Hellen and Valeria got up at once, with Aiden following behind them. He took a glance at Mimi, who seemed to have noticed it. She waved excitedly at him with a wide smile, crumbs of potato chips stuck to the edges of her lips and fingers.

Unlike the time when he tried to leave her behind at the management center of the park and she cried loudly, this time she seemed to know Aiden wasn't leaving.

She dug back into her bag of potato chips as Aiden turned and followed the two ladies out.

He took out his phone and browsed through the chat if there were any new discoveries in the meantime that he was out with Mimi.

There were a few, he committed that to his memory and glanced around.

“Didn’t you say they were here?”

“I don't see them either.”

Valeria agreed as both of them looked at Hellen.

“How do you think they’ll arrive?”

She smiled.

“A car right? A team of the Bureau must obviously be allowed one.”

“A modified van or bus maybe?”

Valeria offered another answer. Instead of answering them, Hellen smiled and looked up.

As if on a cue, a loud deafening roar, caused by the whirring blades, was heard in the sky as a rapidly enlarging helicopter came into view.

Aiden’s eyes widened a little in admiration while Valeria’s expression froze, eyes fixed on the helicopter. A silent mutter escaped her lips, “I want that too.”

The three of them stood in place as the sound kept increasing, their line of sight slowly decreasing with the helicopter. It landed accurately on the empty road in front of them after hovering above for a few seconds. As soon as it did, its doors opened up.

A tall young man in a sports outfit stepped out of it first. Next was a petite, chubby, young woman in tracks and sweatshirt. Following after her was a young man, neither too tall nor too short but had a scowl on his face. The last two were a middle aged man with a book in his hand and a short but lean young woman. The helicopter flew away after the tall young man who had descended first said something to the pilot.

“Why did they send youngsters?” Valeria asked no one in particular. Before the other two could reply, the young man standing far away with a scowl on his face seemed to have heard her. He barked, “Do you think we are inexperienced? Imbecile. I have the authority to kill you for speaking such nonsense.”

Who said anything about being inexperienced.

Aiden thought but wisely chose to keep his mouth shut. The young man had just taken a step forward when the tall one blocked his way with his hand. “We’re on a task. Less with your antics.”

Without waiting for him to rebuke, the tall young man, who seemed like the leader for the operation, reached out for a handshake as he introduced himself. There was no smile on his face contrary to the petite chubby young woman who was already looking around the town with a slight smile.

“Hello. I am Alastair, leader of this group. Who is Hellen here? I’ve been ordered to cooperate with her.”

“Cooperate? Us? With them?” The young man in the back spoke again, but one look from Alastair and he shut up, looking elsewhere as his fist balled at his sides.

Alastair’s voice was low and deep, one which had high vibrations and felt resonant. It was one which they called the morning voice. It was opposite to Aiden’s voice which was, although similarly low pitched, but felt completely flat. Aiden’s voice could often be described as raspy.

Hellen stepped forward to meet his handshake. “Hellen here. Pleased to cooperate with you. I was told the Bureau doesn’t have any information about the specter. Correct?”

It was a rule to always say specter instead of ghost in case there were any unqualified individuals around. It was one of the strictest rule of the Bureau to not let anyone who didn’t fight against ghosts to call them as one.

“Yes. Have you managed to procure any?”

“Can we take this inside? Or rather at my home since there’s nothing else to find out here.”

Alastair nodded with the same seriousness on his face. “We’ll follow your lead for now. Let me introduce you to my teammates first.”

He pointed at the young man who had been rude all along first. “That one is Scottus. Don’t mind his rudeness, he has been assigned to a task he didn’t want to take. I’ll handle him.”

The petite young woman with happy-go-lucky vibes introduced herself before Alastair could do so. “I am Cordelia. I can make pretty powerful blasts of air around me, so beware of me okay? But no worries, I am friendly, and especially helpful when protecting you from specters.” She even pointed at the short but lean young woman, who seemed to pack some serious compact muscles.

