Chapter Twenty-Five

'Linda, head back to the palace and lead the soldiers here. We'll clean this land from these impurities' James said.

'Yes grandpa' Linda replied, walking back.

What? This whole government is definitely one big greedy family.

'You can't' Draven said all of a sudden. Linda was no longer in sight.

'What do you mean boy?' James asked.

'You don't think the passageway is gonna stay open did you? You'll need the password'

Then it became silent for a while.

'Stop' James said. All the guards listened to his order and stopped. Their grips on us are still tight. James walked towards Draven. That moment was tense. I could feel my heartbeat. I guess everyone was afraid, waiting for what's coming. Draven was calm however. He even stared at James' face. James smacked his face hard after that. I could see a little bit of blood coming out of Draven's nose. Draven however did not lift his eyes away from James'. He's standing his ground again.

'Ungrateful teenager' James said. And he smacked Draven's face again. 'He shall be brought back to the palace with me. The rest will follow Anton's lead to the rebel's nest'

James walked back to the palace. Two guards who were beside Draven the whole time, followed, pushing Draven with their guns to make sure he follows. Draven put down the boy beside me before following.

'His name's Dane Dalton, he's special. Take care of him, and red' Draven told me. I don't understand what he meant by red.

'That would be worthless. You're all going to die anyway' Anton said. He smiled a very satisfying smile. Now I can see the resemblance between him and Jayden. He might not be Jayden's biological father but he has impacted a lot on Jayden's life.

'Now I'll lead the way' Anton said, stepping up to the front with three guards as his bodyguards. We followed. One of the guard beside me forced Dane to walk. I was angry. But I couldn't do anything right now. The dimly-lit lights along the passageway was reminding me of the water passage me, Zayne and our parents went through back at Warhem. I got sad again. Are they really dead? We can never see them again? Zayne was just eight and he's now an orphan. All of us are. The tunnel goes on and on downwards. How deep is this? It's not like a normal staircase by the way. It goes one step or a few steps down then the next step down is probably one or two metres away. Finally, the steps ended. We walked a little further and came across a huge door, like a vault door to a bank. There was nothing abnormal on the vault except for two buttons, green and red. There was no other way that could open the door. No lever, no wheel or anything aside from the buttons.

'Well, Draven should not have gone back' Anton said. I could see he was observing the buttons. Then it hit me. Draven's words. About red. Maybe the red button is what Draven wanted me to push.

'I know how to get in. Draven taught me earlier just in case you guys found us. And he's right' I said. Well, I lied. But for a good reason. But thinking back, I wasn't directly lying, he did told me. Everyone was literally looking at me when I spoke. Anton stepped aside, letting me ahead. The guards let go of me and I walked to the door. And I pressed the red button. I stepped back, waiting in anticipation. I could hear those behind me breathed in like they're getting ready for something big. But nothing happens. I pressed the button again. Anton was getting frustrated as he was impatient. He grabbed my shirt back collar and pulled me back violently. I fell back hard on the floor. Ouch. That hurt my butt old man. I have had enough of all this crap and capturing and stuffs. I got up, wanting to fight back. The guards cocked their guns and ready to shoot me. Anton laughed evilly.

'A really dumb move Zac' he grinned.

'Only those close to me call me Zac. You have no permission old brat' I replied bluntly. That really angered Anton. His expression changed.

'You're the spoiled brat you little imp!' Anton shouted at my face. 'You think you're so smart? You won't outsmart me as how you did my useless son'

I purposely smiled to get back at him. He punched my face. For a moment my whole vision just went black. The pain was painful. My mind hurt as well. Then my vision came back. I wasn't bleeding. But my cheek sure is going to have a bump. It still hurts. I had never been punched before this. And that wasn't stopping me from getting at Anton again.

