"Everyone has their sides, able or not to control depending on the strength of each self."
"Have you guys finished talking?"
Four of them immediately turn their gaze towards the figure. They just realised they were off guards just now. If anything happen then they would be dead by now. Diaz stood as he bravely face the figure. "Your voice sounds familiar, why don't you tell us who you are," his words got cut off.
"So that CSEG can hunt me down, right?"
Diana stood and walk towards the figure, she then grab the collar of that figure. Diaz, Dio and Elise were shocked but the figure didn't flinch even a little, like she knew Diana would do that, soon or later. She can see Diana's glare pierce through her head. "We don't want to use violence, you're doing right now was a big deal within the law. You're kidnapping the CSEG agents and you do know what's the punishment for that."
The room atmosphere suddenly changes from confusion to threatening. Three of them doesn't have the guilt to speak up, they only can watch the scenario between the mystery person and Diana. "Seems like Felvera's Don taught you well," a scoff can be heard. Diana's eyes widened, "How do you know about that?" the grip gets tightened as her face got closer to the figure. The sharpness of the eye contact couldn't be described with words.
..................
Glossary
The word 'Don' in Italian means boss. So the leader of a mafia gang came to be known as a Don. Synonyms for don include Capo Crimini, which means super boss in Italian.
.................
"There's a difference between intelligence and information collector. To survive in this cruel world, you need to master both of them," she amused then continue, "But of course, with a cheat code."
"Only a coward will use that way," Dio interrupts as he glare towards the mysterious person Diana gripping now. "It's the future, you need to work smart not hard." their forehead frowned, not understanding what she trying to say.
[She's talking nonsense. Just pull the mask off her face, it's that easy!]
Diaz nods in agreement, "There's no use chit-chatting. Diana, pull down her mask."
A command finally is uttered by Diaz, Diana slightly nods and pull the figure's mask down. Weirdly, she doesn't move or struggle to get lost when Diana tries to break her identity. They were shocked, including Diaz the moment her face was fully revealed. Not in thought, they expect the mysterious person to be this person.
[I knew it! She seems suspicious from the beginning!]
"Ezlin?" Diaz asked, for confirmation. Elise turn to look at Diaz right after she heard the agents' voice shaking a little. Is he scared or too shocked by this reveal?
"Hi, Diaz. To be honest, I'm not expecting you to be part one of the CSEG." she smiled with a playful smile. Diana frowned as she turn her gaze towards Diaz. A suspicious feeling rose from Diana. "Did you know her?"
Diaz nods, "I bump to her this morning."
"I still can't get rid of the coffee stain," Ezlin gently push Diana's hand from her collar. Diana who is still speechless just let her go but that doesn't mean she didn't prepare herself for any sudden attack. They're still in the danger zone.
"You're Ezlin, the dormmate of Roza with and Mirable?" Elise opens a step with full od caution. Ezlin nods slightly, "They talked about me already?" she giggles. Without warning, she started to walk towards the table near the room's door, which shocked all of the agents there. Not a single positive thought play in their heads at the moment. Anything can happen, this is just a trap and is playing nice so they could off guards and then boom, she killed them all since they knew her identity already. A typical cliche for a crime to happen.
The room was silent without words, not until Ezlin brought them a jar of drinks and put it on the mini table in front of them. She pours the drink into four glasses and turns her gaze towards them. "What are you waiting for?" she asked, resting her hands on the table. "What is this, did you try to poison us?" Diaz asked, becoming more and more paranoid. Ezlin stare right into Diaz's face, she tries to hold in her laugh but she's just a normal human. The room then filled with her only laugh making the four agents even more concerned and cautious. "Pardon my rude behaviour, no it's not poison!"
She laugh as she took one of the glasses, then drink a little from it. Showing the glass in her grip, a smile etched oh her lip, "See? Just a normal drink."
"We still wouldn't drink it, sorry," Diana speak with a tense voice. Ezlin shrugged as she walk towards the other table where her computer was. She sluggishly starts to type on the keyboard, leaving the agents clueless behind. Dio can't ho in his passion any longer so he walk near Ezlin but his step was stopped by a sudden curse from that girl. Diaz could see Diana trying to reach for her hidden weapon but it was gone, even their hidden weapon that is not visible on normal eyes were taken by Ezlin.