“This is my partner, Luna. A battle crazed lunatic.” The girl laughed at her joke, unconcerned how no one else followed and continued, “You’ll know what I mean by partner later. For your information, Only me, Alastair and that jerk are supers. Luna here and —” She pointed at the middle aged man. “Cedric, an investigator and a walking library, are normal people.”

Alastair seemed like he was totally fine letting Cordelia do his part, just happy to have the mundane task of introducing off his head. He took his time looking around the town while Scottus glared at Valeria a bit before taking out his phone to pass time.

Luna and Cedric both waved when Cordelia pointed and introduced them. It seemed like only Scottus was the problem.

Hellen made a short introduction as a polite response once they were done. “I am Hellen, your guide for this town and also a former field agent who collaborated with the Bureau for a few years.”

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Scottus immediately snapped at her. “Who the fuck do you think you are to think you collaborated with the Bureau. You? A normal fucking pathetic human dares to say you had a partnership with the Bureau on equal footing?”

He zoomed in, with his hands stretched out. Aiden thought his stance while rushing in was quite strange but was already preparing to help Hellen when he saw it.

Hellen took a step back, and instantly executed a spinning kick, which landed accurately on the side of Scottus’ neck, knocking him out before whatever he was attempting came to fruition.

Awesome move! Fucking fantastic! What power and accuracy must the kick have to knock out a peak human physique moving at high speed towards her. A slight miscalculation and it would have ended a lot worse, at least for her.

Aiden marveled at her quick thinking and immense force behind the kick as he was reminded that she was a retired field agent, not just any middle aged woman. He instantly halted and glanced around to see their reactions. It could count as valuable information depending on how they reacted.

Alastair looked like he was struggling to hold in his laughter, with a small smirk on his lips, while Cordelia was frowning. As soon as his eyes fell on hers though, her expression instantly changed into a smile directed at him. Luna narrowed her eyes while Cedric was smiling freely without care for anyone.

So Cordelia and Scottus are somewhat of the same views? Alastair must be opposite Scottus. Cedric’s smile didn’t give anything away, if anything, it just felt creepy. Luna felt like she wanted to fight Hellen, but I am unsure if it’s because she is itching to simply have a go against someone or if she is on the same side as Cordelia. She did indeed earlier say about how Luna was her partner after all.

Aiden couldn’t glean much information but what little he guessed was valuable nonetheless. Valeria was too shocked to react. Ever since the team had gotten off from the helicopter, she had been shocked silent.

She was an investigator at scenes of possible ghost involvement. Never at a direct confrontation with the ghost, hardly with supers around who had stayed behind for emergency and backup reasons. She also hadn’t climbed the ladder enough that she would be invited to large gatherings or any big events. She was just one of the many investigators who just happened to be lucky enough to catch the eye of the Bureau to help with their ghost related activities. And that too at the lowest rung.

Alastair had a polite smile on his face as he confronted Cordelia who didn’t have one right now. “I’ll carry Scottus. Don’t try anything, we need their help to complete the task. It was the most difficult one on the list, completing this will guarantee us the top spot in examinations. You don’t mind listening to me do you? We were in the wrong just now anyway.”

Cordelia turned around after a single grunt. She wasn’t pleased but had to listen to Alastair. He wasn’t their group leader for nothing. He was currently the most powerful student in their academy. She and Scottus also ranked in top 10 respectively, making them one of the most powerful groups around counting pure strength. It was not for nothing that they were allowed to take the most difficult mission.

The academy trained only supers, giving them all the knowledge on how to deal with ghosts coupled with the true history of the world and so on. It drilled into you everything which could be helpful when dealing with the ghosts and anything which would help you survive unknown situations better.

“Sorry that he behaved so impudently.” Alastair apologized to Hellen and picked up Scottus. Aiden inwardly thought while looking at Alastair with narrowed eyes as the guy acted all polite.

You said earlier that you’ll handle Scottus. Not even a few minutes passed by and he attacked aunt Hellen while you didn’t even move. Scottus talked shit then moved, you had all the time in the world to react, but you didn’t. You aren’t good either are you? Or did you just want to test us?

