CHAPTER 164: AEGIS V

Certainly, the awareness of Sofia being held captive by the Icelandians had made Jayden believe that there wouldn’t be any attacks to expect from her.

Rhea had already made it clear after all... Harper had already taken down the remaining men, and Sofia, the Boss, had been rendered helpless.

Jayden figured that was why she had left for Icelandia. One of the assumptions that came to mind was that Sofia wanted to join the Icelandians to attack, because it would directly lead to hurting them.

Jayden had that thought in his mind so hard, but he wasn’t judging yet.

...

Three days passed...

Rhea had been on the island with Jayden but deciding her fate only until today.

Today... Today wouldn’t only be about deciding her fate, today would be about telling her the truth... The sad truth which they knew would tear her heart to shreds.

Jayden, Harper, and Becky entered the room where she was kept somewhere in the residential district outside the villa.

At first sight, Rhea exhaled sharply, as she had a frustrated look on her face. She clearly thought that it was another rain of questions that Jayden was about to bring again today...

Little did she know that she wouldn’t be the one scrapping out information today... She would be the one receiving one, one that was the direct opposite of helpful.

"Hey," Harper greeted.

Rhea nodded, but she didn’t say a word.

"We’ve got something to tell you," Becky continued, her eyes sharp so as not to trace emotions in them.

Rhea’s face looked like she wasn’t expecting anything bad, so that gave them the motivation to go on.

"Your sister, Brea..." Harper paused.

"What about her?!" Rhea suddenly flinched, and it was this time that her face changed completely.

"What happened to her? Please tell me!" Rhea pleaded.

"She died, six days after you left the hospital. We lied to you because... because we wanted you to be in good spirit. I’m sorry for your loss, and I hope you get over it," Jayden announced.

Rhea broke down at once, as she began to cry her eyes out. Rains of tears gushed out, as she fell to her knees in pain.

It was expected... Someone she risked her own life to save. Risked her own future to save...

And now she had died in the end... after everything...

"Ohhhh... God...!"

Jayden and the rest watched her grieve for a while, giving her the time she needed at that point, and then after minutes, she turned and glared at Harper.

"Why didn’t you tell me?!" she asked in a bellow, sobbing.

"He just stated why," Harper replied softly.

"You caused this... All of you caused this. You made my little sister die, and now I’m left alone. You caused this...!" Rhea cried hard.

"I was going to pay the bills. I already had the money... I had already succeeded..."

"You got the money by performing a criminal activity. One that cost many lives. We understand that you were just trying to save your sister’s life, but that doesn’t change the fact you need to be punished for what you did."

"Sometimes we have to stand with what is good no matter what, because that’s what brings peace in the end... Even after robbing a bank to save your sister, she still died anyway. It would have been better if you had tried raising the money in the safest way possible, and even though you still lost her, you would have been free."

"Now, every single person in that town wants you dead, just the same way we killed your comrades. But you are lucky Harper thought to bring you here. You’ll live... You wouldn’t spend the rest of your life in jail just because of one reason..."

"For the sake of the fact that you did it because of someone you love. You did it on purpose, and secondly, because of the testimonies the surviving people at the bank delivered."

"You tried to stop Razer when he was gunning them down, and you helped them to stay calm under the chaos. That has earned you some credit to be a special prisoner," Jayden said.

He gave Becky and Harper a short look before continuing.

"I have made a decision. You’ll be held here for a whole year, to make sure the incident at the bank gets old. After that, we can decide what next to do... During these moments, you can decide to work in one of the units, diligently, or choose to stay in here all year. Your choice."

With that, Jayden gave her an assuring nod before heading out, and then Harper followed.

When Becky was already at the point of stepping out, she suddenly heard Rhea call back.

"Hey."

Halting and turning, Becky left her brows furrowed.

"The shot on your leg. It was me... I’m sorry," Rhea said with a sincere tone.

Becky could only give her a soft observation before heading out, leaving no response behind.

