Tokyo, Year 20XX

There was a gentle pattering of rain over the city of Tokyo. The sounds of car horns blared in the air, mixed with the distant rattling of thunder and wind as it moved through the city; it was a cloudy day. Flying above the city was a helicopter flying in a southwestern direction, the letters 'B.A.B.E.L' painted on its sides. Staring out the window was a ten year old girl, who bore a depressed expression. She sighed heavily, though whether it was because of the storm or something else wasn't known.

"Ten minutes ago, an ESPer capable of metamorphosis escaped from police custody," someone said over the chopper's internal loudspeakers. "Your job is to apprehend him before he causes any more problems, preferably 'alive' please." The person emphasized the word 'alive' and let it sink in for a few moments before continuing. "You have ten minutes."

The girl didn't say a word as a device located around her neck chimed and she could make out a faint bluish glow below her. She flexed her hand and then walked over to the open doorway. Here it was revealed that she was wearing a pair of light blue sweat pants with white line running down the sides with a red trim running along the edges. Her top consisted of a light red shirt and a purple cowl draped over her shoulders, and around her neck was a collar that had an oval with a diamond in the center. Around both of her wrists were black bands, and on her feet she wore a pair of military issued combat boots . "Get to work," the voice said over the loudspeaker. The girl looked up at it, then gave it the middle finger before jumping out of the chopper.

As she fell through the air, she looked down and spread her arms out. She loved flying: it made her feel at least somewhat free. After a moment, she straightened herself out and flew to just two hundred feet above the ground, weaving between buildings while searching for the criminal.

Below she could see people going about their daily lives, some shopping, others going to work. She saw some kids who were running through the rain without umbrellas. Wish I was normal, she sighed, and shook her head before noticing a police car with its sirens wailing a short distance below and ahead of her. She followed the car for some distance, before a smile cracked across her face: there, running along the side of the road, was a fox that had orange fur with red strips running through it. It glanced over its shoulder at the police car, apparently not noticing her just yet.

There was a distant flash of lightning followed by the sound of thunder, causing the girl to slow her flight down a bit, [i]I hate lightning,[/i] she whimpered belatedly as another bolt of lightning flashed. As she glanced up at the sky she shook her head, and looked ahead in time to avoid hitting a light pole, which she flew under and missed by barely a foot and continued after the criminal.

After another glance at the car, the fox took off through a large crowd of people; some screamed, and others got out of the way. She kept on him though, and watched him from above, waiting for her chance to strike. When she saw it disappear down a subway entrance, she scowled and let out a slew of mental curses.

She flew down to the entrance and floated there for a moment to watch him, then took off after him. "Coming through!" she shouted as pedestrians got out of the way. Some muttered 'Is that an ESPer?' while others kept quiet or gasped in surprise.

When she was halfway down, she caught sight of a trashcan flying through the air but didn't have time to stop as it smacked her in the head. She recoiled backwards for a moment and grabbed her head, then shook the stars out of her vision and continued. When she arrived on the bottom step she cursed at herself; she couldn't see the fox anywhere.

"Where did he go?" she said, looking around frantically. The sound of the storm outside played hell with her hearing and thus she didn't hear the footsteps behind her until it was nearly too late. She blinked and glanced over her shoulder, seeing a man in his late twenties wielding a large pipe. He swung, but she sidestepped before spinning over him and then sweeping his legs out from under him.

He landed on his back and looked straight up at the girl before morphing back into a fox and scurrying away, but he didn't get far before the ground beneath him erupted and he was tossed into the air. He landed on his side, and his form changed back to that of a human.

Shaking his head a bit, he looked back at the girl, "W-what the hell are you?" he asked before he saw a red glow form in her hand. "Shit! A government Esper!" he scurried back to his feet again and tried to flee, but didn't get to far before the girl knelt down and slammed her hand into the ground. The ground began to shake, causing the man to come to a stop as he looked around. Beneath his feet several earth-like tentacles appeared and wrapped around his legs. The tentacles whipped backwards, causing him to fall flat on his stomach.

Somewhat dazed, he lay there as the girl approached him, but when she got close enough he pulled a gun out of waist band and pointed it at her. Her expression changed to shock as he pulled the trigger and fired off two rounds, but he in turn was shocked as the rounds were caught in mid air by the tentacles. He blinked once before the gun was slapped out of his hands by the girl and clattered down onto the subway tracks, disappearing into the darkness.

"Very good," said an older woman as she walked down the subway entrance. She appeared to be around thirty six years of age; she wore a business dress and held what looked like an oversized cell phone.

"Supervisor Luan," the ten year old said as she floated above the ground a few feet before the device around her neck chimed and she suddenly found herself landing on all fours. She shot a glare at the lady, who glared right back at her, causing her to stand down. There was a 'click' as an ESP Lock was cuffed to the man's wrists, he looked down at it then looked away.

There was a commotion above as several officers ran down the stairway. When the officers got there, they took the man away, and the girl watched with feigned curiosity. "You did good. As long you listen and pay attention, you'll be just [i]fine[/i]," Luan said with a small grin on her face and a hand on the young girls shoulder.

Author Note:

Special thanks to Birai and Slaskia for beta-reading this prologue :)

Here's hoping this sets the stage, chapter one will be out sometime in the middle of next week.