The Million-Dollar Heart

In the bustling heart of the city, the revered Vanguard Agency, spearheaded by the esteemed Martinez family, initiated a thorough housecleaning operation. Vintage cases, some yellowed with the patina of age, were dusted off and brought into the unforgiving light of scrutiny.

The notorious GTO, Vanguard's arch-nemesis, had a laundry list of files that demanded an exhaustive purge.

Vance was dispatched to the sprawling metropolis of Sea City for advanced training while Micah, armed with Rivenwood's finest, dived into the backlog of cases. From the headquarters, a specialized task force was deployed to sift through Rivenwood's archives, each folder a Pandora's box of secrets.

This was not the first rodeo for the seasoned agents of Vanguard; they viewed the entire affair with a sense of déjà vu.

The newly minted Captain Thomas found himself adrift without the Director, shadowing the Deputy Director as a trusty sidekick to the temporary helmsman.

As the task force combed through the cases, they hit a roadblock with a recent explosion case, their expressions clouding with intrigue.

"Captain Thomas, are you absolutely certain these were the only people at the scene?" came the probing question.

Thomas nodded firmly. "I'm positive. Aside from our agents, only Percival and Vivienne were present. No one else."

"And what about this woman?" The task force brandished a grainy photograph where an extra figure was unmistakably present at the crime scene.

"I haven't the foggiest," Thomas retorted with the stubbornness of a mule.

Such defiance only served to irk the task force, leading to the detainment of Thomas and the two squad leaders for further inquiry. This sent ripples of unease throughout the rank and file of Vanguard Agency. Micah, now a lone commander, faced a conundrum with the Martinez family's latest bomb detection technology gathering dust, unfiled. With no recourse, he reached out to headquarters.

Rivenwood and Sea City were caught in the whirlwind of this operation, and before long, the detectors found their way to Noah's domain.

"Master, I'm in a bind here," Micah pleaded over the phone, "Vance is still being grilled by the brass, and if these detectors aren't dispatched pronto, we'll be in a whole new world of hurt." Noah's chuckle was warm. "You two are still at it after all these years. Worry not, I'll make sure Rivenwood gets its gear."

"Cheers. Next time I'm in Sea City, drinks are on me."

The call ended, and Micah's smile froze mid-curve.

when we next meet, I hope we

eyeing the stack of detectors, surreptitiously amended the count from three hundred to two hundred, signing off with

Sea City for a new arms consignment destined

days later, Vance returned from Sea City, his phone ringing

been digging through the archives, dusting off an old human

rookies how we uncovered GTO's trail and share some of your legendary tales so they

need for flattery. What's got you so nostalgic?"

a spat with Micah, got me thinking. Found a photo, too. Hard to believe it's still around after all

in

one with you and the twelve kids. I'm thinking

photo?" Noah's

he thought he'd destroyed. How could it

he

thought that photo was lost in the

guard back then. He said when you were taking the photo, he was astonished by your heroic aura and took one,

Noah hung

message attached: [I've got people reaching out to the survivors. Join me at

screen, the

think fast. If details emerged, if those children, now adults, remembered anything, the ten becoming to twelve would be

them. It was way

a phone he had barely ever

voice broke through on a secure line, "What's

out. "I need to go back to

"You should've killed them all

up. Vance is onto something. I'm not of much use in Vanguard Agency now anyway, so just let me leave the