"Just who she is," Diana murmured in dissatisfaction.
"Forgive me guys, I'm trying to fix something here," Ezlin's eyes can't be separated from her computer. She types so fast on the keyboard that she doesn't even need to take a look.
"Now we want to ask," said Dio. Ezlin who heard Dio's words finally turn her gaze towards them. "Go on."
"Why did you keep us here? " Dio asked, calm but cautious.
"I knew it, well long short story, that psycho group sent their backup there and were seeking for CSEG agents who captured their boss. I bring all of you here to hide you from getting tracked," she explain before continuing, her gaze now turning back towards the computer. "You see my computer? That's them trying to track all of you right now, I'm trying to make all of you vanish for a moment."
The agents frowned in worry at the same time confused. If she trying to save them then who she is? Normal citizens can't know about this top-secret mission. Not in CSEG's history, a mission got leaked to citizens. Following their motto: To finish the mission as clean as we can, this can't be real. Except she's...one of CSEG and they didn't know about that.
"But how did you know their plan, even our most intelligent tracker can't predict their movements," Diana finally voiced after a few minutes of silence. Proving she could no longer hide her curiosity. Ezlin smiled as she walks out of the room. "That, I can't tell you."
They all flinched and subconsciously follow her step. The moment they step out of the room, they could see a hallway and a wall full of family photos. It was a house, a normal house. From the inside of the room, they thought they were in somewhere's basement but not expecting it to be a house. Elise and Diana mesmerised by the interior of the house, a cottage design house, who wouldn't want to live in?
They walking through that old house of hers. Watching the place and the photos hang on the wall, Diaz's eyes only focused on a little girl in the photo. A bright smile etched on her lip, he thought to himself that little girl might be Ezlin from the past. How she can smile brightly on her kid time and still have the same smile when she's older. It's ironic for some reason. Finally, after an unplanned tour, they stopped in the living room. They could see their weapons neatly arranged on the floor in the living room. Ezlin turns her gaze towards them. "What are you waiting for, go on. Pick up your weapon."
Without any delay, they kneel on the floor and took their weapon, including their hidden weapon that until now not unravelled of how Ezlin knew about that weapon.
"Ezlin, how did you know about our hidden weapon?" Diaz turn towards Elise, he cheer in silence when she uttered the question. "I just knew."
Ahh!
[Haha, she play hard with all of you.]
They scoff, that's not the answer they wanted. Dio again, with his attitude who can't lose ask, "Imposible, my weapon is specially created to reject any outsider-"
"Who didn't have the registered thumbnail, yes I know. Well, forgive me for disappointing you but it was an old security technology. Usually used on door locks and it requires pretty simple programming to hack in. Your weapon was not that cool and safe like you listen from the innovator."
Dio was flabbergasted by her explanation, same as the other three agents.
[She not a normal citizen, Diaz.]
Diaz nod slightly as his gaze is still on Ezlin's face. Something about her make him wonder about her true identity, if she's a CSEG agent then why he didn't ever hear about her? Her knowledge in tech is sort of mesmerising. "Then how do you know the types of weapons we have?" Elise asked with a puzzled feeling.
"Your weapon, except his weapon," Ezlin points to Dio. "Can be purchased anywhere, it even has the toy version of it. And if they don't then I can say I watched pretty much CSI shows," she replied following with a cynical smile. Again Diana speak but this time, in a firm tone. "Ezlin, where did you know about this information? You're not a normal citizen, aren't you? Where are your parents, did they know about your activity?"
Ezlin's smile that etched on her face all the time now slowly faded away. She looked down to the floor and sigh "My parents died a long time ago."
The agents gasped and went silent. But her answer doesn't stop Diana to keep going, again she asks her but this time with a little bit of a soft tone. "Who are you living with this whole time?"
