After the video stopped playing, Beta Crucis gave her reaction, “Aurora Rose wanted more out of life, and the video showed her true intentions. She wanted to see the world and delve more into her heritage. The Oleander Syndicate deliberately held her down and stunted her personal growth.”

“When was this taken?” Alpha Crucis questioned.

“That building wasn’t there when I visited a couple of years ago. I am guessing seven or eight years old,” Delta Crucis mentioned.

“She filled out in all the right places…” Epsilon Crucis chimed in. “So, Alastair was banging the Grandmaster’s daughter. Good on him. Maybe your girl Natty was jealous of— HOLY SHIT! I JUST THOUGHT OF SOMETHING! Your girl Natty is actually Novak but got mind-fucked by Adrian and got turned into a super-bitch! Don’t at me, because I could be right!” Epsilon Crucis chimed theorized.

“Well, that is your theory, Epsilon. That is all yours…” Miles opinionized.

“She’s not so far off. Classical conditioning refers to a learning procedure in which a biologically potent stimulus is paired with a previously neutral stimulus,” Beta Crucis lectured. “It also refers to the learning process that results from this pairing, through which the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response that is usually similar to the one elicited by the potent stimulus. These basic facts, which require many qualifications, were first studied in detail by Ivan Pavlov through experiments with dogs. Together with operant conditioning, classical conditioning became the foundation of behaviorism, a school of psychology which was dominant in the mid-20th century and is still an important influence on the practice of psychological therapy and the study of animal behavior. Classical conditioning is a basic learning process, and its neural substrates are now beginning to be understood.”

“A biologically potent stimulus like food, for example?” Alpha Crucis followed up.

“That’s just it. The potent stimulus can be anything…” Beta Crucis concluded.

“Well, there is another video on the same wolf girl. That might explain Epsilon’s theory…” Delta Crucis played another video.

And to no surprise, it looked like Aurora Rose shot the video in secret somewhere in a dark room out of desperation. Her red eyes were glowing in the dark as a painful grimace was pasted across her face. Her hair was a complete mess. Her clothing looked like it was damp and dirty. Something about her was completely off. Convincingly, she didn’t look like the happy Aurora Rose he had seen in the last video. Dare to say, this wasn’t Aurora Rose at all.

Even her words hung in the air in a most sinister and unsettling tone, “so, what’s that metronome I am hearing? Perhaps the end is drawing near for you, In the end, you never hear the shot that takes you down...”

It was evident Aurora Rose was not talking to a friend as he laughed off that statement, “I guess you were right after all. I guess I am built to last. Better than anyone you would’ve ever expected from. Sometimes even I wonder if I am the unluckiest bitch alive, or did God himself made me so virtually indestructible on purpose? I don’t care what you’re trying to pull, Adrian, by trying to break me. Nor I don’t give a damn about your pussy brother turning a blind eye to protect you. Do your worst to me… I will find a way to breakthrough…”

This revelation horrified the Sentinels as they saw Aurora Rose finally emotionally crack in front of his very own eyes in this video.

The broken Aurora Rose tearfully continued with a smile on his face, “But you and I both know, you exist out here because of people like me helping you all the time. Most importantly, me. I guess this is meant to be. Alexa should have made sure you were dead. She should have ripped your fucking heart out. However, I came to the stunning realization that you and I can’t live in this world together anymore. One of us must die for one of us to live. I know that now…Plain and straightforward. I know you will break me and have me underneath your control… I don’t even know anymore… But I just want to let you know that you are out of time. Not me. So, I want you to say goodbye for now. Because I will dedicate my whole life to creating nightmares for all you. And I hope and pray that I am wrong about this, but if it’s true…”

As Aurora Rose was going to declare her promise to the woman who she hated the most, she did it with passion and conviction, “when I get through this and I will… I’m going to tear you to pieces.”

Then the video faded to black. The team stood there petrified at what he had just seen. It is clear as day that Aurora Rose was tortured. He didn’t really have to guess who it was either.

“Bastards… Fucking bastards…” Miles growled.

Beta Crucis tried to break the silence by speaking about potential dementors, “Dolph and Adrian Eichner worked with the military as outside consultants. Their specialty was medicine in the military field--?”

“It’s them!” Miles angrily concluded. “Those motherfuckers…!”

