New Year, New .... Crisis ? [5]

"Are you okay now?" Sara asks me, her concern evident.

I nod and gulp down my whiskey without a word.

Seeing my response, Sara sighs in relief before letting herself collapse onto the couch beside me.

"Sorry to ruin your plan," I say, my voice low and regretful. Despite sounding like a mumble, I genuinely mean it.

"It's not your fault. It's mine," Sara replies, blaming herself. "I stupidly dismissed the small probability that Penelope would show up. Stupid!"

"Hey, come on. It's not your fault," I say, pulling her into a comforting embrace.

"This is my second mistake, Death," Sara mutters, covering her face with her hands. "I became overconfident and underestimated the anomalies."

"Don't be too hard on yourself," I say, patting her shoulder.

"Well, it's just the luck of the draw," Charlotte chimes in as she approaches us. She pats Sara's lap and flashes a wide smile. "Thanks to that incident, I managed to gain a lot of information from Madam."

"Yeah... more by accident than by design," Sara grumbles, still chastising herself.

"Accident or not, the mission is accomplished," Charlotte says, trying to cheer her up.

"She's right," I add, supporting Charlotte. "Besides, you let everyone else make mistakes, but not yourself? What a hypocrite," I tease, pinching Sara's nose lightly until she yelps in pain.

"Death, you!" she exclaims, grabbing a pillow and swinging it at me. I laugh, easily catching the pillow and hugging her tighter.

Half a minute later, Sara shuffles out of my arms. "I'm okay now," she says softly. "Thanks."

"So, how was it?" Lily's voice cuts through suddenly, startling us as she and Bruno appear in front of us.

"Successful," Charlotte answers, holding up her hand in an okay gesture.

"Thanks to Penelope," Sara says with a wry smile.

"Really? What happened?" Lily asks, curious.

"I'll tell you later," Charlotte whispers, glancing at me. She must have noticed the tension in my face as it flushed with suppressed anger. Sara pats my lap gently to calm me down.

"Where are Gila and Fire?" Sara asks, deliberately shifting the topic.

"I'm here... I'm here," Fred says, wheeling his chair into the living room.

"And Gila?" Sara repeats.

Charlotte snorts before yelling, "Hey, get down here, idiot!"

Ten seconds later, a door slams on the second floor. Albert appears, pouting as he descends the stairs. Avoiding everyone's gaze, he slumps into an armchair across from Charlotte.

"Okay, everyone's here," Sara announces, taking a deep breath before turning to Charlotte. "Let's hear what you've got."

Charlotte straightens up. "Well, first of all, it's true. All previous prodigies were..." She mimics a throat-slitting motion with her hand.

The atmosphere grows heavier.

"But," Charlotte continues, "Madam hasn't decided what to do with us yet."

"Wow, that's so comforting," Albert says sarcastically.

Charlotte glares at him before Sara asks, "How can you be sure about that?"

"I accessed her memory from a meeting she had with the high priest yesterday. They discussed the prodigies they plan to recruit," Charlotte explains.

"And?" Bruno prompts.

"They talked about when they would assemble the new group and the mission they'd assign them."

"Okay, then what?" Sara urges her to continue.

"The high priest proposed terminating us, but Madam refused."

"Really? What did she say?" Fred asks, intrigued.

"She said, 'No. I don't want to terminate the Royal Knights... yet.'"

We glance at one another, processing her words.

"Did you find out why?" Sara asks.

"Maybe," Charlotte replies hesitantly. "She didn't say anything during the meeting, but I accessed another memory from a few years ago. She was meeting with researchers who reported issues with breeding the material needed to stabilize brain cell growth. They suggested halting the procedure. In another memory, the researchers mentioned progress in DNA engineering experiments, though they had only tested it on rabbits."

A tense silence fills the room.

"So," I finally say, breaking the silence, "Madam is keeping us because the new prodigies won't have the same abilities we do?"

"Yes, and they wouldn't stand a chance against us anyway," Albert adds.

"Not until the experiment succeeds," Sara reminds us.

"What is the experiment?" Lily asks rhetorically.

"Whatever it is, it's supposed to be at least as powerful as the procedure they used on us," Charlotte replies.

"Fire, can you dig up information about it?" Sara asks Fred.

"I'll try, but research data will be in a high-security server," Fred responds.

"Do your best. We need to know what it is, how far along it is, and how much time we have," Sara instructs.

"What about the prodigies?" Lily asks.

"What about them?" I counter.

"We were the first tier of prodigies, right?" Lily explains. "But what if... what if we eliminate all the first-tier prodigies?"

"You're insane!" I exclaim immediately.

"No way!" Albert, Charlotte, and Sara echo in unison.

"They're innocent!" Fred argues.

"Are they?" Lily challenges. "Death, how many people had you killed before you were recruited?"

I stay silent.

"How about you, Gila? Or you, Black? King? Fire? Bruno?"

No one answers. We all know the truth: each of us had blood on our hands before being recruited. Gila's body count alone would have set records from his street-fight days.

"The first tier is the best the organization can find. If we eliminate them, all that's left is the second tier," Lily argues.

"What if the second tier is still better than us? Kids nowadays are more talented," Albert says.

"Then we deal with the third tier," Lily replies coldly.

"That's too much," I growl.

"How about I try bending their minds first?" Charlotte offers. "I could make them refuse recruitment."

"Can you beat Madam's persuasion?" Sara asks skeptically.

Charlotte shrugs. "Maybe."

"It's too risky," Bruno mutters.

"But at least it's not outright murder," Fred supports Charlotte.

"Enough," Sara interjects. "We don't have enough information to make decisions yet."

She turns to Fred. "I need all the data you can find—about the research and the prodigies. Abilities, coaches, history, kills—everything."

Then to Charlotte: "I need you to possess Mr. Zacharia Mohayet, Madam's PA, and investigate her plans for us."

Charlotte nods.

Sara sighs heavily. "Once we have enough data, I'll draft plans. We'll discuss them together and choose the best one. And I want all of you to help me identify every potential flaw, no matter how unlikely. I can't afford another mistake."

I glance at Sara. Her face is set with determination, but her eyes glisten with unshed tears.