A warm morning rose over Slezzy's face, through the window of a bus he had entered a few minutes ago.
He still felt pains from his training at home, as he had devoted much of his weekend time preparing for the "big day".
Slezzy was already arriving in the city center, but throughout the journey, over the view from the side window, nothing took the attention of the boy's thoughts, not even the opening of the doors of that transport.
— Sir!? — A stranger warned him. — You always come down here, don't you?
— Oh, yes! Thank you very much! — he replied, feeling ashamed.
After disembarking from the bus, the young man observed the NCC building for a few moments, opened a smile, and followed a new path for the first time in all that time of work, towards the FMA building,
"For a moment... did I lose track inside that bus? No..., I can't have my mind affected because of this damn contract" he thought as he tightly tightened the straps of the backpack he carried on his back.
"I'll get over it, I need to contain myself. At least, from now on, I know about the existence of this new world."
He approached the main entrance to the FMA area. Unlike the NCC, that ordinance was flashy, and also surrounded by a large facade.
The military surrounded the site. Slezzy noted that almost none of the officers there wore a suit or even the clothes of a common secretary.
Slezzy also noted that agents of some "special group" wore a kind of special outfit: black robes with white accents, and too tight.
To access the building it was necessary to cross the main gate, reinforced and composed of armed military.
— Identify yourself, citizen! — said a military man with an amorenate skin tone who firmly approached Slezzy.
— Slezzy! Slezzy Kaliman, sir.
The agent pressed a radio button fixed on his chest, whispered something and stared at the young man again.
A female voice was emitted from that same device:
— Slezzy Kaliman, selected for special training at nine in the morning.
The military man nodded his head, leaving the front of the boy's path and, at the same time, making a gesture of command with his right hand to another agent next to him.
The gate has opened.
Slezzy sped up his steps to cross the gatehouse, then walking to the entrance of the building, which was considerably far from there. On the way, he observed every feature of that place with enormous excitement.
In that vast green and earthy field, there were trucks, armored cars and even helicopters.
The military that passed there hardly looked at him.
Upon actually entering the FMA building, Slezzy walked to a chic reception.
— Good morning, sir! You must be... Slezzy Kaliman! Special training is scheduled for nine o'clock in the morning. You arrived a little early, but you can sit there, if you like, while waiting — warned a receptionist, blonde, young and very beautiful, who wore military clothes plus a headset.
— All right! — Slezzy sat on one of the sofas in the reception center.
Minutes later, a man in a white suit entered the place through the same door. Slezzy realized that, until that moment, that man was the only person who did not wear any military attire at the scene, which caught his attention.
— Laura, what are you doing here? I thought you were off duty! — said the man, who seemed to be very charismatic.
Slezzy couldn't hear the rest of the whispering conversation between the receptionist and the hitherto unknown man.
It was then that, suddenly, the suit figure turned, staring at him firmly.
Slezzy surprised that gesture, turning his face away, embarrassed. But it did not help: that man was now walking towards him, and it was not difficult to notice, since his noisy shoes easily delivered him.
The man's hair was orange, which matched strangely with his darkened eyes. His height caused a certain fear.
As he approached, the man received a direct glance from Slezzy. Face to face, he finally expressed himself:
— You must be... Slezzy Kaliman! Much pleasure! — he said, raising his arm to the young man, offering him a greeting. — My name is Roy Khaisara!
Slezzy shook his hand. And soon, Roy sat next to him on the same couch.
— I liked your attitude! I see you took this opportunity so seriously that you even arrived... half an hour earlier, um!
— Actually... I always took all my commitments seriously.
— That's good! Unfortunately, I can't say the same. In fact... I don't even know how I woke up so early today — Roy pulled a cell phone out of one of his pockets and began to "type" quickly.
After a few minutes, a considerable number of younger military personnel entered through the main door. Everyone laughed and talked to each other as they walked towards one of the elevators on the first floor. One of the members held a cell phone, showing a video to everyone else. At one point, everyone in the group cheered and cheered, shouting and making gestures.
