World of Katekyo Hitman Reborn!: The Hyperides Famiglia
Chapter 01: Scion Nikos
The almost totally smooth side of the mountain stretched to the sky, waiting for them to climb it to the highest point on Pelacidos.
"This should actually be fun," Alesandro said as he dropped the heavy rope and grapnel off his shoulder and onto the rocky ground at his feet, and get a safety harness out of his bag. He looked exactly the type to enjoy something like climbing a mountain: tall, leanly muscled, with thick brown hair and a handsome, rugged face. To most people he looked like he was getting into his twenties even though that wouldn't be for years still, and as he smiled his teeth seemed to catch the light of the sun at just the right angle to make it even more dazzling.
"You know what's waiting for us when we get to the top," his companion grumbled quietly. "What we're going to spend all afternoon doing." Unlike Alesandro, he was shorter, skinnier, his face small and unremarkable except for shining grey eyes. His hair was a dark brown just like Alesandro's, but carefully combed and coiffed like he was on his way to a fancy prep school. As if the island even had one.
The remark only made Alesandro smile even wider and give him a slap between the shoulders, making the smaller boy stumble forward. "So at least this time they're letting us have some fun and cut loose before we get up there. Let's try to enjoy it, Nikos."
The smaller boy nodded, the grimace on his face fading, and got a harness of his own and strapped himself into it. Alesandro took the end of the rope with the grapnel and gave it a few powerful swings. He let it go and the hook arced through the air until it caught on the edge of a crag. He gave it a couple of tugs and then made the "ok" sign with his fingers, smiling again. It seemed like he never stopped, honestly. But then, Nikos couldn't help being glad of that.
Alesandro went first, not exactly scaling the mountain wall like a spider but finding places to grip much more easily than Nikos himself could, and hauling them up the wall with ease thanks to his greater strength.
The smaller boy glanced down at the ring on his finger-a simple gold band with a dark blue stone—and wondered if they were already being tested. If someone from back at the manor was watching them climb the mountain, and if he was expected to use that to get to the top and show them how precise his control was getting.
"Something on your mind, Nick?" Alesandro called down at him, breaking Nikos out of his thoughts.
"What makes you ask something like that out of nowhere?" Nikos coughed.
"I've been waiting for you to start following me for a couple minutes now," his friend replied, smiling sympathetically down at him. He hung on a narrow ledge, waiting patiently for his friend to follow him up.
That's right, Nikos decided. If they were watching him after all, they'd be expecting him to focus on the job at hand. He reached up and grabbed a ledge, starting up after his friend. Alesandro nodded and started scaling the rock up to where they'd sunk the hook.
Neither of them paid any attention to the small white seaplane circling the sky above the island. As they got to the ledge halfway up, neither of them saw it land in the water. Two more hours later as they finally crawled over the edge to the top and went inside a round grey building, they didn't see the two men in scuba gear climb out of the seaplane and jump into the ocean.
Waiting for the two teens inside was a handsome woman, her curly brown hair done up in a short bob that was enticing despite the yellow worker's coveralls she had on. A few wrinkles were starting to form around her mouth, accentuated as she smiled when she saw them coming in. She walked over and clapped her gloved hands down on Alesandro's shoulders. "Looks like you're breathing hard, boys! Enjoy the climb?" she asked.
He thumped his chest. "It was a great warm-up, Dame Hyperides!"
She flinched then tweaked his ear. "Now Alex…don't call me that, I've told you better."
"Heh heh heh!" he chuckled, not showing a sign of pain. After a few seconds she let go and walked over to Nikos.
With him, she gently leaned forward and stroked his hair. "Did you like the climb, Nikos?"
"It was ruined a little knowing we were just coming up here for training."
"Training is important, dear," she said, smiling and stroking his chin trying to coax a smile out of him too.
He stepped back away from her finger. "I know. Can't anything else ever be important?"
"Someday it'll save your life," she replied.
Nikos looked down. "Can we just get started, mom? What exercise is it today?"
She waited a few seconds, maybe hoping he'd relax and say something else. He didn't and she straightened up. "It'll be 'Tsunami' for you today, Nikos. Alesandro, it'll be 'Riot' for you."
"My favorite," Nikos said without looking up again.
