Year 2016: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
“What do you think this meeting is about?” Rong asked as she slid her slim body between me and Haziq after placing three cups of hot coffee on the table.
Rong was another mentee under Hank, just like Haziq. And all of us were at the same age. Haziq woke her up before he found me on the usual rooftop, as she stayed further away from our secret hideout.
I just shrugged. “Well you can ask him yourself later, when he’s here.” And I had to wonder where Hank was by now. He was the one calling for this urgent meeting, and he had to be late. I was certain he was back from underwater as the only underground train to travel to HQ was resting on its rail track in the main hall when we reached the basement. It was linked with Accambus, one of the three powerful realms beneath the ocean.
Then I let my gaze wander around the lounge. The white ceilings above reflected a faint yellow light from the chandelier. Right beside the lounge was the usual black punching bag and the bench press machine that smelled like stench of dry sweat.
When my focus drifted back to the three of us, Haziq already finished half of his coffee, back lying against the sofa cushion behind his hips. This sofa was half-circular and was big enough to hold up to ten individuals like my size. But the three of us had to squeeze at one corner.
I glanced over my shoulder at Rong. Her pointy chin seemed pointier from my angle. She was wearing a white tee with a few black stripes. Her straight dark hair tied up neatly in a ponytail, motionless eyes were focused on the ground.
“Should we call Hank?” I asked, was rather irritated.
“Give him another five minutes,” Rong said, eyes remained downcast.
Haziq didn’t really say anything. I could tell his thoughts weren’t here with us, as his eyes were disturbed by something else. He just stared vacantly at the white ceilings.
“Honestly guys,” Rong blurted. “I don’t feel so good about this meeting. Hank has never called us in for urgent matters in the middle of the night.”
I squinted at her through the corner of my eyes. She got a point though. But I didn’t think it could be anything serious. Haziq and Rong, unlike me, weren’t exactly qualified to handle any mission ranked higher than second-class. Plus, we were just guardians of the dull entrance in Malaysia tasked to handle triviality. “I don’t think it’s anything serious,” I replied, was sure of myself.
“I don’t know... I just have this very bad feelings.” Her voice bothered. Then she shifted her attention to Haziq. “Ziq, were you even listening to what I said?”
“I did. Of course. But I had to think...”
“Think about what?”
“What should I do with my life after I graduate. Maybe I can get a scholarship or something...maybe mechanical engineering for my degree...maybe I should go to Australia...what do you guys think?”
“Seriously?” Rong yelled as she turned to Haziq and gave a hard blow on his right shoulder with her bare fist.
“Ouch...watch it.” Haziq casted her a furious look in overdrive mode, but she glared back even violently until he felt threatened, he winced. “Okay sorry, what’s it that you say?” his voice purred as soft as a docile kitten.
Ignoring Haziq, she squinted at me. “Ting, is there anything weird about those Vengers that you caught last night.”
“What do you mean by weird?” I didn’t understand her. This group of criminals known as Vengers, the only reason they came to TOP was to smuggle food, medicine and sometimes, weapons to support their relentless endeavour in spreading fear and chaos all over North Accambus. And they needed to get these items from TOP, as they couldn’t get it anywhere else in the bottom of the ocean. Although sometimes, they would commit heist and human trafficking as well based on what I heard from my first-class mentors last time. But their activity was very minimal on TOP as TSDA was doing a very good job hunting them down here. Thus, I couldn’t really decide what fell in the category of weirdness last night.
“I don’t know! I wasn’t even there!” she started yelling again.
I inhaled a deep breath to calm myself to relinquish the thought of going one-on-one against her full-bitch mode. Then I tried my best to relive everything that happened, just in case I left out anything that fell in her definition of weirdness.
This was how it happened. I found suspicious men. I followed them to port Klang. I checked perimeters for fifteen minutes. I made an ambush within one. I kicked a dozen of asses within ten. And I called in. Help arrived in five. I even read their rights for them.
“So? Anything out of ordinary?” Rong was eagerly staring at me, as if the next thing poured out of my mouth could decide fate.
