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The blow dazed her, though only for a moment. She pulled herself free from the debris. Blood dripped down her cut lip. The pain felt worse than his other attacks. It made her grind her teeth together staring down the hundred meter long path she carved out. “How?!” She threw her foot into the earth sending out cracks as it got stuck.
“Tch!” she groaned as she ripped it free and sped back to Yuki. Her speed kicked up a gust that blew against Yuki as the only thing that seemed to affect him. “What did you do?!”
“My powers can truly be cheating when I want them to be. To the point of being unfair. Against someone like you, I can make them utterly broken.”
“That’s impossible! I can negate your powers!”
“Not anymore.”
“What?!” Yuki produce a small band like strip of black plastic weave with a thin metal device attached around it. “My device!” she gasped in surprise. She immediately swiped it back from Yuki, who did not resist.
“It’s worthless to you now. I completely destroyed its inner workings.”
“When?”
“During the last attack I made. It was just a distraction. Thanks to the disrupting nature of the device, it took me a while to lock down its location. But without that, you can’t do anything to me.” A dark shadow quickly ran down Yuki’s face. “I’m normally all one for fair play. But you lost that privilege the moment you started twisting and corrupting people, making them kill on your whim. This is the end, Takako!”
Takako smirked a little and suddenly began to laugh at Yuki. That was not the reaction that he expected to get out of her when he told her that he stopped her. ‘What’s wrong with her? I don’t need her to have a breakdown now because she’s lost.’ Unfortunately, Yuki’s gut was telling him something else. There was something wrong with the situation that did not feel right.
She was not laughing because she felt that she had lost. In fact, it seemed like she still had something left to play. And it left Yuki feeling very unsettled. He did not know what it was, but he had to finish things with her. ‘I just need to neutralize her powers… There’s nothing that she has left that can stop me.’
A quick shift of his powers off and on, he already arranged a new set of rules to deal with most of the threatening aspects of her power and abilities. He just needed to bring everything an end now. “It’s over now.” Materializing massive weights, they snapped onto Takako’s wrists and ankles restricting her movements.
Glancing down at the balls and chain that he made, she did not seem very bothered by all of it. “This is rather mundane for being a junky for the fantastical.”
“Practicality over complexity. You understand very simply what it is without my explanation.”
“True enough. I know this is pointless.” She lifted her arms up a little still within the range of the chains. The confidence in her expression still had not dropped.
The look he got from Takako only worried him more. ‘What’s she planning? She’s acting like she can still fight…’ Yuki did not know what she had planned, but he quickly shortened the length of the chains restricting her movements.
“Still hung up on this idea that you can keep me restricted.”
“It’s time for you to surrender, Takako.”
“I haven’t lost yet.”
“I’m willing to listen. Put everyone back to normal and we can talk. We can find an answer to this that doesn’t have to involve anymore bloodshed.”
She sharply changed her expression. Harsh lines drew over her face as she became very serious with Yuki’s bargaining. “That’s an unacceptable term. I won’t give anyone back. Because I won’t, you must die. Otherwise this never ends.”
“That’s not the only way. There’s always a solution.”
“Not here. This is my solution and because your morals won’t allow you to accept it, we will never see eye to eye.”
Yuki felt like he was touching into a rather important piece of missing information. ‘There’s something there. Something she’s implying. I feel like this is the reason for all of this! But she’s still holding back on a full explanation!’ It seemed Takako was set on a death fight between them. He could see it in her eyes with how resolved she was while she talked now. “I can’t understand your situation if you don’t explain things to me.”
“It’s a pointless discussion. I already know how it will turn out. This is the only way things will be settled.”
“Damnit! Things don’t have to continue like this!”
“You’re right about that.” Takako pulled her arms up tensing the chains further. “I’m going to end this farce. You seem to be under the false impression that you’ve got the upper hand now that you don’t have to worry about my device. Allow me to show you how wrong you are!” She suddenly lifted her arms up taking the solid black metal balls in the air with her.
Grinding his teeth together, he started to understand that the fight was far from over. He did not understand how she was doing. But he knew what this appeared to mean. “Those are a five hundred kilos each.”
“Is that all? No wonder they’re so light. You must not think much of me.” He quickly changed the mass in the material doubling the weight and it did very little to change her reaction. Doubling it again and again, he finally started to see a little struggling out of her. “Now you’re making me work a little.”
“I took away all of your superhuman attributes. What are doing?”
Bored with the demonstration, she snapped the metal bindings around her wrists. She quickly did the same to the ones on her ankle. Now freed, she met Yuki with a very confidence gaze once more. “Is that what you tried to do? Afraid that it doesn’t work on me like that.”
“I see…” It would seem that the fight was not over as Takako had decreed. Though it was a strange situation where it seemed that neither could do something to the other to end the fight. ‘This can’t end in a stalemate. No, she’s already planning on winning. She’s going to try to outlast me… I can’t fight with the same sort of stamina as her. I’m going to have to get a little more aggressive with my tactics.’
Chapter 358 – Mind Lock
Takako took the opportunity to charge at him to force him to use his powers up. Like Yuki assumed, she planned on doing the exact same thing that Saki did in one of her fights. She was going to burn through all of his power until he ran dry. However, to her annoyance she hit a wall. Attempting to break it, it did nothing. An invisible wall stood before her that did not even make a slightest indication that she could damage it. “Going back to cheating powers.”
“I did say I wasn’t going to be fair.”
“You can’t stop me.” She walked around feeling the surface of the wall looking for the edge. However, she came to a corner. Checking the other side, there was a corner as well. Takako jumped over to the side behind her and found a wall there. Stretching her hands up, she felt a ceiling as well like she expected. “You forgot one thing.” She wound up her fist and rammed it into the ground to create a crater.
Or she thought she was going to that. All that happened was a dull echo bouncing through the chamber. She glanced up to Yuki with annoyance. “You really think I’d forget the bottom?” he questioned.
“So your plan is to bore me to death?” She sat down seeing that she had no other options at the moment.
“Hardly. I’m ending this like I said before. Even with superhuman abilities, you’re still a human. Nothing I’ve done has altered that. Which means you need air to live.”
Takako threw up her hand against the surface of the wall. It took her a little by surprise. “You’re going to suffocate me? Thought you said you weren’t going to kill me.”
“I just need you unconscious. I should be able to figure out a way to keep you in an artificial coma until I undo everything you’ve done. Then I can deal with you again and you will explain everything.”
Her fingers pressed tightly against the invisible wall. “I’m not going back! The only way out of this I will accept is death! I’m not going back to a living death ever again!” Some genuine fear slipped through into Takako’s face as she understood the extent that Yuki was willing to go against her.
The sight that Yuki saw made him even more curious what made her so afraid. It was not as simple as she seemed to imply from her words. There was something deeper that he saw behind her eyes. Something that sat at the core of everything. He just did not know what it was still. “You’re out of choices, Takako. I already gave you the conditions for your surrender.”
“And I already gave you my answer.”
“Then this is the only outcome.”
Grinding her teeth together, Yuki had pushed her into a corner that she did not think that she would have been put into. She looked around her invisible chamber quickly. And then looked down at the floor again that she sat upon. “There’s a benefit to having a thousand abilities.”
“You can’t escape, Takako. I’ve made it completely invulnerable to any forms of damage.”
“Is that right?” she taunted, calling his claim as though it was bluff. Even though it was not a bluff he made, she still stood up preparing to take action. “I’ll show you that there is still a way out!” Wiping off the blood from her face from the punch that Yuki made, she wound up her fist.
‘What is she trying now? What ability could she have that I haven’t accounted for?’ Yuki did not feel like he was being confident for no reason. Yet, he could see that Takako felt assured of her success. There was a fear driving her to keep fighting and never give up. One that he was not going to be able to beat with simple half-hearted attempts.
Throwing her fist down against the floor again. There was a very slight delay, but suddenly the entire chamber filled with dust from the earth. Takako had somehow managed to break free again. She defied the expectations that Yuki had and made him question if he could actually stop her anymore.
Out of the crater filled with dust clouds, Takako emerged with a slightly bloody looking fist for her troubles.
Yuki still had trouble understanding what she did. He knew it was power that Takako possessed, just not what power could do that. “No amount of brute force could have broken that.”
“No prison is inescapable.”
“It would seem that way.” Yuki threw up more invisible barriers that should have been unbreakable to hold back Takako. Yet, she smashed through them with her bloody fist. She kept getting closer to Yuki. It was becoming dangerous once again to fight her. The methods that he thought would work on bringing her to a stop failed.
She met him with her speed with all of his other defenses down. The only thing that protected him still was his mist. Her fist ripped through it rocketing Yuki across the ground never touching it.
The impact alone made him cough off blood. His mist had done a lot of mitigate the damage, but he could not avoid all of it. Most of it was the sheer force coming through the displaced air around her fist rather than physical hit, which did not actually make contact. Had it, he would have died immediately.
Once he understood what was happening to his body, he could stop himself with the mist before it got too harmful for him. He hovered over the ground seeing Takako in the distance coming after him. ‘There’s one last trick she’s playing. Unfortunately, I can’t do anything about it, since I don’t know what it is. So the only option I’ve got is just hit her with enough power to knock her unconscious. I just don’t know how much power that is…’
Yuki prepared to receive Takako as she came after him. She destroyed more of his barriers to reach him. It became clear to her that her punch worked on him, even if he still stood. She just needed to keep it up now. A forced exhaustion like Saki was no longer needed. Takako could just kill him out right.
Yet her fist went right through Yuki and he disappeared into a puff of smoke.
She looked around for Yuki surprised to see him so close to her. And he had already gathered up power of something. “Let’s see if I can avoid looking like a copycat with this!” A massive beam of energy shot out of his hands straight up into Takako. It completely engulfed her with not even a silhouette appearing.
