Uploading this one a little later than planned, so, sorry about that folks! FFN is still suffering, and there is no end in sight. I don't want to keep going on about this though, this will be the last time I mention that you can follow the Facebook page for updates on chapter releases by searching for Dragon Ball AG - FanFiction, but I will continue to upload weekly on here anyway, at least until I run out of chapters. Thanks for sticking with me.

Chapter 7: Through the Mud

Saturday 24th June Age 798

Avdoza Warehouse – Namu City

After an anxious night of tossing and turning, the Avdoza trio found themselves awake and waiting in their communal space shortly before 7am. There was silence, not a word was said between them the whole morning. It was too difficult to figure out what the right words were. None of them knew how to handle the complicated situation that lay before them.

Teki had already impressed his power over them, and he had put forth his threats, even if they were only implicit, they were still threats. There was no way out.

Dole was fidgeting as he sat in a chair behind a desk at the end of the room, while Avure was standing by the window, leaning against the wall, and looking out. Zala was left to sit on the couch, alone, with his arms resting on his legs and his hands together with his fingers interlocked. His head was down towards the ground as he gazed at the floor.

The fidgeting that came from Dole was drawing attention. His leg was bouncing up and down, and the floorboards beneath his feet were creaking. Zala's eye twitched.

"Knock it off," Zala snapped, without looking up.

Dole stopped, but then less than a minute later his fingers were tapping on the desk. Zala closed his eyes and let out a quiet but frustrated sigh, but he didn't say anything. They were all nervous, scared, even.

"They're here," Avure said.

"They?" Zala questioned, looking towards Avure at the window.

Avure nodded.

He could clearly see as Teki walked across the road towards their building, flanked on either side by a guard, one man and a woman. However, standing behind him were another two people. Another man and woman, with each one looking just as menacing as the other.

"He has four people with him," Avure confirmed.

As Teki approached, moving out of view as he entered their building, three of the guards continued and followed him, while one of the women stopped and turned around, as if to keep watch.

"He's coming in with three," Avure said, looking down as he stepped away from the window.

Zala looked to the door and sighed again.

"Are we really just letting him walk all over us?" Dole asked.

"What choice do we have?" Zala replied.

Dole sighed and sat back in his chair, submitting himself to the inevitable. They would just allow Teki to walk through their building and waltz about like he owned the place, not that it was out of character for Teki to act that way.

Zala understood why Dole was questioning it, Zala himself was questioning the situation, but there truly wasn't anything they could do. He just turned away from Dole and looked towards the ground again, waiting for it. Avure finally turned away from the window and walked forward, standing strong, as if to put across a menacing and tough presence. Which was a contrast to the way he acted the previous night. Dole, meanwhile, just slumped further down in his chair, but there was nowhere he could hide.

It was a strange waiting game that followed, as the trio remained inside the safety of their own living space, simply waiting for Teki to enter.

When the door to the room finally opened it was Teki that entered first, with a smirk already plastered on his face, and he was still dressed in the same suit from the previous night. He stepped inside and remained a few feet away from the door, allowing for his guards to filter into the room. Teki glanced around the room as this happened, taking in his surroundings as his protection moved into somewhat ideal positions.

The two men in his group both had buzz cuts, very military style hair, and one had blond hair and the other had black hair. Then there was the woman, who had her black hair tied back in a very short ponytail, and it was shaved at the sides. All three of them were very physically fit and imposing, with clear muscle definition. Avure felt a need to clench his fists and flex his own muscles as one of the men eyed him up.

Teki stood, facing the room. On the opposite side of where Teki stood there was a big window, and in front of that window was the desk where Dole sat. To Teki's left, and within his vision Zala was sat on the couch that was facing across to the right side of the room, where Avure was standing by another window.

The blond man and the woman moved around Teki's left side, with the woman standing behind the couch, while the man moved towards Dole's desk, just standing to the side with his arms folded. The black-haired man stood closer to Avure on the right side of the room.

"Nice place," Teki said, with just the tiniest hint of sarcasm.

"Get on with it," Zala said, still refusing to look up.

That only prompted Teki's smile to widen.

"I think, considering I have all the power in this situation, I'll take as long as I need," Teki replied, allowing himself a scoff.

An awkward silence followed Teki's statement, it was like he commanded the energy in the room, and all of the attention was upon him. He started to pace forward, further into the centre of the room, with his hands behind his back.

"I need the three of you to go to Satan City for me," Teki ordered.

