ONE-SHOTS [Ejen Ali]

3 | Saw No One

"What are you talking about? Of course I know MATA. Who do you think I am?"

Alicia stared at the boy in shock, as if he's grown a second head. She tried to find fault in his eyes, to find a fabricated truth in the wrinkle in his noses, but all she saw was the cold, dead truth.

She looked down to her boots, as if suddenly disappointed in her own position. "How did you know?" she wisped. "Are you an agent too?"

Ali cocked his head, a genuine confusion creeping up his face.

"Hm? Me, an agent?" His voice was smooth, tuned almost like a song. "Oh, no! I'm not."

Alicia looked up to him. "Then how did you—"

Ali's brows creased to a concerned frown. "You really don't know?" he demanded. "It's been months. I kept dropping you hints too! Tell me you remember the time I saved you from that incinerator!"

The incinerator. Alicia tried to recall what happened, at the time Team Numeros was still a small threat. The power plant was ambushed by a team of three, of which consisted of the criminals Dos and Iris. Her mission had failed, especially after Iris managed to steal Azurium from the machine, but not before pulling her from the line of fire and saved her life.

She hadn't known who the boy was, but now that she remembered it, the boy's physique resembled Ali's: short and slender, who'd panted just after a little workout. Iris didn't have the best stamina either. He was specialized in technology and coding.

"You're Iris." Alicia saw all the similarities now. The aloof attitude, the childish taunts, and the mindless "mistakes" he made to throw his enemy off guard.

Ali beamed. "Bingo!" He clapped his hands together, delighted. "You know, you're not very smart after all! I've been appearing in front of you for so long but you only realized after I told you."

"Why? Why would you join them?" Alicia grabbed Ali's shoulders, a look of horror plastered onto her face. "They're villains! They're going to take over MATA and Cyberaya!"

Ali's expression faltered. He stared at his classmate's horrified expression, having expected a more controlled reaction. He never saw her lose her cool before, even in harsh situations. He shook free of her, raising his hands up in defense.

"I have my reasons," he said coyly. "And why would you join a group of murderers?"

"Murderers! MATA is protecting the city. You're the murderers here!"

"So what? It's just a few casualties. No one will miss them!" Ali scowled, all friendliness gone. "You're the one to talk! Talking to me in your agent gear. It's a miracle that Uncle Bakar hasn't noticed you sneaking off yet!"

Alicia's expression fell. He knew about his uncle too. The combat agent who spends his time undercover in the school as a janitor, constantly looking over Alicia. She never wondered why she'd never seen Ali and Bakar talk to each other before, which the answer was most likely his uncle spending most of his time with his agent life and Alicia.

If Bakar knew about this...

"Anyway, we're supposed to be fighting." Ali scratched his head, stepping away from Alicia. He stopped when they were a good distance apart.

He was right. Alicia was on a mission to investigate the anomaly of the trains. She just didn't expect seeing Ali here. She'd come with Zass and Bakar and Kai, only for her to be trapped in a train that was controlled by the enemy. They were moving at high-velocity, which Alicia tried to stop. But when she reached the control room, she saw Ali, sitting at the conductor's seat playing video games.

She never thought of the boy as a villain. He was weak and scrawny. He'd failed nearly all his classes, except for that perfect score in his ICTs. It explained his knowledge in his specialty.

Ali put his hands in his blue jacket. "But you know I'm not a fighter," he said light-heartedly. "So let's make a deal, alright? This train is set to a course to collide with another train—full of passengers, mind you—in about... let's say ten minutes. Or five, give or take."

Alicia's attention whipped to him. Was he serious?

Ali kept his smile. "So do you accept a deal? I promise it's nothing serious, or related to MATA or your double life, for that matter."

She had no choice, did she? Even if he was bluffing, he was still capable of calling backup. There was no way her teammates were going to catch up to her at this rate.

Her fists clenched, her glare burning into him. "Fine," she spat, voice laced with venom. Someone as useless as him could never be a good person, after all. "What do you want?"

The boy beamed, perhaps brighter than before. "Wasn't expecting that, but the universe works in mysterious ways!" he exclaimed, his tone truthfully one of wonderful surprise. "Just don't bug me at school, and that's all. You're really annoying, abusing your rank as the student prefect and all that."

He skipped over to the controls. His body moved with twirls and pirouettes, fingers skimming through each button or lever perfectly. Alicia felt as if she was watching a musical, where every movement was fluid, calculated, and sparked with a taste of dance. Ali gave her that impression.

She could hear the sound of train tracks shifting and snapping to different courses, though from a distance. She turned to Ali, asking whether if he's done it, a bright light pierced from outside, forcing her to close her eyes and shield her vision with her arms.

When she opened them again, Ali was gone. The hum of the train beside echoed, the body of the train running beside her train with no interruptions.

He'd kept his promise.

Alicia sank down to the conductor seat, her eyes falling onto the control board.

She saw the symbol of Team Numeros on the board. It was painted red, but the faint hum of electricity emitted from within. A control hacker, she realized. Guess that confirms it.

She picked the small button from the control panel's walls and crushed it with her fingers.

When she was finally rescued from the train, Bakar asked her about the situation.

She said she saw no one.

* * *

AU where Ali didn't join MATA but joins Team Numeros~ Reason? He learns that his mother died because of MATA and IRIS! So he picks up the name IRIS and seeks to avenge his mother without realizing how everything actually happened.