It was a very dark night in Coral Springs as a man dressed in a business casual getup was writing his recent news story in his office, adorned with shelves of dusty books and stacks of old newspapers. He almost took a sip from his coffee before putting it down, deciding it would be unnecessary due to future plans. He clicked Save and shut off his computer, satisfied with everything he wrote down. Standing up to stretch, it was like his soul left his body, desperately trying to regain any sort of comfort. He carefully placed his coffee in the fridge and went out his office, pleasantly anticipating a good meal home.
The man arrived at his home, a two-story structure with a very warm atmosphere, sporting a mostly orange paint job filled with plump sofas and a crackling fireplace. He couldn't help but feel a grateful sense of joy when he heard his two sons running down to hug him and he bent down to catch them, soaking in all the love they were overloaded with.
"Dad!" they exclaimed, laughing with great delight.
"How are my little tiger cubs doing?" he asked, excited to be reunited. When he looked up, the man saw his beautiful wife, wearing a periwinkle dress adorned with a basket weave pattern, standing in front of him with a radiant smile.
"Actually, boys, I want you to hold that thought for a second." he said, ecstatic from the woman he was looking at. He let go of his sons to embrace his wife, holding her with so much love that it was almost as if he was holding out on his boys. To thank him for this gesture, she gave him a brief, but devoted kiss, as if transferring all the elation she had into him.
"Dinner's ready. I made macaroni meatloaf. I figured since you've been spending more time at work, you deserved something extra special." she exclaimed, thrilled at the prospect of him enjoying it.
"Well, if it's as good as you are beautiful, I think holding off on that coffee was the right move. Thank you so much, sweetie." he said, confident in her culinary skills.
Corbin arrived at Room 537, ready to begin the day, but was caught off-guard when he only saw Natalia inside, reading her Bible.
"Where are Andrew and Kiara? Are they in the bathroom?" asked Corbin.
"They're investigating some of the bases that Mr. Sordi left for them." said Natalia, her eyes still focused on her Bible.
"What?!" Corbin asked loudly, taken aback by what he just heard.
"Relax. It's not like they're new to this job. They can handle themselves." said Natalia, dismissive of his state of surprise.
"Even still, we haven't even started the day together yet. Don't you find that at least a little weird?" asked Corbin, irritated.
"I did at first, but eventually I got used to it. This is just what Kiara does, alright?" said Natalia, lighthearted.
"Fine then. Were we given any special missions?" Corbin asked, accepting of the circumstances.
"Yeah, Andrew wanted us to tackle this warehouse located in West Palm Beach. That's why I was still here. I was waiting for you to show up." said Natalia.
"In that case, let's get permission from the Palm Beach County agents to operate there. Unless we can just ask the Director himself." Corbin mentioned.
"Eugh, we can just ask the agents. It'll be much easier. Plus, we're already friends with them so it'll be a good opportunity to introduce you. It shouldn't be too far; their base is in Boca Raton." said Natalia. As they were driving to their destination, Corbin sat in shotgun ruminating.
"Just out of curiosity, what kind of people did you guys deal with before I showed up? Was it anything like this Mafia?" asked Corbin, looking out the window.
"Not really. Most of the people we put away were mercenaries probably working for some big wig employer. They never said who hired them, though. I guess even hired guns need some kind of honor. One thing I thought was especially weird was how frequently they popped up. Now, it seems like they've gone back into the woodwork." said Natalia, skeptical of her words.
"Interesting. Truth be told, I was expecting you guys to have gone up against a cult or something." said Corbin, sarcastically disappointed.
"Aw, don't worry. I'm sure you'll get to see us fight cultists someday." said Natalia, playfully laughing. Once they arrived at their destination, Natalia took a moment to stretch, making sure she was physically prepared. Once they made their way inside, Natalia walked towards the receptionist, her warm smile brightening up the air.
"Hey, Natalia. Who's this guy?" asked the receptionist, happy to see Natalia again.
"This is Corbin Violette. He just joined our team around a week ago." replied Natalia, leaning against the desk.
"Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Tamara Cody. I think I know why Natalia brought you over here. Most of them are in the game room." she said, a pleasant sense of ease in her tone.
"Thanks, Tam. Come on, Corbin." said Natalia, jovially making her way to the elevator. Once they arrived on the third floor, Natalia located three men near what looked like a table with a holographic battlefield over it. Said battlefield looked like a combat-wasted forest with towers, turrets, and soldier corpses. One man who was playing wore a more sophisticated outfit with a yellow jabot shirt with epaulettes. His opponent wore an orange hoodie, track pants, and a baseball cap. The third man watching wore a blue suit and tie with a sleek, futuristic-looking overcoat. The man in blue glanced in another direction and saw the two Broward agents.
