"Oh! You also watched totally spies? My favorite was Alex, which one was yours?"

Suddenly drawing the others' attention, Alex asked Jonathan excitedly upon hearing his murmur.

"You watched totally spies too?" Raising an eyebrow, Jonathan asked back.

Alex nodded with a smile. "Of course I did, it was a really good cartoon, so who was your favorite?"

Jonathan opened his mouth to answer, but surprisingly Ivan was the one who replied first.

"I liked Alex too." With his deep voice and strong accent, Ivan spoke with a strange soft look of reminiscence as if remembering a loved one. "She was my favorite, though I also liked that blue-haired character even if she turned out to be a traitor in the end."

Alex nodded with an understanding look. "Yeah, I liked her too, and I'm glad to meet someone who shares the same taste." In the end, he gave a thumbs-up with a nod of approval to Ivan.

In response, Ivan gave the same nod and gesture.

Seeing the exchange between the two, Jonathan nodded as if he had understood something. "Your taste is totally understandable and respectable, but I personally preferred Sam."

Looking at him, Alex and Ivan nodded understandingly before the first one asked with his hand on his chin and an inquisitive look. "But why exactly? Not that I'm questioning your taste or anything, I think it's totally understandable, I'm just curious to know the reason."

"Me too." Ivan nodded in agreement.

"No big reason, I just thought her nerdy way was cute, and I like redheads." Jonathan answered, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

Alex and Ivan looked at each other for a moment before nodding at him with smiles and looks of approval.

"I see you share the same taste, glad to hear that."

Suddenly inserting himself into the conversation, Yusuke nodded with his eyes closed, one hand behind his back while the other stroked his chin.

"So you also prefer Sam?"

"Indeed, the shy nerd types are the best, especially if they're redheads." Yusuke nodded knowingly once more at the complimentary words.

While Alex and Ivan gave approving nods, Jonathan himself nodded with an expression of understanding. "I understand, completely understandable."

Yusuke smiled in response.

"That's a shame, looks like I'm the only one who likes Clover then."

This time it was William who interjected in the conversation, his calm voice drawing the attention of the other four.

"Really? I mean, she's not bad but I find that spoiled-girl attitude of hers kind of annoying." Yusuke asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"That's exactly what I like about her personality, the contrast between that trait of hers and the things she does is funny and similar to Jonathan here; I find that behavior adorable." William smiled slightly as he spoke evenly.

Jonathan, Yusuke, Alex and Ivan looked at each other for a moment before returning their attention to him.

Alex and Ivan gave approving nods with thumbs-up while Yusuke and Jonathan nodded with understanding faces.

"I see, I see." Yusuke said, smoothing his invisible beard.

"Understandable." Jonathan smiled in approval.

"Thanks." William bowed slightly while smiling.

A silence then followed as they exchanged nods and smiles.

And meanwhile, the girls who had just watched the whole exchange in silence looked at them with expressions ranging from incredulity to total blankness, but one of them found it all pretty funny.

"Pff Hahahah! What the hell was that? Why did you start talking about characters from a cartoon out of nowhere?" Laughing heartily, Nalini wiped the tear that had fallen at the corner of her eye.

Looking at them half incredulously, Vanessa also spoke. "That was completely weird and gross, why did you start talking about female characters from a cartoon? Are you guys crazy?"

While Yusuke slightly frowned at Vanessa's words, William kept smiling, Ivan murmured a confused "gross?" and Alex looked at her with curiosity, Jonathan just laughed carelessly.

He laughed as he gave a "friendly" slap hard on her back, pushing her slightly. "Hahaha, come on, don't be a spoil-sport, it's obvious we were just kidding, don't you know what a joke is?"

Thrown off balance by the slap, Vanessa made a grimace as she glared at Jonathan furiously, the burning sensation of the pulsing pain in her back.

"Joke? But I wasn't lying."

Alex broke the mood by drawing their attention when he spoke, his head slightly tilted.

Ivan raised his hand slightly as he nodded. "I wasn't kidding either."

Quiet then descended as they looked at the two of them in silence with mute stares.

The quiet was then broken by another free laugh from Nalini.

"Pff Hahahaha!" She laughed, even bending over with her hands on her belly.

As Jonathan and the other guys smiled at her reaction, a light snort sounded.

"Hmph, it's not time for jokes, there's a time and place for that." With her arms crossed, Emília commented in a cold voice.

"You don't have to be a stick-in-the-mud too, you're not going to tell me you don't have any favorite cartoon?" Jonathan asked her, smiling.

Snorting faintly, Emília said nothing, but as Jonathan continued to stare at her with a smile alongside the others, she ended up speaking.

Looking away, she said weakly. "Barbie."

"Oh?" Jonathan raised an eyebrow. "Really? And which one is your favorite?"

Looking at him from the corner of her eye, she saw his amused smile, making her snort again as she turned her face to stare at him directly. "Barbie and the Charm School Princess."

"Well, I like your taste." Jonathan nodded smiling.

"Indeed, good taste." William nodded in agreement.

"A respectable taste." Yusuke nodded, smoothing his chin.

Alex and Ivan nodded in approval with thumbs-up.

Emília snorted again at hearing them, but her snort sounded faintly amused instead of cold.

"Well, since we're talking about favorite Barbie films, I prefer Barbie in a Mermaid Tale."

