'Don't tell me that this is the Atkins doing…', Rex thought with a frown.
But when he thought about it a little more, he just doesn't get why the Atkins will do something like this so it's very unlikely that it's their doing.
Rex then looks at Ryze and asks, "Tell me about your brother, Why did you think he's dead?"
Hearing this, Ryze becomes very hesitant.
Even by seeing his troubled look and his shut mouth, Rex can already see that Ryze is unwilling to share the story of his brother.
'He's a kid, so I won't push him', Rex thought.
But when he was about to say something, Ryze suddenly opens his mouth.
"M-My brother, he abandoned me to be captured by those guys. The Platchi…"
Ryze started to tell his past, the night when he was captured by the Platchi that kidnap people to be sold as slaves in the Fireband Market.
He said that on the night of the event, he was just doing what normal kids doing which is playing with his mother at home. It was an uneventful night until his mother finally told him to sleep because it was getting late.
His brother, Micheline always came back home late. Ryze told Rex that he never knew why.
"My brother always left when the sun was about to go down and come back at night, my mother always said that brother is working. But I found that it's a lie"
Rex listens to Ryze's story attentively, he just wanted to know if his brother really did die so he can conclude that the Atkins might be behind this.
With that, Ryze then continues,
It didn't take long after his mother brought him to bed, Micheline got back from outside.
Ryze didn't see Micheline coming home, but since Micheline's room is just beside his, Ryze can hear the water dripping sound when his brother walks past his room.
It seems Micheline's clothes are wet, and after that Ryze falls asleep.
"I woke up to the sound of explosion near my house, the house becomes lively again because of that", Ryze said.
He recounts that Micheline and his mother are talking outside after the explosion sound.
Both of them shout at each other while Ryze is listening from his room.
After fiercely arguing for a moment, Micheline storm back to his room in a fit of anger that is clearly stated from the thumping steps he takes.
Ryze heard it all from his room,
He was worried about the explosion and the sound of a commotion outside, but his mother and brother just finished arguing and Ryze didn't dare to leave his room.
The night passes,
When the night reaches its peak, his father came home with a stranger that was supposed to be from the Platchi.
His father said that the stranger has a way to get to Ratmawati City,
Hearing this, the family rejoices and his mother immediately called for Ryze and Micheline but the stranger said that they need to leave right now.
They met with the others and depart for the hopeful Ratmawati City.
Amongst the people in their group, there is a Fire Elementalist that makes Ryze's parents quite happy since with this Awakened around they felt safer.
While they're on the way, Micheline and Ryze's mother argue again.
It started after another explosion again, this time the explosion sound is closer and the people jolted for a second before they ignore the explosion sound and resume their journey.
But since they're arguing while whispering Ryze can't quite hear what they're talking about.
Some of the Awakened becomes restless because of the explosion, but the leader guiding the group told them to resume.
After that, Ryze told Rex that he noticed his brother warily looks left and right paranoidly.
It's like he's afraid of something coming at him even though there are Awakened here to protect them from mutated animals or other threats.
But in the middle of their journey, the Platchi started to make their moves.
Instead of helping the group of people, the Awakened that was from the Platchi capture all of them and puts all of them in a cage.
Ryze's parents try to help him run away, but the Awakened accidentally kill them.
Just when the Platchi dragged Ryze back, he saw Micheline,
"The last thing I saw is my brother"
"He was hiding near a rock while watching me getting taken away, although he saw me he didn't try to help me. He just runs away from the place, but one of the Awakened saw him and ran after him"
Hearing this, Rex frowns since his brother might have just escaped.
"Why did you think he's dead?", Rex asks in confusion.
But Ryze then answered instantly with eyes full of tears, "I s-saw my parents d-die while they try to help me escape, I knew my brother a-and he won't stand a chance against an Awakened especially since I heard another explosion sound after they both disappear"
Rex sighed as he massages his forehead again,
It was not his problem, to begin with, but Ryze insisted that he doesn't want to go.
"Fine, I'm pretty sure that this brother of yours will come soon enough. So let's see what he had to say", Rex finally said while rubbing Ryze's head.
Although he'll gladly let Ryze go, he still somewhat cares about him.
