Deep within the heart of Anzu Island, a covert military base was nestled, its location a relic of the once Russian northeastern region. Here, a team of six elite Alphas, known as the Night Slayers, were deep in discussion.

These alphas were a covert strike team that rented their multi-talented services to all sorts of clients if the money was right. Their services included but were not limited to sabotage, high-tech espionage, property retrieval, and, on occasion, assassination.

Their mission for the last month was to plan and execute the retrieval of a high-grade enchanted charm that would be auctioned off in a week.

“Alright, we have been discussing this plan now for the last month, so everyone should know their roles,” said a tall, robust man named Alexei. He was the leader of this team of six.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get all bent out of shape over nothing,” said a young lady about 25 who went by the name of Kona. She was about 5’ 6” and slim, her facial features looked Mediterranean.

“We got it, captain, don’t pay any attention to the dimwit,” said another girl, about 30; she went by the name of Oksana as she looked at Kona. Oksana was tall, about six feet, but her facial features resembled Alexei more; they might have some connection.

Kona just glared at Oksana after hearing what she said.

Standing at the back of the room were two more people, Renault and Finn. Renault was the tallest in the group, about six foot six inches tall. He was very muscular, and his arms and chest were covered in tattoos. Next to him was Finn. He was shorter, about five foot ten inches tall, but he was decked out in the most advanced cyber gear you could get. He had a long scar running from his right elbow to his shoulder.

“We got it, Boss,” said Finn, while playing with some high-tech gizmo in his hand.

“Bossman, I have some reservations over the plan,” said Renault. There was some anxiety reflecting on his face as he talked to Alexei.

“We planned out the mission and everything, but this is the most secure site on the planet right now,” said Renault, looking worried.

“It’s been guarded by the most elite alphas from the alliance. Are we sure we want to do this,” he said with a questioning look.

Alexei seemed to guess what Renault was trying to say as the rest of the team just looked on. It seemed they also had the same reservation as Renault, but no one had dared to say anything until now.

“Look, I understand what you mean, but there is nothing to worry about. We’ve faced off against most if not all, the best Alphas out there, and I, for one, think not even one of them comes close to what we have,” said Alexei as he tried to pep talk his team.

“Also, we have already agreed to the client's terms. We can't go back on our word now; how would that make us look,” said Alexei coldly.

“Our reputation is our guarantee; It's what’s gotten us to where we’re at now, and with that, the payouts that we’ve been able to get,” he said in a more serious tone.

Everyone looked at each other and nodded in silent agreement at what Alexei had just said.

“Don’t worry; we will execute the plan as discussed and come out unscathed at the end.”

“After the client pays us, we will take a very long and deserved vacation. With the money we’ll get, we can probably stay off the radar for a year or two,” said Alexei, full of cockiness.

After remembering the payout for this job, everyone’s eyes seemed to gleam with confidence and a bit of greed.

Seeing that everyone was back on track, Alexei continued explaining the plan.

“Alright, let's go over the plan one more time before we wrap it up,” he said as they went back to discuss the plan again.

“Once we are done here, we’ll start heading to Cypree to get everything in motion,” said Alexei as everyone huddled in to pay attention.

Back at Mt. Ethos.

Khyrum had just learned from Damian that their first mission would be at Cypress Island.

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“Hmm, Cypree, you say,” I said with a curious look.

Damian looked at me with a bit of uncertainty.

“Prime, I’m sorry. I tried explaining that you couldn’t leave the area, but the commander said that this was of the utmost importance; he needs us at the Island by next Weds,” he said hesitantly. Damian didn’t know how to respond to the commander if I said no.

“This is good, better than anything I could have come up with. This way, I can travel to Cypree to keep an eye on the charm while working with the alliance,” I told myself.

My identity wouldn’t leak, and I wouldn’t look suspicious as I would be working under my alias as Prime.

Besides researching the Book of Chronicles, I have also been working hard these past two weeks trying to figure out how to activate the Azura Armor at will, but I have only had marginal success.

If I concentrated hard enough, I could cover my head in hood-like armor, but it was not Azura armor per se; it was more like the DSS. The cloak still had the mist-like mask in the front, completely covering my face. I could now cover my body in DSS armor for all intended purposes.

