Chapter 16: Unsettling

It was just another ordinary day for me, moving loads upon loads of their cargo from their truck shipments for Mr. Steele. I often question myself what was inside of these boxes, but Mr. Steele told me not to worry about what was inside which only fueled my curiosity. Of course, I didn't bother opening them up in fear of getting fired. Mr. Reed treats me differently compared to everyone else. It felt as if I were a guest in their household but, he probably does that because I was the youngest one out of everyone here.

"Mr. Dove," Reed called lightly.

"Yes?" I answered, lifting up a large cardboard box.

"Mr. Steele would like to talk to you," taking the boxes out of my hands, he gave it to another worker that is on break. "Mr. Locks, please forgive me for this but can you take care of this?"

The man was wearing swamp green fatigues and heavy brown boots, only identified as Kamrin, who was lounging by the loading dock, taking a smoke break. My first impression of him was that he is ex-military only to be told by almost everyone that Kamrin was a homeless man who shanked a drunk off-duty soldier and was lucky enough to take everything from him. I must confess, the story is becoming more and more believable since I had never seen him without his fatigues.

The man dropped his cigarette, putting it out with his heavy boots. As Kamrin took the box into his hands, Reed reached into his deep pockets and dropped a small duct-taped package on top, making the man blossom a smile.

"Now that that's out of the way," Reed turned towards me. "Come on now young man. We would want the boss to be waiting."

The both of us started trailing into the back of the hangar where Mr. Steele's office used to be what looks like a small home on the outside. Inside, a brightly colored Italian luxury office with lights filling the ceiling and glass-covered shelves that held either expensive or inexpensive liquor. Walls hung up with various stuffed animal heads and paintings. His old office table has been replaced with a solid marble like counter. Mr. Steele is sitting lavishly in his large leather wearing a black suit and tie with a pen and paper which I can only assume that is making business calculations.

"Ahem, Mr. Steele," Reed coughed. "I brought him."

"Ten boxes worth of— Oh, hey," Mr. Steele greeted with a bit of eagerness leaking from it. "Just take a seat, I'll be done in just a moment."

"I'll be in the meeting room. Please excuse me," Reed excused himself by walking through a door that I didn't even spot that was to the right of the room, silently closing it behind him.

I sat in one of the expensive-looking chairs while waiting patiently for my boss to finish his work. Passing the time as I observed the luxurious office from my seat.

"Alright," Mr. Steele began with an eager tone, pulling the papers aside. "Dove, Dovey? Nah, Dove. Okay, do you want a promotion?"

"Will it make my job easier?" I asked, immediately regretting them when Mr. Steele chuckled lightly.

"Well, it's a lot simpler and less labor-intensive so yes."

Surprised that he actually answered, I leaned back in relief that he didn't give me a warning.

"Then yes. I absolutely would love to," I beamed.

Mr. Steele brought out a folder from his desk drawer. "Good, usually I would conduct the usual test. But I have faith in you that you can recognize what these are."

He neatly laid out several pages of pictures relating to security. I didn't even question why or what he had in store for what type of role I would have in his business. At first, I timidly nodded my head as my eyes darted from the images of security guards to security cameras to giving a smile of confidence to Mr. Steele.

"Excellent," he gathered up the images. "Please follow me to the meeting room."

Rising up from my seat, I followed as Mr. Steele left hastily out of the office and into the meeting room. Entering, the large meeting room was less lavish and looked and smelled like it was under construction with unpainted drywalls and a strong smell of sawdust. In the middle were four men which included Rust and one woman, all of them sitting idly with one of them intently staring at his laptop, the woman on her phone, and the rest looking at me. Reed was standing to the side, showing me a warm smile assuring me that everything is fine.

The man closest to me was wearing a jean jacket with a black shirt underneath and wrinkly tan pants. His hair was dyed a dirty blonde that looked like he took a handful of rotting hay and glued it to his head with his black natural hair color growing under all of it. The man next to him; tapping away on his laptop, was wearing a more professional uniform with a black button-up suit and sleekly gelled hair black hair. The woman across from him is wearing tight jeans and a beige sweatshirt that exposed her shoulder with gleam brown hair that paired well with her outfit. She crossed her legs up on the meeting table showing off her white converses. The other man fashioned in a black undershirt, showing off all of his many tattoos on his arms and brown shorts. Finally, there was Rust dawning a black and white sweatshirt with a bit of his school uniform peering from the head of his outfit.

"Who let this child in the room?" The hay-haired man questioned with an irritating tone.

"That child is our new info gatherer, Curt," answered Mr. Steele.

