soaring, flying

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[Misi Neo timeline, altered]

"We detected an unknown presence in the top bunker."

Alicia jolted from her thoughts and focused on the intercom coming to them. She inserted the bullet she had been fiddling with for the past thirty minutes back into the tube attached to her waist. They have been hiding quietly in this room, lying in secrecy, waiting for the next order.

"Clarify his identity," Bobby replied. "It could be a staff working overtime."

"We're still trying to process, gimme a sec."

"We don't have a second," Alicia interrupted, agitation laced in her voice. "It could be him."

This is not just some mission.

-

Ali Ghazali has been MIA for two months and during that time MATA had been working hard to track that missing boy. His actions were branded as a crime, assisting a ghost organization in raiding Vikhram's secret ports where he illegally stored high-tech weapons, droids and jars of Azurium. After they were done 'cleaning' the ports, they began to target black markets, often the ones where the big names of underworld crime organizations would be attending, like Abang Bear or Madam Khoo and many others.

Alicia had tried interrogating him, to know the reasons behind his activity and it resulted in Ali leaving her in anger. He did not drop any explanation, let alone hints. When Alicia failed, Uncle Bakar stepped in to bring the kid in for investigation. Like her, the Combat agent believed his nephew must have his reasons to turn to treason. Ali ran off, and on cue Bobby had to chase him down.

And you know the rest.

They failed to catch him. Ali could not be detected after that. Alicia suspected he did something to alter his coordinates. He knew very well that MATA could track him anytime by using the satellite. Strangely, Ali was always three steps ahead of them.

The Neuro agent had tried to approach his house.

"He just went out. He said he wanted to go to Viktor's house," Mr Ghazali said.

She went to Viktor's house.

"Ali just left. Why do you want to find him?" the boy asked curiously.

"What?" she half-shrieked. "Do you know where he went?"

"No idea," he shrugged. "Eh? Since when are you looking out for him?"

Alicia brushed off his teasing and asked for him to pass a message for Ali:

"You can't run forever."

-

There was a slight crackle when the guy on the other end tried to deliver his words. Alicia and Bobby shared a look. It was an indication of what will happen.

They've been intercepted. That's what they thought. Both agents were quick to get on their feet and dashed out of their hiding place.

"There are two other presences coming out! They're assisting the first one!"

The Inviso agent activated his IRIS Neo and immediately ran scans of the perimeter of the building they're in. The IRIS detected three people running out from the bunker and to the level above. An identity scan panned out. One stood against the others.

"Target identity confirmed. Ali Ghazali: rogue Tekno agent."

Alicia held her breath upon those words. She felt her leg muscles carried her faster. There was a nagging voice in the back of her mind, squishing her already mixed emotions together. What if it wasn't Ali? What will she do if she actually gets to see him? To be face-to-face once again after not meeting each other for two months? Is it really two months? Alicia was sure it had been longer than that.

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