Sam exhaled. He had been through a lot as a talentless, but the past few hours he had spent bedridden were the most awkward ones he had experienced yet. Luckily, it was over now. He sat up and glanced at his personal nurse, who was sitting in the corner of the room on a plush chair shaped like a donut. “I think I’m healed,” Sam said, his face stiff. He climbed out of bed, and a black blur leapt out from underneath the blankets and onto his shoulder.
“You’re acting like I’m going to bite you,” April said, rolling her eyes as she lowered the book she was holding. On its cover, there was an image of a black dog taking a selfie with a shirtless old man sleeping in the background. “Don’t feel like you have to tiptoe around me just because your manifested ferret stole the panties I was wearing.”
Sam scratched his head. He wasn’t sure whether or not the green-haired woman was telling the truth, but considering she had managed to heal him with her talent, positive healing, she must’ve been in a good mood for it to work, right? The only problem was Raindu hadn’t returned the undergarments, and Sam had no idea where the ferret stashed them—as if the silk underwear had never existed in the first place. Sam glared at the ferret on his shoulder before turning his head towards April. His shoulders hunched as he mumbled and pointed at the door, “Do I…?”
“Yes, you’re free to go,” April said and stood up, placing her book in her sunflower basket. She wore the basket and nodded at Sam. “I’ll walk you out and give you a tour of the facility.”
Sam let out a breath and took a step back, making way for April. The green-haired nurse opened the door and flinched. “Wendy!” April said, a smile breaking out on her face after a short pause. “Is this about Raindu removing Sam’s emergency break? I was just about to tell someone about it, promise.”
Sam’s expression darkened as April casually threw him under the bus. As if noticing the change behind her, the green-haired nurse stepped aside, no longer blocking Wendy from Sam’s view. He flinched upon seeing her demonic eyes, and goosebumps rose on the back of his neck and arms. Raindu dove into Sam’s clothes, but the ferret’s body could still be seen through the patchwork of strings holding his shirt together.
“Come with me,” Wendy said, staring straight at Sam. Then, she turned around and walked away without waiting for him to respond.
Sam blinked and glanced at April. She gestured with her head while mouthing, “Go on.”
Sam half-walked, half-ran to catch up to Wendy, giving an awkward wave to April as he walked past her. “Thanks for healing me,” he said. “Bye.”
Raindu climbed out of Sam’s shirt and waved at April, but all the ferret got in return was a glare from April’s brown eyes. It continued to wave at her, ignoring the nurse’s fierce expression as Sam exited the room and rounded the corner. April exhaled before placing her hands on her hips and shaking her head, listening to Wendy’s and Sam’s footsteps trail away without moving.
Sam swallowed as he followed Wendy’s pace, her gait much faster than he was used to. He put some energy into his legs, speeding up. The blonde woman strode even quicker, not allowing Sam to walk alongside her. Was she testing him? Sam broke out into a jog, and Wendy’s pace increased once more. She turned her head and glared at Sam and Raindu. “Keep that ferret away from me.”
Sam blinked and glanced at Raindu. Wendy must’ve been eavesdropping on him and April during the undergarment incident; the green-haired nurse did say Wendy had a sharp sense of hearing. He turned back towards Wendy just in time to see the blonde-haired woman walk into a wall instead of rounding a corner. There was a clunking sound as she collided and bounced off, clutching her nose with her hand. She whirled her head around and glared at Sam; his head shrank into his torso as his shoulders hunched up. “I didn’t see anything,” Sam said, cold beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Was it his fault the woman wasn’t looking at where she was going? If it’d be anyone’s fault, then it’d be the ferret’s.
High-pitched squeaks escaped from Raindu’s body as he wriggled around. The ferret’s tiny body convulsed and twitched, its little legs kicking at the air as it pointed at Wendy while wiping tears from its eyes.
Wendy’s expression darkened, and she lowered her hand before sniffing twice, making sure her nose was still functioning. Then, she pretended as if nothing had happened, ignoring the imprint of her face she left behind on the broken wall. “It’s sudden,” she said while walking away, “but we have a task for you.” She glanced at Raindu. “It involves your pet’s special ability. How well can you control that creature?”