"You are so cruel to make this child do this, Ashley," the woman said, disapprovingly shaking her head without taking her eyes off her phone. "To let some teenager go do an adult's job."

"Heh, you are one to talk, Kimball," Rust barged in. "I'm not the one who whines and complains about the rain ruining your makeup or a little mud getting on the flashy dress that you take to these jobs."

"Well, I'm not the one who got choked by a girl while at school," Kimball spat, placing her phone down with a loud thud, her feet now grounded.

"Are you challenging me?" Retorted a very pissed-off Rust. "You don't want to get messy with me."

The both of them leered at each other intensely, making the atmosphere for me denser and hard to contain my fear as both of them started reaching inside their pockets.

A loud impacting sound diffused the both of them, prompting all of us except for the computer man to look over their shoulders to see the bald man had rammed his fist on the table. "Knock it off! The both of you do realize that our employer is in front of us and we won't get paid unless we listen!"

"That's enough, all of you! I brought you here for a meeting for our new recruit not to fight amongst ourselves," Mr. Steele barked, signaling me to come forward. "If you can come here, this kid is our new intel gatherer for our heists. Call him Dove."

Moving slowly towards Mr. Steele, I felt their unnerving presence as they all watched me as I slowly made my way towards Mr. Steele's side.

"Why are we making this— kid do our reconnaissance for us?" Curt asked with the same tone.

"Because Curt. You wouldn't expect some kid to help with a heist. Other than that, we can use a few clean hands for our line of work."

"I think that the one we had worked better," Curt commented.

"Well, the one we had is dead from an overdose," answered the suited man, who now took his eyes off his laptop and alternated between looking at me and Curt. "How long has your head been in your ass?"

"Long enough to see Mr. Steele die, Gnat," Curt said, pulling a gun out and pointing at Mr. Steele. "I'm sorry Ash, you just stepped out of line now. I respected you greatly when we first met. Picking me up from the slums. Telling me I can live a good life. Now, I see you in a different light. A who finds that every human is disposable, using pity as a lure for us. I'm guessing this kid you found was out on the streets begging."

Mr. Steele looked at him dipping his head slightly, disapprovingly shaking his head. "Curt… You are making a huge mistake here. I'm not using you and I didn't find this kid and hired him out of pity. He has a family that he wants to help and I'm here to help him."

"Kid, don't listen to him. He's lying— He will kill you," Curt claimed, abruptly standing up from his seat.

This made me question Mr. Steele's recruitment of me. Why did he hire me if he just made Rust do it? Does everyone working here have some sort of hardship that they endured like Curt or Kamrin?

I shook off my constant questioning and focused on the situation at hand. At first, I sought to know if everyone here has some sort of idea on what to do but… Everyone in the room seemed no give care about what Curt was doing as of right now. Rust was leaning back in his chair, lazily staring up at the ceiling. Kimball, now with her hands occupied with untangling a set of earbuds. The tattooed man casually rested his head on his arm as if he were watching a play unfold. Gnat now somehow has seated himself near the door to the meeting room with his laptop lying comfortably on his thighs, and Reed hasn't moved an inch probably out of fear that his boss will get shot if he tried anything.

"Well, Curt if you wish to live a good life. I'll give you a choice. Put the gun down and I will forget that this ever happened. Or I can give you another option that isn't as pretty," Mr. Steele negotiated.

"Trying to kill me? I know that you don't have anything set up in this room or on me that would convince me that my life is in danger," Curt responded confidently, pulling the hammer of his gun.

"Yes, I know. Yet you haven't pulled the trigger to that gun. Why is that? Do you see me as who I was or am I a monster that sends people that I care about to their deaths?" Mr. Steele inquired, stepping forward towards Curt.

"Stand back! Don't you know I have a gun pointed at you," Curt warned, his confidence has now dissipated, his facial features now showing signs of frustration and hints of fear.

Mr. Steele ignored his warnings, casually closing the distance between him and the hay-haired man. The gun fired and the air shattered. The bullet tore through the empty space, making a tear in the walls. Silencing us in its wake with a surprised Curt standing motionless with the barrel of his gun smoking and Mr. Steele is still standing unphased by his shot.

Mr. Steele shut his eyes momentarily, nodding his head as he walked towards Curt. "I see… You always hesitated, no wonder everyone hates you."