His mother's face stiffened a little. "The time requirements are going to be a little tougher today, boys. You'll be having to stay up for ten minutes."
"That's twice as long as before!" Niko exclaimed.
She folded her arms in front of herself, her face hardening slightly and her mouth shifting into a thin line. It was the same look she took on when she'd tried to look authoritative ever since he was little. He looked up again and easily met her at her own level now. "If you're in real danger, whatever's threatening you won't care about you being comfortable," she said.
"Let's just get started," Nikos said and walked past the two of them.
As he disappeared down the hallway, Alesandro looked at Nikos's mother. "He's having a tough time right now."
She shook her head. "Don't cover for him, Alesandro. Not around us. Soon he's going to have to how his abilities to other people. If he lives or dies could depend on it."
"Sorry, ma'am."
"Just go on. You're going to need to show people your abilities too," she said.
"I'll make the famiglia proud!" Alesandro grinned and ran off in the familiar direction of that training room. Nikos's mother watched him go for a few steps, then went down another hall and up a flight of stairs to a room full of control banks and monitors, overlooking a wide room with a rectangular swimming pool taking up nearly all the space. Two technicians wearing headsets were sitting at the controls and looked up as she came in.
"We're ready to begin whenever you are, ma'am," one of them announced.
Through the windows they could see Nikos enter the room with a pool, now wearing nothing but black speedos. "Don't go easy, gentlemen," his mother said to the technicians.
They gave each other uncertain looks, then one turned the big black dial in front of him all the way up.
In the room below, Nikos stood on the edge and clenched a fist with the hand he wore his ring on. He willed power to flow through his body, and collect there. The gem erupted with a spike of blue light, a disc of rippling silver just big enough to stand on formed above the surface of the pool. Nikos stepped on top of it and huge panels opened in the walls, revealing huge fans that roared to life.
The water in the pool rippled and whitecaps formed everywhere as the fans picked up, pushing Nikos back on his perch. He concentrated on his power and the rippling platform he was standing on grew wider.
He'd done this exercise a million times: he had to focus on his power and stay on the disc he'd created. Sharp Tide, his family called it, the energy formed by his Dying Will Flame of the Sea. It could be formed into any shape he wanted, but making enough to stand on was about the most he could manage yet.
If he let his control slip and the Sharp Tide faded away, he'd fall in the pool. If he couldn't control the Sharp Tide well enough to keep his balance and was blown off, he fell in the pool. Either way, falling in the pool meant he failed, and he had to start over until he could keep it up for a certain amount of time. As he'd gotten more control, the time he was expected to stay up had been getting longer and longer.
The winds seemed to pick up even more and Nikos slid back on the platform he'd made. He clenched his teeth and focused his energy underneath his feet, the Sharp Tide stretching forward and letting him step ahead to lean into the wind.
A wave whipped up and splashed against his knees. Nikos staggered for a second but he squinted and focused harder and shifted the shape of the platform, making it stretch to the left where his momentum took him and his foot came down. He managed to straighten up, and the platform shrank on the other side where he wasn't standing anymore.
Control, Nikos reminded himself as another high wave splashed against his back and the platform wobbled under the surprise and the cold. Then another one rose up in front and slammed into Nikos. Finally he couldn't resist anymore, and Nikos was thrown off his platform. Everything went dark as he fell back and disappeared underneath the water.
Immediately the fans shut down and after a minute the water stopped churning. Nikos swam to the surface and let out a hard breath. He got to the side of the pool and climbed out. The panels covering the fans opened again.
"That wasn't even half your time from before, Nikos," said his mother's voice over the loudspeaker. He even knew to expect the slight buzz at the end of every word.
"You want me to set a new record, I'll give you a new record," Nikos snapped. A new platform appeared over the pool, the spike of light from his ring turning into a crackling blue flame.
The starting buzz sounded and Alesandro smiled confidently, taking his place in the bright yellow circle in the very center of the room. He felt he was getting very good at this exercise, and was planning on putting on his best performance yet.
Suddenly a panel flipped open in the floor and a mannequin holding a club out at arm's length. It shot along its track up to where Alesandro was standing in the middle of the room, then spun, its club aimed at his shoulders.