Raindu stopped laughing and retreated back inside of Sam’s shirt, its reddish-brown eyes peeping through a poorly patched hole. Sam scratched his head. “Honestly,” he said as he followed after Wendy. “I can’t control him at all. He doesn’t listen to me.” If the ferret listened, it would’ve returned April’s belongings instead of storing them who-knows-where.
Wendy’s face remained impassive as she nodded. A droplet of blood crawled out of her right nostril, and she casually raised her hand to wipe it away. “In that case,” she said, “we’ll have to train it along the way.”
Sam twitched as Raindu ran from his belly to his back, the ferret’s sharp claws poking his skin. “I agree,” Sam said. If Raindu stole something from the wrong person, Sam would be the one drawing the ire, and he did not want to be a scapegoat, especially not for a ferret. Sam’s brow wrinkled as he thought about the rest of Wendy’s words. “Where are we going?” he asked.
“Et Serpentium,” Wendy said.
Sam blinked twice. “Excuse me,” he said, jogging a bit to catch up. “Reptile Land?”
“Call it that when we’re there, and you’ll be torn apart,” Wendy said, turning her head away from Sam and wiping her nose once more.
Sam’s brow furrowed. “Why are we going there?”
“I already told you,” Wendy said, her eyes narrowing. She sniffed. “We have a task for you, and it involves utilizing your pet’s special ability.”
Sam frowned. “Can you be more specific?”
“Is there a blockage in your brain?” Wendy asked, turning her head to look at Sam. “Your nurse already told you I have good ears. Did it never occur to you other people may have ears just as good as mine? Maybe even better?”
“Oh,” Sam said, his brows furrowing. “It hadn’t.” His face relaxed, and he blinked at Wendy. “I’m sorry. I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
Wendy paused before nodding and looked ahead. “As long as you remember it,” she said. “You never know when someone or something may be listening; there are spies lurking in Monarch.”
If Monarch knew there were spies, why didn’t they get rid of them? Even though Sam wanted to satisfy his curiosity, he had already said he was going to keep his mouth shut, and if he broke his word a few seconds after giving it, Wendy’s already poor impression of him would plummet. He followed after the blonde woman while looking around. Some, read most, regions of the city were awakener-only; as a talentless, he had never seen such a sleek architectural style before. The walls were tiled with glossy, black marble; he reached out to touch it, dragging his no-longer grimy fingers along the surface. It was cold with zero chance of giving him splinters.
“Don’t touch anything either,” Wendy said. “Some walls aren’t actually walls, and you could lose a finger.”
Sam silently drew his arm back, and Raindu poked its furry head out of Sam’s shirt, looking at the wall with a fearful expression. At least, Sam assumed the ferret was afraid. He didn’t know much about animals; for all he knew, the ferret could’ve actually been a weasel. What was the difference between the two anyway? Sam didn’t know.
Wendy stopped in front of a set of elevator doors and pressed on the button with the arrow pointing up. She turned her head to look at Sam before frowning. “Actually,” she said, scanning Sam from head to toe. “We’re taking the stairs. If you don’t work out before the steroids exit your body, they’ll pass straight through you like liquid.”
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“Uh….” Sam paused for a second before scrambling after Wendy, who was already ascending the building using the staircase located beside the elevator. He dashed up the stairs to catch up to the blonde woman, but he couldn’t even see her shadow. Luckily, her footsteps echoed throughout the stairwell, allowing him to stay on target. It didn’t take long for Sam’s thighs to burn and his sides to hurt. By the time he caught up to Wendy on the tenth floor where she was waiting for him, he was wheezing and panting for breath. “Can I”—he sucked in a huge breath of air through his nostrils—“can I ask you a question?”
“Go ahead,” Wendy said, taking a step back from Sam.
Sam stood up straight. “What was that thing you said back there about steroids?”
“Steroids don’t automatically give you a strong body,” Wendy said. “You have to work out still.” She blinked at Sam. “Your body has been wasting away during the time you’ve spent as a talentless; without Monarch’s special boosters, there’s no way for you to reach your full potential.”
“They’re already inside me?” Sam asked, looking down at his body. He had been pumped full of steroids, but he hadn’t even noticed. He certainly didn’t feel any stronger; maybe the boosters he had been given were expired.
