Let's not waste any time now, people. On to the next chapter!
Chapter 14: Internships Part 2
"Another robbery, huh? These have been getting really out of hand," Springer said while looking around the vault. The large metal storage that once held a massive sum of money was left empty and in shambles. Zen was looking through all of the turned over lockers while Plush Girl was looking through the security camera footage.
Two days had passed after Zen began his internship and since then, Edgeshot had been having him train rigorously while also making him help with repairs to the damage he caused around the agency. After seeing enough, he finally allowed Zen to come along for an investigation into the string of robberies that had been occurring around the city.
"Looks like it was the same kid again," Plush Girl said.
"You know who's been doing this?" Zen asked as he and Springer came over to watch the footage.
On her screen there was footage of four people going through the vault several hours ago. Three of them were large men with black ski masks on their faces, but the one who stood out the most was a young boy in a red and black hoodie. He stood in the center of the room with his hands in his pockets while the others rummaged through the money.
"His name is Taka Ishikawa, but it looks like he's being referred to as Jump by the others in his group," Plush Girl said while scanning his face from the footage. She then brought up a close look on his face as well as other information about him.
"He's fifteen years old and his ability is Warp Field, a warping type quirk that allows him to teleport himself as well as others. Unlike other warp quirks, it actually creates a field of energy that also acts as a shield. It's been recorded to be strong enough to protect himself from gunfire. He's been sighted multiple times at all of the locations that were hit, each time with different people which indicates that he's likely joined some sort of organized group," Plush Girl said while pulling up multiple security footages from different locations.
They each showed him with different people at other locations, popping in and out with a wide dome of red energy. One of the videos showed a store owner trying to shoot at them with his pistol only to get deflected by the dome before they disappeared. Springer frowned while he inspected the data on the boy.
"He's only fifteen? He's the same age as Zen here. What's he doing with these guys?" Springer asked.
"We've contacted his family already. According to his mother, he ran away from home a few months ago. He was a gifted child who usually kept to himself, but after awakening his quirk, he started acting out. He started causing disturbances every now and then and seeking thrills, but never something like this. Eventually he ran off and she hasn't seen him since. She's been worried sick about him," Plush Girl.
"That's some rebellious phase. I guess having a powerful quirk does that to a kid sometimes. Still, this is way more than just some thrill seeking if he's out here committing crimes with some criminal gang. What are they doing with all that money anyway?" Springer asked.
"No one knows. There has been no sighting of the other criminals anywhere and the kid only appears during these robberies. We have no leads whatsoever," Plush Girl sighed.
"That's just great. No leads and we have to track down someone with a warp quirk? This is going to be tough," Springer groaned while putting his hands behind his head.
"So we don't have anything to go on?" Zen asked.
"Unfortunately, no. Edgeshot is patrolling the northern side of the city alone while he instructed us to look over the south. All we can do is hope we get lucky and they make their move while we're around," Plush Girl said.
"Well in that case, let's get going. I doubt they'll come back here. Let's keep looking around the city," Springer suggested. The two of them nodded before leaving the bank.
The three heroes walked through the bustling city streets with the civilians looking over and greeting them every now and then. The people were used to the two sidekicks, but not Zen, who they recognized from the Sport's Festival. Many people stopped by to try and talk to Zen, but he made his responses quick and polite before staying by the two sidekicks.
"Haha, you're so popular, but not much of a talker, huh?" Springer asked the boy, who kept his gaze low under his sunglasses.
"Yeah, I guess not," Zen replied.
"It's cool. You're a lot like Edge in that regard, although he's even more antisocial than you," Springer said.
"Stop teasing him. We have a job to do, you know," Plush Girl reprimanded the brown haired hero who laughed at her response.
"About Edgeshot, can he really handle the entire north side of the city by himself?" Zen asked.
"Yeah, I wouldn't worry about him. He's more than capable of handling something like that. I mean, he is the number four hero for a reason, you know. Although he really should try working with others more. He doesn't even really work together with us," Springer said.
"That's just how he is. Besides this is probably better anyway. This group has been able to avoid even Edgeshot, so spreading out like this is our best bet," Plush Girl said while looking through a map of the city on her device.
