When Maria walked into the office today, she naturally expected things to be the same as they usually were. Unfortunately for the young 'beast magic' user, what she got was quite the deviation from her normal morning routine with the rest of the Anti-Personnel Squad.
The first curveball of the day was the fact that the group's leader, Jean-Jacques "Theo" Mubele, was actually here for a change.
The dark-skinned man was calmly reading through a stack of papers while sitting at his desk as if it were a completely normal day for him. After yesterday's incident, which left half of the station's staff damn-near immobile for most of the day, Maria was now acutely aware as to why the man currently held the title of third-strongest sorcerer on the planet. The fact that his mere presence alone was enough to almost put her in a coma immediately let her know that this man was not to be trifled with. And here he was, casually carrying on like he hadn't been gone for most of the year.
The funny part, however, was the fact that their squad's leader currently being present wasn't even the most interesting thing happening right now. Not by a long shot. The thing that currently had everyone's undivided attention was Maria's partner, Sebastian, and whatever the hell he had going on right now.
"What the hell is your problem?!" The bearded man half-shouted to his phone with a look of pure and utter dread on his face.
"You're my fucking problem, you cheating piece of shit!" The person on the other end of the line, a woman, shouted with what could only be described as furious anger.
"First of all, I'm not a cheater! And I don't appreciate you lying about me like that, especially to my face!"
Hoping to get the low-down on what was happening, Maria walked over to Skylar. The 'earth magic' user was in the middle of recording the nonsense happening before them on his phone, so it made sense that he would know what was up.
"What's going on?" Maria asked her teammate.
"One of Conley's girlfriends found out that he's been sleeping with other women."
"Oh..." Was all that the young woman said in response.
It was pretty well known among the entire station that Sebastian was a notorious playboy. The man always had a steady rotation of women that he routinely cycled through during the week in order to keep his dating life "exciting". How the man managed to navigate that kind of lifestyle was a complete mystery to Maria. However, at the end of the day, it was none of her business who the man was sleeping with.
As the group watched the man argue with the unknown woman on the other end of the line, a question came into Maria's mind. "Wait...why is he doing this on speakerphone?"
"He's not." Skylar replied with a slight chuckle. "She's just that damn loud."
"Wow..."
"I don't even see why you're so upset. What I do isn't any of your business. It's not like you're my girlfriend or anything!" Sebastian countered the woman's previous point.
Everyone in the room facepalmed after hearing that. It was obvious that the guy didn't care about making the woman any angrier than she already was. But saying something like that in this particular situation was basically throwing jet fuel onto the fire.
"You know what...FUCK YOU, Sebastian! I hope someone shoots in your fucking head you goddamn hoe! Lose my fucking number and don't even think about trying to speak to me ever again!"
And with those parting words from the mystery woman, the call ended, leaving Sebastian to simply drop down into his seat on the sofa and throw his hands up in defeat. It took a second for the man to regain his composure, but once he did, he immediately directed his ire towards his sister.
"You know this is your fault, right?!"
"I'm sorry!" Robin said with her hands up in a defensive position while failing to suppress her laughter. "My finger hit the button by mistake. I was just trying to hand you your phone. That's it, I promise."
"I don't really see why you're blaming Robin." Captain Theo interjected while still reading through his documents. "From the sound of it, you were in hot water anyway."
All Sebastian could do was simply sink even further into the sofa cushions and drag both his hands across his face. "God...that chick was fucking hot too! It took me weeks to finally get with her."
"Well, this is what you get for wagging your tail for every bitch you see." Robin shrugged, still failing to hide her laughter.
"Great...more dog jokes. You got any more for me, bird brain?!"
"Oh, I have plenty!"
"I still don't see why you do this." Skylar quickly interjected before the entire group was subjected to yet another round of animal-themed jokes from the two siblings. "You should've known that you were gonna get caught eventually. Like seriously, is one girl really not enough for you?"
