Chapter 5: The Race Against Time

Headquarter of Prometheus Corporation.....

The employees who are off shift, are now rushing back to their work station at the command center, after they received the order from their boss, as somehow, Ares No.9 has emerged since the attack at the outer space. Mr. Ikido, the leading member of this operation, is heading toward his desk to check the data he received, after the mysterious blue energy pulse emission from Ares No.9 exploded. While he's checking the information on his computer, Mr. Stryker arrives and asks him

"Is the asset safe, or face any damages, upon that energy explosion, Mr. Ikido. Also, explain to me why all of a sudden, the asset exploded like that?" Mr. Stryker asks Mr. Ikido, while he's looking at the big screen in front of him, as the beeping light keep flickering on the shown map.

"Negative, sir!! According to the data I received from the satellite, energy output of the explosion was not serious enough to the damage the asset's body integrity, sir. As for the reason, due to the crate's systems were rebooted, which mean the asset's function also being rebooted and unusable as well. For this reason, the energy that being distributed from the core to support those systems are being sent back to the core, which overloaded the main core and course that explosion, sir. However, due to the core at that time, was not overload on a critical level, as it was released earlier, that's why, the asset wasn't affected much, sir" Mr. Ikido explains to his boss calmly and professionally, to avoid being scolded again.

"Good!! Thank to this event, we can track it down now, event its homing beacon is useless. Scramble the search drones, and our field operatives to go there and do more thorough investigation to find Ares No.9 immediately. Now!!" Mr. Stryker gives his order to his people without wasting a moment.

"But sir!! That's Sho-gah Town of Emerald City State. If we're sending this many of our security forces, the mayor might think, this is an act of oppression or aggression, which is not very good, for both Prometheus and the state's official, sir. Even though you are the representative of the High Council of the U. A. H, sir" Ms. Rand's warning to her boss, as his action could cause a rift between him and The Emerald City State's official.

"Don't warry about that, Ms. Rand. I'll handle that myself. So your job right now, is to monitor the command center, and report to me with any updates toward the hunt for Ares No.9" Mr. Stryker's assuring Ms. Rand, as he knows what he's doing.

"Understood, sir. So, you will arrange the meeting with Mr. Mayor of Sho-gah Town, and the Chancellor of the Emerald City State, right, sir? If so, do you want me to make an arrangement accordingly, sir?" Ms. Rand, as a good employee as she is, asks her to boss for clarification.

"That won't be necessary, Ms. Rand. I'll handle that myself. At this moment, you should focus on monitoring the progress of this operation and report to me regularly, which would be suffice, Ms. Rand" Mr. Stryker responses to his secretary patiently as he will not need her assistant as of now.

"Understood, sir" Ms. Rand doesn't have anything else to say, so she just nods her head, and agree with her boss without any thought.

"Alright, people, let's move out !!" Mr. Stryker gives the order to his employees.

Many drones are leaving the rooftop of Prometheus Tower, and they're swarming to one direction as the Emerald City State. Not enough, the field agents with advance equipment and weaponry of Prometheus, are on their way as well with many of their advanced armor vehicles. Mr. Stryker also on his way as well, through his personal helicopter, which on the helipad of his penthouse on his company's tower.

...

The Shen Estate.....

Hugo rush fully carries August on his arms, toward his workshop at the basement of his house, after parking his truck in front of the house recklessly when August doesn't regain his conscious yet. Mrs. Shen, Juliet and Henry are shocking to witness this event in the middle of the night, after both August and Hugo were hung out together at Sho-gah Town as promised with Mrs. Shen in the morning.

After laying August on the operating table, Hugo quickly activates his computer to scan August's body, to see the course of all of this incident. When all of his computer systems are operating at full capacity, Hugo does not waste anymore time, he initiates the scanning system, by a green laser light that shoots from a large machine on the ceiling above the operating table, as its running from August's foots until it reaches his head.

As the scanning is completed, Hugo immediately checks the data he received. After checking the data, Hugo starts to feel relieve as he found nothing seriously damage to August's systems or body after the incident. However, August doesn't regain his consciousness yet, so Hugo decides to check his core to make sure, if energy is completely depleted after a one full release like that. That's when Hugo in an absolute shock, as he sees the core of August.

"Hugo!! What just happened when you two when into town? How August ended up like that, huh?" Mrs. Shen desperately asks her oldest son, as she saw August's state when they returned from town.

"There was an incident occurred, which I did try to defuse to avoid this kind of situation to happen, but everything just happened so quickly that I couldn't process my thought properly to find the way out, mom. But everything is find now, mom, there's nothing bad happen to him. His core just out of juice, that's all, mom" Hugo reassures his mom very calmly, as he doesn't want to scare her much after this incident.

"Just lost his core's energy? Why don't you charge his core, Hugo? That's not okay!!" Mrs. Shen begins to shock even more, as she heard that.