"Urgh, but who knows when we'll find anything. At this rate, we'll just be wandering the city all day. Sorry your internship has been so boring so far, Zen. All you've had to do has been training and walking around," Springer said, sighing. Zen shook his head.
"No it's fine. Honestly, I've already learned a lot these past two days. I just wish I could help out more," Zen said in a disappointed tone.
"Don't worry about it. This kind of job is always difficult. Having you as an extra hand here is nice," Plush Girl said, smiling.
"Yeah, having more company is always fun. So Aoi, where to next?" Springer asked.
"It's Plush Girl while we're on the job. And I don't know. Let's just keep patrolling the blocks for now. That's all we can do for now," Plush Girl said.
"How exciting..." Springer groaned, while putting an arm around Zen's shoulder to drag him along.
The three of them continued roaming through the city while unbeknownst to them, the were being watched from the roof of a building several stories above them. There were four total men with one of them being the very person they were looking for. Jump was crouched by the edge of the roof with three large men behind him. He watched the three heroes with a bored look on his face while moving a lollipop around in his mouth.
"So those are Edgeshot's sidekicks, huh? I thought there were only two of them," Jump said.
"Edgeshot's been sighted patrolling all around the northern side of the town while having his sidekicks go through here. They're all way too close to our targets for today," One of the men with a red bandanna on his head said.
"Should we wait till they end their patrol?" A large man in a black jacket asked.
"Huh? Who knows how long that'll take? Shouldn't we just go for it?" Jump asked.
"Isn't that way too risky? There's no way we can get a job done with these heroes around, especially Edgeshot," the man in the bandanna said nervously.
"Well Edgeshot is to the north, right? So let's just take care of business here then. They're just sidekicks, I'm sure we can go in and out without too much problem," Jump said confidently.
"They might be sidekicks, but they're still heroes, you know. Edgeshot's guys, no less. With three of them there, I don't know if we can pull it off that quick," A man with a black ski mask said.
"You guys are a bunch of wimps, huh?" Jump mocked. The man in the jacket glared at him.
"What was that, punk?!" he stepped forward, but Jump was unfazed.
"Look, I'm just saying you guys are freaking out too much. We can handle something like this," Jump said.
"Alright, Jump. I get you're on Lady Glaze's good side now, but you don't know what she's like about failure. If we mess this up and those heroes catch on to us, she won't be happy and you won't like that one bit. It's better not to take unnecessary risks," the man in the mask said. Jump scoffed at him.
"How boring. Fine, how about we change up today's plans," Jump said.
"What are you on about, kid?" the man in the jacket asked, skeptically.
"What if instead of just robbing some places today, we do some hero hunting?" Jump suggested. The three men looked at him with confusion.
"You said you didn't want to have to deal with three heroes at once, right? So let's just split them up and take them out. Glaze said she wanted us to become more well known, right? I'm sure taking out or capturing some heroes should do the trick," Jump said, smirking.
"Are you serious?" the masked man asked.
"Why not? We already have plenty of money stockpiled, so why not advance the good lady's plans for her?" Jump said.
"I guess that makes sense... but how are the four of us going to take on three heroes?" the man in the jacket asked.
"Most of the guys are at the base right now. I'll drop the three of you off there to get everyone ready. I'll handle taking them to you guys. I'm sure with the numbers we have, we can take on some scrub sidekicks. Take them out, and there will be less heroes around the city to interfere, Glaze gets happy, and we have plenty of fun. Doesn't that just sound like a win-win?" Jump asked in a confident tone.
The three men were taken aback by his suggestion. While the prospect of all the benefits sounded good, they weren't entirely sure.
"I don't know... Lady Glaze isn't back at the base, yet... Shouldn't we run this by her first?" The masked man asked.
"We wouldn't want to bother her with something so trivial. Besides, wouldn't you guys want to make her happy?" Jump asked in a teasing voice.
"Urgh... I don't know about this..." The man in the jacket said while fidgeting around.
"What? Are you afraid? Afraid of some sidekicks? Are you guys so useless that you can't even take on those losers? I don't think Lady Glaze would be happy to hear that," Jump said.
"What was that?! We're not afraid of some sidekicks. All of us can take them on, no problem! You'll see!" the man in the bandanna exclaimed.
