[August 17th, year 2063, 7:33 AM]

There were times Lozen wished she wasn't a team leader. Waking up at six in the morning on a Monday just to find the same stack of papers on her office desk was not her initial idea of being a hero. Between filling in paperwork from last Friday's exam, reviewing which missions she should authorize to her team, and making a general schedule for her team members, her duties as a leader were endless. Alas, as team leader, it was still her duty to do so.

However, there was an upside to her hard work: there was a safe place for her and her teammates to work. It paid off to know that her work somewhat eases her team's burden. Even if she has to resort to organizing the team structure in an irregular manner, it doesn't matter all that much. They would take any job that was left, and make work with it.

Still, there were a few other reasons she was here early. One of them was that she had gotten two new members, and they were both joining today. She had already been surprised by Wattz, but Jack Ace recruited another newbie? That was an unpredictable development. Seems she was promising too, as she had impressed Jack Ace of all people.

The other newbie, Wattz, was still fresh in her mind. It's exactly as Ignia said: this man may have powerful gadgetry, but his most dangerous weapon was his words. Case in point, the way he riled up the entire Board of HOC's heroes was scarily effective. If it weren't for Lozen cutting into the discussion, full pandemonium would've broken in that hall. All of that sparked by a simple suggestion. A shiver ran down her spine at that thought.

"Morning." A tired male voice came from behind her office door, interrupting her thoughts. Lozen recognized the voice as Yata’s, "May I come in?"

Lozen raised her brows in surprise. For Yata to come this early to the office, especially on a Monday, was a rare occurrence. "Sure, come in."

The cat hero carefully opened the door and made his way into her office. Lozen offered him a seat in front of her while noticing he had taken his sleeveless hoodie off. This showcased his black and grey under-armor, which defined his well-built chest, and paired off well with his blond hair,

"It's rare to see you this early, Yata." She commented.

"You can thank Ace for that," He said, covering a yawn escaping his mouth. "He asked me yesterday to report to you an update on the Unwin situation and the two recruitment bounties HOC, Shinning Mortars, and Exodus are chasing."

Lozen perked up at this while Yata leaned forward, looking straight into her eyes.

"All the trails have gone cold."

"All of them?" She inquired, leaning forward.

"Exactly so. The victims of the Unwin's incident, the owner Ben Unwin and a senior Gadgetsmith named Angela Sparrow refuse to talk anything about this incident." Yata started saying. "However, that’s the least of our problems. Ace said that what surprised him the most was that any informants dispatched to Unwin’s were suddenly attacked by another high-ranking informant."

“Curious,” Lozen thought aloud, "Was it the Mistress?"

"No. It was Epsilon," Yata answered.

Lozen shot up from her seat. "Epsilon is involved in this, too?!?!?! Since when?"

Yata sighed, "Neither Ace nor I have any ideas as to why Epsilon is involved in this mess."

"Fuck!" Lozen cursed as she slumped on her seat. Her mind raced at the implications. Both Diva and Epsilon were in this mess. However this brought a whole new set of questions. How were they connected to the Unwin's incident? And what of the other bounty? Were any of the two involved with that mess too?

"Let's roll back a bit." Lozen said while placing her hand on her forehead. "All leads we have followed for Unwin's turned out cold. Could you elaborate on the Murrow's station incident?"

Yata sighed and closed his eyes, as if trying to remember what Jack Ace told him.

"The fellow who helped Professor White has vanished from all possible sources except word of mouth," Yata reported.

"So, he may have an informant covering his info for him." Lozen immediately started connecting dots. "And that informant could be either the Mistress or Epsilon."

"I agree. It would be almost impossible to vanish from public view without the help of a powerful informant." The cat hero commented, crossing his leg and reclining back on his seat.

Lozen sighed, begrudgingly remembering that asshole of a woman. Diva was an exceptional informant, and one of the only people in the entire city who knew her life story after a month of research. Lozen always held a bit of respect for her, but the way the Mistress of Information found and used every piece of info in the city was disturbing, to say the least.

With a heavy sigh, Lozen calmed herself down and looked back at Yata.

"Let's leave it as good news. Since all the trails have run cold for us, and Epsilon and Diva are involved, it probably means The Board, Exodus, and Shining Mortars will not chase this matter any time soon. Thank you for delivering the intel Yata, I'll speak the other details with Ace at a later date. You are dismissed."

Lozen started to relax, but Yata didn't leave the room. He was staring seriously at Lozen, as if he wanted to say something else. She waited for a few seconds, seeing if he was planning on leaving, but he still sat there waiting.

"Fine, I'll bite." Lozen sighed, conceding to her subordinate. "What else do you want to talk about?"

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"Are you sure about the decision you made last Friday?" He said, a mix of worry and anger in his voice.

"Yes, Yata. That decision is final." Lozen sternly said.

"But he-" Yata stood, about to start an argument.

"He humiliated, insulted, and pummeled you and Batoon to the ground. I know." She finished for him while raising her voice, not breaking eye contact. She motioned towards Yata's seat and started speaking in a calmer tone. "Sit back down before we continue talking on this subject."

Ashamed, he slowly sat on his chair, trying to collect his thoughts. Seeing as he was starting to calm down, Lozen spoke again.

"Look Yata, I saw the footage of his exam throughout my Saturday office shift. I do know he insulted you just to rile you up and then he proceeded to beat the ever-loving crap out of you. However, the decision to invite him to the team came through circumstance, not because of his performance."

