We were all sitting around one of the eating tables. It was quite a bit of people, the teammates that I went on the mission with plus Viktor, the base lead researcher, his recruit and tinkerer meta human; Glassmetal, the exited revolutionary girl who could milk weapons for buffing liquid; Swordjuice and finally Araphel; the mysterious higher up with quite the amazing power.

We had just told him about how our mission went, everything from we setting out to encountering the hidden civilian revolutionaries, the encounter with David and the ambush by the Sulphals.

How we had managed to get away and how I had felt the ability of the tracker connecting but chose not to say that I probably could cut it, only saying that it existed. And then, the ambush and fight that followed, where David died.

The mood was heavy, but we discussed the details of everything. How as the tracker was able to keep remaking the tethers and it would be really hard to get away from the Sulphals as I still hadn’t figured how to integrate Spotlights’ power into my matrix at that point.

We told him about the leaps I had in my powers and Araphel advised LED on how to plan better missions in the future. We finished by telling him of how we had to run around while the tracker’s power hopefully wore off.

And at last, our visit to Rebeca just before we finally got under the thumb of the Family and returned after waiting for another day to see if the tracker would return.

I was going to tell Araphel about the base I went with Spotlight, but he nudged my leg, giving me an intense stare. I frowned at that, but would ask him what was up. Did he want to tell him himself? He seemed very hesitant to tell our other team members about it for some reason.

“It’s a shame we lost him,” Araphel started saying after mulling over everything for a bit. “But his death is not directly your fault Matrix, you made the call to protect the teammate you thought was the real target, of course the fact that you didn’t share relevant information is very serious and could have cost someone their life, this mission though, was not official. So, it won’t affect your standing with the organization.”

Led nodded while the rest of us were left in different levels of confusion. Araphel continued, adding in an explanation.

“Yes, you all went because you had free time, basically, and it was a good opportunity. We don’t turn down people calling for help when we can.”

“So, LED made the right call of going, buy yeah, I not going to sugarcoat this to you all, the rest was atrocious.”

We winced collectively, LED the most, we really had gone at it directly without talking much between us or making some solid plans with fail safes and everything. I was just going along as well. As if now that I had powers, everything would just be a straight fight.

“But it’s good then that you’re not going to be leading missions anytime soon,” Araphel said, eyeing all of us. “That responsibility goes to us higher ups.”

LED nodded at that, “I haven’t been doing this for long enough to get any kind of promotion anyway, Araphel.”

“I was looking for one,” Spotlight joked from his seat.

“You’re still far from it Spotlight, but maybe you can earn some goodwill with the organization on yours next mission,” everyone straightened up in alertness at that. “Yes, an official mission from headquarters.” Araphel said, his smile widening.

“What kind of mission? Is everyone participating?” Swordjuice asked, jumping up from her seat.

Viktor pulled her down again. “No, you’re probably not going.”

“Viktor’s right,” Araphel continued, “I’m sorry, Swordjuice, but you’re far too young and this mission is a big one. We’ll be bringing the chosen ones to a whole different team, and the composition is gonna change.”

The ones who are going to help are going to be sent to a bigger base where you’ll meet the rest of the operation.”

“We understand,” LED said, all serious. “How big is it gonna be, then?”

“Huge, maybe the biggest operation the Dawnbreakers have undertaken to date.” Araphel revealed

“Okay, that’s pretty big. Who is being called for it then?” Spotlight asked, genuinely interested.

“You Spotlight, and Matrix, LED and also Payback. You all are going to be sent to different divisions, and not everyone is going to participate in the line of fire. Payback, as an example, is being sent to the support and healing divisions.”

“It makes sense, I’m much more useful in a position like that.” Payback said nodding.

“Yes, Spotlight is logically being put for infiltration or intelligence. For you two,” he said gesturing to me and LED, “the role is more versatile, LED is valuable together with large groups and you, Matrix, is a complete wildcard.”

“Once again I’m left behind.” Swordjuice fumed, slumping in her seat.

“It’s okay Swordy, you can train here with us meanwhile,” Glassmetal consoled her.

“I’m intending to train my butt off as well,” I smiled at her, “I’m counting with your help.”

“it’s good to use the time to train,” Araphel said encouraging our idea. “I’m not sure how long it’ll take for them to call us to the other base, as not even I am aware of all the details.”

“Thats why I’m not sure about your positions or the content of the operation, as I don’t even know what it is going to be”

That’s interesting. I had the impression that Araphel was a fairly old member of the organization and part of the leadership, but that seemed to not be exactly the case.

“I thought you were part of the leadership, Araphel,” I decided to ask, keeping to my promise to myself to be more active and immersed.