"For how long?" Zala asked, immediately, as if he had already accepted this was his fate.

It drew a confused glance from Dole, who really didn't understand why Zala was humouring him.

"For as long as I need you to," Teki added.

Dole scoffed, loudly, drawing an exasperated reaction from Zala who looked to the smaller man out of the corner of his eye. Teki's pacing had taken him closer to Dole, but he turned and had his back to him.

"We can't just up and leave this place, it's our work, our lives," Dole said.

Teki remained with his back to Dole, and his sly smirk grew wider.

"And why not?" He questioned.

Dole scoffed again.

"Because we're just trying to run a god-damned business," Dole snapped, "we're building something here and we really want to make this work for us."

"What makes me think I care about the success of your little business here? What makes you think you deserve that?" Teki questioned, turning around, and looking down at Dole. "I only care about what you can offer me… and what you can offer Alpha."

Zala looked up at the back of Teki's head with a confused frown.

"We don't work for you," Zala said, prompting Teki to half turn to the left and looked down at Zala as he sat on the couch. "We never worked for you."

Teki chuckled softly.

"That may be," he said, turning completely to face Zala. "But you know who I work for."

Zala's eyes lingered on Teki's face, his frown persisting.

"Speaking of, why doesn't he come here and speak to us himself if this is so important?" Zala asked. "It's been a while since he abandoned us after forcing us to work with the wizard."

"He needed to create distance, he was confident that you three would find your own way," Teki said, making it sound like he was complimenting them, but they knew the truth. He was patronising them. "But I have faith, as does he, that you have all remained loyal. Am I right?"

Zala had nothing to say in return to that. He just continued to stare at the smart-dressed man. He also knew that Omega would always get what he wanted, even if he had to remove other people to get there. Teki could see the turmoil on Zala's face, and it only made his arrogance stronger.

"That's what I thought," he said. "Now, I really don't want any of this to get ugly, I want to be civil. I only came here with the intention of having a calm conversation."

Teki met Avure's eyes and clearly felt the animosity emanating from that man's body. It amused him, but he did his best to keep that hidden, for the time being.

"We need your help with the growth of the great work we are doing at Alpha, we're changing the world, and I'm certain that you three would love the impact you leave on this world to be a good one," Teki continued, looking from Avure, to Dole, and back around to Zala.

Avure shook his head and scoffed quietly, but he glared at the back of Teki's head.

"Fuck you," Avure snapped.

Teki remained still and quiet in response to that comment, but he quietly started to chuckle, and eventually laugh out loud. However, the laugh quickly subsided, leaving that same smirk.

"I'm sure I don't need to explain how things will go should you refuse to help me," Teki started, maintaining eye-contact with Zala. "Or even if you fail, there will almost certainly be consequences, severe consequences."

No one replied, which allowed Teki the space to continue. He started pacing again, moving back towards Dole.

"I wouldn't just ruin your quaint business, oh no, I would ruin your lives," Teki said, staring straight down at Dole, spitting his venom. His tone shifted and there was clear malicious intent in those words. "And don't think I won't forget to pay dear Bella a visit."

Teki's comments had been intentionally antagonistic, and the reaction they elicited from Avure was very warranted, although it was exactly the kind of reaction that Teki was expecting. With very little thought put into it, Avure moved away from the window and charged at Teki with his full intent to hurt the visitor. However, his movements had been sloppy, and loud. He knocked over a lamp as he stepped forward and that was enough to draw all the attention his way.

It was enough for Teki to turn around, and he immediately took a step backwards, hoping to protect himself from any impending attacks. It was fortunate that Teki had guards there to take care of the protection he needed. One of the guards was close enough to stop Avure, tackling him, with both men falling to the ground in a heap.

This seemed to set off a chain reaction of events, as the actions had prompted a reactive move from Zala, who simply stood up out of his chair, instinctively, and due to the nature of his positioning it caused Teki to bump up against him. Dole, seated behind the desk, stupidly took this as a sign from Zala to get involved, and he grabbed something from his desk then stood up, aiming a handgun towards Teki.

The guard standing closest to Dole noticed the threat and quickly leapt towards Dole, grabbing his arm, and twisting it in such a way that forced him to drop the gun. The guard then brought Dole's arm around behind his back and slammed the mohawked man down, front first, onto the desk, holding him there.

