Game Over

"They what?" Darren shot up from his bed and pulled his pants on, the phone still in his ear. He was out of the house in seconds but then he stopped again. 

"She what?" 

He strapped his watch on and slipped the phone into the car speaker system and drove to the address Elma had sent him. Why hospital…

"Why is the address you've sent me a hospital?" Darren asked as he instinctively accelerated. 

"That's because…all of them are there. Saye fell from a ladder."

"HUH?" he bellowed so loud that even he got scared by the voice. Elma took the phone away from her ear and waited for him to calm down. 

He was raging on the inside. How much more stupid could she be? First she kisses one of them now she climbs a ladder and falls from it. What had gotten into that prissy princess? Was it the boys? Were they affecting the two girls he mostly cared about?

"And where's Ashe?" he moved on and was received with silence. 

"I asked you a question, Elma."

Elma immediately understood that he was seriously mad now. He had even stopped calling her Miss Elma. "I'll tell you when you get here—"

"No. You will tell me now. Where is that air head?" 

"She's missing."

Darren let out a breath and pursed his lips. Reflexively, he cut the call and stared straight ahead at the half empty night road. 

She was missing. 

Where the hell were the guards? They had one job. He had hired 50-60 of them to guard 8 teenage kids and they failed at that too? He couldn't believe it. 

"Where are you?!" he screamed inside the car, his veins popping on his neck as he raged. He held the wheel tight and felt the blood rush out of him. He didn't know what to do. Where will he find her? Who could have taken her? 

There was still a huge list of things on his head! The shootings, the traitor, the sudden appearance of spiders in the Systema Games HQ (yes this is new. So many things have been happening in the world outside the mansion), Tasha not picking up calls and the shortage of employees to meet the growing market because of the release of Breakfire Online 2.

And now, the boys on government probation were roaming around freely, Saye was in hospital and his sister was missing. 

"I'm dead," he told himself as he stopped in front of the hospital and rushed inside. He clasped the receptionist counter and shouted at the nurse, "Saye Trenner, accident by fall. Where is she?"

The nurse almost got a heart attack at this sudden explosion and with trembling hands, she typed out the name and stuttered the room number. Darren took the stairs. The elevator was filled with too many people waiting. 

Elma was standing outside the room and her head turned to the side when she saw Darren flying up the stairs. He was out of his normal office clothes and only wore a simple jacket and jogger pants now. His face was a mess and his posture lagged. 

"Darren," she breathed as he looked at her. He only nodded at her before barging inside the room to his girl. 

His hands didn't go past the door knob. His eyes fell on the girl on the hospital bed, connected to machines with those wires and other things he didn't know the name of. 

"Saye…"

He walked over to her and cupped her face. "Why are your eyes closed, huh? Open them!" But Saye was being disobedient that night. She only lay still on the bed with no reaction at all. The only proof that she was living was the steady beep of the monitors. 

Tears fell for the first time out of his eyes and burned on Saye's cheeks. It fell like broken crystals on her sandy face and melted into them, useless. Darren touched his forehead against hers and shook uncontrollably, constantly telling her to wake up. 

"You!" a female voice spoke from behind him, "How are you inside? Visiting hours are over!"

Darren stood up straight and shook his head, "No you got me wrong, I'm her boyfr—"

"Whatever, whatever, she can't be under any kind of stress now as she is in critical stage. Her body is weak and couldn't handle the fall. So please. Wait outside."

Darren felt bashful being talked to like this. Did she not recognize the CEO of the World's No. 1 gaming platform? The nurse just looked at Darren with a plain face and stared at him until he carried himself out of the room. 

Elma was still there and Darren looked to the side and saw the other six boys there too, sitting on the waiting chairs. A few of them were talking among themselves. Some just sat there, pondering. Adrien was a bit far away from them, sitting in a slightly secluded area, lost to his own thoughts. 

Darren sighed and sat one chair away from him. They clearly weren't friends, so sitting right next to him would be a shutdown to Darren's ego. 

"Where is she?" the brother asked Adrien. 

He was silent and continued being lost in his thoughts. 

Darren closed his eyes in frustration. "What did you do to her?"

Adrien was still silent, completely tuning him out. 

"I swear…" Darren prepared to curse but stopped short when Adrien started to laugh. Darren's eyes widened in surprise. Why was this boy laughing in the middle of this? He laughed and laughed, glancing at Darren a few times. 

Some of the other boys looked over at the two, weirded out. 

"What is wrong with you?" Darren couldn't help but ask.

