A/N:The speed might be high, but the quality I feel it's meh. It makes me happy to know that I can portray their emotions realistically. Though I don't know how much the readers do sympathize with the characters. Also, you do T need to apologize for anything, or feel that what you wrote is an insult towards me and my capability as a writer. Quite the opposite, I fear that my writing might be insulting to the readers if I am honest.
Let's get this chapter started now!
The Ether Conflict
Chapter 19: Small Beginnings
Laboratory S-18
Location Unknown
27th of May 2 Y.A.
"I'll ask you one more time, what did you told them?"
"I-I told you...y-you won't g-urk!"
"We ain't leaving this room until you talk."
Inside a room painted white are two figures. One figure sits tied on a chair that is bolted on the floor. Her clothes are caked with dried blood, torn in some places and exposing her delicate soft skin that is now full of bruises, her once shining reddish brown hair disheveled and full of grime.
"I'll never...betray my friends," the girl says, her voice barely audible. In front of her stands a very tall man, at least 2 meters tall. Though he seems to be a bit too thin for his height, he's actually really strong.
"Your friends have already told us everything, what will you achieve with your feeble resistance?" the man says, punching the girl on her right cheek.
The girl grunts in response, her strength barely enough to remain conscious. Spitting some blood, she looks the man on his eyes with her own two, though her left eyelid is too bloated to open. "Yuzu and Momo would never betray me, even if it meant death," she says, coughing blood mid-sentence.
"Let's see for how long you can keep acting tough," the man says. Unseathing his knife, he stabs the girl's right hand, the blade piercing through it and pinning it on the chair's arm. The girl screams in pain, as fresh blood starts flowing from the chair's arm down on the floor.
"Aleksey, that is enough," a man with blonde hair and blue eyes speaks in German accented English. He wears black pants and a blue shirt. He also wears a white lab coat, his hands inside its pockets.
"Dr. Mannheim, she won't say anything. Should we call Henry?" Aleksey suggests, his face completely expressionless.
"No. This boy will kill her long before she breaks and talks," Mannheim replies, walking towards the girl.
"Miss Kadotani, I believe it's in your best interest that you reveal to us what you leaked to your friends," Mannheim says with a smile. "Or else your friends will suffer." His tone becomes dark, his expression changing to a serious one.
"She will come...and when she finds out about this, nothing will save you," Anzu says in a hoarse voice, her head hanging limply. "This is your end Mannheim," she whispers, finally fainting from her wounds and exhaustion.
"What do we do now?" Aleksey asks Mannheim.
"Let her be for now. When the time comes, we will ask her again," Mannheim says. Raising his right hand, greenish white colored energy starts seeping out of it and slowly making its way to Anzu. Covering Anzu's body, the energy shines brightly for a brief moment, before vanishing.
"Consider it a reward for bringing Subject 23 here," Mannheim smiles, putting his hand back to the lab coat's pocket.
"What do you mean bringing Subject 23 here?" Aleksey asks.
"It's of no importance to you. Come now," he says, walking towards the exit of the room. Aleksey too exits the room, following Mannheim.
Hearing the door closing, Anzu raises her head slowly, looking around the now empty room. Finding no one, she raises her left hand, the ropes that have been keeping it tied on the chair cut from the underside.
"Are you atoning for your sins, or you are you planning something?" Anzu smirks. Grabbing the knife that has pierced her right hand, she readies herself to pull it out.
"What's your endgame Mannheim?" she grunts, as she pulls the knife out of her right hand. The shearing pain she feels is intolerable and she nearly faints for real this time, as her vision goes almost black and a high-pitched ringing noise grasps her ears. Using the knife she unlodged, she cuts her remaining restraints.
Standing up and taking a step forward, her legs instantly give in, crashing on the ground. Groaning and clenching her teeth in response from the pain of the exacerbated injuries, a light starts shining from the center of her chest. It gradually expands to cover her whole body and starts glowing even more brightly. Anzu can feel the pain getting washed away, and looking down at her body, she sees the bruises shrinking and vanishing one by one. Her left eyelid starts healing and soon enough, she is able to see from her left eye again. Raising her right hand, she feels the gap that the knife created in it, closing.
