Victor led Team Zephyr to the Tower Bridge Control Center. It was the area where people could monitor the walls, gather information, capture evidence if anything were to go wrong, and communicate problems as they arise. A small group of workers were carefully moving back and forth between each area, checking the walls and notating the progress with the walls.
"It doesn't look so good." Staff member 1 sighed. He pushed his chair over to the staff member to his left and looked at the woman with tired eyes. "They're slowly infiltrating the wall, but its taking too much time. Isn't there other ways we can do this?"
"The resistance needs to take these specific locations to have a higher chance of giving access back to us fully." The second staff member rubbed her eyes. The third staff member tapped away, not noticing the group had entered.
"Things still lookin' rough out there?" Victor asked the staff members. The two turned and nodded. They looked like they hadn't gotten any proper rest.
"Yes. Who's all this?" Staff member 1 asked. His eyes grew wide and he almost fell out of his chair as he tried to move away from Lee Seng and Keng.
"They're safe. Don't worry." Victor told them.
"Isn't that… the Creator's son?" Staff member 2 asked. "I thought he… died… Why is he here now?"
"Didn't die, exactly." Lee Seng answered. The male staff member twitched while the woman moved over and tapped the third staff member who was too engrossed in his work to care. "I thought the wall would be taken care of, but I guess the resistance is having a hard time taking it."
"There's a concentration of those D31 people there. They're destroying things to make it hard for the walls to go up." Staff member 2 answered. She rolled back to her original spot, fully giving the group her attention while the first staff member debated on being so close to Lee Seng and Keng.
"T-the new faction is bloody. They won't take many prisoners. They'll just straight up kill them to delay efforts. M-most of the resistance is dealing with that." The first staff member answered.
"And while that's happening, things are going south with the rest of the city." The third staff member spoke up. He didn't peel his eyes away from the computer as he typed. "Trying to hack into the wall system that's been functional for almost eighteen years is rough… It's so old and coded oddly…"
"What're you doing here, Victor? Aren't you supposed to be elsewhere right now?" The second staff member asked. "And why are you here with… this colorful crew?"
"They need some names inputted into the system. There's backup coming from their side and we could use all the backup we can get." Victor replied.
"Who?" The first staff member asked, slowly sitting into his chair.
"Some Numbers." Lee Seng answered. Victor and the three staff members turned and looked at him. The third guy even stopped what he was doing and just stared at Lee Seng like he was crazy. "They have backup and—"
"No." The third staff member shook his head. "I will not do that. Not after what happened. We can't trust a Number. They're on their side."
"What do you mean?" Lee Seng asked.
"Hell, why is the Creator's son even allowed here? He's probably in on it! Why aren't you doing your job right, Victor? You're supposed to be protecting us but here you are bringing the enemy right to our doorstep."
"Hey, we don't fully understand the situation so—" Manny began to say when the third staff member cut him off.
"Oh and Valentin is here too! This is bad! We're screwed if they're let out! Imprison them and make sure they can't leak any information about the resistance now!"
"What do you mean by that?" Lee Seng asked. The third staff member scoffed and stood up. His hand crackled with lightning.
"Do I have to do it?" He raised his hand to shoot Lee Seng when the entire group grew defensive. Everyone whipped their weapons and powers out. Lee Seng threw his hands up and sighed. "Get him now, Victor! What're you waiting for?" Victor sighed and rubbed his temples.
"I should've mentioned everything else beforehand." Victor told the group. "J-just don't do anything crazy here. If any of this gets damaged, we won't be able to open the walls with his hacking." He motioned at the sparky staff member.
"Victor, you know the Numbers can't be trusted. Those two - er, three…? T-those three are associated with them and we can't allow them to leave. What if they're working for them?" The second staff member spoke up. "It's best to lock them up then keep them out."
"Aren't we just ghosts?" Ritsuka asked. "For all you know, we've been dead or missing, right?"
"After the explosion and a confirmed sighting that you guys were at the village… yes." Victor nodded.
