Max Jacobs - (EARTH NINETY-SEVEN - LOCATION: HOUSTON, TEXAS):

“WAIT WAIT WAIT, DON’T SHOOT!” Michael yelped as he attempted to open the door in a panic. He managed to succeed but began to tumble on his way out, grabbing me for support. The two of us fell out and quickly recovered, hopping on our feet.

“Middlebrooks?” The woman asked, keeping the strange shotgun-shaped item aimed straight at us.

I looked around to take in the sight of the transformed building, the sleek white and black metallic materials glinting in the sunlight. Six smaller towers surrounded the skyscraper, bridges extending from them to connect to the tower, seemingly acting as supports I assumed. Huge blue-tinted glass tubes containing water swept alongside and in between the bridges, as well as descending up and down the towers and the main building.

The woman must have been around six feet and two inches, judging by how she was around an inch taller than me. Her eyes seemed like indigo stars, and her skin was a dark chocolate black, which was overshadowed by her short red hair, which was shaped into a short bob haircut. She was wearing a black and white suit that looked like it was separated where each joint was, but the suit itself wasn’t even hiding her muscles, which looked tense as she stood in a stance showing she was ready for combat.

The man beside her must’ve been around an inch taller and had lush white skin. His head was bald, and although covered by a mustache and beard, his jawline must’ve been perfectly chiseled. He had a scar extending from the bottom of his eye to his mouth, cutting through his facial hair. His tuxedo looked like it could barely contain his muscles.

“Middlebrooks, where the hell have you been?” The man said as he relaxed his posture.

“Poplock, I-”

“Alisha?” The woman asked as she stepped in front of the stunning bald man, “And Aadil?”

“Samron, wait-”

“Her guys, it’s been a while,” Aadil said, cutting Michael off, “I know it’s been a while y’all, but we just wanted to talk.”

“Aadil shut the hell up,” Alisha commanded him as she stared daggers at him.

“My bad,” Aadil said as he backed away and hid behind me and Chris.

“Who are those two? And more importantly, why the hell are Karim and Patel here?” The striking bearded man asked as he aimed his weapon, switching between aiming at us three, Michael, and Alisha.

“Well-”

“We’re here to negotiate,” Alisha proclaimed as she stepped forward one step, and then back by two almost immediately once all the soldiers focused their sights on her.

“Negotiate what exactly?” The woman asked rhetorically, “If I remember correctly, you two killed the queen and multiple people who held government positions.”

“Well if you four would STOP TALKING,” Michael snapped after being cut off twice, “I’d be glad to tell you what we wanted to talk about,”

“Fine, what do you want, and it better be good since you’re bringing known terrorists to our main base.” The woman said, causing the nearby guards to falter as they wondered why the people who were most likely their leaders would negotiate with a group of so-called “terrorists”.

“Look, all Allisha and Aadil want is a fair trial to prove their innocence,” Michael said as he stepped forward, but unlike Alisha, he didn’t waver, “They claim they didn’t kill the queen, and knowing them, they probably didn’t,”

“The keyword there being ‘probably’,” The woman said, seemingly steadfast in her stance.

“Samron, you’ve been training us for years, you know what Francine meant to them,” Michael said, his voice softening, “Everyone else here may not understand, but I know that both you and Provisonius believe they’re innocent, at least when it comes to the queen.”

The air stood still as all of us awaited the pair’s answer. But then, the man unexpectedly started chuckling, turning into a full-on laugh. The woman let out a small chuckle, and a small smirk appeared on her face. Michael, on the other hand, looked completely dumbfounded.

“It’s funny Michael, even after not seeing them for two years, you still wanna help them,”

“Wha-”

“All of you come in,” The woman said as she turned on her heel.

I looked to the others who seemed just as confused and skeptical as I was, but we followed them anyway. It didn’t seem like we had a choice anyway.

* * *

We walked into the foyer of the building and saw that the exterior hadn’t been the only part that had been transformed. As we walked, I noticed the interior seemed much more spacious than it seemed from the outside, as quartz pillars stretched from the pure white marble flooring up to the crystal ceiling.

“Did you really think we wouldn’t give you a chance to speak properly?” The gorgeous bald man asked us as he struggled to hold in laughter, “We basically raised you, of course we’d give you a chance to explain.”

