Chapter 5: Information Broker
"As long as he lives, we are all in danger."
Initially the only head unturned, Ocean glanced in surprise at his leader, all 3 eyebrows raised. No, he had 2 eyebrows, what the heck was he thinking. Still, as bad as having 3 eyebrows was, this shady character was way worse.
AK's voice interrupted the recruit's chain of thoughts.
"If it's just ol' Merc, then just say his name. No need to be dramatic."
In an instant, those azure eyes became blank as his mind, and his gaze fell as he was suddenly at a loss of words to reply with. The lack of a witty remark made the second in command slightly regret his statement, and the silence was quickly broken by Corona.
"AK dear, it might help to remember that he was part of the Serpent Six, and that he killed both his parents and mine."
Her voice trailed off as Looker snapped once, and covered his grin.
"True that, whore-ona."
The quiet outburst shocked Slay and Ocean, and RIn crossed her arms and grinned in anticipation of what was to come. An awkward moment passed to process what just happened, and Corona breathe sharply. Seemingly like clockwork, Looker and AK withdrew earplugs and set themselves up, and Rin raised her hand, ready to snap.
"You wanna die, Looker?"
Snap. Snap. Snap.
Rin was busy, snapping away at the now loudly grumbling Corona and throwing her verbal retaliation out of the room, though underlying phrases could still be heard: "...-less wonder, you...shove fire up your...when you were 12..."
Looker pulled out his earplugs and glanced at the analyst.
"What'd she say? I wasn't listening."
Slay grinned.
"If she did indeed say that she was going to shove fire up your ass like when you were 12, then I believe she was threatening you."
The villain immediately became flustered and started twirling his hair to distract himself.
"How about we put that little tidbit into a tiny box and throw it away where we'll never come back to it. Now, does anyone else have something to say?"
Amidst mumblings of 'gg' and 'fkn rekt', the new recruit cleared his throat to get attention, and spoke.
"I get the Cardinals, but the Serpent Six? Are they the bad guys here?"
Looker sighed and ruffled his hair as he looked around the table, until his gaze fixated on the analyst.
"Slay, you think you can answer this one?"
Everyone casually set their sights on him as he leisurely cleaned his glasses before speaking again.
"It's a weird situation honestly. The Serpent Six are like, the ultimate baddies out there, and we've been called the bad guys as well for literally trying to go against these guys."
He sighed and looked back at the leader.
"The media is so weird nowadays."
May's avatar flashed and she replied with her usual chirpy tone.
"You know what the media won't do? Cover us taking down Mercury, that's what."
With spirits raised and polite nods everywhere, all attention turned back to Looker as he donned his scarf and sat back down.
"I believe that it's an understatement to say that Mercury, Cardinal of Wind, needs to be taken out immediately. If it was any other cardinal, it'd be different, but given it's him, I'm issuing an order to kill. Don't let him live."
Again, the one called Ocean spoke up.
"If he dies, won't his Cardinal abilities be lost forever?"
Rin gently punched Slay behind Looker's back, and after a brief death stare, the analyst turned to the new recruit.
"Cardinals are special in that if they die without passing their ability to a successor, someone from their hot spot gets the ability at random. It's the same with rare abilities too, and I suspect-..."
Snap.
Another death glare as Slay stared down the smug looking Rin. The blue haired man pretended not to notice, and sighed.
"We have 3 targets left, and while ideally we're gonna get them all, Mercury is strictly a kill on sight. Finishing off Sylvy will ultimately depend on the progress we make in searching for the Six's leader, so don't even touch him until then."
Again the Irishman coughed to get attention, and the leadership lazily looked his way.
"This sounds really naive, but why don't we just overpower and capture him? Or even better, get him to work for us?"
Corona's on-screen avatar flashed and she immediately responded.
"Dearie, you're not the first one to consider that. However, this man is a Cardinal who has committed mass carnage in the name of fun and treasure hunting, and furthermore, cut off ties with the rest of us Cardinals and allied himself with another group when he wasn't ever supposed to be partial in the first place."
Looker couldn't help but smile.
"Simply, he done goofed."
The second in command sadly sighed, and dropped down to a barely audible tone to mutter something incomprehensible before normally posing a question at the leader.
"I've never asked this before, but what's stopping Senor Cardinal from letting loose at any time? From the last time we met, I thought he was a really bloodthirsty man."
It was Corona's turn to interject.
"He is, but what we're assuming is that most likely the Six's leader is the only one that Mercury will heed, and that without the restraint that this leader is responsible for, Mr. Cardinal would devastate cities looking for a worthy opponent and not give a hoot about anything else."
The room fell silent once more, and the Cardinal of Fire continued.
