Bliss was back to his usual self on Tuesday, talking to his interns about the upcoming mission and any random teaching pearls he could think of. He allowed Lunai and Argalax to return to the simulation lab for the morning. The morbidity and mortality conference was tomorrow afternoon, and he still needed to look over his presentation slides. While Dr. Crux did not care about Podoxec’s death, Bliss would need to explain what happened to the board. They had to reassure their donors, of course.

  He clicked through casualty tables containing dozens of names. Podoxec wasn’t the only death on the mission; almost all of the officers responding to the scene died as well. This was going to be a long conference. Luckily, anything involving Armageddon came with its own disclaimer. Everyone knew that massive body counts followed him everywhere he went. The casualty count for this last mission was relatively low for him; he seemed more restrained in recent appearances. Even so, Bliss had a lot of work ahead of him. Dr. Crux made it a tradition of the GSA to meet with any family members whose loved ones died during a mission. That meant Bliss would have to talk to hundreds of people.

  So many names…thanks a lot, Onder, I’m going to be comforting like 40 different widows thanks to you.

  Lunai and Argalax returned to the resident room in the afternoon. She looked over at his computer and saw his slides for the conference.

  “Bliss, how does M & M usually go? It sounds horrifying to go through your failures with an audience.”

  He shook his head. “They make a point of it being a safe space where everything is confidential. The point isn’t to place blame anywhere, it’s to discuss future improvements. That being said, tomorrow is going to be a little different.”

  She leaned closer to the computer. “I heard the board is gonna be there. Is that not normal?”

  “No, they usually can’t be bothered. Podoxec is a notable death, and many donors are concerned that we didn’t do everything possible to protect him.” He leaned closer to her ear and whispered. “Just between us, I really didn’t.”

  He casually swiveled his chair back to face the computer as Lunai’s heart jumped. It was unnerving how casual Bliss was about a death that happened on his watch.

  "I know the guy was terrible, but... No, never mind."

  It's not like you could've done much if you tried, anyway.

  Bliss raised his eyebrow at her, but didn't say anything. He started going through his slideshow with the interns. They weren’t expected to say anything during the conference, but it was a good reference for any future meetings they may lead. Lunai would’ve offered to help explain some events during the meeting, but the circumstances were too intimidating. It seems the agency was genuinely in hot water with some big donors. They obviously weren’t going to fire Bliss, but if she spoke up they could easily make her into a scapegoat. Bliss knew this and instructed both of them to stay quiet for the entire meeting.

  “If anyone tries to talk to you, direct them back to me. If they ask your opinion on something, say ‘no comment.’ Do not let these vultures get anything on you.”

  They nodded in agreement, but Lunai was feeling the pressure building up. It will be fine as long as we present as a unified front with Bliss. He won’t let them talk us into saying something wrong.

  The rest of the day went by without a hitch. They were briefly called to another planet to handle an attack by nomadic cosmic creatures. Bliss baited them into leaving the planet so they could fight at a safe distance. He let the interns fight one by themselves while he handled the other two. He cut a hole in the universe across their body and split them in half, then cleaned up the mess by sending the remains through that hole. Hollybrook and Platinum Promise defeated the creature through sheer force alone, suffering several injuries themselves. The bodies were brought to the hole and disposed of. It quickly closed up once the space around them was clean.

  Lunai and Argalax were dismissed for the day, returning to their dorms to mentally prepare for tomorrow’s conference. Bliss had already spent too much time looking over his slides. He returned home and played with Sorebel all night, creating little illusions of light for him to chase.

  The morning came eventually, the light powered by Rebirth shining bright over his side of the planet. He gave Sorebel a few goodbye pets before heading to the main office. The conference room where the M & M conferences took place was in an adjacent building that connected through a tunnel on several floors. The guard in the lobby greeted him as he entered the empty room.

