The recruits were told to stand in a single column, eight of them, as their names were called, all under the watchful eyes of the shelter's survivors. The last to join the column was the reluctant Megan, who looked to the other side to see her brother Tommy getting along with the Men-at-Arms.
Coming from above, Officer Reeves walked down; many eyes watched him, expecting him to join the column after he openly shook hands with Adam, but he simply found another corner and stood waiting.
Sergeant Elena also walked down, with Adam following her, whispering words to each other. She then headed towards Professor Hendrick and thanked him for the recruitment, assuring him of the Grub Machine's delivery within a week. The Professor asked her to take care of the recruits, a show of compassion towards his people that Elena expressed appreciation for, or rather, acted like appreciating.
Meanwhile, each of the current Men-at-Arms, along with Kave, had their own interactions with the shelter's survivors, each of which attracted Adam's attention.
First, Kave and Candice had a bit of chemistry going on between them for some reason. Kave was positioned with the Men-at-Arms as Candice approached him in a playful manner.
"You can still walk straight, huh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, hinting at their last night's threesome activity.
Kave turned to her, a similar look on his face. "I can say the same to you. Honestly, I'm surprised your insides are still intact."
"Worry about your own insides first," Candice scoffed, averting her face, still basking in the bliss of last night's ecstasy. "Each time I've seen her this morning, I just resist the urge to drop to my knees."
"That's been me the past few days." Kave turned to Candice. Lust flared in their exchanged glances. "Hey, you'll come visit, right?"
"Do I get the same as last night?" She asked, playfully biting her lower lip.
"More, if you're lucky." He replied, eyes wide, hinting that what Elena did to them last night wasn't even the full course.
"I'll look forward to it. Later then."
She smiled, winked, and walked away, much to Adam's horror, who overheard most of the conversation and decided to scrap it from his mind.
On another front, Adam spotted Sharp speaking with Yuki; the two looked at each other intensely. He thought they might take out their knives and hack one another.
"I'll kill you if you die," Yuki said, her gaze as sharp as a lethal killer's.
"It would be worth dying then," Sharp replied with a lazy, rough voice, not taking his eyes off hers.
"You think I'm not serious? I'll find your corpse and #### it, then ### ### your #### and #### it around my ####." She uttered words Adam's brain decided to censor.
"Your offers keep getting better." Sharp's smile grew wider, taking one final look at his girlfriend before joining the troops.
Adam wanted to stab his own ears after hearing that, but Buzz then approached him, glancing all around.
"Commander." He spoke to Adam after ensuring no one was listening or looking.
"What is it?" Adam, wanting to distract himself from the two weird situations he had witnessed, gave his attention to Buzz.
"You think someone would notice if I… you know… nicked something?" Buzz asked, hiding a small bag at his side.
Adam frowned, raised his hand, and with a gesture, demanded it be handed over to him.
"Sir, I discovered a trove, truly. It will keep the boys' spirits up."
Buzz reluctantly handed over the bag, trying to explain it to Adam, but the latter was against stealing anything from their new allies. However, when he handed it over, Adam could only look at its content with conflicted emotions.
"I've never seen such art in any world I've visited before, sir. It's… beyond words," Buzz explained, watching as Adam looked through the bag.
A frown, followed by a look at Buzz's excited face, Adam shook his head wryly, grasping Buzz's tendencies and realizing he was the annoying one in the squad, hence his name, not just because he was good with radios.
"Playjoy magazines? Really?" Adam returned the bag to him, his eyes disappointed. "I thought you at least stole something of value."
"Of value?!" Buzz looked at Adam, horrified. "This is of immense value. Things like these… we never dreamed of. This world is actually the best one I've stepped on so far. Well, as long as a Justiciar isn't around, I mean; otherwise, we're in for lashes."
"Good thing I'm not role-playing my costume then," Adam said as he pulled the side of his Justiciar coat together, adjusting it over his shoulder.
"Well, it's good and all, so… can I keep those… I mean, for the sake of this squad of hopeless virgins?" Buzz asked with a sleazy face, trying to entice Adam.
"Hopeless what now?" Adam asked, a brow raised.
"You know, Boss, apart from you, no one here has gotten a decent lady. This stuff will be good to keep morale high," Buzz said, trying to retrieve a magazine, yet Adam pushed it back in the bag.
"Answer me, Buzz, how long have you been a Trench Dog?" Adam asked, trying to deduce something.