The now cowardly Curt had turned furious at his attempt of killing him and trying to fire off his gun again. Mr. Steele retaliated swiftly by grabbing Curt's gun, pulling it upwards as it fired another deafening explosion. Using his free hand, Mr. Steele threw a crushing palm strike at Curt, breaking his nose. As Curt tried to recover from his boss' strike, Mr. Steele used the brief window to quickly disarm Curt with both hands as Curt's weak grip had let go of the gun which was now in Mr. Steele's hands.

He pointed the gun directly onto Curt's forehead, once again shaking his head. "I always thought you were good with a gun, Curt."

He pulled the trigger, having the firearm for the last time igniting the bullet as it traveled through Curt's head. A small burst of Curt confetti complete with brain matter, a red mist, and small bone fragments flew through the air, dropping onto the floor of the room. Curt, with his newly created hole in his head, stumbled back and forth for a brief period, crashing face first to the ground with a loud thump as it echoed throughout the room.

I didn't really feel much about the death of Curt, but Mr. Steele…? I didn't feel much fear nor any sort of resentment for his decisions. It was almost like I have met the devil and his advocates.

Mr. Steele pocketed the gun behind his belt, returning to the head of the meeting table. "Alright, does anyone else have something to say?"

Silence filled the room, everyone seemed to be preoccupied. Gnat who was still tapping away on his laptop. Kimball finally has undone the tangled earbuds and is listening to music. Rust was still busy ceiling seeing. The tattooed man was still resting on his arm, smirking with satisfaction at the show that he had watched.

Clasping his hands together, he stood by me and quickly set his gaze on me and back to everyone in the room. "No? Alright, let me give the introductions. The gentleman in the suit on his laptop is Gnat. He was the informal head of the FBI's engineering team up until he got bored and left unknowing of the FBI's presence. If you need assistance with anything electronic, ask him. Next is the lady, Kimball. Found her out on the streets selling herself to people."

"I can hear you you know?" Kimball said, acknowledging Mr. Steele's introductions. "You didn't have to mention that part."

"Sorry, it's only fair to tell everyone's backstories. After all, we are family," Mr. Steele beamed a smile towards the woman, earning him a scoff.

Kimball, rolling her eyes, pulling out her phone again so she can distract herself while Mr. Steele continued on.

"The beefcake in the room is Charkie. A fugitive and part of the team in earlier times. You can ask just about anything. Just don't ask him anything insensitive about his history. And there is my son, Rust. Do you have anything to say to him?" Mr. Steele asked, pulling everyone's attention towards him.

"No…" He said.

"Jackie…" Mr. Steele replied with a bit of irritation.

"Ugh, I'm sorry Dove… I'm sorry that I kicked your ass…"

"Good," Mr. Steele said with a satisfied smile blessing his features. "Now then. Reed if you will."

Reed who was standing idly the entire time, now has a stainless steel briefcase, a number combination lock, and is holding on to a black leather handle. Wasting no time, he hastily approached Mr. Steele, passing off the case to him, returning to his original position.

"Thank you. So, Dove…" He faced me, extending the case towards my chest. "By taking this case, you will show loyalty and respect towards me and everyone in this room and they will deem you as part of our syndicate. Do you understand your responsibilities?"

Delicately I placed my hands on either side of the case and answered. "Yes, Mr. Steele, sir."

He let go of the handle, letting me hold the case which now belongs to me.

"Everything you need is in that case for the upcoming heist. Keep that case close and away from everyone," Mr. Steele told me.


I nodded my head in response. "Yes, sir."

"Why, WHY!" Shikikan cried out. "I told that damn doctor and yet she didn't listen. Nobody ever listens."

"Shikikan, calm down," Takao attempted to calm her senior officer.

"Calm down?! The days I get to myself, interrupted by shipgirls that I specifically stated that I don't want to hang around. What gave her the permission to send you my way?" Shikikan boomed with an outfitting rage.

His uncle, under all the midst, took his take on their argument. "Now hold on for just a minute. You are telling me that this young lady is causing you trouble?"

"Well, no… Not her," Shikikan sheepishly answered.

"I don't understand the problem. It's nice that you have more friends, Little Dove. Why not let them join your vacation?" His uncle logically asked.

"You don't understand why I booked this vacation. First off the island… the girls there are chaotic," Upon saying that, he cocked his head towards the swordswoman. "No offense, Takao Sensei. You are fine, you know what I mean right?"

"If you mean my sister or Akagi, then yes, I understand," Takao nodded, a slight curve on her lips forming for a second. "They can be quite the handful at times."

"You see, you two get along nicely. Like two peas in a pod. There is no need for you to be locked up in your room for your entire vacation like some NEET," His uncle said with a smile of satisfaction.

