"Unpredictability can be dangerous."

⋆ ───⊱☽❁☾⊰─── ⋆

· • Ｂ Ξ Ｌ Λ • ·

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦. 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴, 𝘬𝘯𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱—

*Ring*

"Incoming call: Zahir." The mechanic voice echoed through the walls.

I set the beaker and tongs aside, their surfaces gleaming beneath the sterile laboratory lights.

Removing my goggles, headphones, and gloves one by one, I finally turned toward the incoming call that had chosen to interrupt my rather important experiment.

"Answer it, Zen."

"Accepting," Zen replied.

"Hello?" I said.

No answer came from the other end until...

"Where are you?!"

I had to pull the phone away from my ear as his unnecessarily loud voice blasted through my tympanic membrane. Fortunately, I didn't have a hearing impairment, and he knew that.

"In the lab." I spoke carefully.

Zahir wasn't the type to overreact unreasonably.

"Do you realise what time it is, Ms. Arora?"

"Um, 6:53?"

"And the meeting starts at 7."

"Fuck."

"Yes, exactly. Fuck."

"Why didn't you remind me before?!"

"I don't hear the gratefulness."

"Fuck you."

"Right back at you."

He hung up.

I hurried toward the exit, already halfway through the door as I spoke. "Zen, secure the lab."

"Of course."

Behind me, the automated system sprang to life. Mechanical arms carefully returned the scattered equipment to their designated stations, while the lights above the workbench dimmed one by one.

"Equipment secured," Zen announced. "Lab systems shutting down." The heavy doors slid closed behind me with a quiet hiss. "Laboratory locked."

I stepped inside the glass elevator, and a transparent 2D holographic interface flickered to life before me. I tapped the icon marked 56, and the doors slid shut with a soft ding.

I rushed toward the conference room as soon as the door slid open. My mules clicked against the marble floor. I huffed as I tapped my wrist watch twice.

"Zen, check if Commander is there yet."

"Surveying." He replied. "No. Commander is not there, but he is on his way. Possibly, 30 degrees to your right."

Just as he said that, I collided with a hard chest. Suppressing a wince, I craned my neck up to look at the owner of that hard chest. My brown eyes instantly met a pair of black ones.

I blinked and stepped back. "Commander," I greeted with a brief smile.

His sharp eyes assessed me from head to toe. He was wearing a black fitted shirt, training pants, and his vest. He appears to be coming from a training session with the trainees.

But despite that, not a single strand of his hair was misplaced, neither did he smell of sweat. Instead, it was something masculine and fresh. Like mist in winters.

"Bela," He nodded. Once and clipped.

So cold. I held the comment in and gestured him to move forward. "After you."

He gestured me beside him and spoke as we fell into a steady rhythm. "You're late again."

"Not again. Okay, maybe, yeah, again. But it's the second time, maybe third. Also, technically, I'm not late since you hadn't arrived yet. You can say I was being a good team member, waiting to escort you personally. Shouldn't I get brownie points for that?"

He stopped and turned to me, staring into my soul. "Breathe, Bela."

"Oh, I'm breathing. See." I inhaled and exhaled to demonstrate.

He shook his head and resumed the walk. I grinned to myself and followed after him. At least I wasn't late.

· • ♠︎ • ·

I took a seat beside Zahir and nudged him. He gave me a lookover and glanced back at the macbook in his hand, passing me one as well. I took the file and glanced around the room once.

All the unit leaders of AEXIS-Z were present.

ZIX8 was divided into several sectors that handled specific, authorized regions of reinforcement. Our sector was AEXIS-Z. We handled the South and Southwest coast.

Krishiv Jindal, 23, the commander and head of AEXIS-Z. He commanded the six unit leaders—that is, us—and the sub units under the leaders.

He wasn't someone you could joke around. Maybe it was the intimidating aura or the way his sharp eyes made one feel stripped bare. He was called the Eagle of AEXIS-Z.

The first unit leader was Reyansh, 24, the Field Operative. He was a chill guy until you messed with him or his cat, Mul. A ginger furball, but also the grumpiest cat on planet Earth.

Kainat, 23, Cyber Intelligence Specialist. She was the coolest and the most unhinged all at once. She could destroy any organisation, sitting behind the screen and moving a few fingers.

Did I mention she was also  Commander's twin?

Yeah, polar opposites.

Maliyah, 24, Reconnaissance Agent. The old soul, and the voice of reason. She was intimidating as well. Commander and her were best friends is what the rest of us like to think.

Because it made sense.

They were just so similar.

And then we have Zahir, 22, Biohazard Specialist.

He's been my best buddy since the training academy.

The sixth was me. Scientific Intelligence specialist.

