I brought the kid to the agency and dropped him off with whoever was at the front desk. I couldn’t be bothered to be a babysitter to the crying shit all day. I’ll let the attendants take care of that mess.

“Captain! Where were you?” exclaimed a ruffled black haired guy with muscles that bulge through his sleeves.

What an idiot this guy is. I really just wish I could use this cane to bring him to the Death Realm and leave him there forever..

“Dealing with the mess where you were supposed to help me with. I sent a message to your inbox, did you just ignore me?” I said, pulling out a thin rectangular device that was transparent except for the silver edges.

I tapped on the screen and navigated towards the mailbox.

‘42934 Tupor Rd, come quickly.’ sent to Brian Hooper.

I brought the screen towards Brian who had a nervous smile on his face while rubbing the back of his head. I could see the shitty little beads of sweat run down his eyebrow as he tried to come up with a lie that wouldn't have me slap him with the cane.

He brought out his own device that had a blue edge instead, and navigated to his own mailbox. Where my message should have been, was instead messages sent to the female trainees of the agency.

“Brian… Brian, my patience is running thin and I’m pretty sure Gina would not be ecstatic in knowing that you use your device as a dating app.”

“Captain, you are taking this too seriously.” he said suavely, swinging an arm over my neck and patting my chest with his hand.

“There’s no need to tattle to that tech freak, is there? She may be nerdy as fuck, and weird, and freaky. But I’ve seen her gadgets.” he leaned in close, cupping a hand to my ear. “Not all of them looked to be for combat. I’ve seen the way she tortures and let’s just say… they don’t come out looking like themselves anymore. So no need to mention this to her. Hm, captain?”

I threw my cane in the air and caught it in the middle. With the blunt end of the cane, I thrusted to my side, hitting right into the abdomen of the good for nothing subordinate of mine. He groaned with pain as he doubled back on the floor.

He’s lucky i didn’t know where Gina’s toys were, I would have him get accustomed to them first hand.

I walked forward through the glass doors and put my hand on the scanner.

“Scan complete. Access granted to a Lewis Dean. Welcome back, Captain.” the female electronic voice said as I entered the white room.

And when I say white, I mean everything was white. The small round table with four chairs around it, the walls, the three steps in front of me that led onto the resting lounge.

“Captain Dean, sir! You’re back!” a long haired girl exclaimed like a daughter welcoming her father home from a long journey.

She bounced up from the couch she was laying on and jumped over the three steps like some acrobat and came to a stunning stop right in front of me. Shining her twinkle eyes at me while grabbing her hands behind the back of her jean shorts and black pants.

When she started to open her small mouth that can barely bite an apple, I raised a hand to stop her. I know what she’s going to ask and I’m tired of hearing such a squeaky voice this late at night.

“No, I didn’t find anything. There’s a kid whom I turned into the attendant at the front desk. If you want to go question him, go right ahead I’m not stopping you. Just please, hush while you’re in my vicinity so I can finish up the rest of the paperwork and head home.” I said, smiling at the end of my rant.

Her smile turned to a frown and her eyes pierced at me like I was some type of demon she had to kill.

“Get over yourself, Lewis.” she said, before brushing past me and walking out the glass door.

Sigh, it’s always the pretty ones.

I looked over to the unoccupied couch then I looked to my left to see the stacked papers on my desk behind a tiny glass room. And when I say tiny, I mean one desk with a chair behind it and barely any leg room to stretch. Quite frankly, if I were to extend my legs all the way out, I would probably fall to my death where even the Death Realm wouldn’t be able to save me.

I have to do it. I have to. Then I can go home and sleep the shi-

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Boom!

I ducked onto the ground, swinging my came out in front of me and unsheathing the bottom to reveal a blade. The sound echoed once more and I tucked and rolled over to the couch for cover. It seemed like the explosions were coming from somewhere in the building…

“Welcome back, Leila Clarke.” The electronic female voice announced, opening the sliding door with the sound of a freezer opening.

I glanced back at Leila who was tilting her head and looking at me like I was mentally ill. Is that how you look at your superiors?! If she wasn’t the director’s daughter, I would’ve kicked her out when she almost shot my hand off.

“Captain, what are you doing? Aren’t you a little old to be playing hide n’ seek? Ohhh are you having a breakdown? I’ve heard some agents have been seeing a psychiatrist recently. Should I schedule your appointment?”

