Droplets of sweat run down my face. Which slightly bothers me as they get into my eyes. I recall the terrible feeling of having the worst nightmare of my life. I look around the area, and it seems like I'm back in my bed. I take a deep breath, relieved that those were just nightmares.
The fight was pretty fun though, except for the part where I... I get out of my bed, and I'm certain of what I need to do.
I open the door, and standing right before me is a short, muscular woman with very distinctive pink hair, with not very much covering her as she's in underwear and a towel covering her chest, as if she has just done an intense workout.
I grab the handle swiftly and slam the door with force. WHO THE FUCK?! I pace around the room, thoughts going wild with no conclusion being formed. Did she break in? She looked like she had just gotten done exercising, though. BUT WHY IS SHE IN MY HOUSE? Wait, maybe this ISN'T my house, and I'm in the wrong place.
I look around at the familiar sight of the place I've been holding myself hostage in for years and sigh. Yeah, no, this is my room, alright. I walk up to the door again, and this time I creak it open very slowly. I look through the crack and see she's still standing there, aware of my gaze.
"You just gonna keep staring or what?" She says in a monotone and yet confused voice.
"I'M SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO STARE!" I say, slamming the door. Wait... SHE'S IN MY HOUSE! I violently rip the door off its hinges, accidentally, as I ask, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE!"
"First, I think you got your priorities a little mixed up at the moment cuz you just ripped your door off, and second, don't you remember last night?" The statement shocks me so much that I calmly place the door back where it should be without realizing it.
DID I HAVE SEX? No way, I don't even know this lady. Am I that desperate? Who am I kidding? Of course I am. Okay, Jake, think about this. Actually, I can't. My head hurts like hell whenever I try to remember what happened yesterday.
I slowly push over the door to look at her face-to-face. "Okay, lady, be so deadass with me right now. Who are you?"
"You seem a lot calmer now." "What'd you do in there?" she says, putting her head inside.
"Hey, stop invading my privacy and answer the question."
"Okay... Well, like I told you before, I'm Lavender, full-time Raider Corp CEO." I blink a few times. While looking at her, the memories suddenly come back to full blast. "I don't really know about this whole trying not to invade your privacy, considering you know I'm quite literally inside of your home already."
I almost faint again as I fall on the floor, having to be caught by her. I take a moment to collect myself. "If that's true, why were you at the fight before? And why are you here now?"
"Well, you if you must know..." "I was just passing through the area one day to meet up with a friend in the city, and I was really late cuz you know, being the CEO of a big corporation."
"Then I see 2 of the most promising Ace candidates fighting for some reason, so I just had to see what the commotion was about, then an idiot decided to jump in and get his ass handed to him on a silver platter, and was about to get killed, so I had to step in."
"I was doing fine by the way I could've handled those 2 on my own." "But even so, why are you here now?"
"First, kiddo, you were the only one getting handled. You just got the drop on them during the middle of a fight you weren't even included in, while being a novice at basic elemental emission, which is why I had to step in."
"Second, I had to use my powers on everybody in the crowd to save YOU from getting arrested, so you should thank me or at least let me use your shower. I just got finished clearing a boundary."
I try to speak up as I'm about to retaliate, until I realize she's the head of one of the most powerful organizations in the world, so she can do whatever she wants.
"Good Boy." She pats me on my head as she heads towards my bathroom. Did she just?
"By the way, I bought groceries since you don't seem to have anything besides junk in your fridge."
30 minutes later
I sit at the table looking down at my plate. It's been such a long time since I've eaten a cooked meal. But by god... "Who the fuck taught you to cook?" The pungent smell of the abomination that she calls food smacks my nostrils so intensely that it does more damage than the Ethereal at the cave ever could.
"Well... I tried my best, man." She throws her arms up as if she couldn't do anything better than this. You know, looking at her now... How the fuck did she get her job? Like, who decided that she was fit for this?
"I know what you're thinking, Oh, how could she ever be the CEO of the Raider Corp?" "Trust me, that's what everybody thinks of me the first time they see me. It's why I like to keep the mystery surrounding my identity."
"Do you really expect me to believe any of the bullshit you're spouting right now? I mean, sure, I guess you technically "saved" me, I totally had that handled by the way, but you showed me visions of my past trauma and knocked me out, you jackass.
"Even if you were telling the truth, I'd never hear out anything you had to say."
"The war council would have my head if they knew I was revealing all this to you, by the way, so don't tell anyone bout this meeting, okay?" I don't understand why the war council would have anything to do with her, but maybe it's because super high up?
"Sure, whatever you say."
"That didn't sound convincing." She says, questioning my words.
"I wonder why?"
But now that I think about it, I don't recall ever knowing who the CEO was. I pull out my phone to look up, and I get no results. I scratch my head and look up at her, and she has a sly smile on her face. "Well, I've gotten nothing to pop up. So I guess you must be telling the truth."
"Now, why would I ever lie to you, naive little firebird?" I don't understand why she applied that nickname to me.
"You gonna eat that?" I look up at her, shocked that she even implied that I could ever eat something like this. I push away the bowl of slop, not wanting it to be in my presence any longer.
"Okay, Lavender."
"You can just call me Lave, all my friends do anyway."
"Okay... Lave, what are you still doing here?" "It's not like we've got anything interesting around this dump."
"Uhh, about that..."
"How do I explain this? Basically, despite being the CEO of the Raider Corp, I've still got expectations placed on me, so I need a prominent young successor to replace me, as I've been in my position for a little too long."
"You want a disposable pawn to take over your responsibilities because you don't wanna work your job anymore, is that right?"
She looks up at me, surprised as if I said something which wasn't supposed to be said out loud. She looks down and ponders a bit, which confuses me as I thought I was spot on.
"Well... you aren't completely right, but at the same time you aren't completely wrong." "It's more like I don't expect to be in my position, and I'd still like for the corp to be fine without me..." "But I really hate doing work, so yeah, you're spot on."
"Actually, why are you even telling me this?" "You just made fun of me for being a novice at fighting, so why do you expect something like that from me?"
"Well, the council thinks I need a direct successor. But that's boring as hell. I told them that I wanted multiple instead of one person to lead alone, but they wouldn't go for that because... reasons."
"BUT WHO THE HELL CARES ABOUT WHAT THEY THINK!" Her sudden excitement and tone change as she gets in my face shocks me.
"I wanna assemble the most chaotic ragtag team of weirdos to solve all the problems I have, so I don't have to do shit for the rest of my life." She leans back her chair, seemingly about to fall off.
This lady's crazy as hell, but I think I'm kinda messing with it.
"So, Jake, what'll it be?"
"Do YOU wanna join the Ace Hunter Initiative?"