"Hey, Kiara. Who's the new guy?" asked the blue man, carefully observing Corbin. The two men playing their game stopped to take notice of Corbin.
"This is our new teammate." said Natalia.
"Hello. My name is Corbin Violette. It's a pleasure to meet you all." he said, respectful of them.
"Justin Best. Hey." said the man in blue, sounding rather neutral.
"S'up. Name's Ciro Millas. Nice to meet'cha." said the man in orange, his voice casual and relaxed.
"Hello, I'm Lucas Fudge. I'm the leader of our team, The Loup. Our last teammate is in the training room." said Lucas, a sense of professionalism in his tone.
"Well, that certainly makes more sense than what you guys are doing. Personally, I don't see the reason why a law-enforcement organization needs a game room." said Corbin dismissively.
"Sheesh, man. If that's how you feel, I hope you didn't suffer from burnout in school. Oye, Natalia, try to keep this jit from overdoing it, ya hear?" he demanded in a friendly manner.
"Will do." Natalia said, chuckling. "Come on, Corbin. Let's go." Inside the training room was a woman wearing glasses and dressed in a white and red kimono and hakama standing in front of a laser turret, her expression resolute and focused. She held a katana in one hand and sheath in the other. Once the turret started firing, she used her katana and sheath, each strike fluid yet forceful, to block the oncoming lasers. She anticipated the next round of lasers, but raised her head in suspicion when they didn't occur. She glanced at the controls and saw Natalia, Corbin, and her team there.
"Hi, Natalia. It's so nice to see you again! Who's he?" the woman asked, gentle and warm.
"Corbin Violette. A pleasure to meet you. I just joined the Papiyon." he said, sounding cordial.
"I'm Katherine Sakurada, a pleasure. It seems you've already met my friends. Trust me when I say you're surrounded by good company. Could you please increase the difficulty of the turret?" she asked, a warm smile on her face.
"You sure about that? I mean, you were already pretty impressive bef-" said Corbin, confident in her skills.
"Corbin..." she interjected. Corbin felt a sense of unease and dread emanating from Katherine. "I'd really prefer it if you could increase the difficulty, please?" she asked, still sporting that same, warm smile.
"Yeah, sure. If you want." he said, smiling nervously. Corbin was about to rev up the intensity, a timid expression resting on his face.
"Get used to that feeling." said Ciro, taking delight.
"Joy." Corbin replied sarcastically.
"Hang on." Justin interrupted, prompting Corbin to stop his hand. "Natalia, I don't imagine you came here solely for us to meet your new teammate. What else do you need?" asked Lucas, sternly interested.
"Me and my team are investigating a Mafia and we need your permission to operate in Palm Beach County. Andrew told me and Corbin to deal with one of their bases located in West Palm Beach." explained Natalia, desiring help.
"Hold on a second, Natalia. Before we engage in this mission, I want to train here, improve my skills." stated Corbin, his voice assertive. The Loup turned their attention towards him, growing more intrigued with him.
"What's brought this about?" asked Justin, a serious look on his face. Corbin returned Justin's expression back at him, his fist curling tightly.
"Two days ago, I battled a gangster named Gator and lost. If were not for Kiara's intervention, I would've died and the little girl he kidnapped would've been exploited, resulting in the loss of her innocence. I want to get better, that way I can fight criminals all on my own without having to worry whether or not my teammates will show up to save me." declared Corbin, resolute in his goals. Justin's expression mellowed out and he put his hands in his pocket as his team got together.
"So, who wants to take him on first?"
"I do. He seems promising and I want to see what he's made of." said Katherine, her voice thrilled. As they broke away, Justin put away the turret as Katherine entered the sparring area, her katana and sheath in hand. Corbin made the first move, unleashing Foule Sombre against her. She smirked, using both sword and sheath to neutralize his attack, causing a large smoke cloud to form. Corbin spread Tentabres all throughout the cloud, flailing his dark tentacles wildly about.
"I hope you don't think this smokescreen will make countering your erratic tentacles any more difficult." declared Katherine, slashing and blocking the oncoming attacks with her sword and sheath respectively. Her senses sharpened as she felt an attack coming her way from in front. She ran forwards towards Corbin, holding her katana in a reverse grip to block the darkness beam he projected at her. The force of the attack, though, caused her to move considerably slower.
"Nice!" she yelled, impressed with his power. Katherine jumped up, pleased with her opponent, and delivered a downward slash using her sheath that Corbin imperfectly avoided, receiving a small hit to his left shoulder.
