"Welcome to Millenium Station. It’s 7:46 a.m. on Saturday, February 21st, 2072" said the artificial voice from the speaker as the doors opened, while Lucas helped Artemisa maneuver her bag through the packed train.

As they exited, they were hit by the smell of coffee and the scent of freshly baked croissants from one of the metro’s advertised cafés, along with a cacophony of simultaneous conversations.

Artemisa walked very close to Lucas as they headed toward the vending machines, which stood right by the entrance to the Ministry of Defense’s Central Office. The two had a habit of checking out what was new in the machines, which were always updated with new products or entirely new dispensers: from food, juices, energy drinks, and disinfectant alcohol to spare underwear, condoms, cigarette packs, laminated or gel soap, spray perfume, deodorant, and other relevant electronic gadgets.

They stared at the machines’ contents until they moved on, walking into one of the busiest, most saturated streets in the world.

Other pedestrians looked at them with disdain for taking up so much space with their luggage in such a confined area, but in truth, both were more concerned about being victims of pickpockets.

“Tori sent me a message” said Artemisa.

“Don’t you dare take out your phone here,” Lucas warned her. “We’re easy targets.”

“It’ll only be a moment,” Artemisa replied.

Before she could even take her phone out, they heard an old lady scream. They quickly turned their heads just as the surrounding crowd scattered, revealing a suspicious man holding a woman’s purse and an old lady lying on the ground, groaning in pain. She had clearly been struck in the face, blood now streaming from her nose.

Anger surged through Lucas and into his legs. He was ready to confront the thief, so he ran toward him. However, just like a feather brushing past, the suspect mysteriously vanished from sight. Lucas was strong, but his biggest weakness had always been his lack of speed compared to his teammates, and this had taken him by surprise.

Artemisa, meanwhile, dropped her gym bag and tried to land a high kick at the suspect who was near her.

The kick would have hit him square in the face, but the thief not only vanished from her sight like a feather brushing past but also appeared mockingly behind her, grabbed both her and Lucas’s bags, and took off running.

They both stood dumbfounded. This person was clearly like them: an anomalous individual with powers.

Artemisa ran after him at speed, seemingly able to trace his footsteps, while Lucas grabbed their luggage with one hand and charged like a bull.

The future agents and the thief pushed their way through the crowd. The thief seemed to know they wouldn’t recklessly barrel through people. Lucas saw Artemisa about to use her powers, which was dangerous given all the civilians around. This thief had too much of an advantage.

“Misa!” Lucas called out. “There are too many civilians! If you use them…”

The thief was gaining distance since they couldn’t plow through the crowd.

“So what do we do? Let him go?” Artemisa shouted angrily.

Lucas quickly tried to think. He then spotted a truck unloading products for a construction site. The logo read: ”ELASTMAC: Your Top-Quality Elastomer Provider.” He got an idea:

“See that truck?” he asked, pointing at it.

Artemisa looked in that direction, then back at Lucas. Apparently, she understood what he was planning without needing further explanation.

She sprinted to the truck, climbed onto its bed, then up to the roof. The tired workers were shocked not just by the blur that had passed between them, but now by a girl trampling some boxes. All they could yell was, “Hey! What the hell are you doing, girl?!”

Lucas followed by jumping onto the truck, opened one of the boxes, and pulled out a coil of extremely elastic rope. He concentrated, and the elastic was absorbed into his skin, forming a tight-fitting armor. He then lashed out his arm toward a nearby post, his arm stretching superhumanly and attracting a crowd’s attention.

In the process, Artemisa stepped on his elastic arm, which pulled back and stretched even more. Once Lucas felt it tense enough, he gave it a final whip, launching Artemisa skyward like a human catapult.

Artemisa soared meters above the crowd, people filming in awe. Meanwhile, Lucas flung his arm like a whip toward a building’s balcony, grabbing hold of the railing to swing forward and follow her.

Still midair, Artemisa summoned a red liquid that formed a defined shape despite being fluid. She pointed her finger, guiding the droplets.

The drops flew forward like projectiles, morphing into two needle-like bullets that pierced the air and embedded themselves into the old lady’s purse buckle.

The thief stopped abruptly, struggling to remove the purse. But seeing Artemisa and Lucas getting closer, he chose to flee instead.

Lucas kept pushing through.

“Hey! Stop right there!”

When Lucas shouted, the thief finally vanished into thin air, leaving Lucas confused and scanning every direction.

Artemisa landed gracefully like a bird, picked up the purse, and the needles floated back to her hand.

“Do you see him?” she asked, still scanning the crowd in the opposite direction of Lucas.

Lucas looked at her, shook his head, and shrugged.

“Nothing. No sign,” he replied.

They looked at each other silently, then agreed to return the stolen purse to the old woman.

Using Lucas’s elastic arms, they catapulted through the city again.

“Do you think it’s okay to use our powers in public?” Artemisa asked, with a hint of guilt in her voice.

“If we hadn’t, that little old lady would’ve lost her purse. A bit cliché if you think about it,” Lucas said with a smile. “If the intent was good, I think it’s fine.”

The lady was just ahead, trying to speak to some officers who clearly weren’t very invested in her story. But their attention was drawn to the two young people flying through the air, holding an old-fashioned purse.

They handed the purse to the old woman, whose teary eyes lit up once she had it back.

“Youth today is heartwarming,” she said, wiping her tears with her sleeve.

“Please check if everything’s there. We didn’t want to open it,” Artemisa said gently.

As soon as the lady verified everything was in place, she hugged Lucas and Artemisa tightly, repeating, “Thank you, thank you.”

She even offered them an apple and a cherry candy as a reward. But the police didn’t look pleased. One of them cleared his throat to get their attention.

“You could’ve caused an accident using your powers without authorization. May I see your credentials?” the officer asked.

Before Artemisa could pull out her wallet, Lucas grabbed her arm.

“We can’t! We’re late for our ceremony!” he exclaimed, pulling her away.

Lucas used one of his elastic arms to keep swinging through the city like jungle vines.

“You do realize we just committed an offense by not showing our rookie agent credentials, right?” Artemisa asked.

“Since when do you care about breaking the law?” Lucas replied.

“I guess since I’m about to have my ceremony.” she says.

“They’re not going to come after us. They can’t even wipe their own ass, let alone chase us.”

Once they crossed Millennium Plaza and walked a few blocks to avoid suspicion, they finally reached the government buildings of Silvamist Square. There, they began scanning for familiar faces. Lucas quickly spotted someone.

“Misa, there’s Pascal!” Lucas pointed him out. “Pascal!” he shouted.

A young man with black hair, freckles like kisses across his face, and blue eyes turned to them and smiled, waving his right hand. He ran toward them, but despite the smile, he looked worried.

“Lucas! Artemisa!” he exclaimed. “I was worried! Have you seen Aria on your way here?” he asked anxiously.

He hugged both of them tightly, but the warmth of that reunion shattered as soon as he mentioned Aria. The three exchanged looks, feeling something was wrong.

“Aria… Aria Schmidt?” Artemisa asked, as if to confirm.

Pascal’s smile disappeared. He began to nod, looking at both of them with a sense of dread.