Hey guys! I did manage to get this one out faster, but it's still awfully late. I'm just a really slow writer, sorry. Anyway, here you go!
Prometheus
Chapter 3: Siu's Decision
by Elisia Ware
Jeannie Anderson was completely, hopelessly, lost.
It wasn't terribly surprising to the exchange student, she tended to get lost just about anywhere. But now she was stuck walking the streets of Tokyo, and truth be told, her Japanese was terrible.
She and her fellow American students had just arrived in Japan the afternoon before. Incredibly jetlagged, all five of them had barely even unpacked before crashing into their beds in exhausted slumber. They had slept most of the night through, but thanks to their internal clocks, which were still set to New York time, had woken up at about four in the morning. One of the more restless members of the group, a cute boy named Tony (she thought that name was so sexy!), had suggested that they go for an early morning walk. Perhaps get their first real Japanese meal. The others had agreed, and they were all dressed up and on their way by 5:30.
Now here it was, nearly 6:00 in the morning, and Jeannie had no idea where she was, let alone where the rest of her friends might be. She looked up and down the street nervously. She supposed she could stop someone and ask them how to get to her hotel in garbled Japanese…but she just didn't have the courage yet.
Besides, she thought to herself, they're probably just around this corner...
She paused at an intersection, thankful that she was short. It was bad enough that she was so obviously western, at least she didn't tower over everybody like Tony did. The light changed colors, and everybody started across the crowded road. Not sure where to go, Jeannie simply followed the crowd. People from the other side of the busy street pushed past her in their hurry to get to wherever it was they were going. She was walking with her head down, but about halfway across, she glanced up. Straight into a pair of haunted, amber eyes.
It was as if the world stopped.
The odd eyes flickered over, past, then back to Jeannie. It was as if they saw through her, into her. The eyes blinked, and the spell was broken. The world began to turn again, the oblivious people resumed their trek across the crusty street. Jeannie's feet continued along their path of their own accord. She searched the oncoming faces for those odd golden eyes, and found none. I probably imagined the whole thing, she thought.
Another person brushed against her, only this time, the young man, barely taller than she was, gently tugged her arm and said in correct but heavily accented English, "Excuse me, but I believe you are headed in the wrong direction."
"What?" she said, her eyes widening in surprise.
"The place you are looking for, it's this way." He gave her a tired grin, absently ran his fingers through his shaggy black hair, and tugged on her arm a bit more. She saw with relief that his eyes were a dark hazel, not gold.
"Oh," she mumbled. She turned and followed him back to her original side of the road. There he stopped, glanced up and down the sidewalks, and then pointed back the way she had come.
"Keep going that way," he said softly, "and turn left after two blocks. Another block down is your friends."
"Thanks!" she cried. She smiled happily and took off down the sidewalk.
"Bye, Jeannie." he called after her before turning slowly and heading in the opposite direction. His step was brisk, and every now and then he would throw a nervous glance over his hunched shoulder.
It wasn't until Tony and the others were in sight that she realized that she hadn't told him her name.
Omi yawned and stretched under his covers. He did not want to wake up. His neck was stiff, his head hurt, and his eyes felt like they were full of sand.
That's what you get when you stay up all night on the computer following dead ends, he thought grumpily.
He rolled over and stared at the ceiling. The soft morning light, tinged blue from his hanging curtains, played over the ceiling and walls. Omi watched a lazily circling fly for a few minutes before sighing and sitting up. There was no getting back to sleep now.
Yawning, he pulled on the first clean clothes he could find and made a beeline for the kitchen. What he needed was a nice cup of coffee. Or two. Maybe three. He pushed open the kitchen door and came face to face with a grinning Ken.
"Good morning!" Ken chirped, "I made breakfast!"
Horrified at the thought of Ken cooking, Omi didn't protest as Ken lead him out of the kitchen and back to the table, where he pushed a hot cup into his hands and placed a plate full of eggs and toast in front of him.
"You look a lot better," Omi mumbled, giving the food in front of him the evil eye.
"Yup!" Ken smiled and stretched happily. "All I needed was a good night's sleep," he said before retreating to the kitchen. At that moment Youji ambled in. He plopped down next to Omi, and without a word, pulled the warm plate of breakfast over and picked up the fork.
Omi watched in alarm as Youji scooped up a forkful of eggs and shoved them into his mouth, munching happily. Youji caught Omi's shocked look and asked, "What?"
Omi gulped and said, "Ken made that."
"Really?" Youji replied, staring down at his plate and chewing thoughtfully. "It's edible! You know, that thing he saw must have been and alien or something, and now it's controlling him, like that old movie, Invasion of the Body Catchers."
"Snatchers." Omi carefully sipped his coffee, and when he didn't immediately slip into a coma, took a larger drink.
"What?"
"They were 'Body Snatchers.'"
"Whatever. Anyway, these alien things have taken over what little mind Ken has, and they're after us next!! I say," he paused to take a bite out of his toast, "we get the hell out of Dodge."
"What? Where's Dodge?"
"It's just a saying, Omi."
Their conversation was interrupted by Ken's decidedly bouncy return. "Ohayo, Youji!" he said with a grin. "I'm going for a walk, you two, tell Aya when the lazy-bones gets in. Bye!" With that he turned and bounced out of the room.
