Seraphine stepped forward again, her usual composure completely gone. "This is bullshit, Reeves. We're supposed to be a team. You can't just—"
"Sera," Marina said quietly. She was angry too, but shouting back at their Commander was just something you shouldn't do. Reeves had never punished them before, and Mateo thought it unlikely that she would punish them now like kids, especially when they were going into war territory, but there was no telling what backlash Seraphine could face from Reeves if she got too reckless.
Ben would've calmed her down by now, Mateo thought.He was always the one who could talk people off the ledge.
"No!" Seraphine's voice cracked. "Ben was... Ben is important to this team. To me. And you just let them take him without even asking us?"
Mateo felt a chill run through his spine. Literally. The air had dropped a few degrees lower, Seraphine's quirk that let her lower the temperature of her surroundings was being activated by her emotions.
"That's enough," Reeves said, her voice carrying that military authority that usually shut down arguments.
But not this time.
"You say Ben is a reliable guy," Seraphine continued, the air getting even colder, "Then it's better for him to stay here than go on some dangerous mission on his own! He can't leave us!"
"Sera. . ." Amara said, placing her ebony fingers on Seraphine's shoulder as her breath became visible because of the growing cold.
"We're at zero degrees Celsius now." Anon muttered, using his dimension quirk to analyze the physical quantities, the weight of his words heavy as goosebumps appeared on the shorter boy's skin, and he started shivering.
"What's the point of all this?" Henrik sighing distastefully as the others shot him withering glares. Henrik proceeded uncaring. "We all know the risks of being a hero. She told us before we got in the vehicle. There's no going back. Right now, all we are are soldiers. So why are you complaining about the orders dished out?"
"Henrik. . ." Mateo muttered warningly. He always knew Henrik wasn't one to be sentimental, but still, not caring about people's feelings here had no meaning.
Seraphine continued railing at Reeves as if she didn't hear Amara and Henrik. "You said that we're supposed to protect each other! That we're a team! How do we protect Ben when he's not even here? Who's going to protect him! All you do is boss us around! Can you even protect us?"
The air went quiet at Seraphine's accusation; the spittle flew out of her mouth freezing before it hit the ground. Spiderwebs of ice from the air's moisture was already forming on the glass.
Why was Seraphine so angry? Was it simply because Ben had been sent on another mission? It seemed too little to get so riled up about in Mateo's opinion.
Reeves met Seraphine's accusatory glare with a hard stare of her own as everyone watched the showdown for about ten seconds. Then Reeves shifted her position and spoke.
"You think I can't protect you?" Reeves asked, her voice dangerously quiet. "You think I'm just some desk jockey who got put in charge?"
Mateo felt the shift in the room's energy. This wasn't going to be another lecture.
"I haven't shown you what I can do," Reeves continued, rolling her shoulders like she was loosening up for a fight. "Maybe that was a mistake."
"We deserve to know what you're capable of," Seraphine shot back, though some of the fire had gone out of her voice.
Mateo silently agreed and the others shifted their weight to show their sentiments. Reeves nodded at their body language and continued.
"Henrik, do me a favor."
He blinked. "Yeah?"
"Shoot me."
The room went even more quiet than it was before.
Henrik's usual indifference cracked slightly. "Are you serious?"
"Don't question your Commander. Do it."
"What the hell?" Alex whispered, and Mateo felt his heart start racing.
What is she trying to prove?
As the words left Reeves' mouth, Henrik barely hesitated. His flesh opened at the tricep below the elbow, the flesh rippling as metal components emerged and assembled themselves into a sleek black barrel.
Even though Mateo had witnessed it several times during their training periods, the sight still unsettled and slightly disgusted him. But this time it's different.
"Commander—" Marina started, but Reeves held up a hand.
The mechanism barely took a second, and then the bullet left the nozzle, obviously too fast for Mateo to see. The gunshot sound resounded and the projectile flew, aimed at Reeves' temple.
She's going to die, Mateo thought in that split second of horror.
The bullet connected with her head, but instead of piercing through and blowing out her brains like it would to anyone else, the bullet simply. . . stopped, like all the motion had been sucked out of it.
Since it was now motionless, gravity acted. The slug clattered to the ground with a dull plink. And Reeves was unharmed.
"How—" Anon started, his tablet forgotten in his hands.
"Energy absorption," Reeves said simply, but Mateo could see her muscles tense, like she was containing something. "Momentum, impact, velocity—I take it all in."
"I store it. Every hit, every impact, every bit of kinetic energy that would normally hurt me..." She shifted her core and punched the wall. The concrete caved in, almost breaking through the entire thing, leaving a broken crater. "It becomes mine to use."
The sound of crumbling concrete filled the silence.
"Wow" Henrik muttered, actually looking impressed.
"I can't be hit by projectiles and physical attacks," Reeves continued, rotating her shoulder like she was working out a kink. "And I've absorbed enough energy over the years to split the Atlas Academy in two if I tried hard enough."
Mateo thought back to the floating island that was their school. Reeves wouldn't bluff. The sheer amount of stored energy that would require... How many fights has she been in? How much damage has she taken?
