"Hey mom I'm back " said Lily, when she just came back from her 10 month taxi job on 25 Th of November 2024. "How are you lot doing ?"

"Oh my Gosh !" Exclaimed her mother who was really excited to meet her . "How was your journey ?" Taking her bags "here let me take those."

"Where's dad, ma?" Asked lily while searching every room in her home.

"He's working hard dear ... Your brothers education fees are so much burden itself , pushing it aside , our monthly spendings, are also a yolk..." said her mother Regina sadly.

"Ma? You could have asked me to help , right?" Asked an irritated Lily.

"You are also struggling with the minimum pay job. How can we ask you , hmm?" Said her mother lovingly .

"That is not a problem , I'll be proud to help you ma .."

Her mother sat staring into her daughter's thoughtfulness. Breaking her own thoughts," Now, now , let's get some lunch ready for you shall we ?" Asked her mother raising her eyebrows.

lily nods. "Sure ma , anything you make is my favorite" says she , chuckling..

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George and Regina married on the 12th of October , 2005. James and Lily were their kids . Lily , poor in studies pursued a career of taxi driver , while her brother James is currently studying as a Journalist and balancing part time work.

Lily is absent for most of the year , as she has to travel between different states to deliver passengers .

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During the family dinner , when all of them where together,

"Pa", said Lily ," I'll be staying here for the next three months , if that's okay?"

Her father " As long as you help around the house, you'll be fine!" Said Chuckling.

The next day ,as  she was helping her mother cooking, her brother James came in ...

" Pa , Ma! I got my first paycheque!" Enthusiastically

George and Regina looked at each other and smiled. Lily also came out to see what happened.

James broke out again " look , I got my paycheque. "

" whoa!"exclaimed George, as he stared at his son's achievement." Good job , my son" and out of nowhere George looked at Lily and said as a joke " watch and learn"

Lily half- smiled , half - scoffed. " paaaaaaaaaa?"

James stared at his sister and laughed . " it's more than your annual income bro!"and broke out laughing.

Lily ended up chasing James all around their house, and guess with what ? With her sandal in south Asian style! Ha ha .

Days passed . Everything was going smoothly. That is until tragedy hit their home.

One day , the  13 Th of January 2025, Lily had been to the nearest town to collect some money for her expenditures (obviously from the bank !). Upon returning, Lily found a huge crowd outside her home. She had to shove her way through the mob to find her brother and mother getting harassed by policemen.

She overheard their conversation and it went about something like this...

policeman 1 :  You dare accuse someone of stealing?

James:  I didn't! I gave you proof and you didn't take any action! That was why I took it to the public!"  (anxiously)

policeman 2: ( hitting him with a stick) shut up ! You jerk!

As they were bluffing on and on , Lily went away and made a phone call. And then she returned. She went to her brother's aid and said to the policeman,

Lily: " hey , do you go about and kick everybody who speaks up against you ? "

policeman: ( to another policeman) ( scoffing ) look at her! ( as he was about to hit her )

A voice came from the crowd " Why don't you hit her in front of me, huh?"

All the policemen turned toward the source of the voice. As soon as everyone got the glimpse of him , they dropped everything and gave him a loud salute.

Turns out , the man was a chief of police , a man named Gabriel.

Gabriel : (authoritative voice) Why don't you continue from where you stopped . I'll stand right here!

policeman 1:Sorry sir , we were just teaching them a lesson. You see we wer-

Gabriel : ( interrupting ) Don't 'you see' me! Meet me at my office at 5 am tomorrow, all of you ( sternly).( Turning to the crowd) You all might as well go home ( looking at his watch), It's getting late!

As the crowd cleared up, Lily went over to talk to Gabriel, while her family was watching her from afar. Lily thanked him and came back to tend the wounds of her family.As she was finishing up James' injuries, she asked

" What were you thinking?"

" What was I thinking?" Scolded James? " I went to complain with a family, on account of a proved robbery! And guess what , the group was on the robber's side!" Screamed an angry James.

" Well , next time you do that , contact that man ( pointing toward Gabriel). He's not going to beat your ass." Replied Lily back.

" How do you know him?" Asked a concerned father.

"What ? " asked a shocked Lily.

"You heard me" repeated her father, " How do you know him?"

"Well, pa, you always say that taxi driving is not good , right?" (Questionable)

" yeah" replies her father.

" Well, for the past few months , I've been dropping him and his daughter to their respective offices. So ,that's how I know him. But," stated Lily.

" But what?" enquired her mother. For which she replied " But I have no idea as to who called him here. "

As everyone was still thinking about what happened, Lily broke the silence saying," Well , you could cross ' getting beaten by a police officer' from your bucket list!" Laughed hard, all of 'em!

Days passed. After the incident everyone was on the lookout for bribed officials and paid assassins. Obviously, when someone is ready to raise their voice up against the law and authority, there arises an even great power of oppression.

That fated day arrived not much later when , upon nightfall, a group of members in black clothing, came with baseball bats and steel pipes to oppress James. It was the 27 Jan, Regina's b'day. Everyone from the family was there to enjoy her day. The men knocked on the door.

Rex ( leader of the gang): "Hey people! Open the door and let James out." Scoffed him , sternly. "We've got some work to do!" he said snickering.

Hearing this, everyone in the room went silent.

Grandma Taylor : (whispering tone) " why are they here, James?"

James : ( whispering tone) " I think it's because of that incident! " (loud voice) I knew I -

Everyone : "ssshhhhhhh!" as James was speaking loud.

James : ( back to whispering tone)" okay sorry"

George : " We need to get James out of here! Now!"

As they were planning to get James out of there, suddenly came another knock!

tap tap

Man: " you can come out now, we've dealt with them."

