The New Girl's Top Secret Quest

Chapter 5: Inferno in SinHigh

They all watched anxiously as the two groups exchanged grave looks. Perhaps, silently challenging each other to make one wrong move? Why on Earth the Infernos would carelessly march inside the enemy's ground is beyond her. But their eyes speak of so much danger. And she could feel the sparks of tension building around them all.

The dull and gloomy weather didn't help at all.

Grey's face remained stone cold. His hand calmly resting in his pocket. In fact, all Black Widow members are in the same cold stance. Even Ashton and Yu Jin who are usually flirty. She suddenly remembered one thing from Ryan, 'It wasn't up to Grey. Heard the High Society decided on it and he had no choice.'

She looked back at them. Nobody said a word 'till the new guys huddled together and faced The Black Widow.

Then, it came. Two Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks hovered closely above. It circled twice, disturbing the stillness of the trees with its strong gust of wind and then kept a little distance. As if only to let itself be known. Everybody went still.

"Trevor..." It was Grey's chilling voice that broke the silence after.

Trevor nodded like he already knew and turned to the students. His gaze is foreboding as it scanned the crowd. And with an authoritative voice commanded, "Everyone, to your rooms. Now."

Afraid, everybody scrambled into the building in an instant. The lobby doors sealed down instantly. Out-of-nowhere, armed, black men hastily stationed in front of the lobby. And some more around the unlikely visitors.

The students stayed frozen by the lobby, anticipating what'll happen next.

Trevor stood behind Grey again as they peered through the glass wall. However, they couldn't hear a thing that was said.

"You have to learn to stick to agreements, Spade," Grey said in a voice devoid of any emotion. "You know what happens when you take somebody by surprise."

Spade's gaze then went up and around the buildings, taking it all in in a sweep. His expression darkening as his eyes squinted on something atop the buildings. "Of course I do," he said darkly like almost to himself. "Isn't that why we're here?"

His gaze settled back on Grey. "But it's not really a surprise, Grey. You know you had it coming. We have even waited two months, so I suppose everything's ready?"

"Yes."

Marco walked towards Grey from behind with something covered in black satin cloth on his hands, which he handed to Grey.

All Inferno's eyes focused on it. Spade, in particular, regarded it with a look that's something of veiled pain. His three other companions had suddenly the same grave look on their faces. After a long moment, Spade raised his head as his eyes closed. His hands were balled into fists as well.

Grey took slow steps towards Spade. Midway, though, he stopped as he noticed the passenger door of the CCXR car opened.

The Black Widow's attention were turned to the man who stepped out of the car with surprise.

Unlike the man's companions, he was in a full black tuxedo with a white hanky on his breast pocket. And he looks like he was on his late fifties. Even with his eyeglasses and silver walking cane, the man still looks striking. His prominent jaw and slightly crooked nose gave his demeanor a strange aristocratic look.

Staring at him, she could define some similarities of him and the guy called Spade. Specially, his ash-gray eyes.

Grey stood in attention at the presence of the man, as well as Trevor, Ashton, Ivann and Yu Jin. Confusion and surprise written on their faces. It's almost as if, they had not expected the man's presence at all.

The man walked slowly towards Grey. Every step seems to get harder and harder for him. The sound of his cane clicking on the pavement was all they could hear. The man stopped about three steps away from Grey. His sorrowful eyes focused on the cloth all the time.

Grey's jaw flexed as he stared at the man in front of him.

"Grey, it's been a long time," Hector Black said in a deeply modulated voice. There was even a hint of strain to it, like he was somehow short of breath.

She gulped. 'He's supposed to be in a hospital after his heart attack!'

"Who's that guy now?" She heard Tasha whisper from behind her.

Daz threw her a fierce look and hissed, "That guy bimbo is the most dangerous mafia master of the South. So you better shut your mouth and pray nobody's gonna pull out a gun."

"Seven years, Sir Hector," he said staring at him. The High Society had not mentioned he would be here himself. So the news of his recovery is true then. Hector Black had really woken up from his 3-month coma.

"Ah yes...," his eyes turning hard as steel as it held Grey's, "seven years of peace Grey."

"And peace... we will have. I believe," he said gripping the chest even more. He could already hear static sounds on his audio monitor.

Sir Hector's eyes shadowed as it slowly dropped down to his hands. "It depends, Grey," his deep voice almost sound like something coming from a cave. "If you weren't holding in your hands the relic of my Legacy."

"I believe everything will be clarified on the conclave." He looked at Grey again but with ominous eyes.

He took a step towards Grey and a low ping sounded in the audio monitor on his left ear. "Would it make a change?" he said.

"Order 902: Alpha-Sierra-Alpha-Papa," came an urgent voice from the command center. Clearly, the High Society wanted him to 'Get it done and over with, ASAP'. The students are watching. If anything goes wrong today, hell will break loose.

"It wont change what happened but it will put light to things."

Sir Hector's face drooped down as his gaze went down his hands again. He never liked the idea of him turning it over. But Sir Hector specifically said he would never want anybody else to hold it. Not anybody from the High Society.

As if on a trance, the three of them saw Hector Black stepped nearer. His hand hovered above the cloth for a long moment before he touched it and peeled it off gingerly.

They held their breaths as an elegant medium sized polished black wooden chest with gold-plated intricate design was revealed. They watched Hector as he felt the surface of the chest.

Cindy did a double take. She felt goosebumps suddenly crept up from the toes of her feet to the roots of her hair.

"Is that an urn?" Tasha squeaked under her breath, horrified as she too made out what the man said.

She looked at the thing. 'Could it be- Oh good Lord... Could it really be Nimfa's relic?!' Her eyes snapped back to Grey, who had his eyes glued at Hector.

She felt the sorrow in Sir Hector's eyes. The pain only a father would know. How hard it must have been for a father to lose his child! On top of it, on the grounds of an adversary. If he'd been somebody else, he'd have waged an all-out war. But he is, after all, Sir Hector Black. He'd been the industry's King Cobra. You'd never know when he'd strike. And when you would, it'd be too late.

The knuckles of his right hand turned white as it gripped the cane tightly. Suddenly, he put the black cloth in place again.

Without any other word, he carefully took the chest from Grey and slowly walked back to the car. Spade quietly followed and opened the door for him. With one last foreboding look at Grey, he too got inside the car. And in a minute, the Infernos left.

P.S "at last... an update! Enjoy!"

Game: Who knows the man in the picture?