Present day, onboard the camouflaged Paladin Space Complex suspended within the main asteroid belt, a hulking figure could be seen lightly stomping through the large window-pained exterior halls of the complex; the ship's automated gravity assist only making matters worse for those who tried getting any semblance of sleep outside of zero-g environments. Nonetheless, the military man of enormous stature cared not and trudged onwards towards his appointed meeting—a gaggle of personnel fumbling to stay in sync behind him and ride the man's non-aerodynamic wake. The inverted muscular tortilla chip of a fellow halted just abrupt of a pair of large metallic double sliding doors before turning around, allowing his squabbling chicklets in white coats to catch up.

"Sir, sir! You need t-"

"-olor of the result-"

"-to sign names on Sunday at-"

These fuckin smart-asses...

"SHUT UP!!"

"..."

"Bring your bullshit to Lizz, not me."

"..."

"Well?! SCRAM!!"

Dishonest to his earlier behavior, he patiently waited for the group to disperse and walk out of earshot. Looking one last time at the vast space outside before he stepped through the now opening passage, he thought to himself,

Almost broke the windows again...

The familiar sight which welcomed him once inside was that of hard steel and soft chairs. Ambient glowing white lights lit the large meeting room sufficiently to detail the inhabitants within. Of them, there were eleven, each unique in character—including the one who had just entered—providing a colorful splash against the harsh backdrop of space and dead air inside.

Quickly scanning the room, a small huff passed his nostrils before he began, "Well lookie here, everyone made the field trip."

Except one...

He thought, as he began walking towards one of the two remaining spots.

Once seated, a holographic projection of the Earth was displayed from above, earning everyone's attention with its colored regions and red dots. After which, an artificial intelligence with a robotically androgynous voice led the conversation, "Initiating report..."

"Current matrix threat level; seven percent. Progression on 'Project Needle' has increased by three percent, reconstruction efforts are nearing completion, and testing groups 'A' through 'C' currently contain four irregularities, with group 'D' through 'Z' reporting none outstanding."

Before anyone else could act, the block of meat immediately shot out, "Hub, detail those four."

An interactable rectangular screen of hard-light appeared infront of those present with detailed information. It started as people began interacting with the light, "Subject A-027 ordered a moving truck licensed M7A-"

Interrupting the voice, he clarified, "Summerize it—all of 'em, actually—and lose the shit."

"A-027 has left their designated testing ground and has proceeded towards Japan. Activity indicates a vertical decent of over three kilometers below ground where they currently reside. B-007 has also escaped, heading southeast towards Southern Africa by sea at a speed of five knots, C-091 has been disposed of by attempting removal of tag, and C-378 has completely destroyed testing ground 'Matchstick' as well as the remainder of group 'C', and has not moved since. It is strongly advised that immediate action be taken against subjects C-378 and A-027."

One of the more resplendent attendees in a golden purple robe pointed out after flicking away his interface, "Not bad for close to five months..."

A thinly man in a white lab coat rebuked, "Not bad?! We've only achieved an additional three percent!! It'll take us at least a whole nother decade at this rate!"

A sharply dressed woman addressed him from the opposite side,

"With respect, Mr. Reighs, the initial forecast was much longer... And that was before the... Incident."

Turning his head to the near-literal elephant in the room, he mirthfully asked, "Oh yeeeaah, where did all of our bright bastions of light go? Especially the one working on that synthesis... Goliah."

Unamused with the antics he knew was coming, he answered to everyone's condemnation anyway, "If you were a genius twelve you'd probably be dead too, but you're technically not, and there's only one person missing here. You should already know that I called Ms. Angel. Nothing much I could do, and Buzz was too far away anyway."

With a lackluster mumble, a European man agreed, "Can't piss a penny 'less I'm there... Need to find that buffa."

Yet another voice, this time smooth and deep, layered itself into the conversation, "So Puppetmaster waited all this time to suddenly steal them after you 'accidentally' sent a few into the vacuum of space? Is that not a fair solution for their temporary safety?"

With a distasteful look on his face, Goliah growled, "Safety?! That's what this damn thing was built for! They're a threat to damn near everything on the surface, including themselves! Wasn't even a week before they decommissioned themselves automatically after too many auspicious activities flagged by the Hub. Damn puppeteer is the reason why the matrix threat level skyrocketed because the research was very close to coming out on the surface; to the point we had to destroy it and the scientists on-the-spot.

"As to why he waited soo long though, I don't know. He was a coward anyway, and I'm sure we'll find a replacement easily enough. Any other questions?"

A dissatisfied man of the watchful few in a red suit spoke out, "Yea, this, 'subject-A'—the reason I'm sure most of us are here—has finally done something. Who's going to keep an eye on him? Besides the Hub, of course."

Acting unboththered, Goliah replied, "Nobody. He's a civi, and a tagged one at that. We'll know if anything happens the moment it does."

Looks like Satan's spawn is finally making a name for himself out there.

Studying Viktor's file once more Goliah squinted in silent fury,

Just don't die before I can ring your neck, worm. You have a lot of explaining to do...

A bored word then suddenly flew out of an even more bored female weasel-mutant's mouth, "Buzzkill."

"Huh? Oh, roight!"

A handsome blond-haired man in white snapped his fingers, blurting in realization, "I completely forgot to introduce ya!"

"Everyone, this 'ere's Kairie."

He said, flagging the odd female in sportswear with black cherry hair.

