In hindsight, Strieter didn't really know what he was expecting.
The sudden gleam in Daisy's eyes, along with Infernal's smirking and Brandon's look of horror, did surprise him, at the very least. The reaction combination play was one he'd never seen or even imagined before, and he presumed that the three-way action was the product of something Brandon had royally screwed up at some point. Why else would he get agitated at the mention of this Director?
"Oh hell no."
The teenager swatted away the helping hand and clambered onto his feet, his defiant expresion confirming Strieter's own conclusion. Both Stri and Shade raised their eyebrows at the sight, and the bartender extended his hand only to get slapped away the second time. Whoever the Director was, Brandon didn't really want to face him.
The jumpsuited man tried to say something, but Brandon whipped around to face him, effectively interrupting what was likely a mollifing message.
"I dunno' where 'Catty is, but I'm not going with any of you."
Infernal's pleading gaze met Brandon's own glare, and their tense standoff lasted for more than a moment whereas the others started cleaning up, Daisy to her sister, and Crontix to where Cooper lay. Strieter himself tapped Shade's shoulder to snap her out of it, and he handed her a napkin, which he figured was the right thing to do at that moment.
The silence was broken by a really bright flash that appeared behind the smug-looking jumpsuiter, and everyone's reaction was one - one that mostly involved shielding their eyes. Stri was particularily surprised and impressed by the silence that accompanied the flash, though he recovered as soon as the luminosity dimmed to reveal a man standing in its place, grinning right at Brandon.
Slim squinted.A person emerging from a light - sounded like the textbook definition of an angel to her. But that was a person and not an angel. Or was she dead, and-
Deep laughter drew her attention over her shoulder, where the elder man was passing by, Shade's uncle hoisted on his back.
"Oh don't worry - 'Catty's no angel and neither is he an infiltrator either. He's our way out."
The sharply dressed man dropped his gleeful look as he snapped at Crontix.
"Please, don't ruin my first impression. Anyways, I'm running on a pretty tight schedule so let's move it people."
The bartender took a step next to Shade, subtly noticing her hand grasping her uncle's one last time, and nodded towards her as he faced MiCATsa.
"Dude, lose the attitude - Faber's niece just watched him die."
The light expired from the newcomer's face, and he shook his head in what looked like denial. The suited man positioned himself in front of Shade and Stri, and held their hands firmly. He didn't let go, and closed his eyes for a moment, and in that moment of concentration, everything became pandimonium as all were encased in a glowing light, Infernal tackled Brandon to prevent his escape, and someone shouted at the edge of the hall.
Strieter glanced over to the entrance, noticing that whoever had arrived was now shielding their eyes, and he looked back to his own hands. Apart from the glowing, it appeared that they were shining or something of that degree that made the bystander react. He couldn't help but feel a tad bit guilty, and he sharply turned to loudly apologize to the bystander, and once again he was cut off-
-not by anybody, but by the teleportation as they became enveloped in an instantaneous burst of light and vanished along with it.
The man in the doorway lowered his hands and surveyed the now empty hall. Most of the room was untouched, though the fallen stool and the rather large bloodstain on the side of the wall were rather telling of what had transpired. But as the man's spreading grin indicated, he was very well aware of what happened.
He raised a hand and bunched all his fingers together in a flicking motion towards the nearest fire alarm. Almost instantaneously, the switched rotated upwards and the fire alarm subsequently began blaring. His goal achieved, the man quickly turned around and started walking away from the hall, smiling in relief as he ruffled his hair and stifled the momentary itching.
Mamma mia - you're pretty good, Looker. Better than back in Brunei.
The man's smile became a menacing grin.
With this, now they definitely know that we're here.
Teleportation wasn't really his ability, but to those 5 individuals that had just stood up to him, he could very well appear to do so. All he had to do was simply create a backup clone in another location and swap places with it to make his next move. But they wouldn't know any different, and their ignorance was his advantage.
It was right when he left the entrance that the fire alarm started ringing, and Looker looked at the building once more before taking off. As everyone typically exited a building after a fire alarm, he hurried as being seen was a risk that he was certainly not willing to take. However, the motorcycle that he'd arranged was within sight, parked at the edge of the parking lot. His pace spiked as he jogged the last few meters to the glistening purple vehicle.
It was a thing of beauty.
The man with blue hair bent down as if to tie his shoe, and instead lifted the rear tire just a smidge to pull out the key underneath. He wasn't taking chances, and speaking of, discreetly attached a bluetooth headset to his ear before putting on his helmet. With a fluid motion, he started the motorcycle's engine and pulled out of the lot, his scarf flapping every which way in the wind.
