The male who was thrown stood up in front of us and dusted himself off. He wore the same uniform, hence the Black Wolves jacket. The only difference was that he sported black leather pants and a distinct mask over his face that was almost mech-like; it covered his facial features entirely, leaving no skin to be shown from behind it.
His hair was a bit long and shot out behind him like spikes waterfalling down and was a grungy gray color. The rest of his skin was covered in a skintight black that sheened and appeared to be metal wrapped all around him. The colors of his mask were a combination of red and white, layered on the edges of it, and the eyes of it shone red, glowing digitally as if being projected off a screen. He glowered at the woman from inside the Wolves Den.
But, as if forgetting and then remembering something important, the male quickly whipped around, "Captain Greed! Vice Captain Code! Second Executive Ra—"
"Would you can it, Brand. We don't need your damn introductions!" Code snapped at him irritably. "And what the hell are you two doing? I step outside for just a moment and the two of you are already trashing the place!"
"I'm deeply sorry, sir! I'm deeply sorry, sir! I-I-I-I'm deeply sorry, sir!" the male—Brand—replied, repeating himself over and over like he was glitching. Bowing stiffly each time. His voice was like human and robot.
"Ugh… okay, okay!" Code said, facepalming.
"And you over there, you crazy bit—"
"HAHAHAHA, you wanna go again, you weakling! I'll pummel you into oblivion!" the sinister female voice interjected from inside the Den through the open double doors. Her voice was light and carried a rippling tone. She was like some barbarian princess talking down to her subjects.
She finally stepped out from inside the castle and onto the dirt path. Unlike the rest of us, she was not wearing a Black Wolves jacket. Instead, she only wore a white cropped tank top, exposing her petite and toned waist, pink short shorts, and was barefoot. Her long, pink hair stopped right at her butt, and she was slender—shapely as she sashayed dramatically into the gleaming sunlight, revealing herself at last.
Her fingernails and toenails were painted a dark maroon red, matching her ferocity, and one unique feature she had were the dark gray—almost black—horns on her head. They were small but curled, with the sharp part ending upward to the front of her as they flashed from the sun's rays, obviously having just been polished, perched nicely over her long pink hair like a crown.
Code ground his teeth and held a fist up in front of him, silently cursing at her all the while and doing his best to hold his composure.
"Please, Captain, if I may…" Brand politely asked, facing me now.
I looked at him and then to the girl who stepped out silently, then responded, "You know what I'm gonna say. If you two are gonna fight, do it outside. And well, you're already out here, so might as well."
"Of course… Then it is settled," Brand confirmed, not thinking twice as he locked in his stance. He positioned himself in a fighting form, starting from his right fist and then reeling it back slowly, locking it in place next to the right side of his metallic face, clinking it as he did. His left fist in front and right fist just behind it, legs squatted, ready.
Brand was a cyborg for lack of better explanation. That was about all I knew about him. I'm a horrible captain.
The girl ahead of him, in turn, merely hopped on her feet a couple times before they both dashed toward each other at what seemed like sonic speed.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Wait, wait, wait!" Havoc panicked, still between the two of them, scrambling to get up from the ground.
Right then, as if in slow motion, the three of them met. The world became so much slower to this pink-haired girl and cyborg. With the girl's left foot down and right hook ready, Brand, at the same time, went for a direct right jab. Havoc was caught in between the two wickedly fast anomalies, trying to get away with tears flying out from his eyes—a comedic scene. And they all met.
You could have seen their fists slice a drop of water between them. In this case, it was Havoc's sweat and tears.
But then, like a child who was quickly distracted, the girl swiftly withdrew, casually dodging Brand's attack as if it was nothing. Eyes closed and holding a cheerful expression, she passed by him, noticing something else beyond him that grabbed her attention more than the current situation at hand. As the expression on her face changed, so did the mood. She was no longer menacing or aggressive as she darted toward my direction.
Back in normal speed, as if the world finally caught up to the two, the situation concluded anticlimactically when she finally arrived.
"Teddy!" the girl said lovingly as she crashed into me, wrapping her arms around my neck, spinning us both. Her grip was so tight, I could have passed out from it.
She rubbed her head on mine and made purring, feline sounds.
"St-ar… pl-ease… I can't…" I choked.
She gasped sharply. "Teddy! You okay? What's the matter?! Who did this to you?! Where are they? I will kill them!!" she said as she loosened her grip and started shaking me back and forth.
Then off yourself, the rest of them thought as they watched this comedy of a situation unfold.
