Special Task Force Pt: 2

"Fucksake..."

I'm sitting on the couch in the HQ lounge, drinking a beer I got from the vending machine. I know Carson told me to get on this right away but... shit. Apparently I have a team waiting for me outside to help me find this spectre, so maybe I shouldn't keep them waiting too long, but who cares. I'm their boss now so they can wait as long as I want them to. Squad Y...

"Asshole, is he trying to insult me?" I mutter.

In the rebellion, squads are obviously named by letters, but those letters aren't necessarily random, as well as who leads them. The closer a squads letter is to the beginning of the alphabet, the more competent its leader is and the soldiers within in. 'A' being the most competent and 'Z' being the least. So as you can imagine, being the leader of Squad Y isn't exactly an honour.

I finally finish my beer and crush the can in my right hand, before throwing it in the bin. I stand up from the couch and give a long stretch, before slowly making my way out of the lounge. I should probably do my job and greet my new soldiers. Speaking of my new soldiers, how did they even pick these people? Who would be crazy enough to take on this job...

---

*BOOM* *CRASH*

"Hey, is that my armband?! Did you take my armband?!"

"Excuse me? You think ME, of all people would want YOUR filthy armband? You insult me!"

"What did you just say?!?"

Ah, I see....

I'm standing outside of HQ, where I see a ton of RVs and several... "colourful" personalities. Two of them are in the middle of an argument, one of them is... beating up an RV? And the other is sliding around on the grass, how he's getting this momentum, I have no clue.

"Um... ahem! Excuse me! May I have your attention!?" I call out to get their attention.

They don't even give me a glance. Ugh, the disrespect! 

"I said listen the fuck up!" I yell out, much louder this time.

Finally, the 4 psychopaths turn my way.

"Huh? Who's this old man?" The guy bitching about his armband asks.

"This guy's our boss, right? I heard it from Squad A's commander. Didn't expect him to be so... worn out?" The one who was beating up the RV says.

Okay, so far 2 of them have already gotten on my bad side, great start.

"Are you done?" I ask them.

"Do they really expect some washed up old man to lead us? I assumed they'd have more sense..." The fancy one says.

That's 3.

"Wow, I was kinda excited for this mission, are we gonna die after all?" The sliding one adds.

Aaaaand that's 4. Seriously, who do these kids think they are? Maybe I should beat all their asses and do this on my own... No, that'd be stupid.

"My name is Commander Kane and I'll be in charge of all of you here in Squad Y. I assume you already understand the dangers of this mission so I ask you step up one at a time and introduce yourselves and what makes you special." I say, putting on my best responsible voice, trying to act unbothered by the verbal abuse they just gave me a few seconds ago.

"Oh, that's my cue." The fancy one says before stepping up and striking a pose, bringing his left arm up to his face and leaning to the right.

"My name is Maximillius Edmund the Seventh, heir to the great Edmund family, and protector of all I deem weaker than me, that being everyone." He introduces himself in a way that could make anyone hate him.

Maximillius has long blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes and shimmering white teeth. He wears a white dress shirt and black pants with a rose tucked into the back pocket.

"And of course, my arcana! Watch, as you witness beauty that has never been seen before! Try not to cry, my dear teammates." 

He extends his left palm forward, and with the flick of his wrist, appears a... rose.

"And, uh, what does this rose do?" I ask him.

"HUHHHH? Is it not obvious? It's beautiful!" He snaps.

Wait, so is he telling me his arcana has no use in combat?

"Oh, and I suppose I can make roses blossom on any surface, and make rose walls for defence... However! I have yet to fully master these skills." He smiles, looking proud of himself.

Okay, so an egocentric, fancy-pants, douchebag who can't properly use his arcana yet. Not looking promising but I suppose we'll see.

"Right, well, next!" I call for the next person to come forward.

Next comes the dude who was sliding on the grass. He has light brown hair and wears a green cargo vest.

"I'm Otto! My arcana is called Slidestep and it gives my feet the ability to slide on any surface, so I can move fast like I'm wearing roller skates!" He seems happy to be here, he's probably no older than 17.

"Great, next!" I say.

"What?! Don't you wanna see my arcana in action?" Otto interrupts me.

This kid's an attention fiend, I can tell. 

"Nah, an explanation is good enough." I reply and try to move on again, I wanna get this done fast.

"I'm sure it'll beneficial for you to see it first hand sir! I won't disappoint I swear!" He begs.

