Rory slapped her hand over her mouth the moment she said it.

Decha turned around quickly when he heard it. But nothing other than silence filled the room. Anyone could hear the pounding in their chests.

Decha remained calm despite the overwhelming feeling of joy brewing in his stomach. He smiled at her and opened his mouth to say something but Rory jumped up and began to ramble.

"Oh gosh! I meant that I love... uh... the decisions you make! You're good at making good decisions because you're a deep thinker, yknow? Wow, I just wish I had such a great mind like yours..."

"Rory—"

"Seriously, how many books did you read to get so much wisdom? You know what? I love books. It's been a long time since I've touched a hardcover. Everything in Astell is digital, or on the tablets—"

"Rory."

"I didn't mean it! I was just kidding. I like you, I do, but love? Come on! Pfft!" Rory tried to make an excuse to get herself out of the situation.

"I love you too," Decha stated, and Rory's jaw dropped.

There was just no way. How could he say it so easily? "Are you sick?" Rory pressed her hand to his forehead, but he nudged it away.

"I'm not,"

"Wait... you're serious?" Rory thought it was very extremely bold of him to admit it. Because not only was he just an Astellian man proclaiming his love for a Bracketer, he was a General, An Outsider, confessing to a Bracket woman with nothing to her name. That was unheard of in the records.

"You're irritating, frustrating... over-emotional... impatient and you worry me half to death most times," Decha listed with his fingers, and Rory began to pout. "But... I do love you."

"No!"

"No?" Decha raised a brow.

"No I meant... why are you... you're admitting it so easily! Why?"

"I thought you'd be a bit happier to hear me say it."

"To hear you say it drives me mad! Do you even mean it? Do you know the impact those words have? You never express yourself that much! Listen, just forget what I said—"

"I have a hard time expressing myself, that's true..." Decha nodded. "But if I'm not direct with you, nothing will get through to your head."

"Ugh." Rory folded her arms across her chest. "So what now? Does that mean we're like... an item or something?"

"What?"

"This is my first time, okay? You've done this before. I'm not sure how it goes." She huffed. "The movies make it so much more romantic."

"What exactly were you expecting from me?"

"I don't know. Flowers? A kiss? Maybe even a poem? This is just so... awkward. We both love each other and there's nothing romantic. Is that normal? What did you do with Chai when you told her?"

"We snuck into the Head Office of Grandell and... did something that wasn't quite... family friendly. And after that, we told each other." Decha smirked.

"Oh." Rory felt embarrassed that she asked. "Ew? In the office? Where Dean Risor works?"

"Yep."

Rory couldn't believe him. He was way more experienced than she thought. "I know I shouldn't be asking this... but... what happens to us if Chai comes back into your life?"

"I'm over Chai..." Decha shrugged. "Have been for a year now."

"So if she were to come back... and wanted to be a part of your life... you'd just choose me?"

"Why do I feel like that's a trick question?" Decha straightened his shoulders and looked at Rory directly in her eyes. "Are you doubting me?"

"I'm wondering what the heck you're doing by falling in love with me!"

"I wonder the same about you,"

"Nah-uh! You can't pull that on me, Decha. I asked you first! You're an Astellian man with a high rank whose job is to protect Sector A."

"And you're a Bracket woman with an intelligent brain who's in love with an Astellian General, who by the way, is responsible for protecting both Sectors." Decha shot back.

"Oh my gosh..." Rory wanted to melt. "How would this even work? We're going to keep it a secret, right? This way, it won't affect your reputation."

"There you go again..." Decha chortled at her before standing up. "I'm going to turn in for the night."

"Oh... okay. That's fine." Rory walked over to the door and turned the knob. She felt like she was going to have to figure everything out on her own. Before she could open it, Decha grabbed the doorknob and held it in place.

It caused her to look up. Her pout spread more as confusion overtook her. "What?"

"I love you, Rory." Decha flicked her in the nose.