"No, mom!! His core is self-sufficient, which mean his core's energy will regain power on its own without the help from the external sources. We just let him rest more, as his core will begin to generate enough energy to support his available systems. I think it's a good thing that his core released that much of energy, because after his reboot, most of his functions are unusable, which they wouldn't need any more energy to support them, so the pressure started to build up at his main energy core, due to nowhere to send them to. I think if he continues to keep that up, his core could go critical, and the result would be even more catastrophic not only to the outside world, but to himself as well, mom. So, you don't need to worry any more, just let him rest, and his core will regain energy on it own" Hugo explains to his mom of his finding and understanding toward August's capability just to assure his mom, to not let her worry about August's condition.

"Understood, Hugo!! And thank you for protecting him. But how are you now? The bruises on your face are completely visible. Come on, let me fix that for you" Mrs. Shen glad to hear that from her son, as she will not need to worry about August anymore, but now she just need to worry for her oldest son, who is now carry wounds on his body.

Both mother, son are sitting on the chair in front of Hugo's desk in order to monitor August's condition via his own computer, as Mrs. Shen's dressing her son's bruises very gently.

"You don't need to do that, mom. It's late now, you should go to bed to get some rest. I can fix it myself. You don't need to worry" Hugo worries about his mom, as she lates for her sleep, due to it already passed mid night now.

"It's okay, Hugo!! Even though I return back to bed, I would not sleep anyway, since you thick headed brat, always worry me all the time, and also, I am your mother, its my duty to look after you no matter how grown up you are or rebellious you are, so I'm find. Just worry about yourself" Mrs. Shen jokingly assures her son without hesitation, as she glad to do it.

"To be honest, mom!! It's really nice to have this kind of conversation together without any arguments or fighting, mom. I wish, things could have gone different ways, so that, this family would not go astray like this, mom. I wish we, as a family could be getting along like this. Before his arrival, we always at each other's throat whenever we talk, I mean, we could not get along without fighting even for a minute, like we're complete strangers to one another. However, everything's changed just a few days after his arrival into this family. Maybe you're right, mom. He's sure given me Jaymin's vibe whenever I get close to him and learn about him more. He's just Jaymin, like a completely the same person" Hugo starts to express the feeling, he has for August, and admit his wrong feeling and judgement.

"I don't want to say 'I told you so', but I have to say 'I told you so'. My mother's instinct has never mistaken before, that's why, I completely trust my instinct. That's why I always see Jaymin inside August, like they're the same person. Seeing him, make me feel like Jaymin never left us at all" Mrs. Shen continues to explain her feeling she got for August to Hugo very calmly and trustfully.

"You're right, mom!! Maybe the problem was not him, but me. Maybe I still not able to move on from his death at all yet. I keep telling you and the twins to move on, to let go of this grief, which turns out, I'm the one who cannot move on, or let go of his existent. This feeling, keep me attached to him, even though he's not here anymore. That's why, when I see August, I keep seeing Jaymin, especially when he wore Jaymin's clothes or used his staff, I'm mad. I am mad that a complete stranger has my brother's face, and he just used my late brother's belonging like he's the rightful owner, that's why I didn't like him at first, but now, when I got close to him, learn more about him, I realized that, they are a complete the same person, so I am afraid that, we would forget about the real Jaymin, as we replace him with August, mom. That's what I'm afraid the most" Hugo finally admits his true feeling, and expresses it to his mother, as it's keep bothering him a lot, after August's arrival.

"August would not be able to replace our Jaymin, Hugo, and he'll not be able to do so, like ever. Even though, they share the same face, the same personality, they still a completely different people, and they will not be able to replace each other at all. Also, as long as we keep remembering about Jaymin, he will always be within our heart for the rest of our lives. Do you understand that, hmm, son?" Mrs. Shen assures her son very emotionally as they hug each other to comfort each other.

"Mrs. Shen is right, Hugo!! I'll not be able to replace Jaymin from your memory, from your love. My current existent is just to fill-in the void of emptiness in all of your hearts, in order to heal those wounds that still inflict in there, that's all I will do" August replies to Hugo's fear, as he tries to get up, as he just regains his consciousness as a moment ago.

"August!! Don't push yourself that hard yet. Your energy core still replenishing, it's not at full capacity yet. So, just get some more rest. You don't need to worry about anything, any more, okay?" Hugo reassures August as he tries to put him back to rest on the operating table.

"We knew that, August!! We knew that very well. Still, I always see you as my son, a part of this family, don't you ever forget about that, okay?" Mrs. Shen replies to August as she walks close to him.

"That's right, August!! From now on, you are part of this family now, no matter what. Which mean you're my brother now, little brother" Hugo finally excepts August as his brother, and part of the Shen family now.

August doesn't say much after hearing that, he just smiles to Hugo, his new older brother, full of joy. As they keep looking at each other, for a short moment, something interrupts them, as the big screen on August's crate starts to light up the beeping light, which alert everyone there. August tries to get up in order to check what's going on with his crate, but he being stopped by Hugo, as he's moving toward the crate alone.

"Oh no.....!! This is bad... This is very bad....." August out of nowhere blurts out his worries from his mouth as Hugo gets close to the crate.

"What is it, August? What is happing?" Hugo asks August, as he reaches the crate and see the flickering light on the map of Sho-gah Town, on that screen.

"It's Prometheus.....!! They already found me..... !! And they're own their way here now" August fearfully shocks, as he informs everyone there about the informing threat.