After Jaden announced the 30-minute break time, he invited the twins, Nikkoi and Nikolai to join him in his meal. The twins immediately came, and they all sat on the vivid green grass.

They were all protected by the magnetic field barriers of the main fields of NJG’s dome, so there’s no point of being paranoid about getting killed or shot by unwanted visitors of the area. The entire structure of the main fields was similar to what we have seen in the movie, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, wherein the players were enclosed to a large terrarium enough for them to execute their game plans. Everyone under the organization was protected under Nix’s sovereign; therefore, everyone was certain that he’s to be trusted.

Jaden pulled his phone from the pockets of his lab coat to contact his sister who was staying back in the base with their leader, Zhackary. As he waited for her to answer, Nikkoi tried telling him something but he didn’t catch it immediately. He gestured back if he could repeat what he said again, and he did, this time he got the message.

“I found something hiding and running from the bushes a while ago, it seems to be following us. Might want to check it out with you and sis later before heading home”, Nikkoi said through sign language.

“Is it a bunny?!”, Nikolai quickly exclaimed after with her eyes almost turning into hearts because of her fondness for cute animals.

“Nah, prolly a cat”, Jaden shrugged his shoulders then finally, someone from the other line answered his call. “Oh, ate Keisha answered.”

He switched his phone to loudspeaker so that his friends could also hear his sister’s voice. And lively, Keisha greeted, “Hi!”

They all greeted her back and Jaden began with the conversation saying, “How’s your life being with my brother-in-law?”

By Keisha’s tone, she was obviously flushed and embarrassed as she stuttered through her words, “Who told you that?”

“Good one… Brother-in-law”, a man’s voice was heard and was Zhackary with his raspy voice out of his colds. “I shall grant you two wishes.”

“Zhack? You’re awake?”, Keisha shockingly said, that made the three teeners laugh until they drain their souls out.

“Okay. For my first wish, you’ll be the one to bleach and dye my sister’s hair pink and purple. Second, both of you should sleep beside each other from now on”, getting red from all the laughing, Jaden told the older lad from the other side of the line.

“WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE PINK? AND WHY SHOULD I SLEEP BESIDE ZHACK?”, Keisha yelled, all mortified. “And for the record, I’d have you reconsider it to orange, you dweeb.”

“Sounds fun, deal”, Zhackary’s voice grew louder from the phone. He might’ve gone closer to Keisha just to say that.

Keisha grunted, “Zhack!”

“Sorry, brother-in-law’s orders”, he chuckled. “Aight, I’m heading back to bed. Just tell me if you need any room, I’ll just scooch over.”

Jaden then took a bite off of his sandwich first before continuing his conversation with his sister. He glanced up to the tree branches hanging above them as he tried to think of the words to say.

“Enough with jokes, we have something important to say to you. It’s about your ex”, his voice grew serious as he put up the main point of the discussion. “Kuya Zhackary might want to hear this too.”

Nikkoi gestured something to Nikolai and she interpreted his words for Keisha to hear. Nikolai said, “Nikkoi saw a group of men in a minivan meeting with mister Iyaz when he was about to head alone to the forest outside the NJG main fields to gather a sap that we need to use on our research. The mister handed them two large bags of cash and the men handed him boxes. He heard that those boxes were containing Russian sickles, ice, and candies. Those are weird things but I feel as if something fishy is going on.”

After sipping from his frappe, Jaden added, “Iyaz has been playing dirty all these times. We are not certain if those boxes were really containing food in it. Those boxes might contain dangerous weapons or something. But we can’t report it to Sir Nix yet if we lack evidence to prove that his faction is literally breaking the rules.”

Keisha was suddenly outraged by what she heard and replied with a furious tone of voice, “Let’s just take note of Nikkoi’s statement first and keep that information away from anyone. We are going to talk about it with Zhackary privately once you get home later. Nikkoi’s safety will be at stake if this leaked, I don’t want to risk that. I hope you all comprehend what I told you just now.”

