The Prince of Astoria-Chapter 59: LIX - Team Wet’s Day Off

Isaac stepped out of a full-body mirror and entered a luxury hotel room. Isaac looked to his right and looked out of the floor to ceiling windows at the city of Portland. He looked in the direction of the decrepit apartment he had just escaped from and smiled.

He turned back to the room and looked around slowly. Denim-blue wallpaper wrapped around the entire room. Next to the mirror Isaac stepped out of was a California King bed, draped in crispy white tucked sheets.

Isaac continued to look around the room. He spotted an ornate and intricately crafted wooden desk with a bulky laptop sitting on it. Turning more, there was a large dresser with a TV mounted above it. And finally, he spotted two grey designer chairs with strange swirling patterns on them. In one of the chairs sat Ms. Friendly, her eyes focused on Isaac.

"Hey Auntie!" Isaac called out jovially.

Ms. Friendly frowned, "Don’t ’hey auntie’ me. Why didn’t you two destroy the base like you were supposed to?"

Isaac sighed and flopped down onto the bed, "It wasn’t entirely my fault. Code Talker was having one of his moods again. He was hesitant to even clear the data on the drives, and he refused to plant the explosives."

Ms. Friendly sat forward slightly, "Really? I just spoke to him when he came back in a few minutes ago, and he seemed like he was ready to go back and fight."

"Right. He took a shot at Hardware and run off," Isaac pinched his forehead and sighed again, "He’s brilliant, but you never know which Code Talker you’re going to get on any given day."

Ms. Friendly stood up and walked to the door.

"Where is everybody else?" Isaac asked.

She turned back slightly, "They’re down at the Bullpine enjoying breakfast. Come on, you’re going to eat too."

Isaac followed behind her and walked out into the hallway.

"Have we gotten any requests in yet?" He questioned.

Ms. Friendly shook her head, "Code Talker and I just set the old phone lines back up last night, before he went to the old safe house. We’ve left messages and sent encrypted emails to some of our old clients already, so we should be hearing responses by tomorrow at the latest. We can treat today like a day off."

Isaac smiled, "Nice. We don’t get too many of those. Especially not during election season, I’m sure we’ll be busy for the rest of the year."

Ms. Friendly nodded, "That’s not the only reason election season matters for us this year."

Isaac hit his fist in his hand, "You’re right. I need to reach out to our friend about his plans with that. It’s already late October; we need to have that finalized."

Isaac and Ms. Friendly entered a large elevator, and Ms. Friendly pressed the ’20’ button.

The elevator descended smoothly.

"So, everybody is here? Even GoGo?" Isaac asked.

Ms. Friendly shook her head, "Everybody except GoGo. His face is bit too recognizable in the Portland area, so he opted to eat in his room."

The two exited the elevator and followed a long, narrow hallway until they reached a railing overlooking the Bullpine restaurant.

Chef Tim was the first to notice Isaac and he raised his glass up at him. The rest of the members of Team Wet looked up and raised their glasses as well.

Isaac and Ms. Friendly walked down the staircase leading to the restaurant proper.

He walked up to Chef Tim, who sat across from Sous Chef Darrien.

"What’s up, you two?" Isaac smiled, "I didn’t hear too much about your mission at the other Portland safehouse. Were you able to dispose of everything successfully? Did you run into any heroes?"

Chef Tim cut down a juicy steak and scooped some eggs up, "I kept it simple and hit the warehouse with my rail gun, so everything got vaporized. Darrien, Simi and I aren’t great in close quarters engagements, so we decided not to bait or wait for any heroes. Although..."

Chef Tim stabbed his steak and held it up with his knife. He glared at Darrien, "They must be trying to kill me, Darrien. Look at how tough this steak is!"

"Although what, Tim?" Ms. Friendly’s tone was flat.

Chef Tim’s eyes widened briefly before putting the steak down, "We waited around for a little bit, just to see if any heroes would show up. We saw this Asian lady in a futuristic jumpsuit investigating the area. She kind of looked like Lucy Liu."

Sous Chef Darrien shot him a dirty look and he continued, "Simi said her name is Ms. Glitch, but I’m not too familiar with her, so we didn’t engage."

Ms. Friendly crossed her arms, "Good call, Tim. Despite her rank, Ms. Glitch has the exact same abilities as the number five hero, Brian the Brain. If she took it seriously, all of us combined might not be able to stop her."

Isaac broke away from the conversation and found Code Talker sitting in the corner alone, poking at a plate of chicken and waffles.

Isaac walked over to him and put a hand on his neck. He leaned in and whispered into his ear, "You’ve been messing up a lot lately, Code Talker. You didn’t clear the data properly at the Seaside safe house, you let one of the heroes get my personal number. You didn’t destroy the Portland apartment like you were supposed to, who knows what kind of forensic evidence they’ll pull."

Isaac leaned even closer. His tone remained the same, but the threat in it was clear, "I’m going to give you one more chance in respect to your condition, Code Talker. You’ve done so much for us, but if you make one more careless mistake, I’m going to have to let you go. Am I understood?"

Code Talker nodded his head meekly and continued to pick at his food.

Isaac walked back over to the table with Tim, Darrien and Ms. Friendly.

He turned to Chef Tim, "Where are Derrick and Inez? Did they not come for breakfast?"

Chef Tim shook his head, "They were the first ones here, actually. They finished a little while ago and said they were leaving to DJ at some party."

Isaac glanced at a clock on the wall, "It’s 10 AM though."

Chef Tim took another bite of his eggs, "Yeah, I know."

