18 The Silver Sparrow

"So what were you doing?"

It didn't take long before Melanie questioned Cynthia. However, Cynthia was still internally reeling due to Melanie's sudden presence, while she appeared to only be slightly nervous on the outside, she was facing major inner turmoil on the inside.

[What the hell is this? What the hell is tweet ???????????? doing here?] So many thoughts crowded Cynthia's mind that she once again felt another headache. Nevertheless, she still managed to maintain her cover, thanks to all her previous headaches, Cynthia was now actually used to this feeling.

Things were not all bad though, fortunately enough for her, she closed her laptop after she finished her researching session as a precaution so at least there was that.

After contemplating to herself for a short moment, Cynthia answered Melanie's question with a trembling voice, pretending to be nervous as she spoke.

"Oh it's nothing really... just stuff that are important to me on a personal level."

Melanie casted an inquisitive gaze at Cynthia as the former listened to the latter's reply, remaining silent as she did so. After a few short moments, Melanie responded in what seemed to be a mix of indifference and disinterest, as if she couldn't care less about what Cynthia said.

"Hmph... alright then..."

Although Cynthia still acted as if she was nervous around Melanie's presence, internally she wasn't sure whether she should be relieved or concerned. Was Melanie suspicious of her or was Melanie truly unconcerned?

Nevertheless, Cynthia put these thoughts aside as she took the opportunity to question Melanie.

"Eheh... S-so who or what do I have to thank for meeting you Ms Menendez Madam?"

Melanie Menendez; the so-called 'Silver Sparrow,' held the position of 'Deputy Director' within P.A.I.N. thus making her second only to the Director in terms of command authority. In general, she was someone who was both respected and feared by her enemies and foes alike.

She was by no means anything near the same level as the other low-level psionics that Cynthia encountered by far in her second life. One should never be mislead by Melanie's small stature that lead to her 'Sparrow' nickname, by herself she would be no less than a one woman army.

For starters, Melanie was another one of the few S-class psionics in existence, her strength and power, was rivalled by a number less than a hundred. When considering that the human population numbered in the uncountable quintillions, S-class psionics were extraordinarily rare.

Granted Cynthia was technically also an S-class psionic but unless she was driven to a point that she needed to expose her true potential to save herself, she would continue pretending to only be a C-class psionic. Plus, Cynthia still wasn't sure if using her full power would destroy her body or not.

But most importantly, Melanie was also one of the few people that came close to killing Cynthia in her past life in a fair fight.

As such, not only could Melanie potentially expose Cynthia's true nature, but if the two of them were to clash, there was good chance that it could end with Cynthia's second death as well.

Even if Cynthia were to be the victor of the fight, she would still be exposed to the public and especially the Confederation. There was no doubt that she would face terrible reprisals from the Confederation for costing them a valued S-class psionic.

These scenarios were definitely not what Cynthia desired.

With that in mind, Cynthia also threw in an extra line at the end to really sell her character.

"I-if you're allowed to tell me that is..."

When Melanie heard what Cynthia had to say, she only shrugged casually before she spoke up. Like before Melanie's expression remained indifferent. In fact, Cynthia was even able to spot a glimmer of boredom in Melanie's eyes.

"I don't think there's a problem with answering your question. We both have my boss, the division's director; Arthur Cray to thank for this wonderful encounter. Of course I do indeed have an actual reason for being here. You know work being what it is."

The more time that Cynthia spent with Melanie, the more relieved that Cynthia felt. So far, the Melanie currently in front of Cynthia was no different from the Melanie that Cynthia knew. Even after five years, Melanie's mannerisms was akin to that of a bored teenager who only reluctantly followed their parent's orders.

The only inconsistency between the Melanie of now and the Melanie of five years ago was that the current Melanie didn't seem to be as cynical but perhaps she was just keeping the formalities for the meeting between her and Cynthia.

With this knowledge, Cynthia was able to gladly confirm that there were yet to be any unexpected turn of events. However, the same cannot be said for what Melanie said next.

"Rejoice operative Starr, you were lucky enough to be designated to participate in a 'live field exercise.' Somewhere in the border systems of the United Planets of America. You'll get more specific details at 0900 hours at briefing room 20 during the... briefing..."

As Melanie's monotone voice trailed of seemingly due to the awkwardness of saying 'briefing' twice in the same sentence, at the same time, Cynthia's eyes widened in complete shock due to the implications of what Melanie just said.

Within a few seconds, Cynthia quickly voiced out her opinions.

"W-wait you're sending me on a mission? Is this really alright? I'm only just a recruit!"

Unlike before, Cynthia wasn't acting. The shock shown in her voice was genuine and wasn't a fabrication meant to sell her as a young girl, she was truly surprised by this sudden turn of events.

On the other hand, Melanie would simply shrug casually before she replied.

