S S

"Stay stay.... back else I... I would slit her throat" the man says trying to hide his shaky voice and begins to move backwards towards the doorway. "Calm down we can talk about this tell me what you want" her dad says in a tensed tone.

"There's nothing to talk about here. You took everything from me, everything!! And now I'm going to take the one person you love"

"You don't want to do this" he says while making a hand signal as though signaling to someone behind the man.

The man turns to look back. Distracted, she pulls his hand away from her throat and twists it and the knife clatters to the ground as he groans in pain. She then hurls him over her shoulder sending him crashing onto the hard floor. "Arrrhhh!!!!" he screams due to the intense pain which causes his body to momentarily freeze. She quickly turns him onto his belly and cuffs him.

"S-1 did you have to take him out that hard? You could have killed him before we got the chance to interrogate him" her dad says.

"The last thing I expect is someone holding a knife to my throat" She says twisting his fingers and he yells sending an echo through the entire hall.

"That's enough" her dad says sternly

She lifts him to his feet and shortly after a team of soldiers wearing pitch black camo move out of the shadows like ghosts, their uniform color slowly fading to normal as they arrive and pick him away.

'Didn't think A's would be deployed just for this guy' S-1 thinks.

"Melanie, come here" her dad calls. He hands her a device.

"Send the message" he says. She takes it and walks away.

"Sir the general is on the phone" a soldier says handing Melanie's dad a phone.

"General"

"Mr. Kemper, did everything go according to plan"

"Yes it did"

"What have you got for me"

"The one overseeing this place goes by the nickname Ghost. His real name is Scott Ryan. He is in charge of this entire facility. It's clear he's working for someone but he is not giving us a name. All he said was that it was some kind of family business and it will be in our own interest to stop the investigations."

"After all these years and he is also just another 'family member'" the general says not hiding the despair in his voice. "I thought we were getting closer but it looks like this is bigger than we thought. Great work out there today. Let's talk more when you arrive"

"Okay general". He hangs up and hands it back to the soldier who gave it to him.

"Sir a chopper has been provided to take Melanie to Braden" says Leah. She doesn't look to old, probably in her thirties, black hair, petite body.

"Okay thank you". Turning towards Melanie, he calls "Melanie we got to go". She walks to him

"I would be going to speak with the general. Ian would take you back to Braden. Be careful. I would come later this evening"

"Okay, should I prepare dinner?" she asks pressing a few buttons on the device in her hands.

"I'm not sure when I would be back. I will give you a call when coming" "Okay" she says handing him the device she took earlier and turns to leave.

"I love you" her dad says

"Love you too, see you later" she says walking off. He leaves with the rest of the soldiers as soon as her chopper takes off.

GAVIN'S HOUSE

3:00 PM

Surrounded by tall hedges hiding most parts of it, the beautiful house stands like a little castle. The path leading to the doorway is like a river bed filled with tiny porcelain like pebbles. Taking the lead, his parents stand back as he goes ahead to open the door. "Surprise!!!!!" echoes around the room when he steps inside. Many eyes are directed at him with a look of joy covering their faces.

Looking at the front row, he smiles broadly and gives his grandma a long warm hug threatening to break her fragile bones living the bag in the doorway. She runs her hand through his hair.

"How has my boy been doing? Look how big he's become." She gives a giddy smile and retired to a nearby seat with Gavin's help as she is growing tired. Gavin gave a hearty laugh as he answers "I have been doing well little snow". A roar of laughter filled the room at the mention of little snow.

"Welcome back pal" a young man about his age says

"Gideon, thanks man" he says with an embrace.

"How was the trip"

"It was less of a trip, but it was really amazing. I didn't even want to leave but you know, duty calls"

"Duty? And which exactly is that?"

"School?".

Gideon laughs. "It's time to cut the cake and I can't hold on any more. Come on." He says dragging him along. The kids cheer him on since they couldn't wait any longer either. He walks over to the frosted glass table, looks out the dark blue tinted glass door and sees a shop across the street with the inscriptions 'Carmen's Pizza' his favorite pizza shop. "I'm glad they are still open" he thought to himself as he cuts the cake and just then two huge trailers pass by with a black sedan following.