“No.”
“Think harder Ting!!!” She had to scream at my ear!
“Sorry I’m late!” A rough male voice shouted across the lounge as the door creaked open.
We were muted suddenly. We didn’t even move. The questions we had were kept at the brim of our throats as he approached with his heavy steps. The sound of his leather boots clicking on the marble tiles made us uneasy. Once he stopped, he dropped an inconspicuous grey file on the table in front of us with a thud, then he turned to face us.
This old middle-aged man was at his fifty, his dark hair was short and scarce. And he was wearing his gloomy stealth outfit which fit nicely with his torso. His big arms were bare, revealing his suntanned skin. And his square jaw was lifted slightly higher as his lopsided eyes stared down at us for a very long second. He was Hank. The serious Hank.
I could see Hank’s high forehead crinkled up falteringly, and his green irises imaginarily darkened in severity. “A prince in Accambus might have gone missing.” I delayed a second before I grasped all of his words.
“This is a joke,” Haziq sneered, as disbelieving as I was. And even I felt I believed Haziq’s words more than Hank’s. Or maybe some part of me never wanted to believe it was true. I swallowed hard as I slowly and painfully realised Hank wasn’t jesting. My head lowered to offer myself some time to quench the building heat. It couldn’t be him.
Only Rong was as quiescent and placid as still wind. Her cool gaze again locked on Hank after a brief respite to find Haziq’s eyes. “Did those Vengers Ting apprehend last night reveal this to you? Can we even believe their words?”
“Yes, one of them spilled it,” Hank answered. “That’s why I need the three of you to go and confirm for me. I don’t know if this is true, but I don’t want to risk it.” I listened to him attentively though I wasn’t staring at his face, but the tiles.
“Why did the Venger tell us this? It feels like an utter nonsense,” Haziq said.
“I wonder that too. It offers him no benefits to tell us some nonsense either. But if that piece of information I’ve received is true, there could be a real problem,” Hank replied as more wrinkles surfaced across his high forehead. “I had slightly made my own investigation. And I found out that Prince Elliot’s 16th birthday ceremony is coming.”
“He probably told us these just to trick us to Accambus and to waste our time validating some falsehood,” Haziq surmised. I saw the edge of Hank’s lips puckered as if Haziq was saying something outrageous.
“Anyway,” I finally spoke as my eyes swept around their expressions after I retained my cool. “This is Accambians’ business, not ours. We don’t have to care.”
“How could you say that?” Rong protested.
“No Rong, he is right. If this is outside of TSDA’s scope of control, it’s better to be standoffish,” Hank nodded assent. It was moot though, for TSDA to have intervened into anything as ludicrous as this one, and which only concerned about certain Realm. And to be candid, TSDA only cared about Vengers, the safety relation between TOP and underwater civilizations, and the seven old-fashioned entrances with three-hundred-years old history. Though there was an abnormal glimmer in his eyes that made me feel this wasn’t only about Accambians. He told us these for a reason, didn’t he?
“But don’t you think it’s way too ridiculous? And something too ridiculous could be suspicious,” Hank hinted. Both Haziq and Rong kept torturing their minds to figure out this old man’s thoughts. Then he carried on, “Don’t you see? If it’s true that Prince Elliot has gone missing, and with his forthcoming 16th birthday ceremony where every member of the royal family is going to attend, even the entire nation will celebrate for it. But no one is mentioning anything about a missing prince in the news.”
Hank’s eyes were even grave as he gazed at me. “And Ting, you’ve once lived in the castle, with those royal family members, why do you think that the King would cover up the truth about his missing son?” And there was an instant fear that surged through me as my bulb of intelligence flashed at the thought of it.
“He could be threatened by God-knows-who?” Haziq speculated, voice sounded even incredulous to himself.
“That’s a King you’re talking about.” Hank shook his head.
