Simon had always walked strange, like a stereotypical vampire character from a movie with an exaggerated coolness. This is what Arthur focused on as they walked down the lightless alleyways, anything was better than letting his mind fester for too long. It was about 11:49 when they arrived at the "hideout" as Simon so confidently called it. In reality it was an abandoned warehouse they used to store planes in during the war. It was fitted with bunkbeds and amenities, as they entered there was a unique stench of sweat and freshly washed clothes. Almost as if someone had attempted to cover up the smell of heavy sweat with something more bearable. They came in through a side door that was guarded by a lonely padlock and a maybe not so functional keypad. The warehouse was massive, in one half was the remnants of a plane and the other half was chocked with bunkbeds, a "cafeteria", a shoddily assembled gaming set up and a single portable toilet.
"This is the place you'll be staying for a while; the toilet is over there- oh and make sure you get in before Sam in the morning or you won't get pissing for a while. There's a Kii over there that has a few games on it, and... yeah, just try and get acquainted with the crew and you'll be one hundred percent."
"Ok."
Simon flashed Arthur a concerned smile. Obviously concerned for his friend, Arthur broke the silence.
"I'm gonna go say hi."
"Oh uh... yeah OK!"
Arthur awkwardly strolled over to the sofa area where he could see the back of a girls head and a strangely large man sitting sideways on an office chair watching the girl play a game. He turned after hearing Arthur approach.
"Are you a new recruit? Well it's lovely to meet ya lad my names Sam!" He said with an outstretched hand, which Arthur promptly ignored.
The man was eccentric, loud, and very Scottish. With every word he spoke, a kindness erupted from the syllables. He had deep silver hair and a well groomed beard, looked to be about fifty.
"Oh hey." A voice said.
The girl turned around to Arthur and revealed herself as-
"Erin, nice to meet you."
Arthur was surprised to see the same face he saw sitting outside of his university staring back at him.
"My name's Arthur."
The awkward silence got unbearable, and the large man known as Sam finally relieved it.
"So son, what's your Soul?"
"I can make small holes appear anywhere on my body that release explosions, these can be used offensively short range and also for mobility, being able to use the recoil to throw myself in any direction. It is named Burst", Arthur recited with a lackadaisical tone, as if he had done it numerous times before.
"Hold on lad, you said it's named? As in, SSDL named?"
"Yes."
"Holy fuck, OI SIMON YA GOT A 1st CLASS SOUL FOR US AHAHA YA SLY BASTARD!" the man shouted to Simon who was in the middle of relieving himself on the other side of the room.
"I'm considered an Honorary 1st Class Soul due to my age." Arthur said quickly before Sam shouted another 20 decibel sentence to Simon.
"Right ok well, mine is very simple, I can create a strong shield about 10 foot by 10 that I can move about freely up to within 20 foot of range. It's a Fourth Class Blessed Soul, Erin over here can-"
"I can tell him Sam."
"Aye of course, sorry lass." Sam spoke apologetically, it's clear he hates upsetting others.
"I can change the chemical and physical properties of any substance I touch, I never... had my Soul graded."
"What like never?" Arthur said, scoffing
"Yeah, like never." Erin spat back, "My dad never cared enough to take me."
The room completely died, which seemed to be becoming a trend. Arthur realised what he had said hurt her, but he didn't really care.
"See ya around."
"Hopefully fucking not." Erin said under her breath, having not seemingly taken to the newest recruit.
Simon plodded over gleefully hoping Arthur would've made a good impression.
"Well...what do you thi-"
"He's a cunt." Erin hissed, not even giving Simon a chance to finish.
"Erin!" Sam sounded shocked.
"Oh, well listen um, he just lost his family, so, give 'im a bit of slack, please?"
"Oh my god, like his entire family?"
Simon nodded, "He's not doing ok right now. He's unstable and emotional."
"I didn't know... I'll give him some time.", said Eren, she wasn't one to hold a grudge and it was clear he was grieving and lashing out. Arthur was sat on the other side of the warehouse near the old plane whenever Simon called.
"Everyone to the middle please!"
The crew made their way to the centre of the warehouse where a small table seemingly meant to be the meeting place was located. They all sat around the table on small mostly broken office chairs with the back snapped off of most of them.
"Everyone, this is Arthur Bridges, he's a new recruit but I'm sure you all already knew that." Simon cleared his throat, signifying he was moving on to the next topic.
"We have intel that Monsoon are holding almost 4,000 nullifying vaccines from the public and charging an upscale price for them on the black market, thi-"
At this point Arthur raised his hand.
"Yes Arthur?"
"What's a nullifying vaccine?"
"Oh, well it's um, well for people who have a Cursed Soul it nullifies the strength of their Soul to let them live a normalish life."
"Ok."
"Right well moving on, the vaccines have been located at Sundersbury Dock, tomorrow we will infiltrate and steal the vaccines back for the people. Sam, I'm relying on you to carry them with your shield, Erin, you'll be on lookout duty."
Simon turned to Arthur and looked him in the eyes.
"Arthur, you're with me, we'll be taking out the guards and being the overall front for the attack. Is that clear?!"
"Yes sir!" The group said in unison, apart from Arthur.
"Good, now go get some rest, big day tomorrow."