Entering the Centrefield building, Frank and Sadie made their way directly to their office, where their squad was located. As they entered, they exchanged brief waves with their fellow teammates before settling down at their desks, eager to get an update on the current situation within the base.
"Whoa!" Frank exclaime, his eyes glued to the screen. "Take a look at this, Sadie. Viper got promoted to Captain. Can you believe it?"
Sadie felt a vein on the side of her head begin to throb. She and Viper had started out in the same year, and up until now they had been holding the same rank. After being hired as official members, the rivalry between the two had continued.
Unfortunately, despite having Viper beat in every test and assessment, ever since she had entered her squad, Sadie had been unable to show any significant achievement. It wasn't just her, either, but the whole squad felt that somehow they only ever received the cookie-cutter cases with not much to do.
"Don't worry, Sadie," reassured Sam, a young man with bright orange hair and thick square glasses. "I heard that Captain Kanu will be joining us today. As long as we find out something meaningful, this could finally be a breakthrough for our squad."
"If the captain gets promoted to the chief position, that will leave a vacancy. Although it’s not guaranteed but usually the higher-ups like to like to pick someone from within the squad itself, and given your performance in the past you have a good chance, Sadie."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtEach squad consisted of twenty members, with four non-field agents providing support while the remaining sixteen, including the captain, were field agents like Frank and Sadie.
Sam was one of the non-field agents who worked behind the scenes, gathering information and checking in with the police, among other things.
The captain of their current squad was Captain Kanu, and he was also recently the one who had been sent to deal with the AFC situation involving Haze.
In most cases, agents worked in pairs to handle assignments, but depending on the severity, a whole squad or even multiple squads could be deployed.
Sadie was a high achiever, so she wanted to reach the rank of Captain as soon as possible. Now that Viper had beaten her to it, she had yet another reason for wanting to get promoted. Unfortunately, a position which she had considered to be reachable in a matter of time had become more and more elusive, something she partially blamed Captain Kanu for, as their superior was more on the relaxed side.
"That lazy ginger beard!" Sadie couldn’t contain her frustration. "It’s just my luck that I got assigned to the one man, nicknamed the sloth. Aaarrrgh how can someone in White Rose lack the necessary ambition and passion to get promoted?!"
The position above Captain was Chief. They were the ones in charge of the Captains within a certain area. Above them would be the Superintendent. The Superintendent was a special position because they were more in charge of disciplining internal members.
Even for those with positions higher than Chief, they would deal with the matter personally if they needed to but weren't directly in control of any groups.
At the very top, three positions — Assistant Chief Constable, Deputy Chief Constable, and Chief Constable — ran the entire White Rose organization within the country.
These positions were based on achievements rather than raw strength, although the two often went hand in hand. Those in high-ranking positions faced threats from assassins and anti-White Rose groups, requiring strength to survive.
Alas, in rare circumstances some strong Altered found themselves unable to gather noteworthy achievement, causing them to stay in the same position for years to come. And it was the very squad that Sadie was in, along with their captain, Kanu.
"I can tell that the next joint assessment is going to be fun. Well, at least you have your powers back now and have nothing to worry about," Frank said and quickly covered up his mouth.
"Powers back?" Sam raised an eyebrow, curious about what Frank might imply with that statement.
Sadie had naturally kept her personal problems with her Altered form a secret from everyone but Frank. Even the medical team had merely checked her for any injuries following that bite.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmIf they found out she was missing her powers, she would have been taken off the field for a while until they found out the cause or reason, and she didn't want that to happen. It would have push off her already unlikely promotion into the far future.
"Speaking of the AFC fighter," Sadie swiftly changed the subject. "What about the coach? Surely we should consider the possibility of him being involved. In fact, he might even be the one to have given him whatever substance he took as a failsafe measure so he can impress the judges during his debut."
Sam began typing on his computer, pulling up the reports.
"Says here that after the blood tests confirmed a foreign substance in Haze’s bloodstream, they went to speak to the coach… who was nowhere to be found. The Bruiser Academy has no idea where he is, at least that’s what they claim, but so does everyone else he has any connection to. It seems he has just gone missing."
"Well, it's quite obvious that someone doesn't want us to find out about anything," Frank remarked, frustration evident in his voice. "Were it me, I would have just taken in the coach right then and there."
"And that’s why it’s good that you aren’t in charge," a voice echoed from the doorway. Entering was their orange-bearded leader with his iconic wolf-like haircut. "Even if he was involved, he would only be the one to get the stuff, and he would be unlikely to spill anything that could help us find the true culprit.
"Initially, we had him under watch, well, the police did. The idea was to track him to his source. Unfortunately, they managed to lose track of him. If I were to guess, he's most likely dead.
“Which means our only lead now is Haze. Sadie, Frank, I want you two to come with me to interrogation. We're going to get something out of this guy."
Both of them stood up straight from their seats, ready to go.
"Yes, sir!"