Chapter 14

Predator and Proditor

The two agents, Felix and Maria, stood in the hallway behind the chief’s door. Still wobbly, Felix knocked and asked “Permission to enter.”

“Granted.” The chief’s voice called out.

As the dark, wooden door opened, they saw two red-eyed guests sitting on one side of the table.

A blond young man sat silently with his face placed on his palm, and a silver-haired girl sipped from the bottle in her hand.

With a cigarette in her mouth, the chief sat atop of her table, the light outside behind her outlined her body and lit up her orange-tinted glasses, while her hand was placed atop a letter. Her assistant, Murphy, was stationed behind her with his arms behind his back.

She blew out a puff of smoke and asked, “So, how was the fight?”

Felix stroked the back of his own head and groaned, “The back of my head still hurts like hell…”

The chief smirked ever so slightly, “Unfortunate. That kick to the head must’ve cost you a few brain cells.”

“He doesn’t have enough to work with as it is.” Maria added, much to Felix’s chagrin. “Still… the way she fought in the end… it was like an unhinged animal.”

She remembered as she watched Allison go berserk against Felix, blow after blow with unrelenting speed and force before finishing the battle as she took him down.

“Is that so?” The chief’s eyebrow raised slightly at the comment before dismissing it entirely with quick efficiency, “Sit down, allow me to formally introduce you to—”

“Wait, why does she have a milkshake? Can I have a milkshake?” Maria said as she pointed to the silver-haired girl.

“Marie…” Felix scolded.

“Excuse me, may I have milkshake?” Maria approached the well-dressed man and asked.

“Certainly, Miss Readman.”

“Barley tea for me, please.” The blond young man added.

“Understood.”

“Sigh… Coffee, you know how I like it, Murphy.” Felix flashed a gentle smile.

“Yes sir, they will arrive as soon as they are prepared.” Murphy’s soft voice proclaimed as he exited the room.

“I hope we didn’t seem rude.” The silver-haired girl pouted, twiddling her fingers.

As the two agents of the Golden Lion Agency sat down, the chief pushed up the bridge of her glasses, “A-hem. My assistant is not your butler. Now…”

Felix raised my finger before the chief could utter a single word, “Okay, before you say anything, are we gonna have to team up the two of them?”

“No, you are going to handle their job.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” He sighed in relief.

“Why, do you have a problem?”

“They were the ones who made me fight her to begin with…”

“But wasn’t I the one who…” Maria pointed to herself.

“Felix, Marie, this is Nero Miles and Isabelle Castella. They’re from our sister agency, Frontier Industries.” The chief explained.

“The Blue Phantom and the Venom Vanguard. It’s so nice to meet the children of stars—” The silver-haired girl’s excitement spilled out.

“Technically, the professor refers to all of you as the children of stars.” The papers in the chief’s hands suddenly flew over their heads as she tossed them.

Felix stood up to catch the papers, but his hands paused in the air as thin trails of red light flash above him. Most of the papers suddenly vanished with a creasing sound.

“Hmph.”

Felix heard a satisfied grunt from the other side of the table. He looked down and saw Nero’s eyes were gleaming with bright crimson, in his right hand were the pages that had vanished. As the last page fluttered in the air, Felix swiped it away before Nero could even lift his arm.

“Hmph.” Felix sounded as he looked down on Nero.

Nero’s smug smile vanished and his face became unnerved with an irritated grin. Felix sat back down and placed the last page on the table.

“I’m surprised the unfollowable Blue Phantom was so slow.” Nero remarked while counting the pages in his hand.

“Why not try this again? I’m still feeling sluggish after fighting the person you ran away from.” Felix immediately shot back.

The air between them burst with friction from both ends. While the two young men sneered at each other, their companions were clearly dissatisfied with how they were presenting themselves. Maria nudged on Felix’s rib, while girl Isabelle tugged on Nero’s ear.

