"Seriously, what’s happening to you?" Beatrice huffed, crossing both her arms and legs as she sat on the battered body of a green-haired youth. "Those two are a lost cause, but I expected better from you, Wolf."
The furry hero was on his knees, his head lowered apologetically. Same as the others, he wore the gray uniform of the BEO, which closely resembled the service uniform of police officers, except for the color and the emblem on the left breast pocket. His was a little altered to accommodate his tail, however.
The team leader looked down at him, her expression softening a little.
"Did something happen while I was gone?"
Before he could respond, a beam of light shone from beside him, its source the sparkling eyes of his orange-haired teammate.
"You haven’t heard yet, Leader!?" She asked, voice charged with excitement.
Wolf’s eyes widened, having predicted what was about to happen.
"Stop it, Merry! Don’t you-"
His attempt to prevent the disaster miserably failed as the glowing girl dropped a bombshell right then and there.
"Wolf has finally met someone special!"
Beatrice’s eyes almost popped out of her head and her mood visibly improved, almost as if she had been infected by the radiant smile facing her.
"That’s right! The two met only a week ago, and ever since, Wolf has been unable to take him out of his head!"
"I said stop! You’re making it sound all wrong!"
Sweating bullets, Wolf turned to his petite team leader, trying to explain that it was all just a misunderstanding his teammate was far too eager to maintain, despite him having corrected her more than once already. Unfortunately, he was met with tearful eyes and a warm smile that said he was too late.
"I’m happy for you, Wolf. Truly." Beatrice wiped the corners of her eyes. "It must have been difficult, but I’m glad you found the courage to leave the closet."
"How many times do I have to..." All of a sudden, Wolf felt extremely tired. "Listen, I just arrested this one guy last week."
The question made him want to snap his neck and put an end to it all. Knowing he would be digging a bigger hole for himself by answering, he decided to just ignore it and continue.
"He didn’t seem to have any enhancements so I thought he was just a normal thug with a gun, but then I attacked him and he... he held his ground." Pausing, the furry hero shook his head. "No, he didn’t just hold his ground. He... he dodged everything I threw at him and even countered. I was in my second form the entire time, too."
Pursing his lips, he glanced up and saw that the look the petite leader had changed. His words finally seemed to have reached her.
"Are you sure he wasn’t enhanced?" She asked after a moment of silence, her voice solemn.
"I read the police report," Wolf replied. "He only had simple alloy bones in his hand."
As the leader of the Silver Wind, Beatrice, publicly known as Night Gale, knew the capabilities of her team better than anyone. Wolf was a melee fighter who relied on his enhanced strength and martial arts to defeat his opponents. If he struggled against someone in a hand to hand fight, that only went to show that his opponent wasn’t a nobody.
"A strong martial artist with next to no enhancements." She muttered. "Did you check his background?"
"There wasn’t much to work with," Wolf answered.
"I see... well, you can always investigate him later if that’s what you want. Right now, I need you to stay focused."
As if on cue, a notification popped up on all of their OAMs.
"Alright, time to go."
Jumping down, the petite leader was about to walk away, but then she stopped and looked behind her. Heaving a sigh, her hand swung down and produced a sharp slapping sound. The green-haired youth she was sitting on bolted up right away, a hand held up to his reddening cheek.
"I know you were awake the whole time." She said. "Pervert."
"Ugh... I didn’t ask to be sat on, you know?"
"Everyone knows you enjoy it, Kafka." Merry chuckled. "You aren’t hiding it from anyone."
As soon as they left the room, the four discarded their previous thoughts and took on a completely different mental state. After passing a few checkpoints, they arrived at a massive reinforced door that split into several sections and retracted into the walls as soon as they approached. With the barrier holding it back lifted, a storm of chatter flooded out of the assembly hall beyond.
Though many noticed their entrance, no one bothered to walk over and greet them. The crowd consisted mainly of detectives and high-ranking police officers. Other than those, there were two more hero teams in the section dedicated to the BEO.
The first one was Raven Heart, a group of creepy fellows who specialize mostly in reconnaissance and covert operations, with its members having abilities that lean toward those things. As for the other, they went by Blizzard Force, and as the name suggests, all of its members have ice-related powers.
Soon after they took their seats, a different group appeared from the backstage, and among them was none other than the Commissioner of the Neo-Vatra police department , Jordan Evans. Walking up to the podium, he looked around a couple of times then cleared his throat.
"Good morning, everyone. We have a full agenda today, so let’s get straight to it." He snapped his finger and the giant screen behind him came to life. "Many of you are familiar with the name Stahlwölfe. The family renowned for its ownership of Steel Wolf holdings, one of the world’s biggest conglomerates, has been under investigation for a number of crimes too big to list. Their influence and infinite resources have always stood in the way of anyone bringing them to justice, but at long last, the years of continuous investigations have paid off. Thanks to the efforts of many of our courageous colleagues, we have finally obtained enough evidence to tear down their empire and put an end to its evil reign."