My eyes met Kainat's across the table, and she gave me a wink. It was terrifying how similar the twins' eyes were. It was like hers were the more eco-friendly version. Still deadly, though.

Commander cleared his throat from the head chair and clicked his tablet. Behind him, a huge interface blinked to life in a cascade of light, displaying pictures of what seemed like a laboratory.

"What? You gifting Bela a new lab or something, Commander?" Kainat mused with a slight smirk and knowing eyes.

"Not the time." Commander deadpanned, without looking up from the screen. "As I was about to say, sources have it that these laboratories are operating under unauthorized administration."

He changed the slide, and some documents popped up alongside the pictures. "There are no records under the government."

Reyansh leaned forward, narrowing his eyes at the screen. "Then who the hell is funding them?"

The Commander tapped the control resting beside his laptop. Another document expanded, its contents heavily redacted. "That's precisely what we're trying to find out."

"So, it's a raid?" Zahir supplied.

"It is." Commander gave a curt nod.

"Then what am I doing here?" I asked.

I, usually, wasn't a part of the raid missions. I didn't have expertise in that field, according to a few seniors. They think just because I deal with chemicals in a lab, I can't handle a battleground.

I can.

I've done such missions before.

It's just that the rest simply had better fighting skills than me.

But that's beside the point.

Why would he ask every one of us, especially me, to be present here for something as simple as a raid?

Commander looked up, and our eyes met briefly. "I was getting there."

Another slide, a report of a missing child, followed by another, and another.

My stomach dropped as the pattern became impossible to ignore. Don't tell me...

"They're abducting children for unauthorized experimentation." The words left my mouth before I could stop them.

"So we suspect." Commander nodded. "We don't know what to expect of the situation when we get there. The information we have is little to none. I need everyone on this."

"Unpredictability can be dangerous." Maliyah added quietly, twirling the paper weight in her hand.

"True. Also, the reason why we're not taking any chances."

A blueprint of the building was next on the interface.

Commander looked up at Maliyah, and she nodded.

"Synt says he can't track any central premise. They have it secure. The technology is top-notch."

Synt was her AHA aka Artificial Helping Assistant like Zen was mine.

"Now, this is where I come handy." Kainat muttered and opened her laptop.

It was pink with bows. She has every one of her devices customized because apparently, she deserves better than bland devices and monotonous voices.

She was locked in and confident in herself. You could see it on her face. After a few minutes passed in anticipation, she took her headphones off and threw it across the table. It landed with a loud thud.

"Son of a bitch." She cursed under her breath, letting out an incredulous scoff. "This... this is impossible. What the fuck is this, Nova?"

Nova was Kainat's AHA.

Her fingers flew across the keyboard once again. Very aggressively, might I add.

"What's wrong?" Commander asked, sounding alarmed.

Kainat rarely lost her cool. She was very fluid and rarely cared about anything enough to let it bother her to this extent. She was the kind to laugh in a consequential situation.

"I can't decode it." She gritted out, shame and frustration was evident in her voice. "Can you believe it? 𝘐? I 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 decode it."

She bit her inner cheek, staring at her laptop screen. "Motherfucker." She muttered, fists clenched.

Commander inhaled, eyes sharpening. "Can you find who created the security?"

She shook her head but her eyes were still fixed on the screen.

"We need a plan. Reyansh, Maliyah, meet me in the analytics. Rest of you try to find any information that you can. We'll meet here with a plan tomorrow."

With that, he got up from the chair and left, followed by Maliyah and Reyansh. The interface disappeared behind them, so did their respective chairs.

"Are you okay?" I asked Kainat.

She hummed, before kicking her chair back as she left.

I turned to face Zahir as it was just us now. "We're in for a ride, huh?" I smiled lazily.

"A wild ride." He nodded, before narrowing his eyes. "Why were you late again? Actually, don't tell me. I already know." He shook his head, exaggerated.

"Excuse me? And what do you know?" I asked, feigning offense.

He smirked. "That were busy entertaining audible porn."

I gasped. "That's not true!"

"Right, my bad. I meant, audible gay porn. You're not even a guy."

I poked my inner cheek. "Well, you are. Want me to set you up with one so you can perform it live?"

"No, thanks. Appreciate the sentiment, though."

"Asshole."

"Um, no. If I were to, I, sure as hell, won't be the ass-hole."

"Because you're a dick."

"Guilty as charged."

"Ew. Stop."

"You started it."

I scowled at him and stood up to leave. I could hear him following behind me. He called out for me but I kept ignoring him. I'm not wasting another minute on him.

Asshol---dick.

"Hey, wanna join me to that club tonight?"

Now, that got my attention.

"Did someone say club? I smell vodka and sweat already." Kainat exclaimed, appearing out of nowhere.

And I smell trouble.

Oh boy.