"CIN! CIN!!" Ethan shouted in an excited tone.
Aiden faced him. "What?" he asked indifferently.
"Say, when do we get our first mission?!" Ethan asked with a big grin.
"That's right!" Suzanne stood up from the desk she sat on. She moved to where Aiden was seated.
"When's our first mission CIN?!" she asked leaning a bit closer to him.
Aiden rolled his eyes.
"Back away," he told her, frowning slightly.
She laughed nervously and stepped back a few paces.
Andrew continued using his laptop, unconcerned.
Ryan rolled his eyes. "Suzanne, you act like you'll even add any good contribution when we're given a mission. You know you're quite a disturbance," he said.
Ashley turned to him and clasped her hands around one of Ryan's.
He raised a quizzical eyebrow at her.
"Now Ryan!" she frowned as she pouted at him. "That's not nice."
He tried to pull his hand out of her hold. "I'm not trying to be nice," he replied sourly. Ashley's frown deepened.
She kept both hands on her hips, leaving his hand.
"You will be nice," she said with such certainty it was like she was ordering him to be nice. Ryan looked away and Ashley gave Suzanne a small smile.
"I apologize on his behalf!" she told Suzanne with a short bow.
Suzanne was touched. "He's always like that, Ashley; you don't need to apologize on his behalf. Infact," Suzanne looked away as she gave a small, sad chuckle, "I'm kinda used to it."
Ashley crossed her arms as she shook her head.
"Well, I'm not going to put up with an attitude like that," she said with great determination and threw a smile at Ryan who frowned.
She pinched his cheek as her smile widened. "So you'd better change okay?"
She laughed as Ryan pulled away from her.
"Gosh," he rubbed his cheek with his palm while shooting angry glares at Ashley.
Aiden turned a page of the book he was reading.
"How to be a good CIN." He looked up at the sound of the nearness of the voice and saw Ashley reading the title of his book.
He closed the book sharply and stood up.
She beamed him a smile. "How so sweet, CIN!"
He pushed her face away with his hand.
"Now listen up," he said as he went to the center of the room. Andrew looked up from his laptop. Ryan sat on the window sill while Suzanne went back to the desk she was sitting on.
Ashley stood a bit near to Aiden while Ethan sat on a chair turned the other way.
"Being an E-rank means you've stepped up in your responsibilities," Aiden said as he looked round the Squad members.
"That's right!" Gwen said as she entered the room. "Sorry I'm late; I got held up in a meeting."
"That's alright, Coach," Ethan grinned as he looked at Suzanne. "Besides, Suzanne comes late all the time so it's a pardonable offence," he laughed.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Suzanne demanded hotly as she stepped closer to him.
"You're this close to getting a massage on the face from my fists with statements like that!" Suzanne yelled at him while clenching her fists.
Ethan looked away. "Massages are supposed to help you relax," he murmured.
"By the time I'm done with you--" Suzanne was saying but Ryan interrupted her.
"Both of you should shut it. The very sound of your breathing is annoying," Ryan said in a rigid tone.
Ethan angrily glared at Ryan.
"Say, what now?!"
"Stop it! Please!" Ashley stood at the center and held out her hands in a begging position.
"I'm begging you all, stop! A team ought not to quarrel this much!" She said as she closed her eyes.
"You'll get used to it." Andrew said in a bored tone from where he sat.
"Squad 10, compose yourselves," Aiden said in stern tone.
Gwen laughed. "That's enough, you all. Besides there's a lot to do today."
The tension simmered down.
"What's our schedule?" Ryan asked as he turned to Aiden.
Gwen brought out some sheets of paper and started handing them out to all of them except Aiden.
Ashley's eyes skimmed through the sheet.
"We have to take another test in two weeks?!" Ethan whined.
"But we are just recovering from the E-rank exam!" Suzanne protested.
Ryan scrunched his mouth in a sour manner, "Speak for yourself. My skills are fine as they are."
"Listen up," Aiden started as he gave Suzanne and Ethan a hard look, silencing them.
"This test is just like the ones you normally take when you were Slads, however since we have a new addition to the team it is important you all get along, not only socially but your skills must complement each other's. If you can't learn to fight together you might as well see yourselves as dead because you can't survive without your other partners." Aiden looked round the Squad members sternly.
"You guys have two weeks to train together, at least Suzanne is getting better," Gwen added with an encouraging smile.
