“Alpha… you look old.” Vanessa said with extreme bluntness, walking up towards Alpha and inspecting his greying hair.

“Ha… hahaha!” Alpha squeezed Vanessa into a tight embrace, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. “Boy did I miss your scathing remarks.”

“Let go… Leo help!” As physically strong as Vanessa was, she didn’t want to endanger Alpha by ripping herself free from his arms.

Chuckling, I walked forward and put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “It’s ok. There will be plenty of time for hugs and displays of affection later. For now, why don’t you debrief us of the state of things, and how we can help. Katherine gave us a brief rundown before we left, but I think you’ll be able to shed much more light on it than she was able to.

Alpha flipped back his hair, and combed it with his fingers before nodding. “Alright.” He let go of Vanessa, and signaled to the four people outside of the room we were in to stand down.

“They are the four most skilled people in using the void in our group besides Katherine. Collectively, they are known as the Valkyries.”

He puffed up his chest in pride, and I ended up giving him an uncomfortable smile. “Did you name them, Alpha? You always did have a way with naming that left others speechless.”

“I don’t think it’s too bad.” Vanessa said after brushing herself off. “It was a historic group of powerful women that’s easily recognizable, and easily branded. What is strange about it…”

She drilled her finger into Alpha’s chest. “Is the fact that the Valkyries worked for Odin, the god amongst gods in Norse mythology. Are you calling yourself Odin, Alpha?”

All eyes turned to him, and he began to sweat. “Leo, what are you all saying?” Hazeel’s confused voice echoed in my head, and I cursed myself for not trying to teach her English sooner.

As I began my translation of previous events for the wood elf, Alpha chuckled nervously and said, “W-well, I guess I was just so caught up in the heat of the moment, that I forgot about that part of the mythos.”

Vanessa did not look pleased as they stepped out of the enclosed space, and into the dimly lit basement. “Then you’ll have no problem handing them over.”

Alpha froze, as did the four aforementioned women, who had come to stand in front of the structure and see Vanessa with their own eyes.

“I’m sorry, I think I misheard you. Can you please repeat that?” Vanessa merely brushed her hair outwards, and let it fall naturally to her side in one gesture.

“I think you know what I mean.” She said, continuing to groom herself. “We’re going to need all the metaphorical firepower we can get if what Katherine says is remotely true. Having these capable women sitting around guarding you will be detrimental to that cause.”

“B-but-” Alpha started to babble, but Vanessa put a finger to her lips, gesturing him into silence.

“No buts. You were part of the initial problem, so just think of this as doing your part to repent for the headaches and heartbreaks you caused.”

Alpha opened his mouth to retort, but found himself lacking the words to do so. “Fine.” He said with a huff. “From tomorrow onwards, the Valkyrie unit is yours to command.”

The four women broke out into discontented murmurings, with uncertainty in the air as they silently appraised their new boss. “Do you have any other demands, Dantae, or should we just leave it at that?”

All it took was his use of her codename and the Valkyrie unit went silent. That was, of course, only a precursor to surrounding Vanessa in a gaggle of excitement. I guess her codename still held weight, even ten years later.

“Alright ladies!” Katherine stepped forward, and tried her best to interject herself between Vanessa and the other members of her squad. We’ll have a lot to do tomorrow, so pack your things and be ready to transfer at a moment's notice!”

They set off with a cheer, and Katherine led them out of the room, past a bunch of bewildered looking engineers.

“They’re always doing everything at their own pace.” Alpha sighed, shaking his head. “Now then, I suppose it’s time to get down to business. May you introduce me to the three people present?”

I nodded, and ushered Leresa, Rexir, and Hazeel out of the containment unit. “First,” I said, speaking in Azurian, “Hazeel, this is Alpha, one of the rebel leaders for Earth. He will be our main point of contact as we navigate this rebellion.”

“Alpha, this is Hazeel.” I said as Hazeel walked over to the man in question, towering over him. “She is a wood elf as well as my… girlfriend.”

He shook hands with her after a brief explanation to Hazeel about what the gesture meant, and looked over at me curiously. “Does that mean that you and Vanessa are… done with each other?”

“God no.” I rolled my eyes. “In fact, she threw her support around this. You know how she is, don’t you?”

Alpha could only chuckle in response to that, as he shook Rexir and Leresa’s hands respectively. “I don’t suppose these people here are two more paramours, right?”

“No again.” I snorted. “Meet Rexir, the man, and Leresa, the woman. The two of them are royalty from the Gold and Azure continents respectively. Oh, I should add that they’re betrothed, and have been since a young age.”

“Royalty…?” Alpha stiffened as he finished greeting them. “Leo, just what kind of world did you go to?”

“If I said ‘Swords and Magic,’ would that ring any bells for you?” Alpha gave me a lengthy sigh, which he followed up by turning around and signalling for me to follow.

“Come now, please.” He said, with mild curiosity in his voice. “We have a lot to discuss in a little amount of time.”

“Why is that?” Vanessa asked, observing the basement as we moved through it.

“Because Christian’s enforcers will be here in two days time for a regularly scheduled check up. Even if you leave, as soon as they pick up your photon signatures, your cover is as good as wasted, anyway.”