“Do we really have to visit that asshat?” Dantae whined as we sat together in the plane bound for Washington D.C.

I chuckled and stroked her silver hair, which caught the sunlight beautifully. “Yes, unfortunately we do. You remember the first time we defeated Dimension Eaters and were conferred with those useless medals, right?”

She nodded and rested her head on my shoulder. “Yeah, and now it’s the recruits turn to receive them. I’m just not happy to have to see General Armando again, even more so because of how I was... let’s just say indisposed last time.

“Good thing we fixed that last night then.” She blushed and a memory floated to the surface of my mind of her face, blindfolded and stained wet with tears as she fought against the pleasure last night.

“Yeah, I guess. But did you really have to relieve Alison at the same time as well? I know I gave you permission, but to see it up close,” she pinched my cheek, “really pissed me off for some reason.”

I rubbed my face where she had got her revenge and smiled. “I guess taking things slowly once in awhile is nice, otherwise I’d never have the chance to just sit with you and talk.”

She sighed, a positive and content sound, “Then let’s try our best not to let General Pain-in-the-ass get us down.”

“Yeah,” I smiled at her, “let’s do just that.”

——

Rob, Alison, Maria, and Angelina were all sat down in front of the same presentation floor they had been in only a little more than a week prior.

They were sitting in front of the executives on the board of directors, General Christian Armando, head of health and safety: Jessica Marquis, the head of soldier and state relations: Antonio Leonard, as well as Chief Strategist Justin Emeral.

“Wow... what a month, huh?” Rob reflected, causing Alison and Angelina to stare at him.

“What are you talking about?” Angelina shot him a look of contempt, “You did no training, and only took a win out of the Rotwing situation because Leo was there.”

“Yeah,” Alison chimed in, “You even had a fight with your partner and jeopardized the success rate of the operation, not to mention your scuffle with Leo that didn’t exactly go your way.” Alison watched out of the corner of her eye as General Armando narrowed his eyes at her accusation.

Of course, this sent Rob on a rant about tact and politeness, one that not even his own partner had any patience for.

“Rob, please. Stop before I send you to the corner for a time-out, and don’t think I won’t do it.”

“Hey,” Rob frowned, “I’m not a kid.”

“Then stop acting like one.” Alison, Maria, and a couple of the board members averted their gaze and tried to contain their laughter.

Rob’s brows furrowed and he opened his mouth to speak when-

“Seems like everyone’s in a good mood here. That’s a good sign.” Leo walked into the room, arm-in-arm with Vanessa and completely ignoring the fuming Rob.

“Anyway,” Leo started, plopping down in between Rob and Angelina, with Vanessa taking her rightful place on his lap, “Let’s get this meeting underway!”

——

“First thing’s first, for their successful hunt of a Dimension Eater, we will bestow the Gold Defender badge to the cadets, Alison Walker, Maria Guerrera, Robert Taylor, and Angelina Gemini.” As Christian Armando started his speech, a round of applause came from the executives as well as myself and Dantae. She was being a lot more open with her affections today, glaring at her clone as she sat on my lap.

“This does not come by itself, however.” This time it was Jessica Marquis’ turn to speak. “We shall also present a Diamond Defender badge for Leo Jones and Vanessa Kumo respectively for their tenth campaigns.” She smiled, her seemingly ageless beauty only marred by a few wrinkles next to her eyes. However, the age difference didn’t seem to matter to Dantae, who pinched my thigh amidst the cheer of our comrades.

“Wow, that’s impressive.” Maria, who had been uncharacteristically quiet since Thanksgiving dinner, finally allowed herself to speak. She seemed to have dialed down a lot of her crazy persona, much to Alison’s joy.

“Thanks Maria.” I said, gently getting Dantae off my lap and standing up. “Thank you all. However, as much as I would like to revel in past glory, we have a situation, do we not, Christian?”

All eyes in the room turned towards the bitter General, who clicked his tongue and stood up himself. “That’s right, but how did you know? I haven’t even told any of the board yet.”

I grinned at his resignation, then turned and picked Dantae up in a bearhug. “You forget, we not only have the best Hunter, myself, we have the best Tracker as well. Dantae can detect a photon abnormality on the other side of the country, so why wouldn’t she be able to do it for one so close?” Dantae fought against my hug at first, completely forgetting her earlier actions, but eventually gave up and went limp in my embrace.

Christian rubbed his face with his hands before looking back up at Dantae and I. “That’s right. Truth be told, it’s somewhere very close to your own home, Leo. It’s in New York City.”

“Wait, how come we haven’t heard anything about another Dimension Eater appearing then? New York is huge, surely someone would have seen it or filmed it?” Justin Emeral sounded confused, and looked to Christian for an answer.

“That’s because what you’re hunting isn’t a monster this time… at least by your standards.” Armando gave yet another cryptic answer, prompting Antonio Leonard to ask a follow-up question.

“So, if they’re not hunting that… then what are they hunting?” Armando’s frown grew a bit deeper and he sighed.

“They’ll be looking for a former Huntress, the second woman after Vanessa to be given the Walker Gene, as well as Alison, Maria, and Rob’s senior.” The cadets all looked shocked, and understandably so.

“This woman is believed to be using the powers we gave her for criminal use, as several banking associations and jewelry stores have reported missing money and jewelry. They’re even calling this thieving epidemic the birth of a new Phantom Thief.”

“How…” Alison’s voice was trembling, “She would never do anything like that! How could you even suspect her knowing what she went through for you!” Alison was furious, but Christian kept his cool.

“Both of her guards were found dead earlier this month in the Hudson river. As you know, the government does not like letting their pets out of their sight, so now that the dog is missing her leash she’s gone dark. That means no communication, no sightings, no contact with any of her family, and now the President is breathing down my neck to find the god damned bitch or my job might as well be terminated!” Everyone was shocked at his outburst, even Christian himself, whose eyes had widened in disbelief. “Sorry about that.”

“Ok, we have to talk about this.” I pointed to the board of directors to give Christian a chance to calm down, “I would like any information you can give me on her, and,” I turned my gaze towards the cadets next, “anything from your memory you can dredge up. Don’t worry, and I know it sounds cliche, but we’re in this together and we’ll figure out why she’s doing this.”

——

General Armando looked down on Leo, whose infectious grin had now spread to the cadets surrounding him, save for Rob who kept glancing back and forth from Leo to Armando with a grimace on his face. Poor child, was he feeling guilty about having begun Leo’s purge? It was no matter, Armando needed some time to prepare for Operation Shakespeare, and the only thing Leo was about to deal with was what he brought on himself, that is, if he survived New York’s own Lena Flores first.