"Oh? Is that right? Well what about you two? Are you really content with some boring burglaries every day or do you want to do something that'll really make Glaze happy?" Jump goaded. The two men looked to each other before nodding.
"Fine. We're in," The man in the mask said. A big grin formed on the Jump's face before he spat out his lollipop.
"Good. This is about to get fun," Jump said before activating his quirk.
A wide red dome of energy encased the four of them before they warped away without a trace, leaving only a shattered lollipop where they once were.
O-O
After an hour of patrolling, the three heroes still couldn't find any sign of their targets. Eventually they made a stop at another bank that had been hit a few days earlier to see if they could find any clues. It was still closed after the crime occurred, leaving the three of them alone in the building.
"Anything yet, Aoi?" Springer asked while leaning back against the front counter.
"Again, it's Plush Girl, and no, nothing yet. Anything on your end, Zen?," Plush Girl asked while going through the bank's computer.
"No, nothing here," Zen said while looking around the room.
"I was hoping to maybe find something that we hadn't the first time, but I guess I was being too hopeful," Plush Girl said, rubbing her eyes.
"It's fine. I'm sure we'll find something soon," Zen said, reassuring her.
Yawning, Springer lazily wandered to the side of the room and leaned against the window. He stared outside with a bored look on his face while Plush Girl shook her head in annoyance before turning back to the computer screen. As Zen ran his fingers through some small cracks and indentions on the tile floor, he felt a slight disruption in the vibrations on the ground. He was about to turn around, but decided to keep investigating when he thought that maybe one of them had simply dropped something.
"Well guys, if we don't find anything we should go out and find something to e-" Springer's sentence was suddenly cut short when Zen felt another strange vibration running through the ground. He quickly turned around, but the spring hero was no longer in the room with them.
"What was that, Springer? Springer?" Plush Girl looked up from the computer, but her partner was nowhere to be found.
"Springer? Where are you?" Plush Girl stood up and gave Zen a quizzical look.
Zen tapped his foot on the ground to try and find Springer, but he could only sense the two of them in the building.
"He's... not here," Zen said in a confused tone.
"What? He was just here," Plush Girl said nervously while surveying the room.
"Something's off..." Zen said while focusing on sensing all the vibrations in the room.
"Stay alert and close to me," Plush Girl said while readying her gauntlet.
She tried to get to Zen's side, but was unaware of the red field that suddenly appeared by her. Zen was about to warn her, but was too late by the time a young man appeared from a field of red energy and placed his hand on her shoulder. Her eyes widened as she turned her head to see the boy flashing her smile.
"Hey there," Jump said before his field enveloped the two of them.
Zen pounced from his spot and reached his hand out, but the energy field dispersed right as he touched it, leaving no trace of the two of them. Sliding to a stop, he looked back and there was nothing left.
"Shit... That was the warp user... Where did they go?" Zen looked around to try and find any traces left, but just like before all there was at the spot they disappeared was a few indentions and cracks on the tile. Zen reached for the top rim of sunglasses and tapped a small button which turned a small blue light.
"Springer? Plush Girl? Can you hear me?" Zen asked. After a few seconds of static, a connection finally came through to the two of them.
O-O
"Zen? Not a good time right now!" Springer said as he heard the boy's voice in his earpiece.
He was frantically bouncing from tree to tree as projectiles kept striking the spot he was just at. Down below, there were dozens of people who were shooting at him either with their quirks or guns. Looking over his shoulder, there were several thugs who had wings closing in on him. Springer came to a stop on another tree before bouncing up and landing upside down on a higher branch to use it as a spring pad. Bouncing off from it, he came down on one of the villains from above. Using the springs on his legs, he launched the villain straight down onto the ground like a meteor while bouncing off of him to move to the others. He struck another five of them in the air in a row before landing back on a high branch. Breathing heavily, he put his hand back to his earpiece as more of the villains on the ground circled the tree.
"That warp guy dropped me off in a forest somewhere. I think I'm on the outskirts of the city, but I kind of can't check right now!" Springer said, as a bolt of electricity struck the tree, barely missing his neck. He had to keep moving to avoid the barrage of attacks coming for him.
O-O
"I'm in the same position. We might be in the same forest, but I can't really stop to check our locations right now since-" Plush Girl couldn't finish her sentence when an enlarged fist came crashing down on her.