"Look, kid. I already saw you sliding around on the grass over there, in fact, you smushed up all the grass so bad it looks like paste, I can tell you like using your arcana but give it a rest will you? Now, next!" 

Otto gives up, looking defeated.

Next to step up is the guy who accused Max of stealing his armband. He has spiky black hair and fiery looking eyes and a large grin. He wears a grey tank top with a black armband on his right arm which I suppose he's found since the argument.

"Yo, the name's Cyrus. I like kicking ass and eating good food! I hope you're not as weak as you look old man!" He says with a cheeky smile.

This motherfucker... I hate this responsible act so much...

"Any arcana?" I ask him.

"Pfft, you bet your ass I have an arcana! Watch and learn."

His armband begins glowing brightly, and then disappears and reappears in his left hand, taking the form of a baseball bat. He holds out the bat length-wise to show it to me.

"This baby transfers all of my physical body strength into this bat, and hits with the force of my entire body. Wanna see how it feels?" He chuckles.

"Uh, no thanks." I reply.

"Aw, a shame. It's been a while since I hit someone." He continues to smile.

"You'll have plenty of opportunities to hit things once we find this spectre." I say to him.

"Sweet! You better not cower behind me the whole time old man, I can't protect the weak while I'm beating spectre ass!"

"I'm not even old I'm only 39! And I'm not weak either I work out every day! You better watch that mouth of yours kid, holy shit!" Dammit that slipped.

"Anyways, next, please!" I move on.

The last one to step up is a guy with short dirty blonde hair and glasses and wears a black combat vest. The one who was kicking the RV. This outta be good.

"My name is Bright. I would like to apologize for my words earlier, they slipped out. I look forward to serving under you." He bows his head.

Oh, he might not actually be so bad.

"Apology accepted, don't do it again. Do you have an arcana Bright?" I ask him.

"Yup! If I make physical contact with any sort of mechanism or tool I can instantly gravitate it towards myself like a magnet at will. The harder the contact, the faster it gravitates towards me." He explains before a knife suddenly flies into his hand as he demonstrates.

"Ah, so is that why you were kicking the RV earlier?" I ask.

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry if I caused any damages, though I'm not very strong physically so I doubt I did. I have all sorts of tools stashed away so I can pull them towards me whenever I need them." He says.

That could be useful I suppose. Even if he personally isn't proficient with the tools he has other people could still make use of them.

"Great. So that's everyone then?" I ask.

Otto speaks up.

"Well, there were two others, but they got thirsty and went over to the drink stand."

Ugh, more? I just want this over with.

"Which direction?" I ask.

"I think they went just over there." Bright points south.

I begin walking over to the drink stand to get the last two members.

"Ahem. I would be careful if I were you. The girl was giving me dirty looks earlier, I can't tell if she's encapsulated by my beauty or wants to kill me." Max says.

Probably the latter.

I make my way over to the drink stand and find nobody there. Goddammit where did they go?

"Oh, hey, are you the commander?" I hear a guy's voice coming from behind me and turn around. 

I see a guy wearing a long black trench coat with brown hair and blue eyes, sitting on top of one of the RVs. Beside him is a girl, looking at me with a cold gaze. She's wearing a grey robe with a bow over her shoulder and has long green hair and... fox ears? Didn't expect to see a demi-human but they're known for their agility which could come in handy.

"You two are the final recruits I presume?" I ask, looking up at them.

"Yup, nice to meet you sir!"  The boy jumps down from the RV and holds out his hand.

I shake his hand with my right hand. This is a much better greeting than those others.

"I'm Commander Kane, looking forward to working with you." I greet him.

"Woooah... I'm Link, nice to meet you. Wow, your grip is so firm, it's like your hand is made out of metal." He jokes, still shaking my hand.

"Oh! Right." I pull my hand away and look at the girl.

"And you?" I ask her.

Link speaks up instead.

"Oh, she doesn't talk to strangers much! This is-"

"Emerald." The girl interrupts him.

"Awww, come on! You ruined our routine, this is how we always do it! I introduce us both! It makes you look more mysterious!" 

Emerald shakes her head in disappointment and looks at me.

"When are we going?" She asks.

"Going? Oh, to find the spectre. Any minute now, probably, just gotta give a quick rundown of the situation to you all then we're good to go. Speaking of which, let's head back to the rest of them so I can explain everything." I say.

They both nod and start following me to the rest of the group. Link continues to chat with me the whole way there until we finally arrive after a couple minutes. What a lively team... I have my work cut out for me.