Before he could defend himself against that, another one jumped up the floor behind him and swung a club at his knees. In the splitsecond before the two mannequins' weapons connected Alesandro forced power into the ring on his finger.
A wave of shining force rushed out from his body slammed the two mannequins back along their tracks. They bent back, sparks flying as the posts they were on were pushed by Alseandro's power against the back of the track. After a second the pushing force faded and the mannequins sank back into the floor, which had a few new burn scars on it thanks to all the sparks.
Rectangular panels flicked open in the walls and a grey metal bird shot out from one. Another bird from another side, and another bird from another side. Soon the air was full of them, and Alesandro was grinning as he focused his power again.
The gem on his ring flashed and a swirling cloud formed over it. The birds closed in as they flew, scraping his arms and shoulders with their sharp wings. Alesandro grimaced from the pain but waited as they came closer, until almost all of them were just a few feet away.
Then he released his power.
Thick blue energy blasted out of his ring and spiraled outward from his body until it filled the air around him with a rippling vortex that almost reached from floor to ceiling. A loud gurgling, roaring noise started issuing out as the energy snaked further and further outward, forming a shape like a whirlpool with Alesandro standing in the empty area at the center. The attacking birds were trapped in the winding stream of energy surrounding Alesandro and thrown around wildly inside it, crashing together and being smashed against the ground by all the force of of Alesandro's power.
More panels opened, this time in opposite corners of the ceiling. A pair of humanoid robots dropped out and landed with heavy thuds that almost made Alesandro stumble off-balance. They had on black leather jackets for some reason, had red goggles for eyes and three tubes sticking out of their mouths: short, long, and the last one extra-short and wide.
Both pointed their index finger at him like a gun, revealing a hollowed-out fingertip. But what came out weren't bullets. Instead powerful rushes of air came out that blew against the spiraling energy Alesandro had created. Big swathes of his power disappeared as the rushing air cut through them and pelted Alesandro in the face, the pain starting to weaken his concentration.
This only made him clench his teeth and the spiral of his power stretched out again. This time it snaked through the air at the nearer robot, who aimed his wind-gun at it, but the energy looped around its shot. The energy of the column rose up to the ceiling then came down on top of the robot. He struggled against it and started swinging his wind-gun around, but Alesandro clenched a fist and his power surged out, slamming the robot hard against the ceiling. The head and arm snapped off, then his body landed with a crash and didn't get up again.
The other robot realized he was Alesandro's only target and shot wind streams from both hands. Tiny divots were all that appeared in Alesandro's columns of power. One roaring stream of energy twisted through the air, dented but unstopped by the robot's wind-guns, and engulfed it just like the one before.
Alesandro clenched both fists and the current of the vortex whipped the attack robot all the way around the room and slammed it into the wall hard enough to crack it. Alesandro brought back his fist and thrust it forward and his power slammed the robot into the wall again. His metal head broke off on the first smash, his crushed hands flew off on the next one.
Then suddenly there was a deafening explosion Alesandro heard even over the gurgling roar of his own powers and the noise of the robot's destruction. The vortex started to break into small blue clouds as Alesandro's concentration slipped. A second later they disappeared entirely when the room shook hard enough to knock the boy off his feet completely.
As he lay on the floor trying to catch his breath, he wondered if this was a new part of the test. He'd never seen robots like those two, after all. But then red warning lights started spinning in the corners of the room and above the door.
Something bigger than their training was going on.
The artificial storm was picking up again in the pool room. Nikos was standing on a new platform of Sharp Tide. A wave whipped up in front of him, and he jumped off his platform, which broke up into tiny bits of silver light.
Snarling in anger Nikos lashed out with his fist and a blade of Sharp Tide formed in the air, cutting the wave down the middle. As Nikos came back down another platform appeared under him.
He'd barely gotten his footing when the winds picked up. Another wave, an even bigger one, came straight at him. Again Nikos jumped, and he focused on something he resented about his life.
He swung his fist straight up, thinking of the tiny town on the south tip of the tiny island. The only civilization he'd ever been allowed to see. The only other thing he could see was the mainland in the distance on a clear day. A blade of Sharp Tide as tall as Nikos himself was sliced through the wave and like before it disappeared letting him create a platform to land on.
