Crush 1

Alti.

Under the small glow of the orange flame that burnt brighter as the wax shortened, an exchange of an envelope transpired, a secret chit that brought me in this position.

Bloody Phoenix. Somewhere I belonged, or so I thought.

I have had my shares of questions about why I was even there in the beginning? Yet the gun that rested by my waist spoke louder.

I touched it, felt the heavy weight. Made sure that stuck was what it was both in life and here on my tippy toes, on the tiny ledge of the building, where I stood by the window with held breath where two people conversed inside, no quarrelled.

"How dare you choose her over me!?"

Patiently, like a crouching lion I waited.

"How many times do I have to tell you, it is an arranged marriage. I can't, for God sake, Chingli…" . A crack in his whispery voice recocheted off the walls. "I can't, even if I wanted to. Our love is a lost cause!"

Tick tock tick tock, the clock kept on ticking away and so did the silence that grew thick with just their heaving breath and the loud shatter of their love to pieces in between them.

One of the reason I pitied the rich, all followers of the system. Of the blood and of the hierarchy one was born into. But seeing that I was one of the rich offspring doing the exact same thing as him only in a different way, perhaps I shouldn't judge.

"Have a good night, Sire"

"Chingli! Wait!"

Right after the sound of their footsteps decreased and the door clicked shut, I pounced into the office, finding refuge under the desk still to hear the report from my peers. I pressed the device in my ear and connected to the other side.

"I'm in"

I informed.

"Good. Keep your eyes open. A maid seem to come your way"

Came in the response. I glanced at the door and used my ninth eye, a power which showed me the number of people that were around me.

"Roger"

I replied, seeing her figure disappear down the hallway. From the other side, another order came in.

"The camera is shut for five minutes. Be quick"

I got up to my feet and straight went for the computer.

"You can power in now. We'll be on the lookout"

"Got it"

With sweats on my brow, I searched for the files, on different directories, till I found the correct one and connected the pendrive into the system, copying all the data into the pendrive. 2 minutes. I looked at my wristwatch and up at the camera that was fixed on the opposite side of the wall while tapping on the table, waiting for the percentage bar to reach a hundred, with jittery legs.

"Action, quick! Men in the second corridor about to pass by you. He may enter, he's the son of Quirius Maltik"

"Shit!"

I cursed and stood near the door, using my ninth eye again, and watched his appraoching figure walk passed the office to another room. I slowly put away the gun back into my holster and checked the screen which was still at 89% , then back at the door.

1 minute. I glanced at my wrist watch.

99%.

100%.

I quickly took the pen drive out and shut the computer down.

"15 seconds. Get under cover"

"Nodded"

I responded and quickly climbed out the window. Tiptoed through the ledge, climbed a dozen other building windows, and avoided all camera coverage, to finally slip inside the car so stealthily, that waited at the back. It was not an easy job.

I led out a breath and removed my balaclava.

Fin looked up from his laptop and gave me a toothy smile, offering me a can of orange juice. I took it and chugged it down.

"Pendrive"

I handed the pen drive to Zach and he plucked it in his laptop, checking the contents. Once done, he smirked.

"Good job, Alti. As productive as always"

I hummed, then at a jet speed we were out of the mansion, somewhere far away from the house. This was my job father often gave me with a reason as weak as the relationship between us, to get to know better.

Heck! We rarely met. Anyway, I decided to stuck being the team's dirty rat just cause Parkour was my favourite activity.

Come to think of it, how long has it been since we last met?

Three, no, four months. The last time I saw him was at the meeting of Bloody Phoenix.

Heh! How ironic? Being one of the best information gatherers in the group, I failed to know the information of his whereabouts, of my own father. Like a rush of wind he was, now here then…. God knows where.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and screwed my eyes shut. I jerked in shock after I felt a tap on my shoulder. Kill. He was the master executioner in the team, a very dangerous weapon. I looked down as he handed out a strip of pills towards me.

"Headache"

His voice was gravely, rough like sandpaper and a bit baritone on the side.

I smiled at him and took the pills.

"Thank you"

He nodded his head and the journey went on till the sun started showing its face up in the sky. Once I reached the threshold of the mansion, three maids ran towards me to welcome. One took the masks and my suit, the other brought me water and some morning cereals.

"The shower is ready, ma'am"

I hummed and all at once after an hour or two I found myself getting in the car, ready to go to the college without any sleep from last night. I was tired, but that wasn't an excuse to skip such important work as going to college, attending each and every single class, getting all A's and all the while never slipping a foot on the nightly missions.

I sighed and leaned back on the seat.