So, I just realized my error from last chapter regarding Ali's birthday. Apparently he was born before Viktor making him effectively the oldest. Yet he's also the shortest in his age group :v

Also, halfway through writing this I realized that I actually made Ali smart. Not smart smart mind you, but just with enough braincells to rub together to give him common sense. Canon Ali used to be quite clueless and dense, and I honestly don't know how to capture that in my writing (;;;・_・)

Hope you guys enjoy

It was five in the morning and the first thing Ali did after waking up was to be in a dilemma.

Ever since he was discharged from the hospital yesterday– Still not sure why MATA admitted him there in the first place– he couldn't quite interact with mama without stepping on every eggshell he was trying to avoid.

Every greeting and acknowledgement of his presence left his tongue in a twist like he forgot how to talk. When going downstairs just for a cup of water she'd push him away from the fridge and pour the water for him, leaving him sputtering to say his thanks. And then there was dinner.

"Do you want your rice with animal shapes?"

"Would you like me to feed you?"

"Are your hands okay now?"

Teddy threw him glares throughout dinner.

Thankfully mama hadn't pressed much and accepted it when he only shook his head in response. But for every more second he spent around her, that was one more dose of spikes to his anxiety.

After he cried so openly at the hospital, his stance on his family was in a topsy turvy, especially regarding his step mom. Where he wanted to interact with her like a normal mother and son, another more stubborn part of him refused to accept the woman into his heart. But that was the thing. She already got into his heart!

He wanted to loathe her, to push her away and hope for the day he could return to the old times of only him and dad... but he'd be lying if he said he didn't like it when she showered him with affection.

It wasn't just him either. He'd realized that dad had changed too with mama around, in particular when it came to Ali himself. He admitted that he didn't see it at first because of his rebellious streak, but now that he was slowly considering Sally Ong as his mom for real, he finally saw the dad he'd been wanting for so long.

Dr. Ghazali and affectionate didn't use to go hand in hand. Mama's– Aliya's– death had made sure of that. With mama– Sally– filling that hole in his heart however, he was starting to become the loving dad that Ali had only seen in old family pictures.

Dinner was actually fun for once. No more cold or microwaved dishes. And dad was there with complete disregard for the work he always spouted about so much.

Whether he liked it or not, Sally Ong was the best thing that ever happened to this house. And even if he couldn't fully accept her as his mother just yet, the positive influence she had on dad– And in turn, Ali himself now that dad was starting to love him again– was enough to make him accept her presence here. As family.

Not that doing that was any easier.

He was interrupted mid-monologue when something rattled the doorknob, prompting him to push himself up from his bed. That something turned out to be his youngest brother trying to not so sneakily enter his room.

While Ali still got to keep his room for himself, Viktor and Teddy shared the repurposed guess room. Teddy didn't care much for the concept of privacy, but Viktor for the most part avoided entering his room when not invited. Still, the audacity to sneak into his room when everyone was asleep.

"Teddy."

"Ah, gogo!" The boy started. Being short enough to barely reach the doorknob's height, he bumped his head against it. "Ow!"

"Serves you right." Ali laughed and did everything an elder sibling would; watch as his little brother nursed his head in pain. "Alright, spill. What do you want?"

"Hmph." The little devil grumbled as he could do nothing else now that he was caught. He glared at Ali from the corner of his eyes. "I wanted your toys."

"And pray tell why you didn't think of asking first?"

"It's not like you'll give them if I ask."

"Sure. You can take them."

"See? You– What?" The boy blinked up at him as if he suddenly forgot how to feel pain. "You're not tricking me are you?"

To be fair, Ali had been pretty protective of his toys. But he supposed the pettiness had to end sooner or later so now was as good a time as any.

"First of all, I still don't like you. And I know you don't like me either," Ali said with finality. "But, my dad and your mom want us to get along. If you play nice with me, you can have my toys. Do we have a deal?"

Teddy stared at him suspiciously but nodded regardless, if a bit hesitant.

When the boy was about to leave, toys of all kinds loaded in his arms, Ali called to him one last time.

"Say, Teddy."

"What? I already promised, didn't I?" The boy pouted at him.

Ali ignored it and went straight to the question. "Do you think I'm stealing your mom?"

