In an undisclosable location, Amara and her colleague, Matsumoto were waiting for the arrival of an important individual. As he arrived, they signalled for Don to be brought it.
"You psychopathic witch, you threw me off a cliff!" Don screamed immediately he saw Amara, almost reaching for her before he saw a familiar face. "I suspected you were behind this, you don't care about us aces anyway" he said as he took a seat and calmed down.
"Don, I would like to introduce you to X" Amara said. The shock on Don's face was vivid,
"you're X, that doesn't make sense. You've help us so much, how can the enemy be an ally?" He asked confused. With a smile X replied,
"I am clearly not who you think I am." Don was still confused.
"Zakar, we wish for him to be stopped, you also want that, right?" Matsumoto asked Don.
Emma, Peets and Maxim were back from their knowledge dive back at the island and they had a lot of questions for Amara. So they went to visit her in her prison cell deep below sea level.
"I see you're back" Amara said playfully.
"We need answers." Emma said sternly.
"Alright then, let me start with the most nerve racking thing on your mind right now," Amara then paused for a little, "Norman's Last Days," she said after the pause. The other three nodded and Amara smiled.
"Norman's last Days was a name proposed in the early turn of the 20th century but was not used until about 50 or so years after. It was the name of a group whose origin goes back centuries." Amara began to explain.
"I'm so confused right now" Don said unsettled.
"This might help," Matsumoto said as he began to explain. "Zakar's aces right now are yourself, Amara, Lulu, Ronnie Anne, Ufti, Covis and I, right?"
"Well, apart from you and Covis, the rest of us had a mission before we joined. Which was to stop this maniac in his tracks."
"You have had a lot of opportunities, if you really wanted to, he would be dead by now" Don enquired.
"That man cannot be killed. We've tried everything, poison, toxins, we even dropped an atomic bomb on his head in Nagasaki. Walked out of the bloodbath without even a scratch." X answered.
"And here you all are, still going strong." Don said. "So let me guess, you wanna turn him back to the abysmal monster he once was. You know, the one that caused havoc so long ago," Don said in a very terrifying tone.
"Just after the founding families came together to amass resources to take a stand against the Dragon Prince, that's what he was called back then. A few high ranking members of the family created The Order of the Night.
They were made up of thieves, serial killers, robbers, basically outcasts recruited by the families. Highly efficient but highly volatile also. They hardly got along, they fought and killed amongst themselves.
One of my favourites was a story I read about a serial killer who was recruited, he loved to see strong, courageous women. But what he loved more than that was to see the light and strength go out their eyes right before they die. Pretty daunting, right?" Amara asked with a smile on her face. The three just looked at each other in silence.
"Well, luckily for him his other teammates were all strong women. So, he decided to play with them a little. He had attacked and killed almost all of them when he met his match.
This woman by the name Joan was stupendously righteous and could not understand his obsessions but after she watch the light go out of his eye, she finally understood. She then went on a literal manhunt like nothing registered in history, almost killing off the original Helsinian bloodline." Amara narrated
"I almost forgot that you have been to the gravesite." Amara said.
"More like a world museum, its crazy how much of history you guys buried." Don said.
"The truth is often not what's best to know, people love lies so we give it to them." X stated.
"Well I see now how it came down to all this, but I have a plan if you're all willing to listen" Don suggested.
"Since you know the complete story now lets hear a little from your genius." X said giving Don the go ahead to say his plan.
"I was the one who gave the location of Anna to you..." He said turning to X, "or him..." He said correcting himself, still a little confused about X's identity. "anyways, I gave the information that located her, although I didn't know the extent of the situation back then but we can use it to our advantage.
Also, I've been training my daughter and currently started working on my son, with Till already involved in all of this and the Karp kids in the middle of it all also, I propose we leave the future in their hands. If we have to win this we would need to give way to the next generation of Aces." Don said with a serious look in his eyes.
"Well after a while they were disbanded and a couple more refined groups were formed one after the other until the Last Days.
In the late 1800's, X, a name I'm sure you're all familiar with started to appear. His full name is Norman X and in 1901 it was proposed for the Last Days be renamed Norman's Last Days and for X to take control of the group.
He declined but after the series of incidents that led to the development of the hydrogen bomb and after that the Cold War, which were influenced by the usual top contender for world chaos creation," Amara paused making a face, "X decided that steps needed to be put in place to attack this guy head on. No more cleanups, be on the offensive. And that's how it's been till this very day." Amara concluded.
"If it still exists today, who are it's current members?" Maxim asked.
"I believe you've met them, most of which are locked in this high security underwater prison" she then paused to let it sink in. "Norman's Last Days has another unofficial name; Zakar's Aces" Amara said hitting the climax.
