In his room, Tony lay on the bed. He stared blankly at the ceiling. At that moment, sleep evaded him.
Before meeting with Sam , he thought his only choice was to pull out from Darknetz if both sides couldn't resolve their feud.
In his opinion, it wasn't a betrayal, nor was it abandonment. He simply had no choice as his hands were tied.
After meeting Sam , he felt his thoughts earlier were too naive. At that moment, his mind was filled with a sense of longing coupled with conflict.
He loved Darknetz and liked Sam as a friend. Despite their argument upon meeting, he could sense Sam 's admiration and favor for him, so he wasn't mad over the dispute.
Instead, it was the opposite. After having a taste of what it would be like to have a real friend by talking to Sam , the sense of longing in his heart deepened.
He tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. At that moment, a knock came from the door.
With a frown, he glanced at the door. “Who is it?”
“It's me.” Ben 's voice carried through the door.
Tony closed his eyes. “Come in.”
With Tony 's permission, Ben opened the door and walked in. Seeing the lights were still on, he smiled. “I knew you hadn't slept yet.”
Tony maintained his posture on the bed but moved his gaze to Ben . “What is it?” Ben crossed the room to him. “Do you mind if I climb in?”
“Climb in where?” Tony asked.
Right after he finished, Ben kicked off his home slippers and climbed into Tony 's bed.
Realizing what he was doing, the crease on Tony 's forehead deepened with disapproval. “You—”
“What? It's not like we never shared a bed before. What's more, I already took a shower and changed my clothes. I'm clean,” Ben stated, then rolled to the other side of the bed.
Tony looked at him with a resigned look.
Ben lay down by his side, propped his head on his palm, and met Tony 's gaze. “We even came from the same womb. Sleeping in the same bed is nothing compared to that.”
Tony replied, “Well, I didn't have a choice.”
“You could've chosen not to be a human,” Ben argued. Tony asked, “Are you here to spew nonsense?”
“Of course not. I saw you couldn't sleep, so I specifically came here to have a chat with you,” Ben explained.
“Who said I couldn't sleep?” Tony refuted.
Ben 's gaze swung to the lit lights and jerked his chin in that direction. “Is that not proof?”
Tony dropped his gaze and rebutted, “What? I like sleeping with the lights on. Can't I even do that?”
“Well, it's not that you can't, but who was the one that said he couldn't sleep with the lights on?” Ben asked.
Tony couldn't think of a comeback to his question.
“You're not here to chat with me. I think you're here to find fault with me,” Tony said as he looked pointedly at Ben .
Ben chuckled. “What about it? Are you angry?”
Tony plastered a fake smile on his face. “I see that you're keen for a beating since we haven't fought for a while.”
Ben arched his brow. “I'm not necessarily the one keen for a beating.” “Want to go?”
“Let's go then!”
Tony rolled toward him and started wrestling with Ben .
Twenty minutes later, the two panted heavily as they lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
Ben slid a side glance at Tony . “Tony, did you gain weight lately? Why are you stronger now?” Tony turned to look at him. “What? Do you fear me now?”
Ben looked him up and down and realized Tony didn't gain weight. He noted the outline of muscles along Tony 's arms.
“You've been training secretly?” Ben questioned.
Tony didn't deny his claim. Instead, he merely raised his brow, shooting a what-about-it look at Ben .
“Okay! You're getting more and more cunning these days,” Ben exclaimed.
“Your gunmanship is good enough, so I can't work hard on other aspects?” Tony questioned. Ben raised a brow at his query. “Fair enough.”
Dropping his head back to bed, he looked up at the ceiling.
Ben felt his displeasure had eased slightly after working out from the play fight earlier. He called out, “Tony.”
“Hmm?”
“Have you thought it through?” Ben asked.
Tony knew Ben was merely worried about him and also felt anxious due to the tension between Alpha Kilian and Darknetz.
He was torn between speaking out and keeping mum, and his tense expression betrayed his hesitation.
Ben detected that something was amiss, so he leaned forward and asked, “Are you keeping something from me, Tony?”
