"Tsk. The information she had could've been useful for us." Brigadier General said, "It's a pity, but dead men tell no tales..."

"Actually, they do talk sometimes," Arnold smirked at the brigadier's remarks.

"What crap are you spewing out?" The brigadier questioned Arnold, "I think you require some medical assistance first and foremost, maybe you've hit your head or something during the fight."

"You'll see what I'm talking about, soon enough," Arnold said as he opened the door to the interrogation room, "but I think you won't like what's going to happen next..."

It seemed like the last comment Arnold had made got through the Brigadier's mind, as he was barking orders at the privates like a madman.

"Levinsky that man is trying to tamper with the evidence! shoot him! Arrest him before he gets away with it!" The brigadier screamed.

One of the two privates immediately followed the order of his superior and aimed his gun at Arnold. It was one of the guns that Arnold had made himself, moreover, he knew exactly who the private was.

"I knew you were a bit suspicious from the moment I saw you outside the workshop. So let me guess, you're the brigadier general's pet, and you informed him about the weapons I was making. Similarly, the brigadier general informed about it to his partner in crime, the priestess, who then sent her men to 'infiltrate' the base and get their hands on the weapons. I bet one of you gave the free pass to the frauds himself. Sounds familiar doesn't it?" Arnold narrated the entire story while having an I know it all look on his face.

The others who were present inside the room were strangely looking at their superior, the brigadier tried to remain calm after hearing the allegations.

"I don't know what you're talking about." the Brigadier General replied, "As far as I'm concerned, you're a threat to this facility and its people. Thus I'm ordering you to stand down and surrender yourself before something terrible happens."

The private from earlier gulped down his saliva while the brigadier was busy arguing with Arnold.

"Ordering me? Do you think it'll be a good decision to do that? I thought we could be cordial about it all but you didn't leave me any choice." Arnold shrugged his shoulders and called out a few of his summons, "and if you're not wrong then why are you so hell-bent on stopping me from revealing the truth?"

Asterios, Duke, Talos, Cerberus, and a couple of more summons surrounded Arnold, "Bet you didn't saw this happening, did you? Now stay quiet and let me do my thing or... what did you say? Oh, right. Something terrible would happen. Talos, do your thing."

***

SOMETIME LATER...

IN WEST AMERICAN REGION, HEADQUARTERS OF GUARDIAN SYNDICATE¹...

"I actually wanted to meet that idiot for once..." Nina sighed and unlocked her phone. She had a picture of a group of people as her lock screen.

She was intently looking at one particular person, it was the same person who had saved her and her team from a sneak attack from a group of mercenaries, about 7 years ago. It always pained her heart when she remembered the scene where she thought it was all over until he arrived. Even though she couldn't remember his face, she knew exactly who her saviour was. Remembering that person always calmed her heart, it was odd, because she never felt like this towards anyone else... it was as if she knew, that person would always save her no matter what.

Her only regret was not being able to tell him how much she was grateful to him and wanted to thank him but sadly she couldn't, as she was still in the hospital when that person left Florida and went to train in Brazil. She thought, she'd thank him once he returned from his training but then... the person went missing inside a dungeon trip. When there were no signs of him even after an entire year, he was declared dead. Her heart was torn apart, how come sometimes like him be dead? She just couldn't accept it.

But then, the dungeon break happened and apart from a few people, everyone forgot about him, as they got busy with taking care of the monsters while failing miserably at doing so. The entire country changed after that. The government, the society, the world everything changed. Still, she never forgot about him.

And then like a miracle, the person suddenly came back like a mystery. She wanted to meet that man, but as luck would have it, she had to go and clear a dungeon instead. When she returned from the dungeon, she asked the ever-busy Nathan, if the person was actually him?

"It's Arnold alright, but I couldn't bring him with me as the syndicate might've tried to blame us for partial treatment. Although he's a guy who deserves it, still he was understanding and wants to work his way to West America." Nathan had replied.

She was ECSTATIC, to hear that her saviour was alive, but then she was understandably upset she won't be able to see him for a while, and that's why she had a bottle of wine in one hand while she was looking at the picture she clicked during their night at Malibu Club around 7 years ago.

"Wow, you're still looking at my brother's photograph?" Nicole said as she helped herself with a little wine and next to Nina.

"What can I say, your brother has a special effect on me." Nina smiled wanly and placed the phone back inside her pocket, "So how was your A rank dungeon trip?"

"Meh, it was bland. I'd rather be in the eastern region and kill the monsters than stay here and take care of useless monsters...' Nicole waved her hand around as she sipped the wine.

"I'm sure you'd like that!" Nina chuckled.

They were inside Nathan's office, waiting for him to report about their individual responsibilities as they used to do it every evening. That's why they were so casually drinking and talking about random things until Nathan arrived.

"Maybe we should-" Nicole was about to say something when the landline phone present in the office ringing and Nina unhesitatingly picked it up.

"You've reached Nathan black's office, how can I help you?"

"Hey, Nathan... wait who's this again? Amanda, I think the number is wrong." A man's voice came through the other side, "Um... whoever you are, could you hand the phone over to Nathan. I have something important to discuss with him."

Nina immediately knew whose voice it, and rather than doing what was requested by the man instead she screamed, "Arnold!?"

***

1. Guardians syndicate: It is the name of the new ruling body of America. I wanted to come up with something cool, but couldn't think of anything so... if you have any idea or thoughts about a name then, please comment them 😓