Chapter 19

Introductions

Felix stood by the door of the chief’s office. He took a deep breath and was about to knock on the black wooden door, but before he did, he heard a muffled from the other side that said, “Dismissed.”

He pulled back his hand as the door opened, and the white-haired girl, Isabelle, stepped out with a nervous expression.

“Oh— hi there.” Felix greeted nervously.

“Hey.” Isabelle replied with a shaken voice. She tried to meet Felix eye-to-eye, but her gaze was cast down, like it was too heavy to raise her head.

“I’m just… gonna… go.” She responded nervously.

As she walked through the corridor, Felix gulped and felt a pit in his stomach. He pulled out the pendant from under his coat and held it close to his forehead, before tucking it back in and knocking. “Felix Aster, requesting permission to enter.”

“Enter.” Chief responded from behind the door.

“Why does it seem like they’re always in our headquarters?” He absent-mindedly remarked while opening the door.

“Because they’re here to start training.” Answered a deep, masculine voice.

“—D-Director Sullivan, sir.” Felix responded, quick to change his casual tone and saluted the man in front of him.

Chief Vivian sat by the desk, while the one he referred to as “Director” stood by her side, with hands placed upon a white cane.

There was thickness to the atmosphere as the Director stared at Felix with one eye. His left eye was closed and had two scars over it, while his right eye kept a steady gaze at the young esper.

His hair had turned gray with age, yet his large size dwarfed both Felix and Chief.

Dressed a white suit that looked like it was reaching its limits underneath his white coat lined with streaks of gold. His general frame could be best described as a polar bear in a suit.

“It has been a while, Felix.” The director greeted as he scratched his bearded chin.

“Yes, it has, sir.”

“Please, sit down.” The large man gestured.

“Yes, sir.”

“Would you like some tea, Felix?”

“N-no, sir.”

“Shame. I’m glad to see that your hand is back to normal. According to Maria’s report, you lost it during your battle with one of the Fangs. May I see it?”

“Yes, sir.”

Felix reached out his right hand, which the Director grabbed hold of. The large man opened his scarred eye, revealing an orange glow as he gazed at the agent’s hand.

More than that, the sclera around his orange eye was dark. A pitch black color that would normally have been white, contrasting with the glow of his eyes.

“No scars nor anything I see. Truly magnificent work from Professor Tetsuya.” His praise was directed, not to Felix, but to Professor Tetsuya.

Chief sat at her desk, she did not speak unless spoken to, nor act unless ordered to. She was only allowed to silently watch the scene unfold between them, and add information that was necessary to the conversation.

The Director closed his eye once again and let go of Felix’s hand, “The weapon that you got when you saved Carol Thomas. You said it released a beam of light, correct? We found large traces of nuclear radiation on it. That was likely why Lewis Shaw was exchanging plutonium.”

“Then…they’re making a nuclear cannon?”

“Correct. Felix, I understand the eggheads in the science division not being privy to mission reports, but you should have been able to put two and two together.”

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“I— Yes, sir. I apologize, sir. It’s just that I—” He smiled as a sweat dripped down his face.

“That you what? Were there other things occupying your mind during the mission?”

“S-sir, I…”

“You what? That was the same weapon that took your arm away. You realize that you should have died in that battle, don’t you? By no means should you have survived an attack from that weapon. Now what could have possibly been more important to occupy your thoughts?”

“I— sir— I was just…” Felix began to hyperventilate. He looked at his right hand. The vision of a hand reaching upward invaded his thoughts. Darkening as it grew closer and closer in his mind as blood began to pour.

The Director pulled out a pen from his shirt pocket and placed it in Felix’s hand, “It’s alright. I’m sure you will tell me when you’re ready, won’t you Felix?”

“Y-yes, sir.” Felix immediately started to tinker with the pen, and his breathing slowly steadied.

“We also looked into the person that Asahi fellow was referring to. We believe that it was likely Priscilla Primrose. Otherwise known as the Reaper’s Bride.”

“Priscilla Primrose?”

“That’s right. A highly dangerous criminal. Her file is available, but there’s not a lot of information we have on her.”

As Felix’s breathing calmed down, he looked up slightly, and their eyes met.

“Are you curious about the training I stated earlier?” Director asked.

“Y-yes, sir.”

