Gasp and scream!

Everest didn't seem to care less, and continued marching forth like he owned the place.

"Everest!" She exclaimed, a huge smile spreading across her face. She gazed behind him, and saw me. "Oh, Emerald!" She looked like a proud mother who just found out that her child got accepted into Cambridge.

What the hell?

Everest didn't stop until he got absolutely close to her, towering over her body like the Everest itself. "What are you doing here?" He demanded.

"I'm here for you two."

I couldn't exactly see Everest's face, but judging by the next expression Amanda wore, I could have imagined.

"Oh, no, Everest. It's not what you think."

I walked over to them, all interested.

"It's not?" His stare pretty much penetrated through her soul.

"No, I'm the one who opened the door for you."

Her attention snapped to me. The smile returned to her face. "Emerald, you're okay."

I had a wide variety of things I could have said to her. But, what the first thing that came out of my mouth was:

"You didn't open the door for me!"

She blinked, looking taken aback by my random comment. "Oh, that! I'm sorry, I had to come down from the twenty-ninth floor to convince them to disable the system. Everest was at the door by then."

"What were you doing on the twenty-ninth floor?" Everest inquired. Good question.

"Um," she looked around. "How about we don't talk about this at the entrance? Here, come this way." She led us into a small room. The room was softly furnished with a pair of turquoise two seaters, and a silver, lonesome looking mini fridge positioned at a corner of the room. A blue orchard sat at the windowsill, watching the rain shower the city. Apart from that, everything else was white. From the walls to the small coffee table, in between the sofas.

I took a seat on one of the sofas, shivering, as a result of my soaked clothes. Everest stayed standing, and waited for Amanda to begin speaking.

"Emerald, you're shivering!" She got up quickly. "I'll fetch you a towel and some new clothes."

"No!" I grabbed her wrist. "I'm fine. Explain. Why are you here?"

"You're all wet, you'll catch a cold!"

"Amanda," it was Everest this time, "start talking."

Understanding that the minute – or zero – patience he had was running thin, she spoke.

"Okay, firstly, Emerald, I want you to know that I had no part in all of this."

"Bullshit," I accused.

"Emerald!" Amanda was always had a zero tolerance when it came to the fine gesture of swearing. I couldn't even count as high as the number of times she had rebuked me for my vivid choice of words.

"You were his secretary for years, Amanda! You're the manager of the company, an now you're telling me that you had no part in this?"

"Director was a very secretive man, Emerald," she spoke gently, despite my outburst. That's Amanda for you. Always calm and collected. "I understand where you're coming from, but you have to believe me. I raised you. Why would I ever harm you? Did you even see me there in that termination unit?"

She was right. I didn't see her there; I stared down relaxing a bit. "No," I glanced up at her. "Where were you?"

"I wasn't at the Front. Director told me to go home right after you left at the launch evening. I figured everyone was going home. But then I got a signal. Someone had breached into Director's office. The security cameras at the Front are connected to my home, as it is with Director's house, right? And I saw, well, all hell break lose at the Front.

"Emerald, they meant to kill you!" She looked as shocked as a child watching the death of Mufasa in Lion King.

Wow, she really had no clue.

She then gazed at Everest, with the same pride she wore when we came in. "But, you didn't kill her."

Yes, well done, Everest. Let's all give him a round of applause, folks.

"Anyway, by the time I got back to the Front, you were gone. Director knew it got to a point where there was no turning back, so he told me. He told me everything. Of course, I already knew about Everest. I've been with him since he was a toddler."

I raised an eyebrow. That was when it came back to me. The detail that it was Everest's mother who got caught up in the explosion, not mine.

Amanda continued. "So, discovering what they were about to do to you and the reality behind 202, was just as shocking for me as it was for you."

I dared to ask even though he was in the room. "Who is Everest's mother?"

She opened her mouth.

"Amanda," the warning growl that erupted from Everest, froze her in place.

"What?" I inquired.

"Nothing. It's not, um–" Amanda cleared her throat. "It's not important."

Yes it was.

I was about to prompt her to answer when Everest spoke, and I warily dropped the topic.

"In the future, Amanda," he said in a frostbitten voice. "Don't make a habit of answering questions that don't concern you."

I stared at him, bewildered, but he kept his cold eyes trained on Amanda, completely ignoring my existence.

Amanda nodded. She bloody nodded! She didn't tell him off for using that tone with her! She nodded! She practically was practically saying 'yes sir'!

Now I really want to know.

She cleared her throat once again, acting like nothing happened. "So as I was saying, after spilling his malicious intensions and following your escape, Director spoke of the danger you are had supposedly landed yourselves in, in the hands of Reynolds and Co. But I knew he was full of it. One good thing that did come out, however, was the information that Gemma Reynolds has the cure for 202, and that's why I came here. Because I figured if you'd go anywhere it would be here."

"That means the Director must have figured we'd come here too." Everest replied. "So who are you here for, Amanda? Him or us?"

He put into words, the same doubts that circulated around my own head. Was Amanda playing a double game? Or was she really just here for our sake like she claimed she was?

"Heavens, no! I lost all respect from that man the moment he told me when really wanted to do to you." She looked at me.

Had it been anyone else who said that, I wouldn't have believed a syllable of it. But Amanda raised me, which was the only reason why I let her continue.

