HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“What did you find?” Eve asked as she and Archie flew above the sky.

“This,” Archie said as he showed the hard disk that he pulled out from his bag. “We need someone that could break through the password in this hard disk,” Archie continued as he looked at the hard disk.

“Do we have someone that could do something like that? I’m sure Eve and the others have the skill for that,” Eve asked as she looked down and saw so many cars going to the building because they heard about what happened.

“I don’t know, but there’s someone that I think can help us,” Archie answered as he put the hard disk back into the bag. “You have met him before, but you were unconscious back then,” Archie continued as he looked at the area where Ivan’s house was.

Archie flew down and stealthily went walked into the dark alleyway with Eve. They both changed their appearance back because Ivan wouldn’t notice him if he used a different face.

Archie knocked on the door where Ivan stayed, sadly nobody responded, but he kept knocking on the door until Ivan finally opened the door. Ivan looked at both of them and looked a bit surprised, he then invites them into his house while he was half awake.

“What time is it?” Ivan asked as he squinted his eyes to look at the time on the wall. “What the, it’s still 2 in the morning, what are you guys doing here early in the morning?” Ivan asked as he turned around to look at them.

Archie grabbed the hard disk and showed it to Ivan. “Can you crack this open? Or someone you know that can do it?” Archie asked as he showed the hard disk to Ivan.

“Huh? A hard disk? Let me see,” Ivan replied as he reached out his hand and grabbed the hard disk from Archie’s hand.

Ivan sat down as he yawned and rubbed his right eye, he then looked at the hard disk from back to the front.

“Where did you get this? This is really a nice hard disk,” Ivan asked as he kept checking the hard disk.

“Do you remember the building where the Axis Humans with tattoos hang out? I stole it from the top floor of the building,” Archie answered as he pointed his thumb over his shoulder.

Ivan hummed and nodded with understanding, but then he froze and realized what he just heard. He looked at Archie with his mouth and eyes wide open, he then ran outside the house hurriedly.

Both Archie and Eve looked at each other with a puzzled look but then they followed Ivan.

“What’s wrong?” Archie asked as he followed Ivan into the dark alleyway.

“Are you fucking crazy?! Do you realize what you did?!” Ivan yelled quietly.

“I know what I did and I want to know what’s inside that hard disk,” Archie answered and kept following Ivan from behind. “Hey, tell me what’s wrong? Why are you suddenly panicking?” Archie asked as he caught up with him.

Ivan didn’t answer Archie’s question as he kept walking and checking the hard disk. He suddenly pulled something out from the hard disk and it was a wire with a small chip at the end of it.

“Do you see this?! This is a tracking device and it can track where the hard disk is! You just put me in big trouble you know that?! When did you get this hard disk?!” Ivan yelled as he showed the wire.

Eve grabbed the wire and crumpled it then threw it away as hard as she could that it disappeared into the sky. Ivan looked at the sky with his eyebrows raised in disbelief, he then looked at Eve and she just raised her eyebrow at him.

“Ten minutes ago, more or less,” Archie answered.

“Ten minutes? That’s bullshit,” Ivan answered as he was skeptical about Archie’s answer.

“I’m serious,” Archie replied with a serious expression.

Ivan looked at the hard disk and then at Archie back and forth, he knew that Archie wouldn’t be lying to him. He sighed as he leaned on the wall and stared at the hard disk while nodding his head.

“Alright, let’s wait for half an hour here and see if you’re telling the truth or not. If they checked my house, you have to take responsibility,” Ivan said as he stared at both of them with a serious expression.

Archie smiled and chuckled as he nodded his head with understanding.

Half an hour had passed and Ivan stared at his place in the distance, he didn’t see any car or anyone checking his house. He looked at Archie and Eve and realized that they were telling the truth, he then looked at the hard disk.

“So you really just took it from them before you went to my place? How is that possible? The distance from my house to where you get this is already fifteen minutes away,” Ivan asked as he looked at both of them.

“It’s none of your concern, so can you check what’s the inside of that hard disk already?” Eve replied as she stared at Ivan.

Ivan looked at the hard disk for quite a while, he then nodded his head as he tilted his head.

“I can, but I need to do it somewhere safe and away from my place because I believe the moment I turn this thing on, they can track me again. It will take a while, like maybe three days or more, what do you think? You can wait that long?” Ivan explained as he looked at Archie.

Archie looked at Eve and nodded his head.

“That’s fine by me, we will be back maybe a week from today because we are in the middle of a mission right now,” Archie answered with his arms crossed and stared at the hard disk. “By the way, can you keep it a secret? Don’t tell anyone about what you heard and saw right now,”

Ivan chuckled and nodded his head.

“My mouth is sealed, I won’t betray a friend of mine,” Ivan replied with a smile on his face.

“Thanks, Ivan, I will repay you back for everything you did for me,” Archie said as he patted Ivan’s shoulder.

“You better, because I’m risking my life here,” Ivan scoffed while smirking.

“Alright, see you soon, Ivan,” Archie said as he slowly walked backward and then disappeared into the night.

Archie and Eve flew all the way to the Western Nation and planned to waste their time two days somewhere near the second checkpoint. His plan went smoother than he expected and Eve had fun killing those people as well so it was all good.

The morning of the third day came and they both went to the second checkpoint by foot. This time, they saw Faye again, not only her, but Ruby and the others as well, they were having a small conversation outside the abandoned building while enjoying a coffee.

“Archie! Welcome! How was your by-foot journey?” Vincent asked with a smile on his face.

“Quite boring, but we had a little bit of fun here and there,” Archie answered as he put his backpack down and sat on the bench. “You guys are still here?” Archie asked as he looked at them.

“Well, we are waiting for you. We wanted to know your reports about your investigation about the area you went to, because so far, we couldn’t find anything related to the Ex-Human,” Faye answered as she took a sip of her coffee.

“I see, but I guess we aren’t bringing any good news for you because we didn’t find anything either,” Archie replied as he sighed and raised his eyebrows. “So the last place that might have any clue about the Ex-Human would be in FalCon-1, huh?” Archie asked.

“I guess so,” Faye nodded her head as she took a deep breath and exhaled deeply. She looked a bit nervous because she was a bit worried about going to FalCon-1.

While they were talking about their investigation to Archie and Eve, suddenly a guy ran hurriedly toward them. Faye looked at him with a puzzled look because he looked panicked for some reason.

“Lieutenant Colonel! Something happened to one of the VMC’s buildings!” The guy said as he held a letter in his hand or more like a paper. “Here, lieutenant colonel!” The guy offered the paper to Faye.

Faye read it out loud because everyone around her was people that she trusted. Everyone was shocked when they heard about the slaughter in VMC’S building or Victor Maxim Corporation. In the report, they said it had connection with the Ex-Human and they were investigating it as Faye read the report.

“This is…” Faye was speechless and didn’t know what to do about the report. “We have been wandering for a week in here, but the Ex-Human is somewhere near us all along?!” Faye crumpled the paper and she was furious about it.

“So, what are we going to do now?” Ruby asked.

“We are going back! Just the six of us!” Faye answered as she looked at the north.