"Good as new," she smiles, flexing her fingers to see if they move properly. Standing up once again, she feels her whole body light as a feather, renewed with strength. Looking down on her body, she frowns a bit. "He can heal wounds, but can't repair clothes?" she sighs, noticing her torn uniform. Picking the knife that lays on the ground, she twirls it a bit in her hand.
First, I need to find Yuzu and Momo. Then to free our friends, she notes mentally, eyeing the room's only entrance.
Approaching the metal door, she carefully opens it and comes face to face with one of the soldiers the base has. Both stand motionless, looking at each other's face, though Anzu looks at the orange lights the soldier's helmet has to indicate where the eyes are.
Not thinking about it twice, she pulls the soldier from his uniform and trips him over her right foot. As the man falls to the ground, Anzu closes the door and then shoves her left knee at his back, before thrusting the knife with both hands at the base of the man's neck. His movements instantly seize and blood starts oozing out of the deep wound she inflicted him. Retracting the knife, Anzu sighs a little. That was really close, she thinks.
"Now, let's see what's inside this helmet," she murmurs as she removes the soldier's helmet and puts it on her head. A Heads Up Display boots up, showing various information about the surrounding environment. Looking at the bottom right of the HUD, she spots a mini map of the whole place. Nice, now I can find where Yuzu and Momo are, she thinks, grinning under the helmet. Yuzu, Momo, hang in there.
Reaching the Director's office, Miho salutes the two guards that stand in front of the two big wooden doors, who salute her back. Opening the doors, Miho enters inside the office, where a couple of familiar faces stand. On the right side of the room stand the members of the Anglerfish, on the left the members of the Antelope and in front of the office desk, Odysseus and Yuki. Though Odysseus is fine, Yuki is bandaged on her chest and her left hand is on cast.
"Miporin, you are late!" Saori scolds Miho, standing next to Mako and Hana.
"Sorry Saori, I was saying goodbye to my sister," Miho responds.
"Miss Nishizumi, welcome. If you may," the Director, who sits behind the desk, says, gesturing at where Odysseus and Yuki stand.
Miho quickly falls in place, saluting the Director.
"At ease, all of you," he says and everyone relaxes their posture a bit.
"May I ask why you called us here sir?" Yuki asks.
"Of course. I called you all here to inform you of a new branch of Blackout that will be created."
"A new branch?" Miho asks, while everyone looks with a surprised look.
"My guess is that the branch has to do with all the Ether stuff they told us yesterday in the evening," Tyler whispers to Reiji and Annabelle.
"It is possible that this new branch will be composed by people with powers. That's why he called us here, probably," Reiji whispers back.
"But that would mean we won't be able to be with them...I really don't want to be apart from Odysseus," Annabelle blurts out, her face growing sad.
"I don't think we will be. If he isolates them from their squads, he risks lowering both their and our morale. Plus, we are tank crews, it's really difficult to get replaced, so he risks lowering efficiency as well," Reiji voices his opinion to the rest of his team.
"I hope so," Annabelle mutters.
"Everything's going to be fine, no one will take your lover away," Tyler jokes to lighten Annabelle's gloomy mood.
"Very funny Tyler," Annabelle pouts, though no one notices the light blush on her cheeks.
"Why now, though? Does it have to do with our powers?" Odysseus asks.
"Yes. Thanks to the information Miss Nishizumi provided us with, we have come to the conclusion that more people with the ability to use Ether must exist, therefore there may be a time when we will need to deal with them," the Director says, causing everyone except the three girls standing in front of his desk to become nervous.
"So...this branch will be tasked with dealing with people that can use Ether," Miho comments.
"Exactly. That's why this branch will be independent from Blackout."
"What do you mean independent?" Yuki asks.
"This branch will be operating on its own. It will still be supplied with resources from Blackout, but if it wants to expand, it will have to make its own money."
"Can I ask something?" Saori says, raising her hand too for added emphasis.
"Of course," the Director says, turning his head to face her.
"Who is gonna be directing this new branch?" Saori asks curiously.
"I was getting on that part now. Nishizumi Miho, Elpida Papaioannou and Yuki Konoka, I appoint you Directors of the Ether Force branch of Blackout."
"What?!" everyone gasps in surprise, with Odysseus laughing loudly and even the Director chuckling a bit at the surprised looks of everyone.
