Nero felt the whiskey burn at the back of his throat, but he didn't care. Rather, he welcomed it.

Nero knew he was stubborn- that he denied a lot of things. But even the most stubborn person couldn't deny what had happened just hours before.

The next shot of whiskey went down Nero's throat, but it didn't push the memory away.


"There has to be some mistake! Maybe- maybe she's just playing a trick on us, or- or something." Nero had his arms crossed stubbornly over his chest, sulking on the couch, "Julia would never do something like this."

"We thought the same thing about Julian six years ago, before he went evil." Wales deadpanned.

Nero snarled at him, and Julian scowled at Wales.

"Don't get defensive when I'm stating the facts." Wales shrugged.

"Nero... she was right there... She caused the lights in the entire house to go out, and then she ran!" Sophie pointed out, "You can't really deny that."

Nero's jaw clenched, before he stood up sharply.

"Where are you going, Nero?" Julian sighed.

"To my bar! Maybe I'll get drunk enough to convince myself that this is all some giant nightmare." Nero snapped back.

The door slammed shut behind him.


That had been almost four hours ago. And Nero still remembered every single detail- from where Julia had stood up and announced she was Medusa, to when the lights had gone out, come back on, and the girl was nowhere to be seen.

Sixteen years old... Nero thought, Sixteen years old and can outsmart me... Kakeru... almost every hacker I know... Nero frowned, I wouldn't put it past her to be able to outsmart even Julian...

Nero blinked as someone slid into the stool next to him.

"Wales...?" Nero blinked hard, "What are you doing here?"

"To make sure you don't drink yourself into a coma." Wales snatched the shot glass making it's way to Nero's mouth, and downed it himself, before setting it back down on the wood counter with a decisive CLINK!

Nero scowled at him, "That was mine."

"Mine now." Wales shot back, before sighing, "Julia's appearance here was a ploy, Nero."

Nero blinked at him, "What do you mean?"

"Some of the other teams were attacked, some of the members kidnapped, others hospitalized. They struck while all the hackers were here, in Italy. They were able to get past their security systems, walk right in, and cause some pretty bad damage." Wales said.

Nero stared at him, before turning away and swallowing audibly, "... tell me. What happened to each team?"

Wales grabbed the whiskey bottle and poured himself a shot. He picked it up, studying the amber liquid in the glass, before he threw it down his throat.

"Agent Ares is hospitalized- broken ribs, internal bleeding, shattered leg, and concussion." Wales started, "Agent Quetzalcoatl, ambushed on a mission and both his hands were broken- stomped on. From what Agent Zeus says, the doctors say he'll be lucky if he can even move his fingers again."

Nero rubbed his hands over face, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Agent Player... he's out of complete commission- he disappeared in the middle of a mission. Agent Aquario, she's on her way back to see if she can help with finding him. Agent Justice was kidnapped, and Agent Eagle hospitalized with some bad fractures to his left leg and a few broken ribs." Wales continued.

Nero pinched the bridge of his nose and held on for dear life.

"Agent Tron from Team Koma... he's gone too. Disappeared, kidnapped... whatever you wanna call it." Wales shrugged.

Nero waited a long moment, before saying, "You haven't named off anyone from Outlaw, Wild Fang, Dame, or Snowdrift."

"Wild Fang wasn't hit, and niether was Dame." Wales poured another shot, "Outlaw... Agent Omega's gone too. And Agent Alpha is on a rampage."

"... Snowdrift?" Nero asked.

Wales' grip on his glass tightened, before he tossed it down his throat, "Luke's been kidnapped."

Nero then realized just why Wales was so tense. His brother was missing, he wasn't- probably couldn't get there- anywhere near his brother's last known location, to help look for him.

It must've been driving Wales insane.

Nero sighed, "I'm sorry. If I hadn't called this stupid meeting into play... if I didn't want to find out even the tiniest bit of information on my own damn sister...."

Nero crossed his arms on top of the bar counter and let his head fall on to his arms, "I'm so... fucking... sorry."

Wales sighed, "It's not your fault. For all we know, Team Blackheart has been planning this for weeks..."

Nero jerked as Wales' phone rang. Wales frowned as he pulled it out of his pocket. Barely glancing at the Caller ID, he answered with a snappy, "What?"

Nero watched as Wales' frown deepened, before he said, "I see... Nero and I are on our way back now."

Wales hung up, and then drank his shot full of whiskey and set the glass back down.

"What's wrong now?" Nero sighed.

"Agent Pegasus, Gingka Hagane..." Wales sighed, and stood up, "He's in a coma. That's four of the five members on Team GanGan Galaxy that are out of commission."


*evil smile* I'm evil, and I won't be able to update again till maybe Monday. Sorry to leave you on such a cliffhanger- not.

Leave a review!