As the light from Yuki’s attack faded away, he could see Takako falling in the distance. He panted heavily feeling that straining his body and mind. It was hitting him harder than he expected. “Hopefully, I didn’t kill her.”
Flying over to Takako, he checked out the effects. However, even before he finished making it over signs of movement could be seen. Takako staggered to her feet making Yuki stop early. He then tried to avert his eyes away from her.
The blast completely destroyed her cloths and underwear, but also something else a little more important and critical to the mystery. Apart from severe burn and wound marks from the blast on her skin, it seemed that there was skin peeling off her skin. She had an outer layer of skin that was nearly completely vaporized from the attack.
Under that on her own skin, Yuki found something shockingly familiar. Across her entire body she had scars, but they were not battle scars or just accidents from growing up. They were recent and most definitely intentional. “You didn’t?! That’s why my powers aren’t working on you!”
Takako smirked despite the fact that her secret had been revealed. “That right. I figured you might be able do something with the device or it just could not work. So I needed a back-up plan.”
“And that plan was carving the array straight into your skin?!”
“Your powers can’t penetrate me to alter me anymore. I’m immune to your powers!”
To be continued…
Curious? There's no limits but your own imagination.
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2007 and 2009 Best Writer of TFF and 2009 Most Creative Co-Winner
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Under that on her own skin, Yuki found something shockingly familiar. Across her entire body, she had scars, but they were not battle scars or just accidents from growing up. They were recent and most definitely intentional. “You didn’t?! That’s why my powers aren’t working on you!”
Takako smirked despite the fact that her secret had been revealed. “That right. I figured you might be able do something with the device or it just could not work. So I needed a back-up plan.”
“And that plan was carving the array straight into your skin?!”
“Your powers can’t penetrate me to alter me anymore. I’m immune to your powers!”
“You’ll never be able to go back to the person to you were!” he shouted in surprise that she would actually make such a choice. Yuki had trouble understanding it. ‘The more I’ve seen of Japan since I’ve returned the more doubts I’ve been having about whether my accident could be called a good thing or a bad thing. Initially it seemed like a blessing in disguise perhaps, but now… It’s hard to even consider that…’ All of the reminders came back to him as flashes of memories turning his face grimly narrow.
Scales of a snake, possibly, began to appear over her skin. The scars of the array she cut into her body remained highlighted as she completely covered herself up once more. “What makes you think I want to go back to the way I was? Just because you made all of us like this, doesn’t mean you get to decide what we do. You don’t control us! I’ve embrace the power you gave me and I never want to lose it!”
He could tell that she started to prepare for their fight once more. Something that he was not fully ready for anymore. Everything that he had to use was lost. Things started to look grim for him. He lost his options and diplomacy failed. “So we’re fighting…two incompatible ideas.”
“That what a fight always comes down to. I’m fighting to live and you’re fighting to kill me.”
“I already said I’m not killing you!”
“What you will do to me will be the same as death! I was already dead before none of you just wanted to admit it. But because you didn’t put me out of my misery then, I did have another chance at life.”
“You’re saying this is all my fault?”
“I already said that before. You’re both the one that killed me and saved me. And both times you didn’t do it by your own hand.”
After it all happened, he already leveled all of the blame on himself. Hearing it from someone else did nothing to relieve that burden he carried. Resolved to see the end was all he could hold on to anymore. “That’s why I came to see you personally. Your actions are my responsibility. So ending this is also my responsibility.”
Chapter 359 – Mind Break
“But none of your powers can work on me!” Takako yelled while she charged at Yuki taking on the claws of an animal in place of her nails. She slashed out at Yuki using her speed to keep him from being able to see her. Only the mist surrounding him protected him from the attacks. Despite the protection, the force of the attack still bled through to him. He slid back only able to defend.
Her confidence in the fight returned in the way she attacked. She stopped caring about her power that could shatter Yuki’s Kasou-ryoku abilities. Brute force seemed to be her focus. The desire to crush him with her own hands seemed to be the emotion riding strong in her eyes.
Knocked off balance from the latest attack, Yuki staggered off his feet. She leapt into the air and spun around bringing her whole leg to kick him in the stomach. His mist could only do so much to resist the attack. The force shot him into the earth only a short half meter below him. A crater dug through the ground and sent out cracks where it did not carve.
She landed down next to Yuki covering a smirk on her face. “There’s no way you can win! I will beat you into a bloody pulp!” Throwing her hand down, she tried to punch him further into the crater, but only it was the earth instead.
Freed from the crater by his mist, Yuki stood at the top of the crater. However, his mist had disappeared. As Takako looked back at where he moved to, the armor she destroyed materialized over his body.
“I already broke that, what makes you think that’ll do anything different this time?”
“Because one was real and this isn’t.” Suddenly, the metal plating o his arms opened up allowing for multiple missile launchers and laser batteries to appear that were physically impossible to have been inside.
She shrugged off the threat that Yuki made. “If it’s not real, then there’s nothing it can do to me.”
“Is that right?” He fired everything off from the weapon platform that became his arms. Multiple explosions ripped through the area completely altering the crater and surrounding landscape once more. Takako completely disappeared amongst all of the flash and light.
But out the other end, she flew out with smoke trailing off her. She grimaced a little in reaction as she tried to get clear to Yuki, but found him flying above her. “Bastard!”
Blue bursts of exhaust came off his back as the thrusters redirected him to Takako. He swung out his arm with red lines lighting up along it as he charged up his attack. In the final moments before the swing, thrusters lit up along his forearm and elbow bringing more power behind his punch.
Metal crashed into scales in a hail of sparks as a shockwave blew out through the air tearing the cloud of smoke, from his missile attack, in half. Takako shot down into the crater below shooting up a massive pillar of smoke.
Following up the attack, Yuki shot a large blast from his hands. Yellow light carved through the smoke drilling straight for Takako. Blasted outward from the impact, it all cleared around only for another explosion to replace it.
He hovered over the site staring down through the clouds with the visor’s internal displays. ‘How much can she take before she finally exhausts? I’m holding back as much as I can. The degree of power I need to even slow her down is a little scary to wield.’
Takako surfaced from the smoke as it cleared away. She stood still, but many of the scales along her arms and stomach were missing or damaged. Thin trails of blood dripped down her skin from the attacks. Despite her claims, Yuki injured her. Something that infuriated her as much as it confused her. “Damn you! You shouldn’t be able to harm me!”
“You’re forgetting that I already did during the previous attack I made. Seems you were so caught up in your gloating over out smarting me that you didn’t realize the flaw. The array itself doesn’t generate a negation field, it only resists change from my power. My alteration powers have no affect on it. However, it can’t do anything about the actual force or energy being applied by my attacks. You’re still a human with human skin. All that I require is enough force and I still damage you.”
The answer only frustrated her further. Her arrogance disappeared quickly in the wind that blew away the smoke. Yuki completely deflated her efforts. “You bastard! I won’t accept you! Never again!” Snake scales began to disappear from her body leaving her naked once more. All her animalistic properties left.
Nothing seemed to be replacing her scales that she shed. Yet, there seemed to be something strange about her skin. It stopped having the same properties that render as skin. The luminance disappeared and the softness hardened. It almost appeared fake. “Try to scratch me with my hardest skin I have available to me!”
Yuki narrowed his eyes staring down at Takako trying to figure out what changed. He could tell things were not the same, but it was only in the subtly. ‘Hardest skin…I’m going to have to actually try to kill her at this point I fear to harm her…’
Testing out her skin was his only option. Without data, he could not calculate how power he was going to need to generate to still harm her. Power built up within his powered armor once more. It took it all the way to what he programmed as the limit. The previous amount he used had only been about half of it. A full power, he expected something.
Yet it would disappoint that expectation. The massive beam of energy blew a deep hole into the earth, but the ground that Takako stood on as well as her remained completely untouched. She did not even seem fazed by what happened.
While Yuki reacted to the lack of any results, Takako took command of the battle once more. She threw up her hand and pulled Yuki out of the sky without even touching him. He crashed into the earth with a heavy thud coughing up a small plume of smoke.
She walked over the air back to land. Blasts out of the smoke bounced off her body and flew into the air before exploding. “Too much for you?”
“I just need something stronger…”
“You won’t have that chance. You’ll have to turn off your power to do that.” Takako stretched out her hand where Yuki stood in the clearing smoke and pulled him towards her. She raised her foot up to let him ram into her foot. All the efforts he made to attack her failed as she wrapped him over her foot. She flung him back away into the spot she ripped from him.
Metallic thuds echoed from his impact. Yuki staggered a little as he rose to his feet once more. The fatigue from the physicality of the fight weighed on him with each passing second. ‘Telekinesis now…more and more troublesome…’
He could only blast the chunks of earth that she tossed at him. She looked to be fixed on wearing him down with constant attacks knowing the weakness of his own power. ‘Is so scared, afraid of this living death…’
While he endured the assault, Yuki wanted to find a way to end the fight once and for all. She setup a situation that looked more unfavorable for him as he stared at it. He missed a lot of the pieces still to Takako, but he was convinced he had enough to get an answer needed to win. ‘I just need to solve this mystery, even if it is only part of it. I just need to find a way to neutralize her. Afterwards, I can work on a permanent solution to this problem…’
Unfortunately, his reflexes could not keep up with the attack rate that Takako set. She quickly started to get hits through on him. He staggered back with each hit as his had to change to a guard stance. ‘This being saved and living death is the key. She’s afraid of losing her power because she’ll go back to the way she was before. That means her power is…it’s not exactly what we thought…’
A massive white ball of energy suddenly appeared in front of Yuki speeding towards him. He did not have the time to even attempt to attack or detonate it early. ‘Damn! Can’t stop it!’ Digging in his feet to brace for the attack was all he could do to prepare for it. And even that was only moments before it hit him.