“If I were the King...” I mumbled. “And my son was missing. I probably would have searched my entire Kingdom upside down to find him. And if I still couldn’t find him, I would need to do a search outside the boundary of my kingdom, in the meantime, maintaining good relationship with foreign politicians. That could be tricky. And I definitely don’t want an army to involve in the search, so I would prefer to send undercover agents to the foreign land instead.” And I was pretty certain that I was right, plus, startled, because this old man was way too observant.
“Your point?” Hank asked, seriously intrigued, and I supposed this old man still hadn’t found the reasonable explanation about the King’s bizarre decision. He couldn’t have though.
I muted my mouth for several long seconds to make it feel unbearably hard for him–certainly not someone who always enthusiastically sought for logic behind every odd could stand. Until it satisfied me, I clarified, “Because of the King’s elder brother.”
“His elder brother? Sir Atlon?” Rong voice was still sceptical.
I nodded my head. But Hank seemed disgruntled with the answer. So I explained it further, not wanting him to have insomnia tonight. “Sir Atlon is the Lord of the North. And he cares about family more than anything else in the world. And he is especially doted upon Prince Elliot. They’re as close as father and son. I remember he once sentenced a servant death, almost, because she served the wrong food for the prince. If the King had not been there to stop him, she wouldn’t have lived. So if he knows that Prince Elliot has gone missing, he would do anything to find him, even if it has to involve an army to search for him. And that would mean war with other realms.”
This was a story that all Accambians knew but none would talk about it. That was what happened seventeen years ago, when the former King announced the subsequent rightful heir of the sovereign ruler for Accambus, who was King Atlant, Sir Atlon showed his restlessness and disapproval. Consequently, the people of Accambus were mostly separated, and the fate of downfall was almost imminent.
Without many options, King Atlant removed Sir Atlon’s status as one of the Royal Family and at last, Sir Atlon saw his mistakes and exiled himself to North Accambus with the purpose of fighting off Vengers, who had deemed this turmoil as a golden opportunity to unravel the entire nation. Because of his gallant act the entire Realm was saved from war and hence the title—Lord of the North. Due to the fame Sir Atlon earned in the realm, he had enough soldiers who would have died for him to fight the barbaric Vengers, and conversely, to initiate a war.
“Did he mention anything about how Prince Elliot disappears?” I asked, gravely this time.
“According to my source, he disappeared in the castle,” Hank replied.
“Impossible.” It was too absurd even just a negligible second for me to consider its validity. “Did you notify the president regarding this matter?”
His green eyes emanated a sense of helplessness as he spoke, “I did. But no one would listen. They just think that he’s babbling. And they don’t want to offend a King.” He sighed, as now he could visualize the imminent peril if Prince Elliot wasn’t found the soonest possible.
“You want us to disobey a direct order from the president?” Haziq’s voice was perturbed, was certain that Hank’s proposal was terrible.
“Yes. This file contains all of the information regarding Prince Elliot, the castle, and my contact in Accambus,” Hank said as he moved the grey file on the table with his fingers to the side of the table closer to us. He carried on as his strict eyes flitted between the three of us, “And now I need three of you to carry out the investigation for me in Accambus, find out is Prince Elliot really missing. And I need to know how he disappears.”
“To the bottom of the ocean?” Actually that wasn’t a question from me as the inevitability my voice contained had ascertained everything even before Hank made any response.
“I don’t know...” Rong eyed Hank dubiously.
“I will go,” Haziq didn’t falter. “But who’s going to take care of the entrance when we’re away?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything on TOP.” Hank’s nod featured a usual conformity as he answered. “I have some matters that I need to attend to, so I couldn’t follow. The three of you are prepared for this. Just get in then get out fast, and don’t talk to anyone, especially you Ting.”
“I know.” Apparently, I’d earned quite a fame in Accambus four years ago. But most importantly, it would be better for me not to bump into any TSDA operative, as me returning to the bottom of the ocean was kind of prohibited by TSDA.
My resolute gaze wandered between Haziq’s countenance and Rong’s as their eyes too stared into mine, and I knew what to say as smiles hovered on their lips, “We’ll get ready in five.”
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