Meet

Pueris found himself miles deep into a luxurious thick-leather chair. His arms sunk into the chair's pleasurable rests and his entire figure was bordered by shining black. Before him, was a small ring of static and gleaming blue holograms of several detailed 3d figures. Rockfish and Angjayre were hidden in the dusk demesnes of the shadows. The room itself was poorly lit resulting in a huge mass of shadow miraging the vision of Pueris. Such was the norm in the Communication Room.

The flickering blue image of a far healthier Reta remained static before a pulse seemed to resonate and ripple from it. Soon, Reta began to move around in his form.

He had his usual shining-demon mask with two fully grown-out horns now. His rabid and uncontrollable red hair looked purple as it strung out from behind his mask and around the back of his head.

The shines from his mask were even more apparent in the blue gleaming of the hologram. His clothes were just a casual black long-sleeve buttoned top and some black jeans. His pale skin was quite unscarred, the Reta Pueris knew was an entirely different person in his eyes, from appearance alone.

Reta's still trying to act scary, little does he know all this order will be gone soon enough.

His entire figure was dyed in a retro-blue light just like that of the other members.

"Welcome, Pueris."

A few seconds passed as the appearance of Pueris was acknowledged and observed.

"I hope you had a pleasant travel to this realm and I do wish that you are currently enjoying this endeavor."

Reta acted professional and modest to appear strict and formal before Pueris. In other words, he was no longer the Reta that Pueris once befriended.

But he was still the one Pueris once knew.

"I just need to barter you a few questions and then I shall move on to the next topic at hand. I assume you are ready?"

Pueris looked up, his face half lit up via the blue tinge of sea light.

"Sure."

His voice felt ostracized. Reta let out a subtle and discreet breath.

"What do you know about Red 0, as of this very moment? Everything. Spit it all out."

Pueris felt his actions being carefully examined and followed by several different gazes. Nevertheless, Pueris cleared his throat before giving out a flat straightforward answer that anyone should've been able to give.

"Red 0 is a rising Villain group full of a surprising amount of -S- Ranks. I know that its main base is in the shadow realm and therefore that the group has a powerful shadow ability user. I know that you, Reta, are quite powerful and also am aware that you have more Force than me."

"I have a slim grasp on the abilities of Rockfish and Angjayre and have already got loose counters to them and I am aware that Red 0 uses Volild Contracts which I am familiar with since my parents used to sell them many years back. There is a bit more, but it is quite whimsical in my opinion, so I'll spare you of boredom."

Pueris shut his eyes for the first time in a while. The soothing sensation of feeling returning to them was what he needed.The pressure had caused his neck to tense and ache. Reta merely stood with one arm behind his back. It was horrifyingly difficult to decipher the subjects he was thinking upon.

"Acceptable. Tell me Pueris. Do you think if I threw you in a ring, and told you of the abilities of everyone in this room, that you would be able to kill them all in a one versus one."

Pueris did not hesitate a single moment.

"It's not a stretch by any means to say, I could give every single person here a taste of death. Winning and losing would not matter since I'm certain I could cripple each member of Red 0 in a 1 on 1 and that's a win by most definitions."

It wasn't even a debate. Right now, Pueris knew too much about the abilities of Red 0, and Red 0 knew far too little about himself. He knew their weaknesses far more than they knew his. He knew their flaws even down to their finger patterns. He would have such a huge advantage that he could probably beat everyone apart from -Reta- and --Shrarld- in a battle of pure attrition or pure combat.

Even those two were debatable. Reta chuckled lightly. Not a light chuckle but a rather stoic chuckle.

"And why is that?"

Pueris brought out the little shine of his plan that he had thought up earlier.

"Well, it's because I can see the future and you all cannot. That in itself is an advantage insurmountable in a duel between two people." This idea would save him a lot of time and effort and allow him to use his time-re-run to the best of his abilities without being hindered by the group's doubts.

"Now that's just a bit of crap."

Although most of the holograms were hard to decipher, this one felt extra defined.

A bulky man with long scruffy and in a way over-blown and aboslutely wild black hair had his image imprinted in a blue light. His muscles were almost popping out and he wore a tight leather jacket and some tight blue jeans. He looked like a hooligan who had just robbed a luxury clothing store.

His skin was tanned to the color of rust and his eyes were like a barren forestland. Grotesquely dry.

They had not seen tears or mercy for decades. He was Shrarld. The second, possibly now third, strongest person in Red 0. Just below Reta, possibly Pueris. Pueris thought of explaining Shrarld's abilities for a good revamp but realized he would probably do it himself, soon enough at least.

"Kid, I've read your files and you've got the fighting background. But even a monkey can have a respectable list of fighting achievements before it meets a real fist."

Pueris raised his eyebrows uncannily. Shrarld had quite the... distasteful personality.