“Understood”, Nikolai and Jaden responded in chorus and Nikkoi nodded with them.

“We’re heading back now, I’ll call you again later before we head back home”, Jaden concluded then turned off his phone, placing it back into his pocket. “Nikkoi, don’t worry. We won’t let them do anything bad to you.”

*back at the NJG labs*

Everyone settled into the laboratory to wrap up with their initial prototypes of their bio research. Others were still struggling with their work although Jaden and Rhianna encouraged them not to rush with their work and that there is still a lot of time for them to improve their innovations.

At the very front of the laboratory, Rhianna smiled and stood proudly as she watched the youngsters’ dedication to their passion for science and creativity. The busy atmosphere pleased Jaden as well who walked over to her and witnessed the scenery. They both sighed in satisfaction.

“You know, you still shouldn’t have injected that shit to my sister without her consent”, Jaden casually spoke to his upperclassman without any hesitation, though he appeared to be disrespectful. His tone and volume were all balanced, but he was really mad after finding out what Rhianna did to Keisha one time back at the Cipher’s VIP lying ins. He was now holding a hot cup of cappuccino in his hand and leaned on to the wall behind him.

“There aren’t any chances for her to live after breaking two of her ribs and losing a lot of blood out of Iyaz’s heartless beating. Besides, how bold of you to talk to your sister’s colleague like that?”, Rhianna followed his casual talking but was obvious on being sarcastic in her tone. She suddenly chuckled like a mad man as if she’s done the right thing all along.

Straightforwardly, Jaden responded to her, “You’re wrong. There is still a 73% certainty that she is gonna live. I heard that she almost died out of cardiac arrest, but she won’t die just like that if kuya Zhack and kuya Jeff saved her on time. Her body reacted to your bioweapon. How bold of you to say that your Seditio will save her when the chances are 50/50?” He paused for a while then continued, “I am certain that you are aware that respect begets respect, Rhianna.”

“I underestimated you, young man. You know too well”, Rhianna giggled beside him arrogantly, “If I haven’t done that on my own, then my Seditio wouldn’t be a success.”

“So, didn’t you really care about my sister but only to your frustrated and incomplete experiment?”

Rhianna stopped, then glared back at him, “I care about the people that I love, but no one can stop me from doing what I want. My damage has been done, young man. There’s no way you can undo it.”

Jaden burst out in laughter, almost tearing up after hearing Rhianna’s arrogance. “Oh my, I’m scared… No. In fact, you’re just giving me an easy challenge for me to create a cure and improve your own failures of your careless experimentation.”

Rhianna could not say a word on his contradictions. She froze in fear of letting someone take away her years of hard work. And the fact that she had been doing this for the sake of everyone’s acceptance as a victim of bullying before dropping out from school.

“You should learn how to empathize with others rather than thinking about your own sake. No one’s going to take your creation. I’m just giving it back to you to save my sister. If you really care for someone, you would think twice first before risking their lives.”

*Fast-forward*

After the day’s hard work, everyone was on their way to each of their rides home. As promised, Jaden and the twins went to the green sites again to search for that thing that Nikkoi told them to check out. Not a moment later, there’s a loud squeak and the bushes from their east begin to rustle and move. They followed and cornered the thing then finally caught it.

It was not an IT, but a SHE. It was a small girl, though she looked the same age as them. She wore ragged clothes and she had a lot of wounds and scars all over her body. Her thinness was so alarming as if she hadn’t eaten properly for weeks. She had a turquoise backpack that was now covered in dirt. She appeared shocked and frightened after the three teeners cornered her, her tears were beginning to stream down to her face. Her crying was silent as if she was a mute like Nikkoi.

Nikolai felt remorse for the girl and offered her hand, “Hey, are you okay? I’m sorry we scared you. We thought you were a bunny.”

The girl couldn’t answer but continued crying more. Thus, Nikolai bent her knees to talk to her more to at least reduce her fright. She patted her head gently and said, “Don’t cry. We are going to help you find your family. Is that okay?”

