Kayla immediately looked at Ayeka to find any kind of reaction. Strangely enough, Ayeka was impressed, which is very hard to do nowadays. “Noel Moon, huh? Something tells me you are more than just another errand girl. Or else you wouldn’t be here in the middle of the night asking for somebody like us for attention.”

“Precisely, Madame,” Noel confirmed. “I really am ashamed of my own actions. I really didn’t mean to hurt one of your cohorts in such a manner. Given her history and His Majesty's warning, I felt it was in my best interest to take better care of myself while defending my own honor."

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Kayla blew off. "She usually makes a grain of salt and turns it into a mountain all the time. By the looks of you, you’re not really normal yourself.”

“Why, yes, of course. I am also a nephalem,” Noel confirmed. “However, what I am and who I am should not be any of your concern. Indeed, I am one of you. But we are not the same. But it doesn’t mean I share your concern.”

“Yes, Noel-san. You come here unannounced, beat up my friend, and now you speak in riddles,” Ayeka added.

"You must excuse me. I do sometimes go off in my little world and talk outside of my own space," Noel admitted. "The reason why I came here tonight was to inform you all of what such transgressions are with the Killer Queen and her inner circle. Such a tragedy. Such loyalty is wasted."

“Well, what can you do?” Kayla blew off.

“I do believe you were in the process of not only distributing the six crates that used to belong to Xerxes. It seems to me Xerxes’ lieutenants were intent on taking these items for themselves, and you stole it from them.”

“My superiors just wanted to know what he had,” Ayeka admitted.

“Indeed. Curiosity can be very dangerous at times, but also necessary. Madame, you were correct about being curious about what Xerxes kept from the public. I can guarantee you this. You wouldn’t have profited from it. For those who know how to wield such immense power, it is priceless.”

“So, he did have one. And he didn’t even bother telling anyone…” Ayeka reflected.

“Had what exactly?” Kayla asked.

"An equalizer for the war that we were supposed to have. Something that would take great industrial nations to such great heights, he said. Something that mirrored his own power of a roundtable of daemon knights. The BDX, more commonly known as the Beast of Daniel," Ayeka explained as Noel nodded.

"As of right now, coming from several different production plants, several parts to make the BDX model were in storage. Since then, most of these parts were later severely downgraded and sold to the public market. You have indeed acquired the crates that contain the BDX Model. However, I hate to inform you all, or should I say I regretfully inform you, that these items are now gone." Noel explained.

“How can they be gone? You mean somebody stole them?” Ayeka asked.

“Precisely,” Noel answered.

“Who would take such machines?” Kayla asked.

“The same people who had a hand in building them,” Noel teased.

“Redgrave…” Ayeka guessed correctly as Noel nodded.

On the floor, Natalia came to her senses as she took huge gasps of air and exhaled painfully.

As Ayeka walked over to her friend and helped her up, Noel continued, "The Redgrave family nearly had a change of heart. Just like any other company that turns war into profit, the Redgrave family would have handsomely profited from it."

“They just had cold feet,” Kayla added.

"Even your own Grandmaster had cold feet. It would have been rivers of blood. Even though many people love war, this one would've been the end of the world as we know it."

“So, what does this guy want from us?” Natalia asked the burning question.

This was Noel's cue. She brought a little satchel with her; the contents inside contained workups and locations. Noel handed Ayeka the satchel, "His Majesty wants you to leave New York City immediately and do a mission on his behalf—"

“No!” Natalia denied flatly.

Noel was a bit irritated about being rudely cut off. “My word, Madame Silvestri, your leader hasn’t even opened the satchel yet—”

"I am the leader, and I said no!" Natalia denied flatly again as Noel sighed in discontent.

“Then I am ever so grateful, your subordinates can make up their own minds—”

“Go, fuck yourself!” Natalia snapped.

“Relax, Natalia-san. No one is doing anything yet,” Ayeka chastised. “We will run it by our superior. She will make the call.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"As well as you all should deliberate on it. If you all decide to stay for a couple of days, Xerxes' crates will arrive here in New York City promptly tomorrow night. Sadly, you will not find anything that you are looking for. Be that as it may, this is a time-sensitive mission, so every second counts. Read the workups, the location, and the primary objectives of the mission. Once you have decided, regardless if you accept it or deny it, his Majesty would love to have all of you at his mansion. Even though we are still renovating, our home is quite presentable now. There is no timetable, and you can accept this mission whenever you like. Good evening, ladies." Noel bid farewell as she took a bow and left the suite.

The ladies of the Nether Elite were left somewhat with a lot of answers but with a whole array of questions. Ayeka wasted no time going into the satchel and pulling out the contents. It was a huge binder filled with pages of the latest prototype mech, the BDX. Flipping through the sketches, blueprints, configurations, and speculations about the prototype.

Ayeka was impressed. "I don't know this Noel character or her boss. How in the world did they get their hands on classified paperwork? Hell, even Alastair and his team back in the day couldn't get anywhere close to these. Meanwhile, someone walked in here and just gave it to us."

Natalia scoffed. “Proved how good he was to us…”

“Yeah, you should know…” Kayla defended as Natalia rolled her eyes in contempt. “Makes you wonder. We might end up using this for our benefit,” Kayla speculated.

