Chapter 45

“Tree Sea”

Val spits out the words hoping she had remembered it correctly.

In front of her was a rugged man with slicked back hair and a gun in his hand.

That gun happens to be pointed at her.

‘This was uncalled for…’ She thought as she tightens her fists trying to keep herself composed.

The man just looks at her silently, standing still on the gravel road that they’re both on. Making Val impatiently worried that the man has not returned her response to his question, as she starts to doubt what was told to her.

She bites her lip as she starts to feel her fists shivering. It was a nice warm day for a stroll, and the sun was shining brightly without a cloud in sight, and yet she felt cold. She sees the man raise his pistol slightly, just enough to line the sights with the pupil of his eye. Val was trying her best to keep composed but the slight calm movements of the man didn’t give her peace.

Her jaw was now starting to shiver and her breathing became rapid and shallow. She remembers now how Miles warned her that she should be elaborate with her syllables as the man had poor hearing and a short temper. But no matter how many times she ran the scenario in her head, she knew she said the words clearly.

There was no other way she could find that needed improvement.

But it wasn’t enough. Her mind still raced trying to think if she had misheard Miles or if she had miswritten it on her notes or any other possible scenarios that would have led to this mistake.

But in the end there was nothing.

The next thing she heard,

Was a loud bang.

‘Bullseye.’

…

…

‘This your stop Bert…’ Lando said as Bert scoots over and opens the door to get out. The big white tow truck driven by Lorna had just stopped right by the front gates of the NBI headquarters, making sure they were seen with Bert’s car in tow. The NBI has strict rules regarding the company cars that they give to their most loyal agents, Bert being one of them. One of the rules were concerning the event in which the car is rendered unusable due to circumstances, either in action on the field or though breakdowns, the bureau will shoulder the cost of repairs.

But such an assistance shall only be granted after the bureau has made a thorough investigation of the damage before getting the greenlight for repairs. This is to avoid those who might take advantage of such a system to get free repairs, as some had purchased similar car(s) in the past and had the bureau shoulder the repair even though the employee(s) were not issued with such a vehicle.

Needless to say, said offenders have been reprimanded.

But are still in action.

If such a vehicle, issued by the bureau, is incapacitated, it is mandatory that said vehicle be brought to the headquarters for analysis and will be quarantined inside the facility for seven (7) days during the course of investigation.

Usually the said vehicle is stored in the parking lot of the HQ.

But since the NBI had an increase of cases due to the raids during the past few months. The number of requests to have a personal service vehicle, had skyrocketed, filling the parking area to its full capacity.

And thus having no choice but to store the car in the bureau’s evidence locker within its walls, which is seven stories above ground.

Just as they had planned.

As they alighted the truck in the loading bay, Lando kept his head low so as to avoid anybody who might recognize him. After all this was his former workplace.

He and Lorna successfully detached the car from the truck and was now tasked with pushing the stricken car towards the service elevator near the loading bay. Lorna was on the front, pushing while steering while Lando provided the bulk of the grunt from the back. Thankfully the car was not that physically taxing to push the 30 meter distance between where they parked and the elevator, but nonetheless they had gotten the car on the lift safely.

‘Goin up!’ The lift operator said as he closed the doors of the elevator. Both Lando and Lorna gave each other a wink after sealing the first part of the plan safely. Now all that’s left is to do the second part.

Leave undetected.

The elevator doors open and the two of them start to push the car out of the lift. Once clear, the pair gets a good view of the insides of the evidence locker.

Rows upon rows of metal shelves have greeted them as they rolled in, but surprisingly half of the shelves in the area looked uncannily empty. Uncanny in a way that it looked like somebody had packed the stuff in a hurry as Lando can see the empty shelves looking squeaky clean and not dusty for being empty for too long.

This is where he reckons the “raids” evidence used to be stockpiled.

While the two were pushing the car deeper inside they get a glimpse of a huge object that is shrouded under a large beige fabric. Lorna, being familiar with its shape, nods to Lando to confirm.

She takes a quick look around the area to check for any CCTV that might be installed around the area. To her surprise, there was none.

‘They don’t install surveillance inside luckily. It’s been that way since before I was here. But all of the access points are heavily surveyed and guarded. So you’re free to do what you need.’

