Breaking the news to Sara and Jackson of Kevin's death was hard for Marcel. He all but stumbled out of his office, tear stains on his cheeks when he went to find them. They took it hard, Sara worst of all. She and Kevin had been friends the longest. It broke Marcel's heart to see her hurt like that. She fell to the ground sobbing, and the two of them stayed to comfort her for as long as she needed. Eventually, other members of the group heard the commotion, and Jackson took her to Marcel's office for a while to keep away from prying eyes. Marcel took it upon himself to let the rest of Shepard's Court know. He gathered the teams, calmed himself enough to speak, and told all of the remaining groups the news at once. Some asked questions about how it happened, or if the mission had gone bad, but he had no answers. He simply said news of his death was delivered by Prophet a few minutes ago, and they would receive more information later. Of course, he doubted almost anyone else knew. The team likely had not even returned from the mission yet, assuming there were survivors.
After all of that, he rejoins Sara and Jackson in his office. Her wails had become softer sobs. No less pain-filled, but now without the shock. Jackson was little better. He could only hold Sara while quietly crying himself. Marcel can't bring himself to even walk to his office chair, and settles for sitting on the floor against the wall. He'd done his wailing and sobbing. Now, tears simply roll down his face as he blames himself.
"Who did it?" Jackson asks. His voice on the verge of breaking.
"He was sent to take back the reactor. I can only assume the mission went wrong. But I don't know specifically." Marcel says.
Sara doesn't look up, her eyes remain closed but she wipes the tears from her face with her palm. "We need to try again."
"She's right." Jackson agrees.
"No." Marcel says.
"But the reactor. We have to-"
"No."
"We can't just give up." Jackson says.
"We aren't. We'll get it back. But the city can't spare any more heroes right now. We have to end this war first." Marcel says.
"Lahmi." Jackson says. Marcel nods.
Without warning, the voice begins to speak to Marcel. Send Elhanan of Shepard's Court to kill Lahmi. Marcel's eyes widen, confused. But he doesn't dare argue. He wishes he could be the one to do it, but simply accepts that isn't what will happen.
"We'll send Han." Marcel tells them.
"Han? Why him?"
"We can handle it. You don't have to baby us. We've lost people before." Sara rebukes Marcel, thinking he is trying to spare their feelings or give them time to grieve.
"The voice told me to send him."
"Well it's wrong. Send us."
"No, it isn't."
"Did the voice tell you to send Kevin to Abinadab?" Sara asks with spite clear in her tone.
"No. It told me to send you." Marcel says. This catches her off guard, and she stops talking halfway through what she was about to say. "I thought it was wrong. I thought Kevin would be the best choice. But it wasn't. If you'd gone… maybe you would have succeeded."
"Or maybe she would be dead too." Jackson says. "We still don't know what that voice is. How do we know if we can trust it?"
"Stop." Marcel says. He isn't angry, knowing full well Jackson is only saying this because he's hurting. Marcel keeps his tone even and soft, not harsh. "It was my fault for not listening. If I had… then maybe…"
"You should have sent me." Sara says; not sad, not mourning, but seething. "Why didn't you send me?"
"Because I had a plan. I thought being aggressive would be the best course of action." He tried to explain, but she wasn't having it.
"Because that's worked sooo well?"
"Sara…" Jackson says, trying to calm her down before she says something she'll regret later.
"We follow your orders without question. We trust you! Why didn't you trust us? This is your fault!" She picks up a stapler from Marcel's desk and throws it at him as hard as she can and it shatters against his chest. He barely even feels it. She picks up a book, then a paperweight, then a pencil cup, and throws them all one by one. Marcel doesn't move. He doesn't have to. His body is physically strong enough from his aura constantly circulating inside of him, a habit he picked up during his months in the wastelands, that small impacts like this don't phase him. With each throw Sara yells and cries harder, until she stops throwing and just cries. "You should have sent me." She sobs.
"I know… and that's why I'm going to send Han. I won't make that mistake again." Marcel says. He looks at Jackson, who doesn't say anything in return, but does nod in understanding as he holds Sara again. Marcel stands up, and leaves the two in his office for a while.
Han wasn't far. Most of the sidekicks live in Hebron. A few live close by, in apartment buildings though. Han is one of the ones who chooses to stay in Hebron.
"Hey." Marcel says knocking on Han's open door. It's a shared room, but his roommate isn't in at the moment.
"Oh, boss. I'm sorry about Kevin. He was a really good guy." Han says, standing up from his bed.
"Thank you." Marcel says. "But listen, I want to talk to you about an upcoming mission."
"You do?"
"I'm putting you in charge of a squad."
"Okay. Is it… Kevin's squad?" Han asks, trepidatiously. The thought of taking Kevin's place didn't sound good to him. Especially so soon after his death.
"No. A separate squad. Just for this mission. Then it'll be back to how it was before."
"Oh, good. So, what's the mission?"
"You're gonna kill Lahmi." Marcel says flatly.
"Pardon?"
"You're going to put together a team of your choosing, and during this mission, your sole target will be Lahmi. It's time to put an end to this war. Without him, the gangs will scatter and the monsters will go back to normal. No more hordes, no more assaults. We'll finally have peace again."
"That's… a big job. Why me? You'd be a better choice."
"No. You're the only one who can. You have your pick of team members from Shepard's Court. Except myself, Sara, and Jackson. We'll be leading the distraction to get you an opening."
"But why me though?"
Marcel sighs, not really sure how to answer that. But the voice gives him an answer, and Marcel tells him exactly what the voice says. "Because if you are the one to do it, Lahmi has no chance of escaping."
Marcel's words were true. Han's ability to handle himself in a fight, track fleeing enemies, and disappear without a trace made him an assassination specialist. Before joining Shepard's Court, he worked directly for Hero Corp, taking out gang members who the Corp deemed high-risk. He'd never been sent to kill Lahmi, and assumed he wouldn't have the chance after leaving.
"You heard about what I used to do for the Corp?" Han asks.
"Not from anyone in the Corp." Marcel says. It was actually the voice that told him, but only some people knew about it.
"And how does it make you feel…" Truthfully, Han likes working for Marcel, and is worried this would cost him his job. Not many groups want to associate themselves with the grimmer side of Hero Corp's efforts to keep the city safe, no matter how needed they are.
"It's fine. The only reason I didn't kill Oasis King before was because I was asked not to by someone I trust." Marcel says, slightly twisting the truth. "Sometimes you just have to kill a problem."
"Uh…cool…" Han says awkwardly.
"Try and have your team chosen by tomorrow night."
"No problem." Marcel says, and walks to make further preparation. More than anything, he needs a distraction, and killing Lahmi is the perfect one.