Chapter 322: Doing the best that you can

It was a week later before any of their plans took flight.

First of all, the groups had to research the cities that they were assigned, and that included Sergei and his team as well.

They had to research what were the cities with the smallest populations in a surrounding area, and they also had to decide what the size of the area they were going to reach out to was. It was a busy week, but a fulfilling one. Kellen got to learn a lot, he got to use the International Guide database as well since the reported numbers that the public knew and the numbers that Guides knew could be different.

Kellen didn’t say that to any Esper’s face, he kept it to himself, Brent, and a few of the Guides who had come out of the woodworks.

For one, Aunt Dina’s head Guide went into labour, taking out her and her husband from being able to help with the endeavour. That was anticipated and calculated, but wasn’t, was the fact that the Espers who had come as pairs were allowing their Guides to help out.

Kellen, of course, knew that Guides were always competent, even if they were pretty, city Guides who sighed and waited for their partners. After all, he knew what base training they went through, and it wasn’t as if Guides weren’t people.

Of course, it took them quite a bit to open up to Kellen since he didn’t really look like the typical Guide, but for some reason they had a very easy time opening up to Brent. Like usual. Kellen didn’t take it to heart.

He never did.

He did appreciate their help. They joined the research teams, adding their own connections to Guides around the areas. Most of them had secret group chats that Kellen had no idea about, nor did their Espers, and since most Guides were tucked away for safety, they hadn’t seen each other in a long time but they kept contact.

That was how they were able to keep track of those who didn’t contact them back.

Horrifying, but necessary.

With the new help of the Guides, and the morale boost of having more Guides around instead of just Kellen and Brent, things progressed smoothly over the week that followed. Kellen and the others were able to pinpoint three cities that had similar populations and most of the Espers had contacts to the Guilds there.

A few groups went on scout missions to talk to the Espers in person to make sure that they weren’t with the E.A.G. first, and after confirming the basics, plans began to move forward.

Obviously Kellen’s Mom was on these scouting missions. It would have been great if that Esper who had tried to snatch Kellen hadn’t done that because she would have been useful now. When Kellen voiced his concerns, his family were pissed, while Brent just laughed.

It was so like Kellen to, after the fact, be upset that someone had wasted an opportunity to be useful. Sergei and Rhys had even laughed, while Kellen’s Aunt, parents, and even the recently forgiven Uncle Parker had been angry.

Speaking of, Uncle Parker came out only a day earlier than when Salem had told them. He looked exhausted, but repentant, and Salem?

Salem looked refreshed. Glowing. Kellen did not ask questions.

What did happen was Uncle Parker was briefed on what he was doing, what group he was with, and why. It was clear that Uncle Parker accepted his duties, but he was a little hesitant. He wasn’t hesitant about explaining though.

Uncle Parker was feeling that because the police of the city had taken the liberty to attack him, even if it was because of a personal grudge, he wanted to deal with them sooner rather than later. Though his relationship with the head of police had been a while ago, years before he met Salem, he didn’t think he could let this continue.

Sergei, who was in charge of the city, agreed. He did think that the police were getting too complicit and so, he was going to target them first. Not maliciously, not at first, but he was going to cause public disturbances that might be caused by Espers, but could also not be caused by Espers.

He was going to waste their time. Make it so that they had a harder time doing what the E.A.G. wanted them to do just because they were busy and they would let the public see the cracks. So that Rhys’ words held more weight.

After all, the people didn’t like it when those that were supposed to protect them kept slipping. If most of the population of civilians were unaffected by the violence or their daily lives were not inconvenienced, they wouldn’t support change. All you had to do was look at how the old world used to be before they were able to mostly predict when gates were going to open in major cities.

Or before front lines formed.

Uncle Parker liked the idea, as did everyone else, and so attention turned back to their plans. Kellen was in the thick of it, in his glee, and helping both his Mom and Rhys as researchers. He split his time between them while also working to train Brent back up to his old level.

It was intentional on his part, and by the second day, if Brent wasn’t aware of what was going on, he was aware then. He was also locked in.

