"Marcus!" Anne exclaimed happily and rushed over to the man standing next to his motorcycle. She immediately jumped on him for a hug the moment she reached him.
"Yeah yeah, of course you're excited to see me sniper" Marcus chuckled and wrap his arm around her shoulders and began to pat her back. Soon, he stretched out his arms on her shoulders and pushed her slightly to meet his gaze.
"You know what this calls for?" He asked with a smile.
"Celebration pizza!" both Marcus and Anne yelled simultaneously.
"Oh boy" Elise facepalmed.
"Hell yeah!" Chris yelled excitedly and rushed towards both Anne and Marcus. "Glad you're back bro" he said.
"Glad to see you too" Marcus smiled. The two exchanged a handshake, a fistbump and soon burst out laughing.
Jules turned to stare down at Elise. 'Hmm, she seems unhappy to see him' he thought. The guy before them was Marcus, the supposed brother of Elise whom Anne had mentioned before. He couldn't help but squint his eyes to get a clearer look at him; 'How come they look nothing alike?' He wondered.
The guy he was looking at had deep black long hair, deep black eyes, a thin nose and thin lips and honestly speaking, he was very handsome. 'I guess that's one thing they have in common' he thought, both Elise and her brother were really good looking. He also noticed the black fitted thick clothes on Marcus' body, it was no doubt that was his saviours uniform.
"Woah, is that a new bike?!" Chris exclaimed at the sight of Marcus' bike. "Wait really?!" Anne turned to look too.
"Ha, don't admire it too much kids, it costs a fortune" Marcus spoke with a grin as the two ran towards his bike to get a closer look. Soon, his eyes caught sight of Elise and Jules standing at a distance.
Jules hadn't realized he'd been staring at Marcus intently for a while until someone spoke from beside him.
"What? You inlove with him or something?" Elise asked completely jotling Jules out of his reverie.
"W-w-what??! No way!" Jules exclaimed rather hastily.
"Pfft" Elise simply let out a small laugh which disappeared as quickly as it came.
'Woah, did she just laugh?' Jules wondered and couldn't help but smile at the thought of it.
Marcus stood still and kept observing them as both Anne and Chris fawned over his bike. He couldn't help but furrow his brows.
"Hey sniper" he called out.
"Yes Marcus" Anne turned to him in curiosity.
"Remind me who that tall kid was again" Marcus spoke.
Anne turned to both Jules and Elise. "Oh, that's Jules"
"He's my best friend" Chris smiled butting into their conversation.
"Hmm" Marcus peered his eyes suspiciously at them observing Jules's awkward behaviour around Elise. Soon, his eyes widened and he turned sideways to stare at Anne.
"The potential brother-in law?" He asked abruptly.
"Yep, that's the one" Anne chuckled.
"Huh?" Chris raised a brow in confusion but before he could get a reply, Marcus was already walking towards Elise and Jules and Anne followed after him.
"Oh wow, the devil blesses us with his presence" Elise spoke and rolled her eyes afterwards.
As soon as Marcus was before them, he spread his arms and rushed to wrap them around Elise and lifted her up. "Oh, how I missed you little sis!!" He exclaimed with a grin.
"You...put me down you weirdo! And stop calling me little sis!" Elise yelled and kicked him on the face causing him to stumble backwards while she flipped and landed on her feet.
"Urgh" Marcus groaned and wiped his face. "You didn't have to do that you know, where are your manners young lady?" He scolded.
"I lost them the moment you made your unwanted appearance" Elise bluntly said.
Marcus groaned in frustration "You little ungrateful..."
'Does every one have beef with each other?' Jules wondered as he watched the two.
"Ha" Marcus sighed afterwards, "I'm not here for you anyways" he said. Soon, his attention darted towards the boy beside her and he waved with a smile. "Hello Jules Martin"
"Oh..uh....hello..uh.."
"Marcus, Marcus Auclair" Marcus smiled.
"Oh, hello Marcus" Jules bowed politely.
"Oh, you don't have to do that" Marcus chuckled.
"Anyways...I heard from Anne here that you're my potential brother...." He was about to finish speaking when Anne immediately covered his lips with her palm.
She stared intently at him and twitched her eyes as if to give him a signal. 'Oh, guess I was not supposed to say that' he thought.
