Chapter 52

“La Última Razón”

The unmistakable cursive font that resides atop an unsuspecting doorway is the only embellishing mark that proves its existence. Tucked deep inside a dining establishment where only the “can affords” could have a taste. The small simple door opens discreetly.

‘Good evening Master Carbine. They are already waiting at the usual table.’ Said the sharply dressed usher who had greeted him. Stretching his palm open and leading the way towards where the “usual” table is. A tall slender figure marched forwards and out of the shadow of the doorway, revealing his neatly slicked back hair colored in the darkest of black as his elegant footsteps echoed through the hallway that lead to their “table”

‘Always fashionably late…’ Said a woman wearing stylishly shaped shades over her eyes. Flipping away her long brunette hair to her back as she readies her posture seeing that their eldest sibling had arrived.

‘Villa… shades?’ The slender man asked.

‘Christ… can’t you let me have my fashion? Yuni?’ She responds as the man took a seat at the center of the table.

‘So… What seems to be the agenda for tonight?’ A broadly shouldered man bellowed his voice from the other side of the table as his rugged face peered into the light, wearing an inquisitive expression. ‘Suddenly I am finding that these talks are getting more frequent these days. As far as Poly and I are concerned, this used to be an annual thing… Something reaalllyy wrong must be happening, Yuni.’ He said as he combed back his spiky blonde hair in distress.

‘Well sorry if I seem cold with the invitations Trig… but yes… this is an emergency.’ Yuni sighed as Trig shakes his head looking annoyed.

‘Well anything to add? Poly?’ The eldest asked as a meek girl with thick round glasses shook her head. Her body language cowers back into her seat making the difference between her and Trig even more prominent. But still it won’t matter, as her snow white locks shine brightly in any light. Even in this room where the surroundings were softly lit, her wonderfully braided platinum hair stood out the most.

‘Very well… to start…’ He pauses briefly as he takes a glance at Villa.

‘How was your trip? I believe you were there when it all happened…’

‘Yes I was…’ She answered.

‘Wait? What happened?’ Trig interjects as Yuni swiftly raises his hand against him to seize his questioning.

‘Two weeks ago I had arranged for Villa to go on a trip to the “test site” and see how the improved “casual A.I” would interact in a real-space environment and…’

‘That’s when the attack happened…’ Villa interjects as Trig and Poly collectively gasp.

‘The lights suddenly went out and everything went dark as I was deep underground when it happened. And another thing…’ Villa suddenly pipes up as she points her fork at Yuni.

‘The spec droids that we sent seemed to react too proactively!’ She shouts as Yuni was taken aback with his sister's sudden outburst.

‘What does this have to do with--’

‘Everything! They almost ripped one of our targets to shreds! In fact if the blackout didn’t happen we might’ve been in deeper shit that we are now!

Can you imagine the fuckin headlines Yuni?! Carbine robotics are manufacturing bloodthirsty murderbots!’

Yuni Carbine recoils and tries to defuse her by pouring her a drink, only for it to be gobbled up instantly. ‘Okay Villa noted. We’ll make changes to the next versions but for now can you describe what you’ve learned when you were on site?’

She sighs and signals Yuni for another glass, gulping it down before answering. ‘So I was saying… we retrieved a list of things just seconds before the lights went out and I was only able to read it once the power went on but it seems that our opponents were a step ahead of us with our plans.’

‘Wait what?! What list of things?’ Trig demanded.

‘This…’

[Confidential]

National Police Banner Chart Listings

Activity Matrix for 08-28 Agents.

Agent List [based on previous Co-Engagement]

[Miles Kadena]

>Status<

M.I.A

>Assoc Det<

Lando Sulit

-Hong Kong ■■■■ ■■■■ [Info redacted]

■■■■■■■■ ■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■■

Bertrand Ramos

-Hong Kong ■■■■ ■■■■ [Info Redacted]

■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■■■■■

Villa’s eyes glowed with a bluish hue as Poly and Trig’s eyes followed suit. When the glow dissipated, the youngest pair of siblings sat back on their seats as a particular name appeared in their data banks.

[Miles Kadena]

‘What?! What’s the meaning of this?’ Trig complained. But a sudden outburst from beside him had caught everybody’s attention as Poly slams her fists on the table.

‘Poly don’t be rude… we’re having a peaceful discussion here--’ Yuni reprimands but Poly was hearing none of it as she stands up and leaves the room without uttering a single word. Seeing this something clicked inside Trig’s mind, as he turned his burning gaze at Yuni.

