Second Adventure (AWC Sequel)

Training Starts

It was unexpected, no one had expected the thing that had happened. The balls were all in various sizes and weights, and indeed, if they were hit by the large balls, they would seriously be experiencing the type of test that the girl in purple trench coat had said—death.

"Lei!" Hera called when she fell on the ground, looking so helpless as a huge oncoming ball coming her way from the top.

Leira, who was busy with her own battle, aggressively punching, avoiding, kicking the ball that was going her way. She clicked her tongue, didn't know what she had entered in when saving this girl multiple times, yet, she didn't felt much annoyance though. She felt like an older sister who had to protect this clumsy girl screaming her name and begging to be saved from the ball.

She made her way to her through tumbling and stunts, coming in front of her in time with the ball falling. She kicked it with all her might, unintentionally darting it toward the top agents on the side specifically to the man with an indigo trench coat.

Everyone saw how the man raised his hand casually and caught the ball effortlessly through his left hand, he then threw the ball to the backside like nothing. It was even more awesome because he wasn't even looking at the ball, he had his head bowed like he was bored, he was only feeling the ball coming through his senses and they bet even when he was sleeping, he would get that ball or would catch anything that would be thrown at him.

Either way, Leira almost shivered because of the look that the man gave her. It was stoic and cold, but it didn't give much emotion, no glare nor trace that he was mad. It was just a simple stare, but it still gave Leira the chills that she didn't saw a ball coming her way from the wall but thanks to Hera, she was the one to save her this time by pulling the hem of the tattered shirt she was wearing which caused her to fall on the floor with her.

She frowned and glared at her but didn't say anything, they just continued on kicking these balls coming their way, helping each other now rather than just protecting Hera. She could fight, at least, she was good with sneaking as she always did before in their house, so this avoiding of balls was just at least easier for her.

On the other hand, Andrea was swiftly and wittily deflecting every ball coming to her way, she was a little bit playful, she was like a cat who knew what she was doing, and it was indeed awesome to watch.

"Look at the girl with glasses," Hermes told the top agents while never leaving the sight of the girl. He was telling it specifically to Dale. "She will surely be under your supervision."

"She seemed to be fine for me, though. Look at her moves, she's swift. I can teach her more of that," Laura interjected, she had been eyeing Andrea and how she moved earlier, she totally caught her attention.

However, it wasn't just her.

"It's okay if she goes with me. I can completely handle her to improve," Reign also suggested, crossing her arms as she watched the girl move, but her eyes changed to the two women on the side especially to the most beautiful girl, she thought, among the girls inside.

"Don't be greedy, Reign. I know you want the beautiful girl," Laura shot back, rolling her eyes at her.

"She's fixed with Dahlia, this girl is like her, all-rounder, I intentionally observe her for a week before recruiting her, and all she does was to hack her friends' enemies' accounts. So I thought, might as well use it for a good cause, so train her more," Hermes cut their debates off, fixed with having Andrea under Dahlia's care.

"I don't see anyone for me here. Can I not choose?" Sean asked while eyeing every trainee inside the room but no one interested him, "I want that girl with red hair but I guess she wants a girl teacher as well to be more comfortable."

"She's mine!" Laura immediately claimed, having the girl included in her future students, and when she decided, it would be final and had to be done.

"There are still a lot of tests, they would be going through. Even mind games, as if you didn't know that. So just wait for the result, I'm sure you will have to choose someone as tests pass by," Hermes told him, taking his eyes back to the scene before them.

As usual, as they expected, like how the top agents now ended up before with this kind of training that caught them off guard, as the balls came to a halt from spewing out from the holes that weren't there before, the trainees and new recruits were left with pants and heavy breathings as they all fell on the ground full of balls, except for some especially Leira who was holding Hera, being used to this extraneous activities, along with the other trainees including Mikael who had a few beads of sweat on his face while the others were either lying on the floor or seated and getting themselves back up.

