Natalia sprinted to the available elevator. She pressed the button continuously to open the door. Five seconds later, in which it felt like forever, the doors immediately opened, and Natalia quickly went inside. She pressed the number four on the keypad, and the doors immediately closed.

She took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. She was solely responsible for the destruction of public property at Sycamore University. Right now, her future as a part of the Nether Elite is in jeopardy.

She arrived on the fourth floor and immediately went to the West Wing of the palace where the grandmaster is staying. In fact, the fourth floor is entirely off-limits for everyone except for the members of the Oleander Syndicate.

She didn’t want to waste any time, so she walked a little bit faster when she arrived at the connecting walkway. It was there she had to step up a few flats of stairs and find the vast quarters of the grandmaster, that was split into three parts: his office, his war room, and his living quarters. Natalia decided to go to his office first. She knocked on the door twice for an answer.

“You may enter,” Dolph answered. She took one last deep breath and entered the office. It was a large office with modern Spanish paintings and sculptures. The room had a fireplace and comfortable couches to sit on. Natalia walked by all of them and stood across Dolph sitting at his desk, trying to work on his new laptop is sister gave him on his birthday.

“Did you call for me, Grandmaster Eichner?” Natalia asked.

However, the grandmaster stood silently as Natalia grew nervous. He wasn’t trying to scare her, he was trying to turn off the laptop, so he could start the meeting.

Sadly, Natalia took this a different way as she grew more nervous, “g-grandmaster?”

“Tell me something, Silvestri, how do you turn this off?” Dolph asks as Natalia became confused. “I’ve been fooling with this thing for almost an hour…”

“Just click on the bottom right-hand corner and select shutdown, sir,” Natalia suggested.

The grandmaster took her suggestion, and he was relieved that he was able to do something with this contraption, “thank you. We did it…” He then closed his laptop and started to focus on the meeting. He looked up at the nervous wolf-girl who was trying her best not to fidget. He knew she was scared and confused as she should be for making a fool out of herself a month ago.

He decided to go easy on her, “you can sit down if you want to.”

The grandmaster offered her a chair, and Natalia obliged as she sat in one of the vacant chairs.

Then the meeting officially started as the grandmaster aired out his grievances, “Oh, okay. And come to think, I thought I was happy to have one of these things. Now, I can’t even turn it off or on. No matter. On with you. There are many reasons why you are here. You will not be dismissed for destroying the auditorium at the Sycamore University. Ryoko Shimizu made a statement saying you went rogue to find the werewolf. Only to find out, the werewolf wasn’t even there. Your cheek was sliced open by a knife, only indicates that it was one of the Crucis Sentinels who attacked you. Even though you will not be suspended and relieved of duties, I’m going to double your simulated training.”

Even though she was happy keeping her position as the team leader of the Nether Elite, her doing more ‘extra homework’ was demoralizing. Still, she was thankful, “yes, grandmaster. And thank you.”

“I don’t know why you’re thanking me, Silvestri. You could be prompt and professional towards me because you know better. However, when it comes to everyone else, you treat everybody like garbage,” Dolph vehemently explains. “It has always been a problem with you.”

Natalia tried her hardest to give a reasonable explanation for the behavior, but she couldn’t, “I have been… Under a lot of stress lately. A lot of things happening in my life right now that I’m still trying to find my way back into the thick of things…”

“Well, five years is a really long time. But it looks like you have taken good care of yourself, haven’t you?” Dolph corrected. “And that what scares me about you. Even back then, you were a savage little monster. You hated dealing with people and working with others and under minded the inner circle’s authority, including mine.

“I’m trying to give everybody an even playing ground to better themselves here at the syndicate, but I can’t do that if I am wrapping you up with bubble wrap and giving you special treatment all the time. We have too many problems dealing with those who are out of the coalition and those who want all of us dead. And then when you add the Crux Nexus, who has never really faltered since our rise, is now slowly but surely gaining the upper hand on the entire coalition. Why? Because they work together, and we don’t.”

