"Alright, boys — here's our target." The man stood at the front of the dimly lit briefing room, a projector humming behind him. On the screen, a grainy image of a young man appeared. "Sasaki Tetsu. Nineteen years old. We've got leads, but nothing solid."
The officers seated before him didn't look impressed. Arms crossed, brows furrowed, they stared back with a mix of boredom and irritation.
"you're talking like your half of the squad even helped," a younger officer called out.
"Come on, don't tell me you're still hostile about us" the man replied with a smirk. "I thought we agreed on you guys Gathering the info, will we handle the Bashing."
"Of course," the young officer shot back. "Bashing, killing, destroying… that's all your kind can do."
"What did y—"
Before he could finish, a colleague stepped forward, firmly guiding him away from the stage.
"Forgive my friend's… attitude," the newcomer said. His voice was calm, but his size alone was enough to silence the room. "As agreed — you tag the Devil, we clean it out."
No one argued, mostly because he has the physique of a pro wrestler, I could give a wild guess and say the scent of intimidation was in the air.
The meeting ended, and the two men strode out into the corridor.
"Hey, Russell, what do we do now?" the skinny one asked.
"I was hoping you'd know, CROW. You were the one hyped for this meeting," the muscular man replied.
"Yeah, yeah. Hey — call up Nathan. Tell him we've got a job."
Russell frowned. "Don't tell me you're thinking about confronting it on our own. And why my student? What about yours?"
CROW smirked. "What, you scared he'll get himself killed and you'll end up with a tag name like me? I thought you wanted him to take out as many Devils as possible before you retired."
"It's not that," Russell said, shaking his head. "It's too early for him. And if we go behind the officers' backs, they'll think we're keeping them out of the loop."
"When did we start caring what they think?"
"At least let Lady Elizabeth know about this," Russell pressed, his tone shifting to concern.
"Just f**ing* call Nathan."
"I said no."
"Fine," CROW muttered, pulling out his phone. "I'll call Yoru."