"Hehe" Marcus slowly removed her palms and gave Jules a smile.
"I heard you're the new member who gained an ability just recently" he said.
"Phew" Anne heaved a sigh of relief. She looked up to meet Elise's suspicious glare and flinched.
"Oh, yeah" Jules said. "I heard a lot about you too" he added. He couldn't help but feel a strong presence before him, Marcus looked like a sophisticated man but his smile seemed to hold an underlying message.
"Anyways, how old are you?" Marcus asked, his smile not leaving his face.
"Oh..I'm 16!" Jules said abruptly and Marcus's smiled immediately faded.
He turn to stare at Elise and shook his head. "Well, that's not good" he said.
"Urgh, what in the world is going on you two?!" Elise snapped and glared at both Anne and Marcus.
"N-nothing" Both Anne and Marcus replied with a nervous sweat.
"Ha" Elise sighed in frustration and walked away from them. She then stretched out her port crystal which revealed a portal instantly and walked into it. She was sick and tired of dealing with these weirdos.
Marcus stared at empty space blankly "Well, she's gone"
AT THE SAVIOURS HEADQUARTERS.....
Elise walked out of the portal with a sigh and began to walk towards the silent training room; the master was most likely going to be there. Just when she thought she could have some peace and quiet, an engine sound was heard and four figures came walking out of a portal with one riding a bike which zoomed before her.
"Your big bro's been away for months now, won't you at least welcome me properly" Marcus pouted.
"Welcome, please go back to streets where you belong" Elise spoke irritatedly and kept walking.
"Pfft" Marcus laughed.
"Are they actually siblings?" Dying with curiosity, Jules turned to ask his best friend the one question lingering in his thoughts.
"Oh well, I guess I could tell you since you're one of us" Chris spoke. "They're indeed siblings but not biologically, they were both adopted by the master" He added.
"H..huh? The master?" Jules asked in surprise.
"Wait!. You didn't know he was their father?" Chris raised a brow.
Just then, master Benjamin came out of the meditation room and smiled at the sight of them. "Oh, the kids are back" He said.
"Dad!" Marcus leaped out of his bike and rushed towards master Benjamin to give him a hug.
'Woah, the master's really their dad?' Jules thought.
"Out of my way" The master yanked Marcus away roughly.
"Hey, aren't you at least happy to see me again?" Marcus asked with a disheartened expression, his arms placed on his waist like a child begging for attention.
"You've been loitering the outskirts of the city for the past one month, I could sense your energy" The master sighed. "You didn't once think to visit the headquarters so why would I be happy to see you huh?" He turned to look up at Marcus this time with an annoyed expression.
"Hehe" Marcus laughed with a nervous sweat. "Sorry Dad" he looked down guiltily.
"Ha" master Benjamin sighed. "Like I wouldn't wind up forgiving you" he said and Marcus chuckled.
Master Benjamin then turned to look at the others. "My, that must've been a tough fight" he said. The slight injuries they had obviously sustained from the fight could be seen. His only relief was that they weren't enough to consult a special doctor.
"It wasn't all that tough" Elise said bluntly. "I'll be in my room now" she turned to leave afterwards.
"Heh, we managed to defeat two C-ranks" Chris said with a faint smile.
"That was so freaking cool!" Anne exclaimed.
'You almost died back there, how is that cool?!' Jules thought in wonder.
"Hmm, in that case let's all have a meeting regarding today's battle in the next 20 minutes" master Benjamin spoke and walked away as well.
"Yes master"
"Ha, let's go change into our regular clothes" Anne sighed in a relaxed manner.
"Buddy, come with me" Chris called out to Jules.
"Oh, okay" Jules nodded but he couldn't help but flinch as he noticed an ominous stare from a distance. Why was Marcus staring at him like that?
As soon as the kids were gone, Marcus turned to stare down at his watch. He slid open the small transparent cover protecting it to reveal a red button right in the middle of the hands. CLICK; he clicked on the red button and a red light engolfed him. The light soon disappeared and his entire outfit changed completely, on him was black jeans, a white top and a black jacket with white sneakers.