While that was happening Avure had been very quickly, and effectively held down on the ground and stopped from causing anymore havoc, but his anger towards Teki did not subside. The woman standing behind the couch, near Zala, attempted to move forward, but Zala held both hands up in a surrendering way, and he backed away from Teki.

"Everybody, calm down, ok!" Zala called out.

He turned to see that Dole was easily dealt with, stuck to his desk, while Avure was on the floor continuing to try his best to break free, but it was clear that Teki's guards weren't just there to look threatening. They were very capable.

"Fine!" Zala yelled, looking towards Teki. "We'll do it. We'll do this job for you. Is that what you want to hear?"

Teki's brow furrowed.

"Whatever it is," Zala continued, but he paused, sighed, and lost all of his fight as his head dropped. "We'll do it."

Teki's shock dissipated and was replaced by yet another wry smile. He straightened himself up, regained all of his composure and control, and then raised his hand in a halting gesture. It was a signal for his guards to stop what they were doing, for them to stand down, and that's exactly what they did.

Dole was released, and he very quickly slumped back into his chair, feeling his arm. The guy with Avure was a little more apprehensive about letting that man go, but Avure met Zala's eyes and saw the seriousness. He sighed and gave up, accepting defeat. He was very quickly freed but refused to pick himself up from the ground, just lying there, staring up to the ceiling.

"I'm really glad that you've seen sense, that you've chosen to co-operate," Teki said, earnestly, almost like he was attempting to bring himself down to Zala's level. A sentiment that read only as patronising, especially when coming from his mouth.

Zala saw right through it, and he wasn't about to make Teki feel like they could ever be equals. He didn't want to humour the man.

"You didn't give us choice," Zala said, glaring.

Teki scoffed, putting his hands behind his back again.

"That's true," he muttered.

His guards moved towards the door again, knowing that there was very little risk of things going even further sideways at this point. They were also keen to avoid any unwanted conflict, lest they draw any unwanted attention. Teki held his hand out for one of the guards as they walked by him, and they reached inside their coat and pulled out an Alpha data-pad.

Teki took the device and crossed the room. He held it up as if to show everyone in the room and then placed it on the desk.

"All the information you need is there," he said, leaving his hand to rest on the tablet for a moment. "Where I need you to be, the job you'll be undertaking, your accommodation, the target's information, the methods I require – everything is on there."

He took his hand away and turned around to face the door, and as he walked across the room again, he motioned for the guards to leave. They did, and Teki stopped walking once they were out of the room.

"I strongly suggest that you make no attempt to contact me until after the completion of this mission," Teki stated, all of his swagger disappeared, and his tone was harsh, serious. "I wouldn't want to compromise anything."

He glanced to Zala again.

"I'll tell you what comes next, as soon as you complete this task," Teki stated.

Then, he straightened up again and continued towards the door, opening it and half stepping out. Before going any further he turned for one last look over the trio. Avure had returned to his feet, his glare fixed firmly upon Teki. Dole was still sitting back in the chair, feeling very out of sorts after what had occurred. Zala stood strong, but he wasn't feeling strong, he was feeling very weak, very small.

Teki smiled, a sinister smile.

"I'm so happy that we're all working together again."

After claiming the final word, he turned around and walked out of the door, letting it slowly creak to a close behind him, leaving the trio alone in their own office. Formerly their safe space, but now the room was filled with a deafening silence. None of them knew what to say. Zala looked to Avure, and then they both looked back to Dole, and finally, following Dole's eyes, they all looked down at the data-pad that lay on the desk.

Friday 30th June Age 798

Lucian Fergus Bank – Satan City

Literally one week on from the moment Teki walked into that bar in Namu City, the trio found themselves sitting in a silver four-seater car, parked across the road from a smaller branch of the Lucian Fergus chain of banks. It wasn't the largest target they had been given, but it was still criminal activity, which they had been hoping to avoid ever since taking up their new lives.

Zala was sat behind the wheel of the car, both of his hands gripped onto the steering wheel at the usual ten and two positions. His breathing was heavy and slow, but it was hard to tell if it was because of nerves, or just his annoyance at the situation they were forced into.

Avure was sitting in the back, in the middle, with a rifle across his lap. It was nothing special, a standard issue weapon. Easy to get a hold of, harder to track. Besides, it had been provided by Teki, so it wasn't their concern where the weapons had come from.

Dole was sat in the passenger seat in front, looking out of his window at the bank.

"Just like every other day," Dole said, "the security guard will be easy."

"Avure, that's you," Zala said.

