The Reincarnated Hitman

[HA Headquarters]

"Someone arrived there before you did?" A man with long, dark blue hair that was neatly tied behind his head asked.

"Yes," Radiance answered with a nod.

She was back at the HA’s headquarters, the main headquarters building.

The man sitting before her was one of the HA’s higher-ups and one of the few Alpha-ranked heroes in the world,

Cassius Winters.

He placed a hand on his chin and thought for a while. The HA didn’t truly care whether or not Magnus had died, but it would become an issue if the doctor had revealed the secrets of the Fracture Event.

"Did you see who it was?" Cassius asked, looking at Radiance.

The hero was silent for a while before nodding her head. "Zero."

"The grey market mercenary?" Cassius asked again.

"Hmm," again, Radiance nodded in confirmation. "I believe he’s the one who did something to Dr. Magnus, which caused his death."

"I see." Cassius nodded, relief evident in his voice.

If a mercenary from the gray market had been the one to take Magnus out, then it seems the HA didn’t have to worry about the secret being revealed.

After all, a mercenary only cared about completing their job, so there was no reason for Magnus to reveal that information to someone sent to kill him.

"I have a question," Radiance suddenly interrupted his thoughts, causing the man to turn back to him.

"What is it?" Cassius asked.

"What was Dr. Magnus researching?" The hero asked, looking directly into the man’s eyes.

She had noticed quite the grotesque figures back in the lab, and at a glance, she could tell that they were human.

Radiance assumed that the man’s research was why the HA sent her to stop him.

Cassius understood that Radiance might’ve seen something unpleasant back at Magnus’ facility, so he let out a sigh.

"He believed that he could create the perfect awakened human," the man started, "and he tried to achieve that by harnessing an unknown energy from the rift that exploded."

Radiance seemed lost in her thoughts for a while. She had felt quite an unusual energy from the rift as she had tried to contain it.

It was an energy similar to Pragma but at the same time not. "What was that rift?"

"We do not know," Cassius answered. "All we know is that it’s dangerous, especially after seeing what Magnus turned those people into, thanks to it."

"I see." Radiance nodded in understanding, though she was certain there was something else that the HA wasn’t telling her.

"It’s quite late; why don’t you get some rest?" The man said, noticing her expression.

She nodded again and turned around, leaving him alone in the office.

Cassius watched until she exited the office before he massaged his forehead in exhaustion.

A moment later, he leaned back and tapped a button on his desk, causing seven holographic screens to appear around him.

Within each screen was a person, or rather, a silhouette of a person, as their faces remained completely hidden.

These were the higher-ups of the HA, the beings responsible for the creation of the hero society and the strongest awakened humans in the world.

Cassius might also be a higher-up at the HA, but even he didn’t know their identities; after all, he was just the face of the HA, nothing else.

[Report,] one of the silhouettes belonging to a woman, spoke first.

"Magnus didn’t manage to tell her anything before his death," Cassius responded. "She’s still without knowledge of the Fracture Event."

[Good,] the woman nodded in satisfaction.

"Shouldn’t we let her know about it?" Cassius asked in confusion, "After all, she’s still a valuable asset against them."

[...] The woman was silent for a while, but then she replied, [No, she’ll learn of it at the right time.]

Cassius said nothing in response, but his thoughts were very obvious from his facial expression.

[What about the mercenary?] Another one of the silhouettes asked, this one sounding like a man.

"I believe he was only paid to get rid of Magnus," Cassius answered. "There’s no reason for him to ask about the Fracture Event."

[And you’re certain Magnus didn’t tell him anything?]

"I’m uncertain." Cassius shook his head.

There was a brief silence after his words before one of the other higher-ups spoke up again,

[Then we have nothing to worry about.]

"Perhaps I should look into..." He didn’t get the chance to complete

The room remained silent for several seconds.

Then the woman spoke again.

[Do not investigate him.]

Cassius’s eyes narrowed as he asked, "What?"

[Leave Zero alone.]

The man’s expression changed. "But if he possesses knowledge ab—"

[We said leave him alone.] The woman’s tone was noticeably colder this time.

Cassius stared at the silhouette; he wanted to ask why, but he already knew better than to question the higher-ups.

"...Understood."

[We’ll wrap this up,] another man said, his tone a lot calmer than the rest, [be sure to report anything strange to us while keeping an eye on Radiance.]

"Understood," Cassius said again, and the next second, the holographic screens disappeared, leaving him to his thoughts.

He wondered why the higher-ups were so against him investigating Zero...was the mercenary someone important?

As curious as he was, he decided to let it go for now... at least on the surface anyway, but he did have a way of finding out who Zero was.

Picking up his phone, he went through his contacts, stopping on a name that was just as obsessed with finding out who Zero was,

Senior Investigator Michael Owens.

***

"Are you okay?" Raika asked as she watched Radiance walk out of Cassius’ office.

Usually, a hero’s report was handled by their agent, so it was strange that Cassius asked for Radiance herself.

"Yeah," the hero nodded, "it just feels like the HA’s hiding something from me."

She then looked directly at her agent and asked, "Do you know anything about the Fracture Event?"

"Doesn’t everyone?" Raika asked in confusion, "A villain experiment gone wrong mutated people into monsters, forcing everyone to evacuate."

"Yes, but it seems Magnus was performing the very same experiment," Radiance said, "but the source of the mutation was some sort of rift, and the mutated humans didn’t look relatively close to those during the fracture event."

"Strange," Raika muttered before looking into Radiance’s eyes, immediately understanding the hero’s thoughts, "you want to investigate it, don’t you?"

"Yes," Radiance nodded.

With a sigh, the agent said,

"Let’s start with the reports on the Fracture Event."