Lando said to dispel Lorna’s suspicion, as she nods before proceeding towards the concealed object.

She lifts the covers to confirm it with her eyes.

It is the pink Skyline with the unique plate on its bumper saying:

[‘Pin~ku’]

She sets the cover down and rotates her position towards the back of the car.

‘It’s the left one, the bigger circle.’ Lando said as he walked towards the elevator to call the operator. ‘You ready? I’m calling the elevator.’

‘2 minutes…’ Lorna said.

She lifts the cover on the left rear side and examines the taillight in question, and she confirms that there is a blinking diode inside. She quickly pulls around her waist pouch and retrieves a thumb sized sticker like object, peeling off the back cover and sticking in right above where the blinking light is.

She pulls out her phone after installing the device and quickly syncs with it. Once the screen turns green to approve the signal, she quickly puts the covers back down and runs towards Lando’s side just as he pressed the call button for the elevator.

‘Youdoneitt?’ He asked.

‘Done.’ She replied.

‘Aren’t you forgetting something?’ Lando looks back at her with a big question mark on his head as Lorna quickly remembers, taking something out of her pouch just as the elevator doors open.

‘Going down!’ The lift operator greets them. As the pair walks into the enclosed space, with Lorna, sticking something in between the gaps of the elevator doors before it closes behind her.

The pair finally reached the ground floor with no hassle as they both hoisted themselves inside the truck, they breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Okay let’s finish part 2!’ Lando exclaims.

‘Roger that partner!’ Lorna follows suit as she drives the truck out of the compound and out into the randomness of the city.

…

…

Val drops on her knees with a thud.

The gun in front of her was smoking hot after the man had fired a round.

Right past her left ear.

And into a mango tree across the street.

For a second, she thought she had died.

And her body went limp, thinking that it was.

But as she felt the pain of dropping to her knees, she realized;

That she was alive, and with it her body tensed up as she grasped the ground to regain her balance from falling face first.

The next thing she knew, her tears were falling.

‘You did well to hold your ground.’ The man said. Holstering his gun. ‘If you’ve faltered, this wouldn’t have proceeded.’

Val was still on her knees when she heard the words. She wanted to speak unspeakable curses at the man, but her whole body was trembling and numb that she couldn’t react even if she wanted to. The man approached her and knelt in front of her, aligning his face with hers as he reached out his hand.

‘C’mon you still have a couple of locations left, yes?’ He said to the trembling Val as she finally had some strength to spare to lift her head so that she could see eye to eye with the man who “almost” killed her.

Upon seeing his face, she spat at him.

‘What t-the fuck w-was that?’ She said, as the man withdrew his hand and retrieved a handkerchief from his coat pocket, wiping his face.

‘I see you’ve gotten your spunk back… then it shouldn’t be a problem for you to get yourself up.’ He replies, reaching his hand out towards Val once more.

Val grits her teeth and gathers up the strength to pick herself up from the ground, without grabbing onto the man’s hand.

‘Let’s go then.’ He said as he led her inside one of the storage houses in the compound. At this point she still has some weary feelings about the man and the only thing keeping her from escaping was Mile’s word that meeting him is a part of the plan. But deep inside she felt uneasy with this setup, as the pair went deep inside the building, which looks unlit, unkept and abandoned.

It almost feels like she was marching towards her death.

The man stops her just in front of a wooden table as he walks further back into one of the rooms inside the building. After a few tense moments, he emerged, carrying a large metallic suitcase.

---“Based on what I’ve learned from Bert’s accounts of the evidence locker. I’m gonna arrange a little something for you that can aid your movements.”---

She recalls Mile’s dialogue with her during the meeting at her office the week prior. Val looks at the suitcase and wonders what it was that Mile’s wanted to prepare. And as she recalls the meeting, she remembers that there were huge holes in the plan that Mile’s said would be compensated by her “little something” and as of what that little something was, it is now about to be revealed in front of her.

The man unhinges the locks that sealed the suitcase and slowly opens the latch.

‘Before anything else. Simon.’ The man quickly shuts the latch back as he reaches his hand out to introduce himself.

To say that Val kept her calm after this is truly underrated.

[A normal person would’ve flipped the table.]

