Chapter 48

"Class dismissed." 

Soon as their professor leave the place, they grabbed their own bags to take their leave. The whole classroom almost emptied in the seconds. Trance and Nine locked both the doors before walking down the stairs. On the plaza, there are students scattered around. Noises after school are incomparable. They both made their own way to the parking lot. Trance halted from hopping inside the car. Someone caught her attention. Standing far. Talking with familiar faces. Nine noticed Trance and looked in the same direction without a word.

"Oh! Sorry, Nine. It's nothing. Did I make you wait?" Trance closed the door, fastening her seatbelt. The car started to move towards the exit. It took almost a minute for the blonde to respond.

"No, you didn't. I'm finding my phone too." 

"Did you find it?" 

"Mhm." 

"I thought you left it on your desk."

Silent ride again. Trance leaned at the car's window, noticing that the blonde on the driver's seat is not driving at her usual life-to-death speed. However, there is one thing that bugs her. Trance stole a glance on Nine; thrice as she imagined.

"What? Better quit beating the bush." 

"Are you upset or something?"

"Depends on what you think." Nine replied in all at the sea tone. 

"Earlier when I was looking at the flock of boys in the parking lot. I saw this old colleague of mine. Talking with his friends. Something is weird when instantly saw him." The vehicle stopped. Nine turned at her. 

"Come again?" 

"Something is off with this old friend of mine. It's like the one I saw is not him anymore. You know what I mean?" 

"I'll handle that later, we got acquaintances here." Nine stepped on the gas pedal, "Pretty expected for roads like this."

"Aside from that, there's no way I can lose them, Trance." 

Trance gazed at the side mirrors. Three cars tailing. She opened the glove compartment to find the gloc on it. Nine shifts the gears, driving on her fastest. Trance can give attention to the tires screeching on every turn that Nine pulls off. 

"Too ready for this kind of precaution eh?"

"I just left it here," Nine casually replied and then grunted while her gaze remained focused on the road, "Now I need to use another car for future operations." Trance put her grip tighter on the car's ceiling handle when the blonde manipulates the steering wheel. She handles it as if she's playing a simple racing game in a difficult mode. Trance snatched the katana from the backseat, toting it. 

"Trance, would you mind?" Trance nods, unfastening her seat belt, and opening the door. She hopped on the roof, heart racing in the anxiety of the fall. Trance holds on the roof's edge where she jumped. The frigid and violent breeze has turned a bit gentle, and the car she's on began slower. Bullets flew in their direction. Trance lowered herself, carefully not letting herself fall as Nine made their path wave.

"How many did you approximate them?" 

"Like your name!" Trance aimed at the car's hood behind them. Finger on the trigger. A loud bang echoed through her ears. Trance fires on the windshields, preventing those who tailed them. They all march out of the car. Trance draws her katana out of its sheath. 

"It's the guy you stabbed with a fork." She jumped off the roof. Nine shut the door behind her and walked towards Trance. 

"Such an honor for a small worth." 

"Is that sarcasm?" 

"Depends." 

They all charged against Trance and Nine. Bullets trailed in the air in their direction. Trance swings her katana, slashing those who go in her way. Nine grabbed Trance's arm when a man aim his gun at her. She shoots the gun in his hand and shoots another two bullets at his chest. Six, seven, eight...

"They are all dead, Nine." Trance swiftly points her gun towards the upper land. Not wasting any seconds pulling the trigger. The tree branches snapped, and birds flew by the sudden fall of a body. 

"Let's head back."

--

"Ellreign and Nine," Artemis called the two. Trance lifted her head and rubbed her sleepy eyes while Nine stopped twisting the screwdriver from her hand. Artemis smiled at both of them before placing two laminated cards in front of them. Trance stretches her arm to reach the folder and then began reading it. 

"I decided to put both of you in the front of the line in the operation throne of flames. I won't say any shitty speech. I know what you're capable of, good luck." 

"Sanchez, drama is not on your agenda and never will be." Nine placed down the tool, snatching the identification card from the countertop, "Just be frank with me, did you grant Ilsel think of names this time? And another thing, I found out where the other informants are. Is it alright if blood will shed tonight?" She tsked while reading the false identity written.

"There's no wrong with the names and who do you want to kill?" Nine slammed the card on the table before leaving. Trance glances at their Captain and then at Nine. Artemis lowered her head. Her low chuckle puzzles the raven in her front.

"Nine, don't be so down. It suits you," Trance and Artemis heard the laughter of Ilsel on the second floor. Objects fall to the floor. Ilsel leaned at the wall while cannot stop laughing, holding his aching sides. Trance saw the whole scene through the glass guard rail, "Maayos naman 'yung pangalang Brenda ah?" (Brenda is a proper name.)

"Trance, I want the both of you to seize the hidden drive on this given address." Artemis handed her a piece of paper, "You and Nine can't use Heimdall yet. Headmistress Amidalah prohibits us to use it due to some reasons." 

"It's alright for me. I don't use Heimdall a lot, Captain." 

"Pleasant to hear." 

"No, no. You're pursuing something here," Nine walked towards him. Ilsel runs down the stairs and then proceeds to hide behind Trance. Nine stops on the last step, giving him a meaningful gaze, "Quit it. I'm just asking if you can change it. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Oh! You're not killing me?" 

