Traitor

"LET ME GO!"

The ear-piercing scream made everyone whirl their heads at the source of the noise. Five heavily armed guards with a complete set of modernized Kevlar armor surrounded a woman who was taller than them by a few inches. Their reflective goggles and black helmet made them look more like cockroaches than human beings.

The woman shrieked again as one of the guards grabbed her by the wrist and the others barred her way of escape.

"HELP!" She shouted once again but no one dared to move.

These guards were personally trained and raised by Cipher so going against them meant defying Cipher's orders themselves. That's why no one spoke up about anything. The people in the cafeteria just hoped that the commotion would die soon so they could eat dinner in peace.

As a final resort, the woman managed to free herself from the guard dragging her by the wrist. She looked around, this time, finding a familiar face. "HELP!!!"

Ventio?! Jarxen thought. His mind screamed at him to save the woman but his feet were firmly planted on the tiled floors. He was in a dilemma: Either defy Head Cipher's orders or leave the woman alone.

As a man in his prime, he couldn't possibly choose the former. Gritting his teeth and leaving his newly-served steak, he slowly walked towards the guards. As someone who's almost seven feet tall, he asserted an air of dominance towards the guards who were almost two feet shorter than him. "I have a scheduled dinner with Ventio, what seems to be the problem?" He asked, growling in the deepest tone of voice he could reach.

"Please step out of the way, Jarxen Vaurg. Director Monteur directly issued an arrest on Julia Ventio, as for what it is, we're afraid it couldn't be disclosed. Please step out of the way, sir, this is your last warning."

Jarxen was getting nervous, but a feeling of danger excited him even more, telling him to stand his ground instead of to flee. "I must be crazy." He chuckled, looking down on the guards nearest to him.

"Last warning? Well, here's your last warning. Let go of Ventio right now or this wouldn't end well for the both of us." He threatened, breaking his knuckles and cracking his neck to further intimidate the guards. "Last time I heard, only Head Cipher can issue a direct arrest. Isn't this an act of treason against him?"

"Director Monteur is one of the board of directors of the Nexus Corporation. Every order he issued is directly from Head Cipher himself. If you have any further accusations, then please direct it to the higher-ups."

"Why don't we confirm that with Head Cipher himself?" Jarxen continued, getting his phone out of his pocket and dialing a random number. This was his last resort, if it didn't work, then he had no choice but to fight the five guards and be accused of treason. He didn't really have Head Cipher's contact address.

It wasn't written on his face, but Jarxen was bluffing his way through!

The guard gripping Ventio's wrist hesitated for a few seconds before deliberately letting go of it. "Very well, we will confirm the issue with Head Cipher. Please watch over Ventio in our place. However... "

"... if this arrest turns out to be true, then I'm afraid you'll have to go with us as well, sir Jarxen."

Like a river flowing around a huge boulder, the guards walked around Jarxen by a safe distance, hoping that he won't lash out at them with their guard down.

Now I've done it! Jarxen said to himself after realizing the insanity of his actions. Now I've really done it! He repeated.

After a few minutes of useless contemplation, Jarxen went back to the queue and grabbed his food which was already getting cold. To his surprise, he found two portions of the meal instead of one.

"Is this for me?" He asked the cook, warmth filling him up at the kind gesture.

"What are you talking about? It's for Julia Ventio over there." The cook pointed at her with his lips since his hands were busy preparing the next meal of the person in line. "You said you're going to have dinner with her, right? Carry on then. You can't leave a woman hanging."

Oh...

"Well, thanks, anyway," Jarxen mumbled, then he headed to where Ventio was and urged her to take a seat.

"Is that for me?" She brightly asked, eyeing the food that Jarxen casually put down on the table.

"No, it's a treat for me since I went against the orders of Head Cipher... probably." He didn't give a second thought of digging in without offering Ventio a bite.

"... ..."

"What are you waiting for? Eat up. You can tell me everything later." He spoke in-between bites.

"But you said... "

"Just eat up." Jarxen interrupted her.

"Thanks."