Wendy nodded. “Here in Monarch, we prefer to work quickly and efficiently,” she said, “which is why we’ve already developed plans involving your talent despite it existing for less than a day.”
Sam glanced down at the lump in his shirt where the ferret was hiding. His brow furrowed as he met Wendy’s gaze. “Are you sure you want your plans to hinge on this furry guy?”
Wendy blinked, her frown loosening. “Yes,” she said, her bloodred pupils gleaming. “I trust him.”
Sam glanced down at the ferret, which had poked its head out of his shirt to look Wendy in the eyes. What about Raindu was there to trust? The small creature was more timid than a mouse; it hid at the first sign of danger, and one look from the wrong person was more than enough to terrify it. If Wendy hadn’t told him she didn’t like repeating herself, Sam would’ve asked her one more time if she was sure. “If the task fails….”
“We’ll probably die,” Wendy said with a straight face. “You can ask more questions after we’re on our way to Et Serpentium.” She made her way to the stairwell’s exit. “There are people waiting for us.”
Sam furrowed his brow. Why did Wendy always insist on moving after dropping concerning statements? Although he was willing to risk his life to gain a talent, he was talentless back then; he had no future. Now that he had an S-grade talent, even if it was S-minus and artificial, his future was bright; he was destined to reach the upper echelons of the world. He really didn’t want to gamble with his life to accomplish a vague goal.
“You have a younger brother, right?” Wendy asked out of the blue as she exited the stairwell and walked down a hall.
Sam blinked. “How do you know that?”
“Monarch has spies too,” the blonde-haired woman said and glanced at the floor. Tiny footsteps pattered as a small dog, a brown Pomeranian, made its way down the hall towards the visitors. Wendy nodded at the tiny creature, which was barely tall enough to bite her shins. “Hello, Squishy.” The blonde-haired woman turned towards Sam. “This is Queen Annabeth’s personal pet, Squishy; I advise you against harming her. Everyone has things they care for whether they be pets, belongings, or—in your case—a younger sibling. It’s always a tragedy when something untoward happens to them.”
Sam nodded. He’d have to pay more attention to the ground. When the cataclysm had occurred, only the toughest creatures had escaped extinction. For a toy-dog breed to exist, one that couldn’t really fend for itself, well, only the rich could afford to own something like that. If he accidentally stepped on Squishy—a poor choice of name, in Sam’s opinion—it’d be like breaking an heirloom. Sam’s brow furrowed as he looked at the cute dog staring back up at him. Asking him about his younger brother, and advising him against harming the things the queen loved, was Wendy warning him? Sam cleared his throat while still looking at the Pomeranian. “About the emergency brake….”
“Keep it as a token of our trust,” Wendy said. She used her foot to gently nudge the Pomeranian out of the way. “Be good, Squishy.” She walked past the dog and stopped in front of a metal door. There was a panel nearby that she placed her index finger on, causing a light to flash green as the door slid upwards into the ceiling.
Sam’s eyes followed the door upwards before looking into the room. There was a rectangular table inside, large enough to fit six people. Two of the seats were occupied: there was a skinny man with black hair, and a reptilian. The reptilian was humanoid with reddish-brown skin, but instead of skin, it was covered in a layer of scales, and it didn’t have a single bit of hair on its body. The reptilian turned its head to look at Sam with yellowish eyes, its black pupils diamond-shaped, surprisingly similar to Wendy’s. Sam nodded at the room’s occupants before following Wendy inside.
Wendy took a seat at the head of the table. “Have a seat,” she said, giving Sam the choice of sitting next to the skinny man or the reptilian. He glanced at the reptilian, and it smiled at him before he could look away, so he felt obligated to sit next to him. Her? Sam wasn’t sure. When Sam took his seat, Wendy tapped on the table. The door to the room shut as holographic screens rose from the table, one positioned in front of each individual. Wendy nodded her head. “Now then, shall we get down to business?”
“Hang on,” the man with black-hair said. “Let’s introduce ourselves first.” He grinned, causing Sam to have the impression of an armored bear standing atop a snowy, fortress wall. The skinny man’s vibe didn’t match his figure at all. “My name is James.” He turned his head to the side, revealing a scar above his ear. “We’re similar.”
