The guards bowed again as Rayo and Liam walked out of the room.

As they headed towards the elevator Liam looked at Rayo. He could see her 'Do Not Disturb' face and refrained from asking anything. She would kill him if her train of thoughts got distracted.

On the other hand, her mind was running at full throttle. While the three gave off hefty amount of information to them, she's conflicted on how much to let off in the Oracle.

Derek Daveson. Age 16-17. Athlete built but isn't into any sport, probably because of his left knee cap which he was rubbing unconsciously. Spends enough time with scalpels to get parallel dents on the thumb and index finger. Biology major. Strength? Level headed. Weakness? Claire Huskin.

Claire Huskin. Around the same age or a year younger. Has OCD and occasional panic attacks. Majoring in architecture or interior designing. Really sensitive to details and has more than she shows. During the interrogation, she realized something after which she went completely mute. Strength? Can add two plus two too well. Weakness? Horrible at handling pressure.

Xen Widder. Age 16-18. Pro athlete and chain-smoker for years. His fingers were too yellow to be a new smoker. Majoring in sports if anything. Currently on a detox due to being away from nicotine for too long, which could be the perfect leverage to get information out of him.

Even so, Rayo highly doubted that they had anything to offer. From the looks of it, they were also in the dark here. Though Claire's OCD made her too clean to give off any trail, Derek's left palm had fresh sauce stain on it, probably from 4-5 hours back. Adding that with the smell of garlic on Xen's breath, they were at a food joint together before being here. The standard question was how did they get here?

None of them was any trained individual that was for sure. Defense techniques always get engrained into the muscle memory of the trainees. It is the second nature of any trained individual to act on reflex when inflicted. But Xen showed no reflex at all when she grabbed his arm out of the blue. Clair's face turned porcelain white and Derek was shocked. They would have to be dubiously good actors to fake those expressions.

It was clear that all three knew each other from the start and are also from the same place given the same accent. But not from Harlin that was for sure, which made the case even more complicated. Other than Harlin there are only two other regions in the world- Kallier and Annexa. It was almost impossible for people from the outer world to even set their feet in Harlin. Let alone in the heart of the Phoenix Headquarters. To top it all, it still was not clear to her why send three people in one place when sending one would be more convenient? If so, why not send three normal individuals rather than a handicapped, a walking nebulizer and an adrenaline junkie?

Her mind was sprinting off with all sorts of questions till someone poked her on the forehead. She snapped the finger off and looked. A smiling Liam was staring at her.

"Give that hard drive of your some rest, will you? You'll form three Grand Canyons on your forehead with those big wrinkles of yours," he chirped, his lopsided smile still intact. Rayo looked around. She didn't realize when they got on the elevator and started ascending. Two more floors and they would reach the Shadow House, the meeting room exclusive to the Oracle members only, where a meeting was about to be held in 10 minutes.

"You don't wanna go in front of Frorer looking like moaning Myrtle now do you?" Liam said as the elevator dinged. Rayo realized she was still wearing a crunched face and Frorer was the last person she wanted to appear in front of like this.

Colonel Harol Frorer was the Cadet Chief of House 7, the rival house to come second to House 9 every year in the APA (Annual Performance Assessment) but they doubted his hatred ran deeper than that. Until three years back, it was just casual hatred. But since the death of their two mentors Tori and Jacob, Frorer had been hot on their tails for some reason. Like he was looking for this opportunity his whole life. One tiny mistake and he could make the hell break loose on them and witnessing his recent activities, it seemed like a promising aspect.

The gargantuan oak door swung open effortlessly upon their arrival and they got in. It's the second time they were on this side of the door, the first being on their entitlement of lieutenant. It was one of the few places in Phoenix to have wood furnishing. Other places were with more cut edge modern looks, giving this place a gravity of its own. The walls sore high up the ceiling, wrapped in heavy velvet robes, soundproofing the room. In the middle was a 12 feet long mahogany table with the right amount of curving. The light in the room was almost non-existential. If anyone ever got in here without knowing, he could easily mistake it as a covet of some lost ancient brotherhood. But then again, he would never live to cross the threshold and get in here in the first place. He would be automatically shot on spot just for being in this part of the ground without clearance.

They took their designated seats. Seeing the 12 Corporals under one roof was a once-in-a-century kind of event, that also at the break of dawn. But it seemed all of them were here already awaiting the arrival of General Kawasaki, the overseer of all and second to none.

Everyone stood up as he walked in. He took his seat and started, "Let's cut it to the chase. Bring me up to date."

"At 2:53AM, three unidentified individuals were discovered inside the annex garden of the west wing, alive and unconscious. They had been transported to the holding cells and thoroughly searched. Nothing was recovered from them other than their own clothes and no ID turned up in our database. While those specimens are being investigated in forensic labs, they were interrogated by Lt. Krieger and Lt. Schwan," at this point, Major Luji paused dramatically and looked at everyone. Rayo and Liam could trace a tiny bit of glee in his voice. They exchanged views.