Yata was about to speak up, but Lozen gave him a look. "I've told you this already Yata, but in the meeting I had last Friday, I warned him that you were my subordinate. He knows exactly what it means to join my team: possible resentment, disruption of the team’s morale and eventually, inner strife.”

Yata's frown deepened at those words. "Despite all that you still invited him to the team. Was it to get his potential away from The Board and Ignia?"

"Not necessarily," Lozen immediately answered. "While it's true both Professor White and Ignia wanted Wattz in their team for his individual fighting potential, I chose Wattz for two reasons. He has potential for heroism, as he did accomplish the main obligatory task amidst his reckless attitude. He also was very honest and frank with me when I asked him why he fought both you and Yata. He didn’t even hesitate when he asked me about the team’s composition or when I told him part of the truth of our team."

A silence spread across the room, letting Lozen's words settle in. She allowed the silence to remain, studying Yatas body language, before speaking up again. "Now that my reasoning is clear, I need you to listen to me. We not only have Wattz to worry about, but also another newbie. If we are to function as a team for both newbies, I cannot have you fighting Wattz. I will not ask you to like Wattz, but at least tolerate him and treat him with some respect."

"Do you truly think I can respect him after he humiliated and insulted me?" he refuted, a tinge of annoyance clearly visible on his eyes.

"That only happened because you disregarded the exam and, frankly Yata, you were ruining his chances of becoming a hero." Lozen countered. Yata tried to combat her notion but found no words.

Seeing as he had no counter, Lozen continued on. "Still, I'm not excusing him for insulting you. I promise you that I will address that reckless attitude of his. However, it is a fact that Wattz wouldn't have fought you if you hadn’t acted on your anger. He said so himself."

The cat hero lowered his vision and started shaking. She stretched her hand over her desk and put it on his shoulder, trying to calm him down. "Don't get me wrong, I'm touched that you care so much for me that you would go as far as to break protocol, fight Batoon, and defy Ignia. However, this is not the way we do things. I have told you this many times: We do not take revenge. Especially if you weren't the one Batton attacked."

Yata looked up at Lozen, a saddened expression adorning his face. She hated when he did this, as he now looked like a saddened kitty.

"Alright, I’ll trust your judgement," He started saying.

Lozen gave him a faint smile, “Thanks your for understanding, Yata.”

"But, I cannot trust him yet,” He finished with a serious look in his eyes, “While I watched the feed yesterday, he mentioned that you beat Batoon without powers. You told me you met him before the exam, did you tell him about it then?"

Lozen's eyes widened at what Yata said. She retracted her hand quickly, placing it on her desk.

"No, I did not... Are you sure he said that?" She questioned.

"It’s on the feed, right about the time when he was insulting Batoon," Yata replied.

Lozen took out her laptop from under her desk and opened it, showcasing the footage of the exam after a few clicks. She fast forwarded the video until the insult spree, where Wattz's venomous tongue almost managed to break her composure. Yet, her focus was on seeing what Yata was talking about. And then she heard it:

"...But, ah! You're salty because his boss beat you without powers! Who could'v-"

She paused the feedback of the exam and stared straight into Yata's eyes.

"See?" Yata said, looking straight back at Lozen. “ Yes, it served to rile up Batoon, but he specifically knew you took Batoon down without using your powers. Did you ever tell him of your fight with Batoon?"

The two of them then looked at her bracelet, and then back at the feed. Lozen sighed at this new set of information. The meaning of those words put Lozen even more on guard, now that she has brought someone who potentially knew more of her. Had he researched her?

"We did not talk about this. At all," Lozen said. "And for him to know enough about me is worrying enough.”

Yata nodded at that.

"However." Her voice grew cold, making Yata flinch at the sudden tone change.

“My orders remain the same. You are to treat him and the other newbie normally. As if they've been with us since the beginning."

Lozen held his gaze, steeling her eyes. "We do not condone infighting amongst heroes. As such, you nor any of the other members will not attack or engage neither of the newbies unless they break protocol by initiating an attack on another member or hero. You are to tell this to Ace and Janus. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, boss." He answered, but a lingering sense of resentment remained in his voice.

"Good, I hope you remember this." Yata started to stand from his seat and make his way to the office entrance.

"One last thing." Lozen said, stopping Yata in his tracks. "Has Janus arrived yet?"

The cat hero flinched at the mention of Janus, which he followed by looking away. His hand unconsciously touched the limiter on his right arm.

"Yes. She's at the break room," He said in a low voice. "Why do you ask?"

Getting the hint that he wasn't in the mood to deal with Janus, Lozen tried changing the subject. "Nothing much, I'll go tell her myself."

"If that's all, I'll be on my table finishing paperwork," Yata said before leaving Lozen's office. She waited until she couldn't hear the sound of his steps to slump into her seat.

Too many things were happening around her, and Lozen wasn't sure if she liked where this was going. All the trails have run cold, and that meant that the board would probably vent their frustration out on her team. Added to that, the Mistress and Epsilon got involved in this mess, and her solo mission specialist was on probation, again.

There were also three unknown factors in this huge mess: Professor White and Ignia both started making moves, and Wattz was a wild card in all of this. In what kind of mess has she involved her team in?

Yet this wasn't the worst thing. It was seven AM, and she hadn't even finished a third of her paperwork. She groaned in exhaustion as she gave a long, bored gaze at the stack of papers on her desk. After a few moments of debating on what to do, the heroine resigned herself to her fate and went back to stamping papers. That is until she saw a few interesting mission briefings on her table.

As she read the contents, a cold, determined smirk graced her face. Seems like she has found herself a good way to start the week after all. Lozen could not wait for the newbies to arrive.