“Glad to see you’re all getting along marvelously.” The chief interrupted, “As for the mission, they’re already in your hands. These two are new, so we’re holding them from the fight before we’re sure they’re ready. The same way Professor Tetsuya did for you.” She said as she looked at Felix, expecting him to understand.

“When will we be ready?” Nero voiced out.

“That’s not up to you.” The Chief sharply answered. “Unlike most Elite Agents, you lot are not expendable.”

Felix smirked ever so subtly at the familiar conversation that he’s heard probably a dozen times before. Only this time, he was not on the receiving end of the lecture.

“I actually have a question…” Isabelle tilted her head.

“Hm… what is it?”

“Weren’t both of your eyes blue back then?”

“Oh, um… y-yeah… I’m just… I’m still waiting for it to change completely. So… new to the agency, huh? So how is it?” Felix asked while looking through the papers, avoiding the topic.

“We’ve only been here for six months, but it’s been alright so far.” Isabelle replied.

“Six months, huh?”

“Why, how long have you been working here?”

“My whole life.” He answered with a hint of hesitation

“Ah, o-oh…” She awkwardly lowered her head in response.

“Don’t sound so surprised, Isa. Training often takes a whole lifetime.” Nero added.

“As expected from someone who claims to have served five years in the marine corps.” Chief crudely interjected.

“Huh?” He turned his head.

“Your documents are sloppy and all over the place, and has questionable credibility.” Chief sharply explained.

All of them looked at him like he was caught and cornered. Isabelle, who was his assigned partner, had the widest eyes opened. Clearly, the girl was startled. Felix scowled a little more than usual, while Maria had more curiosity in her expression than dismay.

“What’s the big deal? The twelve agencies are here to give people second chances, isn’t it?” Nero whined.

“Second chances to those we can trust. To those we can make sure are trustworthy.”

“Tsk.” He clicked his tongue in response and looked away.

Maria scratched her arm upon hearing those words.

“Moving on.” The chief placed her hand on her chin. “As you can see in the documents, Frontier Industries has requested our assistance in apprehending two very dangerous criminals.”

“Is it Jackal or his Fangs?” Felix interjected.

“Unlikely, still doesn’t mean you can let down your guard. Though we believe they are people who are affiliated with Lewis Shaw.”

“Oh my god.”, “Oh goddamn it.” The two black haired agents groaned in unison.

“Among them, we believe there is a traitor. Rank forty-nine, agent Petrichor, Jason Rivers,”

“Another one?” Felix muttered under his breath.

“So who is he and what’s he about?” Maria asked.

“Nothing special about him. But he is skilled at what he does and obeys orders. The problem is that we haven’t been receiving updates from him for a while, and he appears to have falsified some reports. His recent movements have been questionable as of late, and we have reason to believe that he’s been leaking private information to certain individuals. If he is a traitor, then he’ll be there.”

“I saw one of his videos once during training. I’m sure he won’t be a problem.” Felix remarked.

“If this is all there is to it, then why are they here in our headquarters?” Maria pointed her fingers toward the two who sat across them.

“Right, I believe the two of you had something to say?” Chief said to the two.

“Y-yes… um. See, how do I put this.” Isabelle nervously added, looking to the chief before turning to the sharp-eyed young man beside her, “Nero…”

“Hrnng…” Nero grumbled. “You do it…”

“Ugh, fine.” Isabelle stood up, facing both Felix and Maria, and humbly bowed.

“The both of us came on behalf of our agency, Frontier Industries, to formally request the both of you to take this mission in our place.”

“What?” Felix’s eyes furrowed, while Maria’s widened, both in curiosity.

“It’s as she says, it’s up to you both whether you want to accept. This is how Frontier Industries would like to uphold their trust.”

“Whoa, we have a choice this time?”

“In these times of chaos, this opportunity might help build ties with our sister agency. The twelve organizations thrive on favors for one another, after all.” The chief stated.