"As crazy as this sounds, he can't help it." Robin explained in place of her brother. "Since he's bonded with canine-type cryptids, his libido is way higher than normal humans."
'I thought that was the case.' Maria said to herself.
One of the perks that comes with being a 'beast magic' user is the host adopting certain traits from the type of cryptids that they're bonded with. It's something that everyone with their specific magical attribute has to adjust to after awakening their powers. Although this can certainly be a positive for a lot of people, it's also a double-edged sword. Some of the traits that you take on from your companions could dramatically alter the way that you navigate your life.
"Oh yeah...I do remember hearing something about that when I was still in school." Skylar then tapped his chin with a pensive look on his face. The 'earth magic' user then decided to ask a follow-up question. "Well, what about you? What kind of perks does being bonded with birds give you?"
"Well, the main benefit I get from my companions is that my eyesight is considerably better than most others. After I bonded with my primary companion, I could see way farther than what I could before. I can even see it in the dark as well. Well, to a certain extent."
"She's also a major hoarder." Theo added with a slight grin. "Whenever Wajo gets ready to lay another egg, Robin starts storing a bunch of junk in her room. It's like she's instinctively building a nest or something."
"That's a lie, don't believe that!"
"Really?!" Sebastian started laughing. "Oh, that's funny!"
"And what about you, rookie?" Skylar then directed everyone's attention towards Maria.
The youngest member of the group grew nervous under the gaze of all her squadmates. She hesitated for a moment as to whether or not she should even answer that question. However, it wasn't like doing so would harm her. Besides, the traits that she picked up from her companions weren't all that great in her opinion.
"My eyesight and sense of taste improved after I first bonded with Asmodeus." The raven-haired teen answered. "I believe that I'm also immune to snake venoms...as far as I'm aware. But I haven't had the chance to test the limits of my resistance."
"Really?"
"Mhmm." Maria nodded.
"That's a pretty serious benefit." Theo then said, catching the attention of everyone in the room. "Actually, this brings me to something I wanted to discuss with you, Ortega."
"And what is that, sir?"
"I've heard enough about you and your skills from Robin, but I'd like to see them for myself. I want to have a quick sparring match with you to see what you're capable of. Nothing too serious, I just want to be able to properly gauge your level before sending you and Sebastian out on more missions."
Something deep within Maria's soul was telling her to do everything in her power to deny this request. She may have been young, but the raven-haired teen certainly wasn't a fool either.
One of the strongest beings alive was telling her to fight him. Not asking, telling. From those words alone, the young woman already knew that she wasn't about to get out of this; the man had already decided that this would happen. And as much as she wanted to say no, Maria knew that doing so would be a bad look in the eyes of her squadmates.
"O-okay...." Maria slightly stuttered as she nodded her head. Unwillingly agreeing to the madness she just brought into her life.
"Awesome!" Theo replied with a suspiciously nice smile. "Meet me down in the training room in twenty minutes. We'll go over the rules after you finish getting ready."
'Wait...we're doing this now?' The woman thought to herself with no small amount of shock. As if things weren't already bad enough, they suddenly got so much worse. However, Maria was somehow able to keep her nerve just long enough to speak. "Yes, sir...."
With a final nod from the man, Maria exited the room and made a beeline straight for her locker. It was obvious to her (and anyone with a functioning brain) that she would lose this so-called sparing match. To think that an average sorcerer like her even stood a chance would be nothing short of an insult to her intelligence. Even so, Maria was going to use what precious little time she had left to come up with some kind of strategy that would help her not completely make a fool of herself.
'God...I just want to go home already.' The raven-haired woman thought while walking into the APS female locker room.
-(o)-
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Skylar asked Robin what everyone else seemed to be thinking.
"It's not like there's anything that I can do about it." The squad's Vice Captain gave the 'earth magic' user a shrug.
All of the APS members, including a few other agents from around the station, were gathered in the main training room to watch the sparring match between Maria and Theo. Once the news spread that the Deputy Chief was going to showcase his skills in a fight, it didn't take long before the match was moved to a larger venue to accommodate the extra people. Even Chief Chandler and Valerie came down to witness such a momentous occasion. After all, it's not every day that you get to see one of the strongest men alive do what he does best.
