BXBX NOVEL Chapter 63
I stopped cold, wondering who was at my door. I looked directly at the door as the intensity of wonder in my heart began to burn. “Hello?” I shouted, still holding onto my blanket. I shrieked, startled, and unsure of what to do as someone opened the door. But as I screamed, I suddenly saw Malachi, who was clearly perplexed by my frightened behavior or my acting “surprised.”
Why are you screaming like that?” he chuckled as I followed on with his laugh, letting out a sigh of relief. “I-I guess I thought you were someone else.” I responded.
“What is it you want?”
“I want to show you guys something, and I think it would really help,” he said.
***
We soon started to meet at the training facility after he instructed us to do so. He took a chair from the gym and set it down next to a table in the room’s corner so he could sit down. Malachi looked nervous as he shifted from one foot to the other. He kept glancing at the door as if he were waiting for someone or something to happen.
September looked around the room, her eyes barely taking in her surroundings. She seemed unimpressed and disengaged as if she were only there out of obligation. She was tired, her eyes sunken and dark circles visible beneath them.
“What is it that you want to show us?” September tiredly asked Malachi.
.....
Malachi continued to type away on his laptop for a long time, not saying a word. Finally, he stopped and turned the screen around so we could see it.
The paused video showed one of those black cars from back in Russia, by the local cafe we were suspected. It was parked on the side of the road, the driver’s door open. In the driver’s seat was a man, slumped over and unmoving.
All of a sudden, Rocke exited out of the car and went over to the front of the cafe’s settlement.
Rocke then looked around, as if he was trying to keep it secret although I can imagine he was, and then the clerk gave him something of some sorts, but it was hidden very well.
Malachi then paused the video, and he then he zoomed in closely to Rocke’s hand, where we saw something that was close to a diamond perhaps. It was small, but it shone brightly under the light. Rocke quickly put it away and then the video ended.
We all looked at each other, unsure of what to make of what we had just seen. September was the first to break the silence.
“What... What does this mean?” she asked, her voice trembling slightly.
Malachi didn’t answer for a long time. He continued to stare at the screen, as if he was trying to find an answer there. Finally, he spoke up.
“I’m not sure,” he said slowly, “but I think it means that Rocke is looking for something. When I checked, I researched something that may be need a diamond to power something up. But then I came up with the thing that they needed money maybe. But then I found this.”
Malachi turned the computer around, as we began to see some sort of robot. It was large and imposing, with a single red eye that blazed ominously.
“What is that?” I asked, my voice trembling slightly.
“I’m not sure,” Malachi said slowly, “but it looks like Rocke is looking for something to power it up. And if I had to guess, I would say that he needs the diamond to do it. If you look here, there is a diamond-shaped cut over here and that looks about the same size.”
I shrugged not sure what to say. September nodded and looked at me.
Malachi sighed, “We need to tell Mr. Drails quickly, right away.”
***
After having to wait for at least fifty years before letting us in, Mr. Drails turned to face us as we entered his room. The moment he motioned for us to take a seat across from the desk, I felt the pressure of his gaze descending upon me.
“OK, so did you find anything useful?” Mr. Drails inquired. Malachi quickly grabbed his computer and placed it on the desk. The video was revealed on there, and when Malachi pressed play, Mr. Drails’ eyes widened even more as the video progressed. “What exactly is he holding in his hand?” When Mr. Drails inquired, Malachi paused the video.
Then September explained, “We believe he’s attempting to steal this form of a robot.” Malachi then brought up the screen, and Mr. Drails peered at it intently.
“Okay, so what gave you this perception?” he questioned. “Because from what I’m noticing, it could just be that they need money. We, too, conceal from the government in our ways.”
Mr. Drails then enhanced the screen to view it very closely as his jaw slowly dropped in thought. September and Malachi looked at each other, wondering what he was thinking. “This is not good,” Mr. Drails muttered under his breath. “What do you think we should do?”
“I think we should figure out where the location is,” Malachi suggested. “How come you’ve never found the location in the first place?” September hissed loudly. Malachi raised his head. “I’d leave it to some of Mr. Drails’s people to do that.” Mr. Drails began to cough with laughter. “Please provide me with the location so that we can confirm it. We won’t be able to find it without the address. Anyway, how’s Nikki doing?” “She’s still at the nurse’s office, but the nurse is assisting her,” September explained. Mr. Drails gave a nod. “Okay, we’ll just give her a week or so to recover. You’ll need to recruit new teammates.” “Who would be that?” September inquired. Then my brain flashed with an idea.
“We can get Matt, Mari, and Rin to help us!” I suggested.
September looked at me with confusion, although I wasn’t sure what else to say. It sounded like we were going to have to get new teammates soon, and I didn’t want to leave my friends behind. We had just started working together, and it felt like we had just begun to understand each other’s strengths.
“I just have one question,” September asked, before clearing her throat. “Who are they?”
I stammered, trying to remember all that has happened with them, which was quite a lot. Just remembering them continued to pop up the memories of the WAC contest. The three of them were so determined and had such great potential. I knew that they would be able to help us if we recruited them. “Um, well, they’re... Matt, Mari, and Rin,” I finally said. “They helped me in the WAC contest, and you know how we won?”
“Yes, and I’m proud of that,” she said, with a little smile.
“Yeah, it’s because of them, so we could add it to our group,” I said. “But there would only be five of you guys,” Mr. Drails said.
“I think that’s all we need,” I said, looking at him confidently.
Mr. Drails looked at us and sighed with concern. “Okay, but I don’t want to leave this team behind, but I also don’t want us to be over our heads.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “I’ll think about it, but for now, we should focus on the task at hand. But just rest for now.”
Malachi, I and September nodded with a little smile on our faces, as we left the office. We knew that we could count on Mr. Drails to think about everything and make the best decision for all of us. But that didn’t stop us from continuing to work hard and try to find the location of the robot ourselves. We had a feeling-I had a feeling it was important, and we didn’t want to let Mr. Drails or Nikki down.
Preview:
September sighed and looked at me, whereas Malachi did the same. It was only a matter of time before I followed. We all knew that we had to find the robot and stop it from being used for whatever it was intended for. Mr. Drails had given us the task, and we were going to do everything in our power to complete it.
But where do we start?
“Anyone got any ideas?” Malachi asked. September shrugged.
Malachi sighed, then I followed suit, until September’s face brightened as if she had a sudden epiphany. “Did you check the name of the robot?” September asked. Malachi shook his head no, so September took out her phone and started to type away; looking up any information she could find on the given topic. “Let’s try finding it on the laptop,” Malachi suggested next.