“So you don’t think we killed the queen?” Aadil asked from behind Chris.

“Of course not, we just didn’t have the chance the clear it all up immediately,”

“Wait, so neither of you gave the order to fire at us?”

“You’re like our younger siblings, why would we kill you?” The woman said as we stopped in front of a large pair of doors.

“Well, with Aadil’s, er,” Alisha stopped herself as she looked over the Aadil, “Zohan’s murder spree, it makes sense you’d have opened fire.”

“Zohan?” The bald man asked as we walked into the room. Inside was what seemed to be an office room with a domed roof. The floor was now black marble, and in the center of the room was a large oak table.

“Zohan is what ‘Aadil’ went by sometimes,” Alisha said, “When I and Francine locked his memories away, it locked Zohan away as well.”

“You what?” The woman stopped in the middle of sitting down, as she and the man turned to face us.

“We locked away his memories?” Alisha clarified.

“You locked away a Realm Knight’s memories?”

“Well, that and his powers,”

“YOU WHAT?!”

“We thought it might be affecting Zohan’s mental state,”

“Oh God, okay,” The woman said as she finally sat down, rubbing her temples once seated, “So Aadil’s not a Knight anymore?”

“Is that how it works?”

“I’m not sure, I don’t think so,”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Usually Isamu used to be the expert in this stuff,” The man explained, “He was in charge of anything to do with the Compass,”

“Who’s Isamu?” I asked nobody in particular.

“Isamu is Uso’s real name, wait did you think ‘Uso’ was his real name?” Aadil asked me with a chuckle, “Dude ‘Uso’ means ‘Liar’ in Japanese.”

“Wait so Isamu, or Uso, what happened to him?”

A solemn silence clung to the air as everyone, save for me and Christopher, stared at each other.

“Isamu ‘Uso’ Suzuki died in the Alala mission, being just one of the many casualties we faced that day,” Michael answered.

“It was also the day we left the URE,” Alisha added, “Zohan believed there was no point in fighting for a government that just sent us to die.”

“But if Aadil and Zohan used to be the same person, then what’s to prevent Aadil from doing something like exactly what Zohan did,”

“Absolutely nothing,” Alisha said, confirming everyone’s unspoken concern, “But he won’t be as big of a threat since he won’t have his powers anymore.”

We were interrupted as the ground shook once again, drawing everyone’s attention back to the current issue. Everyone, even me and Chris, who barely understood anything, knew this conversation could go on for hours, but unfortunately, we probably didn’t have that long.

“Look, we know we still have to face the consequences, but unless we get the opportunity for a fair trial, nothing we do matters.” Aadil began, “I don’t know what Zohan’s done in the past two years, but for what it’s worth, I’m not him. I don’t want to be executed for his crimes.”

“So what do you propose?” The man asked, leaning back in his chair as he folded his arms.

“Michael told us why you’re here,” Alisha explained.

“Oh did he? Then he should know that our mission is strictly confidential, even to past members of the United Realm Empire.” The woman said, causing Michael to lower his gaze.

“We can help you,” Alisha continued, “If we help you retrieve the shard, then that’ll give us some standing with Jaxon won’t it?”

“If we’re successful, I suppose,” The woman responded, “But there is a fair amount of danger involved.”

“Samron, we were, no, we still are Realm Knights,” Alisha retorted, “You know we can handle danger,”

“I guess you might be right,” The woman named Samron responded, “Five Realm Knights would be unbeatable,”

“I have a question though,” Aadil faced Samron and the man, “If this mission is so important, then why weren’t the Flower Troopers or either of the Damage Control teams deployed?”

The bald man faced Samron before explaining, who gave Samron a simple shrug, “We don’t know why, but our authorities have been restricted,”

“Restricted?”

“We can’t deploy any of the three teams you mentioned, hell, it was hard enough to get just the three of us deployed.” The bald man answered Aadil’s confusion, “Ever since Francine’s death, the URE has been on high alert,”

“Wait so Jaxon won’t let you or?”

“Jaxon’s hands are tied, the senate is advising him not to do anything ‘rash’, it’s why we haven’t been able to bring you back.”

“Does Jaxon know, or at least think, we’re innocent?”

“Jaxon’s a grieving man, he needs someone to blame,”

“So what then?”