Momentarily breaking her long-standing ogling at the angelic being with an irate eye twitch, she corrected him, "It's Kerri."

"Right, Kerri. I trust ya already signed the deal with Niko?"

Placing her elbow on the hard edge and resting her cheek upon her hand, Kerri reciprocated with a tiny smirk and playful peek, "Yes, I'm done with her. Though I'm not sure if she's done with me."

With the room now bearing two infinitesimally small blotches of pink, a light and swift sigh from the mutant smashed any developing hint of fun, "Hahhhh..."

As if it were a que, a new figure with a third eye joined the fray, "It is becoming... Diffi-"

"-cult to be here with your third eye closed, yadda, yadda, yadda—turn around, genius."

Slicing his words in half, her small build hopped down and walked towards the doors on her lonesome.

"Alright I'm off..."

Just before placing her hand on the panel to exit however, she tilted her eyes up towards her furry ears which flicked in thought then spoke, "Avante's spawn won't be another problem for a while, the geniuses had to go anyway, Patrov's on cleanup duty, and everyone else gets free vacation for all of two days before we're called back here again, so I'll say it now; there's another person fucking with the timeline, but they don't do much."

Turning around while the heavy doors slid open once again, she mirrored the disgruntled faces of those inside and left one last piece, looking first at the only clear australian in the room before panning around, "Blake, don't try it. You (pointing at Goliah), you (Petrov), and you (Buzzkill), don't fucking harass that time twister, or I'll have to wipe your asses again. Fuckers. I'll see you all next year. Oh, and do yourselves a favor and find a damn teleporter."

Because you will anyway... She thought with scorn.

"..."

There was a considerable moment of silence even after the automatic doors shut themselves closed thereafter.

"Heh, she's got some bite, eh?"

Lipped Blake near the corner towards Kerri.

"What's got her all riled up?" Asked Kerri.

Buzzkill spoke up, "As you can probably guess, that's our chronokinetic weasel. She has the temperment of a widowed eighty-year-old."

Tri-eye resolved her question, "Mhm. Even before I signed that... Agreement... I had observed her once—even then, she was older than she appeared. She does a great deal of work for this group, even if it's random, at times."

"Ah, you might already be familiar with most of us due to fame, but allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Raimundo, the, 'all-seeing eye' though many informally refer to me as just, Mundo."

After his introduction, a scratchy deep-voiced phantom introduced itself,

"Reaper... Intangible."

With nostalgic enjoyment, Goliah crossed his arms and mused with a hum, "Mmmmhhm. Reminds me of the good ol days, back when we actually had to team up and throw fists for an inch of land... Only subpar plots and pathetic attempts nowadays though, not that it's bad."

We have... Bigger concerns. He said inwardly while thinking of the vast invisble bubble which currently encased the solar system.

The big guy then got himself back together and continued the previous topic at hand, "Anyway, the rodent's right. Conqueror, you're cleaning up the collapse of Rome, Kerri, you can look but you can't touch, and the rest of us have our own little tasks. Kerri, if you're bored, feel free to ask for any of the personnel here or at New China, otherwise keep an eye out for Puppetmaster."

Buzzkill piped up, "Or for any strange doctas lying in alleys distributin' chemicals as a basis for a system of trade."

The artificer in a lab coat agreed, steamrolling the joke, "Yes. While a large portion of those solutions are toxic and weak, anyone that happens to get lucky with the later variants could cause havoc."

The woman in a suit stacked a reminder on top, "Also, just because Santa's helper said there would be nothing doesn't mean we should slack off. It could be because of our diligence that the coast remains clear, so it'd probably be a good idea to keep any eyes peeled for large auction prizes or transactions."

The Hub perked up right then, "Ms. Nikodim, would you like to submit a search request?"

"Yes, though only on any such materials."

"Inquiry submitted. Beginning search..."

Noticing the display before him become oversaturated with above average amounts of notifications, Goliah took it as a sign, "Looks like I have to entertain the dying masses again. Nobody break any windows while I'm gone!"

Exiting the vicinity with his signiture earthquake, he nearly barreled over the crowd of assistants waiting for him outside.

The silent hood of darkness merely phased through the floor without a word, catching a few off guard from his sudden disappearance.

"It has been a pleasure. Stay safe."

A glaringly white mandala expanded outwards from the bowing winged beauty's feet, briskly spinning and rising to erase her presence until there was nothing left.

Kerri felt that her time for questions was becoming slim, so she turned towards Blake, asking, "So I guess that's what happened to Puppetmaster, but what about The Gambler? Wasn't his power pretty broken?"

"Cactus. Burled his luck a bit and took a good pass aha that lovely piece of paper you signed, he did. Straight bru'al."

"What about that... Weasel? The small girl, what was her name?"

"Kaylee Fullah, no fan o' nickies. Koind of a bozzkill, if you ask me. But, she's a right billy for dahwin, so no silly biz."

"Uhhh... Ok?"

While that conversation had been occurring, the others took their moment to leave.

"Thank you, mister...?"

"Newman, but my supe name is 'Penance'. Too dahk if ya ask me."

"Oh, so you're the one that makes people spaz!"

"Right, I'd ask what else, but I gotta bail lass. See ya 'round!"

Sitting quietly at the table for some time after he left, her green eyes roamed across the hardlight tablet floating in front of her, searching for any extra information about worldly events and the group she's now apart of.

Didn't think I'd make it this far...