Night Forty Four
Age 1991
Hero let out a sigh as he punched the man in the face launching the guy away. "Somehow I thought fighting bandits would be a little bit more fun than this?" He trailed off as he sidestepped a swing from another random bandit punching him in the gut and sending him flying away as well. Every punch with his giant arm was more than enough to knock them out flat.
"I know right..." Ken said letting out a sigh as she smacked one of the men upside the head with her black spikes. "These scrubs aren't even strong,... They're just ordinary people running around with guns... I don't even need my Cursed Life Powers to take them out..." She sighed out spinning the needle around and blocking several bullets.
After joining the Enforcers the group had been... Shall we say a little bit displeased with the results...
As it turns out since they were new recruits they weren't allowed to do anything fun... Instead of getting to run around battling massive monsters and having an amazing time they instead did a boring old fetch quest, and had to clean up trash.
A few low levels bandits seemed to get out of hand and stole something they shouldn't have. As new Enforcers, it was their job to go and get that thing back now apparently.
Currently, they were underground in the abandon subway station fighting off the twenty or so bandits in there. The bandits weren't doing too well...
"You guys go..." Jackson said letting out a yawn as he struggled to not fall sleep. "You can do it... I believe in you..." His eyes finally shut after his boredom won out. "Wake me up when you're done..."
Jackson wasn't the best teacher they could have gotten... Most new Recruits would love the idea of a Vice-Captain taking it upon themselves to train them, but with Jackson, the man only ever goofed off or fell asleep from how boring and simple the missions were. It was clear he didn't even want to be there anymore. And unfortunately all the other squad six members were currently out on other missions so Jackson was quite literally all they had to go with. Hannah popped up every now and then but she always left in a hurry.
"This is so dumb!" Kitsune announced out in anger as flames exploded off of him slamming several bandits back as his tails smacked them all around. "How are we gonna get to improve at all if we are just fighting these weaklings?" He asked, as he let out a sigh.
"I'm sure there is a reason for us doing this..." Irene said calmly as she brought her hand up as ice fired out freezing several bandits in place and sending them all back.
"Of course there's a reason..." Light stated as he fired off several shots knocking them all out.
"Yeah but..." Hero stated as he threw his arm back sending out several irons feathers which stabbed them all into the various walls hanging them all up. "...This is still just so slow... Anyone of us could do this with our eyes closed. Sorry Light..."
"No offense taken big brother."
"I agree with Hero- Oh my God I can't believe I said that- These missions aren't challenging at all," Ken complained. Her needle glowed red for a second as she slammed it down. A wave of wind fired out knocking several bandits into the air. "These guys are literally just fodder? No challenge what so ever?"
The doors up above them suddenly burst out as a bigger, tougher, bandit came marching out. "So!" He shouted out. "It seems you have taken good care of my men! Well, now you have to deal with me. Digo the leader of the bandits-"
The sound of five fists slamming into a man's skull echoed out as the bandit leader hit the ground unconscious.
"Huh..." Hero said blinking slightly. "I thought for sure he would be an Equation..."
"Nah," Kitsune said kicking the downed man. "If he did he wouldn't have surrounded himself with so many weaklings. Humans, and Superhumans don't go together very well... Also not many people can bond with an Equation. When a person who has an Equation dies, that Equation will be sent back out across the world and must be re-found, however this doesn't happen if the person has gone beyond 100% with their Equation, or if their part of the Sacred Branches, in the event those guys die, their Equation simply stops existing."
"Wake up!" Ken yelled out bringing her needle down on Jackson's head.
"Oww!" The Vice-Captain screamed out as he set up rubbing his bruised head. "What the hell was that for?"
"We finished the mission..." Ken said pointing a thumb at the downed bandits.
"Good... The leader should have the relic on him..." Jackson said letting out a yawn.
Hero searched through the down bandit leader's pocket as he pulled out a simple golden statue. "This is it right?" He questioned tossing it to Jackson.
"Yep..." The object in question was a simple one-foot long golden statue of a girl. "This is the reason the Cities Museum hired us for..." Jackson said with another yawn. "Alright. Let's go." He stated.
***
Thirty minutes later...
The group all collapsed down onto the couches as they all let out annoyed sighs. "I thought this was gonna be fun!" Ken whined slightly.
"Trust me..." Jackson said staring up at the ceiling fan. "It gets better. Right now you guys are just doing E-Class Missions..."
"E class?" Hero questioned as he cocked his head up.
