Nef had doubted that they’d find anything useful under the name Carcer in the database because, in the other files, the name had been redacted, but he was proven wrong when he found a single folder titled Carcer. There were only many, many blueprints of the place with no real descriptions of which room contained what. It was still better than nothing, but it didn’t tell them anything about what the hell the building was for, and Nef was starting to hate these unending questions.
It seemed to be in the middle of a forest in east Enoria, which meant that it was pretty close, and his brother and the rest of his colleagues would get there fast, but that was basically all they knew. And now they were arguing. It should have been funny to watch, but instead, it was just exhausting. And because the room was small, there was no way he could tune it out.
“…and you can’t do this on your own. You don’t even know what you’ll find there!” Kara half yelled at Kaleth, clearly tired by this as well.
“And if you’re not our tech support and don’t tell us where to go, we’ll all die,” Rayni said with a grin and was promptly shouted at.
“Shut up, Ray!”
Nef groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “How ’bout I tell you where to go, and you all go?”
“No!” said Alor immediately and looked at Nef disapprovingly. For some reason, Alor had started to act a little too over-protective halfway through Nef’s visit to Luxarx. It was starting to get annoying. “You’ve been involved enough as it is.”
“Chill, bro,” Nef replied, folding his arms and scowling. “It’s not like someone’s making me. Plus, I’m an adult now, in case you haven’t noticed.”
Alor opened his mouth to continue the argument but was stopped by sudden laughter from Rayni.
“Oh, sorry,” she said when everyone turned to look at her, trying to stop laughing. “I’m just loving the hypocrisy.”
“What hypocrisy?” Alor asked, sounding outraged, which only made Rayni smile wider.
“Oh, y’know—the fact that you don’t want your brother to involve himself with us ’cause it’s dangerous while working here yourself.”
Alor opened and closed his mouth a few times, saying nothing. Nef couldn’t help but smirk. Maybe he and Rayni could join forces and infuriate people—or just Alor—together.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Kaleth asked Nef calmly, despite all the arguing from before that had made even his brother lose his cool. Nef wondered if something else had happened that had put Alor on edge. It couldn’t be just the arguing, right?
“Yep,” Nef answered and grinned. “If you think I can do it.”
“It’s quite simple,” Kara told him, shrugging a little. “We’ll live stream you what we’re seeing through the cameras on our goggles, and you’ll guide us using the blueprints.”
“You have goggles?” Nef asked with surprise. He had imagined secret agents wearing sunglasses, not goggles.
“And you can send pictures to them, too. It’s awesome,” Rayni added, explaining very little as she give Nef a thumbs up.
“What Rayni means is that you can project images into them,” Kara elaborated, though Nef had kind of gotten what Rayni had meant already.
“Cool,” Nef said, not all that surprised, and then added: “So why don’t you just put the blueprints into the goggles?”
“Because they’re rather vague, they would cover up a large part of the user’s vision, and some people,” Kara said, turning to Rayni and Alor, “can’t read a map.”
“That was one time,” Rayni defended herself, sounding insulted, while Alor just frowned and didn’t bother saying anything. It was true that he remembered Alor having a problem reading a map once or twice, as did Nef, but Nef had assumed that with Alor being an agent and all that, he’d done something about his lack of good orientation.
“Just be glad no one told the director,” she snapped back and turned to Nef. “I can get you a laptop with the necessary software so you can guide us from somewhere other than here. Sooner or later someone’ll find you, and I’d rather not explain why you’re here.”
Nef didn’t disagree. The people around here didn’t seem like they’d be too friendly to an intruder, more likely they’d shoot him and never look back, so he wasn’t opposed to leaving. He just didn’t know where he’d go. He couldn’t guide them from his and Nira’s apartment for obvious reasons, so maybe a hotel?
Kara disappeared and returned in about a minute, giving Nef a suitcase with the laptop and accessories. Nef had no idea what those could be, but he didn’t get the chance to ask as he was all but dragged out of the room by Rayni as soon as the camera outside the room showed that there was no one around at the moment. Before he knew it, he was in the elevator he had been in that morning, and the last thing he saw before the door closed was Rayni giving him a two-finger salute.
