Jonathan's Past.

"Did your family live here as well?" Mai asked playfully, her tone gentle as a smile formed on her lips.

Hearing Mai's question, Jonathan chuckled as he responded. "I see where you guys are going, don't worry, I didn't really get the chance to know my family so I don't have anyone I'm not telling you about."

"What did you say?" Aiden suddenly asked, his voice laced with shock as his eyes widened in worry.

Meanwhile, Mai's first reaction was different, her face, softened a bit as she said. "I'm so sorry Jonathan."

Aiden on the other hand seemed particularly concerned by this piece of information, sitting down on the sofa, he gestured for Jonathan to sit as he asked. "Why didn't you say anything about it? What family were you assigned to?"

Upon hearing Aiden's words, Jonathan smiled but shook his head expressing his desire to remain silent.

"So what is our game plan tonight?" Mai asked in an attempt to change the topic, her hand playing with a strand of her hair.

Hearing Aiden's words, Jonathan responded. "There is no we, just Aiden 'cause he's going alone."

Hearing this, Aiden raised a brow. "You do know that I have no idea where Vin's Parlor is right?"

"I'll give you the address, figure the rest out yourself." Jonathan scoffed.

Jonathan's words made Aiden raise a brow as he said with a smirk. "What am I wearing, to the party, surely you're going to buy me a new fit."

"I'm not doing that," Jonathan hurriedly responded before adding. "Learn to pay for your own stuff, you have two million dollars at your disposal."

"Where's the fun in using your own money?" Mai darted in before saying. "It's better when you pay for everything."

Aiden let out a short chuckle after Jonathan's words, prompting Jonathan to glare at him with a quip. "Puff, you can laugh, if it wasn't for me you wouldn't even know that you had two million Credas in your account."

"He didn't know?" Mai echoed with a confused expression before turning to Aiden, with a comical expression on her face. "Who doesn't know that they have two million in their account?"

"I didn't have my phone with me, but I checked it back at the cab." Aiden defended himself.

"Why didn't you have your phone?" Jonathan interrupted with narrowed eyes, and without even waiting for Aiden to respond he said. "It's because you just came back from wherever you disappeared to, and if we ask you where you've been for nearly two years, you're not going to be able to answer."

At the sound of Jonathan's words, the room turned quiet, before Jonathan once again broke the silence. "You both keep pushing and interrogating me when we all have our flaws, I'd appreciate it if you could trust me a bit more."

Jonathan's words forced a solemn atmosphere in the room, and Aiden after letting out a sigh said. "We understand Jonathan we didn't do right by you, and I'm sorry about that. Now let's talk about the bylaws, I took a mission to prevent Medusa from ordering me to do something I don't want to, but I want to know if there's anything I'm missing."

"You thought that far?" Jonathan's voice sounded out, his tone as though he'd forgotten his earlier speech.

Meanwhile, Mai looked nothing but confused at the sudden turn of the conversation. "The Silence has bylaws?" She asked with squinted eyes, her lips slightly curled in confusion.

Aiden and Jonathan glanced at one another, and in the next moment, Jonathan walked towards his bookshelf while Aiden shook his head.

"Swoosh!"

A book was thrown through the air which Mai caught with ease, looking Mai in the eyes, Jonathan said as he sat down. "You need to read more girl."

Scoffing at Jonathan's words, Mai said. "I'm not a bookworm, and the Silence isn't one to explain stuff to you on a silver platter."

"There was a copy on the bookshelf of the rented room," Jonathan said to Mai, and before she could retort Aiden's voice sounded out.

"One was sent to you via text message, the one welcoming you into the Silence."

"I got bored after the first paragraph," Mai defended herself.

Letting out a breath Jonathan ignored Mai and turned to Aiden, changing the topic as he said. "You got it covered, since you're currently on a mission, her authority over you is limited, but you still can't attack her, or insult her, and you must never speak about the internal matters of the Silence to anyone not from the Silence."