The winds were getting stronger and Nikos thought of the island's yearly summer festival where he'd met Alesandro for the first time. Good, strong, reliable Alesandro. He was always up for anything, like sailing on those rare occasions Nikos's family would let him actually leave dry land. Or trying to talk Nikos up in front of the village girls (For all the good it did. They were always hypnotized by his flawless looks and his toned muscles).
Was he the only friend Nikos was ever going to have?
A fleck of blue fire erupted on his forehead as he whipped his hand up in anger, forming a wall on one side of his platform the blocked the wind that was pushing him back toward the edge.
"Madam Hyperides, I've never seen him generate that much Sharp Tide before," one operator looked up and explained.
She didn't seem to hear him, instead looking at a security monitor showing the entryway. Two hulking me in black suits and ties, with shiny black sunglasses, were stepping over the smoking remains of the security door leading outside.
"We've been breached," she hissed.
"You mean they're not part of the training?" one operator asked. The other slapped him on the back of his head.
Nikos's mother put on a golden ring with a purple gem. "Secure the training rooms. Don't let those two near the boys no matter what happens," she snapped at the operators, then went for the door.
"What are you going to do, ma'am?" the operator sputtered in disbelief.
"I'm going to keep my son safe. Idiot," she glowered at him before she stepped through the door and sealed it behind her.
As soon as she heard the heavy thunk of the door sealing behind her, she jumped the railing from the top of the stairs. She came down right in the middle of the hallway in front of the two intruders, her ring exploding with power that punched a small crater in the floor around her.
The two intruders stopped in their tracks. Neither of them flinched or sneered or showed any sign of being impressed by her show of force. "Who are you?" she demanded. "Why are you here?"
"Catherine Hyperides," one of them retorted. "Exceptional user of the Tidal Wave of Flame," he went on, sounding almost robotic.
But as he spoke the blank expression on his face changed to a sneer and he drew a pair of long curved swords out from under his coat. The name LUCA was engraved in large letters on the sides of the blades. The other intruder uncurled the heavy chain around his shoulder, ending in a heavy ball covered in thick spikes almost six inches long.
"Marginal Estuary Flame user," the second one said, not sounding at all like he was swinging a deadly chained weapon in front of him as he and his partner came closer.
She studied them, a smaller ring with a pink stone on her other hand shimmering. Catherine drew herself up to her full height and spoke in her hardest voice. "And from the look of you, the two of you must be Luca the Talent and Marl the Crush. I don't have to ask what you're doing here, do I?" She knew they couldn't be there for her, but she intended for them to know they were in for a fight.
"Hey Marl," chuckled Luca, spinning his swords in front of him once. "She wants to know why we're here. Why don't we show her?"
Then they rushed in her direction, but suddenly split off on different angles. Luca ran to her left and Marl ran to her right, swinging his mace at his side the whole time.
The pink ring shimmered again as she tried to anticipate their attack. That power had never been her strong point, but now it needed to be. If these two got past her, the boys were in for a right they weren't ready for…
Luca suddenly jumped and came diving at her with the tips of his blades held together, aimed at her throat. Catherine clenched her teeth and let herself fall back, Luca going flying over her.
She jumped up but just as she'd been expecting, Marl rushed her and let go of his mace. The spiked ball shot through the air and Catherine desperately sidestepped it but the spikes still scratched her stomach as they went past. She gasped and winced but fought an urge to fall down on her knees.
Had it been so long since she'd been in a fight? Was she getting that weak?
But Catherine shut her eyes for just a second and forced those thoughts of her mind. Her sons…her son and his best friend were depending on her to protect them and didn't even know it. This was her role as a mother. She wouldn't fail in it now.
Both assassins had collected themselves and were coming back for another attack. Luca knocked the blade of one of his swords against the other to make it ring, and grinned at the sharp sound it made, probably pleased with intimidating he thought he was. Marl just smirked as he loosened the chain and twirled his mace again, tossing it from one hand to the other.
She watched them, pink ring glowing softly while she concentrated for what she was going to try next. Her other ring, with a dark purple gem, started giving a dull glow of its own.
Suddenly she screamed and sprinted in between the two assassins. "ROARING END!" She slammed her fist into the ground with all her strength and a wall of rippling purple energy erupted from where her fist had touched the ground. It spread wide and pulled them off their feet and into the air. They were blown backward, right out the door of the training complex.
