Hate Group Projects

All the way in fucking Texas. Uncle Ant, ya really didn't want me to take this job, Malik thought to himself as he landed a few steps away from where the border used to be. 

Looking up at the preparation dome in front of the thick desert ahead, Malik was not looking forward to the mission. In fact, he had half the mind to call it quits and plan that vacation he'd forgotten about.

He remembered waking up in the early morning, way before the sun had even begun to rise. He'd seen his uncle in the dark living room hugging a glass of beer as he stared at another letter. 

It was from the owner of the building, another order to move. He'd watched his uncle smile wryly down at the paper before burning it with a lighter.

The sigh that escaped the older man's lips held enough pain to force Malik to get this job done and immediately find them a new place to move to. One with a better shop, a lot of space for Nala to run in, and a garage so Malik could continue building his gadgets. 

He'd found an old gaming console from the 21st century in an overgrown lot and was uncharacteristically excited about fixing it up.

"Hey! You!"

The man that had just yelled at him was standing in front of the contained area, the entrance to the swirling yellow gate leading to the dungeon surrounded by several personnel from the Dark Mountain Guild.

Malik slowly looked down to eye the slim and shorter man, tilting his head slightly when the guy flinched from his stare.

Malik had been told he was intimidating, his bare arms littered with random tattoos that covered his scars, his long braids with the side of his head shaved, his lean toned physique and his unsettling stare. 

In a way, he could see it, but how intimidating could he have been with a puppy sticking out of his thigh pouch?

Nala barked at the man, her tongue sticking out in excitement as she stayed strapped to Malik's side. The guy, gripping his little pad, looked down at the dog and seemed to visibly relax at the sight of her.

You can't hate Nala, Malik thought as he bent down slightly to pet his little girl's head.

He didn't usually bring her with him on missions, especially ones this big, but he planned on going in and out.

Just like he had thought, it was mostly reconnaissance and he'd been requested because of his stealth skills that had been spread around with each job he did. It was supposed to be him and four other part-timers, according to what he'd been told.

"You can't be around here."

He gave the man his attention again, standing up straight as he clutched his board to his side.

"Part-timer."

It was all he needed for the man to quickly go through the little blue screen in his hands.

"…Are you the C rank? Mal?"

Malik nodded and the man sighed, scratching the back of his head. He looked at Malik like the hunter was about to get scolded.

"You're late! You've been holding up the rest of the reconnaissance team!"

"…So they're still here?"

The man looked like he wanted to throttle Malik and the hunter was already tired of the entire interaction.

So walking by the man into the organized mess that was the dungeon zone was his only option, truth be told.

It was rather easy to ignore the guy yelling at him, especially knowing he was just there as staff of the guild. Malik used his ability to assess most people, the fact that humans were 70% water made it easy though with margin for error. He was just some guy so Malik didn't really have much to do with him.

Plus, like the guy said, he was late.

Looking around, he saw so many popular hunters and so many unknown ones from the DM Guild. He walked past them, ignoring the way a few were staring at him with suspicion. 

There were trucks and tents all over the area, as well as a slight barrier surrounding them as many reporters looked like they would've ran through the hunters themselves to get a story.

"No fucking way."

Malik slowly turned his head around and stared impassively at Maria who was glaring at him with a water bottle in hand.

He knew they were a little short on low ranks in the DM guild for reconnaissance but hiring her? For reconnaissance? That just seemed stupid.

"…Short on funds?" Malik tried to joke as he turned around to face her, sure she was one of the four on his team. There was no other reason she would've been there. 

She was lower ranked than him so what use would she have been in a zone full of A and B ranks?

"I'm going to fucking kill Louis," she snapped as she turned away from Malik and headed for a truck with three other guys standing beside it. "Hurry the fuck up! We should've been in there fifteen fucking minutes ago!"

Malik followed her without much process, catching up to her quick stomps despite how leisurely he was walking. He was still looking around the place, his eyes scanning everything and already thinking about which parts of each machinery was going to be useful for his visor's next upgrade.

He didn't exactly have the most normal gear, all of which were probably made around the beginning of the cataclysm and were so old, they were not sold anymore. He couldn't exactly afford new tech so he used what he couldn't gotten.

"What the fuck took you so long, Ghost?"

He gave her a puzzling look, the random nickname taking even him off guard.

"You disappear and then fucking appear. Like a ghost. Creepy ass man."

Creative.

They made it to the truck and Malik wanted to sigh heavily in exasperation but held it in.

One of them was Maria's teammate, Louis, the rest being other part-timers Malik had had experience with.

"Long time no see, Mal," the one with the black carbon face mask said, his muscular form inching closer as he pulled out his hand for a handshake.

Malik did not take it.

The man chuckled behind his mask, the other one laughing loudly and making others turn their heads to look at the lowest ranked team.

Malik didn't hate people. He barely disliked them. Having such negative emotions was too exhausting for him so he learned early to keep his feelings towards someone else under wraps. 

But he didn't like them. He didn't like them for a moment and from the way Nala was growling at them from his thigh, neither did she.

"Whoa he's got a dog, Taylor!" the other one, the one without a mask but with a large scar across his neck had said, pointing at Nala. "I bet it costs a pretty penny."

"Do not look." The two men straightened their backs, the scarred one jumping off the truck to stand beside Taylor as they tried to assert dominance over Malik who continued to look at them with lidded eyes.

"Or what?" Taylor goaded, getting too close to Malik for comfort. "You gonna abandon us in this here dungeon like ya did during that mission in Atlanta?"

"If you're asking that then I gotta ask ya," Malik started with a hum, not at all that interested in the conversation or the stares he was getting from Maria after hearing what Taylor had said. "Are you going to try and kill us three to get most of the bounty like you'd tried last time?"

Marie and Louis seemed to have tensed up at Malik's words, the sniper moving to stand beside his partner as they both eyed the two hunters.

Having a party was such a pain in the ass for him. Having to deal with people he didn't want to see again.

But it was fine. It was an in and out mission. If those two cousins tried any of their shit again, he was not going to leave it at them wandering in an unknown location for a few weeks.

He was going kill them himself.

I really do hate these group projects.