_____________________________________ | Quick Talk |

• @Xx_The_DarkShadow_xX Happy Birthday hun, you're one of the few most brightest and cheery commenters I've ever watched over, best wishes and much love, Minna ♥

• *evil laugh* now you will know what Chestin did, it's not that dramatic but eh, I'll let you read now _____________________________________

| Liam's POV |

"You'd go as far as using a voice changer to sound like Kai?"

"I'd do anything to get what I want," Isla sighed, sitting on the desk with her arms crossed. "So?" she raised her eyebrows at him, "Care to explain what's going on? You show up after three years of us trying to find you, and when we do you end up with the R.U."

Liam heaved a sigh as well and swung his head lazily towards the door to see if his other friend would make an appearance anytime soon. When Kai didn't pop into thin air like he had secretly hoped, he turned his attention back to Isla. "I should do this when the both of you are here. Bennet deserves an explanation too."

"Why can't I know first?"

"Isla." he told her off, frowning.

She scoffed quietly and scooted off the desk, walking over to him. Liam watched her silently until she stood before him, arms crossed over her chest. "Liam," she started, her eyes softening, "What happened between us? You used to tell me everything. You keep hiding things now. Why are you so distant?"

He placed a hand behind his neck and rubbed it gently, avoiding the woman's eyes. "Everyone has secrets they don't want to tell, Isla."

She tilted her head ever so slightly and frowned. "But what does that have to do with us? We've been a team for how long already, and you come back with bullshit like this? You expect me to believe you?"

"You won't believe me?" He tested, looking directly at her now. He reached for her hand but she flinched away, eventually relaxing and frowning at him clasping her hand in his palms. "Or you don't want to believe me?" he continued.

"I guess we could talk before Bennet shows up," His eyes softened, "Alright?"

Isla kept quiet and stared at him with questioning eyes. Finally, the woman let out a sigh and gave his hands a small squeeze before she pulled hers away. "What are we now?"

Liam was afraid it was going to come to this. But there shouldn't be a reason to avoid this anymore. He leaned back in his seat and ran a hand through his hair, looking around the room while trying to find words to say.

"We were a couple."

"'Were,'" Isla interjected, "past tense. What about in the present, Liam?"

He stayed silent and ran through a series of thoughts in his own mind. "It's been a while since we saw each other. Are we still together?" He directed the question back to her.

Isla eyed him cautiously. "I'd still like to think we are." Liam didn't cut in, and she realized it. A moment later she spoke up again.

❝But something changed, didn't it?❞

"I don't know entirely," Liam let out while looking to the side sharply, eyes narrowing, "I don't know."

"You do," the woman shot back at him, slamming her hand on the desk. The noise rang throughout the office as the two of them sat there suffocating within the tense atmosphere.

"What do you know?" he looked up at her making a sudden outburst, "You're assuming everything. I haven't even told you about her."

"You fell in love with her, didn't you?" Isla's voice came out softly, slightly unstable. Liam knew her eyes bore into him but he didn't want to look at it at the moment. He gritted his teeth instead. "Everyone loves saying that now-a-days, don't they?" He muttered under his breath, picking a piece of dirt off his clothes.

He heard the woman in the room groan and his head tilted up to meet her eyes again. She was frustrated, but he was confused on the reason behind it. It wasn't what he expected.

❝Why can't the two of you just admit your feelings to each other's faces and make everyone's lives easier?❞

Liam eyed the woman pacing around with raised eyebrows. "I-Isla.." he stammered, clearing his throat.

"I'm serious," Isla snapped, getting him to quiet down with a death stare. "You do realize the only reason why I'm pursuing after you is because you were my man, right? I wouldn't if we ended this like we should."

She was right. The two kept eye contact before Liam let out a small sigh and whispered, "I'm sorry." He stared up into Isla's eyes and let out a soft chuckle, "I'm sorry, Isla Oakwood. I didn't ever want to make you sad. I guess I couldn't prevent it after all."