"Old man, you sure know how to surprise someone!" Odysseus manages to say between her laughs.
"Does that mean Miss Nishizumi won't be with us from now on?!" Yukari asks urgently, causing the rest of the girls to also look at the man.
"Don't worry, the whole squad will be part of the department."
"Sir, didn't you say that we will be assigned as Directors of the branch?" Miho asks, perplexed at his use of the word "department".
"Yes, but there is only one department on the branch for now."
"You mean there could be more?" Yuki intersects.
"That's up to you to decide. Also, due to the nature of your powers, you will have your own facilities, though they will take some time to be built. That's all for now, you are dismissed."
Everyone salutes(except for a certain blonde), before exiting the office. As both teams walk on the hallway that connects the office with the stairs, Yuki hugs Miho with her right hand. "I missed you!" Yuki cries, burying her face on Miho's left arm.
"Thats not fair. Miss Nishizumi is my friend, don't try to take her away from me!" Yukari shouts, hugging Miho's right hand.
"Remove your hands Oddball!" Yuki snarls.
"Remove yours, snowman!" Yukari growls.
"Girls, both of you stop!" Miho commands them sternly and both deflate like balloons, not happy they have to share Miho with each other.
Meanwhile, Saori chats with Tyler, Annabelle talks to Reiji and Hana keeps Mako at bay from making any comments about Saori.
"You shouldn't bring Saori in an uncomfortable position Mako," Hana says with a smile.
"She deserves it. She always wakes me up early in the morning," Mako grumbles.
"She is doing it for you Mako," Hana says.
Mako murmurs something inaudible, before sighing in defeat. "Fiiine, but only for today," Mako drones. Hana giggles lightly at that.
"Miho, can I ask you something?" Odysseus says grabbing Miho's left shoulder to stop her. The moment she touches her shoulder though, their powers activate and the air around them starts to violently flow outwards, causing everyone to get pinned in the walls.
"What is going on?!" Annabelle yells over the wind.
"Miss Nishizumi!" Yukari yells, trying to move her arms and legs.
"Something's wrong here!" Reiji shouts, eyeing Miho and Odysseus, who look at each other intently, like they have a staring contest,where the one who blinks first, dies.
"You don't say!" Tyler yells.
"We need to do something!" Hana shouts at the others, as she sees a black wolf materializing behind Miho and a two-meter tall figure that resembles a Grim Reaper materializing behind Odysseus. Both of them have changed to their Ether forms. Intense killing intent escape from their gazes, red and blue energy swirling around them as the colors clash with each other.
By now, both the guards that are stationed outside the Director's office and the Director himself have managed to approach the girls to a certain distance, having heard the commotion.
Yuki clenches her teeth and activates her powers, a bright golden rune glowing on the back of her right hand. "Inner Peace!" she yells and closes her eyes. A picture of her surroundings forms in her mind with white lines indicating the boundaries of everything around her.
What is this?! she gasps, as she notices worm-like creatures snaking all around Miho and Odysseus. On each one's back of the neck is connected a worm, like it has bitten straight to their spines.
Maybe if I detach these things, Miho and Elpida will go back to normal, she thinks, but before she can mark these worms, she feels the picture getting more and more blurry. Opening her eyes, she feels her whole body aching. Why now of all times?! she curses. Due to her injuries, most of her power is being used to heal them faster, so her body cannot handle her powers for a long period of time.
"They are being controlled by something!" Yuki manages to shout, panting heavily from exhaustion.
"What do you mean they are controlled by something?!" Saori screams.
"I don't see anything that could control them though!" Hana says, inspecting both Miho and Odysseus.
The wolf starts growling, approaching Miho slowly. Suddenly it leaps and grabs Miho's neck, dragging her down on the ground. The Reaper swings its scythe vertically and a thin wave of blue energy shoots towards the girls, passing perfectly from their necks.
Both Miho and Odysseus grab their necks, groaning in pain. Two huge worm-like creatures, not unlike the ones Yuki saw, pop into view. Both of them get split in two by the energy wave, their halves falling to the ground, twitching. The air instantly stops moving and the energies that clashed with each other vanish. Everyone that was pinned to the walls by the air falls to the ground, some of them groaning and trying to stand up.
"Sir, you need to immediately evacuate!" one of the guards says to the Director.