"The Front is in a shambles. Director thinks I'm here to bring you back once you get here. He expects me to give him the signal to bring in the Front's men. But I won't; the only reason I came here was to get you both inside, because as you saw, letting you guys in would have been the last thing these people were willing to do."

"How did you get in?" I asked. This should be good.

"Money can buy a lot."

I frowned. She was missing a part out. "How much?" I quizzed.

Her mouth formed a nervous smile. "Does it matter?"

"Depends." I shrugged. "How much?"

"Fine. Twenty grand. Is that enough detail for you?"

"No," I replied. "Why would a multi-billionaire company risk allowing an enemy in for money that could have been made back in a matter of minutes?" I narrowed my eyes. "You're not telling us everything."

"Alright! I had to tell them what happened at the Front. I had to tell them the truth about 202. I mean they already, knew, but I had to confirm it. It was the only thing that I could have done for them to let me in."

"Amanda!" I exclaimed.

"I had to! You wouldn't be in this building now if I didn't! The cure would have been as far from your reach as the nearest star is to our solar system!"

"You need to work on your similes," I remarked.

"So where is the cure?" Everest asked, getting right down to business.

On point. I like that.

"See, that's the thing," Amanda said. "Only Gemma knows."

"Okay, so let's march into the brat's office and demand the cure from her," I recommended.

Amanda intertwined her fingers together. "It's— uh, not as easy that."

"Fine, we'll torture the cure out of her,"
I offered.

"What? No!" She paused. "You can't get the cure, right now, because... she's not here."

"Not here?" I asked, finding it difficult to conceal my rage.

"Then where is she?" Everest demanded.

"She's in... Los Angeles."

My mouth dropped open.

Amanda kept her eyes trained on her intertwined fingers. "She flew back, after the launch evening."

"Th-w—" I stuttered, speaking in barely audible human, let alone english, itself.

"Then," Everest spoke, with his signature frostiness. "Why did you bother coming here?"

"I told you. For you guys."

I loudly slumped into the sofa. "You know what, Amanda, I'm getting tired of your half-half sentences. Do I look like a detective? Huh? Is that what I look like? No, I'm a girl who's about to die because your boss made me into a fake cure. Oh, and if that's not enough, that so-called cure is about to launch the world into a dark abyss of chaos. So the least you can do is, say what needs to be said, without one of us having to ask a question in between every three words that you speak for the basic luxury of clarification!"

"Uh..." she looked stunned for a moment. "Okay, you're right, I guess," she said, straight the creaseless fabric of her shirt. "I knew you guys would come here, looking for Gemma, but the only way you would have gotten into this building was if there was someone already in the building who wanted you here. But..."

"But she's in America," Everest finished.

Interesting.

"So, the cure is in fact as from us as the nearest star outside our solar system?" I asked.

"Unfortunately," she replied.

Everest and I glanced at each other. Okay, I glanced – he gave more of a sharp shot in my direction.

"Uh-uh, put those looks away," Amanda interrupted. "You two are not going into the States! That is the first place Director is sure to look, so that is the last place you will set foot in."

"So, what? You just expect us to sit here, and wait for the cure to fall onto our laps?"

"No. We'll find another way."

"Another way," I scoffed. "You know they're releasing 202 in a matter of weeks, right?"

"Yes, but you'll be throwing yourself in danger going there."

"What do you want us to do here then?" I exclaimed.

"You are going to wait. You are going to wait until we come up with a different plan to get you that cure."

"Who's we?" Everest questioned.

"That's a little harder to explain."

Everest crossed his arms, all business like, and I mirrored.

"At Reynolds corporation in the US, I know a few individuals who previously worked for the Front, you know before the Reynolds' attack."

There were a handful of employees to sought refuge at Reynolds Corporation after the Front went down, causing them to lose their jobs for about a year. I guess they liked it at Reynolds, seeing as they decided to stay a decade and a half after the Front was reestablished.

"Yeah," I picked my nails. "Nothing screams loyalty like a bunch of people who turned to the rival company that wiped out their own."

"Don't look at it like that, Emerald. They really had no choice with their former workplace blown to pieces. When you've got mouths to feed, and someone as high up at Robert Reynolds offers you to work for them, what could you expect them to do?

I shrugged. "And these people will be useful to us, how?"

"They will help us get the cure, in a way that doesn't involve the pair of you traveling to the US in order to confront Gemma."

"We're not kids! We'll be safe!" I rebutted.

"I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about Gemma's safety. The way you address her, Em, it's a little scary."

I grinned, and she smiled back. Her words were accurate there, though. There had been countless instances when Amanda had told me off for referring to Gemma in a very non-classy way, or for making very sociopathic plans about what I had in store for her, had I ever come face to face with the little imbecile.

"As for now, I think it would be best for you to meet the manager of this building, and his team, who are probably analysing your every muscle coordination through CCTV," she said, glancing to look at the small black camera which was staring back at us from above.

She got up. "This way— oh for goodness sake! You're still shivering!" She went through the door in the corner, which turned out to be a bathroom, returning with a pearl white towel, and wrapped it around me. "I don't get it. Everest seems to be fine," she muttered.

"That's because he's all of Antarctica condensed into a lone body," I replied, drying my hair.

"I have missed you."