“Make the call.”

Lay Mis gives the command to Curl to contact Odem to give him a status update on the mission. Considering everything that has transpired in the last few hours, Curl, who currently has a series of bandages wrapped around his face––in fact, they all have bandages wrapped around their faces and then some, with Lay Mis showcasing the least of the team’s collective bruises––stares at his superior officer before kissing his teeth and doing what she says.

“Fine,” he says after a long pause, and pushes a button on the large console in front of him. No sooner than he presses a button does someone pop up on the screen in front of them. The person not Odem, but instead, his younger sister––Seren.

“PHADSYN, report. What’s the status of the target?” Seren asks the moment she enters the video feed.

“Oh. Hello, Seren,” Curl responds, taking extra care to warmly greet her, much of this having to do with the fact that he naturally fears her. “I was trying to contact Odem, I think I might’ve dialed the wrong num …”

“Curl, report. What is the status of the target?” she asks again, this time much more emphatically. Her directness quickly reminds Curl of his familiar fear.

“Oh. Uh, who the target … oh, the target’s fine, man. Man, you ain’t even got to ask about the target. The target’s fine,” he says aloud before trailing off in a mumble. “Uh, hey, is it possible that you can put your brother on …”

“Fine? What do you mean, fine?” she snaps.

“… so that I can speak to him? I wanna ask him if––” he continues, ignoring her question.