Yuki took the full force of the blast. Upon impact, the tightly packed energy exploded ripping through the earth with equal impressive scale as Yuki’s attack. However, through the fading light of the attack, he appeared hovering over the large pit. ‘Glad it was only an explosion rather solid energy. That would have hurt more.’ His armor came out of it completely unscathed.
“Tch…you’re invulnerable.”
“Of course.”
“Then try this one on for size!” Another massive ball of white energy rapidly grew out of her palm. However, weaved through the energy was something that left Yuki unsettled. He immediately recognized it.
“So that’s how you did it. One of your powers you can create the array within other powers. It’s just enough to weaken my power.” He thought back her when she wiped the blood off her face. ‘So that’s what it was. She carved it into her blood giving her a surface that weakened my power for her to punch through.’ The problem was that he should have been focused on her attack, which launched at him.
He had enough time to fire his thrusters, but it did nothing. “What?! I can’t move…” The energy flew at him and in the moments before it him he remembered what she had done before to him. ‘Telekinesis…damn…this is bad…’ It completely engulfed him as another explosion rocked the neighborhood.
Shot out of the explosion, Yuki’s body, covered in smoke, fell to the earth. He crashed into the ground in a small puff of smoke unmoving.
Takako leapt over the distance to land next to him. Stripped of his shirt and completely torn pants, Yuki’s skin was covered in pockets of wounds and streaming blood. She leaned down and pulled him up by his neck. “This is the end.”
Coughing up blood, Yuki cleared his throat forcing his eyes to open. “Takako…I’m sorry…”
“Apologizes don’t fix what happened to me. I can only be secure in my life with you dead. And that won’t even equal an apology.” She began to squeeze his neck, but stopped suddenly. A sharp pain ran through her skull. Something was wrong, she knew. But she did not know what happened.
Yuki fell back to his feet now free from her grasp. He looked upon her with sad eyes. “I understand a little of it now… I’m sorry, this is the only way…”
Shock painted over her whole face as she could tell what Yuki did on some level. She understood what was coming. Takako staggered back feeling things slipping away from her grasp. “You! Ba-bastard! You would choose their freedom over mine! I hate you!”
“That’s fine. It’s justified. I can’t find the right answer. There’s only terrible answers right now. But I’ll fix this somehow.”
Gathering up her fading strength, Takako charged at Yuki throwing out her fist. The power behind it significantly reduced that he only staggered back. It still left him with a bloodied lip. “I’ll kill you before you can imprison me again!”
Buried under his reluctant resolve, Yuki pulled himself back up to face her down in the end of their battle. “I’ll be there for you at the end. So you won’t be alone…” Yuki threw back a disheartened punch forced to keep fighting against Takako.
To be continued…
Curious? There's no limits but your own imagination.
Don't know how to roleplay, but want to learn? Visit Here!
2007 and 2009 Best Writer of TFF and 2009 Most Creative Co-Winner
-
“Apologies don’t fix what happened to me. I can only be secure in my life with you dead. And that won’t even equal an apology.” She began to squeeze his neck, but stopped suddenly. A sharp pain ran through her skull. Something was wrong, she knew. But she did not know what happened.
Yuki fell back to his feet now free from her grasp. He looked upon her with sad eyes. “I understand a little of it now… I’m sorry, this is the only way…”
Shock painted over her whole face as she could tell what Yuki did on some level. She understood what was coming. Takako staggered back feeling things slipping away from her grasp. “You! Ba-bastard! You would choose their freedom over mine! I hate you!”
“That’s fine. It’s justified. I can’t find the right answer. There’s only terrible answers right now. But I’ll fix this somehow.”
Gathering up her fading strength, Takako charged at Yuki throwing out her fist. The power behind it significantly reduced that he only staggered back. It still left him with a bloodied lip. “I’ll kill you before you can imprison me again!”
Buried under his reluctant resolve, Yuki pulled himself back up to face her down in the end of their battle. “I’ll be there for you at the end. So you won’t be alone…” Yuki threw back a disheartened punch forced to keep fighting against Takako.
“I’m not looking for your sympathy!” she shouted as she staggered back from Yuki’s punch. A bolt of pain shot through her mind as she felt it all slipping away from her. Takako mashed her teeth together bracing herself as her gums bled.
She threw herself back into the fistfight with Yuki throwing out another blow. Yuki’s power had already started to take its toll on her body. She had trouble focusing feeling everything being sapped from her. Even though she was stronger and faster, she could not keep it all together. ‘I can feel it all returning…can’t keep it all…straight…’
Feeling completely helpless, Yuki stayed with her. But she kept attacking him proving to him that he could not simply just leave her without his guard. He had to block her attack. She still had powerful hits for a normal human body like his. It was like trying to fight a trained boxer. Each blow felt like being hit by a truck. He did not have much of his own power to focus on his defense in his shape.
He struggled to get his body to move the way he wanted it to against Takako’s assault. She still was in better shape than him. Dodging was not really an option he could ask for from his body. All he could hope for was a guard. Even that she knocked him off his feet.
Yuki slid on this back over the beaten and battered school grounds. It looked nothing like what it had when he arrived. If he did not know better it could have been mistaken for a junkyard, a very strange one, but the destruction leveled everything. Their fight finished off what remained of the school and even the neighborhood.
Lifting his head up as Takako approached, he rolled out of the way of her stomping to break his ribs. “You can hate me. But you’re still a victim. I will fix you!” He could tell that his refusal to still kill her at the end and try to understand her only made her angrier. A foot came down to try to silence his noble prattle.
He grabbed her ankle and flipped her own her back. Yuki jumped over trying to pin her down and let this powers finish the job. “I won’t fight you anymore! I don’t need to! I’ll help you! Just let me!” Strength in his arms did not have the same that she could still bring, even with her concentration shattered.
It only took a few seconds for her to struggle and kick him off her. Grasping her head, she tried to delay it all even though it funneled into her rapidly uncontrolled. “Argh! Gah!” she screamed in pain and memories as she could now remember the interrogation vividly. Takako punched herself sharply spraying up blood from the blow.
“It’s clear again…” She had a moment recovered. “I’m not giving you a choice! I reject you! This is the only solution!” Takako wound up another fist. “I’ve been through thousands of brains with thousands of powers! I know this is the only answer!”
Bracing himself for the hit was all he could manage in time. While he tried to talk her down, he did not prepare himself to keep fighting. He was running out of time.
Small bits of power came back into her attack picking Yuki off his feet and tossing him a few meters. A pile of nearly debris nearly broken down to dust gave him a softened landed. It kicked up a cloud around him that made him cough. “You haven’t looked at all the options.”
“I have!”
“There’s still my power.” Yuki stood up once more just as stubborn as Takako. He only saw his way as the only solution. Laying down now would only prove to her that she was right.
She charged over to Yuki aiming to take him down finally. “The powers of a weak human?! You’re the one that gave me this solution in the first place! And now you’re regretting it because it’s too messy! You don’t get to stand above everyone when you’re dirty than all of us!”
Rather than hitting him in the face, Yuki caught her fist. It made him nearly slip as his feet did not have the full support to take it. The veins around his muscles bulged as stress impacted his arm. “I am dirty. But I’m still just human and I make mistakes like everyone else. This is my mistake! So I’m fixing it right here!” Yuki swung back at Takako knocking her back.
Chapter 360 – Mind Wipe
“Takako!” Saki suddenly exclaimed, as she ceased struggling with the weights Yuki left on her. She looked around the area in search of Tatsuya. He leaned against a couple of boards stuck in the ground watching over her. “I need you to free me, Tatsuya.”
“Yeah not doing that. Until I know things are finished and you’re free from Takako’s control you’re not leaving.”
“Damnit Tatsuya! I don’t have time to convince you that I’m myself again! Yuki’s won, I need to go now!”
“Because Takako’s telling you to kill him.”
“No, because I have to kill her!”
Tatsuya looked down at Saki trying to understand her. He felt some doubt surfacing in the back of his head. ‘Could she be?’
Blow after blow, Takako and Yuki continued to barrage the other with their fists. He finally fully committed to standing with Takako until the end. There was no half-assing it for her. He gave her everything he had left, just as she was doing the same.
Yuki’s body covered in blood as much as it did with Takako. He could not hear the panting of his breath as his lungs told him to stop. The feeling in his chest from the multiple blows he took could no longer be felt. It was only the fight.
Blood stained the earth with each hit. Their feet dug into the ground to keep from sliding away and their backs locked up right. Nothing would stop them anymore.
He stared at Takako watching her face react. Even more than him, she went through worst pain. ‘I won’t fold and I’ll stay resolute for you. You’re struggling so hard to live. You just wanted to be normal again. I’ll see to it that you are. This, I promise you. I will fix this, Takako! This is not the way we’re supposed to be. You’re the proof of my mistake.’
Takako threw out an awkward punch that Yuki met head on with his own. It rattled their arms as they collided. “Damn you! Even now you’re still looking at me the same! You refuse to kill!” She grabbed his wrist and pulled him to throw, but he grappled with her.
A little rusty and long out of use, he used a reversal move that he remembered from his old dojo days. It looked familiar to the style that Saki used. Throwing Takako to the ground, he pinned her to try to end the fight. Her strength still fought to overpower him. “I told you before, I’m going to save you! I will make it my life’s goal to save you!”
“You just need to die, you bastard!” she screamed as her mind flooded all the way to breaking point for her. Saliva bubbled around her mouth and she fought to keep her sense of self. Takako threw everything to her strength to try to break free.
Tiny portions of her superhuman strength surface enough to snap out of the pin. It nearly broke Yuki’s arm leaving him unable to defend against her. She grasped at his neck trying to squeeze even while her brain felt on fire. Her throat continued to scream through her voice even long after it went hoarse. “Yuki Hayashi!”
