Are you done pretending to be injured? Zach asked sitting in his car outside his beggar's house

Yep..preety much...! How was my acting? Did she buy it? His accomplice said energetically

Yeah...you know she's still pretty worried about you

His accomplice rolled his eyes "she thinks I am weak"

"that's exactly the point...let it stay that way...nobody should find out-"

"yeah...yeah...nobody should find out that I'm a C40..i know the drill already.."

"good boy"

"don't you ever get tiered of all the lying though....?"

"whose lying...? ...It's not lying if they don't know we exist dude.." Zach said, but his voice trailed off..and there was a hint of sadness in his demeanor..

Justin stared up at Zach Williams, he wanted to believe his bravado, but deep inside he knew it was fake. Not being able to confide in anyone really gets lonely at times,

"so what's the story again ...I recovered or something?"

"....You are fully healed from all your head injuries..to be more precise.." Zach replied, taking out a small brown envelope from his side pocket and handing it over to Justin. Justin took it out and eagerly read the contents "wow this looks so legitimate ! Must be so cool to own your own hospital.." Justin said enthusiastically as he stared at his fake head injury report and saw x-rays of a broken skull that never belonged to him.

"So Skinner said he had a mission for me or something....?" Justin said

"Uh huh..." Zach replied inattentively, swiping through his phone going through the various CCTV footage, "I'm sure it's going to be super dangerous little guy .." he replied uninterested

"Yeah maybe one day ill even be able to go on a mission with the best C40 around.." Justin said in awe

Zach rolled his eyes, it was always the dream of the younger C40s to work with Cut Throat, he was sort of a celebrity amongst the younger boys, and Justin was no exception

"yeah one day...but for that day to come..you need to work harder at your training....heard you're still struggling in the ring?" Zach asked peering at his beggar, Justin's eyes dropped low a fraction of an inch, with red patches starting to form on his face "Yeah...I'm not getting any better..."

"and you won't if you don't have confidence in your abilities....the skill is there ...but no matter how much skill and how much training you have, none of it matters if you have no self confidence ..." Zach said staring at him,

"How's it going with the doctor?" Zach asked cautiously

"You mean the shrink? I hate going to see her !" Justin said defensively

"She's only trying to unlock your potential....it's not going to work if you're resisting her attempts..."

Justin angrily folded his arms across his chest, reminding Zach of a little angry baby

"I don't like going to see her.."

"well none of us do at first Justy boy...but we all have to at one point or another...Cut throat still goes to see her!"

"What ! He does ?!"

"Sure he does...and you wanna know what? Cut throat wouldn't be cut throat if he didn't have a team to help build him up to his true potential.."

Justin stayed quiet, lost in thought

"we are not like normal people Justin, we are gifted........ all of us...in some very peculiar ways...but if we don't seek the help that we need to harness our abilities into a gift ...it can easily turn into a curse.."

"And what gift is that !? Gift of being a thief ...? A gangster...? A hooligan? How is that a gift..?" Justin snapped

"like I said it's a double edged sword...but every saint has a past...and every sinner has a future....this is our future...this is our chance of making a positive difference in the world Justin....it's so much bigger then ourselves...just give the therapy a chance alright? I want you to keep an open mind..."

"ow olright...ill give the shrink a chance.." Justin said

*****

Skinner waited in the board room for his visitor to come, he looked up at the digital clock hanging on the wall. He was 5 minutes late, Skinner gritted his teeth, he hated late comers. He stared at the brown envelope that lay on the majestic wooden table. He was worried, he didn't know exactly what plans Major had, but this couldn't mean good news for anyone ...and especially not the subject of the contents of the envelope.

Skinner could see a small curly haired boy bobbing up and down the corridor through the glass pane in the door. His visitor had arrived.

"Good day Mr. Skinner Sir !" Justin said energetically, greeting skinner, who nodded his head and showed Justin the seat at the table, Justin obliged, clearly beaming with the prospect of being given his first "serious" solo mission.

"What we are about to discuss here Justin stays between us....Do you understand me?"

"Oh ..yes ! Strictly between us sir!" Justin said enthusiastically staring at the brown envelope in excitement

"This is strictly confidential ....no one else can know about this...not even K.O. ...do you understand me Justin?" Skinner asked , worried that his young guest didn't understand the magnitude of the assignment. Justin's eyes went up with a slight surprise "Oh...okay no problem sir.." he said

Skinner pulled the envelope, and slid it across to Justin.

"Open it...we need you to pitch the idea of working at this place to this specific person Justin...I know you're friends with them...this shouldn't be a problem for you..." Skinner said staring at Justin,

Justin enthusiastically opened the envelope, and his face broke into shock .

"bu-but..th-this person...sir...?" He whispered staring between the envelope and skinner

"Yes...is it going to be a problem?"

"Why Sir..?"

"Ah...why?" Skinner smiled and stared at his young visitor, he thought he understood why Major used the younger ones for such tasks, because they were just so much more innocent

"Justy boy...do you remember one of the first rules we ever learnt on our way to becoming a C40?"

"yes...we never ask why..."

"exactly...you don't ask why...heck even I didn't ask why...that remains the knowledge of Major. But the question remains Justy boy...do you think you can do it..."

Justin bent down and read through the envelope again, he stared down at the address given 808 cocopalm street , "What is this place...?"

"It's a place that needs a new employee , and indeed you know of someone who is looking for a job is that not so...?"

Justin didn't reply, he stared worried at the envelope , Skinner sighed "Come now Justy boy, this isn't your first mission of such a nature, not too long ago, I remember you dropping off an envelope about the Royal high school scholarship programme near this Girl's Aunt house...what is so different this time around?"

"So this is just a workplace..?"

"of course it is..."

"So...sh-she's just going to be an ...emp-employee at this place..?"

"Yes..that's all..."

"okay....I can do it.." Justin said, with a look of determination on his face.

Skinner's heart sunk, he half hoped Justin wouldn't have believed him, he half hoped Justin would run to tell Cut throat, but alas , Justin would do what any good soldier was trained to do...he would obey orders.