HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

Faye walked back to the car and she looked really pissed that everyone could tell by the way she breathed and how she glared at the building in front of her. They were curious, but at the same time, they didn’t want to bother her until she decided to speak up and tell them about what had happened there.

“Can I ask you something, Archie, Eve?” Faye asked as she leaned on the seat and stared at Archie through the rear-view mirror. “Did you both do something before you came to the Central Nation that made you recognized by Victor?”

“No, how could we do something in a short time span to make ourselves recognized? It was a week or so before we decided to go to the Central Nation after we survived the hellish journey from the Eastern Nation,” Archie replied as he stared back at Faye.

Faye sighed and she looked so frustrated that everyone else was looking at her with a puzzled look. Archie and Eve already knew what kind of conversation she had in there, and by looking at it, it appeared that his plan worked perfectly.

“Do you want to tell us what happened?” Ruby asked as she chewed on the straw of her drink.

“Victor accused Archie and Eve to be the ones who responsible to the incident that happened in the Northern Nation. Not only that, he’s now planning on sending us to hunt Ex-Humans with tons of bounty on their heads,” Faye answered as she pulled her hair back. “This is ridiculous and I’m not going to go out there just for his own interest,”

“So, we are going to hunt Ex-Humans now?” Nova asked with a worried expression after what Eve told her back there.

Faye put the key in and started the engine. She looked in the rear-view mirror and stared at Nova.

“No, I’m going to meet Marshal Gard and told about Victor’s ridiculous request. I’m not going to risk my life or yours for this man,” Faye said and started driving the car.

They went back to the temporary headquarter, and Faye hurriedly went to Gard’s office with the others. The moment she walked into his office, Gard was already holding a piece of paper in his hands. He looked at Faye and already knew what she was going to say.

“I believe you have read Victor’s ridiculous request,” Faye said as she stood in front of the door with the others because she respected Gard as her higher-up and didn’t want to sit down without him telling her to.

“Have a seat,” Gard said as he sighed and put down the paper.

Gard rubbed his chin and jaw as he kept staring at the letter.

“This request, I know that you don’t agree with him but you must understand that the Valor special force is made for this job,” Gard said and stared at Faye. “Before you say anything, I understand your concern and I personally don’t think this is a right way to use our human resource either,” Gard continued as he stood up and walked to the front of his desk.

“Did you find anything about the incident? What happened and what the Ex-Human stole?” Faye asked with her arms crossed on her laps.

Gard slowly shook his head and shrugged his mouth.

“Not a single information and only photos of the cassualties of the incident,” Gard answered.

“Don’t you find it suspicious? Everything about Victor and his corporation. I wasn’t aware of this until he finally decided to show a glimpse of his true self and what kind of things he’s doing secretly,” Faye said and stared at Gard with a serious expression.

“Don’t think about it, Faye. We are not going to do some investigation to him because of the agreement that we made with him. If we breached the agreement, we would be punished as the consequence,” Gard warned Faye as he stared back at her with a serious expression.

Faye sighed as she raised her eyebrows and leaned on the chair.

Everyone didn’t say anything because they had no voice in the discussion, no matter how hard they wanted to join the discussion.

“What are you going to do with his request then? Are you going to accept it and send all of us into the unknown to hunt Ex-Humans that we have never even encountered before? There are so many evidence that nobody survived after they encountered with one,” Faye asked. “Except them,” Faye continued and looked at Archie and the others.

“Yes, and Ruby already told us about the finding on the landing site. If not all the Ex-Humans are dangerous, maybe we have a chance to find out about who they are and how did they become like that,” Gard replied as he leaned on the desk.

“Don’t bother thinking about it, Marshal Gard. We were lucky that we met back then wasn’t hostile toward us. If you think there’s a chance, then you’re going to kill everyone you’re going to send to meet them,” Ruby finally spoke up. “The one that’s friendly to us is all the way on the other side of the world,”

“Isn’t the whole operation about this is to find one?” Gard asked back as he looked at Ruby.

“Yes, one, not all of them,” Faye answered.

“What’s the difference? You know that woman or Ex-Human killed dozens of us back then. Does the risk of dying is different than the other?” Gard asked with his eyebrows raised.

Both Ruby and Faye went quiet and couldn’t deny Gard’s words because he was right about it and they didn’t complain about the operation.

“For now, just continue your operation to find the Ex-Human all the way to the FalCon-1. I will discuss this matter with the other Marshal from all the Nations,” Gard continued as he sat back on his seat.

Faye nodded her head and then looked at each other as she tilted her head toward the door.

They left the building and went back into the car. They drove all they way back to the second checkpoint because they had a mission that needed to be finished. Since Archie got what he wanted, he had no reason to be going on foot again, so he decided to join them and went all the way to the Western Nation.

“Are you excited, Archie?” Faye asked as she turned her head from the front seat of the car and stared at Archie. “You might be surprised when you see the Western Nation because it’s totally different from the last time you remembered,” Faye continued with a smile on her face.

“I’m more nervous than excited because even though I had so many good memories, there are a few memories that are still haunting me,” Archie answered as he looked at the road and the sea in the distance.

Faye looked a bit curious and Aster who was driving the car looked at Archie from the rear-view mirror.

“Is Professor Larse still in the Western Nation?” Archie asked.

“Professor Larse,” Faye said as she scoffed as she looked at Aster. “So you know about him? Unfortunately, he got imprisoned because he did some illegal research not long after he succeeded on the experiment on us. Right now, we have no idea where he’s at now because he went missing after he got released,” Faye answered and looked at Archie.

Archie hummed with understanding and didn’t say anything else afterward.

It took them two days to reached the Western Nation, and as Faye said, it was totally different than the last time Archie remembered. The Western Nation had turned into a modern nation like the Northern and Central Nations. He kind of disappointed because the old Western Nation was like a home to him, but now it was just a strange place.

“Alright, you’re free for today, but tomorrow early in the morning, we will be going to take the underground train. We are leaving to the FalCon-1,” Faye said as she looked at them.

“Can I go to the Sky Station?” Archie asked.

“Sure, the Sky Station is still for everyone in Western Nation, and it’s always a home for everyone,” Faye answered as she stared at the Sky Station. “Speaking of the Sky Station, I guess we should pay a visit to his room,” Faye said to Aster.

“Yeah, it’s been a while and we should visit his grave as well,” Aster replied with his head nodded in agreement.

Archie went to the Sky Station with Eve, Faye, and Aster while Ruby and the others explored the city to get themselves a drink.

Archie walked in the front with Eve while Faye and Aster followed them from behind. They both looked at Archie with curiosity because they wanted to know where he lived when he was living in the Western Nation.

Archie stopped in front of a steel door and stared at it for quite a while.

“You know this room?” Faye asked with her eyebrows furrowed.

“Yes, I used to come here often,” Archie answered with a bit of smile while kept staring at the door.