He had also reached out to the company that had made his old prosthetic and was trying to use a different name to contact them. He needed a new arm.

He hated feeling like he couldn’t do what he wanted, that he couldn’t be relied on, and that he was a weak link. Kellen obviously didn’t think that about him, and anyone who did feel that way about Brent never spoke up, but Kellen couldn’t get mad at him.

After all, when Kellen got injured all the previous times and including his most recent injuries, he had the same worries. He wasn’t going to get mad at Brent for his concerns, and instead would just try to help eliminate them.

So he also reached out to the company after getting the name, and he used a different name as well.

Taylor Green.

It would make sense that a well known Healing Esper would be curious about a prosthetic company. He also knew that Taylor wouldn’t mind if he used her name and when he ran it past her, she didn’t. She let him, and even answered the phone call that the company made to confirm it was her who was inquiring.

The company, of course, didn’t get back to Brent and his random civilian inquiry, but they did get back to the well-known Esper who was in the medical field.

Brent was pretty grumpy for a while that he hadn’t considered that but Kellen had, and Kellen could only shrug. He was sorry that was the case, but it was the truth. All this meant is that the company was willing to ship several options to Taylor back home. At first, this was a concern since Brent needed the arms, until Taylor, in her wisdom, pointed out that Brent needed specific specifications to fit his arm.

Where were all of his prosthetics right now? Back home. So, Taylor could accept the shipment, with the understanding that she would be paid for this, and then she would modify them to fit Brent and send them back.

It was honestly so genius that Kellen and Brent were surprised that neither of them had considered it until now. Taylor told them to hold the applause until after she modified the prosthetics to fit Brent off of the copies that she had here, but that she would make it her top priority once they arrived.

The company gladly supplied Taylor with what she wanted, tailored to Brent’s specifications for what he wanted, and she sent over the money and within a day what she wanted was being sent back to their hometown.

Brent was disgusted by how easy it was and how long he’d been agonising over it, but that was that.

It was okay, things were going to be solved, and everything was slowly coming together.

Publicity wise in the following week, Pamela did what Pamela did best. She spun story after story, using the media in ways that Kellen would never understand and made some of the other HR/PR people impressed. Rhys beamed, proud of her like a dad over his child winning first place in a contest as she beat down every attempt to slander Brent’s name. It was honestly impressive to watch and she did it so elegantly too.

It was unlike the attempts to prod the public into thinking about Brent in a different light. This was a full force campaign to make sure that the public knew every detail of what he had gone through, holding feet to the fire, while also painting it with a pretty pink shade that matched her eyes. Kellen knew nothing of the battleground she was fighting in, but she was impressive.

He made sure to tell Rhys to tell her that.

With how well the planning was going, and the first three cities selected and the scouting missions being put into place, Kellen was feeling like everything was going smoothly. There were bound to be hiccups because not all human behaviour could be calculated, but he was excited to see how everything would come together.

He was happy to see how everyone was growing together, and how the S Classes had taken Kellen’s lesson to test them together seriously and that it was working. Everyone was less testy, buildings were being bought and cleared for Espers that were going to leave the E.A.G. once everything began in earnest, and Kellen was just excited for how everything was going to change for the better.

He also got to see Rhys and his Mom in action. He never got to see his Mom in charge of others. Not really. She had stayed on the backburner when it had come to the poison gate, letting Rhys and Sergei take the lead because it was their problem. But this? This was an everyone issue, and it was not lost on the many S Classes around them that two of the team leaders were older Espers who were not S Classes.

The respect that they deserved was immense, and Kellen caught them a few times slipping up and calling his Mom and Uncle Parker Elders. It was cute in Kellen’s mind, but Kellen’s Mom did not like it. His Dad found it deeply amusing as he kept the room running. Drinks flowing, food coming in and out, air moved, energy up. He was doing everything that he liked to do, and more.

Kellen was just glad to see his family in good spirits, energy up, and hope filled the air.

There was very little that could bring him down right now.