Chapter 4 - "Birds Of A Feather, Let us Flock Together"

Now isn't that just a coincidence? A woman and some men, dressed in nice, fancy suits looking for a girl that can apparently turn concrete into dust just by punching it. I'm not one for conspiracies, but this smells like something straight out of a movie. Is she with the government? Is she with the girl? Or... Is she with the ones that tried to kill the girl?

...

Everything would be so much simpler If I could just ask them, but I just know they're going to give me a half-assed answer. Still, it's worth a try, right?

"Hmm. What? Is she a criminal or something?" I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. Not exactly the smartest thing to say, but I'm not a master of deception.

"She's the daughter of a very wealthy man," the woman answers without a hint of hesitation. "She's run away from home and her father is very worried."

Yeah, just like I thought. That's such a bullshit answer that anyone remotely paying attention could see through. Then again, If I hadn't seen her kick a robot into a wall, I might have just believed her... what does that say about me, I wonder?

"MBI..." I whisper. That name, why does it sound so familiar? Where have I heard it before?

"Men in black?" Hans mumbles, a small chuckle slipping from his lips. All eyes turn to him. Ah! That's probably it.

"Is something funny?" I nearly wince at the woman's scalding tone. It's amazing how her voice can be so sharp, yet her face looks so neutral. I guess that's just how professional people are.

"Sorry, the name just reminded me of an old movie," Hans says, covering his nervous smile with a cough.

The woman shakes her head and blows a sigh.

"Mid Bio Informatics." She spat out. "Now, are you going to answer the question?"

I turn to Hans, giving him a look. Understanding flashes in his eyes and he hands the floor over to me.

The hell am I doing? I don't even know that girl, so why am I about to lie for her?

"Sorry, but we haven't seen anyone like that."

There's just... something in the back of my mind. It's whispering into my ear, filling me with a strange, longing sensation. The closes I can describe it as would be someone looking after their family. If some stranger barged into my house and started asking questions about them, I'd obviously turn them away.

The question is, why am I feeling like this?

"I see," the woman lets out a breath and reaches into her suit. "It's a shame."

She takes a few steps back and looks me in the eyes. A lance of pain shoots through my skull. It's as if someone had just stabbed a searing, red-hot poker into my brain.

"I had hoped we could settle this without incident."

I see the gun rising from her coat before she starts moving her hand out. A bullet whizzes through my head and takes my life, yet that hasn't happened yet. The future fizzles away like fog on a windshield.

"I-"

My heart leaps out of my chest and into my throat. The buzzing at the back of my head rises into a deafening crescendo. I don't want to die!

"Lee, are you-"

Hans, too focused on me, fails to spot the woman drawing her gun.

I don't.

With all the vengeance of a death that could have been, I reach out with my invisible "limb" and squash the gun in her hand into a tiny ball. The plastic and metal explode, sending tiny shards spraying in all directions.

The woman screams as the metal and plastic bits slice through her fingers and palm. It's nothing lethal or even that deep, but it has to hurt like a bitch.

Not nearly as much as getting a bullet through your brain, though.

"Mam!"

"What the hell?!"

The two other guards reach into their suits, trying to draw their guns, I guess. Hans' eyes flash through a dozen thoughts. He moves like lightning, crossing the distance between him and the two in a single step. Though, like me, he's not exactly an expert when it comes to fights.

He doesn't need to be, though.

His elbow smashes into the hand of the leftmost man. The sounds of cracking bone, shattering plastic, and warping metal ring out through the area. A second later, it's the sound of the man's agonizing screams. Hans freezes in place, the deadly, focused eyes he had a second ago vanishing. In their place are the eyes of a scared, young man whose guilt is running loose.

That doesn't stop him from turning on the other man, though.

"Bastard!" the armed man shouts as he raises his gun and slowly pulls the trigger. Hans's eyes snap toward him and he reacts like some superhero. He grits his teeth and lunges to the left, dodging the bullet by a hairsbreadth and performing some sort of somersault. The instant his feet touch the ground, he's off like a missile.

