At the sunbathed training ground outside the Golden Lion's facility, Felix sat on the green metal bench under the shade.
the sound of clicking echoed from the training grounds, as Felix restlessly pulled on the triggers of his new guns.
Sweat slid across his face while his tongue stuck out like a dog as he takes in heavy breaths.
"Oh, those look special." A tall figure spoke.
"Agent umm… Rico, right?"
"Rico's my name… Haven't decided on a codename yet. New guns, sir? They look like Sifu Anastasia's."
"Sifu?" He echoed curiously.
"She asked me to call her that. May I sit beside you, sir?"
Felix gestured for him to take the seat, "Yeah, I just got them. What's up?"
The lanky man sat down beside him, "On one hand, I just wanted to see you. On the other hand, you seem down in the dumps."
"I'm fine, don't worry about it."
"Have you found that Vermilion yet?" Rico asked.
"Not yet. I could always just ask the other two, since they're also from Frontier Industries."
"Other two?"
"Yeah, Isabelle and Nero."
"Right… We're supposed to train under David and Anastasia." Rico said.
Felix squeezed his pistol, remembering his last interaction with David and his declaration, "I will train you."
He aimed his black gun, Misery, on the ground and fired three times.
"So, you're going to train under them." Felix blew the smoke coming from Misery. He turned towards the lanky young man, startled and curled up like a ball.
"Y-yes sir, we're uh… all grateful for the opportunity." He nervously answered.
"You all?"
Rico shook his head, composing himself, "I think all of us in Batch Delta are grateful. Or… me and Kate, as far as I know. But considering that you saved our lives, the two of us are in your debt."
"When did I do that?"
"The research on your DNA. It's thanks to you that we were able to make full recoveries... That's how Anastasia Sifu explained it, so we should also be grateful for all of your sacrifices. I guess it's borrowed gratitude, but you get the picture, don't you?" He smiled, rubbing his large gauge earrings.
An old memory flashed in Felix's head, one where Luna smiled. Her voice still echoing in his soul. "…There was a breakthrough in their research, and thanks to your DNA, I'm a lot like you now. You're not alone anymore."
"Yeah… I do."
"Kate and I were refugees from the Fallen Sun. The first one, the one that hit America. But… no one seemed to believe us." Rico's squeezed his hands together, "No one wanted to take us in. Then when the second one hit, suddenly news spread like wildfire… We were approached by the Golden Lion, and given an offer to join."
"You're telling me this because…?" Felix asked, spinning his gun from the trigger.
"Because of all the options we had, we took Project ASTRAEA. Go big or go home, and we had no home to go back to… You gave us the opportunity. And we'll use this power to make things right, and take Jackal down for dropping a sun on us."
"… Jackal." Felix smiled lightly.
"After our training with Anastasia, I hope that one day Kate and I will be able to join your team. Even if I'm a stage one."
"Don't worry about it, rookie. My partner's a stage one and she's already a monster."
"Who's already a monster?" A familiar voice came in.
"Speak of the devil, and something worse shows up." Felix muttered, glancing over to Maria.
"Is she your partner, sir?" Rico asked.
"Scram, rookie." Maria ordered, holding a paper cup.
"That's… rude." Rico's eyebrows curled.
"Just leave. Trust me. You don't want to deal with her." Felix smiled despondently.
"Right… Hope to talk to you soon, sir." The lanky figure walked away.
Maria raised her eyebrow at Rico as he walked past her.
"Sir? Really?" She scoffed.
"I may not seem like it, but I'm very important." Felix shrugged.
Maria sat beside him, "Sooo, about Luna…"
"Chief told you?" Felix said with an exhausted tone.
"I also heard Allison bring it up earlier this morning."
"Chief told you, didn't she?" Felix reiterated.
"She didn't tell me enough."
"You probably don't need to know more."
"I'll be the judge of that. Here." She said as she gave him a paper cup.
"The coffee from earlier?"
"New one. Just the way you like it."
