Kyle walked inside the conference room, while the team, plus David, gathered for a briefing on their new mission at hand. “Alright, eyes and ears on me, mates.” He stopped at the screen, where he opened up multiple death reports of the same cause. He pulled up pictures of the Presidents of Poland, Turkey, and Slovenia. “These presidents died a few weeks apart from each other.” He reported. “At first, they did not suspect foul play, because the President of Poland went on a hiking trip, and they thought that a scorpion bit him.” He showed the autopsy report of the President. “However, when the reports that the Presidents of Turkey and Slovenia died the same way, that’s where they called in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Council for a meeting.”

“What does that have to do with us?” Sarah asked him, feeling confused.

“Because the former Prime Minister of United Kingdom, who is the current President of NATO, just died with the same cause of death.” Kyle pulled up another profile. “Now, we managed to get the lab results of the compound found in their system. What’s weird is that they all died from the venom of a scorpion, but unlike the President of Poland, they didn’t have scorpion bites in their system.”

“Injected, maybe?” Cain shrugged.

Kyle shook his head. “There weren’t needle marks too.”

“Ingested?” Denise suggested.

“It’s not in their stomachs.” Kyle sighed. “Look, it—”

“Inhaled.” David spoke up, causing the group to turn to him, as he was leaning back on his chair, looking weary.

“What?” Kyle frowned, feeling confused.

“They inhaled the toxin.” David explained. “Chlorotoxin, Charybdotoxin, Scyllatoxin, and Agitoxins.” He listed. “What do those compounds make together?” Before Kyle could enter the chemicals on his tablet, David sighed rolling his eyes. “Leiurus quinquestriatus.” He answered, making the other man turn to him. “The Deathstalker.”

“The scorpion?” Denise raised an eyebrow. “But they didn’t have bites.”

David groaned, growing frustrated. “You don’t always have to inject, ingest, or have a bite to be poisoned.” He pointed out. “Adding ethanol to the compound would make it soluble. It could be airborne.” He crossed his arms. “As for the venom itself, it’s not exactly lethal, but it is excruciatingly painful for the average man.”

“But you’re not an average man?” Denise spats, laying a taunt to the man.

David slowly glanced over at her, with a weary look. “Unfortunately.” He told her, before turning back to Kyle. “Most would experience anaphylactic shock, or according to the reports of those doctors, the president died from pulmonary edema.” The group continued to stare at him. “Basically, he stopped breathing.” He taunted.

Kyle sighed, feeling annoyed. “Alright.” They turned back to him, while Michael stared at David longer, before turning away. “We have to find out who we’re dealing with here—”

“The Deathstalkers.” They turned back to David once more.

Denise groaned. “Yes, we get it, Addams, the scorpion—”

“No, you tosser.” David snapped, as he grew irritated at the woman. “That’s the name of the group.”

Denise frowned, hard, as she glanced at Michael, who was sitting next to her. “Did he just call me an idiot?”

“Wait, you’re familiar with the group?” Kyle walked over to the man.

“Yes, obviously, because I just gave you their name.”

Kyle calmed himself down, as he gave David a soft look. “Can you name the people in the group?”

“No.” David shook his head. “I never met the rest.”

“The rest?” Sarah’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“David, please be more specific.” Michael asked, politely, knowing the rest of the group were growing irritated.

David stared at Michael for a moment, before he sighed. He grabbed Kyle’s tablet, as he stood up, walking over to the screen. He pulled up a report, dating back two years ago, before turning to the group. “His name was Karl Hoist.” He showed a report of a building that burned down in New York. “We came across the same target in that building, and well, use your imagination on what happens next if two assassins have the same job.” He pulled up the death count on the building. “Eventually, he died. I attained his weapon and it showed the same venom from what killed your Presidents. I planned to use it, but having a signature would mean getting caught easily.” David’s eyes landed on Michael, who was giving him an unhappy expression. David chose to look away, as he tossed the tablet back to Kyle, while he walked over to his chair. “Use what you will with that information.”

“Okay.” Kyle stopped on his spot, as they glanced at each other. “We can look up known associates through our software and see if we can identify the rest of the group.” He gave the team a nod. “Cain and I will do the search. Sarah can locate the main source of their weapons, while the rest prep for departure as soon as we get a location.”

