After officially meeting with Monika, Trazyn, and Nova. Minka has gone back to her work as a bartender and a part-time cafe barista. She still has her missions but now she's on a long-time waiting period till the next major event. In her world, the layout of the cities didn't really change a lot so she could get around easily. She's on a mission. A Mission to 'forge' the future that she desires. No one knows who gave the information to her, it is a secret that she needs to keep from other people for both herself and the person she cares about.
Minka has become the star bartender in the place she works at, because of her competent skill and charming personality, a lot of customers have often visited the bar just for her. And of course, she has been having few raises due to her exceptional work. Today, a man came in with a bunch of friends, from the act of him he looks like a person who was raised in a wealthy and powerful family. Which makes it strange because this is a mid-range bar at best and most of the customers are either blue-collar or white-collar workers. This is not a place for rich people.
The guy wears a pair of sunglasses at midnight which makes it even stranger, and his weird-looking orange hair makes people question the background of this peculiar man.
"Oi, my friends and I will order the whole menu." Then he threw his credit card on the table.
Minka has little patience with rude people, but this is the service industry we are talking about. Therefore, she just smiles and takes the card. The amount this man spends on a single order is equal to the two months' salary of hers. She then continues her work like she always does, with precision and skill.
"Yo, bartender." The orange-haired man asks: "are you new here?"
"I'm sorry but I'm not really allowed to talk to the customers while working." Minka politely answered while preparing their orders. She lied, during a slow day she always makes jokes and teases the customers. That's why she has collected a bit of fame in the middle-class group of this city in such a short amount of time.
"You know I can buy the whole bar for you if you just talk to me." He pulls down his sunglasses to get a clear look at Minka and winks at her.
Deep inside Minka is about to puke out because this man radiates everything she dislikes about a man. But as a bartender, she has to respond positively, or her end-of-the-month bonus is gone. She wanted to invite Monika and Trazyn to a trailer park, so this money is quite important: "You are way too kind." Minka giggles a bit. Unlike her mother, she's good at hiding her emotions.
"Say, how about I let you skip work for tonight and come and hang out with my friends." He shakes his eyebrows in a seductive way and points at the dozens of people on the dance floor. All of them look either shady or wacky.
"I am so sorry, but my boyfriend was gonna pick me up later. And tomorrow I have early work as well." Her lies are flawless, and her expressions are just like her father's, constant grins.
"Boyfriend? If you come with me, I'll make sure that you don't have to work for the rest of your life."
"I'm sorry but I am a bit busy right now." She pretended to spill some drinks.
"You know who my father is? He's the mayor of this city." He points his thumb towards his chest while sounding confident.
Minka's patient is draining like a car with holes in the gas tanks. She's trying so hard to not slap this guy in the face and storm out of this place. But she has to be patient, she's been through worse: "That sounds amazing, good for you." She smiles brightly and tiles her head a bit sideways, so he doesn't need to keep direct eye contact with him.
"Indeed, I bet I am already a better person than your parents ever will be," he said while sounding confident, but he didn't realize what he said already snapped the last patience Minka had.
Minka stops the work in her hands and picks up the hand towel on the table. She thoroughly cleans her hands. And looks at him in the eyes, unlike her normal kind expression, her eyes are as frightening as pointing a gun directly at the man's forehead. She carefully takes out the bartender uniform she has because she doesn't guarantee what's going to happen is not going to stain the uniform.
"What are you doing?" The man is a bit confused. He thought Minka was going to take everything off, but she stopped at her shirt.
"Apologize." Minka now looks more like Monika than ever, her red wig with her emerald, green eyes might confuse people with these two. But what's more similar is the expression, the cold look that might strike at any time. Anyone who has a bit of combat experience will back off immediately, but this man is just a soiled kid who has everything he needs in his life.
"Apologize for what? You are just a low-" Suddenly the drink on his hand exploded. Glass shards ran into his hand and the drink spilled all over him.
He's feeling shocked and pain at the same time, blood dripping on the floor and he screams in pain while rolling on the ground. Soon all of his friends came and checked on him.
"What did you do, bitch?!" One tall guy shouted at Minka but soon his friend hit him in the face. Both of them looked confused but either of them understood what had just happened.
After a few more seconds, the whole bar burst into a crowd fight. All Minka did was just move a few fists among themselves and they started fighting each other like a bunch of wild animals.
Minka didn't just stay behind her workplace, she walks out and stands in front of the man with orange hair: "Are you ready to apologize?" Minka smiles with a grin.
"You witch! Whatever you just did I'll tell my dad and he-" Then comes a series of screams. Because Minka just steps on his hand which is full of glass shards.
