Chapter 11

(Sunrise)
Minerva is still flying the plane while Juno, Artemis and Athena are sleeping
Noble still awake gets into the passenger seat next to Minerva
Noble: So how’s it going?
Minerva: Pretty good. Getting sleepy though.
Noble: Want me to take over?
Minerva: Nah we’re almost there I got it.
Noble: Alright.
Minerva: So why did we have to leave in a big rush like that and draw so much attention?
Noble: I’ll tell you when we land.
Minerva: It’s that bad?
Noble: More than you can imagine.
Noble looks back at the others sleeping
He wonders if he can keep the morale up and take care of his child when it’s born
He reaches for Athena’s head and kisses it
He does the same for Juno, Artemis and Minerva
Minerva: What was that for?
Noble: I think of you guys as my sisters and I wouldn’t want to see anything happen to you guys.
Minerva: Ah I see.
They reach the outskirts of Tokyo
Minerva starts talking in Japanese
Minerva: This is Alpha-Delta-Six-Niner-One requesting permission to land.
Tokyo Control Tower: Permission granted. Land at strip number two.
Minerva: Roger.
Noble: I didn’t know you spoke Japanese.
Minerva: Well I didn’t before someone taught me.
Noble looks back at Artemis:
Artemis: Damn she’s cooler than I thought.
Minerva: Oh trust me there’s more. Hopefully we’ll live long enough to see it.
Noble: Yeah.
Minerva approaches the landing strip and pulls out the landing gear
The sudden jolt from the plane landing wakes the rest of the squad
Juno: Holy s**t we’re here already?
Noble: Yup and I must say Allie is a pretty good pilot.
Minerva: Awwww thanks.
Noble: You’re welcome.
The squad gets out of the plane and takes the UAV with them
The squad is welcomed by Artemis’ contact
Artemis: Takashi! It’s great to see you!
Takashi: It’s great to see you too Charlene.
Juno: Wait. Was he a contact supplied by our parents?
Artemis: No I found him off the record.
Artemis: Maybe I’ll tell you story sometime.
Juno: Alright just making sure.
Minerva: Holy s**t! We forgot something!
Noble: What!?
Minerva: Check the UAV and see if there is a tracking chip in it!.
Artemis: Don’t worry I took care of that before I went to sleep.
Minerva: Oh ok thank God.
Artemis: So Takashi, where’s our safe house?
Takashi: About 25 miles from here.
Artemis: Alright let’s get moving.
They get into Takashi’s car and drive off
Japan still remains in shambles after the earthquake in 2011
Thousands of people still live without a place to call home
The squad notices this and it hits home for some of them
Noble: Wow you would never think about this type of stuff if you never saw it.
Athena: Yeah it’s truly heartbreaking.
Minerva: Yeah. We knew the economy collapse was bad but wow it had a bigger impact than we though.
Artemis: The Japanese government probably didn’t even have enough funds to try and fix the country before the collapse.
Takashi: Even the Yakuza fell.
Artemis: Damn that just makes this situation look even worse.
Artemis: When the mob falls, then you know there’s a real problem.
Noble: Yeah and as far as I’m concerned our American mob is still standing.
Juno: Yeah it is but it’s slowly falling.
Noble: Jesus.
Juno: Yeah.
On the trip to their safe house they have to cross multiple bridges to get there since the earthquake has broken pieces off of Japan and separated them
They make to the safe house by mid-afternoon
They find their safe house is a small hotel
Artemis: Not a bad front for a safe house.
Takashi: Thanks.
The squad takes the UAV and goes inside the hotel
Takashi: You guys can have the top floor. You’ll be untraceable and you’re cellular signals won’t be detected due to the jamming satellites on the roof.
Artemis: I can’t thank you enough for this.
Artemis hugs him
Takashi: Don’t worry about it, I’m just helping a friend.
The squad goes in the basement and takes in the events that happened while at HQ
Athena: So Charlene, what did you find that we left in such a hurry?
Artemis becomes teary eyed
Artemis: Do you really want to know?
Athena: Yes.
Artemis starts sobbing
Artemis: Brittany. Your mom, my mom and Allie’s mom have been killed.
Athena: What!?
Artemis: Yes shot in the head.
Minerva: That’s impossible!
Artemis: Well it f*****g happened!
Noble puts his arms around Artemis, Athena and Minerva
Noble: There has to be a reason why they were killed.
Juno: Maybe, conflict of interests?
Noble: Maybe.
Noble: Or they were kept in the dark at the last minute.
Noble: Because I mean the only person I know that’s capable of doing something like this is Charlene.
Artemis: Wait what?
Noble: I’m not accusing you but you are the fiercest out all of us.
Artemis: Oh I see.
Juno: I’ve seen you fight Charlene, you are pretty f*****g brutal.
Artemis: I try not to be but like Allison said they gave me the Callsign Artemis for a reason.
Noble: One day go look up Artemis in greek mythology, you’ll understand.
Artemis: Okay.
Noble: Okay back on topic, they had to have been kept in the dark. Why else kill them?
Juno: Good point, because your father and mine are still breathing.
Noble: Ok for now Britt’s Allie’s and Charlene’s mothers are innocent.
Noble: When we go back and kill those fuckers we will find out the truth.
Minerva: Ok.
Noble: But for now everybody go to sleep, we’ve had a long day.

(Midnight)
Noble lies in bed next to Athena
He gets out of bed and goes to the balcony
He stares at the night sky
Noble: Wow I forgot how beautiful the night sky is.
Noble: It’s funny how fighting can make you forget certain things.
Athena appears behind Noble:
Noble feels her presence
Noble: What’s wrong Athena?
Athena: Nothing just wondering why you’re not sleep.
Noble: The usual s**t, how am I going to keep everybody’s spirits up, what to do about the situation at hand and our child.
Athena: Well you do know how far along I am right?
Noble: Sorry I lost count a while ago. Too busy thinking about fighting.
Athena: It’s ok. I’m seven months.
Noble: What? We’re at HQ that long?
Athena: Yep.
Noble: Oh wow.
Noble walks over to her, crouches and hugs her womb
Noble: Oh my God, I’m sorry for neglecting that.
Athena: It’s alright I understand we’ve been busy with the fighting and all.
Noble: Well knowing that, we can’t go back and fight because I don’t want to risk a miscarriage.
Athena: That’s fine.
Noble: We’ll just have to pray that we don’t get found by our parents in the next two months.
Athena: Yeah we’ll have to tell Takashi too keep an extra eye open.
Noble: Yeah I’ll make note of that.
Athena: So what should we name our child?
Noble: Well I’d rather we’d worry about that when it’s born.
Athena: Alright. Come back to bed when you’re finished.
Noble: Will do.
Noble kisses her womb then kisses her
He goes back to gazing at the sky
(20 minutes later)
He finishes and goes back to his room he and Athena share
Before getting back into bed he kisses Athena’s forehead and puts an extra blanket on her
He wraps Athena in his arms and drifts off to sleep