  Rows of chairs lined the space behind the projector. A large podium was right in the center, and he pushed a button to lower its height. He connected his CellPulse to the room’s computer and pulled up his presentation. Staff from the cafeteria entered the room with carts full of food. They waved at Bliss and started setting up plates of pastries on tables pushed up against the wall on the right side of the room. Bliss walked over and helped them set up, making sure the favorite snacks of the board were present. Coolers with water and juice were set up and Bliss helped himself to several cups. The cold liquid still managed to calm his body down, despite not needing to drink for years.

  The first people to arrive were other resident heroes and a few students. Lunai and Argalax walked in together, finding seats behind Bliss. Attending heroes followed soon after, including Entropi. Bliss glared at her as she walked in.

  You never come to a single M & M and yet you’re here now. Why do you insist on torturing me?

  The residents and attending heroes sat within their own groups. Interns remained behind their seniors. People started glancing at the food and a line formed. The last group to arrive was the board, Dr. Crux following behind. They all sat in the front row. Bliss glanced at them and noticed that they were grilling Crux. Talking with the board was the one time they were truly on the same side. Crux would not have a board if he had a choice, but he wouldn’t be able to secure proper funding or negotiate diplomatic permissions in certain empires without them. He was watching the clock carefully and walked up to the podium at 0800 sharp.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Good morning everyone, thank you for attending our weekly M & M conference. We know that some of you may have heard rumors about this particular conference. I want to assure you that the same protections of confidentiality apply to this meeting, and the discussion will remain focused on improving our work in the future. No one is looking to place any blame in this situation; we just want to present our donors with a plan of action for facing Armageddon-related threats. This is the first time he’s killed within a system that we have permission to operate in, and it is unlikely to end here. Now, Bliss, if you could please take the stage.”

  He returned to his seat and Bliss took his place at the podium. The board looked at him with suspicion in their eyes.

  Did Crux tell them about my history? I will fucking kill that bastard. If they got my fucking files, I swear to the washed-up wannabe Old God I will kill everyone in this building and myself this cannot be happening.

  “Morning, everyone. For those who are unfamiliar with the mission we are discussing today, I’ll provide a brief overview.”

  He started to flip through his slides as he discussed the mission. Bullet points describing the mission appeared to match his speech.

  “Planet Kathous sent a distress signal to our agency indicating that a man was holding several people hostage within a private gym. Among the hostages was the private trainer of Lord Podoxec. Kathous dispatched its own officers to the scene, and we kept close watch to see if our intervention would be necessary. When negotiations failed, my team was sent to handle the situation. When we arrived, Lord Podoxec was there to greet us. I approached the gym with my interns behind me. The man inside seemed too willing to let me take the place of his hostage, which I found suspicious. Lord Podoxec then came closer to question what was happening, which is when the threat shot his signal into the sky.”

  Ms. Yrsela interrupted him. “When you first arrived, did you warn Lord Podoxec he should remain far away from the scene?”

  “I will take questions after I’ve finished presenting, thank you.” He flashed an exaggerated smile. “Armageddon then crash-landed on the planet, crushing 46 unfortunate officers below him. When he saw Lord Podoxec, he became fixated on him. He grabbed him and slowly broke all of his fingers before ripping his head off. Due to Armageddon’s reputation, our current protocol states that agents need approval from the risk assessment team before they can engage him. I did not have approval, so I did not engage. My interns cleared the scene of all remaining bystanders as Armageddon approached me himself. I was injected by something that put me to sleep and carried into space. An emergency dispatch was sent for Entropi, who started traveling towards us from deep space. Hollybrook decided to attempt rescue and followed us. I woke up in time to stop him from killing her and then he vanished.”

  The slideshow flipped to a table of casualties. The names of the 46 dead officers were included after Lord Podoxec. Following them were the names of many more officers near the scene who were far away enough to survive Armageddon’s impact, but still suffered minor injuries. Bliss read out every last name and what happened to them following the incident. Every death was dead on arrival when medical help reached the scene. Everyone else was able to be treated and made a full recovery. They finally reached a slide where Bliss made bullet points of what could have been done differently.

  “There are a few issues we’ve identified in reviewing this case. The first is that Entropi was not readily available, delaying our ability to confront the threat directly.”