"Yes, yes but you're also an extremely outstanding recruit and due to 'staffing issues,' those in command including the boss saw it fit to use you along with a few of your fellow colleagues at 17 as 'temporary replacements' to supplement a military force until our 'staffing issues' are resolved."

[What utter bullshit. This is another one of that geezer's ploys isn't it? But what does he even have to gain by sending me on a mission? Is he still trying to push me to use more of my 'latent' potential?] In response to Melanie's 'explanation' Cynthia couldn't help but mentally curse 'Allen.'

Soon, the movement of everything around Cynthia slowed down as her perception of time slowed down. The movement of Melanie's mouth slowed drastically and even her quick momentary blinks became clearly visible for Cynthia's eyes to see.

Her mind once again clocked into overdrive.

And once again, Cynthia felt her brain ache due to the mental stress as multiple thoughts raced across her mind.

And most of these thoughts came in the form of questions.

When did it go wrong?

How did it go wrong?

Why was Allen so obsessed with Cynthia's potential power?

Did she perhaps miscalculate?

Did she perhaps make a mistake sometime in the past?

Was someone onto her true nature?

What was the best course of action now?

For some of these questions, Cynthia proposed numerous solutions to herself, for many others, she could only propose a few.

Not many of them were satisfactory solutions and many more were thoroughly rejected.

Amidst her sea of thoughts, Cynthia shot a glance at Melanie, quickly realising that the latter of which was actually closely watching the former.

Seeing this, Cynthia had the sudden urge to respond to Melanie.

After confirming her resolve, time resumed its normal pace as Cynthia finally spoke up.

"Un-understood."

When Cynthia gave her response, she was able to catch Melanie frown for a split second before the expression on her face returned to it's typical neutral state.

It didn't take long before Melanie replied to Cynthia's answer.

"Well then, seeing that everything is in order, I guess that it's my time to leave."

Although, Melanie still continued to speak in that disinterested tone of hers, Cynthia couldn't help feeling that something was off about it.

[Damn it! Was that a mistake? Did I respond too quickly? How much does she suspect me now?] However, despite these thoughts, Cynthia also knew that she could do nothing about it now. All she can do now was see this through to the end.

"O-ok. H-have a nice day Ms Menendez Madam."

Cynthia hoped that with this exchange of farewells, Melanie would finally leave but much to Cynthia's dismay, Melanie still remained for another moment. Apparently, Melanie had more to say.

"Oh and one more thing. I would recommend to not get used to be being called 'operative Star.' Not with the boss being who he is."

As Melanie spoke, she took a small metal card out of one of the compartments in her exo-suit before chucking it to Cynthia.

After catching the card, Cynthia posed Melanie a question.

"This is?"

When Cynthia questioned Melanie's card, she put on an expression which exclaimed the sentence 'please don't think that this stupid card was my idea' before answering.

"You new callsign slash codename slash nickname slash whatever the boss wants to call it. Now have a good day and remember that I expect to see you at briefing room 20 at 0900 hours tomorrow."

Melanie's answer while still given in her monotone voice was more rushed and hurried than normal, almost as if she just wanted to get this over with.

On Melanie's way out, Cynthia was even able to hear Melanie mutter something under her breath.

"God damn it boss..."

Once Melanie was out of Cynthia's sight, she flipped the card over to read its contents.

The only thing on it was a tacky logo of a green coloured fire and an equally tacky nickname.

'The Emerald Flame.'

...

Melanie immediately returned to the room designated for her after her meeting with Cynthia.

Even as she slumped down onto her bed, she was not able to ease the thoughts which crowded her mind.

After letting out a long sigh, Melanie immediately took out her private laptop before beginning a long distance call.

Within a minute or two, the face of a familiar man covered her screen. He appeared as an aged yet still youthful man, there were little wrinkles on his face and the only true indicator of his age was his greying hair. Soon after, the 'old' man spoke up.

"What's with the gloomy atmosphere? You're the one who insisted that it should have been you here instead of me."

Melanie instantly frowned upon hearing Allen's 'greeting.' With another sigh, Melanie gave her reply.

"And you're the one that forced me to do that stupid card thing. Honestly speaking, you should stop making me regret my own decisions but I digress."

Allen chuckled nervously before he quickly changed the subject in response to Melanie.

"So did you find discover anything new about Cynthia?"

Unlike with Cynthia, Melanie spoke with Allen in a more professional manner, this time, her voice only sounded slightly disinterested.

"I've found her to be rather 'unique' but I've yet to ascertain whether or not her uniqueness is a threat or not. I am hoping to discover more during the 'live field exercise.'"

Allen remained silent for a few seconds as if he was contemplating before he replied.

"Hmmm... I see. Well Melanie, I could only wish you good luck."

"Good luck to you too boss."

After bidding their farewells, Melanie went to end the video call only to be interrupted by Allen's voice.

"You know Melanie... it would... it would really be nice if you called me 'father' every now and then..."

In response to Allen's interruption, Melanie would only cast her eyes downwards for a short moment before quickly ending the video call.