Confront

Trinity walks into the room where Hunter, Diana, and Skylar are, the latter was standing behind the former two. "Diane. I should have guessed," said Trinity as she scanned the room. "Where's the princess?" She asked.

"Somewhere you wouldn't find her," Diana replied.

"I thought you would say that." Trinity nodded. "I could beat the answer out of you three, you know," she says with a slight smirk.

"Please," Diana laughed. "You're outclassed and outmatched why don't you surrender so we don't have to go through the hassle of forcing you to," said the snow-white-haired.

"You're so full of yourself," Trinity said dismissively. "She's a liability," the Archaeon said pointing at Skylar. "That makes just you two. Do you honestly believe the both of you can take me?"

"Oh, I can take you on one on one if you're scared," said the elemental. "But it would end the same way as all the times we fought when we were kids," the peach-eyed woman added.

Trinity laughs. "This isn't like when we were younger, Diane; I am going to wipe the floor with you."

*MEANWHILE*

Mercedes approached the door to the room her sister told her the second person was in. She pushed open the door to find a woman with raven hair and honey-brown eyes.

Mercedes tilts her head sideways. "You're not the princess," she said in her usual bland and indifferent tone.

"I'm not," Chelsea replied before throwing a softball at the Archaeon. The ball hits the silver-white-haired woman in the face before falling to the ground and bouncing off the smooth surface. Mercedes looked from the ball to the honey brown-eyed woman with the same lackadaisical and idle look she always had on.

"Come get me!" Chelsea races to the window and jumps out through it. Mercedes shakes her head before following the former at her own pace.

*ELSEWHERE*

Sophia and Aislinn played a game of chess while Hachimura was seated in a corner meditating.

"I'm not even good at this game but my goodness, you are terrible at this," said Aislinn.

"I know, I know. I mostly play with Hunter and our other friend Jacob and they are both somehow worse than I am so it kinda made me regress," said Sophia.

"Speaking of, where is he anyway? He told us he'd be back soon but doesn't even call," Aislinn said.

"Oh he'd have loved that if he was here, he'd be like nice segue," Sofi said.

"Really? Why does he like segues?" Aislinn asked. "Check."

"What? How?!"

"I'm feeling a bit hungry," Aislinn said, rising to her feet. "I'm going to get something from the eatery outside. Would you two like anything?"

"Oh! I see how," said the redhead finally realizing how the curly-haired girl checked her. Er ... Can you get me a cup of coffee with some bagels," she said moving her king on the chess board.

"Got it," Aislinn nodded before turning to Ai who seemed very much engrossed in her meditation. "Hachimura, would you like anything?" She asked.

"Anything that doesn't have avocados," Ai replied, her eyes still closed.

"Okay ..." Aislinn made her way out of the room while Sofi took her phone to call her best friend. She heard a clicking noise from the door and turned towards it to see Aislinn rushing back in.

"Forgot something?" Sofi asked.

"Uh-huh ..." Aislinn squats next to the chess board before moving her queen across the board. "Checkmate." She said with a smile before rushing out and laughing by herself.

The curly-haired woman paid no attention to her surroundings until she bumped into someone who was going up the stairs. "Sorry," she apologized but the person paid her no mind and continued his ascent.

Happy to avoid the drama, the honey-brown-eyed girl gleefully continued down the stairs and towards the exit but suddenly stopped just before she walked out of the hotel.

'That man ...' She thought. 'Didn't Sophia say she was abducted by Archaeons? ... That man had white hair!"

Aislinn raced up the stairs and back to the room. When she pushed the door open, she found the very same man she had bumped into holding Hachimura up by the throat with his left hand and Sofi running to the balcony.

'I have to get Titan,' Aislinn thought to herself. She started for her bag but Kilian took note of her footsteps and shot an energy beam from his right hand that sent her through the wall and into the room next door.

Sophia soon returns from the balcony with Hachimura's sword in hand. "Hachimura!" The former exclaimed before throwing the blade towards the latter.

Hachimura manages to catch the sword before attempting to slice the Archaeon who quickly lets her go and creates space between them to avoid the attack.

*SOMEWHERE IN LEINHEIM*

"This is it," Jason said, exhaling deeply. "There's no coming from this, is they?" He turned to Maxine who paid him no mind.

"Your father is here," she said. The pearl white-haired boy looked to see an SUV accompanied by several trucks arriving at the barren area of land.

"Good lord, that's a lot of people," Jason said.

Max was finding it difficult to keep her nerves calm. She silently prayed as she knew that she needed all the help she could get and for everything to go as planned otherwise the entire plan would fail ... The Alpha Sector would fall.

Karl approached the duo majestically, the ivory-haired man was wearing a suit and looked slightly peppy than usual.

"You look so happy it's a bit unnerving," Jason noted.

"Your cousin has found Subject 661 ... Today's going to be a great day, I can feel it," said the platinum-eyed man. "Are you ready?" The ivory-haired man asked.

Jason nods before moving towards the trucks. Max watched as the younger Archaeon moved gingerly towards the vehicle, it seemed she wasn't the only one who was nervous although both of them had different reasons for being apprehensive. Jason was afraid of going down this route while Max's was entirely different but when Karl moved and stood side by side with her, she bottled her emotions and responded with absolute conviction.

"Thank you for convincing him to make the right choice," Karl said.

"It is my duty to serve the Archaeon house," she replied. "I owe the House my life," the curly-haired woman added.

"I must apologize," said the pale-skinned man.

"I don't think you have anything to apologize for."

"Hm. I heard that you finished your Mysticism education thanks to sponsorship by the Archaeon Foundation."

"Yes, my Lord. Both my parents died in the Glinerian apartment explosions sixteen years ago," Max responded.

"Ah, what a terrible accident that was."

Max's pupils move sideways. "Accident. Yes, that's what the explosion was ..."

Karl's eyebrow raised, he turned to face the brown-skinned woman, finding it odd how she phrased her response.

'It's time.' Maxine pulled up her turtleneck to her nose, obscurity her face.

BANG!

Max swiftly moved to protect Jason even though she was fully aware of what the noise was.

They looked up to see a light in the sky: someone had fired a flare gun.

"What the hell is that for?" said Karl.

They didn't have to wonder for too long as the brilliant light was quickly followed by a revving noise.

"We have to get out of here!" Maxine exclaimed as several vehicles filled with men carrying firearms approached them.

"We can't," said Karl. "Not without the subjects," he added.

"We won't stand a chance against their numbers, let's get out of here!" Jason said.

"No!" The older Archaeon insisted. "I've spent years experimenting on this lot, I would not let it all go to waste because of a few bandits." Karl turned to his bodyguards who arrived with him. "Arm yourself and get rid of them!" He ordered.

He turned back to the attackers who had closed the distance and were marching towards them. The platinum-eyed man noticed the flag of the attacking men flying proudly in the air, "White Flaggers," he thought.

"Recognise the colors?" One of the men said. He was holding a dagger and slowly approached the older Archaeon. One of Karl's men stepped forward to stop the white flagger but he easily blocked the attack and sliced his throat.

The flagger points his dagger at the platinum-eyed man. "Karl Archaeon, you and your family have brought nothing but pain and suffering to Brownvale and millions of others around the world. Today, you pay the ultimate prize."

----