The two stared after him for a few minutes, then calmly return to their respective breakfasts. Ten minutes later, Aya shuffled in, looking like he hadn't slept a wink.
Omi smiled brightly and said, "Youji thinks Ken's been brainwashed by aliens."
The tired redhead cast one incredulous glance at the smirking Youji, then turned with an irritated grunt and headed back upstairs. Sometimes it just didn't pay to get out of bed.
It was an absolutely beautiful morning. Birds were singing, children were laughing, and Meng Siu had done his first good deed in two years.
Using my powers to help people, he thought with a slight smile, who would have thought it felt so good?
Scanning had become habit by now. His mind leaped from person to person, learning many things about them, secrets, names, things like that. Oddly enough, many of these "feelings" came across as scents. A woman, who he knew had just discovered she was pregnant, smelled of creamy butterscotch, and the smell of disappointment wafted from a businessman who had recently lost an important deal. Jeannie's distress had been like a beacon, smelling strongly of sweat and rust. As he had gotten closer, he had known instantly her name, where she was from, and where her friends were. He also knew that she liked Tony, and that her parents had a dog named Peaches.
He had been tense all morning, but after helping the lost American, his nervousness had eased as the day went on. Now he felt as if he was walking on air. He had escaped from Prometheus, and had already evaded recapture once. Would it be so hard to do it again? After all, the Alpha Quad had done it for years…
Yes, a voice whispered in his head, but they are a complete quad. Face it, you were incredibly lucky both times. You know you're worthless without the others.
Siu winced at the sharp pang he felt whenever he thought of his quad-mates. His soul felt so empty without them near. He wondered absently if they felt the same with him gone. Probably not, he decided, after all, they still have each other.
His thoughts returned to the Alpha Quad. They were around, he could feel it. Every now and then he could catch a trace of the sensation that only stabilized psychics left. He could pick it up on the breeze like a pleasant odor. They were close. Oh, how he wanted to find them. He needed allies again, and if they had stayed hidden for so long, perhaps they could help him. But first he had to find them, and it wasn't going to be easy.
He wasn't sure they would let him find them.
Siu knew with out a doubt that the pre-cog...Brad...the name came unbidden and caught him off guard. Brad? He thought. Yes, the pre-cog's name was Brad. He shook his head slowly back and forth. He doubted that he would ever get used to this part of his "gift" from Sugimoto. Sometimes, he just knew things.
Anyway, he was sure Brad would know he was coming long before he got there.
Siu's attention abruptly switched gears. The sickeningly sharp feeling of a Reader inched its way into his mind. He nearly gagged at the almost overwhelming smell of decay. He spun around, eyes leaping from person to person as he tried to locate the origin of the mental scent.
The people at the candy shop? ...No. Not the couple making out behind that tree, not the guy sweeping the walk in front of the book shop...There!
His gaze landed on a brown-haired boy, a few years younger than Siu himself was, who was fairly skipping down the sidewalk on the other side of the street. He followed the cheery teenager with his eyes for a few moments before beginning pursuit as discreetly as possible.
Soccer, his mind told him as he got closer, he plays soccer...and...blood, lots and lots of blood...let's see...HPF level...well, now I know why he's been marked by a Reader...
He was now only half a block behind the soccer-playing boy, and bits of information began to pop up in his mind. His name is...Ken Hidaka...he lives with...three other boys. He works in a flowershop...Siberian...Siberian...I wonder what that means?
The fugitive from Prometheus was at a loss. It was obvious to him that this boy had met somehow with a Reader, who had marked him as a jenus psychic to be picked up for stabilization. Only the fact that Sugimoto no longer had Siu to track this marked psychic had kept the boy from being taken already.
Now Siu had two choices. He could try to save this soccer-playing florist, which would more than likely lead to his own capture. Or he could move on, pretend he never saw him, and continue his search for the Alpha Quad.
I really am a fool, he thought. Against his better judgement, he decided to do what he could to help the soon to be victim, as well as his three room-mates, which Siu knew were also on the list to be taken.
Siu suddenly noticed that aside from the rotten smell of the Reader and the clean, earthy smell that seemed to be…what was his name? Oh, yes. Ken. …that seemed to be Ken's personal scent, there was a crisp taste of oranges that was mingled with the slightly metallic flavor of a stabilized psychic.
Had Ken come in contact with one of Sugimoto's psychics? Siu doubted it. Not only did he know the scent of every single psychic in the Foundation, but if one had gotten close enough to leave such a strong feeling, then Ken would have been captured already. No, this was something different.
Could it possibly be...? But I can't think of anything else...
Following Ken closer, Siu tried to pick up more of the orange smell. Slowly, he began to learn more of the man it came from. German, it's the telepath, then...he was...annoyed...and worried? Schwartz...its not the Alpha Quad anymore, they're Schwartz...but why was he checking up on this kid?
Siu considered the possibility that they monitered the jenus psychics in the area, then discarded it. There had to be another reason. Perhaps the pro-cog, Brad, knew something he didn't?
Chances are, he thought, he'll lead me to them. But that means he'll lead the Foundation to them too… His jaw tightened and his resolve firmed. If and when Ken met up with Schwartz, he would be there. With a little determination and a lot of luck, maybe he could save them all.
To be continued in Chapter 4: Nagi Takes a Stand.