‘Well… Simon… I don’t know if you’re bad at socializing or just someone with special needs… But your timing is really really bad.

Shouldn’t you have introduced yourself “bEfOre” you shot me?’ She said, trying her grandest to hold the bomb from exploding.

The man only looked at her with confusion as he “appeared” to think about his actions.

‘I apologize, you see… It is in my programming to do the litmus test first when meeting a client. Then only after the litmus test has been passed is when I am programmed to introduce and show the product. It is for security reasons.’ The man said, like he was reading from a script.

Val tilts her head after hearing what she thought she had heard.

‘Programming?’

The man nods as he extends his hand once more. His face still carried the deadpan serious look he had when assisting her earlier.

‘So you’re not human? Android?’ She asked, her mind, unsure whether she was being silly or not.

‘Yes. Carbine Robotics section 9 - Droid model 6 code name “Seis” My functions are to assist, defend and serve owner-client. As Owner-Client always describes me as. “Butler bot” Quite fitting so to speak’

‘Huh… Seis...Simon… Who is your owner?’

‘Lady Miles Kadena.’

‘Figures…’ Val exasperates as she rolls her eyes upon hearing the answer.

After hearing his whole introduction and finding out why such a thing would shoot someone without any hesitation, Val decides to throw her hands up in the air in surrender as she accepts the ludicrous circumstance she had been put in, and shakes the hand that Simon had extended to her.

‘Nice meeting you Simon.’ She said, shaking his hand.

‘Likewise Miss Fe.’ Simon replies. ‘Now on to business.’ It said as Simon finally opened the suitcase to give Val the full view of its contents.

Inside is a black mechanical cloth like device, which looked suspiciously familiar to her.

‘W-wait… No way…’

‘Oh yes way miss Fe. Although this suit is last year’s model it is still more than capable enough to grant you abilities that will help you in your upcoming task.’ It said as Simon lifted up the suit from the case and showed Val the suit in full unfolded view.

‘This is Oseram Electronics Fifth edition Weaver suit. More commonly known as “Suit number five” within the super suit enthusiast community.’ Simon said.

‘Suit number five? Sounds disgusting…’ Val reacts.

‘Oh not at all. It is capable of global refraction within a 270 degree range, bulletproof against any 9mm ammo type and its best feature; nanowire muscle amplification capable of up to 5 bars of pressure which gives the suit its namesake.’

‘Hmm.. sounds cool but isn’t this a bit too much?’ Val asked as Simon nodded in agreement.

‘While it is, Lady Miles has asked me to tune said suit to your specification and specifications of the task, and as of now only the global refraction feature is enabled.’

‘Which is?’

‘I believe the more common term is “invisibility cloak” Simon responds.

Val takes a moment to analyze what was in front of her. It was true that, after hearing the suit’s capabilities, that it was the answer to most of the plot holes in the plan, but with such a powerful tool at her disposal, she couldn’t help but feel anxious if she could even wield the thing or not. Such a feeling hasn’t been felt by her ever since she had to learn how to race the GTR without crashing it back in her Mr. Asia days.

With that in mind, it starts making sense to her why she was sent out here in the middle of nowhere with a highly capable android watching over her.

‘So… Shall I?’ She asked simon.

‘Yes please. We shall start tuning once you have assimilated into the suit.’

Val sighs, feeling her nerves in excitement and fear. ‘Here goes nothing…’

…

…

‘Second… Third… Fourth…’

‘Tap the brake…’

‘Down to third…’

‘Good exit…’

‘Step on it…’

It was a weird sight for J2, seeing Denzo standing behind the seat of the Maximum Attack 8 cabinet. It seems that this afternoon he had taken the liberty of relinquishing the driver’s seat to someone else.

As to whom that someone else was, that is what J2 was keen to find out.

Moments ago Denzo had caught him just before he was stepping out of the counter for his afternoon break, obliging his request to load up his card with more credits so he could play. For some reason seeing Denzo line up in front of the cash register made him feel nostalgic. It has been quite some time since the boy had taken to the driver’s seat in the arcade as he had been spending most of his time afterschool doing errands around champworld.

Granted that in his spare time he’d ask him to prepare his kart for some laps around the track to get his racing fix. J2 would’ve never thought of Denzo going back to digital speed after experiencing the rush of real racing.

