Chapter 3

"Good morning LIN!" Ashley bowed shortly.

Alex patted her head as he walked by. The rest greeted him with less vigour, Andrew way less than the others.

"I suppose you are Squad 10, aren't you?" he looked at them.

"Yup! That's us all right!" Ethan affirmed, smiling widely.

Alex adjusted his glasses and smiled back at him. He turned to them all. "Okay then. Let's get down to business as I have somewhere else to be."

Suzanne moved a little closer to him.

Andrew rested his chin on his palm.

Alex looked very serious now.

"Squad 10, you have been assigned a class C-mission file!" He brought forth the file he was holding.

Ashleys' eyes glowed with pride. She and Ethan exchanged excited looks.

"All five members are needed for the total completion of this mission. A report on the mission must be made by dusk today," Alex went on.

Suzanne's eyes widened.

This was it; their first mission.

Andrew wished the man would hurry it up. He glanced at his wristwatch and sighed. Ryan was also paying close attention. It seemed he was the only one bothered.

Andrew shook his head. I really shouldn't bother about annoying subjects like this. He thought inwardly.

"What's a class C-mission file?" Ethan asked, a bit puzzled.

"Quiet Ethan! Let him finish!" Suzanne snapped at him.

Aiden shot both of them a nasty look and they both sat down and looked the other way.

Alex glanced through the open file. "Ah, yes, where was I?" he continued.

"A class C-mission file is a mission that earns money for the Hero League and since you're just entering E-rank, I picked out a simple one for you."

"Make money for Hero League?" Suzanne questioned, a confused look on her face.

"Ah yes, like err....," Alex turned to look at Aiden for help.

Aiden rolled his eyes and addressed them, "It means you do casual things: Nothing too serious."

"Nothing too serious! That's not fair!" Ethan protested as he got up.

"Sit down now Ethan," Gwen told him calmly.

"Anyway, that aside. Your first ever mission is to--" Alex flipped over the full page he was holding.

Ashley looked on with googly eyes. It can't be that simple now, can it?  She thought with glee.

"It is to find Mrs Paulina's dog, Patches." Alex said simply.

"That's it? To find a missing puppy?!" Ethan exploded.

 "No way," Ryan looked at Alex unbelievably.

"We need more information on the looks of the dog and the last place it was seen," Andrew stated in a cool, bored tone.

"You're just gonna roll with it?!" Ethan asked sharply, turning to Andrew to give him an incredulous look.

Andrew flickered him a bored look before returning his eyes to Alex.

"But we trained so hard to get to E-rank! You can't just push us aside like we don't matter!" Suzanne protested vehemently as she also stood up to face Alex. She was embittered.

"Who names a dog Patches anyway?" Ashley wondered.

"Listen up, Squad," Aiden said and they all turned to him.

He stood up and walked to where they were.

"I know you feel cheated right now, but according to protocol, all E-rank must first go through the casual missions before beginning the real deal. Hero League must first confirm that you're ready to face the outside world," he told them as he crossed his arms on his chest.

"But this is just too simple!" Suzanne said crossly.

"Maybe, but you all need this as a stepping stone to move up to the next level if not--" Aiden turned his back at them and started walking towards the door.

He paused as he opened the door.

"--you might as well quit being a hero now."

He then left.

"Quit?!" Ethan gasped.

"What does he mean, Coach?" Ashley asked, turning to face Gwen.

Gwen sighed as she stood up. Aiden is way too blunt. She thought inwardly.

She smiled at them.

"No worries! It's just that Hero League really doesn't force anyone to be a hero so they can um...er....pull out if they feel everything's too much for them to handle. It's okay," she told them, trying to assure them.

"What happens when they leave? What'll happen to their team?" Ryan questioned coldly.

"Well it's no biggie. They get replaced that's all." Gwen laughed again, more out of awkward tension than humor.

"But you don't need to worry about it, cos you're all staying together." She also headed towards the door.

