The Stakes Are High

10:20 pm

Irina walks quietly around Amelia's house with a gun in her hand. The moonlight shone through the kitchen window, revealing the wares in the sink and the shadow of her passing by. As she made her way down the hallway on the first floor, she approached a door and carefully opened it. It was the laundry room, but Amelia was not inside.

Victoria, on the other hand, walked down the hallway upstairs. There were about six doors—three on her right and three on her left. With a flashlight, she proceeded to check each one. She opened the first door and realized it was a bedroom; however, there was no one inside. Then she opened another door, and it was completely empty. So she shone her light on another door, and on that door was a wooden plaque that read Amelia.

So she cautiously approached it. And turned the knob quietly. Victoria tightened the grip on her knife and flung open the door. But Ameil's bedroom was silent. Only a few bits of clothing lay on her bed. So she closed the door and continued down the hallway. Then she heard a creek.

Victoria stopped and looked to her side, then spun around and used her hand to block Amelia's sword slash. By now the moonlight was shining through the window at the end of the hallway, and Amelia could see the woman clearly, so she said, "Who are you?"

The woman stared at Amelia with a faint smile as her hand regenerated, then answered, "Your abductor." Afterwards, she lunged at Amelia and swung her knife, but Amelia dogged it and sliced off her arm. Victoria gnashed her teeth and stood there for a bit, then lunged at her again.

Seeing this, Amelia swung her sword at her, but it clashed with the knife. Victoria then clenched her other hand and threw a punch at Amelia, but she spun around quickly and sliced off Victoria's head, then kicked her into the wall.

After that, she said, "You don't look like you have a lot of XP reserves, so before I kill you, tell me why do you want to abduct me."

"Because you're valuable to Mr. Turnner." A voice spoke from behind her, but before Amelia could turn around, the person stabbed her with a syringe. Her eyes began to blur as she staggered about, and then she fell to the ground.

Standing above her was Irina, who smiled wickedly and said, "Now we'll see if you're really that important to Mr. Turnner."

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Victoria asked, walking over to Irina with a fully regrown head.

"It has to."

The next day, 10:45 am

"We managed to track down their location to an apartment in Brownsville. It's one of the few apartments still operational in the city, even after the chaos a month ago." Trent stated as he stared at Tokito and Turnner from the front of the control room.

"Are you sure it's them?"

"Were not sure, but it's the only new female rental in the city, and the owner said two women in black jumpsuits showed up at his apartment to rent a room. He says they sounded like Russians."

"Looks like we're going to an apartment." Turnner answered as he turned to walk away.

"Wait before you go. Have you heard from Lucas Toktio?" Trent asked.

"No didn't he go on a mission yesterday."

"Thats what we thought, but the agency in New York never heard from him."

Tokito froze when he heard that and then replied, "I'll check it out."

So the two left the building and drove in an SUV to the front of a six-story apartment. Toktio looked around and noticed that the majority of the houses in that area were under construction. Coincidentally, this location was extremely close to where they fought Mitch.

When they entered the building, Turnner decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator. After a few seconds, they reach the 5th floor. And approached room 10. Turnner reached out for the door knob and turned it while Toktio stood behind him, ready to use his ability on anyone.

However, when they enter the room, it's completely empty. The only thing they saw was Lucas's rotting body sitting on a chair in the middle of what would be the living room, and a thin rope hung around his neck, which was tied to a piece of printing paper on his chest.

Toktio dashed up to him and said, "Lucas!" He figured his arms and face, then covered his nose from the stench. Toktio walked over to the window and leaned against it, then said, "Did they do this?"

But there was no answer, so he looked across at Turnner, who stood there with his eyes wide opened, and said, "They have Amelia."

Seeing this, Toktio rushed back to the body and checked the printing paper, which read, "We have Ameila, and if you want to see her again, then bring the Theatom by tomorrow or she will end up like this guy." and below that were coordinates.

"What's so important about Amelia?" Tokito shouted.

"They're using her to get to me."

Then he looked at Turnner with a disgusted face and walked past him, saying, "I'm reporting this to the agency."

"I'm going straight to that location."

Toktio stopped and looked around. "Are you taking the Theatom with you?"

"No." Turnner replied, then he teleported.

***

A few minutes later, he barged into the control room of the agency and handed Trent the printing paper, saying, "We need to save Amelia. Turnner's gonna get her killed."

Trent read the paper, then said, "Where is he?"

"He said he's going to those coordinates, and he doesn't have the Theatom."

"What about Lucas?"

Toktio looked him straight in the eyes, "He's dead."

"What do you mean he's dead?"

"He was sitting dead on a chair in the apartment you sent us to; that's where we got the note."

Trent sighed and said, "Alright, gather up three teams; we're going to this location. I'll go alert Noria."

***

Meanwhile, Turnner could be seen walking down a long dirt path. And far in the distance, amongst the trees, a big building like a warehouse stood out. As he got closer Turnner pulled out his phone and made a call.

"Buchae The twins have managed to gain my attention."

"How?"

"They managed to gain intel on my association with Amelia Sanchez, but I know their intelligence isn't strong enough to acquire such information, so there's a mole among us. I want you to find it."

"Ok sir." Buchae replied, then Turnner ended the call and continued up the path.