Nef almost jumped in surprise when he noticed his brother was in the elevator with him. He hadn’t noticed him going in as well at all. The stern look Alor was giving him was enough to make him groan in irritation.
“Looking at me like that isn’t gonna make me change my mind,” Nef commented, narrowing his eyes at his older brother as the elevator began moving. The last time Alor had been this overprotective was when Nef had gotten beaten up in high school and complained about it.
Alor had proceeded to act as a bodyguard for almost a month after the incident. It’d been so annoying that Nef had decided not to say anything next time—and there had been a lot of next times. Nef had almost forgotten why he hardly ever mentioned his problems to Alor, but now he was reminded once more. He knew his brother meant well, but that didn’t make it easy to deal with.
“What will change your mind?” Alor asked, sounding half desperate, half frustrated.
“Probably nothing,” Nef answered with a shrug as he pulled out his phone to both check his account balance to see if Kaleth had kept his promise and if he had gotten a new text message. He also knew that not paying attention would annoy Alor, so that was a plus.
“Gods’ sakes, Nef! You could get killed for helping us!”
It seemed Alor was at the end of his rope. Nef couldn’t decide whether to be amused or concerned. It still didn’t make him look away from his phone’s screen, though.
“Holy crap!” Nef exclaimed as he saw how much money there was in his account right now. “He sent me three hundred thousand?”
“Wh-wait, Kaleth sent you three hundred thousand aurens? We don’t have that kinda money to just give away,” Alor said with disbelief. “Where the hell did he get that?”
“Who cares? I’m rich!” Nef said with excitement as the elevator beeped, and he practically skipped out of it, heading to his car, his brother following him. Was Kaleth misinformed about how much Nef’s monthly income was?
“So, does that mean you won’t go along with this?” Alor asked hopefully, and Nef frowned, looking back at him.
“Why the hell would it mean that? And I think it’s you who told me once that it’s rude to go back on a promise.” Nef could remember Alor telling him this good fifteen years ago, though he wasn’t sure about the context anymore, not that it mattered all that much.
His older brother looked utterly done with Nef at that moment. The look made Nef’s grin fade a bit, but he fixed that as soon as he noticed.
“Okay, I really didn’t want to do this but if you don’t give me that laptop—” Alor said, pointing at the briefcase in Nef’s left hand before Nef cut him off.
“What will you do? Take it from me by force?” It was meant to sound sarcastic, but it came out bitter. Nef didn’t look at Alor as he opened the car door and threw the laptop on the passenger seat before getting in. He turned to face Alor when he heard him say his name warningly and glared at him.
“For the last time, Alor, I’m an adult. I can do whatever the hell I want, so if I want to help uncover a government conspiracy, I will do it! If you’re so against me helping you, why did you even bring me here?”
Alor looked a bit shocked at the outburst and didn’t reply. He looked like he wasn’t sure what to even say. Nef sighed angrily and shut the door, bringing the car into the air and flying away from the skyscraper.
Nef let out another sigh, but this one was tired. He hated it when he and Alor argued, but thankfully it didn’t happen often. His brother would get over it soon enough anyway, so it was probably better to just get this over with, and then take Nira out into some fancy restaurant. Although maybe he shouldn’t mention where he got so much money from to her.
To make all of this seem more believable, he needed to get back to Nira right away. All the action was supposed to happen tomorrow, so he could spend the rest of the day with her and tell her that he needed to see his professor again or something. That sounded believable to him.
It only took a few minutes to get back, which was good because he wasn’t left with only his thoughts for too long, but he had turned on the radio anyway just in case. After he made sure to leave the briefcase in the car so Nira wouldn’t see it, he got out and walked up to the apartment.
He wanted to say something witty to announce his arrival as he walked in. However, the words never made it out of his mouth when he saw Nira’s angry and somehow disappointed look that she was sending his way.
“You faked that call,” she said, her voice calm, but Nef could easily tell she was pissed.
“Hi to you too,” he replied and closed the door behind him while he cursed himself. He’d thought she’d bought it, but apparently, he’d been wrong. Getting into an argument with Nira as well was about the last thing he wanted.