The girl shook her head ‘no’ and appeared sadder than ever. She handed a note which Nikolai passed on to Jaden to read.

It said, “Ruby is our only child and she has no friends to be with her to head safely to NJG. I hope if you read this, you’ll take care of her for us.”

“She went here with the same purpose as us. Although it seems like she’s beaten up, we aren’t even sure yet since she is unable to speak”, Jaden said and gestured to Nikkoi to help her up and take her home with them. “Ruby, can you do sign language?”, he asked her as they walked back to the parkway to reunite with Rhianna who’s waiting for them.

She shook her head ‘no’ again and apparently, it would be difficult for them to properly communicate with her.

“Is it okay if you come with us? Don’t worry, you’re in the safe zone now. No one’s gonna hurt you”, he assured with a warm smile plastered on his face that made the little lady comfortable enough to hold his right arm for safety. She nodded ‘yes’ back at him and her eyes were gleaming with hope and security.

As they went closer to the minivan which they used to head to the fields, Rhianna scoffed at the young lad and raised an eyebrow towards the girl beside him. She said, “After speaking to me in a very nice way, you suddenly have the guts to bring over a stinker home to be your girlfriend.”

Nikolai quickly noticed the reddish tension between the two executives of the faction and whispered to Jaden’s ear to ask with her distinctive accent, “Anything happened back there with madame Karen? She’s kinda actin’ like yo momma boomer right there.”

Jaden rolled his eyes and answered the sissy immediately so that he could respond to the angry leprechaun glaring at them, “I’ll tell you the tea later.” Then he tried ignoring the sight of Rhianna and escorted Ruby inside the back seat. He spoke blatantly, “As if the ride’s all yours to own. Too bold of you to call a lost child a stinker when you couldn’t fix your cakey makeup to look good in front of Nix. I wonder how he’s into some brat like you.”

“You two are just disrespecting each other you know. And miss Rhianna, I’m sorry to burst your bubble but you really lacked remorse with what you just said to Ruby. Maybe you need to reassess yourself as the one who’s way older than us”, Nikolai backed up politely to end the toxic conversation brought by the two, making everyone of them to step on the brakes and let the thing slide.

The rest of them went inside the car and left Rhianna outside in full embarrassment. She could not speak another word and accepted defeat by being silent. A minute after her utter silence, she went into the driver’s seat, not glancing an eye on the rearview mirror reflecting the now four teenagers sitting in the backseat, doing each other’s businesses 一 Jaden listening to music through his iPod and offered the other earplug to Ruby who seemed to be staring at blank space the whole time; Nikolai spending her time reading a novel quietly in the middle, appearing like an obvious Potterhead with her round reading eyeglass she was using as she reads; and Nikkoi looking at the scenery back and forth at the window outside to reference it for his daily sketches.

The entire joyride was not joyful at all, in fact, it was evidently awkward for everyone. They got back to the faction without saying any word to each other even at the time when they went their separate ways. As promised, Jaden and the company went straight to Zhackary’s tent to talk about Nikkoi’s experience back at NJG. While walking their way to Zhack’s, the matter regarding Rhianna rose again when Nikolai concernly asked about it.

“Apologies for asking, but have you got a fight with miss Rhi a while ago? It seems so serious because of the solid tension between you two when she went talking about it. Although, I am starting to hate her now for what she said towards Ruby. Her attitude stinks way worse than what she thought about the poor one.”

The young lad sighed then responded with a weak smile at his best friend, “Is it wrong to get mad at the person who almost killed your sister? It’s just that I almost lost ate Keisha due to her selfishness.”

“I quite understand where you’re coming from. In fact, I almost lost my twin before too. I just thank God for setting us free from the hands of our drunkard mother”, Nikolai responded though her tone appeared a bit sassy on her mother issues. Then she added to address the issue properly, “But you know, there might be a reason why miss is actin’ like that. Might be the fact that a person with a lot of insecurities before brought them to do the things that they thought were right.”