'I think I have already outsmarted you' I said. Anton wanted to hit me again but then there was a sound coming from the vault door. The door was opening. The guards turned their aims at the door. Anton also took out a small gun from his side pocket and pointed it at the door. I took a few steps back, stopping beside the others and Dane. We all waited. Then, the door opened, outwards. We all looked. Inside was a dark empty room that has another vault door at the other side. Just one dim light bulb lit the ceiling in the middle.

'Zac, you move in first' Anton said, looking back at me. Coward. I was about to move when we heard a voice yelling "charge!". And then a group of people came out of the room with swords and bulletproof vests.

'Primary defense!' Anton shouted. Everyone was like went into formation. The guards stood in front as Anton hid behind them. The guards fired their guns continuously. Few of the attackers got injured, but most of them are still standing strong. They moved forward with their swords in style, dodging bullets or deflecting them. And they swung their swords at the guards. Anton was nervously ensuring his gun was loaded. But he didn't seem to care once he saw us, not doing anything and just staring as the attackers kill every one of his men. Anyways, the attackers are on our team. They're the rebels of course. And I recognised one of them. It was Nicholas Sky, Norman's father! Anton was annoyed that we were relaxing at the back so he went to us and grabbed Dane by the arm very firmly. Anton shot a bullet at the vault door which deflected from the metal up to the stone ceiling. It exploded one of the light bulbs. It became quiet. The guards stopped firing and moved to the side as they saw Anton pointing the gun at Dane. Like they understood him through mind language or whatever sign language. Our team stopped slashing as well. Anton would pull the trigger if anyone move a muscle now.

'Let him go!' Fayre exclaimed. I could tell that she's annoyed. Anton fired at the floor beside her. That shocked us badly.

'It's not gonna be that easy' Anton said.

'We don't have to kill one another Anton. Just don't harm the harmless boy' one of the rebels said. I guess he's the leader of this attacking crew.

'Don't kill one another? Isn't killing what you just did a few seconds ago?!'

'We did not kill, we only disarmed and injured those that were fighting us. Killing is only in extreme matters'

'You've lost this time rebels. In a few minutes, Linda will be stomping in with a mass number of soldiers'

Everyone remained silent.

'How you do it anyway? Huh? The base is not even under the surface. It is in one of the levels of the tower. How you connect with many exits and entrances when the only obvious entrance is through here?'

'The base is more real than the tower is. We're talking about dimensions here. You went to technology school Anton, you should know'

'Are you saying that everything below the palace level is fake except for this base?'

'Your father's the superior of Ava. Haven't he explain to you? Afterall, he's been living since before the destruction of Zonex. And if I'm not mistaken, he ordered the destruction and not your grandfather'

Anton moved the gun closer to Dane's head.

'Let's not do that Anton. You'll kill an innocent boy. And even that is against your family's custom laws'

Anton hesitated.

'I may be much younger than you but my grandfather taught me well. Whatever you know I know. Whatever you do not know, most probably I know too. He didn't spend all those years working with James blindly'

'You know nothing about the sphere'

'Oh believe me we know. And we know about the diamond thieves'

Anton changed his aim very quickly, pointing the gun at the man.

'What do you know?' Anton said. He was still aggressively holding Dane's arm.

'First, put the gun down. Let's settle this peacefully. We don't want to ruin your family's reputation or whatever achievements you won. We don't even call ourselves rebels. We are members of the cause. The cause to set things right. That is to return the sphere to where it rightfully belongs. Away from your greedy family. No offense. And to find our diamond thieves. I believe we have that last mission in common'

Anton listened carefully. Everyone was. This is some drama we're witnessing here. But what surprised me was that Anton really put his gun away. He let go of Dane.

'You got my attention' Anton said. 'I believe all along there's just a lot of misunderstandings'

'That and betrayal'

'Aren't we the ones who were betrayed?' Anton said, his tone rising a little. The man seemed to think for a while.

'We believe that we were. I believed. Now I think that our great fathers have a lot of misunderstandings'

There was a short moment of silence.

'Shall we?' the man said again. He gestured for everyone to walk into the room. Into the base. I looked over at Anton. Could I be dreaming? Is Anton really cooperating?