"Yeah," Jackson said nodding. "The missions are ranked in a list of difficulty... The E-class missions are extremely basic. Even a normal human with a gun could finish it if they tried hard enough. Next, you have D-Class which is still basic missions. After that is C-Class. This is the mission that involves at the very least a Bestia Macht. Above that is B-Class which only Bronze badge member or higher can do, or a no badge member who is teamed up with at least a silver badge member or higher. After that is A-Class which requires a team of at least Two Silver badge members or one Gold badge member. Then you have A+Class missions which require the The Gold badge members. S-Class which requires a Captain at the very least, S+ Class which requires the first Captain, and SS which is a maximum threat that requires all Enforcers. There is also a Z-Class but that is a threat so massive that it would require the five nations to team up to even have a slim chance to best it. Thankfully for as long as we have lived, we have never had anything above an S+ Class mission, for 1990 ages. Since you guys are new you are required to only do E-Class missions for one month until we can move you up... Although usually the threat level of a mission is mostly ignored as that is what it is determined as from a glance. Usually, it can be higher, or lower than previously thought."
"Who gives out these missions?" Hero questioned.
"The missions are handed out by Master Storm," Jackson explained. "Basically you have these villages or just random folks who will have a problem so they go to the Enforcers to fix that problem. They tell them what the problem is and what they want to be done about it. The Enforcers judge how high the threat level should be treated based off of the information they are given. This is one of the reasons the threat level can be highly inaccurate. The higher the threat level the more they will charge for us to complete the mission then the Enforcers that completed the mission get 20% of the profits. The Enforcers are also a governmental organization so usually, they will also give out missions they want us to handle personally so the Government also hires us to do goals for them. Most times a village will be able to write off hiring an Enforcer, as taxes..."
"I don't care how these missions work," Ken whined out as she crossed her arms. "Just as long as we can do something fun... I wanna fight something. Hero fight me."
"No."
"I actually agree with Ken, Mr. Storm," Kitsune stated. "You've seen us all fight. You've seen us at the very limit of our power. Surely if there is anyone who knows how strong we are it would be you and Mr. Blight. So why don't we go on a mission suited to our level instead of this baby stuff?"
"These are all tests..." Jackson stated. "These simple missions are to test you and make sure you have a base understanding of how the Enforcers work."
"But why do we need to take these test!" Kitsune questioned. "Why not let us experience it for real?"
"The difference between a test, and the real world, is that you can fail the test, but you can't fail in the real world. Failing in the real world means you lost. Best case scenario... It means you died. Worst case scenario, it means you lived and the people you were trying to save died. Even worst-case scenario it means you died and the people you were trying to save died too, and you left your allies feeling like failure because they weren't able to save you, or the civilians." Jackson took a deep breath. "I need to know that you guys can handle a real mission before I push anything. Out there on the field, I might not be able to jump on there and save you. I could be separated from you, or I could have been killed. This is just to show me that you guys know how to fight."
"But you've seen us fight!" Ken cut in.
"No! I've seen you all fail." Jackson stated. His joking nature was gone as he frowned. "Sometimes it's better to take things slow trust me."
"But we won't be able to grow unless we actually do a harder mission..." Hero said. "I mean all you've done is listed our flaws while leaving out the good things we've shown like how Ken, is freakishly strong, Kitsune has some insane control over his fire, Light is a great shot, and Irene can create some massive, and heavy ice. Besides, we proved we wouldn't give up and we were even able to push Dawson to using his Powers on us! Even if he did hold back on us that still has to count to something..."
"It's true that Dawson is probably Squad Six's greatest member..." Jackson said trailing off slightly. "I've seen skill inside of each of you... All of you have potential... Some more than others of course..."
"Then let us go on a harder mission!" Ken stated standing up as she pointed at the man. "With that healing gel, we have all been healed back up to 100%! At this point fighting low-level bandits is only making us rustier. We're all border and so are you! So how about we go out and do anything above E-Class? Like maybe a D or even a C Class?"
Jackson let out a sigh as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small metallic brick with a blue screen. on it. The screen lit up slightly as he tossed it to Ken. "This has every available mission that hasn't been claimed yet... You can choose anything from C-Class and below... Also... Listen. Whatever you do don't tell Katrina... She would have my head for even considering letting you guys do something so stupid..."
"Alright!" Hero cheered. Ken stared down at the screen as she scrolled through it.
"Most of these are boring..." Ken said still scrolling. "Oh! How about this one." She handed the device back as Jackson looked down.
"An endangered Villiage..." Jackson read. "The Village of Lillies is Endangered by Bestia Macht... Twelve to be in fact. The Village leader has requested some Enforcers to come help him out, and has reported most of the Bestia Macht have taken refuge in the ruins next to the village, where a Ghost apparently lives... A basic low-level mission..." Jackson smiled slightly as he nodded. "Alright... This is the perfect mission to give you guys a real combat test. Probably just a few Bestia Macht that are in the area..."
"At my Village, we had people who guarded it against the Bestia Macht? How come this one doesn't." Irene questioned.
"Who cares?" Ken said throwing her arms behind her head. "The point is we get to do a real mission!" She announced.
"Alright, everyone!" Jackson stated. "Pack your things. Tomorrow we set out!"
Everyone began to quickly leave the room in a hurry but Hero stopped when he noticed Light was frowning.
"What is it?" Hero questioned curiously when he saw the worried look on Light's face.
"Oh! Umm, its nothing..." Light stated. "I just have a bad feeling..."