Hollowed Heart

Chapter One: A Little Bit Lost

A heavy fog pressed down on my mind. My thoughts were sluggish and incomplete; it was difficult to grasp my surroundings.

My body felt cold and vulnerable. Lifeless metal claws clutched my wrists and ankles, keeping me from moving. The air around me was bleak and sterile, like a soulless hospital.

I'm… what's…

Slowly but surely did the mental blanket lift away. I pried my eyes open with great effort—a piercing light temporarily blinding me.

Coherent thoughts and a clearing vision allowed me to properly evaluate my position.

I was in a large white room. The walls, floor, and ceiling were segmented into squares, broken up by a large tinted window.

Experimentally moving my arms, I found that the 'metal claws' were thick steel restraints. The platform I was resting on was some kind of surgical table if the bloody mechanical apparatus above me was any indication.

"Looks like #12 is waking from the anesthesia. Are there any changes in his AIM diffusion field?" A man spoke outside of my periphery.

An intercom clicked on, a slow beeping monitor could be heard in the background. "Er, there have been some changes, but it looks like most of the new data is a result of the complication during the surgery."

The words AIM diffusion field and surgery echoed in my head, trying to remind me of something. I was sure I knew what they meant, but I couldn't reach it.

Nothing was making any sense. There was a dissonance between what I believed to be true and what was happening. Last thing I could properly recall was going to bed, in my room, and not in some dreadful laboratory.

All I could do was wait and hope I'd get some answers. I needed to be patient.

Due to his negligence, the man on the intercom absently mumbled on the live feed, broadcasting his inner thoughts. "If this test is done, does that mean we can finally terminate the subject? There's no point in keeping around a waste of resources."

My breath caught in my throat.

He wants… to kill me? He says it like I'm expendable, like I have no freedom of my own. After everything I had gone through-

A searing headache pierced through my skull, as though a thousand suns grazed my very being with a short, painful touch.

I pushed against the restraints to no avail, memories surfacing like formless blobs attempting to take shape.

"Huh- wait, Akiyama-san! You have to check this out. #12's brain activity has just skyrocketed, along with the AIM readings!" There was furious keyboard clacking before the intercom cut out with a click.

I have to- need to get out of here!

Frantically craning my neck, I tried to look behind me. There was a bit of tugging on my hair when I turned; I assumed it was from the bandages wrapped around my head.

Once I got a good angle, I could spot a researcher walking towards me. He was in a simple lab coat without any visible tools or weapons. In his hand was a plastic clipboard, or maybe a touchscreen device.

Behind him were two guards wearing thin black vests, open face helmets, and blue security uniforms. They each had a pistol in their holsters.

The last thing to catch my attention was the large metal blast door on the other side of the room.

It was important that I surveyed the room, but my thinking did nothing to slow down the researcher's pace.

Anxiety crept up my spine as the opportunity for surprise reduced with each passing second. Blood pounded in my ears as I tried to come up with a plan, anything that would grant me survival.

It was in this urgency that I came to a realization.

A power- I have a power!

The knowledge came straight out of left field. It was a ridiculous thought, but I was so sure that it was true. Enough so that I would bet my life on it.

My power—my esper ability—was baffling. It was vague yet specific. Broad yet constrained. I had the ability to alter and define constants.

This required me to think outside of the box. To examine the problem from an angle that I would never consider in the first place.

The metal cuffs that prevented me from moving were made of steel; I knew that its melting point was around 2700 degrees Fahrenheit. And unless steel is mixed or altered in a way that changes its composition, that should be a constant followed by these restraints.

So if I changed its melting point to room temperature…

The cuffs began to lose their consistency, slipping off my arms and legs like warm putty. Despite the macroscopic changes to the steel, it retained other constants like conductivity, density, etc.

Abruptly sitting up, I nearly knocked my head against the surgery machine. With the elegance of a drunkard, I fell off the table and landed on the floor with a painful thud. My clothing did little to absorb the impact, being similar to a hospital gown.

Picking myself up, I saw the researcher being held back by one of the guards.