The whole room looked like it was nuked just now. For a moment, no one could say anything. Though they heard the news of this discovery on their way here, they didn't know the situation was this dire. Not only did THREE people appear inside the once announced incorruptible fortress but also they were alive and in one piece. It was almost as if someone was showing the middle finger to their system.

"Why did you stop?" Kawasaki gave off a suppressed growl.

"But it was stopped midway by Lt. Schwan," he chirped, with a tone of accomplishment. All the heads turned to see this audacious creature who dared to cut the General's order in half.

There was not much light in there but both Liam and Rayo could clearly see the smirk on his face.

No wonder. Luji was from House 7.

Rayo stood up gracefully and saluted. She knew she could be impeached for her actions but the blow to come from House 7 was... expectedly annoying. " I think Major Luji has muddied up the difference between completion and halt. According to our Constitution of Martial Law, there are distinct two paragraphs on the respective terminologies" Rayo retorted confidently looking at Kawasaki in the eyes.

Kawasaki's face was stoic but he was impressed. He had heard of the silver tongue of House 9 from their late mentor Jacob. There were very few who could stare at him in the eyes and speak, given his reputation. One of them being Tori, another one of their mentors. Looked like they inherited something from them after all.

"We wrapped up the interrogation upon the revelation of the fact that they were from outside of Harlin," Rayo continued," and as stated by Major Luji here. The information has already been successfully cross-checked. And given their capability of breaking into the heart of the nest which was unimaginable before only shows that they have the upper hand for the moment. Considering these facts, it would have been foolish on our part to show them more of our cards than what they already know Sir. Hence we concluded the interrogation with the best interest of our future." With that, Rayo rested her case without breaking her gaze. Kawasaki looked convinced.

For now

"But there's no way for you to know that they are outsiders," Luji retorted. A suppressed desperation was clearly reeking off his voice. He knew he was in trouble. He could not believe Frorer did not notice this. He was already knee-deep in trouble thanks to him. And now it was his neck under the axe.

"Well it would be unpatriotic on our part to not know our nation's dialects especially when our mentors were polyglots," Rayo replied, now her eyes on Luji.

Rayo completely excluded her deductions from the narrative. She had no intention of speaking without evidence and giving Frorer a delicious shot at a comeback.

Kawasaki pondered for a while and spoke, "Considering the current situation, I hand over the responsibility of overall investigation to House 9 till the next session. House 4, 5 and 6 are to investigate the security breach, mend accordingly and submit a thorough report by tomorrow morning." At this point, he paused and looked directly at Frorer, the Cadet Chief of House 7 and Luji's mentor," Taking today's action into account, Major Luji of House 7 is to be reprimanded for the effort to skew facts without proper assessment. A second strike is to be added to his records. 3/4th of his monthly salary will be deducted this month and he's being assigned to unpaid 100 days 18 hours active patrol duty. All the orders should be effective immediately." With that General Kawasaki concluded the session for the day.

Liam and Rayo looked at Frorer and Luji. Luji's eyes were bloodshot while Frorer was eerily nonchalant. If looks could kill anyone, Luji would have had a murderer tag on his head right now. Rayo stayed expressionless but Liam gave a sly shrug. He knew Frorer would get back at them but that's for the future them to worry. He wasn't gonna let this hysteric euphoria get tainted by anything in the world.

As they walked out, Lynx pounded on them from the back. "WHAZZUP CHAMPS!" he exclaimed."Hush! We are still in the hallway," Rayo said.

Lynx threw his hands in the air and mouthed a sorry but the only thing he hushed was his voice. He grabbed Liam's shoulders and started shaking him in excitement," Did you see the look on his face? GOD DAMN!!!!!! Even lighting someone on fire doesn't give me this much pleasure."

Aston Lynx was from House 8 under Patrick Jane, one of the houses affiliated with House 9. He was a buffed-up guy with his rough honey blonde hair tied in a tight bun. His beard was the same shade of blonde except it was much more civilized. His tattooed neck-to-toe torso would give anyone the impression of him being an egotistical maniac but nothing else could be further from the truth. He was a bit sadist when it came to his targets as the head of TSB(Target Simulation Branch) but other than that he was 5 years old in the body of an almost adult.

Liam grinned to his bream,"I know right! All hail the Charqueen, the harbinger of sadness upon the people with happiness," Liam said turning to Rayo flashing his brightest smile. Rayo stopped analysing a long time back whether his statements ever meant compliments or pinch.

"So... how do you guys plan to start the investigation? My Queen? Sire? Please tell me I'll be fed well this time. I'm starving," Lynx chirped looking at Rayo and back at Liam.

Liam put his arm around Lynx's neck and chuckled, "Like that Caeser dude mi amour, divide and conquer!!!!!"