Work Talk

Zooming across the horizon. In the open air, a private jet flew toward Britain.

Red and her Lieutenant were traveling in luxury. High-class seats, champagne out the wazoo, they were having a blast... Except they weren't.

"I want to tear that Colt into pieces! I want to rip him to shreds and beat him to a pulp!" (Red)

She was furious. Her rage pulled and stretched across her face.

"Captain, I've never seen you so angry before?" (Second-Class Liuentent Sorcerer, Squad Marry, Oliver Swift)

Oliver sat across from her with his hands softly placed on his lap.

"Oliver, that meeting couldn't have gone any worse. I was humiliated in front of all those idiots. And now I'm stuck with the Infilitraction Team on the raid with Mato and the rest of the Magic Force." (Red)

"Was it really that bad? You have a habit of being overdramatic about things, Captain." (Red)

She leaned back, her gloved hands slapped against eachother.

"I wish I was being overdramatic, but this is a matter of the utmost priority that we can't just put of anymore. We can't have Colt running amuck of us anymore." (Red)

They landed in Britain, on an open airfield, surrounded by military trucks and cars. With suited Sorcerers surrounding the areas blocking off any media or civilians.

Oliver stepped out from the private jet's folding door. He was then immediately met by two secretaries with documents and papers to sign.

"Captain, you've been putting off a lot of work lately. I think our best course of action in the next couple weeks is to take a step back on the raid and put our full force into expanding-" (Oliver)

He turned around to see Red laughing and scheming with herself.

She pulled out her phone.

"I've got the perfect plan, Oliver. You see, each squad and division has to chip in with at least one or two high-class Sorcerers. But Colt's Special Magic Squad works differently. They're forced to take on any emergency requests no matter what. And since I'm good friends with Diana, I can just send in a couple of simple requests..." (Red)

She wrote up a long email to Diana.

"And send! Now I have full control of the Special Magic Squad, and I can do whatever I want with them." (Red)

Oliver finished signing all the documents.

"Don't tell me you plan to destroy the Special Magic Squad?" (Oliver)

"No no. I'm just going to kill two birds with one stone. I'm getting Jack back, and punishing Colt." (Red)

---

It was a cold night in Tokyo.

Two days had passed since the horrendous Magic Force Leaders Assembly and all the Special Magic Squad members were huddled up in the Leisure Hall watching a horror movie.

Bob had set up three couches next to eachother in a row.

On the left couch sat Jack and Yaku, who were sharing a long wool blanket while intently watching the movie.

On the right couch sat Colt and Qway, who were squished together by Bob's round body that took up half the space.

And in the middle couch sat Vlad, who was drunk and fast asleep, and next to him laid Diana, who was texting her group of girlfriends.

Two hours passed and everyone was fast asleep.

The winter night grew colder and colder, and the chill turned to a warm slumber. Blankets were tossed ontop of eachother, mountains of layers stacked from person to person.

As the clock hit midnight, Diana, Yaku, Vlad, and Bob were deep into a slumbering dream.

But Colt and Qway were far from sleepy, they were pissed.

"I'm going to my room." (Colt)

He pushed off from the squish couch. Qway jumped out as well.

"Yeah same. I'm not sleeping next to the fatso, and the stinko." (Qway)

"Did you just call me stinko?" (Colt)

They walked toward the hidden staircase.

"No idiot. You think your stinky, no-no, I called you fatso." (Qway)

"Wow! Real funny! Real funny!" (Colt)

They disappeared up the hidden staircase to the sleeping quarters.

Five more minutes passed. Everyone fell deeper and deeper into sleep. Yaku started to softly snore. Diana's phone wouldn't stop buzzing. Everyone was fast asleep, except for Jack.

"Uuhgg." (Jack)

He leaned forward, his head aching, his mind racing, he couldn't dream good dreams.

"Are these nightmares?" (Jack)

He tried to close his eyes but all he could see was a grim past, a past of nothing but bad memories, horrible horrible memories, memories that he didn't even know were memories.

His Mom stood across from him. Her shadow sliced in half. A monster standing over her body.

"Mom...! I...! Why did I forget about you." (Jack)

He looked at the sound asleep Yaku next to him. He tried to close his eyes once more. Just one more try.

"Sofia... Mom... Guys... Why can't I remember it, but I feel it... Like..." (Jack)

He woke up. He stared at the dark cold ceiling.

"I can't sleep here. I need to walk." (Jack)

He got up and walked across to the elevator.

"A good jog will put me to sleep fast." (Jack)

He called up the elevator.

The doors opened.

He stepped in.

He looked to his right.

