“Tell me, America. Were you dropped as a child, or are you actually that dumb?”

  Jason was in an online meeting with the Monarchs. In his secure laptop, the screen showed six pillars that looked like marbled gravestones. Etched is the flag of the nation they represent. It hadn’t been ten seconds in the meeting, and Jason had already started name-calling one of them.

  “Seriously, Canada?” America’s cold voice, with a tinge of amusement, said. “We’ve only just started the meeting, please let’s be civil-”

  “Don’t give me that horse crap, what you did was too far! Sending a powerful weapon in the middle of Toronto and then an army of new-gen Combat Bots!?”

  Yes. It's been eight hours since the event happened. Red Justice, along with some allies, defeated all the robots and the Scorpion SURVIVIOR. After that, they evacuated all the victims of the attack and focused on building. Squad Nova has left the scene, but Kinetic, Scarlet Knight and Red Justice stayed to help rebuild. In fact, they are still doing it right at this moment.

  Jason couldn’t help but get angrier knowing that Red would most likely blame himself for this. Even though the one who caused the whole mess is his fellow Monarch.

  “Not only does your childish plan cause civilians to be harmed and killed, but it will also cause my country to spend millions of dollars to repair. Our economy is already struggling, and you decided to add this to our plate!?” Jason snarled, wanting to find whoever the American Monarch is personally, so he could beat the fear of god into this accursed person.

  “Yes, what you did to a city is unforgivable.” The Japanese Monarch agreed. “You dishonour your people with your actions, especially making a dead organization take the fall.”

  It wasn’t just the two of them; a couple of other Monarchs voiced their displeasure with America's plan. Surprisingly, though, out of all the Monarchs, Russia came to defend America. Russia scoffed at their words.

  “Bah, who cares if a few died. What matters is that we capture that little red brat at all costs!”

  “Indeed.” Said the United Kingdom. “It's tragic, however, if we want to regain control of the situation concerning our Walking Supernova. Then a couple of drops of blood are painful but necessary.”

  “Necessary!? The whole plan failed!” Jason cried out in disbelief.

  Actually, he could believe it. He learned one thing about being a monarch: they will make countless excuses to justify moral failings. Jason grit his teeth; it's truly corrupt to the bone. A flawed system he desires to correct, but it's far harder than he thought. Jason wanted nothing more than to slap some sense into them.

  Finally, America cleared their throat. “May I speak?”

  Silence.

  “Good. Now the plan hadn’t failed. After all, while I preferred we capture him, now, Operation Scarlet Fall’s purpose is to gain combat data for us to use against Red Justice one day. We’ve gained a huge amount of information about his abilities, possible weaknesses, and other things. We also learned he has allies backing him. Overall, it's a mission success.”

  Jason was about to voice his anger. But America quickly cut him off.

  “Before you lose your top, Canada. I will be compensating with all the damage, every single cent, you have my word on that.”

  Jason opened his mouth to call on his bullcrap, but paused. He didn’t want to say anything to piss off America. What he just offered is a good opportunity. All the damage to the city would be repaired without using Red’s or Canada’s resources. So he bit his lip and swallowed his insult.

  “Now that’s out of the way…” Drawled America. “I will be sending all of you the data of Red Justice’s fights, which we have recorded, later. It will take a while for me to replenish my resources to re-try to capture the boy, but I hope you will use the data to attempt to defeat him in my stead.”

  Explained the American Monarch. Jason crossed his arms and chewed his cheek. Just when Red can sigh in relief, no longer being hunted in his soil, but with their new data, they are definitely a threat to Red Justice and will hunt him in other countries. Not only that, he’s recently trying to help people from America’s wild, stupid plan and is probably feeling guilty from this whole mess. Really, that child can’t catch a break.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “I have an announcement to make.” Japan suddenly says, earning everyone’s attention. “My forces and funds will no longer be used in the aid of the capture of Red Justice.”

  Silence filled the air. Jason blinked multiple times and scratched his ears to make sure he was hearing right. That’s bizarre. The Japanese Monarchs, like our own nation, are very prideful and have a warrior-like mentality. They don’t back down in a fight, and doing so is considered dishonourable.

  Jason doesn't know what face, what expression America is making. After all, he was the one spearheading this whole operation. All of the Monarchs, aside from it, are trying to capture Red, so one Monarch backing out, especially one of the wealthiest nations. After all, Japan is responsible for the mass distribution of high-tech melee weapons like Sonic Cutters. Without that, it would hinder the operation by a good amount.

  “Why?” Asked America, their voice was cool. “Is it because he saved Tokyo from that massive tsunami? Are you planning to support him to like Canada?”