"Let go of me! I need to see this up close- to think an ability could improve this much!" The scientist shouted and struggled under the guard's strong grip as he was dragged back.

The second guard held his hand up to his earpiece. "We need to sound the alarm! This is a potential threat that can't be ignored."

"Preposterous. This is an unprecedented moment in Academy city history! Artificially enhancing a natural esper calls for celebration, not panic." The researcher scoffed, continuing to resist.

While the first guard did his best to direct the researcher to the door, the second guard brought up his firearm.

Identifying the new danger, I ducked behind the surgical machine and pried off a scalpel.

I needed to attack from a distance. Throwing the tool wouldn't do; I had no confidence in my aim.

Altering the gravitational potential of the object might increase its velocity, but that requires throwing. Maybe I can make the scalpel attracted to the guard, like a magnetic attraction. Increasing the magnetic field of the scalpel wouldn't give me the results I want though. What if I changed the gravitational attraction between the knife and the guard?

The plan was good enough. The guard was emitting a very weak gravitational field, and that field was affecting everything in this room, including the scalpel. All I had to do was increase the field strength from the guard on the knife.

Ignorant of the dangers of my power, the guard showed no hesitation when I pointed the scalpel at him. Not like he could predict the knife would travel as though it was pulled by the sun itself.

My target paled in shock as the knife all but disappeared from my fingers, only to make itself known in his chest. Blood gushed from his wound as he fruitlessly grasped at the sinking tool.

His partner was completely distracted by the display and let go of the researcher to help guard number two. This allowed me to close in with no problem.

Grabbing his helmet, I increased its weight drastically. The first guard's head snapped back—still connected to his body—and hit the floor with a crunch.

I watched the researcher slip to the floor. His face was covered in sweat and it smelled as though he had wet himself.

"H-hold on, you don't n-need to do this! We'll treat y-you better, you can have anything! Just s-" The guard's pistol, now in my possession, fired with a bang.

The soundwaves reverberated in my ears. My vision flashed for a moment as I was unprepared for the unpleasant stimulation.

I frowned, hoping I didn't damage my hearing by accident. Stepping over the dead researcher, I gazed at the only thing left keeping me in the room.

The metal door stood proudly, boasting its power and sturdiness. I would have left through the tinted window, but I didn't know the layout for the rooms above.

"Subject 12, please move to the other side of the testing room and await further instructions." The intercom was used by a different person, likely one of the security detail.

I ignored him in favor of tracing my hand across the door; I built a mental image of its dimensions. It was about 9.8 feet tall, 3.2 feet wide, and 0.65 feet thick. Odd proportions, but that wasn't a concern.

"Seize your attempts to escape. You will receive punishment if you continue #12." The voice had a touch of irritation. Maybe he didn't like being ignored.

Glancing at the intercom, I said nothing and returned to analyzing the door. The material was a kind of steel alloy, so I couldn't use the melting trick without more preparation.

I could change the weight of the door so it collapses in on itself. The only problem with that is I don't have any way of finding out what else the door is made of.

But steel makes up the majority of this door, so I can disregard any other elements. To force the door to collapse in on itself, I should consider the top half of the door and the bottom half as separate sections and alter them differently.

I should increase and decrease the density of steel for the top and bottom. But I also need to make sure that the changing density doesn't change anything but the mass, and that the mass only affects the weight.

Let's get to it.

A 3D image of the door floated in my head. It wasn't perfect, but I didn't need it to be. The door weighed a total of around 4 tons, but that would be false once I was done with it.

The top half of the door grew exponentially denser. The entire piece was four- five- no, six times heavier than it was before. The same happened with the bottom half, but in the opposite direction.

The blast door fought a terrible battle. A battle of strength with itself as its opponent. In the end, it was both the victor and the vanquished.

There was a grinding of metal against metal and the door contorted and sunk inward. When the lower half was packed too densely to continue, the screech stopped.

"Step out of the testing room and you will be met with lethal force. This is your final warning." As soon as the speaker shut off, I climbed over the ruined door.

