Chapter 67: Final Choice

Rachel motioned to Roy on the way out of the room as she moved towards the elevator. He jogged after her, glancing at her nervous parents and Astra—taking the avatar of a blonde teenage girl—busy on her holographic display.

Mateo and Barbara issued orders behind them, preparing for the operation and contacting the SEAL team that would be joining them.

"What’s up?" the Green Beret asked upon catching up.

"Can you talk to..." she trailed off as the saint issued the order Rachel wanted him to discuss with her. "Never mind. It seems you’ll be overseeing a four-man squad to secure base operations. The captain really does pay close attention to detail," she whispered, head tilting to spot the now-packed hallway as the Special Forces platoon bustled about the woman’s commands.

"Haha. Yeah, the lieutenant is impressed with her."

Astra chuckled beside them, still sifting through a string of data on her chaotic screen. "You should see the unredacted military files of our patron saint."

Rachel didn’t pay the hacker much mind after the look her mother gave her on their path to the elevator; they had bigger concerns than gossip. Personal feelings were harder to get away from, though. Her mother’s frightened brown eyes didn’t want her to go, and it made Rachel’s chest hurt.

Sorry, Mom. I can’t stop now...

She called the elevator as the other three men assigned to Roy rushed to their side. They tossed the man a pack filled with equipment and made a few grinning gestures that made Roy roll his eyes with a smirk.

Most of the staff in the area were interested in their movements, wholly unaware of the tense abduction attempt that had happened not three minutes prior.

The reflective doors opened, leading them to the higher floors. Luckily, everyone exited after spotting the Special Forces; filing in, Rachel felt a tad cramped as she positioned herself to control the button. She wouldn’t press it until after she’d lured in her prey.

Her ears were fixated on specific areas, filtering out details so only certain sounds and voices played in the background. Her gaze was away from the half-visible eye that tried to follow them, keeping to the top corner of the hallway.

"What’s up?" Roy asked, dropping his pack between his legs to allow more room and gripping the rifle strapped around his shoulders.

Astra hummed from her corner position. "Uh... Oh!"

Rachel’s fingers slowly illuminated as her target neared the box, and she hid her fist behind her back, drawing her parents’ unsure gaze. They pressed further against the wall, probably thinking there would be another teleportation kidnapping attempt.

"Give it a few seconds."

Just a little closer... Gotcha!

She wasn’t sure if the eye could be interacted with normally, so Rachel decided not to risk it. Her fist erupted with light a second time as it tried to sneak into the top corner, vaporizing the spy in the expanding Lunar Energy and denting the metal.

[Divine Beast Empowerment - Advanced to B-tier]

[Lunar Burst - Advanced to E-tier]

[Bestial Instinct - Advanced to A-tier]

"Nice!" Astra cheered. "One down."

"The eye spying on us?" Roy asked, some of his men standing in front of her parents to act as shields while scanning the hallway. "Are there any more?"

Some of the doctors and nurses flinched at the focused explosion, but the door was already starting to close as Rachel pressed the button to take them up.

Astra flipped between windows and data in her cramped position. "Not yet. One is outside, but it’s not coming in. I’m monitoring feeds to see how Terrell reacts... Unfortunately, they’re keeping the inside of the club pretty isolated from networked devices and disconnected WiFi. I’m actually impressed."

"Alright. Anyway, Roy, you speak Korean, right?" Rachel brightly redirected, figuring Barbara had the same idea as her in re-stationing the soldiers to guard her parents during their assault. "Can you write in Hangul, too?"

"Eh-hah. Not particularly well, I’m afraid," he said with a strained smile. "I don’t get to practice often."

"Huh. How did you get into that?"

Trying to lighten the mood while keeping track of everything, Rachel led the way through the halls to Amelia’s room. Her attempts at calming her parents weren’t bearing much fruit.

When the two Special Forces men saw them approaching the room, they hustled to the elevator, bumping arms with their comrades on the way out. When they made it to the door, Rachel asked her parents to wait outside with Astra and the soldiers, explaining she needed to talk to them in private.

Her mother gave her a shaky hug, lingering a moment before kissing her on the cheek and returning to her father. "I...know things are getting dangerous. Just come back to us in one piece...please. I just don’t want a broken house," she choked, prompting her dad to hold her tight.

Rachel had to lock her jaw to not tear up herself while reflecting on the wake of the accident that had caused so much turmoil in their household for a time. It took three years for things to somewhat return to normal for her parents; her life from nine to eleven saw her mother an emotional wreck at being the driver, despite it not being her fault.

Astra and the Green Berets tried to shrink into the background.

"Of course, Mom. I—" She scratched the side of her head, looking away and breathing out a long sigh before committing to something that would improve her mother’s mood; it would also give them more time to talk. "Heh. Don’t we need to go on a shopping trip after all this? I need new clothes. Right?"

A pained, teary smile lifted her mother’s red and puffy face. "It’s a promise."

"Thanks, Mom. Love you too, Dad."

His silent nod and fake smile somehow helped as she turned her attention to the door and knocked. "Anthony?"

"Come in," he said, his tone somewhat more guarded than it had been in the past.

Opening it a crack to slip through, she closed it behind her to show a strained grin. Anthony sat in a chair beside his girl, a book open on his lap that he’d been reading to his fiancé.

"Hey, so...I need to be a quick little, uh... Can I talk to Amelia for a second... Alone? I know that seems a little forward and out of nowhere, but..."

Amelia’s sunken eyes shifted to her lover. "It’s fine, Sweetie. Can you get me some orange juice—maybe some of those dark chocolate-covered blueberries I like? Hehe. You know, research shows they help cancer patients!"

"Haha. Yeah, sure, Babe." He set the book down and leaned down to kiss her bald forehead. "Be right back. Rachel," he nodded in passing.

Rachel wanted to cringe when her mother greeted him as he walked out.

"Oh, are you...Anthony?"

"Yeah, and you are..."

"Rachel’s parents," she chimed. Her mother appeared to have found a good distraction as she engaged the legend. "Sam, this is the man Rachel told us about! He really is as handsome as she said."

"Molly..."

Her mother was already onto the next topic before Anthony had the chance to break away or her father could rein her in. "Oh, I actually wanted to talk to you about a few things."

Rachel wanted to run out and shoo her away. It was hard to stay focused as her mother somehow maneuvered herself into joining him on the trip down to the cafeteria. Roy wasn’t sure how to react, so he left two men behind while joining them.

Astra was totally oblivious to the exchange outside, sitting in a wheelchair at the nurses’ station and playing with her holograms.

I can’t believe she’s doing this after almost getting kidnapped! she hissed to herself.

Her mother was actually fairly bold and forward when it came to most things not involving the home, and this was a part of her personality she hadn’t seen come out yet. Left ear twitching and fingers tightening at her back, Rachel was forced to let it go as she walked to the side of Amelia’s bed.

If it helps, Mom, then I guess it’s okay... Why am I trying to convince myself?!

"Something wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh, just my mother," she groaned, rubbing at the base of her ear while trying, unsuccessfully, to block it out; trying to puff out the tension building in her chest was of little help. "It’s nothing. To business, I have an answer for you, and I’m on a bit of a clock."