Hou Quan.

"Why do I need to learn an entirely new style again?"

Alex was perplexed. In his opinion, he should have been focusing on mastering Wing Chun first.

"Because I think that this style suits you better."

Around 2 weeks had passed since then. Alex had made some progress with Wing Chun, but he was not able to meet the requirements that Jin had set for him. The practice had brought some benefits, but his prowess was not even close to mastery.

"What do you mean?"

Hou Quan was a contingency plan. It was clear that it would take Alex some time to master Wing Chun. Plus, there was also the flexibility aspect of the style.

"Till now, you have been going against rich millionaires that don't care to train themselves. And also a military base composed of general military personnel. These are not the biggest threats that we deal with."

His expression turned serious.

"The collective is a very big organization. But that doesn't make us invincible. Every year, thousands of foot assassins are killed during missions. For example, do you remember your first mission in Austria?"

Alex was surprised. How the hell did he know about that?

"Relax. Your mother told everyone."

Alex sighed.

"I do."

"The sect that had tried to overtake the country had to be terminated. Your father took command of that mission himself. We absolutely decimated them, but we still lost around 100 assassins."'

"That many?"

"Yes. The experienced Assassins demand massive rewards. Your father had to take the inexperienced ones. And trust me, this was one of the better missions. They were outnumbered 10 to 1."

Alex nodded his head.

"This is where the branch families come in. Now, the Kramer family is safe from enlistment because of Madam Sylvia, but it is not the same case for everyone else. Enlistment is mandatory for branch families, and that is why adopting talent is a widespread practice."

All of a sudden, many things started to click.

"Being a talent from the collective certainly brings its benefits, but you have to keep proving your worth. The enemies are not always going to be easy, especially as science pushes human limits. As time passes on, it is our job to keep this world balanced and running."

The threat of Experimentation and cloning, advanced large-scale weaponry, and masters can rival small armies in strength. This was the reality of the future.

He approached Alex and patted his shoulder.

"Better to be safe than sorry. And trust me, Hou Quan is the most suited to your personality."

Alex looked at him and asked,

"Are you implying that I am a monkey?"

Jin chuckled. His expressions had lightened up.

"Kind of."

Alex punched Jin on his arm. He didn't hold back.

"Ouch."

Jin said that, but he remained unharmed.

"Let's begin. Hou Quan, or Monkey Kung fu."

-----------------------------------------------

"We were supposed to meet them here, right?"

Outside the Dubai International airport, Megan and Kane looked around for their elder siblings. Kane had once seen them when he was very young, while Megan had only seen them in pictures. From their description, they were more interested in money than the organization. That was the main reason they were not running for the leadership role in the family.

"I don't see them. Do you?"

Kane focused on his surroundings. A few seconds later, all of his senses started to go off.

Megan was distracted, and there was a single bullet aimed towards her neck. Abel grabbed her hand and pulled her back, narrowly evading the attack.

The bullet lodged into the ground. The impact alerted all the civilians in the immediate vicinity.

Megan looked at the bullet and looked back at Kane. She would be dead if not for him.

"Thanks."

Kane looked at her and said,

"We don't have time for chit-chat."

He let go of her hand. They both took their bags and ran in the direction of the bullet.

"No immediate buildings near the Airport, so the sniper had taken the shot from a relatively far distance."

Megan made analyzed the surroundings. They found a safe spot by the airport and decided to take a break to form a proper plan.

"What do you think we should do?"

Kane asked Megan. He was good at fighting but bad at forming plans.

"I think-"

Kane's phone started to ring. They both looked towards his pocket.

He took out his phone and accepted the call.

"Greetings. This is a prerecorded message by Liam and Lucas. As of now, you were narrowly able to escape our first attempt at killing one of you. From now on, the attacks are only going to get more efficient and precise. Your mission is to evade death until this evening. If even a single civilian is caught in the crossfire, you will have failed the test. You have to work together to finish this mission. Godspeed."

The call ended.

"Motion sensors activated."

A sound came from somewhere inside the ground.

Two machine gun-like contraptions appeared from inside the ground.

They were responded to heat signatures.

Fire.

"Run!"

Both of them broke into a sprint. They dodged the bullets and managed to get out of the safe spot.

"I have a plan."

While they were running, Megan announced.

Two more bullets from a relatively far distance.

Both of them were aware of the dangers now, so it was easier to dodge the bullets. But there were civilians spread out everywhere. They had to make sure that while they dodged, they weren't letting the stray bullets hit anyone else from the crowd.

Liam and Lucas were commanding a sniper each.

"I can't believe that we were actually able to pull this off."

This should have been off-limits, but a few bribes and some connections made it work. Now, it was a de facto terrorist attack.

"Keep shooting."

Liam was focused.