It seemed he assumption was right on point when Teddy's eyes went wide before quickly turning into a frown. But unlike all the time the boy would direct the frown at him, this time he only glared at the floor, huffing.

When the boy didn't say a word, Ali continued. "I feel the same way with my dad."

"What? So you want me to stay away from him?" Teddy squinted his eyes at him.

"Actually, no." Ali shrugged much to his brother's confusion. "I've been thinking–"

"You can think?"

"I'll pretend you didn't just say that." Ali glared, not caring if he was having beef with a six-year-old. The kid was annoyingly precocious so at least he was justified in his dislike. He continued through gritted teeth, "What I'm saying is, we have to learn to share.

"Our parents are married now, nothing we do can change that. I'll have to accept that dad's going to pay a lot of attention to you. And you have to accept that mama will treat me like her son as well."

Teddy huffed. "Fine. But I still don't like you."

Ali nodded, smiling. "I'm glad we can see eye to eye."

When Teddy left for real after some more banter between them, Ali let gravity claim him and collapsed onto the bed, his blank gaze locking onto the ceiling.

"Stealing, huh," he muttered to himself. He hadn't meant to sound like a real big brother and had a– Heated– heart to heart talk. While on the surface he could say he was just trying to minimise conflicts with the kid, deep down Ali knew that he did want to steal the mom he wasn't supposed to want.

But Teddy didn't know that, so Ali didn't have to admit anything now, did he?

A ding from his phone pulled him out of his musing. It was from Alicia.

"Good, you're awake," she texted again after he answered. "Meet me at Mamak Maju."

It was three very confused family members that bade goodbye to him when he took his scooter and drove towards said destination. Teddy seemed happy though, probably because the boy had his mama all for himself again.

"...when I said to train me I didn't mean for the maths olympiad." Ali stared at Alicia with a deadpan, his finger tapping the maths practice paper in question.

The girl rolled her eyes from across him. The only reason she wasn't physically expressing her annoyance was due to the table separating them, though he suspected it was only a matter of time before she got enough of his whining. Not that he was going to stop.

"Also why mamak?"

It was a testament to her patience that she hadn't stood up and wacked his head. Instead she continued to look at him with this defeated expression. She didn't want to be here was the vibe she was giving off.

"Just because you're an agent now doesn't mean you can slack off in school," she finally said when she got over her mental block of a willful fraternisation with him. "In fact, you have to be doubly good at it to prove you're decent enough to lead two lives at once."

She never did answer his second question but with the obvious protective stare the men here were giving her– And a rather unfairly suspicious one towards him– Ali could hazard a guess.

"Fine." He relented and picked up his pencil to try out the first question. He was careful to not move it too much less his bandage come off. It barely stung anymore but he still wanted to be safe.

He skipped or stopped midway on any question that was too complicated for him– Basically most of them. Alicia only pinched the bridge of her nose when he proudly showed her the barely answered paper.

"You're hopeless."

"Thanks."

Shaking her head, she pointed at the paper again. "Now use IRIS, see if you can answer it."

Ali thought using the glasses would be considered cheating, but hey, she was the one who suggested it. Who was he to disobey?

Nodding, he took out the round metallic gadget from his pocket and let it take the form of a pair of glasses. The world lit up as binary numbers flashed before his eyes. Again, he saw that blurry figure from before. He couldn't see much, but it was clear enough this time for him to make out the outline of a woman, surrounded by a void of white in the middle of nowhere. Her mouth was moving, but only static reached his ears–

"Do you see it now, the answers?" Alicia said, breaking him out of his stupor.

"O-oh, right." Ali blinked and the woman disappeared immediately, leaving only the maths paper in front of him with floating answer sheets all over his vision. "Yeah, I can see them."

"Good. Now try to make sense of them. IRIS may be able to give you the answers, but it's up to you to figure out how to get them in the first place."

Ali hummed in thought as he tried to understand the underlying nature of the numbers taunting him. Just as soon as he thought of it, IRIS provided more details to fill in the gap in his knowledge. When he still didn't get it, IRIS went further to break it into digestible chunks that he could finally understand. Algebra, quadratic equations, the irrationality of Pi… Maths had never been so clearer in his head.

"Wow." He blinked as if the answers of the universe were laid bare before him, and it wasn't forty-two. He turned to Alicia with amazement. "How did you know it can do that?"