“Nef,” she said warningly, and he swallowed thickly. This was not going to end well, he could feel it. What was he supposed to tell her in his defense? He wasn’t allowed to tell her anything about Luxarx, so the only thing he could do was lie some more. “This is about your brother and whatever help he needed, isn’t it?”
Nef stared at her in shock for a moment. She wasn’t supposed to know that. When had she heard about that?
“No, of course not,” Nef denied, but it sounded incredibly unconvincing even to himself, and he could see his girlfriend thought the same thing, judging by her unimpressed expression. “Alor didn’t want anything from me. Ever,” he added, not sure why he even bothered.
“I can tell you’re lying, Nef,” she almost growled and got up, folding her arms. “You have been doing that since you got here from your walk at midnight.”
Well, shit, he’d thought he had been pretty convincing that time. If Nira could see even through his best lies, then he should have probably not even bothered in the first place. Nef opened his mouth, but he had no idea what to say.
“Nira,” he started and stopped again. What could he tell her without telling her too much? Could he say anything at all? “I…can’t tell you. I just can’t tell you, I’m sorry, but I can’t,” he finally blurted out.
“Why not?” Nira demanded, taking a step forward. And Nef wanted to back away. Unfortunately, he couldn’t because the door was just behind him.
“It’s top-secret,” Nef explained lamely, cringing. The look Nira was giving him wasn’t helping either. She somehow seemed to ask Are you serious? without saying anything. Well, at least she was exasperated now. Back in Nef’s comfort zone. “Alor works for some super-secret agency and they needed help, but I’m not supposed to tell you any of this. Just…you’ll have to trust me.” Nef made his best pleading face.
For a moment, he thought Nira would yell at him or tell him to leave, but then she closed her eyes, and her frown disappeared.
“I do,” she whispered, sighing and taking his hand into hers. “Of course, I do, Nef.”
Once again, Nef was rendered speechless, but this time it was because she believed him. If Nira had said something like this to him, he knew he wouldn’t react like this. Nef didn’t deserve her.
“Oh, yay!” he exclaimed and hugged her. “Oh, and since you know about this now,” Nef said, as he let go of Nira to pull his phone out. “check this out!” He showed her his account balance with a wide grin. The expression lost its intensity, though, when he saw Nira narrow her eyes at the phone screen rather than being pleasantly surprised or possibly opening a bottle of champagne.
“Are you doing something illegal?” she asked, turning her suspicious gaze at Nef, who had to think about it for a moment.
“I don’t think…. Hm. Not sure, actually. I’ll ask.” Although he truly didn’t know the answer to her question, he had meant it as a joke. Nira didn’t seem amused by it, though. Right, too soon.
“You don’t seem to be taking this very seriously,” she said, and Nef immediately heard his brother’s voice in his head, telling him how dangerous helping them was. He expertly ignored it.
“How long will it take to finish whatever it is you’re helping with?” Nira continued, but now she sounded worried.
“Should be just a few hours tomorrow, and then we can go on a shopping spree,” Nef said with a smirk that grew into a smile when he saw Nira shake her head at him, barely managing to hide her smile. Then she frowned in worry again.
“So you get that much money after just two days? That feels a little easy, doesn’t it?” Nira might have had a point, but Nef hadn’t dared to think about the possible consequences, and he wouldn’t do so now. Besides, Kaleth looked like he wasn’t short on cash, so maybe the money was his.
Still, even if it was Kaleth’s, where had he gotten it? Nef could buy a pretty large house for three hundred thousand aurens.
“It sure didn’t feel easy,” Nef complained quietly. Getting into that database hadn’t been a piece of cake, exactly. Nef felt something akin to dread grow inside of him, so he immediately stopped thinking about it. This was not helping. It was all going to be fine, dammit. If only to spite Alor.
“Aw, did you tire yourself out?” Nira mocked him, and Nef rolled his eyes, walking to the kitchen table, throwing his phone on it, and sitting down. He felt like now was a good time to do that since it seemed the atmosphere had calmed down a bit. Nira followed, sitting opposite him, completely unbothered by the number of books and papers that covered the table’s surface. There had to be more of them now than when Nef had left, and he had to fight the urge to tidy it up, at least a little.
“You’ve been, uh, busy,” Nef said, pointing at the mess between them. “You do realize that the summer break is a time when you have the time to do something other than study, right?”
