Later in the afternoon, the sunlight shines into a room made of fine polished cherry wood. The whole room itself bathed in its warm glow from a lone window. A pile of red cushions were stacked in the corner with a stone coffee table at the centre. Along the walls were calligraphy paintings of nature depicting a different environment.

Two men sat next to an empty cushion by the table bored. The man on the left towered over everyone else. He wore a formal black suit with a white dress shirt underneath. However, the sleeves had been cut off and his bulking pecs stretched the suit. The man on the right wore a sandy-coloured suit with a white dress shirt and a napkin tucked in his pocket. He wore black gloves with white fingertips and his glasses hung off the dress shirt. Across the table was another man who was admiring the paintings.

The two men looked at each other trying to decide what to do. The left man spoke loudly with a Spanish accent. “Yusef! Where's he?”

The man on the right named Yusef replied lazily to the question. “So loud. Probably occupied.” He looked over at the man in front of him. Similarly, he wore a navy blue suit with a white dress shirt. His body was slim and his hair was tied into a short ponytail. Unlike them, he had a bandana with swirls tied around his neck. “Archie? Want to keep waiting?”

The thin man named Archie replied, “I can. I don't have anything to do today.”

The large man responds, “That's good. We don't want to hold you up if you need to do something. But...” His voice gradually gets louder the longer he talked. “We're busy as leaders. Yusef could've another case on his table. Or, or, one of my juniors could be in trouble!”

Yusef interrupts before he raised his voice any more with a tired groan. “Calm down Sal. They can do it. If there's a problem, they know where to find us.” He looks out the window as he talks.

“But what if a new case comes in suddenly? Or my team is bumbling around trying to organize for disaster control?” The large man had grabbed Yusef's shoulder and stared intensely into his eyes with urgency. Unfazed, he dozes off with very little interest.

Archie cuts in, “Mr.Salvador? His hand raises slightly as he says it.

“Just call me Sal,” the large man named Salvador replies.

“Salvador?” Salvador held in his dissatisfaction as he lets go. ”What do you do? I know Yusef is the lead detective and you are the community leader.”

Salvador sits back down and scratches his head. “Hmm. You know my title but you aren't sure what it means as a department. Let's see. We take care of citizens in domestic matters. We ensure safety in emergencies and fulfill requests which improves the city. We're a part of disaster control and border control. And we train recruits in field work in between their office work training.”

“Wait, disaster control?” Archie looks at Salvador shocked. It was the first time Archie heard about it.

“You know how it is. Sometimes people don't come quietly. So we support the police in evacuation. During reconstruction, we're here to make sure everyone affected gets necessities, and a roof over their heads. Expenses paid, of course.”

“So much...” Archie was struggling to take in the explanation. He squinted and his forehead wrinkled slightly.

Yusef shakes his head at Salvador and steps in. “What Sal means is that he is the people's mother. They need help with something, he and his team takes care of it.” Archie's face lit up as he looked at Yusef and nodded at him.

“What he said.” Salvador pointed at Yusef.

“You could've said that to begin with,” Yusef added.

“Thought I would explain it properly.”

“I think you confused Archie.” He lets out a sigh as he slouches onto the table.

Archie asked, “Salvador?”

“Just call me Sal, Archie,” Salvador says with a lecturing tone.

“Salvador?” Salvador gave up trying to convince Archie otherwise. “How do you manage it all?”

“A good team of course.” Yusef squints at Salvador. “What?”

Yusef says, “You mean your charisma. Can't have good team without good leadership.”

“But one person can't do much by themselves.” Salvador looked at the two disappointed. “You two thought of Mr.Jin, didn't you? Compared to someone like him, I still got ways to go”

“Being a department leader is no easy feat.” Archie nods in silence. “Speaking of.” Just as Yusef says that, Jin enters the room with a large briefcase. He walks towards the empty cushion and sits down quickly.

Jin looks around at the three men. “Sorry about being late. I hope none of you were uncomfortable waiting.” He opens the briefcase, and takes out a stack of cue cards and a pen before closing it.

Yusef sits up and replies, “Don't worry sir. We're just passing time.”

“Good.” He leaves the suitcase on the table and looks at Yusef. “I gave your team an assignment. You can ask Tim later for the details.”