The asshole never has a chance. Hans's fist smashes into his face before he can even turn his head. With enough force to send a few teeth flying, Hans' slams the guy into the ground and then stomps on his gun, breaking it.

Jesus Christ. What the hell just happened?

The woman's pained screams have faded, replaced by hissing and groans. One of her men lays unconscious, while the other is gasping for breath.

"W-What the hell?" she coughs out, clutching her hand. "I-I never knew... what numbers? Who are you?"

Ah shit. What the hell did I just get us into?

"N-Number one-o-four, get out here!"

The woman screams.

What? A number? What is she talking about?

"Someone's coming!" Hans shouts, pointing toward the gate. I narrow my eyes, trying to get a better look at the dark dot. A woman?

She turns her head toward us, and I blink. That's all the time it takes her to slice through the front gates and make it half-way up the hill.

Jesus Christ. How is she moving so god damned fast?! The woman is on top of us in mere moments. To me she's a grey and a white blur, speeding through the land. The glint of metal flashed in my peripheral vision.

"Lee!" Hans shouts, transforming into a brown streak. He reaches out, a glowing, violet construct materializing in his hands. A sword.

Sparks fly as metal grinds against his swords, halting the woman's charge. For just a second, I catch a glimpse of her. Silver hair paired with eyes as sharp as the clawed gauntlets she wears, the girl sends shivers down my spine. Bandages cover every strip of flesh below her neck and what seems to be a shredded jacket hangs on her body. A symbol rests atop the right side of her jacket, just above her perky breasts. Something in the back of my head shouts at me.

I know that symbol!

"What the hell are you doing, one-o-four!" the suited woman hisses through gritted teeth as she rises to her feet. "Take them out!"

The silver-haired girl narrows her eyes, sending a cutting lance of fear up my back. Hans bites his lip and freezes up.

"Where is she?!" the stranger asks and lashes out with those wicked claws of hers.

Hans finally recovers, but he won't make it in time.

No!

The buzzing of a thousand, tiny wings rages within my mind. This time, however, there's something different. The beating sound of a heart racing through eternity accompanied by a desperate longing to return home. These aren't my feelings, they're-

The world slows to a crawl, but so does my body. My vision splits in two. On one side, I see the clawed girl slicing through Hans' cheeks, taking one of his ears in the process. He dodges and counters with a kick.

The other side shows what's happening right now.

There's no doubt, this is another one of those weird powers. If it's showing me the future, then I'll do everything in my power to stop it!

The turbulent buzzing rises in intensity, transforming into a symphony that drives me forward. I reach out, letting loose a rolling wave of… well, me. I don't know how to describe it, but it feels as if part of my consciousness reaches out and gently taps Hans' shoulder. The buzzing lessens and his aura swells in radiance.

"Ah!"

He easily slips out of harm's way, moving like the wind. The deadly claws slice through empty air, only managing to take off a hair or two instead of his ear.

Hans stands there for a fraction of a second, eyes wide and a look of wonder on his face. The moment doesn't last. He steps forward, far faster than before and swings at her, though he pulls back his sword at the last second and smashes a fist into the girl's gut instead. Her body bends around his arm and a moment later, his face is covered in bile and saliva. The girl goes flying, smashing into the ground and bouncing off the grass. Once, twice, and then on the third, she flips herself back onto her feet. She falls to her knees, hands clutching at her stomach.

"Ah!" That, however, wasn't a very smart thing to do. Did she forget that she had razor-sharp knives on her finger?!

Hans wipes his face and digs tiny chunks of half-digested food from his eyes.

Blood stains the bandages around the girl's midsection and she turns to Hans, murder in her gaze.

"You're going to pay for that!" she hisses and brandishes her bloodstained claws.

What? She did that to herself!

"A-Are you serious?" the agent woman shouts. In that split second of combat, she'd managed to worm herself a short distance away. "I didn't hear about them! Males are rare enough, but two?"

That… are they working for the people that kidnapped us? No. There's something off here, I know it. What is it? Why is this whole situation so god damned familiar?

