The room stayed silent for a while after Maya finished talking. The air felt a bit different—it was not heavy with fear, but it was heavy with the pressure, in the way that meant everyone had finally understood that they were planning something big; it was not a club game anymore.

The silence in the air was sharp; the only hum in the air was the breathing of the four. It felt like the room itself was listening to what they would decide next.

Maya slowly turned her back towards the whiteboard; her steps were steady, not rushed. Her normal demeanour showed that she had already started putting the pieces together in her mind. She then uncapped the marker with a slow click and lifted it towards the board.

"Okay, guys," she said softly. Her voice was firm, but it had that serious edge to it. "Thanks for the intel, I'll put it to good use."

She paused—not for dramatic effect, but she was thinking, she was arranging the dots about the information inside of her head, in the way that someone adjusts puzzle pieces before clicking them into the right place.

"Now," she continued, voice low. "I'll make the plan for how we'll make it all happen, about how we'll initiate. Because just like Ryan said before... the war can begin anytime soon."

She tapped the marker lightly on the board; the sound was small but clear. "We have to prepare for it accordingly, or we'll lose miserably."

The others looked at her and the board where she had drawn the map; all three of them were serious.

Leon was just simply leaning back into his chair, foot tapping on the ground with a slow rhythmic hum. Arthur sat still, arms crossed next to his chest, his face was unpredictable as ever, eyes were sharp.

Ryan simply rubbed his thumb against his palm, trying to maintain his composure and stay attentive despite the dull pain that was making his whole body scream.

Maya then turned towards the board once again and started drawing the map, her hand moving across the board as she expanded on the previous map, which she had drawn after processing the intel that Arthur had given them.

She added a few more lines, connecting angles of them together, adding dots and arrows to it.

What she made wasn't perfect or artistic, but it was clear—clear enough to understand, the kind of drawing that told you exactly what you needed to understand without any fancy shapes.

She outlined the old plan first—the same map which they had discussed about seven days ago—and then she circled the three main entry points with a thick stroke of the red marker, and she wrote the names of the teams that would be raiding them.

"This is our old plan, I hope you three remember it well because I'm not going to tell it again," she said as she pointed towards the front main gate. "Here, Arthur will enter from the main gate."

She tapped the area of the back, which seemed like a back alleyway. "As discussed before, Leon will be handling the back alleyway." She then moved her finger to the left, where she had drawn a small, cracked wall. "And Ryan and I will enter through the side wall area."

She circled all three of the spots so they stood out clearly; the red rings were forming a triangle around the building. Ryan leaned forward slightly. He didn't say anything, but seeing the positions drawn out made everything look way too real to him.

Maya then turned the marker and started drawing a second map next to the first one—a simplified version of the inside of the main building. Straight lines for hallways, squares for the rooms and circles for the guard spots.

After finishing that, she then circled a point in the centre-left area. Her voice came low, steady. "This," she said, tapping the marked area with the tip of the marker. "This is where we'll meet after clearing the targets assigned to each one of us."

She drew a small label next to the circle:

Left-Hand Man — Main Room

"This is the left-hand man's area, which Arthur told us about," she explained. "We'll be regrouping here after entering from our separate ways."

Leon let out a slow whistle. "Bold place to meet, yeah," he said. "You didn't choose something simple for us, huh?"

Maya didn't look at him, her voice came a bit annoyed. "You're talking like it's something too big a deal for you. And on the other hand, we don't have the luxury of doing something simple."

She then started explaining while pointing one by one at the marked areas. "So like I said before to you three,"

She continued. "These are the areas where each of us will enter together from. Once we get through our first targets and make it inside the left-hand man's area, we'll move towards this place."

She tapped towards the meeting point. "And we'll work together as a team from here onwards."

She glanced at Leon and Arthur as she spoke about the next part. "From that point on, Leon and Arthur's strength would be our trump card; we'll use it to our best. They're the strongest in direct hand-to-hand fights, basically monsters. And Ryan and..."

She took a small pause as her gaze shifted towards Ryan for a second before continuing once again. "We also have our share of strengths. So we'll support you both and fight alongside you."

Ryan felt something shift inside of his chest; it was not pride, but it was something warm—something grounding. He nodded slowly without saying anything to them.

Arthur didn't show any emotions; he was unreadable as ever. Just simply stared at the board, his expression still neutral, his arms still crossed next to his chest.

But Ryan could tell that he was paying full attention to the current meeting. Arthur never looked away from the board when something important was being discussed.

Leon nodded too. He looked confident, maybe even more excited now, and a smile was curled up on his lips.

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