"Why are you entertaining them? Ah, good for nothing!" The third staff member shot out a bolt and watched it fizzle to nothing. Olivia's body sparked for a moment pulling towards her backside. "W-what the—"
"I don't know what the Numbers did to get a reaction like this, but I guess it's bad." Lee Seng sighed. "Nine and Ten should be able to get through the walls if there's resistance already there. We should head to the Academy to figure out what the Deimons are doing there."
"Deimons? How do you know that information?" The first staff member asked.
"Because I told them." Victor sighed. "They're helping me get into the Academy."
"Why are you getting help from them? Are you out of your mind? Who sanctioned that?" The third staff member asked.
"My guild leader did." Victor glared at the hacker. "So sit your ass down and do your work. I thought every second was precious to you? You're scared of some ghosts?" The third staff member growled and refused to let their hand down.
"Leave." Manny ordered the group.
"Now?" Liz asked. "Is this a good ti—"
"Just leave."
The group slowly turned around and headed out the way they came. Victor stood in his spot as Lee Seng was the only one left.
"You can go, Lee Seng. I'll make sure nothing happens to you." Victor said. Lee Seng began to turn and listened to frustrating grunts as the hacker sat down and continued to type in fury. Lee Seng headed for the door with Victor in tow. He was almost out when the woman spoke.
"Sorry we couldn't do more." The woman apologized. Lee Seng stopped and turned to look at them.
"Nine, Ten and Two are trying to get into the city. They're trying to stop the Deimons - the D31 faction - from causing more mayhem." Lee Seng told the group. Victor and the staff members' eyes widened. "Whatever Uncle Nikolai found out about my father… Well, let's just say it's coming to light very soon. If you manage to get him to reconsider… It's just those three with some backup."
Lee Seng quickly continued out of the room and quickly made his way to the lobby where his friends were waiting with resistance watching them.
"What took you so long?" Manny walked over and whispered. "We could've died in there."
"He was harmless." Lee Seng whispered back. "He couldn't have harmed us."
"What if Poseidon used that as a trap? What then?"
"Let's just focus on the task at hand, 'kay? We need to figure out what's happening now. The Numbers are certainly a bitter taste in their mouths. That must mean something."
Manny sighed and rubbed his temples. "I don't want to believe it. What if Z and my dad are…" He looked away like he didn't want to entertain the idea. Lee Seng nodded and patted Manny.
"If Nine, Ten, and Two are against them… It must mean others must be, right?" Lee Seng reassured his childhood friend. "Let's not think about it. Let's only think about the mission at hand - figuring out what they're doing in the Academy, okay?" Manny nodded and the two rejoined the group.
"Are we leavin'? I don't like the vibe of this place." Evan asked the group.
"Yeah, let's, uh… move elsewhere." Lee Seng motioned.
"Hey, wait up." Victor called out. He jogged over to the group and let out a sigh. The group turned and gave Victor stares that pretty much summed up how they were feeling — disappointed and a bit peeved.
"Why didn't you tell us about the Numbers?" Manny asked Victor. Lee Seng put a hand on Manny, but he didn't take Lee Seng's hint. He pushed past Lee Seng and walked right up to Victor puffing his chest out. "We looked like fools in there!"
"I didn't think it would be… Numbers you were talking about. If I'd known that beforehand, I would've told you." Victor whispered.
"Manny." Lee Seng turned. Manny put his hand up.
"A lot of things happened in the last year alone." Victor continued. "After it was confirmed in a way that your group was a part of that bombing… People didn't know what to think. I was shocked when I saw Lee Seng. I was more shocked to hear about you and the rest of your group being here. You guys shouldn't have come. It's only making things worse."
"Well, we had unfinished business, Callas." Manny narrowed his eyes. "So I really don't want to hear it from you."
"We're here to figure out the same things you guys are trying to figure out." Lee Seng pulled Manny a couple steps back. The resistance members were watching them closely and the last thing they needed was more enemies. "Let's just go, 'kay?" He patted Manny who didn't budge. "C'mon…" He started to turn Manny, who grunted and spun around and headed out the doors.