"One, don't use the word NEET. Two, it's my vacation and I can spend it however I want," Shikikan defended.

"Can you listen to what Corrian has to say first?" A fourth voice intruded.

Everyone turned their attention towards the voice, Shikikan being the first to react. "Oh, OH. Now that doctor has gone mad! She sent you too?!"

Slightly behind Takao, stood the Eagle Union carrier, outfitted in a white T-shirt with the letters ENU in red printed on it, her shoulders exposed and her sports bra straps on show. The rest of her outfit had black short shorts, a black baseball cap with a pair of sunglasses sitting at the top of it. At her sides were two black rolling cases and a blue duffel bag.

"Yes," Enterprise replied calmly. "If you have questions, then this will answer them."

Enterprise pulled out her phone from behind her as if she had magic pockets, swiping her index finger across the screen for a few seconds, the carrier presented her commander with a video with Corrian.

Playing the video, it opened up with Corrian fixing the camera, nodding to herself as the problem was solved. Moving back a few steps, she started. "Hello… Shikikan. Before you report this, just know that I have government approval for this, it wasn't easy but I did," Corrian pulled out a sealed paper from the table behind her, bringing it up to the screen confirming the action before putting it back down. "I know that you think that this is something worth putting me through disciplinary school but hear me out first. You don't have to be around them if you choose to. They can spend the period doing whatever they want during the vacation."

She paused for a moment, snapping her fingers filling the silence until a jolt of insight struck her. "If you do choose to participate with my experiment, then I will let you have a luxurious vacation free of charge. If I were to guess why you didn't want them to be around, it is probably due to you being liable for the damage. That is why I had these two join you, so there is no need for you to be paranoid of them getting hurt as long as they are together. If you have any other questions, be sure to ask someone else in the base. I won't be picking up for a while, I have a political trip with a few fellow nations. So… Bye."

Waving her hand frantically as she ended the video there. Enterprise retracted her phone back, putting it behind her.

"Alright, if that is all. Then this is where we say goodbye. Let's go uncle," Shikikan signaled, retracting back into his seat waiting for him to move. "Why aren't you going?"

His uncle, disappointingly, glared at Shikikan, giving him his honest opinion. "Because you still disappoint me. And I thought that you changed. I guess you are still looking out for only your sister, me, and yourself."

"You don't know what type of stuff happens over where you work. Yeah, you were a naval commander. But that doesn't automatically give you the right to say that. What you did is light work compared to these super soldiers with abnormal powers," Shikikan sharply cleared up.

"Listen here, Dove. I know why you came back. I'm not going to give it to you until you are able to get along with these subordinates of yours," He calmly stated.

"You are a lying— You promised me that you would give it up once I became a commander. That can save your niece's life if you just give it to me," Shikikan criticized, balling up his fist, his face looking to be at a breaking point with his eyebrows scrunching his forehead.

"Shikikan. Uhh… Shikikan's uncle… You heard what Corrian has said. He has the choice to hang around us," Enterprise clarified.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, but your commander here needs to learn to get along with people. He has a tendency to have issues when it comes to human interaction," His uncle mentioned.

"That's not your problem to deal with!" Shikikan exclaimed.

"If I may," Takao politely interjected, holding her palm up. "What exactly made him how he is? When he trains with me, he doesn't necessarily talk much about himself."

All of their eyes were on his uncle for an answer. Without a word from his uncle, Shikikan spoke first. "That is a story that isn't necessary for you to know."

"Yeah… It's a bit of a handful for us," his uncle muttered. "But, when the time comes when he feels like opening up which is what you two should aim for. My boy here will explain the whole story."

"Don't call me your boy," Shikikan stated.

"Ignore him, you two can put your stuff in the back of the car. I'm more than willing to drive you to wherever you are staying. Don't worry about his words against you," his uncle assured. "He is still the one I helped raise."

"Sure, whatever," Shikikan stated, irritated more than ever.

His uncle opened up the trunk of the car with an audible click. The two shipgirls started loading their luggage into the back. The seconds went by as the sound of case by case being dropped in the trunk. Shikikan, who was looking out of his window the entire time, questioning his options as of now.

This was cut shortly after the two kansens closed the doors to their seats and the sound of seatbelts clicking. His uncle, igniting the engine with a roar, he started driving.

Fixing the back mirror to see the two, he asked them. "Where do you two want to be dropped off at?"

"There is a hotel not too far away from here that the doctor booked," Takao replied. "Large, luxurious, and hard to miss."

"The doctor… Dove, can you tell me more about this doctor? I'd like to know more about her," his uncle said with a hint of ambition.

