Special Needs Forces

Melisanda called Captain in the morning to give him new news. The report from the last mission stated that Tawny was heavily injured and wouldn’t be able to work for a while, so in order to not burden the team with a man down (and certainly not this particular team that fails every second mission), the headquarters decided to give them a chance to improve and assigned them a new recruit. The recruit was already on his way to their base, and Melisanda praised him for being a gifted guy who could build a hi-tech plane with two planks, toothpaste and duct tape, and probably much more. Captain didn't want to hear about it, because if it was true it meant that the recruit probably had more merits than he did. But on the other hand it was good that he was assigned to their team because if what Melisanda was saying was true, he should improve their stats enough for them to not be as embarrassed at the upcoming team meeting as usual.

Before noon, the recruit knocked on the door and Lukier Scott and Tanager came to open it at once, because they didn’t know that someone else was at the door, but at least they had the opportunity to meet the new recruit right away.

“Hello, I'm Helios. They sent me here from headquarters to help you kill monsters,” the new teammate introduced himself

"Helios is quite a proud nickname for a recruit who just finished training," said Scott, who had no cool nickname and was a little jealous.

"They started calling me that because they said I’m talented and I do the job well and I look like a sunflower so I must have a badass nickname"

"I wonder why they sent you here if you’re talented and do the job well because this team is-" Lukier started and was interrupted by Captain who just materialized behind him as he was speaking

”- a good team” And he looked at Lukier as if he was a bit offended because he was a bit offended.

Anyway, Helios got to know everyone on the team and the team got to know Helios. Helios’ specialization was mechanic and he was good at mechanic-ing, just like Melisanda said. He upgraded his armor so that he had some nice gadgets in it, such as shoe boosters to jump higher than normal, monster detectors, and an energy shield in a watch. It all annoyed Captain a bit because that random rookie seemed to be better equipped than his entire team and their ship combined. As for the ship, Helios was surprised they didn't have equipment for identifying monsters on board, so he added it using some scrap parts from the base. He also repaired the radar in it, one that was already there but hadn't been working for a long time. It was good that Helios could make things out of nothing, but to be honest the whole team was a bit salty that one recruit is better than all of them. No one said it out loud but telepathically they shared an unanimous opinion that it was kind of annoying that he was so good. The whole day passed without any missions and Helios devoted his free time to upgrading the equipment, so at least the good thing was that the team would still have the recruit’s improved gear even if he would die on the next mission they get.

In the next three days they had three new missions and they completed all of them like they should, meaning the monsters were killed. All thanks to the fact that Helios was there and had the equipment. He seriously was a bit of a Mary Sue and the team still had mixed feelings because, on one hand, Helios was doing a good job, and on the other, it was a bit humiliating that a recruit did everything himself. Now they had just returned from a successful mission and Captain was talking to Melisanda.

“I can see that the new recruit is doing well because this is the first time in a very long time that your team has a streak of 3 completed missions in 3 days" said Melisanda.

"Yes..." said Captain who has had enough of talking about Helios.

"You will have something to boast about at the next team gathering at the headquarters"

“Wait, that’s soon?" Captain was surprised because he didn’t remember important dates.

”That's in 2 days. Remember to show up with your entire team."

"Jesus..." Captain said to himself

"What are you saying?"

"Uh, nothing, I can't wait to meet you in person again"

"I'm happy to see you again too." Melisanda smiled "but now I have a job to do so see you in 2 days. Or if there are any orders for you, I will call you earlier"

Melisanda disconnected and Captain finally stopped smiling forcibly and went to tell the team what was up. He gathered them in the living room or something similar to a living room and started talking.

"Okay, team, I guess you know what's coming up in 2 days." If you don't know then I have to spoil your day because-” and he was drowned out by the massive sound of dissatisfaction from the whole team.

