Dear Misha,

Due to this being the second time writing this letter, I will instead highlight the key elements of the first letter. Please read thoroughly.

I would like to express my concerns for the safety of S.H.H.A.'s avian semi-human members. Their vocal habits may be a threat to their health and wellbeing. I suggest you find a way for them to express their thoughts without waking me up every morning.

I truly hope our winged friends may find a solution before something disastrous falls upon them.

Sincerely, Mabel.

I stare at the letter dumbfounded, trying my best not to shred it to tiny pieces. "This is what nearly killed me?!" I shout, shoving it into Pudding's face, causing her to stumble backward. "This?!"

"Well what else did ya expect?" She asked after reading it as if it were obvious. I don't know, maybe something of actual importance? "Zeal probably hasn't a clue what the letter's about."

"Ugh," I grumbled while throwing the paper across the room. Between the letter fiasco, the new cats, and the gosh-awful black and grey cat known as Echo, I was having a very bad day. I just wanted to go back home, crawl into a cat tree, and pass out.

Stupid hero responsibilities. Can't I take a break every now and then? Not counting school!

Apparently not because, much to my dismay and protesting, we were all in human form. The only way to get information from humans was as humans -being one of the few species that didn't know of semi-humans or even semi-beasts. At least they weren't the only, but I doubt they liked being compared to goldfish. Unfortunately, for as long as humans pointed their guns at anything they couldn't explain, semi-humans would remain a secret to them. Wouldn't want another octopus incident.

The majority of my hatred for human form came from how my stupid platinum blond hair flopped over my face every time the wind blew. Pudding got to have thick, luxurious chocolate brown hair that fell in beautiful waves any girl would long for. Even a hurricane wouldn't give my hair a single wave. Let's not even get started on curls.

At least I got to wear a flashy red jacket that reminded me of my beautiful cape. Back at home, I had the same colored hoodie. The only two things that cured my suffering. Their only downside was summer, and that just so happened to be an eighty degree summer day. Why wasn't it this hot when I was fishing robots the other day?

Echo, on the other hand, seemed chill as a popsicle. She had a cute pixie cut with long black bangs that parted to show her mischievous dark brown, almost black, eyes. I wanted to cut my hair short, but doing the same thing as Echo would have lowered my pride immensely. 

Even if I tried, I couldn't pull off the dark but cute look she had going. Even if I wore the exact same shiny black motorcycle jacket, black jeans, and skull T-shirt. Curse my blond-haired, blue-eyed, sunshine self. I'd never fit in with the cool kids.

"Been a while since we were on a team together," said Echo as she wrapped her hands around our shoulders. I visibly cringed from her touch, but she make no action to remove the pressure or even recognize my discomfort. "That last time though was a blast."

"Not long enough," I replied, sliding out of her grasp. I shuddered remembering our last mission together. I ended up in the water. Muddy water. Somehow I always ended up in the water or similar situations when I went on missions with her. And somehow she never ended up like me. After all, how could she laugh maniacally at me while struggling to swim?

"Come on Mishy, that was forever ago," replied the black-haired girl as she withdrew her hand from Pudding's shoulder. "I've changed since then." I wouldn't have been fooled even if she wasn't barely holding in her laughter. The wicked witch always had something up her sleeve, and that something was always for me.

"Seems to be the place," said Pudding, halting our argument temporarily. We stood before a small white house, one of many in the large suburban town. Pudding pressed the golden doorbell and somewhere in the house, a bell sounded followed by footsteps.

The door opened shortly after, revealing the face of a beautiful blonde thirty-year-old woman. She looked confused at first before noticing the clipboard Pudding held. The woman smiled and said in an apologetic voice, "I'm sorry, but we're not interested."

Pudding put her foot in front of the door before it could close. "We're not here to sell you anything, ma'am. We came to discuss the recent robberies occurring in your warehouse."

The woman tightened her hold on the doorknob. A subtle yet predictable move. Something I had seen many times before. "How do you know about that?"

"Don't worry, we work undercover for the police," replied Pudding expertly, presenting a fake ID. "Your company's not the only one being targeted and we have a hunch on who's behind the robberies. Could you by any chance let us in so we can ask you a few questions?"

Reluctantly, the woman nodded after thoroughly inspecting Pudding's fake ID. "Yes, come in and take a seat," she said as she opened up the door.

Pudding and I took a seat on the couch, but Echo continued standing -understandable considering her job in S.H.H.A. Pudding introduced us once the woman closed the door, "My name's Paige and these are my partners, Maddy and Ella." She waved towards me when she said Maddy, the name I had chosen for many undercover missions.

