New Squad

"...You have a certain knack of missing the main point, Mr. T." 666 noted, feeling a little exasperated at his superior's peculiar behavior. Even though they have spent quite some time together as superior and subordinate, he still wouldn't be able to get used to it sometimes. "But, yes. You have forced me to marathon all of those superheroes films you have dowloaded, do you remember?"

"Right, that happened." Mr. T nodded. "I also remember downloading some old J*mes B*nd film for you as well, just so you could get the reference behind my codename."

"I still don't really get why you're called Mr. T, Mr. T." 666 tilted his head and replied. "I don't think the letter 'T' is a reference anywhere within the J*mes B*nd films?"

"Well, I had originally wanted to upper brass to give me the codename of M or Q, but they said that it wouldn't work due to some copyright issues." Mr. T explained with a rather disappointed tone.

"I thought creative works expire around 150 years after the death of the original author? It's already way past the 150 year mark, so I thought you would still get approved if you really wanted to change your codename to M or something." 666 remarked.

It was only then that Mr. T widened his eyes, looking as though he just had an epiphany. "F**k! Those snobs must have denied my application for a codename change because the codename M might be a little too conspicious! Even though J*mes B*nd films are kind of a niche genre that only film geeks will watch nowadays, it still doesn't change the fact that it's one of the OG spy films that revolutionized the industry back then during the mid-20th century."

It was at this moment that 666 knew he had made a blunder! "I should not have egged Mr. T on! Now I'm going to be forced to listen to him b*tching about this and that for the entire night!" He thought to himself in dismay.

***

Fortunately, 666 managed to escape from his superior's verbal torture by sneakily getting Minerva to remind him that he still had a main mission that need to be fulfilled back at the EU Military Academy.

Looking quite disappointed, as though he's about to loose a great conversation partner, Mr. T shook his head regretfully before giving out one last remark. "Oh by the way, I was informed by David that having your trigger Daniel's supernatural ability must have directly activated the alien system within your soul to finish a mission within 24 hours. Do you need any help with that?"

"It's fine. Coincidentally, the mission of catching the carbon reinforcement dude allowed me to complete one of my allotted missions, so there is no need to worry." 666 reassured in response while keeping it vague as to what his mission actually was.

Seeing that 666 had no intentions of informing his own superior about the nature of the system within his soul, Mr. T knew that there wouldn't be a way to pry the information out of his own subordinate since the knowledge is sensitive enough to be classified by Minerva to the highest degree. Unless 666 decides to divulge the information to him directly, the only way he could get his own subordinate to talk is if he were to get an authorization either through a warrant issued by Minerva or through the direct signature of the Secretary-General herself.

Trying his best to stifle the curiosity within his heart, Mr. T decided that he should instead focus on the person still recauperating within the infirmary instead of one of the Federation's most secretive assets standing right in front of him. Sighing, he simply waved, signalling for 666 to leave before turning his own body around, walking directly towards the elevator located at the back of the basement floor to head to his office above ground.

***

It is quite fortunate that 666 managed to arrive back at Dormitory Building D of the EUMA early in the morning the next day after purposefully taking a slower overnight train back to the academy city at the bottom of the valley.

Although 666 usually acts quite conspicuous in front of Daniel, it seems that he can be extremely quiet if he actually wanted, since he managed to return back to the dorm before the sun came up in such a silent manner that Daniel did not get startled awake even after all the commotion from opening the entrance door and going to the bathroom to get a shower.

By the time Daniel's natural body clock made him open his eyes, 666 has already freshened himself and made a fresh cup of coffee from the coffee machine located inside the common room by the elevator.

After waking up and realizing that the roommate who had disappeared last night have somehow reappeared again without his knowing while he was still asleep, Daniel couldn't help but enquire in a curious tone, "Hey, where have you been? How come you went out so late in the night yesterday without saying anything?"

"Oh, I just had an appointment with one of my superior officers. That's all." 666 replied nonchalantly. Although what he said just now wasn't a lie per se, he had ommitted a lot of crucial information from Daniel as well.

Seeing that the other person looked as though he doesn't want to elaborate on his whereabouts, Daniel simply shrugged before changing the topic. "Hey, how did you manage to book the simulation room yesterday? From what I saw in the school's booking system online, first-year elite students like us who doesn't have priority access authorization need to wait until February next year before there are any vacancies!"

"Oh, I simply asked a favor from the Student Council President." 666 replied, using David's formal title in order to distance himself from the other. "He said that if I had needed anything, just ask, so I told him whether I could get him to book an appointment for the simulation room for me."

"And he accepted just like that?!" Daniel widened his eyes in surprise. "I thought people who say these things are only acting out of courtesy? Did you have to give him something in exchange for the service?"

"Well, he did have me add him as a friend on the SNS." 666 replied nonchalantly. "From what I've heard, it seems that President David have a knack for befriending new students with high potential to increase his web of connections in the future. I think doing such things for us is just him showing his sincerity so we would remember him in the long run."

After hearing the explanation from 666, Daniel nodded in agreement, finally realizing that that actually makes quite a lot of sense. Then, he hesitated for a while before muttering in a low tone, "Should I also ask David to book me a private shooting range? Otherwise, it might take a while for me to get some actual practice..."

Overhearing Daniel talking to himself, 666 couldn't help but add his own opinion while the other was still in deep thought. "I don't see why not? It's a win-win situation for both you and the Student Coucil President if you were to interact with each other in the long run." He said in a monotone voice.

After being 'convinced' by his own roommate, Daniel finally decided to text David, who had added him in Minerva's SNS system earlier when he escorted Daniel all the way to his own dorm, asking if the other could get him a spot. Without even waiting for more than a minute, David already replied with an affirmative tone.

"You're lucky, Daniel! Due to an emergency, one of the students who booked a spot is forced to give it up! I've already signed you up for that spot under your own name, so you should be able to sign in without problems. Oh, the time period is 13:00 to 14:00, so don't be late!"

Daniel did not hesitate and thanked his senpai in the most polite way he could manage. Though, the latter simply gave a wink emoji and told David not to worry about it and said that whenever he had any more troubles, he should not hesitate to call him again.

Feeling gratified for having such a supportive senpai, Daniel was in a good mood so he also thanked 666 for convincing him to DM the Student Council President.

"Are you using the shooting range for shooting practice?" 666 asked. "Do you want me to come as well? I'm quite experienced with precision shooting and I can teach you the stances that you need to make when shooting at targets at different distances."

If it were any other time, David would have agreed to 666's proposal. However, since the purpose of using the shooting range this instance is to test his own supernatural ability, he could only decline his roommates' kind offer and go by himself this afternoon.