In 9th floor of the Ellison Metal Works Headquarters, a woman has just stormed out of the room. With angry scowl written all over her face, she walked out of the building with her bag and clipboard with her. She went and grabbed her phone whilst waiting for a taxi cab to come pick her up. Dialing the number of her boss, she rang the phone till someone picked it up. It really didn't matter now.

Soon, the phone did pick up, and thankfully it was who she was expecting.

"Ugh… How did it go, Meredith? Good? Bad? Little bit of both?" The tired voice of the chief rang on my ears. I really feel bad for her. She must be so tired from all the problems she puts up with. My pity for her aside, I had to tell her of what happened.

"Absolutely. Terrible. They didn't even consider our deal! They just stared at the documents and handed it back to me! Worst of all, apparently they are moving out of the island!" I vented as a taxi cab soon came close to my lane. I raised my arm and called it's attention, hoping to get out of this place as soon as possible.

"What do you mean? Did they just, throw you out or something?" The tired AND confused chief questioned the events that took place. I can't blame her. If I'm hearing this, I probably would be really confused too. I opened the door of the taxi cab and headed inside. I opened up the news app on my phone to see if there was something that could have influenced what occurred earlier.

After finding no real headline, my pent up frustration grew and the only thing on my mind was to scream, "YES!!! THEY THREW ME OUT OF THE GODDAMN BUILDING!!!" So I did. I screamed at the phone. I know I'm not in the place to be screaming at my boss, but I'm just feeling so frustrated right now.

"… That's a bit harsh. Did they have any reason to do so?" My voice sounded very disappointed about the entire situation. To be honest, who wouldn't?

"Well, apparently not for them! This is the 27th european country we tried to make deals with! I swear, I'm gonna move to Bath Iron Works if this keeps up. Sorry for bursting on you." I apologized, like any normal human being should. I took out my clipboard and wondered what went wrong. I scanned and skimmed and nothing was out of place. I tried. I really did.

Why won't they accept the deal? At the most basic, it's simple: We provide the resources, they provide the docks. So why can't they just agree to it!?

Slovenia. Bosnia. Libya. The Israeli States. Greece. Turkey. Montenegro. Albania. The African States.

The only saving grace here is that France, Italy, Egypt and Spain all agreed. Everywhere else just flat out rejected the offer. Why?

"Don't be. I can understand the stress you're feeling right now. Alright, how about this, after you come back, we can go for a milk tea. My treat." The chief's voice reassured me and calmed me down just a little. Maybe their just busy, or they have plans they don't want to disclose. Plus, the milk tea is promising at least. I smiled a bit and wiped my eyes. Thank God for my iron will. I was so close to breaking down in that office.

"Thank you, mam. I'll talk to you later. Bye." I hanged up on her and looked at my phone screen. Just as I was about to put it away, the cab driver, whom I absolutely forgot about spoke up.

"Tough week, missus?" The old, 50 something years old man let out a tiny grin while looking at me from the rear view mirror. Obviously, I feel extremely ashamed at the fact that I just shouted inside of an old man's cab.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry sir! I was just so-" Before I could possibly finish my apology, the driver hushed me.

"Don't worry missus. I've been driving for a long time. Ain't my first rodeo. At least you didn't bring out a handgun in my car." The old man laughed mirthfully, skillfully sticking to the road whilst making conversation with me, a trainwreck of a 27 year old. I still feel ashamed and the urge to speak up and apologise again was very strong inside of my mind. But, as if reading my thoughts, the old man spoke up again.

"Nope. Don't apologise missus. I can understand your predicament. I was businessman once. My beautiful baby girl inherited the company. It's in good hands, that I know much. Listen up, Missus, no matter how much baseballs life throws at you, you gotta learn to bat and hit a home run at least once." The old man chuckles while talking, and before I know it, my anger and stress over the previous event had all but disappeared. I felt a smile overcome my face and I felt a little less sad.

"Thanks for understanding, sir. I'm still sorry for making a noise inside your car." I fully apologised and I felt more comfortable.

"My car? Oh no, missus, this ain't my car." The old man said incredulously. What?

"What." I uttered.

"Missus, this car is my daddy's! All the way from its creation, it's been a inheritance for a long time. Tried to give it to my girl, but she would have any of it. Says things like 'I'm not worthy pops.' which is totally horse crap. Anyone who can take whatever hand life deals them is deserving of this car." The old man explained in detail. If this car was his father's, then… Wow! This car is made during the Grand War! That's old!

"Wow! How are you maintaining it for quite some time, sir!?" I asked, surprised at the revelation myself. Such an old vehicle would break down before it even hits the double digits! How'd the old man keep it so nice after all these years?

"Missus, this car is an ideal. As long as this car is running, so is the blood of the Harolds is alive, kiddo! This ain't no ordinary car, this is a top of the line Buick Riviera!" The old man happily exclaimed, as we passed by the final stop before Meruem, I asked the old man one more question.

"What's your name, sir? Just a question." I respectfully asked, readying my bags and arranging my papers. I learnt a lot from the old man, so the least I can do I ask his name.

"The name's Geralt Frederikson Harold." The old man replied. Geralt, huh? Well, I'm certainly gonna remember that for a while. As I exited the car, I noticed that the car was indeed a Riviera. They must be rich back then. Also, to use a luxury car as a taxi cab? Incredible. As I took my bags, the old man took one last look at me, lowering the windows as he stared me in the eye.

