A Second Chance

Part 27 - It's my duty

I woke up, the time showing 1 P.M.

11 A.M. should be the ideal time to wake up: these days I wake up after 12 P.M compared to 6 A.M. in Ninjago. A change for the better because this means that I'm adapting to my new life. I'm still waking up later than the average person, but I guess this averages it out. 

Mark said that he would take care of finding out about where the ranked 7th fighter could be while I and Emily played the game together. 

I called Mark's number. 

"Took you long enough," the voice said. 

"Yeah, it did," I replied. "You got any information?"

"Yeah, according to their base, it looks like the ranked 7th fighter is in Singapore," he informed me. "He's in this town called Jurong West,"

"Singapore?!" I exclaimed. "How do I get there though?! It's so far away!"

"You've never boarded a flight before?"

"No...not really," I replied. "I mean, I'm just scared to do business in another country,"

"Not really much business," Mark replied. "You just need to find out what his business is and stop him! Our goal is to stop the main force of The Vipers, nothing else,"

"But what about the city?"

"Listen," Mark advised. "After you beat him, there's no way Deathstroke is going to stay still. That's when the executives are gonna come in,"

I gulped. 

This was it: my final mission before I faced The Executives: the strongest fighters in The Vipers. What made it hard was that these guys are supposed to be considerably stronger than everyone I've faced, even Ripper and the guy I was about to fight. 

"Look, Ripper in his second form is not that far from The Executives," Mark said. "You're approaching their power slow and steadily. You'll get revenge against Nightshade and beat all the others except ReTrace,"

ReTrace was The Swordsman's target to avenge Shockwave's death. I don't know how The Swordsman has trained, but if he's this determined, he's going to come back stronger. I wonder what new moves he's going to get with his new sword. 

"Hey, who's the executive ranked 6th in The Vipers?" I inquired. "He's going to be my next opponent, right?"

"I don't know much," Mark replied. "The data center only has information for the fighters up to ranked 7th. The Executives are hidden. Maybe ask Emily, she probably knows,"

"Yeah, that's a good idea," I agreed. "By the way, how'd you get the information,"

Mark wasn't a fighter. From what I've heard about the time when I was in Dream State and he was trying to find out about Ripper, he was about to die, but then The Swordsman came in and barely saved him. 

The Data Center's security was too big: it was near impossible to hack. 

"Mr. Parker had some spies in The Vipers," Mark answered. "They got it for me,"

"More spies?"

"Yeah, but they're not even ranked," Mark said. "Emily's by far our most valuable asset. Both as a reporter and a spy,"

"Good to know," I remarked. "When's the flight?"

"4 P.M."

"I've got time then," 

About 2 hours and 45 minutes left on my end. If I took a cab to the airport, that would take me 30 minutes. The rest of what I need to do, such as check-in and booking the tickets shouldn't take too long. I'll have a lot of time to spare before I board the plane.