Chapter Text
Thank you, Ali. You've saved me so many times before...
"Alicia... Please..."
Goodbye...
"ALICIA!!"
Ali woke up with a cold sweat.
Another night, another nightmare...
That moment still haunted him. The moment he lost his friend. His true friend.
The Alicia that woke up wasn't the same one he had long known and grown a liking (and rivalry) to.
It was essentially a stranger in her body.
"Who are you all?" That damned sentence still caused him ache even after all this weeks.
Speaking of which..
The new Alicia had been living outside of MATA under the General ever since her vitals stabilized and Agent Geetha confirmed and verified her stability.
Speaking of the General, he's been mostly absent from MATA, due to being busy with taking care of this new Alicia with the help of the Mamak team.
Ali never heard any news from Alicia or the General ever since, but all he had hoped was that they were fine.
The new Pillar Leaders still gave Ali the creeps. They barely fit the role they were supposed to fill, yet here they are, at the top of MATA's ranks.
He had learnt about Dayang and Ganz's resignation from their pillar leader roles awhile back, which made Ali anxious. Anxious for who Dato' Othman, Cyberaya's leader (and an old asshole) would pick to replace them, anxious for MATA's future.
Still, he had much bigger issues at hand.
Cerø...
The man behind every single pain and torment he endured throughout his career as an agent. The man who took Alicia from him.
He was still out there, somewhere. Not sure if the same memory-wipe phenomenon happened to him too, but he knows that Cerø is still out there and he's gonna coming back.
Sooner or later, Ali's going to have to face him again. And when that happens, he might not make it.
Bakar, his uncle, had been helpful during his times of depression. Always being there for him, even at his lowest.
Funny, isn't it? The man who had been absent after his mother's passing, now here for him after everything. I guess that's his way of repaying his mistakes.
As for Rizwan and his team (Dos and Trez), Ali has yet to receive any news from them. Last thing he heard was 2 days ago when they said they'll be continuing on their search for Cerø whilst wishing him luck on his mental health.
sigh
Ali got up from his bed, beads of sweat slowly rolling off his face and onto his lap.
He checks the clock on his bedside table.
4 a.m.
Still early in the morning. The sun hasn't even risen.
He groggily gets up from his bed to change to his usual attire. It's the weekends, so he'll be spending most of his time training at HQ. The least he could do to prepare for Cerø's next plan.
After he changes, he greets his cat, Comot, before grabbing his scooter. Comot followed close as he scooted through the neighborhood. His dad, Dr. Ghazali, is still asleep in the house, just like everyone else in the surrounding area, so he won't have to go the extra mile by being stealthy.
Once he arrives to one of many secret elevators leading to HQ, he leaves his scooter outside as he enters the code in and gets on the elevator, Comot entering with him.
The descent was unceremonial. At this point, it's about as glorious as seeing a fly over your food.
He arrives to a large hallway, which after a few seconds, closes off and gives him a quick scan and changes his attire to his agent suit.
Few seconds later, he enters the main facility and heads for his dorm on the left wing on the Tekno division.
After a long walk, or rather, stumble (he's still sleepy), he arrives to his dorm.
The door opens with a hiss, revealing his Tekno lab/dorm complete with a bunk bed and an operating table for machinery (and maybe a person if the situation is dire). Soldering tools and screws sat all over the table, with a few manuals and books also being there.
The large computer ontop of the table stood lit up, like the hallway lights outside. On it was a bunch of opened files and blueprints for something he's working on.
He quickly throws his bag onto the bed and sits on the chair, swinging around until he was facing the computer.
There, an AI voice greeted him.
"Welcome back, master. You seem to be doing well :)"