Chapter II

Great Commander's Hall, Central Command Station, Autozam

" Wow! This is amazing! Look at them. They are larger than life." Hikaru could not hide her amazement while viewing the 3D images of the past leaders of Autozam. The 3D images portrayed the past leaders in their greatest conquest.

" They are the past leaders of Autozam. All of them had military training. Recognized as the best of their generation."

"Look at this one! This guy looks like Eagle. Wow!" Hikaru's eyes were twinking as if she was Bella Swan who has seen her glittery vampire love of her so-called life, Edward Cullen.

"He is Eagle's father." The BBC expression was on Lantis' face. His voice was flat and certainly his expression was too. Hikaru was so engrossed with her viewing that she failed to notice the brewing gloomy expression of Lantis.

"Really! Eagle is certainly a someone here in Autozam. He is amazing. I mean he is a very important person. He is like a demi-god. He is so cool." Hikaru kept on blabbing about Eagle's best qualities. It sure sounded like a testimonial in Friendster , a social networking site who had its heydays prior to the invasion of Facebook. Obviously not noticing Lantis' stern expression, Hikaru kept on saying how Eagle is so strong, courageous, super duper mega over blah blah blah. "How cool is that! Right Lantis?"

"I think that's enough praises for Eagle for this day." Lantis accidentally blurted.

"What is it Lantis?" Hikaru was showing her forever innocent puppy eyes.

"Nothing. Let's get out of here." Lantis coldly turned his back on Hikaru.

"But this is-"

"Overrated. How can he be a demi-god and I am not" Lantis whispered to himself.

Poor clueless Hikaru. She had no idea why her cail companion suddenly shifted to his version of third degree. "So Eagle is sort of next in line? He would make a great leader." Hikaru continued the second volume of her post-Friendster testimonial.

And I thought we are done about Eagle. Lantis let out a deep breath. Even a cail is human too. Somehow he had to show his feelings anyhow.

"Are you okay Lantis? You are too quiet" The fire knight wondered. She thought Lantis' silence was a bit too silent even for his type.

"I am fine Hikaru."

"I am so happy Lantis because you toured me around here. It was really fun I hope next time I could tour you in my world. You will get to meet my three brothers. You and my oldest brother are alike." The fire knight was all smiles. She was too dense that even though there would be neon sign with jealousy written all over it in all caps and bold letters complete with headlights, she wouldn't notice it.

Eagle is a demi-god while I just remind him of her oldest brother. These of course were just in Lantis' thoughts. Thoughts he never knew existed until now. "So does Eagle remind you of your brother?"

"Hmmm, no he doesn't. He is completely different from my brothers. It would be also great if I can tour Eagle in my world and meet my brothers and my dog. That would be fun, right? We would go to Tokyo tower, eat ice cream and go to an amusement park"

"What is an amusement park? Why do people from your world need to go to a park to amuse themselves." One of the things Lantis like about talking to Hikaru was learning things about her world.

"An amusement park has so many rides. They can sometimes be scary and you might get sick but it is fun." Hikaru's face was mimicking an after-ride from roller coaster.

"How can people be amused if they get sick?"

"It is part of the fun. You should try it."

"What fun?"

Hikaru and Lantis turned their backs and saw the silver-haired commander wearing his boyish smile

"Eagle." Hikaru could not hide her happiness

"Miss me much Hikaru, we just saw each other this morning." His boyish smile was sweeter than before

"Lantis toured me around here. He told me lots of things about you. I never thought you are this celebrity here in Autozam." Hikaru was a thread away from formally establishing Eagle's first ever fan club.

"You are such a sweet girl Hikaru." Eagle smiled and gave her some sweets. "Some treats for a very special girl."

"Wow, thanks a lot Eagle." Hikaru was in cloud nine. "I'll keep this one"

Eagle was about to say something when a loud crash was heard on the eastern side of the building. The alarm was set off and suddenly it the surrounding was red all over

"What is that?" A warrior that she is, Hikaru became alert. Her stance was automatically in defense mode.

"Lantis, Hikaru, stay here." Although it was a surprise to him that somebody could penetrate the central command station, Eagle was calm.

"We will come with you." The two said in unison. They could not let Eagle fight alone Technically, as commander Eagle has thousands of soldiers under his command he wouldn't be fighting alone.

The trio boarded a wireless cable car to go to the eastern side. There was no human intruder. What they saw was a huge cube with blinking lights that crashed in the wall.

"Commander, we don't know how this thing breached our security system. Based on my initial assessment, it was launched from this room sir. There is no sign of the perp but as precautionary measure I assigned Team Alpha to search the perimeter."

