Rayo stepped out of the building, murderous. Her knuckles were all white from trying to contain her chi, as a wave of blind anger kept swirling in her mind, slashing her with its thorns. She couldn't believe they were made Corporals for THIS.

BABYSITTING CRIMINALS!
IN OUR HOUSE!!!

The trees in the vicinity ceased into nothing with a zap, filling the air with a metallic stench. Rayo stopped on her track and breathed which did little to tame her infuriation. She looked around for her car only to realize she left it on the parking lot in a hurry which ravaged her even more. Snarling, she looked around for another means that would take her to the headquarter in the blink of her eyes before she vanquished half the forest in the process. She spotted Liam's car and hopped in. Without even bothering to put her seatbelt on, Rayo raced inside the forest at the sanest speed she could apprehend.

She still couldn't believe the headquarter made three completely unknown fugitives their apprentice.

NIX'S APPRENTICE! A PART OF THE INNER CIRCLE? THREE CRIMINALS?!!! WHY??!!!

Frorer being a jerk she could understand but

What the hell are Kawasaki and you thinking?

She knew she'd no right as a Corporal to question another Corporal's action but she knew she had every right to question Jane. He knew what this house meant to Tori and Jacob, he knew what this house meant to them. It was their own little sanctuary, their home, a place their mentors fought for all their lives to keep the fangs of the Oracle away. They couldn't just shove some criminals anywhere just because it was a top priority for them at the moment.

IT'S NOT A PHOENIX PROPERTY

And Jane knew all of it, every bit of it, even more than them. It's importance to them, it's meaning to them.

Then WHY?

She didn't know what Kawasaki saw in Frorer's antiques but Jane could have stopped it. All of it. Without his approval, they would not have three criminals now inside their house. Yet, there they were, soothing under their roof.

Tires skid sharply as she pulled the car in front of the headquarter. She hopped down, eyes blaring with anguish. All the heads turned as she walked into the lobby. Rayo could tell everyone could sense her chi but was she too occupied to care. If anything, they were lucky enough not to be exploding into thin air.

All the people cleared out of her path as she got into the lift. By the time she reached in front of Jane's office, her breathing was erratic.

She knocked on his door as he mouthed a "Come in". She walked in gritting her teeth. Lynx and Jane were standing by the table hunched over some scattered papers.

Jane shot his head up, his smile vanishing instantly. "Heard you guys adopted three pets? Awww," Lynx brimmed excitedly and lifted his head, only to frown.

"Can I speak with you alone?" Rayo spoke.

There was something in her voice that made Lynx gulp. "I'll come back later then," Lynx said as he collected his scattered papers.

Lynx left shortly, plummetting the room in electric silence.

"Congratulations Schwan. Heard you guys got apprentice. Nice," Jane gave out a dry chuckle.

" Why? Why would you? " Rayo muttered, cutting to the chase.

Jane rested his palms on the table with a sloppy grin. "Well, what's a house without an apprentice? In fact, you guys added another plum to your record. Corporals to get apprentice at the shortest time ever?" he added arching his brows.

" And why are the top listed criminals of Phoenix our apprentice mind if I ask? " Rayo said chewing each word.

" They are citizens first you know," Jane said pouring him some water, turning his back to her." In fact, there's a provision for adding foreigners as cadets if the higher-ups see them as worthy. And what better qualification can there be than breaking into the most protected facility in the world?" he said.

Rayo's nails dug into her palms as her rage escalated another scale. His nonchalance towards this matter was blowing the top of her head off.

Does he actually believe the bullshit he's spouting?"

Jane put his hand in the air, "I know I know it would be a bit of work getting them all prepped up for this hell hole. But hey! It's you guys, the fastest to climb up the ladders. You guys can get them all sped up in no time."

" And none of these could have been done keeping them here? Like other apprentices?"

" Hello?! We're talking about House 9 here. The House 9. Whose mentors went head to head with the Oracle to keep their apprentices away from this place. They went through so much. Hell! You guys went through so much. If anything, Jacob and Tori would be sad if their legacy didn't continue."

That was it. Rayo's leash snapped. Her eyes went red with anger.

"Oh! You remember? That's so funny Jane. I thought you'd forgotten all of those. All those nights the halls would fill up of with Liam's piercing shriek of pain because we were not provided with control gears for mastering our chi since oh! we lived so so far away. All those inhumane hours of toiling duties for Jacob and Tori because weren't they cutting down their working hours in commuting back and fro? All the severance of the post mission medical facilities because didn't we have all the money in the world? Liam still whimpers in his sleep as his arm kills him EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. BUT YOU DON'T CARE. YOU CALL YOURSELF JACOB'S FRIEND AND DON'T CARE. YOU KILLED THEM JANE. YOU KILLED TORI AND MAHLIA."

A surge of energy boomed throughout the room rattling everything with annihilating tenacity. Rayo's eyes were bloodshot now. She looked square at Jane's eyes.

Jane looked at her, catatonic.  

"I... didn't have a choice Ray. You..you should know better," Jane said, his face a tint of red and sorrow.

He gulped down the rest of the water and sat down motioning Rayo to do the same.

Rayo said nothing. She was still shaking with anger.

