Chapter 15:

The Unknown Enemy

Memory 262


The day finally came, and we were ready to infiltrate The Hope’s headquarters. It was a perfect day to execute the plan because most of the staff wasn’t present at the headquarters, it was a holiday but the security was still tight. Most civilians out of the way, we could let ourselves loose and infiltrate as effectively as we could. Gravast and Aja were working together and Xiba and Soya were on the other team, but I was going solo. We had to sneak in, we could not just blast through the entrance and give Shin time to escape, that’s why we choose to enter from the backside.

Arren helped us hack the cameras and repeated the same footage all over, so we could enter the building without any problem. He also hacked the doors, and we were granted access to the inner part of the headquarters easily. Gravast and Aja took down the front guards silently and hid them so that no passerby could raise suspicion.

“We are inside the building, thanks for the help,” I communicated to Arren using the watch.

“No problem,” he replied.

We were inside the building. Xiba, Soya, Aja and Gravast took down every guard on the ground floor. “Now to where Xiba?” Aja asked through the watch.

“Shin is probably on the top floor, that’s where they conduct most experiments, and Shin’s office is there,” Xiba responded.

“let’s hurry up then,” said Aja.

Using the same method, we cleared every floor and made sure that no guard or security personnel was kept awake. We managed to reach the top floor where Shin was residing. There was no sign of any security guard or any scientist nearby. All we could hear was the sound of the air coming through the AC vent. “It’s all peaceful here, I imagined people screaming and whatnot.” Gravast expressed.

“Are you disappointed?” Aja responded with a weird look on his face. “Let’s just enter the office and grab the bastard.” Said, Aja.

We didn’t have time to waste so we rushed into his office and to our surprise he was present there. After noticing the lack of security, I was concerned that he had some schemes up his sleeves, but he was simply sitting there doing his job.

“I bet you weren’t expecting us Mr. scientist,” Gravast shouted as we entered the office.

We were all standing in front of the man who not only destroyed ours but many lives single-handedly. He wasn’t the only corrupt, but he was one of the most influential.

He put his stylus down which he was using to write on his tablet and looked up at us. “Oh, you both are here finally. I wondered where you both had been for the last few months. I hope you are doing okay.” He said calmly while staring at Xiba and me.

“Are we okay? You literally tried killing us and here you are asking, how we are doing? You really need to get yourself checked as well.” I was filled with anger by being in the same room as Shin.

Gravast was looking tired, and it looked like he wanted this to be over quickly. “You know what? We don’t have all day, so why not just take him out first?” He made sure we were sticking to our plan.

“Let’s do it then,” Aja responded in agreement.

Gravast went closer to Shin and knocked Shin out cold before he could say anything. We went back to the Underground with Shin with us, we removed his watch and hacked it to make sure no one was following us. Everyone was happy to see us back together when we reached the Underground. I was still shocked about Shin getting kidnapped by us, no one was following us and it all seemed oddly unsettling. Aja tied him to a chair and removed his most, he could see us now. Cameras were pointing at him, ready to broadcast everything we could get him to utter about his horrendous experiments.

Aja, Soya, Gravast and I were present in the room, ready to start our game which was going to bust the secrets of Hope and the people associated with it.

“I hope you understand the gravity of this situation here, Shin. Aja was grinding his teeth. He was still angry about the loss of his wife and daughter. He was clenching his fists. “I have a few questions for you and I hope you will answer them honestly.”

“Ha, why should I? I am dead already. Shin was unfazed, he glossed over to the left side of the room towards Aja’s desk. “By the way, beautiful wife and daughter you got there.” Gravast was eyeing Aja, and so were we. Shin’s remark could easily trigger Aja to go all out on Shin.

“Yeah, they were indeed beautiful people. Thanks to your corporation they are no more.”

“Oh, I thought Xiba would’ve told you earlier.” Shin assumed. I looked at Xiba and she was sweating, she knew what Shin was talking about.

“What do you mean by that?” Aja questioned Shin.

Shin smiled and tilted his head toward Xiba. “Why don’t you ask her that? She is a pretty honest girl, and might tell you everything if you asked her politely.”

I knew the situation was getting worse and worse, so I tried intervening. “Don’t listen to Shin, it’s nothing that will help yo-.”

“I mean yeah, if you want to keep the secret of his wife and daughter, sure go ahead.” Shin was trying to persuade Aja to ask what he must not know.

“About my family? What is it?! What the hell are you talking about?” The situation was escalating and Aja wanted answers. Xiba seemed tense and finally uttered the truth before Shin could.

“Your family was used for an experiment, and they both died as they couldn’t survive the experiment.” Hearing this from Xiba almost made Aja smile hysterically. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Do you mean my wife and my little daughter were alive the whole time? Did they lie about their death? Did they treat them like lab rats?” Aja’s questions weren’t ending, he was still in disbelief.