“I don’t know. I’m still thinking real hard about what she’s done. If those were true, it’s still not an excuse for her to manipulate somebody else’s fate for her own benefit”, the conversation was cut when they saw Keisha waiting outside at Zhackary’s tent, standing like a british guard in front of some royalty’s castle. “Well, we might talk about this for some other time. We must focus on Nikkoi’s safety first.”

“Ooooo, looks like you have found yourself a new beau, mister Eli”, Keisha welcomed them, putting up a lenny facial expression after quickly noticing a girl’s hand holding on to her brother's arm. Jaden responded with that ‘what the fuck’ reaction in his face that anyone could sketch fastly in a blank canvas. “She already got my blessing. Well, come on in”, lively as ever, she guided everyone inside with a goal of having the conversation about the upcoming games and Iyaz’s possibility of pulling off his tricks upon his sleeve. Keisha took a quick look outside before closing the door.

Zhackary was now fine as he was now sitting back at his office desk with a stack of properly organized files on the side. He was also waiting for them to come home, most probably, he’s already aware of what Nikkoi had discovered. He also welcomed them with a warm smile just to make them feel comfortable around him. Noticing the new girl beside Jaden, he glistened, “Oh, we have a new member. I’m glad that you agreed with Jaden to take you here. What’s your name?”

Since Ruby was not capable of speaking yet, Jaden backed her up and said, “She is Ruby. We found her back in NJG all washed up. I guess some terrible things happened to her before she could head to a safe place. I might as well inform you guys that she’s unable to speak and communicate through sign language.”

“I see. Well, Ruby. Welcome to Cipher. Make yourself at home, okay? You can sit and eat right at the dining table there as you wait for us to finish. Then we’ll decide the place where you’ll stay. Is that okay, Ruby?”, with his friendliest attitude, he told the teener that made her feel really welcomed. Ruby nodded back at him with a weak smile, but her hopefulness was evident enough to prove that she’s happy with it.

“I’ll take care of her”, non-hesitantly, Keisha said and the little girl’s eyes lit up almost tearing up in bliss.

“Ate, are you sure? It’ll be a big responsibility for you. Plus, you’re a higher up now. I think we could handle her well”, Jaden reacted but not overly exaggerating it.

“I think a woman should take good care of a girl, not a lad who’s still in the stage of puberty right now”, she smirked and seemed really enthusiastic about taking care of a girl with the same age as his brother’s. Or maybe she’s planning something since she’s desperate to get his brother a girlfriend.

“Says someone who didn’t even get hit by puberty”, he fired back savagely at her sister’s small-framed body and short height.

“I just want a child okay?”, Keisha bursted out then everyone’s eyes widened out of her sudden words. “What I meant is that I want to take care of someone in need. That’s all”, then she held back as she realized how embarrassing her words appeared to them.

“I see, you want a child”, Nikolai teased, giggling on the side, turning red in joy because she sees Jaden’s sister as a cool mother figure although she’s just seventeen. “Kuya Zhack, you might wanna agree with your wifey’s request for adoption. You might wanna adopt me too.”

“Oh shut up!”, the two flustered young adults yelled in chorus as the three teeners whooped hysterically in the background.

Minutes later, the atmosphere went serious again for a confidential meeting about Iyaz’s secrecy. They were sitting around Zhackary’s desk. Keisha took the lead then spoke.

“I already told Zhackary about your scenario and asked some of our trusted executives to investigate the said matter. We looked into Google the names that Nikkoi spelt to you… Russian sickles, ice and candies right?”

Nikkoi silently nodded at her to confirm that she’s right on track. He began gesturing words with his hands then his twin helped him to translate it. He said, “The men who Iyaz met at that time appeared far way older than us here in the NJG premises. I was scared at that time because I really didn’t mean to see it. I was also astounded by the fact that there’s really a huge load of cash that Iyaz gave to them, wondering if that was the allotted budget prepared for each faction. And as you guys could remember, we had a budget shortage starting from two weeks ago.”