Rolling out of the way, she looked up to see a large man with metallic skin raise his fists above her. Placing her palms against the ground, the dirt below him became hard to stand on, before slipped and fell on his back. He tried to get back up, but the weight of his body only made it that much more difficult for him to move. Looking over her shoulder, the man enlarged both of his hands and slammed them both down, but Plush Girl kicked the ground and slid along her back to avoid him. Raising her gauntlet, she fired four shots at the man's exposed stomach. The rubber bullets slammed into the man's stomach making him cough up spit and doubling over in the pain. Just as she thought it was over, many more villains circled around her from the trees.
"There are so many of them... I had no idea their group was so big," Plush Girl said.
"Hold on, I'll try and find you two," Zen said.
"No. Stay put. That warp kid might be coming for you next. We'll figure a way through this, just try and get in contact with Edgesho-" Suddenly the connection was cut and Zen wasn't able to reach either of them.
"Springer? Plush Girl? Damn, they're gone. Need to call Edgeshot," Zen tried to make a call, but all he could get was static.
"Don't bother, we've cut off the connection here. It's just you and us," a man's voice said as the front door was kicked open.
A group of five large men walked into the room, locking the door behind them. They circled around Zen and each gave him a cocky look.
"Really? Just a kid? And I thought this would be fun," One of them said.
"So I'm guessing you guys are with that Ishikawa," Zen asked as the five of them walked slowly around him.
"You mean Jump? Yeah, he gave this idea. Lady Glaze has been really cautious lately and hasn't been letting us go loose. But now we have a chance to let off some steam and make her happy by beating down some wannabe heroes," the tall blond man said while cracking his fists.
"Lady Glaze?" the name didn't sound familiar to Zen.
"Heh, alright boys, let's have some fu-" He was cut short when Zen's palm slammed against his chest and a massive force sent him crashing through the bank window.
The other's eyes widened as they looked back and saw the man completely unconscious.
"I'm not really sure what you guys are all about, but you know about this Jump guy, so I'll need you to come with me," Zen said while tightening his glove.
"You little punk!" A man with a long beard rushed at Zen.
Getting down, Zen swept his leg and as he tripped over face first, Zen grabbed his face and lifted him up before slamming him down on the grab, shattering the tiles below. A man with brass knuckles brought his fist down on Zen while another who's fist was on fire came from Zen's side. Stepping back, Zen tapped both of their arms, making them strike each other in the face. Right as the two of them started falling back with one who now had a burn mark on his cheek and the other with a large indention, Zen kicked them both back into the columns of the building which made it shake slightly.
"(Last one)" Zen thought as he saw the reflection of the last one running at him from his sunglasses.
The man angrily threw his fist forward, but Zen easily sidestepped him and was right in his face. Zen brought a hard uppercut to the man's chin, which sent him flying upward. What Zen didn't expect was that as soon as the man was completely up in the air, Jump was revealed to have been right behind him. Smirking, Jump formed a warp field around the two of them. In the next second, the field dispersed revealing a drastic change in location. Instead of the bank within the city, the two of them were now in a small open field of a forest. Jump leapt back to create some distance between the two of them.
"Phew... You're a lot tougher than I thought you'd be. Those five are some of the tougher ones in the gang, so I really didn't expect that at all. Not bad," Jump said while clapping.
"You... you're Taka Ishikawa, right?" Zen asked.
The boy's bright red eyes lit up.
"Oh? So you know about me. I'm flattered," Jump said, smiling.
"Why are you working with these thugs? With a power like yours, you could do so much good. How can you be so irresponsible?," Zen asked. Sighing, Jump took off his hood and ran his hand through his brown locks.
"Urgh, you know... I'm really sick of hearing that," Jump sighed. Zen eye's narrowed.
"It's such an annoying thing to hear. Don't you know what it's like to have an amazing gift and not being allowed to use it? I'm sick of it. Ever since I've obtained my power, everyone tries to tell me what I can and can't do with it. This power is a part of who I am, so why shouldn't I be able to use it as I please?" Jump asked.
"If that's how you feel, then how do you want to use it?" Zen asked.