'Great, now I get to embarrass myself in front of an audience....' Maria sighed as she stretched her limbs in preparation for what was about to happen. It wasn't like getting limbered up for this sham of a fight was going to help her out or anything, but she might as well do something.
Those precious few minutes she got from all the extra commotion gave Maria enough time to come up with a solid strategy to use against her opponent. A strategy that, in her opinion, was going to be useful against whoever she faced in the future. But even then, how well her plan worked in real life was yet to be seen. And the fact that she was going to use it against her boss wasn't exactly the ideal testing ground for it either.
Once both sides looked ready to go, Robin stepped forward. Since she was going to be the unofficial referee for the match, the elder 'beast magic' user decided to lay out some ground rules. Something like this was important; otherwise, either of her two colleagues could end up getting hurt.
"Alright...before we start, here are the rules!" The woman then looked to Theo before addressing both him and the crowd. "Captain Mubele is only allowed to use a maximum of three percent of his mana for the duration of this fight! On top of that, he can't use any of his elemental magic, he's limited to only three mana bursts, and he's restricted from flying!"
"Geez, talk about a handicap." Valerie folded her arms over her chest. Everyone knew that the guy was powerful as all hell, but limiting him to only the body reinforcement and barrier techniques like that seemed pretty unfair in her opinion. They might as well make him tie his hand around his back while they were at it.
"As for Ortega, she isn't allowed to use her strongest companion. Everything else is fair game!"
"I guess I got my hopes up for nothing." Sebastian sighed while leaning against a nearby wall.
Even though he and Maria had been partners for a little over half a year, Sebastian still hadn't been able to see her strongest companion in action. From what Maria told him, the dragon-type cryptid under her command was extremely unruly and immature. Apparently, she had a hard time controlling it under normal circumstances, so she only ever considered letting it run free in the event of an emergency.
"Sounds good to me." The Deputy Chief nodded.
"Got it." Maria then said in a low tone.
Robin gave the two agents one final look before raising her hand. The crowd waited in silent anticipation for what was about to happen. Although the outcome was already a foregone conclusion, many in the station were excited to see what one of their two new rookies was capable of. And now, they were about to get a good look into why the young woman was recruited straight into the APS.
"Ready! Begin!"
The moment the words came out of Robin's mouth, Maria immediately made her move. In the blink of an eye, the raven-haired teen unleashed three of her companions. Asmodeus, Ajax, and Aravin.
The first was a red-crested cobra with vibrant green scales and a red fin atop its head. Out of all of her companions, Asmodeus was the fastest. His speed had proven to be a major asset for the woman time and time again.
The second, Ajax, was four times the size of Asmodeus, with black and brown scales adorned with six large horns coming out of its head. Ajax's primary asset was his strength. He had the strongest bite out of all of Maria's companions, as well as the greatest physical strength.
The third cryptid, Aravin, was a black eel-like creature with pure white eyes. Its primary ability was to produce a special type of slime from its body, slime that acted as a paralyzing agent for anyone who was unfortunate enough to touch it.
'Three at once, huh?' Theo thought to himself as he got into his fighting stance. 'I recognize two of them, but I don't recall ever running into any cryptids like that black one. I'll have to be careful.'
Much to everyone's surprise, Maria was the first in this fight to make a move. "Asmodeus, Ajax, go!"
The green and brown serpents then began crawling toward their opponent while Aravin retreated to a position directly next to Maria. In less than a few seconds, the two cryptids were quickly upon their target and wasted no time in taking shots at the Deputy Chief. As soon as they were in striking distance, Asmodeus attempted to bite Theo several times while Ajax tried and failed to use his tail to grab onto the man.
Unfortunately for the two cryptids, Theo was easily dodging the attacks as if it were childsplay. The man was moving with such speed and elegance that many in the crowd were mesmerized by how efficient and effective his movements were. All while making it look like he was barely trying, which he genuinely wasn't.