Sam blinked before touching the side of his head. He hadn’t noticed it before, but he was missing some hair, and the exposed skin felt rough. It must’ve been a result of Monarch probing his brain with electrodes and putting the emergency break inside. As for how the surgical scar had healed so quickly, it could’ve been a result of someone’s talent or a Monarch-created healing balm; after all, the company did pride itself on being in the forefront of human biotechnology. “You were talentless too?”
James brought one finger up to his lips. “It’s a secret,” he said, still grinning. “Everyone in Monarch knows, but we don’t speak about artificial awakeners outside.”
Sam nodded. An icy-cold sensation gripped his shoulder, and he turned his head towards the reptilian, who had grabbed him. Sam stared into the reptilian’s yellow eyes, and a shiver ran down his spine. Despite the pleasant-looking smile on the reptilian’s face, its vibe was nowhere near as friendly. Sam was reminded of a snake that had spotted a bird’s nest with baby birds inside. “H-hi,” he said. “I’m Sam.”
The reptilian squeezed Sam’s shoulder harder before retracting its hand. “Call me Tamara.”
“Tamara,” Sam said and nodded. The reptilian looked away from Sam, redirecting its gaze onto Wendy. James turned to stare as well, and Sam’s head followed. The blonde-haired woman nodded at the trio.
“Are you done introducing yourselves?” Wendy asked. She tapped on the holographic screen floating in front of her, projecting images onto the screens in front of the trio. “The mission this time is stealing the GMC, the Gray Master Core.”
“Oho,” Tamara said. The reptilian’s red tongue extended out of its mouth and licked its eyeballs clean like a windshield wiper. “Humans always come up with the craziest ideas.” The reptilian grinned. “I like it.”
“I have a brain-melting device in my head,” James said with a frown, “so it’s not like I can refuse, but … isn’t this a suicide mission?”
Sam raised his head and blinked at the two wildly opposite reactions. He had no idea what the GMC was, and he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel about stealing it. His brow furrowed, and he turned his attention back onto the screen. There wasn’t much information there other than what Wendy had stated. He glanced at Tamara’s screen; it contained many more paragraphs than his own, but it was written in strange, curving characters that he couldn’t read.
“No peeking,” Tamara said, poking Sam’s cheek with an ice-cold finger without looking at him.
“Information is given on a need-to-know basis,” Wendy said to Sam, ignoring James’ question. “We each have our own tasks to accomplish. It’s insurance against information leaks, just in case one of us is captured and interrogated.”
Sam scratched his head. There sure were a lot of things to watch out for once one became an awakener.
“Wait,” James said, turning his head to look at Wendy. “You’re coming with us?”
“Yes,” Wendy said. “Is that a problem?”
“No,” James said, shooting a glance at Sam. His gaze shifted back onto Wendy, and a knowing smile appeared on his face. “I understand what’s happening here.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Wendy said, glaring at James with her demonic eyes. “The fact I’m taking part in the mission should tell you how important it is to Monarch’s future.” She glanced at Sam. “Though, the queen did give me orders to teach you how to fight. You’ll learn on the way.”
“Learning on the way?” Tamara asked, one of her eyes turning to look at Wendy while her other eye turned to look at Sam. “We’re going to steal the GMC, and one of our teammates doesn’t even know how to defend himself?” She grinned. “Humans really are crazy.”
James took in a deep breath and leaned forward, placing his left hand on his forehead while propping up his elbow on the table. “Can I … not go?” he asked, turning his head towards Wendy.
“Sure,” the blonde woman said. “There’s a button you can press on your way out. It’ll melt your brain, and I’ll call a replacement member.”
“Can’t you call the replacement member without melting my brain?” James asked before sighing. “Don’t answer that. I already know what you’re going to say.” His gaze shifted onto Sam, and a wry smile appeared on his face. “The life of being a dog, eh?”
Sam let out an awkward laugh. “Yeah,” he said, feeling a little guilty about not having a brain-melter inside his head. “Still better than being talentless.”
James nodded and turned his attention onto his screen. If he didn’t want to die, he’d have to work hard. Sam exhaled through his nose and read his task as well. Even when it was written down, Wendy’s words were vague. Everything he had to do was displayed on the screen: steal the GMC and bring it back to Monarch.