‘What are you doing in the Philippine Islands?’ He asked grimly.

Yuni smiles. ‘I thought you'd never ask.’

The car door slams shut as a girl with snow white hair sulks in the back seat of the vehicle. The driver on the front seat looked back towards her wearing a familiar smile with a familiar face with only his hair differing and matching the colors of her own. Another android butler with the same code name. -Carbine Robotics section 9 - Droid model 6 code name “Seis”- only in this situation--

‘Stop smiling at me Zechs… It’s annoying’ Poly blurted out.

‘I am sorry my deary… Having another bad night?’ Zechs replied.

‘No it just got worse…’ Poly replied as she frantically tried to retrieve something from her purse. ‘Got it!’ She gasped as she threw a thumb drive towards Zechs and signaled him to plug it into the car’s sound system. As he does, the voices of the siblings she left at the table rang through the speakers.

‘The talks have become “that” annoying hasn’t it?’ Zechs inquired as Poly rolled her eyes to concur.

‘Not just… Just so you’re informed… “SHE” appeared.’

‘The top ranker?’

‘Yes… Little miss super hero.’ She responds as Zechs nods and silences himself so that his “deary” could listen in on the rest of the conversation.

‘I’ve been using the location as a testbed for our various “experimental” projects.’ Yuni said with a straight face against a fuming Trilateral Carbine with his fists in a tight ball, raring to fly to his elder brother’s face.

‘Experimental? So this is where you’ve been sending out the prototypes from my division.’ He replied, his seething anger was starting to surface as Villa started to feel alarmed at the escalating situation.

‘Trig please calm down… Please we all agreed to do whatever it takes to get the deep space program up and running.’ Villa interjects by holding his hand, trying to defuse Trig’s mood as his face was starting to turn beet red from all the emotions that he was trying to ensnare within him. But as a result, the moment she had reached out, Trig responds by holding her with the tightest most suffocating grip that she had ever felt in her entire life as she tries to conceal her pain, barely keeping a straight face as she feels her hand slowly being crushed by Trig’s grip.

‘Yuni… you know damn well that Miles is our litmus test on whether or not we are running our business according to our parent’s standards.

So - What - The - Fuck - Is This Bull - shit?!’

Trig shouts at his elder brother as Villa flinches at his sudden outburst. Thankfully for Villa, Trig had let go of her hand after his bellowing growl, suggesting that it had helped him burn off some steam.

‘Fuck! Fucking Fuckity Fuck Hell!’ Poly screams in shock as her brother’s loud shout shakes the windows of the car she was in. Her fight or flight kicked in as she cowered into a ball in one corner of the backseat, tears already falling from her cheeks.

‘It’s okay deary you’re here safe with me… nothing to worry about.’ Zechs responds, trying to calm her down even though he himself automatically went into battle mode after hearing Trig momentarily lose his temper. She wipes her tears with her sleeve and composed herself into listening back to her sibling’s conversation.

‘It’s a good thing I left those fucktards in that room. Villa and Yuni would slap me if they heard me cursing the fuck out of Trig’s outburst.’ She said as she re-tunes the frequency of the thumb drive.

‘I understand my deary… Life has never been kind to the youngest.’ Zechs lovingly states as Poly smiles discreetly, hiding it behind her snow white locks.

‘It’s nice that you understand me Zechs… It’s especially hard… being alone in this life…’

‘Well I do my deary…. I’ve seen the way your brothers and sister treat you… It’s almost as if you’re a doll yourself…’ He said.

‘Like…. You?’ Poly responds but is only met with silence.

‘Bullshit you say?’ Yuni raises an eyebrow as he replies to Trig’s outburst. ‘You gave me consent to a third of your division to work on this project with no strings attached…

You should’ve known that things like this would be decided. Besides…’ Yuni pauses as he pours another glass of wine for himself.

‘Think about it… the logistics of it… We have a stable economy that we can tap into and at the same time the islands are remote enough that “should” a catastrophic disaster occur we wouldn’t have another chernobyl on our hands…

More likely a Fukushima one, which in my book is a sustainable disaster since we aren't wasting valuable flatland with tons of potential. I mean not to put down the lives lost in that incident but it's a mountainous island real estate. Only good for tourists… but bad for big sciency projects like ours and that nice warm tropical land in southeastern asia seems perfect for this.’

