NEW LIFE : A SECOND CHANCE

As the sun rose the next day, certain employees of a certain company were rushing to get to work extra early. They were the survivors of Company LV and what made them hurry today was because their ordeal wasn't over yet.

None wanted to be fired for being late. It would have been a stupid reason after the first purge was done. That, and the fact that anyone who passed the second assessment would get a pay raise! So for this month, they had the motivation to carry on.

While Company LV was being a flurry of activity, the hotel that Kyle was staying at, had its own problems. Right now, that problem happened to be at Cafe SF, where the buffet breakfast was being served. Its employees were too busy being a daze to do their jobs properly.

The manager was ready to tear his hair out.

He had to keep going up to them to get them to move to other tables to clear it up, or remind them not to be hovering around a particular table. The female - and male - servers were fighting amongst themselves to constantly refill their water or coffee/tea.

Of course, that particular table had to be the Elite Five and Team Zero. Unlike the day before, they came down to have their breakfast rather than in their respective rooms as they wanted to eat together.

Akira, of course, was having the time of his life and turned on the charm full blast. Zero seemed to somehow blend into the chair as if he wanted to stay hidden. Kay would constantly put food on his plate and make him talk.

"So what's the agenda for today?" asked Ali, while taking a bite out of his toast.

"Nothing much," Kyle answered, "I'll just be coming in today to oversee the set-up and so forth but the actual work will be done by Team Zero from now on."

"So you basically just kill people in one shot and they're the clean-up crew?" Xing Han said with a grin, "Kind of like the Mafia then."

"Please," Kyle scoffed, "You've watched too many dramas. I'm just doing what any ordinary businessman would be doing."

Ali laughed at that, "Really? First time I have seen someone firing almost half of the workforce just to turn it around. Not many people are willing to take that risk."

"That's because I have the best team with me," Kyle said, "A tree cannot grow if its foundation is weak or rotten. You also have to constantly trim it so that it can truly blossom."

"Wow, Kyle," Xing Han commented, "That's almost poetic."

"Life mimics Nature, didn't you notice?" Kyle said, "Or is it the other way around?"

He shrugged.

He's not going to go into any philosophical or religious debates, but there was one thing he noticed and agreed upon. Nature - or God, depending on your point of view - was in perfect harmony. So long as Man didn't interfere, the ecological system was perfect. There are predators, scavengers, providers and so forth. All worked in total harmony.

Xing Han leaned closer to Kyle, bringing his face close as he whispered, "You're breaking hearts here, you know. I can practically see the hearts in their eyes as they look at you, yet you're ignoring them completely."

A slow smile started forming on Kyle's face as he then slowly licked his lips, tilted his head a bit and moved his face towards Xing Han's ear - his lips almost brushing against Xing Han's cheek as he said, "Booooo."

Essentially, Kyle blew in Xing Han's ear.

Xing Han screeched, jumped back into his chair and started rubbing his ear furiously, "KYLE! What was that for?!"

Kyle laughed, his pearly white teeth showing as he comically raised his eyebrows up and down and answered, "Fan service."

Xing Han looked at the direction Kyle indicated with his eyes. He saw those same girls now having flushed faces, beating their chests and some fanning their faces.

"After all, you're the one that said I'm ignoring them," Kyle continued as he took another piece of sausage, "So I'm only accommodating you."

"Shameless," Kay commented, "But if you truly wanted to provide fan service to the Fujioshis' there, you should have caressed Xing Han's cheek or something."

"I didn't want to give him a heart attack, my dear sister," Kyle commented.

Suddenly, at that precise moment, a small meow was heard.

Everyone stopped eating and all eyes went to Lucka, who was quietly, slowly, eating his cereal. Ignoring everyone and everything around him.

As if noticing everyone looking at him, he looked up at them innocently, "What?"

The meow was heard again and this time, they noticed Lucka's jacket ... moving. Rather, small bumps appeared and were moving.

"Lucka," Kyle said softly, looking at him.

"Yes?" Lucka answered, his face all expectant and innocent.

A small black head popped out from underneath his jacket and meowed again.

"You can't bring that to work," Kyle said.

