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The agents were already up by 6:00 am in HQ. They worked in there, illing out reports and observing more expeditions to complete and before they knew it, the time was 6 pm. Zain read the different specifications of the few missions they have to clear out by midnight. One was marked as low danger and an agent could go solo as all they needed to do was retrieve all Azurium containers and protect it until transport came and took it. It was an easy mission, no?
Zain picked up the paper containing all information about the mission and his head turned to him. “I believe it is your turn for missions,” he said, approaching the grinning Djin who took it gleefully. Djin’s eyes scanned the paper in a matter of seconds from his excitement.. But, that faded as his wide grin turned into the biggest scowl. Zain blinked at him, tilting his head in confusion, “What? Did I write something wrong?”
He tried to peek at the paper, but before he could — Djin shoved the paper against Zain’s chest, glaring into his eyes like he always did when he opposed an idea. “Why did you hand me this? It is extremely simple? What agent cannot do this mission?” His complaints left Zain’s anger boiling beneath his skin, but Zain sighed and he snatched the paper.
“Othman wants all the agents to prove that they can advance to higher missions,” he firstly explained before he shoved the paper in Djin’s face, pointing at the description and then at the Inviso. “Since you’re the weakest Core Leader, might as well upgrade your rank with this mission,” he handed the paper back to Djin who threw it away in Dayang’s direction in which it was immediately crumbled into a ball by the focused Tekno Leader. Then, she threw it back and it accidentally hit Ganz’s head.
Djin could not really deny this fact since all agents are firstly unauthorised to go on intense missions until they could prove they could manage it by building on easy missions first. Fuck. He stormed away, making sure to stomp loudly to the people behind him. However, no one bat an eye and he had to run back to Zain to ask about location details. And before Djin was about to leave the room fuming, Zain told him playfully, “If you come back with your failed mission, I will punish you!”
“HNGGRR! SHUT UP!” And then he left.
Allegedly, according to the record, a truck driver was supposed to pick up deliveries of Azurium containers, but there were hooligans who disrupted his work and Djin was supposed to hinder them from attacking the truck driver. The instructions were clear, yet extremely boring. He was supposed to follow the man’s orders. He was not allowed to use extreme violence unless the truck driver was injured. Unfortunate, he loved attacking villains.
As he arrived to the area where Azurium was supposed to be picked up... He looked around for a second and two before his eyes scrunitised the location. A forest with a nearby grey building...? Zain verified this location as safe in MATA’s systems, and if the smartest on the team did so, he had to follow it. His feet trambled the small leaves, leaving a crunching sound as he walked to the truck driver pacing outside his truck. Was he really that stressed over thieves? “I’m here, now, what should I do?” He said, looking down at the man who was shorter than him as he got closer.
By the time Djin halted in front of him, the truck driver finally noticed he had arrived. “O-Oh!” He stammered, and Djin’s gaze continued to linger on him. He could tell this guy was in his 50s. “I nee-Need help with transporting. So.. you can just guard me as I rush in and get the ores, okay?” Djin nodded to his new order, but just watched the hesitance creep up into the man’s face. Was he not going in? “Listen... You seem like a nice man. Sorry to do this to you...” He avoided Djin’s confused gaze.
“What do you mean?-”
It was too late for him to react to the footsteps behind him, yet he tried but before he could catch a glimpse. A hard object hit him in the back of his head, his vision blurring as his body fell forwards to the ground. The loud voices started to fade away like background noise.
*
At headquarters, the three Core Leaders already finished the last missions, watching the entire and exit door to their office. Five minutes transitioned into ten.
ten into fifteen.
fifteen into thirty.
Everyone looked at each other, their worries almost palpable between the three. Where was he? They looked at the clock, and they had now been waiting for two hours since they began waiting for him. Ganz’s leg was bouncing and Dayang put her hand on his shoulder, but Zain stood up and turned to his team, “Let us check that place I sent him to,” he headed out first and Dayang and Ganz looked at each other before following after him.
They drove to the location with their motorcycles on, ensuring that they reach there without their engines making loud noise. As they were driving, Zain grabbed his phone with one of his hands, pressing on the call app and then touching the screen above Djin’s name. The phone rung for a few seconds.
“Hi, the number you called belongs to Djin. Chances are I am busy during this time that you are calling me. Have any simple questions I could answer in messages? Send it through messages. If not, leave a voicemail. I will return the call or message soon.
It beeped and Zain began to speak, “Djin, it’s me, Zain. If you get this voicemail, immediately call me back. You’re scaring me.” He pressed the end button as he turned the corner with Dayang and Ganz following behind him. There was no truck driver here, no signs of Djin or anyone at all. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Zain kicked down the kickstand, noticing a contrasting colour in the ground and he rushed over. His eyes slowly widening in horror as he realised the contrasting colour was a vibrant red. His knees hit the ground, swiping his finger against it. He could care less about contamination if his husband was in danger.
The two agents ran to him, “Found anythin..” Dayang’s voice slowly faltered, realising what Zain was looking at. Zain blinked, trying to make himself as serious as possible even though every thought returned to Djin possibly being tortured. This could not be his blood. It can’t. It can’t. But, Zain had a sense of belonging to this stain of blood. It was his. He knew it was Djin’s.
“Order a team to come check whether this blood is his or not.” He stood up from the ground, not caring about if his pants were stained by the dirt or the blood. Dayang was already typing something into the hologram of one of her ball drones. “We need to be certain,” he said, his gaze looking down at the blood. Fuck. If only. If only he had followed Djin to this mission. If only. If only.
Dayang nodded sympathetically, her eyes looking away at the ground. “They will be coming soon,” and she looked at how Zain fought his sorrow and guilt, “It is not your fault.. Zain. We could not have known this was a trap. We will hope that he responds to your voicemail soon and there is no match in the blood too.”
As Ganz looked up, he noticed an metallic object long in its length just by a tree — Fuck. No, it could not be. “Guys.. Wait.” The Kombat agent jogged to it as Dayang and Zain watched him. He crouched down, staring at Djin’s sword which was stained in blood. He lifted it up, displaying it as the light from a nearby lamp-post reflected off the metal that weren’t covered in the crimson red. The horror dawned on Zain’s face and Dayang could not hold back her small gasp.
*
At MATA’s laboratory once they found the blood on the sword and the ground was a match; it belonged to Djin. Once the three found this out, they diverted into their own paths; Zain locked himself in his house and temporarily handed Rudy im over to Aliya to avoid neglecting the child’s needs. Dayang and Ganz were just in their minds together, both trying to act and do something by requesting their mayor. Othman tried to grab footage from the security cameras near it, but the truck was lost in endless amounts of video-surveillance. Aliya tried to comfort the affected agents, but even she cracked when Rudy confusedly asked about Djin.
Rizwan was temporarily suspended from missions so he would not act out on his own feelings because he was already lashing out before any expeditions even commenced. The whole of MATA was unbalanced without their Core Leader of Inviso. But, there was no lead anywhere and Zain refused to come out.