She shrugged. "MATA keeps a record of IRIS's abilities from its previous user."

"Did they have problems with maths too?"

"Don't be daft. I just thought it'd give you more incentive to master IRIS to keep your grades up. We have a test coming up today, you know. Now take off IRIS. Since you understand it better now, let's put that to use."

Despite the rocky start, by the end of it Alicia miraculously managed to drill into him several maths concepts IRIS had introduced to him… Well, he said introduce, but really, he vaguely recalled hearing them in Ms. Munah's class. Having learned them under his friend's tutelage, he came to two conclusions; maths was torture and Alicia was a masochist.

"My head hurts." Ali grunted and dropped his head onto the table, in doing so turning the mental pain into a physical one. Even his reaction to it was half-hearted. "Ow."

When he raised his head back, Alicia was looking at him with the same expression she had that day.

"Why did you help me back then? We're not even friends," she said, fully serious. The tension in the air prevented him from cracking a joke, and he knew if he made any it was going to be his skull that'd be cracked instead.

Ali shrugged. "You wanted to prove yourself to your dad, right? I understand how that feels, so my mouth just... moved," he lamely explained and realised how weird that actually sounded.

"Your mouth just moved, huh?" She rolled her eyes, but it was less of annoyance and had this faint hint of casualness, like they were just two friends making fun of each other. She snickered and leaned back into her seat, arms crossed. "Ever think before you speak?"

He grinned. "Nope."

Shaking her head at his antic before gesturing to the array of dishes displayed in the restaurant's far corner. "What do you want to eat? My treat."

"Really?" Ali beamed and only brightened up more when she nodded.

He made sure not to pick expensive side-dishes since she was being nice and all, but he did get a bit shameless and took two pieces of chicken drumsticks.

While they ate, Alicia introduced her uncles– Rajesh, Razman, and Rahul– who thankfully had stopped glaring daggers at him. The curious stare the men sported however didn't leave him even when they went back to their workstations.

"I could get used to this nice version of you." Ali ignored them to look at his friend.

She made a face but couldn't reply when something playing on the restaurant tv caught her eyes.

"Isn't that Dr. Tong?" Ali looked at the familiar old man talking on the screen. Something about stepping down from his position. Suddenly announcing his retirement was one thing, but there was this weird monotonous quality to his speech that made him sound robotic. His blank stare boring right into Ali's eyes was creepy as well.

"So you noticed it too huh?" Alicia said, her eyes going to her uncles who bore the same serious expression. "Looks like you're gonna get your first mission today."

Ali blinked, stowing away the knowledge that he was currently surrounded by undercover MATA agents. "I am? But I haven't started training yet," he said, panicking.

She waved her hand. "It's fine. It's probably just gonna be a recon mission or something. They won't assign you a difficult mission right off the bat."

He still had some reservations but took her word for it.

Just as his friend had said, Ms. Munah gave out a test today. Usually he'd panic at his inability to answer but thanks to Alicia and IRIS, he got to comfortably answer it. While he didn't get full marks, it was good enough that Ms. Munah let him scoot away with no chiding. Life had never felt so nice.

Still, school had never been so dreadful. He kept staring at the clock because time was moving so slow. All morning he couldn't keep his feet from shaking, too excited that he was about to receive his first mission. Viktor noticed too and called him out on his during recess.

"You're jumpy today. Is it your date with Alicia this morning? Congratulations on your mark too," he added the last sentence as if to detract from his not so subtle teasing.

Ali huffed and took a seat at the cafeteria table, his brother taking the one next to him.

"Wasn't a date. She just helped me study."

"Sure, sure." Viktor laughed. "Mama was worried you left so early, you know. I better tell her the news so she won't worry too much anymore."

"Shut up…" Ali pouted, surprising himself that he somehow didn't deny the accusation whatsoever.

"It was also very nice of you," Viktor said again, this time with a more serious air around him.

"Huh? For what?"

"Teddy told me you gave him your toys."

Oh, that.

"Correction, I'm lending him those. I expect them to be in good condition when he gives them back."

"Same difference." Viktor shrugged, chuckling. "I never brought it up before, but… this sharing your dad thing has been hard on you, huh."