"Uncle, no… The last thing I need to do at my job is call my co-worker auntie," Shikikan stated.

"That wasn't really my intention, but she does seem kinda cute," his uncle smiled, making his nephew roll his eyes in response. "Is that the place?"

Pointing his index finger out his window; the building he pointed to was a tall, ivory-colored hotel. The place was astonishing as the hotel didn't even look to be a hotel but rather a large fortress with fountains and foliage galore.

"What a place this is," his uncle commented. "This doctor sure has the money to burn for her colleagues."

"Her research for command gives a good payday," said Shikikan.

Driving up to the entrance without any traffic, a lanky grey haired doorman dressed in a black uniform with a black bow tie right under his collar, walked up in acknowledgment of our presence.

"Hello, Admiral sir. Are you the one that Anna Corrian had booked," the man inquired respectfully.

"Yes. As much as I like you calling me admiral. It's actually commander. Commander Shikikan, the room is for the two in the back," Shikikan clarified.

"Oh! Apologies for my mistake, Commander Shikikan. You look wonderful today in your uniform," the man complimented in hopes that he forgave him.

"Enough with the introductions, mister. If you can grab the girl's luggage and guide them to their rooms, that would be great," Shikikan commanded.

The man nodded at his instructions, wasting no time unloading the luggage from the trunk carefully. The two kansens, who are now out of the vehicle, were telling him the ones to unload from their commander.

"Did being commander give you that kind of attitude?" His uncle inquired lightly.

"No. I just have things to take care of later in the day," Shikikan answered without making eye contact.

"What has he become," his uncle muttered. "I guess war is as bad as they say. No matter what job you have."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," his uncle answered decisively.

With a slam of the trunk, the two men turned to surprisingly see that the man had already efficiently held all of the girl's luggage in his hands. Takao was the only one holding on to anything, which was a duffel bag which Shikikan can only assume is her katana.

"Goodbye ladies. Dove— I mean Shikikan here will be seeing you soon. Please, take care of him," his uncle told.

The two kansens gave a questioning glare, Enterprise giving a light-hearted giggle, Takao's expression being slightly flustered, Shikikan being on the edge of shutting up his uncle.

When the two of them had nothing else to say. His uncle started the car again, heading back towards their home as they chatted aimlessly about their time away. When they arrived back home, his uncle fumbled with his keys a bit before finding the right one. With a thrust and a turning and opening up the doors, the sound of skitting across the floor came rushing towards them.

A small pounce of a white-haired creature met with his uncle. His uncle met with the small puff of hair with a series of laughs as it started cuddling up on his leg. "Oh, I'm glad to see you too, girl."

To Shikikan's surprise, his uncle has adopted a Samoyed dog into their household.

"You got a dog," Shikikan simply stated. "You do know how expensive it is to take care of these things right?"

"Who cares. It gets lonely in this house," his uncle stated, patting the dog's head. "She keeps me company while you and your sister are away."

"Don't tell me you bought this dog," Shikikan said, removing his shoes at the door.

"No, my friend's friend gave this to me."

"Still, we don't need more mouths to feed," Shikikan took foot in the house. "I'll be in my room to see if you fiddled around with my stuff while I was gone."

"You really don't trust me? Why would I need your dusty room anyways?" his uncle questioned.

Shikikan was already gone, leaving his uncle at the front door. Shikikan, opening up his childhood room to see that it has indeed not changed at all. His desk was bare with only a small desk light. His bed was neatly made and across from it was his old game system. A smile formed on his lips, his mind engulfed in a bit of nostalgia as he studied every part of the room as he spun around.

Breaking out of his trance of nostalgia. His eyes focused on his room's closet. Taking a few steps forward towards it, he opened it very slowly revealing his wardrobe of a few coats and a rose cap. Looking down at the ground, the briefcase that Mr. Steele had given him was lying on its side.

Shikikan kneeled down and picked the case up carefully as he observed the locks. There is a single number lock in between the handle.

Scrolling through the numbers he muttered to himself the code. "2… 6… 2…1…"

Upon scrolling to the final number, the latches of the case opened with an audible click. His hands steadily opened up the case with his right lifting the lid up revealed…

"Dove?" His uncle yelled.

"Yeah…?"


Hello again. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I made a few changes to the previous chapter in order for this one to work. School is already packing the heat on me and it's getting stressful to do but coming back to writing for you guys really relieves the stress. I don't know when the next chapter will drop, but I hope that it will be soon. I also need to break habits of showing favoritism, I just can't help it. Also, who is your favorite character so far?