“Ta…ka…ko…”
The pain became too much for her to bear. Her body finally collapsed next to Yuki. The consciousness in her eyes began to fade away and she lost focus on everything. “Yu…ki…Yuki…ki…Yu…Yu…”
Coughing as he pulled himself together, Yuki fell into melancholy staring at Takako. “I’ll stay by your side, Takako. I know you’re scared. But I’m here. I’ll find a solution one day. I promise you!”
“…ki…ki…Yu…”
Tears built up in his eyes having to watch as she lost any sort of sense of reason. The prison began to rebuild itself as though it had never left. It always watched her at her back waiting for the moment of weakness. The moment when she dropped her guard and it snatched her away from life.
Living death.
Suddenly, Takako’s arm jumped out taking Yuki’s arm. A brief moment of lucid consciousness had fought and struggled against everything to come back. “Kill…me…” It was all gone once more. The prison continued to bury her deeper and deeper into a black void of unending solitude and non-existence.
“I’m sorry.” Yuki lifted up her hand dropping his head to her. His whole body shook unwilling to accept her request. He could only repeat his promise he made to her. The one that she could not accept. The one that she threw back in his face at every attack she made.
“Don’t worry. I’ll give you rest, Takako,” an unexpected voice said at a distance.
Yuki looked up from Takako in surprise to see Saki freed. “Saki!? What are you doing here?”
“Finishing the job.”
“What are you talking about? This fight is over and Takako can’t hurt anyone!”
“The job I gave myself.” She began to walk down into the crater that Yuki and Takako ended their fight in. Behind her Tatsuya followed as though watching her.
Yuki stood up feeling he had one last thing to do. “Job, what are talking about? This isn’t something for you to do!” He could see the uncomfortable and unfamiliar, yet familiar look in Saki’s eyes. It was not something he ever dreamed to see in her eyes. He saw it in other people, but to see it in his friend’s.
Saki stopped in front of Yuki staring across at him, Takako over his shoulder on the ground completely unable to acknowledge even her own existence. “When I left that day to see Takako, I promised myself to do two things. Convince her to stop and if I failed at that, I would kill her with my own hand.”
Reaching out to grab her by the shoulders as though that would do anything, Yuki did everything in the motions to act as if he could stop her. “Saki, you can’t! I won’t let you kill her!”
“She’s my friend! I might not have known her as long as I’ve know you, but this is what I must do as her friend! This is not a life for anyone to live.”
“But I can save her, Saki!”
“Can you, Yuki? You barely understand your powers and you don’t even know how you gave us powers to begin with. Do you really think Takako deserves to suffer such a life on a chance?”
“I know I can do it! Please give me time!”
“Yuki! This is the right thing to do!” She lightly threw off Yuki’s arms to walk around him. Before her laid her friend and the last act she needed to do for her.
“And that’s exact why I should to do it,” echoed Hiroshi appeared on the opposite side of the bottom of the crate right next to Takako. He had a battered looking body, but seemed to have recovered enough to stand.
Saki jumped in next to Hiroshi looking to intervene. “What do you think you’re doing, Hiroshi?” She grabbed his hand preventing it from acting.
“She you’re friend. You don’t need to kill a friend. I’ve already killed so many of my friends. I’ll do this and you can place that hate on me rather than upon yourself. I’ll bear that in your place.” He struggled with Saki to get his arm free.
“This isn’t your place! You’ll break if you think you have to carry the world!”
Hiroshi grinned a little seeing the look in Saki’s eyes. It was an all too familiar one to him. The same he saw in his own whenever he looked at the mirror. “You’re already carrying too much for him. This one’s on me. I can afford to stop, you can’t, not now!” To everyone’s surprise, he threw Saki off. She fell on her back sliding away a little.
She tried to scramble to recover, but it was all too late. Hiroshi finished the job all of them began. His hand dripped with blood as he stared down at Takako. Her life quickly faded away and he stayed at her side the entire time.
Takako was dead.
The war ended finally.
Yet none of them could be happy or glad. There was no way that any of them could be.
“I’ll remember how bitter this tastes, Takako,” Hiroshi finally said, “So this never happens again.”
To be continued…
Curious? There's no limits but your own imagination.
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2007 and 2009 Best Writer of TFF and 2009 Most Creative Co-Winner
-
Out at the border of the neighborhood an entire platoon of UN soldiers stood unmoving. They were all armed and ready to go into action, but did nothing. Mixed into the platoon was Captain Masayuki Ayabito’s squad of Empowered.
He stood out at the front ahead of even the two APCs with them. The rest of his team squatted about lacking the same amount of single-minded discipline that the soldiers exhibited. Through the whole time since they got the deploy signal to rejoin from patrol, he watched the horizon. It disturbed him watching lights and explosions, feeling the slight tremors and being unable to do anything to bring peace.
Certain moments were more intense and harder for him to watch and do nothing than others. But it had been silent for a very long time. Nothing seemed to be happening anymore at the site of the high school. Masayuki pressed his hand up against the invisible wall that none of them had been successful in even cracking, five minutes was wasted on it.
“It’s over,” he called out to their captor. “You promised to release us after the fighting finished.”
A solid black figure with no reflective surface on them sat up against a house. The entire time they had been quietly reading a light novel. “It does seem that way,” a deep man’s voice came out of the figure, Let’s give a few more minutes though.”
“Release us now!”
They snapped closed their book and tucked it away in a back pocket. “Now, now Captain. Anger doesn’t become you.”
“I’m only angry because you’ve be doing nothing be impeding justice!”
“Justice.” The figure walked up to the Captain running a finger along the surface of the wall. Even the headlights from the APCs could not even form a shadow on the figure. “That’s an easy word to toss around. I’ve been hearing a lot lately. However, you shouldn’t be throwing it around when it can easily mean different things as well.”
Grinding his fist up against the wall, Masayuki wanted freed more than anything else. Too many terrible things were happening in front of him. “Don’t play games of semantics with me!”
“Oh this is no game, dear Captain. This is very real and very serious. Deadly serious.”
“People are dying out there! I don’t need you to tell me how serious it is!”
“I kept you out of this fight to save more from dying.”
“I don’t need your help! I won’t allow anyone under me to die!”
“Your men aren’t the only ones I’m referring to Captain.”
“The UN isn’t here for slaughter! We’re here for peace!”
“How far does peace last you when you an army of people trying to kill you without mercy? The UN declared this area restricted to all civilians for a reason. Even you don’t patrol within this neighborhood. This isn’t a place for those without the resolve.”
“You doubt my resolve now?!”
“Against a mindless mob of stranger willing to kill without thought? Yes.”
“We’re here to protect you against people like that!” he yelled pointing over to the high school.
“You don’t seem to understand your situation very well. The people you want to arrest for misuse of their abilities are protecting you from people like that. Careful how much of a hypocrite you make yourself when you are merely doing the same thing with sanctions.”
“Release us now! There are thousands of criminals your aiding!”
“Most of them are victims. You’re quick to label criminals without seeing the situation for what it is.” The black figure began to walk away. He disappeared into particles leaving behind no trace. “Approach with cautious Captain and aid. It’ll get you much further in this situation. The people you want to protect are also in there and need help.”
The wall no longer held Masayuki’s hand back as he almost fell on his face. He wiped the surprise quickly off his face and turned back around to the soldiers. “We move out!”
Chapter 361 – Broken Home
Saki jumped in next to Hiroshi looking to intervene. “What do you think you’re doing, Hiroshi?” She grabbed his hand preventing it from acting.
“She you’re friend. You don’t need to kill a friend. I’ve already killed so many of my friends. I’ll do this and you can place that hate on me rather than upon yourself. I’ll bear that in your place.” He struggled with Saki to get his arm free.
“This isn’t your place! You’ll break if you think you have to carry the world!”
Hiroshi grinned a little seeing the look in Saki’s eyes. It was an all too familiar one to him. The same he saw in his own whenever he looked at the mirror. “You’re already carrying too much for him. This one’s on me. I can afford to stop, you can’t, not now!” To everyone’s surprise, he threw Saki off. She fell on her back sliding away a little.
She tried to scramble to recover, but it was all too late. Hiroshi finished the job all of them began. His hand dripped with blood as he stared down at Takako. Her life quickly faded away and he stayed at her side the entire time.
Takako was dead.
The war ended finally.
Yet none of them could be happy or glad. There was no way that any of them could be.
“I’ll remember how bitter this tastes, Takako,” Hiroshi finally said, “So this never happens again.”
Tatsuya released Yuki from his hold to keep him from interfering with Saki and Hiroshi. He quickly ran over to Takako trying to check for any signs of life. “If she hasn’t been dead long maybe I can still revive her!”
“Yuki stop!” Saki shouted as she grabbed and pulled him away from Takako. “This had to happen. Accident or not, she’s killed or allowed die too many people!”
“She was a victim!”
“The world doesn’t see it that way! This is the right answer even if you don’t want to believe in it. Sometimes people must die so that peace and safety can be reached!”
“Saki…” Yuki started to back away from Saki as she did not know the person that stood in front of him.
Hiroshi quickly caught the look in Yuki’s eyes. He reached out for Saki to stop her. “That’s enough. He still needs you. This is my place.” Walking around Saki, he put himself between the two of them. The more Yuki saw of him and less of Saki the better. “I killed her, Yuki. This is the reality of the world now. Just because you transformed in it to one of your manga doesn’t mean it falls the same rules of a feel good story.”
“No! N-no…I…am…respon…” Lightheadedness suddenly overtook Yuki and all of his powers evaporated. He lost control of his body as everything went limp. Before he could hit the ground, Saki sped into catch him.
“Yuki!” everyone shouted.