Isla's eyes softened and she finally took a seat next to him. "People change," she started, grabbing Liam's hands this time, "So feelings change. I can understand that. It hurts like hell but I can take it. I just wish you understood that Kai and I cared about you enough for us to work as a team. I think it's time you put a little trust in your friends and do your best to explain to us what the hell's going on. You're going through something alone. That's not the you we know. I don't give two fucks who you were. Don't disregard the present, Liam."

This.. was the reason he had gotten close to her. He had forgotten.

Sometimes in the midst of being agents, he had forgotten that agents were humans too. They had emotions and sometimes even a family. They don't always have the capability to do everything alone, and sometimes while most will tell you in your face that they don't trust you, they have to put their trust somewhere. And it's a hundred percent possible for the strongest agents to fall, and this time not get up.

If he hadn't turned back three years ago to retrieve the ribbon that reminded him of Jamie, would his life have been different? Jamie would have never known anything... he would have ended up spending time with Isla. Life would have been peaceful and the secrets would have stayed as secrets. Axel would have still been Axel and not a cover up of 'Liam Carter.' And 'Liam Carter' might have unconsciously switched sides to the Renai and betrayed the R.U. Maybe become their enemy for real, then there would be no point in hiding anymore from the girl he befriended before she was taken up as an agent.

"But you did turn back, that had to mean something, right?" Isla's careful voice interrupted his thoughts. Liam snapped out of his daze and turned to the woman with curious eyes, as if asking if he had said all of that out loud just now. She laughed and shook her head. "I just saw you in deep concentration. Knowing you from the past, you pondered on everything for hours. I just figured your mind would start thinking about three years ago, probably regretting a lot of things."

"I wouldn't say regret," he coughed, earning a slap on the arm from Isla.

"Good!" She startled him, "Don't regret. I hate you had to fall for her, but if you fell in love with some other girl wooing you I would barf."

Liam's eyes glinted with awe and a small smirk formed on his lips. "Wow, a compliment? Or some sort? Lennon would use this against you for the rest of your life."

Isla scoffed and mirrored his smug look before turning serious. "You know, that girl spared my life," Liam heard the woman's voice tense up as she continued, "At the battle between the R.U. and the Renais earlier, she didn't kill me."

"Lennon wouldn't do something like that," Liam cut in, remembering the times when he had forgotten his memories.

Isla shook her head. "No. She was going to kill me. I was going to kill her. I hated her for taking you. We thought they brainwashed you. But she pushed past me after shooting and left me with a wound that I could deal with. At first, I thought she was playing around with me, trying to make a fool out of me." She looked Liam in the eyes before her own softened, "But I later realized she held back for you. Because she remembered I was something to you."

Liam sat there listening to every word and sighed. Thinking back to the real Jamie Lennon right now, what was going on back at Rosella's house? He couldn't even bare to think about it.

"Alright, time to bring Kai out," Isla announced clearly, standing up and clapping her hands together with her lips pursed in a straight line, heading for the closet on the side of the room. Liam directed his attention from the closet, to Isla, to the closet, and back to Isla with a look of disbelief.

"... You've got to be kidding me." He mumbled as he searched Isla's face for a sign of a joke, standing up from his seat. The woman looked back at him as one of her hands clasped around the closet's knob. She smirked at him and replied, "Haha. Totally." The closet doors swung open after the lock fell off and inside was a man with icy blue eyes and dirty blonde hair criss-crossed silently, arms tied back, mouth closed off with a napkin, and leaning on the wall waiting to be discovered with a blank, stoic expression on his face.

Liam failed at holding back a laugh. Isla grinned at him cracking a smile and proceeded to untie Kai. When their other friend was freed, Kai jumped out of the closet and grunted.

"Freedom," he huffed, massaging his shoulders, "When you're the head of the Renais but still get thrown in the closet by a subordinate."

"Pft, you're welcome," Isla scoffed, stepping behind the man to help massage his aching back.