"Get out!" Rory grumbled and shut the door after him. The moment the door closed, her whole face went red.

~~~

"Good morning Decha," Jessica placed a large plate of fruit on the table, in front of Rory as Decha walked into the dining room. "Your father left early this morning in a rush, what was that about?"

"Can't tell you." Decha grabbed an apple off the plate and took a bite. "I'll take just this. I'll see you later—"

"STOP," Jessica commanded just as he turned toward the exit. "Sit down and eat properly."

"Mom," Decha frowned. "I've gotta meet with someone,"

"Sit down, and eat. Properly." Jessica seethed. "And you didn't say anything to Rory this morning."

Decha dragged his feet as he went to sit down next to Rory. "Ah, yes, if her majesty commands it." He mumbled sarcastically under his breath. "Good morning, Rory." His tone changed to a more flirty remark, and Rory nudged him away from her.

"I'm bringing out some more side dishes. Rory, make sure he doesn't leave." Jessica ordered before disappearing into the kitchen with the maids.

"Did you... sleep well?"

"Can you do me a favor?" Rory grunted. "Your watch. Can you please take it off? I've been hiding it under my sleeves for the past week. I tried looking up your stupid tradition and nothing comes up."

"Stupid tradition?"

"I'm sorry, did I say stupid?" Rory huffed. "I meant preposterous, disgusting, insane! Get this thing off of me! It's cutting off my circulation! Please! Before Jessica says something!"

"Give it here," Decha extended his hand which Rory quickly placed her wrist into. Decha brought up the display and began typing away on it.

"Hurry!" Rory tapped her foot rapidly.

"Impatient—" Decha cursed under his breath so she wouldn't hear. Rory could hear Jessica's voice getting closer. Decha finally managed to loosen the strap and slide off the device, but Rory panicked the moment Jessica stepped into the room.

She grabbed a glass of water next to her and splashed him in the face. Decha closed his eyes the moment the water covered his skin. It even grazed his bangs, which were now wet and dripping.

"What the he—" Decha sneered, but Rory grabbed a napkin and shoved it in his face.

"Oh gosh, Sorry Decha! I'm a klutz!"

"What happened?" Jessica pouted when she saw Decha covered in water. She brought the tray of more food to the table.

"I tripped. And accidentally spilled water. Sorry, again," Rory wiped the water away from his eyes. When he opened them, Rory giggled nervously. If looks could kill, she'd be 6ft under.

"You tripped... while sitting down?"

"Ah, yes! I used the chair to steady myself so I wouldn't fall."

"I'm leaving," Decha announced, immensely pissed.

"Decha, you haven't eaten breakfast yet!"

"Goodbye." Decha stood abruptly and left the room without another word. Rory knew he was in a bad mood. But it was better for him to be mad than to have Jessica see him holding her hand and misunderstanding.

~~~

"Did you run a marathon on the way here?" Amir pointed at Decha's hair the moment he entered. Decha responded with a sigh and grabbed a nearby towel from the counter. "Why are you so sweaty so early in the morning?"

"Where's Jamison?" Decha wiped the front of his hair, attempting to dry it before he could catch a cold.

"In the bathroom."

"And N9899?"

"I'm right here," Jax walked in with a large bag full of restaurant food. He sauntered over to the lounge area and placed the bag on top of a coffee table. "I grabbed some grub on the way here."

"Starky's," Amir nodded in approval as he looked through the bag. "Their breakfast is amazing. You're a man of refined taste, I see."

"Never go an entire week without it," Jax smirked in return.

Jamison came out of the bathroom and stopped when he saw all of the Generals in the lounge. Decha was the first to greet him. "Time to get to work, Clarke,"

"Is that... breakfast?"

"Yep. But none for you," Amir sneered. "There are only 3 boxes in here. Besides, I'm sure you wouldn't like Astellian cuisine anyway."

