Chapter 8 - Chance Encounter
"This must be the place." I thought as I came to a stop above one of the houses.
With the amount of police cars and people milling about, I really didn't need Ivan's directions to help find the girl's house. I took note of a few of the Pro Heroes standing outside in the front yard.
They were deep in conversation with one of the police officers, giving a report of their findings. Based on their expressions alone I could determine that they had had no luck that day.
I let myself descend through the roof and second level before coming to a stop on the first floor. I ended up in the kitchen. The place was a complete mess. The countertops were littered with several casserole dishes - no doubt from well meaning neighbors - along with dozens of dirty coffee mugs. No one was here, but there were voices coming from the living room beyond.
I followed the voices out and found the mother and father sitting on one of the couches, listening and arguing with the police officer across from them. They looked haggard and distraught, pleading with the officer for any new information. The police officer had nothing for them.
The mother began to cry as the police officer got up, offering a sincere apologetic bow before making his way over to the front door and leaving.
I watched the scene play out before me as though through a spectator's eyes. I had seen this scene countless times before to the point where I had grown numb to the pain. Some would consider me a cold-hearted person, and they would be right. In order to keep doing what I had to do, I had to close my heart off and block the pain or I would break.
I turned away from the crying parents and glanced over to the stairs that led up to the second floor. A boy, probably 13 years old, sat crunched against the stair's rails at the top of the landing, desperately watching the scene but wanting to be hidden as well.
"Must be the brother." I noted.
I floated up the stairs, brushing by the boy's shoulder slightly enough to make him shiver and look around for the source of the burst of cold air. Arriving on the second floor I checked the various rooms before finding the one that belonged to the little girl. Entering the very pink, very frilly room I saw a row of toys lined up on the girl's bed and smiled to myself. The boy had gotten our message.
When it comes to the specifics of how I track, all I can tell you is that it's more of a feeling - a soul being drawn to another soul. Material possessions, especially those a person holds close and often, carry with them that particular person's soul's scent. The stronger the connection to the possession, the stronger the scent. By gathering the possessions and touching them I could hone in and pick up on the scent of the owner soul. In this case, the brother had gathered for me his sister's favorite toys and laid them all out for me to find.
I ran my fingers over the girl's toys, breathing as deep as my soul would allow. Flavors of cotton candy, watermelon, and yellow daisies danced in my mind as the scent entered me. It was warm and cheerful, with a touch of playful mischievous that all kids had at that age. I felt a pull on my heart and I knew then that I had made a connection. She was still alive. If she had been dead, then there would have been no pull and no way for me to find her. A body without a soul was a body I had no hope of finding.
With a connection locked in place I flew upwards and out of the house, following the invisible pull on my heart towards the place where the girl was being held. I passed over the roads lit up by street lamps. The police were still out scouring the back alleys while the Pros were going door to door gathering statements from the community. They were looking in the wrong place. That's what my connection was telling me.
I left them all behind as I was pulled away from the town and down a highway towards a more urban landscape. A plaza of sorts dominated the center of the urban area with vibrant restaurants and shops already lit up brightly against the night. The pull was getting stronger and I knew I was getting close. My eyes fixed on a point on the sidewalk, and I felt that was where my pull was leading me. I paused, floating over the concrete as I did an assessment.
I didn't like going underground. There was no light and when surrounded by the tons of earth I found the weight of it to be crushing. It made me feel like I was drowning with no hope of escape. It was not a pleasant experience to be had. But my connection was telling me that she was down there somewhere still alive. Which meant there had to be a space for her to be in.
With a grimace, I let myself be pulled straight down into the earth under the pavement, trusting the pull to lead me where I needed to go. There was a rushing roar in my ears and I didn't dare open my eyes just yet. Down down I went. How far, I wouldn't know. I didn't want to know.
I felt the connection grow stronger and suddenly there was a new sound in my ears. The sound of men speaking. Cracking open my eyes I gazed around the room I found myself in. It appeared to be an office of sorts as a large desk resided at the end of the room while a pair of couches faced each other in the center. A ridiculously large tv hung on one of the walls showing the views from various street cameras up on the surface. I noted that the single door was the only entrance in and out of the place. Whoever these people were, they were confident that they could not be found if they had only one escape route.
A man with the blackest skin and wearing a white suit sat behind the desk, his chin resting over his knuckles as he spoke to the man lounging on one of the couches. There were several silver cases scattered around the room with a few open just enough for me to see the stacks of bills inside.
"This girl is a money making machine!" The man from the couch exclaimed, patting the little girl's head rather a little too hard.
The little girl I had been searching for was kneeling on the ground in front of the man, her body crouched over a table in front of them as she whimpered from the man's touch. She was scared, but otherwise unharmed.
"Just keep doing what you're doing." He nodded to her satisfactorily, settling back into the cushions of the couch.
She meekly nodded back, pulling a stack of cash towards her with her left hand, and with her right hand slapped the table. Her right hand rose up revealing a newly created stack of bills. She repeated the process, duplicating the stack of money over and over again as another man took the new bills from her, packing them inside the silver cases.
