Red: A Project 863 fanfiction

Chapter 13

Alex's POV

"Why would she give us another emulator?" I ask.
"Not sure. Matt, could you emulate this to your computer in MegaDesk?" Sam suggests.
"I could try, but it's highly unlikely that it will work." Matt replies, grabbing the emulator. As we head into MegaDesk my vision turns red again. "I don't understand why this is happening." I mutter to myself.
"Huh?" Mars says.
"Oh, nothing." I respond.
    "Okay." Mars replies.
    "Okay, okay, let's see." Matt says, looking to see how the emulator could connect with his computer. My phone suddenly begins to ring. It was an unknown caller.
    "Hello?" I ask.
    "Oh, you've survived the trap." The unknown caller says.
    "Who is this?!" I demand.
    "Do you really not remember?" The unknown voice asks. I could make it out to be a male voice.
    "I'm not gonna ask again. Who. Is. This?" I demand once more.
    "Let's just say that I'm a friend of Sky, alright?" The unknown caller declares.
    "What the hell do you want?" I say, getting tired of all these phone calls.
    "To speak with you, in person." The unknown voice says.
    "Why?" I ask.
    "I'll tell you that once we meet." The unknown voice says.
    "Give me a minute." I say, muting the phone.
    "Who was it?" Sam asks.
    "I think it was a Phantom, who said he was also a friend of Sky. Do you know anyone who's a Phantom now, Sky?" I ask.
    "There's a lot of people I used to know that are now Phantoms." Sky replies.
    "The Phantom also said that he wants to meet with me." I say, forgetting I left the most crucial part of the phone call out.
    "No way. You just recovered from a serum blast." Sam says.
    "I told you, I feel perfectly fine Sam!" I say, raising my voice.
    "Okay, okay. I just want you to be careful, okay?" Sam says.
    "I know, and I will." I say, lowering my voice.
    "So, it's settled, then?" Matt asks.

"I guess so." I say, picking the phone back up and unmuting the call. "Okay, meet me in the courtyard at 7pm." I state.
    "Confirmed." The unknown voice says, hanging up the phone.
    "Okay, I guess we'll wait until 7pm." I say, getting up.

    It was about an hour of me and the team pacing around until I got a notification from my phone.
    "He's here." I say, heading to the front of Blue Base.
    "Okay, we need to do this strategically." Matt suggests.
    "Yeah, I know, just how?" I ask.
    "Me, Woods, and Mars, run to the front of Red Base while the rest of you run to Orange Base." Matt says.
    "And I just walk towards the Phantom, correct?" I ask.
    "Yep. On the count of three, okay? One, two, and three!" Matt says quietly, and we all head to our specific positions, as I walk towards the Phantom.
    "What'd you want to talk to me about?" I ask.
    "I want serum." The phantom replies. My vision begins to turn red again.
    "Goddamnit, not again." I mutter to myself.
    "What?" The phantom asks.
    "It's none of your business!" I yell. I clear my head before saying something else. "What do you want the serum for?" I ask.
    "I'm running out, and I know you all have multiple vials. I'll tear your team apart if you don't give me the vials."

"Okay, I have a proposition for you. I'll give you three vials, and you give me any and all information on Nelson Syphus." I reply, hoping for the phantom to accept my offer. I wait anxiously, but it looks as though the phantom is still thinking.
    "Well, what's it gonna be?" I say sternly.
    "Fine. But why do you want information on Syphus, specifically?" The phantom asks.
    "I already told you, it doesn't apply to you, so why are you asking?" I replied.
    "Fine. Just give me the three vials, I have a USB drive for all of the information I have." The phantom says, pulling it out of his pocket.
    "I'll be right back, then." I reply, heading back into Spellbound. I quickly run up the stairs, unlock the safe, and grab three vials of Life's Blood. I head back outside.
    "Give me the USB drive first." I say.
    "Okay." The phantom agrees. After I obtained the flash drive, I quickly put it in my right pocket.
    "Pleasure doing business with you." I say. The phantom nods, and walks off.
    Once everyone came to meet in the middle of the courtyard, Matt gave me a furious look. I could tell that he really didn't want me to trade with the phantom. "What's wrong, Matt?" I ask.
    "You know what's wrong." Matt says, raising his voice.
    "You didn't hear what he said." I reply, trying to keep calm as my vision turns red once more.
    "Damn it, Alex. You should at least talk to us before making a decision with the enemy!" Matt yells.
    "He said he would tear us apart if I didn't! I used my freaking judgment, Matt!" I yell.
    "Listen, at least talk to us!" Matt says.
    "Matt, I already told you what I did. Again, I used my judgment, and there was no way I could've spoken with any of you during that!" I yell, my voice growing louder.
    "You can't go off making decisions like that. He could be back at any moment!" Matt yells.
    "Damn you, Matt!" I yell, storming off.