Why me again?

Outside Honey Petals restaurant,

A brunette lady stands in front of the camera, holding onto a microphone and smiling at the viewer.

She makes several gestures with her hands and exhales sharply.

Keeping the camera pointed toward the lady, the cameraman starts recording.

"Reporting live on what could be seen as the razed down restaurant of famous chef Fernandez Castillo, which was well known for its delicious dishes."

Looking back at the blazing restaurant a few blocks away, she continues.

"A total of thirty-four bodies were found inside the building, who died during the attack of an anomaly. Collux Haven believes that this incident is linked to the numerous murder happening in the surrounding area."

Making a hand gesture, the cameraman signals to the lady to change her facial expression to match the mood.

She blinks in agreement and changes her smile into a frown, making her look stern and serious.

"However, It is said that the chef was abducted by unidentified anomalies and that they might still be in possession of his body! There still isn't much information on the condition of the chef when he was taken."

Looking back at the burning restaurant again, she adds. "This is a developing story, and we will keep you updated on any new developments. This is Nathalie Jones with cameraman Cayn."

The camera zooms out and switches off.

Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath and sighs.

"Fuck, I hate those bastards..." She mumbles under her breath.

As her hands comb through her hair, she notices something strange...

She gets a glimpse of a metal laying outside of the restricted zone around the fire site.

"Miss Nathalie! What are you doing?! It's dangerous to go there!!" Cayn shouts towards her after seeing that she was approaching the incident site without permission.

Ignoring him completely, she runs over to where the object lies.

Crouching next to the metallic item, she picks it up carefully and inspects every inch of the thing.

"What the fuck is this?!" She wonders.

She stares at a glowing bullet casing, which was abnormally as large as her hand.

Her fingers run along the edge of the casing, and she notices faint initials engraved on the surface.

"C.H. ..." She reads aloud in confusion, trying to make sense of the letters.

Then suddenly, the realization hits her like a truck.

"Oh my gosh!" She whispers, her eyes wide open in shock.

She could finally make sense of why their crew had been restricted from going anywhere near the fire site.

"They are trying to hide this from us." She thinks aloud and shakes her head.

'What ties do you have with this, Collux Haven?' She wonders.

Forcing herself to calm down, she closes her eyes and begins to think about what she should do now.

She quickly places the casing inside her coat pocket, before looking back at Cayn's irritated face.

"Miss Nathalie, you do know what might happen to our jobs if we go against the rules right?" He asks, clearly annoyed at her actions.

Staring at the cameraman, she tilts her head and smiles. "You know what, Cayn? Take your job and shove it up your ass."

He blinks in surprise, clearly not expecting this answer.

"You heard me." She says, pointing a finger at him.

His face turns red from anger, but he remains silent, understanding his place in the crew.

"Be more focused on what you do best, and I'll do mine," Nathalie advises and flips her hair in his face before walking away, leaving him alone.

–––––––––––

In the secret base,

"Ahhhhhh!" Mae screams in horror while hiding behind Dahlia.

Dahlia, on the other hand, just glares daggers at Rai.

Sylvester observes his surroundings, while the others remain frozen in fear and stare at him in silence.

"You disobeyed my orders–our collective votes, and brought him here!" Dahlia says through grit teeth, clenching her fists tightly.

"I... I couldn't let this opportunity go...!" Rai stutters, his voice trailing off.

"You're afraid of a mere girl?" Sylvester mocks with a grin.

Rai subconsciously punches Sylvester on the shoulder, instantly regretting it and looking down to avoid his glare.

There was a collective gasp from everyone in reaction to Rai's action.

"He's a goner–" Adam sings to himself.

Rolling her eyes, Dahlia turns to the middle-aged man in the room who was silent the whole time, bringing the attention of everyone present to him. "Who the hell is he?!!"

Rai feels his heart stop beating for a moment.

Fernandez blinks, unsure how to react to the awkward situation he has found himself in.

Adam stares at them with an amused smile and says, "Sick! We got an old fella, a cynical killing machine, and a sleeping little de–"

Winston covers his mouth quickly before he could finish.

"Don't you dare say it or it'll be your last breath!" He warns with a glare, making Adam shut up.

Gulp!

Winston nods his head, and mutters before releasing his hold, "Good."

Meanwhile, all just stare at Sylvester, unable to speak.

Mae steps out from behind Dahlia and calls out to Rai. "Why did you bring–"

Her breathing is forcefully stopped when a death glare is directed at her from Sylvester's direction.

'Why is it always me?!' Mae wonders as she struggles to breathe.

"Sylvester, please don't." Rai pleads desperately, shaking his head.

Releasing his hold on her, Sylvester shakes his head in disappointment.

"You're defending her?" Sylvester asks, a little surprised.

"It would be appreciated if you don't kill my friends," Rai answers calmly.

"You actually call them friends? What pathetic reasoning," Sylvester sighs and shakes his head.

"Ahem!" A high-pitched voice interrupts their argument.

Dahlia's eyes narrow suspiciously at Rai, as she coldly states, "meet me in the usual spot!"

Rai nods his head and lets out a sigh. "Fuck! I'm so screwed."

After saying that, she leads the way with Rai following closely.

Everyone watches them disappear through the door.

"So, what do we do now?" Adam asks in a whisper, looking at everyone with a worried expression.

They all stiffly turn their attention to Sylvester, who is glaring at them.

'Definitely not a good idea to leave us with him!' Adam takes a step back in fear.

"Hello, I'm Fernandez. Nice to see so many civil anoma–" he pauses when they glare at him.

Masking his nervousness with a low chuckle before he quickly corrects his words, "I meant it's so nice to see so many civil awakeners in one place, quite different from what we were told."

"You are all fools to blindly believe what the media says," Sylvester comments without any hint of emotion or sympathy.

"You have no business being here!" Winston snaps angrily, opening his palm to create an orb made out of wind.

The air surrounding Winston becomes turbulent as he glares at Fernandez. His orb becomes larger than normal due to his rage. "What is a non-awakener doing here anyway?!"

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Author's note

¶ Do check out the weekly auxiliary chapter[Bonus chapter task] to know how you can participate.