Hearing this Aiden nodded while Mai furrowed her brows as she read the bylaws of the Silence. "You've got to be kidding me, initiates can't disobey a direct order from a level nine agent?" She suddenly exclaimed.

"No, they can't disobey a direct order in the face of an emergency, like a sudden rift opening or an accident." Aiden corrected.

"Then what about Veterans?" Mai asked.

"Ohh if you're not on a mission, they can have you do whatever the hell they want," Aiden responded.

Hearing this, Mai nodded with a thoughtful expression on her face, and for the entire afternoon, Aiden and Jonathan helped Mai go through the bylaws.

The afternoon ran by quickly like water leaking through a crack in its carrier, and by the time Mai was done with the bylaws while asking thousands of meaningless questions as well as side-tracking the conversations, it was already four in the evening.

With nothing else to talk about, Mai slumped on the sofa, her chest heaving as she let out a sigh.

Meanwhile, Jonathan looked like he had something to talk about, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Aiden on the other hand, seemed to have noticed the look on Jonathan's face, and without a word, he nodded toward a random room.

Noticing this, Jonathan got up and walked towards the room, and after a while, Aiden followed suit.

As Aiden left the room, Mai who was busy with her phone glanced toward them and proceeded to continue what she was doing.

Aiden on the other hand was busy following Jonathan through a series of rooms, and soon they ended up inside the garage.

"I know I wanted to talk to you, but you didn't have to walk all the way down here," Aiden said as he looked around.

In front of them was a vehicle that seemed to be covered by a cloth taking up most of the space in this garage.

Leaning on this vehicle, Jonathan said with a faraway look in his eyes. "You know I lied to you right, back at the enclave, I'm not really 43 I'm just 28."

At the sound of Jonathan's words, Aiden felt his lips curl as he let out a small laugh. "If I believed anything you said when I had a gun to your head then I'd be a fool."

"Then listen to me, and decide if I'm lying to you this time," Jonathan responded a look of reminiscence on his face as he added. "Like most orphans, I didn't know my parents, they brought me to the foster care bureau when I was just a kid, along with the documents for all their belongings."

"The Foster care bureau did their job and sold all my parent's stuff converting it into cash to be handed to me when I came of age, in the meantime, I was unlucky assigned to a poor family, who owned a scrapyard, or workshop whatever you want to call it. They treated me well, but I knew I wasn't part of their family, even their two kids weren't too comfortable with me, but I didn't mind, I played on my own, building stuff, and tinkering with the mountains of untapped technology laying around, that's how I got my knack for tech."

Talking to this point, Jonathan paused a bit before continuing. "When I turned 18, you want to know what my family gave me as a gift? A piece of paper that required my signature. They wanted me to sign off my inheritance, see my inheritance was 800 million Creda's, and they expected me to sign it off, puft, they made it seem as though they were giving me a choice but when I refused I suddenly became the enemy."

"What did you do?" Aiden asked solemnly, feeling like Jonathan's story was deeply relatable.

Hearing Aiden's question, Jonathan smiled. "I left them a million to change their lives and went away, I schooled myself and graduated top of my class as an engineer but I didn't feel like starting a business or living a lavish lifestyle, so I buried myself in tech, that's why I bought this place, it's calm and allowed me to work in peace."

With that said, Jonathan turned quiet and stopped talking, Aiden on the other hand spoke up. "My time with my foster family was one of the worst periods of my life, but I lived through it."

"Whoosh!"

As Aiden spoke, Jonathan suddenly moved, removing the cloth covering the vehicle in the middle of the garage.

It had a sleek, aerodynamic body with sharp lines that exuded power and speed. The front grille was aggressive, with angled headlights that pierced the night like a predator's gaze.

The body curved gracefully, accentuating its muscular frame, while the rear featured a distinctive spoiler for added downforce.

"Wow!"

Aiden couldn't help but exclaim with widened eyes, but Jonathan wasn't done, he walked towards the side to pick up the keys, and he pushed a button.

"Beep! Beep!"

