Cafeteria was written in capital letters on a dark screen outside. Inside, the room was occupied by cheerful twenty-somethings spread among four large dining tables. Thin lines of gold spread to form vein-like layers on the black marble tabletops. In the center of the room, a holoprojector printed a distant beach that reflected on the dark floor to give the place a dreamy atmosphere. Seagulls squawked through hidden sound boxes, accompanied by the soft sound of waves crashing and the breeze blowing through Palm leaves.

"And what did he say?" Satina placed her cutlery beside her plate and sat down. One of the sides of her hoodie had slid off to show her shoulder. The tattoo on it was a thin, black rhombus. A hand stretched out of it, and delicate lines connected the tips of its fingers to a detailed brain. "You know how strong he can get with all the tats. I need to know if he'll be a problem."

Sitting across from her, Mary sighed, supporting her chin on her palm. With her other hand, she held a golden fork wrapped with fettuccine. "Look at him. He's so lost."

A few meters away, Roberto walked back and forth around the buffet table, a broad smile on his lips. His plate was about three times the size of any man's in the cafeteria.

"I'm sure he's okay, Mary," Léon said with a chuckle.

"Hey. What did he say?" Satina insisted.

Léon swallowed another spoonful of pea soup and sighed. "He seems legit about joining us. More or less." His face hardened as he placed his napkin back on the table. "Evaded my questions like a champ, though, so I had to make a threat or two."

Truth be told, that story about being a bear, not a wolf, has stroked a wrong cord inside Léon. His guts told him Roberto was hiding something... and he knew who could squeeze some answers out of him.

"You should speak to him," Léon whispered to Satina. "With... you know." He gestured towards her tattoo.

Satina lowered her eyes and pulled the hoodie up, covering her shoulder again.

"Are you sure he's the real Grizzly Bear?" Mary bounced in her seat and leaned over the table. "Maybe he's a fake! I mean, he doesn't even look like Grizzly Bear." She narrowed her eyes and whispered, "I've seen him on the news. He doesn't have a beard."

Léon chuckled and eyed Roberto. Léon's gym clothes looked immense on him, but they were as tight as lycra on Rob's body, gripping his muscles—every single one of them—like vacuum packaging. What a great time to be alive. He bit his lower lip, his eyes resting on one very specific curve.

"Nah. I'm pretty sure it's really him." Léon shifted on his chair, trying, and failing, to hold back a smirk. "I bet he doesn't even need chair pads with an ass like that."

Satina and Mary didn't even have time to laugh. "Oi! Warp!" someone called in a strong voice.

The trio paused and turned around to see a tall man with short, dirty-blond hair approach. His intense dark eyebrows were as strong as the look in his green eyes. When he smiled, the light caught the smiley piercing between his thin lips.

Lips Léon knew all too well.

The newcomer walked the few meters to their table and spread both his hands on the marble. He had a charming, venomous smirk pulled between his freckle-peppered cheeks. "Saw your name in the Training Grounds schedule today." He cleaned the corner of Léon's mouth with a thumb and licked it.

It was so fast, Léon barely had time to react. The tips of his ears burned. "Yeah. I put it there."

"Hm." His smirk deepened. "You got eight to ten tonight. It's a good time, uh?"

Léon sighed. He knew what was coming. "Yes, it is."

Saying Red Menace was his least favorite super villain was an understatement. Saying he was the Devil Incarnate was, too.

"Listen, I'll need to hit the gym earlier tonight—got a mission tomorrow morning, ranked as a twelve-point-eight." Red glanced at Satina and then back at Léon. "You lot mind swapping with me? I got..." He checked his fingernails and smirked. "Two AM to four AM."

Léon grimaced, running a hand across his face. Being the last one in the ranks came with a lot of disadvantages. This was one of them.

Red straightened his back and rested his hands on his waist. "What, Warpie? You don't want to?"

Not really. "Whatever, Red."

"You sure you don't mind?" Red's smile seemed almost sweet. And fake, too. "Isn't it asking too much?"

Red Menace surely didn't care about the fucking training; he just wanted to see people bend before him. In more than one way. Léon knew he wouldn't leave until he had heard what he wanted, so he gave it to him.

"Yes, I'm sure," Léon said in a deadpan tone. "In fact, I prefer that shitty-ass time you have. What do I need sleep for, anyway?"

Red opened a wide smile and rested a heavy hand on Léon's shoulder. As they had always been, his palms were warm. "Great. You swap the times in the roster, then, so when I—" but he couldn't complete his phrase.

"Mate, this is like Secondary school all over again." Roberto placed his tray down beside Mary and sat down. Simple like that, all the tension disappeared.

Satina glanced at his plate, compared it with hers, and opened a satisfied smile. Hers was still bigger.

"I'm so glad you don't serve nutritional paste. Look at this! It's cheese!" He grinned and looked around. "Where can I get ketchup?"

"Right. The rumors are true, then. You have a new friend." Red savored the word and scoffed. "Good for you. Maybe with an additional pair of hands, you kids will manage to leave the bottom." He narrowed his eyes, moving them from Roberto to Léon. "Well, maybe not you, Warp."

"Very funny," Léon answered, furrowing his brows.

Red guffawed.

"I didn't get it," Mary whispered to Satina.

"The bottom," Satina mouthed, smirking.

"Oh!" Mary chuckled.

Red winked. "Well, nice to talk to you, kids." His grip tightened on Léon's shoulder. "Maybe we can train together again." His hand slid from one shoulder to another, pulling him closer. "What do you think, Legend? The two of us?" He barely held back a snicker, his eyes set on Roberto's furrowed brows.

Léon shrank his shoulder and pushed Red's hand away. "Yeah. Sure."

Red patted Leo's back with firm smacks. "Good boy. That's what I like to hear." He grazed his teeth over his lower lip and moved his eyes to Roberto. Red stood there for a moment, eyebrows raised in a challenge. When Roberto lowered his eyes, Red walked away, his smirk widening into a satisfied smile.

"Who's the bloke?" Roberto placed his fork down.

"Red Menace. Second on the Rankings," Mary answered. "I don't like him. We used to be in the same team, but he never understood my artistic soul."

Roberto scratched his nape, leaning back in his chair. "Hmm. I should've recognized him. Bloke's a total beast in a fight; took me a few hours to catch him last time we met in the streets. I know his face from somewhere, though." Roberto's face hardened again. "But why was he bothering you?"

"You better get used to things like that." Léon pulled his long braid and caressed it. "Invidia encourages us to own our ranks. The result is this kind of stupidity. If he tells Anachronica I refused to help and that it interfered somehow with his mission results, it'll be mine on the line."

Roberto took a swig of his apple juice, staring at Léon. His eyes were sharp, and his tone was filled with a mysterious meaning when he asked, "What about Legend? Why did he call you that?"

Mary and Satina exchanged a look. The first moved her eyes to the digital beach while the latter sighed, supporting her chin on the palm of her hand.

"Cause he's a bastard who keeps reminding me why you should be careful about who you trust." Léon closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, crossing his arms and punctuating the conversation. "Now eat. Parfait suggested playing Trivia after dinner to assess how much you know about things. I think it's a good idea... If you're going to be a villain, you need to study."

Roberto grunted.

"Hey... Bear?" Satina jerked a thumb towards Red Menace. "You didn't like him, did you?"

"No," was Rob's blunt answer.

Satina scoffed. "Uh. Good. It seems you're not a complete imbecile."