Jamison frowned and sat at the small dining table, not wanting to argue with him. It was true that he was very unfamiliar with the way Astellians handled their food, but that didn't mean he wasn't hungry.

"He can have the one you bought for me."

Both Jax and Amir eyed Decha apprehensively as he sat across from Jamison.

"Are you serious?" Amir coughed.

"You're not hungry?"

"I already ate." Decha sighed.

"We're better off giving this plate to beggars than handing it to him!"

"Just give him the food, and let's get to work." Decha massaged his forehead, not wanting to fight with Amir. He understood why Amir was so hostile, but it wasn't reasonable to be rude to Jamison since he was willingly helping them.

"There has to be something we're missing..." Decha looked at Jamison, who took the plate he was offered to him. "You've expressed before that you don't know who Deliverance is."

"I don't," Jamison shrugged. "Deliverance has an entire team in front of him. Any information we received from him was through one of the people he employed."

"Are you sure? You don't have any clue who this guy may be?"

"I already told you my suspicions. He has to be a General."

"Liar!" Amir slammed his hand on the table. "You've got a lot of nerve even trying to put a General in the same category as this guy!"

"N95, cool it, will you?" Decha sneered. "I'm not sure how much Astell has left to endure. We can't dismiss the possibility of Deliverance being a General. You may not like it, but who cares about your likes when both Sectors are at stake?"

Amir grumbled a few curses and stepped away.

The room was filled with enough tension as it is. Stress was an understatement.

"We've been trying to track the culprit down for months. Deliverance being a General isn't a bad theory." Jax tried to lighten the mood. "Generals are the only ones with easy access all around Astell. And we know he's working behind Kilos. We have to look into the identities of the head of the companies who operate there."

"No, that's too easy. Deliverance more than likely has one of his team members working as a head. It's a cover, a front. This guy is smarter than we take him for." Decha pressed his fingers to his chin. "I don't know why... but I have this weird feeling that he knows you personally."

"Me?" Jamison chortled. "Of course he does. Each Brack gives up their right to privacy. He knows almost everything about me."

"No... not like that." Decha hummed. "He knows Rory. He has to."

"What makes you say that?"

"POYO is connected with Deliverance. I remember Rory telling me that POYO was taken. I've already tried identifying whoever it was that went into her hospital room the day the Borders collapsed, but the cameras were hacked into. The footage was very blurry."

"Deliverance only knows about my daughter because of my application. When I began working to spread the word about him, I had to list all of my information."

"I don't think so," Decha mumbled and looked at his gloves. "He noticed that these had similar material used to construct POYO."

"He... did?"

"Is there anyone outside of Sector B that Rory knows?" Decha inquired, trying to put the puzzle together. "Besides me, and my family, and these two."

"The Dean at Grandell University. Maybe a few staff members." Jamison shrugged. "Rory is very... secretive. It's because I've been a bit too hard on her. I just worry about her safety a lot because Grandell is the first time she's ventured out on her own. You'll have to ask her."

"That's a great idea." Amir snorted. "Surely, she'll answer you, N96."

Decha rubbed the bridge of his nose, frustrated. "Let's go."

"That's it?" Amir scoffed. "You're not gonna ask him anything else?"

"The only thing I can do is ask Rory based on the lead I have. It's clear that Clarke doesn't have all the facts we need."

"I still don't trust him..."

"We don't have any other choice," Decha side-eyed Jamison. "Unless you have any ideas?"

"We have to look deeper into Kilos. We have the transactions and enough data at the Agency to look through. There's gotta be something."