"No. Things are going to get very interesting now," he says, as a figure slowly approaches from the other end of the hallway.
"Nicely done. I didn't expect you to find me so quickly."
Everyone turns their heads at the origin of the voice and find a middle-aged woman standing a few meters away from the two teams. She has long black hair and ruby red eyes. She wears a white T-shirt and a miniskirt, along with black pantyhose and black boots. Besides her is a huge black centipede standing up at the same height as the middle-aged woman.
"Wh-What is this?" Saori shrieks, getting pale when she looks at the black centipede.
"Sc-Scary!" Mako says in a quivering voice, cowering and shivering behind Hana.
"Anyone has bug spray with them?" Tyler jokes, due to the adrenaline that is coursing through his body.
Everyone is on edge as they gaze at this new enemy, who pats the black centipede on the top of its head.
"You did pretty good at spotting my little pets..." she says softly, as she hugs the centipede lovingly. "...but I cannot let you live," she continues, her expression changing to an angry one. Everyone gets up and starts walking backwards, eyeing the centipede and the woman for any movements.
"I'll start with the one that managed to find me and my pets," the woman declares and the centipede shoots forward to attack Yuki, who is still lying on the ground, her body too weak to stand on its own.
An inhuman scream is heard, as the centipede gets pinned on the wall next to Yuki by an energy spear colored ruby red. The centipede starts flailing around, before three more spears hit it. As it lays motionless on the wall, slimy green blood starts oozing from its fatal wounds.
"Do you know how much time it takes to raise one?" the woman scowls, not happy with the loss of one of her pets.
"I don't know who you are, but I won't allow you to hurt my friends," Miho says, summoning an energy dagger at her right hand.
"Don't leave me out of the fun," Odysseus says rather emotionlessly, summoning a white scythe on her right hand too.
"You think you can beat me, my little lambs?" the woman says seductively. Eyeing Reiji and Tyler who are dragging Yuki away from the oncoming battle, one of her pets, a worm-like creature this time, peeks out of her miniskirt and starts running towards the boys, growing from the size of a small dog to a human's in seconds. Miho swings her dagger horizontally and a thin wave of energy shoots outwards in a cone, cutting the worm in two pieces.
"Our turn," Miho says, flashstepping next to the woman and hitting her with a side-kick out of the building. The woman crashes straight through the wall section between two windows, her face full of surprise...and pain. Hitting the ground, she rolls for about 20 meters, before hitting with her face on the trunk of a cherry tree.
"Ouch! That hurt you bitch!" she curses as she rubs her face, which has become red.
"It's hunting season!" she hears someone yelling with a rather monotone voice and looking back, she sees a blonde girl with a white scythe falling towards her. Diving to her left, she narrowly avoids the scythe, which cuts the cherry tree in half.
"Are you scared of a little lamb?" Odysseus mocks with an expressionless face.
"I'll show you who is scared-" she stops mid-sentence as the woman eyes a black kunai knife lodging itself on the ground in front of her, crackling with red electricity.
"Oh shit!" she screams as a huge pillar of focused red energy shoots upwards, destroying part of the courtyard in which the girls were fighting just now. As the pillar dissipates, Miho approaches Odysseus slowly.
"You think we got her?" she asks, eyeing the big crater her ability just created.
"Not even close. She seemed to be strong, so my best bet is she managed to escape," Odysseus responds, throwing her scythe in the air to let the weapon vanish. "At least we can have a breather now," she adds, deactivating her powers and returning to her normal form.
"Miporin, are you alright?!" Saori shouts as she runs to Miho, along with the rest of the Anglerfish team.
"Miss Nishizumi!" Yukari cries and tackles Miho to the ground, crying tears of joy and rubbing her cheeks all over Miho's face. "I am so glad you are okay!"
"Yukari, please calm down," Miho says, patting Yukari on her head.
"Did we get her?" Hana asks, eyeing the now destroyed courtyard.
"Hey tank lover, get off Miho!" Yuki growls, being supported by both Reiji and Tyler.
"Hey Odysseus, are you okay?" Annabelle asks the blonde girl, who is now standing in front of the Reaper and gazes into his red wisps of light that act as its eyes.