“I tried to work with others and… put things behind me between everyone, sir,” Natalia defended, trying to keep her cool.

“Natty, you are one of the reasons why many others don’t want to work with you, period. I know my sister was your superior. You had to answer to her. But at the end of the day, she answered me. Everyone answers to me. I can tell that you’re angry. I can tell that you hate working with others. And even though most of the time I don’t blame you, even those times you are solely to blame,” Dolph criticizes.

Gradually, Natalia’s fear is turning into anger and frustration, “You just don’t get it, do you?”

Dolph was taken aback by this but found humor in her frustration, “I don’t, Silvestri--?”

“I’ve worked my ass off, and I feel under-appreciated by my peers!” Natalia chides.

Realizing the floodgates are so close to breaking, the grandmaster becomes relentless in his criticism, “Don’t you think I get under-appreciated and overwhelmed? Join the club, Natalia! I have many factions out there who want me dead. I am trying so hard to bring everybody together, and it’s not working.”

Natalia tried to convert her anger by keeping herself quiet for a moment, but it wasn’t working, “No, it’s nothing…”

“I spoke to the head physician. She said you have refused to talk to her about your… previous missions and your experiences,” the grandmaster purposely changes the subject as this successfully cut Natalia off-guard.

She was sick and tired of being a dead horse anyway, so Natalia tried to brush off the situation, “It was an embarrassing one. I blew up the building--”

“It was before you went to New York,” Dolph corrected.

Officially, she was angry at her superior for prying emotional information from her, and she made her emotions well known, “Look, I’m not going to cry about what happened five years ago in London! It happened. In the end… Nothing gained, and nothing ventured.”

“And you are depressed by that?”

“I AM DEPRESSED, AND CAN NOT CHANGE THAT!” Natalia finally snapped. “I am depressed by being lied to. I tried to believe that all nether users are one and the same, but they’re not! I realized during that mission that people of all races suck. Everyone is evil. There is no good in what we do, but it’s necessary.”

This made the grandmaster sit back in his chair as he was terribly vexed by his subordinate’s point of view, “a part of your general way of thinking, we still use the same energy that they are using themselves, which does not make us any different than anyone else…”

All Natalia did we shake her head in disbelief without saying a word.

Dolph could have said something else, but he would instead conclude the heated meeting and save some of his energy for the day ahead, “I know you don’t work well with others, but at least try to mend fences this time around.”

“Thank you, but I’ll try…” What Natalia said was not sincere, but defiant.

Dolph let out a deep sigh and decided it was better than nothing, “That is all I ask... As of right now, you’ll be doing some more simulated training before you go out on the field again. But before you do any of that, you have to complete your medical evaluations. You will meet up with Detective Constable Chole Serpentine early this afternoon. She is from Interpol.”

Natalia’s wolf ears perked up instinctively, hearing this, “R-really, I can go over there right now?”

With a snarky smile, he knew it would be troublesome, “I think it’s best you get this out of the way right now. Besides, I don’t want another altercation between you or anyone in her camp.”

“I wasn’t going to pick a fight, anyone. I just…” Natalia tried to defend herself.

“If you want to become a full agent of Interpol, you have to play nice with these people…”

Natalia looked away and pouted, “It’s not my fault he can’t keep his fucking mouth shut.”

However, Dolph knew Natalia was guilty of something, “Like someone I know, Silvestri. At least Zayne is honest. You’re excused.”

Natalia wasted no time getting out of her chair and walking out of the office.

With one foot outside the door, Dolph stops her, “Natalia, I know why you are here. Why you came back. Even though he never told anyone, you were the one at fault. You lost control, and you ruined him. Sadly, you’re not the only one who did it before. But she didn’t have to try to destroy a man’s life because of it afterward. So, when you see him again, I suggest you talk to him before he finishes what he started.”

This sent chills down Natalia’s spine, knowing he was right about everything. Not saying a word, she finally left the room, leaving her grandmaster disappointed in her yet again.

If only you knew just how dangerous he has become, but you’ll find out. You will all find out soon enough, Natalia thought.