"So when you ask if I can protect you," Reeves said, her voice cutting through their stunned silence, "remember that I'm functionally invincible, and I can hit harder than anyone you've ever met." She looked directly at Seraphine. "Though I doubt that's the real issue here."
The fight seemed to drain out of Seraphine all at once, but Mateo could see the hurt still burning in her eyes.
"Ben volunteered," Reeves said finally, her voice softer but no less firm. "When I told him what the mission was, he volunteered immediately. He said..." She paused, looking directly at Marina. "He said he wanted to protect all of you."
Marina's breath caught. "What?"
"The mission is dangerous. It has the potential to be dangerous than anything we'll face here. But because of his quirk, his resilience, there's a higher chance that he'll be okay protecting what his mission has sent him out to do." Reeves shook her head. "I can't tell you details. But Ben knew the risks, and he chose to go anyway."
Of course he did, Mateo thought, a bitter mix of pride and twisting in his chest. That's exactly what Ben would do.
The air began to warm as Seraphine's quirk deactivated, but she sank into one of the salvaged chairs, looking suddenly small in her flowing costume.
"We didn't even get a chance to say goodbye," Marina whispered.
Reeves suddenly looked far older and more tired than she really was. "Sometimes in this line of work, you don't get goodbyes. There's nothing else we can do but move on and trust that the people we care about can handle themselves."
She straightened, her commander's mask sliding back into place. "But I will tell you one more thing. Don't ever test my authority again. I've been far too lenient with you guys. Don't make me regret that."
Seraphine visibly gulped as Reeves put her hands behind her back and addressed the rest of them normally.
"Now that that's all settled, we need to scout the area before nightfall. The sun's already getting low, and I want to know what we're dealing with out there."
She gestured to the group. "Three teams. B-1: Switch, Zeke, Maya. B-2: Alex, Mateo, Henrik, Akira. B-3: Marina, Amara, Seraphine." She paused, looking at Anon. "Anon stays with me. We need to strategize and analyze the intelligence you bring back."
Anon nodded, already pulling out his tablet. "I'll create a tactical assessment matrix while you're out."
"Each team takes a different sector," Reeves continued, pulling out a hand-drawn map of the area. "B-1 takes the northeast residential area around the Grand Maison Apartment complex. B-3 takes the industrial sector to the south, next to the Pivot bank. B-2..." She looked at Mateo's team. "You get the western commercial district, next to the Bordeaux Strip mall."
Mateo's heart sank slightly. The western commercial district. That was where he used to live.
"Radio check every thirty minutes. If you encounter hostiles, retreat and report. Do not engage unless absolutely necessary. We're gathering intelligence, not starting fights."
Marina hesitated as they prepared to leave, glancing back at Seraphine. "Sera, are you—"
"I'm fine," Seraphine said quickly, but her voice was still shaky. "Just... be careful out there."
"You too," Marina said softly.
Henrik was already walking toward the exit, apparently unbothered by the lingering tension. Alex bounced on her feet, clearly eager to get moving, while Akira shot a concerned look at Seraphine.
"So much for stealth," Switch muttered, unconsciously flicking his knife in his hand as the eleven of them left the newly converted City hall. The gunshot sound and punch had to have been heard outside the hall, alerting villains of their presence, if they were truly out here.
They had already assembled into groups, Mateo with Alex, Akira and Henrik, Switch with Inferno and Maya, Anon now absent, Seraphine with Marina and Amara trying to catch up with her to see if she was alright.
"You didn't have to be so rude," Akira chastised Henrik, Dong, still in snake form, hissing reproachfully at Henrik.
Henrik scoffed. "You know I'm telling the truth. We all know the risks and we still came here."
"Doesn't mean we have to like it," Alex said, but there was an edge to her usual enthusiasm. "Some things are worth getting upset about."
Dong shot Henrik a mock bite and he slapped it away, but Akira let it go while Alex bounded energetically in front of them, finally out of the hideout.
She's excited about the possibility of a fight, Mateo realized, watching Alex's eager movements. Of course she is.
Mateo tried turning the circular mechanism on his earpiece, the one Reeves had handed to them earlier.
"Put them on like this," She had said, wearing it on her ear, the receiver part going inside while the main device extended so the sender part reached her mouth. "Once you tune to the general frequency, you'll be able to hear everyone else."
Finally, the static in Mateo's ear cleared up and he could hear voices on the other side. "Hello?"
"Mateo?" A deep voice called from the other side. Inferno.
"Affirmative," He said with a small grin. They worked.
"I was getting tired being cooped up in that place," Alex raked, twisting her neck as they made cracking noises. "Let's hope we can find a villain and teach them a lesson."
"Let's hope we don't," Akira muttered, but not loudly enough for the comm to pick up.
Akira ran after Alex so she didn't get too far away while Mateo and Henrik took a slower pace, eyes roving around for discrepancies.
Even still, Mateo couldn't help but wonder what happened to Seraphine to make her so angry for Ben leaving.