~Ten Years Later~
'How the hell did I get into this mess?' Soul groaned, sitting up slowly. He had been minding his business and going on with his daily agenda when she appeared.
It was a normal day for him: spend the early mornings living out of the camper attached to his truck and working on a new composition, and spend the evenings cage fighting for extra money at one of the local bars under the stage name Wolverine. All had been going smoothly, that was, until he met her.
He sat down at the bar next to a raven-haired girl who looked no older than seventeen, counting his earnings as he ordered a whiskey from the bartender before lighting up a cigar. He could feel her eyes on him, as if begging to ask a question, but he was not in the mood for shit like that right now. He just wanted his alcohol, his cigar, and his money. He felt a presence behind him and sighed; this didn't seem like it was going to be good.
"What?" he barked out, not wanting to deal with this.
"You owe me money. That was not a fair fight," the guy taunted before lowering his voice. "I know what you are." He just rolled his eyes, ignoring the man. They all thought they 'knew' what he was. They just wanted to rough him up for some money.
"LOOK OUT!" the girl next to him shrieked and it threw him into action. He whipped around, pushing the guy into the wall, making him drop the knife he had pulled out. With a grimace, his blades extended pinning the guy and nearly slashing his throat open. A cock from a gun and a menacing growl of 'get out of my bar you freak,' was nearly enough to throw him into a frenzy. But there were witnesses. He relaxed his shoulders before slashing at the barrel of the shotgun held against his head, earning multiple gasps from the customers at the bar. He was done with the shit; he retracted his blades, took one last shot of his drink, placed his tab on the counter, and left the place, jumping into his truck and speeding off.
"Well…" that could not have been any worse," he muttered to himself as he lit another cigar, taking a hearty puff of it as he traveled through the open road; not many people wanted to be out in the snow in Canada at this time of night. He did not blame them, the roads were shitty and you were lucky to see ten feet in front of you. His mind flitted back to the shocked look on that mysterious girl's face when his blades appeared. He did not know why she was on his mind, but he could not help but wonder if that was her first time seeing a mutant before. Probably was since most kept themselves hidden. That was when he noticed something strange; there was a sweet scent coming from his vehicle. It smelt almost like flowers. Wary of this, he pulled over and went to investigate.
He approached the back of his camper with caution, following the scent. It was wafting up from underneath a tarp and he tentatively poked it, only to find resistance coming from underneath. He poked it again and heard a soft grunt. Sighing, he pulled the tarp away and came face to face with bright blue eyes and raven hair. No fucking way.
"What are you doing?" he snapped on her. He had his own shit to deal with; he was not going to babysit some runaway.
"I needed help. You seemed like you could help me," she whispered timidly, crawling out of the bed.
"Too bad," he grunted, pulling her bag out and throwing it beside her before stomping back over to the driver's door.
"You cannot just leave me!" she cried. He was about to scoff at her and climb in when he looked over his shoulder and saw how pitiful she looked. He had to leave her! He had to! But those blue eyes were filled with so much sorrow. He just could not do it.
"Get in," he sighed in resignation. He couldn't believe that he was going to be a babysitter to some brat he met at a bar. He climbed in, pointedly ignoring her delighted 'thank you' as he started the engine. He took off again, just wanting to get away and find his next town to stay in temporarily.
"Do you have any food?" she asked meekly after about half an hour of driving. Grunting, he opened up the glove box and handed her a granola bar that he had stashed away. She tried engaging him in small talk that he tuned out as he focused on the road. From what he gathered from her constant blabbering, her name was Tsubaki, but she went by the name Rogue and she was a runaway, but that was already apparent to him.
"You know, you should really wear a seatbelt…"
"Listen here kid, do not start scolding me…" he started before a tree crashed on top of his truck, jolting him through the windshield. He grunted in pain, his body already starting to repair itself as he stood. He looked around, disoriented for a moment before he locked eyes on Tsubaki.
"You okay?" he called. Her cry of 'I'm stuck!' fell on deaf ears, however, as he noticed the tree was slashed to hell, not uprooted like he originally thought and a strange, yet familiar scent filled the air. He let his blade slip out once again and that was when he appeared. He barreled into him like a freight train, pushing him into a nearby tree.
"Hello, Brother," he called and Soul just sneered.