"It's true that we have accomplished everything we could as Aces, it's time to retire." Matsumoto said.
"Nobody's retiring, new recruits means we can operate more freely. Also with their level of intelligence and skills, they would be valuable assets." Don explained.
"So do we tell them?." Amara asked.
"Yes, we do. It will make things easier." Don answered.
"Also I don't have to really die." He added.
"We successfully made him think you died for a reason, also, he ordered it" X said.
"But he'll gain more from me working for him." Don argued.
"You were, remember, before you went rogue." Amara reminded him.
"But I'm back to my senses after I almost died, plus I'm still working on the IFO plans and designs with little B. He still needs me."
Don said. "You really need to stop calling her little B. I think I can present this to him." X said.
"This is really weird, if you're not him then who is and what exactly are you X?" Don asked.
"So what's the actual plan?" Matsumoto asked.
"We finish his DNA research, we keep training the kids, Anne and Covis should not know of any of this. Also we should also prepare to welcome the Dragon Prince back, a proper reception this time." Don suggested.
"I would like the kids to be excluded from the main plan." Amara demanded.
"That should do it for now, we'll see how we can incorporate this plan into our original plan." X said as he stood up.
"I've got some things that need my attention back at HQ, I'll be taking my leave now." Amara said standing up also.
"I'm going to come live here once I'm dead, might as well look around." Matsumoto said.
"I totally forgot about that, we're still counting on you, man" Amara said to him as she exited.
"That's just perfect" Peets said as he attempted to be shocked by what Amara just said, but he couldn't.
"I'm not surprised at all." Emma said indifferent. At this point three people entered the area behind Maxim, Emma and Peets.
"Ma'am, Lulu-chan and Mr Matsumoto are here." Philly said to Maxim.
"Amara-chan what have you gotten yourself into this time?" Lulu said in a care free high-pitched girly voice.
"She's just being herself Lulu-chan, right Amara?" Matsumoto asked as they walked closer.
"What are they doing here?" Amara asked.
"As you know we are a little shorthand, so I thought I'd bring in some extra hands." Maxim said. As they were talking an alarm rang throughout the underwater prison and the surface sea base.
"What's it this time?" Emma asked rhetorically kinda exhausted.
"Seems like a broadcast is coming through, looks like it's being broadcasted through out the world too." Philly said.
On the screen, a man siting comfortably came up.
"Hello earthlings, I am the man known too most as Zakarpat. As of today, there are no functioning governments left in the world. All infrastructures have been abolished and all systems disintegrated. Mankind deserves no such luxuries.
You all have three years, give me a reason to take pity on you all or perish." Far away on a deserted mountain, Anna was listening to the broadcast also, "resist all you like, it'll all be in vain. I have deployed drones and IFO's around the world to monitor and keep you all in check." He continued.
"Things are finally getting interesting." Anna said with a smile.
"My long last revenge is at hand." He ended and the screen went off.
"It's finally time, Amara-chan. I hope there will be fireworks." Lulu said.
"Nice to see that at your elderly age you're still as jovial as ever." Amara said to Lulu.
"Age has no hold over me." She replied.
"It's nice to see a plan come together, isn't it Amara?" Matsumoto whispered turning to Amara.
"This is as far as we go, lets hope we left it all in the right hands." Amara whispered back.
"Peets!" Amara called out, "How much have you put together so far?" Amara asked him.
"Not much honestly, still wrapping my head around it all." He answered.
"Shouldn't take long for the man who realized the connection between Maxim and I, right?" Amara asked.
"What connection?" Peets sounded confused.
"When you asked me about my kill in the field and about Maxim." She said trying to remind him.
"You were in a bad mood and you told me to be quick, I had two questions and I asked both at once." Peets explained.
"Ohh, that's disappointing." Amara exclaimed.
Meanwhile, back where Ronnie Anne was being treated, she had a visitor.
"You did well, Anne. Sacrifices needed to be made, I'm sure you'll understand." The visitor said. The visitor then made her way to where the Karps were being held. Specifically to where Norman was.
"Who would have thought that orange would be a nice shade on you?" She said to Norman.
"I don't know, I kind of like it." Norman replied. Meanwhile in the cells nearby, Booman and Hooman recognized the voice of the visitor.
"Mom!?" They both said shocked.
"Ohh, hey kids. Long time no see, how has your dad been doing these days?" She asked. "Saw him not long ago on the broadcast he did, he is not aging well." She said in a whisper. Both of them were confused.
"How are you here?" Hooman asked. "Don't you know who she is?" Norman asked. "She is the head of the Duchess family who control the Helsing family and the whole of GLOBAPOL." Norman explained.
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