The Zeta Squad had done it again! They came out of the Seear’s Hall amidst a huge cheer. A crowd of Martial Artists and civilians had gathered to celebrate their most recent achievement – capturing of the White Bolt.

“Well done, Zeta Squad!”

“All hail the Zeta squad!”

“Long live the defenders!”

“Long live The Eye!”

These were just some of the chants from the crowd.

Hugo, with a smile and a bowed head, led the squad through, occasionally shaking an extended hand. Camille and Neil followed in kind. The others, led by Marcus and Ella, were not shying away from indulging with the enthusiastic people. They were signing autographs, telling stories of their grand chase, and gladly accepting gifts only to be scolded by the captain later.

As the cheers slowly faded and the crowd dispersed, the adrenaline of victory gave way to the quiet pull of routine. The squad, still riding the high of success, drifted off toward their own corners of the city. Hugo went to the Martial Artists’ hostels built just outside the Nobels’ Academy. He had been occupying a corner room there for years and acted as the warden whenever he was not away on a mission. The others went back home to their families. A rest was well deserved.

At 3 in the afternoon, the core members of the squad – Camille, Ella, Gina, Neil, and Marcus, arrived back at the Academy to have lunch together in the cafeteria. They looked for Hugo first. The girls searched through the academy, while the boys went to the hostel, but the captain of the Zeta Squad was nowhere to be found. Giving up half an hour later, they gathered at the cafeteria. As was tradition, they found a table at the north corner and sat together to enjoy their meal.

This quintet was a well knit group. Neil, Ella, and Marcus were of the same age - 23, Camille was 2 years younger, and Gina was 4 years older apart from whom the squad had even spent a lot of time together at academies in the city. And, in a year and a half with the Zeta Squad, they had completed more than a dozen missions together. Whether it was a miscreant to be brought down, a criminal apprehended, or an artifact of value to be procured, the Zeta Squad was fast becoming the go to choice for the Eye. And these 5 young Martial Artists were the stable core of the team. With Ki reserves greater than many Zaatsus, Marcus and Neil were the main powerhouses. Camille, a formidable combatant, served primarily as the spotter of the group. Ella was the resident Mystic, and Gina was the Magicist and expert planner who served as the captain’s right hand. Under the leadership of the experienced and highly revered Zaatsu, Hugo Baylis, this squad of youngsters was considered amongst the best the Eye boasted at the time.

Moreover, all of them except Gina, had trained under Hugo at one point or another during their time at the academies.

They bickered like siblings, covered for each other like lifelong friends, and no matter where they would scatter, they always circled back – many a time, at their usual cafeteria spot.

The trays hit the table with a clatter – a mix of cafeteria staples and questionable choices. As always, Marcus had gone all in.

“Come on Neil! Chicken broth?!” he exclaimed looking at Neil’s plate beside his. “We just bagged the White Bolt! Celebrate for once, man!”

Capable of housing nearly a thousand Martial Artists at a time, this cafeteria consisted of a large kitchen in the centre, with rows of chairs and tables placed all around.

As the others giggled, Neil replied, “True. But if it didn’t change you, why should it change me?”

Marcus chuckled, shook his head, and said, “Ha! Toothpick!”

Everyone laughed and continued eating till Gina brought up the subject of the White Bolt. “Who do you guys think he really is, huh?” she asked. “I mean really, really.”

“He is a scumbag!” Neil quickly replied. “A bounty hunter and a low life!”

Ella chimed in too. “Crazy as it sounds,” she said, “I heard that he is a part of a Cult.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that one too, man,” Marcus said as he spun a spoon over his head. “They say he even led one of them once.”

Camille shook her head. “Seems improbable, don’t you think?” she asked.

“Why?”

“He's too young for that plus, we all know how those Cultists are…”

“Agreeing with Cami on this one,” Neil said with a nod. “People in Cults, especially their senior members, never move without assistance... and he's no senior.”

“So…” Everyone stared at her as Camille took a pause then said, “Let’s just analyse the situation, you guys…”

Marcus and Ella laughed, Gina smiled and shook her head, and Neil just looked down and began eating again. It was a running gag. Ever since she had joined the squad, Hugo would always tease her in a discussion. Since it was a spotter’s job to be good at analysing situations, he would always stop right in the middle of a discussion and say, ‘Let’s just let Cami analyse the situation.’