"There's something you gotta know, " Jane said slouching back and closing his eyes. He suddenly appeared so spent to Rayo. Like he just came out of a swirling storm.

" Please. Sit down"

Rayo did this time, all of a sudden feeling too exhausted.

"I'd been meaning to tell you and Liam for so long, waiting for the right moment you know?" His voice was shaky now. "But after that incident, so so much happened. Afterward, I was just waiting for the right time, sometimes when you guys would be a bit more mature to handle it perhaps? But look at you. All grown up. Corporals already? You are so much like Tori. No, you're totally like her," Jane said, finally opening his eyes and his ever known smile was plastered all over.

She just narrowed her eyes. She didn't get where he's going with it.

"Okay, now tell me what you know from that day," Jane said tilting forward, bringing a holographic image of a terrain into life. A terrain Rayo knew too well.

"That day, it was raining heavily over Strataland and wind was changing its direction rapidly. Tori was the first pilot and Mahlia was the copilot behind, coordinating the latitudes,"Rayo stopped.

"Keep going." Jane was pressing some data in to pinpoint a location. Rayo couldn't tell which.

"After completing their mission on that terrain, they took off smoothly but the jet fighter started losing its height just after a minute into their take off. They were heading for the ground really fast and the control panel got jammed. Mahlia quickly got off the jet with her package in her chute as Tori tried with hers. She failed to get off in time resulting in her crash. Both of them died horrible deaths," her voice was a bare whisper now.

Jane looked up. He zoomed the area that he'd been searching for and looked at her. It was a blood red dot, bleeping.

"Look at this area. Tell me where is it?"

"At the border of Harlin forest."

Rayo arched her brow. She didn't get why he was showing it to her. It was at least 1000 yards away from any of the sites of the incident.

Jane gave out a long sigh slumping back. He stared at Rayo as if trying to decide over something. Finally giving in, he said, "Listen, now I'll tell you the unfiltered version of the incident and... you have to keep in mind it all happened in the span of few minutes. "

Rayo said nothing. Her frown just got deeper.

"That day, after they were done securing the package and were about to take off, Mahlia detected a growing heat signature over the Pacific. Hence, she contacted the base to ask for permission to call a hiatus which the base turned down of course. Their packages were too important to them than some Corporals."

Jane sighed again.

"So she contacted me. She wanted to contact the Kremlin base to override the order via General Kawasaki because the storm started getting worse by the second. But it all happened so fast. So damn fast," Jane said rubbing his chin,"I left my station to fax the official request, Tori and Mahlia took off due to continuous nudging from the HQ. And...pretty soon it all started spiraling down. Mahlia ejected, Tori sent mayday after mayday and just at the span of a minute they both crushed at different places."

For a while, none of them could say anything.

"I know she was like a mother to you Ray. And her death turned your world upside down. And had I been in the command room, maybe, just maybe I could've sent help before and no matter what I say, I can never fill up the gap her absence created. But," Jane exhaled, "don't think it would have helped anyone even if help was sent," Jane said zooming the bleeping dot in front of him.

"Let's hear a tale. A plane takes off in a storm, locks its final destination in autopilot, and crushes eventually due to the storm. But is discovered at a completely different location after the crash at the blink of an eye, rings a bell?"

Rayo's eyes widened as the realization hit her. It was just like the case at hand. Being found where you shouldn't be!!! But she did not know of this. It wasn't made public.

She kept staring at the dot feeling like a complete jerk now. Though she didn't know any of this, she should have known better than that. Like they lost Tori, House 8 lost Mahlia too. The loss got so heavy for Jacob that he committed suicide three months into the incident. She couldn't fathom what Jane must have gone through. He was alone all those while too with the guilt on him. It felt like she smashed a button she should have never touched.

Rayo looked at Jane, her features soft. "Jane," she exhaled,"I didn't know any of this. I am sorry. Really am."

Jane have her an empathetic smile but sprang to life the next moment,"

"But here's the catch. Though Tori's package was unrecoverable of course. But Mahlia's one was never found either. And the investigation of the incident never took place. Ever. Jacob and I put multiple endeavors into opening one but it was shut down by Kawasaki every single time. Yes, I advocated making you and Liam Corporals and yes, I signed up their apprenticeship for House 9."

Jane paused," those three are the only links to the case that Phoenix shut off five years back, the only case that Phoenix never handled. And they aren't safe here. At all. The Oracle would get rid of them the moment they see a connection between the two. And that house is the only property in the whole Phoenix territory that's personally owned by any Nix, where they can't insert their fangs. You have to protect them if you want to know the truth and for that, you guys need full autonomy. This isn't the job for some Lieutenants."

Rayo bit her inner lip, brows furrowed. Shutting down a case is one thing. Not investigating an incident this mammoth is entirely outrageous.

"Do you still think I was wrong?"

Rayo nodded finally managing a grin. All this time, she felt like they were cheated with like someone stabbed her on her back. She felt good knowing she was wrong. Suddenly a wave of exhaustion washed over her. She remembered she hadn't eaten anything the whole day and used up all the energy she'd for all the wrong reasons.

What a day!

Rayo said her goodbye and was about to leave when Jane called from the back, grinning, " Your kids got their maiden class tomorrow first thing in the morning."

Rayo smiled and nodded.

Welcome to the hellhole kids