Kai's eyes met Liam's and the two of them maintained eye contact for a while before Kai sighed. "I heard everything. We don't need to do another emotional reunion, do we? Can't we just hug it out for old time's sake?"

The corners of Liam's lips etched into a side-smile and something in his heart pained upon hearing his best friend say the last line. "Haven't talked to you in a while, Bennet."

❝Hug first, talk later please.❞

Letting out another laugh, Liam soon found himself entering into a group hug with Kai and Isla. It was awkward, but he wouldn't trade it for a better one. He needed something like this after everything that had happened.

After the hug, they all sat down and Liam began explaining everything to his team. From his childhood with Jamie, to his father and her mother being partners, to Wendy's scandal, Raelyn's jealousy towards Wendy, Charles' downfall, his own restrictions to being a double agent after Wendy and his father were expelled, Jamie running away from home, the R.U., Jay, Axel, the real mission at I.O. Academy, Allison, Chestin's identity, Rosella, the flash drive, and finally, Jamie Lennon.

And that's when a strange image popped into his head. It wasn't the bright, stubborn woman he always saw when he imagined her. This image of Jamie here was silent and she had lost the life in her eyes. Liam cursed abruptly and Kai and Isla turned silent next to him, startled that he had stopped talking.

"What's wrong?" Isla was the first to speak again as she placed a hand on Liam's shoulder, "Why are you anxious all of a sudden?"

Liam met her eyes and she pulled away with a startled look. "You're afraid you're too late?" she retried, knowing she hit the jackpot with her guess. Kai sighed and looked over at the door just in time for it to burst open. An agent stood by the door frame, regaining his breath as he pulled off his mask.

❝Do you know how many lasers, alarms, and agents I had to endure just to come get your ass back over there, you ungratefu—❞

Everyone stopped. Kai and Isla pulled out their guns and pointed it at the door. Liam did too, only to let his hand drop at the sight of a friend.

"Gale?" Liam raised his eyebrows, "What's your loud behind doing here?" He retreated his weapon and so did Kai and Isla upon seeing Liam relax.

The other man cursed silently before noticing Kai and Isla in the room as well. "Hi enemies of the R.U. I take this as a bad time? Probs.." the man drifted off, side-smiling at Liam who sighed and shook his head.

"Xander, it's fine. They know everything. They're my friends. Bennet, Oakwood," Liam glanced at Kai and Isla, "meet Gale Xander from the R.U. He's Agent.. what's your code name again?"

"F."

"Agent F."

"U."

"FU. Wait." Liam knocked his knuckles into the man's head and Gale rubbed it afterwards with a grunt. The man soon straightened up before smiling normally at Kai and Isla, who were standing there quiet and curious. "Agent M, pleased to make your acquaintance." He held out his hand, to which Isla accepted for the both of them cautiously, jerking away with a startled expression when Gale gently kissed the top of her hand.

Liam smiled softly at her. "Don't mind him. He does that to everyone."

"Even you?" She countered with a weird look surveying Gale, to which the man noticed and chuckled.

"Oh, I'd murder him if he touched me like how he did with you just now." Liam replied back with a simple grin, shooting Gale a look to say they'd better be standing at least five feet away from each other.

"Haha, he's a keeper," Gale smiled, but that smile was quickly wiped away. "Look," he turned to Liam, "... she found out."

It took a moment before all of them realized the sudden 'she' Gale threw in was none other than Jamie.

"Damn it!" Liam cursed. He punched the wall closest to him and ignored the burning wound aggravated on his flesh and bones. "I knew something happened to Axel last night," his voice raged, "Chestin got a hold of the flash-drive?"

"And the phone call," Gale frowned, "Axel's whole laptop. He didn't even make it out of his dorm room. I found him missing only minutes too late."

Isla and Kai's expression also turned dark. "You're telling me her partner basically just shoved all of that information that Liam had just told us in her face?" Isla exclaimed in disbelief, hands on her hips.

Gale turned to Isla and nodded slowly. "He showed her everything."