Decha held in a long breath before releasing it. "Fine, we'll look through what we've gathered from Kilos and see what we can find. But if there isn't anything," Decha crossed his arms. "I'm going with my idea."

~~~

"I can't believe we couldn't find anything," Amir groaned as they approached the front door of Decha's house.

The two Generals spent the entire day at the Agency, in the storage department looking through all the evidence gathered from this case. As expected, the transactions between the Bracks and Deliverance couldn't be traced directly.

Decha's prediction was right. Deliverance was hiding behind a cover, and the CEO of one of the companies was linked to the transaction. There was no doubt that the head also had a chip installed. The moment it was removed or stopped working, the person being used as a cover would forget all interaction with Deliverance.

That would make it more challenging for them to find him. There was no sign of POYO. The tracker placed on him was removed, most likely by Deliverance's team.

Decha was back to square one. Questioning Rory and making sure she told the truth. Decha knew that Rory interacted with several staff members, but since Jamison mentioned Dean Risor, he had slight doubt about his lead.

Risor was the man who alarmed the Agency and Council about the bombs. It wouldn't make sense for him to be Deliverance. Perhaps he was associated with him?

Decha reasoned there had to be some clues. They were missing something. There had to have been a missing puzzle piece in front of them that they were looking over.

They both entered the home but stopped when they saw a bunch of shoes stacked neatly by the door.

"You've got company," Amir noticed, "Were you expecting them?"

"Probably some of my mother's friends," Decha rolled his eyes and took off his boots. "Watch your step."

"How long will it take for you to speak with Rory?"

"It depends on how many questions she's willing to answer," Decha shrugged. The two sauntered further into the living room until they saw Theodore waiting by the doorway of the dining room. He was peeking around the corner.

"Chen," Decha voiced, but his father quickly spun around and pressed a finger to his lips.

"What's this all about?" Amir said in a hushed tone.

"The Dean of Grandell University is here," Theodore answered softly.

"Oh." Amir's face went pale. "Okay, you guys have a nice rest of the day. It's getting late... I think I should leave—"

"No you don't," Decha snatched Amir's turtleneck and held him in place. Amir always tried to avoid the conversation whenever Risor was mentioned.

Decha narrowed his eyes. "Why is Risor here?" Could it be a coincidence? The man that he didn't want to suspect brought himself to their home. Maybe it was done on purpose. Could he be Deliverance?

"Your mother is entertaining him. There's someone else out there too—"

"Why are you all standing here?" Rory's soft tone made all three of the men jump. Amir was scared out of his socks and smacked into the wall, and accidentally shoved Decha into Theodore.

"S-sorry. I didn't mean to spook you!" Rory squeaked and placed a hand on Amir's arm. He quickly snagged his arm away.

"Don't you know it's dangerous to sneak up on a General, Rory?" Theodore hissed. "One of us could've killed you."

"I... I'm sorry."

"I bit my tongue," Amir scrunched up his face.

"Do you know why Risor is here, Rory?" Decha pointed over his shoulder. Rory smiled wide and the three men stared at her while stuck in a state of perplexion.

"He's here to see me."

"To see YOU?" Decha emphasized.

"Yeah," Rory nodded. "I think he came to check to see how I'm doing with my studies," Rory answered before walking into the dining room.

"How did he know Rory was here?" Decha thought aloud.

"She's a student at Grandell, right? Every student's file has their place of residence." Theodore replied.

"But I never put in a request to Grandell to update her place of residence."

"Everyone knows that you've taken a Bracketer in though," Amir suggested. "Maybe he found out from the rumors."

"Men! Rather than whispering in the hall, why don't you come in and sit down for some dinner?" Jessica's harsh tone alerted them all. She placed her hands on her hips and scowled at both Theodore and Decha.

Decha immediately looked to Theodore, but Jessica grabbed the arms of both men and dragged them inside the dining area.

"Risor, I hope you don't mind my husband and son joining us. Amir, you can join too. Just be considerate of our guests. Don't eat more than you can handle."

"Mom—"

"Go on and sit down." Jessica nudged both men forward. Decha was pushed into the seat next to Rory, and Theodore was dragged to the side.

It wasn't until Decha looked forward that he recognized the guest sitting next to Risor. The man with dark hair and gray eyes. Stephen Windsor.