Unexpected {Ejen Ali Fanfic}

Uno Rising

The following meeting with the General was not pleasant at all, Ali rather thought. He had to endure the General's anger at him for breaking Agent Karya's hypnosis, the failure of getting the Azurium blueprint and the near destruction of a shopping mall.

Ali, on the other hand, didn't have any recollection of the recent events except that he had went ice skating with Viktor and that Viktor was the previously unknown agent Quarto. That was the only part of the mission that satisfied General Rama, and it was brought up by Alicia.

"Oh, is that so?" General Rama had said, who was still breathing heavily because he had been shouting continuously for the past fifteen minutes.

"Yes, General," Ali squeaked in the softest of voice.

"And his name is Viktor Ong." Alicia said firmly. 

Ali winced at the mention at the mention of his best friend's name, and unfortunately, this did not went unnoticed.

"Yes, do you have something to say, Ali?" General Rama leered.

But Alicia had spoken for him instead.

"He used to be our classmate." she said. Ali was extremely grateful that she didn't mention that he was in close relationship with the enemy.

"Hmm...I see..." 

He began stroking his moustache. After a moment's thoughts, he told Ali and Alicia off. When the both of them were about to leave, however, Sapphire called them back.

"Ali, please hand over IRIS," Sapphire said kindly.

"Oh." Ali said. He expected this to happen again, but who was he to protest? He took the metal object from his pocket and dropped it into Sapphire's gloved hands.

"Alicia, follow me." Sapphire beckoned as she and Alicia made her way into another room leading off from the Control Room, but stopped when Ali followed. "Ali, you can go."

"Why? What's Alicia doing?" Ali questioned curiously. Not that he was nosy or anything, but it was kind of suspicious why Alicia isn't going home right now and want to hang back.

"You don't know?" Sapphire asked incredulously. 

She chanced a glance at Alicia, who took in a deep breath relucantly said, "I have CFS. Don't ask me what it is," she shot sharply, when Ali opened his mouth. "Just look it up on the web."

She turned on her heel and marched haughtily through . The double doors slid close behind her, and Ali was left thinking...

***

Alicia did not turn up for the next few following days of school. He was getting quite worried about her, not to mention his grades are falling without Alicia's help. He also noticed how lonely he was without her being there. Not that he didn't befriend anyone, but no one wanted to befriend him. They dislike him and would shoot nasty or smug looks at him. He wondered how he didn't notice all these back then.

There were no missions for nearly two weeks, but that was the least of Ali's worries. He did not want another meeting with General Rama after the fourth time IRIS controlled him, and absolutely did not want IRIS to control him again, either.

He wondered whether he should call it quits when they call him back for another mission again. He could imagine Sapphire's worried expression, the General grunting his approval and Alicia smugly smirking at him. He didn't know what else to do. What if something way more worse happened?

But they wouldn't call him back for missions, he thought miserably, he just had to walk in himself and tell that he wanted to quit MATA, whether or not they destroy him, he felt like didn't care anymore. 

***

It was seven in the evening. Ghazali wasn't home yet, so Ali simply just changed and, seeing upon that Comot going to be left alone, brought Comot along with him to MATA's safe house.

Since he didn't have IRIS now, he strained all his nerves for any sign of caution when sneaking into the school grounds. He passed security guards carefully, nearly giving himself away once when he sneezed, but nevertheless arrived safely on the second floor staircase.

He looked in the direction of a CCTV, which was half-plunged in darkness, and the door behind him clicked. As he made towards the Control Room, which was full of voices, he felt numbness coursing through him like an irritating fly he could not get rid of. Comot was staring reproachfully at him as it walked alongside him. Then suddenly, General Rama's voice burst like a gunshot from the Control Room. 

Ali hurriedly dashed towards it, Comot at hot at his heels. They paused at the side of the double doors, listening intently for any sound of commotion.

"We don't have a choice, General," came Sapphire's gentle voice, though Ali could hear her plead to be understood behind it. "We must act now, or else Uno will be stronger than before. If we go into the battle unprepared, we will lose."

This sounded as though Sapphire was arguing with the General. He had hardly heard the two agents argue before, so he leaned in more closer. 

A moment of silence passed before the General spoke again. This time, his voice shook with suppress anger of being overruled. 

"Fine. Get Agent Bakar, Rudy and Khai here. Alicia should be done by now..."

Just as Ali expected. He wasn't important anymore. He slid down to the cold floor, his entire body loosing feeling. Comot came to its side and attempted to cheer him up by laying its head on his arm. Ali tried to give Comot back a smile. 

"I'm glad you're by my side, Comot."

Comot purred happily as it moved to curl around his leg. 

All hope was lost. It really doesn't seem like MATA needed an agent who always get controlled by IRIS. That's a really stupid reason, he thought, to kick someone out from the agency. It had given him an advantage after all. Without that mode, he wouldn't have been able to defeat Uno three years ago, he wouldn't been able to escape with his life from Quarto, wouldn't have been able to fix the leaking tanks...all except for being unable to retrieve a pen drive. But still, the success here overrules the failure. He guess he just have to prove that he is as capable as any agent is, with or without IRIS, by defeating Uno.