RISING PHOENIX ACT SELECT

CHAPTER 10: INTERFERENCE

The next day, Wednesday rolled around. After hiding out behind the ASTB for a while, Marco, Glenn, and Prairie started hurrying over to the library as 12 noon inched closer. Absolutely no one was in sight - even the security guards, as they were in the middle of a reshuffling and were also attending the event at the gym. On the way there, Marco decided to go over the plan once more.
“Alright, let’s go over everything one last time, just to be safe. Is that ok?” he asked Glenn and Prairie, to which they agreed.
“Here we go…”

“So, Brianna’s stationed over at our interrogation area, hopefully…” Marco explained as he walked up to the windows of the back ASTB, waving to Brianna, who was guarding the entrance to the ASTB AVR. She noticed him waving and gave him a thumbs-up of reassurance. “Anyway, I’ll go over everything again…Glenn, you’re staying in the old DSA. Don’t leave the room under any circumstances, ok?” he told him.
“Make sure the cameras in and around the library are frozen, even though the Rising Phoenix probably already have. And listen in on the audio I’m picking up. All of it.”
“Got it…and I checked, they froze the cams already,” Glenn said as he nodded intently.

“Prairie, you’ve installed the bug under their table, right?” Marco asked Prairie, which she gave a thumbs-up to.
“Good…you guys should be able to hear whatever they say. You stay in the old DSA with Glenn and listen as well,” Marco told her.
“Alalahanin mo, dapat tayong dalawa magpansinan. Listening device lang yan...nasira ang record function,” Glenn added.
“As for me, I’ll hide nearby and listen to the conversation in case the bug malfunctions,” Marco told them both.
“Uy, talaga? Bakit?” Prairie asked, surprised.
“Paano kung makita ka nila?”

“Look, I know I’m taking a risk, but this is our only chance to learn something! And I’m not going to risk potentially missing out on it,” he explained to her.
“Sige. Sana alam mo ang ginagawa mo,” she told him.
“By the way…thanks Glenn. You’re a lifesaver,” Marco told him.
“That’s the gift of being able to take military tech from your dad without permission…!” Glenn replied, prompting Marco to sigh lightly.
“Alright…let’s go. It’s 11:47,” Marco told them both.

A few minutes later, they all got into position. Glenn and Prairie sat down around Glenn’s laptop in the old DSA while Marco hid behind a bookshelf near the table where members Hexane and Octane were set to meet. Glenn and Prairie both put on an earbud each, which were connected to the listening device. All three were tense as they waited for the two members to show up. Eventually, Glenn and Prairie heard two pairs of very faint footsteps outside and Marco heard the library doors open. They showed up - 12 on the dot.
“They’re here. Get ready,” he messaged Glenn and Prairie on their end-to-end encrypted group chat on his phone.
“Oh, shoot…” Glenn muttered after seeing the message. He quickly signaled Prairie to come over and listen to the audio feed.

Marco tensed up as he heard their footsteps slowly approach his vicinity. He got flashbacks to when he snuck into the Rising Phoenix meeting, which notably ended in his hospitalization. He managed to compose himself and decided to carefully peek out of the bookshelf to see Hexane and Octane’s faces. To his surprise, they weren’t wearing their bird masks.

Hexane and Octane took a seat at the left backmost library table, which Glenn and Prairie found out when their device sent sounds of them pulling the chairs, much to their relief.
“So…what do you want to talk about, Hexane?” Octane asked.
“You know we’re alone, right? You don’t have to call me that,” Hexane told him annoyedly. Marco, Glenn, and Prairie held their breath, trying to hear if they would drop their names.
“I know, but…let’s maintain formality, shall we…?” Octane replied, which Hexane begrudgingly agreed to, leaving the trio slightly disappointed.

“About our meeting here, honestly…I wanted us to meet so I could get out of the gym. I don’t wanna stay there for 5 hours! And I like the aircon here…it’s nice,” Hexane explained, prompting Octane to sigh deeply in disdain.
“We’re so lucky we haven’t been kicked out yet. We’re too reckless, you and I…one day our luck is going to run out,” Octane warned him.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Hexane told Octane.

“We need to talk about Radium. If we don’t find them soon, Obsidian is not going to be happy. You know what happened the last time we disappointed him,” he continued.
“Mhm. I remember that day like it was yesterday…”
“If we fail him again…he will never let us forget it. I’m…terrified…of him, honestly.”
“So am I.”
“...then you know why we need this meeting.”

“So about Radium…” Hexane said before Octane interrupted him.
“Stop calling them that…they’re not a part of us anymore,” Octane requested sternly.
“They don’t deserve to be treated like one of us. Call them who they really are. Just plain old, traitorous Ramone.” Marco, Glenn, and Prairie were taken aback by this name drop. Prairie quickly jotted it down on her trusty notepad.
“We need to think of something we haven’t tried with them. They’re completely off the grid. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram…all gone. Digital records…altered. Their friends aren’t of any use either. How else are we supposed to find them…?” Octane asked him.