“Felix?” Maria asked.

Felix paused, giving a moment of thought before ultimately replying with a satisfied smirk written clearly on his face, “We, Felix Aster and Maria Readman, graciously accept your request.”

Isabelle let out a gentle smile in contrast to Nero’s exasperated sigh.

“It’s settled. The mission will begin in six hours. As of now, your targets have retreated and are hauled up in this building.”

“How do we know they won’t change locations?” Maria asked.

“They haven’t moved in the last forty-eight hours, so we can assume that their location is a last resort.” The chief uttered as she lit another cigarette. Her face distorted in the stream of haze and smoke, but her ruthlessness was clear in her voice.

“And unless they have a private jet, there is no place they could escape to now that a robin’s nest has formed around them.” Felix added as he looked at the papers.

“You have two hours to prepare, in the meantime, I suggest you all get to know each other.” The chief spoke in a sly voice.

“They’re espers, right?” Maria commented.

The chief’s smirk faded as she responded, “What… how did—”

“I told you to skip the foreplay. He broke my door with a pillow the other day. A pillow.”

“I—Mhm, yes. These two are the results of Professor Dustin Blanc’s hard work, with the assistance of Professor Tetsuya, and according to them, they, along with a few others, are the first stage three espers who have survived.” The chief admitted.

“Stage three?” Felix mumbled out with a look of disinterest, still being the only stage four ‘esper’.

“Right, they should be able to surpass Maria’s level here.”

“Really, you really think that?” Maria scoffed.

“Nah, clearly we’re above you.” Nero boasted.

“I’m sorry for him.” Isabelle chopped Nero on the forehead.

“I’m sorry you have to deal with him.” Felix added.

“Funny. I didn’t expect the Blue Phantom to be such a shrimp.”

Felix glared at the comment from a proud Nero, before sighing and moving on, “So, third stage, huh? I’m a fourth stage and um… and my mentor was actually a second-stage.”

“Really?”

“You never told me that.” Maria pouted.

“Y-yeah… I only thought to say it now. So, you two were the only ones who survived in your batch, huh? Must’ve um… must’ve been a rough experience.” Felix smiled as he looked at them.

“Actually, there were four of us.” Isabelle clarified.

“Only four of the twenty volunteers survived.”

Isabelle quickly turned to the chief and yelled, “Madam Vivian, that was classified.”

”Only four survived?” Felix’s gulped, his face contorted into confusion.

Only four? From… from the Implementation?

“Yeah… going through it was practically hell. I’m pretty sure I came close to dying, but I clung to life and reached for survival.” Nero explained.

Reached… for survival. That’s right… wasn’t I… wasn’t I the only one who survived?

There was a crackle in his ear, the echoes of fire and dust began to ring loudly.

“Felix… you alright, bud?” A worried voice spoke while Felix buried himself in heavy thoughts.

He clutched his right eye as memories suddenly flooded in his mind of when he was caught, trapped between rubble and blood flowing through the cracks.

‘Volunteers’… that’s what the chief said, that’s definitely what she said. Why would anyone ever…? My head hurts… it’s throbbing intensely, like a migraine, like something in my head just snapped.

“Felix?”

What is this? It’s like something’s blocking my memories. There’s a huge wall that I can’t get through. But why would anyone volunteer, when I was… when we were… we were trapped in that hell. It doesn’t make sense.

The vision of a hand reaching upward suddenly flashed in his mind, a memory deeply buried long ago.

His breathing became heavy. Both of his eyes began to glow a bright blue as the sharp ring grew louder. He clutched his head as a hand pulled him out of his sudden outburst.

“Felix!”

Felix suddenly gasped, his chest tightened as he desperately tried to breathe, he stammered “Ah, uh…”

He looked up, and through his blurred vision, saw Nero wearing an unnerved expression. As he turned, Isabelle’s face was even paler than normal and her mouth covered with both her palms. Even the chief, who normally kept a composed exterior, had her back against the window behind her desk.

