Alex panicked as he realized that six entire days had passed since they reached the peak of Mount Huashan. He could already tell that many people would be pissed at him for going AWOL for so long.
As it would so happen, his phone rang, and the na that appeared on his display made his face drop with anticipation.
"Hello," he answered, wincing as the voice bood inside his ear.
"WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN FOR THE PAST WEEK?! I'VE HAD PEOPLE LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR YOU, AND NOT A TRACE! WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?!" the furious voice of Richard thundered.
"Jesus… Do you need to blow my eardrums out? Violette is fine, Richard. And why are you calling first, instead of her?" Alex asked, trying to wince the tinnitus away.
"You little- I'VE BEEN TRYING TO CALL ALL OF YOU FOR DAYS!" he shouted again.
Hearing a soft voice in the background, Alex could tell Katherine was also there, and a shiver ran up his spine.
"Hello, Alexander," her calm voice took over the call.
"Ma'am," he replied, gulping softly.
"I have eyes on you for the first ti in almost a week, and luckily for you, my daughter is without a scratch. I take it your trip went well?" she asked, her unnerving calm making Alex feel uneasy.
"Yes, Ma'am," he replied, keeping respect at a maximum, in hopes she wouldn't go nuclear on his ass as well.
"Then please, do tell why none of you had the forethought of contacting us for so long," she said, her voice starting to sound like the calm before the storm.
"Well… you see…" Alex started nervously.
"Yes, I'm listening. There better be a good reason."
"Um… ha ha…" Alex uttered.
'Man, won truly are the scariest when calm,' he thought, glancing over at Kary.
"We weren't aware it had been so long to begin with. But everything is fine, Ma'am. Violette is in good health, and our trip is almost over. We should be on our way back very soon."
There was a mont of silence on the line before an annoyed sigh echoed in his ears.
"You didn't answer my question, Mr. Leduc. Why weren't we notified of such a long absence?"
Alex wasn't even sure how to respond to her without stirring her ire.
So he defaulted to sothing his father had once taught him, a long ti ago.
'When in doubt about how to respond to won, apologize. It's the safest bet.'
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Bellemare. We entered a place that had a strange effect on ti, and we weren't aware of it. Far from us the intention to leave you in the dark for so long," he said, clasping his hands together apologetically.
He kept in mind that Katherine had said she had eyes on them, so he wanted to look as sincere as possible.
He heard the woman click her tongue in annoyance before she replied in an icy tone.
"In any case, you should get ho soon. A storm is brewing in North Arica, and your presence might help stabilize the situation. Don't dillydally, this is of paramount importance."
Before Alexander could answer that he would make haste, the line cut off, and his phone dinged with a notification.
It was a ssage from Jack, with a link to a news article. The headliner read 'Arica threatens northern cousins with new awakened super soldiers, after refusal to sign the new awakened register treaty.'
The title alone made Alex's stomach drop.
'So it begins,' he mused.
He had known for a while that tensions would eventually rise as people began to awaken to their New Eden powers and abilities. What country wouldn't panic at the ergence of super-powered humans, after all?
What he hadn't considered was that of all people to propose a register, the Aricans would be the ones. They had a propensity to fight against these things, normally.
'What made them take the first step?' he wondered.
Kary frowned next to him and nudged him with her elbow discreetly.
"Did Jack send you the news article too?' she whispered.
Alex nodded, closing the article after a brief overview.
It was pointless for him to give it more attention, as the writer of the aforentioned article was clearly biased toward Arica's side, portraying Canada as the villain for refusing to establish transparency about their new Awakened.
"It's a load of bull crap, in my opinion. Since when has Arica advocated transparency? Feels more like they are fishing for info on the rest of the world, honestly," he replied in a hushed tone.
Kary nodded slightly, agreeing that sothing was off.
"There is definitely sothing weird about them initiating this movent. But what is weirder is the Pri Minister's refusal. Why would she suddenly show reticence to sothing that could be beneficial for future control?" she asked, her face scrunching up slightly.
"I don't know," Alex responded, shrugging lightly.
"In any case, she must have had a reason. It's also a boon for us, really. The longer we stay under the radar, the more we can stretch our influence before the world sees us as a threat."
Kary nodded.
It was only a matter of ti before any organization with empowered humans was either forced to sign under governnts or disband entirely. If they could get their guild to band together before then, they would be in a position to strong-arm their way into staying independent and legitimate.
That was, of course, if they played their cards right and none of them suddenly blew up a city block on a tantrum, she surmised, glancing at their two ticking ti bombs.
Feeling the gaze on them, Alex and David both turned at the sa ti, only to see Kary's face change to a bright smile, as if nothing was going on in her mind.
David shivered, hating her politician's smile the most, and Alex just shrugged, ignoring the act altogether. If she had sothing to say, she wouldn't hold back.
"In any case," he spoke up, "we need to head ho ASAP. Everyone back to the hotel so we can bounce. Now, where the hell is Aoi?" he comnted, pivoting in hopes of seeing her lurking in so shadows nearby.
'Freaking ninja, always hiding from sight,' he grumbled internally, not seeing her.
'Would it kill her to make herself obvious once in a while?'
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