New Mission Details

Minty was walking around in her office. She went back and forth at a quick pace and continued to repeat in her mind what her plan would be for their next mission.

She had informed Cyrus to gather everyone into the living room once they were done preparing themselves and to come and call her right after that.

Cyrus was beginning to think that Minty was acting 'strange.' She was showing more enthusiasm for something that she normally wouldn't have had an interest in or would think that they were capable enough to handle without her.

'Why is she acting like this is so important to her now?' he asked himself before knocking on the door.

*Knock, Knock, Knock*

"Minty? I have gathered everyone as you have requested. We are ready," he said through the door.

*Whoosh!*

Minty swung the door open, she was smiling as she said, "Good. Now let's go!" as she began speed walking down the hallway.

Cyrus was weirded out by this even more so. 'She always seemed more reserved, did someone push her nerves today or is she truly excited about something that is about to happen?' he asked himself.

Reaching the living room, the gang were all chatting with each other. It was mainly Edith chatting with Vito, and Terra trying to get Dawn to be a little more of a conversationalist.

"Alright, I want everybody to line up for me, this is an important announcement," Minty declared.

"But we can all hear you clearly. Why should we have to line up?" Terra asked.

Minty turned and glared at him in a subtly way and Vito nudged his shoulder as he whispered, "Just do it."

All lining forward with Terra on the right and Dawn on the left, they were now standing before Minty in an orderly fashion.

"I have gathered you all to inform you that your mission details will now be undergoing a change," Minty spoke as she walked back and forth in front of them.

"What type of, change?" Dawn asked.

"A new and improved version. We will no longer be planting trees in any fields for our mission, we can put that behind us," Minty answered.

"Whew, at least finally we won't be doing anything troublesome," Edith sighed in relief.

"Instead we will now be hunting down the Mafia!" Minty announced in excitement!

Nobody cheered. Everybody was quiet as they processed this information being given to them.

"The what?" Dawn asked first. Everybody was still recovering from the news they had received.

"The Mafia," Minty gladly repeated.

Cyrus being the next one to recover asked her, "And what brought about this revelation?"

"We are guardians are we not? Servants of the Earth and Alex. It is our duty to prevent any situation that might put the lives of a multitude of people or even affect the Earth in any negative way," Minty explained.

"I am sure you all remember the gang war correct? The one that happened over one year ago and even affected the lives of many, including all of you! It was such a serious matter that we had to step in to stop it."

"Taking that into account, I had been keeping tabs on the movement of any suspicious activity or anything relating to the mafia, well not me but John, and through his help, I discovered what seems to be a new Mafia family trying to be formed within California. Your hometown."

"So that is why we are going to match into their base and destroy them before they become a problem and create another dispute within the Mafia world," Minty concluded.

"Isn't that a little, extreme?" Dawn asked.

"You all know how to fight, do you not? And you may be faced with a life-or-death crisis more often than you would think. I don't believe there is a better way to test your strengths than to put you through one," Minty answered. And surprisingly her answer sounded very logical.

"Though if we have any problems from those of you within this group then I will be willing to hear your suggestions and maybe perhaps even change the mission," Minty said. She was softly encouraging them to relay their thoughts to her. 

And she was mostly looking at Vito and Terra.

Vito was feeling conflicted at first when he heard they would be fighting against a Mafia family, seeing as how he was in one and his family had started the first-ever gang war. But remembering the way that the other families would mock them after the war was over, the things they would say to him, and the words they called his father and his family, which had led to his obsession with being the representative in the first place.

And hearing of a way of stopping a chance at another gang war being present, Vito couldn't help but say, "I'll do it!" with as much confidence as he had.

Hearing Vito say this had Edith thinking he was crazy, but she was also crazy for agreeing to do it right after him. Which left Dawn, Cyrus, and Terra to say something.

"I mean I was going to do it regardless of if you asked for my opinion or not, so you can count me in," Cyrus replied next.

Hearing three people say yes so far made Minty proud of herself, she had truly thought of the most exciting mission that kids this age would love. To her, a little danger only bettered a person.

"Terra?" She asked as she looked at him. "I know you don't like hurting people, so it is fine to me if you don't want to do it," she sympathized.

Terra had his head hanging low from thought but now brought it back up as he said, "I've hurt people in the past before and I don't want to have to hurt people again now. But!" Terra said as he clenched his hand into a fist, "If there is any group of people that have angered me to the point whereby I don't care if they live or die or get hurt in the process..."

"It would be anyone that has any close relationship with the mafia!" Terra announced determinedly.

Vito, Edith, and Cyrus, all turned their heads to look at Terra as he so passionately expressed this belief to them. The only one who was oblivious to this was Dawn as he continued staring blankly forward thinking about how he felt about this matter.

He only turned his head after noticing that Minty was staring at Terra as well.

The 3 of them in their minds had decided that no matter what, 'Terra should never find out about Vito!'

Minty who was staring at Terra as well began to have second thoughts on this, she had just now realized how terrible of a situation this was that Terra who hates the Mafia was standing right next to the son of the Mafia family that started the gang war. If he ever found out about this he might even murder him! Or perhaps she was exaggerating.

'What was Alex thinking when he put these two together in the same group?' Minty worriedly sighed. 'Nonetheless, I doubt he will ever find out about it, it's not like Vito is going to tell him about it after finding out how much he so deeply hates the mafia.'

*Ehem!* Minty faked coughed to get everyone's attention off of Terra.

"And Dawn how do you feel about this?" Minty asked him.

"Well, I know that I have been training for part of my life to learn how to fight, and despite being prepared for a moment like this, I don't know how comfortable I am with hitting a woman," Dawn answered.

Hearing this Edith punched him.

*OW!* "What was that for?" he angrily shouted at her.

"Problem fixed," Edith replied.

*Argh* "It's not just that, I just wouldn't feel right hitting a woman in the face, okay?" Dawn refuted this, standing firm on this belief.

"Wow, what a gentleman," Cyrus teased.

"I don't have a problem with hitting a woman in the face," Terra said. "Wait! Does that make me a bad person?" he worriedly asked.

Cyrus was in disbelief that the guy who just said he didn't mind it if Mafia families lived or died was worried about whether or not hitting a woman in the face would make him a bad person or not.

Cyrus moved over to him and patted him on the back as he said, "Don't worry Terra, times have changed. It's now fair to do such a thing."

"Oh thank goodness," Terra sighed in relief.

Vito who was next to Terra had now moved over towards Edith as Cyrus came in between the two of them. He was slightly relieved to be away from Terra. He now wanted to keep his distance a little bit from the guy.

"Alright so you are all ready to fight but out of preference, Dawn won't hit a woman, apart from that it seems you all are willing to take on this mission. Perfect, let us head over to the training center where I will test your skills and provide you each with a suitable weapon to match your capabilities after we fight."

"Fight?" Dawn asked concerned, "You didn't mention we would have to fight you!"

"I have now, so prepare yourselves, we will be training for a while," Minty said as she began walking out of the room. "Oh and Terra," she added, "You are exempted from this exercise."

"What!?" Dawn asked feeling a sense of favoritism, "Why does he get to skip this but we have to do this??"

Terra simply shrugged not knowing why either.

Minty was the only one who knew why and it was because of two reasons actually. The first being that she had already faced him off before knew what he was capable of and had a weapon in mind for him.

And the second one was that she was worried if the two of them ever got a rematch then he would certainly beat her within her own jurisdiction.