Damian kept staring at me with a face that said, “Come on, Prime, help me out here, please!”

After a few more seconds, I finally gave him an answer.

“I’ll go with you just this one time.”

“But next time, you have to discuss these kinds of things with me before you agree,” I begrudgingly said.

Damian's eyes grew wide in surprise, but then his face changed to one of gratitude.

“Alright, so what’s the plan,” I asked Damian.

Damian quickly refocused as he began explaining what the commander had told him. “Prime, we'll travel to Cypree next Wednesday since school should be out by then,” He said as he looked at his CAD display as if searching for something.

“Here it is, “he mumbled.

“Prime, here is the map of Cypree; I will transfer it to you now. Go over it and memorize it,” he said transferring the map to my CAD.

“They will explain to us what our role will be once we get on the transport next week,” he continued saying, “Alright, so my job is done here,”

Damian got up from the couch, his expression much more relaxed than when he arrived.

“Do you need anything? If not, I’ll get going, as I still have other shit to deal with,” he said, walking towards the door.

“I can’t think of anything right now, but if something comes up before Weds, I'll let you know,” I said.

By this time, Damian had already walked over to the door, opened it, and exited the apartment. He raised his hand and gestured bye as the door closed.

“Alright, so I don’t need Roy to send me a transport after all,” I thought right after Damian left.

I quickly got on my CAD and messaged Roy that I wouldn’t need transport after all, as I had found another way to get to Cypree next week.

He answered almost immediately by using a confused personifier on the message. He seemed to be asking why. I wasn’t going to say it was because I was traveling as Prime, so I gave him another excuse.

I told him I would be traveling with the people of Zone 16. He answered ok and didn’t ask much after that.

The rest of the week passed by quickly.

During the weekend, I got a message from Eva on Saturday morning asking if I could meet her at 3 p.m. in the school’s abandoned BG, aka our little love nest; I said yes.

Once I arrived, I saw a figure standing outside the main doors of the abandoned BG.

Quickly, the figure turned to look my way as I got close; of course, I knew it was Eva.

“Hey, beautiful,” I said with a smile.

Eva quickly ran my way and jumped into my arms into a lovely embrace.

“What’s wrong,” I said as I could tell something was bothering her.

“It's my dad; he wants me to go with them to Cypree next week,” she said as she rested her head on my chest.

“Ok, he wants you to go to Cypree to see the auction. What seems to be the problem,” I asked, trying to understand her point of view.

“Oh, so you know about the auction too,” said Eva, surprised.

“Who doesn’t? It's been on the news and almost every famous show for weeks. I doubt there might be someone on this planet who doesn’t know about it,” I said.

Eva’s face showed embarrassment as her cheeks flashed a little red.

“True. I had forgotten how big this thing has become,” she said.

“So what’s the problem with you going with your family,” I asked.

Eva looked at the ground as if deciding to say or not say what was on her mind. She felt hesitant, but in the end, she started to talk.

“My dad wants to take the entire family to Cypree starting Monday, which would be ok if that was it, but he wants to go along with Ethian and his family,” she started saying.

“He already rented a large mansion over at Cypree with Mr. Richie, and now they want both families to vacation there next week.”

“I asked to stay, but he said no, that I needed to spend more time with Brandon, to which I told him I don’t like Brandon, and I would rather stay home,” she said, depressed.

“You know what’s worse? I know my family is going through some hard financial times right now as some of our investments haven’t panned through, but my dad still plans to spend millions of gold credits to try and win the auction.”

I just looked at her, but I was having trouble finding a way to ease her worries.

“What should I say,” I kept telling myself.

“I don’t know what my father is thinking. He sees that we don’t have the money for something like this, but still, he plans to bid on it,” she said as her eyes became blurry, and a small tear fell down her cheek.

I held her tightly and whispered.

“Things always have a way of working out, beautiful.”

“I think your dad thinks this might be the best way to help his family through these hard times, but as you said, he might be trying to spend something he has very little of right now and doesn’t realize that his bidding will be tough.”

“Nothing against your father, but I don’t think he realizes how many people and organizations will be bidding on this thing; winning it with gold credits might not be possible,” I said as I comforted her.

Eva looked at me, confused.

“Are you saying the price on the charm might reach Platinum pricing!”