This prissy little bitch. I’m fucking feeding her to the demons when I get the chance.

“Don’t you hear that noise? What the hell is that?”

The explosion went off again and I looked at the dumb bitch rolling her eyes in a sarcastic manner saying ‘You hear that now?!’

“That? That’s Gina, playing with some new toy or something. Captain, do you seriously not need help?”

I contemplated for a moment. The explosion went off again and I looked forward towards the door that led to the shooting range. When it went off one last time, it was indeed coming from inside there.

Sigh.

I dropped my shoulders and hung my head thinking about how embarrassing I must look right now. Should I really kill her?

I stood up nonchalantly and fixed the sleeves of my trench coat and patted the wrinkles down before smiling at Leila and walking heel to toe towards the white door.

Hearing the girl snickering in the background, I shot a glance back at her and swung my cane towards her direction. Yeah, she shut up hella quick now.

I scanned my hand and the door slid inside for me to enter. The red haired Gina stood there in a long white coat and black boots with her hair in a high ponytail.

She didn’t notice me walking in so I stomped my way over to her as loudly as I could. She was wearing a goggle, ear muffler combination that she made that basically covered your ears while also providing goggles. So why did she make such a useless invention? I have no idea. It boggles my mind thinking about the useless crap she has stored in the storage locker.

When she didn’t notice me standing right behind her, I thought of only one possible solution. I brought my cane up and swung at her head from the side. She swiftly dropped the gun and ducked, twirling as she crouched to grab the gun before it impacted the ground and aimed the new tech right at me.

What she didn’t account for though, was that I dropped my cane above her head. The cane made a thunk noise as it smacked her right on the head.

“You play dirty, Captain.” she yelled, rubbing her head as she stood up.

I gestured at my ears to tell her that she still had her mufflers on. She made an ‘O’ with her mouth and brought the goggles above her head while the mufflers rested around her neck. Such a strange and useless invention. It really is.

“What is this?” I said, gesturing to the large looking rifle in her hands.

She smiled from ear to ear then lifted it up to show me the glowing rod in the middle of it that acted as the ammo clip.

“The prototype N-60 Rifle. Shall we test it captain?”

She handed me the rifle before I could tell her that I just wanted her to quiet down so I can finish some bloody paperwork.

I gripped at the rifle in my hand that resembled an M4A1 with a larger body that humped at the top.

“X-2 please retrieve the Shadow Goggles for our Captain here.” she yelled out in the open to seemingly no one but I knew who she was calling.

The ceiling above us opened up and descended down was a robot arm with a pair of goggles in its claws. It fitted them onto my head perfectly and accurately. Technology around here sure has upgraded. Pretty soon we will be replaced by robots that go sentient and try to take over the agency.

I held the gun up towards one eye while closing the other. Aiming it down the long stretch of the room where a practice dummy riddled with holes, retracted into the floor and a fresh one replaced it. Glancing over to Gina, I could see that she was already talking. I lifted one ear muffler to the side and could hear much better.

“...pressure your finger on the trigger and wait for the energy battery rod to charge up.”

I followed, pulling the trigger back with my finger.

“Now when you start to feel your hands heat up, let go. Do not hold it longer or —”

I brought the muffler over my ears and smirked with the side of my face she couldn’t see. I mean, how hard could this be? And the longer I hold it should make the blast more powerful right? If I can withstand the heat, I’m sure I can blow that whole thing up in one shot.

My hand on the handle started to feel like there is a candle burning under it. The pain was tolerable but after a few more seconds went by, it felt like there was a whole fucking bonfire in my hands.

I glanced back at Gina to my side to get some bloody assistance but noticed she wasn’t next to me anymore. Instead, she stood far into the corner crouching behind a storage crate. Seeming to be yelling something.

With my free hand, I lifted up the stupid invention to hear what she was saying.

“Release the trigger. Are you trying to blow us all up?!” She yelled.

Blow us up?

I could see her curse under her breath before cupping her hands to yell at me.

“If you hold it for too long, it will explode!”

Oh, well shit.

I let go of the trigger and a large beam blasted straight ahead. The force was so strong that I slid back but I fixed my footing so that I wouldn’t fall to the ground.

This bitch is fucking crazy.