"Gamma has to be cheating, he has to be."
Going through another one-on-one training session, the first one since leaving Beach City, Gamma went from being a minor nuisance to a devastating force to face in battle. He moved faster than any of us could catch, borderline teleporting from one place to another, and using tricks none of us had never seen before. Even with my powerful body, I couldn't chase him down. Coming down with my saber he merely moved away in a blur and threw his kunai at me. Blocking it with my gauntlet, it hit like a cannon, and I was knocked off balance. The last thing I saw was the swing of a glassy black fist.
I woke up some time later on the ground, and Gamma helped me up. I laughed to myself.
"At this rate, you might beat us all."
Gamma looked out at the distance. "I can't yet."
"Just take the complement!" Psyche admonished through our channels. "None of the others move or fight like you."
"That's because I understand the nature of this universe. I need to teach you practical application while Upsilon works on theoretical data. Also I need to learn about your curse."
The curse was always on his mind, and his arm in the form of a obsidian growth. Rho now had to summon his armor by force of will, Upsilon got off really well with an array of holograms powered by thought. Whatever I had, it hasn't showed itself.
"I'm not sure if either of those two anticipated me being not entirely human." I guessed. "Could the curse have failed or backfired?"
"Hmm…" His thoughts raced when a flash of light brought another door to us. Bringing the rest of the guys around, we investigated. The doors we first went through were wooden, but this one was a hodgepodge of metal. In one of the crevices, Upsilon found a piece of paper with a few words.
Omega comes alone.
-Hild
Next to her signature was a strange geometric shape. Upsilon magnified the shape and Gamma scoffed at it.
"You know this sign?" Upsilon asked.
"It's her personal sigil. To manipulate reality like she does, extremely powerful 'programs' are used, which are displayed with similar shapes."
"I need some way to translate it. Is there a way to turn it into something that can be used?"
"There is no key or cipher known to man, and even if you decrypted it into any human language it would cover every surface of my lab."
"Then there is a pattern in the shapes I need to find. Most likely Hild will not give us more samples."
Rho moved between the two, catching their attention."We can worry about that later! But we can't just give in to these demands!" Summoning his armor, he threw his weight against the door and was violently hurled away. Printed on his chestplate was a sentence in a unknown language.
I look to Upsilon. "What's it say?"
"It is some sort of Norse variant; it says 'Please don't.'"
Gamma sighed and lazily flipped his hand at the door.
"Just go."
I opened the door and stepped through on the other side into a junkyard filled with various machines. Lost, I climbed up one of the piles to find any landmarks.
"Hey Dead Man, any ideas?"
The disembodied voice of my predecessor, Mark Lore, echoed through my head.
"Listen…"
Besides the banging of the metal beneath my feet, there was a strange groaning in the air. Looking around I saw humongous wires reaching up to the sky. Above me was a structure blocking out most of the sky raining trash down upon the land. I rose up into the air and was immediately shot by an unknown source. Taking no significant damage thanks to the armor, I landed on another pile.
"I'm here now!" I shouted out. "What do you want me to do!"
A piece of paper struck my face, almost knocking me down. Pulling it off, I took a closer look at it. It depicted a teenage girl in maroon armor, back to the viewer and her head turned so half. Her face was focused and rather round with full lips and brown eyes with dark paint running down her cheeks. Her shoulders had the number ninety-nine on them and there were blades along either forearm, the greys swirling around themselves. There were words along with the picture.
Alita 'The Killing Angel' Tears up the Second League! Watch the carnage only in the Scrapyard!
It was a promotional flyer for some kind of sporting event. When I looked up I saw lights in the distance from a bustling city. Beyond it shone the Star of Misfortune, a constant reminder of the one who seeks to shackle me. I began the long walk to those lights.
"You think that's what Hild sent us here for?"
"I don't care if she sent me here to die! She won't control my fate!"
"And this 'Killing Angel' has nothing to do with this?"
I laughed a good laugh from the soul. "There's only room for one killer in the universe; doesn't matter which one. It's time to clip this angel's wings!"