Trig looks at Yuni with a confused expression as if he was talking to an idiot as he answers in kind. ‘Listen to yourself! You’re being dumb! You think mom and pops are gonna be happy if they learn about this?’

Yuni rolls his eyes as Trig continues.

‘Look… I get that you got that eccentric gene from our parents but this is just plain stupid if you’re gonna go and risk millions of lives for this project.

Those people aren’t worth dying for this!’

‘They are.’

Yuni states calmly as Trig once again feels his blood boil after hearing his brother’s heartless answer.

‘Why are you so concerned about what our parents think? They’re dead. A long long time ago.’

Yuni responds as he downs his glass of wine.

‘Don’t forget how we were conceived, Trig.

All of you belong to me.

I was born. And from me… Villa, You and Poly were spawned. In that particular order.

So don’t you dare lecture me about morals. You owe me!

[‘I didn't choose to owe you!’]

‘Well then you owe it to our parents that you love oh-so-much…even though you only met them briefly…

We were their idea.

A stupid one if you ask me…

We were born out of immoral techniques… and our parents bullshited their way to falsify our origin…

Pfffft… Morals… You’ve got to be stupid to even try to consider that… All it does is get in the way of good work.

Good work for the future of mankind.’

Trig sighs as he grips his fists tighter. Villa could only look in caution, feeling helpless to defuse the situation as her elder brother had willfully escalated the matter beyond her control.

‘Using my own principles against me huh? ‘ Trig finally responds. ‘Tell me Yuni… was this the only solution you can come up with? Or was this the only solution you liked?’

Yuni chuckles before he responds. ‘Of course there were many… but out of everything this was the one that made sense.’

‘You’re not answering my question… brother…’

Yuni looked annoyed at Trig as he remained silent across the table from him, his expression, looking like he had confidently cornered him.

‘Remember brother… Since you have brought up our conception… Who’s the more “uniquely” built here on this table.’ He jabbed. Yuni on the other hand smirks and sets the wine glass down as he looks directly at his younger sibling’s eyes.

‘It is the BEST solution.’

‘Bullshit… I’m pulling out Carbine Automotive from the deep space program.’

Yuni grits his teeth as every comeback from Trig does nothing but destroy his plans that he had set for the Deep space project. At the same time he knows exactly what Trig wants to see from him.

To see a moment of weakness from his eldest brother. And he had succeeded. Thus, in his mind there was no point in dragging it on further. Afterall all he needed was to get his siblings to agree to the plan he had in mind and he would still win.

Although when it came to the battle of pride, he had lost for tonight.

‘Is that so?… then fine… there were others more “humane” but I chose this because it’s… fun.’

Trig smiles as he sees his brother squirm in admitting his underlying intent. In his heart he still despises his brother being as cruel and heartless as he is now but his intentions for revealing were just as Yuni had interpreted. Trig already knew that once his elder brother decided to do something there was no convincing him to change his mind, so he just settled for the next best thing.

Which was to bring his ego down a notch.

‘I always knew Yuni… I just wanted to hear from the devil himself…’ He answers back with a smirk of his own. ‘It was futile to try and change your mind anyways… So yeah… go ahead… do whatever you must.’

‘Really now? Just that easy?’ Yuni replies. ‘You haven’t even heard of my proposal yet.’

‘Well whatever it is, it’s fucked up and--’

‘Language!’ Villa interjects.

Trig just looks at her and smiles.

‘ShitPissFuckCuntCocksuckerMotherfuckerTits’

Villa gasps in shock as Trig fixes his gaze back at Yuni.

‘This is why we get into these unnecessary talks about morals and other insignificant matters. Trig.’ Yuni returns the subject. ‘You quickly dismiss the talks and immediately commit without even hearing out the idea.’

‘Then what is it then? Either way to me whether I complain now or in a month from now it would still be the same… I’d still hate your stupid bullshit ideas.’

‘Irrelevant, just shut up and listen.’ Yuni rejects him. ‘I want to pull Miles into our side on this.

‘What the flying fuck?!’ Poly shouts as soon as she hears the statement being vomited out of Yuni’s mouth.

‘Language my deary.’ Zechs responds as Poly raises an eyebrow towards her butler.

‘I left because Villa and Yuni act like they have a stick up their asses. Want me to throw you out?’ She spits back at the android.

‘Apologies my deary. Your brother’s programming has kicked in.’ Zechs immediately replies.