"I'm fine, no need to worry," she says, keeping her eyes glued on the Reaper that hovers in the air. "Get down here for a sec," she tells to the Reaper and it lowers itself on the ground, in front of Odysseus.
"So, can you speak?" she asks and the Reaper open its mouth, but no sounds come out of it.
"I'll take that as a no. Next one, can you make any tricks?"
As Odysseus keeps asking of her "companion" more ridiculous things, with Annabelle trying, and failing, to beat some sense into her head, Mako and Hana help Yukari and Miho to stand up.
"Now can you see the importance of the new branch? An Ether user can obliterate armies with ease. Only an Ether user can stop another one," the Director says, walking towards the girls slowly, with the guards flanking him on his sides. Everyone nods slowly in agreement. "Now we need to rebuild the courtyard too. Maybe I'll change its layout this time," he murmurs, eyeing the big crater that has replaced a big part of the courtyard. By now, many of the personnel has crowded the place, everyone looking at the destruction and the huge Reaper that just stands in front of Odysseus.
"Do we have any idea who that woman was?" Hana asks Miho.
"No, but...her powers felt almost the same as mine," Miho says aloud.
"Could it be that she was injected with the same Serum as you?" Saori asks.
"What Anzu gave us said that I was the only user, but it is possible," Miho thinks aloud.
"Is it possible that the Serums work only on female individuals? Because we haven't seen a single male individual that can use Ether," Mako comments.
"There was this guy that attacked Yuki though," Yukari interjects.
"Maybe certain Serums work only with one of the genders. We'll have to wait and see I guess," Miho murmurs.
Location Unknown
27th of May 2 Y.A.
Inside a very large room with expensive furniture, sits on a luxurious chair a boy no older than 17 years old. The chair is placed near a fireplace, the fire quietly crackling and illuminating the room. The boy holds in his left arm a manila folder, looking at its contents.
Around him stand three figures with hair that start brown at the root and gets darker as it lengthens till it is black. They have short hair that almost reaches the bottom of their neck with the sides combed down and back, and the top to the right. It also has natural bronze highlights in the front. They have a boxers nose, an oval face, and pointy natural lips with a soft pink color. They look lanky but in proportion with their height. They also have white skin with a rosy tint.
They wear a white uniform with red tron-like lines all over it. They look like they are quadruples. The only difference is the color of their eyes. The ones that are standing have red, blue and grey eyes respectively, while the boy that is sitting on the chair has a color that ranges from hazel to brown.
"Why do we have to wear this uniforms?!" the boy with the red eyes yells.
"Red, please calm down. They aren't as bad as you think," the boy with the blue eyes says with a smile at Red.
"Both of you stop. We aren't here to discuss about the uniforms," the boy with the grey eyes commands.
"Shut up Grey! You and Blue are the ones that use the body more often-"
"You know why that happens, don't you?" Grey interrupts Red, who just glares daggers at him.
"What did you want to discuss with us Grey?" Blue asks politely.
"I think I found a suitable candidate for being our commander," Grey says and a 3d model of Odysseus pops in view.
"But if what the documents say are true, her mind is shattered. How is she strong enough to consider her a candidate?" Blue asks worryingly.
"If the reports of the battle are any indication, she knows how to handle herself. Do you think she is like us?" Red asks.
"No. Her mind, unlike ours, is one unit. Having said that, she does shift based on her environment, just like us," Grey says. "The way I see it, we need to break her mind completely and then rebuilt it. After that, she should be able to meet our requirements."
"Haha, I can't wait to break her! She shall crumble under my will!" Red says while laughing maniacally.
"I can't wait to meet her," Blue says with a joyful smile.
"Then that is for now," Grey says.
Closing the Manila folder, all three figures dissappear, as the boy that is sitting on the chair stands up.
"We can't wait to meet you Miss Elpida. Let's see if you are worthy of being our commander," Henry says softly as he starts walking towards the room's exit.
A/N:Hope you like the introduction of the new antagonists. And the title is symbolic by the way. Sorry for the smaller chapter too. Anyway, as always, suggestions, questions, corrections, reviews or PMs are greatly appreciated. Also, English isn't my native tongue, so expect some grammatical errors here and there. If you found the story interesting and had a great time, favorite and follow. Have a nice day/night and until the next chapter, stay safe!