"Popcorn or armor?"

Liam probed as he closed the door behind him to which Rayo rolled her eyes. She was clearing up all the papers scattered around on the table to make space.

" Armour it is then."

"So then," Liam said plopping on the bed, " what's the topic of today's TedTalk?"

"Don't bounce on my bed for starters," Rayo said crossing her arms and leaning against her reading table as she noticed him doing exactly that. Liam was bouncing on the bed like a happy puppy.

"Seriously, why is this bed so soft? It's just like new."

"Oh it is! Thanks to special someone who crushed it with his friend the last time he was here," Rayo replied with a sarcastic smile.

"Hey in my defense, I was drunk. So was Lynx and Jenn and we so thought it was my room. Hard to tell since we're neighbors," Liam shrugged, offering Rayo his brightest smile.

"Oh you didn't think it was your room, you thought it's a trampoline and the three of you jumped on it like toddlers. I mean did you know that the three you weighted more than two baby elephants together?"

" Aww really? That's cute!" he laughed,

"Is it?"

Liam grinned, nodding. "But that's so last year. You didn't sleep on it after that?" he probed with a smirk, " who keeps you up at night hmm? You love someone's body?"

Rayo threw an eraser at him. " Haha very funny. You know we barely spend time here," Rayo replied with a straight face to which Liam was rolling on the bed laughing. "Oooh! Someone's being caught red-handed."

Rayo narrowed her eyes and looked at him. She was having a hard time deciding if replying to that would encourage him to make her his go-to bunny for pulling leg or not. Deciding on neither, she dived directly into the topic "What was that downstairs?" Rayo probed which made Liam laugh even harder.

" Oh! That's what this meeting is about!" Liam said, excited. He could not believe he just found the push button to annoy Rayo.

"No, but why do you seem to be having so much fun?"

" Are you kidding me? Of course I am! It's like a dream come true! 12 years I could never draw an expression from you. All along I needed to ask this! It's my Christmas dream come true!" His face was beaming with excitement.

" You waste your Christmas wish on this?" Rayo gave a wry smile, "And please don't tease Claire so much. She's flustered as it is. You're just gonna make it harder on her," Rayo said with a straight face.

" Pwease!," Liam chirped folding his arms under his head, "all I do is pull leg. Completely harmless."

Rayo scoffed." Right. May Lord save her soul from you but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the soup."

" What about it?"

" Why would you not wince?"

Liam looked at Rayo like she was speaking alien but she was deadpan serious. " I must've come back from the cave with just two brain cells or you did. You do know heat doesn't affect me."

" Yes but it affects normal people and you are around normal people now Li. Might as well act like one. You were supposed to have a first-degree burn there if you weren't you."

" Ouch! That's all it takes to burn? Normal people's life must be sad," he just shook his shoulder.

" Sad or not, you're suspicious. You do realize you walked out of explosions without anything more than some cuts and scars and not to mention you used your chi in front of Claire. She's way fast with her brain than brawns. She's definitely gonna notice it. Especially with your glorious purple fire dangling in the cave. Hey, are you even listening to me?" Rayo snapped as she found Liam tapping his legs randomly on the mattress for no good reason.

She clicked her tongue.

"What? I'm listening."

"Can you be serious for a second?"

" I think one constipated person is more than enough in one house. One more and the area is gonna be full of shits. Besides, why does this bed creek so much? Isn't it new? You gotta sue the company from where you brought it. It must be second hand I'm telling you."

" Liam."

" What?" Liam looked at her nonchalantly. "Big deal I used my chi in front of her. What's she gonna do? Rattle me to the HQ? She knows it's her neck under the scythe too. She is way too genius for that."

" Look," Rayo exhaled frustrated, "your chi, your choice. You use it however you want but you know it very well what the punishment for using it outside the jurisdiction is. You'll be court-martialed. On spot. No question asked. And the outcome is always capital punishment."

Liam just brooded." Jeez! You're being too paranoid. We break rules all the time. Who's gonna snitch on me? You? Jenn? Lynx? Who? It was all us. The boys don't even know what happened there and neither would it make any sense if Claire said everything even frame by frame. They'll just assume it's PTSD and move on. They have way horrible things to worry about than some purple things and a miracle."

" And what if it is one of us? Do you think just because Claire wore my shirt and I covered your tracks means no one will notice? We are grossly of different sizes. Adding that with the location of the blasts, the bandage work and the fact that you are totally in one piece, the you-guys-got-separated crap doesn't really stand much chance."

" Why not?"Liam frowned.

" Hellow? Because I'm right-handed, so I always pull the bandage over the left shoulder. Always. Like all other right-handed people. But Claire must be a lefty. So she put it over your right. It's hard to miss when that was basically blinking like a flair over your bare torso."

"Wait. You do? I didn't know that" Liam said, amazed,

"Besides you don't really think it's one of us Ray. I mean come on. I see what you mean but Jenn...maybe it was a fluke. People make mistakes all the time. We're humans."