"Ok, not too shabby for someone who's had this job for two days. But let's see how you fare against this." said Katherine. She coated her sheath in cherry blossom petals and used it to swipe at Corbin, who dodged it rather easily. To his surprise, however, the cherry blossoms covering her sheath released a very potent yet relaxing fragrance, not too dissimilar to vanilla. With him distracted by her Kōsui Wana technique, Katherine gripped her katana tighter, summoning petals around the blade portion. With a vertical downward head cut, she fired Sakura Gozen, a wave of cherry blossoms, towards Corbin, knocking him to the ground.
She got closer, helping him up on his feet and dusting him off. Corbin felt comfort in the fact that her kindness was authentic. Natalia cloaked him in her healing flames, causing his injuries to become worse before becoming nonexistent altogether.
"Ok, are you ready to engage in our mission?" asked Natalia.
"Not yet. I want to face one more person." said Corbin.
"In that case, I wanna take a stab at it too. Seeing you fight Katherine like that got me all pumped! Come on!" said Ciro, unable to contain himself. After entering the ring, Ciro curled his fingers repeatedly, signaling to Corbin that the match had begun. He started off by condensing water into a small but dense cloud and hurled it at high speeds using a move called Bala Condensación.
Corbin summoned a dark tentacle to deflect the attack to go sideways, but Ciro closed his fist and reeled it back, pulling the Bala Condensación to hit Corbin's legs via controlling the winds, causing great injury there.
"What, did you think my attack was something you could just get rid of? My Factor's a literal force of nature! Check this out!" exclaimed Ciro. With Lluvia Inclinada, he created a small raincloud above Corbin and summoned a pretty intense downpour on him, making it extremely difficult for Corbin to see. With his guard down, Ciro took advantage by spinning air in his palm into a spherical tornado, launching it at Corbin and knocking him down.
"Heh. Ya like that? I call it my Bola Ciclónica. And this here's my Bocadillo Tifón." declared Ciro with confidence. He made two tornadoes inside and squeezed them between Corbin, causing pretty notable damage until he fell to the floor, rendered unconscious. Natalia used a little bit of her flames to dry him up and then began rejuvenating him.
"Hey, man. You feel any better?" Ciro asked, his voice concerned.
"Yeah, I think so. Thanks a lot for this, I really appreciate it." Corbin said, sure in his answer.
"Dang, Jupiter? He couldn't have picked somewhere closer like, I don't know, Boynton Beach?" asked Ciro, disappointed.
"Fine then. But only on the condition that I accompany you. If my training has to be interrupted, I need something to act as a substitute." declared Katherine. She placed her katana in the sheath on her hakama belt and proceeded to exit the training room.
"Alright, let's head out." Kiara commanded, ready to go. The three of them left the building and entered the car, driving off in search of this man.
"So what exactly is going on?" asked Katherine.
"We're headed to a Cabaña Avícola to meet up with a former Mafia member. This one actually had a scuffle with the Mafia leader we were told of. Or more accurately, he had a scuffle with one of her undead slaves last night." said Kiara, growing livelier in tone.
"No way! If he's gonna speak with us about it, that must at least mean he wasn't hurt too badly." said Corbin, desperate for hope.
"Wait a second. Is this why you came all the way out here? To talk to someone? You couldn't have done this over the phone?" asked Katherine, sharply upset. Despite not being the recipient of her words, Corbin couldn't help but feel slightly disturbed by her tone.
"I could've, but that wouldn't sit right with me. See, I much prefer sitting down face-to-face to talk with someone in an interview. I find it more helpful in gleaming the kind of person they are. Besides, I've got a plan to find this boss and it won't work well over a simple phone call." said Kiara, bold in her words. Corbin couldn't help but be impressed by how assured Kiara sounded, especially when talking to Katherine.
They arrived at a Cabaña Avícola located in West Palm Beach, undaunted by what may happen. Before stepping out of the car, everyone inside shifted their clothes into something more casual and Katherine turned her katana into a ring, not wanting anything unnecessary. Inside the restaurant were murals on the wall depicting tropical trees and pristine beaches. Kiara noticed Ethan eating what looked like a Cuban sandwich, taking his sweet time with the carefully, crafted meal.
"There he is. That's the man we're supposed to meet." said Kiara, elated to see him.
"How do you know?" asked Corbin, certain of her answer.
"I texted Tanner to tell him to wear a green cossack hat to identify himself. Let's go." answered Kiara, pressing forward. The three of them went to sit down next to him, settling in slowly and calmly. Ethan was able to recognize Kiara and Corbin and continued with his meal, unbothered by their presence.