"Your dad? Right now, you can't even fight off a little girl. And you are going to tell your dad? What are you? 6 years old?" Minka's tone sounds exactly like Trazyn when he was doing the same thing to an inquisitor: "Let me tell you what happened, you came into a bar and annoyed the crap out of me. Then you DARE to flirt with me without even having a bit of self-consciousness about what kind of piece of shit you are." She then uses her ability to force him to look at her in the eyes while Minka looks like she's going to break his neck in any second:" And worst of all, you insulted my parents." she then steps harder on his hand. Just as she was going to end this man's pathetic life, the owner came.
Suddenly everyone stopped fighting and the bar only echoed the noise of the music. Fane Dreyer frowns his eyebrows and looks at the mess on the floor: "Bar's closed everyone except Minka out!"
Everyone runs out, the man with the orange hair gets picked up by his friends and starts leaving as soon as possible. After a few minutes of noise, there's only Minka and Fane standing in the middle of the dance floor.
"I am so-" Minka is about to apologize, despite her strong ability she still broke the rules and knows deeply what she has done. But just about to say she's sorry, Fane stopped her.
"I heard what he said to you. No one should ever insult one's parents, just like no person who works in this industry should harm a customer physically." Fane's voice is deep and serious.
"But..." Minka doesn't want to lose this job, she likes it a lot. But what she did was indeed unacceptable.
"I'm sorry, now pack your things. I will give you what you've earned this month. But from now on you are not allowed to enter or work in this place anymore." Fane said it in a sorrowful tone, he likes Minka, but rules are rules.
Minka lowers her head and hands in the uniform with both of her hands. Her hand is shaking a bit while trying hard to avoid crying out loud: "Understood..." She's sobbing.
Dreyer takes the uniform and lightly hugs the shaking Minka. He likes this girl, she's smart and hard-working. She also reminded him that a long time ago there was a girl he beat a few years back in a bar fight. But Minka is smarter and more kind than that soldier.
Later that night, Minka takes out her bag and walks on the street in her usual classic purple dress. It looks more magical because it's also snowing for some reason. Minka's face is gloomy, this is the first time she fails after time traveling.
Just as she is feeling sad and wants to vent out the anger and the sadness, she hears some people beating something in the valley next to her. She wanted to help but she's not in the mood to fight. But after passing it, she immediately drops her bag and rushes into the valley. She recognizes those people; they are the followers of that orange-haired man and on the ground, there's a bit of orange that can be seen which is covered half in snow.
Without even saying anything. Minka puts down every single one of them on the ground in a swift manner. Her attacks are precise and accurate. Every hit is not lethal but strong enough to put down a full-grown man on the ground. Her hand is dripping blood and white steam is coming out from her mouth. There's not a bit of sweat on her face. Minka's fist is dripping with the blood of dozens of people. Her expression is cold and emotionless, but she still pulls the man with orange hair out from the snow and drags him to a fast-food store.
After half an hour, he woke up. His vision is still blurry, but he can tell that some girl with a purple dress is eating a bucket of fried chicken in the middle of the night. He then fell asleep again for another half an hour.
Minka just finished her food and cleaned her hands. Unlike Monika, Minka eats all sorts of stuff and she's also good at making them as well. But this time she's in the fast-food restaurant isn't because she wants to enjoy food. She's depressed and sometimes eating helps her overcome the crushing failure she encountered, and the main corporate is right next to her.
Their eyes crossed with each other for a second and the man immediately pretended to be sleeping again. He already knows Minka is not someone he should be messing with.
Minka looks at him in a mad way. But she then pushes a cup of hot chocolate in front of him: "Don't pretend to be sleeping, you might have hyperthermia." She sounded mad.
"Why did you save me…? I lost everything, if you are here to finish me off just do it in the back alley." He covers his face with his hands and lays back on the seat.
Minka to be honest feels a bit pity towards him, but she's still mad at him at the same time that's why she's a bit conflicted about her emotions here: "Sure, before I kill you. What's your name? I always prefer to know the name of my target." Minka sips on her hot drink.
He looks scared, he never thought about this girl being serious: "My name is… Alex. Alex Cohen… Alexandre Cohen. Who are you exactly…?"
"Minka Terra." This is Minka's real name, she didn't take Trazyn's name because it doesn't make any sense and Terras can have a lot of benefits in the army. She lied to Trazyn and simply wanted to make him feel better. But she was underestimating her own father a bit.
"Terra? As the Terra family?" His face is turning whiter because his family used to have a close relationship with the Terra family.
