The main members of SCEPTOR 4 stood in silence in the basement of their headquarters. The basement level was darker than the upper levels and contained the laboratories they needed to run tests on evidence for their cases and research. It also contained their jail cells (which were still under construction thanks to the late red king). Captain Reisi Munkata's lips were pressed together roughly while he stood as still as a statue. His lieutenant and a majority of his clansmen were in a similar state, with the exception of Fushimi.
Fushimi sighed and let out a soft "che". "This is gonna be annoying" he muttered bitterly. He pulled out his PDA and watched a video taken from one of the security cameras in lab 3. The footage showed the once shattered pieces of the Dresden Slate slowly move back into their proper place, repairing the destroyed artifact. He looked back up at the Slate, which seemed to glow slightly under the harsh fluorescent lights of the lab. Fushimi tensed as he realized the slate was actually glowing on it's own, and not the usual bluish green glow it sometimes had either. The colors were shifting and changing consistently: white, blue, green, red, yellow and all the colors in between. The glow seemed to steadily rise and fall in brightness. "Almost like a heartbeat", he thought with a shudder. "Of course something had to happen now", it had been almost three months since the death of the green king and the shattering of the Dresden Slate. SCEPTOR 4 had to handle the clean up and the press as usually, meaning they had to gather all the pieces of the slate to make sure no one else would try to use or recreate it.
Fushimi snapped to attention when his captain shifted slightly to acknowledge his subordinates. "I suppose we should have seen this coming." he mused. "It did seem very odd that all the clans still retained their power after the slate was destroyed." By his side lieutenant Awashima nodded. Things had been tense between the captain and the lieutenant during the first month after the green king. The other clansmen could tell that lieutenant Awashima was still upset that her captain put himself at such risk. While she didn't let her feelings affect her work ethic, no one could miss the stern tone in her voice anytime she addressed the captain. Fushimi on the other hand had the opposite problem. The lieutenant has been smothering him since he went undercover. She constantly checked on him and tried multiple times to get him to talk to a therapist after he refused to share his feelings about the situation. Fushimi of course had no interest in sharing his feelings and was annoyed; it wasn't as if he didn't write a report on the mission. Unlike his captain, the lieutenant's behavior towards him did not go back to normal over time. Even worse the other clansmen were joining in on her mothering habits. Fushimi missed back when a good portion of the clansmen were unsettled by him, it was a lot better than being forced to eat more under the disapproving stares of his co-workers.
"Lieutenant, I want you inform HOMRA of the situation. I will contact the silver king and the gold clansman. Fushimi-kun, I'd like you to keep a lookout on the web for any suspicious happenings in the city. We want to make sure the slate isn't putting out too much energy and causing people to gain powers." Captain Munakata ordered. "The rest of you carry on with your projects and cases, we will have a meeting with the other clans in the future about the situation". Fushimi and his fellow clansmen saluted their captain. "Yes, Sir!" Heading back to his desk, Fushimi tried to ignore the foreboding feeling creeping into him. He had work to do.