"It was too controlled of to be a mistake. She either totally forgot the fact that she's literally standing on a catastrophe waiting to happen or she was too distracted by something else to care, which in either way is totally unlike her. "

"Like I said, mistake. Besides, why would she do that? She has no promotion offer down the pipe and neither is she under the threat of elimination from the organization. Who does she need to impress? What's her motive here? If anything, she was caught at the crossfire too.

Rayo bit her inner lip. She knew how pathetic she sounded but something in here did not make any sense to her. She could feel it in her gut.

"But here's the thing," Rayo said as if talking to herself, " there's no traces of any forced entry or breakage or any sign suggesting that they broke in right?"

"Yeah, because they're too good."

"Or because they had help from the inside. Otherwise how else do you explain the fact that they landed exactly inside the facility?"

"But-"

"Look. We're yet to figure how exactly this 'transportation' mechanism worked but we do know for sure that they knew exactly where to appear. Given how untraceable their route was, they could have appeared totally anonymously at any place inside the facility. The fact that they appeared in a busy 'here-I-am' kinda spot easily tells us two things. That either whoever brought them here couldn't afford to the clearance to receive them in a higher place or-"

"Or they wanted to be found," Liam completed the sentence.

"Exactly. But we both know it's tough to know the entire blueprint of the HQ even if you're a Nix and next to impossible if you aren't one. And no civilian has ever traded on the holy grounds. So how exactly do you know where to place your men?

"If not an insider," Liam clicked his tongue.

"Ditto. So if not Jenn, it could be someone else. Anyone among us. But one thing is certain. Whoever sent the trio here didn't just send them for a showdown. They gotta retrieve something. Cuz the sender has already shown us that they have no wish of hiding what they're trying to do here. They just showed us one of their aces. And it's a no-brainer that we won't be sitting around, sucking thumb. We'll leave no stones unturned in finding any comeback. Hence, the moment they get their hands on it, whatever it is, the three will be disposed off by their own side. This is a suicide mission for them whether they know it or not," Rayo finished and took a long breath. She looked at Liam while he looked back

For a while none of them uttered anything.

"But I don't get it," Liam mused, " we inspected them in every possible way. How come we never found anything on them?"

"Maybe because they're masking it too well?"

"How?"

Rayo gave him a you-know look.

"No way-"

"Yes Liam. That's the only logical explanation. Come on. No one except a phantom can pull it off. And you don't really think they sent few 'normal' people in Nix territory do you?" Rayo retorted air quoting the word normal with her fingers.

Liam looked skeptical. "I don't know Ray. That seems too far-fetched, even if it's coming from you."

"Why?" Rayo echoed," why is it so hard to believe when you're one yourself?"

"For starters, phantoms are mutants," Liam sat up on the bed, " and not just any sort of mutants. One in a million kinds of mutants. We aren't talking about just any random douchy mutation here where you grow an extra finger. We're talking about controlling elements. Taming them. Tuning them to your will. It's... it's not only rare but also lethal. Lethal to the point your own chi kills you if not wielded right."

"People mutate all the time Li. The human genome has more than 3 billion letters and change in just 1 in many millions of them can give rise to at least 10 new mutations. Hell! Our cells are mutating in common mitosis as we speak."

Rayo explained everything she noticed about Derek but Liam still looked skeptical.

"I know what I saw. Don't know about the other two but Derek? He's a phantom. For sure. He's lacking control. And skill for that matter. But he's subconsciously doing it," Rayo shrugged.

Liam raked his fingers through his hair. " No one uses chi subconsciously Ray. You know that. We're harvested products. Harvested from hundreds who walked in here and died in the process. Leaving Phoenix with what? A handful of 24 phantoms in all these years? It takes years of perfection and billion dollars of investment on VPG gears to just scratch its surface. Where did they get that money? Everyone's broke in Annexa. Not to mention they're orphans. They barely got to eat right as they grew up."

"Years of perfection I agree but we're not billion dollars of investment no. We're products of torture."

"You-"

"Look. Tell me what VPG does? It gives you virtual stimuli to resurrect your most painful moment again and again till you have no other choice but to deal with it with everything you got to get out, right? That's not called training Liam. That's torture. That's forcing your chi out of you under harsh circumstances. Now yes, you're right. They're orphans. But I can't believe they had a happy childhood which in Annexa, should be no less than a torture."

"Pathetic enough to make you wanna, what, manipulate air?"

"Maybe. Or other things. We still don't know if Claire or Xen is like that. You did see Xen do a number on Lynx and Lynx has got one of the strongest built in the facility whereas Xen has no known formal training."

"Whatever the case may be," Liam arched his brow," you can never do it without proper training. I mean come on it's not magic. I concentrate all the potassium of my body on my skin to form a thick layer enough to pass through my sweat glands and catch fire with atmospheric oxygen. And just scratching off that much took me 5 years with countless hours of concentration, workouts and hospital trips. What did Derek do? Supercharge the water molecules in his body to pump out oxygen? Just like that? Cuz he had to eat bad bread a little too many times?"

