The Black Swan Behind

321 Doubting the Black Swan

“You should have known we had fallen, right… Emma? Or… Black?” Marcel looked confused.

Emma smiled broadly. “There’s nothing to hide anymore, Marcel. You can go easy on me. I’m the Emma Hilland you know and the Black who fought together with you,”

Marcel took a long sigh. “Well... It seems my brain is confused about adjusting to this situation,” He laughed as he invited Emma and Rachel to come inside.

“That’s what happened to the others too,” Emma replied with an amused chuckle.

“Sorry if we were rude to you for thinking you were men,” Marcel said.

Emma shook her head. “That’s not a problem, Marcel. We were also rude to you,”

“It’s hard to believe that you are women. But you are indeed powerful,” Kenny said, especially to Rachel because they once fought together to defeat Lee Mu Fei.

“We are happy to know that what we are doing has made men stop looking at women as weak. Thank you for the compliment,” Rachel replied.

Then they arrived at the room that used to be Marcel’s house when RJC was still victorious. Inside, there were Vico Hustle and Damian Jamin. Now, Emma and Rachel as representatives of The Black Swan meet with all of the Red Jack Commander’s core team.

.....

They were all seated on a large sofa that surrounded a glass table. Emma explained that her group had the real name Black Swan. The reaction of all RJC members was not much different from Jita Kyoei’s.

“So, did you guys invite us here just to prove that we’re girls?” Emma asked.

Marcel shook his head. “It’s more than this, Emma.”

“What’s it?” Emma asked. Now, she shifted her personality into working mode and it seemed to make the figure of Black in a mask come to the surface.

“Actually, we’ve planned to ask you for help. However, I don’t know whether this is still worth discussing with you or not. Because, since knowing that Black is a woman, we have been quite doubtful,” Marcel said.

Emma and Rachel immediately took offence at Marcel’s words.

“What do you mean?” Emma asked with a displeased face.

“Are you going to say that your wish can’t be done by girls?” Rachel asked with her arms folded across her chest. She stared at Marcel coldly.

Now, Black was not wearing a mask. However, the two girls’ faces that were exposed made them look hideous with intimidating glares.

“I’m sorry. I just thought this would be very dangerous for you,” Marcel explained slowly.

Emma shook her head tiredly. She had grown tired of this sickening treatment they had to face ever since Black Swan’s identity was exposed. “Marcel, if you think that’s a dangerous thing, then what about what we’ve been through all this time? Haven’t you seen what we’ve been up to?”

Marcel fell silent. Then Emma chuckled sarcastically while folding her arms across her chest. “Do we have to wear masks again, so you don’t judge a person’s ability and strength based on their gender? Do I need to pretend to be a man again to get an acknowledgement? Is it just man who can be considered capable?”

“Emma... I didn’t mean that...” Marcel said. He was confused about how to explain his true intentions to the two angry girls.

Letting out a long sigh for the umpteenth time, Emma nodded. “I clearly understand what you mean, Marcel. I also understand that you are saying that it’s because you are worried about us, right? But Marcel, I need to emphasize to you that your worry is a form of your thinking that you don’t believe in our power. It is the result of your thinking that we are weak.”

In the end, Marcel could only remain silent. What Emma said was true. He was worried that Black Swan couldn’t face the fight ahead because they were girls.

During this time, Marcel lived surrounded by several women. His grandmother and mother were always suffering and could not protect him or themselves. They were always victims of male rudeness and couldn’t fight back. Therefore, in Marcel’s mind, it was embedded that women needed to be protected and could not compete with men’s strength.

“Let’s be frank, Marcel. I feel insulted by your opinion of us. I can’t believe how big the change you view us after knowing that we are women. It’s very upsetting,” Emma hissed while rising to her feet.

“Wait a minute, Black.” Kenny also stood up and blocked Emma who was about to leave. “Sorry if we offended you. But please give me a chance to speak,”

Emma stared at the large ponytailed man for a few seconds. Then, she turned to Rachel to ask her opinion on whether they should give this man a chance because Rachel was the type of person who has a cool head.

Then, Rachel nodded slightly in approval. The two girls were indeed a perfect match. They sat down again as a symbol that they agreed to give Kenny a chance to talk.

“It’s best if this opportunity I’m giving doesn’t disappoint me because I already feel sorry for coming here just to hear your insults,” Emma said with a glance at Marcel sarcastically.

“I didn’t mean to insult you at all, Emma,” Marcel’s words stopped when Emma raised one hand as a symbol that she didn’t want to hear his excuses anymore.

“What do you want to say?” Emma turned at Kenny.

“Maybe Marcel had a bit of experience that made him think like that about women. Actually, I’ve said this to everyone,” Kenny looked at all the members of his group who have now hung down their heads. “Just because Black is a woman doesn’t mean they can’t face bigger challenges than yesterday’s problems,”

Yes, before Black arrived at their headquarters, the entire RJC core team had actually discussed this with each other. All of them, except for Kenny, were unsure of Black’s ability to help them fight the Black Hole.

Kenny could see it clearly. When it was finally discovered that Black was a girl group, all of its members became hopeless. They admitted that they couldn’t bear to see women having to fight physically with a group of men as strong as Black Hole. It was undeniable that they would definitely be heavily injured because of that fight.

Indeed, his friends have good intentions because they didn’t want to see women get hurt. However, Kenny could not accept it.

Kenny was off with all his friends’ thoughts, including Marcel who was the leader of the RJC. In fact, before knowing that Black was a girl, their spirits were all burning high because to them, Black was very strong, so there was hope for them to be able to knock out Black Hole even if only by twenty percent.

Even though Kenny also had feelings of worry for the women, he insisted on believing in the Black Swan’s power, just as he believed in Black’s power. He didn’t want to doubt one’s ability just because she was a woman.

Previously, Kenny had debated this with all members of the RJC core team. But because he was outvoted, he couldn’t do much, and let his friends say what was in their heads directly to Black. Then, here they were.