Two beeps could be heard in rapid succession, echoing throughout the garage.

In the next moment, the doors opened upwards like a bird spreading its wings, revealing a luxurious interior adorned with cutting-edge technology and handcrafted details.

As Aiden ogled the car momentarily forgetting what he was saying before, Jonathan's voice sounded out. "This is a McJays 21, the only one of its kind, and the car that Raindrop has been trying to recreate for years, the top speed is 304 miles per hour, with an engine boasting an impressive horsepower output of 3000. Additionally, features like active aerodynamics, adjustable suspension systems, and state-of-the-art traction control contribute to its exceptional performance and handling capabilities."

As Jonathan explained, Aiden just nodded, he didn't understand most of the words but he nodded.

Jonathan didn't stop talking, instead, he kept going, a sparkle In his eyes as he said. "There's a little something I added into the design, the only problem with this car was the risk of overheating, so to fix it I created special heat channels that divert excess heat from the engine to the doors in a safe and controlled manner. As the hot air meets the specially designed panels, water from a built-in tank flows through intricate channels within the door, instantly vaporizing upon contact with the heat. This creates a dramatic high-pressure steam effect that billows out from the sides, pretty cool isn't it?"

Aiden didn't have the words, he wanted nothing more than to take this ride for a spin right off the bat, but his rationality kicked in prompting him to ask. "Where in God's name did you get this beast?"

"Haha!"

Jonathan chuckled at Aiden's reaction. "You're one of the first people I'm showing this to, most of the friends I've had don't get to this point, but since we're all in the same boat I thought I'd be nice to share with someone who's not trying to fool me. You and Mai make it clear that you don't trust me, and you don't sugarcoat it because you need something from me, I respect that, more than you know."

Upon hearing Jonathan's words, Aiden's first thought was. "Did this guy hit his head?"

"I think he did," Landon responded in his mind, and Aiden nodded in agreement.

Smiling at Jonathan, Aiden said. "Indeed, I don't trust you, and your recent actions made it harder, but you've got to give us time, for me and Mai it's different, we trusted each other with our lives-"

"And now I'm trusting you with this," Jonathan said nodding at the car.

His actions shocked Aiden a bit as he raised his brows and spoke. "As much as I like your car-"

"I've never had a friend." Jonathan interrupted Aiden prompting him to roll his eyes in disbelief.

Seeing Aiden's reaction, Jonathan defended himself. "It's true, I've never had a friend, and I'm not trying to buy your trust again, so let me explain. This car is the only thing left of my family legacy, as are my rights as an Agent of the Silence, I looked into the records of my family assets, the ones that were sold and who they were sold to. Guess where on the list the car was on price, number one, it was bought for 500 million Creda's, supposedly the buyer wanted to reverse engineer the engine and produce it en mass, that car made up my entire fortune."

"Feeling curious, I looked up the man who bought it and found out that he was looking for a buyer, the car was perfect, but the engine was so strong and strange and strange they couldn't remake it and instead ended up damaging the cooling system, the entire front would become red hot after one drive, when I arrived there he told me that raindrop had offered him 256,654 Credas to buy the car saying it was a hazzard, even though they wanted the vehicle, they tried to purchase it at a lower price, when he didn't agree they went after his company, buying his shares and selling it for parts."

"They destroyed his assets and used every means to bring his company down, because of this, he harbored long years of accumulated resentment for Raindrop so it was easy for me. I just doubled the price, although the man took a loss by selling it much, much lower than he bought, he needed the money for his business to move forward, and he felt he was getting damaged goods off his hands."

Hearing Jonathan's story, Aiden said. "I can't believe you've been through so much, but there's one thing I don't understand, you can check what properties your family left for you?"

"Em," Jonathan nodded before saying. "Yeah it's easy, all you have to do is go to the bureau, you know, it was because I had the chance to see what my parent's belongings were that I was able to confirm that my family was indeed the MCJays the problem is they disappeared a long time ago, around the time I was left with the foster care bureau."