"Still good?" Leira asked Hera who was nearly collapsing, she then settled them on the floor because it seemed like she needed to gather her strengths as well.

Hera scowled, "I feel like there are building bruises on every part of my body," she told her like she was complaining to her mother, "A ball even hit my boob!"

Leira wanted to laugh at her, but she just resorted it with a snort, "It happened."

Hermes clapped two times which caught their attention, they didn't know what was that for, but soon enough there were other agents came from the other door on the side, they were wearing black trench coats like the top agent earlier, but the top agent had just the darker and more pitch color of black with even glittery that made him still stand out among them.

They cleaned the balls, picking them up and throwing them back in the holes. Some agents came to them to give them towels and bottles of water to which they gladly accepted. The top agents were looking at them with pity, they felt that before, how they woke up the next morning with violet and black bruises on their bodies, Reign even passed out because of exhaustion.

"What is this training for? Isn't this just assault?" George asked upon having his strength gathered after drinking the whole bottle of water.

"This is one of the tests to assess your reflexes if you know to yourself that you were hit by a lot of balls, you have to list this one to improve in the future. We will assess your moves through the cameras around the place, and we will see, out of ten, what is your level in this test, and also the coming tests."

The new trainees groaned in protests, this was just the first, they didn't know what more was in store for them, but one was sure in their mind—they weren't going to be easy.

Seeing it, Hermes put his hands inside his pockets, "You can quit anytime. I wouldn't hold you back, just keep your silence and we're good. I'm telling you, the training to be an agent isn't easy, this is just the half of level one, you will experience worse than this, so you are free to go. I don't need weak people in my time anyway."

"Speaking as if he wasn't already in need of a cane," Warren mocked silently that only they could hear. It earned a giggle from Laura and smirks from the others but a straight face from Hermes himself which caused them to become serious as well.

The trainees seemed to be a little bit intimidated, but when Hermes asked to raise the hands of those who wanted to give up. It was either no one could raise their hands anymore because of exhaustion or no one really wanted to give up just yet.

When no one responded, Hermes clapped his hand once and nodded, "Great. For now, since

it was too early yet to rest, I would let you rest first. Your room, food, clothes, basically everything would be provided, you don't have to worry about everything while you're training under my agency, but..."

"You wouldn't get it that easy," Reign continued his sentence under her breath, knowing exactly what these poor trainees would have to do before they could completely get in the dorm.

Hermes clapped two times once again, and again, agents came in who seemed to be struggling with whatever they were carrying. It was small bags, but they seemed to be striving on carrying them. When they got in front of them, they put those small bags on the floor, and by the groans eliciting from the trainees, they knew what it was.

"They were weight bags, bearing ten kilograms per bag, you have to carry two bags in each hand without stopping, without rest, without pause until you get to be in your dorm just nearby the agency. If you stop, you will have to repeat the process going back to here, you wouldn't get to sleep in bed but only on the floor, and would only eat vegetables instead of meats. Do you understand?"

The scowls on each of the trainees' faces widened but they all answered. George answered him rather enthusiastically, and Hermes knew to himself why. This boy, despite his frail body, just carried thirty kilograms of rice all at once to at least five times. He did it effortlessly, though a little out of breath right after, but it was impressive overall.

They started taking the bags, and series of complaints were heard as it seemed that these weight bags were ripping their shoulders off of their body. George happily took two, even hopping and skipping steps as he bid them goodbye, and started walking with an agent trailing behind him to guard him if he would stop.

"Interesting," Sean remarked while watching George walked without any difficulty compared to the other trainees.

Hermes faced the top agents, "I'll just call you to know who would you choose to be your students. You would also have to think of their code names, preferably terms in nature, you can also watch their training if you aren't much busy."

"What's the purpose of this new recruitment, old man?" Warren asked, curious at the sudden wanting of addition to the agency that they deemed to be enough to tend to the crimes in the country.

"I want to make another group like you, another faction of top agents."