6 Anticipation

Ethan Bryce sat at his massive desk in his office and watched the recording on the computer in front of him for the 17th time. He just couldn't get enough of what he was seeing. The simplicity of it. Yet the number of calculations that went into it left his heart racing.

He was watching the security camera footage from the music store. He trained his eyes on the fluid motion. From his killing of his assailants outside to those in the store, it was magical. He felt that he was watching a physical manifestation of a musical masterpiece.

He felt annoyed with himself, however; he should have hired more skilled men so that Alpha would have displayed more of his skills. It wasn't his fault though: he wasn't sure that the last message sent from The King before his suicide was to Alpha, but his hunch proved right.

Bryce finally closed the video but his eyes remained alit with greed; he wanted this man. More than he wanted control over "The Organization". After all, for The King himself to give over the entire duty of re-establishing the order within "The Organization" showed the worth that Alpha had. And that's what he wanted.

The door to his office clicked open. Bryce raised his head to see his most beloved person walk-in: his niece, who worked as his personal assistant too. She smiled on seeing him. "I've worked out the location of the bases of those terrorists. You can send your men to apprehend them now", she informed him.

He smiled. She was his favourite family member. Not to mention that she was intelligent and efficient. She had unknowingly helped him discover the bases of 'terrorists' that were 'attacking' the nation, lessening the amount of work he had to do to find them himself.

A 'bird' whistled outside his window. The smile on his face froze. "You can have the rest of the day off, Alice. You deserve it for all the hard work", he said to her, getting up from his desk and leading her out of the office.

Turning around to his desk again, he stared at the blond man sitting down on the edge of the table. He was the same man who had followed Bryce to the last safe house extermination. "It's not yet time for our meeting, Beta. What are you doing here?". The blond man, Beta, swung his legs for a bit before smiling slightly.

"I heard from a little birdie that you had contact with Alpha", he said, his smile not a smile. Bryce inwardly shook his head; Beta was obsessed with Alpha almost as much as he was, but for a different reason. No one liked being number two, especially for a proud person like Beta. Not to mention that the rules of "The Organization would never allow him to reach the rank of Alpha.

He waved his hand upwards and a knife appeared in his grasp. He twirled it around for a while before looking back at Bryce. He wanted nothing more than to take Alpha's head off his shoulders. He had only met him once, but it was when he wasn't even a member of the Pantheon. Alpha had been a teen back then. He ignored Beta's attempt to warm up to him and almost shot him dead when he attempted to defend the error they made during their mission.

From that moment on, he wanted nothing more than to trump over Alpha and take over the position. Putting himself through hellish training during which he technically died more than once. But it was due to this that he was able to swiftly rise up in ranks to reach Beta, But it was impossible to get farther. One can imagine how frustrating it would be to reach the final leg of one's race just to be denied. This continued to fester in Beta's heart until he decided to take drastic measures.

He made plans to collude with an outsider to not only have his chance to battle and kill Alpha but to take over "The Organization". In came Ethan Bryce. He was among the Big Six: They were those that ruled the six habitable continents from the shadows. But he wasn't satisfied with just that; he wanted to be in control over the world. He desired power. All of it.

Beta reached out to him and their 'cooperation' was formed. A very fragile one it was. Beta wanted total control of "The Organization" and the death of Alpha. Once his goal was achieved, he would dispose of Bryce. But Bryce had a similar plan: he would use Beta to gain both "The Organization" and Alpha. If Beta was obedient, then he could remain. Otherwise, he would be eliminated. After all, in his eyes, one Alpha was better than ten Betas.

Both were vaguely aware of each other's plans but tacitly avoided the topic. When their goals were achieved, then the gloves would come off. Till then, however. Back to the present. Bryce ignored the knife in Beta's hand; he knew that nothing untoward would happen. He wasn't the target of Beta's anger and he knew that the blond man was smarter than that.

"The King's last message went to a certain computer in England. I had a hunch it was for Alpha and it turned out I was correct. Unfortunately, I have no idea where he is now. He killed those I sent to confirm and fled", he said, going around to his seat at the desk. He pondered for a while and opened the camera footage once again. He turned the computer screen for Beta to view. He carefully watched the expression change in Beta's eyes and the muscles in his hand tense.

There was a good length of silence from Beta after the video ended. "Next time there's news of him, tell me. I'll deal with him myself", he finally said in a strained voice. His eyes were shining with battle lust. He had to put in a lot of effort to suppress it.

Bryce nodded. He also wanted to see the battle between the two top dogs of "The Organization". He wanted to see Alpha in his element, in his full battle aura. That was his reason for showing the recording to Beta. He could get to see such entertainment and get rid of Beta as well. The blond man snorted inwardly; he was aware of Bryce's intentions but he didn't care. He believed that his training made him more than enough of a match for Alpha. He was made to be the real Alpha.

He walked over to the window in this office, nodded once to Bryce and climbed through it. Bryce leaned back in his seat and clasped his shaking hands together. The anticipation he felt was killing him. He wanted the war more than ever. And he wanted what belonged to him: the cold-blooded killing machine. Spinning his chair toward the window, he muttered to himself, "Soon, soon...".