About half a mile down at a red light, his reciever picked up a call. Looker flipped up his visor and tapped his reciever active, casually pulling off a "Jim's Whore House here - you got the dough, we got the hoe" with the faintest outline of a smile on his face. As intended, the caller audibly did a double take and laughed uncontrollably before sobering up and speaking.
"How did the trip go?"
"You have a really good taste for bikes, I'll give you that."
"Grazie, I figured orange was too flashy for you, so purple it was."
Within the scarf-free helmet's interior, Looker's grin was visible for the first time.
"AK, is that your Italian side, or your Filipino side dictating your sense of fashion?"
Laughter ensued from the other end of the call.
"That would have to be my Filipino side. Looks didn't really matter much when I grew up in Milano, you see."
"I'd expect nothing less from my second in command. How was it when you got there?"
"They like teleported away or something, but it was very bright, so I couldn't see much."
"Did they all get out?"
"Yeah, unless one of them escaped right after you left and I came in. There were 8 when I arrived, plus an old man they were carrying."
The traffic light turned green, and Looker squinted in thought as he gunned the bike.
"Apart from the old man, there were 5 when I was there. That makes 3 unaccounted for."
"I don't think they were random people though."
"I'm listening."
"It was too bright, but I made out their badges on their uniforms. I'm 80% sure it's them."
The villain sighed as he pulled onto a sideroad, cruising towards a cluster of warehouses.
"Moving on: is our newest recruit in town?"
"He's in the waiting room, and Slay has his file. Por favore, don't scare the crap out of the guy."
"Give me a break! I'm not that scary, am I?"
"Nah, but you sometimes intimidate people with your aura."
"Aura sh-maura. Be here in 10 and I'll bring you all up to speed then."
Looker made a sharp left turn into a warehouse's lot, and pulled into the trailer port side of the lot. He rotated his handlebars to revv the engine twice, and glanced on as a trailer's rear door rolled up. The motorcyle shot forward, and Looker drove up the ramp and into the trailer, passing through the other end into the warehouse and speeding up over the speedbump to end with a flying finish.
As he coasted to a stop, the helmet and bluetooth went off, and his blue eyes adjusted to the dimness of the interior, making out a figure he hadn't seen moments ago. As soon as he saw the sweater vest, Looker relaxed and grinned at the approaching figure.
"Slayboy, rate that entrance out of 10."
The well-dressed man smirked as he smacked a clipboard in Looker's hands.
" 5/10. I could do better than that in my sleep."
He unravelled his muffler and stretched his neck, mumbling in barely audible tones.
"Whatever you say, Slayboy."
The man snapped at Looker.
"Why do you guys call me that? Who even started this Slayboy business in the first place?"
Looker placed a hand on his shoulder and returned the smirk.
"You shouldn't respond to it then. Oh, and try not to do it in front of the newbie, or he may catch on."
Slayzone's incredulous expression spoke for itself as he stared upwards in disbelief. Looker brought him out of it by dragging him a couple of feet, before he started to walk on his own. The villain skimmed the clipboard's contents and handed it back to the other, peppering the other with nonstop questions.
"Where's he from?"
"Ireland."
"Name?"
"Timothy O'Sean, though his form indicates he prefers the moniker Ocean."
"I can see that. What's his deal?"
Slayzone sighed.
"It's one of the most old school, basic, fu-"
"Let me rephrase: what's the most he can do?"
The man looked extremely done and took off his glasses to emphasize that fact, wiping his classes with the edge of his sweater vest to de-emphasize his muttering.
"His ability is to pull things out of a hat. That's literally it."
Looker himself stopped and crossed his arms.
"Did you ask for him to demonstrate?"
"I asked him to pull out something potent, and he took out a bottle of cyanide."
The muffled man beamed in excitement.
"Did you give him the instructions to kill the next person that comes in the lobby?"
"Yeah, though he doesn't know that you're going to scare the shit out of him."
"Am I really that scary?"
"You should do it to yourself sometime and find out."
Looker waited as the other headed inside a room, and returned later with a tea tray laden with cups and kettle. Unusual as it was, he couldn't help but smile at the fact that there were more unusual things in store for the day - the next being the initiation. With a genuine smile, he carefully took hold of the tray and glanced at the contents. 5 cups, 5 saucers, 5 spoons and what appeared to be 6 napkins: apart from the numerical discrepancy, he gave a thumbs up before continuing on.
