140: An Early Night

News of the Wildheart Sentinel's previously secret mission spread like wildfire. Videos circulated online, and some of the more eagle-eyed internet sleuths began piecing together the situation behind the scene. With more than half of the top hunters and heroes now sitting out due to assassination attempts, essays began appearing theorizing what both associations had concealed from the public.

One essay in particular, gained traction because of the sheer detail it mentioned. Some netizens theorized a secret mole had leaked the information, but the lack of response began pushing some towards a more deliberate ploy to catch the public up.

[The following essay is a catalog of all my theories with regards to the situation that both associations seem to be collaborating on behind the scenes. First, for any new readers, it’s quite easy to piece together through official statements that a while back, the Hunter’s Association rediscovered a seemingly unified underground organization. Since they’re rediscovery, there’s been a series of assassination attempts on top-level hunters and heroes. Some have been taken out of commission, while others have chosen to stay out of the public eye—primarily at the insistence of Roxanne, S-level hunter, and guildmaster of the Wildheart Sentinels.]

[She, additionally, was the first assassination target.]

[Now, to learn more, it's worth looking through publicly available data. Mission activity from both the Hunter’s Association and Hero’s Association have decreased by a little over ten percent in the past two months, which is statistically significant. Though this doesn’t say anything directly, it does seem to imply that the two organizations are both redistributing their resources to other areas.]

[There’s been a couple secret missions that have been noticed. The most visible one, though, has to be this recent one, which is a confirmation that there’s a concerted effort to work against this organization. Doing an extended mission in a public area with a number of civilians is usually highly problematic. But the fact that the two Associations have done nothing to reprimand the Wildheart Sentinels following their mission, we can assume they had previous approval and were working under the joint jurisdiction of both organizations.]

[So, what’s the big deal about this organization?]

[For one, they have technology that no one else in the public seems to have. The automata they are able to bring to any battlefield are intensely intriguing to any country as they would allow any common soldier to stand up to a relatively mid-ranked hunter or hero. This technology, if mishandled, could cause political instability between countries, or just social instability with a rise in crime.]

[The problematic part comes more in fact with a different aspect that I have recently just theorized. Many would consider the recent trend of high-profile kidnappings of people with transformation powers to be wholly unrelated, but given that the target of the most recent mission the Wildheart Sentinels carried out targeted Gideon—the transformation specialist of the guild—and another young woman who seems to have transformation powers that far outstrip any we’ve ever seen before, it seems like the secret organization that we’re working with is actually harvesting these people.]

Nestled in Celeste’s arms as they sat in bed, Nyssa reached over to their nightstand and grabbed the cup of water. After downing half of it, she offered the rest to Celeste. “Wow, this person really pieced together a lot. They even managed to figure out the whole transformation thing. Also, water?”

“Mhm, very impressive,” Celeste waved off the cup of water before squeezing Nyssa closer. Sitting with her back against two pillows, she used one of her hands to adjust the cold compress over her eyes. “Thank you for reading aloud. Don’t strain your voice too much. We need to give a report tomorrow to the higher-ups.”

“Of course, and don’t worry, worst case I just transform to have a new pair of undamaged vocal chords for the short time that we have to present,” Nyssa reassured Celeste, patting her on the knee. “Want to do anything else? Or just an early night to rest your eyes.”

“Whatever you’d prefer,” Celeste wrapped her arms back around Nyssa. “I’m already quite comfortable, regardless.”

“... I mean, if you leave the decision to me, you know exactly how this is gonna go,” Nyssa mumbled after a pause. “Which is to just sleep. I know it's only like... seven pm, but still.”

“Well, as much as I’d usually say that you’re going to sleep your life away, I’ve also had an extremely tiring day, and wouldn’t mind sleeping right now either, so it's truly up to you,” Celeste patted Nyssa’s waist.

Nyssa, breaking out into a smile, shifted in Celeste’s embrace. First, she reached over, to the nightstand, flicking the switch to the bedside lamp. Plunging the room into darkness, she rolled in Celeste’s embrace to wrap her limbs around her like an octopus. “Sleep it is, then!”

Celeste, suddenly enveloped by warmth from all sides, let out a small chuckle before freeing one of her arms. After taking off the cold compress, she pulled the blankets over the two of them and wrapped her own arms around Nyssa—who had, by some miracle, already fallen asleep. One light peck on the lips later, she shifted downward on the bed a tad before laying her head down.

Her exhausted sigh filled the room as every fiber of her being ached, and before long, her own breathing steadied out.

---

A couple hours later, at nine pm, the rest of Class Zero, having met up, looked around the communal living space.

“... I don’t see them,” Titus leaned back into the couch.

“Thank you for stating the obvious,” Ryker propped his elbows on his knees while sitting forward like a supervillain. “Where are those two?”

“Have they responded to any of the texts in the groupchat?” Electra pulled out her phone, only to slide it back into her pocket as Albion shook his head.

“So, uh... this is why we don’t do impromptu things anymore,” Conrad leaned back into his chair for a half-second before leaping back upright. “Wait a second, let’s just go find them.”

Leaping over the table and running out of the room like a lunatic, Conrad disappeared in a black streak. His laughter cackled down the hallway like a madman’s as the rest of the group just looked at each other.

“Why does he get like this when tired...” Ryker rolled his eyes. “Electra, do you mind?”

“Yeah... just give me a second,” Electra pushed herself upright with a groan. She cracked her neck and pulled her quads back for a quick stretch.

Flash.

Purple lightning fizzled into the air in her wake.

Flash.

Electra returned, holding a now out of breath Conrad. “When did you get so fast?”

“With hard training, and the power of fate on my side,” Conrad grumbled, trying to peel Electra’s hand off the back of his neck. “Villain! Unhand me! Or your fate won’t be kind at the hands of this protagonist!”

“... uh huh,” Electra nodded with an unimpressed look in her eye. “Suuuuure.”

Ignoring the rest of his monologue, she turned to the rest of the group and shrugged. “The lights in their room are off, so I assume they’re either not here, or asleep, already, so let’s just play some board games without them.”