Ace agreed with Dame Wasp's request not because he can't say no to her, but because she was right. he can't knowingly let people die when he could have helped.
However, he acclearted the bike with a slight smirk. With Ava Martin just moving into town, he doubt he would have to worry much. Her mother will probably have C.I.B. to handle curselings and rogue curse users around there town swiftly. As for the occasional ones that manage to slip through their net—well, he would take care of those if he saw them. Like he has been from the start.
Dame Wasp's eyes narrowed as she processed her master's words. A faint smile played on her lips. It wasn't perfect, but it was a step forward.
'Thank you, master. This means a lot to me. I was worried that my mistake in this mission had added to your past trauma. But knowing you're not letting it affect you negatively... I feel relieved.' Dame Wasp's voice softened as she opened up, her genuine love and care for her master clear in her tone.
'Hold up, what past trauma? I have no past trauma.' Ace frowned, confusion flickering across his face. He had no clue what Dame Wasp was talking about. She made it sound like he was a victim. Ace had been many things in life, but a victim? Never.
'Master, it's alright. You don't have to hide it.' Dame Wasp's gaze didn't waver. 'I know that Mark and his friends bullied you at your previous school, constantly traumatizing you by speaking derogatorily about and threatening your sister and family. I also know what you did to make sure they stopped and didn't escalate things toward your sister.' Her voice carried a quiet conviction, as though she believed there should be no secrets between them. To her, being Ace's loyal summon meant sharing everything—his joy and his pain. She had no idea, though, just how deeply Ace had been hurt.
It was a miracle that he hadn't killed Mark when he had the chance. The constant beatdowns were nothing to him; he could endure thousands of those for his family without uttering a word. But for a teenager to search for nudes of women who resembled his elder sister in body type, skin tone, and hair, and then alter those images to look like her to satisfy the ego of a gangster and stop him from making do on his threat to rape her—was just too sickening.
Ace didn't have to do that. He knew why Mark was asking for nude photos of his sister. He wasn't stupid. He would never trust the empty promises of a gangster; he wouldn't do that to his family. Yet, he went along with it because he could no longer stall Mark. It seemed that if he didn't give in, Mark would take drastic action.
If Mark had been threatening to harm him, Ace would have fought back, even if it meant risking his life. Even suicide would have seemed like a better option than doing what he did. But Mark wasn't threatening him—he was threatening his sister. Yes, regardless of the reasons, what he did was horribly sick, but he managed to buy himself a week, successfully sending his sister out of their damn neighborhood and the city.
It was because he managed to stay level-headed that day and do what needed to be done that, today, Mark and his brother were dead and his family was worth in millions. Ace believed he had no trauma, only victory scars. In many ways, he thought that part of his life had taught him a lesson that no school, mentor, parent, relative, or friend could ever teach. It was partly because of that lesson that he had made it this far in both worlds. Otherwise, if he had been like Dame Wasp and Emi wanted him to be, he would have been killed by Gloria Hart for his cursed toy box.
'I have no trauma, Rose. I won. Yes, I'm not happy with how I won, but I won. Winners don't have trauma; we have victory scars to remind us of the lessons we learned.
'You won't understand because you were the main character in your world, not some average Joe. Despite the crazy little stunts you pulled, somehow, you always came out on top, where anyone else in your place would have been dead or, worse, lost everything they valued and loved in their life. This is not a fictional world, this is reality. I can't afford to make a mistake here.
'My family is everything to me. I can't lose any one of them. And when I say family, I include you guys too. My duty is only toward my family. It is my joy and happiness. Therefore, I will protect them the safest way I know how, and this is it, Rose: by being constantly on watch, waiting in the shadows, so that they don't have to be.'
Ace was triggered listening to Dame Wasp say he had trauma. He believed only those who were wronged or who had wronged others experienced trauma for what they went through or did. However, he didn't feel that way because he won. He beat Mark in his own way and made a life for his family.
'I understand, Master.' Dame Wasp did not argue with Ace, understanding that she had overplayed her hand. Seeing him be so open to her suggestions and requests, she mistook his willingness to listen as a sign that he was ready to move on from his past. However, he proved to her that she was horribly wrong.
As for Emi, she did not dare stick her nose in, being the youngest. Her senpai and master were arguing about something very important and detrimental to their master's development. Though she agreed with her senpai, she did not voice her opinion. She knew her senpai could manage on her own but also didn't want her master to feel ganged up on and alone. It didn't matter who was right or wrong—arguments tend to affect the people involved that way, especially those who know they were wrong but didn't want to accept it.