10:32

The group is coming out from one of the bars, talking between each other happily. All seems a bit more relaxed, even CHE5TER, who is still a bit sleepy. They walk for a while like this, but then the Great Leader feels something off with His right arm. He looks a bit at some kind of device attached to His hand which has a screen on it. On the screen, it seems to be a message from one of the Leaders of the bases on some kind of group chat, which reads: "Sorry for the disturbance at this hour everyone, but I need to announce you that we cannot be present at the meeting from 21:00. If it is possible, could we make it now, at 11:00? I will have a different meeting with someone from the city and I cannot come at that time. I'm waiting for the responses of the Master M4TTH3W and each Leader in particular. Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience once again!". The message is followed in real time by other messages that are affirmative, leaving only the Southeast Leader and the Great Leader to response.

CHE5TER gets a bit woke up from this message in particular, as it is a bit out of nowhere. The adrenaline raises as it is late to go back at the base, so He goes towards KYR4 in a hurry.

[CHE5TER]-Officer KYR4! We have to go, now!

[KYR4]-What? Why?

[CHE5TER]-Look at Council's messages!

She rolls up her sleeve from her hand and looks at the device similar to CHE5TER's, reading the message.

[KYR4]-At this hour?? Who the fuck is even awake at this hour??

[MY4]-I wonder who...

[KYR4]-Oh, shut it!

[MY4]-*giggles* I was just saying!

[KYR4]-*sigh* So what? Tell them that is too early, Master. What's the big deal?

[CHE5TER]-Everyone has to be present, KYR4! This meeting is too important to have people missing, especially Mrs. M4EK0! I'm not waiting any more days to talk about this subject!

[KYR4]-A Council meeting was the last thing I wanted now...

The boys that were in front of them get confused a bit when they see KYR4 and CHE5TER in a hurry.

[N04H]-What's happening?

[CHE5TER]-Officer KYR4 and I have to leave earlier. You guys can continue everything you prepared.

[LUK3]-WHAT!? NO!! YOU CAN'T TAKE HER NOW!!

[CHE5TER]-LUCAS, not now! I don't have time to argue with you on this subject, alright? She will come back after we are done, that if she wishes to.

[LUK3]-Hmph!

MY4 looks at CHE5TER a bit while He is in a hurry, and when He notices, He can't do anything anymore.

[MY4]-...At least take these which remained. Maybe they will help you to stay awake.

CHE5TER gives her a nod as a goodbye and takes the last two Energy Killers with Him before He leaves as fast as He can with KYR4 by His side. But not long after, He takes one of them and starts drinking while running, then He detaches an airpod that was connected to the device on His hand and starts calling His brother, RY4N.

[CHE5TER]-RY4N, we will meet outside the base! Be sure you are ready! We need to be present at the meeting, now!

The Council of the Underground City

11:25

[R4YMOND]-It is simply impossible, Master M4TTH3W! There are over 53 entrances to the City of Above! We cannot make sure every single one of them are perfectly guarded every second! We do not have that many people to protect them from any angle possible!

["M4TTH3W"]-Do you have a better idea, Mr. R4YMOND?

[R4YMOND]-...

["M4TTH3W"]-Our city is threatened by a great danger which we cannot overcome with this attitude. If we fail in protecting it, all the citizens of the Underground City are screwed, including us. I need you and Mrs. M4EK0 up there, in the City of Above, so that we can protect it as much as we can.

[M4EK0]-We will send as many people possible to investigate the situation, but as Mr. R4YMOND said, we are a smaller group than them. It's two million people versus three billion. They are winning in numbers.

["M4TTH3W"]-Which means that we need to win in wisdom. They can be ten billion if they want, but if we are playing smart, we can put this threat at rest. We will need more equipment and more supplies of ores, which means that we will rely on the Central Base and the EZR4H Clan, not to mention the Verha that are required to produce everything. Understood, Mr. XANTH3?

[XANTH3]-Yes, Master M4TTH3W!

["M4TTH3W"]-Mr. M1SH4M, I will need your base to join the East Base in the protection of the entrances as well, which would mean that you and Mr. R4YMOND will work together from now on. I do not think any rescue missions will be needed anymore for a while. The Northwest Base shall continue to punish anyone that tries to make any contact with the M soldiers without my knowledge, regardless of the intentions they say they have. As for the Southeast Base which is led by my son, they will continue to provide us with information from every official document written by the M soldiers. We must be vigilant! One small mistake will cost our entire existence! Understood?