"Come on, man. It should be pretty obvious. To have fun, to enjoy life while I have it. These guys let me do that. You're about my age, don't you know what I mean? You're out here trying to be a hero, but surely even you feel restrained sometimes. Even you want to really let loose, right? I can tell, you have a ton of power, but can't let go. You've probably never really let yourself go all out with your quirk in your life, have you?" Jump asked. Zen looked down at his hand, and shook his head.
"You're right... I haven't. And of course I would like to, but I can't. I always have to restrain my quirk, but I'm fine with that. Unlike you, I don't want to cause trouble with my quirk just for my own personal amusement," Zen said sternly.
"What a bore. I had hoped since you looked around my age, you would understand," Jump shrugged.
"Oh I understand," Zen said.
"Hm?" Zen pointed right at him
"I understand that you haven't learned discipline. That no one has taught you self control or respect. I guess I'm going to have to do that for you," Zen said. Jump's lips curled into a smile.
"Oh really now? I'd like to see you try," Jump said, reaching into his pocket.
Enveloping himself in his warp field, he disappeared from sight. Zen looked all around, but found nothing. He carefully surveyed the area while trying to keep his senses alert. After several seconds of tense silence, Zen felt a shift in the vibrations on the ground behind. Turning around, he was met by Jump who lunged at him while pulling out a switchblade. He aimed the blade right for Zen's eye, but Zen quickly grabbed his wrist and tossed him to the side. Skidding to a halt, Jump used his quirk again to vanish. This time, Zen felt another shift to his right where Jump now had a pistol ready. He quickly fired multiple shots at Zen. Zen used a shockwave to both deflect the bullets and send it towards Jump, who warped as soon as he saw the attack. Once more, Zen was able to feel it as he warped.
"(That's it. Whenever he warps he causes vibrations in the air... I can use this, but I have to be quick)" Zen thought.
Taking a deep breath, he focused harder on the vibrations below his feet and in the air. After several seconds of silence, finally something popped up behind him. Not wasting any time, Zen bolted in that direction and Jump was indeed there, his warp field not even fully dispersed yet. Right as his field dispersed, Jump's eyes widened to see Zen already on him. Bringing his pistol up, he tried to shoot at Zen, but was too slow as Zen kicked his hand, knocking away the pistol. Panicking, Jump tried to kick Zen by the side of his face, but Zen ducked. Jump then brought his switchblade forward, but Zen grabbed his wrist and delivered a punch to his stomach which knocked the wind out of him before sending him skidding on his back. Zen moved to press the attack, and right as he threw a punch forward, it slammed against the field that Jump created. The red energy stung against his hand before it repelled him with great force and warped Jump away.
"Damn, almost had him," Zen thought as he closed his eyes to focus again.
"(Shit! That hurts!)" Jump clutched his stomach as he was in mid-warp.
"(How did he do that? My warp fields make no sound, so how did he know where I was? He must've just gotten lucky...)" Jump thought, but as soon as he finished warping, his eyes widened to see Zen already above him again.
Acting quickly, Jump made another warp field immediately to block Zen's punch again.
"Nice try... my field can easily block bullets. You're not getting through," Jump said, as he prepared to warp again.
"I just need to put power in my punch this time!" Zen said, as his fist glowed brighter.
Jump's heart stopped as soon as he heard a crack. The red field in front of his face suddenly had a large crack in it which began spreading to the whole dome. It then broke apart as Zen pushed forward like pieces of glass until the energy dispersed. The punch carried forward until it slugged Jump right in the face, sending back onto his back.
"Finally got you," Zen said, while walking over to him.
Jump pushed himself back onto his hands and knees which shook violently. Blood was pouring from his nose and the side of his mouth.
"How the hell did you...?" Jump asked between shaky breaths as he struggled to get back on his feet.
"You can think about it after we've brought you in," Zen said. Jump started snickering, as Zen got closer.
"As if I'm going anywhere with you... You really think I brought you here with just me?" Jump asked. Zen eye's widened as the trees and bushes around them started rustling. Zen felt countless footsteps closing in from every direction.
"My quirk doesn't let me teleport a whole lot of people, so it took a while to get everyone here ready for you..." Jump said with a victorious smile.
Soon enough they all showed up from around the trees, each one giving him a malicious laugh and smile. Jump used the opportunity to quickly fall back behind the crowd and watched as they closed in the boy.
