"Ah! Multiple sightings of High-risk Leaks! I fucking knew it was too quiet!"
"I... I knew I shouldn’t have done laundry today."
Adam followed the others as they sprinted toward a parking lot behind the RLRD building.
And what struck him immediately was how effortlessly everyone moved—no one was really talking about where to go, or relaying any instructions. But all of them were moving efficiently to wherever it was they were supposed to go.
"Uh..." It was to the point that Adam had no idea if he should just stand to the side or if he actually needed to do anything, but just from watching them, there was no space for him to join at all.
They handed each other their armors and all sorts of tools while their feet moved nonstop. It almost reminded Adam of the videos of firefighters responding to an emergency. But then again... weren’t they actually firefighters, but for Leaks?
"Adam."
"Hm...?" Adam turned to his left, only for Beatrice to put something in his ear without any warning. Adam couldn’t even ask what that was before she hastily left, also urging him to move.
"Buster! Buster, come on! P-please... we need to go."
Adam turned to his right, and Ryan was desperately tugging on a thick chain, almost stumbling and sliding across the ground. And at the end of the chain... Adam finally saw just what sort of creature Buster was.
Buster... was a ratatusk. It was a brown one, but he was sure it was a ratatusk. After all, how could Adam forget the very first monster he encountered during the Game? He quickly looked at the others, but since they weren’t reacting at all, that meant this was just... normal for them.
Does this mean that Ryan’s ability is to tame monsters?
Well, if it was, he wasn’t that successful with it. The ratatusk, Buster, just yawned lazily, its toilet paper-like fur vibrating with its breath.
"P-please, B-buster," Ryan whimpered, his stutter more pronounced under stress. "P-people need our help!"
And with those words, Buster finally started to move. He stretched and then wiped his nose before following Ryan. Adam had to move back due to the monster’s size, and he saw a tag hanging around his neck—
Emotional support monster. Do not attack. What in the world... these people are freaks, Adam. You really do belong here.
Adam continued to watch everyone move to their vehicles, only snapping out of his stupor when Caleb jogged past him, his large hand patting his back.
"Hey, new guy! Why aren’t you moving?" He gestured toward where Beatrice and Harvey were climbing into a military jeep. "You should stick with those two for now. Learn the ropes."
"Oh..." Adam muttered as he looked around. "I’m waiting for something."
"Waiting for wha—"
And before Caleb could even finish his question, it was answered by the distant thrum of a helicopter humming in the air, growing louder by the second.
Everyone’s feet paused to look up at the sky with confusion.
"We don’t have time for this," Derek muttered, shadows flickering around his feet. "Whatever’s happening, we need to move."
But nobody moved. They all watched as the helicopter landed on their parking lot, and Adam walked toward it—it was only then that they realized just how massive this helicopter was as it kicked up all the dust and debris around them.
"What the hell?" Evan covered his ears, but his head still bobbed to the beat of the rotors. "What’s going on?!"
"Newbie!" Sabrina also shouted, and even when perplexed, her words still moved fast. "Is that yours?! Why do you get a chopper? We’ve been wanting a helicopter for months, but no one’s been treating our request seriously!"
Adam couldn’t hear them clearly, however, but he still turned back to the group, raising his voice over the noise. "I negotiated!"
"You what?!"
Adam couldn’t hear them anymore. He looked directly at Harvey and Beatrice, subtly waving at them. The two Heroes exchanged confused glances before realizing that they were the ones teaching Adam the ropes—and that meant they were a team... and that meant they got the helicopter as well.
Without a word, Beatrice walked toward the helicopter and climbed aboard.
Harvey pumped his fist in the air.
"Ha! Suckers! While you’re all cramped in that jeep, we’re flying in style!" He jogged toward the aircraft, calling back over his shoulder. "Don’t be jealous, we just built different!"
The others could only watch Harvey haul himself into the helicopter before looking at each other with one thought in mind—they were essentially a rescue unit... shouldn’t they all have helicopters?
But alas, they had no time to contemplate at all and could just sigh and shake their heads as they stepped onto their land vehicles.
"Ha! That’s right!" Harvey wasn’t done gloating, pointing at the others as the helicopter began to leave the ground. He then turned to Beatrice with a wide grin on his face as he put on his headset.
"Can you believe this, B? Adam here really did—"
Harvey instantly stopped talking. Sitting beside him wasn’t Beatrice, but Mira, her unsettling eyes fixed on him.
"Aaaah!" Harvey’s scream was so high-pitched it cut through the helicopter noise. "What the fuck?! What... why..."
Harvey looked in front of him, and Beatrice was there sitting beside Adam.
"Red Leak," Beatrice said calmly, adjusting her headset. "We need an A-tier Hero."
A-tier?
Adam glanced at Mira. Harvey said that most of them in the RLRD were B-tiers, a couple of C-tiers, and a single A-tier. He initially thought that the A-tier was the one who was controlling the shadows—but it was her?
And while Adam glanced at her, Mira... well, Mira once again stared at him, not blinking at all.
Why has this woman been glaring at you since you arrived, Adam? It’s starting to get uncomfortable. And it’s not the type of staring that Sylvie does—which, if you were to be honest, you like. Shut up.
"Excuse me." And without thinking about it anymore, Adam just decided... to ask. "Why do you keep staring at me?"
Harvey, who was enjoying the view below, completely retracted and sat up straight on his chair as soon as he heard that. Even Beatrice glanced sideways, pretending to be listening to someone on her earpiece.
Unfortunately for them, Mira actually answered.
"You smell strong," Mira said simply.
"I... smell strong?"