"You must be the two that Tanner talked about. He mentioned something about a woman with red hair and a man with bluish hair. But who's she?" he questioned, a little caught off-guard.
"Greetings. I'm Katherine Sakurada. I invited myself to this mission." she said, a cheery grin on her face.
"We're not allowed to work outside of Broward unless we get permission from agents in other counties or from our director." said Corbin, slightly disappointed.
"I believe you had something to tell us about the encounter you had last night?" asked Kiara, anxious to get this moving.
"Right. I did battle with that crime boss reject's undead slaves. The first one, while annoying, wasn't too much of a problem. It was the second one that proved to be a challenge for me." he said, frustratedly.
"Tanner mentioned you had the ability to grow scales on your body. Do you think it's possible to demonstrate this power subtly?" asked Kiara, craving to see it. Ethan looked around, covered his fist with his other hand, and showed them a scaly hand. Kiara touched his hand, feeling his very smooth yet tough scales. Once everyone got a chance to feel, Ethan turned his hand back to normal, softening the scales back into being skin.
"Why was the second revenant so much tougher?" asked Kiara, desperate to learn more about this Factor.
"I don't know why. But I do at least know how to tell how strong one is. I think it all comes down to appearance. The first one I fought looked like he was doing everything he could to hold his skin and clothes together. Meanwhile, the second one, while certainly a little worn and rotten, looked like he was in much better condition." explained Ethan, firmly.
"That sure is interesting. Why didn't Tanner mention anything like that?" asked Corbin, confused.
"Not sure. I'll have to ask him later on. Regardless, how did you manage to survive?" replied Kiara, resolute. Ethan started to share the additional details of his run-in with that reanimated foe. During that night, Ethan was knocked back by his opponent, gasping heavily and clutching his chest. He used his other hand to launch many scales at his enemy, only for just his hand to break off.
"I've broken off his hands at least 14 times by now. How on Earth am I supposed to beat him? Wait, that's it!" Ethan thought to himself. Ethan rolled up his sleeves and created some larger scales on his arms, appearing a bit looser than his other ones. Underneath his loose scales were more scales of an equal size. With his arms sticking out, he rubbed these scales together, creating a cacophonic sound that distracted the zombie, greatly bothered by the loud sound, sounding no different from a large collection of bells ringing simultaneously.
"Time for me to end this, monster!" he yelled, fed up with this fight. Ethan ran in to deliver a punch the wraith's head delivered with all the might he could, sending it skipping across the floor. Seeing that the decomposed adversary was still around, Ethan dug into his body using his scaly arms like how a dog digs into the earth, only far more aggressively. He took a moment to take off his shoes and socks, allowing him to cover his feet in scales too. Ethan began stomping on them, reducing them more and more until the energy keeping him together disappeared, placing his remains back where they were.
Back in the present day, Ethan had his arms crossed, taking shallow breaths from the memory of that battle. He immediately ceased after remembering they were in a public restaurant. Kiara looked at the table with a neutral expression, tracing patterns on it with her finger before curling it with a fist.
"Ethan, I can tell that dealing with this boss is clearly troublesome for you. That's why I have to apologize for this. Please help us take your boss' cheap replacement down." requested Kiara, desperate for his help. Katherine looked at her, confused as to why she'd ask such a question to Ethan. "I understand your hesitation, but you won't even have to get involved against him. The only thing you need to do is provide us with some knowledge regarding prominent criminal bases. I figure if we hurt this boss' feelings enough, he'll feel the need to respond. After all, my team and I have already spent a good amount of time dealing damage to all the bases Tanner told us about in Broward. I figure extending the damage to another county should get his attention." said Kiara, positive in her throughline.
"Wait, that's why you wanted our permission? So you could piss off a Mafia boss? Not a chance." Katherine said, her voice carrying those same dreadful tones.
"Listen, Katherine. It's called systematic destruction. If we slowly take away all the power he has, not only will it catch his attention, but it'll make capturing him much easier." said Kiara, standing her ground.
"Hey kid," Ethan said to Corbin. "What about you? Do you agree with Kiara's line of thought?" Ethan asked, curious about his character.
"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure. On one hand, Kiara's plan makes sense. After all, your old boss was considered a very infamous man. In order for your boss' replacement to continue riding his coattails, he'd have to respond to these attacks. On the other hand, I have a bad feeling that things might spiral out of nowhere. I can't tell you where this feeling comes from, but it's present. Regardless, I'm gonna go through with this. After all, it wouldn't exactly sit right with me if my own teammates saw me as unreliable." declared Corbin, secure in his decision.