"Hope you're ready kid. We've brought out our entire group to deal with you and the other two!" The man in the bandanna said, he stepped forward and cracked his knuckles.
"Oh really now? So all of you guys are here?" Zen asked.
"That's right. You scared?" he said, as his arms began shifting.
"Not at all. I'm grateful. This means we can take all you guys down at once," Zen said, unfazed by the man towering over him.
"Don't get cocky kid!" the man said, as he transformed his hands.
His hands warped and began changing shape and color until they formed the shape of two large axe heads, each the size of Zen's torso. He brought down both with all his strength. He smiled thinking he was about to rip into flesh, but instead he came to a sudden stop when Zen caught both blades in his hands.
"What?!" the man tried to push down and move, but he was stuck in place by Zen's grip.
"Hey Ishikawa," Zen called out.
Everyone there was shocked by what they saw, but none more so than Jump whose mouth was wide open in awe. Small cracks began forming on the axe heads where Zen was holding, and they steadily began spreading out.
"You said something about how people who have powerful quirks should be allowed to let loose, right?" Zen said, releasing his quirk's power from his hands.
The axe blades immediately shattered into multiple pieces and before the man could do anything else, Zen sent a quake powered punch into the man's stomach which sent him flying into a group of villains, taking them with him.
"I can't really do that, but thanks to you taking us out here in the open... I can be a bit looser with my power," Zen said, as the vibrations coming off his body began intensifying.
"D-Don't just stand there! Get him!" The man in the black jacket said, as he rushed at Zen. The others, with the exception of Jump, all followed and came at him from all sides.
Just before they could grab him, Zen jumped upwards with a quake at his feat which knocked several of them away. Turning himself to face the ground, he powered his fist with a quake and aimed for them all in the clearing. Sensing the danger, Jump limped his way into the forest to get out of the clearing. Zen fired a wide shockwave downward with his fist. The shockwave virtually flattened the clearing with all the villains in it, cratering the earth below them, and ripping apart all the trees along the outside. Jump nearly fell over from the force of the attack which shook the forest area around them. Dust and leaves littered the air, as Zen landed back down in the crater he created. All of the villains lay scattered around him, unconscious from the force of the attack. Seeing this sight, Jump frantically teleported as soon as he could to try and escape Zen.
"You're not getting away," Zen said while propelling himself through the air with his shockwaves.
Jump warped himself several meters away on top of a tree branch. His breathing was ragged as he slid slowly down to take a seat.
"You've got to be kidding me... That was a third of the entire group! What the hell even was that?" Jump said, as sweat poured down his face.
He felt something was off and squinted into the forest. His eyes widened when he realized that something was coming. The trees shook slightly as Zen kicked himself through the air towards Jump. Seeing him coming a ways off, Jump quickly warped again in a red light. Coming out of the dome, he shifted another several meters away while clutching his head and stomach.
"Shit... I'm too hurt to warp far... How the hell is he tracking me?!" He jumped as he saw Zen coming at him faster than before somehow.
"How is he so fast?!" Jump thought while warping away again.
Seeing him disappear again, Zen clicked his tongue in frustration.
"Out here in the forest, I can sense him better than in the city, but I need to be faster!" Zen came to rapid halt and bolted in the opposite direction where he sensed Jump had gone this time. Previously, he was only able to fly through the air like this for a few steps before he lost balance, but thanks to Edgeshot's training, he was now able to do it for much longer, but he was still new to it and knew he had to finish this before he reached his limit.
Jump began warping constantly, but each time Zen was able to track him and quickly get to his position. It seemed like with each warp, his distance that he was able to teleport grew shorter while Zen constantly grew faster.
"Damn it! Just who the hell is this guy?!" Jump was quickly running out of breath, and he began panicking as he saw Zen getting closer and closer each time.
"(Damn, damn, damn! What can I do?! I can't get caught here! Those guys all got taken out, and everyone else is fighting the other two! There's no one except...!)" Jump's train of thought was cut off, as Zen popped up right in front of him after he managed to finish warping.
"Got you!" Zen said, as he lunged forward and wrapped his hand around Jump's face which knocked him off the branch he was standing on.
"(I've got no choice! She has to be there!)" Jump thought as he enveloped the two of them in his field while they were falling in midair. Zen kept his grip tight, as the two warped somewhere.