"Jr."

Then he raised his window and drove off.

What an interesting man. I hope I get to meet him and his family someday. They seem nice and influential. Plus, the man seemed really nice.

As I turned around, I heard my phone ring again.

"Ugh, it's probably chief again." I thought to myself as I picked it up. To my surprise, it wasn't the chief. It was my brother.

"What in the world?" I asked myself as I accepted the call. "Hello? What do you need, Lee?" I spoke up, hoping that this isn't a prank call like the last was.

…

"Huh?"

Back at the Dauntless, in the very depths of the old tow ship, a young man is trying desperately to contact his sister as a low ringing resounded through the whole engine room. It was starting to hurt his ears, and his eyes too. He can't really do anything about it since the ringing seemed to be coming from a console. He had no idea how to operate the machine, as well as the instruction his sister told him earlier.

"Come on, pick up, will you?" I slowly began to feel aggravated by the situation. I can't just destroy the console. It might be an emergency switch, which would prove catastrophic if it was put out of commission. So I did the only thing I could do.

Wait.

It was frustrating when the person who's supposed to give you instructions is not responding to your call, then there's the problem with the damn console, which seemed to be getting more and more painful every passing minute. Worse, the intervals between the rings were also getting shorter with each ring, so I had to solve this quick, or else I might turn up like that guy in Aliens.

It has been quite a few minutes now, and the ringing is physically hurting me. The low frequency must be affecting my thoughts. I have to solve it, and fast.

If my sister's not answering, then I'll just do it myself.

I picked up the phone and called my sister one more time, before placing on a table next to the console. I inspected it to the best of my abilities. From my observation, the console appears to be a siren of some sort. I affixed my hand to side of the case to support myself. I looked at the different buttons and tried to find a way to somehow turn this thing off.

As I examined the box, I noticed that it was bulging from the center. When I felt it, my hands shook. I also felt the sound travel up my arms. That bulge is probably the speaker. Which means that the off button, or at least the volume changer is somewhere to the side.

As I tried to feel for anything in particular that might stand out, I failed to notice that someone has answered to phone. In my desperate situation to stop the ringing, which has devolved to nothing but a continuous background noise, only worse, I punched the speaker. In doing so, I shocked my hand and I fell to the ground because of the pain.

I tried to support myself using my other hand and stood up, now finally hearing my phone faintly chiming it's alarm. I picked it up and placed it close to my ear.

"Hello?"

Back at the entrance to Meruem, a young woman was racing across the harbour to the edge of the port. The woman haphazardly dashed through the crowd, who are in a state of confusion looking the woman almost run through a massive, bulky marine.

"What the hell just happened!? What was that!?" I screamed at the phone whilst sprinting towards the Dauntless. Whatever that sound was, that wasn't natural. I looked through my bag and shoved the clipboard inside of it. I took a turn towards the development offices and slammed the doors open.

"I don't know!" His breath was labored. Something was definitely wrong. "All I know is that I heard a low ringing in the very back of the engine room. I tried to stop it, but it had no buttons, so I punched it! I looked like a siren of some sorts, or a telephone, hell, I don't even know anymore!" He seems to be clutching a lever, judging from the creaks being made by the metal. I had to get there, and I have to confirm that there is something in the engine room.

I ran through the drawers and look through all the ships labeled with D.

Defiant, Daring, Demise, Denarius, Delaware, Deen,

There! I found it!

KM Dauntless 001.

I looked at the foot notes, I stared hard at the blueprint, I double checked the equipment list, the new and old machinery, everything. But all of them didn't feature a siren. The Dauntless is a Tow Ship. I didn't have a speaker, I didn't have Telephone.

There were no Sirens in the engine room.

I bolted out of the room, clutching my bag and my phone with me, as I raced towards the edge of the harbor, where the Dauntless resides. I quickly removed my gloves and climbed up the rope, despite the marines below me to get down from the ship. I ran towards the equipment drawer and acquired myself a handgun and a flashlight. Hastily, I kicked the doors open and ran through the corridors.

It was only at the final flight of stairs that led down to the boiler room did I meet my brother.

"Charlotte..?"

I ran down the stairs and quickly heaved his arm around my back, and placed my other arm around his waist. I hurriedly, but carefully led him up the stairs. It was only then did I notice the blood trickling down his ear, on to my vest.

I led through the corridors as he slowly began to lose strength. No biggie, my training in the army wasn't for nothing. I can carry much more than what my looks say. I heaved Lee over my back and carried him all the way to through the corridors. I'm quite proud of my brother. Despite the ambient lighting, the entire place seemed cleaner than expected. But enough of that.

We were nearing the entrance to the ship, or at least I hope it was. The moment I kicked the door open, a bright light overcame my sight.

And when it dimmed down, I noticed that the floor wasn't made of wood, but of steel. I flinched as I heard a loud noise to the left of me. A deafening noise overcame my side, and I was almost thrown across the room.

It was hot. It was burning.

I opened my eyes and I saw it.

Death.

I tried to get up but I felt a piece of metal stopping my arm from moving. It's painful.

I cried, not knowing what was going on. I just wanted to see to it that my brother is safe. But I can't move. I want to move.

I felt arms wrap around me.

Then I felt no more.