Ali knew Teddy was smart enough to keep their talk just between the two of them, meaning that…

"You heard all that?" He frowned at his brother's nod, though it was more of embarrassment than affront. Maybe a little bit of shame mixed in. Viktor bit his lip in guilt.

"Sorry I listened in on you two, but in my defense, I was trying to stop him from bothering you. And honestly, I'm kinda glad I didn't." Viktor tried to grin to lighten up the mood but when Ali didn't smile, his grin faltered.

His brother continued when he didn't reply.

"Did you really mean that when you said we're stealing your dad?"

Ali stared at the table surface, fascinated by its bright color when exposed to light. "...what if I say I did?" he breathed out.

Viktor sighed and turned away. "I'm sorry. I… never noticed."

Ali shook his head. "No, there's nothing to be sorry for. My dad had never been close to me before you guys came. In a way, it was a good thing we became family. I didn't just get a new mom out of this marriage… I also got a dad."

He smiled and bumped Viktor in the shoulder in a form of reassurance. "Come on, the food's not gonna eat itself."

The tension between them dissipated as their conversation shifted into more casual stuff.

As they ate the lunch mama packed them– Dim Sam for brunch. Classy– Ali noticed Uncle Bakar hiding in the corner disguising as a janitor… or maybe he was a janitor for real.

"Hey, Vik. Imma go to the toilet for a sec. Don't eat my food."

"Can't promise that but okay."

Ali rolled his eyes and left expecting his food to be gone when he came back.

Uncle Baker grinned at him when approached.

"Ali, we got a mission," the man said. Thankfully this time, MATA didn't send Agent Karya slash Mr. Bidin to hypnotise him to keep their location secret. The man did take over the school microphone however.

"Attention, all students. School is cancelled for today because of… the hays. So everyone can go home."

MATA agents were best described as rpg classes. Just like most games he'd played, those working under the agency were assigned one of four types; Kombat the tank, Neuro the ranger, Tekno the support, and Inviso the thief. The only difference was they were called pillars instead of classes.

He might have taken some liberty and mix-matched classes from different genres, but at its basic level, that was how MATA agents operated. And if he understood it correctly, a well rounded team would have to consist of all the four pillars… which was why he found it curious that General Rama assigned him to a three-man team with no Alicia in sight.

"Ali and Bakar, you two will infiltrate Beta Tower and investigate Dr. Tong's whereabouts. Do not alert the security. Once you've collected sufficient information, report to Agent Rizwan and he'll take care of the rest."

Ali raised a hand. "One question. Don't we need a Neuro agent?"

"Usually, yes," Jenny answered. "But all the Neuro agents we have are on duty currently and can't be sent to this mission."

"But Alicia–"

"We do not have any Neuro agents at our disposal. Understood ?" General Rama glared at him with such intensity that he almost ran to hide behind his uncle.

"A-affirmative, General."

"Good. Now that we have no more questions, act promptly!"

Ali frowned as Uncle Bakar led him away with Rizwan out of the room. While Uncle Bakar regaled him with tales of his own first mission, Rizwan kept giving him side eyes until they arrived at a elevator that would take them up to the surface. It was a different one from the one Ali took at the school library.

It was a long ride up.

"Say, uncle. Is Alicia an agent?" Ali asked to fill in the awkward silence barring the wish-woosh of the elevator.

"I mean, I guess. She's been training with MATA since she was little," the man answered but was quickly rebuffed by Rizwan who used his mouth to talk for the first time today.

The inviso agent popped his lollipop from his lips. "She's not an official agent. No junior agents are. Arguably, she's not even listed as a candidate despite her talents."

Ali kept note of the thing about junior agents for later.

"How am I an official agent then?" he said, looking up at the man who'd gone back to sucking on his candy.

"You're a special case. IRIS gives you a lot of advantages even among the adult agents. Personally, I don't see anything special with you. But as long as you do your mission well, we'll have no issue. Understood?"

Ali frowned at how condescending the man sounded with his smirk and all. Even Ms. Munah wasn't this infuriating.

"Yes," he answered simply.

That was the last thing they talked about before they exited the elevator, well hidden from civilians' eyes. Rizwan left first and immediately disappeared.

Beta Tower greeted them with the soulless stare of the guards in front of the entrance.

"Dr. Tong is busy right now," was the phrase they kept repeating in that creepy way of theirs.