Eagle calmly examined the cube. "I don't think this cube is dangerous."Eagle further examined the cube. His amber eyes intensified. They became a darker shade of amber. " It was meant to deliver a message." His boyish air was now gone. Eagle's face was as serious as the day he was assigned to conquer Cephiro.

"A message, how did you know?" Hikaru examined the cube. It was just blinking lights. If it was smaller and round, it would have looked like a disco ball.

"The blinking of the lights are giving off a code. " His voice was as cold as ice. "Take this to Area Zero and give this to the science officer for examination" Eagle commanded to one of his men. He was every inch a military officer.

"Eagle, is there a way for Lantis and I could help?"

Eagle's stern expression changed. The boyish silver-haired commander returned."It is okay Hikaru. Don't bother yourself with what happened earlier. My men can get to the bottom of this." He gave out a boyish smile that could melt throngs of women.

Lantis kept silent. Judging from Eagle's reaction while examining the cube something is up. "Eagle"

"Lantis, why don't you accompany Hikaru to her sleeping quarters for her to rest."

"I don't feel tired Eagle. You promised to tour me at your barracks"

"Hikaru, let's leave Eagle for a while. He needs to attend to something."

"Umm. Tomorrow, okay." The red-haired knight was smiling so sweetly.

"Let's go Hikaru." Lantis escorted the fire knight.

"How are they?"

"Lantis sent a message that they are in the quarters." Geo replied.

"Good. I don't want Lantis nor Hikaru know what I am about to say." There was a stern expression on Eagle's face. By the looks of it, Geo knew that it was not just a petty problem.

"Eagle, if the science officer is right about the message, things can get serious. We have to be prepared. We might need Lantis' help."

"I don't want them to get involved in our problem. This is Autozam's concern." His amber eyes were more serious than ever.

"I don't think we should keep them in the dark especially Lantis. Our latest intel reveals that this enemy has been also spying in Cephiro.." Geo handed over the intelligence report.

"What's he up to this time?" It was a rarity for people of Autozam who have been used to technological advancements to have a keen interest on magic. Files about other planets specially Cephiro and the legend surrounding the Magic Knights are confidential. Only the President, Eagle and Geo have access to those files.

"What is your decision?"

"Let's keep this matter confidential. I'll talk to my father about this."

"Copy." As Eagle's second in command, Geo had always been trustful of Eagle decisions.

"Tell Zazu to speed up the upgrade of the FTO and GTO, we might be needing them soon.

"By now, they have decoded my message. I wonder what our hero's expression would be like." The tall man with an expression of malice which was aggravated by his sinister eyes exclaimed. His thunderous laughter filled the cold air.

"Master I saw his update on his AUTOtweetdroid, he just had a wonderful dinner with his friends." The servant proudly updated his master.

"Remind me not to kill you." The tall man with an expression of malice which was aggravated by his sinister eyes was controlling his anger. " I don't care about his dinner. AND WHY IS HE NOT IN A STATE OF PANIC. HE STILL HAS TIME TO UPDATE THAT STUPID MICRO-BLOGGING SERVICE ." His nostrils were flaring.

"It is actually fun master. The trending topic is about Eagle's return. There's nothing here about our attack I think next time you shouldn't use a blinking cube. I mean who would take it seriously. Just add some music and it is almost a party."

"Oh, do you have any more bright ideas." The tall man with an expression of malice which was aggravated by his sinister eyes shouted.

"Well, I have been watching some television feeds from this blue planet. They have those some sort of soap operas. Those soap operas really take a long time to finish and the plot doesn't thicken at all but the villains are good. If they want to hurt the main character, they go after his or her family or closest friends. They are only good during Christmas and then after that, they go bad again."

The tall man with an expression of malice which was aggravated by his sinister eyes thought his servant is being stupid again but on second thought his servant made sense. He remembered the last intel from the spies stationed in Cephiro. Word has it that Eagle has been close to one of the Magic Knights. "Hmmmm, interesting….." He was about to continue when his servant offered him a glass of red wine. "What is this?"

"Wine, master."

"I know it is wine you fool. Why are you giving me this?"

"In those soaps, they usually have wines while they scheme. I think it is cool. There was one episode when the villain splashed it into the main character's face." The trembling servant proudly offered the wine.

The tall man with an expression of malice which was aggravated by his sinister eyes made a mental note not to kill his servant and then, he took the wine. When he took the wine and made a sip, he thought it may not be a bad idea after all. As he savor the richness of the wine, an evil plan of deeper red than the wine he was sipping was concocted.

"It is time to stop planning. It is time to scheme." The tall man with an expression of malice which was aggravated by his sinister eyes whispered.