"Um....actually, now that I know, I --" Suzanne started after a nervous laughter but she swallowed down the rest of her statement after receiving evil glares from Ryan and Ethan.

Andrew just gave her a blank look.

"What was that, Suzanne?" Alex asked looking up from the file he was holding.

"He-he...nothing," she awkwardly plopped down on her seat.

"Bye guys! We'll see later!" Gwen waved from the doorway and made her exit.

They all turned to Alex.

"Okay, here is the documentation of the necessary information you need to know about the dog. Good day." Alex handed it over to Andrew who gave him a curt nod.

Alex also exited the room.

"What now?" Ashley asked as she faced Andrew expectantly.

Andrew's gaze flickered to her for a moment before returning to reading from the document.

"Hey! Andrew! She's talking to you!" Ethan yelled.

"Stop shouting, Ethan," Suzanne told him.

"I'm aware," Andrew replied nonchalantly, not looking up from the file. Ethan frowned deeply at that response but before he could react,  Ashley walked up to Andrew's desk.

"Hey," she hit the table mildly.

"What is it?" he asked, looking up at her with a bored expression.

"It's not polite to ignore people," she told him.

"Well I don't care," Andrew replied flippantly and stood up.

"Let's go," he said to his Squad members and turned.

Ryan followed him. "Where are we going?" he asked coolly as they both exited the room.

"Hey! Ryan! Wait up!" Suzanne hurried after them.