Saki checked his pulse and listened to his heartbeat. Everything sounded okay-ish. She was not a doctor and it sounded fast, but alive. “I think he’s just exhausted.”
“He pushed himself to the limit against Takako,” Hiroshi remarked, having seen the whole thing play out before his eyes. He fought hard for his belief, even though it failed in the end. There was some pity and sympathy for him that he could give on that. Though he already accepted what their fate was going to be. “He just needs some rest probably.”
“We’ve got also got bigger problems still to deal with,” interjected Tatsuya, “Since Saki is back to herself Yuki’s theory of what Takako’s powers were and how they worked seems to be on the mark.”
Shaking his head, Hiroshi looked back at Takako. “No, we were all wrong about what her power was. Fighting her myself and watching Yuki’s fight I understood that much.”
“What do you mean? Is Saki not free?”
“No I’m free from control. But Hiroshi’s correct in that her power isn’t as simple to just call mind control.”
“What are you talking about? If you’re free does it matter?”
“Yes, very much so,” she gravely replied with a dark shadow drawing over her eyes.
Tatsuya took a step back finding Saki easily unsettling and the revelations she appeared to bare. “What are you trying to get at?”
“It’s like what that Yori guy mentioned for us to be prepared for.”
“I’m not sure what Yori told you, but Takako’s power are more complicated than they appear.”
“Complicated?”
“On the base level, what she does with her powers appears to be mind control. And one facet of what she can do with her powers is actually genuine mind control. However, that’s just a by-product of what her real power is.”
“You’re losing me.”
Hiroshi began to recall what Takako said during her fight with Yuki. “She mentioned having Yuki to thank for saving her from her comatose state. And if you think about it, mind control isn’t going to suddenly make you not a veggie anymore. It’d have to be a different power that she gained from Yuki that allowed her regain her sense of self.”
“Which is?”
“Mind sharing,” Saki answered with the simplest way of stating it. Though she did not like the way it sounded since it was still inaccurate. “If I had to guess it’s more like sharing rather than control at the root of her power.”
“Another side effect of her powers was the ability to gain other powers from the people she controlled. So sharing would make sense.”
“From what I saw while I linked with Takako, she was able to give out pieces of her mind to others.”
“Give pieces of her mind? Wouldn’t that be bad for her?”
“For a normal person yes, but Takako’s mind wasn’t normal. Thanks to the torture and interrogation she received months ago, it completely destroyed her mentally. However, the pieces were still all there they were just a complete mess.”
Saki watched the gears quickly come to a halt as she tried to explain something that she did not understand that well herself. The complicated nature of minds was not her strength. “Think of like someone emptied out all of the drawers and your closet in your room. They then put all of that in the middle of the room. You couldn’t find what you wanted or even navigate it.”
“But I’d clean it up.”
“Yes, and that’s what her power allowed her to do essentially. Rather than rebuilding what was broken, she cleaned up and tossed everything out. Those broken pieces were given out to other people. And that’s what broke the people she did it to.”
“Broke them? The mind control?”
“That’s right,” added Hiroshi, “She said many couldn’t handle her power. She said it broke them and giving them a piece it destroyed their minds. Judging from what we saw the worst of them lost all sense of morality and ethics and lived off pure base instincts in the most carnal ways imaginable.”
“Those that could handle the piece, she could control,” Saki commented, she understood that part very well. “Once shared, she had a link with them. She could go into people’s mind and control them or just implant thoughts or ideas.”
“She didn’t need to share to put ideas into people.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.” Hiroshi left his response curtly punctuated on that answer. He quickly pivoted the explanation back to the problem. One that relied on Saki’s feedback. “Based on what you’ve said, depending on the level of control people were still largely in charge of their actions even if they were given commands that they didn’t accept.”
“Yes and those that she controlled directly still remember what happened.”
Tatsuya turned around looking at the crater edge. Beyond the ridge, hundreds or thousands of victims of Takako laid out there. He did not know how many were still awake after all of the fighting, but he could just imagine the situation. “Which means we have countless people that remember all of the murders and horrible acts that they committed.”
“And when they wake up we’re going to need to be able to do something for me.”
“Hey man, I’m not a psychiatrist!”
“None of us are. We’re high school students. None of us are prepared for giving emotional and psychological support to those that can’t handle what’s happened.”
“This could be a worst fight than Takako,” warned Saki. She lifted up Yuki on one side and carried Takako over her other shoulder. Nothing they needed to do would begin without making the first step. So she set the pace for the others getting them out of the crater.
She had not had a chance to take in the destruction caused by Takako and Yuki’s fight. “I don’t remember it being this bad.”
“It got worse after Yuki stopped you.”
“Finding survivors is going to be difficult.” She looked around trying to gauge where to even begin, unfortunately the night did not make it very easy to se. “We may have to wait until morning before we can start, especially with the way you two look.”
“I don’t think we’re going to have that option,” Hiroshi cut in as he stared off into the distance.
The grave and foreboding tone in his voice immediately pulled Saki’s attention to what he might be seeing. It did not take long for her to find the headlights and make out some shapes. “UN?”
“Yes. I wondered why we hadn’t seen them sooner. I guess we were just lucky they were slow to act.”
“No lucky enough,” Tatsuya complained, “They’ve got some of those with powers with them. We aren’t in any condition for another fight!”
To be continued…
Curious? There's no limits but your own imagination.
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2007 and 2009 Best Writer of TFF and 2009 Most Creative Co-Winner
-
It had been almost a month since the last time he or anyone from the UN had been allowed to set foot into the Restricted Zone. Around the time that he joined, he heard stories about it. When it was still open, they lost dozens of men to patrols in the area. And then the situation just got worse with the street fighting.
Masayuki wanted to go in personally to settle things as the place had gone wild. But he had no support from the higher ups and there were plenty of other areas of Japan that needed help. And besides, he could not in good conscious send his men into a death trap. The only intel they had on the zone was that it was completely filled with Empowered, organized and powerful. He had confidence in his skill and those on his team, but with the sheer numbers it was a losing battle. That much he understood about the situation.
Which made him question the situation now. ‘What idiot walks into the Restricted Zone? On top of that, they actually seem to be winning the fight. What sort of people are they?’ It concerned him what he might be walking into now. The satellite feed was more than an hour old and only give a rough picture of what was happening. ‘Worse they order us into the field not knowing the full situation. But I guess the light show we’ve been seeing tonight would have anyone worried.’
Keeping his pace at the front of the platoon, he had his team positioned around the rest of the convey. He still anticipated some resistance, despite not finding any after the strange black individual freed them.
But it was coming in sight now. The neighborhood only showed some light damage, clear signs of fighting, but nothing extreme. Coming in sight of the school grounds changed all of that. Masayuki motioned back to the driver to stop. An unscheduled stop alerted all of the soldiers. His team jumped out from their perimeter positions to land next to the Captain.
Umari and Nawabe landed on his right with Kasaya and Hanari on his left. Locked up for the entire fight and the last hour or so, left them all a little on edge. Especially Umari and Nawabe looking for a fight more than any of the others.
“Wha’cha got?” Umari asked, not looking too closely herself. Nothing was apparent in her eyes. Only a vast field that looked out of place with the rest of the neighborhood.
Nawabe stepped out ahead of the group a couple of steps trying to figure out what had the Captain on alert. “Getting your panties wet again?”
“I told you not to break perimeter.”
“Eh, no one’s coming.”
“That isn’t yours to decide. Everything east of here in the city has been restricted and under a constant gang war for the last month. There are thousands of criminals in here and they could be anywhere.”
Umari crossed her arms and stepped out next to Nawabe getting the same disappointed feeling that he exuded. “And we ain’t found any of them since we’ve stepped into the Zone.”
“Are you as blind as your deaf?” Masayuki snapped a finger getting the attention of the UN soldiers still hovering behind those that were the actual weapons. He pointed over to the search light on top of the APC to get it fired up.
A quick scramble of the soldiers focused back on their jobs. Turning around on the mount, the light fixture focused forward. They had been running in low light to limit their visibility to outsiders and keep their eyes adjusted to the night better if they had to lose the light. Which meant when it snapped on it was painfully blinding for a moment.
Adjusting quickly, Masayuki pointed out to the lands around the school and the neighborhood, if it could even be called one anymore. The grass road came to an abrupt halt with only earth left behind just a few meters ahead of them. “If you thought a little less about fighting and focused more on your surroundings you’d realize that situation we’re in.” A vast expanse of debris, hunks of rock, earth and tree laid everywhere and in the far distance craters marked up the terrain as though a bombing run had been made on the school.
A whistle came out of Nawabe taking in the sight. “Damn, this is sure impressive,” he grinned as his mind still focused on who could have caused all of the damage.
“Everything’s been wiped off the face of the earth,” Umari remarked on the destruction, “I wonder if the bastards wiped themselves out.”
“That’s one of the things we’re here to find out.” Masayuki turned back towards the soldiers. He could see it affecting them much more. Unlike those under him, they were all completely normal humans with nothing special about them. There was no certainty that their weapons would do any harm. Seeing the sheer power on display shook all of them to their bones. But he needed them to move. “We’re moving out! Watch out for debris, we’re going off road now! And stay alert!”
It was not a motivational speech. He was not trying to get their spirits up. They just had to follow him. Inside the Restricted Zone they had questions to get answered. “Back on perimeter! If we weren’t already in the enemy’s territory we are now!” Reluctant looks came from his men as they seemed disinterested in such mundane efforts. He quickly glared at them enforcing a small bit of his power to get them moving. ‘What will we find at the center of this?’
Chapter 362 – Broken Land
A long twenty minutes dragged out as the UN forces slowly marched towards the school grounds. It at least gave the signs to Saki and Hiroshi that there might not be an immediate fight to break out. Though it did not give them a lot of time to prepare. Things were a mess and all of Takako’s army still remained knocked out from either the fighting or losing the control that Takako had over them. It was about the only saving grace for them now. It was only going to complicate matters dealing with the UN and Takako’s army.