Minka nods, she doesn't really care about people knowing her identity, it also helps her family's honor because of what she did. On the contrary, she usually uses fake aliases while doing something bad.
He suddenly leaves the seat and drops to his knees: "Please, Ms. Minka. Marry me!" He knocks his head on the floor while looking extremely ridiculous.
"Wait what? Is this a joke?" Minka is surprised, she has never seen anyone like that. But it doesn't hurt to know his reasons, after all, Minka likes the feeling of being loved.
"No ! You are from an esteemed family and so do I! You are strong and beautiful. You are kind and the best thing that can happen to me in my life." He isn't looking up while saying all of this, but from his tone, Minka can tell that he's being serious.
Minka lightly pats his head: "Silly, we just met like a few hours ago and you went into a coma as well. And the first thing you want to do is to marry me? We don't even know each other and I'm sorry but I'm not interested in you."
"So be it…" He suddenly pulls out a knife and starts stabbing his stomach. Minka managed to stop his hand, but the knife was already in. Blood is dripping on the floor and Minka is shocked about what he's done.
Minka quickly tightens the wound from further bleeding and tells the workers of the restaurant to call an ambulance. After a few minutes, the ambulance came: "What can I do to have you….?" Alex tried his hardest to squeeze words out of his mouth.
Minka just could help herself but had a sad and worried face, she thought for a few seconds and put her hands on Alex's hand: "In eight years, if you become stronger than me, I will let you marry me. But now you need to take care of yourself."
"Your promise?"
"I promise."
Then Minka sees the ambulance send-off on this cold snowy night. She proceeded to continue walking back home. There are too many things happening tonight and she needs proper sleep to process what happened. The last thing she said to Alex from Minka's perspective is more like assuring words instead of being serious. People like Alex Cohen would never become something like Minka, needless to say, stronger. But Minka's words tonight might just change a man's life.
As she is still walking on the street, out of instinct, she suddenly ducks by lowering her torso and leaps backward. She immediately phased out her rifle and scanned the direction of the attack. She suddenly realized a strand of her hair just got cut off.
"You lost your edge colonel." A woman who dresses in a red uniform comes out from the dark, she holds a similar weapon as Minka but this one is way more advanced, and her coral brown hair is mixed with snowflakes, it looks like she's been waiting for Minka for a long time.
"Emilia ? What is the meaning of this?" Minka knows her, why wouldn't she? She's just surprised that this girl would attack her out of the dark.
"I'm here for you Colonel. Minka Terra, you are under arrest." There's not a bit of joy on her face. Her green-silverish eyes are more piercing than the dark gunpoint that is pointing at Minka.
"Under whose authority?"
"Illegal use of alien technology? Abandoning your post? Also leaving me behind and going for a 'time travel' adventure?"
"I didn't tell you more details because I wanted to protect you." Minka points away from her gun, her expression is serious. You don't really see Minka being serious about most things because she just doesn't care about a lot of things.
"I still know it, isn't it? And it is up to me to clean up your mess. If it wasn't because of Leanna, I would be in jail now. So, drop your weapon and accept the arrest." Emilia clicks the safety lock.
"I'm not done yet, I can't leave." Minka doesn't want to fight Emilia; she's trying to be reasonable with her.
"Save what you have to say to the court. Put on the handcuff by yourself or I will shoot." Emilia throws a pair of handcuffs in front of Minka.
Suddenly Minka released a burst of pyknic waves, making the whole street cover in a cloud of whiteness, and started running away.
There's a flash of red light in the cloud and a small tripping device shoots out and binds on Minka's feet. Minka then falls on the ground while sliding for a few more meters.
"Don't make it become harder than it already is." Emilia's right eye is glaring with red light, it is the light made when she activates her implant. Unlike Minka, Emilia doesn't seem to have any psyker power.
Minka is trying to crawl away, the trip binders have anti-psyker material in them and it is almost breaking Minka's head.
Just when Minka is about to get arrested, a flying sword cuts off the binder and a few more are flying towards Emilia.
Emilia pulls out her suppressed pistol and shots down all the swords mid-air.
Monika lands next to Minka and poses in a battle stance against Emilia.
"Minka are you ok?" Monika slightly glanced at Minka and ported out the anti psyker binder.
"It's fine mom. Thanks for the help." Minka stands up from the ground and pats off the snow on her dress.
"Who the hell is she?"
"My… Sister. Your second daughter." Minka looks away, she didn't want the meeting to end up like this.
"Hello, younger version of mom." Emilia nods at Monika: "Minka has broken more than one law. I am here to take her away, please understand this and do not interfere with the arrest."
