***

Elijah Raily took in the functional glass building which sat so contentedly and relaxingly among the skyscrapers of New York. He absorbed in the details- memorizing every nook and crannies of the medium-sized structure that he could discover. It was a habit he had cultivated- awareness. He hated to not be aware, well, maybe not hated. Hate was an emotion. He ceased to let himself feel strong, disturbing emotions. Once in a while, he would be amused, annoyed ,sarcastic and feel other assorted little distractions. But never hate and love. Never anything that was overwhelming- that was crippling.

A sudden gust of cold wind blew right then but Elijah was colder still. He chilled the wind as it touched him and escaped hurriedly from the hostile figure. Elijah compressed his lips and strode condescendingly towards the office building, with a plagued naming it as ‘Tech Enterprise’.

He walked up the pseudo marble steps, pushed his way through the revolving door and almost glided past the archway. To the untrained eye, it was a mere fixture to boast of wealth. To him, it was a sensor and a detector, made to look decorative.

From the corner of his eye, he spotted faint blinking red lights in obscured crooks. Surveying the room, he identified the most sophisticated surveillance equipment ever being developed. Well, he could not exactly catch sight of those minute cameras but those extremely faint blinking red lights gave him some clues.

The receptionist, a sweet young thing of about twenty-five, greeted him but he thought nothing of her. He was very efficient and would never let anybody or any redundant thoughts hinder or delay him. She had smiled sweetly and her smile grew wider when she actually really saw him.

He was used to it. There he was, a specimen of exquisiteness incarnated. A lean angular face, chiseled cheekbones and deep set wide blue eyes that pierced through everyone and everything. He hardly smiled- so no wrinkles marred the face, though its unblemished and deadly smoothed surface made him ageless- not young; and definitely not old. Everything about him was sleek and cutting. Only his straight blond hair- his almost whitish blond hair- was soft.

But he was not arrogant about his beauty- his looks. His biological parents had been very good-looking people. He simply acknowledged it, like how he acknowledged his strengths and weakness. If it could help him achieve a certain aim, good. If one day, it would prove to cause his final downfall, he would disfigure himself in a split second.

That was how he dealt with the weaknesses he found in himself. He eliminated them. Emotions and feelings were what he termed as weaknesses. So he burned them and pounded the ashes into nothingness, especially the one called Love. Resentment was still bearable at times, though he was also aware that it could hurt him.

"What can I do for you?" She asked him in a faked sultry voice as her eyes lingered on his physique, probably wondering if there was a mean six-pack within the sharp suit accentuating the lean, muscular figure.

He stared right through her, treating her as nothing more than an entity to traverse in order to reach his destination. He had no need to remember her- she was not worthy of his considerations.

"I need to get to the Resource Department immediately." He spoke, his lips barely moving, using the front title for the Special Unit. The voice was so quiet and yet so harsh. An extremely unfriendly tone was being used. It was his nature. Everything about him kept people away. Despite his achievements; his gorgeousness, Elijah Raily had no friends and he needed none.

The young thing who had been staring at his physical manifestation in blatant admiration curled her lips the moment he finished speaking. The undeserving hostility was readily detected and, understandably, Elijah repulsed her immediately.

"Eighth Floor, second door. You’ll need your security card to get through the platform and activate the elevator." She switched her attention to the workstation and Elijah left immediately after obtaining the piece of information without a word of thanks or even a brief nod in acknowledgement that the information was received.

Elijah followed her instructions and reached his destination in no time- keeping his head down all the way, not wanting to let his face be caught by the hidden; intrusive cameras.

***

"Here’s where you’ll be working…they’ve cleared the desk pretty well…" Grey Man showed the young man around. Elijah was the only agent who was allowed to join the Network even before he actually turned twenty-two. His intelligence was well-recognized and it was precisely because of the astuteness of his mind- the keen methodical logical deducing habit- that Elijah was picked from a handful of candidates recommended by the CIA, the FBI and the Military.

Elijah said nothing. Did nothing. Moved not a single muscle. Looking at the young man, Grey wondered suddenly if he came highly recommended because nobody in his previous workplace actually liked him.

A marble statue. Everything about Elijah Raily was like a marble statue- pale, cold, unflinching. Indifferent. Impassive.

"Your partner will arrive shortly. Unlike other departments, we’re very flexible with time. You only need to report to your office thrice a week to remind us of your presence if you’re not outstation, a practice observed only to save us precious time from wondering if you’re dead or alive. And crack all cases that comes to you quickly- that’s very important or you’ll just be wasting taxpayers’ money. That’s all you need to fulfill." Grey Man droned, detesting every passing minute that he was standing next to the emotionless droid.

He watched Elijah from the corner of his eyes. Occasionally, those deep blue eyes would blink out of necessity. Sometimes, Elijah’s steady breathing might fall out of rhythm but that was all. When Grey had asked for feedback, Elijah simply nodded so slightly that Grey felt he had imagined the response, or a soft and short "Hmm," that could hardly be heard.