***

3:48 PM

"Thank God the situation didn't get out of hand. I don't know what would have happened otherwise" Chloe says, a sigh of relief clear in her voice.

"Yeah and thanks to Mr. Martin who can smell a fault a mile away…." Zarx says

"Zarx!!!" his mom calls in a stern voice. Zarx grins while Mr. Martin only smiles behind the wheel. Soon, the manor can be seen from a distance. The trailers stop in front of the manor as the Wells drive into the underground garage at the left side of the manor. A total of 12 different kinds of cars and 4 motorcycles can be seen as they come to a stop in the garage. They soon get busy unloading the trailers. They unload ware and furniture.

***

4:00 PM

"Hey man that cake was really delicious" Gideon says

"Yeah I really enjoyed every last bit of it" Gavin agrees as the two make their way to the skateboarding park not too far off. They walk a few meters past Carmen's Pizza when Gideon stops and taps him on the shoulder and he stops and lifts his head. Before them are the neighborhood bullies. "Hey guys look who's here. It's Gavin the baby" their leader who is both tall and well built says. The others laugh. "Last time we met you run away from me. This time you are going absolutely no where" the leader of the group says popping his knuckles, his imposing figure glaring at Gavin.

"I don't remember running away from a sc*mbag like you. Unless you are willing to help me remember, get out of the way before I get pissed cause I don't have time for this right now"

"You are in no position to give orders around here creep".

"Excuse me?" Gavin says as the calmness in his eyes fades off and replaced by the look of a berserk beast about to go on rampage. Gideon taps him on the shoulder and shakes his head motioning him to stay calm.

"Man we're running late let's leave" says another of the 3 bullies as he senses the change in atmosphere. The leader steps forward and stares Gavin in the eyes "You just got saved. We would do this another time. Now p*ss off" he says pushing Gavin and Gideon aside and going through. The others follow him.

"See you around Gav" he shouts from a distance.

"Gav just ignore them. They almost shaved me bald last month"

"What!! why didn't you say anything" he says agitated.

"I didn't want you to get into another fight. You know what the outcome's going to be. Unless you are willing to spend another year in Gardot" he motions behind and continues "they are not far off. You can go after them"

"Yeah whatever"

"How was the stay at your grandpas, after you were sent because of a fight" he teases. Gavin stares at him. "Come on how was it"

"Forget it lets go". They take a turn left and disappear among the crowd.

S.S.H.Q

The diamond shaped emerald headquarters enclosed by giant walls about 2 meters thick appears a few meters away as Mr. Kemper approaches.

Meanwhile in the large conference room;

"I suggest Melanie be withdrawn from this program until she's of age. Besides she can go back to the junior program where there is lesser work" a board member appearing to be in his fifties suggests, stroking his chin.

"I strongly disagree. We can all bear witness to the fact that ever since she was in the program, she has given her all. To add to that, she just took out a major drug operation center with her dad only. She's one of the best and we can't afford to lose someone of her caliber." Says another, appearing to be in his late forties, and bald. A scar on his forehead.

"Mr. Wilson, I agree she is one of the best but that doesn't change the fact that she's still a student. Sending her back to the junior team where there are lesser missions would be our best resort, that way she would have time to study" says the board chairman as he cups his fist.

"Pardon me sir, but we all know that none of these have gotten in the way of her studies. We've seen her results and they keep improving which shows that this does not affect her studies" says Mr. Wilson

"That's true but I spoke to her dad and apparently she's been staying up all night to study which shouldn't be the case. She barely has time to rest. As young as she is, she shouldn't be going through this ordeal. She should be thinking about friends, parties and others just like any other girl her age"

"Sir I am siding with Mr. Wilson on this one...…."

All 8 in the room begin to talk at the same time, some siding with the chairman, others Mr. Wilson as a heated argument begins in there.

Mr. Kemper steps into the elevator and puts his hand on the scanner on the right side of the elevator. It takes him to the underground part of the headquarters. As he steps out of the elevator, the seemingly huge figure of a man stands in the darkness peering into the opened elevator as their eyes lock on each other.