"What the hell are you doing here Wes?" he spat, but it was no use as he was lifted into the air by his leg and hurled onto the cab of the truck. The impact was enough to knock the breath out of him and make his blades retract. He could hear Tsubaki's scared screams fill the air as his elder brother approached him again, ready to destroy him. Snow began flurrying around them as he slowly started fading out. He thought it was his imagination, but he swore that he saw two people standing behind Wes, one a woman whose eyes were rolled back in her head, and the other a man with a visor on, blasting at his brother from his eyes. The last thing he remembered before losing consciousness was being slung across someone's shoulder and seeing Tsubaki's tearful gaze locked on him as the imaginary woman helped her escape from the burning vehicle.
He rested his head in his hands, groaning louder this time. He had no idea where he was at and his head was killing him. He blinked back tears and took in his surroundings. The room looked very sterile; it seemed as if he was in a hospital. However, he knew that was not the case for he could smell mutant underneath the heavy antiseptic scent.
"Glad to see you are awake. Are you feeling okay?" a voice asked kindly from his side. He spread his fingers to peek at her from between them. She was of medium height with ashen-blonde hair and the most interesting shade of green eyes that he had ever seen. They seemed almost familiar, but he could not quite place where he had seen eyes that bright before, so he just shrugged it off.
"I have been better," he grunted, lowering his arms and cracking his neck to alleviate some of the tension in his body. He gave her a proper once over as she turned around to pick up equipment off of the table next to the bed. She was pretty fit, yet lacked the curves that he saw on most women. Did not mean that he did not find her to be gorgeous upon first glance. He felt a blush warm his cheeks, and another area of his anatomy, as he continued checking her out.
"Maka!" a voice called, causing his gaze to snap away from her ass to the source. The blonde, Maka as he now knew her, turned around and smiled warmly at the man.
"Harvar," she smiled, walking over and giving him a warm hug and a soft peck on the cheek. Soul could feel the waves of jealousy coming off the man, and he just rolled his eyes. Of course Mr. Harvar here would be all possessive of Maka. Whatever though, he was not here to find a girl, and he certainly was not looking to steal one either.
"So... I hate to break up the love fest going on here, but could I have my shirt back?" he asked with a smirk, trying to see if he could get under this guy's skin. It seemed to work as he stiffened and snarled at him as Maka danced out of his grip and walked over to him, shirt in hand.
"I just need to take a quick blood sample then you're free to go," she smiled, brandishing a syringe. He gulped loudly; he did not quite get along well with needles. There were too many bad memories associated with them.
"Do not tell me you are afraid of needles," she giggled, reaching out for his arm. He was about to snarl at her for reaching for him when he heard a chuckle come from Harvar, which pissed him off. Oh hell no, that bastard was not going to get the upper hand. Grimacing slightly, he gave her his arm and she prepped it, inserting the needle slowly.
"So where am I exactly? And what about that girl that was with me?" he asked, trying to get his mind off the fact that he was getting blood drawn.
"Shibusen Academy for the Gifted is where you are at. As for the girl, she is fine. She is currently with Patty talking to the Professor. She seemed pretty shaken up over the whole situation; from what she told me, you took quite the beating," she murmured, eyeing him speculatively. He knew that look- it was the one he had gotten for years, especially after Stein had gotten his grubby hands on him. The look of how- how in the world did you survive? He had a sinking feeling that was why she was taking blood from him, to try and figure out what made him tick.
'I only ask because I am curious. No need to be afraid,' he heard as he was about to wretch his arm from her grasp, get his shit, and book it out of there. His eyebrows shot up in question, eyes widening slightly at her. Did she just-? There was no way. A wink from her confirmed what he thought and he was speechless. 'Don't tell Harvar… he hates when I do this,' she pleaded silently and he understood. Would not want to piss loverboy off.
"Yeah, it was pretty brutal. He got a couple good hits in on me. What hurt worse was being thrown from the car. Guess I should have listened to Tsubaki and worn my seatbelt after all," he chuckled.
'I won't say a word.'
'Thank you,' she replied. She pulled the needle out and he scrunched his eyes in revulsion. He absolutely hated needles and blood work. "All done! Well I am glad you are alright! It probably would have been more traumatizing for that poor girl had she seen you die before her," she said as she took care of the sample.
"Hey new guy, the Professor said he wanted to see you," Harvar grunted out, pulling Soul from his thoughts.
