Take-Two

Outside, in the courtyard, the team were walking back to their aircraft when a voice called out to them.

"Miss Kira! Master Hede!" The voice yelled.

The team turned around, looking for the owner of the voice.

"Sebastian?" Kira mumbled under her breath. It was only when she saw who was beside her, she turned around and urged her teammates to keep moving.

"Huh? Who's that?" Zak asked curiously.

"No one." Hede replied. "Just keep walking."

"They're coming closer." Zak said as he craned his neck to get a better look. "Hey, is that your dad?"

"Ignore them." Kira said solemnly.

"Miss Kira! Please wait a moment!" Sebastian yelled, his long legs taking him closer and closer with each step.

After a couple more seconds, he was right next to them.

"Miss, pardon me, but Master Abbadon would like to speak with you."

Kira stopped walking and so did everyone else.

"Sebastian, I really don't have time for this nonsense." Kira said.

"Miss-"

"Kira," Abbadon said, when he finally caught up to his butler. " I would like to have another try at our previous conversation."

"How did you get in here?" Kira asked incredulously.

"I understand that it was a lot to put on you all at once," Abbadon said, completely ignoring her question. "But, I believe we can come to an agreement."

"No. You know my answer."

Abbadon stared stonily at her before turning to the others.

"You kids seem confused." Abbadon said. "I'm Abbadon Ruse, Kira's father."

He stuck out his hand, expecting it to be shaken. Instead he was met with shrewd stares.

"Mr. Ruse, right?" Zak said as he eyed both him and Sebastian up and down. "We would like to stay and chat but, we have a lot of planning to do. Maybe-"

"How about, "Abbadon interrupted. "we go to your home to discuss further?"

Hede glared at him. "No."

"Well, Kira?" Abbadon asked. "It's important."

Kira was about to say no, then had a thought.

'I could get more info out of him.'

Kira smiled invitingly. "Of course. Let us go get our aircraft and we'll be on our way."

Abbadon nodded. "I'll be waiting." He then told Sebastian to go get his aircraft. Kira turned and walked quickly to the aircraft hangers, with a confused looking team behind her.

Once out of earshot, Wish said, "Uh, what the heck? Why are we inviting him to our house?"

"Yeah," Lucy agreed. "Like no offense, but your dad is super suspicious."

Zak nodded. "They're right, Kira. Why are we letting him in?"

Kira sighed loudly. "We can get more info off of him if we talk to him."

"Yeah but, it still seems kind of dangerous." Mason voiced.

"Maybe, but I need to now what he wants." Kira said. "I don't want something bad to happen...again."

-------------------------------------------

After the team had boarded the aircraft, they and Abbadon flew side by side, all the way to the hanger near their house.

Once they arrived, they took a cab driver to the house.

Now at the porch, Serenity quickly unlocked the door and stepped inside.

Once everyone was inside, she closed it and made sure to lock it.

Helix collapsed on the couch, closing his eyes for a second.

Zak shook his leg. "Wake up dude." He whispered. "We have a weird guy in our house right now, remember?"

Helix sighed as he sat up. He turned to Kira who was getting water from the fridge.

He raised an eyebrow that meant, 'Can we get this over with?"

Kira got the message and started questioning Abbadon.

"So, what did you want to discuss?" She asked.

Abbadon sat down on a couch and crossed his legs. He held his hand out and Sebastian dug inside his suit jacket and pulled out a microchip, placing it on Abbadon's palm.

"This chip," He said as he took hold of it between his fingers. "contains information about the Gods of this world, the origins of the aliens, and most notably, the source of the universe."

Serenity frowned. "But we already know about these things. The Gods, aliens, and the source of the universe are all things that we are taught at school."

Abbadon shook his head. "You know what they want you to know. This," He gestured to the chip in his head. "is the real truth."

"And why should we believe you?" Hede said sourly.

Abbadon held out the chip to Kira. "See for yourself."

Instead of taking the chip, Kira turned to Helix who nodded.

"He's telling the truth." He said as he looked into Abbadon's eyes.

Helix looked deeper into his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, then shook his head, dismissing something

Hede scoffed. "Well even if you're telling the truth, I'm not going to help you."

Abbadon glared at him. "This decision is not only yours to make."

"What decision?" Pax asked.

Abbadon leaned back and straightened his tie.

"I want you to find out the truth about this world, and report it back to me." He said. "Specifically, I want information on the Prox."

"Prox?" Zak asked. "What's that?"

Wish jumped in. "They're are, supposedly, the beings that created the aliens, supports and the like."

"That's correct." Abbadon confirmed.

"Ok, lets stop with the small talk." Javes said as he scowled. "What's in it for us?"

"Well, for one, I could grant you each of you one wish, anything you want."

"Really?" Javes sneered. "Bring back my dead goldfish, how about that?"

"Javes." Mason sighed

"No, no, it's alright." Abbadon said. "I get it. But, I promise you. If you figure out their secrets, you can have your whatever you want." He put emphasis on 'whatever.'

"Don't-"

"I'm not lying to you." Abbadon remarked. "I swear on my clan's name, I'm not."

Javes glared at him, and then at the microchip in his fingers.

Abbadon smiled thinly. "What do you say everyone? Do we have a deal?"

Everyone looked at the chip in Abbadon's hand, determining if this was worth the risk.

Eventually, Javes stuck out his hand.

"Deal."