"Ilsel if you don't mind, can you please don't grab my shoulders like a scared child? I know what you feel just don't do that, you're dragging me." Trance removed his hands off her shoulder casually and occupied the seat beside her. Artemis cleared her throat, making Ilsel sit straight. They both saluted Artemis before she left them. 

"Actually, forget It's all a waste." Nine wore her denim jacket and leave without looking at any of them. The door got slammed shut, enabling the silence to fall between the two.

"Ellreign, I got the info that you ask me for," Ilsel said, leaning on the arms that he placed on the aisle, "You really got them protected don't you, Miyazaki?" 

"For safety precautions. Someone should work in light even if they come from the dark," Trance tapped her fingers against the cold cement, "It's better not to act a fool, Ilsel. We've been friends for eight years." 

"Says the one who almost beheaded me when I stumbled on their mansion," Ilsel chuckled, "You and your brothers are eccentric. I started to wonder why you ended up with them. Do you know how shocked I am when I found you kissing the Excalibur's grim reaper? I'll congratulate you for not getting killed." 

"She'll probably do when the time comes." 

"By the way she treated you. I can see she actually will. But hey, how come you ended up here?" 

"I got captured by them when I was on Valdez's house to tutor him." 

"Excuse me?" 

"He got failing grades on some subjects." 

"Typical Valdez moves. Seems like he got an eye on a woman like you." 

"Try to say those words and that surname again, I will forget this friendship between us." 

"I see the reason why." Ilsel offered a smile at Demeter who walked past them. She closed the refrigerator's door and turned in Trance's direction. Ilsel elbowed Trance who pinched him on the side in return. He arched his back in pain and chose to bury his face in his arm instead of uttering a word.

"I heard your new assignment. Keep up the good work." 

"Thank you. You too." 

At the moment Demeter disappeared from their sight, Trance watched Ilsel raise his face and scanned his surrounding. A frisky grin crept on his lips, defining who the real jester is. He leans at Trance before pulling out his phone. He placed his phone in Trance's hand, allowing her to read it fully.

Multiple articles of a missing heir. Photos of a person spotted in random places. 

"So even the fellow bosses of nine lower thrones are currently looking for Hwang Hyun," Trance smirked as she placed down the phone, "Having a game of hiding and seek don't we? Seems like we are not the ones who are searching for him." 

"Tonight, he called on a cleaning company for a service tonight, at 8 p.m." Trance handed Ilsel back his phone, "I called the company earlier. I said that the schedule for tonight is canceled. Don't worry, I paid them enough."

--

"Nine, please! Let me live!" Ilsel yelled in the backseat. Trance cannot see anything they pass on the road. Lamp post appeared like twinkling tiny lights in her sight. However, unlike Ilsel, she remained relaxed.

"If we got caught by the police for this I will resign!" Trance watched Nine on her peripheral. Nine stares at the jester before stepping on the gas. But then, she stopped the vehicle and watches Ilsel through the rearview mirror.

"We're here, at the Village's entrance," Trance announced.

"That fast?"

"If I throw you got out that window, how fast you will land on the pavements?" Nine drive slowly, approaching the guard house. Trance tugged down the window, and greeted the guards.

"I don't know."

"Yes, we're here for house cleaning. Here is my identification card, you can check it." The guard stared at her cleaner's uniform, then at Nine and Ilsel. He tugged his cap down, telling Trance that they can pass.

"Oh! Thank you, Sir! Have a nice evening!" Trance waved them goodbye. They stopped near the modern-style house. Ilsel opened his laptop, then started typing.

"I found it. On the guest room, under the wooden floor where the bed was." Ilsel leaned his mouth on his hand, heaving out a breath, "Damn, what a psycho he was. The house's key can be found beside the garden's faucet. It is buried. Fuck is he practicing something?" 

"No one will find anything if it's buried." Trance went outside first while Nine get the cleaning materials on the car's trunk. As they head inside, Trance went directly to the spot that Ilsel said. Noticing a small however thin metal ring laying on the ground, Trance twisted it and pulled out a small jar with a key inside. She rushed to the front door where Nine is waiting. 

"In the second-floor guest room, Nine and Ellreign. The second room in the right hallway." Trance and Nine walked down the silent hallway. Proceeding inside the 2nd guest room. Nine pushed the bed frame carefully before seizing the crowbar from their bag. She undoes the wooden floor, revealing the box hidden beneath. Trance instantly grabbed the box and opened it. Trance didn't say anything but take the tiny rectangular object, sliding it inside her pocket. 

They fix everything back in order. Trance and Nine flee from the house together, leaving no traces behind. Both of them hopped inside their car, removing their disguises as the village come to be small in their visions. Trance handed to Ilsel the flash drive.

"This is the real one." Ilsel chuckled, "Aside from that, he's in three thousand meters approaching his house." Trance peered into the backseat.

"Great thing, because if it's not the real one I'll bury you alive eight feet under, and on the two feet I'll bury a dead animal. When I finally finish your grave, I will plant an endangered plant. Trust me, no one will find your body."