"The name is Soul," he retorted with equal venom as he slipped his shirt back on. Seriously? What was this guy's deal? "Where is this Professor dude?" he asked as he stood, popping his neck one last time.
"The Professor is in his office. I will escort you there," he spat, turning his back to him. Soul rolled his eyes; this guy was so dramatic. He heard Maka sigh quietly behind him as she cleaned up her area.
"Bye Maka. See you again sometime," he called over his shoulder, trying to rile him up even more. He followed the man into the hallway, but not before he heard her call back to him.
"Yeah yeah, see you Soul." 'You are an idiot,' she scolded mentally but he shrugged it off. He was enjoying this too much. As soon as he stepped foot out of the door, he was slammed against the wall.
"What the fuck!" Soul roared, blades breaking through his skin and stopping just short of Harvar's jugular. He was sick and tired of being slammed around like this. If he wanted that, he would have stayed at the bar in Canada.
"Stay away from Maka," he growled, hand inching toward the side of his visor. "She is mine."
"Did not know she was a piece of meat," he shot back, not liking this guy even more. Who the hell thought that they owned a person?
"What did you say punk?" he yelled, flipping the switch and letting the energy gather. Soul pulled his hand back, ready for the fight. Just as he was about to dig his blades into the douche, he found that he couldn't move his body.
'The fuck?'
'Damnit Professor, let me at him!' Harvar mentally cursed, stuck as well.
"That will be enough men!" a voice bellowed. Soul shifted his eyes to the left and saw a man in a wheelchair approaching with Tsubaki and another woman following. Maka threw the door open, eyes set to kill as she took in the situation before she stomped over to Harvar and hit the switch again, closing the lens.
"You idiot!" she screamed, smashing a book on Harvar's head. Ouch, that had to hurt. Soul resisted the urge to snicker. The urge soon died as he felt his blades retracting against his will. Fuck that hurt. He bit back a scream and as soon as the pain started, it was gone. He blinked and felt his hand fall to his side, and that was when he realized that he could move again. He clutched his hand to his chest glaring at Harvar once again. Fucking bastard.
"I am disappointed in you Harvar," wheelchair main spoke with disdain, shaking his head slowly. "I thought you would have been more mature than that."
"Harvar is in trouble! Harvar is in trouble!" the blonde behind him laughed, prancing over to his side as he rubbed his head from where Maka hit him.
"Shut up Patty," he grumbled, swatting her hands away from him. "Sorry Professor, I am not sure what came over me," he apologized, bowing his head in shame as Maka continued glaring at him.
'Bullshit,' Soul thought, knowing that if he were to say that out loud, it would cause the situation to escalate even more than it already did. Maka as well as the supposed Professor gave him a quizzical look and he gulped. Fuck, he forgot Maka was telepathic. He had no idea why the Professor was looking at him, however.
"Nevermind it. Just do not let it happen again," the Professor sighed. "You must be Soul, welcome to the Academy," he smiled, his mood and gaze shifting as he extended a hand to Soul. "Sorry that your experience so far has been less than pleasurable."
"Well, there are certain parts that have been enjoyable," he quipped, knowing that he was pressing his luck with lover boy. Maka sighed again and he felt slightly bad. He knew that he had caused this whole scene to happen to begin with, and it was not fair to Maka that he did that. He threw his hands up in a silent surrender and she gave him a slight smile.
"Well, that certainly is delightful to hear. My name is Kid and I am the leader of this Academy. You have already met Maka and Harvar, and this here is Patty," he introduced and the blonde, now known as Patty, danced around and waved at him. "Now, if you will follow me to my office, we have much we need to talk about," he commanded. Soul groaned quietly, he did not like having to follow a person's commands, but he already caused enough trouble as it was. He could not afford to piss the Professor off as well. He pushed himself from the wall and followed Kid down the hallway, feeling the burning hatred from Harvar as he walked away.
The walk was silent; Soul was still attempting to calm down from the near fight. Why was it that he couldn't go anywhere without a fight starting around him? His thoughts then drifted to Maka again and his face flushed. She was gorgeous, that much was for sure. Yeah, many other women had caught his eye, but this was different. She was intelligent and snarky; he liked that in a woman. However, she was with that dickhead Harvar. That, he was not pleased about. Who treated women like a piece of property anyways? If she was his, he would make sure to treat her right. He started getting caught up in fantasies of dates with her, and what it would be like to hear her screaming his name when a cough brought him out of his thoughts.