Outside of the room was a spotless white hallway with fluorescent lights lining the floor and ceiling. Color coded stripes were painted on the walls, indicating the direction of different locations.

I dropped off the door and landed on the cold surface. It reminded me that I had no foot protection whatsoever, being barefoot and all.

Backtracking and acquiring some shoes would have been my first choice had the alarms not gone off. They were loud and irritating; red lights lowered from the ceiling and flashed crimson red.

It was time to move.

My feet smacked against the floor with each stride. I was following the red stripe as it led to the test subject quarters.

Under different circumstances, I would have tried escaping by myself. However, I lacked any knowledge of where the exit was; whether or not the building was above or below ground; and so on and so forth.

Even so, I knew that one of my fellow experimentees could help me with this. I couldn't remember why exactly, but it was the best thing I could go off of.

I could feel my chest tightening and my sides sting. Running clearly wasn't my strong suit.

Powering through the strain, I nearly fell flat on my face when I took a left turn. Unfortunately, the group of guards in front of me were prepared when I rounded the corner.

Reducing the gunshots' ability to permeate the air was child's play, but it did nothing to stop the bullets from clipping my body.

Blood dripped down my shoulder and side as I shunted the pain as best as I could. It was a surprisingly easy task.

I feigned gripping my side and crouched down. Before the guards could take a step forward, I revealed my stolen pistol and tossed it at the group.

Ordinarily, such a move would have been insane and ridiculous. On the contrary, there was nothing ordinary about this gun.

Every piece of metal that was or could be magnetic was drawn to the gun. Its magnetic field strength rivaled that used in particle accelerators. At least, that was my intention.

The guards slipped towards the magnetized firearm like water dropping down a whirlpool. There was a crunching of bone and equipment as the security guards gave shouts of pain and agony. It was a clean affair, as most of the damage was internal.

This gave me a unique opportunity to test a new idea on living test subjects. But unique opportunity or not, I still needed to hurry, so I opted for a compromise.

I walked to the closest guard. His features were indistinguishable from the rest; that was due to their faces being buried in the pile of limbs and cloth. Resting my hand on where his neck should be, I concentrated on the water flowing through his body. He flinched under my touch, but otherwise continued to groan and growl.

The heat capacity of water is higher than any other liquid, according to my physics text book, and requires more energy to be raised in temperature. Lowering the heat capacity by itself should easily raise the temperature of the guard and kill him instantly, but I wasn't sure if it would work.

Rather than theorize and conjecture, I quickly brushed my hand against the necks of all three guards and decreased the heat capacity at different levels.

The guard I first changed had—predictably—died immediately, so I ignored him. The other two guards, on the other hand, were not so fortunate. Due to the change in heat capacity in their body (I avoided altering the liquid in the brain) their bodies became wet with sweat and their skin bright red.

Their blood would have cooled off quicker had they stayed still. All that energy kept increasing the temperature of their bodies, their screams growing along with it.

Satisfied with my experiment, I waited for the cries to die down and removed the magnetic field. I procured a pair of boots shortly after.

…

I reached a dead end, the red indicator cutting off at the wall. On each side of the hallway were six doors.

Pacing down, I checked the right side with odd numbered doors.

#9… #7… #5… Ah, there it is.

Painted in bold black was #1. This was the person I needed to get out of here. I was sure it had to be the number one.

The door was shut with both a conventional lock and an electric panel.

I held the door knob and changed its melting point to room temperature. As the knob changed state, I kept the metal in my hand and molded it into several light weight bracelets. Returning the steel to its original state, I continued to alter the door frame until I was sure nothing kept it locked.

With a light push, the door silently swished forward. I was greeted to a spartan room with nothing but a small bed, table, and chair. There were a couple sketches of the room on the table, but they were strangely non Euclidean.

My guide sat on the bed with her knees up to her chest. She had tousled black hair that ended just below her neck. Her complexion was almost as pale as her white gown, likely a result of being cooped up here for however long.

Her gaze slowly shifted to where I was standing. She looked over at me until she reached my eyes. Recognition set in as her whole demeanor changed.