“You were making a scary face…” Maria tugged on his sleeve with a wide worried expression.

A knock on the door broke the silence, and as Murphy entered with tray in hand, the heavy atmosphere lightened ever so slightly.

Felix stood up, his face dripping with sweat, “I’ll just… I’ll just go prepare my suitcase.”

“Actually, we’ll just take these…” Maria took the two drinks, her milkshake and the coffee, and followed Felix outside.

As he left, Murphy looked back and his face turned to shock. The ashes of the chief’s cigar fall to the papers on the floor of her cluttered, messy office, like a storm swept by.

“We were told that he wasn’t fully awakened yet…” Isabelle muttered.

“… Can I have my tea?” Nero asked.

The chief sighed, “Murphy… Please take care of all of this.”

The sound of rushing water was all that could be heard in the washroom. Felix looked at his own reflection, his face and hair dripped with a cold water that helped him calm down and focused. He wiped the glass and gazed into his own mismatched eyes.

As he walked out of the washroom, he noticed a familiar aroma. He was greeted by his partner who leaned against the wall.

“You alright, bud?” Maria asked as she handed him the cup of coffee that he had requested earlier.

“Yeah, I’m just… just a little sick.” Felix wiped his face.

“Well, we already accepted the request, so are we gonna give up? Don’t tell me you’re gonna pull out before anyone’s satisfied?”

“Pull out? Who said we were giving up?”

”Mhm… Sorry, that was inappropriate of me given you just had a panic attack.”

“What was?”

Maria sighed with disappointment in her tone, “So, you wanna talk about what happened just now?”

“I don’t know… it just feels like my head began to burst for some reason, and by the time I realized it, everyone looked shocked.”

“Well, you kinda just went and blew your load all over.” Maria’s face expressed disbelief at how she was unable to stop herself.

“I um… What?” Felix looked at her with cluelessness stapled to his expression.

“I mean, your psychic power went wild earlier.”

“Psychic power?”

“That thing that makes you, y’know, an esper…Never mind, think you can elaborate further then?”

“I see. So it’s called psychic power?”

“You… don’t watch a lot of entertainment, do you? Still… what happened just now was…”

“Something in my head just started to…you ever feel like there’s a part of you that’s missing?”

“You mean like when you look in the mirror, sometimes there’s no face there at all, or you don’t even recognize who’s in the reflection?”

Felix tilts his head up with a confusion, “Not really… That’s oddly specific, are you alright?”

“Hey, you’re the one who just had a panic attack.” She shrugged.

He took a nip out from his coffee and asked, “How do you deal with that?”

“I, um… Yeah, I… deal with it pretty well and um…” Maria crossed her arms as she scrambled for the right words.

From the corridor, the two new agents walked up to the two of them.

“Hey…” Isabelle nervously spoke.

“You’re both still here?” Felix blurted out.

“Yeah, we came here to say goodbye, and to thank you for accepting our request.”

He scratched his cheek and said, “You’re espers, too. And my guess is that you know how to use your… “psychic powers” properly.

“Properly… is a stretch, but we do know a little bit.” She replied.

“Can you show me what it means to be one?”

“Oh, uh… yeah.” Nero’s eyebrow raised slightly, taken aback by the earnest request.

“Of course, although we’re still new at it ourselves. So I was told that we would train with someone called… David Soldier?” Isabelle’s eyes lit up.

“I- I see.” Felix responded with a hint of surprise and annoyance.

“We’ll be taking our leave, see ya’ pipsqueak.”

“Good luck!” Isabelle beamed and waved.

As the two left the corridor, Maria turns to Felix, pouting, “You never asked me to show you what it means to be an esper.”

“You were always so cryptic about it, I figured you wanted me to find out for myself.”

“Mhm, then how about a crash course later?”

