Mica looked over the papers in front of him. After scanning over them for what felt like the hundredth time, he let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. He toes his boots off and stretched his feet. The day had droned on while also coming short in the long run. It felt like he'd gotten nothing done when in fact he'd put a pretty big dent in the paperwork he needed to submit by the end of the week.
The ceiling fan twirled slowly. The soft gust of wind felt nice against his hot face. He closed his eyes and took the time to relax in this bit of silence. It was hard to find peace when he was running between President Maxem, Cassius, and the impending case about the demon. He got the message loud and clear from the last time he met with Maxem. If he didn't catch this demon sooner—real soon—then he might be looking at a demotion.
A frown pulled at his lips.
He worked hard to get where he was. The years slaving away in the academy had always felt like they were just a few months ago. He didn't ever want to see that place again. But the worst punishment Maxem could give him was to become a teacher in one of those lousy schools.
Lousy didn't come close to what the academies were. The instructors were people who weren't cut out for the real work. They knew a bunch of technical stuff about fighting and using magic, but they didn't know anything about real combat.
There was no way that he was going back there.
He stretched his arms above his head, arching his back until he heard a loud pop. Relief flooded his body though there was still a rigid stiffness that he knew he wouldn't be able to get rid of without the help of magic.
A swirl of purple rotated around him and his desk chair. He could feel it, see it in the dark without opening his eyes. His own strand of magic was like a beacon connected to his mind. Wherever it went, he knew.
The swirl looped around his body, pressing lightly into his skin like a string. There was just a second of discomfort as the magic settled into his joints. Then, he let out another sigh, this one full of pleasure as his back was righted.
He opened his eyes.
For a second, he thought he saw a shadow flicker in the corner of his eye. He glanced over in the corner where a chair was pushed up against the wall.
Nothing. As there should be.
An inkling was uneasiness settled over him. It was nothing, he told himself.
He went back to the papers splayed on the desk before him. The words ran together. He thought back to yesterday and the look on Cassius's face when he'd clinked forks.
In hindsight, it was the most embarrassing thing he'd done since he was teenager. He cringed at the blatant display of...he couldn't really put a name to it really. Respect? No. They weren't close to respecting each other when he held reign over Cassius's freedom.
He ran a hand over his face.
This whole thing was a mess. The only thing he could do was move on with his plan and hope that he didn't get sucked in deeper with these budding relationships than he was going for.
The phone rang on his desk. He picked it up.
"Yes?"
"President Maxem is here, sir."
He paused, glancing once more at the papers on his desk. The want to tell Maxem to go away until he wasn't busy was dangerous. He was showing more and more how much he didn't care about his adoptive father's ideals. If he wasn't careful, that would also get him sent somewhere far less enjoyable.
Though with the amount of paperwork he's been having to do while chasing down this demon, he was seriously contemplating risking everything he'd been working towards just to get out of it.
"Send him in." He hung up.
He'd only gotten halfway through a new page when President Maxem entered the room. His magical presence was the strongest in Xtavia, perhaps on this side of the planet and it was always evident to Mica when he walked into a room. For the first few years of growing up in Maxem's home, before he was sent off to the academy, he'd gotten used to the feeling of not being about to breathe. It was something that couldn't be helped.
Maxem was all smiles when he walked.
Mica stood up. "President Maxem. What can I help you with?"
He bowed slightly as a show of respect. Maxem did the same and sat down in front of the desk. He crossed his legs, leaning back comfortably in the leather chair. Mica sat after him.
"I wanted to check up on you. In person."
The swirling mass of magic between them wasn't always a sure sign that something Mica didn't like was going to happen. It was hard to read Maxem when he was so open at first. His magic was awake, letting Mica get close when Maxem could have easily forced Mica to keep a distance. If Maxem was in one of his moods, he wouldn't have hesitated to cut off the impersonal contact.
Magic was always curious, wandering around wherever it could. It was just something that was a part of being a magical user.
But as much as Mica loved what magic he had, which was more than any Remu should be born with, he liked his distance.
Except for when it comes to the Mekiah, right?
The snarky remark toward himself didn't go unnoticed. He simply ignored it with a tight clench of his jaw. His eyes narrowed on Maxem.
"Then this should be a good time for you to look over my request. I'm proposing we search inside this perimeter of the two locations the demons was sighted. There is still a strong connection being detected here and here."
He pushed the file he'd been working on the day before. He pointed at the two hotspots of a spike of magic. The spike was in the range for a high-level demon and if they didn't have a double demon encounter on his hands, then it was safe to say this was the demon they were after.
Maxem barely looked at the report or the graphs showing the magic strands. He looked up from the page, head still tilted as he gazed up at Mica. Mica looked back at him, jaw clenching as he tried to keep his cool. Of course, there was a completely different reason for Maxem to be here. He wouldn't turn out of the blue just to talk about the demon that may or may not be terrorizing the entire country. Mica always knew that small problems would fester and turned into worse problems for him.
He was one of the examples. Maxem was blind to the deception right in front of him.
He had to fight to keep the knowing smirk off his face. Instead, he kept his cool, plastering on his stone mask that he adopted straight from Maxem's own book.
Maxem pushed the report back. "I want to meet the Mekiah that has gotten you so worked up."
Mica raised a brow. He slid the paper into his desk, not once looking at it. As the desk door shut, he settled into any easy rhythm. It was hard at first to be easy around Maxem. He always thought that he would figure out what Mica was planning behind his back. For years, he had to watch his back. Even now, it was hard to bring his guard down and relax.
"Can I ask why you are so interested in him?"
"Merely curiosity. You're very specific when it comes to the people you bring onto your SWARM. I wonder why this particular Tracker caught your eye."
