Chapter 2

"CIN! CIN!!" Ethan shouted in an excited tone.

Aiden faced him. "What?" he asked indifferently.

"Say, when do we get our first mission?!" Ethan asked with a big grin.

 "That's right!" Suzanne stood up from the desk she sat on. She moved to where Aiden was seated.

"When's our first mission CIN?!" she asked leaning a bit closer to him.

Aiden rolled his eyes.

"Back away," he told her, frowning slightly.

She laughed nervously and stepped back a few paces.

Andrew continued using his laptop, unconcerned.

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Suzanne, you act like you'll even add any good contribution when we're given a mission. You know you're quite a disturbance," he said.

Ashley turned to him and clasped her hands around one of Ryan's.

He raised a quizzical eyebrow at her.

"Now Ryan!" she frowned as she pouted at him. "That's not nice."

He tried to pull his hand out of her hold. "I'm not trying to be nice," he replied sourly. Ashley's frown deepened.

She kept both hands on her hips, leaving his hand.

"You will  be nice," she said with such certainty it was like she was ordering him to be nice. Ryan looked away and Ashley gave Suzanne a small smile.

"I apologize on his behalf!" she told Suzanne with a short bow.

Suzanne was touched. "He's always like that, Ashley; you don't need to apologize on his behalf. Infact," Suzanne looked away as she gave a small, sad chuckle, "I'm kinda used to it."

Ashley crossed her arms as she shook her head.

"Well, I'm not going to put up with an attitude like that," she said with great determination and threw a smile at Ryan who frowned.

She pinched his cheek as her smile widened. "So you'd better change okay?"

She laughed as Ryan pulled away from her.

"Gosh," he rubbed his cheek with his palm while shooting angry glares at Ashley.

Aiden turned a page of the book he was reading.

"How to be a good CIN."  He looked up at the sound of the nearness of the voice and saw Ashley reading the title of his book.

He closed the book sharply and stood up.

She beamed him a smile. "How so sweet, CIN!"

He pushed her face away with his hand.

"Now listen up," he said as he went to the center of the room. Andrew looked up from his laptop. Ryan sat on the window sill while Suzanne went back to the desk she was sitting on.

Ashley stood a bit near to Aiden while Ethan sat on a chair turned the other way.

"Being an E-rank means you've stepped up in your responsibilities," Aiden said as he looked round the Squad members.

"That's right!" Gwen said as she entered the room. "Sorry I'm late; I got held up in a meeting."

"That's alright, Coach," Ethan grinned as he looked at Suzanne. "Besides, Suzanne comes late all  the time so it's a pardonable offence," he laughed.

"What's that  supposed to mean?!" Suzanne demanded hotly as she stepped closer to him.

"You're this close to getting a massage on the face from my fists with statements like that!" Suzanne yelled at him while clenching her fists.

Ethan looked away. "Massages are supposed to help you relax," he murmured.

"By the time I'm done with you--" Suzanne was saying but Ryan interrupted her.

"Both of you should shut it. The very sound of your breathing is annoying," Ryan said in a rigid tone.

Ethan angrily glared at Ryan.

"Say, what now?!"

"Stop it! Please!" Ashley stood at the center and held out her hands in a begging position.

"I'm begging you all, stop! A team ought not to quarrel this much!" She said as she closed her eyes.

"You'll get used to it." Andrew said in a bored tone from where he sat.

"Squad 10, compose yourselves," Aiden said in stern tone.

Gwen laughed. "That's enough, you all. Besides there's a lot to do today."

The tension simmered down.

"What's our schedule?" Ryan asked as he turned to Aiden.

Gwen brought out some sheets of paper and started handing them out to all of them except Aiden.

Ashley's eyes skimmed through the sheet.

"We have to take another test in two weeks?!" Ethan whined.

"But we are just recovering from the E-rank exam!" Suzanne protested.

Ryan scrunched his mouth in a sour manner, "Speak for yourself. My skills are fine as they are."

"Listen up," Aiden started as he gave Suzanne and Ethan a hard look, silencing them.

"This test is just like the ones you normally take when you were Slads, however since we have a new addition to the team it is important you all get along, not only socially but your skills must complement each other's. If you can't learn to fight together you might as well see yourselves as dead because you can't survive without your other partners." Aiden looked round the Squad members sternly.

"You guys have two weeks to train together, at least Suzanne is getting better," Gwen added with an encouraging smile.

Andrew finally spoke. "So what you're basically saying is that we are going to battle CIN Aiden in two weeks' time, on a Monday, and we may die if we can't cover up for one another as CIN Aiden would be seeing us as his foe?"

Aiden smirked as he nodded. "Precisely."

"We're doomed," Suzanne mumbled.

"More like dead," Ethan grumbled.

"Now, now you all; how bad can it be?" Ashley asked tilting her head a bit.

 "Have you met  CIN?" Ryan scoffed and crossed his arms, "Our skills are nowhere near his. He was also a Shade before, that's why he's so cool," he muttered.

He turned to look at Aiden who was reading once again.

"It's going to be okay, you guys. He'll go easy on you," Gwen assured them.

"I won't be so sure if I were you," Aiden said as he eyed them sternly, making them all to freeze except for Ashley who mildly gasped.

"Aiden!" Gwen hissed sharply under her breath. He looked at them once more scornfully before looking away.

Gwen faced them again and gave a light chuckle.

"He's just kidding around," she said, trying her best to allay their fears.

Suzanne looked at Aiden as he turned a page of his book again.

He looked serious.

She gulped.

"But I'm sure you'll all be ready for him. Anyway, that aside, you have your first mission today!" Gwen said cheerfully.

"All right!" Ethan pumped his fists in the air happily, wage for the real deal.

"Yeah!" Suzanne exclaimed happily as she beams in excitement.

Ashley laughed.

Ryan just glanced at Andrew who looked as bored as ever. "Not excited?" he asked him in a low tone.

Andrews' gaze flickered to him.

"Hmm?" he said absentmindedly.

"You don't seem excited like the rest," Ryan told him with his eyes back on Suzanne and Ethan, who were doing a little happy dance around Ashley.

Andrew scoffed.

"Being in E-rank is nothing; very soon you'll come to the same conclusion," he replied nonchalantly and returned to using his laptop. Ryan just rolled his eyes.

"Okay, so the Sequin assigned to squad 10 is Alex; you shall address him as LIN. That's what you call all Sequins by the way, you do know they're way older than you guys," Gwen said as she laughed, "Even older than I."

"Aren't Sequins the people that can directly see the Hero-League head? Why are they being assigned to us?" Ashley asked, a bit curious.

Aiden whirled his chair around to face them.

"True, but they are the ones that assign the missions; so they are given a particular squad that the mission will be given to. But they are just temporary anyway. Soon, you'll be assigned another Sequin when you're in another rank," he explained.

"Oh," Ashley said.

"So...where's our LIN?" Suzanne asked cheerfully.

"I would be right here."

Everyone turned to the man that stood by the door with a file in his hand. He had on a warm smile and he looked extremely friendly.

"Hey, I'm Alex."