Is this destiny?

~ Los Angeles, the Cliffside Villa ~

10:23 PM

Michael entered the apartment he is sharing with Oni and slumped on the sofa. This whole day was exhausting.

It's his first day on duty after they returned from Europe, and Michael already regrets accepting so many responsibilities. But to whom can he complain about this?

Until Sarah and Aiden are back, Michael will be Aiden's proxy at the White foundation. He will also handle any unexpected missions and help Haru with managing the army of Chaos. Normally, Oni and Nala would work with the army of Chaos, but with the exams approaching, Sarah made Oni and Nala as backups so that they can study. Until Sarah returns, the army of Chaos is in defensive mode, so Michael agreed to all the duties without much thinking because other than his work with the White foundation, there is not much going on in the next few weeks. Right? Well, the first day showed how his assumption was totally wrong.

His day started good. JoAnna woke him up, and even though Oni did her best to hide them, Michael saw contraceptive pills.

He finds Oni cute for being shy about the pills and at the same time, he can't stop himself from being thrilled by the implication of her taking them: when it happens, they can do it raw. Just the thought of it is making him aroused.

Aiden called to inform Michael that Allen and Julius have a mission which was supposed to be a straightforward thing, but Michael didn't see that Sean and Ryan will lose their composure and jump on their target. Mission was a complete failure. Luckily, Ron and Zula were available and ready to step in.

Michael wanted to check how did the thing end up in a failure and he clearly saw on the video footage from the drone: Julius standing guard while the Ronin twins vented their anger.

Of course, Michael called four teenagers to report on what happened.

"I was not aware what they are up to.", Julius said with a straight face, believing that he can push the responsibility on Ryan and Sean. After all, the Ronin twins are not part of their 'family', so Michael will not punish them. 

"Really?", Michael pursed his lips and played a video from the restaurant which showed Julius putting 'closed for cleaning' sign in front of the restroom.

"You forgot that there was more than one drone, didn't you?", Michael asked Julius who was looking at his feet.

"It's not his fault!", Allen was quick to defend Julius.

Michael agreed. "You are right. Both of you need to be punished."

"Punished?", Sean frowned. "That guy was going after our sister!"

"And your mission was to watch him. Not to jump on him and expose yourself.", Michael grumbled at Sean and then looked at Allen and Julius. "You are lucky that this was a low key mission against one guy. If it was a regular mission, things would not end without casualties."

"I'm sorry, Michael.", Julius said weakly.

Michael shook his head in disapproval and scrutinized four teenagers who are standing in attention in front of him. "What were you thinking? A mission is a mission, not a playground. There is a reason why we have plans and orders. Acting recklessly leads to mistakes. Mistakes lead to being caught. Who will clean up your mess if you get caught? Should we call Sarah and Aiden to come home early since you lost your temper because a guy was reading information on your sister? You knew that he is after Emma and that is why you got the mission to watch him."

Michael exhaled in frustration. "Twenty laps. All four of you. And you are suspended from going on missions until further notice."

"Suspended?", Ryan asked and looked at Allen and Julius with guilt. "Don't punish them because of us."

"They are being punished because other than watching the target, their duty was to keep an eye on the two of you and they failed. The mission failed.", Michael said icily.

"You can't punish them! Who made you in charge!?", Ryan snapped.

Michael sneered. "Aiden and Sarah made me in charge, and if you have any problems with that, I am happy to step in the fighting ring with you. The man who is left standing can decide. Or you have another option: leave this place and don't come back. When Sarah and Aiden return, you can see with them if they will allow you to train with Allen and Julius. How about it?"

Ryan shrunk. He might be hotblooded, but he is not stupid. There is no way he can win against Michael and he does not want to leave either.

"I thought so.", Michael said irritably. "Twenty laps. Now!"

Michael watched four boys walk out and he balled his hands into fists in frustration. The first mission in Aiden's absence was a failure, and then he had to deal with punishments.

Michael grabbed a quick lunch before joining for an online conference related to the White foundation. Mason had plans for several missions, so the meeting dragged until they figured out manpower for each of the missions.

From that meeting Michael jumped on another one, with Jeff and Charlie to collaborate on getting Bruno to meet Emma in a café.

"Ron and Zula are watching him. This will be a smooth sailing from our end…", Michael assured Jeff and Charlie.

Michael thought that he is seeing white spots in front of his eyes when a message from Ron arrived: "Check the drone footage. Mike approached our target. We need instructions…"

What can he do? He told Ron and Zula to keep their distance. If Mike sees them, he can blow their cover.

Michael had a feeling that his day is going from bad to worse when he saw Mike push Bruno into a side alley and few seconds later Mike jumped on the man like an enraged animal.

Jeff told Michael to send Ron and Zula to stop Mike, but they were keeping their distance, and by the time they reached, Bruno was unconscious.

Michael stared at the ceiling and exhaled. That makes it two out of two failed missions since Aiden is not here.

"What are you thinking?", Oni's voice startled Michael.

"This day was not good.", Michael admitted. "How was your day?"

"Mine was fine. Studying mostly."

"What did you study?"

"Math. Linear algebra and differential equations.", Oni said smugly.

Michael made a face. "Are you going to be a math professor at a University?"

Oni giggled. "Nope. I am thinking between Computer Science and Engineering so I'm taking courses which will give me credits for both."

Oni observed that Michael looks drained. During dinner she heard that Sean and Ryan caused problems and that Ron's and Zula's mission didn't go as planned either. "You look tense. Move forward so that I can massage your shoulders… We have twenty minutes."

Michael frowned. "Twenty minutes�� for what?"

Oni squeezed herself between Michael and the backrest of the sofa and started kneading his shoulders while talking: "There is a gang who is trying to enter our warehouse in South East LA, we are leading a team to take care of them. Haru said that they have some dandy motorcycles and we can help ourselves."

"Another mission?"

"Do you have a problem with that?"

Michael exhaled and closed his eyes. Oni's hands squeezing his shoulders feel good. "Today's missions I am involved with are failing…"

"Nonsense.", Oni cut him off. "You never fail a mission."

"I failed today miserably. Two out of two. It's a clean record. And I even had to discipline people.", Michael whined.

Oni stifled a laugh. "Hmm… I think that your missions failed because we were apart, and you were unable to focus."

Michael likes her confidence. And he will not deny that he missed her for the whole day. "You think so?"

"Mhm… you will see, this one will be different. We will teach those rascals not to mess with the army of Chaos, and we will be back on motorcycles."

Michael reached for Oni's hands which are on his shoulders and pulled them toward his lips. He kissed each of her palms and enjoyed the feeling of Oni pressing on his back and somehow… his uneasiness dissipated. He smiled. "OK. We will test that theory."

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