Aiden’s impression of the Bureau decreased as he went inside to pick up Mimi. It was time to go to Hellen’s house. There was a ghost there, but it wasn’t nearly as threatening so it should probably be okay. Coupled with how lucky she was, it was a doubt if she would ever run into the ghost’s hiding place.

When he went in, he saw that Mimi had already finished her packet of chips, which was lying empty on the table she was sitting on. The girl herself was rummaging through the fridge of the house.

First Lucas and now you, why are you guys eating from a victim’s house? Is it perhaps a form of payment since we’re working for you? Heh, I’ve gone insane.

He shook his head and approached Mimi. She had a teary look on her face, which Aiden realized what it was for when she told him she couldn’t find any potato chips.

He consoled her, “Don’t cry. There are plenty at aunt Hellen’s house. We are going there right now. Even if there is nothing, we can always get a few from that shop where you won tons and tons of potato chips.”

“Promise?”

“Pinky promise.”

There was an awkward silence as Mimi didn’t raise her little finger to cross his. The next couple minutes he explained to her about the pinky promises, which she seemed to find greatly interesting. It was after 9 times when he finally got her to stop doing pinky promises.

Picking her up, he left the house. Upon seeing Aiden bring out Mimi, Hellen seemed to remember about the introduction which got interrupted midway. She gestured for them to start walking towards the bus stop as she resumed her introductions.

“This is Valeria. If I am to be your guide, this lady here could be said to be our guide. She is the sole person doing the job of a crime scene investigator, forensic pathologist and a forensic analyst for this town, and also the one who is handling everything related to the murders which have taken place in the town. For your information, murders which are related to the specter you are sent to deal with.”

Hellen downplayed their importance with the last sentence, which wasn’t lost on them. Cordelia corrected her with emphasis on her words, “We chose to deal with the specter here.”

Hellen paid no mind to it as she continued, “This is Aiden. A helper of sorts, he is good with deduction and has fighting skills of a beginner, enough to fight specters with golf bats. In his hands is his sister.”

With an annoyed expression, Cordelia asked, “And why is he here may I ask? You are not allowed to bring random people in while dealing with specters. People are not allowed to know of their existence. Not to mention he is also carrying his sister around. The Bureau is going to know about this, and they will take strict actions.”

Aiden felt a little unnerved by her threat. As much as his perception of the Bureau dipped, the fact still remained solid in his head that it was a powerhouse controlling everything behind the scenes. Possibly even controlling the four governments of the four nations.

He glanced worriedly at aunt Hellen who caught his look and made an expression which said don't worry.

“Since there’s no one around, I’ll just tell you about it here. Only Valeria and the little girl don’t know about the basic rule here. And I am inclined to tell them.”

Alastair was the one who responded this time. “Go ahead. It would be helpful for us since they’ll be there with us the entire time right. Would be uncomfortable if we constantly had to watch our tongue. Make sure to note it though, I’ll only take responsibility for Valeria. It seems excessive for Aiden’s little sister to know about it too so I won’t be covering for her.”

Aiden didn’t intend to accept aunt Hellen once more. He purposely lagged behind the group and began convincing Mimi. She was surprisingly patient this time around too.

Can she sense my intentions? Or do small kids naturally have this high instincts? Why don’t they teach more about kids so I can have something to reference from ugh.

“My sister is already staying at the care center. Her name is Grace, alright? You can go to her if you need any help. Don’t make any trouble.”

“Mmm I won’t.” Mimi nodded with a comically serious expression on her face.

With relief on his face, he sped up and joined the group just in time to hear Alastair asking, “Will this bus take us to your home?”

“Yes. It takes the long route though. Well, we have ourselves a nice little break I guess.”

Aiden caught a glance of the bus’ number and realized the route it traveled by.

I guess Mimi might be able to grab a few packets of potato chips she won in that shop. Very lucky indeed.