"What are you doing here Neha?" I asked as I looked at the petite form of the girl who was sitting on top of a metal railing on the bridge.
There was a large bag on her back which was secured tightly with numerous ropes. The bag was large enough to carry a human, if you remove his legs and arms. So I had not doubt about what was kept inside it.
'It seems like she'll have to carry the 'Holler' every where she goes for the Mind Dominance skill to work.' I thought and wondered how long it'll take for her to dominate the Holler's mind.
"I'm here for the mission, Sir." She said as she jumped down from the railing and bowed down to me.
Her tone was devoid of her usual love and filled with professionalism. I could tell from her words that she wanted me to treat her like everyone else and not show her any favouritism.
It made sense, in a way. She did not wanted to be ostracized by her team members because of my favouritism.
That would have made sense, if I cared about her teammates. Which I didn't.
But I'll respect her wishes.
"I see." I replied back in a stoic voice. It seems like Big bro wanted her to go out of the nest and spread her wings a bit.
He would not have sent her with anyone else because of how dear she is to him. That's why he sent her with me.
Makes sense.
I would protect my little sis no matter what.
I turned to face the others in the group.
Every single of them was wearing full body suit and their helmets so it was a bit hard to me to tell them apart.
But the same was the case with me so they didn't knew my identity either.
I planned to keep it that way as long as possible since my reputation was not the best in the town.
"Before we start. I would like all of you to introduce yourself to me." I said with a stoic voice.
Unlike other times, I knew that I could not fool around here. These people didn't know me. If I fool around with them then they might not respect my authority and I won't be able to lead the team properly.
So I wanted to keep this professional.
At least until one of them fucked it up.
"Hmph. Introduce ourself he says." One of them said in a mocking voice and the others chuckled at his words as he stood up from his position.
"Excuse me?" I said and realized that the professional method won't work on them anymore.
"No. I don't think I am going to excuse you." he said and walked up to me.
He was a tall guy. And standing face to face with him, I realized that I only reached up to his chin.
That might have intimidated me before.
But after facing and killing the 11 feet tall 3rd tier abnormal, such a thing was far from enough to intimidate me.
"You think you're some big shot huh? Think you can just walk right up to us and tell us how we should do our job, huh?."
"Stop that Kesav. I don't think…" one of the woman in the group said before Kesav cut her off rudely.
"I don't think what? Huh Asha? We followed that Rahul guy because he seemed like a good leader. But I have my pride. I'll not follow just any tom, dick and harry because Rahul told us to do so. We follow him. But we are not his servants to order around however he likes."
"Kesav is right. We followed Rahul because we believed that he could keep us safe in this world. We don't know anything about this guy. What's to say that he won't get us killed in the mission." One of the small guys said and from his voice I could tell that he was a grown up and not a little boy.
"You're doing a foolish thing Kesav." The last member of the team said. His voice seemed familiar and I realized that it was the guy named Raka who was once the leader of the people in my hometown. I was a bit surprised because I didn't knew he was still here. But the helmet masked my emotions.
"What did you say?" Kesav turned to glare at Raka.
"I said you are a fool to think that you can intimidate him like this. I know who he is. And from what I've learned, he is the second most strongest person in the whole camp, only a bit weaker than Rahul. It is a foolish thing to go against him."
"You know who he is?" Asha asked cautiously. I could tell that Raka's words has rattled them a bit.
"I do."
"Then go ahead and tell us. What are you waiting for?" Kesav said.
"He is…" he said and looked toward me for permission. When I didn't gave any sign, he continued in a low voice "Rahul's brother." The moment he said that, everyone froze at once.
A jarring silence followed his words and I could almost feel the nervousness and fear in them.
'Wait! Why are they afraid of me.' I thought and tried to remember all the things I've that might have scared them off.
Sure I killed a guard, but these guys are strong in their own rights. They should not be so scared of me.
Kesav, the boisterous guy who had been against me so far slowly turned to look at me and I could hear the 'Oh shit' Asha murmured behind him.
"I… I… I did… I did not mean…" Kesav stuttered and I wondered why he was so afraid of me.
"Stop. Why are so afraid of me?" I asked and noticed him flinch at my words.
"I… I…"
"Just some rumors." Neha cut him off and I got the feeling that she was trying to hide something from me.
'I'll ask her later.' I thought and walked past Kesav as I crossed the small bridge. I turned to look at them and ignored their nervous postures.
"I am not a man of words so I'll keep this simple. This is going to be a scouting mission and I'm your leader until this mission is completed. If any of you has any problem with that, you can leave. I am not interested in leading unruly subordinates and if it comes down to it, I'm fully capable of completing this mission on my own."
"If any of you want the leadership of the team." I said and looked at Kesav who flinched under my gaze. "Then you can fight me for it. But if you lose, then you won't like the consequence."
"Does anyone has any problem with what this arrangement?" I asked and looked at everyone in the team. No one moved a muscle. I had no idea why they were scared of me. But it kept them obedient, so I was not going to complain.
"Very well then. Let's get on with this mission."