The soft humming and whirring of the components at the front of the spacecraft echoed around the entire vessel, bouncing off the eardrums of both of the men staring at each other across a small black kitchen table.

  One's eyes were full of disdain, hatred, and humiliation.

  While the other's was full of relaxed confidence, and deep satisfaction.

  June tapped his fingers on the table a little, staring at the crook sitting tied up across from him before sighing and standing up from his seat.

  The eyes of the enraged man followed him as June walked to the small kitchen counter, beginning to brew himself a cup of hot chocolate.

  "Who are you!? Where's my brother!?"

  June turned his head slightly before turning back to opening a packet of hot chocolate powder.

  "You two were brothers? How in the hell did I miss that?"

  He dropped the entire packet of powder into a mug before pouring boiling water onto the powder, stirring for a while before looking in the fridge for some milk.

  The man in the chair fidgeted slightly, probably attempting to loosen the extremely tight rope around his body. He continuously struggled, as his face was turning more and more red by the second.

  Eventually, he let out a grunt of pure anger before facing the black roof of the spacecraft, panting heavily from the strain he had just put his body under.

  He turned to June again who was now stirring the milk into the hot chocolate.

  "Answer my question brat! You dare ignore Mirdin of-"

  June took a sip of his hot chocolate before putting his mug down with a sigh.

  He immediately turned around, reeled his arm away from his body, and backhanded the man known as Mirdin sitting tied up in his kitchen.

  The slap itself was not especially loud, but instead, sounded a bit more like a dull thud.

  Mirdin stared at the ground in shock for a moment, possibly incapable of even the concept of someone slapping him, but before he could yell at June, he noticed the dark haired runt was already holding his own knuckles tightly in pain, jumping up and down with a grimace pasted across his face.

  'Is this kid...Serious? That slap didn't even hurt either now that I think about it...'

  At the end of his wave of pain, June did his best to keep a controlled facial expression before sitting down across from Mirdin again, crossing his legs, and sipping fervently from his mug of hot chocolate with his eyes closed, before speaking:

  "You were saying, Merlin?"

  "MIRDIN!!"

  "Same thing..."

  They both stared at each other in silence for a while before Mirdin let out a sort of exhausted sigh, as though he was already tired of having to talk to June. He probably felt as though this would continue for countless hours.

  June smiled innocently, almost as though he knew the restless effect he could have on people.

  Mirdin let out a less than controlled breath.

  "Just tell me where my brother is."

  June put down his mug before uncrossing his legs and facing Mirdin properly, his eyes narrowing slightly.

  Mirdin raised an eyebrow, surprised by the boy's change in demeanour.

  "I'm not one for beating around the bush, so I'm just going to come out and say it. I used a controlling disc to force his unconscious body to distract the bar employees while I ran off with you. He should still be on Blegvolt, and I've lost all connection to the disc, so he most likely regained consciousness..."

  Mirdin was quiet for a long while, before shaking his head.

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  'Huh?'

  He shook his head a few more times before opening his eyes wide, as though some sort of revolutionary idea had settled within his mind.

  'Wait...Huh?'

  As June stared at him without a single hint of humour behind his eyes, Mirdin finally allowed the reality to settle in.

  "Y-You...took me...and left my brother there?"

  June nodded slowly before smiling and chugging down the last of his hot chocolate, proceeding to place the cup gently in front of him.

  "Yes. I may not look it, but I'm actually a bounty hunter in this Solar System. You and your brother have been running around causing trouble for way too long. No one else was willing to take on such a long term job, but luckily you were caught by someone as handsome and incredible as I. Following you two and tracking you from planet to planet over the last few months really hasn't been easy, much less fun. Your face will earn me a lot of coin...Merlin."

  Mirdin frowned, feeling as though the cheeky boy's insults were on purpose, and the smile pasted across his young, and now, punchable face was proof of that.

  'How humiliating...I was caught just like that? But this brat's been tracking us for months! How!? HOW!? HOW!? Why didn't I realise!? Why didn't Clyde realise!?'

  These thoughts swirled around Mirdin's head before he scoffed and smiled, looking up at June.

