Power Thief's Revenge [BL]

Hermes waited for Somner or any other workers in the Ninth Department to arrive until it was almost lunchtime.

But nobody came. 

Suddenly, an explosion of rainbow-colored glitter covered the whole floor!

"Cough! Cough!" Hermes choked on some of the pink ones.

"HEYYYYY GIRLIES!!!"

Some kind of ballerina arrived. She was wearing an indigo tutu with her long colorful hair swirling around to disperse the glitter that she released.

But she wasn't dainty. No, she was pure muscle, but had the most exaggerated make-up that Hermes has seen anyone wear in the office. Her nails were also colorful, though the ones in her index and middle finger were shorter than the rest.

She was also holding a staff with a shiny iridescent five pointed star on it. 

"Your Bling-Bling Princess Victorina is here! Bow down, or face the wrath of my Prisma Star Magic Staff!" She announced. 

A smaller lady was behind her, wearing goth make-up and clothing. She shredded the indigo uniform for A-rank heroes to make it fit her aesthetic more, and wore a lot of chains and spikes, as well as pentagrams. She also has a single horn in her forehead.

"Yeah, yeah. We get it, Vicky." The lady grumbled. "You say the same line every time."

Victorina just chuckled. "A princess MUST make an entrance, Virginia. And besides, our Lord mentioned a newcomer to our fabulous crew!"

The goth corrected her. "It's Vera. You know getting called Virginia makes me barf."

"But it's so far from Virginia!" Victorina frowned.

Vera just shrugged. "That's the point. Duh."

Hermes finished hacking out the glitter off his throat, and slowly got out of his new cubicle to greet them.

"H-Hello… I'm Hermes, the newcomer."

"Hey, girl!" Victorina immediately put her huge tree trunk arms around his shoulder. "And do tell me if you get like, uncomfortable or dysphoric by it. I just call everyone 'girly'! It's not fair that we use 'guys' for everyone, but not girls! That's so not fabulous!"

"... I don't mind." Hermes said. "I think context matters, but if it's what you call everybody, it's fine."

"SLAYYYY!!" Victorina clapped her hands. "See? Not every guy has fragile masculinity like Fiero."

Vera added: "And to be fair, before the 1400s 'girl' used to mean child of any sex. And the origin of 'guy' was purely from a male name. So it's actually more fitting to be a gender-neutral way of referring to someone. But I don't think Fiero or Cam have the brain cells to understand that."

Suddenly, loud stomps of iron boots came along with an offended tone of your typical dudebro:

"Now why the hell am I catching strays? I just got here, man."

Fiero was wearing an indigo uniform, but he had iron bands all over his arms and legs. He also had a jacket with a strange iron cage design with a heart inside.

"Yeah, we're not hurting nobody." Another voice joined in. "Also neither of us have the power to put brains in cells. Fiero can only jail people's hearts with his Ironcage ability by turning people's ribs into iron."

This was obviously Cam, who had added a flashy futuristic style to his indigo uniform. There were enough black holes to make someone with trypophobia pass out. Upon closer inspection, people will see that these holes were in fact tiny cameras. 

Vera rolled her eyes. "They just proved my point. I don't even know why Somner hangs out with these doofuses."

Hermes then pointed out behind her. "Uh… He's here."

Somner arrived, wearing his violet uniform but with gold and pink accoutrements. His curly blonde hair was styled to give him a tiny spiralling cowlick in the middle of his forehead. 

"Because I only want the best of the best for my Department. A good personality is just a bonus, but not required. It's power that truly matters."

He spoke with a melodious tone. "Settle down and greet Hermes properly, everyone."

The ragtag team of the Ninth Department immediately filed into a clean line, and bowed their heads at Somner and Hermes. 

"Welcome to the Ninth Department, Mr. Hermes Potentia!"

Hermes wasn't used to this amount of respect. "Uh… I'm also happy to be here. Please no need to call me Mr. Potentia, I'm probably younger and have a lower rank than all of you. Just call me Hermes."

Somner waved his hand, removing his hypnosis on the four. "Pfft, you only have a lower rank now. But once you take the RAM test, I'm sure they will give you a B or A rank. Maybe even S rank."

Cam furrowed his brows. "An S-rank? What exactly is his ability?"

Vera was also skeptical despite talking like an aloof teenage goth girl. "I've read his record. It says he has the ability to copy the traits of what he eats."

"OHHH!! Then can you become a chimera!?" Victorina asked. "Can you eat a lion, goat and snake to become a ferocious creature!? 

Hermes scratched his head, not knowing whether to tell the truth or not. "Uh, actually…"

Somner waved his hand. "It's better than that. He can eat ice and gain the powers of someone like that Ice Bitch from the 6th Floor. He can eat iron and have the same powers as Ironcage. He can eat dead meat and gain the same powers as Necromagia."

Hermes blinked. So that was the excuse Somner will use. But would people just believe that? Also, he had to eat ice and iron and dead meat!???

Not to mention….

"Who is Necromagia?" Hermes asked. "I realized I don't know your powers yet."

Could it be Vera? It makes sense for her whole aesthetic. Cam was obviously something about cameras, and he already heard what Fiero's Ironcage can do. Victorina must have magical girl powers where she attacks with glitter and rainbows.

Somner patted his back. "You'll learn soon enough when we do our training. For now, let's eat! I'm starving. The Void monsters we fought earlier were easy as pie, but they sure gave me a workout."

Victorina laughed loudly and explained to Hermes. "Hah! My Lord couldn't command them because they were formless slimes. They don't have minds or ears. But he did manage to command a bunch of firemen nearby to hose them down with water."

Hermes nodded. "Ah, so that's why you guys took so long. But what do we do during training?"

Fiero grinned, cracking his knuckles.

"We fight each other, of course. One on one. I can't wait to snap you like a twig, newbie!"