-Reckless- [Endless Summer]

- III | Time Is Of The Essence -

C h a p t e r T h r e e
T i m e i s o f t h e e s s e n c e

The man is the bespoke suit grinned at his son. "Aren't you going to say hello to your father?" And yet Aleister remained stood, motionless, eyes ablaze with the bottled up emotions of a childhood deprived from him. Grace nudged him gently, trepidation on her face.

"Aleister?" She asked meekly, and her tone was almost fearful. Of what, though, you weren't quite sure.

"I have many things to say to you. 'Hello' is not one of them." Aleister ground out after a quick side glance at Grace, glaring at his father with a ferocity that you didn't know he was capable of.

"Somehow you inherit no qualities of mine, and yet you have your mothers tongue. Truly a malicious feat." Rourke hissed. The smile was still on his face, however, which somehow made him seem even more threatening and inhuman than he had before they had seen in him person. Tension filled the strange, sterile museum hidden beneath The Celestial's grand atrium.

"Yo, this is super awkward." Craig broke the silence once more, and Rourke's head swivelled in his direction.

"Imagine what it's like for me, Mr. Hsiao. Can any of you explain to me what my son is doing here?"

"What are you taking about? You invited me. I got your email after I wrote you."

Rourke knit his eyebrows for a moment, just long enough to raise suspicion from you and your team, before relaxing. "Right. Of course. My apologies. My memory is still coming to me."

Liar.

Rourke looked around at the strewn glass on the floor with amusement. His eyes lingered on the empty pedestal where the amber idol had once stood, and you clutched it tighter to your side and held it behind your back, out of view of the owner of the hotel.

"And what, pray tell, happened here?" Rourke cash a dismissive hand around the room.

"We-" you elbowed Michelle to shut her up and made sure the idol was completely hidden.

"Everything was completely smashed up when we found this place." You lied, straight to his face, and even you had to admit that it was a pretty good lie. But whether or not it was good enough to fool the master of deception himself was a different story, you quickly discovered as he glared down at you. You met his glare defiantly, refusing to back down.

"I apologise for the condition of the resort, Mr Rourke, I-"

"Save the grovelling, Lila. At the very least, you managed to keep our most honoured guests alive all this time." Rourke sneered at his trusty assistant, making you glare at him in distain. "How long have you been here, anyway? What day is it?"

"December 27th, 2017, sir." IRIS's holographic voice came from beside you, and jumped when she suddenly appeared next to you, staring at Rourke with a monotone expression on her pixilated face.

Rourke's face softened. "...IRIS?" He asks gently, his expression, to your complete and utter shock, filled with what looked like sadness.

"Good morning, sir. Time is based on internal clock. Internet connection to atomic clock, unavailable."

"December 27th..." Rourke trailed off, eyes forlorn, and you could practically see the gears whirring behind his stormy eyes. "That long? And you, you're... alive? How? State your version." He demanded.

"0.9.1."

"An old backup copy, of course. Tell me, all of you, how did you find this version of IRIS? How have you managed to stay alive here for over six months?" Rourke turned to address your group again, but none of you answered, only choosing to narrow your eyes at him instead.