Gained Approval | Chamber & Viper

Nineteen

A heavy sigh escaped her lips, eyebrows knitted together. It felt as if gigantic rocks were placed on her shoulders, chained down to them with words like betrayal and guilt written on them.

More things to deal with. Sage couldn't help but scrunch her nose at their discovery. The stench of betrayal seemed to get stronger the more she stared at the image of Chamber's personalized bullet.

"Do we keep it from Brimstone?" The same pair of eyes remained on the monitor screen, fingers playing with her own knuckles; anxiety seeping in.

"For now. I will think of a way to tell him as soon as possible. But if I do, we're not sure of how he'll react upon hearing this information. Maybe hold a set of activities to train the agents as a distraction. Or ask selected agents to visit Kingdom and gather more information. Anything to not give him any more suspicions until I've thought of something."

"Maybe conducting a mission at Kingdom will work. I don't want fingers pointing at Chamber."

"We don't, but that bullet somehow says otherwise. Something else might be going on in here. We can't tell for sure right now. But it's best to keep it in mind just in case he pulls a string or two on us, Sage." Cypher purse his lips, noticing the look on their second in-command's face.

"Understand?" Cypher softly placed his hand on her head and gave her a fatherly pat. "I understand."

"Good. I'll let you know by tomorrow morning after I go through the agents' profiles and have a chat with you. Go get some rest, Sage."

Cypher assisted Sage with the stuff she had in her hands earlier, giving them to her one by one to make sure none of them fell. "Goodnight, Sage."

"Goodnight."

After exiting out of Cypher's place with desserts in hand, the image kept repeating in Sage's mind. Their healer felt as if she had been betrayed. But maybe she should've expected something like this in the protocol.

After all, they weren't supposed to disclose personal information to each other. But of course, things happen, and people seem to find out that they have more in common. Like Gekko and Reyna.

The empty, quiet hallways of the protocol echoed back the clicking of her shoes, reminding her of the peace she worked hard for to maintain with everyone. But even that seemed fake and unreal.

The lock on her door clicked, locking everyone out; protecting her privacy. Sage placed the desserts on the marbled kitchen island as a sigh escaped her nostrils while her eyes wandered around her own place.

She had been welcomed by her sage-painted walls that had aqua blue accents, emitting a calming and cooling effect to whoever's eyes landed on it. The sofa bed she purchased years ago while being a new recruit called out to her. But was she really down to wake up with half of her body numb?

Maybe. Just to feel something else tonight other than dread.

Before relaxing on her sofa bed, she placed the desserts on her marble island kitchen counter that could've cost her a fortune if it she hadn't built it herself and bought it off somewhere else. The coldness of the marble touching the tip of her finger gave a sense of calmness. Even just a bit. She needed that.

A few seconds of staring at the sofa bed and she reconsidered her choice. Maybe she didn't want half of her body to be numb if she were going to conduct either a mission or activities for the agents tomorrow morning.

With every step and movement she made, she felt as if she was going to collapse anytime soon with anxiety controlling her whole body right now. She carefully grabbed the plug of the electric kettle and plugged it in before walking to her room to wait for the water to boil.