With this in mind, seeing Denzo line up to him to get some credits on his card looked like an unthinkable scenario, but nonetheless, a welcome one.

He typed on the keys on his monitor and swipes Denzo’s card in to transfer the credits he paid for, before going on his way to get some siesta snacks from the Tally. After snacking and a brief smoke break in the backroom, he goes back to see the scene he’s currently debunking in front of him. A strange scene, in which Denzo is not playing and instead, looked like he was coaching.

‘He kinda looks like Val with that posture…’ J2 thought as a shiver ran down his spine.

‘Too early kid… Please don’t’ He thought to himself, as he imagined the image of two Valentina Fe’s haunting him throughout the rest of his life.

He glances at the gameplay on the screen, just so he could gauge the person that Denzo was coaching. From his perspective, Denzo’s pupil seems to be quite capable of handling the game, of course besides some of the “slight” bumps and scrapes they commit on some occasions, it looked like the driving was at least decent.

After a few minutes of driving at a respectable pace, J2 could see that they have finally cleared the stage successfully as Denzo nods and perceivably smiles at his pupil’s performance. Though it wasn’t sure if the smile was true or just perceived by J2, nonetheless Denzo steps back and assists the person in question out of the seat.

It was Aida.

‘Knew it…’ He whispers to himself as he wears a gentle smile after seeing the scene from a distance.

‘Excuse me… Hundred credits please.’ A customer said as J2 automatically does the credit routine whilst keeping his attention on the two as they made their way towards the “Tally”

J2’s “battle hardened” reflexes allow him to execute the credit sequence in his sleep as he hands over the customer’s card back to him without even paying close attention towards his actions. And as his and the customers exchange hands, the customer smiles at hims and walks towards the Maximum Attack cabinet where Denzo and Aida were playing at as a stray thought pings onto J2's mind.

‘Was that?...’ He thought as he looked at the back of the boy who wore a red and blue striped shirt. He thought of calling out the boy’s name, but another customer had taken up his attention. J2 just placed the thoughts into the back of his mind as it wasn’t much of a big deal if he calls out to him or not, but still it had been quite some time since he had seen that boy’s face inside Jack & Barry’s.

Still with the kind of person J2 was, he wanted to shout out to him badly. Especially since him and his friends have been loyal customers in their place. But then again J2 just sighs and tells himself ‘It can’t be helped.’

…

…

‘Hey Aida! Denzo!’ Yukino waves at them from their seat within Talley Alley as she and Pete spots the pair walking to the entrance of the diner. They both wave back and take a seat opposite of them in the booth as Denzo orders Tally’s for him and Aida.

‘Anyways…’ Yukino continues after the people around the table have settled themselves. ‘Whilst Tisha is out to distract Nica on a shopping spree. Let’s talk about how the thing with Neil is gonna happen from now on.’ She said as the people in the table listened attentively towards what Yukino had to say.

‘First, Neil didn’t show up for school this week didn't he?’ Yukino declares as the whole group nods in agreement. ‘This just confirms he knows that we know it already, which actually makes things worse for us, since we can’t transition his existence smoothly without announcing the reason.’

‘Yeah I figured as much.’ Denzo replies as he lays his back deep into his seat. Crossing his arms deep in thought, having a clue in how Yukino wants to handle the situation.

‘Well one of the idea’s I had was just to bury him deep into the alibi he set himself up with.’ She proposed.

‘And what would that be?’ Asked Denzo.

‘A few months back, he asked the school heads to give him a modified schedule because of his police work. It was something that caught me completely off guard when the prefects suddenly dragged me into the principal’s cuz Neil cited me as reference. To which I vouched for him.’ She explains.

‘So you weren’t aware back then that he was working for the cops?’ Aida asked.

‘I was… a bit… My sister gave me a passing comment that one of my classmates was helping out with the raid's investigation and after hearing what Neil had to say during the meeting at the principal’s office… I just put two and two together.’ She recalls as the server brings to them four full mugs of Tally and rests them on the table.

‘Anyways the sudden excuse got me wondering about something, but I didn’t know what that something was…

It just kept nagging me day after day and it annoyed me…’ Yukino continued, looking peeved as she took a sip from her mug to comfort herself.