The thought of turning Ryze into a Werewolf does slip his mind, but he already got Kyran to deal with and he didn't want any more problems by turning Ryze who is still a kid into a Werewolf.
Meanwhile, a couple of hours later.
Adhara is currently in a cafe's restroom looking at herself in the mirror.
There's a vial of lotion in her hand as she takes a deep breath, "Here goes nothing", Adhara mumbles as she opens the lid of the lotion Rex gave.
With a squeeze from her hand, a lump of lotion came out to her hand.
The lotion is transparent just like a gel, and Adhara puts it on her face gently with a bit of hesitation since she never used one of this before.
She didn't feel anything at first, but it didn't take long before her face started to morph.
Adhara saw her face turns into a different person that she never saw before, it's completely random but thankfully her face is still a woman's face.
"I will never get used to this", Adhara mumbles as she walks out of the toilet.
In front of the entrance of the Wailing Asylum, Adhara takes a huge breath when she saw just how big and spacious the place really is.
Only a couple of people are on the streets since it's already late.
She looks up and saw lights shooting down on the street from the walls.
It was so bright that she has to cover her eyes. From the outside, Adhara can't look inside since the place is surrounded by a 15 meters tall wall.
With wide strides, Adhara went to the entrance of the place.
The entrance of the Wailing Asylum is guarded by many guards in uniform, all of them are wearing FAA uniforms while some has a different touch on their uniforms than others.
Based on their looks, Adhara noitced that the ones wearing black bands are Awakened.
"Excuse me", Adhara said while approaching one of the guard.
Seeing that Adahra is talking to him, the guard glance at her before Adhara continues, "I'm here for a visit, where should I go?"
Hearing this, the guard frowns, "Visiting hour is over"
"I know that, but I have this", Adhara replied while giving a paper to the guard.
The guard takes the paper and started reading through it,
After finish reading it the guard then nodded his head before he said, "Why don't you say you're sent by Sir Vargas, Follow me"
Adhara followed the guard and stopped at a closed gate.
The outside of the entrance is a post where the guards do the necessary checkups, but to get inside the place they need to went inside this huge gate.
When both of them arrive at the gate, the guard signal to the operator.
A mechanical sound can be heard as the gate opened slowly revealing the insides.
Adhara saw that a car is waiting for her beyond the gate.
The guard approach the driver before he gave the paper to the driver before looking back at Adhara, "Please use the car, it's quite a far if you walk to the Asylum"
Hearing this, Adhara smiles before he gets inside the car as the car tooks off.
While she's in the car, Adhara looks out at the window and saw the inside of the place.
The inside of the tall wall before turns out to be a very spacious place that is way bigger than Adhara expected, she even saw a roadway for a plane to land.
Military vehicles are parked everywhere with military men scattered everywhere.
Aside from the roadway for a plane, the other parts of the place are covered with concrete ground but as the car got closer to the Asylum that concrete ground turns into green grass instead.
"You seem surprised, is this your first time?", the driver asked.
Adhara nodded her head as a reply, "I thought it's just like a normal prison"
The driver laughs when he heard Adhara's remarks, he gets quite a good laugh from it before he said, "It's not just a prison, but it's The Wailing Asylum"
"This place is a UWO Prison. It's designed and made specifically for UWO members that broke the law or gone rogue, has the newest tech and also a huge arsenal of weapons and Awakened from the FAA and Military", the driver explained proudly.
While the driver is explaining, Adhara looks out of the window in awe.
It didn't take long before they arrive at the actual building of the Wailing Asylum, the building looks more like four white buildings connected into one.
Based on the building Adhara has ever seen, the Wailing Asylum looks more like her university.
The buildings look modernistic and they're all white, the robots that even Adhara has ever seen in the university guard the place alongside the FAA members and Military.
After arriving, the driver opened Adhara's door before she comes out and looks around.
Adhara saw uncountable numbers of guards surrounding this place, every inch of the building has a guard on the look out.
Even when she just walks out of the car, all eyes landed on her.
Seeing this, Adhara gulped harshly regretting to take this mission from Edward, "I really hope the crystal you gave work", she mumbles as she saw the security in this place is very tight.