"Jeez Captain, do we have to go?" Said Scott "Maybe say we're sick or something"

"Well, I am actually sick and I should still be in sick bay and not at the team meeting" said Tawny

"Tawny, you told me you were starting to feel better" Frezja said half-jokingly

"Okay but after hearing that I feel sick again" replied Tawny

"Actually, Tawny may get sick leave and that means I’ll have to stay too because I can't leave him alone in the base." Frezja said, relieved that she might have an excuse to not go to the meeting.

"Damn, I’m beginning to regret it wasn’t me that was stabbed by a monster" commented Scott

“Why don't you like these meetings so much? This is a chance to meet new friends from other teams, tell each other stories, you can sing songs - no one ever wanted to sing songs with me so far but I feel that someday there will be a moment when we’ll do a karaoke team meeting" said Tanager cheerfully. He actually liked the routine team meetings.

"Can you explain?" asked Helios, who had been silent until now  "I had theoretical training on how the team gathering should be going, but your dissatisfaction scared me a little so I'd like to know what it looks like from your perspective"

"Jesus, where do I start, rookie..." Captain took a deep breath and then said "Teams from all regions, unfortunately including ours, have to go to the base of the monster hunting unit which is placed in the middle of the sea on a giant aircraft carrier and the team captains must complete some stupid paperwork and also spoken reports about the teams they command, the vice-captains must also attend these meetings and make sure the captain doesn’t falsify reports. The other team members are there almost only to sign some papers with monster blood and most of the time they can just interact with members of other teams."

"It sounds quite tolerable, why do you dislike it so much?" Helios asked

“Region 11 is always getting on my nerves like some fat kid at school who borrows a pencil from you and then bites it, looking you straight in the eye. The leader of this team, Anas, only got the position because his father made him second in command when he was a recruit and when he died Anas instantly leveled up from recruit to captain and bragged about it when it took me many years to earn the position. Also, people from other teams get under my skin as well. For example, Region 7 used to be at our level but now when they’re better than us in the stats they think they can do anything."

 "Um, Captain, you mentioned vice-captains earlier? Who would that be in our team, because you never actually picked one, and it sounded like it was important" said Scott

"Well, it’s no one after Orion died, looks like I have to pick someone" Captain thought for 2 seconds and added "Scott, I pick you"

"What?" Said everyone at once except Helios and Tanager

"Yay, congratulations Scott!" Tanager shouted

"But why him?" Asked Lukier who was a little disappointed because he thought he was Captain's BFF

"Not that I don't want to be the chosen one, but it also makes me wonder why I'm getting this honor" Asked Scott

"You always make random decisions like this Captain, I don't think Scott is suitable" Frezja said

"Everyone, quiet" Captain silenced them "Lukier was my first choice but once I heard that he said he didn't want to be in charge"

"I, um... okay, it's true" Lukier replied, a bit confused but he was still a bit sad. If Captain picked him, he would probably refuse, but it's like being invited to a party you don't want to go to - it still hurts if you’re not invited.

"Well, that's why Scott gets the position."

"Which does not change the fact that he’s still not suitable." Tawny said

If you think you'd be a better choice then maybe you're right, but you annoy me more than Scott" Captain said and Tawny looked offended because he was offended.

"Okay, the meeting is over, go practice or something so we don’t screw up the next mission, we have to look awesome and show that rotten pineapple Anas where he belongs..." Captain said. “in a monster. Let a monster eat him, that bastard ”He added.

The team started to leave and the Captain stopped Scott for a while.

“Scott, wait"

"Yes, Captain?"

"There is one more important thing. You know, now that you are officially my second in command..."

"What shall I do?"

"Go look for some cool nickname on the internet because 'Scott' sounds crappy and I’ll be embarrassed sitting next to you"

"Er... okay, I will." Scott said kind of disappointed because it was a bit of an insult but he didn't mind being called in a more badass way than Scott.

He went to sit down somewhere and looked up a quiz that would tell him which star he is, and next to him sat Lukier who often talked to all available characters and checked all available dialogue options.

