Red Skies | The Prime Archives #1 ✓

twelve

Emily tuned out the annoying frequency of Director Shaw's voice while he chastised them about their actions. She quickly learned that she could use her heightened hearing to cancel out certain sounds to focus on others.

So, instead of listening to Director Shaw drone on and on, she opted to pay attention to the pitter-patter of the rain outside.

She and the others, along with Victoria and the Atlas agents a part of the day's mission, were in a large room located on one of the higher levels of The Acropolis. They all sat at a long table with the director at the head and everyone else filling in along the sides. The man recounted the events of their botched assault on Kismet.

The elusive mercenaries made off with their stolen Nexxus Industries tech, both Apex and Frost managing to escape as well. After the fighting stopped, the Atlas agents rounded up the fallen Kismet soldiers and began the journey back to their headquarters. The six teenaged Primes followed behind them like scolded children.

Emily was thankful the flight was only an hour. She wouldn't have been able to sit through a more awkward situation for longer than that. An awkward silence had suffocated the jet. It made her want to jump out one of the windows. Upon arriving back at The Acropolis, they were immediately summoned by the director of Atlas for a meeting.

She certainly hadn't been looking forward to it.

As she ignored Director Shaw, she stared out the window on the other side of the room. Rain dripped down the spotless glass, marring the scenery of lush mountains and rolling hills outside. The gloomy clouds hung in the sky like a bad omen. She rubbed her throat absentmindedly; it'd been burning for the past hour.

If that was a side effect of using her supersonic voice, then she'd never use it again unless necessary. The pain in her esophagus made her want to tear it out. If it came down to it, her bow and arrows were the only weapons she needed.

''Emily!'' A hand slammed onto the table. Her head jolted up and she squinted at Director Shaw.

She groaned in reply.

''Are you even listening?''

''Yeah, yeah. We get it. You're disappointed it in us. There's only so many ways you can say it— ''

The man pinched the bridge of his nose. ''You need to take this seriously. Like it or not, you all are under our protection for the time being. You and your friends could have gotten seriously hurt. Oscar nearly got killed out there if what the mission report says is true.''

Emily cast a look Oscar's direction. His forehead was plastered against the table. If she was in his position, she'd be doing the same thing. Who knew what the guy was feeling? His weakness was the reason why Kismet got away. She didn't entirely blame him, though. Not everyone was cut out to make the tough decisions.

But had it been her, she wouldn't have hesitated. Nothing would've stood between her and stopping that van. Her father never tolerated defeat and inadequacy; his toxic teachings found its way into everything she did. While she loathed the man, she had to thank him for raising her to be strong.

She needed to be if she wanted to survive in the world.

''What were you all thinking?'' Director Shaw continued. ''I told you that you weren't ready. And what did you do? You proved me right. My agents would've had the whole thing handled if you hadn't intervened.''

Chase huffed. Everyone stared at him, surprise in their eyes.

''With all due respect, sir, I don't think that's true. I'm sure you know this already, but Kismet has another Prime working with them. Who knows who else they might have? Even if we didn't interfere, there was no guarantee that you would've stopped them.''