"Cool," Avure muttered, checking his gun was loaded, even though he was hoping not to use it on anybody.

He reached over to a bag that was on the seat beside him and he pulled out a few ski-masks, handing two forward to his partners.

"You got all the information?" Zala asked, speaking to Dole.

"All good," Dole replied, patting the small satchel bag at his side. He also had a rifle sitting across his lap.

"Great…" Zala muttered, sighing. "Then I guess we do this thing."

Zala started the ignition on the vehicle and pulled the car out of the parking spot and turned around, so that they were on the same side of the road as the bank. As soon as they pulled up, the three men quickly filed out of the vehicle, pulled their masks down over their faces and rushed into the bank.

The security guard stood out of his seat, clearly shocked by the sudden appearance of these masked men, but he was quickly and efficiently dealt with as Avure grabbed the man's tie and pulled him down into the desk. He pressed his gun to the guard's head.

"Turn off the cameras, now!" he yelled.

As Avure dealt with the guard, and the cameras, Dole and Zala moved into the main lobby of the bank. There were only two clerks sitting behind a large counter, with only four customers in there at the time. Dole shot his gun up at the ceiling, which was enough to draw everybody's attention, and simultaneously made them all drop to the floor.

"Stay on the ground if you don't wanna get hurt!" Dole yelled.

Zala walked on through, aiming his handgun at the people.

"Are the cameras off?!" Zala yelled back to Avure.

"Well?" Avure questioned the guard.

"They're d-d-done," the guard stuttered as he hit a button and then stepped back, with his hands held up.

Avure looked at the screens, confirming that the cameras were in fact all switched off.

"Good," he muttered, smacking the butt of his gun into the face of the guard, breaking his nose, and knocking him back to the floor, unconscious.

Avure moved into the main room of the bank with his allies.

"Get going, quickly," Avure said to his allies, almost like an order, but it was coming from a place of nerves.

"Sure," Dole said, and then he turned to Zala.

He motioned for the larger man to follow him, and they both rushed through a door at the back of the bank, and moved on through to where their safety deposit boxes were kept. They weren't there to break into a vault and steal loads of money, they were there for an item that was kept inside someone's box, of just the box itself. Once they got it to Teki it would be his to worry about.

Once inside the room, Dole and Zala both pulled their masks off, completely alone in there.

"Where's this box then?" Zala asked.

"We're looking for the name Randamu Kana," Dole confirmed. "That's literally all we have to go off."

"Alright, alright," Zala said, and he started looking.

Meanwhile, out in the lobby, Avure was keeping his eyes on the door, while making sure his attention was on the others in the room also.

"I don't wanna hear a sound from any of yous," Avure said, putting on his most menacing tone.

Fortunately for the trio, Teki had provided them with a lot of information about the bank, and considering it was an older and smaller branch, this one only had two silent alarms for which to alert the police. One of them was behind the security desk, and the other was in the office left of the counters, and there was no manager in today.

It had been a well-planned mission, with very little room for error. Unless something out of the ordinary were to happen, something that Teki didn't account for. However, the trio just had to hope that their improvisation skills were up to scratch.

As he kept watch over the room, Avure heard a whimper come from one of the customers on the floor, and he turned around to approach them, with his gun aimed right at their head.

"Keep quiet!" he yelled.

This only made them whimper louder and bury their head as close to the floor as possible, but it was enough for Avure to become temporarily distracted, so he wasn't aware that one of the customers behind him had stood up.

Avure was tackled from behind, and the man tackling him was trying to reach for his head, for his mask. Avure did his best to try and shake the man off, striking him with an elbow, but he wasn't in the best position to make any sort of effective connection.

Eventually, he did manage to hit the man with his gun, but they had still succeeded in grabbing a large part of the fabric of Avure's mask, and as they stumbled away from the armed man, they pulled the mask with them.

While that altercation was happening, one of the employees from behind the counter rushed to their feet and moved as swiftly as they could towards the silent alarm. At that exact moment, as Avure's face became revealed, and the employee pressed the button, Avure instinctively fired his weapon. The man who had stolen Avure's mask immediately moved into a hunched position, with his hands on his gut and he collapsed on the ground.

The gunshot was heard clearly from the back room.

"Shit, what's he done?" Dole exclaimed.

"I got it," Zala said, pulling out the safety deposit box and throwing it over to Dole.