“No, I don’t think so. Why wouldn’t her boss give this to us so freely?” Ayeka questioned. “Because she knew, even if we tried to replicate what we have, we can’t.”

“And let’s not forget the UN is keeping an eye on not only us but almost everyone involved in the war. What we have here is a breach of contract of immunity,” Kayla added. “Which brings us to Noel’s boss, I.N.D or whatever. There is NO Daemon Emperor in their order. So, what is she talking about?"

"A good reason to stay and wait for the crates," Ayeka suggested. It wasn't that bad of a suggestion, either. To Ayeka, it was very logical. Stay for a couple of days and wait for the crates. If Noel is right, we will go and see her. If she is wrong, they get what's inside the containers and follow the mission initially.

“Well, I do want to see a matinee tomorrow,” Ayeka joked.

“I guess it can’t hurt staying here for a couple of days in the city,” Kayla relented.

“Okay then, let’s just relax and hang tight until the crates come tomorrow. Until then, let’s stay out of trouble.”

“Well, Ryoko will be happy to hear that, knowing she will get to go to Time Square and go shopping in Queens again,” Kayla said.

Ayeka was sincere with her words. “Of course. Consider this as you not only earning it but deserving it after tonight.”

“I’ll get cleaned up and get ready for tomorrow. I’m going to call my husband and my kids,” Kayla announced as she went to her room to get a shower.

Ayeka turned her attention to Natalia, who was eerily silent. “I think we should all follow suit and get some rest, Natalia-chan. The only viable option is to wait,” Ayeka suggested. When Natalia was about to go into her own separate room, Ayeka stopped her for a moment. “By the way, Natalia-chan…”

Natalia turned around to face Ayeka as she continued, “No matter what happens, we got to find out what’s inside these crates. Even if it means working with Noel. Redgrave can’t have their hands on it. We can’t let them.”

This agitated Natalia. “If you want me to play nice with that Ahri wannabe, then we’re good, Ayeka! For me to hate her, I have to care about her first!” Natalia declared as she went to her own room, leaving Ayeka behind in the kitchen.

Ayeka couldn’t help glancing through the binder one more time. Such a deadly weapon for Xerxes to have in his possession without anybody knowing.

Xerxes wasn't a man who shied away from showing off his own true strength and intelligence, and he'd never used any kind of weapon since he prided himself on not using any other than his own skills. To Ayeka, this was alarming because she knew Xerxes more than anyone, and this was the absolute and undeniable truth about his own secret. "Who were you afraid of, Xerxes, and why?"

A few moments later, Kaitlyn made her way to the crime scene. There was blood everywhere. Broken chairs and, of course, broken bodies. Kaitlyn wasted no time trying to reenact the crime scene. She activated her abilities and wrote a green-glowing magic circle in the air. Finished, she placed her palm on the circle and let out a small prayer, “Focus.”

At that moment, she activated her post-cognitive spell as she began to reenact the events.

“Killing her will be very easy. How in the world I slip past here is beyond me…” Kaitlyn said as she reenacted shooting Shayna with a silenced weapon.

"I have already won; you're scared. You can run, but you cannot hide… you can hide, but you cannot run… Decisions, decisions… Should I take my time with you—no, I should play it safe." Kaitlyn reenacted the murder scene. She found herself rolling a small cylinder towards their feet.

The small cylinder started to blink red frequently as the lights went off abruptly. Then, the small cylinder ended up flashing a strobe light. It turns out that the small cylinder was not only a bomb, but it was a strobe light flash bomb, blinding the henchmen.

“Counterclockwise, like clockwork…” Then she reenacted herself, rushing one of the henchmen and slit his throat.

Being dead before he hit the floor, she went over to another henchman and stabbed him in the chest; she picked him up with one arm and slammed him on the table, stabbing him a few more times in the chest for the safety measure while throwing him to the ground.

While one of the henchmen tries to shoot at the masked woman, she dodge-rolled out of the way and kicked in the stomach, sending him off his feet. “So basic… How much did they pay you?”

Then she reenacted, stabbing the two henchmen in the heart.

As one of the other henchmen tried to sneak up on her, she gracefully dodge-rolled out of the way again, only to sneak up behind him, stabbing him in the spine and killing him.

The impatient one of the two remaining henchmen ran up to her to grab her, only to be stabbed in the chest three times and kicked in the stomach, sending him to the ground on his back.

Paying attention to the henchmen behind her, she merely slit his throat and stomach. Finally, she looked over at the remaining and dying henchmen as she jumped and landed on him, stabbing him in the throat, twisting it so the wound wouldn't close, and finishing him off. Rising from the corpse, she successfully neutralized the threat in the room. As the flash bomb dissipated, the fluorescent lights in the room went on again.

“Focus off,” Kaitlyn deactivated her post-cognitive spell. She didn’t really have to reenact the elderly men being shot.

Afterward, she went over to the makeshift flyer made with red paint. She immediately translated the message. “I understand. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it, Arcana.”

Immediately, she dug out her smartphone from her jacket pocket. She left the room and called an old friend of hers. It's been a while since she talked to the family.