The Million-Dollar Heart

Noah joined the ranks of RST at seventeen, but by nineteen, the organization had splintered into GTO and CK after Jasper's devastating raid.

Assigned by F-Poison to infiltrate the Vanguard Agency as a mole at twenty, Noah figured he would bide his time, draw Vanguard's attention with GTO activities, and then slip back into the shadows of his true allegiance. But what he thought would be a brief chapter turned into nearly six decades-a lifetime invested and now, seemingly, lost.

"Tell me, Noah, in all the years you've been undercover in Vanguard Agency, what's GTO given you for your troubles? I'm genuinely curious. Heck, I haven't even caught a glimpse of the big boss's face. Have you?" Quincy asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Noah's frown was subtle but present. "You talk too much. When's my ride getting here?"

Quincy stepped back, a hint of apology in her voice. "Sorry, Noah, your ship isn't coming."

Noah turned, startled, only to be greeted by the dark mouth of a gun barrel.

"Master, there's no escape now," Vance said solemnly, gun in hand, a trace of sorrow in his eyes.

Instinctively, Noah stepped back, but another gun pressed against the back of his head.

"You know I don't move so fast anymore, Master," a familiar voice stated from behind him.

Noah exhaled heavily. "Let me guess, there's one more?"

As if on cue, Karen stepped out from Noah's side, her gun aimed at the man she once revered like a father.

"It's been a long time, Master."

Noah's gaze met Karen's. Her face, one he had not seen for years, suddenly before him, gave him a moment of stunned pause.

"All these years, and you haven't changed a bit, my little apprentice," he reminisced. "Back then, you and Daphne were the only girls among a sea of rowdy boys. Those were the days..."

make it. I'm here in her stead,"

else

on her gun tightened, her breath

your own hands, did you ever think of the bond we

brief pause,

own. You were merely stepping stones

to the hope that his master was not a traitor. Noah had carried him from the crossfire when he was wounded on the battlefield. He had been there for every pivotal moment of

dead, it was Micah who first sought out Noah,

met a dead end for so many years, at most reaching the Deputy

suspected Noah. Everyone else, but

nature meant he would do almost anything to achieve his goals, even if it meant hurting those around him. Noah had been the

about Noah. However, that was soon dismissed after investigations. In fact, he even regretted ever

that doubt seemed to be the very reason

sea breeze that ruffled their clothes, Karen felt

kindred spirit in Ulysses, but to Noah, she had given the regard one

drugged by her foster family and waking up in a stranger's bed, it was Noah who helped her out of

sat

flush out F-Poison? Sorry to disappoint, but even if

smirked. "Master, you taught us to hit the

a tracking virus. Once you opened it, your phone was

"Ah, as expected of my apprentices. And Micah, what role did you play in this little

Noah. "The Martinez family's detectors that you've been waiting on? They have trackers in