The smaller man just about managed to catch the box and quickly put it inside his satchel bag. They turned and rushed out, making sure to put their masks back on as they re-entered the lobby area. Upon doing so, they immediately noticed the body on the ground, with Avure standing back, face revealed, smoking gun in his hands.

"What the Hell happened, dude?" Dole asked, rushing to Avure's side.

Zala walked on as well, but he turned to look at the office and saw a woman standing by the desk, looking right at him. It didn't take him long to clock what had happened.

"Damn it, they pulled the alarm. We gotta get outta here!" Zala yelled as he rushed to his allies.

"But my face…" Avure muttered.

"They won't remember your generic-ass face, now move it!" Dole yelled, pushing Avure.

Finally, it all clicked, and the trio rushed out as quickly as they had rushed in, making for their vehicle in very rapid fashion. Zala got behind the wheel, started the ignition and sped off, making sure to turn down lots of random streets until finding the perfect alley to hide down.

They could hear sirens heading in the direction of the bank, but it was too late. They were in and out, and they had gotten exactly what they went in for. It was technically a successful mission, with a minor caveat. Zala and Dole removed their masks and let out relieved sighs. Avure, however, was less than pleased.

"Don't worry, the cameras were down, they won't remember you. We'll be back in Namu City in no time," Zala said, trying to reassure his ally.

"Sure," Avure muttered, but he didn't believe it.

"Let's ditch these guns, our masks, the vehicle, and get back to the safehouse," Zala said, turning to Dole. "And send the message to Teki, tell him we got it."

The location for the meeting point had already been set, it had been included with the rest of the information Teki had handed over to the trio initially. A quick text message had been sent to Teki following the completion of the mission and they were told a time.

The trio arrived at an apartment complex in the outskirts of Satan City. It was not a nice part of the city, but it was a discreet location, and they had given themselves enough time to let the police search die down. They had completed the mission to the best of their ability. Sure, there were a few minor setbacks, but it was nothing that truly derailed the task that had been set before them. It was just a little unfortunate.

As they ascended the stairs of the apartment block, they could see that it was very run-down inside, like nobody had maintained the building in years. It seemed as if the elevator had been out of commission for years, and the hallways smelled weird. Apartment 32B was the destination, and it was the only place they wanted to get in and out quickly, hoping to avoid spending any unnecessary time in that place.

They knocked on the door twice, leaving a gap before they knocked a further three time, to indicate that it was them. The door opened, revealing an empty apartment, aside from one chair and table set-up in the middle of the room.

Teki was seated in that chair, behind the table, with his legs up. The woman that had been with Teki when he visited their office was there with him, she was the one who had opened the door. Behind Teki was one of the other guys from back at the office. It seemed he only had two of his guards with him this time, but the trio were almost certain that he would have back-up somewhere else.

Zala led the way, carrying the metal safety deposit box, holding it by the small handle. Avure and Dole flanked him, staying close. Zala placed the box on the table in front of Teki and stepped back, hoping that the man would allow them to leave quickly.

"Here," Zala said, "there it is, you got what you wanted."

"Thank you," Teki said, chuckling softly.

He brought his legs down from the table and sat forward. He reached his right hand out to the side, palm facing up, and the guard behind him went into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small key. He placed the key in Teki's hand and stepped back, as Teki put the key into the lock on the box.

Zala frowned.

"How do you have the key?" Dole asked, clearly on the same wavelength as Zala.

Teki looked up, as if surprised by the question, with the key only half-way turned in the lock.

"Huh, oh," Teki was taken aback, he pulled back and looked at the key, then back up at the three men. "This is my box. Under a pseudonym, of course."

"What?" Dole asked.

"Why?" Avure added.

"Couldn't you have just walked in and got the damn thing for yourself? Why did you need us?" Zala finished.

Teki scoffed and turned around to face the man behind him.

"Tell them to come up," he instructed to the guard, turning back to face the trio. "I had a plan. And, hopefully, everything went according to plan."

The smile on his face was a cause of great discomfort for the trio, who felt like they were being kept in the dark about everything that was going on.

Within seconds of the man making the call that Teki requested, the door opened. The trio all turned around, anxious to see what was going on, immediately set on edge about whatever was coming their way. What they saw certainly didn't help to calm any nerves. In fact, it only added to the discomfort, or amplified it.

Two men walked in, but not just any two men. One of them was the security guard from the bank, with a very hefty bruise and cut on his nose from where Avure had struck him. And next to that man, was another, even greater surprise. It was the man that Avure shot.