“I guess I’ll go prepare my suitcase.”

“Actually, Felix… your weapons.” The chief spoke as she approached with a white suitcase, and as she opened it, they saw two ornate handguns, one jet black, and the other chrome white, both of which adorned with a blue lining.

“Oh, pretty.” Maria said as she got to it first.

“They’re called Agony and Misery, something Professor Tetsuya himself decided on. These will be what you’ll be using from now on. Maria, yours are still in the development laboratory, and will be prepared shortly.”

“Those are some pretty sadistic names for ornate looking guns.” Felix said as picked up one of them from the suitcase, “What makes these any different from Ion?”

“The white one, Agony, acts similarly to Ion. It shoots out waves of energy or electricity. The black one, however, can be set to carry hollow rounds that explode on impact.”

“So what’ll happen to Ion?” He asked as he placed the paper cup by the window, taking a look at his new guns.

“It will return to the development storage, as it looks like you used them to play baseball against bullets.”

“That’s actually… accurate. But I’ll get it back, right?”

“The prototype will return as an obsolete model.”

Felix lets out a disheartened grunt.

“Can’t he keep it as a memento?” Maria argued as she saw his saddened expression.

“The agencies’ properties, I’m sorry, I can’t give them to you.”

“Alright…” Felix let out a resigned sigh.

“As for the main difference, it’s made of a special material called Aestrellium.”

“Sounds dumb.” Maria blurted out while inspecting the gun intently.

“Professor Tetsuya said that it’s specifically designed to convert your raw psychic power into ammunition while you’re still learning how to control it.”

With a despondent tone, he replied, “Psychic… I see.”

“It’s a shame that Luna did not teach you how to use your psychic abilities. However, we could always ask David if he could. He’s been waiting for you to—”

Felix clenched his hand tightly on the gun and spoke in a hostile tone, “Chief…”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

“Marie, I’m gonna practice at the shooting range while we still have time.”

“Ah, o-okay…”

As Felix left, Maria looked to the side and saw that his coffee had sat by the window, still half-full. She looked at the chief, twisting her foot on the floor and asked, “Did something happen?”

The chief’s orange-tinted glasses reflected into pure white as she looked down at Maria, “A long time ago, Felix had a mentor who disappeared three years ago.”

“Luna, right?”

Maria gazed in silence, waiting for the chief to continue, “And her partner was the Black Hound, David Soldier.”

“So in other words, he blames David for his mentor’s disappearance?”

“Yes, but I think it’s a little more complicated than that.”

“Can you dumb it down for me?”

“Maria, it’s only been a month since the two of you were assigned together. He’ll tell you himself, and eventually, he’ll have to come to terms with what happened. For now, I think it’s best that you focus on the mission.”

“I’m starting to get why he hates cryptic things...” Maria let out a resigned sigh.

“It’s better that he tells you himself. Even if I explain what I understand, I won’t be able to convey the feelings he holds.” The chief said compassionately.

Maria stretched out her arms, then looked at the chief with a cold stare, “Spare me the heartwarming nonsense.” she said in a low, frigid voice before walking away.

Chief stood there with a startled expression on her face, and from the corner of the corridor stood Isabelle. Her face was a mix of nervous and confused from what they heard.

At the sunbathed training ground outside the Golden Lion’s facility, the sound of clicking echoed from the training grounds, as Felix restlessly pulled on the triggers of his new guns. Sweat drips from his face while his tongue sticks out like a dog as he takes in heavy breaths.

He grit his teeth, staring at the targets on the other side, untouched, unmoved, undamaged. He let out a silent growl as he tightened his grip on his new guns.

“Sooo, about Luna…” With a cup in hand, Maria approached Felix.

“Chief told you?” Felix said with an exhausted tone.

“I did hear Allison bring it up earlier this morning.”

“She told you, didn’t she?” Felix reiterated.

“She didn’t tell me enough.”

