The injured heroes — Christan, Silent, and Astra — had finally been discharged from the hospital. They were ordered to report immediately to meet their new commander, no questions asked.
He introduced himself as Commander Jace. He wasn't as heavily built as Commander Richard, but he wore the same standard uniform — untucked shirt buttoned only up to his chest, a red neck scarf hanging loosely around his neck. A nose ring gleamed under the light, four silver earrings lined his left ear, and a single diamond stud decorated his right. His hair was cropped low, though the red tint was unmistakable. From the edge of his collar, a tail-shaped tattoo traced down his back, mostly hidden beneath his clothes.
"Alright now," he began, his voice sharp but lazy, "I'll be your commander from now on, since your last one couldn't handle failure. Listen good. My name is Jace Tallman, and you'll refer to me as Commander Jace. You'll respond to my commands and questions with a prefix and suffix sir. Is that clear?"
"SIR YES SIR!" the squad chorused.
Jace frowned.
"Last time I checked, I was working with heroes, not whining b*tches. I said — is that clear?!"
"SIR YES SIR!"
"Better." He stepped forward, scanning them. "Now, you'll introduce yourselves by cryptonym and ability — or what you sluts like to call strangene. Go."
One by one, the squad responded:
"Sir, codename Smoker. Ability: Flame Emission, sir."
"Sir, codename Phoenix. Ability: Flight, sir."
"Sir, codename Jenney. Ability: Body Inflation, sir."
"Sir, codename Silent. Ability: Farsight, sir."
"Sir, codename Lincoln. Ability: Lightning Production, sir."
"Sir, codename Astra. Ability: Wave Concentration, sir."
"Sir, codename Christan. Ability: Lock-on Memory, sir."
"Sir, codename Archer. Ability: Item Teleportation, sir."
"Sir, codename Allen. Ability: Body Manipulation, sir."
Finally, the last recruit raised a small notebook that read:
"Sir, codename Zero-08. Ability: Impulse Speech, sir."
Jace squinted at the page, then at the recruit.
"Zero-08, huh? Oh… you're one of the test results from last year, right?"
Zero-08 flipped the page to another message:
"Sir, yes sir."
Jace smirked and stepped back into place.
"Alright, now that I've got your IDs — who's the vice commander of this squad?"
"Sir!"
"Smoker?"
"Sir, yes sir."
"Well, that explains why you spoke first. Anyway — for this next phase, I'll personally be escorting you and Christan to someone who might help you slugs find who you're looking for. Is that clear?"
"SIR YES SIR!"
"Last time I checked, I was talking to Smoker and Biscuit Legs over here. I said, is that clear?!"
"SIR YES SIR!"
"SIR YES SIR!"
"Good. Let's move."
The trio arrived at a tall building — neat at the top, but unfinished at the base. Someone stood halfway up the stairway with no railing, wearing jean shorts and a hoodie, hands buried in his pockets.
He spotted them and stopped. Commander Jace called out:
"We're here for Mr. Milo."
"Colp wiche meh," the kid mumbled around a candy in his mouth.
"Uh… what?"
He sighed, and gestured for them to follow. They trailed him up to a door on the next floor. Inside was a cramped one-room space — a blanket on the floor surrounded by books and papers, a mini fridge beside it, an orange bulb flickering above, and a couple of buckets by the door.
The man crouched beside a box, removed his hoodie, and threw a towel around his neck.
"Alright. Who're you looking for?"
Christan blinked.
"Wait... aren't you Mr. Milo?"
"What's it to ya?"
"We were sent—"
"— yeah yeah, I'm Mr Milo. Now, you gonna tell me who you're looking for, or should I get back to my day? 'Cause taking a shower's on that list."
Christan hesitated.
"We're looking for a girl. She stole something from our organization. She was wearing an orange jumpsuit... with a mask."
"A mask?"
"Yeah."
Milo chuckled.
"Funny. I was about to call you an idiot for starting with 'orange jumpsuit', but the mask… now that's something. Can you draw?"
"Yeah."
He tossed her a pencil and paper.
"Then draw. Hope you're good at it."
Christan rolled her eyes but started sketching — two button eyes and a wide grin.
"The eyes were black, a red button nose and red lips."
Milo looked over her shoulder and nodded.
"I think I know your guy."
"You do?"
"Of course. Anyway, wait here — I'll get ready."
He grabbed a bucket and left, waving lazily as he passed Jace and Smoker.
As soon as he was gone, Christan frowned.
"There's something fishy about this guy."
"What? The fact that he probably wasn't gonna bathe today if we hadn't shown up? Or that he suddenly knows who we're looking for just from a mask description?" Smoker asked.
"Both. But mostly the second one. Something tells me he's actually linked to the thief."
Jace, leaning by the wall, interrupted:
"Would've loved to jump in on this, but I've been strictly instructed not to interfere. I'll be outside for a smoke. If the guy comes back, tell him we'll pay after he's done — and that the boss wants the target alive. Clear?"
"SIR YES SIR!"
He shut the door behind him.
Moments later, Milo returned — now dressed in all black, eyes half-lidded. He dropped his bucket with a thud.
"Alright, heads up. I heard about the break-in on the news. Been on this case since last night. The sketch you gave me just confirmed my suspect."
Smoker folded his arms.
"You expect us to believe you solved the case overnight from a news report? Come on, that's impossible."
Milo smirked.
"If I told you how I did it, it'd be a lot less impressive, wouldn't it? And besides — I'm being paid to bring her back alive, not to give you the details."
"Then why start telling us anything if you knew you weren't gonna finish the story?" Christan snapped.
"Because you two already tagged me as sus. Had to give you something so you wouldn't think I'm working with her. Now, important question: payment before or after the job?"
"After," Smoker replied sharply.
"Cool. Make yourselves comfortable... on the floor."
"…"
"…"
"…"
He slung a small bag over his shoulder.
"Well, I don't have chairs anyway, so — byee."
And shut the door behind him.
Christan sighed, looking around the tiny room.
"He probably doesn't get many jobs. With a ten-thousand charge per case, you'd think he'd have more than a blanket and buckets."