After taking the first bite of steak, Ventio suddenly felt herself tearing up after realizing what she had just been through. She never knew why she was getting arrested but it was traumatizing nonetheless. If Jarxen hadn't stepped in, she could already imagine herself being thrown into the fiery pit called the incinerator. It was an over-exaggeration, of course. But after being charged with treason, she could only expect that much of an ending.

"It was Director Monteur, right?" Somebody asked behind them. "The one who gave orders to arrest you."

It was Fujimoto, carrying a ginormous bowl of high-quality ramen.

"Fujimoto, great timing!" Jarxen greeted, pulling a seat from another table and placing it beside him. "I wanted to ask you something."

"If it's about the instantaneous arrest that happened awhile ago, I think I might know something about it," Fujimoto replied, taking a huge sip of noodles from his bowl.

Jarxen and Ventio leaned in closer.

"There was a rumor... "

"... that director Monteur was betrayed by another block owner. No one knew who that person is but it endangered his position. Remember last year's Runners Survivor?"

"You mean, that time when almost all of his workers finished the event? How many blocks was it?" Jarxen stared at the wooden ceiling fan right above them as he vaguely recalled what happened.

"Three blocks. Two Sorting Blocks and One Assembly Block to be exact." Ventio continued. "Now that you mention it, I remember the Testing Blocks on that year were much more promising compared to the other blocks, yet, none of them reached the end."

"All of them died. It was sabotage. And of course, all the blame pointed to the director overseeing the majority of escapees." Fujimoto concluded. "As a result, Director Monteur lost ownership of all his blocks."

"I see... so that's where Ventio comes in, right? I mean, she's got two blocks."

"More or less, but I think there's more to it than that." Fujimoto impulsively swung his chopsticks as he spoke. "Bottom line is, Director Monteur's position is at risk so he's desperately searching for some sort of redemption to permanently secure his position."

"Enough about that. We can more or less assume that his orders didn't come from Head Cipher." Ventio leaned back on her seat and heaved a sigh of relief. "Anyway, Jarxen, aren't you forgetting something?" Ventio pointed at his food with a concerned look.

"What?"

... ...

"Aagh!!!"

Jarxen bolted upright from his seat. Ventio was right, something really slipped past his mind. "I'll be right back! Fujimoto, watch over my steak for me."

"You better come back soon. I might get hungry while watching over your food." Fujimoto slyly smiled.

"Don't try me!" Jarxen screamed as he scaled the cafeteria in less than ten seconds.

....

"Red, I can't go on any longer. It's been two days!"

"Let's wait for Jarxen."

"No, I'm going to pound on those doors right now!"

With her last ounce of strength, she managed to get up and forced herself to the block entrance.

"Stop it."

Blond rushed over and blocked Curl's path. "Let's wait for Jarxen."

Adrenaline finally left Curl's body, making her collapse on the floor. Red saw his chance and assisted her to the nearest bunk bed from the lodging room entrance.

Curl breathed out a sigh, shaking her head due to the headache that suddenly plagued her. She was nearing her limits. "I'm huuungry... "

"Stop whining about it. We're all hungry."

Curl had the urge to snap at Red, but this time, it was Gadge who spoke. Standing in front of Red, he presented him with the earpiece. "I made a few alterations inside, I didn't bother changing its exterior since that would be counterproductive. Besides, you need it as soon as possible, right?"

"So it's a mini-radio now?" Red asked, trying to hide the excitement in his voice. He was extremely grateful for Gadge since he gave him a moment of peace from Curl's constant protests.

"Yeah, the two buttons on its bottom side lets you access different frequencies. Of course, you have to take it out of your ear first before adjusting it. It's quite cumbersome but it works." Gadge explained. The buttons were conveniently pre-built there for Jarxen to access different frequencies of the corporation. Gadge only tweaked a few of the wires to disable it and let it access all frequencies.

Meanwhile, the door to the lodging room opened, and in came Jarxen. Jarxen went unnoticed as he headed to the lodging room, carrying two boxes on each of his hands.

After seeing what Red was holding, however, Jarxen dropped his parcels and immediately entered the losing room.

"What's that on your hand!" He exclaimed, rushing towards Red as if to tackle him.