Mica inwardly cursed at himself. He should have seen this coming. Though, to be fair, he didn't think Maxem would remember. Sometimes it was hard to believe that Maxem had been the leader in the first Extermination and had taken care of Xtavia in the darkest of times. He was a leader before anything else. He had eyes on everything that seemed important to Xtavia and the highest ranking SWARM and General were sure as hell on that list.
The reason Mica had taken an interest in Cassius was even beyond Mica's own knowledge. Not only had the Third Eye taken an interest in Cassius, but Mica also couldn't for the love of God, not chase after his anger. His need to control everything had blindsided his own judgment. Now he was stuck with a Tracker that he couldn't stand, couldn't control, and one that he was sure if he could trust with his plan.
When he chose the members on his SWARM, he'd chosen them on the basis of what they thought about Mekiah and Remu. And how they thought they should be treated when compared to the Exterus.
"He's good at what he does. He's reliable." That wasn't untrue. Based on Cassius's record alone, there shouldn't be a question as to why he'd been chosen for the leading SWARM. The only thing that stained Cassius's "perfection" were the several times he had to be punished by General Iza.
Only a couple were recorded. Mica knew there were countless more times when General Iza lost his control. He'd also lost control.
It was horrifying to think about. If the Third Eye hadn't reeled him in, he might have killed Cassius.
"He survived a demon attack." Maxem didn't sound all that happy about it. All things considered, it was a problem. Cassius had a lot more power than any Exteru was comfortable with. And the fact that even Cassius didn't know how to control was a bigger issue.
Maxem leaned back in the chair. "I think we're ready for the next step."
He was talking in cryptics, but it only took Mica a split second to know what he was saying. Maxem had a plan. The last Extermination Xtavia would ever see. But in the time that Maxem had been ruling this country, many things had changed in the world. There were other problems facing Remu, other problems that Exterus weren't focused on. Poverty, starvation, and child endangerment.
Mica knew first hand what all three of those things looked like. He might have been adopted by the richest man in the world, but those memories couldn't be bought away.
Mica nodded.
Maxem thought he had an ally. He really only had enemies.
***
It was Cassius's third night sleeping in Rexton's room. He hadn't seen him since their lunch yesterday and didn't know if the man even slept. These nights spent in a real bed rather than a thin cot was going to make him spoiled. He would get used to how warm it was, how soft the sheets were, and how soft the pillows felt against his head. But he would always wake up in the middle of the night, thinking Rexton was back to punish him. He knew this wouldn't last for much longer.
It was a mind trick. Back to the cage, his cell, he would go and these peaceful nights would just be a sad reminder that he would never have guaranteed freedom.
Rexton was trying to mess with his head. The lunch had solidified that. There was no way that Rexton had brought him along with the rest of the SWARM because he wanted for them to get to know him.
However, there was a small part of him that wanted the opposite to be true. He wanted to believe that there might be one good person out in the world. The only thing he had was the Third Eye and that couldn't ever give him the human touch he was longing for. He wanted someone who would understand him. The Third Eye could never be a stand in for a human being.
But wanting Rexton was asking for trouble. He held the power. No healthy relationship could come from a power imbalance.
Which made this whole situation more complicated.
Cassius stepped out into the training yard. It was empty. No sight of Kera, Levi, or Mattius. The sun peaked from above the cement walls. Though this was just a bigger version of his cage, he felt freer when he could see the great blue sky. The air filling his lungs smelled like fresh flowers, water, and trees. He'd seen those things from the window of a car and a plane, but he'd never been up close. Nature was off limits. Another reason he wanted to get out of here.
Escape felt further away each day.
He focused his mind, conjuring up his magic. It flowed through the enhancer. It has him free reign that felt like a gushing waterfall. At first, it was hard to handle. He felt off-kilter, not sure how he was supposed to control the power raging inside of him. But the more he played with it, pulling out strands little by little, he got the upper hand.
His target was a metal target staked into the ground. For his warm up, he threw short spurts of fire balls at the center. Each time he hit bullseyes, but that was nothing. He was going easy on himself.
He looked around the yard. Of course, there was no one. The guards hadn't even bothered to step out with him to watch. He was alone.
The magic swelled. His heart raced, beating against his rib cage. The feeling was electric and pulsing throughout his body. His head hurt for a second. The ripples going through him hurt. They caused sweat to drip down the side of his face, but he continued to push himself.
Then he released it.
The purple fire shot from his hands in a continuous stream. He clenched his jaw and turned his head away. The flame ripples around his arms, but it was never too hot to stand. He closed his eyes as the fire got brighter. That was the only thing he couldn't handle. The light shined, exploding in one pulse like a firework.
When he opened his eyes, the target was obliterated. All that was left of it was part of the metal stake sticking out of the ground and a pile of ash.
A giant smile broke over his face. He jumped in the air and let out a loud 'whoop'. He fist pumped the air.
The magic rumbled in an almost show of approval. He'd proved that he could control at least a part of his power. All he needed to do now was control all of it.
He didn't have time to prepare for the door to open. He turned around, face flushed, and smile still on his face. For some awful reason, his heart leaped as he saw Rexton's face. He wanted to see the surprise on his face, see what his reaction would be when he saw the mess Cassius had made.
But what he found along with Rexton was President Maxem.
Maxem was a tall thin man with broad shoulders that filled out his suit jacket. His blond white hair was a staple of his uniform. Without it, he would look younger and with his angelic face, he no doubt used it for his advantage.
The smile dropped from Cassius's face. He'd met Maxem before.
He was the one to take him from his home, from the loving arms of his mother, and had been the one to break him into a being soldier to serve Xtavia.