Hidden Enemies | The Prime Archives #2 ✓

two

The flight back to The Acropolis—Atlas Industries' central headquarters in northern Oregon—took about four hours. Instead of taking a nap like the rest of his team, Chase spent his time in the jet staring out at the night sky as it passed by his window.

He couldn't take his mind off the images Phobos showed him.

When he was younger, there were countless times where he thought his father would never come back from deployment. For a long time, his worst fear had been seeing the sullen faces of two Navy officers at his front door. He never wanted to see that damned casket or the flag covering it.

The mere thought of it made his stomach twist into a knot.

While he had been bleeding to death back on Adak Island, he feared he'd be the phone returning in a wooden box. Images from that day flickered through his mind, waning in and out like a small flame.

That wasn't going to happen. Not to him. He was going to make sure of that.

As soon as the jet pulled into The Acropolis' hidden hangar, Chase and his team exited the aircraft and helped bring Phobos to a pair of Atlas agents.

"He's going to The Vault, right?" Chase asked them.

"Yep," one of the agents answered. "The inmates have been looking for a new buddy."

Phobos cursed at Chase in Italian as he was escorted to another plane.

"Sayonara!" Angus waved at the man with a goofy grin on his pudgy face. He turned to the tall blond beside him. "We totally owned him."

Chase snorted. "I wouldn't exactly say we."

"Whaddya' mean?"

"You blew up a boat," he explained as they continued through the hangar. "And you undermined my authority. Not cool, by the way."

"I was just givin' a suggestion—"

Chase stopped on his heel and narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Look, you're new here, alright? I'm not. I've been doing this for almost two years now. When Director Shaw put me in charge of the squad, he knew what he was doing."

"I neva' said—"

"When I give an order, I expect you to follow it. You get me?"

Angus pursed his lips, his complexion reddening to match his ginger hair. With his upper lip curled, he stepped up to Chase. While he was a few inches shorter, he made up for his lack of height with his bulky frame. Sneering, he lifted his square-chin at his team leader.

"Ya' may be team captain or whateva', but watch how ya' speak to me," he spat. "I'm not a kid and you're not my pappy."

Chase tilted his head a bit. The two of them were just a few inches apart now. Their eyes bored holes in each other deeper than the Grand Canyon.

"Alright, alright," Archie grumbled as he wedged himself in between them. "We don't need you idiots destroying the hangar. The janitors just scrubbed the floors."

"I agree with Boy Genius," Emily quipped while passing by the boys with Kai at her side. "This argument is pointless. Angus, just don't be a dumbass. Chase, stop being a diva."

"Dumbass?"

"Diva?"

Both boys squinted at her.

She held her hands up in innocence while Kai laughed.

Chase shook his head and turned his attention back to Angus. "Just don't question me again, alright? And don't blow up anything else."

"Aye, aye, Cap'n," Angus replied with an air of sarcasm and a half-heartedly salute. He turned and headed for the hangar's exit.