Images of the event were flashing through Avure's mind. He could picture himself shooting the man in the gut, watching him fall over on his front, clutching his body in pain. Avure's frown, a mix of anger and confusion, clearly telegraphed his feelings.

The two newcomers crossed the room, and walked around to the side of the table, with the bank security guard handing a small thumb-drive over to Teki.

"Thank you," Teki said, taking the thumb-drive into his hand.

He looked up at the trio again, noticing their confused and almost frightened expressions, and it was enough to amuse him. He struggled to stifle a chuckle.

"Oh, these guys? Yeah, they work for me," Teki clarified.

"They were plants?" Zala questioned.

"You had people on the inside, and you didn't tell us?" Dole asked.

"I shot him," Avure muttered, "he should be dead."

"Um, yes, yes, and yes, but no, he shouldn't be dead," Teki said, answering all of their questions as he looked over the three men.

"What the Hell is going on?" Zala asked, getting worked up.

Teki didn't answer, he just kept the smirk plastered on his face as he opened the deposit box and pulled out a small laptop. Just a laptop. An ordinary laptop. There didn't appear to be anything special about it. Teki opened it up and plugged in the thumb-drive.

"What's so important about that thing?" Dole asked.

Teki chuckled quietly. He didn't answer them, he just tapped in his password, did a bit of clicking, and then sat back, looking at the screen.

"This is interesting," he muttered to himself, his expression reflecting his amusement.

He turned the laptop around to show the trio what was going on.

"This is why I made you do it," Teki said.

The trio just looked down at the screen and what they saw wasn't enough to make everything make sense, but it was enough to know that Teki had gotten exactly what he wanted, whatever that was. It was footage from the bank's security cameras. The same cameras that they had made sure to shut-off. It was footage of them entering the building, and it cut out for a second, but then came back on to reveal the trio, doing everything they did in the bank.

Zala turned to face Avure, a mixture of rage and fear on his face. He grabbed the front of his friend's t-shirt.

"Didn't you check to make sure the cameras were off?" Zala questioned.

"I did… I did, I swear… and he was unconscious, I swear," Avure said, starting to sound just as panicked as Zala, and he was doing very little to actually fight back with him.

Zala released Avure and turned back to face the screen, watching on in disbelief.

"The cameras were down, but we had an override programmed into the system, so while the cameras didn't display on their security systems, we were able to keep recording everything," Teki explained.

Zala kept watching as the scene continued, showing the point where he and Dole were in the back room and had taken off their masks, and also the moment where Avure had his mask removed and shot the man. The footage revealed that despite appearing to be shot in the gut there was no blood that came from the man's body as he went down, but he remained in that position, and it certainly appeared like he was dead.

"All of your faces have been caught on camera, and you were very clearly stealing from a bank," Teki continued, "oh, and poor Avure, it looks like you killed a man."

Teki was right. It was all there on the screen, in crystal clear high-definition footage. They were all easily identifiable. And there was a logo in the top left corner of every single screen of the security footage. The Alpha Industries logo.

"But wait," Avure exclaimed, looking to the man that he had supposedly killed, and then back to Teki, "I clearly didn't kill anyone."

"Oh, but you did. And it is such a shame," Teki said, pretending to sound genuine, but it clearly came through as false and performative. "Zen, if you could do the honours."

The man standing behind Teki, the guard who had visited their office, moved to the side of the room, picked up a rifle that looked exactly like the one that Avure had been using, and he walked over to the man who had "been shot" and he actually shot him, right then and there. He shot him in the gut, just as Avure had done, only this time there was actually blood and then the man fell to the ground, where he was left to bleed out and die.

"What the fuck?!" Zala exclaimed, backing up.

"That poor innocent man," Teki said, smiling.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Dole yelled. "How can you explain that he was shot in the bank, nothing happened, he came here and then just died here? Huh? How can you worm your way around that?"

"Simple. The cops that arrived on the scene are also working for me," Teki explained.

"No, what?" Zala questioned. "That's ridiculous, why would you go through all of that effort? This is silly, why would you have us commit a crime for you and then just show us that it was all a set-up?"

"What are you trying to pull?" Dole asked.

"You don't see? This is all leverage," Teki said.

That left them silent.

"Do you really think I couldn't pull of a simple bank robbery without you three morons? No, I did all of this to get the leverage I needed to truly, and brutally, destroy your lives should you fail me," Teki explained. "This wasn't the mission that I approached you for. This was just something for you to do so that I could have everything I needed to make you fear what will happen should you fail."

