This is the first part of the chapter.
"Cass?" Ren said in surprise. He didn't expect to see her here.
Cass, who saw him, was also surprised.
"Ren? What are you— wait… are you the one who called for backup?" she said while helping him get up from the ground.
"Well… yes," he said, scratching his head.
She chuckled a bit. "Well, now if I had a nickel for every time I saved you from a terrible situation, I feel like I'd be a millionaire by the end of the year," Cass joked, making Ren laugh a bit.
But then he remembered something.
"Wait, my friends are—"
"Relax. My friend already took care of it," she said.
While saying that, she walked out of the broken hole into the first floor, and Ren followed her.
Seeing the other two cyborgs down on the ground, they looked fried, like they were hit by fire or lightning. He also saw someone unfamiliar — a girl with short black hair with a tinge of blue.
It was Nova.
She turned around and looked at Cass and Ren.
"Hey, I'm done with these two. I wrapped them up good," she said, electricity still coming out of her hands.
"So, how did things go with you?"
When she looked at Cass, she also noticed Ren, and that made her smile since she remembered him as the one from Greenfield Open Day.
But before she could say anything, ren started walking fast toward Kai and John.
"What the fuck, guys? How the heck did this start?" Ren yelled at Kai and John.
Kai looked away from Ren in shame, but John tried to defend himself.
"Sorry, but the situation wasn't as I expected. I didn't know the cyborgs were gonna be that strong—"
"DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE GONNA BE THAT STRONG?" Ren yelled so loud everyone covered their ears.
"Me and Kai made it perfectly clear with our actions that the cyborgs were dangerous. For the few seconds I turned around to call for backup, what happened that made you think otherwise,"
John just turned his head away in silence.
Instead of bothering with John, Ren looked to Kai for answers, but Kai was also looking away from him, not making eye contact.
For a second, Ren didn't know why Kai was doing that until he realized.
"No… it can't be," Ren muttered.
Kai managed to hear it… and finally looked at Ren.
Look, man, I know it was a bad idea, but we had no idea how long backup would take to arrive or how long they would need to teleport the pills out. And you know I couldn't accept the fact that the pills would end up out there, so I agreed with John. The cyborgs had to be stopped, even if it was dangerous," Kai tried to defend himself.
Ren just looked at him in silence, disappointment clear on his face.
Kai looked down. He knew Ren better than probably anyone on the island, and that meant he knew exactly what that look meant. Ren was truly disappointed in him.
Ren would have never agreed to that plan. He probably would have suggested trying to distract them to buy time instead of fighting them head-on. Kai should have thought of that too. but because of his—
Then Cass stepped in, breaking the silence.
"I know you three are having a moment, but where's the fourth guy? The one behind the magic circle?" Cass said.
That reminded all of them of the fourth person they completely forgot about.
They looked around the place.
"He's gone," Ren said in frustration. "Shit… one of them escaped."
"Wait—are the pills still here?" he added, turning toward the magic circle with the boxes inside.
Nova, who was the closest to the circle, made sure it was safe to approach and checked the boxes.
"It's fine. All the New Life Pills are still here," she confirmed.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief.
Ren, who had gone through a rollercoaster of emotions in such a short time, decided to walk away to calm himself down. He went to sit next to a wall a little distance away from the group, closed his eyes, and sighed.
He sat there quietly until he heard footsteps approaching.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Nova, Cass's friend.
"Oh, hi," Ren greeted, then got up to stand next to her, "I'm sorry you had to rescue us immediately after you arrived."
"You don't need to apologize. It wasn't really a problem for us, and we don't mind," Nova said.
Ren nodded then looked around, like he was searching for something, which made Nova tilt her head in confusion.
"Is there something you're looking for?" she asked.
"No, it's not that," Ren replied. "It's just… where's your third teammate?"
Oh, she isn't here, Nova said with a smile like it wasn't a big deal, but Ren was absolutely shocked.
What do you mean she's not here? How could you guys be our backup if you don't have your third teammate? Ren asked.
After being part of SIED for a while, he knew how important trios were. They always had to be together on patrols and missions. Heck, when John was suspended, Ren and Kai weren't even allowed to go on missions on their own. They had to wait until John's suspension was over.
So how exactly are the two of you on a mission without your third teammate?
Ren's expression and tone made Nova realize what was going on, and she laughed a little.
Haha, don't worry. I'll explain.
Well, it's very simple. We're under special circumstances, she said, making Ren raise an eyebrow.
It means our third teammate isn't really a fighter. She's more of a support type. I'm not going to explain exactly what she does, but she doesn't fight with us on the field at all. Normally, that isn't something SIED allows, because they always want a three-person team together to protect each other. But if two people on a team are powerful enough to go on missions on their own, they can have a member who stays in the back lines, like in our case.
Her explanation made Ren understand. It also made him realize that the gap between their two teams was much bigger than he thought. Even though he had just seen them take down the cyborgs so easily, knowing their team operated under special circumstances because of their strength made it feel even more real.
Then There was silence between Ren and Nova.
Ren scratched his head. He didn't know Nova at all. He didn't know why she approached him in the first place, and she hadn't given him much to work with to start a conversation. So he decided to just ask.
Okay, miss—
Nova, she corrected.
Nova, right, Ren said. So why did you come to talk to me?
Well, I wanted to talk to you, Nova replied.
That only confused him more.
Why does she want to talk to me? Is there a reason?
He shook his head. His habit of overthinking was kicking in again. Why would she have some agenda behind her wanting to talk to him? He wasn't from an important background.
Little did he know, she did have an agenda. She wanted to see more of Ren, so she can tease cass a bit, and figure out what was really going on between him and Cass.
So, Nova, what do you want to talk about? Ren asked.
Nova thought about it for a second.
Wait, I heard that you recently got into Star Island. That means your very first exams on the island are coming up soon, right? So how are you doing on them?
When she finished speaking, she looked at the absolute panic on his face.
THERE ARE EXAMS COMING UP?! Ren yelled.