Theo had been in his fair share of high-level fights before, and this wasn't even close to the hardest he's been pressed. Hell, the last 'beast magic' user he fought had three S-rank cryptids that were all capable of actually killing him. Maria's companions may have had a good amount of potential, but as they were right now, they had little to no chance of hurting him.
Just as Theo casually side-stepped yet another bite attempt from Asmodeus, the man finally looked in the direction of Maria, and to be honest, he was genuinely surprised by what he saw.
'Ew...what the hell?' Valerie thought as she outwardly cringed at the sight of Maria.
"Well..." Chief Chandler said with a look of surprise. "I certainly haven't seen that kind of strategy before."
To everyone's confusion -and slight disgust- they all watched as Maria allowed her third companion to quite literally vomit gallons of translucent slime onto her body directly from its stomach. So much, in fact, that it was starting to drip off of the raven-haired teen's body and spill onto the floor.
'I hate the fact that I have to do this, but it's the only real way that I can protect myself.' Maria thought to herself while keeping her eyes glued to her opponent.
'I see what she's doing.' Theo thought with a slight grin on his face. 'That slime must have some sort of protective property to it, that's why she's covering herself in it. These two snakes were just sent to keep me busy while she covered herself in that stuff. Interesting...'
"Do you know what stuff does?" Robin asked her brother.
"I can't remember." Sebastian replied. "It's only my fifth time ever seeing that black one. She usually uses Asmodeus and Ajax for most of our missions."
A few seconds later, Maria finally finished her preparations. The paralytic slime now completely covered her entire body. With this, she now had a layer of protection that would give even A-rank sorcerers pause. The young woman was now more grateful than ever that she was immune to the abilities of her companions because the amount of slime covering her would be more than enough to put any normal sorcerer into a coma. And with any luck, this would be exactly what she needed to keep her opponent off of her.
'Okay, I'll bite. Let's see what this stuff does!' Theo gave the woman a slight smirk before activating his body reinforcement technique.
Before anyone in the room could even finish blinking, Theo suddenly disappeared from in between Asmodeus and Ajax just as the two cryptids were getting ready to attack him from both sides. And just as quickly, the man reappeared directly behind Maria. Once the young woman's senses finally caught up to what just happened, she quickly turned around and got herself into a fighting stance.
'What the fuck?!' Valerie thought while rubbing her eyes. The tall blonde was convinced that her mind was playing tricks on her. 'There's no way he's actually that fast. That's impossible! I barely even felt him use his mana.'
Right beside her, Chief Chandler couldn't help but shake her head. 'And that was only with a fraction of his power. It still amazes me how he's able to move that fast without breaking the sound barrier.'
"Alright, rookie, let's see what you got!" Theo said to his opponent as he got into a fighting stance. The man had heard from Robin that Maria's hand-to-hand skills still needed some improvement. So in his mind, this was the next logical step in his evaluation of her.
Maria briefly grimaced before throwing a punch at the man, only for Theo to dodge it in a manner similar to that of a seasoned boxer. The woman then threw another punch; however, the attack yielded a similar result.
Seeing as she knew that a fight like this wasn't going to work for her, Maria telepathically commanded Asmodeus and Ajax to join her. And without even the slightest bit of hesitation, the two cryptids closed the distance separating them and their master.
Once they were all together, Maria and her three companions proceeded to send a flurry of four-way attacks towards their opponent. However, just like before, Theo dodged each blow with apparent ease. Even with the added pressure coming from Maria, the man was weaving his large body in between blows with the agility of a ballet dancer.
'Why the fuck can't I hit him?!' Maria angrily thought to herself. She knew the guy was good, but this was starting to get ridiculous. The two had been fighting for the better part of three minutes, and neither she nor her companions had managed to land a single hit. Her plan hinged on her being able to make physical contact with her opponent, but with the way this fight was going, it looked like that wasn't going to happen.