It boosted Shin’s confidence and he tried using Aja’s vulnerable state to drive him against us.

“You see, your own allies can’t be trusted. Everyone has something to hide, something that they can’t even express to their most trusted ones; It is called a secret. Pretty hurtful to hear but disturbingly eye-opening. It indeed makes you question which side you truly belong to.” Shin and his twisted mentality, he speaks about life as if he were a saint.

“How shameful and hypocritical of you to assume that I would turn towards you after hearing that,” Aja stated with rigour. Aja then moved closer to Shin and punched him in the face. We didn’t stop him as we couldn’t care less about Shin, to be honest. Aja continued punching him continuously until he started screaming with pain.

“Aah! Ah! Aah!” is all we could hear with every thud of Aja’s punch.

Aja stopped after a few seconds, giving Shin a moment to speak. “If- if you had never tried meddling with the internal affairs of the company you were working in, you could’ve had a normal life,” Shin said pantingly.

Aja was smiling looking at his blue face, “Oh, so you mean it was my fault all along?”

“Absolutely, if people won’t create issues there won’t be any repercussions,” Shin responded, breathing heavily.

“You mean we should’ve never created planes and people would never crash them into the buildings? Guess my punches did wonders to your psyche, or maybe you were already screwed. “I wasn’t creating problems; I was trying to resolve them. Well, how’d know? You never succeeded with your experiments as well, a flop scientist.” The last line struck Shin’s nerve and made him lose his character.

“Do you think you will achieve anything by doing this little group project? I made every calculated move and tried everything in my power to achieve success, but he was ahead of me. He forced me into this crap, I wanted success at any cost and he promised me that. We at Hope are trying to create bio mutants and mutated bioweapons, it was our only goal. Your wife and daughter were nothing but a tiny spec of sacrifice, which doesn’t even measure to what we have already accomplished using that method. We are destined to rule this place, no matter what you try to achieve. You’ll always remain below someone more powerful than you are. That makes the two of us. A puppet and a puppeteer, so which side do you belong to?” Shin took a deep breath after his dialogue, he looked exhausted.

“I am moved by your words Shin, but I know which side I belong to. Grabbing Shin by the chin, he turned his face to the left and then punched him in the face with the right hand, turning his head towards the right side. “To the right side,” Aja whispered in Shin’s ear.

Shin was getting angry the longer we persisted, he thought his mind games and tricks will work on Aja but they never did. Aja was still standing with us without any regrets.

“I don’t care about anyone’s past; people are different when they are under control and different when they have free will. I prefer humility over pride,” Aja stated. “Now, tell us about everything, everything you have done and everything which is going on now. Let’s make people aware of your great deeds.

Shin opened up about everything he had done in the past and countless other details about Hope's past as well. Everyone was watching this broadcast, slowly they were realising how much was kept secret from the general public. We were getting many live reactions from the viewers; they were angry and wanted to protest against the government. Going against authority in power is not an easy task, we have already taken the initiative, and because of that, we were in danger of getting killed randomly. We were safe in the Underground, but who knows how everyone will react after the kidnapping of a well-renowned scientist?

Gravast grinned and went up to Shin “The damage is done Shin; you can’t undo anything now. Guess you won’t be here to witness it all unfold,” he said as he pointed towards the window, outside of which were people of the Underground, ready to shred him into pieces.

“Throw him out,” ordered Aja to Gravast.

“With pleasure.” Gravast winked at Shin.

As Gravast was dragging Shin outside, Shin stated something crucial.

“Even if you kill me, he will still succeed. You don’t know what are his motives, I was just a façade in this grand scheme. The main driving force is still out there, and he will soon reveal himself.

Gravast stopped midway and picked him up by the collar, “Who the hell are you talking about?”

“I would rather die than reveal it before him,” said Shin.

“Then die!” Shin threw him outside where the raging crowd got him and started beating him, I didn’t feel anything about it, he deserved to die. Nobody was happy or sad about it, his life held no meaning to anyone. Everyone was using him just as a way to release their repressed pain and anger.

We all were silent for a moment, watching over the crowd as they devoured him. The air was filled with the noise of people screaming in the background.

“It’s time, as he stated that there is someone who was above him controlling everyone. We need to find who he is,” Aja was puzzled.

“He did say that he will show up, by himself, I don’t think we need to do something to find who he is, let’s just lay low and see who will it be,” I responded and tried to convince Gravast and Aja to not worry about that matter for now.

“I guess you are right, I don’t want to act on impulse, especially because of a dying man's statement,” replied Aja and giggled short after that.