Once the warp field dispersed, the two of them were just slightly above ground, but the force of Zen's momentum didn't stop which resulted in him slamming Jump's head into the ground with a lot of force. Letting go, he saw that Jump was completely knocked out with a pain expression on his face. Letting out a tired sigh, Zen dropped to his knees. Reaching for the rim of his sunglasses, he pressed the button to communicate.
"Springer? Plush Girl? Can you two hear me?" Zen asked.
"Yeah! We've got you. What happened?!" Plush Girl asked.
"A lot of things, but I got the warp user, right here," Zen said, looking down to make sure he was still passed out.
"Really?! That's great!" Springer said.
"Are you two alright?" Zen asked in a worried tone.
"Yeah... it took a lot of effort, but I got all the guys restrained here. Really wore me out," Springer said, sighing.
"Same here. These guys won't be going anywhere. Stay where you are, I've got your location. You're close to us. I'm sending it over to Springer, we'll be right over. The warp user comes first," Plush Girl said.
"Ok. I'm in front of a big house out here. I'll keep an eye on him," Zen said, finally noticing the area around here, as he cut off communications.
The two of them were directly in front of a large and old looking house in the middle of the forest. He couldn't sense anyone inside so he didn't pay it too much mind, as he took a seat on the ground.
After several minutes, the two of them finally met up Zen in front of the house.
"Wow, nice work! That's really him," Springer said, while examining the still unconscious boy's face.
"Sorry we couldn't be there with you. We're supposed to be watching out for you in your internship," Plush Girl said, sighing to herself.
"It's fine. None of us saw it coming. I'm just glad everything worked out," Zen said.
"Still... I can't believe this group was as large as it is. It's amazing how they've been operating so quietly..." Plush Girl said, rubbing her chin.
"Yeah, but clearly not enough," Springer said, raising his hands up in victory, but his muscles suddenly tensed.
"Yes, you are correct about that. These foolish subordinates of mine really messed it up," a feminine voice said, surprising the three of them.
The three of them tried to jump into action, but something happened. They all found themselves unable to move their bodies, as the temperature around them dropped rapidly. Their breathes became visible, the trees became stiff, and their bodies froze in place. A thin layer of clear ice formed around the three heroes bodies, keeping them from moving.
"W-What is this?!" Springer said, while struggling against the ice around his body to no avail.
Footsteps began getting closer to the three of them until finally a figure revealed themselves from the forest. It was a tall and slender woman with neatly kept short white hair. She had a sharp look in her deep blue eyes and matching lipstick. Her breath was very visible as she approached them in a thick white fur coat, and matching heels.
"Oh dear, it seems my idiotic subordinates got too far ahead of themselves. I suppose I owe you three for punishing them appropriately, however, I can't let you take that one," Glaze said, pointing to Jump.
"Who are you?!" Springer asked.
"I guess you could call me the leader of this band of fools that you just dispatched. Honestly, I leave for a day, and look at what they do," Glaze said, rubbing her eyes in annoyance.
"You're the leader? Just what are you after with all the money you stole and all the people you assembled here," Plush Girl asked while trying to activate her gauntlet, but the barrels were completely frozen over. The woman laughed at the question.
"Oh, it's nothing really. I assure you, I had no plans to harm anyone in this city. I was simply hoping to get all I needed and move on, but since you three found me out early... I can't let any of you leave here alive," Glaze said.
The air around them grew thinner and colder, and a mist formed around the forest. Sighing, the woman raised her hands up.
"How annoying... I'll have to get my hands dirty now," Glaze said with a piercing glare as the air began crackling around her palm.
And there we go folks! The last chapter of 2020. I had originally planned to release this on Christmas, but I felt that New Years would be more appropriate! I know it has been a long and eventful year for everyone (Not in the good way, most likely) and I wanted to just say that I am very grateful for everyone who has stuck by me and this story until now, even through my terrible updating habits. As part of my New Years Resolution, I plan on being a lot more consistent and responsible with my updates for my stories as well as be better at communicating with you guys about potential delays and such since no one can tell what will happen in life. So let's put away this terrible year and move on in a good direction for 2021. I honestly hope everyone has had a safe and happy holidays and an even better New Years, so see you guys there and in the next chapter :)