Beta Crucis walks around the conference room as she contemplates what she has read and what she had conducted herself.

“I guess I will start with Kayla Anderson,” Beta Crucis decided. “Born in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, on February 29, 1976. Anderson had always been a relaxed and laid-back kind of person. I still was interested in going out to parties and succeeding in sports and in academics with little to no effort. Many people called it laziness on the surface, but she never wanted to work so hard in life that she wouldn’t end up enjoying it. Usually, when users into either the Aether or the Nether, it is a life-changing experience.

“Unfortunately, nobody told Kayla Anderson. She pretty much used her new abilities to make a quick income. Whether it was being a fortuneteller and carnivals or doing psychic readings. She was a petty dabbler and a mere prankster in her youth, but she never put anyone in danger.

“That all changed when one day, someone tried to hold up the corner store in an armed robbery. She used some of her telepathic and telekinetic skills to thwart the theft from happening, becoming a local hero. To someone like Kayla, it became an addiction. Always wanted to be a superhero like those in the comic books, she garnered a lot of superhero personas.

“Jokingly, she may have run into Grandmaster Novak, who was once the leader of the Oleander syndicate. Novak might have loved how boldly brazen Kayla was and offered her a position. She declined at first, but after a fateful run-in with the law, coming to the realization that she had nothing to lose. From the sleepy town of Luxembourg city to the Royal Palace of Madrid, Kayla felt her luck becoming a bit better already.

“It was then she trained with the best. She knew she wasn’t the smartest in the room or even the strongest. But her streetwise intelligence and her abundance of common sense, helped her become a standout amongst the elite. She was always into martial arts as a kid, but never really got the chance to learn any of it. With the help of Ayeka and a few others, she learned the art of Ninjutsu.

“Tapping into the nether, she can easily use telekinesis. And she also can read minds, create original projections of herself and even have the capability to predict the future, which drains most of her energy and causes severe migraines.

“Kayla is always the kind of person who would rather work smarter and not harder. Appearances can be deceiving. She may look disinterested and spaced out most of the time, she is also a ruthless killer. She cares about her family in Luxembourg city and usually visits them every chance she gets. Out of everybody of the Oleander Syndicate, she is the only one who is a bit lazy. However, when it comes to getting things done, she usually turns on the switch, and she becomes the deadliest assassin of the entire Oleander Syndicate,” Beta Crucis concluded her profile of Kayla Anderson.

“Don’t tell me, you got all of this by running into these four in New York City and reading these files?!” Rahkaze accused.

But Beta Crucis shrugged her shoulders, “yeah, it was kind of easy.”

“Okay, who is next?” Alpha Crucis asked.

“Her junior partner, Ryoko Shimizu. This is a tough one to digest…” Beta Crucis said. “When you’re dealing with war, you need three things to be successful yet alone sustainable: money, influence, provisions, and weapons. The Shimizu Industries have quietly aided many wars on both fronts despite such criticism. Whenever there is a need, the Shimizu industries will always supply the demand. They shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that the Shimizu family is labeled as two-faced. While her mother and father deal with such machinations and bartering, Ryoko Shimizu is living the good and pampered life in Roswell, Georgia.”

“Like the Valentinas and the Redgrave family,” Rahkaze added.

Beta Crucis nodded as she continued her profile, “Half Chinese, half Japanese-American descent. Born on May 23, 1986. Roswell, Georgia, is where she let her misadventures and hedonistic lifestyle. Too much dismay to her mother and father who have worked for a living, Ryoko added much fuel to the fire for being in the tabloids. Whether it was sleeping around with different men were getting into fistfights with many of the other Southern belles who are just as bitchy and bratty as she was.

“Realizing that they might end up losing their only child, her father finally stepped in and put his foot down by cutting her off financially. Little to anyone’s knowledge, money wasn’t really a problem for Ryoko. At times, she would do adult videos or sell weapons on the black market. Her life in the fast lane will eventually catch up with her.

“After dodging that horrible situation, her father took it upon himself to contact the Oleander syndicate and teacher lesson in discipline. She was always smart, athletic, and could tap into a large part of the nether. Her being a part of the Oleander Syndicate was the least of her parent's worries. They just wanted her to at least be a positive member of society. However, violence was the one that lured her to the Oleander Syndicate.

“It was there that she trained and became a quick study in martial arts. Her martial arts skills were passed down by her father as she was taught in the art of Shorinji Kempo, meaning ‘Shaolin Temple Fist Method’ is an esoteric Japanese martial art considered as the modified version of Shaolin Kung Fu. Realizing her untapped potential, they wasted no time refining her not only as a woman but as a fighter.

“Her untapped potential doesn’t stop there since she can actually harness solar energy. She can absorb solar energy, converted into kinetic energy and redirect it as a beam of light. She got also manipulate how big that light beam is from her index finger to the palms of her hands. However, it does have its drawbacks. Since this kind of magical power lies in the ‘forbidden circle,’ it comes at a price. It uses too much energy, and she has to replenish the kind of power by being exposed to sunlight. Her nether pool of energy has to be compounded by solar radiation in which she heavily relies on.

“Personality-wise, she hasn’t really changed her ways. Instead, she had gotten a lot worse by joining the Oleander Syndicate. Now, she has an excuse for her irrational and deplorable behavior. She does have a jovial attitude and is always super friendly to people, but when she is drunk, she is the exact opposite. Despite her brash, arrogant attitude, she portrays regularly, she is a reliable source of contacts, and she is dependent upon to give such information. In the end, she has become a viable addition to the elite,” Beta Crucis concluded her profile of Ryoko Shimizu.

“Is it I, or the Oleander Syndicate, is a breeding ground for ‘unrefined’ women?” Alpha Crucis asked.

“Well, not all of them,” Beta Crucis defended as she profiled the third suspect. “Ayeka Junichi is the oldest and pretty much the motherly figure of the four. Born and raised in Osaka, Japan, on July 2, 1971.

“Like many other wolf kemonomimi who are naturally sensitive to the Nether, Junichi was extremely commonplace in the Oleander Syndicate. In Japan, she grew up around wolf kemonomimi like herself in a small village. Training and harnessing her powers was all she ever did as a child. Focused and determined to make her family and brethren proud, she delved in too many styles of martial arts and combat training.

“Growing up to be small in stature, she decided it was best that she would utilize many striking and counter-maneuvers keeping her opponents at bay. One of the disciplines she commonly uses is Judo and Kyokushin karate.

“Even though she doesn’t look it, she is indeed the oldest active and the longest-tenured member of the Oleander Syndicate, surviving three grandmasters. Having a brief stint of being apart of the now separated black ops group called ‘The Apex Predators’ before transitioning to a solo ghost operative role in the syndicate, she completed around 48 reconnaissance missions, 78 confirmed kills, and receiving credit for killing 17 of the Cicrulus Imperfectum blacklist members, she is indeed one of the most valuable assets of the Dark Nebula Coalition.

“As skilled as she is doesn’t mean she has her fair share of scars both physically and emotionally. In the line of duty, she had been sexually assaulted a few times, sharing her younger operatives’ pain.

“Finally making her way back to Madrid, she wanted to honor her late grandmaster by taking care of younger women when everyone else has or had already given up on them. Despite her grand knowledge and leadership abilities, she is not the leader of the Nether elite. Her protégé, Natalia Silvestri, is the leader. At this point in her career and life, she just wants to live long enough to be happy,” Beta Crucis concluded her profile of Ayeka Junichi.

“And speaking of which, Natalia Silvestri. Man, oh man, I cannot wait for this one,” Rahkaze stated.