“Yes, you’ve told me that every single summer since I met you,” Nira told him, but she sounded fond rather than annoyed. Nef wasn’t aware that he’d done that, but it sure sounded like something he’d do.
There was a comfortable silence for a moment before Nef spoke again. “So, do you…forgive me for lying to you?” He didn’t even know why he asked because he was dreading the answer, and when he felt that way he usually didn’t ask at all. However, seeing Nira smile at him made all his worries disappear.
“Yeah, I do,” she said, her smile morphing into a stern frown, and she even pointed a finger at him to underline it. “But don’t make a habit of it. And don’t fake any more phone calls.”
Nef grinned at her and saluted. “Yes, ma’am!”
“You’re such a child,” Nira said, laughing and shaking her head. Nef nodded and laughed as well. It felt good to laugh—this day had been way too serious for him.
“Yeah, but you love me,” Nef teased, and it was Nira’s turn to roll her eyes.
“For some reason,” Nira joked and Nef leaned in to kiss her.
Of course, at that moment Nef’s phone had to start ringing. Nira looked at her boyfriend with irritated disbelief, and he raised his hands in defense.
“I swear this one’s not fake! I think,” he said as he took the phone into his hand. “Private number. That can’t be good,” Nef commented, while Nira glared at the phone from where she was sitting. With a slight hesitation, Nef accepted the call.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Arithar,” said Kaleth’s accented voice through the speaker, and Nef let out a breath. Well, at least it wasn’t the police or something worse.
“Dude, just call me Nef,” he replied, sighing a little in annoyance. It always made him uncomfortable when someone called him ‘Mr. Arithar’ and didn’t mean it sarcastically—it made him feel so much older than he was.
“Very well. Am I calling at a bad time?” Kaleth asked, and Nef looked over at Nira who now looked very interested. Nef suspected that she could hear every single word with how quiet the apartment was. There wasn’t much he could do about this though—he couldn’t just tell her to leave the room, and if he left the room, she’d most probably follow him.
“Well, kinda,” said Nef in response, and Kaleth hummed.
“Apologies. I suppose I can call back later if you need time to—”
“Nah, it’s fine,” Nef cut him off and looked over at Nira again who gave him a small, weak smile. “What’s up?”
“There’s been a change of plans. The Management found out. As far as I know, I’m the only one who’s escaped the headquarters,” the older man informed him, and Nef mulled it over for a moment. Had someone sold them out? Nobody but Alor’s team and Nef knew about this, right? Wait, did that mean Nef was screwed too? Before he could start panicking, something in his mind clicked.
Oh, Al, you idiot….
Nef got up and started pacing. “It was my brother, wasn’t it? He sold you out.”
“Yes, I think so. I wasn’t going to mention it,” Kaleth replied, sounding slightly surprised, and if Nef wasn’t too busy feeling outraged, he’d have been pleased with himself. “How did you figure that out?”
“Well, he kept trying to stop me from helping you.”
“I see. I wasn’t expecting him to go this far,” Kaleth said with a heavy sigh. He sounded sad but not angry, disappointed, or surprised, which would be what Nef would have been feeling if he were in his place.
“So you called to tell me nothing is gonna happen tomorrow?”
“Not exactly. I called to ask for your help a little sooner than we discussed.”
Nef blinked, as he took in the meaning of that sentence. “You mean you’re gonna go there with no backup? Are you insane?”
“Possibly,” Kaleth replied, but Nef didn’t know which question he had replied to. “I will go there regardless, but I would appreciate your help.” Nef wanted to say something, but Kaleth continued before he could. “I have little choice. Luxarx is after me, and they will find me, so I don’t have time to spare. However, they might not follow me there because they will most likely assume I’ll get either killed or captured at Carcer and brought to them anyway.”
Nef exchanged a disturbed look with Nira. She looked like she couldn’t believe this conversation was even happening. Nef could barely imagine what it had to be like to listen to this without any context.
“That’s some positive thinking,” Nef said sarcastically in response, and Kaleth chuckled.
“Will you help me?”
Nef felt his heartbeat quicken, but he didn’t need to give himself some time to think it over—he knew what he’d say immediately. “Yeah. Yeah, I will.”
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