“Alisha, you might be right,” Samron turned towards Alisha, “This might get you a fair trial, but if Jaxon doesn’t see reason, it won’t matter.”

“We have to at least try, 'cause it won’t be long before they send the Flower Troopers after us.” Alisha responded, “Zohan knew that the officials he killed were minor cogs in a larger corrupt machine, if we took a major part of that machinery out, they’d take us as a serious threat.”

“Wouldn’t you be able to fend off the Troopers?” The man asked, “After all, you guys are the strongest generation of Knights to have ever lived since, well, since ever.”

“Even though we’re the strongest, it’s just me and Aadil,” Alisha said as she straightened her posture, “Aadil doesn’t have his powers and I can’t fend off all six Troopers at once,”

I had a lot of questions, for example, who the Flower Troopers were, but I knew I could spend hours asking and I’d still never understand.

“You two,” Samron turned to me and Chris, making me realize just how beautiful she was, “Who exactly are you and why are you here?”

“Uhhh,” I tried to answer but drew a blank since I couldn’t answer either of those questions. I instead turned to Alisha and Aadil, silently asking for help.

“Their names are Christopher and Max Jacobs,” Alisha answered, understanding my look, “I found them along with Michael at Saint Judith’s,”

“Saint Judith’s?” Samron inquired.

“It’s the school we went to,” I answered, “We were attacked by ‘Frenzil’ there,”

“Oh, but would you happen to know why?” Samron asked us both, putting in no effort to hide the suspicion in her voice.

“She went straight for us,” Chris responded, “We don’t why she wants us, but she killed our friends,”

“What about your family,”

“They probably ran before the school was even attacked,”

“I see,” Samron said, still clearly suspicious, “So what do you get out of joining these three?”

I and Max looked at each other for a minute before he answered, “Answers, we want answers for everything,”

“And you do know that if you go with us, you could die?”

“It’s not like we had anything to live for even before any of this happened,” I retorted.

“Is that so?” The man asked rhetorically, “Samron, we could use as much manpower as possible,”

“Are you two trained in any form of combat?” Samron asked as she rose.

“No, but-” I attempted to speak before she cut me off.

“Then you’ll die if you go on this mission,”

“If we don’t then you’ll just leave us here won’t you?”

Samron didn’t answer me, nor did she turn to face us, but that was the only answer we needed.

“Samron please,” The man tried to plead with her, “They’ll die if we leave them,”

“They have a better chance if they stay,” She shot back.

“And what if Frenzil catches them,” Aadil stepped towards her, “We don’t even know why she wants them. What if they have powers? She could use them, turn them into weapons like the Harbingers or the Revenants,”

“Aadil, by powers, you don’t mean they could be Realm Knights do you?”

“Maybe I do,”

“You know just as well as I do if they were, that would’ve been made clear to us when we arrived,”

“The only one who knows that would be Jaxon, what if he didn’t tell us?”

“And why would he purposefully choose to omit something as big as that?”

“I think it’s strange how both you and Frenzil arrived at the same time?”

“I’m not sure if I appreciate what you’re inferring, and besides,” Samron waved away Aadil’s concerns as she walked to the door, “We located the shard after her,”

“And what if she and Jaxon are working together?”

SLAM!

Within one swift motion, Samron had pinned Aadil to the table with one arm behind his back.

“I and Provisonius have known Jaxon for far too long, he’d die before he betrayed us,” She said through clenched teeth, “Know your place, and don’t forget, you came to US for help,”

“I’m sorry,” Aadil gasped in pain, causing Samron to release him.

“Aadil, if you’re going to make these claims, make sure you don’t do it in front of two of his closest friends.”

“Yes ma’am,”

“Besides, I should ask you what you and Alisha are doing here as well,”

“Well,” Aadil turned to Alisha and then back to Samron, “We thought if we could arrest Frenzil, we could have a chance to a fair trial,”

“You two thought that you both alone would’ve been enough to take her down?”

“We weren’t really thinking straight,”

“I don’t believe you were thinking at all,” Samron turned to face me and Chris, “As for you two, if you do end up on this venture, know that you will most likely end up dead at the center of the planet.”

“Center?” I asked confusedly.

“Wow, did none of them even tell you where we’re going?” Samron said as she walked out, “I’m starting to wonder if any of you even want those two to live. I will not allow two children to die on behalf of a government they don’t even serve.”