Saki looked over at everyone in the last minute before the confrontation. They all looked completely wrecked from the fighting. Not even Seiji could be counted on with him still missing both of his arms. His return with Nerine did not give them much time to react. Questions got ignored in favor of a speedy appraisal of the situation. They remained back with the unconscious Yuki. It still left her a little uncomfortable seeing Yuki and Seiji looked different thanks to Nerine’s powers. “Your power’s will hold?”
“I’ll keep their identities hidden. I will do everything to protect my King.”
“Alright, just don’t call him that while they’re here. We don’t need complications.”
“Y-yes…you’re right.” A complicated expression of respect and duty rolled over Nerine’s face. She knew what she had to do, yet it conflicted with her discipline.
Watching Nerine left her a little concerned about their chances, but she had to trust in her. She focused more on the immediate potential issues. “How are you two doing?”
“Still wrecked hard.”
“Same, sorry we’re not going to be much use to you, Saki. Yuki didn’t have enough time to repair our bodies.”
She turned back as the UN troops came to a stop only twenty meters away. “Well let’s hope that they’re here for peace. I don’t have enough strength to take on five of them at once.” Saki walked out to meet Masayuki as Hiroshi and Tatsuya joined her flanks. They refused to show weakness before them, even though anyone could tell that they were about ready to fall over.
“I’m Captain Masayuki Ayabito, state your business!” he opened. He exercised his power to keep his men in line and behind him. They already had the looks of wanting to test out the strangers. ‘People that can level this much of the city aren’t ones to be taken lightly.’ It surprised him to find that they were all teenagers though, but he reminded himself not to judge age into their abilities. ‘The girl looks the most able to fight still the others look half dead or nearly dead. Still I must be cautious. There are still hundreds or thousands of potential criminals out there from the gang.’
‘State my business…’ Saki thought. She had a little trouble imagining what she could say her business was without triggering a fight. “Well…I’m an outsider not involved in this…situation.” Avoiding trigger words like fight seemed like the best course of action to Saki. Though it was hard to tell how much he was going to accept her.
Maintaining his expression neutral, Mayasuki kept the situation civil. “An outsider? Did you just arrive here?”
“Yes.” There was a bit of flinching in her eyes as she lied. ‘Something like that anyway. I wasn’t here the whole time this was going on.’
“And why were you here?”
“I saw everything going on and wanted to try to help people that might be hurt.”
“Help? In the middle of a gang war?”
‘Gang war? Is that what they’re calling this? I guess that’s one view…’ She glanced back at Hiroshi and Tatsuya to see how they were doing. They remained silent the whole time still leaving it up to her to do the talking. “I guess I wasn’t thinking clearly?”
“You weren’t thinking clearly?” He paused watching the teenage girl sweat a little in front of him. Saki’s stumbling read to him more as nervousness than anything. Which helped a little in her favor. “That would certainly be accurate given the situation here. No one in their right mind would come here.”
Laughing a little to cover things up, Saki tried to hold it together and not get a fight to break out. “I hear that a lot. What are you here for?” She braved the dangerous next step. Her lies would only go so far and she doubted that he was going to believe her for long. It was rather obvious that she was here not just to give medical aid.
“We’ve come to subdue the gang fighting that’s consumed this part of the city.”
‘And you waited until now do it? How useless…’ It made her wanted to berate them for doing nothing while people died and were hurt. She had a taste of the terror that Takako left on the city and the UN did nothing to stop her. Yet she could not get angry with them. Everyone behind her needed to be protected. “I’m glad to hear it. But I think the fighting might be over now.”
“Yes, it seems that way.”
“Captain…” muttered Nawabe in response. He tried to move, but could not do anything to thing to budge against Masayuki’s power.
“Silence.” He focused back on Saki needing to understand the situation more. “Even with the fighting over we must establish peace and order here.”
“What do you plan on doing?”
Unfortunately, their peaceful talks shattered with the scream of a woman behind Saki. Another followed and another as well, they were all different. Saki turned her head with a tilt to look in the direction as everyone went on alert. ‘Damn, I think they’re starting to come to now. This situation just went from bad to nightmare…’
Taken off guard by the voices, Masayuki searched around trying to locate what was happening. ‘Is there more fighting happening? But it sounded panicked or pained…’ His body went tense no longer certain what was happening. The whole Zone had strange rumors about it that he heard from others. Since no one came back from the Zone, it took one a bit of a supernatural bent with people inventing almost ghost stories about it. He did not know what went on out of the sight of the UN’s arm. What monsters could hide back here that scared off everyone from coming?
The flinch in his power disrupted through to this control of his men. That was all that Nawabe needed to break free from the bindings. He snapped into action starved for a good fight that the Zone promised him. “Show me what ya got!” he shouted with excitement as he leapt to the sound of the voices.
“Damnit…” cursed Saki as she saw everything spiraling out of control. ‘I can’t stop five people with powers. So I’m going to have to make a stand.’ The ground under her feet cracked a little as she put pressure on her feet into her jump. “So much for the peaceful situation!”
In a blink of an eye, Saki leapt backwards nearly twenty meters and then exploded forward at Nawabe. Behind her, the earth blasted backwards into powder from her impact. Using all of her strength and speed, she threw everything into her attack.
A massive shockwave ripped through the grounds as Nawabe could not even block, not expecting Saki to charge. He took the hit to the face and shot back far beyond the UN convey and carved through the earth in a tall pillar of earth exploding.
Saki landed back on the ground in the same spot she had been talking to Masayuki. The whole scene left Hiroshi and Tatsuya speechless and sweating. She slammed down her foot shattering the earth that she had cracked. “Going to keep your men in line, Captain?” she barked, completely changing her demeanor with the man.
Even Masayuki’s team felt the power that Saki showed off. There was a mix of excitement and fear in their expressions, not completely cowed as she hoped that they would be. But Masayuki ground his teeth together watching Saki work. He was the only one of them that completely saw her movements unblurred. ‘She’s dangerous…extremely powerful…’
“Here’s the truth, Captain. I just got back into town from an oversea visit.”
“That’s impossible, the blockade. I would have known about your arrival.”
Building up her air of confidence, Saki started to lay things on thick. “Ha, blockade? You think that would stop me?”
Hiroshi leaned forward barely even speaking, knowing that everyone’s hearing was vastly improved. He had to act as though he said nothing to keep the other side from hearing him. “What do you think you’re doing?”
The only response he got from her was slamming her other foot down to break up the earth more. “And what do I find when I come back? My city’s been overrun by this gang, you call them? So I took it upon myself to do some house cleaning.”
“Yourself?”
She could hear the incredulous tone in his voice. All she did was grin with confidence. Tilting her head forward a bit, she allowed the shadows to fall over her eyes making them glow brightly in the darkness to heighten her presence. “That’s right. I killed their leader and the rest just all fell over like broken dolls. So what are you going to do, Captain?”
Fate had been tempted. Saki laid it all on the line on an even worse gamble than before. She glared at all of the UN soldiers to instill as much of her presence in them as possible.
And waited for Masayuki’s reaction.
To be continued…
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2007 and 2009 Best Writer of TFF and 2009 Most Creative Co-Winner
-
Building up her air of confidence, Saki started to lay things on thick. “Ha, blockade? You think that would stop me?”
Hiroshi leaned forward barely even speaking, knowing that everyone’s hearing was vastly improved. He had to act as though he said nothing to keep the other side from hearing him. “What do you think you’re doing?”
The only response he got from her was slamming her other foot down to break up the earth more. “And what do I find when I come back? My city’s been overrun by this gang, you call them? So I took it upon myself to do some house cleaning.”
“Yourself?”
She could hear the incredulous tone in his voice. All she did was grin with confidence. Tilting her head forward a bit, she allowed the shadows to fall over her eyes making them glow brightly in the darkness to heighten her presence. “That’s right. I killed their leader and the rest just all fell over like broken dolls. So what are you going to do, Captain?”
Fate had been tempted. Saki laid it all on the line on an even worse gamble than before. She glared at all of the UN soldiers to instill as much of her presence in them as possible.
And waited for Masayuki’s reaction.
The tension in the air dramatically increased. Both sides watched on with curiosity and uncertainty to how things would play out. They watched the contest between Saki and Masayuki not sure how things would play around. Saki played an extremely dangerous game with Masayuki. One that he did not tip his hand for to give her any indication of her success. She could only sweat in her skin waiting to see how things went.
On the UN side of the wall, the soldiers started to look antsy. They did not like the sounds coming out from around them. It started to sound like a horror movie with people’s voice almost disembodied crawling up from every corner to steal the souls of the living as punishment. Only out of orders did they stand their ground and even that was starting to become something that would not hold them.
Then to make matters even worse, Saki threatened them all by making the claim to have wiped out the entire gang war that even with the UN’s Empowered at hand could do nothing to resolve. The men started to question what sort of odds even those with powers could do to stand up against someone so overwhelmingly powerful. Her display of power to take out Nawabe so quickly added to their lack of confidence. All the normal soldiers continually felt surrounded by the impossible and frightening. They were powerless to do anything against superhumans.
Hiroshi and Tatsuya sweated more than even Saki did with the horrible gamble laid out on the table. They could not believe that Saki would throw it all away to make herself an enemy of the UN. ‘This isn’t the time to be starting fights with the UN, Saki!’ worried Hiroshi, ‘I wonder if Yuki was awake if he could have kept her from doing something so insane!’ All he could think was how much of a bad idea it was. They were not prepared to deal with the UN and the world’s policing arm. No one wanted that, but they did not know how Saki felt or if she even thought about it.