Everyone was thrown into confusion. " dealt with them ? What?". As everyone was trying to figure it out , Lily came and opened the door...

Lily: ( happy) Nathan? ( unhinged pause) "oh Nathan! " said Lily as she hugged him.

Nathan: (still confused) " when did you come ?" hugging her back.

*** For those who are thinking \, this union is a typical friendship moment. Don't exaggerate! :)***

Next few moments, they stepped outside as Nathan introduced everyone of his team to Lily. Lily took turns to shake their hands. Seeing all this , her family members were stirred.

Grandma Xavier: ( questioning) " How does she know them?, is she a part of them ?"

Regina: ( taking her daughter's side) " now , now . Let's not assume anything , we'll just ask her when she's done, hmm?" Proposed her mother.

James took the opportunity to make up a story, he said " She must be a part of them !"

George : "What?"

James: ( smirking inside) " well, she said not to say , but few days before , I had seen her in cowsberg alley"

*** cowsberg alley is an alley where all the drug addicts of Southern California. NOTE: This is fiction \, not all places mentioned exist;)***

Everyone gasped. James satisfied at their reaction, continued stating fake proves, " papa, don't you know about the black bags they carry?"

George : nodded in agreement.

James: " Yesterday , she brought one to our home, and you know what they represent right?" Alas! Black bags are used to hide unused drugs, usually carried around by drug addicts.

Realising what he just heard , George was sad and angry. All of'em were angered at her.

Regina: ( convincing) " hey, we know that Lily will not do any kind of that stuff, right ? We raised her better than that !"

Grandma Xavier : " Yeah , that's how she is with us , Goodness knows how she is rest of the days! " to which James nodded.

By this time , Lily told her byes to the team and headed back to them to share something she found out.

Lily: ( excited)" Pa , they found some news regarding who is sending men to beat up James" said Lily as she walked toward her father." Here" she shows the id of a thug Rex.As she continues " I think the person after you is somewhere in the police department, maybe we can contact-" She couldn't finish her sentence before her dad's hand slapped her face.

silence...

Lily's face reddened. Her eyes teared up. Not knowing what she had done wrong, she asked " Wha-" sniffs " What was... why?"

George, in a stern attitude, said " No daughter of mine will indulge in such activities " saying this , he went inside .

Lily looked shocked, trying to figure it all out. She looked at her mother who was standing next to her , for answers.

By the time she understood the situation, her dad brought all her clothes and threw down...

" you are not saying here anymore!"

"But, pa ! I didn't-"

" Shut up! It's Mr. George for you now. Get out ."

"but- ...."

But...."

Saying this , George slammed the door on her face. Regina dumbstruck at what just happened, stopped everything and went to her room. James, was always wanting attention, which somehow went to his older sister!

** Flashback \, 10 years ago***

George : " I know, what you are doing! (Shouting) You shouldn't have brought this in the first place! ( pointing at a couple of black plastic bags, full of drugs)

Zen: ( a long silence later) " I .... Hate ... I hate you , dad" ( stormed out the door, making his father even angrier )

George : ( dumbfounded at his doing) " Kids these days are getting on my nerves"

Regina : ( comforting) "Just let him be , he'll probably turn around one of these days"

A few hours later, a few policemen knocked on their door, with horrible news.

Policeman :( sadly) " your kid overdrugged himself," he stopped to give some time for them to process the information. " He died"....

The situation George was in , it's hard to describe . Tears started rolling down his cheek, not knowing what to do, he sat on the couch, crying his emotions out, silently...Regina was doing the same, except she was louder!

In the year 1994, a year after George and Regina tied the knot, they had their first born boy, Zenith George. Soon after his death in 2014, they had a daughter Lily Anne George and then James . R. George.

***

That same day , everybody in the house stopped talking about Lily .

Lily went to her house in New York and stayed there for a week until she decided what to do. She then left for India.

She's been working there as a fellow officer along with several other men and women with the same job.

Now this is were things get spirited... ( smirk) ;)

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There is an organisation called MAGNUM ALPHA ELITE SENTINEL, shortly called MAES ( pronounced Mayes), which runs secret service of top level security and intelligence to protect the world from upcoming threats. They have many high ranked officials to carry out different missions. However , the top rank is numbered four. The famous 4 General of MAES, ( obviously in the organisation) were held in high esteem by all the higher ups as well. But there's a catch, the fourth General is hidden from everyone. Nobody knows who it is or where he or she is.

The first General, Maela Shepherd, is an amazing shooter cum archer. Anything regarding target , was in her arms.

The second general, Davis Brage, was not a social person but is great at calming everyone down in a rather informal manner. I mean, that is why he is the Leader of the group.

The Third General, Maximus Steelheart, the most bravest man on the team. He's known for not letting anyone behind during a crisis.

The fourth General is Abigail Lee. After 2019, all the records related to was made confidential. Nobody knows anything about her . Nothing! How irritating!

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Lily has been working in MAES for the past 5 years. She's the best at delivering every single task. Plus, she had a lot of friends.

On 12th of March 2025 , Lily reported to work with MAES. She lived in Bangalore,Karnataka, a small city , but highly advanced. For a 6th level logistics officer like Lily, entry was in a literal tree. 5 blocks off the Main Street of the city , there is a banyan tree. Anyone from outside would think it is just a regular tree, but no, it has an interior elavator, which opens up only for recognised officials. Once you enter, boom! You get to the HQ in just 4 seconds! (What? I did say they have the best technology and intelligence!) She opened a glass door to enter her bay and get checked by the Gaurding Clovers ( yeah! Weird names!), they match the entries with their information on their tablet. The first thing she does is to order a frappe with whipping cream on top , simple !

Who knew how the tables turned!