"Jun! It's you!" With a million watt smile, the girl stepped off the bed and was directly in front of me. Her hair bobbed as she stood on her toes to reach my height.

"Ichi…"

The name left my lips before I could stop myself. Seeing her act so familiarly with me—it struck with an intensity far greater than before.

I could remember her 'name', the time we first met two years ago, chatting when we were occasionally paired, warnings to keep my distance when we got too close… And most importantly, her power.

That's right! She's a spatial warper. Ichi could always tell exactly where we were in the facility. Not to mention that one time she gave our exact geographical location. Ichi was at least a level three esper.

For a moment, I waited for the mental backlash to hit—to be punished for remembering something so important. But nothing came, so I let out a relieved sigh.

"I was so worried! I thought you would go away like Kyuu did." The black haired girl tentatively gripped my sleeve.

Kyuu? Oh, #9. Wasn't that the girl who got 'disappeared' a year and a half ago during an alarm like this?

"No, I'm not going like Kyuu. But we are leaving and I need your help getting out." I paid attention to her expression to gauge her reaction. Ichi was puzzled, judging by her crinkled forehead and furrowed brows.

"Get out…? But what's there to get out of? Oh! When you say 'out', do you mean outside the facility? Like, where the sun is at? I really want to go! Not that the facility is bad… but the sun is so cool! I think. It was all warm and fuzzy, right?" She rapidly fired questions, bouncing from one foot to another.

"Uh, sure. The outside does have the sun. But more importantly, we're escaping. Permanently. The researchers are going to dissect me if we're caught."

Ichi blinked, light tilting around her ever so slightly. "That doesn't make any sense. The researchers are nice people, they haven't done anything mean to me before."

Turning my back on the girl, I checked the doorway for any guards. "Of course they're nice to you. You're subject 01, the best esper this project has. Security won't be so lenient now though, considering what I did to everyone who's tried to stop me."

Motioning for Ichi to lead the way, I watched in fascination as the space in Ichi's room scrunched together, allowing the girl to move ahead with one step.

"You did something to the guards? That doesn't sound like you at all." Chuckling, the green eyed girl waved her arms back and forth without any care. "I bet you did something petty like tie their shoelaces together. Did I get it right? Did I?"

Her energetic movements were distracting. "I'm pretty sure I implied that I killed them. Very brutally, might I add."

She continued unfazed, as though she couldn't understand what I said. "Now you're just messing with me. Oh- is this some kind of roleplay you're doing? We're like secret super agents sneaking out of the bad guys underground base. Yeah, you just incapacitated the guards and now we have to stealthily make our way out!"

Was Ichi always this delusional? Being stuck in this facility as long as she has definitely isn't healthy. Whatever, as long as it doesn't hinder our progress.

…

"What's with the blood? Don't the scientists clean that up when they're done?" The way Ichi posed the question made it sound so innocent. There was some context I was missing for sure.

"Uh, these are gunshot wounds. I haven't bothered cleaning them." The actual wounds didn't look too bad, but that may have been due to the red tint from the lights covering up the worst of it.

My guide frowned as she looked at my blood soaked side. "We need to take care of that. The researchers said it's bad to 'let wounds fester'. I think."

We continued our trek to the exit. Ichi didn't say or do anything else, so I assumed she was waiting for me to take the lead.

…

The white clad girl gave me worried glances every couple minutes, but elected to stay silent. She was likely going to actually stop our progress if I didn't answer, so I asked a question to distract her.

"By the way, have you been keeping us away from the guards? I expected to run into at least one patrol." If she was able to detect the guards before they could see us, I would be thoroughly impressed.

"Yeah! It's like, really cool; I have corridors all around us bent super funny so the guards can't find us. This game will be a piece of cake!" Ichi thrust her hand into the air with her fingers in the shape of a V.

All around…? If she can do all that, she might be a level four.

Of course, it was at this point that a small wrench was thrown into my plan.

Another set of footsteps echoed in the hallways. Ichi didn't react, so she either didn't notice, or didn't register the person as a threat.