Marcus placed his arms in his pockets and looked up to take in the fresh air of the headquarters. "The others would be delighted to see my new invention"
25 MINUTES LATER...
"We're here!!" Chris said with delight as he walked into the meeting room, Jules and Anne following after him. Chris had a small band aid on his forehead to cover the slight injury there, Anne had none on her as she had only sustained slight internal damage. Jules on the other hand was doing perfectly fine.
They looked to see the master and Marcus already there. Marcus had his back leaned on the huge table in the middle while the master stood at a distance.
"Then, shall we begin?" Master Benjamin spoke and walked towards the table.
"Hold on...Elise isn't here yet" Jules interrupted.
"Hmm, you're right" Anne said whilst looking around.
"We can carry on without her...besides, this isn't the first time she's been absent to one of our after-mission meetings" Chris shrugged.
"I'm not that incompetent" Elise's voice echoed in the room and they all turned to see her already inside. She was putting on a black hoodie, casual shorts and flipflops.
'Come to think of it, it's no wonder she always dress so casually around here' Jules wondered.
"Wow, I'm surprised you came" Chris said with a slight grin.
"Is that even important right now?" Elise sighed and turn to glance around the meeting room for the best spot to stand at. She definitely couldn't stand next to the obnoxious Chris or her annoying brother Marcus and well, Anne can get pretty annoying at times.
"Ha" she sighed further and walked to stand next to the most tolerable member at the moment, Jules.
Jules gulped at the sight of her beside him.
"Alright, settle down" master Benjamin spoke afterwards with a serious expression on his face.
The five youngsters turn to look at him and were ready to listen to what he was about to say.
"Elise, what were the abilities of the C-ranks from today?" The master asked.
"Wood manipulation and swift teleportation. The female seemed to be well bred in physical fights as well and she could only teleport through short distances. The kid was much stronger than he let out, a little more training in his ability and I believe he could be strong enough to be a B-rank, he was even a transformer" Elise spoke eloquently.
"As accurate as ever sis" Marcus smiled and began to clap but stopped the moment Elise turned to glare at him.
"Ha" master Benjamin sighed frustratedly. He found it hard to believe that he didn't sense the presence of transformer from the kid's energy.
"In that case, you kids may have to fight B-ranks soon" he said. As much as he tried to hide it, one couldn't help but notice how anxious he was.
"I think you all are forgetting another important thing here" Elise suddenly spoke once again.
"Huh?" Master Benjamin raised a brow
"Today marks Jules' first mission since he joined us and although he still has a lot to learn, he made great use of his ability while we both fought against the wood kid" Elise said.
Jules stared down at Elise in surprise and couldn't help but feel slightly giddy inside.
"She's right, Jules was amazing today" Chris smiled.
Marcus turned to his left and looked down at Anne. He then brought his face closer to her ear. "The wedding might take place sooner than we expect" he whispered.
"I know right?" Anne whispered back and covered her lips to prevent the others from seeing her wide grin.
"Anyways, what I'm saying is...." Elise trailed off. "Jules knows nothing about the saviours or the dark associates and yet he's one of us" she said.
"I see where you're headed" master Benjamin replied. "Thank you Elise, you mentioned that at the perfect time" he smiled.
He then folded his arms across his chest and turned to look at Marcus. "It is someone's duty to educate his members after all..."
The other four turned to look at Marcus as well and he lifted both his arms at that moment.
"Alright, I guess that job belongs to me" he sighed. "Jules Martin" he called out.
"Uh...yes" Jules answered.
"Be prepared, the leader is here to teach you everything you need to know" he smiled.
SOMEWHERE IN THE DRY DESSERT.....
"Cough! Cough!" a cough echoed in the deserted and quiet area and a small body slowly rose up.
"Cough! Urgh, those damn saviours!!" the small kid drenched in blood, sweat and sand cursed the moment he was strong enough to stand up. He slowly stared down at his bruised arm.
"Zaya must be dead by now" he looked down dejectedly.
"I'll have to report this to Ryuko, he'll be nice enough to listen to me"
"I'll work hard enough and rise to an A-rank before I become a teenager" he gritted his teeth in anger and coughed once again.
"And then I'll kill every single one of those saviours" he said, staring down at his clenched fist.
At that moment, Perry made his way back with his completely injured and exhausted body.