Also interjecting in the conversation, Nina spoke with a playful smile, her pleasant voice sounding.

Jonathan and the others turned to her as well and nodded in approval.

"That's a good one." Jonathan nodded with a thumbs-up to her.

"I appreciate your taste." William nodded in understanding.

"Great taste." Yusuke made an okay sign to her.

Alex and Ivan also nodded in approval for her.

"Oh! I prefer the Barbie of swan lake." Raising her arm excitedly, Nalini replied, joining the joke.

"That's one of the best."

"You have my respect."

"I see you also have great taste."

After giving their approval, they looked silently at Vanessa.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow dryly.

But the only response she received was a smirk with narrowed eyes from Jonathan as he stared at her.

Rolling her eyes, she crossed her arms as she spoke with a dry look. "I prefer the Barbie of swan lake too, it's indisputably the best."

"Hahaha."

Jonathan laughed lightly, the others smiling at her while she just kept the dry look.

After that, the guys and inadvertently the girls turned their attention to the only one who had remained silent.

Xiao xun'er blinked calmly in front of all the stares, opening her mouth, she spoke. "I haven't watched any of the Barbie movies or that cartoon, but I watched all the Max Steel movies before the reboot." Her voice sounded soft as she kept her arms crossed.

Silence followed after her words until Jonathan was the first to speak.

"Fuck yeah! That's awesome! Wait a minute, let me come over to you." Shaking his head as if completely speechless, Jonathan went toward her.

"You...I like you." With a look of respect, William pointed in her direction.

"She's exactly like me..." With his hand over his mouth, Yusuke stared at her looking completely incredulous.

"She's the chosen one..." Alex looked at her with eyes shining with admiration.

"Yes." Ivan nodded seriously in agreement. "I don't know of what, but she is." He nodded seriously several more times.

Finally reaching her, Jonathan raised his hand. "Come on, dab me up."

Without saying anything, Xiao xun'er uncrossed her arms and extended it, which Jonathan without hesitation bumped.

With a reverberating snap, he then squeezed her hand while nodding with an expression of respect, tapping his chest twice, he pointed at her. "My girl." Nodding one last time, he returned to his place.

Nina and Nalini watched all this with amused expressions, while Emília kept a neutral face and Vanessa rolled her eyes with Xiao xun'er herself showing no reaction.

After all that the boys just stayed quiet.

Shaking her head slightly, Maya, who had been quiet until then, spoke. "Are you done? Can we get back to the previous subject?"

"Yes." Jonathan nodded, but then he blinked confused. "What were we talking about again?"

"...We were talking about the tools you should choose."

"Oh, right, you said we could take whatever we wanted, but I honestly feel it shouldn't be that simple." Jonathan asked back with his hand on his chin.

Maya shook her head. "There's none, take whatever you want, obviously, I don't need to tell you that you should choose prioritizing your safety besides that the things here are those you can handle without much trouble."

"I understand." He then lowered his gaze to the table. "Prioritize our safety, right?"

"Yes."

He then began to look at all the items there, the others doing the same.

Picking up a pen, Jonathan brought it close to his face to analyze it; from what he could see, it looked like just a regular black pen, raising his eyes, he looked at Maya inquisitively.

And she answered. "This pen can fire its tip like a bullet, just twist the front part counterclockwise."

Nodding silently, Jonathan set it down on the table, but placing the pen near him, he intended to take it; it was a single shot but still useful.

After that he picked up a bomb, at least it looked like a bomb, it was a black sphere with circles at the ends and vertical grooves with a single horizontal one in the middle.

Without needing to look at it, Maya began to explain. "This is a repulsion bomb, basically, it releases a super-strong energy wave that pushes everything in its path omnidirectionally, it can reach a radius of up to fifty meters."

Nodding, Jonathan put it near him; the bomb was a bit large, about the size of his palm, but it could be carried in a backpack or a smaller bag, of course, he could still put it in his pants pocket too.

After the bomb, he picked up a thick silver ring that had a tiny hole right above a small button on the side of the ring.

"This is an ultrasonic frequency ring, it emits a special frequency that makes whoever hears it suffer severe vertigo."

Raising an eyebrow, Jonathan stared at the ring silently.

Maya continued with a warning. "As long as you don't put it next to your own ear, it won't affect you, it only works if it's close to the ear."

Nodding, Jonathan also took the ring; the need to be near the target made it a bit difficult to use but definitely worth it.

Next, he picked up a pair of simple-looking sunglasses.

Saying nothing, he waited for Maya's explanation.

"Those are X-ray glasses."

Blinking silently, Jonathan raised his eyes and looked at her without saying anything.

Maya replied without changing her expression. "Yes, they're X-ray glasses, they can see through things up to thirty centimeters thick, but it's worth mentioning that there are certain protections that make them basically useless."

'Thirty centimeters thick?' He knew something that wasn't even a centimeter and that definitely wouldn't block it.

Without hesitation, he grabbed those glasses for himself and it definitely wasn't for questionable reasons... mostly.

Anyway, he wasn't the only one; everyone grabbed one after hearing Maya.

Just as he was about to pick something else, Maya spoke.

"Well, while you are choosing, I think I can talk about the procedures you will undergo."

Her words drew everyone's attention.

"Procedures?" Jonathan arched his eyebrows.

Maya nodded. "Yes, and first we'll start with the most basic, implanting a chip."

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