The trio immediately appeared to accept their defeat.

"I have everything I need. The police on my side. The car, and where you got it from, the same with the weapons. I have the footage, and the dead body," Teki listed, looking at Avure as he finished speaking.

Dole sighed and turned away, with his head in his hands. Avure slumped, falling to his knees, and burying his head in the ground. Zala just stood strong, fists clenched, glare fixed upon Teki, but in reality, he felt exactly like his allies.

"What's our real mission?" Zala asked.

"I have two very important assets, I need them located," Teki started, "and either neutralised, or returned safely to my care."

"I suppose there's more to it?" Zala asked, muttering his question.

"Yep," Teki replied, bluntly. "They are extremely powerful, extremely dangerous, and you should be very wary. But they are instrumental to everything I have planned at Alpha."

Meanwhile, that Same Evening…

In the Mountainous Kayu Village…

It had become much more of a town than a village these days, but the name Kayu Village just sounded better to the ears of the locals. Some of the residents were just wandering back to their homes after their busy workdays, saying a quick hello or good evening as they passed by fellow residents, friends, colleagues. It was a very close-knit community.

However, there was somebody, standing alone, isolated.

With his hood over his head, covering the fact that he was also wearing headphones, Yaiko stood at the memorial for Yento and Emna. It was a place he would visit as often as he could, when he needed to get something off his chest, or just whenever he felt the need to speak to his father. He knew he wouldn't get a response, but there was nothing wrong with him just standing there, silently.

He wasn't there to get anything specific off his chest that evening, it was just a matter of wanting to speak to his father. It was all internal, but he was telling Yento about his week, about how things were going while he stayed with Sofia in their small home. It had been over half a year since the incident that led to his relocation, but it was a vastly different life to the one he led before. This one was peaceful, however, there was still the fear that things could change at any moment.

Yaiko was consistently worried that something or someone would come and take everything away from him again. He wasn't free. Neither him nor Sofia had their freedom, so they lived their lives always on edge.

"Good evening, young man," a voice said from the street.

Yaiko was wearing his headphones, but the music was low at that point, and he could also sense the new arrival. His eyes widened and he turned around, lowering his hood and headphones. He was a little nervous at first, but immediately noticed that it was just a local elderly woman, walking along with her basket and walking stick.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," she said, calmly, holding her hand up.

"It's ok," Yaiko muttered, "how are you this evening?"

Yaiko knew the woman, she passed by regularly after her trips into the main square and lived up the road from the memorial. It didn't stop Yaiko from feeling jumpy every time she approached him, especially if he wasn't paying attention.

"Oh, you know, same-old stuff," the woman replied, adding a little chuckle. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

"It's fine," Yaiko said, stepping down from the memorial. "Did you need any help carrying your basket home?"

"Oh, no, I should be ok, but thank you very much for offering," the woman said, opening her basket and pulling out a small bunch of flowers. "Here, maybe you should leave some of these at the memorial."

She handed the flowers to Yaiko, but he didn't feel comfortable just taking them.

"No, these are yours, I can't take them from you," Yaiko said, trying to hand them back.

"Yes, you can," she replied, with a smile, forcing them into Yaiko's hand. "I only bought them because they looked nice, I don't really need them. They would look so much better over on the memorial."

She motioned her head to the memorial stones and Yaiko turned to look at them, and then back to the woman. He smiled slightly.

"Thank you," he muttered.

"And maybe you can give some of them to your lovely girlfriend," the woman said, nudging the boy.

Yaiko stammered, trying to find something to say as his face went a little red.

"Oh, no, she's not my… um…" Yaiko couldn't make his words work.

The woman placed a hand on Yaiko's shoulder and chuckled, and then she started to walk away, but took a moment to stop and look back to Yaiko.

"Don't forget to leave some flowers on Emna's stone too," she added.

Yaiko frowned for a moment, feeling a little confused, but then his expression softened as he looked at the memorial stones again.

"You may not have spent any time with her, but she was a lovely person," the woman said, turning and starting to walk away again. "And she was a great mother to Noca."

With that, the woman carried on, walking off down the road. Yaiko watched as she moved on and then he looked down at the flowers in his hands. He ascended the small steps towards the stones again and approached Yento's first. He placed some of the bunch down in front of that stone and stepped away. He backed up, looking down at his father's stone, but his eyes wandered to the one next to it.

