“Welcome, Lil Lord Miles!”

“Welcome, Miss Quinn!”

Kenway greeted the two when they arrived at the entrance of the mansion. He was as sharp as ever and there was a slight smile on his face. As the main bodyguard of the house, he knew people related to family so he wouldn’t stop them at the entrance. When he saw Quinn, he knew she was here for Merlin, thus the smile.

Quinn’s face flushed red once again and looked down. She was too embarrassed to look at Kenway or Miles. Not long ago, Miles teased her to no end, and now even Kenway was teasing her. But she missed Merlin, what was wrong with her coming to see him as a friend.

‘Yes, as a normal friend!’ Quinn thought to herself. But Miles chuckles beside her, making her embarrassed once again.

“Let’s go!” She quipped and walked without waiting for Miles.

“Nice to see you, Uncle.” Miles smiled and followed Quinn. They arrived at the mansion in no time, and Merlin was waiting for them at the entrance. On the porch, he was sitting like a noble prince with a hardcopy book in his hand. Miles looked at the title, ‘The Little Prince’, and giggled inside. That sure suits him.

He raised his head to look at newcomers and a smile appeared in his eyes when he saw Quinn and Miles. His long black hair tied, falling at his shoulder gracefully. His dark blue eyes were like a full moon night. He was taller than Miles standing at 1.90, but he was less muscular than buffed up Miles.

“M’lady!” Merlin smiled as he held Quinn's hand and placed a smooch on her tender hand. Then looked at Miles, ignoring tomato red Quinn. “At last, the wayward brother has returned!”

“So has the space wanderer, how was the endless?” Miles asked as he answered Merlin's hug. He didn’t have a problem with hugs, and he didn’t want to reject Merlin anyway.

“All good, all good. Had some adventures in outer space, but you probably just returned from the portal world and have no idea, do you?” Merlin asked.

“Don’t know indeed. I will catch up later, let's go inside.” Miles said.

“Sure,” Merlin answered and stretched his arm to let Quinn enter first. “How are you doing, Coin? Still shy?” Merlin asked, turning to look at the golden wristwatch on Miles's arm.

“Hello, Merlin. I just read what had happened. Glad to see you in one piece.” Coin answered.

“Haha. Coin has more humor than you, Miles.” Merlin laughed heartily and turned to look at Quinn.

The whole family was in the house and waiting for Miles and Quinn in the parlor. There were delicacies on the table, and the first and second generation of the house were sipping their tea while talking about recent news.

“Alien race seems strong and brutal. The way they chase the monster indicates their hatred for monsters but we are still not sure if it was a monster from Portal World or somewhere else. If it is not a monster from the Portal World, then it only means the alien race is hostile to any other race, which includes us. I think it is too early to try to communicate with them.” Evelyn gave her opinion. As the smartest person in the house and someone, even Mother AI listens, her opinions were of course valuable.

“Hmm, we already decided to wait and see. But their technology is more advanced and we might have left some trails in our endeavor. So, it is highly possible for them to track us instead.” Mercer said.

“We cannot rule that option out, of course. There was some news we haven’t shared with the public yet, but everyone here is family. Aliens had superpowers. No other person could feel it, but you know what our family is best at. I felt their powers and it was the same with ours.” Merlin said.

“You mean, they were born with it or they also found a way to awaken?” Miles asked. Coin filled him in while he was walking. Although he didn’t know everything, he learned ins and outs of what had happened lately.

“We are not sure if it was Earth that lacked the energy or was it the universe, but without energy awakening superpowers are impossible. So the question is, did they find out how to make the serums on their own, or did they awaken superpowers after they were exposed to energy. After all, if that race’s bodies are stronger without practicing energy, it is possible for them to practice energy without reaching Form-Rank.” Merlin listed the most plausible explanations.

“Or—” Miles started but then stopped. He thought something horrible, but if it was true, then something major would happen.

“Or what?” Malcolm looked at Miles. The youngest Cross’s eyes moved ever so slightly to point wristwatches on everyone's wrists. Everyone’s faces changed, but they didn’t say anything. No one in the room was stupid, even Marcela despite her drama queen and attention whore character was smart. They all looked at each other and left the room at the same time.

Miles returned to his room and spoke with Coin. “Buddy, I will charge you for now. We don’t know when we will ever need you, alright.” Miles didn’t have any doubts when it came to the Coin, but since it was him pointing at their wristwatches and making them remove them, if he were to wear Coin still, it would make others uncomfortable. After all, for every person, their wristwatches were their life companions. But Miles still had doubts. He couldn’t help but suspect they were being watched.

After half an hour, everyone gathered in the same room. All of them looked the same minus wristwatches on their arms. Each one of them removed them with some pretext.

“Or what?” Mercer looked at Miles with sharp eyes.

“Or, the alien race has something similar to Mother AI, helping them develop their technologies and serums to make them stronger,” Miles answered. Everyone looked at him with a dumbfounded face. Not because the idea was stupid, on the contrary, the idea was highly plausible.

“You don’t have to wreck your brains about it. What he said is true.” A voice was heard from the entrance and Adam entered the room with his wristwatch shining with different colors. A shining globe formed virtually in the room and looked at Miles with its virtual eyes. “Keen ideas, young one.” A woman's voice was heard in the room.

Miles didn’t know what to feel, after all an AI had no emotion. But Miles felt slightly threatened when two bright dots scrutinized him.

“I wasn’t the only AI that escaped from the world that got destroyed by the monsters.” Mother AI, Mama Hill dropped the bomb.