“Oh… I forgot to ask about the teleporter…” I murmured to myself as we came closer to the meeting room for the second time.

“A teleporter…?” My girlfriend raised an eyebrow behind her mask.

“Oh, nothing. Just thinking out loud.” I waved her off.

“Sure?” She tilted her head, probably thinking I was pondering something dumb again.

Now, for real, how had they afforded a freaking teleporter? Didn’t Alex already struggle with money as is? Or maybe it was because Alex bought that teleporter? Had Alex spent all their money on a teleporter just so the kids could have fun roleplaying?!

What the heck? That was both stupid… And amazingly caring of Alex. Dang, if only all parents were this caring…

Well, with Alex sacrificing so much for the girls, I could only do my best and continue to visit them to let Alex have a bit of calm and peace while I kept the daughters busy.

I nodded to myself in satisfaction.

“Hey there you!” the familiar airy sounding voice greeted us.

All three heads turned and we spotted Typhoon floating in mid-air as usual.

“Hi.” Iron Pack smiled.

“Greetings.” Fractal nodded.

“Oh hello! How are you doing?” I returned the enthusiasm.

“I’m doing good!” she said before her face scrunched up. “Well, all things considered at least. I had a run-in with a new villain yesterday. And apparently, she declared me her rival.”

Huh. A villain rival? That sounded cool! I wanted a villain rival!

“Anyway! That aside, I got some exciting news! This meeting! You know why it was called?”

We shook our heads.

“Tess already told me so might as well share. She said she found out some new info on the Brimscythe family! Apparently, they have a branch family operating in this city, and she found their base!”

“Oh! That means this is a strategy meeting!” Iron Pack grinned.

“Exactly!” Typhoon returned the grin. “We can finally make a move against them! And it’s all thanks to the info you two provided!” She spread her arms, gesturing at Fractal and my girlfriend.

Huh. So it was happening again. Sure brought me back. I still remembered the first time I’d been on an infiltration mission. Although back then, it’d been for the villain’s side… Well, as heroes, we’d done plenty of those as well, and it was something I’d gotten used to over time.

Hmm…

Wait. Now that Typhoon was in front of me, I had a chance to ask again! What was up with me being an ultimate weapon?!

“W-”

“Let’s go! The others are already coming!” she interrupted me and happily floated inside the meeting room before I could finish my question.

Argh! Come on!

Just as promised, people were flooding the room from all the entrances, and I scrambled to find my seat without having a chance to question Typhoon.

A moment later, our informant Tess, who apparently had some information-gathering power, took the initiative and began explaining. I settled to focus on the meeting and decided to ask Typhoon later.

“Thanks for coming, everyone. It took me a good while since the Brimscythes are such a huge organization, but thanks to the information from our new recruits --” She nodded in our direction. “-- I was able to figure out they actually have another branch in this city. Ironically, they are so far removed, you can’t even call them the same family anymore. They are basically strangers at this point.”

Huh. A family that wasn’t even a family to them anymore? Where does one even draw the line? How many times removed do you have to be to not be considered related anymore?

“Obviously, they also have a different family name,” she continued.

“Wait,” one of the heroes interrupted. “Different name, and not even related at this point, you say. Then are you sure they are still even part of them?”

“Absolutely,” Tess confirmed. “They may not be related, but my findings confirm strong loyalty to the main branch. You can review it later if you want to.”

That seemed to have convinced the hero whose name I’d forgotten.

“With that said, this branch operates slightly differently from the main one. They pretend to be a normal family with normal lives, all while committing crimes in the shadows. Dismantling them would put us closer to putting an end to the Brimscythes once and for all.”

Nods and murmurs spread across the room.

“So, what’s their name?” someone asked.

“Oh, right. Their family name is… Degrim.”

I froze in place.

Degrim? Wait… That… 

I exchanged a glance with Iron Pack who had a similar expression on her face.

“That’s your last name,” she whispered.

“That’s… a pretty scary coincidence, isn’t it?” I tried.

She frowned and turned back to Tess. I did the same.

Tess began laying down the plan of action, known family members, as well as… the address.

The moment she mentioned the address, I froze once again. Then I mechanically fished out my phone and found the note I made marking the address where my family had apparently moved and where they wanted to have a family reunion with me.

They matched.

BottledChaos

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