He approached that stone and knelt down in front of it. He placed some flowers down and remained in that position.

"I wish I could have known you," Yaiko muttered, and he bowed his head for a moment.

Once he had his moment, he stood up again and turned around, leaving the memorial, carrying with him three flowers that he kept from the bunch. Only three. He headed down the road, heading back to the home that he shared with Sofia.

Yaiko walked in through the front-door, which led right into the living room, and as soon as he closed the door behind him Sofia's head poked out from the kitchen to the right. She stepped out, looking somewhat flustered. Her blonde hair was held back by a headband, as opposed to in a ponytail, which was how she would wear it in combat situations. However, since living in the Kayu village that wasn't something that happened, at all.

"Where were you?" she asked, the concern apparent in her voice, however the energy surrounding her was calm.

Yaiko pulled down his hood and removed his headphones, shaking his hair out.

"I was only at the memorial," he said, walking in and placing his headphones down on the coffee table, and as he did that, he noticed the flowers still in his hand. "That lady came by, and she gave me some flowers to leave at the stones."

He turned around to face Sofia and held out the last three flowers he had leftover.

"Here, for you," Yaiko said, looking away from Sofia as he handed the flowers over.

"Aw, that's sweet," she said, chuckling because of how few there were, but she appreciated the sentiment either way.

She put those three flowers in a small empty vase that was sitting on the coffee table, and then she turned to face Yaiko again.

"You need to be careful going out there all the time," Sofia suggested, almost using a strict tone.

"I know, but I just wanted to talk to them," Yaiko said, getting a little defensive.

Sofia looked back at him with pursed lips, not knowing how to really get through to Yaiko on that topic, knowing that he needed that memorial to serve as something of an outlet. She just wanted him to know that he didn't have to turn to those stones everytime.

"You know…" Sofia started, getting Yaiko's attention back.

She stepped up and placed her hands on his shoulders, looking him in the eye.

"You can always speak to me as well, I'm here for you too," she said, smiling.

Yaiko returned the smile, but it was an awkward smile as he looked into her eyes. Over the months they had been living in that village together Yaiko had grown, and he was nearly as tall as Sofia.

She smiled and exhaled softly through her nose as she looked at him.

"Those flowers are nice, maybe we can get some more to add to the vase," she said, and then she gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder and turned around, taking his hand. "Come on."

Sofia led him to the little table they had set-up for where they would eat their meals and she pulled out one of the two chairs for him to sit down.

"Sit here, and wait a moment," she said, and then she rushed off back to the kitchen.

Yaiko watched on, with his brow furrowed, unsure about what was happening. He could hear a small clicking sound from the kitchen, it was a familiar sound, but he had no idea what it could be.

A mere moment later, Sofia backed out of the kitchen, clearly holding something in her hands, and there was also a faint orange glow. Finally, she turned around revealing that she was holding a chocolate cake with a single candle sitting in the middle. Yaiko's eyebrows raised, and he let out a scoff in surprise.

"Happy birthday!" Sofia said, as she moved to the table with the cake.

"Did you make this?" Yaiko asked.

"God, no," Sofia replied, laughing. "I got it from a stall the other night, I'm not good with cooking, you know that. All those years of the crap they gave us as Alpha made sure of that."

Yaiko chuckled softly as he looked down at the cake. It wasn't much, but that wasn't the point.

"I can't believe you still remembered," Yaiko said.

"Are you kidding me?" Sofia questioned, taking a hold of Yaiko's chin, and turning his head to face her. "I'll never forget it. Happy seventeenth birthday."

She let go of his chin and he turned back to face his cake, and as he did that, Sofia quickly leaned down and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. Yaiko froze as she did that, but then she sat down beside him and nudged him gently with her elbow.

"Go on, make your wish," she said.

Yaiko looked to the side, at Sofia, and could see that there was genuine excitement in her eyes, like she had been looking forward to the moment that she could present Yaiko with his birthday cake. She had been eagerly awaiting the moment she could celebrate his birthday with him. His first birthday since they became free of Alpha.

After all of the years they spent together in that facility, the only person that ever truly cared about him, and the only person that had stuck with him through everything. He hadn't thought too much about it when they were trapped at Alpha HQ, but Sofia was the only person that he truly wanted to spend his life with. It was a realisation that he had come to terms with shortly after they started living together in this village.

Yaiko smiled and turned to the cake. He closed his eyes, took a small breath, and blew out the candle.