  The entire audience couldn’t help but turn to face her. She was sitting with her legs crossed, tapping her foot incessantly.

  “The second is that our agency doesn’t have a proper protocol for approaching Armageddon. Now that he’s been active in areas that allow us in, we must make a more cohesive plan. It has been determined there was nothing else the agency could’ve done differently in terms of discovering the initial threat’s connection to Armageddon.” He flipped to the final slide of the presentation. “Thank you all for listening, I’ll now take any questions from the audience.”

  Ms. Yrsela repeated herself. “Agent Bliss, when you spoke with Lord Podoxec, did you warn him to stay away from the scene?”

  “As part of our agreement, we aren’t supposed to give directions to leaders in the Agónta empire. His officers were responsible for warning him about approaching the gym.”

  She shook her head. “That rule is there to make sure we don’t offend anyone. Surely you would be able to ask him to do something without causing a fuss, he was fond of you.”

  His speech became pressured. “Well, that’s very interesting of you to say, Ms. Yrsela. I didn’t realize you were watching my interactions so closely with the lords of the galaxy. I figured you would have much better things to do being such a busy woman in charge of the galaxy’s finest rescue agency.”

  Silence filled the conference room. People started turning to each other and murmuring amongst themselves. Bliss took a few seconds before resuming.

  “I do not break protocol just because someone is ‘fond’ of me. Now, if we can please focus on questions that can’t be answered by looking through the rulebook.”

  Despite the insult, Ms. Yrsela’s expression did not change. She looked down and started jotting down notes. Dr. Crux was leaning over slightly, holding his face with one hand. Having no face lent itself well to his poker face, but he couldn’t help showing how mortified he was.

  Another board member, Mr. Zugel, raised his hand. “In your report, you state that Hollybrook followed you and Armageddon into space. If we can hear from this intern, I’d like to know why she broke protocol.”

  “Hollybrook will not be speaking today, this was my mission, and I am taking full responsibility for the events that occurred. Rest assured that my intern will receive additional training on difficult decisions and protocols.”

  No one was looking at her, but Lunai curled in on herself in embarrassment. She didn’t know until now that she had to attend special training. The public may have supported her decision, but the agency was another beast entirely. Luckily, the board did not grill Bliss further about her, they moved their attention to Entropi.

  Mr. Zugel continued. “Entropi, what business were you on when the events occurred?”

  She didn’t respond. They waited a few seconds more before Bliss sighed and rolled his eyes. He walked to the counter and threw a bottle of juice at her. It hit her square on the center of her helmet, and she jumped forward with a scream. Everyone gasped and loud murmurs rang throughout the crowd.

  Dr. Crux stood up. “Calm down, calm down everyone. Bliss was waking her up; she falls asleep often during meetings.”

  “I’m allowed to throw stuff at her. It’s tough love.”

  While Entropi was getting herself together, the question was repeated to her.

  “I never agreed to be available all the time; I don’t do calls. I made this all clear when I signed with the agency. I’ll leave if that’s a dealbreaker.” She sat down and crossed her arms.

  No one pushed her further, but Dr. Crux and the board were certainly not happy. Crux could only hope the danger to Bliss in this mission would motivate her to be more present in the future. Any other questions for the day simply asked for clarification of specific events, and Bliss was able to bring the meeting to an end. Everyone started shuffling out of the room while Bliss shut the projector down. Dr. Crux took the board to the side of the room, where they continued a heated discussion. Bliss stared at them with a slight twitch in his eye.

  No use now, I’ll have to talk to Crux later.

  He took a few pastries to go and found Entropi waiting in the lobby for him.

  He decided to tease her. “So you come to this meeting to harass me about Armageddon, and you still fall asleep?”

  “I’m not here to harass you, just for moral support. Come on, we should go on a ride, just like we used to.”

  She ran outside and shot up into the sky. He decided following her would be a welcome distraction. Two lights flashed across the horizon, inspiring awe in the citizens on the ground. Bliss could only wish that he felt as weightless as he looked.