HALF: DEAD NOR ALIVE

Faye took the car and brought everyone back to the Central Nation to meet with Victor. It took them a whole day of driving to get back to the Central Nation, and they all immediately went to the VMC building.

Archie and the others looked at the building and it was the tallest building in the city. Nova, Ruby, and Vincent had no idea that the building belonged to Victor, and thanks to Faye, they knew about it now.

“You guys wait here, I will enter the building on my own because they’re not allowing anyone to enter without permission,” Faye said as she fixed the steering wheel position and looked at the building in front of her. “I will be back in five minutes or so, you can stay here if you want or go out there and buy yourself something to eat,” Faye continued as she left the car and walked to the entrance of the building.

Everyone looked at Faye as being body-checked by the guards in front of the entrance. The whole building was guarded by dozens of armed people, and all of them are Axis Humans.

“So this is the main building,” Ruby said as she lowered her head to see the top of the building from the window. “What do you think they’re hiding in there?” Ruby asked as she looked at Archie.

“Who knows,” Archie answered and stared back at Ruby.

“Are you guys hungry? I’m starving,” Nova said as she looked around the car and found nothing to eat.

Archie looked at Eve and raised his eyebrows, Eve didn’t know what he meant but then realized after Ruby and Vincent looked at her.

“Let’s buy something to eat, Nova,” Eve said as she got out of the back of the car.

“Nice, you guys coming?” Nova asked as she looked at the others.

“I’m going to stay here just in case Faye is coming back earlier than we expected,” Archie answered as he shook his head.

Ruby and Vincent were also saying the same thing, and then Nova and Eve left to find something to eat for everyone.

Eve walked next to Nova and stared at her for quite a while.

“I heard you were heavily injured when you encountered the Ex-Human. I think you’re very lucky to be alive right now after hearing everyone died when they encountered her,” Eve said.

Nova looked at Eve and her expression changed immediately, Eve could tell that she was traumatized by that.

“Yes, I’m aware of that,” Nova replied as she looked down and hugged herself to give herself some comfort. “It happened so fast, and I think she was sparing my life because she only threw me to the wall even though I broke almost every bone in my body,” Nova continued with her eyebrows raised and stared blankly at the road she took.

Eve giggled and it made Nova confused. “Is something funny?” Nova asked.

“I find it funny that you still have the heart to find her even though she spared your life back there,” Eve answered with a smile on her face. “Do you think she will spare your life for the second time if she saw you again?” Eve stared Nova in the eye.

Nova went silent and didn’t reply to Eve’s question as she walked next to Eve.

(Inside the VMC building)

Faye was escorted to the lift by two armed men, she wasn’t worried about them since they were just doing their job and it wasn’t her first time visiting the building.

“Mister Victor is waiting for you in his office, go straight to the room at the end of the hallway, and don’t wander around,” One of the men said as he stared at Faye over his shoulder.

Faye nodded and then the lift door opened, she walked into the hallway while the two men stared at her and stood in front of the lift door. They were going to wait for her until she was done because they had the keycard to access the lift.

Faye entered Victor’s office and saw Victor was staring at his phone and he looked so pissed.

“Have a seat, Lieutenant Colonel,” Victor said as he put down his phone. “Since you’re here then that means the report has been delivered,”

“Yes, I read the report and knew about the situation in the Northern Nation,” Faye nodded her head as she sat down on the sofa.

“Before we go right into it, there’s something I would like to hear your confirmation about this,” Victor said as he looked at his computer and opened a document. “During your mission, it’s reported that everyone who joined the mission was all present on the day before the incident. Is it true?” Victor asked as he stared at Faye with a serious expression.

“Yes, everyone was present and I was there at both checkpoints,” Faye nodded her head and stared back at Victor a bit confused. “What’s this all about? Does this have something to do with the incident?” Faye asked.

“We will see,” Victor answered as he looked at all the names who joined the mission.

Faye furrowed her eyebrows and stared at Victor with a puzzled look.

“In here, Eve joined the mission and you paired her with Archie Lancaster. Not only that, you allowed them to be on their own rather than with the other members,” Victor said as he looked at Faye with a bit of suspicion. “You said that everyone was present on the day of the incident, and that includes both of them?” Victor asked.

“Yes, they were there even though they were the last ones to arrive at the checkpoint. The reason why was because they were checking the areas by foot, not like the others who used vehicles,” Faye answered as she nodded her head. “Are you trying to say that both of them are the ones behind this incident?” Faye asked with her eyes squinted.

“That’s why I’m asking you about this,” Victor replied with his arms crossed on the table. “I want you to be honest with me,”

“Of course I’m being honest, I’m telling you the truth and I wasn’t the only one who saw them there. Not to mention, how the hell can they both be in the Northern Nation in just a day or two and then went to the second checkpoint on the third day?! That’s stupid and you know it!” Faye was angry because she couldn’t believe that Victor suspected both Archie and Eve since she believed they were innocent.

“Calm down, Lieutenant Colonel. I’m just asking you and want to confirm if they’re really there, that’s all,” Victor said as he leaned on the chair.

Victor ignored Faye and thought about Archie and Eve because he was told to check on both of them. The evidence was there and he couldn’t ignore it, he also believed that it would be impossible for those two to be in the Northern Nation in just a day or two unless they could fly and that would make sense.

Victor sighed as he rubbed his face because he was so confused why did someone steal a serum and then a hard disk. For an Ex-Human to be interested in those two was something that didn’t even make any sense, not to mention, that the culprit didn’t even bother to destroy what he hid on the top floor and was smart enough to extract the tracker from the hard disk.

“Can we go straight and talk about the incident? What did the Ex-Human steal from you this time?” Faye asked after she calmed down.

“That’s none of your concern,” Victor answered without hesitation.

Faye became wary of Victor and the way he monitored the mission was already extremely suspicious. She started to think that something important was stolen from him, something that he didn’t want anyone to know.

“You’re here not to dig some information related to that because I already gave you enough information related to the incident,” Victor said. “Now that you’re here, I want you to assemble more teams for this mission. Whoever finds an Ex-Human, I will personally reward them with tons of money if they can bring them dead or alive,”

Faye raised her eyebrows and then scoffed as she shook her head.

“I think you forgot that I’m not working for you nor anyone from the Valor special force,” Faye said as she stood up and stared at Victor. “If you want to ask anyone to do that dangerous job, go find someone else who is willing to die for nothing because I’m not going to risk my men for your own interest,”

“I think you’re the one who’s forgotten that everything that you have right now is all thanks to me. Without me, you won’t have all the facilities that you have now, so basically you’re working for me and you can’t do anything about it,” Victor replied with a smirk.

“Really? Try me?” Faye replied.