Mission: Sunburst 2

Ilya opened her eyes. The cuffs from the chair slowly pulled back into the armrest. She saw the man already stood up and walked towards the door. She followed suit.

As they're nearing the door, it automatically opened itself like an automated sliding door, but with hard, thick metal doors instead of glass. As the door slid open, a flash of light was seen, blinding Ilya for a second before revealing the spacious interior of the hall. For a while, she forgot she was underground.

In front of them, at the centre of the hall, a girl, seemingly in her teens, is sitting on a bench that is somehow there, while chewing a gum and typing on her floating screens.

The girl took notice of Ilya and the man walking towards her. She closed her floating screens with a brushing motion and started walking towards them too until finally, the three of them stood near each other.

"So, where is this?" asked Alya.

"Oh, didn't you read it in the encrypted message that we've sent? Never mind. Let me give you an introduction."

*cough, cough*

The man cleared his throat before starting to speak. Now, he looked more formal and serious than his casual and laid-back attitude just now.

"My name is Ejen Gaus. You can call me Gaus. Next, the hall we are currently in is one of the entrances to the MATA Headquarter."

The man, named Gaus, began his introduction with a friendly, business-like smile on his face.

"MATA? What's that?" Ilya asked, dumbfounded.

"Eh? Didn't you get the message?"

"I did. But when I searched for MATA on the Internet, no company or factory showed up." Ilya explained her confusion honestly to Gaus.

"You searched it?"

"Yeah. Like anyone finding out the details of their job offer would,"

"On the Internet?"

"Yeah. Where else could I've searched for something easily and without any need to go far distances?"

"I can't believe it. Hehe Gaus, you've made yet another mistake, huh? Ooh~ I'll have a sweet time telling this to Zack hihihi~" the girl snickered on Gaus's blunder, which he didn't seem to deny it either. His face is also paler now since the girl mentioned this person called Zack. Must be quite a scary person, Ilya thought.

"Shh~ Don't tell him! Or else I'll drag you in this too," Gaus tried to shut her scheme down with an empty threat, which shouldn't work, but somehow, the girl took the bait.

"W-wait, Ga- I mean Captain Gaus! Don't do that! Or else I'll get a scolding, too..." the girl pleaded to Gaus as if her life depended on it. For both of them to be very afraid of crossing this Zack guy, he must be a really scary person, Ilya thought.

"Ah, I almost forgot! What is this mistake you're talking about?" Ilya then remembered what the girl was talking about and mentioned it.

"Oh, the mistake is y-" before the girl could finish her sentence, Gaus had frantically covered her mouth.

"Alis, please, don't say anything unnecessary," whispered Gaus to the girl while still covering her mouth with his hand.

"Hmmph. Hmp, hmmph~" the girl called Alis tried to talk, although only her mumbling was heard. She looked at Gaus with a dissatisfied face.

"If you promise to keep this a secret, I'll treat you to one of your favourite snacks," offered Gaus to Alis. The offer seems effective enough that her eyes glimmer again.

"Make it two types of snacks. Then we'll talk," the released Alis is now making a counter offer.

"Alright. Is that a deal?" Gaus asked for confirmation.

"Deal!" Alis enthusiastically accepted the offer and bumped fist with Gaus. The two of them began laughing creepily.

"Err... you guys..." Ilya was trying to have their attention as she was pointing towards a shadow looming towards Gaus and Alis from behind them.

"Hehehe, this way you can keep your mistakes hidden from him while I get to enjoy my favourite snacks, free of charge! It's a win-win situation for all! Hahaha!" Alis was looking smug with her own little victory that day.

But the moment didn't last long because soon after, both Gaus's and Alis's shoulders were suddenly gripped firmly from behind.

"Mistake? What mistake are we talking about here?" Both Gaus and Alis got sudden goosebumps from hearing the voice. Enough to make them tense up and shiver in fear.

"Oh no... It's Zack..."

"We're dead, aren't we?"

"Yep,"

Ilya sat on the bench while Gaus and Alis were getting scolded by the man who had just arrived minutes ago.

'So this is Zack that they'd been absolutely fearing about. Yeah, just as I thought, he is a scary person indeed,' Ilya thought to herself while looking at the two of them getting scolded while kneeling on the ground.

But something on his face told her that he wasn't as scary a person as he looked. There was a hint of concern and compassion within his eyes. At least, that's what Ilya's supposed sixth sense could seem to comprehend.

"I think that's enough scolding for you two. Now, let's get to the root of the matter," Zack finally ended his lecture on the two and started walking towards Ilya.

I'm sorry for the late introduction. I am Ejen Zack. Nice to meet you," the man, called Zack, started to give her warm greetings.

"As you already know, that man in the yellow shirt is Ejen Gaus. And that cheeky girl over there is Ejen Alis. Together, we welcome you to our team,"

"Ah, thank you very much, err... Ejen Zack," Ilya, while still confused by the whole situation, sensed the honesty in his words and offered her gratitude accordingly.

"I understand why you would be so confused with this whole matter. Even I would be deeply puzzled if it was me,"

"What do you mean?" Ilya asked.

"Your encrypted mail was supposed to be delivered with a specially engineered pendrive that contains all the classified information that you need to know about MATA and your appointed tasks. Yet this guy, no, our esteemed and honourable Captain Gaus here forgot to include it, which leads to the situation you are having now," Zack explained.

'Ooh~ That's why I was so confused about this matter the whole time. Turns out it wasn't my fault at all,' Ilya thought to herself while gazing angrily towards Gaus, seemingly looking guilty.

"Anyhow, the problem is cleared. Now, we can proceed with the next agenda of our new member induction. It's alright; we'll get you up to speed with our operations once we finish the orientation."

"And one more thing; normal job offer will give you two options; to accept or decline, but ours is a little different. Do you know what it is?"

Ilya gulped at the question. The chill that came from Zack's voice gave her the creeps.

"O-of course, I don't know! That's out of the question," answered Ilya, which made Zack let out a heavy sigh, while Gaus looked even paler from the guilty feeling he was bearing at that moment.

"Sorries~" Gaus apologized with both his palms put together in a pleading fashion.