Chapter 52

{January 3rd}

-Days Later-

(R'S POV)

"PLEEEEAAAASSSEE!!!" I continued to beg. I wanted to know where Chase was so I decided to ask Masha if she knew anything about his mysterious absence. Only downside was that she kept denying me the info.

"You are really getting on my nerves now…" She said with a chilling tone.

"I'll shut up if you tell me." I told her. She glared at me and before I knew it, my lips were frozen shut. "...mmm mmhmm mhhmm!" I mumbled a bunch of swears at her.

"If I knew where he was, I'd be in his strong, warm arms right now!" She snapped at me. She then walked away from me.

I was now left to my thoughts. Something just wasn't right. Karren is missing, Chase is missing and Midnight seems busy all the time. What is going on around her?!

-Fifteen Minutes Later-

School sucks! Winter break was way too short. I can't believe that I'm back in this lame ass classroom. I took my seat the was in the back of the class. I saw Sonna enter with a distant look. Something was wrong, I could tell. I was happy to know that she was still around. After the brawl with the Prototypes, me and her haven't talked much. I felt kinda bad about that. I'm gonna make it a point to talk to her later. I noticed how everyone piled inside of the class except for Chase.

(MIDNIGHT'S POV)

DAMN! I feel like a straight up jackass! It's been days since I've heard from my best friend and I'm just now noticing that shit?! FUCK!

I looked up towards the front of the class and saw Blake sitting there with a look of disappointment on his face. He held that damn look since I got here. I was beginning to think that he was holding onto some information that I needed, and I was going to get it!

The bell had rung and the class began to depart. As Blake made a move for the door, I ran up to him and firmly placed a hand on his shoulder. "...You and I need to talk."

"... About-"

"Stop! Don't give me your bullshit! Just start talking, NOW!" I snapped. "Where is Chase!"

"..." He remained silent.

I snarled and sent him a punch to his face. "I won't ask twice!"

"He was sent on a mission a few days back." He finally replied.

"WHERE!?" I shouted.

"... Atlanta Georgia. He was there to locate any survivors and free them from the outbreak."

That got me confused. "Outbreak?"

"JIN Corps. new project. It went wrong and lead to a widespread mutation. Georgia is overrun with mindless mutated, cannibalistic freaks." He said.

"Ok so what happened to my friend?" I questioned.

"ANSWER ME GODDAMNIT!!!" I yelled getting impatient.

"... I'm sorry Milton…" I didn't want to hear those words. He had to be lying.

"You're bullshitting me! You've gotta be!"

"No Milton." He pulled out a white box that I recognized right away. "... I'm serious."

I tossed him to the ground. "You...you bastard! He can't be dead! I can't lose another friend! I CAN'T!!!" I was beyond angry now.

"Milton just relax-"

"YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP! This shit is your fucking fault!" I turned my back to him and started walking off.

"Midnight…" Blake called out to me.

"I refuse to believe this shit. Until you show me his dead, lifeless corpse, I refuse to believe!" I told him as I stormed off.

-Later That Day-

School had ended and I still couldn't get my mind off of Chase's supposed death. It just didn't make sense! How could he just die on me and after what happened to Karren?! That jackass!

I was walking down the street, stuck within my fucking thoughts when R came running up to me looking pissed off.

"That's it! I've had it with the secrets and shit! What the hell is going on. Where have you been?! Where's Chase? Where's Karren?" He asked angrily.

"Listen R, now's not a good time for this." I responded.

"No! You need to start talking. NOW!" He snapped back. I was losing patience. I had to find Chase for shit sake!

"R. Get the fuck outta my way. I said now was not the time for this." I replied, dangerously.

"Just tell me damnit! They're my friends too. I'm worried about them!" R shouted.

"You don't get it! They were everything to me! You didn't know them like I did so just shut the fuck up!" I said, once again pissed off.

"Then help me fucking understand!" He said as he shoved me back.

I responded by pushing him to the floor. "You wanna fucking know so goddamn bad? Then go ask the fucktard named Blake!" I walked past him, heading home.

(R'S POV)

"DAMNIT MIDNIGHT!" I shouted in his direction. I had to know what happened to my friends.

With a quick button press, I was inside of the HQ. I decided to follow Midnight's statement and ask Blake about the whole situation. I knew he'd be here. He spent all of his free time at HQ.

I walked around the place for about an hour or so, looking all over for him. I finally found him hauled up inside of the gym. He was sitting there looking at the floor beneath him with a look of deep thought plastered on his face.

"Yo Blake." I said to my old mentor.

He looked up at me with a depressed look. "Oh, hey R." He said sadly.

"Ok, what the hell! What happened to Karren and Chase?! Midnight said you knew!" I said harshly.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Something I should've stopped."

"Tell me!" I shouted at him.

"They died! Karren was killed by an unidentified rival assassin with a bounty. Chase...he died during a mission in Atlanta Georgia. He's been gone for days now." Blake huffed out.

I was shocked to say the least. I didn't expect him to tell me they died. No wonder why Midnight was angry. He lost his best friends. I was speechless. I didn't know what to say. They just died, like that? Fucking hell! I was snapped outta my thoughts when another operative stepped into the room.

"Uh, Mr. Stryder, Mr. Damine, we have a code red. An urgent assignment is on standby." He said.

"Ok Carlos, we'll be right there." Blake said as he stood up. He looked at me grimmly. "We'll talk later but for now, we've got a mission." I nodded as we headed to the briefing room. Blake looked over the mission objective. "Well shit... We're dealing with an assassination attempt on the president. We have to intercept the killers and protect him at all costs."

"How many assassins are we dealing with." I asked.

"Our source is reporting five hostiles down with the West wing of the White House." Blake responded.

"He, only five?! This'll be easy!" I said cracking my knuckles. "I'll take them all out."

"No! You're not going alone. I won't make that mistake again. You're going with backup." Blake said sternly.