Unlike Echo, I did not often go on dangerous undercover missions. Like Boss, my expertise was more aimed towards combat rather than secret identities and spying. If not for my mother and home life, I would have gladly given out my human form identity to the semi-human criminal world. Come and get me!

Of course, I didn't want to drag in my sister either. Pudding was decent enough at secret identities and her combat skills were better than most. Even so, she never showed much interest in combat. As a well-trained Diplomat, her secondary talent in the order Soldier -a mix between the orders Tank and Paladin- only came into play when I became leader and needed more than just two Communicators on my team, Diplomat being an order of class Communicator.

Echo, however, specialized in spy and assassination missions. Her power and stalking prowess were best suited for working in the darkness of an abandoned alley rather than on the frontlines. We called people that performed like her Rogues, an order under the Spy class.

"I guess you already know my name," replied the woman in a stern voice, her posture rigid. Pudding nodded, Ilene had provided us with that much. Rachel Wynchester, owner and manager of Mecholedge LLC. More information was on the papers attached to Pudding's clipboard.

"Yes," replied Echo, or Ella, with her arms crossed. Her eyes surveyed the room as she spoke, "We've also read over your report. You claim someone picked the lock on your door and snuck into your warehouse twice. Both times that same someone stole something from a locked container and locked the doors back up as they left."

"You don't believe me?" Asked Rachel in a threatening manner. Her hand clenched and unclenched while she stared at the black-haired girl as if daring her to say 'yes'.

"Nah," replied Echo with a shrug. "The others like you said the same thing. What I'm curious about is the cameras. You reported the cameras, facing towards the doors, catching absolutely nothing. Are there windows in your warehouse?"

"Not large enough for a person to fit through, that's for sure," she replied, relaxing her shoulders a bit, relieved that they weren't challenging her report. Me and Pudding exchanged a glance, Maybe not a human. "The windows were closed shut and locked. There's no way someone could have gotten in through them. They somehow tampered with the camera."

"Let's say they did," I replied, certain that we already knew more than she did about how the thieves entered. "We already know there was nothing left at the scene of the crime but was anything out of the ordinary the day you found out? Or better yet, do you have any suspicions about what happened?"

"I'll tell you the exact same thing I told the police earlier. There was nothing! The only thing out of the ordinary was the locks laying on the floor. I don't know how they did it, but they left nothing at the scene."

Pudding looked up from her notes to ask, "You said they stole random parts, do you mind explaining further?"

"Yes, the only thing they had in common was their placement," Rachel replied, her eyebrows creasing in worry. "The first time they started in the far corner of the warehouse and then the second time they started at the opposite corner."

Pudding expertly kept note of everything she said. "Is there any reason why they might have wanted the items in the corners?"

"Yes, but I've brought it home," replied Rachel. "I'm worried once they check all four corners, they'll know I took it. How they knew it was in the corner beats me. I wouldn't put it past them knowing where my house is."

"Overhearing someone mention it, or only seeing part of a paper listing where it is," replied Echo, half to herself. Her eyes were focused on the floor as she counted the ways of getting information. "Finding vague information is easy."

"What part is so important you're risking your life for it?" I asked, ignoring my "partner". Could she get any more suspicious? At least she didn't add torture or blackmailing to her list -despite it being a possibility in the situation.

"It's a box of parts actually," replied Rachel as she paced the room. "It doesn't have all the necessary parts, but the box contains the instructions for making them. They're to create a machine. Something like a human scanner."

"So an x-ray?" I asked with my head tilted in confusion.

"An x-ray that can detect bacteria and create a 4D image of every layer of the human's body within seconds. We're leagues away from completing it, but we just made a huge breakthrough. To have it stolen would be..." Her voice trailed off.

"One last question," I announced with a smile, leaning over my knees to ask. She breathed out in relief, her mind coming back to the nearly finished conversation. Honestly, I was probably more happy to be over with it than she was. "Do you mind if we stay the night at your warehouse?"

------------------

Okay, how'd you like the chapter?

Interesting so far? Ready for some action?

To be entirely honest, I spent way too much time coming up with the name Mecholedge. A stupid name that's probably never going to come up again.

But I can finally ask, now that we're 12 chapters in, who's your favorite character so far? I'm partial towards Ninja and a couple of characters that haven't been introduced yet. I'll tell you though when they arrive :)

Hope you liked this chapter, and don't forget to vote!