Homecoming | sequel of "Home" [✔️]

Chapter 1

Seven months, to some people, was a long period of time. But to immortals, it could be interpreted as mere seconds, or an entire century. However, to mortals, seven months was enough time to mull over permanent decisions, changing factors that could shift their lives to another scale.

But apparently, stupidity doesn't have a time limit.

"They disrupted our visuals again," Fang growled, swiping furiously at the tablet in his hand. He paced the room with intensity of a hungry puma, his metal soles creating quite a ruckus, startling timid technicians around him.

Behind him, dozens of recruits hovered over computers upon computers, tentacles and fingers flying over the screens, desperately trying to recover the visuals in Malaysia's current mission. In between all of the computers was an enormous screen, though it only displayed frazzled scenes, like an old-fashioned television with no signal.

"Are you sure there's nothing you can do?" Fang looked to Ali, who was playing with his ponytail, his hair having grown a fair length. "Anything you recognize?"

Ali shook his head, throwing his hair back. "Nothing I understand," he confessed. "They updated their data after they knew I was working for TAPOPS. Should've expected it."

Fang screamed in anger and slammed the tablet on the table, a glass crack faintly echoing in the room. "I swear if we can't get past their signal jamming, I'm going back to Earth and tearing that place down myself."

"You've said that for the last three hours."

"And I'll say it again!" Fang cracked his knuckles, on the verge of screaming bloody murder at the air. The technicians flinched at his outbursts, working faster in order to avoid their superior's rage.

The door slid open, which Ali craned his head to find Boboiboy calmly entering the raging room, holding his personal entertainment tablet like he had recently returned from a relaxing day's walk.

With the doors closing behind him, he placed himself by Ali, bland eyes falling onto the chaotic scene that Fang had started. His expression was one of boredom, with a hint of exhaustion that bode well with the situation at hand, though he appeared to be newly woken from bed instead of intercepting interworld signals.

When he finally looked up from his screen, he turned to Ali, asking a question that would bring the same answer every turn. "How many things did he destroy this time?"

Ali glanced at the tablet on the table, a noticeable crack running along its metal edges and screen as if it's been hammered in half.

"Surprisingly, only one."

"Would you look at that. A miracle happened, for the first time in forever."

Fang cursed in a distance, furiously cursing his own stupidity as he tried to dispatch MATA's blockage, only to fail once more. Despite not interacting with anyone around him, the sight of his self-destruction behavior was enough to strike fear into others' minds.

"Do you think I should talk him out of this?" Ali watched Fang glare daggers at his computer, fingers drumming on his table.

Boboiboy snorted and shrugged, as if he's just lost a million bets right this moment. "Let him be. He'll get through to himself soon."

Ali groaned, his sour face almost mirroring Fang's expression. He turned to leave the room, expecting to find peace and quiet as Fang raged in a distance. The doors slid open for him, which he grunted and massaged his eyes, beginning to leave the control center, but he didn't count for the large shadow that lorded over him.

He bumped into a large belly, the surface jiggling upon his collision like cherry pudding. He staggered backwards and reached for his whip, the metal surface cool and familiar as he fished it out, having backed to a suitable distance, the whip's cyber-blue glow blending in with the background perfectly.

"What is—" Ali glared up to the silhouettes, recognizing no allies of such a physique, only to piece the resemblances together to realize that this is indeed an ally, albeit a former one. The cap, the curly hair, the obnoxious obese stomach; all matching to only one person.

The whip in his hand dropped to the floor, the weapon receding back to its cylinder, skidding around his feet.

In his shock, Ali stood frozen, his fingers twitching, refusing to budge.

He stared in horror as Bakar was dragged into the control center, his hands cuffed behind his back by two aliens. Behind him was another human, who Ali vaguely recognized as Bobby, who he hadn't seen since the mall fiasco where he'd knocked the man out with a single kick. The man glared at him, as if he'd been holding that same grudge since.

The aliens pushed them past Ali, and herded them straight in front of Boboiboy, who appeared to be in charge with Fang out of commission for the hour. The men's expressions were uncomfortable, but a brave mask was put on, yet their fear was evident in simple stiff gestures.

Boboiboy sighed, crossing his arms in retrospect. Though appearing to be vaguely entertained by the idea of two enemy agents in his territory, his irritation largely overnumbered his amusement.

"I would say that this is great timing," Boboiboy said coldly, all casualness and friendliness gone. "Since innocent people are going to die in a foreign planet because of you. Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"

Despite being shorter than the two of them, Boboiboy did not back down, the phantom of his own invisible shadow looming over the two taller men.

Ali finally found his tongue, whirling around, expression one of dismay. He clenched his fists, his teeth gritting. "What are they doing here?" he blanched, pointing fingers at them. "Did you send an order to kidnap them?"

Boboiboy turned to him, shaking his head to deny the accusation. "I didn't. They came in themselves trying to fix the peace treaty a couple of hours ago." He snapped back to the two agents, his glare honed and sharp. "We'll talk about this later."

By the time Ali snapped back to his senses, the three was gone, and Fang had a hand on his shoulder, concern plastered on his face.

"What just happened?" Ali demanded.

Fang narrowed his eyes. He hadn't seen the boy so shaken up since he first came here.

"MATA happened."