"Don't be shy", the driver said as he signals to the entrance.
Adhara smile nervously before she walks inside guided by the driver, they both walks under the guards' gaze.
While Adhara is walking nervously,
Her eyes suddenly got attracted up as she saw a man staring at her from a bridge connecting the buildings, the man has a red band on and his eyes are very sharp.
Without a second thought, Adhara can sense that the man is very powerful.
"Please wait here, the receptionist will tend to you shortly", the driver said politely before he left.
He already gave the paper to the receptionist before he left.
Adhara was left alone sitting on the waiting section of the lobby in this all-white building, since there's no one here except for her, she didn't know what to do except for play with her phone.
When she's waiting, she suddenly saw the man that she saw earlier arrive in the lobby.
The man walks towards the receptionist before Adhara lowers her gaze nervously since the man kept eye contact with her even though the receptionist is talking with him.
Tap! Tap!
Adhara closes her eyes nervously as she heard the stepping sound went towards her.
"You're going to interrogate John Webster on behalf of Sir Vargas? Why did Sir Vargas suddenly becomes interested in John Webster?", the man suddenly asks while reading the paper.
Hearing this, Adhara's body froze as she gazes up to the man.
With a shaky voice, Adhara then asks, "And you are?"
"Ken Rogers, the head security of the Wailing Asylum", Ken replied while stretching his hand.
Adhara widen her eyes slightly upon hearing this, "Rogers as the Adrian Rogers?", she asks while replying Ken's stretched out hand.
"Yes, that's right", Ken replied with a smile.
But this smile makes Adhara becomes nervous even more, she just realized that not only Ken is the head security of this place but also belongs to the Rogers Family.
The Rogers Family is the sixth rank family, their lineage are bathed in the furnace of war.
One of their members, Denzel Rogers is a ninth rank Awakened. Rex met with this man in Beah City along with the ninth rank woman.
While shaking his hand, Adhara then said, "Nice to meet you Sir Rogers"
"Please, just call me Ken", he replied before sitting right beside Adhara.
Upon getting the questioning look from Ken, Adhara then added with a smile., "For obvious reason, I can't tell you why Sir Vargas is interested"
"Fair enough, Vargas dwelling with the SCO. That's new stuff right there", Ken joked.
After a brief pause, Ken suddenly glance at Adhara and said, "I knew Vargas' assistant is Linda, I've never seen you before. Can I see your id?"
~
Meanwhile, In a hotel near Faraday University.
"This is the batch for today, you can check the content to confirm it", Edward said while giving the wooden box to a woman sitting in front of him.
They're currently inside a meeting room in a hotel,
It's a very private room, only the two of them are inside the room.
The woman is wearing a formal suit with a professional look on her face.
Hearing this, the woman who is sitting in front of Edward open the wooden box before she nodded her head, "The money will bet transferred per usual to your account"
"Alright then, I'll be leaving", Edward said while standing up.
But before Edward can leave the table, the woman stopped him, "Why don't we eat or perhaps drink for a moment, It'll be a waste since I already ordered it"
Edward looks back at the woman in confusion, the woman smile wryly in response.
His inspecting eyes are trying to read through the woman's expression before he suddenly said, "I can tell that you want something, speak your mind"
The woman sigh after getting read easily by Edward like an open book.
"Don't you think it's about time for a meeting with her? The ATC wanted to properly meet with her to further our business together", the woman finally said.
Edward sits back on the chair before he said, "Why? It's just a slightly special stone"
"Although the stones' usefulness dwindles starting from the fifth rank Awakened, our team has identified that some Awakened that uses this has their fire element evolved. So that is why we're really looking forward to working with her", the woman explains.
Hearing this, Edward laid back on his chair for a moment.
He then said, "You're just trying to find out how we made it"
"No, that matter can be discussed after we meet with her", the woman replied.
Edward frowns in thought before he finally said, "You have her number, just ask her yourself"
"We are hoping you can persuade her, can you please just help to persuade her?", the woman asks, Edward can hear a slight pleading tone in her voice.
He then asks, "Who wanted to meet her?"
"It's Daniel Burton, he's really looking forward to meeting her", the woman replied.