Coming out of one of the various supply closets was a researcher. When I looked more closely, I actually recognized her.

Light brown hair, pristine lab coat, and a motherly smile—Sasaki-san was calm as always.

I had actually known Sasaki-san before I was transferred to this institute several years ago. She was a handler of sorts, usually being paired with whatever project I was dumped in.

"Ju-ni, Ichi! What are you two doing out here? Haven't you noticed the state of emergency?" Her right hand shifted in her coat while she gestured with her left palm faced outward.

"Oh, we're just-" Before Ichi could bound forward with reckless abandon, I grabbed her shoulder. She looked at me, a wordless question on the tip of her tongue.

Snapping off one of the metal bracelets, I decreased its gravitational potential and increased its density. With a flick of the wrist, Ichi could only watch as Sasaki-san's shoulder exploded like a piñata of blood and gore.

There was a scream. Possibly two, but I didn't need to concentrate on Ichi. Sasaki-san clutched her newly amputated stump with a gasp, dropping a hidden pistol from her coat.

Wow, I actually managed a hit. Maybe I have better aim than I initially thought.

Her face creased in agony as she tried to stop the bleeding. "H-how…? Y-you shouldn't have s-suspected—I was practically a m-mother figure to you!"

I looked off to the side, entertaining Sasaki-san's claims.

Mother figure? Hm… I guess I could see that. Doesn't change much though.

"You were hiding your arm. I couldn't risk anything." She stared incredulously, her jaw dropping.

"Just that?!" The researcher let out a guttural cough. "You attacked me off of pure chance?!"

"Of course. The probability that you had and would use your weapon was non-zero." I raised an eyebrow, unsure of what the problem was.

I would have questioned her further, but the clock was ticking and so was the time frame for surviving this ordeal.

Walking up to Sasaki-san's, I kicked her to the floor and held another bracelet above her face. When it left my grip, the metal dug into her head, causing it to collapse. I used her coat to wipe the blood off my boots.

There was a weak whimpering behind me. Ichi had fallen to her knees at some point, tears streaming down her puffy red cheeks.

What's that look for? If she's this affected by a little preemptive self defense…

"Are you going to turn back?"

Ichi tore her gaze away from the mess that was once Sasaki-san. The girl's face twisted as she jerked with a shudder.

"N-no! I'll never leave you… But why did you have to ki-" She choked on a sob, covering her mouth with a hand. Her next words came as barely a whisper. "You weren't like this. What happened to you?"

Her words were interesting. They made me consider my current state of mind.

I'm I really that different in her eyes? I certainly don't feel any different. Aside from my increased power level. And my willingness to kill… Wait, isn't that kind of big?

I brought my knuckles to my chin. "Maybe it was the brain surgery. The researcher did mention some sort of mistake during the process."

This would need further consideration, but I got the answer I wanted from Ichi, so it was time to move on.

Grabbing her wrist, I dragged her along. Ichi followed despondently, occasionally giving new directions.

We didn't run into anyone else after that. It didn't take too long to reach the exit either; Ichi shortened the distance of each hall we went through.

The last door in our way to freedom, on the other hand, was filled with security. Every one of them looked to have enforced body armor and higher caliber guns.

Because of Ichi's power, we were able to spot the group long before they could see us.

I don't think I have the material necessary to fight them by myself. And they're too spread out to use magnetism again.

Ichi could probably deal with them easily. I'll ask her.

Glancing over at the girl, I saw that she was staring at me. The green eyed girl quickly averted her gaze, but I urged her to speak her mind. "What is it?"

"You said… you said you wanted to get out fast. So I thought I could- I think I might be able to do that." The girl stumbled over her words as she tried to convey her thoughts. I waited patiently, knowing she would finish on her own.

"It's just, um. The researchers said I shouldn't-"

I cut in, knowing I should nip this bud as soon as possible. "Unless they've given you a concrete and believable reason, assume that the researchers only told you this so you wouldn't escape on your own."