Some members caught Slezzy's attention, as a short, black—haired girl, intertwined between some notable greenish strands. It was equipped with a firearm, as well as other types of weapons, as well as the rest of that group.
Another prominent member, whose all the members of the group seemed to exalt him by pointing fingers repeatedly between smiles, was a boy not so tall, who possessed an extremely serious posture. The strands of her hair were black and smooth.
Other details of that boy were not so noticeable, since the others who surrounded him easily "capped" him, hiding him.
— ORDER! — shouted a close military officer of superior rank.
Even with the command, the young people still celebrated, but with less vibration this time.
— Why... are they celebrating so much? — asked Slezzy, softly.
Roy uncoupled his eyes from his cell phone, watched the situation, and soon answered the young man next to him:
— Didn't you hear about it? — Roy looked right at him. — That case... in the East Side of town.
— Han? I... barely even looked at my phone this weekend.
Roy was surprised by it.
— That's all there is to it in the last few days... about a video that caught a FMA operation — Roy once again faced the group of young people who, at that point, were already distant. — It was exactly those boys who managed to contain one of the most wanted criminals by the Maple government. The Baron. Well... no more wanted now.
— Hey! I know that name! I've filed several cases involving this man's mob... when I was still working with criminal files... at the NCC.
— Interesting! So, you must know most of the criminals who are still alive out there... — Roy said. He turned to typing on his cell phone. — Finally, the FMA had a great success in this sudden operation. In fact, the credits for all of this went to our youngest Agent of only fourteen years,
— What? — Slezzy asked, extremely surprised.
— You need to see that video. It is clear the scene of the boy cutting the Baron's throat, with a totally surprise blow.
— Who is he, anyway?
— His name is Lierond Shane. But I doubt you saw him clearly when the group was still passing by. He has been with the FMA since the age of ten and is currently specializing in the use of swords and stealth tactics.
— Wow! Like a... ninja?
— More or less so. But, these kind of people are only called for very special cases. Most of the time, the bandits of this city barely leave leftovers so that the "swordsmen" can act — Roy mocked. — By chance of fate, Shane's squad that was prowling that area caught the presence of the criminal. It was the first time after a long time that a swordsman survived a type of combat like this.
— So, is there some sort of classification for all the military?
— Oh, but of course! — Roy fixed his posture on the back of the sofa. — At FMA there are several specializations.
Slezzy took him seriously.
— We are not simply the "agents who go around solving the most extreme cases of the city". For, every month we have more and more military agents specialized in various areas! There are several positions, such as the "front line" or affectionately nicknamed squires. There are also Elite Soldiers, Pilots, Hackers and even War Bombers.
The young man was impressed with every word spoken.
— There are also the famous sniper flanks, with Saith currently the biggest star among them all. Unfortunately, other types of classes are rare, because of their inefficiency in most cases of the city, such as... the Chemical Engineers, War Tank Pilots, War Strategists and even the Swordsmen themselves.
— This Shane guy apparently made a big success of killing the Baron. So how can you still judge his class as inefficient?
— When fighting the criminals of this city, the swordsmen have a huge disadvantage: the distance. A simple firearm would kill a hundred times any unprepared swordsman, even before he could reach his target. Therefore, it is necessary that they have a training of stealth tactics, such as the use of smoke gas bombs, in addition to the hook gun, a small weapon that favors the movement of the user on the battlefield. Thus, although their action is lethal, it still involves many risks.
After that conversation, three more people crossed the main entrance.
They walked to the reception and talked briefly with Laura. Then they faced Roy and Slezzy.
A large clock, positioned in the highest position of the wall that covered the reception, emitted a thunderous sound. It was the nine o'clock bell.
Roy stood up, stretching and cheeking, saying:
— I think we made good use of that half hour. It was nice to meet you a little bit before your training. But now let's get down to business.
Roy left for the elevator.
Noticing that the other three were approaching, Slezzy soon followed Roy.