While on their way back to the Agency, Jax and Decha saw the News Reports being broadcasted and replayed on displays of shops and buildings all over Downtown. Decha was furious. He was working his butt off on the case only for the Patrols to catch the said culprit.

Not only that, the culprit they identified was Rory's father. The man he'd been hunting down for 2 weeks. When they entered the Agency's building, Jax noticed the change in Decha's pace.

He was faster and less calculated. Jax could tell Decha was running in vexation. He bumped into many Agents while pushing his way through the main floor. Decha didn't even look back to apologize to anyone.

Decha nearly punched the up arrow button of the elevator, almost breaking it in the process. When the doors opened, he gave a single look, and all the Agents inside pooled out faster than the current of the ocean.

Everyone else could tell that the dark-eyed warrior was livid. They didn't want to be in his way. Jax entered with him in silence. The elevator went up.

The ding for each floor felt like a timer. Jax numbered the times Decha's shoulders and arms would tense the closer they reached the top floor.

The doors opened again, and Decha stomped out. One of the office workers jumped out of the way as Decha brushed by. "N96," Jax began as they passed a "do not disturb" sign on the way to one of the meeting rooms.

But Decha refused to listen.

"Decha!" Jax called out again. "You've gotta chill out. Director Chen is in a meeting. You should wait first—" He stepped in front of Decha and nudged him back by the chest.

"Out of my way," Decha commanded viciously.

"Decha, you should really calm down before speaking with him. You're not in your right mind right now. Whatever you say now will probably make things worse." Jax advised him.

"Don't interfere." Decha placed his hand on Jax's shoulder and pushed him aside. He barged through the meeting room door, and sure enough, his father was on a video call with the Council Members.

"Dech— N96!" Theodore gasped, appalled by the interruption. "Didn't you read? It says not to enter."

"There's something you and I have to discuss." Decha fumed.

"It can wait. Can't you see I'm in a meeting?"

Decha stormed right over to the table and grabbed a remote that controlled the display. Without saying a word, he cut the call. Theodore jumped out of his seat furiously. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"Doing you a favor." Decha spat. "I don't know what the heck crawled up your arse lately, Chen. Encouraging the Council to focus on the construction of the building across the street, and now Clarke's arrest? Is there anything else you're doing behind my back and not telling me?"

"Why are you acting like this, N96? This isn't how I raised you."

"I'm pissed!" Decha slammed the remote onto the wooden table, smashing it into pieces. Normally, Decha kept his emotions in check. "I work my arse off every day to solve this case. Whenever I give you information regarding the suspects, you take it, distort it, and take action on foolish behavior! You knew I was hunting down Clarke, you should've let me take charge!"

"Decha—"

"And the fabricated reports about the Bracketers being to blame? Do you want another war to start? You'd rather have innocent people die than reason through—"

"Decha!" Theodore barked, cutting Decha off mid-sentence. "Clarke turned himself in. We didn't go after him."

"What?" Decha relaxed his shoulders a bit.

"This afternoon Clarke came to the Agency and turned himself over. My Agents arrested him and searched his things. But his arrest is still being processed. I'm not sure how the information got out to the News Stations. You know Astellian Reporters always find a way to get information for a good story."

"He... turned himself in? It doesn't make any sense." Why would Jamison Clarke turn himself in as the culprit when he stated many times before that he wasn't responsible for the bombings?

What about Rory? Didn't he think about her at all before coming to the Agency? Didn't he think of the problems Rory would face after the news got out?

"I was going to tell you after talking with the Council Members. We were discussing taking down the petition until you've done your work." Theodore grimaced. "But then you barged in, and now it'll take longer to reconnect because you broke the only remote that controls this room's display."

"I told him to calm down," Jax stated, but a nasty look from Theodore made him zip it.

"Have your Agents already interrogated him?"

"They tried... but..."

"But? But what?"

"He won't open up. He's not cooperating or answering any questions. He says he needs to speak with you. Apparently, he has a bucket list he wants you to see." Theodore shrugged.

"He only wants to speak with me?" Decha scoffed.

"It seems so."

Decha pondered for a moment. Just what was that man thinking? "The things in his bag, what did they find—" Decha's phone began to buzz, catching the three men off guard. Decha pulled his device out of his pocket. After reading his mother's name, he disconnected the line.

"Who was it?" Theodore asked.

"It doesn't matter. Tell me what your Agents found when they—"

His phone began to buzz again, and Theodore narrowed his eyes. Decha disconnected again. "I don't know why she keeps calling."

"It's your mother?" Theodore voiced, mildly concerned. Decha nodded, and his phone began to ring once more, and he was growing more annoyed by it.

Decha finally decided to answer. "Mom, I'm working right now. What do you want?"

"Decha," Rory's voice came out shaky on the other end. Upon hearing it, Decha paused and his shoulders stiffened. "Is there any chance you could meet with me?"

