°°° Sealing the Deal °°° The discussion room was silent as Mr. Dickson made his decision and walked out. No one blinked or moved a muscle, as if they had been put on hold.After almost ten seconds, Carlos and Sarah looked at themselves in bewilderment. His response had baffled them; it wasn’t a response they had expected. “Mr. Dickson, wait a moment!” Sarah called out and ran after him with all her might. “All we are asking for is a scholarship, sir,” she said as she caught up to and halted the man. Back in the discussion room, Carlos was brimming over with anger, confusion, and hatred. If not for Sarah’s presence in the building, he knew that the news headlines for the following morning would be “Domain of Warriors Regional Head Office in Rumbles." Director of Affairs, Mr. Dickson Grant, found it "shredded.” “Mr. Carlos, you need to see this from our perspective." "The risks we will be taking with this,” Theodore started with an empathetic tone, but Carlos stopped him, shaking his

°°° Humility °°° • Dual Infinity Headquarters, Vancouver, Canada The office of Dan White was calm as D, the android, worked diligently on the laptop on the desk. When someone knocked on the door, he was working on ideas and designs Dan hadn't finished.It was Dan’s secretary, and just as she walked in, Gerald, Martha, and Dan, with Andrew slung over their shoulders, appeared out of the window of his office. “Mr. Dan?” The secretary looked at him, then back at the android at his desk. Dan looked at her with tension in his eyes, then sighed with relief. “God grief. I forgot to alert D that we were coming. My bad.” "But, boss, we agreed you wouldn't use him again until you perfected his people skills," the secretary grumbled as she closed the door. Dan walked to his desk and laid Andrew on it, sitting beside him. "Grace, you need to calm down, all right." I mean, I don’t see how else I’m supposed to know if his people skills have improved without bringing him out to interact with the

°°° First Kill °°° "Oh, sh*t," Gerald struggled to calm himself as D informed him that he was a suspect. “The second would be Hela,” D added. “Why and how am I a target?” Gerald stammered. "Keep calm, bro." If he was sure of your involvement, he’d have told Dan directly. "Keep you calm." "Well, sir, your ability fits into the range of abilities that will permit the sabotage." Other than Dan, you and Hela were the only ones in the sanctuary who could cause such untraceable damage.Scanning through the information Hela had provided concerning your ability and the possible subabilities, I would have immediately marked you as the one responsible, but Hela is a probability-calculating android. She may have calculated the probability that you would be blamed for her actions because you have her probability perception as a subability. “But I can’t find any motive on your part to do that." You were the one that helped Dan discover the problems with his son, so it doesn’t make any sense tha

°°° Bigger Fish To Fry °°° "On to the bigger fish to be fried," Dan said with a smile, but Gerald just stared back at him, puzzled.“What? "Why are you staring at me like that?” Dan asked, raising a brow, confused by the look on Gerald’s face. “It’s nothing… it’s nothing… It’s just that I... "I can't get my head around the fact that you're so calm right now," Gerald shook his head slowly. “Calm? I mean, I do this every evening, man. "I always shut him down for the night, so it’s not something new to me,” Dan chuckled softly. “But this time around, it’s not just for the night, is it?” Gerald replied with a low voice. "Dan, I know how much time and effort you put into D, how much work you put in to make him, well, as human as he could be, and all of that was just thrown out the window, man.""If you are alright, then you need psychological help.” “I manipulate perspectives; don’t you think I could make you and the entire earth believe that crazy is the new normal?” Dan laughed and sat

°°° Gamble °°° Carlos straightened himself up and looked up at the vastness of the dimension, then returned his gaze to the elderly man a couple feet away from him. “So where are we exactly?” Carlos asked. “A border dimension, if you will." One of many, actually. During the truce, both orders divided all the planes and dimensions neither side claimed as a sign of peace, but since the incident with Rector Ray Mathers, the Most Revered Father over Australia, the Cataclysmic Order has been trying to attack our assigned planes and dimensions,” the Ancient One explained. “Well, when you say it that way, you make me want to call the Order of Babel the good guys,” Carlos scoffed. “Really? "If you envision us as the bad guys, why do you still work with us?” the Ancient One asked with a calm look. “Well, mainly because I myself am not good and also because of the principle of the lesser evil,” Carlos replied with a cocky tone. “Of course, but don’t forget your actual reason." The Lord's