[ALL]-Understood!

["M4TTH3W"]-Good. 'Cause I know how you all do not get along that well from past incidents. Now we have to forget any kind of conflict between us and work together. I do not care who did what and everything else, the city's protection is our top priority now!

Everyone is looking at the Great Leader as if they were scolded, with such sorrowful faces that could make you feel guilty just being around. Then they look a bit at each other as they know they won't really get along no matter the situation, but they are obligated this time to do so. It isn't something they want, but it is something they need in order to survive.

["M4TTH3W"]-If you wish, I can give you some minutes to talk to each other so you can solve everything between you, or at least try and do so.

Though they do not want to do so, they know they have to. So, slowly, they start talking to each other, most of them talking with the ones they have to co-operate the most. The Great Leader is simply looking though, more tired than He ever was, even His brother notices that.

CHE5TER is starting to see everything unclear, as His eyes are starting to close on their own. And so, He falls asleep on His chair, with His head looking a bit down. It isn't that clear for anybody from the room that He is actually sleeping, as people are still talking and He is simply sitting normally, only His head being a bit lower. The only ones that actually notice this problem are the two people that stay right next to Him. In the end, they start whispering as well.

[RY4N]-...CHE5TER? CHE5TER, wake up!

[KYR4]-Don't tell me He is sleeping now...

[RY4N]-Dammit... We have to end the meeting soon, KYR4.

[KYR4]-And how do you think we can do that? Only He has the permission to do so, remember? We have no authority in this room regarding what would happen to the meeting. I don't even have the authority to speak in general, for the gods' sake...

[RY4N]-CHE5TER, wake up! We are still in the meeting! CHE5TER!

RY4N shakes Him a bit, not too obvious so nobody will see him, but enough to wake the Great Leader up. CHE5TER finally opens His eyes, quickly, and looks at His brother, who was still moving Him slowly to wake Him up. He clears up His mind and wipe a bit His eyes.

["M4TTH3W"]-...Did I fell asleep again?

[KYR4]-Yeah, pretty much.

[RY4N]-...What's happening to you, Brother?

["M4TTH3W"]-I'm just tired... *sigh* I guess I can't let the meeting continue like this if I can't even keep myself awake...

So, He raises His hand in order for the people to understand that He wants to speak and looks at everyone in the room.

["M4TTH3W"]-...Though I think you already started to make everything clear between you all, I would wish to end the meeting now. You can continue everything outside the building as well, you do not need my supervise on this. The meeting itself has reached its purpose, so there is no reason for it to continue. Dismissed!

Everyone nods as a sign of approval and starts leaving the room. RY4N and KYR4 are looking at the people who are leaving, so they can make sure nobody is left in the room.

[KYR4]-Alright... I think he was the last one.

[RY4N]-Okay, we can go at the base now so you can sleep there, CHE5... CHE5TER?

Yet as both look back at Him, His head was already on the table, sleeping before anybody noticed it. He didn't even disable His disguise, He simply gave up on everything, remaining as this "M4TTH3W" He pretends to be.

[KYR4]-...Should we carry Him ourselves?

[RY4N]-*sigh* No. Let him sleep. It's the first time in my life I see him this tired... At least now he is resting without anybody obligating him.

[KYR4]-He said He didn't have time for anything these days when He came with us some hours ago actually. He was patrolling around the City of Above, so that's why we barely saw Him at the base.

[RY4N]-Really? I couldn't imagine him telling me everything about what he was doing. Guess he wasn't even aware of what he was saying from his tiredness...

[KYR4]-Hm... Maybe... But this guy is a whole mystery to begin with anyway, so who knows. Also, He did say that He will stay more in the City of Above since He has to investigate the problem further, so probably this won't be the last time we will see Him like this.

[RY4N]-What did MY4 say about this?

[KYR4]-What do you want her to say? Of course she isn't happy about this whole idea, as well as you probably aren't either. But no matter what we do, you know He will always do what He wants. We have no authority to tell Him anything as He is the Great Leader, we only need to obey to His words. And if He doesn't listen to His own brother, I don't know what makes you think that He will listen to her.

[RY4N]-I don't know either. I just... feel like he is more open to her than he is to me, that's all.