Captain Sunshine

Chapter 8: Traumas Triggered

"Sounds tough..." Fang commented with a wince. He couldn't imagine having such an unorganized team with his previous one. They always worked well together like a well-oiled machine that hiccups in their plans were usually a rare occurrence.

"It was. Every mission was a nightmare." Azlan continued while munching on his lunch, "Whenever we fail to keep up with his unrealistic expectations, he would tell us right in our faces how incompetent we were without batting an eye. He was just not a team player."

"Huh... sounds familiar." He muttered bitterly and sighed, "Today's my first day as part of his team, and all I got was an earful of how I could've been better."

"Those were the times." The alien chuckled as he patted him on the back in comfort, "You get to save the galaxy one time by accidentally blasting yourself out to space and you expect everyone to treat you like some sort of hero and that you're always right. Unfortunately, Captain Solar doesn't seem to see his own flaws."

Fang wanted to agree to that, but he couldn't help but feel guilty talking behind his Captain's back out of spite. Especially to someone he barely knew. 

What if this guy went and tattle to the human about his own misgivings about him?

He'd definitely end up getting sent back to Kaizo.

"But hey, don't let him get to your head. I know you're a talented guy especially since you're from Team Kaizo. That guy's a legend." The Captain said, mistaking his unease as insecurity, "And anyone who ever got to be a part of his team is also a legend."

"Thank you, Captain." He said while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "Though, really, it's all Captain Kaizo. His leadership skills are topnotch and he's good at making us incorporate our roles during a mission."

"Don't sell yourself short." The man chuckled, "But hey, here I am ranting about our past failures- I never got to hear your side of the story."

"My side of the story?"

"Well, you came from an elite team and you suddenly transferred to Solar's- THE Captain who's never had a team until now." Azlan looked at him, eyes shining with curiosity, "Obviously there's a story behind this."

"Not really. I just wanted to follow my brother's footsteps and be a Captain too." Fang shrugged, peeling off more paper from his sandwich trying to act nonchalant, "One thing led to another and apparently, the only way for me to achieve that was to have Captain Solar as my mentor."

The booming laughter almost made Fang jump in surprise.

"Solar? A mentor? HA!" Azlan shook his head in disbelief, trying to calm himself down when he noticed the attention he garnered, "I'm sorry if I sound mean. Sure the guy's smart but he's got zero patience when it comes to new recruits. He's definitely not teacher material."

"Well, yeah but-"

"And he's definitely not someone you'd want to be in a team with." All the humor left the tall alien as he pointed at his right eye, "See this scar? Solar is the one responsible for this."

Then all the tension seemed to amplify at this new discovery.

"...what?" Fang looked at him in pure disbelief, not believing what he just heard.

He never thought of someone like Captain Solar to actually cause physical harm to allies. 

Though he did just threaten a whole batch of new recruits on a minefield. But Fang was pretty sure there had been safety procedures during that time and that the Captain had it under control if someone were to step out of line.