_JACKIE_

"Thank God Jackie, you are alive! Jessie started blabbering dramatically. "I thought the guards caught you and then imprisoned you and then hurt and -"

"Okay okay, I get it Jessie. Calm down." I had to barge in to stop her nonsense and then I turned to the rest of the group.

"Where were you all this time?" Chris enquired with worry.

"I just got lost in the corridors" I replied. I didn't tell them about the old man yet.

"But the important question is, what did you guys understand? What's going on with Daniel and this teen troop?" I asked, too curious to know the answer. At this point, we all just wanted to decipher Daniel's plan and discover his weaknesses. We were tired of the incognito life we were leading.

"The teens were acting weirdly mechanical through out the meeting" Zhang started explaining.

"And Daniel was giving them orders like 'sit' 'stand'. He was acting as if they were his pets" Zhang's explanation confused me even more. What the hell is going on in Daniel's brain?

"We have no idea why they are acting like that" Jessie exclaimed as we started walking back to the cottage.

"Of course you don't. You'll are stupid" the whiny voice of Yoongi could be heard from behind us.

"Aha, if you are so smart, why don't you explain what happened in there" Jessie snapped back at Yoongi and the later started explaining the theory that he came up with.

"Clearly Daniel has got all the teens of the city in a hypnotic trance or something. He is controlling them as robots. Most probably, he wants to use them in some sort of war or something. After all, he always wanted the whole world to be his slave."

Yoongi's explanation actually made sense. If Daniel wanted support for a war, what's better than a young human resource?

"Maybe that's why Jackson forgot what happened in the castle" I spoke up. "These guys forget everything that happens to them when they are in the hypnotic state."

"Exactly" Yoongi agreed with me. Wow! That's new.

"And by the way, who's Jackson?" Yoongi suddenly asked.

"It's just a guy I met earlier" I replied.

"Oh. So you scoffed at me for buying something from the city and now you go on indulging with city people!?" he snapped at me while coming closer.

"What I did was for the mission."

"Okay so when you do it, it's mission and when I do it it's just stupidity? What kind of jurisdiction is this??"

"Do you want me to get started on this?"

"SHUT UP YOU TWO"

I was about to punch Yoongi right across his cheek bone when Steve's voice caught me off guard. I realized that I was standing so close to Yoongi, I could feel his warm breath on my cheeks. Heat rose up to my cheeks and I quickly pulled back.

"Why do you guys always fight like siblings? You aren't 10 anymore, remember?" Steve scolded us.

"I am glad that Yoongi is not my brother and we aren't related in any kind" I exclaimed nonchalantly.

"Why, do you loovee me?" Yoongi asked in a weird manner.

"No, because I don't want to be charged for my brother's murder."

~~~~~~~~~

I spent the whole evening thinking about what Daniel did to the teens that they don't remember anything and how did he hypnotize them to such extent. He was definitely planning something dangerous and we needed more information to take him down.

I studied through the blue prints and it seemed like he inserted some kind of fluid metal in their system. With some mechanical and chemical alterations, the metal takes them in a trance whenever a particular sound reaches their ears.

But what exactly was Daniel going to do with this?

Curiosity got the best of me and I sneaked out of the cottage. The clock showed 11.30 pm and everyone was fast asleep. Tommorow we were going back to the camp, so if I had to do something, I should be done right now. I successfully came out of the cottage premises without making any noise.

I went out in the streets. Few robots were guarding the place so I hid myself behind the trees. In spite of the street lamps, the place was dark.

Suddenly I felt someone approach from behind me. I tried to get in a defensive stance but the person covered my mouth and pulled me down.