Adrien finally answered one of his questions, "What's wrong with me? Ha. What is wrong with you, you imbecile? You had two choices. To either search for your sister or check on your girlfriend in hospital. And look at you. Why are you even here?" 

Darren narrowed his eyes at him, "I was being rational…if I came here, I'll get some starting point—"

Adrien scoffed and stood up to look down on him, "Rational? Who are you to talk about being rational? If Ashe had someone else as a brother, they would have gone to the police by now. You're the amazing CEO of Systema Games. Have you even deployed a search party?" 

Darren was the one who was silent this time. How could he? He can't go to the police because the moment they hear that the Death Six was out, the company will be taken over or at least thrown in hot water. 

And how can he deploy a personal search guard when there are people out there waiting to kill any one related to Systema Games? 

Darren nodded his head, "Yeah you're right. Ashe should have had a different brother."

Adrien bit his cheek as he looked upon this man. The CEO of Systema Games, he calls himself. What a hypocrite. He bent down and pointed at him, "You. Don't touch Ashe ever again. Leave her to me from now on. Understand?"

Darren looked up and they both glared at each other, a thread of fire running between them, "And why would I do that, robot?" 

Ethan picked up that word and his ears perked up. He looked at the others in surprise and yes, they had heard it too. 

'Robot?' Romeo mouthed to the rest. They shrugged and listened in closer. 

Adrien smirked, "At least I'll do a better job than a mannequin like you."

Darren shook his head, "Really now? If that's the case…" he stood up so he was at eyes level with this boy, "Then why the hell is she MISSING?!" 

One of the nurses walked over to them to tell them to keep it down. But Ethan placed a hand in front of her and shook his head, "Now might not be a good time, miss." The nurse frowned and looked at the boys closely. She covered her mouth in surprise. She had seen both those faces on TV. One was that…that robot and the other, the CEO. 

'But he doesn't even look like a robot…' she took in the sight and decided to back off. But before she did, she froze. Wait a minute. Who had blocked her right then? 

She looked up at the person and saw another face she had seen on TV then behind him, on the chairs, four more of them. Unable to hold it in, she screamed. Doctors came running and their eyes fell on these boys. 

They all looked at each other confused at why all these staff were crowding around them. Romeo nudged Kai's shoulder, "Um. Any idea what's happening?" Kai looked at Ethan and he too, was at loss for words. 

Darren noticed the crowd of staff and saw them staring at the stars of the month. They were already placing calls and shooting videos for proof. Darren gritted his teeth and looked around for Elma, but she was gone too. 

"Now we're all dead," Darren let out and fell on the waiting chair in defeat. He looked up at Adrien who was assessing all this slowly. At that moment, Darren felt the strongest ever desire to kill this person, robot or not. He wanted to kill him so bad and just get it over with. 

He knew that two weeks weren't up yet but still, how could Ashe make no progress at all? Even after sending Saye in? Everything looked like it was crumbling. Never before had he felt like giving up but now…

"I just want to die…" he ran a hand through his hair. He sat still, clueless, until the military entered the hospital and dragged these boys away along with Darren separately. They shouted at them to find Ashe, their missing citizen, but their screams fell on deaf ears. 

Elma was among those who sent them away. Darren's heart broke as she saw her expressionless face as the car drove past the lady he had trusted. Why hadn't he realized before that she was a spy from the government? She was always so silent during recent meetings yet always around. 

"Young boys like you are supposed to be clubbing and studying, not running companies that affect the world," she had told him once. And Darren couldn't help but think that she was very right. Darren wasn't supposed to be here. 

He coughed when the car was over a water bridge and the military soldier gave him a look, "What is it?" 

Darren looked up through his eyelashes and asked innocently, "C-can I go for a pee?"

The soldier looked outside, "We're on top of a bridge right now."

"It's urgent!" Darren wailed, kicking his legs as if he was in pain. Scared that this baby boy might make a urine mess inside the car, the soldier called for a stop and cuffed Darren before taking him outside. 

He stood by the edge of the bridge and looked over at the vast river that ran below it, its waves curling calmly over themselves. Darren stared at it, his eyes glazing over. He suddenly remembered his swimming training days. He had hated the water so much. 

One soldier held his cuffed hands to keep him from falling while another soldier helped him unzip his pants. 

Darren gulped and his eyes set on the river in front of him. As he emptied his bladder, the other soldier's walkie talkie buzzed and he picked it up. 

"Where are you?" 

"We're on our way, Chief. Right now at Suicide Bridge."