"Honestly, my memory isn't clear about this, but it may be four or five standard months," Buzz answered.
With a pat on the shoulder, Adam left Buzz to marvel at his porno collection, blissfully unaware that he was the only one who wasn't getting lucky. The only thing Adam could do to protect Buzz was to tell him to keep the collection to himself and not share it with others, thereby shielding him from the consequences of knowing what might break his spirits.
Speaking of lucky, Adam could see Hammerhead and Biscuits sticking together all day, just like him and Megan. He had already suspected something between them, but it seemed they were subtle about it. However, as Adam approached to check on them, the two became awkward and straightened up all of a sudden, which made Adam feel awkward himself, despite their being his summons.
He still failed to sense the little girl they were hiding on the other side of the van, clearly intending to help her sneak through the back door behind their cargo.
When all preparations were complete, Sergeant Elena and the Professor shook hands before she went on and ordered all troops and recruits to attention in preparation to return home.
✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧
A convoy of three cars navigated wisely through the highway of northern Brighthaven, departing from the urban area and its dangers for the relative safety of the suburbs. Leading the convoy was the van Adam and his Wartopian summons had secured two nights ago in Mallwart. In the middle was a police squad car belonging to Officer John Reeves. The last vehicle was an extra one sent from the factory shelter to escort the convoy, help transport the number of people that couldn't fit in the first two cars, and chart the way to Adam's base.
About half a mile up the rise leading to the base, Adam instructed the entire convoy to stop, thanked their escort, and had the recruits disembark to continue on foot. He offered a flimsy excuse that the road ahead was difficult to drive through, though his true intent to keep their location concealed was unmistakable.
He then split the new recruits between the two cars and continued the short remaining distance to base.
"Sir, you need to hear this."
But right before they approached base, a report came in on the radio, and Buzz was handing over his mic to Adam. He switched seats to sit beside Buzz, put the earpiece on his head to hear the report, and when it was over, Adam was left with a surprised look that no one could help but question in their hearts.
"Something wrong?" Megan was the first to ask, drawing the attention of those who hadn't seen Adam's expression.
"No, not much. Just a little surprise. A good one, too… maybe. No worries," Adam said with a short smile before turning his gaze to the road ahead.
The van shook terribly. Among the most nervous were Biscuits and Hammerhead, who kept silent the whole journey and didn't sit beside each other. Hammerhead took the spot closest to the van's side door, and Biscuits sat at the back.
Just as the car stopped, Hammerhead slid the door open and landed first before looking around and declaring, "I'll offload."
Biscuits stood up quietly, and just as everyone was gathering outside, she quietly mumbled, "I'll go help Hammerhead."
Adam, Kave, and Megan all looked at the familiar neighborhood that had undergone a few days of scraping by the relentless Men-at-Arms to reconstruct Kave's family house into a makeshift Command Center. It stood alone at the center of the hill, and around it were the large Refinery Rig, the newly established Solar Plant, and a few structures where the scrap was organized in heaps.
But right beside the garage section of the command center, there was a large object covered in a big sheet and held by chains hooked to the railing of the second story of the building. The moment Megan and Kave saw it, as well as the rest of the Men-at-Arms, they all realized who had come to visit.
"The prodigal son returns," Kave said, turning to Adam, who was putting on a half-smile.
"The prodigal miniature, you mean," Adam said, preparing himself for the meeting he hadn't prepared for.
"It is him, right?" Megan asked, more like whispering and screaming, as she looked between Adam and Kave.
Just then, the door to the Command Center slid open, attracting everyone's attention. The first to emerge was Corporal Stone, a grunt man-at-arms, who was by all measures one hell of a specimen of a man. In the eyes of the new recruits, he looked like the commander around here.
However, what walked out right after him made him look like a child showing an actual adult the way around the place. Not only was he a giant, he was a pure transcendent, a mountain of muscles, a man of no equal.
The veterans saw him and shivered; from the childish Buzz to the sadistic Elena Skarn, they all felt it. Adam and Megan most of all, as their "Senses" skill was high enough to feel an aura of absolution wrapped around the Sunforged Warrior. As for the new recruits, some were already taking steps backward, shivering, swearing, or simply too stunned to even react.
There was no need to create an image of a mystery commander for the recruits; *Captain Solomon Creed* was enough to instill the facade.
✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧
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