“See, after your encounter with the Jackal’s Fang, Moritz Wulfe, you called him? We have decided that your training was still lacking. We did not expect one of them to appear, so that was on me. But you have to be prepared for anything. That’s what makes you an Elite, isn’t it?”

“Wait, but—”

“Your performance thus far has been acceptable, but considering the spectacular failure that was your encounter with this “Moritz”, and the recent awakening of your powers, you no longer have any excuses left to avoid your psychic training. We even got you a different trainer, the only other person who can teach you how to use your powers. Are we clear?”

“Crystal, sir.”

“Good.”

The blue-eyed agent raised his head slightly, “And… what about Beast, sir?”

“Beast?”

Chief Vivian went up to the Director and presented a tablet with the criminal’s face on it, “Bentley Wallace East, he was in the building where Felix found Moritz.”

“Ah, you mean the criminal you apprehended. He provided no useful information. I understand you went to great lengths to try to keep him alive, so we sent him to Cocytus Penitentiary.”

“I—I see.” Felix took a deep inhale while the Director had a steady expression on his face.

“Felix.”

“Uhm, y-yes sir?”

“Do you still remember my old saying?”

“Yes, sir”

“Say it.”

Felix scrambled to remember the words that he had not heard in a long time, “Karma isn’t… reliable, that is why we are here. We are… cogs in the machine known as justice. The hammer of retribution, and we… protect the peace from the shadows, sir.”

“That’s right. Now say it again. With your heart in it this time.” The Director commanded.

“Karma isn’t reliable, that is why we are here. We are cogs in the machine known as justice, the hammer of retribution, and we protect the peace from the shadows, sir!” He repeated more confidently.

“That’s right… and you. You weren’t able to hit the nail on that mission.”

Felix gulped as the Director’s oppressive words struck him.

“That is why you must grow stronger. Do better. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. You are dismissed.”

“Wait… but sir…”

“What is it?” The Director replied with a thick oppressiveness in his tone.

“What about… the Matrix Key…”

“Ah, that.” Chief perked up, “We currently have other agents hunting it down. You don’t need to worry about it for now.”

“I also plan on meeting with the individual who invented it.” The Director added.

“I see…”

“If that is all.”

“Yes, sir…” He nodded.

As soon as he exited the room, Felix released a deep, heavy sigh that he had been holding in since the beginning of the conversation. He watched his right hand with shaking fingers, unable to hold the pen tightly, it dropped.

“Was it really necessary to call him here?” Chief asked the director.

“It was. I wanted to see it with my own eyes.” Director replied as he extended his hand towards her.

“So, what exactly do you have planned?” Chief asked as he gave him one of her cigars.

“Now that Anya is done with her contract, she can return to the Golden Lion. So I was thinking of making a team now that we have five of them.” Director answered as he pulled out a matchbox from his red coat, and tried to light it up.

“Five? Don’t you mean eight, sir?” The chief stood up and brought out her lighter and lit up his cigar.

“Felix, Anya, Nero, Isabelle, and Grant. Who did I miss?”

“Maria, and also David and Jane, sir.”

“Jane is far too valuable to still be out in the field, David can no longer function properly in a team after Luna disappeared. As for Maria, I was told that she was a first-stage. Does she also possess psychic abilities?”

“Not in the way the others do, sir. But you said Maria would be assigned as his partner, didn’t you?”

“Things change. It took seven long years for that boy to finally awaken his powers. Seven years we’ve patiently waited for the biggest gear to finally start turning. Now the machine can finally start working. And now, our greatest weapon is active at long last.”

“Sir, it’s still too soon. Even David took over a year to learn how to use his powers.”

“Vivian. If our enemies are developing new weapons, we don’t have the luxury to wait around, and from the way Felix reported, it appears this Moritz fellow has access to Illusion Tech. And the Jackal’s Fangs aren’t the only threat to our fragile peace. Dahmer, the Shaman’s Cult, Grinning Moon, and other such threats have yet to exist. We have to be prepared.”

“Yes, sir.” Chief Vivian agreed in a subdued manner as she sat back down.

“Not to mention the greatest danger, is there any leads to the missing esper yet?”

“No sir.”

“Then we have to make sure they’re strong enough to handle it. Felix is the only one who can prevent another Fallen Sun catastrophe from happening again.” Director crossed his arms and looked into the distance of the window.

~