"Umm... Hi..." (Emma)

"Umm...." (Jack)

A girl was standing right next to him. Right next to him in the elevator.

They were the same height, her hair was dyed pink, with a pink beenie, pink earrings, and a pink choker hiding underneath a short pink scarf. She also had the Magic Force black uniform, with the usual blue flower pin.

"Are you..." (Jack)

The doors closed before Jack could press a button. It started going up.

Emma nervously looked up as the numbers kept increasing.

"Oh... Were you supposed to go down? Sorry, that's my fault." (Emma)

"No no. I... I got in without looking. I'll wait it out." (Jack)

The two stood silently, waiting for the elevator to reach its destination.

It was awkward.

She glanced at him. He glanced back at her. Their eyes met for a quick second before they looked away, all embarrassed.

"So... You in the Special Magic Squad?" (Jack)

"Yeah, I... I just got back from a long mission, but I didn't want to wake anyone up so I decided to go straight to the Sleeping Quarters. Are you the new one everyone's talking about? Yaku?" (Emma)

"No no I'm Jack. Yaku's the Japanese one. You'll meet him later. He's the more serious one. Haha!" (Jack)

He nervously laughed to himself.

A long pause entered the conversation. The elevator stopped moving.

"Did the elevator just break?" (Emma)

"No, it pauses every once in a while. This happened to me yesterday." (Jack)

"Oh... Then... I guess... We're stuck in here..." (Emma)

Jack turned to the control panel. He looked for any emergency button but there was none.

"Damn this elevator's old." (Jack)

"Should I call Diana?" (Emma)

Jack pulled out his phone.

"We can try, but everyone's fast asleep and she wasn't really reacting to her phone anyway." (Jack)

"Oh ok then..." (Emma)

The long pause grew longer and longer.

Emma's head: Oh my god! He's so hot! He's exactly my type. His chin, his hair, his eyes. I love green eyes! Plus he's my age. Such a rare find!

Jack's head: Holy shit! She's just my type. I usually like girls with long dark hair, but I like girls with dyed hair even more. Plus she's got an amazing fashion sense and a stunning figure. Like a model.

Emma's head: He's got an amazing body. Look at those arms. It's like he's a lumberjack who's been in the woods his whole life.

Silence.

Jack's head: What should I say? Should I say something? Break this silence?

Emma's head: Should I ask him out? No no, I'm never that forward. We just met. But... I can't just let him get away from me.

Jack's head: I'm gonna ask her out. I'm gonna do it! I know I always say I will, but this time I will!

Emma's head: Wait wait wait. Slow down, Emma. He's your Squad Mate. We'll be working together. I can just take it slow.

The silence continued.

Jack turned to Emma.

"Do you wanna go out sometime?" (Jack)

Emma's head: What the fuck!? He just asked me out! He just asked me out! Should I say yes! Wait, this is way too fast, way too forward. Maybe he didn't mean it like that. Yeah, he totally didn't mean it like that.

Emma blushed heavily. She had never been asked out before and had never had a boyfriend before, and has never kissed anyone before, and has never been loved before, and she was very shy. Very very shy.

"Um... Yeah... Well..." (Emma)

She was known across the Special Magic Force for crumbling under pressure very easily.

Jack's head: She's not saying yes? Wait! Does that mean she doesn't like me? I've never asked a girl out before, am I doing it wrong? Was I too forceful and straight forward?

"If you... But... If you really want to I'll..." (Emma)

Jack's head: Does she think that this is unprofessional? Oh shit! How do I resolve this!

"Yeah, no-no. I meant like a work date- I mean work talk. Yeah not a date, a work talk. Since I'm new I wanna... You know... Get to know you... Better." (Jack)

Jack looked away embarrassed. Emma turned extremely red.

Emma's head: Wait I was right. He doesn't like me... Why was I so gung-ho about that. I mean. Who would like someone when they had just met them. That would be true love or whatever and that only happens in stories. Yeah in stories and this isn't a story, it's just a work talk.

"Um... Yeah... I'm down for a work talk." (Emma)

Jack blushed.

"Yeah yeah. Great!" (Jack)

Suddenly the elevator doors opened wide.

Colt stood straight out, with his arms tucked in his orange pajama pants pockets.

He looked at the two blushing Sorcerers still inside the elevator.

"Excuse me." (Colt)

He entered calm and collected.

He pressed the button for the cafeteria.

He looked at the two lovebirds on either side of him.

"Are you two going to get out?" (Colt)

He looked at their bright red faces and their fidgety motions.

"Uhhhghghg... You guys are weird..." (Colt)

He pushed them out of the elevator.

