After being eviscerated by a beam and losing the engine, Ace boarded his ship and departed for the capital planet of the Tiberian Empire, Tiberia.
Before leaving the ship to report to Golden Eye, the commanding officer of the special investigations and espionage unit, Ace sent a message to Whiz to scan the ray and send a report when he could. In other words, Golden Eye was a spymaster. Hopefully, the findings would be favorable.
Ace found Golden Eye in the arena, where he was overseeing a training exercise involving eight students. From what Ace could tell, they were all talented, but none were Tiberian. It was surprising, but not unheard of.
"Ah! Ace! Come. Sit," came Golden Eye's soft voice from a seat, his one golden eye shining from behind his curtain of silver hair.
Ace sat and watched the young kids practice.
"The engine. Destroyed?" came Golden Eye's silken voice—that voice that made him sound like a kitsune talking a fisherman out of his fish.
Ace shook his head. No, that machine had been teleported off the planet. His gut was telling him this, and his gut was never wrong.
"No. I think it was teleported. Just waiting for confirmation."
Golden Eye nodded. "You can't do this alone. You need a team."
Ace nodded. He'd have to assemble a highly skilled and deadly team that could—
His thoughts were cut short by Golden Eye's next words.
"Meet your new team," Golden Eye said, gesturing toward the teens.
Ace stared out at the teens. This was crazy. Him, in charge of a team of youngsters?
"Oh, great. We're all gonna die."
"You better hope not," came Golden Eye's response. "These kids are special. Don't you remember them?"
Ace glanced back at the group of teens, who were clearly not having a problem with the training exercises.
"Those are the kids I brought here sixteen years ago?"
Ace turned back toward the teens and now began to recognize them.
There was Rip, a black-haired boy who wore a simple, light combat suit that clothed his whole body. While it fit snugly, he was able to comfortably move around to his heart's content, which was perfect considering how acrobatic he was. His weapons were a sword and a pistol, but Ace noticed a utility belt with several tools filling the pockets and compartments.
"Rip is a stealth expert. He focuses on short, very precise, sometimes brutal strikes to neutralize his opponents. Every weapon and tool is handcrafted or augmented by him. He has also studied the anatomy of almost every race in Corpon, giving him the knowledge and skills to neutralize nearly any opponent. Beyond all that, he is quite the duelist," Golden Eye informed Ace. "And then there's Asander, Rip's twin brother."
Asander had a similar build to Rip, but while his brother was pale, Asander was quite tan, with white hair that he kept at a medium length around his ears.
Unlike his brother, Asander seemed to be wearing regular clothes except for two gauntlets, which Ace recognized as weapons used by close-quarters combat masters. These particular gauntlets seemed to let out electrical bursts with every strike, capable of neutralizing an opponent, whether they were mechanical or biological.
Ace saw why Asander felt he only needed those gauntlets when the boy disposed of more than a dozen trainer androids in what must have been no more than three seconds. Shocked, he turned to Golden Eye.
"Asander has flitting abilities?" he asked, and Golden Eye gave him a sly smile.
"Oh, his speed puts most flitters to shame. So far, we know of no creature that can outpace him. However, he can only move at his full speed for a short burst. The rest of the time, he has to move at slower speeds. Otherwise, he will exhaust himself to the point of passing out."
Ace could barely believe these kids were the same runts he had brought to Tiberia. He wanted to rub his eyes but was afraid he might miss something. He cleared his throat before talking.
"What did he excel at?"
"Asander excels at fighting large groups all at once. He is excellent at taking out multiple guards at once."
Ace let his eyes wander to another course, where a girl with honey-brown skin and black hair with blue highlights was practically dancing around a training program designed to teach evasion techniques.
His jaw fell. This program would make even seasoned warriors sweat, but here she was, giggling as she casually pirouetted around the area, dodging all manner of attacks.
"Ah, Mia, our resident witch. Her skills with foresight and magic make her a dangerous opponent indeed. Combine that with her incredible senses, and you have an almost unbeatable combo," Golden Eye commented.
"Has she gotten any training from a mystic master yet?" Ace asked, scrolling through her nearly unblemished record in the ring. "Who has she lost to?" he added.
"The one they all lose to," Golden Eye responded, pointing to a tall, rather slim boy who had auburn hair. His eyes were hidden behind his bangs, but Ace knew they'd be an extraordinary blue color that put sapphire to shame.