"I see. Thanks. It's just that—" Felix gulped.
"I think you should take a rest."
"I'm well-rested… as… is."
"That's enough, bud." She quietly whispered as she placed her hand on his shoulder.
The corners of his vision turned dark as everything began to blur.
"Venom… did you… lace…"
Felix collapsed to the ground.
**
The blades of the airplane whirled as the two ascended into the skies.
The two sat in front of each other once again on black leather seats. Maria read up on the mission documents while Felix was completely in a daze. His mismatched eyes widely stared into the distance.
"It looks like we're headed to a hotel." She muttered to herself.
"Mister Aster, your coffee. Miss Readman, your mimosa and strawberry tart." An attendant spoke as she placed their orders on the table. A black coffee, an alcoholic beverage, and a sweet dessert.
"Ah thank you!" Maria peppily responded.
The attendant flashed a brief smile and left as soon as she finished putting their food on the desk.
"C-coffee…" He absent-mindedly replied, as if he was on auto-pilot. His eyes were open, but had no focus.
"That's right… now drink up." Maria smiled softly.
The moment he took a sip of the coffee, his expression turned back to his usual scowl, "Ugh, this coffee is too bitter."
"Oh good, you're back to normal." She replied passively.
"Hey, wait a minute, you knocked me out—"
"I had to. You were being uncooperative."
"Sigh… don't do that again."
"No promises." She smirked.
Felix leered over as Maria opened her suitcase. In it, displayed a gun, similar in appearance to his own.
"You also have a new gun?"
"Yup. Twin guns, kinda like yours. Speaking of, sorry about your old gun, though. It was important to you, right?"
"It's alright, I have these…" He answered as he looked at his twin guns.
"For now, until the agency replaces it again." She blurted out with a hint of dissatisfaction.
"Right… So how are they? The guns I mean?"
She spun them around, "Light, easy to hold. Bullets that could break through five inches of steel."
"Odd, why didn't the development lab give me that kind of firepower?"
"Wasn't it because you don't kill unless "absolutely necessary?"" She gestured in air quotes.
"Mhm… So what are they called?"
"I wanted to call it Maria Junior, but they were already given names. "Predator" and "Proditor". They said it was fitting for taking down the hunter and the traitor."
"Better than Agony and Misery." He scoffed.
She shrugged, "I still prefer knives. Guns just kill too quickly for me."
Felix looked at his twin guns, and with a contemplative expression, responded, "… My mentor always told me that if I had to kill, I should do it quickly and as painlessly as possible."
Maria crossed her arms with a look of mild annoyance, "And yet you didn't want me to kill Harbinger."
"Y-yeah."
"You were only prolonging his suffering, you know?"
He gulped, "Yeah, I know…"
The conversation turned silent once again as it was left at that. Felix returned to scouring through the holographic screen.
"That's odd… it says here that location is an abandoned building in a bustling city, but their current position is…" Maria remarked as she zoomed into the screen.
***
Felix prepared his gear, placing his new twin guns into the holsters under his coat. As they hovered closer to the location, Maria gulped as she watched him put on goggles.
With the wind caught in their throats, the two of them were forced to yell as the airplanes' opened its hatch.
"WE'RE JUMPING TO THEIR HIDEOUT?!" Maria shrieked at the top of her lungs, clinging on the other side of the airplane.
"YES." Felix replied as he placed the goggles above her head and dragged her closer.
"ISN'T THIS REALLY DANGEROUS?!" Maria clutched Felix's arm.
"PROBABLY." He answered against the strong whirling gust against his cheeks as he pulled her closer to the hatch.
"I WASN'T TRAINED FOR THIS!"
He turned to her with a shocked expression, "HOW CAN YOU NOT BE?!"
"REASONS!"
"WE DON'T HAVE A CHOICE! WE'RE ABOUT TO MISS OUR JUMP!" Felix grabbed her waist and pulled her down with him.
"NOOOOOOO!" Her scream faded into the atmosphere as the two of them plummeted together.
~