"What are you doing?" Lukier asked in a jealous tone, if such a tone exists

"Solving quizzes to find a nickname"

"Why, you want to sound more badass now that you got promoted?

"Not necessarily, but Captain does so he made me look for some nickname to call myself"

”Pft” said Lukier

"What's eating you?" said Scott uninterestedly, staring at the screen

"Well, I know that I shouldn’t be offended but I am a little bit"

"You said you didn't want to be in charge"

"Well, because I don't. That's why I don't know why I'm offended "

"Come on, you know Captain likes you the most anyway"

”Well, that's right” Lukier automatically stopped being offended but now Scott started to be a bit offended because he would also like to have a best friend on the team. But at least he finished the quiz and it distracted him from being offended.

“Oh, I got Rigel. That's what my nickname will be now, ”Scott- I mean Rigel said "I'm going to go tell everyone else" and he went to tell Captain what name he had chosen. At that time, Lukier went to the sick bay to talk to Tawny and Frezja because he noticed that neither of them were happy that Rigel had been promoted. When he entered the sick bay, he saw them talking about something and their conversation was so interesting that they didn't even notice him.

"Um, hello" said Lukier

"Hello," Frezja said, stopping her chat with Tawny and there was a brief awkward silence

"I see you’re having a nice talk about something" Lukier said and then it hit him how dumb that sentence sounded

"Well, do you need anything?" Frezja asked

"Honestly, no, I came here to check what my dear friends have to say as usual, because I’m starved for human contact"

"Okay," Freesia said

"Say something, Tawny how are you feeling?" Lukier said firmly

“Better than yesterday but still like shit. And honestly, I hope I’ll keep feeling like shit until the meeting because I don't want to be there"

"You don't have to worry about that, I have already filled a sick leave for us." Frezja said, "It's gonna be fun, no one in the house, no one occupying the console, just buy some energy drinks and we’re set"

And Frezja and Tawny continued talking about how fun it will be when they won’t be at the meeting and Lukier didn’t want to listen to it anymore because he’d also prefer to stay home with friends and play games instead of going to the meeting. Fortunately for him, Captain soon called him and said that Melisanda called and there was a new mission to do.

- "In Rotten Hole there’s some medium-sized monster that lurks in the water and it ate some stupid kid who saw it and tried to pet it. And then it bit off their parent's leg because they tried to save the child, now we have to hunt it down", explained Captain

"It sounds like a crocodile," Lukier said "Does our duty include fighting crocodiles?"

“If they threaten human life, yes, and this one certainly threatened human life, so even if the monster is a crocodile, we have to kill it"

"But ugh, some hole again?" Rigel sighed in disappointment because he had had enough of holes.

"It's only the name of the place, it's actually a swamp," said Captain

"Oh hell, wait, I'll change my shoes" said Lukier and ran to his room

"Okay, everyone else to the ship" said Captain and they did as he said.

When Lukier changed his shoes, he came to the ship where everyone was waiting for him. They went on the mission to catch the evil crocodile and first they collected information about the monster as always, then they hunted the monster like always, then they found the monster, not like always but this time they did, and then the whole team except Lukier got stuck in the swamp because they didn't change their shoes. Lukier defended the team from the monstrous crocodile for enough time for Helios to get out of the swamp and then Helios and Lukier joined forces to kill the monstrous crocodile in some epic badass way that is difficult to describe with words, and then set the rest of the team free. It was another successful mission and unfortunately another one that was successful thanks to Helios, or at least partially thanks to him. At least Lukier did some work because it meant that the team was slowly learning from their mistakes and getting better. On the next day they had 2 missions but not at the same time, one was in the morning and the other in the evening and on both of them they killed 3 monsters because on one of them there were 2 monsters to kill. Anyway, they had a pretty high kill count for such a short time, and Captain was hoping that tomorrow's meeting would go swiftly and no one would make fun of his team because he couldn't promise that he wouldn’t punch that dumb smelly Anas for his rude comments that no one asked him for.