“Yes boss.”

Jin turns to Archie. “Let's start. Archie Shabar. You are here today for the final test of your promotion exam. Salvador will narrate past incidents for you to roleplay through while Yusef and I act as judge and dungeon master respectively. Any questions?”

“No sir.” Archie responded quickly.

“Are you ready?”

Archie takes a big gulp. Sweat dripped down his face. “Yes sir,” Archie exclaimed.

Jin nods to Salvador to take over. He clears his throat and stares into Archie's eyes. A wave of pressure seems to crush Archie. His stern gaze and overwhelming presence made him wonder if this person was the same Salvador he was talking to before. “Archie,” Salvador states.

“Yes!” Archie yells the response out of fear. Yusef was unfazed by the sudden noise and closes one of his eyes lazily.

“As we discussed, I am the mother for the people. Your trials are based on my department's previous missions. Are you ready?”

“Yes sir.” Salvador gave an approving smile towards Archie's quick response.

“Let's start with something common. You happen upon a dispute between two people while you are on patrol with one of my juniors. The junior confirms with the database that both have offensive-based scientific Affinities. Neither have used their Affinity yet, but both are threatening to do so. What do you do?”

“Park the car nearby, and approach the two with the junior.”

Jin writes something and passes the cue card to Salvador. “Neither have noticed you yet.” The cue card is returned face down to Jin.

“Greet them and ask if everything is alright,” Archie says immediately.

“Tell me what you would say to them.”

“Hello. Is there something wrong?” Jin slips another card to Salvador which he glances quickly.

Salvador narrates, “Person 1. Get the f@#% out. It's none of your business. What is your response?”

“Woah there. Just asking if everything is alright.”

“Person 2. We're fine. Just get out.” Archie spends a while to think but Salvador intervenes. “In a normal situation, you don't have time to pause and think of your next steps. You must have an effective response ready to avoid drawing out the situation.”

Archie looks at Salvador. “Can I examine both of them? Face and hands,” Yusef shuffles around on his cushion. Jin gives another cue card to Salvador.

Salvador says, “You see Person 2 has an earring on their right ear, and a bandaged right hand. Person 1 has a bandana on their head. Both have dark hands.”

Archie replies, “Did you lose something?” Yusef's eyebrow twitch to the answer.

“Person 1 and 2 look at each other. Person 2. How you know?”

“An earring is missing on your other ear. I thought you might have been looking for it around here.”

“Okay. We'll end it here.” Jin puts down his pencil while Salvador stretched and let out a deep sigh.

“How did I do?” Archie looks at Yusef who remained indifferent.

Yusef replied, “Good. Quick thinking and good priorities. However, your approach was too friendly for the situation. Good intentions and sincerity could be misinterpreted.”

“I'll try to be more careful in the future.”

“I mean to judge the situation more closely in the future.” Archie nods. Yusef continues, “Sir?” He looked at Jin for a response.

Jin gazes into Archie's eyes and thinks of the next test. “Salvador. Give him one more. A disaster.”

“Yes Mr.Jin.” Salvador took his time to concentrate. He pulls up a coin from his pocket and flicks into the air repeatedly. The coin makes a pleasant ping each time. Soon, he catches the coin and places it on the table. “Are you ready Archie?”

“Ready,” Archie says confidently.

Salvador starts to narrate quickly. “A bomb alert is sent out in factory district 9. Mr.Jin has tasked you and a small group to escort locals to the Lion's Mane Hotel. Vehicles are unavailable right now because of an Empowered's EMP so your only option is to go by foot. One person goes hysteric mid-escort and tries to run away. You are the closest to him. What do you do?”

“Stop him and ask why he's running back”, Archie says immediately. Yusef and Jin watch him carefully.

“My stove. It's on! My house will burn down!”

“Who is helping me with escorting?” Archie responds immediately.

“Eight juniors and nine seniors. Respond what you would say to him.”

“Calm down sir. I'll send someone over. Just tell me where you live.”

“My house! My house! I need to go back!!” Salvador raves as if he became another person.

“I'm sorry but you can't go. Tell me where you live and I can send someone to turn it off for you.” Yusef quietly writes despite his face slowly looking more tired and uninterested.

“The person pushes you to the side and runs away.”