"That or he charged his body enough to attract a pool of oxygen around him. To the point that arsine couldn't flock in. Or his lungs are more selective than any normal human. Along with carbon dioxide, it could propel out arsine too before it got into his system. I can give you at least 5 more theories as such. The point is he's doing it. Most precisely unknowingly cuz he'd never show me this card if he knew it's in his deck," Rayo sighed," but he's doing it."

Liam still seemed unconvinced. "If they are what you say they are, why couldn't Lynx ping their whereabouts before? Phoenix is continuously canvassing every corner of the world for expanding its army of lapdogs and Lynx is actively on watch-out for the kinds of us 24/7. But no new batch showed up anywhere in the last 10 years on record."

"Maybe because they didn't match the perimeter set to look out for."

"Come on. Lynx is toasted in a lot of ways but his algorithms are never wrong."

"I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm just saying they don't fit into them. Not so far at least. His codes look for anomalies around the globe. Abnormalities. Not where the air is purified today."

"Hmm," Liam responded as he slumped back. Rayo stared at him for a comeback but there was not any

"Say something," Rayo urged.

"Shit! Should have brought popcorn. Now I'm hungry," Liam responded to which without even seeing he could tell Rayo responded with a disappointed look on her face.

"What? I've run out of logic. Think your theory test out just fine," Liam responded with a thumbs up.

He craned his neck and looked at Rayo. She was slumped on her chair, lost in thoughts. Her shoulders were dropped down and she looked exhausted.

Shaking his head, he got up from the bed. He knelt down and looked at her in the eyes.

"Hey look at me, Ray. What's wrong?"

Rayo looked at him, biting her inner lip."I don't know. I just don't see the motive here. Like why would they do it? What do they need so much here? I-"

"Rayo," Liam spoke in a caressing voice, " that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking what's really bothering you, hmm?"

Rayo just shook her head.

"Come on tell me."

"I almost lost you there Liam" a huge sigh escaped her lungs as the words left her lips, "I should have seen that coming. Mistake or not I... everyone suffered-"

"Hold your thoughts there. There's no way you could have stopped that from happening. We're people Rayo. People who just happen to be good at their jobs. Not God. Besides, you aren't the only one who decided on it. I rooted for the plan too."

Rayo shook her head," Yeah. But I should have. Seeing you like that, pale and wounded...I can't afford to make mistakes when there are lives hanging at the other end."

"Well on the bright side, I've been told I'm quite the treat to the eyes when I'm not running my mouth, so I must have blessed your eyes with my glorious beauty what say?" Liam chuckled trying to lighten Rayo up to which Rayo punched him lightly, smiling.

It's something only you'd say

"And geez! ," Liam tweeted," I'm disappointed in you. So many years with me and you still got no chill. Learn to let shits go. That's a certified life-saving hack from me."

"Oh yeah? Well someone's gotta keep the shits in. Everyone having diarrhoea is gonna make the house stink," Rayo replied crossing her arms with her usual smug smile.

" Touché." Liam grinned. Rayo looked back to her usual self.

" So here's what we're gonna do, "We're Liam rewinded," we're gonna give Lynx his promised lunch cuz he's dying to look into them again, increase the surveillance on them to level 5 and-"

" And wince when you touch something preferably hot. "

"Yes that. But," Liam smirked,"I don't know. How do you do that? Do you go like this- Ouch!!!!?"

" No," Rayo laughed. " No one's killing you here. Milder."

" Mmm!" Liam whimpered." Like this?

" Or like this," Liam said making a moaning sound.

Rayo looked at him frowning. She didn't know if he's genuinely lost or doing that just to tease her. Because if he was, she had no intention of telling him that he was being successful at that. Awkwardly successful.

"You know what! Ask your BFF for it. He burns people as a pass time. Sure he'd know," Rayo spitted with a straight face to which Liam grinned.

"Aha!!! That's what annoys you. I can't believe it took me so long to discover that," he said standing up. A victorious smile was slapped on his face." Maybe I should treat Claire to dinner for sponsoring this groundbreaking discovery."

" It's not."

" Oh yeah? Then what's in your mind?"

" That Claire is standing right outside for a while now."

" There's no wa-"

The door opened suddenly, revealing a startled Claire staring back at them. Liam was taken aback while Rayo casually looked at her.

"Yes?"

" There's a parcel for you."

" Coming," Rayo retorted and effortlessly left the room.

" Geez. Have some patience. I said I'm gonna tell you," Liam replied with a grin while fixing his shirt. It was disheveled from his little inspection of the bad bed company's material.

But instead of saying anything, Claire quickly looked away and mouthed a sorry. Liam had no idea why. He just flashed his boxy smile and said before heading out the room," Sorry to break your heart sunshine but Rayo's not into girls."

And for some reason, Claire's face turned really really gloomy which made Liam wonder if he did a bad job in predicting that Claire was straight.

Maybe she really is into girls

Suddenly he felt like a sick jerk for laughing at her sexual orientation with his horrible instinct.

Man! I gotta grow up