"The Church's approach and motives for exorcism are different from ours..."
Chief O seemed to have some unspoken reservations here. Changing the subject, she said,
"Anyway, if you ever run into a demonic entity you can't handle, you can go to Holy Cross Cathedral and ask Bishop James for help. As for the rest of the clergy, you can just ignore them."
The nature of the Church meant that their primary goal in performing exorcisms was to gather faith from the public.
This was somewhat at odds with the Men in Black's mission of maintaining world peace.
After all, among the many supernatural events out there, the "miracles" performed by their "God" had an equally massive impact on the public.
"Alright, that covers the weapons and gear," Chief O said.
"Next, I'm taking you to see an 'old friend.' It might help you put together your own team."
Every candidate in Division X was tasked with building their own team to handle various situations.
Before long, Chief O led Mike into a spacious, empty room. Shortly after, Agent Z walked in, bringing along a girl dressed in leather armor.
The girl had a slender figure and delicate features, but she wore heavy, dark goth makeup and had a buzz cut that was barely half an inch long.
It gave her an incredibly dangerous and bizarre vibe.
"You!"
Before anyone could react, the girl let out a furious roar, lunging at Mike as if holding a deep-seated, bitter grudge against him.
[Melee Combat Experience +88]... [Cold Weapons Experience +66]... [Firearms Experience +50]... [Constitution Main Attribute +3]... [Strength Attribute +5]...
[Curse: Demonic Body (Damaged Version)]
What the hell is this...?
Right as Mike absorbed the cluster of light orbs, the girl's frenzied attack arrived.
With a whoosh of air, she struck with vicious eyes and ruthless precision.
Hands, elbows, fists, legs—even her teeth—became her weapons.
Perhaps driven by pure rage, despite her clearly advanced fighting skills, she fought more like a cornered beast fighting for its life.
However, sheer willpower couldn't bridge the gap in actual strength.
After casually dodging a couple of times, Mike seized the perfect opening, grabbing the girl's wrist. With a quick reversal, he locked her into a tight submission hold, pinning her down.
"Who are you?" Mike asked, looking at the girl thrashing against his grip. She looked somewhat familiar.
"Let me go!!!"
The girl roared, her eyes burning with pure fury, completely having lost her mind.
"You killed Jennifer!"
Jennifer? To Mike, that name felt like a lifetime ago.
"Are you Needy?" Mike vaguely recognized the girl and sighed.
"Wow, you've really changed."
Needy Lesnicki. The demonic Jennifer's absolute best friend, the "good girl" in the eyes of teachers and classmates, someone who had always rocked the innocent, girl-next-door look.
Mike just couldn't reconcile that image with the dark, goth "crazy lady" thrashing in front of him.
It wasn't just a massive shift in their vibes; even her facial features seemed slightly different now.
Perhaps hearing Mike's voice triggered her violent streak again. Without a second thought, she curled her body upward, trying to lock her legs around Mike's neck in a rear naked choke.
"Is this really okay?"
Agent Z, who had stepped back to watch, asked Chief O beside him.
"Relax. If the intel is correct, our Agent M here is far from ordinary." Chief O said with absolute confidence.
"Besides, with us watching, Needy can't cause any real trouble."
The Men in Black wasn't exactly a charity. Knowing Needy had a risk of "losing control," there was no way the organization didn't have countermeasures in place.
Take, for example, the inconspicuous metal collar around the girl's neck. Not only could it deliver an electric shock, but it also had a self-destruct sequence that could be activated if necessary.
Meanwhile, in the center of the room, Mike had already thrown the girl to the floor, pinning her down once again with his foot.
Faced with such intense malice from the girl, Mike naturally didn't feel any urge to treat her with kid gloves.
Having dealt with the nuisance, he turned to Chief O and asked,
"What's the meaning of this?"
"Please don't misunderstand," Chief O explained.
"Miss Needy is a reserve team member we've prepared for your Team X."
After the Jennifer incident, Needy had undergone a bizarre mutation, which was why the Men in Black had brought her back to headquarters.
As time passed, the girl's physical strength continued to grow, but her human emotions were gradually fading away.
She seemed to be turning into a "monster."
After explaining this to Mike, Chief O signaled him to move his foot. She then tried to persuade the girl:
"Needy, if you don't want to be locked up here until the day you die, joining Mike's Team X is your best option."
Given her mutations, Needy was no longer fit to live among normal people.
If she didn't join Division X, her best-case scenario was dying of old age inside MIB headquarters, her body eventually locked away in the mysterious artifact containment facility.
Hearing Chief O's words, Needy's eyes flickered, and she stopped struggling. Clearly, she still had the ability to think and communicate.
Seeing her reaction, Chief O smiled and said,
"Agent Z, please take Needy down to get cleaned up, and go ahead and process a new ID for her."
Honestly, Needy was pretty innocent in all this. She hadn't done anything wrong; her mutations alone had robbed her of a normal life.
Once the girl left, Chief O gave Mike a detailed breakdown of her situation, covering everything from her physical stats to her combat capabilities.
Truth be told, even if Chief O hadn't said anything, Mike could tell from their brief scuffle that Needy's constitution was probably three to four times that of an ordinary person.
Combine that with her combat skills, and to an average person, she was absolutely a lethal weapon.
Finally, Chief O handed Mike a small red trigger remote, solemnly warning him to avoid using it unless absolutely necessary.
It was glaringly obvious that this trigger was the MIB's fail-safe in case Needy went rogue.
"I really don't think Needy is suited to be my teammate," Mike stated, holding the trigger and expressing his refusal.
To him, she seemed like way more trouble than she was worth.
From what Mike knew, back in high school, Needy utterly "worshipped" Jennifer. The two were practically joined at the hip.
Needy had even gone through a phase of copying Jennifer's attitude and behavior.
Under those circumstances, Mike had good reason to suspect their relationship went a bit deeper than just besties.
And since Mike was the one who orchestrated Jennifer's death, he and Needy were practically mortal enemies.
"Don't say no just yet," Chief O said, her tone softening.
"Your team needs manpower, and Needy has the skills to help you out... Look at it this way: just think of it as doing the girl a favor."
It was clear Chief O felt some genuine sympathy for what the girl had been through.
"I..."
"Then it's settled."
Before Mike could argue further, Chief O finalized the decision. She then pulled out a file folder and said,
"Now, let's talk about your first mission."
The reason Chief O had let Needy fight Mike earlier was partially to test his capabilities.
Clearly, Mike had passed with flying colors.
At that moment, the top-secret file displayed intel on a mysterious organization: The Fraternity of Assassins, the Loom of Fate, divine revelations, miraculous healing baths, and more.
According to the data, this Fraternity was an assassin syndicate operating under the motto "carrying out heaven's will" and "kill one to save a thousand."
And their assassination targets were generated from a hit list woven by a mystical loom.
Anyone, from high-ranking politicians to everyday businessmen, could end up in their crosshairs.
The Fraternity called this: the Will of God.