‘Anywho… how the fuck is he gonna convince her?’

‘How the fuck are you gonna do that?’ Trig’s voice on the radio echoed back.

‘See! Even Trig agrees.’

‘Leave that to me and Villa.’ Yuni answers. ‘Just get Miles in a meeting with us… and Poly?

I know you’re listening.

So please help your brother in this matter. I know you and Miles have a good rapport with each other. And don’t even deny it. I’ve seen the airline logs…

She’s your most frequent flier.’

‘Fuck!’ Poly shouts. ‘I need to hire a more competent I.T guy for Carbine Atlantic’s data logs… Either that or I switch back to paper documents to keep Yuni's eyes off me.’

‘Anyways if you’re done sulking Poly. I suggest you return here to eat your dinner. The chicken cordon bleu ain’t gonna eat itself…’ Yuni said through the radio as Poly looked at Zechs with concern in her eyes.

‘It’s okay my deary…’ He assures her as Poly nods and steps out of the vehicle. Cautiously walking back inside the restaurant as he watches on from inside of the car.

-bleep-bleep---bleep-bleep-

‘Hello. Zechs speaking. How may I help you, unknown number?’

‘Hi Zechs. This is Miles speaking. May I have a word with Poly?’

‘Pai! Look here!’ Casper shouts as he frantically taps on the window of the classroom where Pai is in. Pai looks towards him, surprised but confused as he shouts even more. ‘Pai!! It’s friday! Let’s go!!’

Pai squints his eyes before remembering what “friday” actually entails for Casper, as he quickly packs up his things and rushes out of the classroom.

‘So… another stream?’ Pai carelessly blurts out.

‘Shhhhhh! Dammit Pai hush!’ Casper reprimands as they meet up with Julian down the hall.

‘Sorry…’ Pai apologized as the three of them hurriedly made their way down the stairs and towards the gate. Upon exiting the premises a group of guys step out from behind the school’s walls and block their path out of the courtyard.

‘Now where do you little bitches think you’re going?’ Said one of the boys as he cracked his knuckles in front of them. Pai notices the boys in front of them as the ones who’ve attacked him before just outside the convenience store after the night out with Nica and the girls of the student council. ‘Remember me, Pai?’ Said the boy leading the group as Pai gulps after realizing what was happening.

‘Excuse me.’ Julian blurts out as the leader quickly shoots a glare towards him. ‘You’re blocking the way otherschooler. This is St. Rita’s… from the looks of your uniform sigils you’re just visitors. So please I ask kindly. May we pass?’

‘Shut the fuck up dwee--’

All of a sudden the boy cowers down on his knees as a flying knee buries itself on his face. The moment happened too quickly for everyone to react and the only thing Pai had heard after the sudden shock was Julian's voice yelling: ‘RUN!’

The boys from another school can only stand still in confusion as their leader drops on the ground, passing out cold as their prey runs away from the scene. A few of the boys had woken up from their stupor and gave chase while the remaining others who had come to their senses quickly went down to check on their leader.

Pai and the two boys were running as quickly as they could to the bus stop as Pai heard something alarming behind him.

‘Anybody call an ambulance! He’s not breathing!’ A voice behind him shouted as Pai quickly put on the brakes and turned around to check.

The boy who confronted them just moments ago was still on the ground, his friends gathering around him with looks of concern. Then suddenly, a fist.

He quickly puts his arms up to guard and thankfully he made it in time to block it, but the force was so strong that the punch broke his stance with a single hit. Thankfully before the boy could hit him with a follow up haymaker, Julian had swooped in and took the punch with his shoulder as he parried the failed punch with a kick of his own, sending another boy writhing on the ground.

‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!’ Julian shouts.

‘That kid! He’s out cold! I think you killed him!’

‘Who fucking cares?! They’re assholes! Fuck them! Now Run!’

‘Shit!’

Pai can only respond in reaction as he spots two more boys coming after them, leaving him with no time to feel concerned any further as they rush towards the bus stop. They catch up with Casper who was trying to hail down a taxi with no avail as they arrive looking for any cab that would accommodate them.

‘Fuck! Screw it! Through the mall!’ Julian, thinking on his feet, shouts as the trio breaks into a sprint once more and blitzes through the mall’s entrance as their pursuers follow.

Weaving as efficiently as they could through the crowd, they make their way across the shopping area, hoping that the crowd will slow their pursuers down as they aim for the exit towards the parking area at the back of the mall where they could hail another cab out of the school's vicinity.