I finally got a hold of myself. "Star, babe…" I said to her calmly, my shark-like teeth faintly revealing themselves to her, hinting at an unspoken, underlying dominance.
"Yes, Teddy?" she behaved.
"What's the purpose of your guys' fight?"
She was silent. Like a pet that trashed the house when its owner came back home.
"He… He took my last choco bar!!!" She pouted.
When I glanced over to Code's face it was utter disdain. Ophelia cackled. Brand's screen of a face was bland. And Havoc was barely getting up, looking like he just survived a near-death experience.
I sighed and reached into my jacket to get something. I pulled out a choco bar from the inner pockets, and Star's face glowed. Her eyes sparkled as she gasped excitedly.
"CHOCO BAR!!" she shouted happily, snatching it from my hand.
I had gotten it from LeHarla at a vendor near the outskirts of town before we'd left. Choco bars, unlike any other goods, didn't melt and didn't expire for a very long time. They were infused with mana to make them so, which were a great snack on the road. Ironically, they were only sold outside of the Kingdom, so it became a ritual of sorts after every overnight mission to get these for her. She loved them to a fault. They were somewhat... nostalgic to her.
"I got more. Here," I said to her, pulling out more choco bars. "Save them. Don't eat them all in one sitting. Save that appetite for me later."
Tears of joy ran down her face as she ate the first one and gathered the rest into her small shirt.
"You spoil her too much. It's no wonder she's out of control." Code commented.
"What can I say? She's cute."
"Is that the only reason you let her act the way she does!?"
"Yeah."
"No shame as usual," Code said, shaking his head.
I shrugged at him and crouched down to pat Star's head. She seemed to have turned smaller as she munched on her choco bar, sitting there on the ground in front of me.
"So, how much was your take-home from the mission? That was a pretty good reward for slaying that Grade 3, yeah?" Code added.
I winced and said, "Well… we had to accommodate for some… damages…"
"By the Keeper, of course you did. Why am I not surprised?" he replied.
"And then there were some fines and fees from the locals…"
Code silent now, waited for more.
I couldn't tell the expression on his face, so I continued, "And then the W.M.A. fined me for resisting arrest or some bullshit like that…"
"YOU GOT ARRESTED?" He boiled.
I nodded nervously, and his ears steamed.
"Ryo bailed me out, don't worry."
"I don't care about that, what does that leave you??" he spouted, only caring about the eterna.
We did the math, and I handed him what was left of the earnings…
"Fifty fucking—wait… You said fifty eterna. Why is this only twenty?" Code interrogated, counting it over and over, hoping he was just counting wrong, even though he knew he wasn't.
He then looked at Star and her clump of choco bars that she was carrying in her shirt.
He put an arm around me gently, and a blank smile formed on his face. "Are you shitting me right now?" He turned his head to me, his voice seething as his necked seemed to creak. He took up an almost demonic form, and I began sweating profusely.
At this moment, I was mentally checked out. Code choked me in a headlock and let me have it, "TWENTY FUCKING ETERNA FROM A FIVE-THOUSAND ETERNA REWARD. YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING RIDICULOUS THAT SOUNDS WHEN I SAY IT OUT LOUD? AND THEN YOU GO BUY FUCKING CHOCO BARS FOR THIS LUNATIC. YOU KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE CHOCO BARS ARE? I KNEW YOU WERE A DUMBASS, BUT ARE YOU JUST GETTING DUMBER EACH DAY? DO I HAVE TO BABYSIT ALL OF YOU?"
Code was usually the most level-headed and cool-toned out of us all. Even in battle, he never once let his adversaries get the better of him. His IQ was about 200, or something like that. Incredibly smart and collected.
But it seemed the only thing that could get under his skin, ironically, was all of us.
Me especially.
We were met by barking from a large wolfdog. The wolfdog's fur was gray, with the tips of its fur a blueish tint. Her back alone was about five-foot-eleven—as tall as Havoc. And she had a scar on her face. She went by the name of Yuna, and she was the Black Wolves' shared pet.
Her barks were more like howls as she ran around us, thinking we were all bantering playfully.
The lot of us continued on inside our edgy, metal steampunk of a castle we called a home. Code proceeded to rant to all of us at once now—we were all his problem. When we made our way to the dining hall, he unequivocally made us breakfast still. The arguments turned into actual banter together, and the rest of the day went on as easy as it started... minus being vomited on this morning...
To others, this would have seemed dysfunctional or stressful, but to me… I couldn't have asked for a better good morning.
Meet the crew. We all have a few screws loose.