"Could you please refrain from thinking such lewd thoughts about Miss Albarn in my presence? I already get enough of that from Harvar," Kid shuddered with a grimace, opening the door to his study and letting Soul in. Soul was taken aback slightly; so the Professor was a telepath as well? His face lit up like a Christmas tree as he realized that that had meant that he just 'heard' his sexual fantasies about a girl he met thirty minutes ago! He groaned and sunk into the chair, making sure to keep his eyes averted from the knowing stare of Kid.
"No need to be embarrassed lad, it is quite natural to have thoughts like that of a beautiful woman, and Maka certainly fits that bill. I know I would myself if I was romantically or sexually attracted to anyone," he said with a small smile, wheeling behind his desk to be face to face with Soul. "However, I have not brought you here to ask you about Maka or scold you about your near altercation with Harvar. I am more interested in what happened on the highway. I got parts of the story from Tsubaki, but I would like to hear your recount of it." He folded his hands and placed them atop the table, waiting for him to explain.
"There is really not much to recall," he shrugged, trying to make himself comfortable in the office. Everything was too neat and symmetrical for his tastes; he felt that a bit of disorganization was best for the mind. "I inadvertently picked up Tsubaki as a hitchhiker and we were making small talk as I drove to god knows where. I took my eyes off the road for a minute and then next thing I know, we crashed into a tree that had just fallen. It ejected me from the truck and I could hear her screams. It took me a couple seconds to recover and as I was walking to the truck to help her out, I noticed that the tree trunk was still rooted in the ground yet the tree was shred to hell. That is when I knew it was that bastard," he spat with venom.
"Who exactly is 'that bastard'?" Kid asked, intrigued now and having a sinking suspicion as to where this tale was leading.
"My bastard of a brother Wes." His eyes narrowed as he glared at the table intensely. After seeing the quizzical look on the Professor's face, he continued. "After finding out about my abilities, I ran away from home and he followed. He had kept his a secret from Mother and Father as long as he could. I told him to get lost and it lead to a clashing of blades. After duking it out, I thought that was the last time I would ever see him. Guess I was wrong," he said bitterly. Why, after all these years, did he suddenly reappear to try and fuck his life up once again?
"Back to what happened on the highway. The fight between us was relatively short. I had yet to finish healing from the wreck and he took that to his advantage. Slammed me into a tree a couple of times and threw me onto the cab of the truck. That is when things got fuzzy for me. I remember that he was about to attack, then next thing I knew, there was a crazy snow flurry. Unlike anything I had ever seen. I vaguely remember seeing a man and woman before I blacked out from the pain."
"Ah yes, that would have been Patty and Harvar. It sounds like they had made it just in time, as a matter of fact. It was not long after they grabbed you and Tsubaki that the truck exploded. At least, that is what Patty told me. She does tend to over exaggerate a bit," he sighed rolling his eyes. Soul bit back a growl and grit his teeth; he seriously got saved by the prick he could not stand?
"I faintly remember an explosion, but I thought it was just a hallucination." He was still having troubles getting over the fact that the idiot had saved his ass. He had to make sure that that never happened again; he did not want to be indebted to him any more than he already was.
"I am curious, now that you are done thinking hateful thoughts about Harvar, about this brother of yours. After the quarrel you both had, do you happen to know what became of him?" he asked, resting his head on his hand.
"All I really knew is that he told me that he hated me and would get back at me for what had happened. I have not seen him in almost fifteen years before today, err, yesterday. Why are you so curious about him anyway? He is just a prick with talents."
"I have a feeling that there are some who say the same about you," he challenged and Soul swallowed back his rage. How dare the Professor say something like that about him! As he calmed down though, he realized that he was probably right. In this world, if you had a talent you had to hide it just right or face getting shunned or your ass kicked. He guessed that would make him seem like a prick to others.
"Anyways, I wonder about your brother's sudden reappearance because I fear that an uprising is upon our kind." Soul's eyebrow quirked at this; what could the old man possibly be saying? Was there not a war already going on? There could not possibly be another one about to start, was there? He knew that he was behind on the news, but he was sure he would have heard about threat of war in passing.