"Don't ever forget, I'm the goddamn reason you're alive in this shadow-realm of death. I'm the only man in human history to establish life in the shadow realm. I am the throne my ancestors worship, I am the future this world desires. And I'm easily the strongest Villain you'll ever come across."

"Ah." Pueris feigned shivering and awe.

Shrarld smiled at this gasp of brilliance from Pueris.

But it was not brilliance directed to Shrarld.

A ding had sounded in Pueris' head.

Shrarld. If it was 2031 just now then... He had still not been humbled by Reta. He still fully believed he was the strongest human on Earth. At this point, Reta shouldn't have gone above 25% so... Shrarld genuinely thought he was the strongest Villain.

Before Pueris could pity Shrarld's future, Shrarld himself began an unheeded boasting session.

"I Shrarld am the World's breaker. I was born with no Force because the Gods said I did not need Force. Force needs me. I can control the Force in shadows to bend them to my will. I descend from the almighty Ditari Clan and am the first of my kind. My god-like physical strength that has bent titanium with 2 fingers and my speed that has broken barriers are only aids to my soon-to-be ascension to god-hood. First I must conquer this planet and it's people."

"I am the strongest, and I don't care how many futures you can see. There won't be a single one where your little skull isn't crushed between my palms, that is if you try to go against me."

Pueris looked at Shrarld deadpanned.

"Ok. I will respect your strength then."

"Guh." Shrarld loved getting into fights, Pueris blew the fuse before it popped.

Pueris smirked to himself. Same-old tactics worked just like new. Before his humbling, Shrarld was a true jack-ass, Pueris had tested Shrarld's limit and recieved a heavy beating for it back in the day. He wouldn't make the same mistake here.

Shrarld backed off. Steam seemed to seeth through the blue light. This was the common zone where Shrarld cooled off. Reta stood up once more.

"Now that that's all settled. I'd like to talk to you 8 about Operation Moses."

His mask briefly shut off, and with it all the holograms.

They flickered in a fight for survival before being killed off by darkness and silence.

Pueris lifted his head in confusion.

Bzzt-.

Soon the room began to power back up and the holograms manifested back into place.

Reta's mask was lit up once more too.

"Apologies, I had to check for unwanted guests."

Reta adjusted the creases on his black shirt before calming himself.

"Operation Moses is a task given to us by a certain client in Russia. We aren't a mercenary group but this cash prize was too good to let go and it weakens Beta either way. Since we aren't doing a major task as of now then this will be a very good use of our dear time."

As silence followed, Reta charged forth. His voice throttled full of determination and willpower.

"We will intercept a ship full of Beta officials, no heroes apart from a few bodyguards, from there we will either aim for some ransom or sink the ship entirely. The client will tell us what. The prize offered to us is 2.5 Deafko (1,750,000,000$ US DOLLARS) through a crypto exchange."

"Are we all ready and good with this plan?"

A chorus of agreement and cheers rang out, forming a harsh cacophony alongside some collective sighs and moans.

"Perfect."

"Great choice boss."

"Just what I need."

"My Osmo-port was made for such a task."

From all but one.

Pueris met Reta's eyes one-sidedly.

"Don't do the mission."

Reta looked down along with all others.

Their eyes were dragged to this young and immature boy.

Pueris spoke once more, this time strikingly clear.

"I have seen the future of that event."

Shrarld grunted and raged. His voice boomed outwards through the hologram.

"So what happens giddy-boy?"

Pueris shrugs his shoulders peacefully.

"Murge and Herculainz will play chess on that ship. The two strongest members of Beta will be there, waiting for us."

"And 1 of you 8 will undoubtably die."

Although the threat had no basis, it still left a cold metallic touch to the ears of all. At this point in time, Justice 7 was still a rookie, Murge was the rank 1 hero, he had not been defeated by Reta yet. An event which would occur 3 years into the future. Meanwhile Herculainz was Rank 5, but mentoring Justice 7 and undoubtedly a collosal threat.

Rockfish cursed bitterly.

"I like you, Pueris. But there's no proof of your ability and you're still the least trustworthy here."

Reta stopped a multitude of people from speaking out as he felt tensions rise and rumble solemnly.

"Wait, everyone. I have a solution. I know I said I wouldn't use it, but it's the perfect chance for us to clear the waters."

"Angjayre. Use your all-seeing eye on Pueris. Simply ask if he truly has an ability to see into the future. And then we will all see the truth. Right?"

Angjayre's shadow waddled out into the ghostly taunt of the blue light.

"I guess we will, I won't be able to use this for a while, lets hope its worth it."

Her voice was stern and her eyebrows were furrowing. She met eyes with Pueris. Pueris stared into her ghastly yellows in uncertainty. His figure almost trembling.

She placed two fingers around her eye. An odd toony sound emerged.

Bink.

A luminescent ring of neon yellow swung out from around her eye before disappearing into the atmosphere in a bright yellow spiral.

"It's just as I expected."

"He-."