  “Do not misunderstand me, backing out means we will aid Red Justice. He’s still a dangerous anomaly. However, he saved my people from the wrath of the seas for that, to respect the saviour of Tokyo, we will back away in the aid of capturing him. My ancestors would have done the same.”

  Another long, quiet moment, longer than last time. America releases an audible sigh. It sounds like a mixture of exhaustion and irradiation. Jason would have felt bad had the fool not decided to launch an attack on Toronto and pinned the blame on a terrorist group that is currently in tatters.

  “Fine. But remember…Esper Society and the Moonlight World want to take a shot at little red. If they find the source of his power, would it spell doom for humanity?”

  Russia scoffed. “Like those monsters and freaks could capture someone like Red Justice. I hate to admit it, but the boy is strong; there's no way they can capture him.”

  “You’re vastly underestimating Russia. After all, we may have superior technology and weaponry, but many of those in the Moonlight World have vast amounts of experience and power. While those in Esper Society possessed special abilities that can mess with the laws of physics and matter.” America chided Russia in a condescending tone.

  Russia grits its teeth. Meanwhile, Jason clenched his fist. Those two secret worlds hidden from the public. Right now, thanks to the Monarchs, they haven’t stepped in yet. He could remember a meeting a month ago where each nation's representatives expressed their desire to capture Red Justice.

  The Monarchs, the Nobles, the Chiefs and the Psychic Council had a huge argument. Fortunately, before a true fight broke out, Jason suggested that the Monarch would handle things first and after a certain amount of time passed, they would be allowed to try their luck in trying to get Red. This satisfies them, and now the Monarchs are given less than a year before they step in. Jason chewed on his lip.

  Gavin and he hadn’t told the boy about these two secret worlds just hidden beneath the veil. With how things are going, it's not if he’s going to encounter them, it's when. Red has already encountered an Esper in the form of Emily Shinichi, even if she’s not aware of her people and society. Speaking of, no doubt, they’ll be after her, too. The meeting continued for about half an hour before America called it off.

  Jason lets his back lean against his chair. Releasing a tired sigh, he wanted so badly to grab a bottle of wine and chug it like no tomorrow. But he’s got work to do. He may not be able to physically help Gavin and Ben, but there's no way he’s going to leave them to do all the work, though. He fired up his computer again and got to work.

  RED

  Squad Nova Mansion…

  JUSTICE

  The four of them groaned as their bodies collided with the couch. Both of them were squeezing the poor furniture with their combined weight, but at this moment, they didn’t really care. Helping everyone out while having multiple shattered bones is certainly draining. Even though Red Justice, Kinetic and the newcomer known as Scarlet Knight, it was tiring. But despite their ribs' protest, all of them had smiles on their faces.

  For a very long time, they felt they actually accomplished something. Until the screen of their large TV suddenly lit up, showing Nine’s red face. Michael instinctively stood up to attention, while his two other teammates just groaned, trying to get up. Arti, though, didn’t give a single crap and passed out, snoring.

  “What have you done?” Nine said in an icy voice.

  “We helped the civilians, sir,” Michael responded with a chill tone.

  “No, you aided a vigilante along with other unknown individuals. Then you ignored orders, which led to us being looked at as fools.”

  Michael’s eyebrow twitched. “You did that to yourself.”

  “Yeah, man…” Gabe flipped him the bird while groaning in pain. “Eat my nuts, you old fart.”

  Ricardo nodded beside him, looking at the old man with a stern expression. Meanwhile, Arti turned over and snored louder, which made Nine look even more furious.

  “I will-”

  “What? Fire us? Go right ahead!”

  This made the suited man pause. Surprised.

  “We’re the best team you have. After Arc left, the military force had been weakened immensely, and America couldn’t afford to show weakness. Especially since other countries are producing more and getting stronger soldiers to join.”

  Nine opened his mouth to respond, but bit his lip and looked away. Michael snorted and smirked a little.

  “Yeah, you really don’t want a repeat of Arc. So here’s what’s going to happen: we’ll keep doing your missions as long as it doesn't involve innocents or fighting Red Justice.” Michael declares, earning a weak laugh from his younger brother and a smile from the Filipino man.

  Nine scrunched up his face. Then his face melted into a sour, but defeated expression.

  “Very well, I suppose. I can’t stop you at the end of the day…” Nine gives them the meanest glare in existence. “Good day.”

  The TV then turns off. Squad Nova just stared at the black screen with shaking heads. He turns to his family with a grin, still clutching his bruised arm.

  “Who wants pizza for dinner?”