Almost having enough of briefing to a wall shaped like a human being, Grey Man heard the office door creaked opened and was ever so grateful for the entrance of Isaiah. The other two agents sharing the little office were off on some case that they had just been assigned to in the morning.

The moment the gratefulness passed- which was a split second later- Grey felt a little worried about how the two divided brothers would greet and receive each other. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Isaiah froze.

The statue next to Grey turned towards Isaiah’s direction, having heard the door opened as well. Grey felt comforted for a minute that Elijah was perhaps still capable of some feelings- for the large, deep set blue eyes widened ever so vaguely.

"Lia…Elijah…" Isaiah greeted his brother first, tripping over the name shakily.

The corners of the marble sculpture’s translucent crimson lips lifted a little in the tightest faux smile that Grey had ever seen.

Isaiah shifted uncomfortably.

"So…we’re partners…hmm…there’re no cases yet, right Grey?" Isaiah transferred his attention to Grey, very affected by his non-responsive brother, looking for something familiar and friendly to hold on to.

"No. And in our line, it’s a good thing to be paid for doing nothing. It means for a few days, the world is relatively safe."

Elijah broke into a silent half-smile, his expressionless mien actually seemed cynical.

"You’re an idiot to think that. I will have thought your experience will have given you more sense." The lips moved, the words came out. Grey Man wondered if it was actually spoken.

"Excuse me?" He was very peeved. First he had to deal with the deepest depths of reticent that he could ever find in a human being. Now, he had to deal with undeserving sarcasm at a well-meaning attempt to break the ice.

"The world is not safe. Deal with it." Elijah answered flatly, his vacuous and strangely fixating gaze still rested on Isaiah whose eyes were darting everywhere; looking at everything- but his brother.

Grey curled his lips in displeasure. He knew that of course. It was a fact that people never learned from mistakes- that violence only begets violence; hurt begets more hurt. Yet to hear it spoken with such blandness made it seemed like the speaker did not care; did not wish to care. And Grey Man was in this line because he cared.

"You’re not a very nice person to be with, aren’t you?" He stated, speaking the truth from his own observations. Isaiah raised a brow in discomfiture and compressed his lips, probably afraid of Elijah’s reaction.

"No. I’m not. And I’m finding you very irritating and ignorant."

Grey Man sucked in a breath while Isaiah gave him an apologetic look. The bond of brotherhood still mattered much to Isaiah such that he felt responsible for his little brother’s misbehavior.

"Whatever you wish. Isaiah, I hope you have better luck." Grey Man bade Isaiah good wishes of sorts and walked away into his private office.

***

Elijah had Grey Man almost storming off in anger but the veteran secret agent had too much experiences dealing with criminals and terrorists of all kind such that he did not allow himself to show the true intensity of his displeasure.

But Elijah saw the flinching. He did not gloat or anything. If someone wanted to be hurt by his words, he could hardly be bothered. Seemingly vacantly staring at Grey Man’s broad retreating back, no one would have guessed that Elijah was summing up the nondescript man, replaying the mostly one-sided conversations in his mind- clockworks churning to study the nuances of Grey Man that Elijah memorized to deduce some aspects of a person he would have to deal with in future.

And so thoughts like that ran through his mind. He was not trying to empathize with the person, no…he would never want to empathize or sympathize with anyone- he was merely observing and inferring.

After a rough idea of Grey Man’s nature that he was satisfied with formed in his mind, he realized that he was rooted in the same position for quite some time- right in front of Isaiah, a figure from his past. Isaiah had finally decided to face him and even mustering a smile.

Though Elijah would never admit it, he was rather awkward himself as well but more startled. But he could mask those feelings very well with his stoned expression. His blue eyes did enlarged when he saw Isaiah, a little amused at the twists that Fate could wrung out. No matter how far he thought he had walked away from his old life- there he was, standing right in front of his biological elder brother.

Isaiah shoved his hands into his pocket and cocked his head to one side, still smiling. "So, how do you find this place?"

"A little too soon to be asking this, don’t you think?"

The black-haired man cringed a little at the implied sarcasm and stared down at the floor for a second before looking up again, trying to look as happy as he could.

"Yah…just…how’s life?"

Elijah simply kept silent and Isaiah, after waiting for a few seconds, gestured a little nervously to the table behind Elijah.

"That’s yours. But we don’t have much to do now. How about grabbing some coffee? I can brief you on our specialized area. Special Unit…and all the crap that comes along with it." Isaiah ventured for a chance to get closer to Elijah and Elijah inferred correctly. The blue eyes blinked deliberately, almost in scorn, had not the mien remained deadly still.

"Alright." He answered curtly and still whispery.

Isaiah shrugged and turned around, but not before gesturing for Elijah to follow him which Elijah did. He did not like to follow anybody in any sense. But he knew he did not know the place well so he had to follow. If Isaiah was to discuss work with him, it would not be in any ordinary coffee lounge.