The West Sea

Chapter 14: Power

Dara Palilia was sitting next to Mrs. Agapay when the lobby attendant told them that Trio's operation was successful. They were now able to visit the recovering recruit's room in the second floor. In a hurry, both women ran pass the corridor and up the stairs where Trio's room was.

They opened the patient room door to see Trio smiling, his torso covered in aqua-gel bandage to speed up recovery time. Its gooey fluid was circulating around his abdomen, patching up and closing his wound.

"Hey guys," whispered Trio as the two approached him. His mother couldn't contain herself as she lunged in to embrace his injured son

"Oww! Mom, it still hurts!" Trio's reaction wasn't enough to stop his mother from embracing him even tighter.

"I don't care! You gave us a scare, Trio!"

"I know, thankfully this one here helped me. Thank you, Dara," noticed Trio as he bowed his head in front of his fellow recruit.

"Of course, Trio," she answered back, both smiled at the conclusion of the day's ordeal.

"Where's Arman and Hugo? I thought I saw both of them before. I don't know, everything feels messed up. I still feel light-headed from all of that."

"You better get your rest then, Trio," Dara replied. She didn't want him to worry about the events that happened that day.

A sharp knock on the door was heard by the three occupants in the room. A tall figured then appeared from the entrance, an officer of the Aseatic Division. It was Lieutenant Andreus de Sol.

Both recruits saluted, although in Trio's case, he had some trouble with it but gave an effort to do so.

"Good evening, ma'am," saluted the officer to Mrs. Teodora Agapay, a former West Sea Logistics Officer for the Freedom Isles Headquarters.

"Care to explain to me what the hell happened to my son, de Sol?!" shouted Mrs. Agapay.

"There was an accident at training, ma'am. One of our recruits' Hydro-Rifle malfunctioned and..."

"And was that recruit Marcus Sakai? Have you expelled that boy already or should I walk up to his damn father's house in the hills so I can give him a piece of my damn mind?!" Trio's mother was fuming at the thought of the boy who shot his son.

"Uhmm, no ma'am. The platoon had unanimously admitted that it was an Armando Bruno who accidentally shot the recruit."

"That's not true, sir," Trio spoke immediately. "It was Marcus, sir. Marcus shot me."

"You heard that de Sol? Now what are you going to do about that boy?" interjected Mrs. Agapay.

"The inquiry was finalized a couple of hours ago, ma'am. Armando Bruno was expelled immediately after the incident and was removed from the camp premises."

"And you didn't even bother to hear my son's side of the story, huh? Aseatic Division my butt."

"Mom, calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down, Trio. I'm already calm. You better not see me when I'm not, de Sol." Teodora Agapay stared down the officer in front of him, her teeth grinned while her fists slowly clenched.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I believe there was a lapse in judgement on my..."

"Lapse?! You mean to tell me that Maximo Sakai's son, Your mentor's son, got off without so much as a whiff and you go blaming it to some poor kid from the under-city? Is that it? Oh well then, good thing Marcus had you on his corner, huh? Protecting him from this harsh world."

The Lieutenant fell silent. It was true that he had clear instructions to make sure Marcus was to graduate from the training program flawlessly. Blaming the incident on his mentor's son would surely prove fatal to his current position in the Division.

"You know what, de Sol? You find that Arman boy right now and get him back. While your at it, you take that Sakai boy out of the campus before I send my lawyers down to get him."

"Oh, is that right?" said a voice coming from the door. A woman walked in and introduced herself. She had a formal look to her, her dark apparel complimented her stern feature.

"Good evening to you all. My name is Ms. Aberdeen Maurilio and I represent Marshal La Guardia. I heard about the accident involving a 'Matrio Agapay'. And the one who shot him was..."

"Marcus Sakai," blurted Mrs. Agapay, unimpressed by the well dressed woman in front of her. She crossed her arms and tilted her head, letting the Marshal's assistant speak once more.

"Ah, that's unfortunate. For you see, this matter is very closely monitored by our dear Marshal and would like to resolve it as quickly as possible."

"Resolve? There's no resolve here, unless that Sakai boy gets expelled then sure, we can 'resolve' that right now." Teodora Agapay was quick to respond. Everyone in the room could tell that Trio's mother had a certain animosity when it came to Metro bureaucrats and their power hungry subordinates.

"I believe from the records and recruit testimonies that it was an 'Armando Bruno' who had shot your son, is it not?" The assistant remarked, adjusting her thin framed glasses resting above her petite nose.

"No, that's a lie! Arman was the one who took out that rifle before it could do more serious harm!" shouted someone from behind the room.

"Ah, You must be Ms. Daralene Palilia. Well, if that's the case, we'll have to make this matter end quickly then."

The assistant had been given specific instructions to neutralize the situation regarding Sakai's son and the injured recruit. She was to do everything in her power to make the matter 'disappear' so to speak. Ms. Aberdeen wasn't fond of blackmail, but it didn't mean she wasn't going to use it. After all, Power begets Power.

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