“Alright. So, those cute names that you’ve heard were code names used for drug transactions. The Russian sickles are LSDs, Ice pertains to Methamphetamine, and the candies are not the sweets but a party drug called Ecstacy”, Zhackary informed that shocked them because what Nikkoi just witnessed was an actual drug transaction by the head of the leading faction, Utopia. “But we aren’t even sure if those are real drugs. I suspect that they either use it for their immoral deeds back there in their area or they’ll use them to sabotage the games. We aren’t sure yet, but I think those are not just the drugs that we’ve looked at a while ago, maybe there’s more of them.”

“So, what are we going to do about it now? How about Nikkoi?”, Jaden asked the two main executives as he was so concerned about his best friend’s safety. His eyes drooped in anxiety but was consoled by Keisha who was standing behind his seat, assuring him that everything is going to be fine with Zhackary’s leadership.

“Are the twins’ tent far from you? I suggest that they should move to yours so that I could easily secure your area. I’ve told Jeff already to patrol on your department with Rocky switching shifts. In that way, we could easily track down the potential criminal on your watch”, Zhackary suggested and the other party agreed.

Jaden replied as a confirmation, “Theirs are about three tents away from mine. The entire room is spacious enough for the three of us. As for Ruby, are you two sure of keeping her?”

“Wait, Zhackary’s involved?”, Keisha butted in, all defensive.

“Yes”, the three said in chorus slowly then smirked back at her.

“Imagine ate Keisha’s the loving mother taking care of their daughter, Ruby, then they’re living with daddy Zha-”, Nikolai said loudly with glistening eyes but was cut by Keisha, pushing all of them towards the door.

“Okay, enough chit-chats. Move your things to my brother’s tent and update us if you’re done. And we all need to wake up early tomorrow for the faction game. Good night”, she definitely closed the door with Zhackary and Ruby staying with her inside.

Jaden from outside yelled at the door before leaving, chuckling with the twins hysterically, “Don’t forget about the deal. You, too, should move to your dear Zhack’s tent tonight. Toodle-oo!”

Keisha sighed with an obvious ashamed look plastered on her face as she felt hopeless to reunite with her cheesedom left inside her tent. And of course, she’s also left feeling awkward with a man and a younger girl she’s going to live with for the rest of her stay in Cipher ー looking like a one happy family.

“Am I allowed to head to my tent first to bring all of my essentials here?”

Then a small voice came in filling their ears that surprised them, “Can I go with you to help?”

It was Ruby who just spoke. And evidently, she could speak after all. Her voice caught their attention and her eyes gleamed in happiness at Keisha.

Keisha’s heart melted after hearing the young one’s sweet little voice, she hurriedly agreed with her as she nodded her head ‘yes’. “Let’s get you tidied up first, okay? Then help me prepare our meal for tonight.”

“Is there a room for another helping hand?”, Zhackary spoke as he stood up from his seat, taking off his black hoodie jacket, hanging it on the coat rack standing beside his wooden desk.

Keisha then winked back at him, making his ears red as well as his delicate cheeks. She said, “I think we might need a Johnny Bravo with us to lift the heavy stuff I have left back there.”

**~^~**

Earlier that day at Zhackary’s home, he gradually opened his eyes with the sunbeams shining on them, emphasizing the hazels on his irises. He felt some hair strands touching his skin and bit by bit, his hand followed to a direction where it came from. A silky smooth feel lingered in his hand and it was owned by a girl sleeping soundly beside his bed.

“Keisha”.

She was sitting down on a short and brown stool at his side, with Zhackary’s little bed space as her support. A digital thermometer was still attached to her hand that made him realize that she stayed up all night to check on him and fell asleep out of mere tiredness. By that, he quietly got up and lifted her towards the bed to tuck her in. He chose to give her a little more time to rest on his soft bedding. And before he could proceed to what he ought to do, he whispered into her ear, “Sleep tight, my dear.”

He went on his way towards the kitchen to prepare a meal for the both of them.