Luca held onto his swords but when he hit the ground like a bomb he bounced once then went still. Marl's mace spun crazily out of his grasp before both of them crashed down.
Catherine panted from unleashing so much power, something she hadn't done in a long time. But she knew she had to make sure the attackers were silenced before she could relax. She ran outside to where they'd landed, steeling herself for what she needed to do. She raised one hand above Luca's throat.
And froze as the pink ring she wore suddenly erupted with a bright shine.
Luca suddenly sat up and swung a sword while a green glow came from under one of his gloves, the arc of the blade leaving a crackling electric trail in the air.
Again Nikos shaped the platform into a wall in front of him to block most of the incoming wave. But his wave was higher than any he'd seen yet and the top washed over the top of his wall and smacked into his face. The Sharp Tide he stood on split apart and he fell back into the surging pool again.
The fans closed and the pool stopped churning, but after Nikos hauled himself out again he didn't walk to the edge of the pool. Instead he went to the automated doors that led into the room.
They didn't open.
"You," he said, pointing up at the control booth. "Open these up."
"…you haven't completed the exercise yet, sir," replied one of the operators over a loudspeaker.
"I don't care," Nikos replied sharply. "I've had enough of this bloody training for one day. Open these doors up right now."
There was no answer for a second. "…your mother's given specific instructions for you to stay until you've passed the exercise, sir."
"My mother is not going to be in charge of the famiglia someday," Nikos retorted, glaring up at the glass. The operators flinched back. "You open these doors, now, or I'm coming up there to do it myself." A fleck of aqua-colored light flickered in front of his forehead as he clenched his fists.
Again there was no answer for a second. When it came, the operator's voice was shaking. "We can't, sir. For your safety."
"My safety? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Nikos asked.
Suddenly he jumped back as the door shook on its rails.
"What's going on?" Nikos demanded. There was no answer from the operators, and as the door shook again he turn and ran back across the wet deck and dove into the pool as fast as he could. A second later the doors went flying off and the fireball of the explosion that did it spilled into the training room.
Nikos stayed underwater for almost the whole three and a half minutes he could've if he'd been in the mood to test his limits. But he wasn't, and after no more signs of a violent break-in he carefully rose to the surface of the pool.
Standing there on the deck waiting for him was a man in a tattered white shirt and black suit pants, his shoes scuffed and ripped. He had on shiny sunglasses and black leather gloves, the finger of one having been ripped back to reveal a ring set with a bright green stone. In his hands were a pair of shining curved swords, the name LUCA engraved onto them.
"Nikos Hyperides," he said, almost robotically. "Heir to the leadership of the Hyperides Famiglia, if I'm not much mistaken."
"And you're a killer sent to make sure that doesn't happen, if I'm not much mistaken," Nikos replied. The green ring on Luca's finger started to glow, and his swords hissed with sheaths of electricity. "Guess that answers my question," Nikos muttered.
"Lemme give ya a kiss, Nikos," Luca grinned before he came spinning at Nikos with his electrified swords held out.
For a second a cold, prickling ball seemed to bounce around in Nikos's stomach. A man who very clearly meant to kill him was only a few feet away. But trained reflexes took over, he thrust his arm up in front of him and focused on the heavy ring on his finger like he had a hundred thousand times before when he was being threatened by a wave.
A disc of Sharp Tide formed in midair and Luca's sword ricocheted off it. The assassin gasped in surprise and staggered away, giving Nikos a chance to spread his arms and reshape his summoned Sharp Tide into a long spear he sent flying at Luca.
Seeing the incoming attack, Luca dodged backward and Nikos twisted his arm, making the spear curve itself and pin his arms to his body.
Luca did the absolute last thing Nikos was expecting: he held up his swords and touched his own body. Electricity danced all over him, making him tremble and contort horrifically, but the Sharp Tide pinning him cracked then shattered.
Smoke rose from his body while Luca sank to one knee. Slowly his mouth opened in a disturbingly wide smile. "You're going to need to try harder than that, Nikos Hyperides," he said as he stood up, then walked closer with his swords throwing sparks from the blades.