After a few minutes, the ghost ship reached a rather classy but not ostentatious apartment.
"Keep them alive, Boo." Varian pointed to the white room.
"No probs," Boo assured.
Then Varian dropped in in an alley close to the neighborhood and stepped on the Valos City for the first time.
By now, he was already wearing the face mask treasure Enigma presented him. His features went from handsome to ordinary, yet his temperament was hard to conceal.
Even though he didn't try to, he attracted attention as he made his way towards the apartment.
The automated neighborhood security was taken care of by Boo and he was standing in front of the apartment in a minute.
Varian tapped his comm and clicked on the final file recently sent by Enigma herself.
He found it odd that she was following this relatively small mission, but perhaps it was because of Sia.
{This is your first mission. If it was anyone else, I'd have said 'I don't expect much from you, just don't screw over.'
But since it's you, show me what you can do.
This is the contact of your partner for the mission: Y7-2387A(OP)}
'Is that a challenge?' Varian's lips twitched.
Why was she making him sound like a monster? He's just an ordinary 18-year-old guy, okay?
Varian contacted the 'partner' and waited. Even though he disliked working with people, he decided not to make a fuss out of it now.
Right from his position, Varian could see a slum outside the neighborhood walls.
Earth also had poor people. But this was just at another level.
'How are people even living here? What the fuck is the governme—'
"I thought I had to pick you up at the spaceport." A crispy voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
Varian looked up and saw a red-haired woman smiling at him. She looked to be a year old two older than him and was dressed in a red shirt and black shorts.
His comm notified a message.
{Code Agent: X82-s7as. Identify yourself.}
After he saw the message, Varian felt that the air turned heavy. There was also a killing intent locked onto him.
Varian didn't feel pressurized by the little killing intent but watched the woman curiously.
Even though she was still smiling, she was ready to strike at him and take him down the moment he was proved not to be one of them.
'Is this the life of an agent?'
{S001-X23.}
He sent the message and the tension dissipated as if it never appeared. The redhead flashed a little smile and gestured him into the building.
Varian followed without a word and they entered what he presumed to be her flat.
The living room was rather simple.
Two couches. A table. A HoloTV.
"You like white?" The woman gestured him to be seated and asked.
"Hm?" Varian sat down and arched a brow. Only then did he realize that he was wearing white clothes in contrast to her black and red.
Enigma always wore all black.
Was he naturally against the fashion code of Shadow Guardians?
"I didn't think you had a dress code." Varian shrugged.
"There's. And it's we." She corrected and crossed her legs. "New recruit?"
"Uh-oh." Varian nodded and noticed that aura was slowly being effused from one of the rooms.
Though not one of high quality, it did indicate that this woman had an aura concentration formation.
So, she's either rich or talented and in a good position.
While Varian was assessing her, the woman gripped the couch and resisted the urge to facepalm.
She looked at him again, this time, with more of a commanding air, and said. "I'm Edwina. You can call me my name in public and in private, refer to me as mam."
"Yeah, Edwina."
"You're a newbie. If you want to learn the ropes of the business, respect your seniors." She narrowed her eyes and snapped her fingers.
The aura suddenly turned chaotic and locked onto Varian, trying to suffocate him. She wanted to assert dominance and establish a hierarchy.
"Respect…" Varian leaned back into the couch carefreely and snapped his fingers.
Boom!
The aura lock on him was blown away resulting in a fierce wind that nearly flipped the table.
Edwina stood up instinctually and gawked at him.
"Respect should be earned. And Edwina, my respect is very pricey."
"Y-You're a level 6?! What the fuck?!" She pointed at him with wide eyes.
"….is that weird?" Varian was honestly confused. There were many, many level 6s in Shadow Order. Shadow Guardians must also have a sizable portion of them.
"No…I was told that you are still young. Not even 20." Edwina sat back on the couch and took deep breaths.
After massaging her temples, she put on a normal expression and waved her hand.
"I saw many newbies die due to recklessness. They think they can do whatever they want once they joined the organization.
I just wanted to make sure you aren't—"
"It's alright." Varian raised his hand and cut her off. "I understand the good intentions behind your actions."
Perhaps she was honest. Perhaps she wasn't.
Varian wasn't really interested to find out.
"That's for the best." She nodded and acted like the previous gaffe never happened.
She wasn't scared of him though. As a peak level 6 at a meager age of 23, she had her pride.
It's just, she didn't want to deteriorate their relationship incase it led to mission failure.
"You were added to the mission at the last moment and I was honestly surprised. But anyway, these are the details." She said and swiped her comm.
A hologram popped up in front of Varian displaying the image of a teenage girl with pink hair.
She wore a casual outfit and flashed a rather arrogant smile at the camera.
{Betty.
Age 19.
Second year cadet of Miracle Academy.
Only daughter of Colin—one of the level 8s in the military zone and a high level officer.
Target came under the surveillance of unknown groups. Following the cases of other cities, there's a 95% chance she'll kidnapped.
Join the academy as a second year cadet, gain her trust and prevent the kidnap.}
Varian read the message twice and exhaled exaggeratedly.
"Bitch please. I'm not doing this."
And just like that, Varian's mind started formulating another plan to finish the mission without following the instructions.