The young woman then threw a right-handed haymaker at Theo. However, and much to everyone's surprise, instead of dodging, the man used his left hand to catch her fist mid-swing. The moment he did so, Theo immediately felt the palm of his hand begin to tingle. The sensation quickly moved down the man's fingers before the 'lightning magic' user used his right hand to shove Maria away. The shove caused the woman to stumble back a good ten feet before she regained her posture.
Theo stared at the palm of his hand for a good five seconds before looking at Maria and her black-skinned companion. The man was seemingly able to put the pieces together before coming to a conclusion.
"I see..." He said with an approving nod. "The slime that companion of yours secretes has a paralyzing effect. A pretty potent one too. Just from that short amount of contact, I completely lost all feeling in my left hand."
"Yeah..." Maria said through slightly labored breaths.
"Wow... so that's what the slime does?" One of the agents in the crowd said to his buddy.
"That stuff must be pretty strong if it's able to affect Captain Mubele." Another agent remarked while twirling her hair on her finger. "I mean, he only touched her for a second."
Sebastian then spoke up. "And since the rookie covered her entire body in that slime, it means that Captain Mubele can't engage her hand-to-hand without worsening its effects."
Now, all of the spectators were interested in how this fight was going to continue. Maria had effectively cut off her opponent from attacking her directly thanks to the slime. However, this wasn't a normal sorcerer that she was dealing with. Everyone knew that if he wanted to, Theo could just power through the effects of the slime and still engage with the woman with his fists. However, doing so would just cause unnecessary harm to himself. And when you factor in the woman's three companions, the next logical step for Theo would be to rely on long-range attacks.
Even so, the man was limited to three mana bursts for this entire fight. Which meant that he only had three chances to put the woman down before having to move back to close-range attacks.
Before anyone could form any further thoughts on how this would play out, two flashes of neon-blue light blinked across the area before exploding right on top of Asmodeus and Ajax.
"What the-" Maria reacted just in time to see her two companions fall to the ground, both of whom were now completely unconscious from the blasts.
Before the woman could even process what just happened, Theo dashed across the arena. The man then used his left hand to grab the head of Aravin before shoving the black-skinned creature into the ground with enough force to put a crack in the concrete flooring. Just like that, all three of Maria's companions were down for the count, leaving the woman all alone to face off against her boss.
Maria instinctively used her mana to place a barrier around her entire body just in time to avoid a direct hit from Theo. However, despite doing its job, the barrier shattered on impact. Leaving the woman completely exposed.
Maria couldn't really rationalize what happened next. All the woman knew was that one second she was standing on both feet, and the next she was flying sideways through the air all the way to the other end of the fighting stage.
The woman then sensed her opponent's mana flare up. Without any other options to defend herself, Maria quickly threw her hands up in a guarding position and erected another barrier around her. And luckily for her, she did, because a massive human-sized ball of mana came flying at her with the force of a speeding car. Thankfully, the barrier once again managed to do its job. Because of that, Theo was now officially out of mana bursts to use for the rest of the flight.
"You managed to defend yourself from all of that, good job!" The dark-skinned man complimented his young subordinate.
"Fuck..." Maria whispered under her breath. That entire sequence happened so fast that she was still trying to figure out what just happened.
What happened next was pretty much just a blur. In the time it took to blink, Theo had once again managed to close the distance between himself and Maria. Once the man was in striking distance, he used his left hand to grab Maria's arm, stretched it out to her side, and proceeded to quite literally spin the young woman through the air before forcing her onto the ground and putting her into a submission hold by placing his knee on the small of her back.
"Do you yield?" The man asked the young woman.
All Maria could do was nod and simply accept her defeat. The man was simply way too physically gifted for her to keep up with. Realistically, the only shot Maria had at winning against someone like her Captain would be to use her strongest companion, but unleashing him here in this room full of other agents would be a disaster. Even then, the young 'beast magic' user doubted that she would last long.