Andrew finally spoke. "So what you're basically saying is that we are going to battle CIN Aiden in two weeks' time, on a Monday, and we may die if we can't cover up for one another as CIN Aiden would be seeing us as his foe?"
Aiden smirked as he nodded. "Precisely."
"We're doomed," Suzanne mumbled.
"More like dead," Ethan grumbled.
"Now, now you all; how bad can it be?" Ashley asked tilting her head a bit.
"Have you met CIN?" Ryan scoffed and crossed his arms, "Our skills are nowhere near his. He was also a Shade before, that's why he's so cool," he muttered.
He turned to look at Aiden who was reading once again.
"It's going to be okay, you guys. He'll go easy on you," Gwen assured them.
"I won't be so sure if I were you," Aiden said as he eyed them sternly, making them all to freeze except for Ashley who mildly gasped.
"Aiden!" Gwen hissed sharply under her breath. He looked at them once more scornfully before looking away.
Gwen faced them again and gave a light chuckle.
"He's just kidding around," she said, trying her best to allay their fears.
Suzanne looked at Aiden as he turned a page of his book again.
He looked serious.
She gulped.
"But I'm sure you'll all be ready for him. Anyway, that aside, you have your first mission today!" Gwen said cheerfully.
"All right!" Ethan pumped his fists in the air happily, wage for the real deal.
"Yeah!" Suzanne exclaimed happily as she beams in excitement.
Ashley laughed.
Ryan just glanced at Andrew who looked as bored as ever. "Not excited?" he asked him in a low tone.
Andrews' gaze flickered to him.
"Hmm?" he said absentmindedly.
"You don't seem excited like the rest," Ryan told him with his eyes back on Suzanne and Ethan, who were doing a little happy dance around Ashley.
Andrew scoffed.
"Being in E-rank is nothing; very soon you'll come to the same conclusion," he replied nonchalantly and returned to using his laptop. Ryan just rolled his eyes.
"Okay, so the Sequin assigned to squad 10 is Alex; you shall address him as LIN. That's what you call all Sequins by the way, you do know they're way older than you guys," Gwen said as she laughed, "Even older than I."
"Aren't Sequins the people that can directly see the Hero-League head? Why are they being assigned to us?" Ashley asked, a bit curious.
Aiden whirled his chair around to face them.
"True, but they are the ones that assign the missions; so they are given a particular squad that the mission will be given to. But they are just temporary anyway. Soon, you'll be assigned another Sequin when you're in another rank," he explained.
"Oh," Ashley said.
"So...where's our LIN?" Suzanne asked cheerfully.
"I would be right here."
Everyone turned to the man that stood by the door with a file in his hand. He had on a warm smile and he looked extremely friendly.
"Hey, I'm Alex."
"Good morning LIN!" Ashley bowed shortly.Alex patted her head as he walked by. The rest greeted him with less vigour, Andrew way less than the others."I suppose you are Squad 10, aren't you?" he looked at them."Yup! That's us all right!" Ethan affirmed, smiling widely.Alex adjusted his glasses and smiled back at him. He turned to them all. "Okay then. Let's get down to business as I have somewhere else to be."Suzanne moved a little closer to him.Andrew rested his chin on his palm.Alex looked very serious now."Squad 10, you have been assigned a class C-mission file!" He brought forth the file he was holding.Ashleys' eyes glowed with pride. She and Ethan exchanged excited looks."All five members are needed for the total completion of this mission. A report on the mission must be mad
"Here!" Ashley closed her eyes and smiled as she handed over an ice cream cone to Ryan.He looked at the vanilla flavored ice cream she held out for him to collect."What?" he asked in confusion.Ashley was one human being that confused him so much.She opened her eyes and blinked, "It's yours!""Why?" Ryan questioned her, annoyed. They came to the park to solve a case not to bask in the warmth of the sunshine."Cos I got it for you, silly!" She laughed."You wasted your money," he snorted coldly and looked the other way.Ethan folded his pants up to his knees and plunged into the frosty fountain water.He folded up his blue shirt sleeves and crouched to pick the pennies that had been thrown into the water.Andrew was already using a device to track footprints beside the berry
Andrew narrowed his eyes at the woman who sat at the table opposite his.The small café had a tinted glass window which he sat beside. He could watch people come in but they could hardly notice him where he sat even as they came in.The café was a street across Green hill Park.The woman smoothened her straight black skirt and glanced at her wrist watch.Not too long after, a small, bubbly girl putting on all pink and holding a lollipop, raced over to the woman as soon as she sighted her from the entrance of the café.The woman bent and scooped her up in a hug.Then she tickled the girl.The little girl's squeals and laughter rang out around the small and cozy café that smelled of minted syrup.A teenage girl of sixteen years strolled in leaisurely with a fake stroller that obviously held a
