"To be fair, I'd have gone to ground too if I knew an S-ranker was about to come look for me," Ezekiel laughed.

Sitting in Team 0's training room alongside his teacher, James finally felt like things were back on track. They had all changed since the last time they met, but their bond was still there.

"I would have thought Meyer would fight more, to be honest. Given his track record." Daniel said, earning nods.

The ex-director had been a criminal and had plotted Miss Walker’s assassination, but none could deny that he had a certain grit about him.

“It's frustrating to come back only to find that the people I trained so hard to take my revenge on are gone," The woman in question replied, red eyes lost in the distance, "But I guess it's better this way. He's gonna turn up someday, and if he doesn't, I'll know he had to give up his life just to get away from me."

That was a mature approach. James was pretty sure he'd have been spitting mad had Knowles and Hopkins vanished from his grasp just as he was about to catch them, but he supposed levels were not the only thing Miss Walker had gained during her training with the Sins.

Maturity is a funny thing. Sometimes, it means accepting you can't escape some fights, and other times, it's recognizing some things are not worth the effort.

It was the day after Miss Walker's flashy return, and word still hadn't filtered through the building, which went to show just how tightly Director Bisque kept a grip on things.

In the old AA, word of a new S-ranker would have spread like wildfire. It would have reached the Guilds before an hour and the press only shortly after that.

The secrecy allowed Miss Walker to move unimpeded. Sure, she couldn't waltz down the halls, as she was far too recognizable with her mask, fiery eyes, and general appearance. However, given her shadow magic, she could get to where she wanted without anyone perceiving her.

James still hadn't gotten a complete picture of how much stronger she had gotten. Even sitting two feet from him, the woman felt hazy and was almost impossible to pin down. He could tell she was extremely powerful, but she had kept a tight lid on her mana since that moment on the rooftop, where she had allowed them a glimpse of her true might.

And even then, it wasn’t everything, or people on the lower floors would have felt it.

Finally, James decided he had waited long enough. With a thought, he spread a telekinetic bubble around them, stopping anything from overhearing their conversation even beyond the room's own sound muffling. He did not feel ready to share this with strangers, and he was paranoid enough to doubt that no one was keeping an eye on Team 0's room.

Well, they should have realized Miss Walker has come back if they had a way of listening in, and nothing changed as far as I know, which makes me think they aren't spying on us this way, but after finding Awakeners outside my house more than once, I'm feeling justified in my measures.

"Miss Walker, I have a question."

The others gave him a knowing look. They had all been extremely curious about the circumstances behind the text he got and had been disappointed when no response came. Still, the fact that the woman in question was alive and well told James that his speculations were likely correct.

"Months ago, I received a text on my father's old phone from my mother's number. It said that a person was safe and sound, and since it came the day after your disappearance, I believed it was talking about you. I have tried to look for explanations, but I can only be sure that my mother was somehow involved in your rescue. Could you tell me if that's true?" With time, it had become easier to talk about his parents. Some of it was that revisiting the issue had allowed him to let go of old pain, and the rest was thanks to his new Talent. Ethereal Champion had many benefits, but the one James enjoyed the most was that it gave him eidetic memory retroactively. Almost everything from infancy to now was available for his perusal, and having those memories back had allowed him to fill a void he didn't even know he had inside him.

Miss Walker took a deep breath, evidently knowing what he was talking about.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"I had suspicions about her identity, though I didn't pry. I owed her that." She said, sighing. "Sloth isn't the kind of person to allow anyone to question her, to be fair. Even if I had wanted to, I don't doubt she would have talked me in circles until I forgot what I wanted to know."

Silence permeated the room. James had his suspicions that his mother was involved with the Sins, and was all but certain she was an Awakener, but for her to be one of the Sins was an entirely different matter.

Somehow, he had always shied away from that. It felt like a faraway possibility, like something that couldn't be real.

If she was that powerful, couldn't she have taken the time to see him occasionally? That was when he stopped that train of thought whenever he got started. It was the selfish, childish part of him that spoke then, and he couldn't stand it. So he hid it in a dark corner of his mind and pretended it wasn't an option.

Miss Walker seemed to notice his inner turmoil and gave him a sympathetic look. "I know this must be hard to process, James. But during my time with her, I started to see the resemblance, not just in appearance but in demeanor. Your mother... she's an enigmatic figure, laid back for the most part, yet when it comes down to serious matters, she's as focused and deadly as they come."