“Ah, it depends. I am part of the leadership, but it’s a decentralized organization. We have a leader who calls the most important shots, but He’s surrounded by a group of other leaders who each deal with different parts of the organization.”

“I work under one of those, so I am something like a captain?” he shrugged. “we try to work with the strengths of each person. Myself for example, I can carry sensitive information unseen and protect it if needed, so I go around giving missions to almost all the teams and from leaders to leaders.”

“The same happens to everyone who shows themselves as valuable and trustworthy. They’re assigned to a position that can best utilize their talents.”

“So, you don’t know what it was about, really?” Spotlight asked Araphel after his explanation.

“Well, I have some guesses, but they are just that, and it isn’t my place to tell you all my guesses”

“Come on man, stop that you can just tell us.” Spotlight nagged.

“No, wait for the debriefing at the next base.” Araphel deflected easily

“Boring,” Spotlight mumbled pouting, I laughed at the scene

“At least you going to go to a mission, Spotlight, so stop complaining,” Swordjuice said, slapping her hand on the table.

“Hey, your time is going to come.” Glassmetal consoled her again, putting his hands on her shoulders. I smiled at the scene. Had those two gotten closer?

“Oh well, I’ll go settle up again in my room, if anyone’s need me.” Spotlight excused himself.

I saw Spyglass shily approaching Araphel, calling to him, “Hey Araphel, do you have a minute? I wanted to talk.”

turning to her completely, looking curious, he asked, “of course, what is it about?”

“Let’s go over there first, if it isn’t a problem,” she said, pointing to the other table. Araphel nodded, walking ahead of her.

She turned and gave us all nod before leaving. Swordjuice inclined herself over the table to ask quietly, “what is it?”

“Spyglass, is not going to be active on missions anymore.” I explained to the younger Dawnbreaker.

“What but her powers are so useful,” Glassmetal said in surprise, scuttling closer to our gossiping circle.

“I’m sure they have plenty of others,” I said. “And besides, if she lets me, I can copy her power and use it to help the Dawnbreakers.”

“What do you mean? Can you just copy powers now?” Swordjuice asked, taken aback.

“Yeah, the guy got even more broken,” Payback announced brightly, giving me a good slap on the back.

I laughed sheepishly, “it’s true enough.”

“Man, that’s insane.” Victor said, approaching as well.

“Yes, it is what is going to let me overtake this regime!” I said firmly, making a fist over the table.

“Woo, I get the chills Matrix.” Swordjuice said, making fists as well.

“You two and your heroes complexes,” Payback said, shaking his head with a smile. “I’ll be going to relax as well. You two have your fun.”

“Hm, good rest, Payback,” I said, waving him off with the other four.

I turned again to Swordjuice. “but yeah, do you want to start training already?” I asked, smiling at the blue-haired ball of energy.

She was about to answer excitedly, but LED raised a hand, stopping us on our tracks.

“No, no.” LED said, putting a hand on my arm, “rest for today, Matrix. You’ve been at the road all this time. It’s good to decompress.”

I thought I didn’t need it, but going by his face, he was just looking out for me. “Okay, sure.”

“Well, how does it work then” Victor said, sitting by my side on the now much emptier table.

“Yeah, tell us everything,” Glassmetal said, his nerd side showing.

“Yeah, now that we can’t train Matrix, I’m curious about what you can do.” Swordjuice added.

I smiled with all the attention. Their eagerness about powers really felt like when I got together with a bunch of my power nerd friends to chat about possibilities and fanfictions.

“So, I got a bunch of ideas.” the three inclined forward even more, prepared to listen intently to what I had to reveal.

After talking for a couple hours in the mess hall, I went to my room to relax a bit while victor and Glassmetal prepared dinner. The rest of us would go on rotation to help in the chores around the base starting tomorrow.

I entered the same empty room I had stayed in before the mission. Seeing that my backpack, the only thing I had brought with me from my old life, was still in the same place. I decided to lie down for a brief nap.

Waking up some time later and checking my phone, I saw that not much time had passed. Being around six now, the dinner must be ready.

I went back down again. The dinner turned out much livelier now that everyone had discussed what they needed, they all could just relax now

Spyglass seemed much lighter as well, her smile coming easier, so I guessed Araphel had accepted her resignation. We were a revolution, after all. I guessed pressuring people into it wouldn’t lead to the best soldiers.

After the dinner turned party went on for a good while, everyone slowly went their own way to get a good sleep.

Locked away from the outside world, we didn’t need to fear the government tracking us down or think about the state of the country up there on the surface and then Everyone could finally relax completely.

I flopped on my bed. My head full of plans to train the next day. I fell asleep soon enough, excited for the training and experiments to come.