"Let me explain. It was about a week ago that I was at a conference with Maka as she presented her data on the mutant X gene that we possess to the United Nations. As things started to go sour, I happened to notice a presence at the conference. An old, how do I put this, acquaintance of mine was also in attendance. I could tell that he was not pleased with what he had heard. He had actually told me to not get in the way of what he wanted."
"So someone you knew was pissed off because the government sucks and would not listen to Maka's findings. Big whoop. What makes you think that this could be the start of World War Three?" He felt that the Professor was over thinking this a bit and blowing it all out of proportion. People with differing opinions got pissed off at one another every day; it did not mean that a rebellion was going to arise from it.
"You do not know this man as I do. Nor do you know to what extremes he will go to have his way," he warned, eyes narrowing at the white-haired man's laidback attitude towards the situation.
"Then educate me, Professor," he snarkily retorted. He was growing tired of being stuck in this office. He could think of at least seven different things he could be doing instead of listening to him scold.
"Eight… please child, if you are going to think numbers, please make them symmetrical," Kid pleaded with teary eyes, which threw Soul off a bit. What the fuck was this man going on about now?
"Damnit, if you do not like what I am thinking, then get out of my head!" he yelled.
"Sorry. It is hard when you are practically shouting your thoughts at me. However, you want to know more about this man? So be it. His name is Asura. He used to be one of my greatest allies. He actually helped me found the Academy back in the nineteen sixties. However, pride and greed was his downfall. He wanted to show the world what people like us could do. He wanted our kind to dominate over everyone. Many arguments were started over his ideals versus mine. The world may have advanced from when I was young technology wise, but the fear and hatred from what is unknown is still as prevalent as ever."
"Okay? So you wanted to keep things under wraps and he wanted to show them off. That still does not explain what makes you think that he going to start a rebellion."
"He is a man who, once determined, will let nothing stop him from reaching his desired goal. He is ruthless and will sacrifice anyone necessary. He almost caused a war once in his attempt to show that the world should bow down to us. He stole someone very precious from me and he actually is the reason I am wheelchair bound for the rest of my life," he admitted solemnly, and Soul felt a bit bad for the guy. He could understand all too well what it was like to lose someone precious. But to sacrifice a friend's ability to walk in order to get what you wanted seemed to be a pretty harsh thing to do. A dark chuckle escaped the Professor's lips.
"Friend? I wish he would have merely been a friend to me. Then maybe it would have been easier to forget his actions. This man, no, this monster that we are facing is my brother." Soul gulped loudly; he knew the pain of having to face someone that was supposed to be there for you until the very end. He could tell that this must be hard on the Professor.
"Okay, that does sound pretty bad. But are you sure that he is attempting to start a rebellion?" He did not want to get panicked just quite yet, but this situation was starting to sound more and more abysmal.
"He has already made the first move. He is attempting to gather more of our kind to his side for support. I have a feeling that is why you and Tsubaki had the run in with your brother. From what information my partner Sid has been able to gather for me, Wesley Evans had joined my brother's side a few years back and has been doing reconnaissance for him this whole time. Asura is trying to get enough of a following to overthrow the world leaders at the United Nations Annual Peace Conference. It is my guess that he had spies planted all over the world, trying to find mutants who are just beginning to develop their abilities to recruit." This information made Soul's blood boil. His brother was already on his shit list for everything that they had been through. But finding out that he was siding with someone who was trying to take over the freaking world did not sit well with him. Not to mention the fact that he was pissed off that someone as sweet as Tsubaki was almost harmed because of these assholes.
"What are you going to do about all of this?" he asked through gritted teeth. Something needed to be done as soon as possible.
"Currently I have been working with Sid to try and track down adolescents who are starting to become aware of their gifts. Whenever we get a lock on where they may be, that is when I send recruiters out to get to them before Asura and his followers get to them. They are also there for protection, as you and Tsubaki came to find out."
"How exactly are you tracking these people down?" He knew that the professor was a telepath, but that could only stretch so far, right?
"Follow me," he chuckled, wheeling to the back of the room and placing his hand upon a touchpad, which unlocked a sliding door. Soul was a bit confused but followed him nevertheless. He was taken down a brightly lit hallway before they encountered another door. Another palm reading and the door opened to a vast room with what looked like a helmet atop a desk. He followed him to the desk and looked around the room and at the helmet with puzzlement. What did this have to do with anything?
