KILLJOY

Chapter 8: A New Incentive

Three went in, and two came back. As he and Eli ran back to base as fast as possible, Eli had a fair amount of worry on his face as he spoke.
"Damnit, why the hell did we even agree to this! Mayeda's gonna fucking kill me..."
"I doubt he wants to see his recruits gone like that, I'm sure he'll let us get her back or something like that."
"I hope you're right..."
They made it back to the alley as he lifted the poster hiding their entrance, only to see Mayeda standing in the entranceway.
"Mind telling me what you three were doing? And where's Liv..."
Eli awkwardly chuckled as Mayeda seemed to understand that some shit went down while they were out. He stepped to the side and let them in, walking beside the two of them.

Eli explained the whole situation to Mayeda, scowling as he began to get more and more pissed off.
"That brat of a leader is such a fuckin' pussy. Well, you don't stand a chance against him how you two are now. So the only way I'm letting you save her is if you both finish up your training before the week ends. Otherwise, I can't send you both off to your demise along with her."
While he and Eli were a bit annoyed at how blunt he was about it, they understood. People with TICKs— even without using their Term, seemed to just be... better than everyone else. So, he decided to pose a question.
"What even powers a TICK anyways? Not like it just comes out of thin air..."
Mayeda chuckled at his comment a bit before responding.
"Oh, I'll explain that in the training room tommorow. I'll have you two going overtime in there for the next week to prepare you. Ryder's probably the weakest gang leader in the entire Strip... but that doesn't mean he's a pushover."

— — —

He looked at his two recruits, noting the damage Eli took. He could see a bruise on his ankle, and judging by the way his shirt was all ruffled up in the middle, he probably got hit in the gut a couple times. He was impressed he managed to even handle a couple hits from a TICK user while still being able to stand. That was the point of his training, after all. He had to get them used to the normal speed and power of TICK users before they learned their own, as not to get overwhelmed from their own power. He stepped into the training room with the two of them as he looked them up and down again. Both Liam and Eli were advancing pretty fast from the examples he's seen before. Liam was already catching up to Eli. He was estimating that it would probably take three days of training before they were able to trigger their TICKs. The problem, however, would be triggering them.

While some people can awaken their TICK by merely training on it, most naturals have a certain drawback set to them in exchange for their high potential. Judging from their advancement rates, he deemed them both as such. The only way for them to awaken a TICK would be to enter a life-threatening scenario. So his plan was simple. As soon as he deemed them fit for it, he would send them after Ryder. It was the only thing he could do to get them to the bare minimum required to enter Killjoy. And so, he got to work with them, training up their reactions and their defences as much as he could. If they wanted to even survive long enough to get the one thing they needed to stand a chance, they had to be able to react to a TICK user's speed and power. He also had another thought in mind while he knocked his students around the room. He contemplated whether or not he should send Max with them. He was by far the strongest of the recruits so far, seeing as he already possessed a TICK, and he could be a good failsafe incase the other two get into trouble. Besides, he needed to stop being a dick and learn how to work with his teammates.

After their extra-long training session, he had called them all to meet up in the lobby to discuss something, Max included. As they all came in, Max saw the condition Eli was in, and just raised an eyebrow at him before looking back at him. Finally, he decided to speak.
"In four days, I'm sending you all on your first mission."
Max spoke up first, not knowing anything about the current situation.
"And that would be...?"
He smirked at him as he responded to his question.
"Thanks to these idiots, we got a recruit that needs rescued. And since you're part of their little group, you're coming with."
Max spoke up at this, "Bu—"
He shut him down before he could even finish talking.
"No buts. You want in? Then work with your damn crew."
Max just grumbled, giving a hesitant nod before walking back to his dorm.