Hindrance

Gabriel Del Valle entered a dark room where Penelope Hundrel is resting. The light from the slightly opened comfort room is the only thing that makes them see each other. Meanwhile, Penelope's eyes are closed but she's wide awake. 

"Well?" she said without looking at him. She just finished taking in dosage of antidote that she made to make her immune to pain. 

Gabriel sat on the single couch in the room and replied, "He died as expected but our men didn't saw them use their abilities. In short, the mission failed. We miscalculated something." 

"Tell me what happened," Penelope answered while her eyes are still closed. 

"Someone came to their rescue," Gabriel told her and rested his head on the cozy couch. He feels a little stressed because he wants to prove to Penelope that he's right about Dazaree. 

Penelope just chuckled because of what he said making Gabriel feel embarrassed because he failed the mission. 

"Don't worry, my next plan won't fail next time," he assured her but she just sighed. "By the way, how did you found out that Dazaree's living there?" 

All this time he's been wondering about that because she's the one who gave him the information about where Dazaree is staying. As far as he remembers, she was uninterested in the girl. 

"What do you take me for, Gabriel?" Penelope answered and looked at him giving him goosebumps. 

"So you've been investigating about her all this time?" he said in astonishment. 

"I've been investigating about her since the first time you told me about it. Do you think, I would ignore that?" she told him and closed her eyes again. 

Gabriel frowned and answered, "But you always show you don't care…"

"Are you always this stupid?" She turned her head to look at him with her eyebrow raised. "I acted I didn't care because there are a lot of traitors lingering in my building," she added then looked at the ceiling. "Just like that bxtch." 

She's talking about Lunari Thomas. She knew ever since that one day, this day will come so she never trusted her. Penelope also knew her feelings towards her husband not that she cares. 

"If you knew that she's a traitor then why didn't you just killed her since the beginning?" Gabriel inquired. He still doesn't understand Penelope despite working with her for years. She's unpredictable. 

"You are really stupid, aren't you?" she paused and sighed. "Why would I get rid of something I can still use? Just think why you are still alive now," she stated that made him pale. 

Gabriel gulped as he felt a chilling sensation. He realized the reason why she keeps Lunari beside her and that is because she is closed to Pharis. She intended to use her as bait for Pharis when a situation like last time happen. 

Penelope is also keeping him alive because she can still use him. That also means that if he fails the mission, she will not think twice about killing him. He gulped at that thought. He doesn't want to die yet. There are still tons of things he wishes to do and achieve. 

"You understand it now, don't you?" Penelope said and looked at him in the eye with her expressionless eyes. She's dead serious and she does not want another failure. 

"Y-yes. Don't worry, I will succeed," Gabriel assured her as sweat starts dripping from his forehead despite the cold temperature of the room. 

"We can't let Pharis find her first. We must take her to our side," Penelope reminded him. 

"I know that, Penelope." 

"That's good to hear," Penelope replied and close her eyes. She must have complete the experiment soon but that will only be possible if she'll have Dazaree. 

Penelope knew that Dazaree just found out about her power and has been living in the same town in a cheap apartment. What she is interested in is the person who owns the apartment because she seemed familiar. 

Anyway, she already asked someone to investigate her. She gets this feeling that she is someone that will get in her way one day. 

"I will go, for now, Penelope," Gabriel said and stood up. 

Penelope didn't answer so he just left the room quietly. Meanwhile, Penelope is expecting another visitor which is her private investigator. She expects that he gathered something interesting about the woman. 

Just as expected, the man came twenty minutes later after Gabriel left. He's wearing formal business attire and is holding a briefcase that contains all the documents that he has gather. 

"Come in," Penelope said. 

The man slowly opened the room as the cold temperature greeted him. 

"I expect that you brought something useful," Penelope told him without gazing at him. 

The man smiled and replied, "Of course. When did I ever disappoint you, Ms. Hundrel?" 

Penelope chuckled and said, "Very well." 

The man took his seat after closing the door making the room dark again. He put his briefcase in his lap and then opened it. He took a small projector and put it on the coffee table in front of him. Next, he took documents out. 

"This contains all the information I gathered about her," he told her and showed her a black envelope then gently opened it to read the contents then took a small remote in his pocket that controls the projector. 

He clicked it and then a picture of a beautiful and healthy woman flashed on the wall. 

"Her name is Selina Pueblo, a 60-year old woman but despite that, she's still looking younger than normal," he stated and looked at Penelope who raised an eyebrow. 

"In short, she has the same condition as Manuel Hundrel, your husband--" 

"That leads us to a conclusion that she isn't human, right?" Penelope said and grinned. "I knew it." 

"That is just a theory," the man clarified. 

"Okay, continue." 

The man nodded and clicked the remote, then a photo of a cafeteria popped out. "Except for the apartment she also owns this cafeteria where her staffs are mostly students." 

He clicked the remote again and then a photo of Troye, Maui, and Dazaree was shown. "These boys are the people who helped Dazaree. They lead her to Selina Pueblo who took her in and gave her a job in the cafeteria. I apologize for a low-quality photo," he said and looked at Penelope. 

"During my investigation, I feel like this young boy noticed me," he pointed to Troye, "That is why I couldn't get near them." 

"I see," Penelope said while staring at Troye's photo. "Even in that photo, he's looking at the camera," she told him and grinned. 

The man just noticed it when Penelope mentioned it. Troye is really looking at the camera as if he knew someone was taking pictures of them. 

"That boy," Penelope suddenly said making the man look at her. She grins and said, "I need more information about him because I feel like he's going to be a hindrance when the time comes." 

***