"That was enough to take in," Kai cut in, "And we weren't even the main characters of the story! This revolves around her. Do you know what this means?"

"I'm heading back there," Liam gritted his teeth, making way to the door. He was stopped however when Gale grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Don't," Gale shook his head with a frown, "It's taken care of already. R.U. agents came and cleared out the place. Rosella and Ben are being held custody, Ash is getting surgery for the bomb implanted inside her, and Axel..."

Liam's eyes narrowed and his head ached. "What happened to Axel?"

The air turned suddenly tenser than ever. Everyone held their breaths and waited for Gale's response. The man surveyed the crew before letting out a soft sigh. He placed a supportive hand on Liam's shoulder.

❝He's gone.❞

"Gone?" Liam repeated.

Gale nodded his head carefully and ran a hand through his hair. "We went to check the basement. That's where they had him tied up. Chestin had a screen that gave a view of the room Axel was in. Apparently he used that to keep Jamie silent while he exposed everything. When we got there the screen showed blood splattered all over it. We went down and... the body was found. It was covered in blood and laid face-down on the ground. We believe he was trying to crawl to the camera and shut it off so that Jamie could stop watching him get tortured. We caught the men in the room with him and are now in the process of interrogating them."

Liam took in every word and his body shook subtly from anger, and soon guilt overtook his body. "I should have never contacted him," they heard him speak after a moment of silence, "He wouldn't have come if I didn't."

"Axel would have come," Gale corrected the man, frowning at Liam, "Regardless of his life, I think he wanted to start doing something rather than be the hands behind the action. Besides, Jamie was his everything. He'd do anything to see her one last time. I've watched them all this time, after all."

Liam shouted in frustration and began pacing around the room, rushing his hand through his hair. He noticed Kai and Isla having their own dark thoughts and no one dared say anything for a while.

"I made a mistake going here. I should have stayed there. I could have taken care of everythi—"

Isla walked up to him and with a hesitant breath, slapped the man out of his daze.

"Wake up!" the woman growled, earning the attention of Kai and Gale. The two men watched her lecture Liam while he was losing his mind.

"If you stayed there, then what? The girl and Lennon would have died, Liam. You would have too. Rosella and Ben would blow up as well and the R.U. would never get answers behind Chestin. And when Axel shows up, can't you imagine how miserable he'd be when he sees everyone dead? Don't tell me crap like 'if I did this,' 'if I did that!' If you didn't do it then it wasn't meant to be, no matter how cruel the aftermath is. Didn't you learn anything when I told you to stop disregarding the present?" Isla ranted in his face, only to soften towards the end and back away, tsk-ing.

Kai grunted and placed a hand over his forehead to ease the headache he was feeling. "And Jamie? What's going on with her?"

Gale seemed to be stuck eyeing Liam's internal struggle before he snapped back to reality and turned to the man with dirty blonde hair. "I helped her up. She was on the floor and lost her mind, but she was composed slightly and sat neatly in one spot, hiding her face in her hands. Everyone she knew was crowded around her, trying to get her to come back to the R.U."

"Doesn't she need space?" Liam cut in, eyes dark, "How could they just take her up again like some reused object?"

"We didn't," Gale glared at him, "You know we care for her. Behind all this agency stuff we have hearts too, okay? Have you considered where she would go? What she would do if she was left alone? She's safest back at the corporation whether or not anyone likes it. And to be fair, Agent W hasn't resisted... then again she stopped saying anything after we found her."

Kai's eyes softened. "He's right," he turned to Liam and caught his attention, "We can't leave Jamie anywhere. She can cope up in her room and everyone can give her the space she needs."

Gale turned to Liam and added, "Besides, you're probably the last person she wants to see right now." When the man saw Liam's eyes flash such pain and guilt for an agent he's grown knowing to be tough and dependable, he quickly re-explained himself.

"Not that you did anything totally wrong. It was Axel's decision to not tell her after all. But seeing you, she's going to erupt into a lot more emotions and she's already unstable as is. Let's not aggravate the situation any further."

