DOLPH FUCKING FAILS AT EVERYTHING THAT HE DOES IN SPECTACULAR FASHION!”

Adrian takes the same letter and shoves it into Kayla’s chest as she got into her face, “Since you wanted this, you got it. They all want the four of you to stay here in London and made your ass the lead investigator! I’m done protecting your ungrateful ass, Kayla! If you wanted to go home to your pussy-whipped husband and your retarded kids, then no one was stopping you! NO ONE WAS HOLDING YOU BACK! But don’t you EVER IN YOUR LIFE try to fuck me over like that again, just because you want to prove that you are better than Natty. On the worse day of her life, even when she blew up that bomb killing hundreds of people, even when she was raped, beaten, and left for dead in a hotel room by your bestie Alastair, she was STILL ten times better than you, and she still is. BECAUSE YOU ARE A FUCKING LOSER, KAYLA! SHIT LIKE THAT, SUFICCED TO SAY, CANNOT BE HELPED!”

It was more than Adrian had to take from Kayla, she was tired of her disobedience. Afterward, Adrian storms out of their apartment while slamming the door behind her.

The whole team was left speechless for that tirade from their superior. However, they were a loss of words of what Kayla had done. To be honest, this wasn’t the first time that Kayla went into business for herself, which always got her in trouble. Some of it was forgivable, but not tolerated. Now, she has a lot of explaining to do to her team.

“Kayla-chan, what have you done?” Ayeka asked.

Still catching her breath, Kayla tried to blow it off, “I… I had to find out about who this Emperor was--”

“You do realize Interpol and the United Nations are still breathing down our backs. Why do you think they grounded us here, Kayla-chan! They are waiting for us to screw up!” Ayeka reminded.

Kayla threw her hands up as she shook her head, “what’s the point anymore. Were all dead anyway, all of us… Redgrave, Endspiel, Zayne… Makes no difference who comes after us…” She ranted.

“You keep thinking that way, Kayla-chan. I had no idea you have done all of this, taking that handkerchief Natalia used to wipe that girl’s mouth clean so you can get some DNA?” Ayeka said.

“I thought you both knew that, Ayeka…” Natalia thought out loud.

“She didn’t tell me anything, Natalia-chan…” Ayeka revealed as she approached Natalia. “Just like I didn’t know you were raped…” Ayeka comforted Natalia by holding her hands. “when you were in a coma for almost a week, I noticed your belly was getting bigger every time I saw you at the hospital. I didn’t really think much of it. I mean, you are flat as a board, days prior you were admitted. Yet you were showing a baby bump, the second day. On that day, when our castle burned down, the doctors told me you were at least three and a half months pregnant.”

Ryoko tried to wrap her head around what she just heard, “that was impossible… I don’t get it… H-how could she--”

“It’s possible, Ryoko-chan. It all depends who the mother or in this case, the father is,” Ayeka clarified. “Now, Adrian-san accused Alastair-sensei of a lot of things back in the day. Most of those accusations were overblown and were debunked by many others…” Ayeka remembered.

Natalia looked away with tears in her eyes.

But Ayeka rested her hand on Natalia’s cheek, “you can tell me… You can tell us… No matter how we feel about one another, we’re in this together. We are bounded by destiny years ago. Please, Natalia-chan, you can tell us and give yourself a moment of clarity.

Natalia started to cry as Ayeka comforted her by giving her a hug. Ryoko decided to console Natalia as well by resting her hand on her shoulder. However, Kayla was the only distant one as she watched the three.

“Okay… I think it’s time I told you what really happened to me…” Natalia relented.

As the three let go of the embrace, they all sat around the living room as a got comfortable. Natalia took refuge seated on a recliner, Ryoko and Ayeka sat on the couch, but Kayla was still standing in the same spot. Natalia took a deep breath, rubbing her hands together, hunkering down as she reminisced what happened to her five years ago…