"One-o-four, just kill them! We'll figure it out later!"

The silver-haired girl nods and gets back onto her feet. She takes a deep breath and focuses. Then it hits me. A wave of something, not unlike the energies Hans and I release when using our powers washes over the area. It's not the same, though the sensation is similar. This is lighter, less refined, and ephemeral in nature. If our powers are like a raging gale, then hers would be a tiny whisper within the storm.

Yet, one thing is certain. Her aura has a sharpness to it that can't be ignored.

Everyone stands their ground. Like a Mexican standoff, a weight bears down on our shoulders. The moment someone so much as twitches, all hell will break loose. However, my powers don't need me to move.

I reach deep inside myself and let the buzzing of countless insects into my mind. Something within my mind sings. Like a tuning fork, the sound echoes into the void. It should have been a silent, invisible attack, but the girl somehow notices. Her eyes had been firmly glued to Hans, yet the instant I reached out, she snapped her head to me and leapt to the left.

An invisible fist of force smashes down where she should have been. Confusion flashes within the girl's eyes. She's not the only one confused, of course.

Just, how?

Unfortunately, that's a question I won't have the answer to right now. The instant her feet touch the ground, she launches herself forward. The very earth is sundered as dozens of cuts follow her charge, scaring the green field. Her hands transform into a hurricane of lethal swings that rake across the earth. Getting close to her is suicide.

She continues her deadly dance, approaching Hans at speeds where a single blink is enough to decide the battle.

Once again, I throw a number of telekinetic attacks at the girl, and once more, she seems to realize that they're coming before they strike. Her confusion gives way to confidence and she practically ignores my attacks from then on.

Hans, even with his increased speed, has trouble putting the woman down. He's faster but far less skilled. Every swing is predicted and countered, only for him to narrowly avoid the girl's claws in return. It's no surprise, considering he's probably never used a sword in his life.

However, this turns out to be the girl's greatest mistake. She completely ignores me. I wrack my mind at anything that could possibly help turn the tides and a thought comes to mind. I could try making my own constructs, but there's no way I can keep up with either of them in a physical fight. However, there's something else. The night I saved the girl, I used another power. It was healing, but is that all it can do?

I search within my mind, looking for it and it responds.

She steps forward, pressuring Hans backwards. The very grass beneath her feet burst forward. They rise and thicken uncontrollably. Like boa-constrictors, they coil around her legs and hold her in place. She desperately cuts away at them with her claws, but that's exactly what I was hoping she'd do.

Unable to dodge or move, she's wide open. A gale of force crashes into her, smashing her to the ground. Hans is on top of her a moment later. With overwhelming force, he grabs her clawed hands and holds her down.

She kicks, bites, and tries to wiggle out of his hold. The battles over. Once more, I call on the plants to restrain her.

She continues to struggle for a few minutes before finally admitting defeat.

"Ah… no fair…" she whines in a voice I'd call monotone. Her eyes looking up at me. "I guess you'll just have to take me to her now, right?"

What the actual fuck?

"Where do you think you're going?" Hans shouts.

I don't know if it was a distraction, but the other woman had tried to slip away. I easily pick her up and drag her back with a bit of telekinetic force.

Ok, this is getting a bit easier now.

Unfortunately, the surprises don't end there. The sound of shattering glass reaches my ears. A girl bursts out of our house, raining tiny shards of glass down onto the front porch. She lands right in front of us. Pink hair, a look practically screaming "annoyed," oh, and absolutely no clothing to speak of. Those cheeks of hers are bare for the world to see, as are those cherry-red nipples.

It's the girl I saved, though she seems a bit out of it.

"What the hell's going on?" she groans, clutching her head and taking in the situation. "Huh? Haihane? What are you doing here? No, wait, where am I?"

Oh… great.

How could this possibly get any worse?

"K-Kurasaba?"

The bound agent asks. Wait, is she talking into her collar?

No, wait, Kurasuba? Haihane? Number one-o-four? MBI?

...

Oh.

Oh shit...