Forever a stoic stonewall of hidden emotions, Masayuki kept everything in check. None of this had been his sort of training. That much he was certain about. He had just been an ordinary engineer working at a computer tech corporation developing next generation processors. Not quite a common life, but a normal and ordinary one. Yet now here he stood on a regular basis facing down with violent criminals and inhuman threats. The only thing that kept him standing was that he knew it was the right thing to do.
Had he been anyone else, he likely would have turned blue just seeing what Saki did in destroying Nawabe with little effort. The sight of her determined and yet pure eyes would have inspired fear within his heart. Her fierceness and loyalty would have made him second guess everything.
But he did not question any of it.
This was his life.
An unrewarding and ungrateful, yet necessary life. He had to stand and remain fixed to see justice through and protect those that did cower. It was not his place to cower, but to stand. And he had to stand against all of it, no matter how ugly and distasteful it was. This was his decision as part of the problem and the solution.
‘This is truly an unfavorable job, but someone must be the one…’ He could see the resolve in Saki’s eyes. The unwavering determination was almost inspirational to behold for him. It was all he needed to know that he was doing the right thing, even though he knew it was far more complicated than that. His orders were still the same and the law was the law. None of that changed and none of it could be made to bend. “So you’re taking responsibility for everything that’s happened tonight. Is that right?”
Saki crossed her arms not backing down. “I said I did it all. Anyone else would have just gotten in my way.”
It was then that Hiroshi figured out that she was doing it. The gamble was not even a gamble as he thought. She had a completely different aim in mind. ‘You can’t do this, Saki! What about Yuki?’
“Even if you did bring an end to this turmoil, murder and the assault of a UN soldier are still crimes. Crimes which you will be tried for.”
“Peace is never a simple thing to achieve. A few deaths justify the means.”
“However true that may be crimes are still crimes and I will have to arrest you.”
“Got enough men for that?”
“I’ll be enough for you.”
“That’s some big talk for someone struggling to keep his team in control.”
‘So she’s noticed. She’s very talented…’ Masayuki rolled is fingers open and closed to relief some of the tension in his back. She was not making it very easy for him. “Not as big as someone still exhausted from knocking out a single one of my subordinates.”
Saki kept up the show for Masayuki, but had to admit that he was observant. The battle with Tatsuya had a toll on her and Yuki ringing her bell still left its mark on her. Just to put on a display for the UN, she used a lot of her power to impress them. It served two useful purposes, so it was not wasted. “I’m ready to go right here if you want to test me. I’m not going to just hand myself over that easy. I don’t care that you’re Japanese, I don’t agree with the methods that the UN are taking to try to resolve the problem.”
“Seems we’re in agreement then, since I can’t agree with your methods of resolving the problem either. I’m not here to kill people, just restrain the chaotic elements that are misusing to their powers. The world will never trust Japan if we can’t self police.”
“Under the arm of the UN isn’t self policing, it’s servitude.”
“So we can’t agree.”
“Nope.” The ground around Saki’s feet pulverized with the weight of her power crushing into them. “Then I’ll make it easy for you in all of your stalling and hesitating.”
‘Don’t do this Saki! There’s no going back from this now if you do!’
There was no need to sense anything. Masayuki could see her telegraph her intent. He had to release his team and prepare for the assault. If he did not give her his everything, he was not going to survive her attack.
The three that remained conscious on his team attempted to move to act, but Saki’s speed exceeded their expectations. They all completely missed her as she struck Masayuki head on. The collision of her power ripped a massive shockwave through the air and behind him tearing up the earth in a semi-circle around him.
A blast of wind blew backwards hitting Masayuki’s team and Hiroshi and Tatsuya as they were all left in stunned awe of the two’s clash. Tatsuya held his arms up trying to see through the thick dust cloud kicked up by the wind that Saki’s punch created. “Damn, she was holding back against me!”
“You’ve still got quite a bit of power in you for being exhausted,” Masayuki remarked holding back Saki’s punch with one hand. His feet showed signs of having been pushed back about half a meter from where he used to stand.
She smirked back at him to hide her displeasure with the situation. “And you’re more than just talk.”
Chapter 363 – Broken Calm
“Damnit, Saki, this isn’t the time,” Hiroshi complained, noticing that more and more of the people part of Takako’s army were waking up. They were out of time. A problem none of them were prepared to handle was thrust upon them.
Forcing the fight to come to an end, Hiroshi activate his game power to bring everyone to a holding pattern. It allowed things to quickly die down between Masayuki and Saki. “All of you, we don’t have the time for fighting! You’re all under my power’s influence so don’t move.”
“What the hell did you do to us?” Umari demanded, unable to move even a centimeter.
“It’s how my power works. I’m not going into the details since it’s not important. Just know you can’t move until I release you.”
“What are you doing, Hiroshi?”
“I’m putting things back where they need to be Saki! We have thousands of people that were under the influence of Takako and they’re waking up now. We don’t know what their mental state is or how they’re going to react. But they need our help right now!” Hiroshi looked over to Masayuki and the UN soldiers, not happy about the situation. “Now look, I know we’re not all getting along peacefully right now, but we need to put these things aside. The innocent people harmed by Takako need our help and there’s even more hands right now. Can you put all of your bloodlust and need for justice aside for one hour and just help people that are confused, lost and frightened?!”
He was not sure if he was getting through to Masayuki, who he needed on board more than anything. Without him, everything would collapse as he would just go around fighting or arresting people. “Yes, these people did terrible things, but they’re also frightened and scared. They’re not going to know what happened or why they were made to do horrible things to people they called friends and family. So do what you claim to be here to do and protect these people! Help them!”
“Captain?”
Masayuki looked around as much as he could with an otherwise frozen body. He could hear the screams of the people waking up. And they stopped becoming screams and turned into a voices. Pleads came from all corners needed help.
“What’s going on?”
“I-I killed someone…”
“My husband’s…I-I-I…”
“My friends?!”
“…I can’t…”
“M-make it stop! The voices!”
“…I want to…die…”
“Kill me!”
Tatsuya turned his head about in a panic hearing all of the voices. He recalled Yori’s words and started to understand the weight of things that they bore now. “Damnit-to-hell!”
Still tired from his fight, Hiroshi had trouble holding up his powers. He hoped that he had an effect. “What is it going to be? I’m holding these people back, but this can’t last forever. The real danger is around us, not in front of you. Make your decision, please!” Collapsing to one knee, his powers were starting to fading. Straining his mind as far as it could, he struggling to hold out until he heard what he needed from Masayuki.
‘This is more complicated than I expected… There isn’t going to be a simple and easy way to handle this.’ He was the officer in charge and he made to make a call. Everyone was looking to him for a decision. Masayuki looked back at Saki who continued to only stare at him. She seemed to be judging him and his actions despite being unable to move. “You’re one weird girl,” he finally said with a sigh.
“And maybe you’re not so bad.”
“Are we in agreement then?” demanded Hiroshi. One hand pressed into the earth supporting his body as he felt his brain being pulled apart to its very threads by his power.
“Yes, until this situation is under control I won’t be arrest or charging anyone. There’s more important matters. But I have one condition.”
“What?”
“You all seem to have an unusual involvement in the matters. I want a full explanation of what happened.”
“Agreed.”
“Then we have a deal. Listen up, as Captain I make this order. There will be no fighting. Only give aid and support to those in trouble or injured. Anyone caught attempting anything else will answer directly to me! Understood?” He got quick acknowledgements from the normal humans under him that were more than happy to have things resolved in such a matter. They were too far out of the depth for such issues. However, his team specifically stayed quiet. “Am I understood? Or do I need to be more persuasive?”
“Yes, sir!” they all barked reluctantly.
“Good.”
“Finally…” Hiroshi collapsed to the dirt releasing his power. His friend quickly went to his side to help him up. A peace or maybe a ceasefire had been brokered even it was under duress. It was progress. However, the future of the people, the innocents was a completely different problem.
The price spent by Takako started to become apparent that they were all in over their heads. Their troubles had only started.
To be continued…
Curious? There's no limits but your own imagination.
Don't know how to roleplay, but want to learn? Visit Here!
2007 and 2009 Best Writer of TFF and 2009 Most Creative Co-Winner
-
Hiroshi managed to calm the tension in the air between Masayuki and Saki, but that did not do anything to change the eerie atmosphere that permeated throughout the entire grounds of the former school. Even with an agreement no one knew what was going on. And Hiroshi found that he was not in the best condition, especially after the last use of his power. “Damnit…”
“Hey man, you ain’t allowed to be dying right here.”
“I didn’t realize that I needed permission from you.”
“If you’ve still got your sense of humor you’re alive enough to move.” Tatsuya eased him to his feet with a little caution. He tested to see if he could stand without any support.
The ground felt a little further away from him in a lightheaded sort of way. One false step felt like he would trip over his own clumsiness. “Some friend you are.” However, he did not get any more time for playful banter. Voices of people surrounding them reminded him that he had more important things to worry about than his own pain. There were others with far worse problems.
Hiroshi pushed off with his mind focused again towards the issue ahead. There was a mass of people all still recovering from the sudden loss of their master. Thanks likely to Yuki’s power enhancing their bodies was the only reason that they survive the battle. Though from the looks, they did not survive unharmed, in more than one meaning of the word.
He hurried as much as his body allowed him to do so over to the people that he could see. The worst of them looked to be a middle aged woman and a young teenage boy, probably from middle school. “How much pain are you in?” he asked kneeling down.
“What have I been doing?”
“It’ll be fine, ma’am. We’re here to help you.”
She lifted up her head to look at Hiroshi. “You…you look familiar…why?”
‘Probably because Takako ordered you to fight me.’ He kept his focus and looked around at the others trying to gauge injuries. They looked mostly survivable without immediate attention. Looking back, he saw that no one else was moving.