"And then we went to the kiddies pool but Sally won't let me take a dip cos I didn't bring my swim suit along but I insisted and she gave in," the small girl narrated in an excited happy tone as her mother's car parked in front of their driveway.Linda laughed at her daughter's enthusiasm."Settle down Betty," she chided as she turned off the engine.Soon enough they made their way inside. Linda unlocked the door while Betty pushed her doll stroller inside the house rather cheerfully."Well, well, well," came a rather cold voice from the middle of the room.A curtain was raised and light flooded into the small apartment.Betty stepped near her mum who clutched her shoulder with a protective hand and she held her phone on the other hand in a tight grasp."Who are you?" Linda asked, a bit tensed.Ryan whirled his chair
Alex smiled."I'm glad you completed your first mission early; it'll be put down as a good record for you guys. I'm guessing you're free for the day. Maybe you should train; your Coach did inform me that you are facing your CIN some weeks away, is it?" Alex said as he brought out a document."Here, sign this, all of you."Suzanne picked up the pen and signed underneath her name, the others did too, one after the other.It was the documentation of their mission file. In it was the evidences gathered on the case and the way it was solved. Also short personal statements of themselves were written down."You're right; we should train." Ryan nodded curtly."Alright, I'll leave you to it. If there's a new mission, I'll let you know." Alex nodded at him and walked out of the empty classroom."Ashley what's your skill?" Ethan asked as he turned to her.
"You work at a dog shelter Ashley?!" Ethan asked with wide eyes.Ashley laughed lightly as she replied him, "It's actually a volunteered act, and I don't get paid. Besides, It's only on weekends.""Cool! Can I volunteer too?" Ethan asked her eagerly."Sure! The more, the merrier!" Ashley nodded as she beamed him a wide smile."Anyway," Andrew said and all their attentions returned to him."That was when Ashley suggested we went to the park to look for clues, I needed to check out some things so I agreed to it. The thing I didn't know was how Sally and Betty took the dog from right under the owner's nose, so I wanted to find out."Suzanne adjusted herself in her seat. "Wait a minute, you mean you knew all this before we headed to the park and you didn't say a word about it?!" she asked Andrew incredulously.Andrew shrugged."It was a hypothesis. I had to be exactly sure and as I was still missing some
"Heh....if it isn't Squad 10," a voice scoffed.They all looked in the direction of the voice.They saw Luke approaching with his Squad mates some distance behind him."Hey Luke!" Suzanne waved gaily at him. He had on a pompous look as he addressed Ryan and ignored Suzanne."Pity you didn't stay long enough in the E-rank exams; you'd have witnessed me being victorious," he smirked, as he eyed them all in derision. His focused attention settled disdainfully on Ryan. "Anyway, it's a good thing you were rushed to the hospital, everyone saw how weak you were. I bet if it was me, I could witstand a bullet or two." Luke bragged as he poured his mouth at Ryan dismissively.Ryan just gave him a cold look, then ignored him."There's Luke, bragging away as usual," Ava snorted as they arrived at the spot where Squad 10 was."How's your arm Ryan?" Snow asked, as she looked at Ryan and smiled briefly at him."It's fine," he re
"Bye guys!" Ashley waved.Ryan replied with a mumbled grunt and Ethan laughed again as he looked Ryan over. What had happened there that afternoon was still extremely funny to him, though Ryan would not readily agree with him."Hey, Ethan, is anyone picking you up?" Ashley asked as she got out her bicycle.Ethan made a sour face as he looked her way."My big brother's picking me up; he always does," he replied."Okay! See you tomorrow then!" Ashley said cheerfully as she hopped on her bike and pedaled away."Bye Ashley," Suzanne smiled and waved nimbly as Ashley rode off.She and Andrew turned to start walking towards the bus stop.Ryan's butler, Greg, zoomed in. He alighted from the car."Master Ryan," Greg said as he opened the back seat of the limousine for Ryan."Thanks," Ryan replied curtly as he entered.Greg went to the driver's seat."Ryan! Wait! Don't leave!" a girly voice shrieked behind th