The 3 B's- Beauty, Brains and Bravery

Chapter 402: The Noble Brother

3:05 a.m. ;

In the quiet, Ashfakh Ali drove the Black SUV over the TLK Highway in a speed far beyond moderation, north towards MZX HQ, while Rong Xinghe removed her fake wig and beard, getting rid of all her 'male' paraphernalia. The girl had never felt this uncertain, this scared before. Every passing second, was plain torture, a ticking time bomb for her brothers. She'd seen Zhi Al's message the moment she had switched her phone on, and the thought of not one, but two of her brothers stuck there, surrounded by those beasts, was petrifying. 

She'd already commanded her personal security staff to rush to manage the situation over there. But deep down, in her heart, she knew how difficult it would be for them to reach there on time. At this moment, the girl's phone rang up, for the 12th time in a row. As Shawn Florence's number popped on the phone screen, the girl quickly picked it up.

"I am outside MZX Headquarters right now, Xinghe.", the man reported, "Your brothers are smart. They've switched off the central power system of the company. Using darkness as leverage, it's a smart move."

"Shawn, I want all of them dead. Do you understand me?", the girl ordered, her eyes bloodshot red with anger.

"You got it. Other than your brothers, no one inside this building is walking out alive.", the man promised, his voice filled with resolution. As the man disconnected the call, Rong Xinghe buried her head into her hands and closed her eyes, for she was back to this ruthless, stabbing silence. Unable to do anything, she could only wait to get there now. And it was this feeling of helplessness that she hated the most.

"Xinghe, they will be fine.", Ashfakh Ali assured the girl, "One of them is a renowned journalist, who has hands-on experience working in the dark. Just calm down." In reply, he received a mere nod from the girl. As he noticed traffic up ahead, the man snatched his phone from the armrest console. Silently, he summarized the entire situation into a brief text and sent it to Xi Yuan. He knew that the four men hadn't exactly received the chance to discuss this situation with even their wives, let alone Xi Yuan, as they were trying to reach their brothers as soon as they could. But at that moment, he felt, it was essential that Xi Yuan knew what his girl was going through.

_____________

At the same time, MZX HQ ;

Mo Zixuan stood in front of thirteen men, each one armed with rifles and guns, each one a professional assassin. He, on the other hand, had his licensed gun, one bullet down. The man understood that his chances of surviving through this battle were slim. But if there were even a 0.0001% chance that these men were targetting just him, and that Zhi Al had a shot at walking out of this alive, he was going to take it. Also, he had no intention of going down without a damn fight! He was, after all, the Military Chief's brother. 

The man lifted his hand mid-air, and without giving a second to his rivals to realize that he was armed, six 11.5 mm-diameter bullets penetrated right through the hearts of six men closest to him. As the remaining seven men charged towards the man, all their guns aimed at him now, he took a few steps back, as he stood behind his black leather armchair. 

Stilly, Zhi Al stared at the man trying to save him desperately, from under his office table. To be honest, the man wasn't even a tad bit surprised. This was, what being a member of the Superfamily, meant. They were brothers. From the depths of their very souls. And brothers fought for each other. 

But Zhi Al wasn't going to let this be the ironic end of Media Magnet Mo Zixuan. Not while he sat idly by. He'd rather fight this last battle together, shoulder-to-shoulder, with him, than to watch the man sacrifice himself. With that thought, Zhi Al tretched his hand and reached for the manual fire-alarm switch Rong Xinghe had fixed beneath the man's drawer the last time they both had visited him. Initially, it was supposed to be just a prank. But who knew that it would help him create an exemplary distraction. 

Roughly five seconds after the man slid down the SPDT activation switch, every fire-alarm throughout the entire building went off, as the unbearably beeping sound resounded through every single room, corridors, and halls. Taken aback, their fellow attackers turned around so as to trace the source of this sudden disturbance. But before they could turn back around, four more went down, as a few glass bottles smashed against their heads, callously enough. Maybe bringing a beer crate to the man's office wasn't that bad an idea, after all, Zhi Al smiled to himself. 

"We are doing this together, brother.", he turned to smile at the man beside him. 

Of course, this little prank completely erased the fine line of mental sanity for the 'man with the tattoo'. Like a madman, he stretched his neck and positioned his M4 Carbine towards Zhi Al. This was good, he thought. Two targets in one go. 

Mo Zixuan was about to say something to Zhi Al when, from the corner of his eyes, he noticed what was about to happen next. Reflexively, the man placed both his hands over Zhi Al's shoulders and shoved him aside forcefully. 

BANG! BANG!

"No, no, no, no, no!", Zhi Al yelled, his eyes wide open, "This... this can't be happening!", he rushed toward the man, terrified. He hoped that he had misheard it. He so hoped that it wasn't the sounds of two freaking gunshots he'd just heard! And that it was just the sound of something crashing outside, somewhere in the halls.

Except, it wasn't. Mo Zixuan's blood oozing down his dark-gray shirt and that flowing down his hands told a story otherwise. 

Mo Zixuan had no strength to hold onto his gun, by the time Zhi Al reached him. As it slipped through his fingers, the man stumbled down, falling to the ground. This was it, he thought. This was how he was going to die. If there were ever any crossroads moments before him, these were it.

And he had no regrets, honestly. As he struggled to keep his eyes open, he could only see Zhi Al, breaking down, shaking his head violently, his hands trembling. As the man went through a quick mental life scan, he realized he had really lived his life. Every moment of it, every bit of it, to its fullest. At least, after he met his Kiddo, he had. He had followed his passion, and he had traveled, and he had lived one epic love. And if he were to be given a choice where he could go back in time and change any decisions he ever made, he wouldn't. Not even the one he had just made. He would risk his life in order to protect his little brother all over again, if he had to. He couldn't be more sure of that.