“About that…I wanted to tell you about something. Voltage and I managed to set up a meeting with them. Saturday this week, 2PM, 4th Floor Audi” Hexane detailed to Octane. Prairie quickly wrote down the day and time on her notepad while Glenn made sure the audio feed worked, with both of them focused like never before. Marco sat as still as he could behind the bookshelf, trying to remember every single word they said. However, Glenn and Prairie’s hearts jumped when they heard the door click. Someone knew they were there. The door opened…and it was Sir Ernest.

“Anong ginagawa niyo dito?!” he angrily asked the both of them. Glenn shifted the computer screen away from Sir Ernest’s view while Prairie stuttered trying to come up with an explanation.
“Dapat nasa gym kayo, importante ‘yan! Required ‘yun!” he continued to a still-mortified Glenn and Prairie.
“Why are you here then, Sir…?” Glenn fired back at him.
“Why I’m here is not important. As students, you are required to attend. Come with me!” he ordered them.
Meanwhile, Hexane and Octane were still talking about their meetup with Ramone, with Marco listening intently in the background.

“How did you get them to agree? They’ve been on the run for months now…!” Octane asked.
“Turns out money is a big motivator for them…I agreed to give them 100,000 pesos if they showed up with the drive.”
“Wait, where did you get that money? That didn’t come from the redistribution fund, did it…?” Octane asked once again.
“Look…we were barely using any of it. At least it’s going to something that will advance our cause. We need the program to succeed!”
“Hexane…we didn’t carefully take Pisay funds under the admin’s noses for years just so we can blow it all on something that may or may not actually be real…!” Marco could only sit there and be shocked at this revelation. They were committing actual serious crimes, he thought. And he didn’t have the recording to prove it.

Meanwhile at the old DSA, Sir Ernest was still scolding Glenn and Prairie, causing them not to hear what Hexane admitted.
“Sir, tinatapos lang namin ang naming Socsci project, pasensya na…” Prairie fibbed. Glenn backed up her lie and begged Sir Ernest to let them stay there.
“Tama na! Magkaka-NCR na kayong dalawa!” Sir told them. He took out a pen and two NCRs and began writing their names.
“Glenn Arnold Duranca at Pearl Arianne Amihan…” Sir said as he looked at their IDs, to which they both sheepishly nodded their heads. Glenn felt irritated, as he prided himself in never receiving an NCR throughout his entire stay in Pisay so far.
“Sa susunod, ayusin niyo ‘yung time management niyo. Wala nang excuses!” Sir told them sternly before leaving the room in a huff. Glenn and Prairie were relieved that Sir didn’t force them out of the room. After he left, they both quickly returned to listening to the audio feed. Unfortunately, they’d missed a lot of the incriminating admissions of Hexane and Octane while Sir interrupted them.

While Glenn and Prairie were dealing with Sir, Hexane and Octane argued about the use of the stolen money to bring Ramone out from hiding. Hexane pulled out his burner phone and explained to Octane that Ramone reached out to him first. He had requested a unique selfie and information only they would know, proving it was actually them. This convinced Octane to go along with the plan.
“So…what do you need me for…?” Octane asked.
“Voltage needs backup in case things go wrong. She asked me to support her, but she wants another member to help. Are you down?”
“Of course. Anything for the Rising Phoenix.”
“And by the way, you could’ve just messaged me about this…” Octane remarked.

“Ay, shemay…” Glenn remarked, as he couldn’t hear anything out of his earbud.
“Alam ko na talaga…masyadong sira na ito,” he continued to complain as he tried to adjust the volume on the earbud. In doing so, he accidentally sent a surge of volume through the listening device, which manifested on the other end.
“What was that…?” Hexane asked frantically as he stood up from his chair. He looked under the table and found the device embedded under the table.

“Someone’s been listening to us…we need to get out of here!” he told Octane in a panicked tone as he put on his bird mask, which he’d kept in his pocket the whole time. Marco heard this and realized they’d been found out. Prairie heard them say this on her earbud and realized it too.
“Get the bug…I’m leaving!” Hexane ordered as he ran to the exit, pocketing his burner phone. Prairie knew she had to do something. She quickly jumped out of her seat and ran out of the old DSA, giving Glenn no time to react.

As soon as Hexane opened the entrance, Prairie charged at him and pushed him backwards. He quickly tried to sprint past her while the door was still open, but she managed to grab his hand. He tried desperately to pull it away while keeping the door open at the same time. Eventually, Hexane managed to out-strength her and pulled his hand away. He quickly ran out the door and away from the scene as Prairie fell to the ground from exhaustion. Suddenly, she heard Marco’s voice faintly echoing from the back of the library.

While Hexane tried to escape, Octane tried to remove the device from the underside of the table to no avail. As he did this, Marco quietly emerged from behind the bookshelf and snuck up on him. When he couldn’t remove it, Octane resorted to bashing it in with his fist repeatedly. By the fifth punch, Marco had made it behind Octane. He quickly grabbed him by the front collar and faced him towards him.
“Got you,” Marco told him, freezing him in his tracks. Prairie quickly ran to Marco and backed him up. Octane, realizing he was outnumbered, surrendered to the pair.

“We’re going to need a lot more answers from you,” Marco taunted him as they brought him out of the library, with Marco tightly holding one arm and Prairie the other. Glenn, seeing them both with Octane, breathed a sigh of relief to himself. He packed up his stuff and joined them to the ASTB AVR.