“Alright, looking good.”

Xander ran his hand through his hair as he looked in the mirror, his favourite song playing in the background. Slicked back hair too formal? Possibly. He messed his hair up again to start over. Messy look might be best considering he hasn’t had time to shave lately. Better off to just call Tsuki.

He flipped his phone open and punched the number in. It didn’t take long for her to pick up.

“Heyy, Tsuki.” He asked casually. “Any good shows lately?”

“Devils Crown is pretty good.” She replied, sounding tired on the other end.

“Ah, right.” Xander nodded. “Heard of it. Who’s acting in it again?”

“Miles Parker and Jenny Alison.”

“They hot?”

“Very.”

“Alright, I’ll get the show ready for the date. In front of the White Clash, right?”

“Yeah. See you then.” She hung up first, leaving Xander to look up what Miles Parker looked like. He typed it into his computer and found he had the overall same vibe as him. Tired eyes and unkempt hair, only the actors hair was a little shorter. Nothing a quick haircut couldn’t fix, but he looked fine for now. He put on his only clean red hoodie, adding a blue tie for that extra professional vibe. And just as he was about to leave, he got a notification on his computer. Max volume.

Higher ups were talking.

He checked, and the only thing said was ‘URGENT: you must appear before Chelic as soon as possible.’

Damn it. He opened his phone and texted Tsuki.

‘You still on the top ship?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Gotta talk about the project. I’ll meet you there.’

He left his room and went to the ladder which led to the poorly cut out hole in the next defunct airship in the pile. He was only on layer three of fifteen of the cluster. Roughly half the size of a grand, but made up of defunct airships the New Legion managed to capture, which were then hollowed out with means to get around added later. What mattered was that he wasn’t going to be sweating by the time he ran into Tsuki. He got to the top, where Tsuki was waiting.

She was dressed casually for the date. Jet black hair that went down to her shoulders accompanied by a black wide brim hat. She wore an oversized leather jacket in a washed out pink which covered a light blue shirt saying ‘ShiShi finest’ in joint handwriting. The look was topped off with a white skirt and platform shoes that made her almost match Xander's lanky frame up close.

“Woah.” Xander said when he approached her. She responded with a peck on the cheek and a hug.

“You make those yourself?” He asked, making his way to the door of Chelic.

“I came up with the design myself, but one of the other girls sown it for me. Anyway, you ready for the date? You…definitely seem dressed for it.”

“Should be, but I gotta talk to Chelic first. Apparently it’s urgent."

The two stopped at the door of Chelic. It was called that due to being twice the size of every other door in the building and having ‘CHELIC’ written across it in giant red letters. Xander rang the doorbell next to it, and a voice came from above.

“Who is this?” A voice asked calmly. One that wasn’t Chelic, anyway.

“Hey, it’s Xander. I was told to come here urgently.”

“Ah, yes. That was scheduled. Come in, please.”

Xander and Tsuki did as instructed, opening the door. Behind it was a grand room with long couches that lined both red walls of the area. There were three wooden steps which had the leather chair Chelic was usually sat in at the top. At the bottom of the stairs was a young man in a suit and slicked back brown hair.

“Ah, Tsuki.” The man in the room said with a smile on his face. “Love the new outfit.”

“Thanks, Marcus.” Tsuki nodded. “This is the guy who talks when Chelic is busy.”

“Damn, I was really hoping to see the guy.” Xander mumbled with a head scratch.

“And you’re mister Xander.” Marcus replied calmly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I have been given permission to discuss your recent actions.”

“Lay it on me.” Xander sighed.

“I will, yes.” Marcus said, observing a monitor next to him built into a wall. “It says here that you were asked to build a security system. When Chelic asked this of you, you were expected to build something along the lines of a laser grid, or perhaps an alarm system that would trigger upon unknown aircraft entering.”

“What’s wrong with what I built?” Xander asked.

“You built a giant mechanical dragon instead.” Marcus replied calmly.

“And what’s the issue with that? If a giant dragon was circling a place, would you go there?”

“There seem to be various issues.” Marcus sighed, glancing at the monitor. “For one, the dragon can only be in one area at a time and doesn’t seem to be fast enough to react to threats approaching from another angle. And the second issue, an actual dragon could appear and try to fight it, causing collateral damage to the cluster.”

“Okay, for the second issue, dragons don’t usually appear at this altitude. Not enough to fight another dragon for long enough to deal any real damage, anyway. And as for the first issue, nobody is gonna attack us. It’s been what, fifteen years since you guys started this? And the Lux Congregation has done basically nothing important.”

“Yes, but we do have a relic weapon now, which brings me to my next point.”

“Wait, we have a relic now? Shit, I probably do need to make an actual system.” Xander muttered under his breath.

“If I may continue.” Marcus said calmly. “You will not be present for the next step aboard the cluster. You will be out on the field.”

“Excuse me?” Xander asked. “I’m one of the lowest ranked here in terms of combat potential, are you insane?”

“Xander, your low combat potential is precisely why you’re perfect for this role. Under this, your role will be to scout out areas where it’s suspected the relic weapons will be and report them to us in order to get a fighting force to claim them. In fact, we have a partner ready to assist you.”

Just as it was announced, a knock was heard at the door. Marcus gave them permission to come in. A girl walked through it, with brown skin and a black turtleneck. Smelling like dried blood.

“Apologies for the smell, I didn’t have time to wash before I came here.”

She walked up to Xander, eyeing him up and down, before looking over at Marcus.

“Is this who I’m working with?”

“And the girl.” Xander said, pointing towards Tsuki.

“She’s not in the plans.” Marcus said calmly. “But I feel I should put in a word. The emotional distress would be too much to bear should you be separated, and I feel your role aboard the cluster could be easily replicated.”

“With all due respect, Sir Marcus, I don’t think she’ll be necessary.” The new girl replied quickly. “The emotional attachments between the two seem like they could clash with the mission. Besides, we have me as a scout and fighter and Xander for any technical issues that could arise, so I feel she’ll just end up dead weight.”

“Not really.” Tsuki replied calmly. “I’m a wielder. Really hurts to use, but it’s pretty strong.”

“Is this true, Marcus?” The girl asked.

“It appears it is.” Marcus nodded. “Although she hasn’t used it enough to warrant a classification, it’s the sole reason she’s ranked as high as she is.”

“And that rank would be?”

“Let me see…three hundred and one.”

The girl looked over at Tsuki. “You seem capable enough if that’s your rank. I retract my issues with you, welcome to the team. And in case you don’t know, my name is Priyanka.”

“It’s Tsuki.” Tsuki replied.

“I’ll commit it to memory.” Priyanka nodded calmly. “But that leaves the question, Marcus. What’s our first operation?”

“Well, if we scout out the one from the Miracle Scouting Group, then they’ll most likely be approaching the Saoloro grand, the home of the Bow of Life. Therefore, your mission will be to retrieve it before the Miracle Group can gain a second weapon.”

“I can assure you; we will succeed in retrieving the weapon.” Priyanka said aloud with enough confidence to shake the chair in the back.

“Excellent.” Marcus replied. “Now, we have an airship in the hangar that’ll fit in while you’re in Saoloro. I wish you the best of luck on your journey.”