Chapter 19: C18 Preparations, Undercurrents, and the Beginning
{ A/N: This chapter, unlike previous chapters which all had only 1k+ words on them, will be long. I made it like this so that in this chapter we will have taken a glimpse of @$#@#&@&$#¢₹№—
Anyways, it took longer to make. I hope you all enjoy this chapter \(≧▽≦)/ Bye bye~! }
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[ Night ] 10:00 PM
In the same undisclosed location in Manhattan. The former noisy and busy office is now calm. Only a few people are left and are still working, including the young woman earlier.
With a yawn, the young woman stretched her arms up and mused, "Still found nothing. What a slippery fellow."
She then sighed and stood up before walking to the locker room. After taking her bag, she pulled up her hoodie and proceeded to go to the parking lot.
The woman then drove her car to her house near in Queens. After driving and arriving in front of her house, she then parked her car and went out of her car before coming to the door.
While yawning, she crouched down and lifted the potted of fortune plant up to look if the spare key was still there. After seeing that it's still there, she then reached in her bag for the key and entered the house.
"I'm home..." She said to particularly no one with a tired voice.
The young woman then proceeded to go upstairs. She then arrived to her room and after closing the door, she threw her bag in front of the closet and sprawled on the bed. She was tired, she haven't slept for two days now so naturally she would be tired.
While looking at the ceiling blankly, she couldn't help but think of the odd headaches and flashes of seemingly forgotten memories she saw these past days.
Looking back on it now, although it seemed to have started three days ago, she now remembered having a similar excruciating headache back then when VERZ first appeared.
She then sighed again before yawning with drowsy eyes barely opened.
"I'll just lea...ve this... to future me. I'll sleep..."
~ " . . . " ~
"Alexa, Alec. I'll go out for a while, you two stay here. Don't go out." Nathalia looked at the siblings who were watching a movie on the TV.
Alexa looked at her and said, "Wait, can the two of us help in any way? I know you said that we can't interfere but... we want to help."
Alec also looked at Nathalia and she saw the determined look on his face. When she saw that the two of them really wanted to help, she just sighed and gave in.
"Alright, you two can help. Help me monitor the cameras on the street and in the house and tell me if someone is coming my way." Nathalia then threw an ear piece at Alexa, which she caught skillfully, "Use this to contact me."
Alec looked baffled and asked, "Which one?"
"The house under file name 0001. You know the rest." Nathalia then walked out of the backdoor and she left to her target's location.
Nathalia is currently wearing a black hoodie and jeans while carrying a black backpack at her back. She walked casually and after a few minutes, she arrived at the house of her target only a few blocks away from their penthouse.
She then boldly went to the front door and lifted the fortune plant pot skillfully, taking the spare key under the pot.
After taking the key, she opened the door and entered in shamelessly. She then touched her earpiece after closing the door.
"Any movement from the upper floor?" Nathalia whispered.
[ "No movements. Also nothing on sight on the street. Continue." ]
"Alright, report if there are any abnormalities."
Nathalia then continued her move and navigated through the house to find the key locations she needed to plant the bugs and micro cams.
After planting cameras and audio bugs on the kitchen, living room and the dining room. Nathalia moved and went out of the house again, but this time from the backdoor. She didn't see the bathroom downstairs and she thought that the bathroom may be upstairs.
She then looked for a way up from the outside and she did find a way. There's a tall fence separating this house and the neighbor's house, so she climbed up the fence and after climbing on top she stealthily jumped up to the balcony of the house.
Just as she landed, her earpiece buzzed and Alexa's voice came through.
[ "The target is walking downstairs right now." ]
"Alright." After she learned that, she moved fast like a shadow and entered the bedroom. She didn't place any cameras and only planted a few audio bugs.
After that, she left the room through the door and tried to find the bathroom. After opening a few doors, she located the bathroom at the end of the hallway and entered. She then proceeded to bug the place with two micro cams and an audio bug.
She moved fast and carefully the whole time to not leave any traces of the place being disturbed. After bugging the place, she came out and closed the door and ran quietly back to the bedroom.
Just as she was planning to come out through the balcony, she remembered that she needed to bug her clothes too. She then hurriedly went to the target's closet and bugged her coat, her uniform, her hoodie and her bag carefully. This took a few moments and while she was planting the last audio bug in her bag, she heard Alexa's distressed voice through the earpiece.
[ "Come out now! She's going upstairs." ]
After hearing that, she carefully put back the bag in it's place and quietly ran to the balcony. She then jumped down to the fence and climbed down.
Soon after she landed, she saw the light on the bedroom open and she sighed in relief before going to the front door again. She then returned the spare key below the plant pot and left.
~ " . . . " ~
CIA Conference Room
"Any new discoveries? Did you have a breakthrough in finding those lunatics?" The middle aged man asked the people in front of him.