“There were many stories Alastair leaked about Dolph, and Adrian Eichner participated in Bosnia, helping the Serbian army interrogate the enemy. They were even open contracts to Adrian herself assisting the United States during the war in Iraq,” Alpha Crucis mentioned.

Gamma Crucis felt physically sick as she was about to throw up, she ran out of the room. The sadness turned to anger amongst all of them.

Alpha Crucis clears her throat, “If this leaked out to the media, Eichner, his sister and his University would be done for.”

“Will this be enough to void out the working agreement with Interpol?” Alpha Crucis questioned.

“Absolutely, Aurora Rose Novak as a sovereign who held a royal rank of a Princess has been recognized by the UN years ago. And since she mentioned Adrian Eichner by the name is the one torturing her, they're fucked…” Miles answered.

“So now we know why Agent Winehouse was killed. She had information about Aurora Rose Novak’s kidnapping and the person who was responsible,” Lycka concluded.

“You said she was a sovereign, but her mother wasn’t of royalty,” Gamma Crucis mentioned.

“Married into royalty. After she divorced Eichner, she later remarried to a diara named Omni Cordis. He was called the True King of Diaras. He had royal blue wings like his spiritual ancestor Michael,” Miles explained.

“Why the quick turnaround? Wasn’t Dolph getting the job done, and Novak wanted something better and stronger?” Epsilon Crucis heckled.

“Cancer. There were rumors about Dolph being sick. Cancer treatments weren’t too safe back then, causing risk of sterility,” Miles said.

Even though it was a halfhearted joke, she didn’t know just how serious it was as Epsilon Crucis slouched in her chair, “No shit…?”

Rubbing her eyes and frustration, Gamma Crucis returned to the room and stated the obvious, “Now, the suspect pool has gotten smaller. This wasn’t completely political, that was secondary. Aurora Rose’s capture and torture were personal?”

“More like a labor of love…” Beta Crucis added.

This admission kind of freaked out Gamma Crucis, “Um, Beta?”

“How come Adrian is willing to exploit and manipulate others, but not Silvestri? Because she is everything she wanted in a strong and independent woman,” Beta Crucis analyzed.

Epsilon Crucis shook her head in disgust, “God, I hate that phrase. The strong and independent woman is a synonym for cold-hearted bitch. You can still be strong and independent and not be a bull-busting Mary Sue.” She stated while eating a stick of taffy.

“Epsilon, you’re a genius,” Miles stated.

This took Epsilon Crucis by surprise, “Really?”

“You may have solved an eight-year-old missing person’s case…” Miles admitted.

With a snarky smirk on her face, she took another big bite of her sick of taffy, “Well, I can’t take all the credit, ma’am. This was indeed a team effort. Sometimes, a little out of box thinking is essential to get things done in life…” She gloats.

“You watch and read Japanese pornography every single day! What kind ‘out of the box thinking’ do you have?!” Gamma Crucis shouted.

“Back off, squeaky! A win is a win,” Epsilon Crucis smiled, throwing up a peace sign.

Gamma Crucis stared daggers through her sister and teammate.

“Delta, find whatever you can on Aurora Rose Novak,” Alpha Crucis ordered. “Her trail might have stopped cold as a teenager, but still try to find a link to the Eichners. She led a sheltered life for obvious reasons, so Copeland might have been her outlet to her freedoms of expression,” Alpha Crucis explained.

“You got it,” Delta Crucis accepted.

Miles’ smartphone went off, and she answers it, “Renfield? When…? Do they know this? Thank you…” her sounding disappointed.

“That doesn’t sound good…” Gamma Crucis wondered.

“The superintendent has ordered Serpentine’s team to travel to New York City to further their investigation…” Miles announced.

The Aethereal Queen and the Crucis Sentinels all looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

“Then that’s where we going. We are still shadowing the team, and we still have our case to solve.” Lycka decided.

“Consider it done. I will let Serpentine know. And I am tagging along with them,” Miles said. “I don’t ride the desk all the time. Who else taught Serpentine to become a field agent? Besides, I had this missing person case back in 2008. It was cold ever since I picked it up…”

“The more, the merrier. Let’s get the jet ready,” Lycka said.

With the Nether Elite being out in the field with minimal team-building exercises as Interpol agents, this did feel a bit rushed. Maybe the rumors were true. That Interpol secretly wants them to fail. Or was it something else they were planning?