They slam through the doors that lead them outside and see a clear path ahead towards another bus stop. Their legs were sprinting as hard as it could carry them as Julian reached the palace first and waves the first taxi he could see. Thankfully the cab was empty and made a stop in front of them just as Pai and Casper arrived beside him. Julian looks back to check the location of their pursuers and to his delight the two boys who were chasing them had just come out of the exit doors as he jumps into the passenger seat and slams the door shut.

‘Take the rail highway north! Go!’ Julian commands as the driver takes off just as their pursuers reach the bus stop looking exhausted as they see their prey escaping into the distance.

‘The fuck was that all about?’ Casper asks while breathing heavily to catch his breath.

‘I have no idea!’ Pai replied, still in shock with everything that had just happened.

‘But the guy clearly knew who you were, Pai?’ Casper responds.

‘He does and I think he looked familiar as well… but I have no idea why they would come and threaten us out of the blue like that.’

‘And in the daylight as well.’ Julian injects. ‘Pai… I know this would sound ridiculous but based on my manga and anime knowledge, assholes like those would only be threats when they’re operating in the dark. Am I correct? Has this happened before in that manner?’

‘Yes… twice… both at night and when nobody’s around… Why?’

Julian nods with a little prideful smile peeking subtly from his lips. ‘If so then they must’ve gained some serious backing from some sort of authority to be able to pull off shit like this.’ He hypothesized. ‘It’s still pretty early in the day and they pulled that shit in front of the school gate. I knew immediately they were confident they wouldn’t be punished.’

‘Wait a sec…’ Casper butted. ‘Weren’t you the one who threw the first punch? If the school replays the cameras, they’ll just see you sucker punching the ass wipe.’

‘They would and I’ll gladly take the fall for it. Instead of the other outcome where we let them run their mouth and have them take us to some secluded place to beat us up.

Even if we appealed to the school they wouldn’t find any evidence of it since there was no violence caught on camera.’ Julian responds.

‘Still we wouldn’t know… at least they wouldn’t pin you red handed for starting a fight.’ Casper rebuts his statement.

‘Pai. How did you escape the other encounters anyways?’ Julian asked.

‘Oh… the first one, Denzo stepped in to help me and the other one was when the store owner stopped the fight with his BB gun.’ He answered.

‘And none of them got reported to authorities?’

‘Wait… come to think of it yea… nothing was said about those incidents…’

‘Pai… have you been back to that store where you got cornered?’ Julian asked.

‘No… I felt scared to go back there… even though it’s near the school…’

‘Wait? What?’ Casper asked, surprised. ‘Was that near the cafe?’

‘Yea… why?’

‘When did that happen?’ He asked again.

‘A couple of weeks before the whole thing with Neil and the Jack and Barry’s thing?’

‘Interesting…’

‘Why?’ Julian, now curious, asks.

‘I have a crush on one of the clerks there… I think her name was… I think it was Clarice?’

‘Godammit Casper, stick with the subject…’

‘I am! It’s just that the whole roster of the store changed around that time. It kinda made me depressed that she wasn’t there anymore so I remember it clearly… It was the whole reason I go there everyday to buy some stupid thing, just for the sole purpose of seeing her… Kinda convenient that it lines up with Pai getting an incident there.’ Casper elaborates.

Julian was silent for a moment as both Pai and Casper started to wonder on the backseat. Finally after a few minutes of self mumbling, Julian claps his hands.

‘I got it!’

‘Got what?’ Casper asked.

‘Hear me out… again this is just based on Shonen manga trope knowledge but I might be on to something…’ Julian said as he put on a proverbial tinfoil hat. ‘Someone.. Whether an individual or a group, is backing these fuckers up and is granting them the privilege's of doing whatever the fuck they want… Including harassing anyone they see fit. And since Pai is new here to St. Rita’s just like us. I'm guessing it’s either systematic harassment for new students or someone from your past is trying to make things hell for you, Pai.’

Upon hearing the last message, Pai’s eyes widened.

‘My past?’ He said. Looking frightened.

‘Based on your answer, I hit the jackpot…’ Julian replied.

‘Pai? Is there something you need to tell us?’ Casper asked. Looking concerned after seeing how adamant those other kids were in trying to chase them down. As Pai looks at both of his friends, not sure on what to do.

‘Pai?’