Hiroshi jumped up to his feet. “What the hell are you all standing around waiting on orders?! There’s more people here than there are us. So fan out and start finding the ones that need immediate attention!”
“Yes, sir!” snapped the soldiers. The UN soldiers began to fan out and evacuate their vehicle. Masayuki got looks from his men and he just motioned to them.
“Hey Mr. Captain!”
“Masayuki.”
“Fine, Masayuki, anyone on your team got healing powers?”
“We’re only a combat team.”
“Damnit, maybe someone here has some. Our doctor still back tending to our injured.”
Masayuki watched Hiroshi yell at Tatsuya to get moving. Then he started to snap at Saki to get the rest of the group moving. ‘Who is this kid? He’s not just a random stranger. He’s used to doing this…’
“Just because you’re the Captain doesn’t mean you get to do nothing either. We all need to pitch in.”
“I don’t need to be told that.”
“Then don’t!” Hiroshi rushed off to the next unattended group that he could find. They had their work cut out for them.
Chapter 364 – Broken Lives
The first ten minutes was the worst. Though that was a highly subjective point given that most of them were not used to dealing with people like it was a waiting room in an emergency room of a hospital. There was just too many people and once they all started to realize that there was even some help, they started targeted them for answers and aid. Each minute after got progressively worse and yet easier. It was a terrible feeling for them.
“Anyone nearby?! I need help now!” snapped Saki as she had three people very awkward pinned around her arms and legs. She had run out of limbs. “Tatsuya, now!”
Tatsuya ran over to Saki with a shocked look on her face trying to help the people that she was pinning. “What the hell, Saki?! We’re helping them not fighting!” Immediately, he pulled one of them free from her legs and let them go while helping the next.
“No stop it!” Saki released the two that she had to immediately go after the one that Tatsuya freed only to be too late. Blood sprayed everywhere across her face and Tatsuya as he stood paralyzed in shock. Not able to even mourn the death another cry of pain came from the ones that she released. “Damnit!” She quickly jumped back stopping the two teenage girls from killing themselves even with blood covering them from their attempts.
Saki managed to save them, though she was not sure how bad their injuries were. They aimed for their wrists, which was harder than the other that went straight for the throat. She looked over at Tatsuya still locked up. “Tatsuya?!” Nothing was getting through. Resorting to her feet, she kicked him over while her hands managed the two girls.
Still stunned but coming to a little bit of awareness, he looked up at her. The blood soaked on his skin only made his emotions appear more frightened. “S-saki…”
“I can’t deal with this alone. I need your help! Get me something to tie them up!”
“R-right!” He tried to get back to his feet, but stumbled and slipped. Thankfully, Nerine was in the area and saw what Saki was struggling with. She had the look of already knowing what was happening. It seemed that she had things prepared and materialized an unknown metal material that wrapped around their arms and legs.
Freed up, Saki did what she could to wipe away the blood from her face, but her uniform already struggled with it. “Thanks, Nerine. Where Yuki and Seiji?”
“Seiji took Yuki back to the safety of Kuroda’s base.”
“Good, keeping them at Hiroshi’s will keep him out of sight of the UN. I don’t need that man finding Yuki, not after what you said happened. He’s probably already on their list after that showdown.” She lifted up the two girls effortlessly. “I’ll take these two back. I found several more unconscious back here. If you can tend to their injuries.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Thanks.” She began marching off in the direction of the temporary camp. It had only been an hour, but Masayuki wasted no time getting things broken out. Support teams from the UN were already arriving under direct command of Masayuki keeping things a little tense among Saki and the others, but they needed the hands.
Coming up besides Saki, Tatsuya forcibly grabbed one of the girls to lighten Saki’s load, not that it was anything that was going to slow her down. “Sorry, I panicked.”
“You didn’t know. I’ve mostly only been finding them alone, so it’s been easier. But three of them…”
“Damnit! Why did this have to happen?”
“Don’t stop moving.”
Tatsuya looked at Saki’s back, as he paused. He did not understand it. “How? H-how can you…”
“I don’t have the option. That’s why I said not to stop moving. The moment you do, then you’re already in the trap.”
“Saki…”
“They need us, even if they don’t want us. Focus on that, not yourself.”
He hurried up to her side to keep her pace. It still did not become clear to him. Yet he saw the awkward resolve that Saki set herself upon. Somehow her back looked completely bent over and broken, despite being straight and tall to carry the world if she had. He did not understand how she could do it. ‘She looks broken, but she’s still moving forward… Was she always this strong?’
At the temp camp, Masayuki snapped out orders to the newly arriving soldiers that carried much needed supplies. Off to the right side, Hiroshi helped several dozen new faces that Saki had not seen since the last time. “I’ve got two more for detention.”
Masayuki visibly dropped his shoulders hearing that as he finished his orders. The medical supplies finally arrived along with some doctors to help look after the injured. He turned around to meet Saki as Hiroshi rotated. “That makes thirty-nine now… It’s getting worse.”
“And I doubt this is the last that we’ll see,” Hiroshi remarked solemnly, “All of these people were under Takako’s power. They did and saw terrible things. Even those injured that seem fine might be at risk.”
“This isn’t like anything we’re prepared to handle.”
“None of us are prepared, but we can’t abandon them.”
“I wouldn’t suggest it. We have a duty to help everyone.”
“Good.”
“The number of people out searching and helping have doubled. So I think it’s about time you started explaining this situation.” Masayuki stared at Saki and Hiroshi making it very clear that he knew that they were hiding a lot from him still. The way they spoke and barely even seemed to skip a beat on things, there were things that the UN clearly did not know that somehow these teens did.
Saki and Hiroshi looked between each other in silence. She gave Hiroshi a slight approving look for him to give the talk. Hiroshi was prepared for it, even though he would have preferred to wait until everything was handled. “I can give you the short version. We still have a lot to do, so I can’t get us lost in details.”
“Who’s this Takako person you keep referring to?”
“She was a student at this school and a classmate.”
“Before the incident, you mean.”
“That’s right. However, after the incident, she was attacked and hospitalized. We thought she had gone into a coma or vegetative state, she wouldn’t respond or react to us.”
“How did this happen then?”
“Takako didn’t fully explain the situation before she died. But someone rescued her and did something to heal her mind. She somehow figured out her powers and to fully recover she used them on others.”
“What was her power?”
“A variant of mind control, she could enter people’s mind and leave something of her there. Which had two side effects, she could control them if they survived the mental strain or they’d break and run off base instincts with no will or conscious to guide them.”
“So she ordered them to kill people.”
“Not always, those running off instincts probably did it on their own. Which is probably the ones that we’re finding right now that are trying to kill themselves. They can’t take what they’ve done.”
“Those ordered by this Takako have a bit of an escape goat for them to rationalize things.”
“Yes, but I don’t know how long that will last. We could be facing hundreds more in the future tempting suicide or falling into depression.”
Saki interjected in to end things. “Either way, this situation isn’t over by a long shot. Even with Takako dead, her hands are still moving. And we still haven’t even found everyone yet.”
“Does the UN have enough facilities to manage this?” inquired Hiroshi. He knew their base back where his people recovered already filled to capacity with people. There was nowhere to take them.
Masayuki glanced back at the detention area. They were the makeshift cells they used to hold criminals and they were already running out of them. He ordered all of the available cells from headquarters. It was not going to be enough. “No, we aren’t equipped for a situation on this scale.”
“Then what were you planning on doing? Killing everyone?”
“Saki, stop!”
Silence overcame Masayuki as he had to face the reality of his mission. It was not the sort of thing he prepared for and making the best of it took him where he stood now. “I didn’t have any useful intel. I didn’t know how many people were here.”
“If it wasn’t for me, you would have all ended up getting yourself killed or captured!”
The Captain could not say anything in response to Saki. He knew that she was right. They had gone in completely confident of their power with no clue to the situation. It was the reason that the whole zone was restricted by the higher ups. They could not do anything about it. ‘What would have I done? Mind control? I could have killed the people I want to protect…’
Hiroshi could see how much Masayuki was beating himself up of the situation. It was going to lock him up if he allowed it to continue. “We need to find a place to put them. How about the hospitals? We’ve got several in the city and there should be ways we can secure people in them to keep them from killing themselves, right?”
Still lost in thought, it took Saki knocking him in the shoulder to get his mind back. “Huh? Right, hospitals. I’ll have to talk to my superiors to get manpower diverted. I can’t be asking a bunch of kids to be doing this.”
“I’ve got a doctor in my group and a bunch of adults with nothing to do.”
Things were starting to get to the point that Masayuki could not keep quiet about it. “Who are you and what group do you belong to?”
“I’m not in his group,” Saki immediately declared.
“We don’t really have a name. But I ended up becoming the leader. We’re just a bunch of people from this neighborhood that gathered up to protect those when Takako started killing. But with peace now here, we can start working towards stabilizing the city again.”
“How many are in your group?”
“Less than a hundred now, Takako killed most of us. But we’re wanting to help keep our city peaceful and safe.”
“It might be tough to convince my superiors, but I think it would be beneficial if you helped us with this. You know the people here better than I do. I’m from Tokyo. So I’m still getting use to the city.”
“Tokyo? So the other cities are fine?”
“No, they’re worse. Tokyo’s…a nightmare right now…”
“Oh…damnit…can’t anywhere catch a break?!”
“What do you think of working together, Mr. Kuroda?”
“Call me Hiroshi, Mister is too stuffy for me. But if you promise me to not treat them like criminals, but victims then I think we can work together.” Hiroshi extended his hand out towards Masayuki. In the middle of the darkness, a thin ray of hope appeared.
To be continued…
Curious? There's no limits but your own imagination.
Don't know how to roleplay, but want to learn? Visit Here!
2007 and 2009 Best Writer of TFF and 2009 Most Creative Co-Winner
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