"They were involved in an accident when I was 5 years old," choosing not to reply to Diana's question, she continued to explain in a flat tone. The situation there suddenly became quiet and tense. "Sorry Ezlin, we didn't know your parents-" Elise try to fix the situation but her words got cut off,
"Nevermind, It's an old story, now those who are still alive have to go on living," said Ezlin while wiping a drop of tears that suddenly flowed down her cheeks. She looked up with a smile again etched on her lip. Diaz went silent, he could only observe her from afar. Wondering about his past, he felt ashamed because there was another person who went through a bad past than him but still managed to smile like they has a complete childhood. "System update successful!" suddenly the sound of the computer echoed throughout the house making the five of them surprised.
"Finally!" Ezlin cheered with a little jump. She turns towards the agents. "They lost your track, now you can safely go back to your safehouse or whatever it's called?" said Ezlin in a cheering tone. Elise and Diana are speechless before asking, "You're talking to an AI all this time?"
She nod, "I knew it, Mirable and Roza must be mistaken me as mad aren't they?" amusement could be heard from her mouth. Dio and Diaz could only watch the girls with confusion. They can't understand what are they talking about right now while Diana and Elise can just react with a guilty giggle. They need to apologise to her.
"Ah! Before you go, I have something to give,"
Ezlin runs out from the living room and walks back in with a bag in her hand. She hands the bag to Diaz. As he hold the bag, he was pulled to the ground, not knowing that the bag was heavy. Diaz stood with struggle again and look what inside the bag just to for no one knows how many times shocked again.
"Be careful, it's a stolen weapon from C-tech, I found it in their weapon room," said Ezlin again. "Pretty sure you need to retrieve this item too, right?"
[She's something, haha!]
All the agents who were there were just stunned, not believing what they saw. How in the world did she know everything?!
Diaz nods, thanking as he turns his gaze towards the others. It is not like he didn't wonder about how could she get this weapon but their mission is more important and they need to move before the enemy started to track them again. They walk out from the living room following by the Ezlin to the door. Before Diana could pull the doorknob, Ezlin speak again. "In exchange for helping you, please keep this place a secret." They all simultaneously turn their gaze towards Ezlin and nod.
"You can trust us."
"I know."
...............
The speeding car driven by Dio broke the silence on CSEG special route. This route is often used for agents to drive their or CSEG vehicles to the HQ, including carrying prisoners. This is the most expensive project invested by the mayor in the agency because of the surface to build the route. No public they about the existence of this road since it is connected directly to HQ.
"Have you injured anywhere, guys?" asked Diaz who was sitting in the front seat of the car.
"We're okay, thankfully."
Again they went silent, not knowing what topic to talk about next. Three minutes pass and finally, Elise started the conversation again. Of course, it's about Ezlin.
"I'm a bit curious about Ezlin. Seems like she's a no ordinary person at all."
"I agree," Diana replied, she then continue as she crossed her leg. "We should report this to the chief."
"Well, that's the best we can do. She may be on the enemy side and trying to look innocent by saving us," Dio finally spoke as he gave a signal to enter the HQ's parking.
[That's the best I guess]
"You've been talking a lot lately, aren't you?" Diaz adjusted his sit. Diana and Elise immediately turn their gaze towards Diaz.
[What? Can't you see my talk has helped you a LOT? ]
Diaz scoff, "No you're not."
[Ouch, that hurt. You ungrateful huma-]
"Diaz. Who are you talking to?" firmly, Dio asked as he look at Diaz through the driving mirror. Diaz went silent in sudden, knowing well he messed up. He replied with "No one" but that didn't work anymore, he did the same thing repeatedly and still with the same answer? It can't be accepted. Diana in the back frowned and worried, she remember what Diaz told him before but she have no courage to speak about it with the chief or others. Or else Diaz could be expelled from joining any mission after this or worse, discarded.
"Diaz, did you hide anything from us? If you do then there's no use hiding it now. You better told us what's going on or I going to report this matter to the chief," Elise spoke in a firm and threatening voice. They knew Diaz very well, he has to be threatened or else he won't speak. Diaz's eyes widened in terror.
"Pause, okay I'll tell you. Don't need to include the chief..."
"Tell us."
The car stop moving, they're now in the CSEG's underground parking. The cold from the air-conditioner filling the car, with a tense atmosphere, Diaz started to explain.
[Busted!]
"I...I have Schizophrenia. I can hear and see things." Diaz said while looking down.
Dio and Elise's eyes widened in shock, while Diana's are not.