"There she goes again," Ethan rolled his eyes as he and Ashley walked out after them.

~~~

Andrew recieved the duplicated files from the photocopier.

They all walked back inside the class.

"Alright, here," He passed each copy around and kept the original copy to himself.

"Thanks," Ashley nodded politely as she got hers.

Andrew looked away.

"I don't like people bugging me when I'm reading, I ought not to have ignored you like that," he said and looked down at his paper. "Not that I care anyway," he added.

"Um...okay," Ashley looked unsure. "So that means you're sorry, right?" she asked him.

His blue eyes flickered to her brown ones briefly before returning back to the document.

"Interpret it anyhow you like," he shrugged nonchalantly.

"Was that an apology?" Ashley leaned over to ask Suzanne in a whisper.

Suzanne gave her a low chuckle as she shrugged. "I suppose," she muttered.

Andrew cleared his throat. "Alright, down to business," he started.

They all looked at him.

"This is our first mission as E-rank, and no matter how lowly it seems, we must not take it for granted. The documents you're all holding states that Patches is a Golden Retriever, brown coated, with a pink bow and a similar color of collar," Andrew said as he switched on his laptop. He got pictures of how Patches looked like from the various pictures Mrs Paulina had posted online.

"Patches was last seen at the Green hill park, where she was being walked by her owner, Mrs Paulina. They stopped briefly for a rest beside the fountain, where the black currant shrubs grew. Mrs Paulina had sighted an old friend of hers and they began a conversation. When she turned around, Patches was nowhere to be found and her leash had been unhooked from around her neck," Andrew continued, reading from the copy of the document he held. "Now the question is," He walked up to the board and began writing. "Where is Patches?"

"She was decleared missing just this morning at around 9:44am," Ryan said.

"That's when she went missing? It's too early to declare anything missing; It's just 11:56am," Ashley told them as she looked down at her wrist watch.

Andrew nodded. "Exactly what the police told Mrs Paulina when she went to them," he said.

"So that's why she came to the Hero League for help?" Suzanne asked.

"Of course," Ashley replied with a smile.

"Man, you guys are making it sound like some cool mystery! It's just a lost puppy! Let's just find some dog snacks and pour 'em all over the ground, I bet Patches herself will run out of wherever she's hiding," Ethan said with a slight scoff.

"That's why you're such an airhead. Which kind of idea is that?" Ryan said coldly.

"Airhead! How dare you call--" Ethan started, walking towards Ryan, annoyed but Suzanne knocked him off course with a punch.

He flew and hit the nearby wall.

"Oww...," he groaned as he lay on the floor.

"Ethan!" Ashley exclaimed with wide eyes. She quickly rushed over to where he laid to assist him back on his feet.

Suzanne kept both hands on her hip as she faced Ethan. "Do shut up, Ethan! That's a stupid plan!"

"Settle down you guys," Andrew put the marker down with a little force.

"Suzanne! That was mean!" Ashley looked at her, horrified.

Suzanne waved her off impatiently as she retorted, "Oh please! He'll be fine! He's always saying stupid things at times; a punch always helps to clear his head."

"That's not true," Ethan protested feebly.

"I can see you still have the strength for one more hit!" Suzanne glared at him in a threatening way.

He looked away, annoyed.

If not because Suzanne has super strength, she wouldn't have gotten away with any of this. He thought.

"Get used to it, Ashley: Ethan and Suzanne are both stupid in unimaginable ways like that," Ryan said with a malicious snicker aimed at Ethan.

Suzanne frowned but only for a while.

She looked away and sat down.

"Let's get back to the mission at hand, shall we?" Andrew said boredly.

Ashley helped Ethan to his seat. "You shouldn't bother about him," Ryan insisted in a sacarstic tone.

It was fun for him, watching Ethan get hit, but if Ashley was going to interfere every time that Suzanne bashed Ethan, then it was going to turn into a bore.

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked Ethan with a concerned look.

"Un...un...," he stammered, he noticed for the first time that Ashley had big brown eyes. They were dark and whirly like  chocolate.

What's wrong with me?!  Ethan thought as he noticed his sweaty palms.

"The mission. "Andrew's firm tone made Ashley tear her eyes away from Ethan's.

Ethan sighed in relief as she went back to her seat. He lowered his head, feeling a little flushed.

Andrew turned back to continue writing on the board.

"So here are the facts we know," he said as he wrote. "But one thing's for certain," He turned back to look at them. "Patches didn't stray off, she was taken."

Suzanne gasped.

 Ryan looked skeptical. "How'd you know that?" he asked Andrew.

"Mrs Paulina was walking her, was she not?" Andrew queried.

"So?" Ethan asked, not quite getting Andrew's drift.

Andrew sighed and faced them fully, mainly looking at Ethan. "When you walk a dog, it has to be on  a leash. And pets don't have hands to unhook the leash from their collars, which means only one thing; when Mrs Paulina turned to chat, someone took Patches away," Andrew stated. "So...," he brought out his marker again. "The main question is, who  took Patches?" Andrew wrote the question on the board and circled it.

"Let's find evidence at the scene of the crime!" Ashley suggested.

Ethan nodded, "Alright! Let's do it!"

Andrew packed up his laptop in its bag and slung the bag over his shoulder. "Sure," he said in a nonchalant tone.

"I'll walk next to Ryan!" Suzanne announced.

"Shut up," Ryan snapped at her backing away from her.

"Don't tell her to shut up! You shut up!" Ethan said rather aggressively.

Though Suzanne felt a little hurt at Ryan's rude remark, Ethan's support made her feel better.

She shot him a small, grateful smile.

Ashley marched up to Ryan. She looked at him sternly. "Ryan! That's not nice!" she told him.

 Ryan scoffed and walked past her. "Like I care what you think," he told her coldly.

Ashley grabbed his arm unexpectedly and started yanking him outside.

"Hey! What--what are you doing?!" Ryan asked extremely startled.

"I'm going to teach you how to be nice! Come along now!" Ashley giggled as she pulled him roughly out of the classroom.

"Let's go," Andrew told Ethan and Suzanne in a bored tone as he also walked out of the room.

Suzanne and Ethan both looked at each other.

"Ashley is kinda--" Suzanne started.

"Wierd?" Ethan completed her statement for her.

"Yeah, sorta," she nodded grimly.

Andrew returned to the room a bit impatiently. "Don't take all day," he told them and went out again.

They sheepishly followed him outside.