The group stood up, but David was the first to leave the room. Michael turned to Denise, who had a light annoyed glare towards the man. “Say what you will about David, Mikey. He’s really not someone you should waste your time with.” Michael sighed, as he and the others left the room.

Michael was walking down the hallway, with his tablet in hand, as he was receiving updates on their current case. He passed by the weapons armory, when he noticed David was interacting with Robert. He slowly stopped by the window, where he could see David pointing at the rifle displayed on the working table, while talking to the older man. Michael saw genuine interest in David’s eyes, as they were conversing about the weapon. Michael could not help but smile, upon seeing a different side of the other young man, before Robert noticed him watching them. David did not see him, as he turned his back to check out the other rifles on the shelves. Robert noted the smile on Michael’s face, before the young man finally saw him. Michael gave him a nod, as Robert did the same, before the younger man walked away.

Robert turned back to David, who picked up another rifle. “What I hate about this one is that it always jams in the middle, right here.” The young man pointed. “I have the same rifle back in my warehouse, but I fixed the ejector to give a smooth release.”

Robert stared at the young man, before giving a smile. “Why don’t you start on those guns then?”

David raised an eyebrow, as he glanced at the older man. “I don’t even work in this department.” He pointed out. “Let alone officially for this agency.”

Robert gave a shrug. “Nah, well, I could always use that big brain of yours around here. It could be more useful than having it work on how to kill people with your bare hands.”

David scoffed, growing amused, before he turned back to the rifle. “Yeah, I think I can take a whack at it.”

“Whack away, boy-yo.” Robert waved at the gun, before David placed it on the working table. “Say, you work with Mikey, don’t you?”

David frowned a bit. “Who?”

“Michael.” Robert corrected.

“Uh, yeah. Why?” David leaned on the table, as he turned to the man.

“He’s a nice kid, you know.” David raised an eyebrow. “Always sees the good in people.”

“That’s not a good trait for someone who needs to kill for living.” David turned back to the rifle, as he disassembled the gun.

“People here don’t just kill for livin’, kid.” Robert crossed his arms, but gave a soft look. “They help people.”

“Yeah, that’s what I hear.” David mumbled.

“Aren’t they helping you?”

“With what?” David glanced at the man. “From what I could see, I’m the one who’s giving them shit what they need for their case.” He pointed out. “I ain’t gaining anything from what they’re doing.”

“Do you know what could happen if there were more people like you?”

“Yeah, the world would feel annoyed as hell.” David crossed his arms, before leaning back on the table.

“Hundreds to thousands of people could die.” Robert told him, with a serious look. “Last week, I heard you helped release hundreds of hostages, men and their sons, back to their homes. Didn’t that make you feel good about what you did?”

“Free labor?” David taunted.

Robert sighed, shaking his head. “You want people to think you’re an asshole, but really, you just push them all away because you’re scared to actually feel something, ain’t yah?”

“I’m not scared of anything.” David straightened up, as he faced the older man with a stern look. “Don’t act like you know me, just because you’ve read my files.”

“Oh, boy-yo, I do know you.” Robert smirked. “That guilt won’t go away until you forgive yourself.”

David creased his eyebrows. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You’re right. I’ve read the files.” Robert nodded. “Someone busted you out of the facility, and you think that because of what you’ve done in your life, he would regret ever getting you out—” David grabbed Robert’s shirt, before slamming him on the shelves. The other workers panicked, but Robert held out his hand over to them, telling them to stop, without taking his eyes off the very angered man. “Instead of thanking someone like him, you lash out like a child because they took everything away from you.”

“They killed my family!”

“Then do something about it!” Robert yelled back, which caught David off guard. “Helping this agency doesn’t just benefit the other kids who’ll be in the same shoes as you.” The older man calmed down. “You’ll get to avenge your family too.” David froze at the realization, before he slowly released his grip on Robert’s shirt. He took a few steps back, staring at the floor, before lightly hitting the table behind him. “I won’t blame you, kid, but I meant what I said when I told you that you can have a good life here.”

“Just…” David’s voice was faint. “Just shut up for a second.” He took deep breaths, as he closed his eyes. Robert watched as he shook his head, before slowly walking out of the room. Robert sighed, as he turned back to the table.