‘And then when the pictures of Nica popped out during that one afternoon, I finally had a eureka moment. Though I didn’t have any evidence to support my theory.’

‘Wait you had a eureka moment? Like you figured that shit out right there at that moment?’ Pete interjects.

‘Yup! It's kinda weird to say but moments like that happen frequently with me whenever I come across a problem and a random clue appears.’ She said as Aida jumped up with a sudden reply.

‘Like a sixth sense?!’

‘N-No… instinct maybe?’ Yukino muttered. Denzo rolled his eyes after hearing what Aida had to say and pokes her at her waist, sending a jolt of ticklish electricity up her spine, making her pop up from her seat.

‘Stoooop!’ She shouts, playfully slapping his shoulder.

Both Yukino and Pete wear sly smiles at the two as they both try to shake off the ants that metaphorically swarmed their table.

‘So!’ She shouts, clapping her hands once to dispel the atmosphere. ‘He already has that alibi that sets him up with that weird schedule so I was thinking we’d just make it so that his police duties got more involved and he has to take some days off from school.

Does anyone have an objection?’

Everyone around the table nods.

‘Okay good! Next!

It’s about Nica…’ Yukino’s sudden triumphant tone became solemn as she spoke Nica’s name. Every person at the table was suddenly silenced, curious at why Yukino would include her in these talks.

‘We must never let her know about all this.’

Everyone gave her confused looks but Yukino had already anticipated such a reaction and stated her reasons for her words.

‘Neil is a special case… I don’t plan on sending him anywhere… demented.

But with that said, it would be troublesome in terms of our friendship with Neil and Nica if she ever finds out how “I” plan on handling him.’ She convincingly declares as Denzo was about to move his mouth to object. However Yukino had barred him from doing so.

‘I had a talk with Nica earlier before I sent them on a little fun trip out by the mall. Pete can attest to this as he was here before you two came in.

...

Nica wants Neil dead.’

...

Denzo’s eyes were wide after hearing what Yukino had to say. Somehow the image of Nica being a vengeful person was simply unthinkable for how he initially knew her, but Aida threw a conniving sigh beside him as she looked like she had a hunch that Nica would act in such a way.

‘I can’t blame her for demanding such a thing. But if juvenile law is enacted, Neil would be put on community service till he’s old enough to be slammed in jail to serve his sentence. Which is something I can’t permit…

He’s not gonna learn any lessons that way…

Which leads me to my last point.’

Yukino takes another sip of her Tally to dampen her parched throat before proceeding.

‘Since he’s gonna be charged with community service either way. I talked to the cops whom he helped with in the investigation, who also know of what Neil had done and they said they’ll count the hours he spends working with them as part of his sentence.

And if that’s not enough. I am also arranging for him to work here at Jack’s.’

‘What?!’

‘Are you serious?’

Both Denzo and Aida answered simultaneously after hearing Yukino’s words. However she held up her hands before they could even ask her a question.

‘I know… why?

Why do such a thing?’

She replies as she leans over the table with her hands clenched together.

‘You see… Neil doesn’t think of women as people…

He was born and raised in a place where people paid women for sex. So most of his interactions with women with are usually with the sex workers that live in the same building as he. And thus he grew up with the knowledge that girls are just five bucks away from giving you head.’

As Yukino continued to speak, the rest of the people around the table sank deeper into silence.

‘Before school he’s never interacted with the opposite sex in normal circumstances. Which was why by the time we met him during our early years in high school, he had always acted condescending around us, specifically me. Since it was such an alien concept for him that a girl has opinions that ventured beyond sex and household chores.

And I understand that, well… after knowing the caliber of women he’s been living with for the majority of his life…’ Yukino said with an air of disappointment floating in her voice, resting her cheek on her knuckle as she leaned on the table, staring at her drink.

‘Who told you about Neil’s home by the way?’ Pete curiously asked.

‘My father… since some of his mates were beneficiaries of “The Palace of Midas” the very establishment that Neil calls home.

You see…’ Yukino stopped to take a deep breath before proceeding. Her eyes, for some reason, looked pained.

‘When I first met him. He made me fall for him…

He then proceeds to abuse those feelings.

I think you can relate… right? Aida?’