To illustrate her point, Miss Walker conjured a small flame in her palm, manipulating it until it formed a face - a fiery mimicry of a woman's visage, one that James recognized all too well. His heart skipped a beat as he gazed upon the familiar features.

"Yeah, that's her." He confirmed, eyes stuck to the figure. Even without his eidetic memory, he would have been able to recognize her. The set of the brows, the nose, and the eyes were the same he saw every time he looked in a mirror.

"Sloth takes her role among the Sins very seriously. She's an incredibly powerful individual, but that's not all she does; she's a coordinator, a leader who ensures that the other Sins operate effectively. She's center to their operations."

Somehow, this doesn't shock me as much as I thought. Yes, it wasn't the most likely option, but now that I have confirmation, it makes sense. Even without a shred of supernatural power, she was always in the middle of dangerous situations, getting out of them unscathed. Dad always said she was like a cat with nine lives.

"Did she ever talk about me?" The question left him before he could stop it. It was childish and embarrassing, but he didn't take it back. James was done hiding, and he trusted the people in the room enough that he didn't need to posture.

Miss Walker tapped a finger against her mask, "Not directly, but I caught her referencing you several times. Well, now that I have confirmation she's who I thought she was. She keeps an eye on you, though, and was very proud of something you did a little more than a month ago. Apparently, she was there personally.”

"The ant dungeon," Lauren immediately said, connecting the dots.

"It must be," James agreed. "That means that even if things had gone badly, she would have taken care of it. Well, that's good to know." It wasn't that he was deliberately ignoring the part about his mother keeping an eye on him. He just didn't know how to feel about it. It would take him a while to emotionally process everything.

James felt a strange mixture of relief and confusion, a whirlpool of emotions he struggled to navigate. Lauren reached over, her hand finding his in a gesture of support. "You've come a long way, James," she said softly. "No matter what, you should be proud of yourself."

He couldn't help but think back to his conversation with the Sin of Pride, who had offhandedly mentioned he should reach B-rank before presenting himself again. He didn't want to believe his mother would reject him because he was too weak, but the irrational fear was there.

Turning his attention back to Miss Walker, James sought to understand more about her immediate plans. "What will you do now? It seems you're still keeping a low profile."

Miss Walker's eyes twinkled behind her mask, showing she knew very well what he was trying to do, but she didn't draw attention to it. "For now, yes. There are a few things I need to take care of to make my S-rank official. After that, I'll be assisting the new Director in cleaning up New York. The city has accumulated quite a bit of... let's call it 'dust' during the past few months. Most of the work we did to clean it up has been reversed, and that cannot stand."

That was something James had been wondering about. The AA was now in a much better position to capitalize on their public support, and having a powerhouse like Miss Walker on their side meant they could finally put their foot down. The Golden Sun guild might have been the most overtly corrupt, but it certainly wasn't the only one that needed a good ass-kicking.

Given Miss Walker's penchant to handle things directly, James expected the political landscape would be changing rapidly.

Well, everyone knew change was coming after the shake-up, but I suppose there is a big difference between ousting a Director and beginning a hunt for corruption.

Their discussion was abruptly interrupted by alarms echoing throughout the AA building. A stern voice announced over the system, "Attention all personnel, C-rank monsters have escaped a dungeon on the city outskirts. All available units, please respond immediately."

The sudden shift from a calm, introspective conversation to an urgent call to action snapped Team 0 into professional mode. They stood up in unison, their previous lightness replaced with the focused demeanor of seasoned warriors.

James felt the change within him as well, the earlier emotional turmoil giving way to the clarity of purpose. “You have three minutes to grab your stuff!” He ordered firmly.

"I'll go to the Director to see if there is something I can do. You take care." Miss Walker said, giving each a quick hug and melting into the shadows.

"Alright, people, you know the drill. We are a rank below the main threat, so we should gather in the lobby to receive an area where we will direct the evacuation efforts. Let's keep our heads clear and do the best we can. No stupid heroics!" James thundered as he hurried to put on his battlesuit. The others quickly gathered their gear and within a few minutes, they were going down with a packed elevator.

Several other teams, of both experienced agents and rookies, joined them along the way, stuffing themselves into the tight space like sardines, though no one complained.

When they got to the lobby, organized chaos greeted them. Those of a high enough rank were rushed outside, where cars waited for them. James spent a fleeting thought for the C-rank team that once rescued them, knowing their ability to teleport would be abused up to its limits.

He then put that thought away and marched over to where Mr. Bethany was coordinating the operation.

"Team 0!" He bellowed, which made several of the people around him turn to watch them. "You'll take Elmsford with Team 24 and 76."