Neutralising them– What the heck, Uncle Bakar– was a no go so they had to take a more sneaky approach. That was when Ali's favourite command resounded through his comm.

"Ali, use IRIS."

Ali grinned. "Understood."

Tapping the button on the temple, he watched in fascination as IRIS took over his vision and gave him the blueprints of the area surrounding them. Among its many abilities, IRIS could take and analyse data from Cyberaya's mainframe, allowing it to calculate the most efficient way to achieve a goal Ali had in mind… which in this case was to hide in the crates along with the goods that were regularly transported inside. It… honestly sounded dumb but he supposed espionage would prefer stealth over epic entrances.

When he conveyed IRIS's suggestion, MATA provided them with a truck and crates with sizes to accommodate them, and while it took some time, they at last stepped foot inside Beta Tower.

IRIS might not be a hacking device, but it sure well acted the part. It was as if it understood the very layout of the place and warned Ali of whatever threat was in the way of their mission. Jenny back at the safehouse took care of the real hacking and turned off the surveillance system, but Ali loved watching IRIS dish out the security passcodes just by analysing fingerprints and dented marks on the buttons.

By far however, his favourite had to be this thing called the X-vision. He didn't know how it worked, he didn't know how this little device could even do something only X-ray scanners at the hospital could do. But he would be lying to himself if he said it wasn't cool being able to see through walls.

"We found Dr. Tong's room," Uncle Bakar said into his comm, making sure not to alert the guards lining up just a right turn ahead of them. He tried again when nobody replied. "General? Helloooo, yoohoo, Bakar here… Hm, I think we lost connection."

Ali pursed his lips, thinking of ways they could get in without being detected. When he looked up, for the first time ever, a light bulb lit up on his head the same time IRIS suggested he use the air vent.

"Uncle, look." He called and had the man prop him up into the dusty and cramped space. It was too cramped actually, seeing as how the man behind him couldn't get his belly fat through the small entrance.

"Do I go by myself then," Ali suggested, seeing how the man was going to be stuck there for a while.

Uncle Bakar nodded. "Okay, you go first, but don't do anything. Just look from above and then come back here and tell me what you see."

Ali nodded and did as told, crawling through the vent until he arrived over the room. Dr. Tong was there, along with a man that appeared alongside him in the news this morning, the supposed successor of Beta Tower.

And hoowee, that Aaron guy sounded like a lunatic, what with his raving about leading whatever and potential whatchamacallit. It was a cliché villain monologue through and through. But aside from that, there was something strange going about. IRIS showed him exactly what it was and it sent chills up his spine; Aaron had had Dr. Tong and the guards under some kind of a mind control, operated through the device he was wearing on his head.

Ali gulped and crawled back quickly, in doing so rattling the railing under him. Thankfully he managed to hide just in time for Aaron not to suspect anything and resume his villain monologue. When he went back to Uncle Bakar, the man was comfortably standing on the floor again, Rizwan by his side.

Rizwan looked at Ali, still casually sucking on his lollipop. "So, what did you see?"

Ali began to explain, feeling his hair standing on ends again. "Aaron has a mind control device. That's why everyone's acting so robot-like. It's like he's hacked into their brains!"

Rizwan frowned and shared a look with Uncle Bakar before turning to him again.

"How does the device work?"

Ali frowned when he couldn't remember anything from his spying but that prompted IRIS to give him clear images of what he saw earlier. Ali studied them with IRIS's inputs.

"It's… using a wave. I think. IRIS says the waves coming from the device halt Dr. Tong and the rest's thought process. He only gives orders and they'll respond to him."

"I see." Rizwan nodded. "Ali, you did well. You can leave now. We'll take care of the rest."

"Huh? But–"

"Don't you remember the mission? You collect information, I take care of the problems." Rizwan raised a brow and shut him up completely. "Still, thanks to you, we know the enemy is not someone to be underestimated. So I'm taking Bakar as a precaution."

Uncle Bakar took that as a cue to smile. "It's fine, Ali. You did well for your first mission. You're making ma– Me! You're making me proud, hehe."

The man's heart rate spiked up for some reason. But yeah, he was right.

Ali sighed but nodded, realising he lost the argument. "Alright…"

There was annoyance in Rizwan's eyes when he looked up at them, but the words the man said were rather unexpected. Touching, even.