Aida looks up to Yukino’s pained expression, shocked with the contents of what she heard, and reaches over to her to hold Yukino’s hand, sharing her pain. Yukino had a meek smile on her lips, as if her tears had already dried up years ago, only being replaced by a meek smile of acceptance of what had happened.

Still, after all those years, pain still lingers within her heart.

‘I came running home to my parents after Neil tried to force me down. I still remember his confused face when I managed to push him away.

He had that look.

The same kinda look you guys make when something you own is broken.

That irritated look that says “Why isn’t this working properly?”

He stared at me that way as he threw the tables and chairs that separated us.

And though I praise him for still having the decency to stop after I had pushed him away.

I still felt a strong desire coming from him.

But it was not from lust… But from hatred.

Like he wanted to bang my head on the wall until I started to “work” properly again.’

Yukino chuckles after saying those words. Much to the horror of the others around her.

‘Like a broken TV… get it?

To him I was equal to that…’

Yukino continues athe the whole table falls silent. Even Pete, who had done countless unspeakable things in his own past, felt speechless.

‘I came running to my parents after that and that’s when my dad told me why Neil was like that.

Truth be told he and his colleagues knew that Neil will end up in such a state. But since his elder sister had already decided to take on the business their father had started, Neil was kinda stuck with his predicament.

And by the way his sister is not that normal either, so he really never had any motherly figure he could associate with.’

Aida puckers her lips at the thought, before having the composure to ask the question:

‘What happened to his mother?’

Yukino shakes her head.

‘I have no idea…’

‘Well this story sure is sad and all but… That’s no excuse…’

Denzo butts in, grabbing his mug of Tally, pondering on whether he should take a sip from it or not. ‘In the end a bully is still a bully.’

‘Maybe…’ Yukino answers. ‘But people can change… Right Pete?’

Pete was startled with Yukino’s sudden name drop, glaring back at the smirking girl sitting right beside him.

‘The fuck Keeno? Why'd you have to drag me into this?’ He responds. To which Yukino shrugs and brushes off Pete’s reaction.

‘Anywho, that sob story you just told. You think that’s why you don’t want him to get jailed?’ Denzo probes.

‘Yes.’

‘Aren’t you just pitying him? Maybe cuz of past feelings?’ Denzo probes further.

Yukino smiles wryly.

‘What about you Denzo? Aren’t you here because you pity Pai?’

‘...’

A sudden dark atmosphere pulls everybody down, as if someone increased the gravity inside the Tally. Everyone in the table felt their hearts sink in an instant as all of their eyes were glued towards Denzo.

Yukino knew she hit a nerve. She also knows that going further would be treading in dangerous territory.

But still she pursued.

‘Me and Neil… we have our own similarities. One of those is that we have friends inside the school walls.

And one of those walls told me that some Omega Epsilon boys got beat up real bad.

Enough to be hospitalized.’

Denzo was glaring back at Yukino while she told him the story. But since his attention was solely focused on Yukino, he didn't notice someone else was glaring back at him.

Pete.

‘For the record I was well aware that their target was Pai.’ She said as she stole a quick side glance towards Pete. ‘But coincidentally, you suddenly appeared the day after such an incident occured.

Curious stuff indeed.’

She sits back on the booth as if to signal to everyone that she was done speaking her piece, as she reached out for her mug, and raises it close to her lips before continuing her speech.

‘Remember Denzo… Me and Neil… We have our own similarities… How bout you Denzo?’

Yukino then wipes her threatening smirk as she takes a long swig out of her Tally, which was by now losing its frosty temperature, as she replaces her lips back into a serious shape.

‘Anywho… with that in mind… Do you understand me now? Denzo?’

Denzo bit his lips, seemingly getting Yukino’s hint. ‘Fine then…’ He answered.

Aida looked confused as he stared at Denzo, who looked tense at what Yukino had to say. She also gets a glimpse of Pete squinting his eyes as if he’d found a sworn enemy standing before him. Aida was starting to feel like she was inside a crumbling building as the floor underneath them was starting to crack and the floor above was starting to fall.

No matter where she decides to run, she can only see herself perish.

Then, as if to make things worse, all four of them were suddenly greeted by an old friend.

They heard the slight sound of knocking on the window beside where they sat. And on the other side of it;

was Neil.

