Back at the luxury mansion, seeing Mike bring home yet another girl caused the expressions on Lina and the others' faces to freeze for a moment.
But having already witnessed Mike's playboy tendencies, they quickly adjusted their attitudes.
"Mike, aren't you going to introduce us?"
Lina took the initiative to ask, offering him an easy out.
"This is Needy. You could say she's my... 'colleague' now."
While introducing her, Mike kept a close eye on her reactions.
If she showed even the slightest hint of acting out, Mike wouldn't hesitate to take her down.
Surprisingly, though Needy glared at Mike with ice-cold eyes, she seemed perfectly calm when facing the other girls in the mansion.
While her aloof attitude wasn't exactly friendly, it didn't radiate any malice, either.
"So your name is Needy. You look awesome~"
Lina stepped forward to greet her.
With her dark gothic style and icy vibe, Needy definitely looked incredibly cool to sheltered girls like Lina.
And because of her connection to Mike, the girls—who had definitely jumped to the wrong conclusions—treated Needy quite "amicably."
"By the way, I'm Lina. The one in the maid outfit over there is Carly, and next to her is Jess... We're all friends here now."
A little later, Lina even tried to help Needy fit into their "group."
This cozy, harmonious scene was exactly what Mike didn't want to see.
He decided he'd find an opportunity later to give Lina and the others a heads-up about Needy's situation, just so they'd have their guard up.
"Alright, Lina~"
Mike interrupted the overly enthusiastic girl, then turned to the little maid.
"Carly, in a bit, go set up a room for Needy on the first floor..."
"And Jess and Collins, you two are moving up to the third floor from now on."
Seeing Mike's serious expression, Lina and the other girls finally realized that Mike's relationship with his new "colleague" wasn't nearly as intimate as they had imagined.
After dinner.
After personally escorting Needy to the first floor, Mike returned to the third-floor living room and explained her situation to the girls:
She lacked empathy and was prone to extreme violence...
Finally, Mike made sure to strictly warn the girls to never, under any circumstances, be alone with Needy.
Afterward, to celebrate Jess and Collins moving to the third floor, Mike gave them a proper "reward," bringing Lina and the little maid in on the fun, too.
The "battle" lasted for over two hours. After getting cleaned up, Mike pushed open the door to Paige's room.
Inside the modest-sized room, apart from a few stuffed animals, every available surface was crammed with advanced textbooks on various subjects.
At the moment, the little girl was hunched over her computer wearing massive headphones, seemingly deep in study.
Mike's sudden entrance made Paige jump. But when she saw him standing there in just a bathrobe, she seemed to get the wrong idea again.
Squeezing her legs together tightly under the desk without realizing it, a hint of anticipation flickered in her eyes.
"Hope I'm not interrupting your studies~"
Mike said awkwardly, noticing the girl's flushed cheeks.
"I actually need your help looking up some info on a few people..."
That's right. Aside from the headache that was Needy, Mike was looking to recruit some reliable members for his Team X.
Originally, because of their unique traits, Mike had considered recruiting Scott, the werewolf currently attending Columbia, and Mark, who had that "return to youth" buff.
But then he remembered that one was basically still a kid, and the other was just a regular guy trapped in a younger body.
So, Mike quickly scrapped that idea.
After all, to deal with a professional syndicate of assassins, he needed actual professionals.
"Dog lover John Wick, retired agent Liam Neeson, mechanic Arthur Bishop, courier Frank Martin..."
Mike rattled off a list of names.
They all shared one common trait: they were absolute badasses, which perfectly fit the recruitment criteria for Team X.
Meanwhile, little Paige had taught herself some computer skills to aid in her studies—including how to hack through firewalls.
Initially, as Mike leaned in close, catching a whiff of his pleasant scent made the girl's head spin a little.
But she sobered up real quick the moment she saw the dossiers pop up on her screen.
Connecting this with the weird woman who just moved onto the first floor, it wasn't hard for Paige to figure out that Mike's new "job" was far from ordinary.
"None of these guys look like good news. What do you need them for?"
Paige probed carefully.
"I've got a bit of business I want to collaborate with them on..."
After explaining briefly, Mike noticed the worry in her eyes and quickly reassured her.
"Don't worry, my line of work is totally safe. Plus, I'm not nearly as 'fragile' as I look."
As he spoke, he playfully flexed a bicep with a smile, showing off his strength.
It didn't take long to completely distract the little girl.
Looking over the intel he needed on the screen, Mike singled out the dog lover, John Wick, from the list of lethal operators.
Compared to the others, Wick—who had just been excommunicated from the New York Continental Hotel—was currently unemployed. His wife wasn't dead yet, and his dog was still alive and kicking.
In this state, he would be much easier to persuade.
"Alright, you should get to bed early! If you keep pulling all-nighters studying, you'll stunt your growth~"
Having memorized the files, Mike reached over and ruffled Paige's hair before leaving her room.
"Hey~"
Paige protested, clearly annoyed at being treated like a kid again.
Once he was gone, she stood up self-consciously and measured her height with her hand:
She was five-foot-five. That wasn't exactly short!
But catching an accidental glimpse of her still-developing chest, little Paige instantly realized exactly where the true problem lay.
Fast forward to noon the next day. Mike, intentionally suited up in his MIB uniform, hopped into the passenger seat next to Needy, and they headed out to the Bronx.
The Bronx was one of the Big Apple's three major lower-income boroughs.
According to the files, the hitman excommunicated from the Continental Hotel was currently living there in seclusion with his wife.
The vintage Ford navigated through the grime and homeless-lined main streets of the Bronx, driving all the way out to the more remote suburbs.
Finally, the Supercar pulled up in front of an isolated little cabin.
At that moment, John Wick and his wheelchair-bound wife were out in the yard soaking up the sun, a beagle happily playing around their feet.
If you ignored their surroundings, the scene was actually incredibly heartwarming.
"Can I help you?"
Spotting the arrivals, John Wick stepped forward, subtly positioning himself to shield his wife.
His assassin's instincts were screaming; he could smell the "danger" rolling off Mike and Needy.
"John Wick?"
Mike asked, sizing the man up.
Perhaps because he hadn't yet experienced the agonizing loss of his wife and his dog, the man standing before him wasn't nearly as haggard as Mike had pictured.
Even though he had long hair and looked a bit unkempt, the razor-sharp intensity in his eyes was unmistakable.
This was a vicious, predatory wolf.
Across from him, the man's body immediately tensed up upon having his identity outed, looking like he might spring forward and go for the kill at any second.
"We're not here to start anything. In fact, I have a business proposition to discuss with you..."
After making his peaceful intentions clear, Mike asked,
"Are you sure you want to have this conversation out here?"
Having lived as a normal civilian for a while, John had already resolved never to dip his toes back into the "underworld."
But just one look at Mike and Needy confirmed they weren't exactly ordinary folks. Engaging with them meant inviting trouble.
However, considering his wife's illness required massive amounts of money for treatment, John thought about it for a second before saying,
"Follow me."
With that, he pushed his wife's wheelchair, leading Mike and Needy inside the cabin.