Project X - Agents & Assassins [COMPLETE]

Chapter 23

August decided it was for the best to give Thomas his time and allowed everyone to explore the house. Even though they were still confused about why Thomas suddenly left, Scarlett took lead in giving a tour through the house including the cellar. Eyes opened with glory when they arrived in the cellar. Even Richard had to admit it all looked 'pretty badass.'

She showed them the computer hall, the shooting range, the fighting pit and the secret office behind it. Never had any of them guessed that there was so much underneath the little house they stumbled upon. They all had different interests throughout the house. Richard was intrigued by the fighting pit and all the weapons surrounding it, Kalea loved the shooting range and told everybody how much she'd like to try out some bows and Felix liked the office. He got uncomfortable while walking through a house that had this number of weapons and liked how quiet and normal the office seemed to be. Richard eventually pointed to several weapons on the walls. 'You know that normal people don't have a basement full of weapons, right?', he laughed.

'All these knives will save my life, one day,' she answered.

'Well, what about those guns?', he said as he pointed to the wall that was covered with guns, bows and rifles that begged to be touched.

'Oh, those are just for decoration,' she said with a bright smile on her face. 'You can try them out if you want,' she gestured towards Kalea who already raced towards the bows and took seven of them to the shooting range. 'I'm going to wash myself,' Scarlett said after Kalea had ran out of the room. Richard nodded and looked at Felix who was looking around nervously in a corner of the room.

Scarlett climbed back up the stairs and disappeared from the room. Richard walked up to Felix and patted his shoulder as he gestured to the fighting pit. 'You want to give it a try?', he asked Felix who looked up in surprise. He understood what Richard was getting at and hastily shook his head. 'Come on,' Richard insisted as he pushed Felix a little closer to the fence. 'Just one round.'

Felix swallowed and looked at the deep pit before him and sighed. 'Fine, but you're going to beat me anyway,' he complained.

'I'll be easy on you,' Richard laughed as he jumped over the fence and landed on the sand with a small thud. Felix hesitated while stepping closer to the fence, but seeing Richard jumping over the fence and making it look so easy he didn't take too long to follow.

Felix stumbled weakly before Richard who put his hands close to his chest in a fighting position. 'Okay, what you first have to do is getting that attitude up,' Richard said when he saw the glimpses of fear in Felix's eyes. Felix nodded and straightened himself. 'Perhaps it's easier to take off our shoes?', Felix suggested. Richard agreed and the boys took both their shoes off and threw them to the side of the pit. Felix almost forgot to take off his glasses as well and placed these in one of his shoes. Richard stood back in his position and Felix followed his example by mirroring the way he placed his feet and arms. 'Do you really want me to explain everything or do you just want to fight?', Richard asked. Felix noticed the fire in his eyes and the adrenaline pumping in his body. This guy did this for a hobby.

'Let's just fight,' Felix said to satisfy Richard while thinking to himself he didn't want to piss Richard off. Richard nodded and took a step closer to Felix. Before Richard could deliver one, carefree punch, a pitched voice echoed through the room. 'You guys want a judge?', Kalea asked while taking off her shoes as well and swinging them through the fence. She sat down and waited for the guys to respond. 'I'm fine with it,' said Richard and Felix agreed with a small smile towards Kalea. Felix put one hand in front of his face and one in front of his stomach, defending his body from any unexpected or painful hits.

Richard made an attack by taking Felix's right arm and punching Felix in the face with his own hand. Felix stumbled back and rubbed his nose, where now blood was spilling out from. Kalea pinched her face together and inhaled through her gritted teeth. 'Shoot! Are you okay, Felix?', she asked quickly when she saw Felix was having trouble with getting himself together. 'Yeah, I'm fine,' he said. 'I've had worse.'

Richard almost put down his defences when Felix came at him with a clean punch in Richard's stomach, followed with a kick in his knee cavity, making Richard fall to the ground. Richard quickly jumped up and jumped on Felix, making them land in the sand. Felix struggled and wanted to get out of Richard's grip. He bit his hand and quickly crawled away to a wall and away from Richard who had let go of him. Richard stood up and walked towards Felix. But when he wanted to hit him, Felix quickly drew his arms in a defending position. 'Please,' he said with a hoarse voice, 'stop.'

Richard exchanged looks with Kalea who shrugged her shoulders in caution. He turned back to Felix who had lowered his arms now, so Richard could see his desolated eyes stained with frightful tears. As if his eyes had calmly sailed on the sea but a gigantic wave came and destroyed his boat. The only thing that kept him floating and made him brake down into the deep depths of the sea. Kalea had climbed through the fence with absolutely no effort at all and joined Richard with helping Felix get to his feet. He didn't respond to anything the two of them asked and said. His eyes just stared blankly at the wall before him. 'What happened?', Kalea asked Richard who was just as perplexed as she was with the sudden breakdown of Felix.

Kalea walked in front of Felix and lay her hands on his cheeks. 'Felix, you have to talk to us,' she said with a grave voice. Felix didn't answer and Richard wanted to pull Kalea away from him. Kalea didn't hesitate and slapped Felix as hard as she could.

'Fine, you don't have to talk,' she said exasperated while Richard alarmed took a step back from Kalea. He noticed the same gleam in her eyes as he'd always seen, whether it was with Kalea or with Scarlett. If he'd intervene right now, Felix wouldn't be the only one that on her bad side. After Kalea had slapped him, Felix had looked at her with a perplexed look on his face.

'Did you just-'

'Yes.'

Felix exchanged looks with Richard who kindly stood a few meters away from them. His face wrote books on his realization what had happened.

'I'm sorry,' Felix said tediously as he put his hand in his hair. 'It's fine,' Kalea answered, 'we're just glad we got you back.'

After a few seconds of silence, Richard decided it wasn't a danger zone anymore and stepped closer to the two of them.

He gave a pat on Felix's shoulder that was a little too hard received by his smaller body.

Kalea opened her mouth to say something.

'We should probably-'

'Come upstairs,' said Scarlett who'd towered above them at the fence with a face as pale as snow.

'Now.'