“You probably don’t need to know more.”

“I’ll be the judge of that. Here.” She said as she gave him a paper cup.

“The coffee from earlier?”

“New one. Just the way you like it.”

“I see. I’m sorry. It’s just that—” He replied as he looked down.

Felix remembered his last interaction with David, “I will train you.” His words rang clearly in his ears.

“I think you should take a rest.”

“I’m well-rested as is.” Felix replied with a calm rage beneath his tone and took another shot.

“That’s enough, bud.” She quietly whispered, placing her hand on the back of his neck. Suddenly, he felt weak and quickly lost consciousness.

The blades of the airplane whirled as the two ascended into the air. The two sat by another once again. Maria with an awkward smile as she watched Felix completely dazed and distant.

“Mister Aster, your coffee. Miss Readman, your mimosa and strawberry tart.” The attendant left as soon as she placed their requests on the desk.

“Ah thank you…”

“C-coffee…” He absent-mindedly replied, his eyes wide open but had no focus.

“That’s right…now drink up.”

The moment he took a sip of the coffee, his expression turned back to his usual scowl, “Ugh, this coffee is too dark.”

“Oh good, you’re back to normal.” Maria replied passively.

“Hey, wait a minute, you knocked me out—”

“I had to. You were being uncooperative.”

“Sigh… don’t do that again.”

“No promises.” She smiled cheerfully.

Felix leered over as Maria opened her suitcase. In it, displayed a gun, similar in appearance to Felix’s.

“You also have a new gun?”

“Yeah… Sorry about yours, though. It was important to you, right?”

“It’s alright, I have these…” Felix forced out a smile.

“For now, until the agency takes it away again.” Maria thoughtlessly blurted out.

“Right…”

“Sorry… I think I’m still more into knives, though.”

“How’s the gun?”

“Light, easy to hold. Bullets that could break through five inches of steel.”

“Odd, why didn’t the development lab give me that kind of firepower?”

“Wasn’t it because you don’t kill unless “absolutely necessary?”“ She gestured in air quotes.

“Mhm… Did you name them?”

“I wanted to call it Maria Junior, but they were already given names.”

“Ah, really?”

“Yeah, Predator and Proditor. They said it was fitting for taking down the hunter and the traitor.”

“Better than Agony and Misery.”

“I still prefer knives. Guns just kill too quickly for me.” She said as she placed her finger on the tip of her knife.

Felix looked down to where his gun had laid down, “… My mentor always told me that if I had to kill, I should do it quickly and as painlessly as possible.”

“And yet you didn’t want me to kill Harbinger.”

“Y-yeah.”

“You were only prolonging his suffering, you know? He would have died anyway.”

He gulped, “Yeah, you’re right.”

The conversation turned silent once again as it was left at that. Felix returned to scouring through the holographic screen.

“That’s odd… it says here that location is an abandoned building in a bustling city, but their current position is…” Maria remarked as she zoomed into the screen.

Felix prepared his weapons, placing them into the holsters under his coat. As they hovered closer to the location, Maria stared curiously as to why Felix had put on goggles.

With the wind caught in their throats, the two of them were forced to yell as the airplanes’ opened its hatch.

“WE’RE JUMPING TO THEIR HIDEOUT?!” Maria shrieked at the top of her lungs, clinging on the other side of the airplane.

“YES.” Felix replied as he placed the goggles above her head and dragged her closer.

“ISN’T THIS REALLY DANGEROUS?!” Maria clutched Felix’s arm.

“PROBABLY.” He answered against the strong whirling gust against his cheeks as he pulled her closer to the hatch.

“I WASN’T TRAINED FOR THIS!”

He turned to her with a shocked expression, “HOW CAN YOU NOT BE?!”

“REASONS!”

“WE DON’T HAVE A CHOICE, WE ‘RE ABOUT TO MISS OUR JUMP!” Felix grabbed her waist and pulled her down with him.