Decha looked at Theodore and Jax. "It's not easy for me to meet with you now. What's wrong?"

"There's just something I need to tell you,"

"You're not in any pain, are you?" The question confused Theodore and Jax. Jax knew then who Decha was speaking to.

"No,"

"You already ate, right?"

"It's not about my condition, Decha. I saw the news."

"Did you?" Decha leaned against the table and sighed. He forgot that the reports were broadcasted all over, including his home. Rory was worried about her father and probably wouldn't let him hear the end of it. Jax mouthed to Decha, asking if everything was okay, but Decha ignored him. "Rory, I—"

"It's urgent. So if it's possible, please meet with me. We have to talk."

"We can talk after my work is done." Decha was about to hang up, but her next sentence made him hesitate.

"My father is innocent." Rory squeaked.

"Rory, we can discuss it when I get there—"

"No, you won't. I know that you guys are keeping him there. Those Astellian officers are gonna interrogate him without being reasonable. It's happened before. Bracketers—"

"Rory, understand that I won't let the Agency handle this issue without a thorough investigation." He groaned. "Trust me."

"Mr. Chen views me as a threat. He's the head of the Agency, and you're telling me to put trust in him to take care of my father?"

"Fine, I'll meet with you." Decha gave in to her request. He knew that Rory wouldn't give up. But he couldn't blame her. She was very worried about her father. She must've been shocked to the core when she found out about his arrest. "It'll take me an hour to get to that side of town though."

"I'll wait," Rory responded in an icy tone. The line cut and Decha grumbled.

"I'll be back tomorrow. Tell your Agents to keep Clarke in one of the cells below. Don't let your guard down, don't take your eyes off of him."

"Wait, you're leaving?" Theodore spat, shocked by Decha's actions. "You're not even going to question him before you go?"

"Rory found out." Decha clenched his fists. "About Clarke's arrest."

"And? What does she have to do with this case? Besides that machine."

"Did you forget that Jamison Clarke is her father?"

Theodore froze. "Shite."

"Yeah, and now, Rory is defending him. Claiming he's innocent and all."

"We have to move her to another location before the press finds out his daughter is—"

"We're not moving Rory anywhere else. If the press finds out about his daughter, they'll have to go through me. And I'm not known for going easy on people." Decha concluded firmly.

"Decha, think about your family!"

"Rory isn't the enemy, Director Chen." Jax stepped in. "You've already made assumptions about Clarke before he was even questioned. We're not even sure that he's the main culprit behind all of this. Rory is his daughter, but we can't judge her for her father's crimes, that's if her father is responsible for the crime."

Theodore rolled his eyes. "Great, Even Strout's son is defending the Bracket woman." He mumbled under his breath. "I want you to be back early tomorrow morning, N96. You're going to question Clarke and make a conclusion."

Decha nodded, and left with the direct order at the top of his mind.