“Where is Master Baylis when you need him?” Marcus asked laughing.

“Ok, ok, but seriously,” Camille said as she leaned ahead. “Look, he is said to be a bounty hunter who nobody wants to employ because he is more than likely to just run away with the money and never get the job done, right? But if you look at him, he is so freakishly strong that he can go toe to toe with a Zaatsu, even kill one! Then why would he do something so childish like running away with someone's money? Doesn’t make any sense. And who the hell carries a samurai sword?! I’m telling you… there is something awfully suspicious about that dude.”

“And then there’s the Dark Arts Scriptures that he stole,” Gina added.

“Hmm, that too.”

“No one could have employed him for that job. No one even knows where they are.” The Magicist grabbed a napkin and added, “And bounty hunters these days don’t go around on such lengthy search missions anyway.”

“Yeah. With us on their tail, why would they?”

Marcus raised his hand and said, “Yo! What about that sword?”

“What about it?” Camille asked.

“Yeah… so… he broke mine. And we are supposed to have the best ones in the world. Nobody, no outfit got swords like ours.”

Camille tried to respond, but before she could, Ella interrupted. “Mm nope, that wasn’t his sword,” she said flicking her finger in negation. “It was what he did with it…”

Everyone smiled and Marcus said, “As much as I want to… but please, explain further?”

After a chuckle, the Mystic explained saying, “He was using a technique which I believe is called Instant Charge.”

“What’s that?”

“Instantaneous Charge,” Neil corrected her. “Hugo uses it all the time. Instead of keeping Ki thrust at max all over your body, many Martial Artists with limited Ki or with much of their reserve exhausted tend to use sudden thrusts in parts of the body.”

“Oh, that,” Marcus said gulping his food down quickly. “Knocks your senses to Jupiter and back! The guy’s Ki feels almost stagnant, like a normal human, and then suddenly he puts a charge on his knuckles and literally sends you to the damned place, man!”

“Exactly,” Neil replied then looked at Ella across the table and said, “But to use that on a weapon is a whole other deal. He was juggling the sword in the bout he had with Marcus and Hugo. If he had continuous hold on the weapon, I might have believed it. Even Marcus does that with his staff all the time. And like I said, Hugo does it as well. And he does it better than anyone you’d know.”

“Hmm, I would agree under normal circumstances,” Ella reciprocated, putting her fork down. “I don’t think you recall, but many Persian Mystics of the 15^th century almost exclusively used that same technique when going into a hand-to-hand battle or one that involved weapons. Master Ehsan Hashem, in his book ‘Spells for a different time’ talked of it in detail.”

“Look, while holding a weapon, according to Mystic traditions, one can find a Ki connection. We are all masters here; we have learned that much Ki manipulation. But try doing something like that with even a nunchaku. Just going from one hand to the other makes it difficult. And he was even letting go of his sword!”

“It is possible, Neil…”

“May well be, but I’m pretty sure a scum like him wouldn’t be able to pull it off.”

“It could have been charmed,” Camille commented.

“Nope,” Gina replied. “We did a full check-up on it. No spells or carvings on that sword whatsoever. Plain samurai blade.”

“Then what other explanation could we have, Neil?”

“He must have stolen a technique or two from a wizard somewhere.” Saying that, Neil looked down and began eating again. The others looked at each other and smiled. It was usually at this point that arguing would stop being effective with the young second in command of the Zeta Squad. Past it, only Hugo could argue or discipline. However, after almost a minute of silence, Camille did something which the squad avoided all together. She taunted.

“Are you jealous, brother?” she asked, smiling with one eyebrow raised beyond the other.

Half bent towards his plate, Neil stopped. The fast-approaching spoon to the mouth stopped too and he looked up at his sister. In fact, everyone looked at her. She kept staring at him.

“I beg your pardon,” he said, with a deeper, quieter voice, shaking his head to remove the hair from over his left eye.

“‘Scum like him’? He bested all of us, bro.” Camille’s smile slowly disappeared. “Why are you so threatened if we think he knows something you don’t?”

“Seriously?” he commented with eyes wide opened.

“Yeah…”

But with a shake of the head, the Zaatsu began eating once again.