And when they were gone, Rhea went back to crying her eyes out.

"There’s no hope for me anymore..."

"I’m alone in this world now..."

"Brea, why did you leave me? You couldn’t wait for us to have that perfect birthday party."

And in the end, she could only say...

"I’ll miss you, Brea. I always will."

******

"Good news, babes!" Charlotte entered the living room and shouted.

"Where’s Jay?" she asked.

"With the Poliver guy. Just had to tell him that his sweet girlfriend isn’t coming for him," Temi replied.

"Oh, damn. He has to hear this," Charlotte said excitedly.

"Okay then, I’ll go fetch him," Camilia attempted to head before the door suddenly creaked open.

It was Jayden.

"Guess what?" Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"What?" Jayden had his brows furrowed as he asked.

Charlotte watched their insanely curious faces for a while before finally speaking.

"I just figured out how to hack the Icelandian Satellite Systems. And boom...! That means we can gain control of almost all of their weapons!

"Charlotte, you gotta be kidding me," Paula shook her head as she laughed in disbelief.

"Well, then. Come have a look. You all," Charlotte said as she rushed into her office.

The others had no choice but to follow up at once, knowing the weight of what she just said.

Until they got to see this at once, it was unbelievable.

"Here!" Charlotte shouted as they entered.

"Some simple, little procedure. I somehow hacked the Main Account Accession programmer. No one in the world had been able to do that, but somehow, I did..."

Charlotte grabbed a tablet from one side of the table and showed it to them.

"If I can get the passcode to access the satellite, we would surely gain control of 60% of their top nuclear weapons. The remaining 40%, well... Harper, Paula, and I would be able to destroy about 20% of them, and the ones they’d be throwing at us during the war..."

"The defence systems are going to make sure to keep them away. We have been trying to make the best out of it, something that no weapon could break through. We assure you of that... And... well, it’s left for Harper and Paula to craft a weapon that could break through their defense systems, because that would be the most crucial part in our strikes," Charlotte said.

"True," Jayden nodded.

"On it... We are trying to create a weapon that can wipe out an entire city. We need to make our response to them bigger than their first attacks. We’ll be done with it in no time... That’s a promise," Paula said.

"Talking about the defense system, I already got something figured out," Harper said.

The whole group turned to her at once.

"The Aegis V," she continued.

"Aegis V?"

"That’s the name I gave it. Not a wall, but a weave with five attributes against top nuclear weapons and missiles."

"It SEES, SPOOFS, SHREDS, SOAKS, and REDIRECTS!"

They were all captivated by her explanation at that point.

"The Aegis V would have the capacity to defend Nortasia for as long as it stands, and wouldn’t be removable unless the constructor does."

"You mean Redirect? Does that mean the bombs sent against us can be redirected to the sender?" Jayden asked.

"That’s right. With immediate effect, and the Aegis V could add some effectiveness to that particular device. It could make it deal double the damage it could give at its typical capabilities," Harper replied.

"What a crazy idea... Really..." Camilia reacted with an amazed smile.

"Uhh, thanks... But we haven’t got that done yet. I would need Paula’s help. We definitely have everything to do with every preparation here, so..."

"I’m in, we should begin quick enough," Paula responded at once.

"That’s a good progression from you guys. I can’t be more impressed," Jayden said with a smile. A smile that showed them his straight sincerity.

"So, man... What’s your plan?" Temi then asked him.

With a rough exhale, Jayden spoke.

"When the defence systems are installed at every part of the country, we strike. At first, we dare him to make more attacks, which he foolishly will... He will learn his lessons after his attacks backfire, and by then, Harper, Charlotte, and Paula will have crafted a blaster that can penetrate their toughest defenses..."

"We’ll make him beg," Jayden boldly voiced.

"They are not ready," Becky smiled.

"Yeah, President Liam has no idea who he is messing with."

.

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[A/N: Any opinions on the Nortasia-Icelandia conflict?]