"But he's so cute! And tiny! And helpless!!" Lucka said, flipping open his jacket. Inside, one could see that Lucka had on a shoulder gun holster. Instead of a gun, however, there was a black kitten.

"Really? You modified your shoulder gun holster to be a kitten holder?" Yume asked.

"Lethal cuteness!" Lucka said as the kitten meowed again.

"And HOW did you even ... I mean, I am sure that kitten wasn't there before we came down," Alex asked.

Lucka just shrugged, taking the kitten out and petting it. It was a black kitten with some spotches of white. He took it and put it next to his face, making a sad look, "How can you leave this little one behind?"

Kay tsked at him and went over, taking the kitten from Lucka. Lucka was obviously relunctant to let it go but knew that he couldn't bring it to Company LV.

"So what's its name?" Kay asked, petting the kitten who was now snuggling next to her and purring loudly.

"Doesn't have one yet," Lucka replied.

"Then I shall name you Oreo!" Kay announced, rubbing her nose on it.

"We already have an Oreo," Kyle pointed out, referring to Agent Oreo from MIB.#

"I don't care," Kay retorted, "He's black and white, like an Oreo!"

Kyle sighed, shaking his head.

"Lucka, you're on a mission now," he said, "You can't keep picking up these strays."

"But it was all alone! Meowing so pitifully," Lucka answered, stabbing his scrambled eggs, "Abandoned. Neglected. Hungry."

Yume, who was beside him, patted his back.

"I understand that," Kyle said, "But you have to curb it a bit - or at least, get someone else to take care of it. Otherwise, you'd be so worried that you can't work, right?"

Lucka acknowledged it.

"I'll look after it," Kay said, "I don't have to go to Company LV. With Team Zero here, there's nothing for me to do anyway."

"You sure?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah, but I'll need some things though. Can't exactly have this little one go all hungry now, can we?" Kay said with a smile while giving the kitten some belly rubs.

"Why not just feed it the milk here?" Xing Han asked, indicating the milk from the buffet table.

"No, kittens can't drink cows milk," Kyle said, shaking his head, "It's either goats milk or any kitten formula. Cows milk will only make their stomach upset and they can get sick."

"Wow Kyle," Xing Han said, "I didn't know you have cats at home."

"I don't," Kyle replied.

"Then how do you know so much about raising kittens?" Xing Han asked.

"Lucka's always bringing back strays. So it's only natural I find out about how to take care of them, right?" Kyle said.

Lucka looked at him in puzzlement, but didn't say anything to refute it. Of course, Kyle had lied and used Lucka as a cover up. It was true that Lucka was always bringing back strays but he had never bothered Kyle with it. He didn't say a word because he trusted Kyle. If Kyle was using him as an excuse, he wouldn't expose him.

The real reason was that Kyle had ended up raising lots of strays in his past life. His spouse was a real softy when it came to helpless animals and Kyle didn't have the heart to reject it each time he brought home a new stray. In fact, Lucka was a lot like him. So Kyle couldn't really get angry with him about his actions yet, it was frustrating in a way.

Kyle gave himself a mental shake. That was in the past. His frustrations were for his then-spouse, who would bring the strays back and he was the one who had to take care of them. Kyle did love animals but with over 20 of them to take care of, he didn't actually endear himself to them.

Kay obviously had fallen in love with the kitten. She was busy playing with it, a serene smile on her face.

[Kay, don't get too attached] Kyle warned.

[I won't] Kay said but she was cooing at the kitten, her attention completely focused on it. Kyle sighed. He knew that look. He had seen it countless of times on his own kids faces.

"You guys go ahead to Company LV," Kyle said as they finished breakfast, "I'll be there later. Just need to get some kitten supplies."

"I'll follow you!" Xing Han said merrily.

Kyle poked his forehead, and said, "No. You wanted to observe Team Zero, right? Check out their office layout, or HQ as they like to call it. It's best to see it before they start work, then see it while they work. It's completely different."

Xing Han was about to protest when Ali nudged him, "Come on, Xing Han. Can't stand being away from Kyle for too long?"

"Who said?!" Xing Han retorted with a huff, "I just thought Kyle would be lonely and get lost. But you're right. Work first!"

So they split up. Kay went back to the penthouse, Kyle to the pet store and the others to Company LV.