Isaac looked around the restaurant and saw Simi feeding Sammi a waffle. He turned to Ms. Friendly, "Where is Commander? Or whatever Cameron is calling himself today."

Darrien giggled, "He was here earlier, but he said he wants to go clothes shopping."

Ms. Friendly pinched her forehead, "Assassins are supposed to be subtle. But he always buys such garish clothes and makes us look like runway models. I’m not wearing anything he buys."

Isaac looked down at Darrien’s plate and his eyes got wide. In front of her was golden-brown French toast, drizzled in chocolate and topped with mixed berries.

Isaac looked at Darrien, "I’m about to go upstairs and get freshened up. Do you mind ordering one of these for me too? It looks delicious."

Darrien nodded and smiled, "You got it, boss."

Isaac turned and walked toward the staircase, and Ms. Friendly followed close behind.

"I’m still not happy with you, Isaac. If you didn’t destroy the safe house, why did you not at least fight against the heroes there? According to Code Talker, at least three of them were there, why didn’t you try to at least hinder them?"

Isaac laughed, "Who cares about them? They haven’t stopped a single one of our plans so far!"

Ms. Friendly’s frown deepened, "They haven’t yet, but they will be strong enough eventually. The worst thing you can do in this business is underestimate our enemies, just because we have an advantage over them now."

Isaac’s smile finally dropped slightly, "Are you saying this as my aunt or as the co-leader of Team Wet?"

Ms. Friendly pondered the question for a second, "Whichever one will get you to listen the fastest! I just want you to stop taking the heroes so lightly."

Dirty Bomb approached from down the hallway, panting.

"Sorry I’m late. I overslept," He spoke between labored breaths.

Isaac smiled, "You’re fine. Today is a day off. You can go back to bed if you really want; enjoy it."

Dirty Bomb shook his head, "Actually, I only came down here to speak to you, not to get breakfast. I want to know how I can be stronger, like you two. I’m tired of losing to the heroes."

Isaac leaned against the railing and tapped his chin, "You want to be stronger? Okay, let’s do a little test. Tell me, what is your ability exactly?"

Dirty Bomb looked at him, confused, "Well, I can ignite my skin cells and create explosions with them, and I can increase the strength of the explosions up to one hundred thousand times, making my explosions the strength of a cluster of hand grenades. I can make stronger explosions, but even making them just a little stronger requires significantly more stamina."

"Alright. Now what are your weaknesses? What prevents your ability from working ideally?"

Dirty Bomb scratched his head, "I need to concentrate to use my ability properly. I need ten uninterrupted seconds to activate it every time. And I can’t activate my ability under water or in extreme cold."

Isaac smiled and asked, "Okay. Describe the ideal environment to use your ability."

Dirty Bomb shrugged his shoulders, "That’s easy. A hot, dry day with lots of flammable materials around."

Isaac nodded his head, "Good. Now tell me, if we were in your ideal environment on your ideal day and we weren’t able to take advantage of your weaknesses, do you think you could beat me or Ms. Friendly?"

Dirty Bomb stammered over his words, "I...um...well I don—"

Isaac put a hand on his shoulder, "Look, for you to be so new at using your ability and already so strong is incredible. The warehouse you worked at was your first time really using it, right? That was only a few months ago. You have the potential. You need to find what you’re missing or what you’re not understanding about your ability to bridge the gap."

Dirty Bomb nodded his head slowly, "What I’m missing...okay. I understand. I’m going to get breakfast and think on it, I’ll let you know when I come up with an answer."

Isaac smiled, "Please do. I’m heading up to my room now, I’ll be back shortly."

Isaac and Ms. Friendly proceeded to the elevator and entered it. Isaac smiled at her, "See? I’m starting to come into my own as a leader."

Ms. Friendly glared at him, "Stop all of that smiling Isaac. I know my nephew. That’s not you."

Isaac’s smile dropped instantly as the elevator climbed. He turned to Ms. Friendly, his voice low, "What are you talking about? I’m always smiling."

Ms. Friendly scoffed, "You think I don’t know a mask when I see one? Please. I taught you how to do that. A mask is fine, but when you start believing that mask is your face, that’s when the problems arise."

Isaac stared at her intently.

Ms. Friendly waved her arms right above Isaac’s forearm, and a grid of hexagonal panels appeared under his skin for half of a second.

"You smile all the time, but I know the real you. The angry, misunderstood kid whose parents were taken away unfairly. Whose arms were destroyed at a young age. No hero answered the call when you..." Ms. Friendly looked down at her own bronze arm, "When we really needed them."

Isaac pouted and looked away from her, "I’m not a kid anymore, Auntie."

Ms. Friendly continued, "You’re right, Isaac. You are a bright, talented young man, Isaac. They say I’m a potential unranked, you are an unranked, through and through. I don’t want your talent to wither away because you’re satisfied with the level you’re at, or because that friendly facade you put up is stopping you from doing the tough things. You need to stay obsessed, and you need to stay honest."

Isaac’s shoulders shifted, straightening inch by inch. The friendly creases around his eyes smoothed out into something blank and hard. His jaw tightened. When he looked at Ms. Friendly again, the warmth had drained from his face completely, "I’m being honest, Auntie. I already told the heroes, I’m done with half measures. From now on, we’ll fight until someone drops."

Ms. Friendly smiled wide, "That sounds like the Isaac I know. I believe in you. Don’t get drunk on the taste of victory and success. You should be the same whether we win or lose. You should be ready to train and try again."