"The intel we paid for turned out to be a worthwhile investment." The onyx man in white spoke, his voice deceivingly richer than I had expected it to be.
"Yah man, thanks for that!" The man on the couch waved to the person standing by the door.
My eyes flitted over to the stranger and I felt myself freeze.
"The pleasure was all mine." The man spoke smoothly from behind the familiar gas mask, giving a short bow. Fifteen years may have passed but I could still remember that face, that voice. They haunted my nightmares, telling me over and over to just fall back to sleep while that hand threatened to engulf my face with a fog. It was the same man who had taken Natsu and I away that night all those years ago.
"If any more interesting kiddies pop up, let us have first dibs, yeah?" The man on the couch spoke over his shoulder at the stranger.
"Of course. I think you'll find my prices to be quite reasonable from now on."
"Yah, cause we'll be swimming in cash!" The man on the couch took hold of the pile that had gathered on the coffee table and threw it up into the air with a joyous cackle.
"If everything is in order, I'll take my leave." The man said from the door.
"Yes, thank you for your services." Onyx man said, laying his hands back on the desk, "We'll be in touch again."
Gas-mask man turned to leave and without thinking I raced forward, my hand outstretched and taking hold of his reaching hand to prevent him from moving forward. I couldn't let him leave. He was my first lead in fifteen years and I wasn't about to let him disappear.
"Interesting." Gas man spoke, looking down on his hand frozen in the air, mere inches from the door handle.
That caught the attention of the other occupants in the room.
"Huh, what was that?" The man from the couch spoke up, peering over his shoulder.
"It appears I can't move my hand." Gas man looked back to the other men, his voice the picture of calm as he said, "We have an unwelcome visitor in our midst."
"Shit!" The man from the couch shot up from the couch, stumbling over the little girl at his feet and making her whimper. Ignoring her cries he forced the girl to her feet, dragging her with him over to the onyx man while pulling out a gun from his breast pocket. The other smaller man quickly gathered what he could with the silver cases, snapping them closed and tossing them into a pile to collect later.
The onyx man got to his feet, standing out from his desk before directing his question to the gas-man.
"How many?"
"Just the one."
A grin split across the onyx man's face, a crack of blinding bright white smiling eerily against the solid black of his form.
"Perfect." He spread his arms wide, bringing them together in a powerful clap that deafened the room and threw it into perfect pitch black darkness.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" I screamed internally. In my haste to prevent gas-man from leaving I had not thought ahead and lost sight of my objective.
I still had a firm hold of the strings on gas-man's man, but he didn't make an attempt to free himself. In fact he was eerily calm as the room was blacked out. Granted I could still see where everyone was, but it didn't help the tension rising within me.
"Come on out, Hero!" Onyx man called out across the room. "No use in hiding anymore. I control the darkness and everything in it."
I didn't move.
"You were quick to find the girl." Onyx man spoke again, this time closer, "I'm curious how you were able to find us. Tunneler here is very good about hiding his tracks."
I didn't reply.
There was a momentary silence which seemed to last longer in the darkness before couch-man whispered, "You sure there's someone here, boss? I can't see shit."
Before his boss could snap back a reprimand, gas-man intervened.
"Allow me." He purred, a white smoke falling off his hands and onto the floor. I recognized it as the same smoke from my dreams and glanced back to where the others were standing. They were swaying on their feet, struggling to stay awake.
"For real, man?" Couch-man slurred, the gun dropping from his hands. "Gassing your own god-damned clients?"
The little girl was already passed out by his feet, propped up against the desk with her head lumped forward onto her chest. Only onyx man seemed to be putting up a fight against the sleep-inducing fog.
"Apologies." Gas-man spoke. "It will be all over soon enough."
"I want the Hero...alive. I...have some questions." Onyx man breathed tiredly before falling to his knees and onto his side. His quirk canceled itself as he succumbed to the fog and light flooded back into the space. I blinked, looking around. They had all fallen asleep - save gas-man and I.
"You are quite formidable." Gas-man spoke into the empty space, "My fog had no effect on you. Not many people can boast that. Let's talk face to face, shall we?"
I pondered this for a moment, considering his request. The little girl, while not saved just yet, was also not in harm's way and not going anywhere. The others were out cold and would not be waking any time soon as I knew from my own personal experience with the gas.
I needed answers. Oh god, did I need answers. And here before me was the very man that could give it to me. But could I even trust anything that he says? If he remembered me from my past, then he would also put two and two together for the present and that would spell the end for my secret identity. My mind raced through the nightmarish scenarios and visions of being hunted down by the criminal underground ran at the forefront of my mind. But beyond all of that I saw Natsu and the glimmer of hope of being able to find him again. It - he - was a risk I was willing to take.
I cut my hold on the man's hand and stepped back while he straightened, turning to face the room once more.
It was now or never.
With a deep inhale, I shifted myself to be visible once more.
Immediately his eyes found mine.
I peered up into his face with a steeled determination in my eyes and opened my mouth to speak.
"Alright. Let's talk."