The same eyes his kind always had.
Those electric-blue eyes that seemed to pierce right through you.
He stood there casually reading a book while combat droids hammered on his shield. Then it suddenly dropped, and they closed in. He held up his hand as if to confirm to Ace that he was, in fact, responsible for what happened next. He slowly clenched his fist, causing the droids to fold into themselves until they were balls of sparking parts.
"Underwhelming," the boy muttered.
"That is Darec. He has perfect scores in every discipline but magic. However, as you can see, he's an incredibly powerful telepath. A little arrogant, though..." Golden Eye explained, then pointed toward two girls standing back-to-back on wooden logs, blocking balls that were being launched at them at high speeds.
These particular balls were designed for nonlethal crowd control. They emitted a numbing sensation upon impact that spread to a person's whole body, rendering most immobile. Any contact with the skin could cause this effect.
So the two girls had to be careful. One did this by telepathically reaching out and simply making a wall of the balls ensnared in her ability. Her hair and eyes matched Darec's, but unlike her sibling, her face was full of passion, and her eyes seemed like two sapphire stars.
The other, shorter girl had long blond hair pulled into a tight ponytail and magenta eyes. Both girls seemed to wear similar outfits: light battlesuits fitted tightly, with utility belts much like Rip's.
The blonde was using a sword Ace recognized as the legendary sword, the Aki. The Aki had once belonged to a man named Dracul, a hero known across Corpon. It was obvious this blonde was Dracul's daughter.
"Neira is Dracul's daughter, and that is Devika, sister of Darec and daughter of Skullrange. I'm sure you've guessed," Golden Eye interjected.
Ace chuckled. "Rip looks like his dad, but less brooding than Grim. Asander looks like his mom." Memories flooded Ace's mind as he stared at these kids. "I'm sure Ragnarok panicked when he discovered he was having a daughter."
"How much you wanna bet Skullrange and Aine always knew they were having twins?" Golden Eye mused.
Ace laughed. "They knew. Where's Marcus's boy and Al's treasure?"
"Malreki and Alessa are in the dueling ring, trying to improve Alessa's fighting capabilities."
Golden Eye directed Ace's attention to two figures standing opposite each other, encircled by a glowing ring.
On one side of the ring stood a blond-haired boy with focused emerald eyes. He seemed to be staring holes into his opponent as he adjusted his grip and stance, preparing for the impending duel. Definitely the son of Marcus, Ace thought to himself. At the opposite side stood a petite, pale girl with pitch-black hair that slightly hid her yellow eyes. In each hand, she held three knives that seemed to be glowing.
The duel started suddenly, and Alessa moved first, throwing two blades at once with a flick of her wrist and a third with another flick.
Malreki reacted as soon as Alessa began to move because he knew that was all the time he had. By the time he had brought his sword up to protect his head, another blade came rushing toward his stomach, which he was barely able to block with his hilt. He then rushed forward, and Alessa backed away rapidly until she fell out of bounds.
Ace was ready to meet his team, and he became aware that these kids, these teens, already outclassed many soldiers, but they were trash as a unit.
The quit bell rang, and Ace met the team in the common room of the locker rooms.
"Hello, I am your commander, Ace," he introduced himself before getting to his point. "Golden Eye has assigned you to me and me to you as subordinates and commanding officer, but in order for this to work, I need to construct a chain of command."
"Ooh, ooh, can I be the leader?" Mia asked, raising her hand and bouncing up and down rapidly.
"No. Neira is the leader until I say otherwise," Ace responded dryly.
"Hmph, misogynist!" Mia spat and pouted.
"How am I a misogynist if I made Neira the leader?" Ace asked, furrowing his brows. "Besides, I'm a bubbliphob."
Mia tilted her head in confusion, then tilted it the opposite way.
"What's a bubbliphob?"
"It means I'm prejudiced against bubbly people."
Mia gasped and crossed her arms. "Hmph."
"Darec is second in command," Ace informed them, which elicited a scoff from Darec.
"Excuse me while I leap for joy," Darec quipped.
"Leap on your own time," Ace retorted.
Rip chuckled a bit. "I'm assuming we have a mission."
Ace glanced at each team member, each a valuable part. Could they complete it?
"We do."