  "You...You think I'll sit still!? Let you take me in!? I'll..."

  Before he could continue however, he felt something land in his mouth which he swallowed instinctively.

  June burst out into laughter, "No way that actually worked! Nighty night Merlin. When you're up, you'll be in a comfy little cell."

  Mirdin could feel his consciousness slipping, his eye lids growing more and more heavy, until eventually, he was fast asleep.

  June took the chance to let out a shaky breath before taking his mug to the kitchen sink.

  'Keeping up that confident act is so difficult! How do those elites do it?'

  In that moment, the sight of strong Staria soldiers flashed in his mind. Their white and blue uniforms, their golden insignias, and their faces of pure unyielding confidence.

  June washed up a little before splashing his face with cold water and letting out a sigh. He then stepped in front of the sleeping Mirdin, who was now drooling slightly. June growled a little as he wiped the man's face with a tissue before pointing his wrist at Mirdin's sleeping face.

  After snapping a photo of Mirdin as proof of being in possession of his target, June walked lazily over to the front of the spacecraft, slipping through the narrow entrance to the cockpit before slumping down into the chair on the left.

  He took off his black cloak and threw it on the empty chair to his right.

  June stared into the vast expanse of space for a moment. The void littered with an insurmountable number of stars.

  From what he could see properly though with his eyes, were three or four planets extremely far off into the distance.

  Looking down at the map projected onto the control panel, June saw that this trusty spacecraft he had stol-, recently purchased was still drifting near Blegvolt.

  He had not lied when he said Mirdin's brother was no longer under the control of the disc, so staying anywhere near this planet could spell disaster at any moment for June.

  Those bar employees did seem a little 'ambitious' when it came to catching troublemakers after all.

  June groaned, remembering their threats aimed at his trust unconscious decoy, Mirdin's brother.

  'Being left out in acid rain. This prick Mirdin got real lucky I chose him...'

  His face contorted into an annoyed frown when he realised that these employees pursuing him wouldn't stop just because he was in space now. After all, space travel was nothing short of common.

  'No one can get in the way of my money making schemes! NO ONE!'

  But as he was thinking these dark thoughts, a melodious ringing sound echoed around the cockpit.

  June knew this sound extremely well.

  His supervisor in the Bounty Hunting Association was calling him,

  After fixing his hair a little, June picked up.

  Rose had not taken long at all to call him once he had sent her the photo of Mirdin's face through his wrist implant.

  Her holographic face suddenly appeared in front of him, the source being his wrist of course.

  June put on a smile.

  "Hey Rose."

  "It's MISS Rose to you brat!"

  Rose looked to be in her early twenties. She had short brown hair, puffy cheeks as though there was food in her mouth, and June could even see bits of chips on her cheeks too, so there probably was food in her mouth.

  She had probably been eating before he had sent her the good news.

  There was an air of mischief about her, but June knew she could stay focused and gain the attention of others if she wanted to whenever she spoke seriously. If she did not have this certain quality, June refused to believe that anything less would be able appoint her the position of a supervisor in the Bounty Hunting association.

  It was a very large association in the Staria Empire, spanning across almost ever single one of the Empire's Solar System's. To gain the rank of Supervisor meant being in charge of one hundred or more bounty hunters, knowing what jobs they took on, if they succeeded, their expected pay, what jobs they would be eligible for, and even more specifics that June refused to dabble into.

  After a while, she spoke:

  "You know, no one believed in you June. I always knew you were special."

  She even sniffled slightly as she spoke, wiping the fake tears away from her eyes.

  June sighed and shook his head in disappointment.

  He remembered a few months ago when he was heading out to begin this difficult job, Rose was laughing her head off with multiple other Bounty Hunter's when he vowed to return with at least one of the crooks from the duo terrorising Solar System 7.

  "Yeah, yeah. I appreciate it Rose. Besides that though, prepare my Juul's for when I'm back. I have around...Eighty percent of burst gas left. Should carry me more than halfway back to Base planet in less than a few seconds."

  Rose looked surprised.

  "Coming home already? Don't you plan to fuck around a little with your success?"

  June shook his head with a smile.

  "Nah. I've got other plans."