The two stopped at an old wooden door, and Slay grinned as he opened it for the limb-occupied Looker.
It was time for the initiation.
And it looked good so far, as the only person in the room glanced at him as soon as he entered. Looker flashed a grin as he set the teatray on the conference table, and sat down on a chair opposite to the man. His long brown hair that fell all over his head screamed Travis, and his apparel looked like what he typically associated with what he assumed an average Dennis would wear. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary yet.
The villain extended his hand.
"Ocean, right? Mind if I call you Sean?"
With the swiftest of motion, the recruit grasped Looker's hand and pulled a gun out of his hat with the other hand, aiming it directly at him without even the slightest quivering. He shook his head to clear his field of vision, and stared directly at his target.
"Bang bang, Mr. Looker."
Any intention of shooting suddenly dissapated as his target faded away in front of him, and a presence started breathing on his neck before ultimately hugging him from behind. It certainly wasn't what he imagined to happen, and neither did he expect him to move his head extremely close to his ear.
"I don't know who you are, but you've got some nerve trying to shoot the guy who just wants a handshake. If a hand is being offered, you shake that hand strongly and firmly, and give it the justice it deserves. You certainly don't know where that hand has been, and you don't know where it's going next. These hands just killed a person, and they could be going for someone else right about now. Regardless, you need to practice your handshake etiquette, you skimpy son of a gun."
Looker released him and slowly backed off before returning to his own seat. He wasn't very good at assessing reactions from people's eyes, but between pouring tea into the 5 cups, he couldn't help but steal glances at the other man. Those seemingly downcast eyes revealed nothing, and only lifted to stare at the cup that Looker offered him. With almost steady hands, he reached out and took hold of the cup and saucer, wearily raising it up to his mouth before stopping to speak.
The moment was cut short as the second in command slammed the door open and glanced at Looker and Ocean before sighing.
"Jesus Christ - this is why we can't have nice things, primo. You scare them all away."
AK daintly took the tea cup that Looker offered him, and sat down next to the Irish man, letting his arm hang around Ocean's neck as if this wasn't the first time they had met.
"Pardon him and his ... I don't even know what word to use, but you get me, no?"
"Sure."
Immediately after the dry response, the door opened once more and in came two more people, each under the seemingly nonchalant scrutiny of Looker's gaze. The first was Slay, who now was decked out in a lab coat that accentuated his sharp dressing, and tacitly revealed his occupation as a full time professional nerd, or at least that's what he should have been designated as; it was probably a good thing that he couldn't read minds, and even better that he couldn't do it when he took a seat right next to the villain.
The other figure was a woman who sported a purple tightsuit and held a helmet in her hand - clearly the signs of a motorcycle rider. She gently tossed her helmet on the table, and after the clamorous impact, fell back into her seat with a softer sound. Her rebel demeanor didn't seem to bother anyone at all, as Looker extended his hand and gave her a tea cup as if everything was normal.
Satisfied that everyone was present, he looked over to AK's direction and simply observed him as he set up a video call. WIthin minutes, two separate avatars showed up on the wall monitor and rustling sounds were heard on both channels, ultimately ceasing to make the room quiet.
It was time.
Looker stood up and slapped his hands on the table for effect.
"Congratulations for making it back to this meeting, everyone. And when I mean everyone, I include our newest comrade, codename Ocean. He doesn't look like much, but he has a formidable power, and I'm certain he will be able to stand with us in coming times."
If looks could kill, the newbie's gaze would have killed Looker ten times over. AK patted his shoulder to break the tension.
"It's not an insult - he's saying that you're easy to underestimate and that'll be your edge in fights."
The speaker ruffled his blue hair and stretched before continuing.
"Anyways, he's new, we're not...everybody introduce yourselves."
The nerd who took the seat to Looker's right leaned forward and flashed a grin at Ocean.
"Codename Slayzone, but everyone calls me Slay. It's great to have you on board. I'm the primary analyst, researcher, whatever you want to call it, on this team, and I'm gonna' ask you a bunch of questions about your ability power and training as we go from here. If you don't mi-"
They heard a snap, and simultaneously, the analyst lost his voice and the rapport he was trying to build. Several gazes fell upon the biker lady, whose positioned hand indicated that she was responsible. A moment later, she released her finger, smiling as Slay was able to mutter something incomprehensible under his breath.
"You have such a funny face whenever you get interrupted. I'm not going to apologize for that by the way."