…

…

‘This would be the last stop I believe.’

Simon says as he parks the car in a suburban neighborhood somewhere within the Metro.

‘Number 323, 54th street. The white house on the corner of that street over there.’ He points towards the targeted house as Val looks towards where the android was pointing at.

Val nods to confirm as Simon drives away a few blocks before letting Val out of the car.

‘Reports from Lady Miles say that the place is heavily guarded. Since you can’t use the muscle amplification, I suggest you keep the cloaking on and try the backdoor of the house.

The package inside is expecting, so you don’t have to break into the property. Just make sure you make it inside undetected.’ Simon said as Val nodded and vanished from his view.

For the first time in her life Val had never felt so unaware of her own body. Even now after going through the acclimatization procedures with the suit’s abilities she still finds it hard to move while cloaked. At first she thought that it was ridiculous that she had to have a small training session whilst invisible inside the suit, but the moment she put the cloaking on, she noticed one major problem with being cloaked.

She can’t even see herself.

It was a weird feeling for her as she never noticed how reliant she was on her sight. In her mind she knew where her hands and feet were, but “exactly” where, she had no clue. Which was why when Simon had told her to do a simple exercise routine like jogging, she immediately tripped after a few paces.

It took a while for her to get used to her new “unseen” state. But even if she has the basics of movement down in her mind, she still has other mundane tasks that give her much difficulty.

For example: Turning a doorknob.

She had just arrived easily inside the target’s property and was just about to enter the house when she stumbled at her first mundane problem with her mission. As she can’t even successfully grab a doorknob.

Like a blind person, she was feeling around the “general area” on where she felt her hands were, trying to sync what her hands were feeling versus what she was seeing versus where she thinks her hand currently was. It was a tricky correlation puzzle that she had to solve just to do a mundane everyday task and it was starting to irritate her because she was being severely inconvenienced with it.

Finally after a few minutes of faffing around the door, she finally gets a grip on the handle and is able to enter the residence.

‘Hello?’ She spoke, trying to get the target’s attention knowing they were expecting visitors.

The moment she had spoken, Val immediately heard a metallic sound cocking in the other room ahead. Recognizing immediately what it was she spoke once more.

‘I was sent my Miles… I know you were expecting.’

After she threw out the words, a figure stepped out from the other room.

It was an old man holding an old shotgun, aimed directly where he had heard Val spoke.

‘Who are ya? Show yourself!’ The old man said.

Val concedes and disables the cloaking system. ‘My name’s Val… I’m here to assist you out.’

‘What’s yer relation with Miles?’ The old man asked, stepping closer putting the shotgun's barrel within a point black range of Val’s face.

‘We had a deal. A repo job… I’m the owner of the car.’ Val revealed.

‘You? I thought it was a man who owned it.’ The old man said.

Val squinted her eyes at the statement, as an air of suspicion flooded her mind. But since she didn’t want to over complicate the situation, Val just went with the current narrative.

‘It was, but he’s overseas, it's staying with me for the meantime.’ She replied.

The old man narrows his eyes as if to judge Val’s character. There was a short pause as she held her breath. Suddenly she remembers why Simon had threatened her at gunpoint when they first met, she was only realizing it now but he was already training her not to flinch in such situations.

‘Just how much has Miles thought of this plan?’ She thought as some of the puzzle pieces came together in her mind.

Thankfully Val steeled herself from being intimidated as the old man judged her to be sound, pulling back his aim and holding the shotgun to his side.

He reached out his hand towards her, as Val responds by shaking his hand.

‘Thorasis… An old comrade of that hag. Sorry for getting you dragged into this.’ The old man said, introducing himself.

He was none other than Uncle Thor himself.

‘Now then miss Val, how are we going to get me out of this place?’ Uncle Thor asked.

Val smiles before she replied.

‘Actually I was hoping if I could crash here for today. At least till the sun goes down.’

Uncle Thor just stares back at her, looking confused.

‘I- I thought…’ He stammers.

Meanwhile Val just looks at the confused look on Uncle Thor’s face as her thoughts of Miles degrade after seeing how lost the old man looked.

‘Maybe she hasn’t thought of this that much…’ She said to herself as the pair stood in confusion in the middle of the kitchen.

‘So….

You got a beer somewhere?’