"And it's over!" Robin then announced to the crowd. "Captain Mubele is the winner!"
"Wow, she almost made it to the five-minute mark." Chief Chandler said with a low whistle while looking at the timer on her phone. "I was almost certain that this would've been over in under forty-five seconds."
'I'm pretty sure that I could've lasted longer than that.' Valerie folded her arms over her chest as she watched Maria recall her three unconscious companions into her body.
The tall blonde was confident in her abilities when it came to a good old-fashioned brawl, and she was certain that she would've given their Deputy Chief a run for his money if she had the chance. Granted, Valerie wasn't crazy enough to think that she could flat-out beat one of the strongest beings on the planet, but she knew that she would've gotten at least a few good punches in.
As soon as she was done recalling Asmodeus, Ajax, and Aravin, Maria immediately became surrounded by the spectators of the fight.
"Good job out there, rookie!" One of the younger guys who worked in supply said with a smile on his face.
"The fact that you even had the guts to face Captain Mubele is nothing to sneer at." An older agent nodded his head. "You're definitely braver than me, I'll tell you that!"
"Is this slime really strong enough to paralyze an S-rank sorcerer?" One of the women who worked in the infirmary section then asked the young woman.
Needless to say, Maria was not a fan of all this unwanted attention. It was only now that the woman really considered the fact that she had just showcased her skills in front of what was basically all of her coworkers. On top of that, not only did she completely embarrass herself by getting utterly defeated, but she was now standing in the middle of a crowd while drenched in buckets of slime. The anti-social young woman quickly tried to find a way out of this anxiety-inducing mess, but was saved when her Vice Captain quickly got everyone's attention.
"Yo! Give the girl some space for Christ's sake! Let her take a breather before you start badgering her with your annoying ass questions."
Thanks to Robin's words, the gaggle of agents immediately dispersed.
"Hit the showers and meet us back in the office." Theo then ordered Maria. The man appeared to be inspecting his left hand, seemingly cataloging something in his mind for later. "We'll talk about what I saw after you get cleaned up."
"Yes, sir." Maria stoically responded before exiting the training room and making a beeline directly to the nearest shower.
With all of the excitement now over, everyone slowly made their way back to their work areas. Once the gaggle had completely left, Theo, along with Robin and Chief Chandler, stayed behind to discuss what had just happened.
"So, what's the verdict?" The Chief questioned her second in command.
"Her battle instincts are solid, but her physical skills still need work."
"Agreed." Robin nodded her head. "She still relies too much on her companions to pick up the slack. Don't get me wrong, her hand-to-hand skills have improved. However, she still falls into the trap that most 'beast magic' users do when it comes to having your companions cover your ass."
"Speaking of companions...." Theo raised his left hand to show the two women the damage he suffered. His entire palm and part of his wrist were covered in vibrant red splotches. "That eel companion is way too dangerous to use on anyone who isn't at least A-rank. All it took was a few quick touches and I completely lost all feeling in my fingers."
Chief Chandler raised an eyebrow at that. "Seriously?"
"Mhmm." Theo nodded.
"I might need to ask her to bottle some of that stuff up and put it in storage. You never know when you're going to need something like that."
"Anything else?" Robin then asked.
"Her strategy was great. Simple and effective. But it took too much time to set up. When she's out making arrests, she won't have the time to set up a plan like that. But, since we never send anyone out on jobs alone, I don't see that as being too much of an issue."
"Can't really argue with you there."
"Either way, I'm fine with sending her and Sebastian on more jobs further away from the station. Some more experience will do her some good."
Chief Chandler simply shrugged. "Well, if that's what you want, fine with me. I don't mind sending her and Conley on an overnight mission every now and then. God knows the other guys in your squad could use the relief."
"Anyways, I'm gonna go hit the showers. Hopefully, that'll help deal with the effects of this slime. We can go over everything in detail with the rookie after that."
With that out of the way, the three senior agents exited the training room to return to their duties. And just like that, it went right back to business as usual for the agents of Station Nine.