"Wait what?" Monika is very confused, if they are family why is Emilia acting so distantly: "Minka what happened between you two?" Monika asked.
"It looks like I left her behind for around… seven years. When I left for time travel, Emilia was just 15 years old… and there's a four-year difference between us." Minka said quietly she knew that she should've done that, but she had to.
"Take her away then." Monika breaks off her stance and pulls away from her sword.
"What?" Minka is shocked by the reaction from Monika.
"If Nova, did it to me as well, I would do the same and hunt her down no matter where she is."
But Emilia doesn't seem like she's satisfied with this answer, instead, she shoots a lead bullet at Monika. But it was easily deflected by Monika's void shield: "She's your daughter, why don't you act as you care about her?!" Emilia's voice is breaking off a bit.
Just when the tension is high, Trazyn comes out while having a cup of hot tea in his hand. The reason that he's also here is that Minka was not far away from Monika's house after all, her little leap just happens to be in front of their house: "What happened here?" He said it in his usual sassy tone.
Minka and Monika's expressions didn't break but Emilia's expression turned from hate to shock. Trazyn also noticed this little change of expression and proceeded to put the tea away: "Do I know you?" Trazyn asks.
Emilia suddenly shakes her head to get the thought away and drops a smoke grenade under her feet. After a few seconds, her life signature is gone.
"Well, that was anticlimactic." Minka looks at the smokescreen while completely unaware two others are staring at her fiercely.
Minka turned and got startled a bit: "I did not expect Emi would come…." Minka is avoiding their eye contact, she knows that she made a mistake but is not sure what exactly they are angry about.
"I can't believe you would leave your own sister behind." Monika crosses her arms and looks mad. This is not the usual playful mad face but a serious one: "If you are our child, no matter which version of Monika they are I am sure that they'd definitely teach you to NEVER abandon your family."
"You think really ahead, Honey." Trazyn is still sipping on the tea, apparently, it is more than it looks.
Monika gives a 'shut up' glance to Trazyn and continues her questions: "Why did you leave her behind?"
"It is hard to explain." Minka is telling the truth: "But I can't tell you the reason."
"I am not asking for the reason, I am asking how could you?" What Minka did is similar to what Nova did when they were young. While Monika was struggling in school Nova was top of the class. But one day Nova just disappeared. And she came back a few years later, but their relationship was already beyond repairable until the recent events their relationship is getting a bit better.
"I…" Minka is at the loss for her words. Maybe it was an impulse decision? She was just so happy about her invention of time travel and completely forgot about everything else.
Trazyn knows exactly what Minka is on about. He would do the same regardless of if he was a human and invented time travel. But he can't really talk it out, otherwise, It would make Monika even angrier.
A few buildings away, Emilia is observing the whole standoff with her sniper rifle. But she's mainly focused on Trazyn. There's some visible grinding on her teeth by the look of it. Regardless, there's definitely some story between Emilia and Trazyn. She suddenly sneezed due to the cold. But when she checks on the scope again, Minka is pushing Monika to the ground, and she starts to run off in the snow. Then Monika buries her head in Trazyn's chest and starts sobbing. Emilia can't hear what happened, but she puts down the sniper rifle and starts heading to her hideout.
Emilia Terra's story is complicated, she's not a natural-born being. She was made with the genetic information of Monika by Trazyn the infinite. This is why Emilia is more resembling Monika compared to Minka from both personality-wise and look-wise. Despite her unorthodox origin, the Terra family still took great care of her and accepted her as a member. Trazyn, however, on the other hand, 'disappeared' in their timeline. The exact reason was unknown, and Monika refused to share it with anyone. Minka's childhood was involved with both Monika and Trazyn but Emilia on the other hand was more 'mother based'. This also shaped Emilia's personality, she's heroic, smart, and has a rich sense of justice. But after witnessing what Trazyn has done to Monika, one of the major reasons she decided to go back to the past is to eliminate him before he could do any harm to Monika. She loves Monika but to Trazyn, Emilia has undoubtful hatred towards him, she blames him for all of her sufferings as a child and the pain he caused everyone that was affected by his action.
Just like Minka, Emilia's money is of no use; this is why she also has a job. But unlike Minka, Emilia doesn't have the skill for bartending, however, her undoubted skill did get her into the security business. She's going back to her hideout at midnight instead of prolonging the fight partially because in the morning she needs to guard one of the local lord's children to school, they required a bodyguard because they have received a threat, and Emilia's skill and refined look undoubtedly became the best person that fits for the job.