"Chestin," Liam growled, meeting eyes with Gale, "That son of a bitch can yap his mouth hole."

"No denying," Gale scoffed, eyes wandering to the ceiling while remembering the scene, "When we found him he was close to his death. Jamie chose to kill him slowly to take her anger out. We stopped her before she did something she regretted."

"Regret?" Liam raised his eyebrows, "If she doesn't kill him, I'll deal with him myself. After everything he's done, would she really regret killing that asshole?"

"She's not a murderer," Gale reasoned, holding Liam back, "And you're not one either. Agents follow the rule and only up to the rule. The rest is handled by the big guys. We don't interfere. That's where personal life and agent life don't collide. You know that, Carter."

"But Chestin did it," Liam narrowed his eyes, his mind clouded with anger and worry, "He started the whole damn mess. If he didn't make a deal with Raelyn, all of this wouldn't have happened. He stepped out of line from his agency and even pretended to be a part of the R.U."

"Don't act like that's something new for you too," Isla cut in softly, referring to him being a double agent at the Renais. Liam caught her eye and sighed before giving up his frustration on the real assassin— who was supposed to come to I.O. three years ago— for the time being.

"What now?" Kai spoke up and broke the silence, "What do you want us to do now? I don't know if you've forgotten Liam, but we're enemies with your agency."

Liam closed his fist and looked up at Kai. "We don't have to be," the man began, "The last head of the Renai was stupid and careless, and he created trouble for everyone. You're the new head, you can start a new path for this agency. Let's work with the R.U. in the future. The grudges between our two agencies are of the past."

Kai looked uncertain and crossed his arms, shaking his head. "We can't. It's all too sudden. Did you forget the battle we had with them just recently over you? How embarrassing to crawl back to them asking to be 'friends.' You've got to be kidding me, that was a worthless request."

"Bennet," Liam's eyes turned into a deep frown, "Please. You care about Jamie, don't you? And what about Jean, the agent you stabbed in the back years earlier? Literally. If you didn't hurt her she would have been fit to attend the mission at I.O., and Jamie wouldn't have been chosen for the job. It's all a circle, we're all responsible for something."

Kai remained silent and scratched his head. "God, stop guilt-tripping me! I can't—"

"Would you men cut it out?" Isla cut in once more. All the men turned to her and quieted down. She walked up towards Kai and raised her hand, before Kai grabbed it and glared down at her. "I'm not letting you slap me like Carter."

Isla scoffed before putting on a faint smile. "I thought so. You need to be reminded to stop disregarding the present too. I agree with Liam, let's work with them. This way, I have an excuse to go check up on Annoying Miss Lennon as well."

"Well," Gale clapped his hand as a sad smile emerged on his face, looking over at everyone, "What are we waiting for? To the R.U.!"

"—The really ugly building filled with really ugly people," the man finished off, wincing as Liam shoved a fist playfully to his stomach.

Feeling slightly better, Liam heaved a final sigh and his mind became focused on one last goal.

"Let's go save Lennon," he ended, nodding to his team mates who all turned to look at him with thumbs up. Before they reached the door, he felt the need to let out, "Guns?"

"Butt pocket." Everyone replied in unison, ready to leave.

"That's my team," a smirk played on Liam's lips as they raced out the door with weapons readily equipped. He wasn't going to lose her again. He was going to fight for Jamie Lennon. She needed to come back to her senses so that he could tell her something he'd been dying to say since the moment he regained his memories.

It was just three simple words, but those three words made even his own heart race.

-

So I have this muffin. And he likes to crawl into my bed when it's time for bed and his parents aren't ready to sleep yet.

While I planned to write this chapter and post it on Sunday like always, I spent time with my baby (brother) instead and tucked him into bed, eventually falling asleep with him.

Bottom-line: I fell asleep and I love sleep and I didn't get to update and I blame the muffin.

Also, it's countdown from around 5 more chapters? Or less..

What a journey 💔

- M I N N A