"It's real simple; we can't kill the leader before we kill Merc, and we still need time to scout the area so we can draw him out with the minimum number of casualties. We'll just have to target Sylvy first, then Mercury and then the leader."
Looker nodded, and crossed his arms.
"Well...May, it appears you have your orders. However, since I literally just finished taking care of Faber a little while ago, let's call it a day and lay low for a bit. We can afford to take our time, and chill. Go to the beach or something- "
Small sighs of relief and accompanying smiles indicated that his decision was well-received, but Looker nonetheless casually pointed at a now curious Slay.
" –and before you ask, no, I won't go to the zoo with you or Rin. I hate being a..."
Snap.
The leader grinned as a slightly embarrassed Rin snapped his words away and got up to leave, but not without slugging the analyst on the shoulder and winking as she exited. Looker yawned and nudged his second in command, gesturing with his eyes in the direction of the projector.
"Meeting dismissed. Come back soon, girls."
The rest of the crew took a couple of minutes to disperse in rather high spirits and leave the three senior members in the room. Looker and AK just stared at each other and then at Corona's avatar on the wall, both completely unsure of what to say. She sighed and assumedly gripped her mic hard.
"It's just the three of us, right? Just like how we started out, remember?"
The second in command raised an eyebrow.
"You two didn't use Identity Amulets back, so it's not entirely the same feeling."
His worries were quashed as Looker wrapped an arm over his back and rocked him a bit, laughing as he did so.
"Don't worry, my culturally diverse friend – we're doing this so we don't instantly pulverize people with our smoldering good looks - there'd be no enemies to fight then."
Corona joined in laughing as well.
"It's not like we care soooo much about our identity, dearie. Besides, you're like half Mexican and half Vietnamese – you already have two separate identities you can stick with."
AK turned his nose upwards in disdain.
"Excusi, you morons mispronounced Italian and Filipino, but the fact remains that we started from the ground, and now we're here."
The blue haired man started scratching his second's back without giving it a second thought, and slammed a fist on the table for effect.
"Hey! I just remembered – we need a name for our group. We're halfway done with our goal, and we might as well go official right about now, and give our people something to rally around – especially that new kid."
Corona put her hands to her mouth in instantaneous surprise, though the two guys couldn't discern such movement on the projector.
"Wait, you're saying that we don't have an actual name? What the hell bro? I thought we had one."
"To be fairly honest, the media knows you twospecifically, as Looker and Corona, and it's not too terribly hard to look for papers with those words. Besides, with your neon blue and blonde hair, it's also not difficult to picture search you two in the news."
The villain swept his tea aside and stuck his legs up on the table, completely aware that AK felt like punting him out of the room.
"We seek a name. Any ideas? I just killed a guy, so I'm out."
"Well, how about Team Sunshine? We can rid the world of evil so that the masses can enjoy happiness as we go spreading it around with my ability. It's perfect!"
Now AK started laughing, and Looker rolled his eyes.
"There are too many reasons why we can't do that. Murder isn't happiness, Sunshine sounds really juvenile and the universe doesn't revolve around you, yo."
The reply was quiet but potent.
"If your universe doesn't revolve around me, then you're in deep shit, bro. Besides, a corona is literally what you see when you look at the sun, which happens to be the center of this solar system. Check yourself before you wreck yourself."
The second in command fell out of his seat laughing, and Looker frowned at the fallen figure, now mumbling phrases along the lines of 'gg' and 'wincest'. Another roll of the eyes, and the leader helped his comrade up from the floor.
"Just so you know, it's nothing like that. And sheesh, watch your words – Rin is probably out there right now, snapping the vibrations in the air around us and –"
Their attention was directed to the outside, where they saw a figure in purple quickly turn and sprint away; Looker could only groan as what he feared was now happening.
"AK you biracial dung-lover..."
"ti amo, Looker, but I have an idea."
"This better be legit."
"It is. How about we call ourselves the Seekers?"
The villain sat back and thought for a moment whereas AK took it as a permit to continue his chain of thought.
"To different people, we're seeking different things. Your country assumes that we seek revenge while other nations fear that we seek glory, honor, or war. And from an individual perspective, each of us on this squad is seeking something different from the rest."
Corona seized the following silence and spoke her mind.
"Ditto. It sounds legitimate enough to be taken seriously and it's pretty good to be honest."
The scarf dropped down a bit to reveal Looker's own grin.
"It works perfectly. I mean, after all, it's a game of hide and seek. We've allowed the Six too much time to hide- "
AK's gaze followed his movements as his partner got up and looked outside, creating the undeniable feeling that he was going to spit something profound.
" – and ready or not, here we come."
[ A couple days later ]
"It's ironic in a way; we're minors that'll get into major trouble if we go drinking."
"Daisy, that's only if we get caught afterwards. Besides, I'm a bit more worried about who the hell let him be the bartender?"
The cloth skidded to a stop as Cron glanced at the two youth obviously lazing around aimlessly. It was an interesting tale to narrate, how he got the bartender job, but that single glance dispelled any desire to talk about his amusing story. Well, if they were going to be so kind as to be that blunt with him, then he might as well do the same.
The older man threw away the cloth and leaned over the counter, his smug smile clearly visible to Brandon and Daisy.
"Well, I had a nice interview with this young lady's father, and guess what? He didn't throw me out of the room on sight."
He wore a cross expression in response, and hunkered down on the freshly wiped counter, absent-mindedly staring at the drink rack ahead of him.
"Daisy's dad back then was one of the most insane people I'd ever met. I think of it as a good thing though, that the distance between us prevented me from catching his craziness."
A gentle slap hit the back of his head, and he turned his head to stare at Daisy quickly returning to sipping her drink. He had made the mistake of shit-talking her father in front of her, but he knew that they both knew how bad he could seem. At the very least, Brandon was glad that the only thing she did was slap him.
The young woman sighed. Certainly, her father could appear to be too much to handle at times, but it wasn't right to judge anyone from a single reaction - especially over that incident. It was probably the most embarrassing moment of their lives, and-
"I like where you're headed, Daisy."
She rolled her eyes at the bartender. Supposedly, he could read minds and all as his ability, but it seemed like it was all simple cold-reading and perhaps a careful inspection of body language. There was-
"You're thinking that there's no way that I could read minds as an ability, Miss."
Her eyes darted back to the voice's owner, and upon observing the man continue to clean up the shop, closed peacefully. Regardless of whether or not he was the real deal, her father had chosen a capable man to run the organization's front. Crontix looked and played the part of a bartender very well, but he was also the lookout stationed at the only entrance to their headquarters. It was probably fair to say that since the time she learned about the local M.A.G.I.C chapter, Cron hadn't let anyone unauthorized slip past his watch.
Another sigh. She wasn't a stranger to the place, but for the first time she felt a bit curious about the layout, and whether or not it seemed shifty to regular patrons of the bar. Nobody seemed to have any questions, and she took it as a good sign.
"Hey big man, if you really can read minds, do mine."
Her gaze fell upon the upstart youth, now attempting to nonchalantly man himself up to the bartender. Cron stared at him for a moment, and broke out into laughter, which Daisy began to consider as the result of an immature thought.
"That jackass can't tell what I'm thinking right now…my my Brandon, don't make me call my mama, 'cause she'll do more than make you eat soap."
Yep. She was right.
"Eh, that's close enough."
"Dude I just literally read your mind. It's exact, not 'close enough'. You can't bluff me at my own game."
Daisy started to zone out from the small bickering that was going on. So much had happened in the past week, and just today they had come back from the funeral. It wasn't like she knew Cooper well, but at the very least, she had to try to sympathize with Shade. The fact remained that something this horrific occurred right in front of her, and the shock lingered, debilitating her usual pleasant mood. Still, what could she do?
"Hey Brandon, your girlfriend is trying to figure out what do next. Help her out."
With a steely smile, her hand reached out and took hold of the bartender's uniform, slowly bending him over the counter until she was able to have practically unbreakable eye contact with him, their faces a little less than a foot away.
"Mr. Barista, as much as I love shipping, you are not allowed to ship me with Brandon just because we're sitting next to each other."
Cron brushed her grip away and returned to his normal cross arms position, ready to defend himself.
"That's essentially the basis of shipping, Miss Daisy. You see two people together, interacting in the slightest, boom – you have fodder for a ship. No ifs or buts."
She sighed and looked around, noticing Brandon serenely sipping his drink. It was serene all right, perhaps too serene, and Daisy broke out into another smile as she came up with a new weapon.
"Cronnie, did you know that during one of our friend's first time here, he'd follow Brandon everywhere he went and ended up being his neighbor who conveniently came over most nights?"
The youth in question spat out his drink rather violently, and the older man had to hold the counter as he laughed.
"Oh my GOD, Brandon! Why didn't you tell me about this, my man?"
He moved over to Brandon's location on the counter, where the already barely wet boy was trying to clean it up. Having the bartender set his forearms and his face on the other edge of the counter made his attempts to clean all the more difficult. He judged it literally impossible to clean the counter with Cron's rape face mere inches away.
"So boy, who do you got the dokis for?"
The air was laden with suspense as Brandon calmly set down his drink and pushed the bartender back. After wiping his mouth, he sighed and rolled his eyes.
"If I say who, you better not read my mind first. That's cheap."
With a satisfactory nod, Brandon leaned forward and gestured for the barista to do the same. The moment he mentioned a name under his breath, all the lights in the bar fused, and Daisy knew something was up –
As Brandon was grinning.