"It has to do with everything," he grinned, picking up the helmet gingerly. "This is Cerebro. Before the Academy was started, Asura and I were trying to recruit other gifted people to join us in order to hone in our abilities. This helmet here uses my telepathic abilities and amplifies them in order to reach across the world. Using this, I am able to pinpoint others who have the mutant X gene purely off of thought patterns. It is actually how we found out where you and Tsubaki were," he chuckled. Soul was flabbergasted by this. Yet, it seemed so familiar to him. He felt like he knew this already, or at least, he was familiar with how it operated.
"So wait a minute. If this thing can track down anyone with the mutation, then could you not just track down this Asura guy and finish this whole thing here and now?" It seemed like the simplest solution and that suited Soul just fine. He hated when things were complicated.
"If that were the case, I would have done that years ago. He has the ability to bend and manipulate metals to his will. I know that that doesn't sound like it would affect what I am able to do, however, he had constructed a metal helmet that he wears at all times. For whatever reason, my powers are unable to penetrate this helmet, which makes it to where we are practically sitting ducks. Even with Cerebro's amplifications, I am not able to pick up on where he is."
"Well fuck. That really sucks then. So it seems that we are going at this blindly then, huh?" This type of situation always sucked; it is always either you catch them before it is too late, or they catch you. There is never any in between.
"Seems like I have recruited you to my side then," he gave a hearty laugh. "And for the most part we are going at it blindly. I have some scouts in cities scattered around the United States alone where a majority of the gifted that Cerebro picked up are likely to be found. We have been doing pretty well in getting to these people before Asura and his men since they are without a telepath. However, we are not able to get to all of them before he is able to. But what counts is that we have a majority with us, which saves them from the corruption that is Asura."
"A majority is better than none at all." Soul mused, mulling over all of the information thrown at him in this last half hour or so. They needed a battle plan for this. If he knew anything about wars, it was that going into it blindly only resulted in a fifty percent success rate. And since his brother was on the opposing side, dirty tricks and tactics needed to be taken into account. They could not be too careful with this. Kid cocking his head to the side as to listen to thoughts coming from outside of the room temporarily snapped Soul out of his thoughts.
"It seems that a new recruit has just arrived," he smiled, tilting his head back to normal and placing Cerebro on the desk table. "Time to go give this one a warm welcome and call the others to a meeting." He started gliding out of the room, and Soul, feeling awkward standing in the room himself, followed behind him. "I do have to warn you, you are about to meet one of the most rambunctious members of the Academy. Please do try to not maim him for he is a valuable asset to us, no matter how annoying he may be." Soul just scoffed at this. This guy could not be too bad, could he? Oh how he should have never said that.
They approached the front doors of the Academy and all Soul spied was a very timid looking person with pink hair staring at everyone milling about with extreme trepidation and an African American male who seemed completely at ease with the world. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary and neither of these two seemed like they were a handful like the Professor had previously said.
"Just wait for it," Kid muttered and Soul gave him a quizzical look. That was when he felt a rush of air hit him and knock him on his ass.
"What the-" he started and that was when he realized that there was a very muscular, blue haired kid standing in front of him, flipping through his god damned wallet.
"Soul Michael Evans… Driver's License number E648-8458-7985… Social Security Number 840-95-8910… God you sound so boring!" he cried, throwing the wallet back at him. It hit him with a thud as he saw red. Who the fuck did this brat think he was?!
"Oi! What the fuck man!" he yelled, standing up only to find that the kid was gone. Hearing a creaking sound, he looked up to find that he was sitting on the staircase, feet dangling back and forth rapidly.
"My name is the great Black*Star! But you can call me God!" he cackled right by his ear, making him jump about a foot in the air. How in the hell was he getting around so fast?
"Black*Star, calm down. Now is not the time," Kid sighed, scrubbing his face with his hand. "Kilik," he called to the dark-skinned man, who acknowledged him with a nod. "Please take this young lady to the conference room and have Sid fill her in on where she is at." Kilik nodded and led her away. "Black*Star," he called, freezing the young man in his tracks. "Could you please gather up the rest of the team and have them meet us in the conference room as well?" A slight nod was all he needed to release him from his mind grip and he tore down the hallways to gather the others. As Soul followed Kid to the conference room, two things flitted through his mind. One was that he was going to get to see Maka again. And the second was what the hell did he get himself into?