Ichi might have been shocked if it weren't for the past half hour of events. She settled with a weary, yet toothy smile. "Okay, got it… I can kind of connect two places together and mush the outside tunnel. Like a portal, I think."

"Really?" While her explanation left much to be desired, I was eager to learn more about her abilities. But that could wait. "Sounds good. Let's get out of here."

The 'portal' making girl faltered. "Yeah, to open the portal, I just need to… remove all my other space bending."

"And?"

"H-huh? It's, uh. There's still guards and researchers wandering around in those areas." Ichi fixed her sight on her feet as she fiddled with her fingers.

Scratching my head, I posed a completely reasonable action. "So what. Drop the distortions so we can leave."

The black haired girl was adamantly against this, stomping her foot on the floor. "But I can't! They'll be really hurt if I just let them go! Can't we wait for them to safely get out first?"

I let out a sigh, shaking my head. "Sure, we're not being pursued right now. But the more time we spend waiting for these personnel to be 'safe', the higher the chance we're found out. Either let them be hurt, or we're using your powers to force our way out."

My guide began pacing, lips contorting as though she tasted something sour. Her small feet pattered on the cold white floor.

She came to a stop—shoulders tense and fists clenched. "I- I'll do it. Drop my power, I mean."

When I looked into her eyes, I expected to see a girl who finally relented to logic. That was not the case. "But- I will make sure nobody dies! So give me a chance… please."

Taking a look at our little peeping hole, I saw that the guards hadn't made any moves. "Alright. Be quick about it, I want results soon."

I was left waiting for Ichi to do whatever she was doing.

Is this worth it? While Ichi is no doubt a powerful ally, this could be a problem. Compromising is not unreasonable, but it's not entirely beneficial.

…

This is taking too long. If she doesn't finish up soon-

I felt something grasp my hand. Ichi pulled me forward with a tug.

We walked to the end of the corridor; it was only one turn away from a corridor of lead and death. My guide tightened her grip as she focused on the space in front of us.

"I take it that you're ready now?"

There was a pause. Ichi looked over her shoulder with a viridescent flame in her eyes.

"Mn!"

Moving one foot in front of the other, we walked to the wall. There was no showy pulling of light. No obvious wormhole from one point to another. One moment I was walking forward—the next I was falling.

It was like I was travelling through oblivion itself. Color was nonexistent and it was neither warm nor cold. There was no sense of direction. No rhyme or reason to my surroundings. It was hard to believe there was anything around me at all.

But I could feel Ichi's small hand still leading me onward. I kept faith that she would succeed.

While it seemed like an eternity, only a couple seconds passed by. When the end of the portal enveloped me, I was greeted with a rough concrete surface.

The cold material scratched against my hands and knees as I pushed myself off the ground. Cool salty air buffeted my face as I covered my eyes from the change in brightness.

I took a deep breath, allowing the foreign breeze to enter my lungs. It was fresh and full of energy. Nothing like the lifeless sterilized facility.

Raising my hand, I caught sight of Ichi. She was standing near the edge of the concrete surface. From the looks of it, we were on the top of a building.

I moved next to the girl. Her eyes were red once again, tears ready to burst at any moment. She barely noticed me, so I followed her gaze and-

The horizon was a vibrant orange-yellow. Colors seemed to mesh and merge together, creating a chaotic and unpredictable sight. It was like the sky was embroidered with jewels of gold and amber.

The sun flared, making it nearly intolerable to view. Its rays reflected off of every surface, making the surrounding skyscrapers shine impossibly bright.

Clouds swirled like pink cotton floating over a blazing ocean. Deep blue clouds acted as a barrier between the sun and the deep purple expanse.

A pair of arms wrapped around me with a firm grip. I could feel the wet tears soak into my thin gown.

I held back any drastic reactions when I heard her croaking voice.

"Thank you… thankyou-thankyou-thankyou!"

Standing there, staring out into the vast city, I allowed myself to relax.

A/N: Wanted to try my hand at a more sociopathic MC. Then I wrote Truth is Often and decided against it. I'll probably use this fic in the future, but without the whole indiscriminately killing scientists without a second thought.