As the disgruntled man roughly cleaned his glasses, she pushed her cup to the side and set her elbows on the table, resting her face in her hands.
"Name's Rin. Stealth and Mission Specialist. And in case you're wondering, everytime I snap, I can simply pluck any sound out of the air and throw it somewhere else of my choosing. Poor Slayboy here had his sentence thrown outside."
The grumpy analyst's half-hearted glare was stopped by Rin's razzling, and both turned to attention as Ocean moved his bangs out of the way and spoke.
"I thought I was the only one who had some sort of hand movement to cast my ability."
One of the avatars on the monitor cleared their throat, and successfully garnered the attention of all.
"Hiya! I'm May, Backup and Mission Specialist, and no, it's not just you sweetie. Everyone's ability is tied to some hand motion, and a long time ago, it was really easy to identify users based on their activations. For example, I can tame animals instantly by essentially petting them. It's different for every person, so don't get too discouraged!"
The cheerful message only elicited a nod from the new recruit, and in order to derive a more meaningful response, the second in command grabbed Ocean's shoulder and turned his shoulder to face him properly.
"Identifying activations before everything happens can often be a deciding factor in an actual fight. This is very important, aking kaibigan. You also need to know that some extremely high level users have mastered their ability to the point where they don't even need their hands for activation. Prime examples would be Corona and Looker here."
AK gestured towards the wide-screen monitor, and the Irishman followed his finger to the display. He was scarcely taken aback as the second avatar changed its picture to an image of the sun, and he was a tad bit more surprised as the voice rang out.
"AK, you're so mean, leaving me faceless on a call."
Looker turned to observe said person's eyebrows jump up in momentary shock, and tried to cover his smile at AK's confusion. His effort wasn't enough, as the SIC glanced back at him out of the corner of his eyes and raised a single eyebrow accusingly at him. The villain shrugged it off and responded in kind.
"Corona, you're pretty mean, leaving us deprived of your brilliant radiance."
For a few seconds, there was an overwhelming silence as everyone processed Looker's statement, and Ocean himself felt the tension of the room. It was quickly reversed by Rin's hard laughter and Slay's accompanying chuckle, and the recruit stared around in disbelief as he heard groaning and siging from around the rest of the room. Rin and Slay especially seemed to enjoy his gaffe the most, as she slapped the table a couple times as they laughed.
"Oh man, Smoothest Man of the Year, coming through!"
"You gotta' teach me how to pick up chicks, Looker."
Though embarassed, he managed to keep a straight face and nodded to AK, who stared down the rambunctious duo. It was all quiet again, and Corona continued.
"Just to finish that thought - I really don't mind Looker trying. There's no way he's gonna end up with-"
"Excuse me."
Ocean himself now leaned forward in interest of the sun avatar on the screen.
"Mr. AK said that you were a high-level user. Does that mean that your stuff is incredibly potent?"
Looker simply sighed and leaned backwards on his seat, whereas Slay and Rin began whispering among themselves. They instantly stopped as Corona spoke again.
"Not gonna' lie, yeah it is. But you need to keep in mind that there are two types of high level users. There's just really talented users like Looker, and then there are the Cardinals. Instead of what I like to call low-quality manipulation, there are 4 users around the world that can directly create and manipulate special elements. I got fire, ol' man Alcatraz back in Germany has earth or something, and there's Strad in the land down under, probably freezing shit up-"
May's avatar began to flash.
"I'm sorry to cut you off, it's just that we need to dicuss the issue at hand, Looker sir."
The villain glanced over at the new recruit, intentionally catching his gaze. Eye contact reactions weren't his thing, but from Ocean's determined look and his supplimentary nod, Looker replied back without skipping a beat.
"Ocean is one of us. He will hear this as well."
May cleared her throat and continued.
"Well, I got farther than I expected in my search. I found him - he's in the vicinity, sir."
Surprised expressions were prevalent all around the table, and the Irishman noticed it all. his ignorance really bothered him, and without caring for appearances, he loudly sought an answer.
"Who's this he guy?"
As strong as the question was, so did Looker answer the question with even stronger a tone.
"He isn't just any he. He's the Cardinal of Wind, and one of the Serpent Six, and also the one responsible for Lisbeth's and Gen's death. We may be horrible, but he's even more terrible of a man."
All eyes turned on Looker as he kicked back his chair, and stood up, crossing his arms as he spoke disdainfully once more.
"As long as he lives, we all are in danger."