“Order a senior to follow him. I would continue to escort the main group while letting whoever is on scene know that a civilian is running back into the danger zone.”

“That ends the simulation.” Salvador straighten himself in his seat.

“How did I do?” Archie asked nervously.

“Passable.” Salvador scratches his head.”

“Passable? Why?”

Yusef continues, “You made a mistake.” Archie squints as he walked through the scenario in his mind. He thought carefully about what was spoken. After a minute his eyes grew wide.

Archie speaks slowly. “Wait, the man was lying.”

Yusef continues, “Correct.” Yusef puts down his pen. “Factory Districts don't have any residential buildings.”

Salvador continues when Yusef finishes talking. “You did send a senior rather than a junior after him, so they would notice the issue sooner or later.”

Jin could see the fear in Archie's eyes as he awaited the final verdict. Without any hesitation, Jin announces, “Congratulations Archie, you passed.” Jin tosses him a leather holder. Archie curiously opens up the cover and sees a platinum badge inside. It was in the shape of a shield and engraved in the middle were the letters, SDA, and along the top, the word LEIUTENANT. “As agreed, your wage will go up and you will be transferred to my department. Your day starts early morning tomorrow. Take the rest of the day off to celebrate.” Archie smiles and thanks everyone. He brings the cushion to the corner and leaves the room.

Jin opens the briefcase. Unknown to Archie, inside the briefcase was a laptop that recorded the whole interview. There was a large screen in the top half that filled most of the case. Below it, there was a lie detector, a heat monitor, and an x-ray video. All three look over the recording.

Salvador asked, “Do you think he'll be fine? He's too naive.”

Yusef replies, “You mean optimistic? He looks out for everyone and tries to resolve conflict.”

“But they won't see that, especially the media. Heck, they are only warming up to police now because most of the negative press is on us.” Salvador pauses and takes a deep breath. He lies down on the floor and stares at the ceiling. “You know how many request we get each month? 3. And it's all sent to your department.”

“At least we get a chance. Nobody would say it, but people do appreciate what you do despite the criticisms.”

Salvador looks at him. “But it won't mean anything if the media keeps undoing our work.”

Yusef looks at Salvador with a lazy gaze. “So pessimistic.” The conversation stops before Yusef continues. “It's not about the credit, it's about doing a good deed for the people. That's what your department is about, right?”

Salvador grumbles. “But we need people to know about our contributions. Look at the community farms last month. Accessibility to free food would help the city as a whole. But very few are even aware they exist.”

Jin finally talks after finishing the recording. “The media won't report those. Writing about damages and blunders by us is what people want. We get into those weekly so it isn't hard either. And the public won't know any more than that.”

Yusef lets out a defeated sigh and says. “A cycle of fear and greed. Not everyone buys it though. Word of mouth goes around, thanks to you Sal.”

Salvador rebuttals, “It's not me. It's the citizens you should be thanking.” Salvador remembered something and asked, “Say, didn't we step in before? A news company in the city exaggerating an incident a month ago? What happened to them?”

“Disbanded,” Jin calmly replies. He collects all of the papers scattered on the table and puts them back into the briefcase. “A news company that lies has no need to exist.”

“Didn't know we can shutdown a company,” Salvador inquired.

“FERB did that.”

Salvador crosses his arm at the thought of them. “FERB? Those watchdogs.”

“International watchdogs,” Jin corrected. The suitcase closes and makes a loud click.

“What is it they do? Never heard of them until I came to the city myself.”

“They investigate and punish rule breakers. But FERB isn't a secret, they just operate quietly. Sometimes, their members are mistakenly for the SDA.”

“They're too extreme if you ask me. I bumped into them once during a request.” Salvador shuddered at the thought. “A minotaur throwing three people into a truck with soldiers around. I didn't see a symbol or anything and everyone around was scared. I even called you and you said it wasn't a problem.” He felt a headache come over him as he continues. “Then the whole company was shut down and another article came out the next day blaming us for it.”

Yusef stops the conversation, “Back to topic, will Archie be fine?” Salvador snaps out of his disbelief and nods. “Then I think our boss wants to get back to work now.”

Jin concludes, “You're right. Yusef, Salvador. Enjoy the rest of your day.”