"Ali. A good agent is an obedient one. You did your job, and that's all that's required. No more, no less. You've proved you have discipline, so at the very least you can rest well knowing you'll serve MATA well. And in return, MATA will serve you well."

Ali didn't know what came over him right then and there. One moment he was standing there looking up at Rizwan's grumpy face, and the next he felt tears pricking at his eyes. In all his twelve years, nobody had told him that he was… useful. It felt weird to be appreciated, especially since he'd barely done anything and it was mostly IRIS anyway. But it felt so, so good he didn't know how to react other than to awkwardly nod and walk away.

He glanced over his shoulder to see Rizwan and Uncle Bakar engaging the guards, briefly listening to the sounds of bodies being slammed against walls. Yeesh.

When Ali exited the building, making sure not to alert the guards, his comm broke into statics before a clear voice finally called out to him.

"Ali?

"Yeah, Jenny. It's me."

"How is the mission going?" General Rama asked. "Something interrupted the connection earlier. Is everything under control?"

Ali walked a bit away from his spot to find shade and sat there. He smiled as he talked, though he made sure not to make it sound like he was chuckling.

"Everything's alright. Agent Rizwan and Uncle Bakar are taking care of Aaron right now. He had a mind control device."

"Jenny, play IRIS's recording," he heard General Rama say. The man hummed in thought after a short pause. "This is most concerning."

The man discussed the matters with Jenny afterwards, leaving Ali alone to listen to the increasingly boring talk. He started when they addressed him again.

"Ali, you can go home now. We'll contact you for future missions," General Rama said, ever so stern. Jenny on the other hand was more cheerful.

"Good job on your first mission!" She congratulated him. "Go rest. You deserve it."

Ali felt heat creeping up his cheeks but he allowed just the tiniest of smiles to trace over his lips… Okay, who was he lying to. He had a full blown grin on his face!

"Alright. Signing off… I guess?" he said, not sure if said that right. They only hummed in acknowledgement though and turned off the communication, so maybe it was fine.

"First mission, huh." He chuckled to himself when he was alone again. He propped himself against the floor, arching his back as he stared at the sky. "I… did a good job. For once."

Ali commended MATA on putting one of their entrances inside his school library. After all, what kid stayed after school to read books. Ugh. When he exited through the elevator, his school uniform back on, he was about to make his way out of the place when something caught his eyes.

There, in the shelf labelled language resources, was a book on basic Cantonese. Before he knew it, his hand had reached for it after some tiptoeing what with his short height. He perused the dense book, looking in confusion and wonder upon the illegible Chinese characters spread out across its pages.

Dinner at home was uneventful. Dad was still at work, but the Ongs found a way to make dinner exciting by changing topics of conversations ever so often. Ali only listened to them talk, occasionally nodding when addressed and giving short answers when he felt like it. While his hands didn't hurt anymore, he kept on wearing his bandage. As a result, mama kept offering to feed him much to Teddy's chagrin, though the boy didn't glare at him as much as before.

Viktor as usual relegated Ali to the duties of eating the veggies– While mama wasn't looking of course. As he watched his step family chatting and laughing with each other, he imagined himself laughing with them as well, free of any worries to indulge in his family's affection. His step mom's affection.

After dinner, Ali returned to his room and made sure to lock the door this time, not wanting a certain little devil to sneak in again.

In the safe confinement of his room, he dropped himself on his bed and pulled out the book he'd borrowed from the library. He stared at it, wondering if he was ready to open his heart to make room for another mom in his life.

He'd never made a more resolute decision in his life.

"So ngo hai means I am. Sounds simple enough," he hummed, flicking through the pages to guesstimate how long it'd take to finish the whole book.

This chapter is mostly fluff to counter last chapter's angst. Ali is slowly opening up to the idea of having another mom in his life.

I know I'm painting Dr. Ghazali in a bad light in this fic... which is exactly what he deserves ಠ_ಠ. But seriously tho, the distance he put between himself and Ali in canon is really harming the kid's childhood. No wonder season 1 Ali misbehaved so much. Nobody was there to discipline or even give him attention.

Translations:

-"Go4go1"

[個個]

"Big brother"

-"Ngo5 hai6"

[我 係]

"I am" as Ali says himself. He's in for a surprise when he learns about Cantonese's six tones though :)