"Just get out of here! You freaks!" (Colt)

The doors closed.

Emma and Jack were now standing in the Sleeping Quarters alone. With the long hallways of countless doors, with the names written on silver plates crossed out and hung by singular bolts.

"Ok... Um... I'll see you tomorrow then." (Jack)

"Tomorrow! Oh yeah, the work talk. Yeah I'll see you tomorrow." (Emma)

They went their separate ways.

---

Jack reached his room. He entered quickly and violently, slamming his face into his pillowed bed.

"That was soooo freaking awkward! Oh God! When it really comes to girls if find cute I just can't talk to them for the life of me!" (Jack)

---

Emma reached her room. She opened the door.

"What even is a work talk?" (Emma)

---

The next day. Jack woke up with an extreme head and stomach ache.

Emma wandered the halls looking for him.

"Diana, have you seen Jack around today?" (Emma)

"Jack? Oh not since last night. But if you want to get to Jack you should talk with Yaku. He's Jack's best friend." (Diana)

Five minutes later and she's standing in front of Yaku with a cute expression.

"Hey, Yaku... Your best friend Jack. Do you know where he is?" (Emma)

"Best friend? We're not best friends. Just friends... But anyway I don't have time to look for that fool. I have a mission to get to." (Yaku)

He walked off faster than he could stay in the conversation.

Emma was back to square one.

"Colt do you know where Jack is?" (Emma)

He looked at Emma's shy face.

"Hohoho! So y'all are dating now?" (Colt)

"Dating! No-no, we're just... Having a... A work talk." (Emma)

"Ohh... Work talk? Work talk?" (Colt)

Colt went through all the pictures in his head, then he suddenly came up with an incredibly wrong idea for what a work talk could be.

"Oh... I see you two. A work talk. Well, that was very fast. You just got back yesterday. Good for you girl. I was wondering when you were gonna break away from that introverted attitude. Now your getting hitched." (Colt)

"Hitched?! What did you think work talk meant?" (Emma)

He leaned in close whispering into her ear.

"But you should watch out. Someone else has their eyes on him." (Colt)

"Who!?" (Emma)

Colt snickered in the background.

"Hehehehe. Her name is Red." (Colt)

"Red? Like... Like Captain Red?! First-Class Captain Red?!" (Emma)

"Uh-huh?" (Colt)

"Wha... How am I supposed to compete with that?!" (Emma)

Colt turned away.

"Anyways. Good luck with the love stuff. It's a waste of time! Hahahahahahaha! Y'all are gonna die anyways! Hahahahahaha!" (Colt)

He walked off in the other direction laughing his ass off.

"I'll never understand that guy." (Emma)

She met up with Vlad in the Leasure Hall. He was leaning over a trashcan barfing out the pints of liquor that he gobbled up last night.

"Umm... Vlad? You know where..." (Emma)

"Blaaaahhqqqhqhq!" (Vlad)

He threw up all over the place.

"Yeah I'm just going to move on to Qway." (Emma)

She moved onto Qway.

"Good morning Qway. Have you seen Jack today?" (Emma)

He looked up in annoyance.

"Huh? Jack? That worm. Nah. Haven't seen him, haven't talked to him, don't care about him. Ok bye." (Qway)

"Um... Ok... Bye bye then." (Emma)

She was left with one final person. The most reliable person. The person she liked the most out of everyone in the Special Magic Squad.

"Good morning Bob!" (Emma)

She ran at him with open swinging arms. Bob opened up with a wide hugging stance.

They hugged each other.

"Madam Emma? When did you get back?" (Bob)

"Last night. I've missed you so much." (Emma)

They stopped hugging eachother.

"So how was your mission?" (Bob)

"You know. Same old same old. I had to work with Harrinhorn so that was different, but you know same old same old." (Emma)

"Great... You look famished. Shall I cook you up some lunch?" (Bob)

"Um... Actually, I'm good. I'm going to get lunch soon anyway. Actually, speaking of which. Do you know where Jack is?" (Emma)

"Sir Jack? You want me to find Sir Jack. Anything for you Madam Emma." (Bob)

He closed his eyes, standing perfectly still, his arms to his sides, his legs straight as a stick. He saw into the future. His magic coursing through his mind, seeing the future events through his own mind.

He saw himself walking around the building, from hallway to hallway. He saw himself talking with Jack. He listened in on his own conversation.

"Yeah, I haven't been feeling very good at all today, Bob. Can you get me some Advil or something like that?" (Jack)

Bob woke up from his magical future trance.

"Sir Jack should be in his room. But I believe he is sick." (Bob)

"Oh, he's sick..." (Emma)

That's the end of that.