A middle aged woman answered him, "Nothing yet, no matter how we look at it, it seemed like they really did die in that submersible. They left no trace."
"Continue your investigation. There's no way those rich blokes would be crazy enough to throw away their lives and do something as stupid as ride that submersible."
The middle aged woman nodded and sat down. The middle aged man then looked at the man in his forties and he soon stood up.
"We haven't tracked down VERZ yet, sir. No improvements."
After hearing this, the middle aged man frowned and said, "Then terminate the mission. Focus on making Stauxnet and Neo, they are both important weapons for the nation."
The man in his forties nodded before he asked, "What about the remnant of Project Spectre?"
"Is there any sign of her recovering?" The middle aged man asked with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
The man in his forties nodded and said, "Yes, sir. She reported having frequent headaches and seeing some blurry images this past weeks."
The middle aged man narrowed his eyes and said, "Eliminate her. We have no use to her if she recover."
The man in his forties looked at the middle aged man for a bit before he said, "It will be done as soon as possible."
~ " . . . " ~
After a while, Nathalia came back home and entered the house. She then walked down to the basement where the twins were.
"Did you plant them all?" Alexa looked at Nathalia who was coming down and asked her.
Nathalia sighed and shook her head, "I wasn't able to plant them on some of her clothes. Fortunately, I got some on her coat, bag and hoodie."
Alec's face became strange and he looked at Nathalia oddly.
'Nathalia, not everyone is like you who wears hoodies almost everywhere,' He thought to himself.
"That means you placed the rest successfully?" Alec said.
Nathalia nodded and looked at the camera. It showed the street outside the house she went to earlier.
"I did. Keep your eyes peeled and take turns watching the street cameras for the night. I'll activate the micro cams on the house tomorrow after I wake up." After saying that, Nathalia waved her hand and went upstairs.
Alec was stumped and he looked at Nathalia's receding silhouette, not knowing what to say. After she vanished from sight, Alec just sighed and looked at his sister before saying, "Looks like we won't be sleeping tonight."
"What do you mean 'we'?" Alexa looked at her brother for a bit and left the room too. But not before telling him a warning, "If you don't watch the street cameras you know what Nathalia will do to you!"
Left alone, Alec looked gloomy and a bit angry at his sister for leaving him. He won't be able to sleep for tonight it seems. But he thought of his sister and he had a hint of anger in his eyes, he swore he'll get back at that bitch sister of his for leaving him here alone.
~ " . . . " ~
The next day, the three continued to observing their target. The whole morning nothing major really happened... aside from Nathalia ogling at the target's body during her bath.
Anyways, it is now noon and the three of them are now eating their lunch which are tuna sandwich and some chicken nuggets from McRonald's.
While they're eating, they are also watching the street cameras outside the target's house closely.
"You're really shameless Nathalia, I didn't expect you're that kind of person." Alec looked at Nathalia with a knowing look.
Alexa slapped the back of his head and and glared at him, "She's a girl, Alec. It's not considered as ogling. Unlike you, you shameless pervert."
Alec scratched the back of his head and said with a helpless smile on his face, "But she—"
"If you don't stop, I'll leave you stranded here in New York to be a beggar. I bet your mom won't mind."
Alec immediately stopped talking as soon as he heard Nathalia's smiling voice. Looking at her amiable smiley face, he knew that it's better not to provoke her unless he wanted to disappear from the face of the earth. Women... their scary.
Alexa harrumph and continued eating her tuna sandwich. Nathalia meanwhile continued eating her chicken nuggets while she kept an ear on the audio bug she placed on the target's clothes.
For a while, they ate peacefully while keeping an eye on the target. But then suddenly, Alec stood up and called them.
"Nathalia, Alexa, there's an electrician van that parked in front of the target's house!"
"What?!" Nathalia went in front and looked at the street camera.
There are two people who seemed to be electricians that came out of the van and they swaggered in front of the door. They then took out a key from their pocket and entered the house under the trio's shocked eyes.
"The key! How did they get a key?! I checked it and there's supposed to be only two keys, one spare and one main key. How did they get this?" Nathalia looked at the two enter the house with a dark face.
She then went back to listen to the audio bugs she planted on the house, but not before telling Alexa to open the micro cams on the house.
~ " . . . " ~
"What is it this time? A gas leak or house foundation accident?" One of the electrician men asked his fellow.
The other electrician answered him, "A gas leak. A house foundation incident is hard to make and we only have half a day. Besides, they wanted all remnants to be gone by weekend. We need to do this fast."
~ " . . . " ~
[ "—weekend. We need to do this fast." ]
Nathalia's face turned dark when she heard them. But she didn't understand why they would dispose of them now, after so many years.
"There's no time."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone