I seem to have underestimated Dakota's child-like enthusiasm, work hours have started, and I was witnessing Dakota sitting on a chair with a towel over her head while BongBong was rubbing her shoulders and Gonzales was giving a pep talk.

Or well trying to give one, "REMEMBER COMRADE, YOU CAN'T WALK THE WALK WITH NO LEGS! YOU CAN'T WORK THE ABNORMALITY WITH NO ARMS! SO YOU BETTER GO IN THERE AND DO BOTH OF THOSE THINGS WITH THE CORRESPONDING LIMBS!!!" As you can see, he is failing.

Glancing at Rober, who was just as surprised as I was, is pointing at Dakota and looked at me, prompting me to shrug "It's a big day for her, c'mon, you can at least wish her good luck." He gave me a flat stare.

"Which she would deny and shove in my face through the whole day, sounds productive." I snorted at how sure he sounded of that fact, these two may act like they hate each other, but if they know each other to guess accurately how they would react to each other's insults and teasing, then calling them 'close' would be correct.

I walked up to Dakota and removed the towel and gave her a pat on the back, "Enough talking champ, time to go and bring that belt back with you." I could feel Rober's exasperation over the fact that I was playing along.

Dakota grinned, "Easy, no butterfly is going to put me down, that's for sure." She threw a couple of jabs at the air and I rolled my eyes, the Backstreets may be a shithole, but a kid is always a kid, even if it's buried deep down.

Dakota entered the chamber, and I was waiting for my orders that should come any moment now, "Trigger, can I ask you something?" Rober suddenly spoke to me, while BongBong and Gonzales perked up. Most likely receiving their orders and leaving down the hallway, the blue-haired woman throwing a wave in our direction, along with a wink directed at Rober, while Gonzales gave us a broad grin and a firm nod.

"Sure, what do you need?" He seemed worried about something for some reason, but he suddenly got close to my ear as if he was about to whisper.

"Not when they are watching, tomorrow in the bathrooms early on the day." My eyes narrowed at how paranoid he sounded, not only that, but the only ones that he would be so worried about... would be management.

Then again my altercations with Malkuth aren't exactly secret, aside from the way I've been treated by management, I'm actually surprised it took anyone that long to question what's up between management and me. I gave him a nod, and he left in the direction BongBong and Gonzales went.

And now... to deal with the new employee and apparently last available recruit of the team, I glanced behind me to the girl that didn't bother talking to any of us and my team made no attempt to talk with her.

But I met her before, she has long black hair and red eyes, a permanent scowl on her face, and an X-shaped scar on her right cheek. Sporting the One Sing E.G.O and the E.G.O weapon from Punishing Bird, her eyes have been on me since work started, I do wonder why she didn't approach us before we started dealing with Abnormalities.

She sighed, "Not gonna rub it in?" I gave her an arched brow, she really expects the worst of people, no matter the circumstance.

"I was expecting an introduction first, there is nothing for me to 'rub' anyway." My answer wasn't satisfactory to her, and she scowled again before sighing and lowering her grumpiness... she was still scowling, though.

Rubbing her eyes and staring at the ground for a few seconds, she took a deep breath and put her eyes back on me again, "I've thought about what you said before, and I'm not ready to give up, I'm not dying on this shit fest." I gave her a snarky smile, it seems someone's motivated.

"Hope you do, I'm guessing you'll be working One Bro at some point." When I said that she sighed and glanced at the wall with annoyance, I don't think I said anything wrong though.

She gave me a tired stare, "So you are the one that made that stupid nickname, Clerks haven't stopped saying it out loud..." How many times was it used to get you this fed up with it?

I didn't voice out my thoughts and I gave her a sheepish smile, "Sorry? Didn't know it would get that popular." Her eyes snapped at me and I blinked, that was a... intense reaction.

"Figures, you don't seem like an attention whore" Wait what does that mean? And now she is walking away, she didn't even give me her name...

"Amelia." She said without turning back, well that answers my questions.

She most likely knows my name already, but I'm not rude, "Trigger, nice to meet you." I got the feeling she scoffed, but being moody seems to be her thing.

"Trigger, start Instinct work on Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary"

The voice of the manager came in, and I wondered why Malkuth decided to not give me orders, maybe I was too hard on her? No, I said exactly what she needed to hear not, what she wanted, I should have expected this really... doesn't make me feel any better.

I was walking towards Red Hood's chamber, ready to follow my orders.

But I can't help but think about Malkuth, no matter how I spin it she can't be happy with what I said, and even if I tell myself that this could help her... it's only a probability for all I know I made things worse.

Entering Red Hood's chamber, I saw her leaning towards the wall, and she glanced at me while her single eye narrowed, "Keep your thoughts steady, doubt in the middle of work can get you killed." I took a deep breath and moved my worries aside from now.

She is right, worrying about every little thing would just get me killed... that said, I guess it's time I got ready for what's to come, "This may be coming from out of nowhere, but could you teach me how to fight?" She tilted her head at me and kicked the wall while walking towards me.

Red Hood gave me an up and down glance... and then pushed me back almost getting me off my feet, "At least you didn't fall on your ass, I'll bite but don't expect me to be kind." I gave her one nod.

And then she swiped my feet and made me fall on my ass. "Lesson 1, everything and anything is dangerous, so always be ready to dodge." I could hear the SMUG in her voice.

"Yeah, yeah... this is going to hurt a lot, isn't it?" I asked from my position on the ground, and maybe she was smiling down at me.

"Horribly so, pain is a sign of progress after all".

This... is probably one of the dumbest ideas I ever had.