Although Ben was a boy of few words, he had always been observant and sensitive. Thus, it was never easy to hide anything from him.
“Nah, how is that possible?” Tony knew he had unwittingly aroused Ben 's suspicion, so he looked his brother in the eyes, gave him a smile, and assured him.
“I can tell you're not your normal self,” Ben insisted.
Tony pursed his lips, pausing to organize his thoughts before explaining, “Ben , the matter is no longer just between me and Midnight fang pack . It involves Daddy and DX Group as well. Haven't you realized that they have already openly declared war on one another since the last incident? Do you think the matter will be resolved if I stop what I'm doing?”
Ben frowned slightly and mumbled, “That's true.”
However, a brief moment later, he fixed his gaze on Tony again and asked, “Now, I am less concerned about Holden and Midnight fang pack . We are just doing our best to get rid of the bad guys. But what about Sam ? If Daddy really goes all out to fight against Darknetz, we'll be caught in between.
Whatever the outcome is, we don't want to see any party getting hurt.”
“You're right...” It was Tony 's turn to frown and mumble to himself. He looked troubled. Seeing that, Ben couldn't help but ask, “So you've not sorted it out?”
“Sort what out?” Tony could not comprehend that sudden question.
“You mean you agreed to let Sam get involved even though you don't have a foolproof solution to the problem?” Ben was taken aback. He thought Tony had a backup plan.
Tony gave him a side eye and retorted, “At this point in time, do you think Sam will let things be just because I refuse to give my consent?”
“But... does that mean we sit back and do nothing at all?” Ben was worried.
“Can you come up with a solution?” Tony raised his eyebrow and threw his brother a challenge.
“I...” Ben knitted his brows and said, “What can I possibly come up with? You are always the problem solver. Moreover, you are the one closest to Sam among us.”
Although they were all members of Darknetz, they had always served in different fields. Sam was involved in the overall operations while Tony was the expert in technology systems. Ben was the backup whom Sam would go to for help whenever Tony was not available. As Tony was the main person Sam worked with, the two had always been closer.
“It is precisely because he knew me well that he can easily tell when I'm hiding something from him,” Tony replied as his eyes dimmed.
What Tony said was a fact that Ben could not refute. He fell into deep thoughts, then asked, “How about we tell him the matter is resolved when we get back there?”
“If the matter is resolved, he'll ask Thalia to bring us back for further training,” Tony countered. “In that case—” Ben was about to explore further when Tony interrupted.
“Forget it, we'll take it as it comes,” Tony said, staring into the ceiling. “If it is inevitable that Daddy will go into confrontation with Holden, then it is only a matter of time before we'll have to face it. Let's mentally prepare ourselves for that day.”
Ben followed Tony 's lead and lay down on his back to stare at the ceiling. “I've been mentally preparing myself since the day I knew about this. Unfortunately, as the days passed, I couldn't help but worry and stress over it.”
“I never thought it'll be so serious. The situation is more dire than we have ever imagined,” Tony said.
“Do you think we can just run away, Tony? Let's not take sides and let them do whatever they want,” Ben suggested.
“Where can we run away to? Can you disappear from the surface of the earth?” Tony returned.
Ben pursed his lips, unable to refute his brother. “That's true. Where can we run away to? So long as there's network available, we can't escape from them.”
Tony fell into silence, and Ben turned around to gaze at him quietly for a while.
Finally, Ben broke the silence and said, “Tony, I know you must be more troubled than I am. After
all, you are much closer to Sam . Donna and I merely followed your lead and joined Darknetz on a whim. We were not as devoted and had not poured our heart and soul into it.”
Tony did not speak a word, which proved that Ben was right in his assessment of Tony 's inner conflict.
Tony was doing something he was passionate about, and he had devoted himself to Darknetz's work. He was the one responsible for Darknetz's rapid development in recent days.
There was no doubt he was most affected and torn by what was happening. “I'm glad you see that,” Tony confessed with a sigh.
He was expecting Ben would console him, but instead, Ben lazily raised his brow and said, “That's it. It's enough to have you worry over the matter. Donna and I shouldn't really be concerned about it.”