As expected, it took a little over an hour to get back home.

~~~

Rory was waiting for Decha to arrive, but in the meanwhile, she had gathered as much evidence as she could from her phone to prove her father's innocence. But deep down, she really didn't know if her father truly was the criminal everyone was making him out to be.

She was going based on how he treated her. The primary piece of evidence was the fact that her father wrote a manual for her. It wasn't exactly a manual per se but rehearsed house rules she had to follow before she started attending Grandell in person.

In that book were famous sayings from Astellians that her father respected. There were laws about Generals, and manners she should keep in mind whenever she was in Sector A. Rory took a picture of it to help her memorize the do's and don'ts.

In her mind, she wondered why would he kill Astellians with bombs if he had no ill intentions for them. If he hated Astell, he wouldn't have given her the chance to attend Grandell. He tried to take her out, only because he feared her life was in danger.

Rory paced around her bedroom, trying to make sense of it all. She didn't notice Decha walking in until she turned around and saw he was standing behind her. Rory flinched away but held her chest when she realized it was just him.

"Rory—"

"Wait, before you say anything." Rory shushed him and closed the door behind him. She locked it too, just to keep the other Generals out.

Then she went over to the windows and closed the shades. It wasn't completely dark, since the lamp by the desk was on.

Decha thought it was odd at first, but let her do whatever she thought was best. Rory grabbed her cell phone and began opening the images she saved before she got stuck in Sector A.

"I told you that my father is innocent, but I know you Generals only care for evidence. So here,"

"Rory," Decha didn't even glance at her phone. He wanted to reassure her.

"Look!" Rory shoved the screen in his face. "These are laws and regulations that he wrote down for me to understand whenever I traveled across the Border. I even told you before that he respected Generals."

"Rory, listen to me,"

"It's true I don't know what he was doing this whole time. Sometimes I wondered why he didn't come to look for me. But think about it. Why would he make it clear for me to respect Astellians if he hated everyone here? He wouldn't have let me go to Grandell. You saw how angry he was when he wanted me to withdraw! And where would he even get the material to make explosives? He's not an inventor. I am. My dad isn't smart enough to—"

"Rory!" Decha nudged her phone away, and his voice boomed across the room. Rory closed her mouth and her full attention was on him now. "The Agency is still processing the arrest. Even if you wanted to, you can't submit evidence until a court order has been submitted."

"Let me speak with him," Rory begged. "I know he's not the one behind this!"

"Do you really think he's 100% innocent, Rory?"

"Of course! He's my father."

"So you think he's innocent because he's your father? How do you think that'll look when the Council judges him?"

Tears formed in Rory's eyes. She didn't want to admit it, but Decha was right. "You're a General, can't you do something?"

"I'm still obligated to follow the law."

"But you're a high-rank official!"

"That doesn't mean anything. I can't do much while there is a massive petition spreading around."

"So you won't even let me speak with my father? Or see him?"

"If the press finds out that you're his daughter, you'll be placed under restriction. You won't be able to travel. You'll be heavily guarded by Patrols. You should keep low, under the radar."

Rory sat on her bed, concluding that there was no other way around it. A tear fell from her eyes, but she wiped them away. However, the moment her shoulders sank and she placed her hand against her forehead, more tears fell.

"To be honest, I don't know what to believe anymore." She sobbed softly. Her heart felt so conflicted. She wanted to defend the Bracketers, but she couldn't. Not all of them.

POYO was reconstructed to kill Astellians. Only a Bracketer would be capable of doing something like that. And who knows? Maybe her father was so angry with her disappearance that he went mad and decided to kill them.

"Bracketers are causing so much harm, and I can't understand why."

Decha walked over to her, disturbed by her words. "I never said that Bracketers were the ones causing the harm, Rory."

"It's obvious they can't be trusted. Even me. Seriously, how do you even believe for one second that I'm not the one who made POYO to be that way?"

"Because all your statements lined up. I know that someone took POYO away from you. There's footage of it that exists. Jamison's situation is different. We have to investigate more thoroughly before jumping to conclusions since there is no footage."

"Don't even bother." Rory shook her head. "My father probably did those horrible things. When he's angry, he can be a scary person. And even for POYO, I'm still its inventor. I should've locked its coding, and maybe it wouldn't have—"

"This isn't your fault." Decha snapped and crouched to her eye level. "Don't talk like that. Weren't you the one who wanted to prove Astellians and Bracketers wrong with that crazy mind of yours?" Decha poked her forehead. It wasn't a hard tap, but it wasn't soft either.

Now he was getting frustrated with her.

"I can't keep defending them!"

"So, what now? Are you gonna give up being an Engineer because a couple of Astellians think you can't be trusted? Do you want me to just have your father executed without conducting a proper investigation?"

"If that's what has to happen—"

"Are you stupid?" Decha scolded her.

"Why are you yelling at me?" Rory whined.

"Because you're acting like a coward! You're giving up this easily without even considering trusting that I'll handle this investigation the best I can. Are you gonna give up having the surgery too?"

"Get out of my face." Rory narrowed her eyes at him. "You have no right to yell at me like this, you're not my father—"

"I don't think you're in the position to tell a General how to speak to you"

"You are so... so..." Rory seethed.

"So... what?" Decha clenched his jaw.

"You're right. I'm a coward. Because whenever we're confronted by Astellians we have to back down to survive! You're right General N96. A wimp is all I'll ever be. I'll never be on your level! What's the point in me even trying to have this surgery if I'm just going to—"

Decha grabbed Rory by her jaw and kissed her. Rory felt her face warm up when his lips crashed against hers suddenly. Her eyes were still wide. She wondered if she was dreaming again. Decha pushed his weight forward, and her head tilted back.

In his mind, he didn't even realize what he was doing. When the bell finally rang in his head, he pulled away from Rory immediately. Her eyes were wider than the solar system. Decha blinked a few times, trying to process what he just did.

Rory's face was a complete shade of red. Decha's mind was completely blank.

"You..." Rory hiccuped. Her hands slapped over her mouth, and she was surprised at her body's reaction to the kiss.

"There is no level you have to reach. You're smarter than that dumb belief." Decha flicked her in the forehead. "I want you to trust me."

"I... I..." Rory stammered, trying to put together her thoughts. But the kiss kept replaying over and over in her mind.

"I'll talk to him. Your father. More than anything, I want to close this case. And I want you to be safe. You're not a coward. With that brain, you've got enough guts to overcome many challenges."

"I have to... use the bathroom." Rory hiccuped again. Decha smirked at her, amused by the nonsense that he was used to coming from her.

"If you have to, then go."

"Here?" Rory hiccuped once more.

"I don't think Jessica will appreciate you leaking on her sheets. They're pretty expensive." Decha stood straight and allowed Rory to sit up. "I have to go and complete paperwork. But remember what I said."

❤️